The Eagle rises from the Ashes

After a long hard year at work, I had finally made the decision. My wife and children had been begging me to go for almost 2 years, so after giving it a bit of thought I made the choice.

The wife and I packed up our Yukon with food, clothes, and some weapons and are going to head up into the Rocky mountains. My old family cabin sat silently waiting for us in a beautiful privately owned valley deep in the mountains.

We followed US 70 to the small town of Vail, Colorado, and stopped to pick up additional provisions. We then turned off into a small seasonal dirt road just west of town. We drove a half mile or so up the road until met by a tall chain link fence that went across the road from the rock faces on either side. I gently rolled the Yukon to a stop, and stepped out if the vehicle. I paused briefly closing my eyes and remembering all of the sounds and smells of the mountains from my childhoods spent here. After a few moments I struggled a bit with the rusty padlock chaining the gate, then pulled the vehicle through to relock it behind us.

When I got back in the truck my wife gave me an odd look. I explained to her that I had relocked the gate to keep out trespassers. We then drove a few.miles further on when the sheer rock face on both sides opened into the beautiful Kelsey valley. My families private retreat since the early 1800's.

My wife and kids grew excited at seeing the valley again after so long away. Off in the distance we could see the cabin. The windows hidden from the shutters covering them. My father had come here back during the Cuban missile crises. Dad has sworn at the time that ww3 was imminent and wanted to be prepared for his family. Dad had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in this valley. Behind the house were 4 20,000 gallon diesel tanks. Through the valley ran a brisk stream that ran year round, fed by springs and snowmelt. In this stream dad had built an electrical generation station for the home and valley. Not to be outdone dad had also built a 1200 square foot shelter deep in the bedrock under the home. He had stocked the shelter with everything you would possibly need in an emergency situation. Over the years I had replaced and upgraded these supplies to keep them fresh and useful.

I pulled our vehicle up in front of the cabin and turned the key off. Smiling and turning to my wife I spoke. " Well, we're here, sweetheart." I said, watching her beautiful smile. Her long Auburn hair flowed down around her face, he Crystal blue eyes lit up with excitement at our first vacation in years.

We all got out of the vehicle and stretched after such a long ride. I glanced around the valley, following the sheer stone cliff that encircled the valley. As I walked up to the house I looked at the stainless steel shutter that were down over the windows and doors. I knew these things were damn heavy as the backside of them all were coated in lead. I silently shook my head, dad had been such a conspiracy freak. I unlocked the shutter, rolling it up and grunting from the heavy effort. I then unlocked the door behind it and glanced around the room. Drop covers still were over all the furniture, all of the lights on the electrical switchboard were red from being in standby.

As I turned and yelled for the family to come in and join me, my cell rang. Damn it, I thought. Why didn't I just leave that damn thing back at home. I pressed the button to answer seeing that the call was from the watch center. "General Clark here." I said. I heard a few clicks and pops as the communication gear encrypted the call. " Sir, this is Colonel Kylanski the on duty officer at the watch center. POTUS has just ordered us to FASTPACE, sir. This is not a drill." My mind immediately went into high gear. FASTPACE meant that the president of the United States had ordered the military to defense condition 2, more commonly known as defcon 2. This had to be due to the terrorist threat that I had been briefed on at the defense department. I had been told that a new Islamic fundamentalist government had taken control of syria following a coup there. After an intense battle with Syrian national forces the fundamentalists had gained control of that countries nuclear arsenal. They had since been threatening to fire on "The Great Satan", or the United States. I quickly brought my mind back to the here and now and spoke to the man on the phone. "What is the situation right now, son?" I asked him. "Sir, our assets in country have reported a major battle around the Syrian missle Fields as the national forces are trying to regain control." There was then a pause from the man on the phone and I could hear a commotion in the background. " Sir we have multiple confirmed missle launches. I repeat multiple confirmed missile launches." He said. I thought quickly. " Calm down son and listen," I said to him. "Contact my executive officer there on the base. Tell him I've issued HEIMDALL. He will know what this means. I also want you to contact the ready reaction force ans dispatch them to my location. I also want you to contact fort Carson. Have them dispatch the 4th infantry division, the 10th special forces group, the 4th engineer battalion, and the 759th military police battalion also to my location. I will set up my command post here and contact POTUS, NORAD, AND WESTCOM from here." The airforce Colonel on the phone took my orders and hung up. This left me with the unenviable task of explaining to my family what the next 24 hours would hold....something I wasn't looking forward to.

Within a few hours the once peaceful valley was a hub of military activity. Trucks were arriving single file up the road in an unending stream bringing troops, staff, and material. helicopters came and went bringing more men and materials into the valley. All this allowed me to setup a backup command center for WESTCOM, or Western command.

My family, although not happy about our vacation being interrupted, took it better than expected. Within a few hours invasion, the valley no longer resembled the peaceful one it once was. Tents of various sizes were erected throughout the valley. In other places temporary buildings had been erected for staff and communications. In the center of the valley a large array of satellite dishes had been erected for communication with POTUS and JCS, or joint chiefs of staff.

Later that evening occasional helicopters, and vehicles where still arriving when at 2200 hours my communications staff received a flash UHF signal from the PEOC. This was the presidential emergency operations center. A bunker buried deep beneath the White House for the president and his staff. I ran into the comm office and was handed a paper. The president had ordered COCKED PISTOL. This meant that the country was now at defcon 1, its highest readiness level. War was imminent. I sat thinking a moment then decided to get some sleep after a long day. Hopefully in the morning this would all have blown over.

At 5am I woke up and stepped outside the cabin for a quick smoke when a bright flash of light lit up the night sky towards Denver. Within a moment the ground rumbled and shuddered slightly, waking up anyone that the light already hadn't. I ran towards the comm center still wearing my sleeping clothes. Grabbing an officer I saw running towards me, I asked what the situation was. I asked why there was no advanced warning of the strike. But the man just stared over my shoulder, seeming to hear nothing I said. Infuriated I turned and saw what had grabbed his attention. Barely rising over the mountains was a giant mushroom cloud. I stood briefly staring at it in disbelief. There were hundreds of other military personnel in my immediate area. It had grown dead silent. I knew that I had to assert leadership here before it all fell apart. " Men, women," I yelled. " We knew this could happen. We know it is also our duty to protect, and defend this country. The unthinkable has happened. Mourne the dead later, right now the living need our help. Our country needs our help. Now let's get to work and get a picture of what going on." I said to them. Slowly they began to move with a purpose, getting back to their posts, and to work. Letting them know that we still had a functional chain of command was important to make it seem as if business as usual continued. Later I had to explain to my wife and kids what had occurred. Had to explain why television, and radio was static. It was a time I never wanted to go back to again.

By midmorning we had finally been able to piece together what had happened. We knew for sure that Washington DC was a smoking crater. We also found out that Omaha, Nebraska the old home for strategic air command was also gone. We had spotty communications with the rest of the country at best. We had learned that the entire government had been incinerated in nuclear fire. Every military commander I had been able to contact led me to believe I was the highest ranking general left.