GWOT VI - Witness
Feb. 11th, 2020 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyGWOT VI - Witness
I'd sent six two-person scout teams on motorcycles to the refugee camps we couldn't reach in time.
They had orders to:
1) warn the refugees
2) observe from a safe distance what Xtian forces did when they arrived
I suppose I should not be surprised that some of them chose to exceed their orders.
Perhaps I should have been more explicit with respect to what they were not permitted to do.
###
Camp 28
… arrived to find that the camp had been overrun by Xtian militia associated with the 7th Protestant movement. Could not closely approach due to active killing operations. Documented the events for future war crimes prosecution... forced to break contact by enemy patrols.
###
Camp 29
… staged in the divide to the west while my partner approached the camp. His plan was to instruct the refugees to flee, and lead a small sacrificial rear guard.
(Further investigation determined that the team had flipped a coin, and that the winner had then chosen to take the rear guard position.)
About an hour later, Xtian Army of God forces arrived in their characteristic pickup trucks. I observed as he and seven armed refugees fought for about ten minutes then were overrun and killed. This bought time for about two hundred other refugees to scatter in all directions. The Army of God forces laagered and did not pursue. Ninety minutes after that, two unarmed medium helicopters arrived empty and left fully loaded with Xtian wounded. Even though they did not display medevac markings, I decided not to engage them out of an abundance of caution. At least twenty bodies were loaded aboard the two helicopters; at least a few of them dead...
###
Camp 30
… staged at a nearby vantage point on the reverse side of a military crest. My partner had brought with him a take-down pool pole to which a California flag and a white flag had been attached. After warning the refugees, who promptly scattered, he took up a position out on the main road with his flag, waving it at all passing traffic.
Xtian scout forces saw him and his flag, paused for about a minute, and engaged him with medium machine gun fire. He fell or took cover; I do not know if he was hit. When after a pause of a few minutes they closely approached, he waved the flag again and they opened fire again. I could clearly distinguish both the California flag and the white flag from my position; I have no doubt that they could see that he was attempting to signal them under a flag of truce.
After they opened fire the second time, he tossed the flag down and then threw a grenade, slightly damaging one scout vehicle, and I saw him killed shortly afterwards…
###
Camp 31
Both of us remonstrated repeatedly with the refugee camp leader. She stated that she would be staying and would encourage her adherents to do the same. Violence never solves anything, she asserted strongly, and asked us to leave, which we did.
We observed the arrival of Xtian militia in force about two hours later.
The refugee camp leader walked towards them and was taken prisoner... numerous violations of the Geneva Conventions and the UCMJ … about twenty minutes later, they finished by cutting her throat and tossed her body aside. The refugees then ran in a straight line away from the Xtian militia and were immediately overrun and gunned down.
In violation of our orders, we engaged the dismounted militia with rifle fire, wounding several, and attempted to break contact when they pursued. My partner had a flat tire and had to abandon his motorcycle. I was not in a position to loop back and pick him up, although I attempted to do so repeatedly. My last sight of him was that he was closely engaged with the militia, firing his pistol with his off hand...
###
Camp 32
The team radioed in that they had reached the camp and that there was a dust cloud approaching from the east, enemy forces in indeterminate numbers. This was their last contact with California Control.
One month after the conflict ended, forensics teams determined that a mass killing took place at this location.
The bodies of two California Republic scout soldiers were found among the refugee dead. Both had been wounded a number of times by both gunfire and shrapnel and either had run out of ammunition for their rifles, or had their ammunition taken from them after death. Their pistols were not found on them. One had a tourniquet fastened around their left leg. Nothing further is known about how they died.
###
Camp 33
As we had arranged, I watched from a safe distance as he staffed an improvised security control point made with two wrecked vehicles, a fallen tree stripped down to a pole with a folding hand saw, and a hand-held STOP sign military taped to the pole.
The refugees were still packing to flee when Xtian militia forces approached the SCP in ordinary convoy line.
My partner had stated that his intent was to tell the approaching forces face-to-face that these refugees were under the protection of the United Nations and the California Republic, and that in order to do so he would have his rifle concealed nearby but not in his hands.
He approached the passenger side of the lead vehicle, a gun jeep, and had conversation with the person seated in that location.
He then shook his head, once, and was repeatedly shot by the machine gunner.
The passenger in the gun jeep got out, walked over to and lifted the pole, and was killed in the resulting explosion. The gun jeep was also damaged, and had to be pushed out of the way by the truck behind.
They then approached the refugees, gathered them into a circle, stripped them of hand-carried personal effects, and apparently ordered them to walk west as a group towards Nebraska.
As best I could determine from my distant vantage point, no refugees were shot or otherwise harmed.
About an hour later, I snuck back and recovered my partner's personal effects. The tactical situation did not permit me to bury him or to recover his remains, so I dragged him under one of the wrecked vehicles.
###
It is our finding that the two-person scout teams sent forward to Camps 28 through 33 conducted themselves in the highest traditions of the California Republic.
All, living and deceased, are awarded the Bear Cross.
I'd sent six two-person scout teams on motorcycles to the refugee camps we couldn't reach in time.
They had orders to:
1) warn the refugees
2) observe from a safe distance what Xtian forces did when they arrived
I suppose I should not be surprised that some of them chose to exceed their orders.
Perhaps I should have been more explicit with respect to what they were not permitted to do.
###
Camp 28
… arrived to find that the camp had been overrun by Xtian militia associated with the 7th Protestant movement. Could not closely approach due to active killing operations. Documented the events for future war crimes prosecution... forced to break contact by enemy patrols.
###
Camp 29
… staged in the divide to the west while my partner approached the camp. His plan was to instruct the refugees to flee, and lead a small sacrificial rear guard.
(Further investigation determined that the team had flipped a coin, and that the winner had then chosen to take the rear guard position.)
About an hour later, Xtian Army of God forces arrived in their characteristic pickup trucks. I observed as he and seven armed refugees fought for about ten minutes then were overrun and killed. This bought time for about two hundred other refugees to scatter in all directions. The Army of God forces laagered and did not pursue. Ninety minutes after that, two unarmed medium helicopters arrived empty and left fully loaded with Xtian wounded. Even though they did not display medevac markings, I decided not to engage them out of an abundance of caution. At least twenty bodies were loaded aboard the two helicopters; at least a few of them dead...
###
Camp 30
… staged at a nearby vantage point on the reverse side of a military crest. My partner had brought with him a take-down pool pole to which a California flag and a white flag had been attached. After warning the refugees, who promptly scattered, he took up a position out on the main road with his flag, waving it at all passing traffic.
Xtian scout forces saw him and his flag, paused for about a minute, and engaged him with medium machine gun fire. He fell or took cover; I do not know if he was hit. When after a pause of a few minutes they closely approached, he waved the flag again and they opened fire again. I could clearly distinguish both the California flag and the white flag from my position; I have no doubt that they could see that he was attempting to signal them under a flag of truce.
After they opened fire the second time, he tossed the flag down and then threw a grenade, slightly damaging one scout vehicle, and I saw him killed shortly afterwards…
###
Camp 31
Both of us remonstrated repeatedly with the refugee camp leader. She stated that she would be staying and would encourage her adherents to do the same. Violence never solves anything, she asserted strongly, and asked us to leave, which we did.
We observed the arrival of Xtian militia in force about two hours later.
The refugee camp leader walked towards them and was taken prisoner... numerous violations of the Geneva Conventions and the UCMJ … about twenty minutes later, they finished by cutting her throat and tossed her body aside. The refugees then ran in a straight line away from the Xtian militia and were immediately overrun and gunned down.
In violation of our orders, we engaged the dismounted militia with rifle fire, wounding several, and attempted to break contact when they pursued. My partner had a flat tire and had to abandon his motorcycle. I was not in a position to loop back and pick him up, although I attempted to do so repeatedly. My last sight of him was that he was closely engaged with the militia, firing his pistol with his off hand...
###
Camp 32
The team radioed in that they had reached the camp and that there was a dust cloud approaching from the east, enemy forces in indeterminate numbers. This was their last contact with California Control.
One month after the conflict ended, forensics teams determined that a mass killing took place at this location.
The bodies of two California Republic scout soldiers were found among the refugee dead. Both had been wounded a number of times by both gunfire and shrapnel and either had run out of ammunition for their rifles, or had their ammunition taken from them after death. Their pistols were not found on them. One had a tourniquet fastened around their left leg. Nothing further is known about how they died.
###
Camp 33
As we had arranged, I watched from a safe distance as he staffed an improvised security control point made with two wrecked vehicles, a fallen tree stripped down to a pole with a folding hand saw, and a hand-held STOP sign military taped to the pole.
The refugees were still packing to flee when Xtian militia forces approached the SCP in ordinary convoy line.
My partner had stated that his intent was to tell the approaching forces face-to-face that these refugees were under the protection of the United Nations and the California Republic, and that in order to do so he would have his rifle concealed nearby but not in his hands.
He approached the passenger side of the lead vehicle, a gun jeep, and had conversation with the person seated in that location.
He then shook his head, once, and was repeatedly shot by the machine gunner.
The passenger in the gun jeep got out, walked over to and lifted the pole, and was killed in the resulting explosion. The gun jeep was also damaged, and had to be pushed out of the way by the truck behind.
They then approached the refugees, gathered them into a circle, stripped them of hand-carried personal effects, and apparently ordered them to walk west as a group towards Nebraska.
As best I could determine from my distant vantage point, no refugees were shot or otherwise harmed.
About an hour later, I snuck back and recovered my partner's personal effects. The tactical situation did not permit me to bury him or to recover his remains, so I dragged him under one of the wrecked vehicles.
###
It is our finding that the two-person scout teams sent forward to Camps 28 through 33 conducted themselves in the highest traditions of the California Republic.
All, living and deceased, are awarded the Bear Cross.
