Claudia had a brother in Houston, so she had requested to be transferred there. Once she arrived, she learned that she actually was not exposed to a fatal level of radiation. She had gotten indoors before the fallout had really started to come down, and although she was exposed to some additional radiation that emanated in through the entrance, her condition was still treatable. The hospital had also given everyone who was not acutely dying a dose of potassium iodine. She went through the full decontamination process before being transported; she was scrubbed within an inch of her life with a special solution, and given new clothing to wear. Now they were giving her new medications that had recently been developed to treat and prevent damage to her bone marrow and internal organs. It would take her a little while to process the fact that she had another chance at life.
The only individuals being allowed to enter the contaminated area were rescue workers, firefighters and paramedics. Police were assigned to go door to door and search for injured people and to evacuate everyone in the danger zones. Radiation was going to be high within the perimeters, and unless people began to move out of them, they were going to receive a lethal dose of radiation in short order. All police and rescue workers were required to wear a radiation counter and once the readout reached a certain level, they were no longer allowed into the hot zones.
As FedEx and UPS cargo aircraft began to land at previously identified airports, they were being loaded with prepositioned pallets configured to transport injured people in double decker beds. Other parts of the planes’ cargo hold were set up for people with more severe injuries. The Boeing transports could move sixty non-critically injured people, and up to twenty-four intensive care patients, along with all the medical equipment and personnel needed to care for them.
While the aircraft were being readied for their new medical mission, helicopters began to arrive at the airports from the stage one and two triage centers, bringing hundreds of injured people to the waiting aircraft. As the planes were filled with the wounded, they began their take offs to the next destination. Most aircraft would fly to a city within a two-hour radius and then return for another trip. FEMA had the aircraft spread out their trips to different cities so one city would not get suddenly overwhelmed. As medical, police and firefighter volunteers showed up at those airports, they were loaded in to the aircraft for the return flight back.
Within sixteen hours of activating the disaster relief plan, thousands of seriously injured people had been flown to dozens of cities across America. Those who could not return back to their homes were being loaded into trucks and taken to Ft. Dix or flown to Ft. Drum (where field tents and barracks were being made available for people to stay in until they could be flown to their next of kin in another city or state). Because it was in the throes of a cold Northeast winter, establishing adequate shelter for the tens of thousands of refugees was imperative.
By the end of the first day, FEMA had their disaster recovery system fully operational and running at 100 %. People were being treated and relocated to other cities for further care or tended to by their extended family. Those who had nowhere else to go, were being provided with housing and food on a variety of military bases and local hotels near those military installations until something more permanent could be arranged.
New Commander
General Michaels had been the US European Commander and the NATO Supreme Allied Commander (SACEUR) until two days ago; he was dining with his wife at a restaurant in Brussels when he suddenly suffered a heart attack and died. His expeditious demise was still under investigation, but it was believed he had been poisoned with something, causing his heart to fail on the eve of the Russian invasion. President Stein knew he had to get a new commander in place who had combat experience. General Branson would be ideal, but his counsel was needed with the President; plus, he was the organizational genius behind the rapid mobilization of forces in the US.
That left General Wade; he had overseen Operation Brimstone in Mexico as the senior military commander and then had moved into Command position at US Central Command (CENTCOM); now he would take over as Supreme Allied Commander NATO. The President wasted no time in announcing his choice.
General Wade didn’t waste any time either; his first task was to get the American and NATO forces ready to take on a Russian army that number in the millions of men and tens of thousands in tanks and drones. As soon as he accepted the new position, he immediately began to disperse forward elements in Poland, Hungary and Romania, getting them ready to meet the Russians head on. Their mission was to conduct a series of delaying actions and give ground as required, but most importantly, make sure their forces were neither surrounded nor destroyed. They needed to buy time for the reactivated American Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Armies to constitute.
General Aaron Wade was a very competent commander, but he was an unknown to Europe and NATO. He had never served in a European or NATO command or staff position; spending all of his military time either in the Middle East, Asia or South America. He had scant precious time to move to a theater of operation and take over command of a multinational force he knew very little about. The NATO countries had historically been more of a social club than a military organization. The only countries that really maintained a military close to the NATO standards were Germany, Poland and England. French Special Forces were still on par with the US and others, but the rest of their force was using outdated equipment from decades of neglect and lack of modernization.
The European Union attempted to take over control of the national military forces, and to a large extent they had. Each country’s active military force became a National Guard force, like the ones that the American states each maintained. The exception was Germany’s National Guard force; theirs was as strong and large as the entire EU military force, of which Germany provided nearly 40 % of all the military members. Germany was by far the industrial and military backbone of the EU. The question was — would Germany’s strength be enough to save Europe from the Russian hoards, or would the EU collapse?
With the situation temporarily stabilized in Israel, the American Fifth Army was not going to open a second offensive front into Turkey. They were now redirected to form in Northern Germany and be prepared to defend Western Europe. The American Sixth Army was forming in Southern Germany and would move into Hungary and Romania, with their fallback position identified as Serbia and Hungary’s Western border once they were ready. NATO would slowly allow lost ground in order to buy time for the rest of the EU army to mobilize and reinforce the Americans.
General Wade’s combined American Force consisted of 575,000 soldiers, with another 200,000 set to arrive over the next five days. The biggest problem facing him in the EU was equipment. They were in desperate need of tanks, armored vehicles, munitions, artillery and aircraft. The vast majority of the available equipment had been shipped to Israel to replace the horrendous losses General Gardner had taken. The American economy was quickly retooling for war, but it would be months (if not a full year) before the economy could produce enough equipment to replace the current losses prior to the Russians invading. It was going to be a fight against time. Truth be told, General Wade was not confident he could win.