Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5) by Steven Linde Read Free Book Online

enforcement, who turned a blind-eye to it.  When law enforcement and the Army didn’t react to the murders it sent a strong message to the rest of the camps.  Crime began to skyrocket; it started to become an Army issue because the infantry units leaving post had to pass through the camps to get to their objective.  These units started to be harassed by the civilians as they left post; some of the squads were being attacked by large mobs of men and women.  Although the soldiers were able to escape unharmed, they were leaving a trail a dead and maimed behind them.  That’s when the riots started in the camps; people pelted the soldiers with anything they had on hand.  There were too many of them for the Army to handle. When the Army backed off people started to force their way onto post.
                  Soldiers responded by firing on them and killing the intruders which only made things worse.  In an effort to solve the problem the commander of Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, Colonel Joseph Sumner, sent word to each camp.  The Colonel asked each camp to select six people that would represent them. They needed to be voted on and majority rule.  Once that was completed, they would hold forums within the camp to discuss the issues.  They should document the issues and provide a plan to solve them potentially with the Army’s help.  Once they had done this then and only then Colonel Sumner and his staff would meet with a single camp’s council to discuss their findings and what the Army could realistically do for them.
                  This was the start of the camp councils. There wasn’t much opposition to the Colonel’s plan; of course there were some nay-sayers that believed the Army should open their gates and let everyone in and surrender everything they had.  The more rational people, which were most of the population in each camp, realized that the Army was here to stay; they were now being offered a choice, to work with the Army to solve their problems or go at it alone.  All of them knew the latter wasn’t working so it was time to try a different approach.
                 
     

Chapter Seven
     
    A vintage C-47 landed at Pope AFB at 0700 bright and early that morning. General Portson, General Moon and several other staff members were in the main terminal.  It was surreal to all of them to be watching this aircraft land and taxi up since it was from a bygone era.  Every man there was very familiar with the aircraft as it was a very important part of airborne history.  It was widely used during World War II during D-Day when it dropped airborne soldiers all over Normandy.  The door opened on the aircraft and Brigadier General John Clayton stepped out. 
                  General Moon knew General Clayton personally from his days with Delta.  General Moon was his commanding officer and was well aware of General Clayton’s capabilities. 
                  “Good to see you John,” General Moon said while reaching to shake General Clayton’s hand.
                  The two men shook hands, “Good to see you again sir.  How’s it swinging?” General Clayton replied smiling.
                  “Always the smartass,” General Moon stated.
                  “Yes sir wouldn’t have it any other way,” replied General Clayton.
                  “Me either John, me either.”
                  General Moon led General Clayton over to General Portson and the rest of the staff and introduced him.  John knew most of General Moon’s staff as he had served with just about all of them in one capacity or another.  John had also known f General Portson when he was the commander of the 18 th Airborne Corp.  Everyone knew about General Clayton, not because of the President. John was a legend on Fort Bragg from his time with Delta.  He was known as no bullshit, treated his people right and