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Part 2
"You want us to move our stuff again?" Lyle asked Jim.
"I just want you guys staying in the living quarters at OP2. We've discussed some of the possible reasons for this move years ago, do you remember?" Jim asked.
"Yes
"Jjust being cautious, you know the deal."
"Yeah, you've been drilling that into us for 12 years now." Steve said.
Steve and Lyle were Jim's nephews. At times he felt like they were his own children, at other times, his peers. They had been training and interacting with the Group since they were 10 and 12 years old. Back then they were expected to act responsiblity and as adult-like as late teens boys could muster. They had trained with Jim and the rest of their crew for about twelve years now. They had to earn trust of people 2 and 3 times their age. No slack was given them. They were told early on that if they wanted to be considered real members, they had to act like it- attend training and work weekends at the retreat, carry the same equipment (including weapons) everyone else did, be subject to the same rules, etc. Their was times when this was frustrating, but now that they both were slightly older, this was less and less of a problem.
" I have something I need you two to do, just the two of you, outside the area. Are you up for it?"
"How far?" Steve asked
" Not far and you won't need much gear, but I do have a few specialized items I'll need you to pack." Jim said.
"Sure will do it." Lyle said.
"Alright, here's a list of what you'll need to pack, come to my house around 4:30 and I'll brief you. I gotta see Murphy and Bill here in a minute. Later." Jim said.
Even though the inner perimeter was pretty well grown up in trees, Jim dashed the short distance from his house to the next building to meet with Murphy and Bill. The SOP was that Load Bearing gear or a tactical vest wasn't necessary to be worn when outside the houses except if on guard duty, a patrol, filling in for a guard or covering a work detail. Their was literally hundreds of magazines already pre-positioned at fighting positions, in each of the structures and in random drop points both in the perimeter and along planned patrol routes for resupply where needed. Guards were out also. Jim ran with just his AK on it's tactical sling.
"Murphy, Bill, how's it going?" Jim asked.
"We are getting there, no one is coughing up blood or has the plague, so it's a good day." Murphy said.
"Yeah, and no one has any funky itches or wierd growths." Bill added.
"Well, as long as we limit their time with Todd, no one should develop any wierd growths." All laughed about this. Todd was a favorite for getting messed with.
"Alright, down to business." Jim said. "Since we have some new folks here as well as dependents we didn't see all that regularily at outings, it might be worthwhile for you guys to get history and physical for everyone that isn't already covered in your records." Jim said.
"We are getting that scheduled right now." Murphy said. Bill and I were putting together a few extra B1 bags for the new living quarters and inventorying everything."
"We need a sick call area. Can we use the gear room in house 2?" Bill asked.
"Yeah no problem, we may have to have someone hot bunk it in there though. What do you think about giving a series of basic lifesaver type cl***es to all the dependents as well as Barney's crew?" Jim said.
"We could do that." Bill replied.
"Also, we need to make sure all these guys take care of their feet in this weather, we don't have a lot of fungal cream and foot rot can be nasty." Jim said.
Around dinner time, Jim addressed all of the dependents as well as the guys from Barney's crew and Danny's family.
"Alright, we just need to go over some things here and then we will go in and eat." Jim started.
"If you know me, you know that I always try to keep things simple, so if you've heard this before, I'm sorry but your going to have to hear it again. Really basic stuff is all we will cover today cause we are kinda pressed for time. I believe everyone has now been housed, is that correct?" Jim waited and looked around the room and got nods of heads. "Good, glad to hear it. Folks, we did and we didn't plan for so many people. Food wise, we are fairly good to go. We certainly can't waste anything but no one here should look like Starvin Marvin any time soon unless they want to diet. We have put the GP tents up in the area next to the team orchard. We have water already run to that area but no electricity. Given the circumstances, I'm sure everyone is thankful to have running water and shelter. We should be able to get electricity from the system down that way if the tents become a permanent solution. For the time being their isn't any however. I wanted to clarify something. The 2nd house here is considered a team house. It has communal as well as non-communal living areas. The bathroom is obviously a communal area, the three main bedrooms are not. The living room is, as well as the kitchen and meeting hall areas. We've found that in the past, when we didn't have a set of rules, or rather when we didn't let people know what we expected of them, that it caused problems. So, in regards to the house, here's whats expected of you. 1. Conserve power at all times. That means no hair dryers, electric hot plates, electric heaters or other notorious power wasters. I'll be cutting the cords off of anything like that I find or just disconnecting the house from the grid. All the lights now have compact fluorescent bulbs, so very little power should be used over here. 2. Clean up after yourself. If you use the bathroom, make sure it's clean when you leave, ditto for the kitchen, etc. Make sure no gear or other items are left in the way of traffic in the hallway or blocking access to windows needed for proper observation, etc. In the next few days we will be deciding how we are going to handle the food situation, but for now, we will be using food from the Group backup supply we started 2 years ago."
"Next and most importantly. Although we haven't seen any problems in this area yet, from the news we are picking up on shortwave as well as monitoring cell phone traffic, it looks like we are receiving more refugees from North Florida and some as far away as Atlanta. Desparate people do desperate things. We are still on full standing and will be for the first two weeks here, after that we may adjust our standing down from that. Essentially, this means that as much as possible, dependents need to stay inside the houses. No unneccesary noise outside, no test firing of weapons, no use of the generator unless it's an emergency, no vehicular traffic, etc. All OP's are manned constantly, guard changes are done during darkness wherever possible. No food is brought outside for any reason. No fires of any type...." Jim went on for quite a while longer.
Steve and Lyle, slipped out of the perimeter quietly while the meeting was being held. Only one person other than Jim knew they were leaving, the guard on duty at OP3 from which they p***ed by on their way out.
The group has first been put together back in the mid 1980's. Early on it functioned more as a training group than a retreat group. At the time their was no bonified retreat available to the group. Their was 3-4 general areas where most of the Group members lived, all a couple hours away from each. General plans to meet up in rural areas were made, but thankfully never had to be implemented. After about 7 years a key group member moved out of state and everybody started to slip apart. Members stayed with the people in their geographical area for the most part, some simply stopped training and preparing all together. In a 7 year time period the training group had seen around 100 people come to train privately with the group. Years after the breakup, well less than 10 were still what would be considered "active." Some still keep in loose contact and keep the old bonds cemented in place. The geographical section of the group that Jim lead was the most active even after the breakup. Years later Jim would acquire property and build a retreat. Of the 100 or so people that were a part of the training group during that 7 year period in the 80's and early 90's, only Jim and the key group member that moved away ever moved away from the cities to a safer area and set up a retreat.
"You want us to move our stuff again?" Lyle asked Jim.
"I just want you guys staying in the living quarters at OP2. We've discussed some of the possible reasons for this move years ago, do you remember?" Jim asked.
"Yes
"Jjust being cautious, you know the deal."
"Yeah, you've been drilling that into us for 12 years now." Steve said.
Steve and Lyle were Jim's nephews. At times he felt like they were his own children, at other times, his peers. They had been training and interacting with the Group since they were 10 and 12 years old. Back then they were expected to act responsiblity and as adult-like as late teens boys could muster. They had trained with Jim and the rest of their crew for about twelve years now. They had to earn trust of people 2 and 3 times their age. No slack was given them. They were told early on that if they wanted to be considered real members, they had to act like it- attend training and work weekends at the retreat, carry the same equipment (including weapons) everyone else did, be subject to the same rules, etc. Their was times when this was frustrating, but now that they both were slightly older, this was less and less of a problem.
" I have something I need you two to do, just the two of you, outside the area. Are you up for it?"
"How far?" Steve asked
" Not far and you won't need much gear, but I do have a few specialized items I'll need you to pack." Jim said.
"Sure will do it." Lyle said.
"Alright, here's a list of what you'll need to pack, come to my house around 4:30 and I'll brief you. I gotta see Murphy and Bill here in a minute. Later." Jim said.
Even though the inner perimeter was pretty well grown up in trees, Jim dashed the short distance from his house to the next building to meet with Murphy and Bill. The SOP was that Load Bearing gear or a tactical vest wasn't necessary to be worn when outside the houses except if on guard duty, a patrol, filling in for a guard or covering a work detail. Their was literally hundreds of magazines already pre-positioned at fighting positions, in each of the structures and in random drop points both in the perimeter and along planned patrol routes for resupply where needed. Guards were out also. Jim ran with just his AK on it's tactical sling.
"Murphy, Bill, how's it going?" Jim asked.
"We are getting there, no one is coughing up blood or has the plague, so it's a good day." Murphy said.
"Yeah, and no one has any funky itches or wierd growths." Bill added.
"Well, as long as we limit their time with Todd, no one should develop any wierd growths." All laughed about this. Todd was a favorite for getting messed with.
"Alright, down to business." Jim said. "Since we have some new folks here as well as dependents we didn't see all that regularily at outings, it might be worthwhile for you guys to get history and physical for everyone that isn't already covered in your records." Jim said.
"We are getting that scheduled right now." Murphy said. Bill and I were putting together a few extra B1 bags for the new living quarters and inventorying everything."
"We need a sick call area. Can we use the gear room in house 2?" Bill asked.
"Yeah no problem, we may have to have someone hot bunk it in there though. What do you think about giving a series of basic lifesaver type cl***es to all the dependents as well as Barney's crew?" Jim said.
"We could do that." Bill replied.
"Also, we need to make sure all these guys take care of their feet in this weather, we don't have a lot of fungal cream and foot rot can be nasty." Jim said.
Around dinner time, Jim addressed all of the dependents as well as the guys from Barney's crew and Danny's family.
"Alright, we just need to go over some things here and then we will go in and eat." Jim started.
"If you know me, you know that I always try to keep things simple, so if you've heard this before, I'm sorry but your going to have to hear it again. Really basic stuff is all we will cover today cause we are kinda pressed for time. I believe everyone has now been housed, is that correct?" Jim waited and looked around the room and got nods of heads. "Good, glad to hear it. Folks, we did and we didn't plan for so many people. Food wise, we are fairly good to go. We certainly can't waste anything but no one here should look like Starvin Marvin any time soon unless they want to diet. We have put the GP tents up in the area next to the team orchard. We have water already run to that area but no electricity. Given the circumstances, I'm sure everyone is thankful to have running water and shelter. We should be able to get electricity from the system down that way if the tents become a permanent solution. For the time being their isn't any however. I wanted to clarify something. The 2nd house here is considered a team house. It has communal as well as non-communal living areas. The bathroom is obviously a communal area, the three main bedrooms are not. The living room is, as well as the kitchen and meeting hall areas. We've found that in the past, when we didn't have a set of rules, or rather when we didn't let people know what we expected of them, that it caused problems. So, in regards to the house, here's whats expected of you. 1. Conserve power at all times. That means no hair dryers, electric hot plates, electric heaters or other notorious power wasters. I'll be cutting the cords off of anything like that I find or just disconnecting the house from the grid. All the lights now have compact fluorescent bulbs, so very little power should be used over here. 2. Clean up after yourself. If you use the bathroom, make sure it's clean when you leave, ditto for the kitchen, etc. Make sure no gear or other items are left in the way of traffic in the hallway or blocking access to windows needed for proper observation, etc. In the next few days we will be deciding how we are going to handle the food situation, but for now, we will be using food from the Group backup supply we started 2 years ago."
"Next and most importantly. Although we haven't seen any problems in this area yet, from the news we are picking up on shortwave as well as monitoring cell phone traffic, it looks like we are receiving more refugees from North Florida and some as far away as Atlanta. Desparate people do desperate things. We are still on full standing and will be for the first two weeks here, after that we may adjust our standing down from that. Essentially, this means that as much as possible, dependents need to stay inside the houses. No unneccesary noise outside, no test firing of weapons, no use of the generator unless it's an emergency, no vehicular traffic, etc. All OP's are manned constantly, guard changes are done during darkness wherever possible. No food is brought outside for any reason. No fires of any type...." Jim went on for quite a while longer.
Steve and Lyle, slipped out of the perimeter quietly while the meeting was being held. Only one person other than Jim knew they were leaving, the guard on duty at OP3 from which they p***ed by on their way out.
The group has first been put together back in the mid 1980's. Early on it functioned more as a training group than a retreat group. At the time their was no bonified retreat available to the group. Their was 3-4 general areas where most of the Group members lived, all a couple hours away from each. General plans to meet up in rural areas were made, but thankfully never had to be implemented. After about 7 years a key group member moved out of state and everybody started to slip apart. Members stayed with the people in their geographical area for the most part, some simply stopped training and preparing all together. In a 7 year time period the training group had seen around 100 people come to train privately with the group. Years after the breakup, well less than 10 were still what would be considered "active." Some still keep in loose contact and keep the old bonds cemented in place. The geographical section of the group that Jim lead was the most active even after the breakup. Years later Jim would acquire property and build a retreat. Of the 100 or so people that were a part of the training group during that 7 year period in the 80's and early 90's, only Jim and the key group member that moved away ever moved away from the cities to a safer area and set up a retreat.
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