Petkovic was given the first drug, and within seconds, it felt like his entire body was burning from the inside. He started to scream, and tried to wrestle himself free from the guards who held him firmly in his chair. However, their grip was firm, and they were unmoved by his cries for help… they had clearly seen this done a number of times before. After nearly ten minutes of not answering the interrogator’s questions, the Colonel finally gave in. “I will cooperate, Mr. Smith!” he cried. “Just take the pain away!” he pleaded.
Schafer gave him the counteractive drug, and then quickly injected him with the lucidity drug. Within seconds, he could see in Petkovic’s eyes that he was feeling relief and was ready to talk. Schafer calmly sat back down at the table. “So, tell me about the T41. What type of gun does it have?”
With the lucidity drug in his system, Petkovic responded almost immediately as if his sub-conscious had been laid bare. “It uses a pulse beam laser.”
“How many shots can it fire a minute?” asked Josh, wanting to establish a rhythym.
“Two.”
“How long until it needs to be recharged?” queried Josh.
“It can fire a total of fifteen shots before it needs to recharge.”
“And how long does it take to recharge?” Schafer continued.
“It takes three minutes to recharge enough energy to fire a single shot; the laser can fire a shot every thirty seconds. It can fire through its charged battery in six minutes, but then it takes forty-five minutes to return back to full charge.”
“What are the dimensions of the T41?” Schafer asked, continuing to roll through the questions on his list.
Petkovic continued to answer question after question for nearly four hours before Schafer ended the interrogation. Josh had obtained all the information he needed on the T41, and now it was time to write up the Intelligence Information Report (IIR) and get this information out to the greater intelligence community so they could decide what further information they would like from Petkovic.
Teach and Train
Following the various victory parades and time off, the Marines of the Third Marine Division reformed at their desert training facility in California, Twenty-Nine Palms. The division was conducting a series of armored training exercises and mountain warfare training, in preparation for their eventual deployment to fight the Chinese and Russian soldiers in Alaska. Fifth Marines, which was already fighting in Alaska, had sent several dozen advisors to help them get ready and to instruct them on what to expect when they arrived. They learned that the Chinese were making heavy use of artillery and armored forces in Alaska, much more so than they did with their forces in the Middle East.
The challenge US Forces were facing in dealing with the Russian and Chinese soldiers was one of numbers. Despite the tactical advantage the American soldiers held with the integrated HUD system and the M5 AIR, the Chinese relied heavily on overwhelming manpower. They would routinely overrun units and just move through them with human wave assaults. They would attack with waves of light drone tanks, supported by their heavy tanks, and then follow up with a sea of humanity and send in multitudinous infantry. While American armor was, more often than not, able to deal with the Chinese armor, the infantry would get overwhelmed, and this would force the American positions to fall back. Had the Americans not established such formidable defensive positions at Susitna and Cooper Landing, Alaska would have been lost many months ago. As it stood, it was only a matter of time until these positions collapsed. They were being bombarded nearly 24/7, and attacked by enemy drone bombers on a daily basis. The air defense capabilities simply could not keep up.
The introduction of the F41 had probably given these defensive positions new life. Despite their small numbers, they were making a huge impact, going after enemy ground attack drones and drone bombers.
Equipment updates were important, but the updates in key personnel were going to be essential in winning the war as well. Major General Lance Peeler had just been promoted to Lieutenant General, and given command of all Marine Forces on the West Coast. Despite being promoted, LTG Peeler was still going to retain command of Third Marines for the time being, until his duties required him to relinquish that control. His main focus right now was getting his Marines ready to fight the Chinese. His division had been given their replacements, and they were finally sitting at 100 % strength. Now they were focused on training and preparation for their eventual deployment with General Gardner’s Third Army. Third Marines had been assigned the task of helping the Army get the new South American Multinational Force (SAMF) from South and Central America ready to participate in the war. One of the key training areas the Marines focused on was marksmanship. They were especially drilling on firing discipline, as well as small and large unit maneuvers. In the type of fighting they would be facing against the Chinese and Russian forces, these tactics were going to be critical to know inside and out, as well as how to coordinate them with their colleagues.
LTG Peeler had been given six weeks to get the SAMF ready to fight. The Army had assigned one armored division to work with the SAMF on tank and armored warfare tactics, something General Gardner was an expert at. While the training continued, new divisions fresh from basic combat training continued to filter in to the Army and were rotated immediately in to the field training exercises. Third Army was growing in strength at a rate of 30,000 new soldiers a month, and had just broken the magic number of one million Soldiers and Marines.
In addition to the Third Marines, LTG Peeler was in the process of training three additional 60,000 man divisions for future combat operations. The Marine base at Camp Pendleton, near Oceanside, CA, was a buzz of activity. They were responsible for the training of three divisions of Marines, with nearly 5,000 Marines completing basic and advanced infantry training every week. They were quickly rotated to Twenty-Nine Palms, where they trained with the large maneuver elements before being sent to their individual assignments or deployed as replacements.
After thirty days of R & R, Captain Thornton was relaxed and ready to get back to work. While on leave, he had spent some of his time in Key West doing some scuba diving and fishing, unwinding those thoughts in his head away from the war and the military. Now it was time to get back to the business at hand, training his Marines for their eventual deployment to the frontlines. One of the key things Thornton had learned during his near-constant year of combat was the importance of being able to fire and maneuver while taking enemy fire. Because the Chinese made heavy use of human wave assaults, it was imperative to keep your head up and place well-aimed shots at the enemy, as opposed to hiding in your foxhole or popping up and down like a gopher. This was hard to teach a soldier as most people’s instinct is to duck when they start to hear bullets flying nearby or over their heads. Thornton taught his Marines, “Remember, the enemy is just as scared as you are, and if you can throw more lead downrange at him or her, you might be able to get them to duck instead.”
The other area of focus was to practice training with the new Wolverine armored vehicle. It was a much improved upon vehicle from the traditional Marine Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs); the Wolverine was impervious to small arms fire and could deflect most RPG rockets, which made it very versatile. The railgun system could operate in air or ground attack modes, making the Wolverine a truly multi-purpose fighting weapon. It was perfect for providing light infantry the support they needed or accompanying the tanks for infantry support.