Thornton had his finger on the pulse, listening to as much information as he could about the battle to come. From what he could tell, they were in the fight of their lives once they arrived in Alaska, so he did his best to teach his Marines not just tactics and techniques, but mental readiness.
SecDef Pow-wow
Eric Clarke, the Secretary of Defense, had arrived early for his meeting with the President. The offensive operation in Alaska had not gone well, despite the enormous losses they had inflicted on the enemy. The Chinese just kept coming. The President was clearly starting to get concerned because if the Army could not stop the Chinese in Alaska, then chances were, they were going to break through their defensive line at some point and secure the entire state. That would be not just a political disaster for the President, but an enormous military one as well.
Julie Wells, the President’s secretary, signaled to Eric. “The President will see you now.”
Eric walked in to the Oval Office and saw the President sitting down on one of the couches, with one of his trademark Red Bulls nearby. The President looked tired and worn out, the stress was apparent in his face. The President normally looked determined and calm under pressure, clearly he was not feeling that way today.
Walking into the room, Eric moved to shake the President’s hand, and then quickly took a seat across from him. “Mr. President, I assume you have read the executive summary of the Susitna battle report?” asked the SecDef.
Looking up at Eric, the President said, “I have; I must say I am disappointed. We had given General Black 20,000 Raptor combat suits, all of our Wolverines, and the first batch of F41s, yet still he was unable to drive them back.” Looking down at the notepad again, and then back at Eric, he quipped, “He used 450,000 soldiers in his offensive, didn’t he?”
“He had, Mr. President; they sustained some pretty heavy casualties as well.” Eric was not sure if this directly answered the boss’s question.
“We’ve sustained 93,000 KIAs in Alaska, another 191,000 wounded. These kinds of casualties are not sustainable in a defeat. If we had pushed the Chinese out of Alaska, then this would have been acceptable, but as it stands, we have only weakened our position there significantly. What is our next course of action Eric?” asked the President pointedly.
Pulling up a holographic map from his notepad, Eric began to point to several mountain ranges and national parks. “We are beginning construction of two new defensive positions; one at the Denali National Park Preserve, and the second at the McKinley Park Reserve. These positions are all along Route 1, and are stationed at strategic locations to provide us the best possible defensive situations. There are very few routes in and out of Alaska because of its treacherous mountain ranges and the heavy snows.” Eric sighed deeply before continuing, “I have also ordered the construction of a series of defensive positions in the Yukon and upper parts of British Columbia. It may become necessary that we fall back further before the end of winter or next summer.”
The President made eye contact that was almost aggressive, and pointedly said, “That is unacceptable. Our soldiers are now better equipped; they have better tanks and body armor, and we finally have an aircraft that rivals the MiG40. We cannot continue to lose more ground like that. What about the new recruits we are training?” Henry was clearly not happy, and was fishing for alternatives.
“We have thirty military training schools operational right now; each is turning out 1,000 troops a week. We are essentially training a new division every week. It is going to take time to get the men we need. The Chinese started this war with a six-million-man army; our sources now say they have drafted another ten million. The DoD is just not capable of fighting a war against both China and Russia at the same time. We really need the Europeans to fight their own war so we can pull our troops back home where they are desperately needed.” As the SecDef spoke, he was not very confident that even bringing all the troops back from Europe would be enough.
The President knew Eric was doing all he could; he also knew that the DoD had been extremely depleted when he took office, and despite four years of heavy funding, they were only just now starting to get up to speed. His next response was a bit calmer, more measured. “Here is what I want to have happen then. Tell General Wade that the force he has is what he has. No more reinforcements are going to be sent to Europe. As units dwindle in strength, he is to combine them with other units, because there will be no more replacement soldiers sent. Second, all of the wounded that return from Europe are to be filtered into the new basic training facilities to help train up the new units and provide them with much needed experience and expertise. Third, I want us to expand the military training facilities. I want to ramp up training; we need to move it up from 30,000 a week to 50,000. I don’t care how many National Guard and Reserve facilities need to be federalized and reactivated. Make it happen… and construct new basic training facilities if needed. I don’t want to resort to forming militia units, but if we lose Alaska and they start to threaten the rest of the country, that may need to happen.”
Eric could see that Henry was returning back to his normal self again as he began to dictate orders. The President was, if nothing else, an organizational genius. He surrounded himself with people who possessed the same quality, which was probably why America had not collapsed from the challenges that had been thrown at it.
“I’ll get on it right away Mr. President. Have we heard anything new yet from the Japanese about them joining the war effort?” asked Eric.
“Secretary Wise said he does not believe they are going to come to our aid or join the war effort. As a matter of fact, the only assistance they have offered is jack and squat. They are happy to keep selling their cars and other goods in America though… at least they are ordering tens of millions of tons of food products through the Grain Consortium. We believe they may be stocking up in case the Chinese decide they want to start a blockade of the West Coast,” Stein answered dejectedly.
Despite the Navy introducing the SUDs to the Pacific, the Chinese Navy remained dominant in the North and Central Pacific. The Navy was slowly destroying the Chinese submarines, which had been a priority to clear out; now they were starting to shift focus to the shipping container ships and fuel tankers. This would hopefully hurt the PLA’s logistical efforts and slow their progress down in Alaska.
The President expanded the holographic map of Alaska to include most of Asia, and then clicked on India. “What concerns me most, Eric, is India. I just read an intelligence report (and also received some cables from Jim Wise at State) about what India is up to. They have agreed to assist the PRC economically; they have begun to manufacture their fighter drones, and to transport ships and other war materials that they are having a hard time replacing quickly. To further add to this, the Indian government-which already maintains a two-million-man army-has just announced an increase in their military force to nearly four million. That means that they are doubling their army. The question is why?”
“Perhaps they are just concerned about China-I mean the PLA did gobble up all of their neighbors, and the IR is now an occupied country,” Eric responded, hoping this might calm the President’s concerns.
“You may be right. In any case, the Indian army is incredibly outdated. Thank you for your efforts Eric. It means a lot to have people I know I can count on right now in these trying times.