Soldier Up (22 page)

As the Marines approached the USS Hornet they had almost forgotten how large and aircraft carrier was even one as old as the Hornet.  It was an awesome sight they could see many of the old aircraft sitting on the fight deck at least the ones that were near the edge of it.  They circled around to the side of the ship where you would normally board it they found that the gangways had been pulled in essentially securing the ship. 

              They parked their vehicles and got out; a couple of squads were sent out to pull security.  The platoon leader, 1
st
Lieutenant Hooper, stood there and wondered how the hell they were going to get aboard.  Then the Gunny reported that he was seeing some movement on the ship, there were people aboard.  This was not good news they weren’t really looking to fight their way onboard but they would if that had to.  As far as they were concerned the Hornet was an active part of the US Navy and as Marines it was their job to protect and defend her.

              The Lieutenant and Gunny were both looking over the ship with binoculars from various locations.  They could see the occupants moving around, oddly enough it looked like they were all old men.  The Gunny came up with a theory to who they were, he went on and said that he had been on the Hornet a few times and there was always a cadre of older men who had served on her at one time or another or other men who had served on the older carriers and knew their way around. He surmised that when the event happened the men made their way back to the Hornet and once they were there they pulled up the gangways not allowing anyone on it that might want to loot or destroy it.

              The Lieutenant thought it sounded reasonable but still didn’t get them any closer to getting aboard.  “Well Sir we can try to send a couple of guys to climb up the anchor.” said the Gunny.

              The Lieutenant didn’t think it was a bad idea and he would try it as a last resort.  How thought about how they could make contact with the men on board.  “Any way we can make a large sign that has US Marines on it? We could do that and see what happens.” said Lieutenant Hooper.

              “Can’t hurt to try Sir, we can send a few guys over to the 7/11 down the street to see if they might find anything to write it assuming the looters wanted things to write with.”

              “Let’s do it Gunny, have them look for a large piece of card board that we can write on. It’s got to be large enough so they can see it aboard the ship.”

              Gunny sent four Marines to the store; once they were there they found the store had been gutted just about everything.  However, they did have bags of briquettes, they could use those to write with, big black letters.  They grabbed about five bags of the coal and headed back through the alleys, they were looking for big cardboard boxes. Luckily they came across a big refrigerator box one that looked to be someone’s home at one time.

              They grabbed that and drug it back to the Gunny who tore it apart and made a nice large piece of cardboard canvass.  He then drew a huge US MARINES on it; he spent about fifteen minutes making the letters large enough and thick enough so they could be seen from a distance.  He then got a couple of Marines to hold it up now how to get their attention onboard? Gunny pulled his pistol and fired several shots into the air that should get their attention.

              It worked a few of the men looked out towards them, the Lieutenant was watching them through his binoculars and he could see them talking. A few minutes later a gangway was lowered and one of the men came down it, “How the hell do I know you’re Marines?” he asked.

              The Lieutenant and Gunny pulled out their military ID’s and showed him, “How about the others?” he asked.

              The Gunny ordered the other men who weren’t pulling security over to show the man their ID’s.  Gunny told him that was all he was going to see because he was not going to pull in the other men from security to prove to him who they were, he had seen enough.  The man nodded, turned and walked back up to the ship, the Marines stood there waiting to see what would happen next.

              A few minutes later the man reappeared and waved them on, “Gunny you stay here with security, if this goes south for some reason we’re going to need you to come and save our asses.”

              The Gunny nodded in agreement and the Lieutenant called out to the men near him and told them to follow him aboard, he told them to stay sharp because he didn’t know what was going to happen.  They had weapons ready and moved up the gangway cautiously.  Once at the top, the Lieutenant came to attention, saluted and asked for permission to come aboard.  The man came to attention and returned the salute, permission to come aboard granted.  With that the Marines came aboard the Hornet.  The first thing they came to were a half dozen old men who were unarmed, they were nice enough and shook hands with each Marine.

              They signaled to the Marines to follow them, the Lieutenant shrugged and went ahead and followed the men. They led them into the ship and down a couple of flight of stairs to the galley.  Down there they saw about two dozen old men sitting at the tables staring at them, none of the men were armed.  The man who had led them down asked if they wanted some coffee and a bite to eat.  Of course they did they were Marines they were always hungry.   After they all got something to drink and eat they sat at the tables and started to eat.

              One of the men at the table stood to address the Marines, “What can we do for you Lieutenant?” he asked.

              The Lieutenant asked who he was, the man responded, “Jerry Brock I used to serve on the Hornet I’m a retired Lieutenant Commander.”

              “It’s nice to meet you Mister Brock we were ordered by Major General Watkins US Army to investigate the Hornet and its present condition and to secure it if possible.  As far as we are concerned the Hornet is part of the US Navy and as Marines it’s our job to defend and protect her.”

              Another man asked, “Since when did the Marines start taking orders from the Army?”

              “I’m sorry sir who are you?” asked Lieutenant Hooper. 

              “I’m retired Master Chief Klang I served on the Midway.” he replied.

              “Well Mister Klang since the event there aren’t many Marines in the Bay area or in Northern California for the matter.  There were only a handful of us when it first happened only a platoon actually.  So were incorporated into the Army at Camp Parks and the Commander there an Army Colonel demanded we stay Marines, as time went Marines who were on leave and Marine Reserve units joined us at Camp Parks now we have a Marine Battalion but the highest ranking Marine we have is a Major and since we don’t have any Marine Generals we come under the Army for now.”

              “What about the Navy?” asked Mister Klang.

              “As you know Mister Klang there really isn’t much of a Navy presence in the Bay area anymore.  There are a couple fleet reserve but we haven’t made contact with any of them yet.  To be honest with you we have only been in the area for only a couple of weeks.  We liberated the oil refineries in Martinez, Rodeo and Richmond; we cleared out the militias and gangs in the areas there and in between to include Oakland down to Hayward and across to Livermore.”

              “You boys have been busy it’s good to hear.” said Mister Brock.

              “As much as we Marines would love to take credit for it all it’s been mostly an Army operation.  We have 200 Marines out of close to 6000 Soldiers we are always recruiting and we have a boot camp and AIT set up at Camp Parks for Marines.”

              This was all sounding real good to the men seated in front of them, Mister Brock asked, “What does the General want with the Hornet?”

              “Bottom line gentlemen, see if we can put her back in service and get as many of the aircraft flyable.” said Lieutenant Hooper.  “We have no idea what’s going on down south or north for that matter and an aircraft carrier would send a big message that the United States is still viable.”

              “Sounds like we would be the first ship in the new Navy?” said Mister Klang.

              “Yes Mister Klang I suppose it would but that discussion is above my pay grade.” replied the Lieutenant.

              This brought a lot of smiles to the men’s faces what the Lieutenant said they could all relate too.  The men in the room started talking among themselves; the Marines were cleaning their dishes and trying to follow the conversation.  Lieutenant Hooper got another cup of coffee and listened to the men discussing what he had told them he knew it was a lot to take in.

              “Excuse me gentlemen it’s getting late and I still have Marines out pulling security so we’re gonna have to leave.” said Lieutenant Hooper.

              “Get them aboard Lieutenant looks like you got yourself the beginning of a Navy, the Hornet is sea worthy and most of the planes fly what we’re missing is fuel.” said Mister Brock.

              “Thank you Mister Brock I’ll pull them in for the night, but be careful I’ve got a Gunny I’m not too sure how he’s going to feel about all of this.” The Lieutenant laughed.

              “I wouldn’t expect any Gunny worth his salt not to be worried about all of this.” said Mister Klang.  “You can take the Marine Detachment area of the ship it’s just above us on the second deck.

              Lieutenant Hooper left with Mister Bock to retrieve the rest of the Marines the others stayed back in the galley enjoying the conversation with the old veterans.  As promised the Gunny was not a happy camper and for now distrusted everybody.  All the Marines moved down to the Marine detachment area of the ship, as Gunny stated earlier he had been on the ship a couple of other times and felt he had a pretty good idea of where most things were. 

              Once they were settled in the Marines who hadn’t eaten went to the galley to eat with the Gunny leading the way.  Many of the old veterans were still there talking but most of them headed off to bed, they told the Marines that there should be a TV and DVD player with DVDs in the Marine Lounge.  They had used it in the past for meetings and places to retreat to while they worked before the world went to hell.  They said it all still worked great everything was shut down on the ship when all of the electricity died and cars stopped.  Over the next couple of days the men had made their way to the ship, got the power going and just about everything powered up.

              So far for most of the Marines it was great, hot chow and a movie what more could they want, well other than the entire nightmare to be over with. Gunny still had them pull guard duty regardless of where they were, he didn’t know the men aboard ship, so what if they are veterans it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t want to harm them.  Look at some of the militias they had fought a week earlier some of them had veterans who had trained them, granted not very well but they trained them to fight against their brother veterans.

              When morning came the Marines were able to wash up with hot water which was a luxury to them on top of that they got a hot meal, they were in heaven.  As nice as it all was they had to leave right after breakfast.  The Lieutenant spoke with Mister Brock and Klang who appeared to be either leaders or spokesmen for the group.  He assured them they would be back in the next day or so with Senior Officers who could make decisions and answer their questions.

              The Marines left the men of the USS Hornet to themselves once again, as soon as the Marines left the gangways were pulled back in once gain isolating the men from the rest of the world.  There would be a lot of talk by the men of the USS Hornet after the Marines left, most of it positive, there were always the naysayers.

Colonel Clayton and Lieutenant Hooper had briefed General Watkins on Hiller and the USS Hornet.  It was a lot to take in and their resources were stretched now.  They had gotten an Air Force and Navy in one day, yes the ship was seventy years old and the planes were just as old but you made do with what you had.

              It was exciting and to think of the possibilities but to make this work they were going to need a lot more manpower and not just trigger pullers.  They needed men and women to train as pilots and aircraft mechanics, they needed sailors preferably ones who knew how to work and operate on aircraft carrier.  General Watkins ordered Colonel Clayton to talk to the Seabees from what he understood they had been taking in all of the Navy folks that had been reporting in, maybe something would come of that.

              The Commander of the Seabees was a full Navy Commander, Commander Steven Elliott, he wasn’t a Seabee but Captained his own ship but that was back in San Diego, he was in San Francisco because he owned some properties up here and he was meeting with the property manager to go over some major repairs that were needed.  When the event happened he was asleep in his hotel in South San Francisco, he had a pretty good idea what had happened so he got to walking south.  Everything he knew was back in San Diego so it was going to be a long walk.  As he got to Hayward after a couple of days of walking he heard about Camp Parks which was about 11 miles away which wasn’t all that far considering how far he had already come.

              It took him about an hour and a half to walk there, he showed his ID at the gate and was taken to the Officer of the Day who took him to see Colonel Clayton who then took him to the Seabees.  By the fact that he was the Senior Navy Officer he was now in charge.  When he took command of the unit there were a lot more then Seabees in the unit then there were actual Seabees.  When any Navy personnel reported in they were sent to the Seabees to deal with regardless of what they did in the Navy.  There were exceptions if a Navy SEAL happened to show up they would go to the 19
th
SF Group, if they were Medical they would go to the 352
nd
Combat Hospital, outside of that they went to the Seabees.

              Commander Elliot had almost 600 people under his command many of them had little to nothing to do.  When Colonel Clayton approached Commander Elliot to talk to him about the USS Hornet it was a godsend.  Most of the people under his command had worked on various crews on various types of ships, like him many of them were on leave or TDY when the event happened and found themselves alone, like Commander Elliot they found their way to Camp Parks.

              Commander Elliot asked Colonel Clayton if he could take over the USS Hornet operation it was after all a Navy problem.  Colonel Clayton agreed but expected a briefing three times a week, Commander Elliot agreed and took off back to his office, he thought to himself, “It was damn good to be getting the Navy back into the game.”

              Commander Elliot’s first contact with the men of the USS Hornet would be comprised of only him and his staff for now, no point in arriving with a few hundred people and overwhelming them.  He briefly met with Lieutenant Hooper who would accompany them and provide security it would also help with the first meet since they already knew the Lieutenant.  They convoyed out the following morning with the Marines in the front and in the back Commander Elliot was in the second vehicle and Lieutenant Hooper was in the first vehicle with his Marines, the Gunny was in the last vehicle.

              The Gunny brought his sign along, he was sure the gangway was pulled in and they would have to get their attention again, it worked last time no reason to believe it wouldn’t work again.  As Commander Elliot approached the Hornet there were smiles across all of their faces, it was good to see the ocean.  They were all hopeful this was a new chapter in the US Navy they were all looking forward to boarding one of the most famous US ships in history.  Even better if she could be brought back to life and re-joined the Navy family.

              As they pulled up the gangway was made available to board, Mister Brock meet the Lieutenant who introduced him to Commander Elliot.  Commander Elliot made the other introductions his staff and Mister Brock.  After introductions they all made their way onto the Hornet except for the Marines who put out security.  Once aboard the ship they made their way to the galley where the rest of the veteran crew was starting to gather.  Once everyone was gathered Mister Brock introduced Commander Elliot, who then stood and thanked Mister Brock.  From there Commander Elliot introduced his staff.

              Once he was done he stood there looking at all of the faces in the room, studying them, like Lieutenant Hooper earlier he thought there was a lot of history in this room, these men had a lot to teach.  Then Mister Klang raised his hand and stood, “Are you our new Commanding Officer?”

              The question caught the Commander off guard, he wasn’t sure exactly what his role was going to be, Colonel Clayton asked him to step in and take command of the operation because it was in the Navy’s backyard.  He thought about his response, “I’m the Senior Naval Officer within General Watkins command.  We happen to believe that at this time there is no one more senior than myself from the Navy no closer than San Diego. I have been put in charge of this operation, to get the Hornet ready to conduct combat operations, if that makes me the boats Commanding Officer then I am.”

              “I would say that qualifies you as our Commanding Officer.” said Mister Klang.  “What are your orders Sir?”

              “I have 500 Sailors I would like to bring onboard to help get the ship ready is that going to be a problem?” asked the Commander.  The Seabees would remain behind they were generally shore duty.

              Mister Brock answered, “Sir I don’t see a problem except for food.  When would they arrive?

              “We would bring all the food we need we have that would include fuel and everything else.  We will get more as we identify it I have been assured we will get it.  They would start to arrive tomorrow morning if that’s ok with all of you.”

              All of the men were nodding Mister Brock looked around the room, “Sounds good to us Sir.  Is the plan for flight operations?”

              “Yes Mister Brock the plan is for flight operations, we have ten Navy pilots who are rated on carriers.  I was assured that we will find more and train them we have planes from Hiller and Oakland as well.”

              “Well Sir it looks like we need to get to work then.” said Mister Klang.

              For the next couple of hours they talked about what needed to be done, by the time they left for the day Commander Elliot had a laundry of list of things that needed to be done and items that would need to be moved from Storage at Camp Parks to the USS Hornet. 

              Commander Elliot reported back to Colonel Clayton with what had happened, Colonel Clayton asked him if he wanted the command of the ship.  Commander Elliot told him it would be an honor to serve as the Hornets Commander, Colonel Claytons response was, “Great she’s all yours!” With that the two men got down to business.  They had a staff meeting with Colonel Claytons senior staff and Commander Elliot’s staff to outline what they were going to get, when they could get it and where to pick it all up.  All of the vehicles were available to them now and could be stenciled US Navy as soon as he signed for them.

              The ball was rolling to get the Navy back into it, it was all smiles on the Navy’s part, as for General Watkins and Colonel Clayton they knew the obstacles they had to overcome it was the Navy’s turn now.

              “Sir what about the Marines?” asked Commander Elliot.

              “What about them?” said Colonel Clayton.

              “Will they remain under Army control or revert to the Navy?”

              Colonel Clayton wondered where he was going with this, “Commander I will allocate a platoon of Marines for a detachment aboard the ship for now.  I think you have a lot on your plate and let’s see how that goes.  Right now the Marines are needed for ground operations and for the foreseeable future.  As you get closer to deployment we’ll revisit it again.  I’m sure you’ll get a much larger commitment but the Marines will have a say and odds are they will have an Officer of equal rank to you aboard ship.”

              The meeting broke up and everyone went to work, they worked through the night to get it altogether and loaded into the trucks.  The Sailors (except the Seabees) were told they were leaving Camp Parks for the Hornet and to take with them everything that wasn’t nailed down.  The Sailors looked happy to be doing something positive.  By the time the sun rose over the Camp the Navy was loaded up in convoy that was almost a mile long, they would be escorted by the Marine detachment that would also be staying with the ship.

              When the convoy arrived at the ship the gangway was out and the men were out in the parking lot milling around.  It was an exciting day for everyone involved, “That’s a lot of trucks.” said Mister Klang to Commander Elliot.

              “Well most of them will be going back to Camp Parks we only get to keep about a quarter of them.” said Commander Elliot.

              The old veterans were excited to see the young Sailors unloading all of the trucks and dropping everything in the hanger deck then another trip down the gangway, get another load and then backup.

              “How did they load the ship in the past?” asked Commander Elliot.

              “That crane over there.” said Mister Brock.

              “Oh, does it work?” asked the Commander.

              “Don’t know, no one knows how to operate it and there hasn’t been a reason till now to try.  Everything we needed was already on board.”

              Commander Elliot put it on his list of things to do, maybe the Seabees knew how to operate it they were sure to need it sooner or later.  There were a lot of aircraft they probably weren’t going to be able to keep on board.  It took the rest of the morning for the Sailors to unload the trucks and lug it all up to hanger deck.

              The huge convoy didn’t go unnoticed by the civilian population in the area, although the Marines had never found anyone they never ventured far away from the ship.  However, the convoy was loud and never ending so it seemed.  People came out and many followed it or followed it the best they could.  The Marine detachment found themselves busy maintaining a security perimeter, the civilians were now showing up in droves and easily outnumbered the Marines.  The Marines were heavily armed and looked intimidating many of the civilians had been attacked at one time or another by the gangs or militia so they were scared, but not so much that it stopped them from wanting to see what was going on.

              As people crowded around the Marines they wanted to know if they were really Marines and if they were where have they been and why were they here now.  The Marines told them yes they were real US Marines and there here because they were ordered by their CO, if they wanted more information they would need to get it from him, they did as they were ordered.  The civilians were torn between being angry with them for not being here sooner or being happy to see them now.  They also asked about the gangs and militias if they knew what had happened to them no one had seen them in weeks.

              The Marines told them that there had been ongoing operations over the past few weeks by the Marines and Army eliminating them and for the most part they shouldn’t be a problem.  They asked so there wasn’t going to be any more attacks? The Marines told them they couldn’t agree to that but they shouldn’t have any problems from the local gangs or militias if they did please come tell them and they would deal with them.

              With the trucks unloaded they all headed back to Camp Parks the Navy wouldn’t keep there’s near the Hornet until they were able to secure them.  Part of the long term plan was to build a vehicle park to secure all of their vehicles.  That was one of the first things planned and they would start next week.  Several vehicles would return daily to the Hornet from Camp Parks to shuttle people back and forth, also to drop off any other items requested. 

              On the ship the Sailors were being shown to the Crews Berthing there was a lot of room considering an aircraft carrier generally carried a crew of thousands not hundreds.  All NCOs were shown the CPO quarters generally reserved for Senior NCOs but the decision because there was so much room that all NCOs would bunk in the same area and the Officers where shown their staterooms.  One of the other decisions made was that even though there were separate dining areas for the ranks, Commander Elliot stated everyone would eat together; they didn’t have enough people to run them all. 

              Once everyone was settled they were required to meet back on the hanger deck at 1500 they would be broken down into groups then the old veterans gave them extensive tour of the ship.  Once that was done everyone was released until 0600 the following morning, there would be a PT formation and everyone was required to participate.  The old veterans who had been living on the ship since the event where thrilled to have everyone here it was nice to have the young people around.

              Over the next several weeks the Sailors fell into a routine, PT, chow, work, chow work, sleep.  There wasn’t much else to do but work, there was free time but there was so much to do most decided to do work instead of lying around their bunk or watching DVDs.  The side of the ship where the entrance was they had been dumping everything that wasn’t needed in the parking lot it was starting to look like a swap meet.  The Seabees had built a secure area for a vehicle park and a dozen trucks and other vehicles were now parked there.