The President and his military advisors continued to examine the information Secretary Clarke presented before the Brazilian Minister of Defense asked the question, “Where would this expeditionary army be deployed to?”
“Right now, we are not 100 % sure yet. It will be the middle of August before they are ready to deploy. A lot will depend on what the situation looks like in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. They could be deployed to the Middle East as an occupation force so that we could transfer the American Third Army to Europe or Asia, or they could be deployed to Europe to assist NATO. We will have a clearer picture as we get closer to that timeframe. President Stein is also open to suggestions for where you would like to see them deployed as well,” the SecDef said.
“Let me ask a more practical question. How is Brazil and the rest of South America supposed to equip or pay for this expeditionary force?” asked the Minister of Finance.
“The President has authorized me to provide the export/import and manufacturing licenses to build the myriad of armored vehicles and other military equipment that will be needed; this will create tens of thousands of high-end manufacturing jobs for your country. In addition, because of the cost required to support and sustain this expeditionary force is substantial, the US Department of Defense will be responsible for paying the salaries of the force and will purchase the required military vehicles and aircraft being produced by Brazil at 15 % above cost,” Clarke finished.
“I assume there will be a similar training program for the pilots for these aircraft as well?” asked the Chief General of the Brazilian Air Force.
“The individuals identified for pilot training will be sent to the US for training at our facilities; they will be integrated into the American Air Force for the duration of the war and will be transferred back to Brazilian national control once the war is over. We will not train a separate Air Force or Naval Force in addition to the ground force. The ground force will receive all of its air and naval support from the US. Essentially, Brazilians who want to join the air or naval arm of the expeditionary force can do so; they will just be integrated into the American air or naval forces for the duration of their enlistment or the length of the war, whichever comes first,” Eric Clarke said, hoping this addressed their concerns.
“How long will this expeditionary force be required to serve?” asked the Minister of Defense.
“They will be required to serve for the duration of the war, or for four years, whichever is shorter,” Secretary Clarke answered.
“Is this same offer being made to the other South American countries as well?” asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“Yes, we are seeking a total of one million soldiers to form the South American expeditionary force. We will be asking the other countries to contribute a similarly sized force, though most of the manufacturing of the equipment needed would take place in Brazil, pending your joining the Coalition.”
“So, if we do not join and Argentina does, then the manufacturing goes to them?” asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“That would be correct. Brazil is our biggest supporter, and we wanted you to have the first chance at this offer,” said Jim Wise.
“Gentlemen, we need some time to discuss this privately. I would like to ask that you take a break to freshen up or get some sleep, and then meet us for dinner in four hours. We will have an answer for you after the meal,” said the President, concluding the meeting.
As Secretaries Clarke and Wise left the room, they walked to an outside patio so that they could soak up some sun while they drank a glass of fresh tea. “Do you think they are going to join?” asked Eric, looking to get another perspective.
“I believe so. That is, unless the Chinese have already approached them and made a better offer. However, I believe that at this point South America is too heavily tied to the American and EU economies to just cut ties and join the Axis powers,” Jim replied, though it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
“If they do, it’s going to be a herculean effort to get this expeditionary force trained. Not only do they not have the facilities built, they would still have to draft the needed soldiers,” Eric said, not sure if they had bitten off more than they could chew.
Jim thought for a moment before responding, “We can bring in more PMCs to help augment your soldiers.”
“That only works to a certain extent; besides the PMCs are already stretched thin. It’s not like people’s enlistments are ending while the war is going on. We’ve stop-gapped everyone for the time being,” said Eric.
“You know that is going to become very unpopular if this war continues for several more years,” Jim retorted. He remembered what it was like during the Iraq War in the 2000s when the Bush Administration put a stop loss in place to keep the army numbers up.
“I know. Our plan is that for anyone whose eight-year active and inactive reserve enlistment is up, we offer them a $50K tax-free bonus per year that they re-enlist for, plus a one grade promotion. The number of people who are nearing or are at that actual enlistment mark is actually rather low. Several years ago, we phased out the two and three-year enlistment and went to a four-year enlistment with four-years in the National Guard or Reserves. The Guard and Reserves activations have also been increased from eighteen months to thirty-six months, until we have enough active duty units to fully replace them.” Eric as he took a long drink of his tea before he added, “This was a problem during the Iraq War in the 2000s as well. Too many National Guard and Reserve units were being activated, and it was seriously impacting the families of these men and women, not to mention their employers. The situation is not lost on us. As a corresponding active duty unit completes his/her training and receives their combat equipment, we are rotating those citizen soldier units back to the US. It’s just going to take some time, like everything else.”
“I’m glad to hear that you are taking this issue seriously. My grandson, Tyler, is in the Wisconsin Army National Guard; my son says he is doing good, but he is not sure when their unit will be rotating back to the US.”
Eric looked at the man sitting next to him as if for the first time. “Jim — I had no idea your grandson was in the military. Where is he currently stationed? What does he do?” Eric asked, genuinely concerned.
“He’s a Staff Sergeant in the 126th Field Artillery Battalion, part of the 57th Artillery Brigade. They are currently deployed in Israel right now. His unit arrived there a few weeks after the war started,” replied Jim with pride in his voice. He pulled out his cell phone and began to show Eric several pictures of Tyler. There were a number from his wedding and a few of him with some of the soldiers from his unit in Israel.
“Do you talk with him much?”
“He called me once a few weeks back to say, ‘Happy birthday,’ and to let me know he’s doing OK. I offered to help him get reassigned back to the US, but he said he couldn’t leave without his unit. He said it would look bad, and he couldn’t just leave them when they needed him.” Jim eyebrows furrowed while he talked; he just could not hide his concern.
“If you want, I can look into having his unit reassigned. Since they are an artillery unit, I’m not sure I could pull them off the line entirely. We are desperately short when it comes to artillery.” Eric sat there thinking for a few minutes. “Tell you what — if the Brazilians do join the Coalition, we are going to need to pull some combat units to do all of the training down here. I could arrange for his unit to be one of the ones pulled if you would like me to have him moved to a less dangerous place.”