Chapter 13

Woodard asked, “One other thing, Cirque, what’s the real reason you brought back a street sweeper?”

“Well, as I told Ensign Burr, it was a spur of the moment decision. But since he asked me the question, I have been thinking about my answer. Ever since I joined the military, and I’m sure it’s been the same with you guys, my superiors have been on me about cleanliness. Clean clothes, clean body, clean-shaven, clean weapons, clean equipment, clean working area, clean barracks, and clean everything else. I doubt that the situation will be much different now that we are out in the field; especially if our officers think of this as a permanent facility.

Think about the area inside the barricade we’re building. The barricade is going to be close to a hundred and fifty feet long and almost two hundred and fifty wide. The majority of the open area inside the barricade is made up of the highway, the frontage road, and the parking lot, which are all asphalt surfaces. I think my subconscious mind knew all of that and it didn’t want me pushing a broom to clean that entire area once a week. So it said, Grab the street sweeper while you can, Cirque, and I listened to it.”

King said, “That reminds me of being on a work detail, when I first joined the Navy. Every day we recruits used push brooms to sweep the street in front of and behind our barracks. As far as I and my people are concerned, Cirque, you can thank your subconscious for us.”

Kaner said, “My thanks to your subconscious also, Cirque. The thought of us lining the men up with push brooms and sweeping all of that area every week sends chills up and down my spine. I may not be on the end of a broom, but I would rather not endure the memories it brings back.

While they were waiting for CPO Cirque to return, Ensign Bilart had explained CPO Kaner’s change to the method of pulling trees into the drop zone to his fellow officers. As he thought about the changes, Lieutenant Morrison recalled that he and the two Ensigns had casually watched the three CPO’s impromptu meeting.

During the CPOs meeting, Ensign Bilart had asked, “What do you think that is all about, Fitz?”

Fitz looked at the three men for a moment and then replied, “I think our three CPOs have taken ownership of the task of clearing the nearby area of trees.”

Ensign Burr said, “I think Fitz is right, Ken. How do you want us to handle things, Fitz?”

Lieutenant Fitz Morrison had a serious look on his face when he said, “Gentlemen, senior officers have learned that in this type of situation, it is best to step back and let the enlisted men decide how to do the work. What the three of us need to do is just monitor what they are doing to ensure they stay on track and that they are making good progress. In practical terms, what we will do is walk out and observe what is being done, periodically ask them for status, and ask them if they have any problems.

“If you stop and think about it, those three Chiefs have beaucoup years of experience in getting jobs like this one done. All we really need to do is tell them what we want done, and then get out of their way. We want to avoid micromanaging a job we give them, and having them think we don’t trust them or aren’t supporting their efforts. It’s sort of a tradeoff, gentlemen, and it takes time to learn how to balance the two extremes. Basically, it is all about staying out of their hair and making it known that we are in charge and available if needed. Unfortunately, some officers never learn how to do that.

“I think Kaner is right about his method being safer, so let him know I like his plan. Right now, I think it is time for us to get back to the office and start working on a plan for what we will have the men doing after they complete the barricade.”

CPO Cirque was correct. All his men knew was how to start the engines, lift and lower the blades, scoops, or buckets, and steer the machines. They knew nothing about how to use the machines. The men failed to realize the blades, scoops, and buckets should be grounded when the machines weren’t in use. The men who had driven the machines taught their students what they knew. They gave each student an opportunity to briefly drive the machine, and then turned the machines over to the students. While the class was going on, the three CPOs discussed what to do first.

After Cirque left, Kaner said, “Before we drop any more trees, I want all of these tree stumps removed and the holes filled in.”

King said, “I was looking at the tree sections up on the road, Kaner. I recall Ensign Burr saying we would be cutting them up into firewood.”

Kaner said, “Yeah, Ensign Bilart said the Lieutenant was going to have us do that later.”

King said, “Okay, but I was thinking that if we were to delimb those tree sections, we could stack them up rather than push whole tree sections with branches together and they won’t take up as much space. It also looks like many of the limbs are big enough to use as firewood. So, we can haul all of those tree sections to here and delimb them. Then we can stack the delimbed tree sections at the far end of the road, and we can use the bulldozer to shove the limbs to the far end of the road next to the tree sections until we get around to cutting them up for firewood.”

Kaner said, “Hmm ... that does sound like a good way to do things.

“Alright! First we’ll clear this area of tree stumps. Then we can move the tree sections to here and delimb them. When all of the tree sections are delimbed and stacked, we can push the limbs down to that end of the road. Once that is done we can go back to cutting down trees, and this will be our delimbing area.

“Now when we get back to cutting down trees, let’s split the men into three groups. The two of you will each take four people and work in different areas cutting down trees and cutting them into sections. The rest of our people will be the delimbing group and they will work under my supervision. We have twelve chainsaws. I’d say three for each of your groups, and the remaining six for the delimbing group.

“When the two of you are supervising the tree felling groups; make sure you keep your groups a good distance apart. The way I see it, your job will be to keep the people in your groups aware of what each other is doing. They can fell several trees and then cut the trees into sections. They can get set up to drop more trees while waiting for the delimbing group to haul the sections to their area and clear the stumps.

“The delimbing group can use the front loaders to move the sections to this area; where the sections will be delimbed. Once the tree sections are out of your group’s way, they can use the bulldozer to dig up the tree stumps. Then the front loaders can drop the stumps at the end of the road. I’ll have most of the men removing cutoff limbs from the delimbing area and stacking them in a pile that the bulldozer can push to the end of the road. Once a section is delimbed, the front loaders can pick it up and stack it onto the pile of delimbed tree sections.”

King said, “You know, Kaner, once we move out of this area it would probably be faster if we use one of the dump trucks to carry the stumps to where we want to dump them.”

“Yeah, that would speed things up, King.

“Now there aren’t that many trees between Fisher Road and the north end of the Inn. Let’s start out by cutting them all down. Then we will cut a swath on the west and south sides of the Inn, but well away from it. Finally, we will cut down the trees close to the Inn. Any comments?”

Woodard said, “Sounds good to me, Kaner. What about you, King?”

“Sounds good to me also.”

Kaner said, “Our people seem to have finished their training session, so let’s get this cut area cleared of tree stumps.”

As the three CPOs approached the group of students, CPO Kaner said, “I want one of the bulldozer operators and two front loader operators to come with me. Chiefs Woodard and King will explain to the rest of you what we will be doing once these three guys clear this field of tree stumps.”

Kaner took the three men off to the side, and said, “Seaman Torres, you are our bulldozer driver. From what little I know about using a bulldozer, what you will need to do is position your blade so it hits and bites into the lower half of the stump. Then gradually move forward while slowly lifting the blade. You may have to repeat that several times from different angles before the stump comes free. As wet as this ground is, that is what I think will work for freeing the stumps, but you may have to experiment to find the best way to get the stumps out of the ground. If that doesn’t work, we may end up hooking a chain to them and using the bulldozer to pull them out of the ground. Once the stump is free, Hauser and Sanchez will dispose of it. All you have to do is move on to the next stump; until this entire area is clear of stumps. Any questions?”

“No, Chief.”

Kaner said, “Good, go get the stumps out of the ground.”

As Torres left to start his task, Kaner said, “Seamen Hauser and Sanchez, the two of you have been selected to be our front loader operators. You will be helping Seaman Torres remove the stumps from this cleared area. He is responsible for getting the stumps out of the ground. The two of you are to use your front loaders to pick up the stumps and drop them off at the far end of the road. After you drop off a stump, you are to scoop up some dirt and fill in the stump’s hole. Be sure to use your machine’s bucket to pack the dirt into the holes. If necessary, drive back and forth over the filled-in hole to pack the dirt. Any questions?”

“Yes, Seaman Sanchez?”

“When I had the opportunity to start the engine, drive, and tryout the bucket controls, I noticed that there was less than half of a tank of diesel left. Where do we get more fuel?”

“I’ll look into that, Sanchez. Anything else? ... No, good. It looks like Seaman Torres is in the process of removing his first stump. The two of you get your machines over there and get ready to start picking up stumps.”

Sanchez and Hauser headed for their front loaders.

The three CPOs talked about what to do about the fuel situation. CPO Kaner had CPO Woodard take two men and check to see if the gas station has any diesel fuel that could be salvaged. CPO King was to organize the rest of the men, while CPO Kaner went to inform Ensign Bilart that they may need a supply of diesel fuel in the near future.

When Kaner entered the Headquarters Office, the three officers were sitting around a table talking. As he entered, Lieutenant Morrison said, “Something we can help you with, Chief?”

“Yes, Sir. One of the men brought it to my attention that his front loader had less than a half tank of diesel left. I sent Chief Woodard to check and see if the gas station has any diesel fuel. If it does, we can use our pump to refill the fuel tanks of our equipment. It occurred to me that our diesel generator is probably running low on fuel, also, Sir.”

“I see! Ensign Burr brought the diesel situation for the generator to my attention yesterday, Chief. I contacted the Command Center and requested a fuel truck be sent to our location, but it hasn’t arrived yet. How serious is the fuel situation right now?”

“If the gas station has diesel, then we should be good for a day or so, Sir. If not, or if the diesel is polluted, then we need more fuel immediately.”

“Okay, Chief. Check with Chief Woodard and I’ll contact the Command Center about the delay in receiving the things we are supposed to have received. Once you speak to the Chief, come back and we will talk about the status of the things we need.”

“Yes, Sir, and thank you, Sir.”

After making his call to the Command Center, the three officers talked about what they’ve been told. A short while later, CPO Kaner returned.

“Have a seat, Chief, and I hope your news is better than mine. What did Chief Woodard have to say?”

After sitting down at the table, Kaner said, “The Chief used the station’s dip stick to measure how much diesel is in the underground tank. According to the stations’ chart, we have about nine hundred gallons. Chief Woodard had his men get our portable ac generator, electric pump, and hoses. They pumped some diesel out of the tank into a glass jar and checked it for contamination. It’s contaminated. So Chief Woodard will have the men fill five-gallon cans with diesel and let it sit until the water settles out, and then pour the diesel off into another fuel can. Then, they will repeat the process to recover more fuel.

“I think we will be good for at least a week, Sir.”

“That’s good, Chief. The Command Center informed me that the SCCs are overwhelmed with survivors and there are a large number of supplies the SCCs need and don’t have. It appears that the SCCs are requesting necessities to meet the survivors needs, and the Recycling Department has been overwhelmed by the requests. The Habitation Department is providing as many warm bodies as the Recycling Department needs, but there is a shortage of guard details to escort all of the vehicles they are using.

“The word is that so far there have been no attacks on the Recycling Department’s vehicles, so General Reppa is considering letting them go out without guards or possibly with just one or two guards. The Provisioning Department will issue the driver of each vehicle with a short-range radio like the ones our people use, so they can call for help if they have a problem.”

Kaner say, “It sounds like things are worse back in Auburn than they are here, Lieutenant.”

“I agree, Chief. The Ensigns and I were discussing that while we waited for you to return. We decided that we should take the pressure off of the Ark as much as we can by taking matters into our own hands. Now we aren’t authorized to send out scavenging details and doing so has been discouraged up to now for we are supposed to be guarding the approach to Auburn. However, the definition of what we are to do here at the Inn was established when everyone thought the Recycling Department would be able to provide for all of our needs. I sensed there may be some give in the no scavenging position now.

“Captains Charles and Johnson will be doing a joint tour of the four Blocking Posts tomorrow, and they will be here late tomorrow morning. One of the topics we will address while they are here is the problem the Ark is having with supporting the SCCs and Blocking Posts. The Ensigns and I have decided to suggest to Captain Charles that he authorize us to send out scavenging parties to gather what we need.

“We are considering going to Grass Valley and Colfax. Grass Valley is about twenty-five miles from here and it is a large town. Colfax is a smaller town, but it is a lot larger than Applegate and closer to us.

“Lieutenant Tanny’s Seal Team 3 is at Blocking Post 2, so Grass Valley would be the best place for him to send a Scavenger Team. I’m going to let him have Grass Valley and send our people to Colfax. If we can’t get what we need there, then we’ll consider going to Grass Valley.

“I suspect one of the problems we will have with sending a scavenging party to a small-town community is, most small communities were tight knit groups. So by now, the survivors of such a town have probably created a citizen’s group to help each other. When we go into such a town, they are likely to look on us as invaders intending to loot their town. Considering what we intend to do, that is a fairly accurate assessment. We won’t be scavenging for food, so hopefully, we won’t have too much trouble with the survivors. Colfax only had a couple thousand people, so there should not be a large number of survivors. Grass Valley was much larger and I suspect Lieutenant Tanny’s people will have problems scavenging there. If we encounter any survivors in Colfax, we will bring them back with us if they wish to join us. Otherwise, we will let them know where we are and that they can join us at a later time if they wish.

“I don’t think Captain Charles will have a problem with us sending out scavenging parties. However, the Ensigns and I believe that if we have a substantial list of things we need, then there is less of a chance of him saying No.

“We just started to put our scavenging list together, Chief. Ensign Bilart is putting the list together on his laptop. I want him to list the items we need, why we need the items, and to assign each item a priority. We will be assigning priorities from Level 1 high to Level 5 low.

“We are all tired of using a slit trench to do our business, and so far, the only item on our list is porta-potties and it has a priority of Level 1. I would like your ideas of what else we need. If things go okay tomorrow, I am going to send Ensign Bilart on a scavenging run to Colfax, so what do you think we need?”

“Our pickups weren’t cutting it on the muddy ground and I was going to ask you to let me go find some heavy construction equipment, Lieutenant, but Chief Cirque filled that need rather nicely. However, we only have six pickups and I think it would be a good idea to have enough pickups to evacuate the entire Seal Team in case of an emergency like a forest fire. So I would suggest finding at least a dozen more pickups and maybe one or two school buses.”

Ensign Burr asks, “What would we use a school bus for, Chief?”

“Well, Sir, it is my understanding that once the barricade is built, we will be able to start rotating the Seal Platoons back to the Ark for a week of rest and relaxation. I know that I and a lot of the men would like to make sure our Bond Mates are okay. If we had a couple of buses, we could transport an entire Seal Troop on our R&R trips to the Ark and back in comfort.”

The Lieutenant said, “Add the additional pickups and since it is a safety issue give it a Level 1. Add two buses to the list, Ensign, make them charter buses or something similar that have those nice comfortable seats, but it isn’t a critical item so let’s give it a level 3 priority. Anything else, Chief.”

“The field we’re working in is rather muddy, and I had a thought about one of our pickups getting stuck out in the field; mainly how we would get it out. That’s not a problem now, but at the time, I was thinking that we may need one of those big heavy-duty tow trucks. I’m sort of like Chief Cirque, Sir, I don’t know why, but something tells me to get a big tow truck even if we don’t think we have a need for one.”

The Lieutenant looked at his officers who just shrugged their shoulders, so he said, “Add it to the list, Ensign, but make it a Level 5 priority.”

“Another thing we might need, Sir, is a selection of home repair tools for doing repairs to the buildings. Saws, hammers, screwdrivers, and things like that. There are probably a lot of those types of tools in the houses around us, but if we find a Home Depot or hardware store that carried those types of tools, we could get almost everything we will ever need in one stop. In addition to building materials, a selection of nails, screws, and other fasteners will be needed also.”

The Lieutenant saw Ensign Bilart was adding items to his list without being told, so the Lieutenant said, “I can see a need for those things, Chief. Give them a Level 2 priority, Ensign. What about something like a table saw, lathe, jointer, and similar power tools?”

“Yes, Sir, those would be good to have also.”

“Let’s make those a Level 2 also.”

“We only have a dozen chainsaws, Lieutenant, and they all have sixteen-inch bars. That is barely enough to equip the men, and I would like to get more chainsaws with a variety of bar sizes. What we have right now is sort of an average-size chainsaw. They are good for cutting down small trees, but some of the trees we will be cutting down have bigger trunks and a longer bar length would be better. We are delimbing the tree sections we haul off to make them easier to stack. Saws with shorter bar lengths are easier to use for that task. We will also need spare chains for each size of bar, sharpening files, and chain oil. I would like to get automatic oilers if we can find them for there is less wear on the chains.

“I’ve been told that we will be cutting these tree sections up to make firewood, Lieutenant. Is that true?”

“Yes. The Ensigns and I discussed that yesterday and fireplaces seem like the only viable means of heating these buildings in the coming years.”

“That is what I thought you were thinking of doing. Do you know what a sawbuck is, Sir?”

“No, Chief, I don’t think so.”

“That’s okay, Sir. It is a special support frame for holding logs that are to be cut to length.”

“Ah! I know what you are talking about, but I didn’t know what it was called.”

“Yes, Sir. Since we are going to have firewood cutting details, we will need several of those. We can make our own, but the commercial ones are probably stronger. We will be good with a couple dozen chainsaws, but a hydraulic log splitter would be nice to have.”

“That was another topic we discussed yesterday, Chief. Our chainsaws are going to be useless once our supply of gasoline deteriorates, and that will probably happen in the next four months. Since it looks like we will be stationed here for the next few years, the Ensigns and I have been exploring alternative ways to cut and split wood. We are thinking of crosscut saws, axes, wedges, and sledgehammers. Do you have any ideas?”

“What you are thinking of are very reliable methods of turning trees into firewood, Sir, and I think we should follow through on your plan to get those items; so we will be prepared if everything else fails.

“I hadn’t thought about the gasoline going bad, Sir. A lot of the big name companies make battery-powered chainsaws. If we can find that type of chainsaw, chargers, and spare batteries, I would prefer to go that route. The commercial log splitters typically run on diesel, so we should probably look for some of those.”

Lieutenant Morrison said, “Make chainsaws, accessories, and a log splitter Level 1, Ensign. What about mechanic’s tools, Chief?”

“I don’t think we need them, Sir. I saw two roll-around toolboxes in the gas station, and I heard there was a garage across the highway. Between those two places, I suspect we have more automotive repair tools than we will ever need.

“The only other thing that I can think of us needing is a couple of U-Haul trucks like the ones that people used to rent for hauling furniture and other things. When we go out scavenging, I think we should look for mattresses, blankets, and sheets for our living quarters, furniture for this office, recreational equipment, furniture for the dayroom, and other things. We will need that type of vehicle to bring back what we gather. They will also make good storage facilities for what we scavenge, but don’t need immediately.”