Dr. Dewei Zhong was in a holding pattern off shore. He would be part of the last group to reach Anchor Point. The first wave of doctors were Tieh Ta practitioners, who specialized in trauma injuries; they triaged the patients and would get to work setting broken bones and treating the soldiers who had lost limbs. The Tieh Ta practitioners would also offer to assist those who were too far beyond treatment in ending their lives peacefully. Dr. Zhong had mixed feelings about this practice, but Buddha had been tolerant of monks who had committed suicide in such cases, and so he kept his mouth shut and followed along, knowing that those who received such an offer were struggling under great suffering.
As Dr. Zhong waited offshore, he smiled to himself thinking about how much more equipment the Americans would need in order to do his job. He was quite sure that death rates with the American doctors would be at least double what theirs were with the limited amount of equipment they had under their budget. Dewei didn’t need all of those fancy gadgets in order to do his work. He could simply look at a patient’s face and their tongue and have a very good idea of whether or not infection had spread in the body, if IV fluids would be necessary, and which medicines would be of greatest use in restoring balance to the body.
While he was reflecting, his landing craft suddenly bumped into the shore, and he almost lost his balance as his ship lurched forward. Once everyone caught their footing, they all rushed forward as one unit, lugging their bulky bags of supplies. As more and more of the scene came into view, Dr. Zhong was no longer smiling… what unfolded before him was horrific, even past the limits of what he had imagined in his mind. The sheer enormity of the agony in front of him was overwhelming. There was hardly a place to stand where there wasn’t blood or the remnants of a soldier blown apart by an explosion. Dewei took a deep breath; if he allowed himself to think about it all, he was going to become useless. He needed to calm himself and focus on what was immediately in front of him.
Dr. Zhong set to work; once he started working with the patients, the automaticity kicked in, and he was able to be effective and swift. He moved steadily from patient to patient, administering a combination of traditional Chinese herbal medications and Western drugs, dressing wounds, starting IVs, and motioning to the medical transporters when a patient was stabilized enough to move back to the ship. Hours went by in what seemed like minutes, and then suddenly all of the wounded were cleared from the beach. Dewei returned to the boat, accompanying a patient who was not quite as stable as the rest.
As they took off towards the Middle Kingdom, Dr. Zhong continued his work. There would be very little sleep until they returned home and were relieved by other practitioners. Dewei moved swiftly from patient to patient, feeling the temperature on different parts of their body and giving instructions to assistants who would add or take away blankets. Dr. Zhong was a little more liberal with the pain medications than most of his colleagues; he knew that his fellow Chinese service men were very stoic in nature and that most would not ask him for assistance, but he felt that easing their suffering would be one way to bring better karma to himself. His movements were like a well-rehearsed dance; he did not waste time or energy, but steadily moved along, caring for others well into the night.
The final ships would come to collect the bodies of the dead, so that their families could give them a proper burial. If a soldier’s body was too damaged to be returned to the family, the family was given a set of their dog tags, along with any cremated remains that might have been collected. The Chinese believed that this dignity in passing would help ensure that the souls of the departed would continue to look after and care for their loved ones after their death.
Changing Tactics
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Branson, had been discussing the casualties and the state of the war in Alaska with Eric Clarke (the Secretary of Defense) for close to half an hour before the start of the national security meeting with the President. Slowly, other members of the President’s national security team were filtering in with their aides in tow. They were reviewing their portions of the brief with their aides as they prepared for the grilling the President usually put his team through. Henry Stein was usually tough but fair in the meetings; he wanted unfiltered information about the situation on the ground. He typically did not get directly involved in the minutia of decisions, but he certainly wanted a clear picture of what was happening. Having served in the Second Iraq war and worked in the Department of Defense for many years before starting his own business, he had an adept understanding of the complexities involved in both fighting a war and the bureaucracy of managing one.
In the Oval Office, President Stein sat in his chair talking with his Chief of Staff, Michael Montgomery (or “Monty” as he was usually called). They had been talking about domestic priorities and issues with Jeff Rogers, the Senior White House Economic Advisor, and Secretary of Treasury, Joyce Gibbs, before the National Security meeting. Secretary Gibbs had been reviewing the state of the economy.
“As you know, Sir, the US has been experiencing exponential growth the past five years since you have taken office. The America First Corporation (AFC) has been a boon for the U.S.A. As millions of Americans have been hired for reconstruction and infrastructure jobs all over the nation, the country has begun to turn around.” Jeff reviewed various charts and metrics with more detailed information, and Henry couldn’t help but start to daydream during the explanation. The President had established AFC to become a sort of sovereign wealth fund for the country, allowing it to leverage the various resources on federal lands all across the country. The money being generated by AFC was being used to shore up Social Security and help fund other aspects of the federal government in addition to providing hundreds of thousands of jobs. AFC was the only company allowed to mine and drill on federal land. They also planted fruit and nut trees along federal freeways and highways all across the country. It beautified the highways across America and again provided tens of thousands of jobs and tens of millions of tons of food a month.
Monty brought his boss back to reality as he asserted, “The economic news is good, Mr. President. Despite the draft and the fighting in Alaska, the economy continues to remain strong.”
“The economy is doing well enough, but we are still not producing enough materials needed for the war. The fighting in Alaska is chewing through equipment at a faster rate than we can replace it. The Russians are picking up their offensive again in Europe and General Gardner wants to invade the IR,” responded the President with a sigh as he sank a little deeper in his chair.
Knowing that getting depressed about the situation was not going to make it any better, the President quickly readjusted to a better thinking posture, resolving himself to find a solution. “I believe we are starting to run late for the National Security briefing; let’s head down and see what they have for us. When we are done, I want to return back to this discussion and figure out how we can increase manufacturing.”
“Yes Mr. President,” they responded.
Henry stood up and began to walk towards the door.
Monty quickly followed the President out of the Oval Office and was thinking about that very question. The auto-industry had retooled their manufacturing plants months ago to crank out tanks and other armored vehicles at a record rate. The massive transition to additive manufacturing was starting to revolutionize the entire manufacturing sector. The U.S. could mass produce the materials needed to build a fighter drone in less than ten days. The goal was to get that number down to five. General Motors was working on being able to do the same thing with most of the component parts for the Pershing battle tanks and other infantry fighting vehicles. America just needed time to make the tools needed to win this war.