“Take a seat, everyone. It looks like we’re going to be here for a while, so let’s get this going. What are we looking at, JP?” he asked.
JP put his two index fingers together, forming what looked like a steeple. “We have a new and dangerous development, Mr. President. Roughly a week ago, the Chinese government extended an invitation to the leaders of a number of Asian and other adversarial nations for a secret meeting. The Thai PM and senior military leaders knew something was up, and they reached out to our station chief in Bangkok. The PM agreed to wear a new type of undetectable listening device that we’ve developed to the meeting. When the PM returned from the meeting, he summoned our station chief and proceeded to tell him exactly what transpired.”
The President saw the various transcripts of the conversation in front of everyone. He hadn’t had a chance to look at a copy yet. He grabbed one and started thumbing through it.
“OK, so what are we looking at?” he pressed.
“President Xi and Petrov are proposing a new global alliance — an economic and military alliance — with the sole intention of defeating the West and removing the United States and Europe as the leaders of the ‘free world.’ President Xi has masterfully laid out a case for why the US should be removed from the global stage by any and all means necessary, and they’re inviting a host of nations to join them in retooling their economies for total war and the complete destruction of Europe and America,” the CIA Director explained.
Chief of Staff Greeson leaned forward and asked the obvious question. “How is this going to affect the current war operations?”
McMillan chimed in, “If these nations do move forward with joining Russia and China, then in the short run, it wouldn’t affect us much. In the long run, it would be devastating, unless we were able to end the war quickly. Look at it from this perspective, Mr. President. Right now, the Chinese have nearly 1.6 billion people. They’re in the process of mobilizing their entire population for war. It’ll take time to retool their economy and produce the needed additional aircraft, ship, and tanks — not to mention train their soldiers. In the meantime, they have to fight with what they have, and right now they’re losing troops and equipment at an astonishing rate. However, in another year, that equation will shift dramatically in their favor.”
He cleared his throat and then continued, “If you add India to that mix, you have a country of 1.3 billion people with an incredibly large manufacturing base. They also have an enormously large army, and when combined with the Chinese and the Russian—”
The President cut him off to interject, “—I understand the numbers are bad. Isn’t our technological advantage enough to counter them?”
Admiral Meyers reached out and placed his hand on McMillan's arm to let him know he’d handle this question. “Mr. President, during World War II, the German Tiger and Panther tanks were unrivaled on the battlefield. Even against the Russian T34s and KV tanks, they were far superior in their fire control system, weapon power, and accuracy. They were devastating to the Russian and Allied tanks that faced them. It was said that during the Allied advance toward Germany, the Germans were averaging a ten-to-one kill ratio, and in the east, sometimes as high as twelve-to-one. The problem for the Germans was that there was always an 11th, 12th, or 13th tank that kept coming at them. There would be times where a group of five or six Panther tanks would destroy fifty-plus T34s, but ultimately they would get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers the Russians were able to throw at them.”
Meyers paused for a second before continuing. “My point, Mr. President, is that technology does not provide us such a huge advantage as one might think. At some point, the volume being thrown at us will eventually overwhelm and defeat us,” he concluded.
The President snorted incredulously. “So, in this scenario, you’re saying we’re the Germans of 1941 and we’re about to be overwhelmed by the Allied and Russian hordes in another year?”
There was an uncomfortable pause after that question. Gates took the silence as confirmation, and his face fell.
“OK, gentlemen,” the President began, “if this is the new reality we have to work with, then I need solutions. How are we going to counter this new development, and what is the plan to defeat them before they’re able to overwhelm us?”
Jim Castle decided that he had sat on the sidelines of this conversation long enough at this point, and jumped in. “We ramp up production of everything, and we simply out produce them, and outfight them on the battlefield. Let’s look at Korea, for example. The Chinese just threw a massive counterattack against us that lasted for nearly four straight weeks. In that time, they sent nearly 300,000 soldiers against us, the Japanese and the ROK, and they ultimately lost that battle. They didn’t remove us from North Korea, and they didn’t defeat us on the battlefield. They suffered nearly 82,000 casualties and lost over a thousand tanks and hundreds of aircraft in a monthlong battle.”
“They hurt us, but they did not defeat us, Mr. President,” Castle continued, tapping the table for emphasis. “The equipment and aircraft they lost in this battle is going to take them a long time to replace, and that’s going to hurt them in the short run. What we have to do now is keep the pressure on them. We have to keep going after critical functions of their economy with our strategic bombers and continue to deprive them of the natural resources and minerals they need to keep their economy running,” Jim said.
Gates thought Admiral Meyers looked like he was holding something back. “What’s on your mind, Peter?”
A bit surprised at being called out, Admiral Meyers figured this would be about as good a time as any to make his pitch for the second round of military drafts. “Sir, I think we need to look at another draft. If this intelligence is correct,” he said, holding up the report from China, “then we’re going to need a lot more soldiers. We also have to keep in mind that we can’t just snap our fingers and have a million new soldiers just appear. It takes a lot of time to train a soldier to fight the kinds of wars we’re now fighting. If India, Indonesia, and Iran do fully join in this war, then the current size of our military isn’t going to be enough. Plus, I’m very concerned with the quality of the soldiers we’re currently sending to Europe and Asia. We’re rushing them through basic and advanced training and sending them straight to the front.”
Holding a hand up so as to not be interrupted, Meyers continued, “I know that we had to do this in order to stabilize the lines. Going forward, though, I would like to return to our standard training program and incorporate the type of fighting our soldiers are most likely to encounter so we can better prepare them. My concern right now is that we’re spread so thin in Europe and Asia that we’re going to be stalemated because we can’t focus on one theater. We’re still at least two years away from being able to fight and sustain a two-front war.”
The others in the room pondered that statement for a minute before anyone responded.
Gates let out a deep breath, more in frustration than anything else. “Lord, help guide me and lead our great nation out of these troubled waters we now find ourselves in,” he silently prayed.
“Peter, you mentioned a second draft. We just completed the last draft of five million men and women. Most of them are still waiting to start basic training. How many additional men and women are you suggesting we draft?”
All eyes turned toward the admiral to see what he’d say next. Jim Castle smirked a little at his friend, knowing he had just walked into a minefield.