American Exit Strategy: Book 1 (10 page)

"Paul." someone announced.

Not recognizing the voice, Randall winced. He knew his moment of solitude was to be cut short. As he turned around, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the voice belonged to his friend, General Allen Jefferson. General Jefferson was the Commanding General, US Army Forces Command or CG FORSCOM for short.

Sonny had tried to get Jefferson to run as Randall's VP to attract the black vote. Regardless of the general’s race, Sonny genuinely respected the man, but Sonny looked at everything in the light of political capital, even skin color. It was his job; after all, the American public proved it mattered to them through their votes, despite what their mouths may say. The general was too dedicated to his duty in the Pentagon for such a frivolous pursuit.

"How are you General?" Paul answered with a smile as he stood to shake Jefferson's hand.

"Better now that I ran into you." Jefferson said with a grin. "I am heading back over to the Pentagon to start working out the logistics of this foolish 'liberty' bill. I have been advising against it all day. I spoke with the Senate Armed Services Committee, and then I spoke with the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. In two hours, I have to give my opinion to the House Committee on Homeland Security. None of them listen. They asked questions to try to get me to stamp their card. Each side is trying to get me to prove their points to the other side. It’s such a horrible bill. It goes right up to the limit of suspending Posse Comitatus. I feel sorry for the American people, but these are the fools they sent up here. It is very frustrating Paul."

Paul Randall replied "I have done everything I knew to do to wake people up. They seem to not care. I don't know when they will start caring. I don't know when they will open their eyes and start thinking for themselves."

"There is a lot of hostility from the ranks on this one as well. I have several high level officers that are going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) if the military is ordered to assist in the efforts in Detroit. Many others have simply stated that they will refuse any orders that are unconstitutional." the General said.

"Is there any common understanding amongst them that defines the term ‘unconstitutional’?" Paul inquired.

The General informed him "There is an organization known as Oath Keepers. Their primary purpose has been to unify the patriots among the ranks of the military as well as law enforcement officers. They have specifically pledged to disobey orders to enforce martial law or to blockade a city such as what is being done to Detroit as we speak. There are several other orders that have taken an oath not to follow including confiscating food or provisions, detaining or disarming the American people, or assisting foreign troops on American soil. This movement has spread like wildfire over the past few years. We are talking about 20% or 30% of the entire military that have taken this oath. The percentage is even higher amongst the older officers. Many of them have even put the Oath Keepers patch on their uniform. "

"What is your opinion of them General?" Paul inquired.

"I may not wear the patch Paul, but I have taken their oath." Jefferson replied in such a tone of conviction that it sent chills up Paul Randall's neck.

"God bless you Allen Jefferson." Paul said. "You are a patriot in a manner that gives definition to the very term."

The two men finished their lunch and returned to their respective tasks. Each of them had been encouraged by the other. They worked in a town where their views were considered radical and unwelcomed. It was as refreshing as a drink of cool water in the desert to be around another patriot after being submerged in a sea of ignorance day in and day out.

CHAPTER 15

"By removing the Bible from schools we would be wasting so much time and money in punishing criminals and so little pains to prevent crime. Take the Bible out of our schools and there would be an explosion in crime."

-Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Karen came to sit down by Matt. "If things settle down this weekend, do you think they will reopen schools Monday?" Karen asked.

"I don't know. I don't know what the world will look like Monday. Even if they do, it doesn't mean you will be going back. If things stay volatile, you can't go back to work until they settle down." Matt responded.

"I can’t sit in the house all the time. I have to get out and move around." Karen countered.

"Go sit at the neighbors or find a hobby. You have to be safe. That school was not a good place to be in the best of times. Most of those kids have no sense of right and wrong. They have just watched the world start to crumble. They are not safe to be around when things start to come unglued.

It absolutely breaks my heart, but a lot of those kids are beyond helping until they realize they need help and ask for it. The schools have taught them that there is no such thing as God. They have used the myth of evolution to tell them they just happened. They believe there is no plan and there is no purpose for them to be here. They have been taught that they evolved from an animal, so why would we not expect them to act like animals. A large majority of the kids in your school are treated like animals by their mothers. They had them in the first place in order to milk the welfare system. They get SNAP benefits, housing, an Al Mohammad phone, Al Mohammad care, help from the utility companies, and everything they need to live a life of leisure by having four kids. So they have zero expenses, then they get a tax credit for each kid. Every year the free money tax credit goes up. It is currently around $4,200 for each kid. They can get a credit for up to 4 kids. That comes to $16,800 a year tax free that could go straight in the bank, because all the expenses have been taken care of. That's why you never see a welfare mom with five kids. The benefit caps out at four. Many of those moms see those kids as cattle, reinforcing the idea to the children that they are animals.

The Federal Government has effectively subsidized irresponsible pregnancies. Any time a government subsidizes something, you get more of it. It’s a basic economic principle. We have subsidized bad behavior and now our society is suffocating under the weight of it.

Now we have an entire class of people who are second and third generation welfare dependants with no moral compass. They offer nothing to society in return for what they have taken. In fact they offer a negative return by creating an average of two more welfare mothers from each mother and an average of two more sperm donors to inseminate the next generation of mothers and fill up the prisons." Matt ended.

Karen added "It cost a lot of money to create that problem. Simply by not spending the money and not giving the tax credit, many of them would have never had children they couldn't afford. Even if they would have capped benefits at one child, it would have never been lucrative enough for people to make a living out of it."

Matt said, "Well, those chickens may be coming home to roost. I think the nanny state has just about tapped out on funds to support this nonsense. The horrible thing is that the people who have bought into it for generations are the one who will be most hurt by it."

Matt’s patrol did not start until 10:00 pm, and then he was the backup guy for the 2:00 am to 6:00 am shift. It was just after 7:00 pm and the sounds of sirens were starting to become more prevalent. Distant gunfire was also getting more frequent. Shortly after 8:00 pm, a loud succession of gunfire rang out from just a few streets over. It lasted for several minutes and it was obvious that it had involved several shooters.

"That sounded like it was very close." Karen said.

Matt responded, "I think it was about two streets over. Try to stay away from the windows. Even with the hurricane shutters covering most of the window, a bullet could still slide in. You should keep your Glock on you at all times also. Wear it on your holster if that’s more comfortable."

Shortly after the intense gunfire, there was a knock at the front door. Karen knew the night protocol by now. She would go to the hallway and stand with her gun drawn and trained on the front door while Matt would come out the side door to confirm who it was, with his gun hidden inside the doorway.

It was Blaine, but better safe than sorry. Matt came back around to the front door and let him in. Matt locked the door behind Blaine once he was inside.

"I spoke with Jack just a few minutes ago; we decided we probably should have a block watch. It sounded like World War III over there." Blaine said.

"I already set up a watch with Trevor and Chicken Elvis. I’m sure they will be fine with expanding the watch zone since we will get more guys to patrol. Why don't you and Jack go door to door to see who else you can recruit on the street and I'll start thinking up another patrol zone to present to Trevor and Elvis. Do you have your pistol on you?" Matt asked Blaine.

"It's in the house." Blaine answered.

"Get it first, and then go recruiting." Matt said with a hint of authority. He had no desire to be bossy, but he was a bit annoyed to be redrawing the battle plans at the eleventh hour.

"OK," Blain responded. "I'll be back in a few". Blaine knew they should have listened earlier, so he took the command with a good attitude.

Matt spoke with Trevor and Elvis. They took it as good news. The more people they had to work into the rotation, the better show of force they would have. Soon, they had nine men from the neighborhood standing at the point position in front of Elvis' yard which was closest to 9th Avenue. It was decided that since Elvis and Trevor had already been watching, one on guard and the other on backup, they would finish their shift at 12:00 pm. The three shifts would be replaced by two, so no one was on call. In the coming nights, they would start with four guys from 6:00 pm to 12:00 am, then five guys from 12:00 am to 6:00 am.

Tonight, Matt and Jack took the intersection of 9th Avenue and Oak. Blaine and another man from the block, Arthur Pendleton took the other end of the street. The fifth man, Dan Cleveland was the runner. He was stationed with Matt and Jack, but would be responsible for giving breaks or getting the other off duty men in the case of an event. Matt parked his truck perpendicular in the middle of the road, so that he would have to move it in order for anyone to have access to the street.

The sirens were constant for most of the night. The men could smell fire, but no one could see any smoke to say for certain where the fire was coming from. The men kept the walkie talkies with them, but tried to avoid using them as much as possible. To request Dan to come and give a break to the men at the other end of the street, the men simply texted the others at the front station. Phones were working about 80% of the time. The other times, an "all circuits are busy" message would come up. Text messages were running slow, but if you sent one, it went through within five minutes.

The first part of Matt's shift passed without incident. The first sign of action they had was the police actually stopped to ask what was going on and why the truck was in the road. Patrol cars had been whizzing by all night, but they all had somewhere else to be.  Matt, Jack and Dan produced their ID's to show they were the residents of the street. The officers then asked the men if they were armed. Matt answered that he was and began to pull his Concealed Carry Permit from his wallet. The police never asked for the permit. They simply said "Good, carry on." and pulled away.

At about 3:00 am, four rough looking young men approached on foot. They were walking up 9th Avenue and began coming towards the checkpoint. Matt walked out with a smile and asked, "Can I help you gentlemen?"

The one who looked like the leader said, "I don't know, can you help me?"

Matt dispensed with the pleasantries. He slid his hand to his back and let it rest on the grip of the pistol. Jack had his new shotgun laid across the seats of Matt's truck. He was already in position and placed his hand on the stock.

"You guys need to keep moving while you still can." Matt said.

The leader said "We need to get through here. We goin to see my cousin."

"What’s your cousin’s name?" Jack asked from behind the truck door.

The men decided to end the conversation and tried walking past Matt and Jack. Matt and Jack produced their guns as Dan walked up behind them with his revolver already leveled at the leader’s head.

"Moving any further in our direction will be considered an act of aggression, and we will kill you." Matt shouted.

The three other men were already moving out of range by the time the leader looked behind him to see what they were going to do.

"I'll catch you cats later." the thug mouthed off as he decided to retreat.

The following night, the patrols went without incident. Several more bands of rough looking individuals passed by on foot and in cars, but they decided against a confrontation with the neighborhood patrols.

The news reported most of the riots dying down. Detroit was still under siege and fires roared through the city unchecked. Most of the firemen had left the city by this time. There was little they could have done. Several fire stations, themselves, had been burned out inside.