The Last Rebel: Survivor (25 page)

Officers must also be meticulous about their dress, their conduct—and demonstrate courage.

Discipline is also maintained by engaging in various activities, such as getting up at a certain time, standing at weapons inspection, keeping one’s gear clean, firing at the range, saluting, and many other things that result in a mind that is sharp and ready to respond in war.

- Rumors. Any army has to deal with more than its fair share of rumors. Of particular concern are unsubstantiated statements received after dark. Also, stragglers and walking wounded. Such persons tend to justify themselves by painting alarming pictures.

Note that it is very difficult to respond to every call for help after dark. Note that units will not be wholly destroyed at night, usually because some can escape in the dark. If you must counterattack, launch this attack in daylight, but first check out the information you received via adequate recon.

- Physical Condition. It is important for troops to be in good physical condition. Fatigue can make cowards of us all. Men who are in good shape do not tire.

- Courage. As the poet once said, “Do not take counsel of your fears.”

COMBAT PRINCIPLES: WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T

In war, there is only one tactical principle that is immutable: to use any means at hand to inflict the maximum number of casualties that lead to the destruction of the enemy in minimal time.

In battle, casualties relate directly to how long you are in the line of fire.

Your own firepower will cut down on the enemy’s firepower and the rapidity of the attack as well as will shorten your risk of exposure. As a famous general once said: “A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.”

Battles are won by frightening your enemy, which is achieved by wounding and hurting—wounding and killing him in any way you can. Fire from the rear is three times as effective as fire from the front, but to get fire behind the enemy you must hold him with frontal fire while you work your way around a flank. If the enemies’ positions are in place, direct assault on them should be avoided if possible.

Battles are won by hitting the enemy with the maximum force you can muster before the enemy can assemble any force of his own. If he has one division, you want two. If he has two regiments, you want to overrun him with four. Make your force as strong as humanly possible as long as the gathering of that force does not unduly delay the attack.

Battles are won by never yielding ground. It is much better to hold what you have won than to take back what you have lost. At night, never move your troops to the rear to rest or reform. In the daytime this may be done, but only when absolutely necessary.

The danger of retreat is that it may produce a panic. There are numerous instances of men—brave men—fleeing in panic when this is done.

Battles are won by using your firepower. Mortars and artillery are great weapons, but just scrap metal when not used! Keep them firing.

- Tactical Ops. Whenever you can use roads to travel on, they are fastest. Use the fields to fight in. However, when you get closer to an enemy you may find the roads demolished, or mined. But stay on the roads until you are shot at.

If you are in broken country where there may be tanks, use leapfrog tactics and keep the antitank guns well up.

If you are fighting in the mountains, first secure the high ground. The best way to do this is daytime recon followed by attacking with a platoon at night, which can be reinforced with troops at dawn.

If you are trying to get to high ground on mountains or hills, don’t take the obvious road. It is almost certain to be defended. Rather, look for other pathways; hills almost always have them. If you try to go up an obvious path in hostile territory you will be engaging in something very simple—suicide.

Don’t be deeply concerned about land mines. Indeed, the impact of mines is largely mental. In war, not more than 10 percent of all casualties are caused by mines. When you come across them, you must go around or through them. But do remember that there are not enough mines in the universe to cover the whole country. It is less time-consuming to go around them than to search for them. However, while the other troops are making this detour the engineers should be engaged in clearing a straight path. Make sure that all troops have mine detectors and know how to use them. Above all you must—absolutely must—get through.

Never allow a unit to dig in until the objective is reached. When it is, dig, wire, and mine.

Dig slit trenches within ten yards of artillery. Do not place them under trees, as these create shrapnel showers. Also, set up camouflage nets so that if and when they catch fire they can be pulled off instantly.

Take the time to prepare for an attack.

Small forces, such as platoons or companies, are capable of three actions: go forward, stop, or run. It is a bad mistake to run, because then they are even easier targets of artillery fire. If caught under fire, advance out of it, never retreat from it. Artillery batteries can seldom shorten their range.

All security detachments must advance farther into enemy lines than anyone else. Radio transmissions from such positions can be vital. Also, all security detachments must be deployed at night for transmission of intel.

- Training. Physical condition is vital. All soldiers and officers should be able to run a mile in ten minutes with a combat pack on, and march eight miles in two hours. During battles, it is impossible to maintain top physical condition, but if physical condition is optimum before the battle it will not lower significantly during the battle.

It is important to be able to mount and dismount machine guns more rapidly than at present Training should include so many repetitions of these procedures that they can be done in the dark.

Attacking in the dark, as opposed to in daylight needs to be improved greatly.

Digging and entrenching tools such as axes and shovels must be sharpened and kept in excellent condition.

Battles are won or lost mostly by small contingents of men—platoons and squads. Training here should be constant, enable the men to take the good solution now, which is much better than a perfect solution ten minutes after it is needed.

- Tips for Commanders. It is vital that officers have self-confidence, and that men have confidence in them. One of the best ways to do this is for men to observe them at the front lines during battles.

A close watch must be kept on materials, men wounded and lost, replacements—anything and everything required to win the battle.

Most people do not repeat oral orders in the field. This is the royal road to defeat.

All orders must be repeated back to the issuer.

When issuing orders, language must be clear and concise. General U.S. Grant was a great general, in great part because his orders were so clearly written that no one in the field misunderstood them.

- Prisoners. When interrogating prisoners, remember that the older the prisoner the more likely he is to talk. Prisoners over forty are usually ideal; as the age drops, so does the willingness to talk.

Make sure that the interrogation of a prisoner is done out of sight and hearing of other prisoners. There can be no hint that the prisoner is in any way cooperative.

- Miscellaneous. When heavy weapons, cannons, and machine guns are used, remember that it is the firing of light machine guns and rifles that enables the heavier ones to move forward.

Very few men are killed when bayonets are used, but most troops are afraid of the bayonet. The Rebels use these weapons better than any force in the world. Make sure that if you have to use them they are sharp.

If flat trajectory force is being used against enemy machine-gun emplacements, then it’s best to deliver it near and parallel to the axis of the fire. This will pin the enemy down and let other troops get behind them to throw grenades and use other weapons to neutralize these guns.

Night attacks are often very effective. On nights when there is no moon, little light, attacks should start two and a half hours before dawn; on moonlit nights, by the light of the moon. All attacks should be preceded by day recon. Objectives must be recognizable in the dark.

- Caring for Your Men. Officers are responsible for their men not only in terms of how they are performing in battle, but for their health and well-being when not fighting. Officers should be last out of battle or march, and make sure their men are cared for.

An officer should know his men so well that he recognizes the first sign of nervous strain or sickness and take action as needed.

Officers must check, in particular, his men’s feet to make sure that their shoes and socks are in good condition. The officer must anticipate changes in weather so footgear can be changed.

Medical facilities must be kept as close to the front as possible. The shorter the distance the greater the chance of survival.

Medical facilities must be in the open and clearly marked as such so that the enemy will not attack them.

Finally, remember: there are no bad troops—only bad leaders!

Jim finished reading the document. He found it very useful, and he agreed with 99 percent of it, realizing at the same time that he had no basis, no experience with which to make such an observation. Still, he did. For a moment, he pictured Ben Raines and then Duke Kindhand. These guys had been out in the field a long, long time. They had seen men live, and they had seen men die, and they had seen great warriors and not so great ones. And they picked him. If nothing else, it was a hell of a compliment.

TWENTY-THREE

There was an unspoken truth that Jim, Bev, and the Rebels shared as they stopped in early afternoon. Namely, that the threat of them encountering the Rejects had diminished, if not faded completely. The reason was simple. They had gone quite a few miles and so far had not seen any hostile forces. In fact they had only seen relatively few people, but fortunately all the people were alive. And they had not seen a single body claimed by the plague, an all-too-frequent occurrence farther south.

There was also an unspoken truth existing between Jim and Bev, something that showed itself quite clearly the last time they had stopped and Jim had made a joke about an old goat coming to live with him. She had tossed a towel at him, and everyone had had a good laugh, but the truth was plain to see: Jim had assumed that she would come to live with him, and indeed she would. The truth was very clear: they had fallen in love and wanted to be with each other always.

Despite being sure that Bev loved him, there was something he had to ask her, and something he needed to do. Because he had been doing some thinking about them—and their lives together. On the ride to the rest stop, Jim had thought about the best time to broach these things; it was easy to decide that bouncing along in a HumVee while you were alert to possibly being ambushed by the Rejects was not exactly the best time.

He knew he got his chance when the Rebels stopped, and he knew that it was a good time. And he also found that he was very nervous, something that assuredly was not helped when he looked into her gorgeous, stomach-squeezing eyes and said: “You want to take a walk? I need to talk to you about a couple of things.”

“Sure,” she said. “What do you have in mind?”

“We’ll talk about it.”

“I hope we’re also going to do something that doesn’t require talking.”

Jim laughed. But he had to be careful. She was capable of getting him very excited very, very quickly. She was spectacularly sexy.

“I saw a lake a ways back,” he said. “Why don’t we walk down there?”

“You got it.”

They exited the HumVee, and then Jim went over to Kindhand, who with the other Rebel soldiers had also exited his vehicle.

“Hey, Duke,” he said, “I’m going to take a stroll down to that lake we saw coming in. When do you expect to mount up again?”

“At least an hour.”

Kindhand’s eyes had dropped down to Jim’s waistband.

“I see you’re taking your Glock with you.”

“Well, “Jim said with a straight face, “you know how it is. She doesn’t seem dangerous, but one never knows.”

Kindhand laughed, and then Jim went back to Bev. And they started walking in the direction of the lake, which was through a stand of pine.

As they walked, Jim took her hand in his, and again the electricity started to flow into him.

“Wow,” he said, “every time I touch you it’s like plugging myself into a wall socket.”

Bev looked up at him and smiled.

“There are better things than a wall socket,” she said, and they both laughed.

They continued to walk through the forest and gradually the lake appeared. After ten or fifteen yards, they stopped and just looked toward the lake, which was as shiny and flat a mirror, and was rimmed by low, rolling brown hills.

“You know,” she said, “it looks false. Like you could step out onto it and walk across.”

Jim laughed.

“Only one person I ever heard of could do that.”

Bev laughed, turned, and kissed him again.