Introduction

Welcome to – Part 2 of my story The Ark. The Ark consists of this introduction and twenty-eight chapters.

Over the years, I’ve read many Post-Apocalypse stories. The authors usually did a good job of describing their world shattering disasters and the after effects of those disasters. I enjoyed most of those stories.

One day a thought occurred to me – What would happen if someone learned a disaster would happen that could not be prevented and the person had enough time and resources to prepare for the disaster? I didn’t recall reading such a story, so I decided to write one. It was later pointed out to me that at least one StoriesOnLine (SOL) author had written such a story.

I decided to divide my story into two parts. A Pre-Apocalypse story and a Post-Apocalypse story. Part 1 of The Ark is the Pre-Apocalypse story; although I did continue the story a bit beyond the onset of the disaster’s occurrence.

Part 2 of The Ark is the Post-Apocalypse portion of story. It overlaps Part 1 by a slight amount and it provides more details of the time the meteoroids were impacting on the Earth’s surface. Part 2 only addresses the first few year of the Ark starting to rebuild the area that was the United States; that area is limited to the area around Auburn and Folsom, California. Additional sequels will be needed to address the reclamation of the continental United States and the rest of the world.

If you have not read Part 1 of the story, I strongly suggest you do so before beginning this part of The Ark. Part 2 contains unexplained references to Part 1 that have a bearing on the story. If you have read Part 1, I hope you enjoyed the first part of The Ark and hope you will enjoy this part of the story. Either way, if you have time and the inclination, click the Feedback link located at the end of each chapter and let me know your opinion of The Ark.

Part 1 is basically about the seventeen years Jon Reppa and his associates spent preparing for the arrival of the meteoroids that would destroy their current civilization. Part 2 is primarily about their initial efforts at reclaiming the territory known as the United States and their efforts of creating a new civilization.

Ark Army Structure

The Ark Army was formed from the 2^nd Battalion of the Army’s 75^th Ranger Regiment and two Seal Groups during Part 1, although the term Ark Army was not used in Part 1. During Part 1, the Rangers and Seals were assigned to the Ark, to include all of their assets, by the President. The President authorized additional shipments of military hardware, munitions, and other supplies to the Ark.

The Ark actually received an immense amount of support from the President. The President felt that the majority of the military’s inventory would go to waste after the meteoroids and he believed it would be better to see that the Ark was adequately supplied for the effort it would be performing. Of course, he equipped the shelters the Government was building on the east coast a similar fashion.

The President appointed Jon to be the commanding officer of the Consolidated Military Forces of the United States (CMF), West Coast Command and he gave Jon the rank of General (four stars). He also appointed Mike Henderson to be Jon’s Second-in-Command giving him the rank of Lieutenant General (three stars). The CMF was the creation of the President and never an official part of the US military.

During Part 1, the President and Jon both knew the West Coast Command of the CMF would be isolated from the East Coast Command. They didn’t acknowledge it, but they both knew that after the meteoroids arrived, they would be two separate forces.

Jon tasked Mike Henderson with the day-to-day operation of the CMF’s forces and he tasked him with recruiting and training additional personnel. They decided to configure the Rangers and Seals as three Divisions.

The 1^st Division was formed from the 2^nd Battalion that the President assigned to Jon and its newly recruited and trained Ark residents; most of the recruits came from the people brought into the Ark during pickups. The Division has six Companies, each Company has two Platoons, each Platoon has three Squads, and each Squad has two eight-man Fire Teams. The Army’s rank structure is used.

The 2^nd and 3^rd Divisions were formed from the portions of the two Seal Groups the President assigned to Jon, and each Division has three Seal Teams. The organization of Seal Teams 2, 3, 5, and 6 is identical with each Seal Team being divided into two Seal Troops, and each Seal Troop has a Command Section and two Seal Platoons. Seal Teams 1 and 4 are structured identically and each has three Seal Troops. Seal Troops 1 and 2 each consist of a Command Section and two Seal Platoons. Seal Troop 3 has a Command Section, a Seal Platoon, and a Special Delivery Vehicle Platoon. A Special Delivery Vehicle Platoon is a combination of a regular Seal Platoon combined with a Delivery Vehicle unit. The Navy’s rank structure is used.

The use of both Navy and Army rank structures can create confusion. The two things to keep in mind about the ranks are first a Navy Captain is equal to an Army Colonel and second a Navy Lieutenant is equal to an Army Captain. Navy Ensigns are equal to Army Lieutenants.

During Part 2, the Rangers and Seals start referring to themselves as the Ark Army.

For my convenience, I limited the normal rank distribution in the story’s three Divisions to just a few officer and enlisted ranks.

Radio Discipline

I gained the little I know of military radio discipline while working with military units as a civilian training instructor and field engineer. Therefore, all radio communication between Ark Army personnel is described using my limited understanding of military radio discipline. That understanding was supplemented after I started posting Part 2, which led to several updates to this Introduction and several posted chapters.

In the military, radio communication is typically between two radio operators, although there can be more than two radio operators involved in a conversation. During a conversation, a set of protocols are used to control the conversations and limit the dissemination of information to an adversary, and these protocols are generally referred to as radio discipline.

The military frowns on the use of inappropriate language when on a radio and on using place names and people’s names and ranks during a radio conversation, unless necessary. Your adversary’s Intelligence Section collects these types of information, and uses the information to formulate plans of attack and defense. Individuals are referred to using call signs. There is no standard format for all military call signs, so I created a format for use in the story.

In the story, the call signs consist of a unit designator and a numeric value, which can be a number or a series of numbers. The shorter the call sign’s numeric value, the more senior the person’s rank. In the story, call signs are typically written as Ark 2, Ark 2-1, and Ark 2-1-3. Ark 2 would be the senior person. Ark 2-1 would be Ark 2’s subordinate. Ark 2-1-3 would be Ark 2-1’s subordinate. A call sign such as Ark 2-1­-3 is pronounced as, Ark Two One Three.

Note: When I first started posting the chapters, my radio traffic narrative contained the term Over and out with the second party in the link confirming the end of the transmission by saying Out. An acquaintance who was reading the story, informed me he had been in the Signals Corps, and that was improper radio discipline. He said that the convention of Over and out was something dreamed up by Hollywood. Based on his information, I updated the story to reflect the use of just Over and Out.

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