Brigadier General Nicholas W. Sharpe, Federal Marine Corps
Peacekeeping Station Nine
Djibouti, East African Republic
Saturday 7th September 2019, 0915hrs Local Time
Brigadier General Nicholas Sharpe stepped down from the MV-22B Osprey that had ferried him, and his command staff, from the amphibious assault ship UFS Columbia, which had, along with the other ships in Amphibious Warfare Group Three, swapped out its normal marine assault forces for a mixed-load of detachments from all over the United Defence Force. The sight that greeted Brigadier General Sharpe was one of frenzied activity; all around him construction work was continuing and supplies, equipment and vehicles were being unloaded from various other transport aircraft, and dozens, if not hundreds, of personnel were also disembarking their transports and marshalling to await orders and directions. Under normal circumstances, establishing a new military bases such as this one took weeks, if not months, and proceeded at a much more leisurely pace. However, given the circumstances the decision had been made at the highest levels that that priority was to get the base up and running as quickly as possible, and the Defence Force Corps of Engineers, the service arm of the UDF that provided all construction, combat engineering and mechanical engineering for the rest of the Defence Force, had responded with their normal can-do attitude and had gotten the base, designated Peacekeeping Station Nine, up and running in record time.
The reason for the urgency was simple enough. The United Federation of Nations had been successful in negotiating a ceasefire in the East African Civil War, ending nine years of bloody fighting between the ethnic-Somali dominated government of the East African Republic and the multi-ethnic rebels. Part of the negotiations had relied upon the Federation agreeing to deploy the Untied Defence Force into the East African Republic to act as peacekeepers; and there had been concerns that, if the UDF did not get its peacekeepers in place in time, the fragile peace would already be broken. So Defence Force Command had chosen its base location, physically in between the Government controlled region of Somalia, and the rebel heartland of Eritrea, and had got to work. The UDF mandate in the East African Republic was simple enough; they were supposed to keep the opposing factions apart whilst Diplomatic Corps negotiators worked on a lasting peace settlement, although Brigadier General Sharpe had been told, in the strictest confidence by the Commander, Defence Force himself, that the Department of the Exterior was not optimistic that any such settlement would be reached anytime soon. Moreover, there were factions within both the Government and the Rebels that were itching to get back at each other, seeking reprisals for perceived slights or atrocities during the Civil War.
And it was Brigadier General Sharpe’s job to stop them.
Under his command, Sharpe had a small but capable force, as the purpose of the mission was not to engage in general war-fighting but rather to maintain the peace, and a large number of troops would be counterproductive to that role, as it would cause resentment from the very people that they would be trying to keep apart. Even before any other troops had been assigned to him, Sharpe had submitted a request to Defence Force Operations for a detachment from the Marine Global Security Group (known simply as ‘The Group’, a command within the Federal Marine Corps that provided detachments of Marines directly to the Sector Commanders in support of their missions. The taskings received by the Group were as varied as the environments in which they operated, from reinforcing the existing embassy security detachments, to enhanced boarding parties aboard warships, to enhancing security at key military bases or installations. In short, Marines from the Group were deployed whenever a Sector Commander needed a small group of elite Marines, but where true special operations forces were unnecessary or impractical. Typically, Global Security Group detachments tended to be small, with squads or platoons being the most common, and companies being rare. Sharpe had been surprised, to say the least, when Defence Force Operations had approved his request for a a full battalion of Global Security Marines.
It was, however, a very clear demonstration of the importance of the mission go the UDF.
Although the Global Security Marines, of 4th Battalion, 10th Marines, would conduct the majority of the peacekeeping patrols along the ceasefire lines, they were not the only troops under Sharpe’s command. He also had the 41st Infantry Regiment, deployed from the Department of the Mediterranean to serve as his operational reserve, protect the base and conduct reassurance patrols further back from the ceasefire line. More importantly, he also had a company of Rangers from Defence Force Tactical, these elite operators were the closest he would have to special operations forces, and would be key to any proactive, offensive action Sharpe might need to take against the disruptive elements. Of course, any such actions would have to be carefully negotiated and as clear as possible. All told, Sharpe had a little over four thousand troops, including both his headquarters staff and that of the 41st Infantry; a thin, almost delicate, line between over a hundred thousand troops, militia and rebels on both sides of the conflict.
“Got an engineering officer approaching, Boss,” Lieutenant Mike Harrelson, Sharpe’s Aide-de-Camp, commented quietly.
Sharpe nodded and turned to watch as a Lieutenant Colonel wearing the shoulder-patch of the Defence Force Corps of Engineers, approach and offer a crisp salute. By his rank, Sharpe was able to assume that he was the Commanding Officer of the 12th Construction Battalion.
“Lieutenant Colonel Twist,” Sharpe commented, returning the salute. “Damn fine work your boys have done here.”
“We do our best, it used to be a government base before their troops pulled out in accordance with the ceasefire,” Lieutenant Colonel William Twist replied wryly. “Seems they decided to have some fun before they left, knowing we’d be taking over.”
“Good to know we’re dealing with a reasonable bunch of people, isn’t it,” Sharpe shook his head, looking around at what he could see of the base from here. “Alright then, give me a run down on our situation.”
“We’ve got the perimeter fence secured, cameras and communications to the watchtowers are all back online, so the base is pretty secured, we’ve got electrical supply to three quarters of the base’s buildings, but we’re still working on some of the outer buildings,” Twist reported. “By and large the structural damage is cosmetic, and as such is low on the list of priorities, the residential and leisure areas are habitable, for the most part, although some are going to have to live out of CLUs, building additional accommodation is also low on the list.”
“The Command Centre?”
“Up to Federation-spec, we’ve build a small antenna farm on the far side of Command, with secure links to the Defence Force network and communications infrastructure, so you’ll not be short of information or the ability to communicate with your people, or Command,” Twist replied. “The runway and airside infrastructure is all good to go, and we’ve got robust security measures in place to allow for civilian flights in and out as well, although I’d advise you people to read up on the status-of-forces agreement, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that we don’t need any incidents here.”
Sharpe nodded grimly; one of the concessions that he had been required to live with was that the Djibouti City Airport would remain operation, despite the close proximity of Peacekeeping Station Nine. From his briefing material, he had determined that the ‘robust security measures’ essentially meant that the defensive perimeter of the Federation base went up to the secure terminal building and continued on the other side, allowing his people complete control over the airfield itself, and that all the civilian airside staff were heavily vetted. Moreover, all air traffic control services were being provided by Federal Air Force forward air controllers, rather than civilian staff. In any event, it would doubtless take up a significant number of troops to adequately secure the entire base, which made Sharpe grateful for the presence of the 41st Infantry.
“Going to be staying with us for a while then, Colonel?” Sharpe queried, as it stood the construction battalion was not formally assigned to Joint Task Force- East Africa, the formal name for his command. “From the flight in, looks like you’ve plenty of work left.”
“Yes, Sir, we’ve got orders to complete the repairs and additional construction on-base, that alone will keep us here into October,” Twist replied with a nod. “The Chief of Defence Force Engineering suggested that we see if there’s anything we can do about the shattered infrastructure across the EAR, with a view to staying longer.”
“Good, even if this place is unlikely to become a Federation member-state anytime soon, if ever, we do have a responsibility to this people, and we need their support for our peacekeeping mission here, so hearts-and-minds will be an important focus,” Sharpe nodded his agreement. “So liaise with my J-3 officer, Colonel Landry, and I’m sure he’ll be able to link you up with some boys from the 41st Infantry to cover your back, but my priority is to keep things low-key, so focus on the small stuff, hold off on any major projects for now.”
“You got it, Sir,” Lt. Colonel Twist nodded in return. “I’ll get with my staff tonight and see what we can come up with.”
“Very good, a pleasure to meet you in person,” Sharpe smiled, returning the salute as the engineer departed, before turning to his aide. “Alright, Mike, let’s check your knowledge… what’s the situation here.”
Lieutenant Harrelson smiled wryly but nodded. Harrelson was a graduate of the Defence Force Academy in San Francisco and had enjoyed a good career so far, serving as a Platoon Leader in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, as well as a stint as a company XO in the same battalion. Appointment as an Aide-de-Camp, in the Federal Marines, was a relatively rare honour, as there were far fewer General Officers tor enquire aides than in the Federal Army, but it was generally good for ones career, and Harrelson was essentially guaranteed a Company Commander slot when he finished his tour as Sharpe’s ADC, as the insight of serving as an aide to a General Officer would do wonders for his career down the road. Never the less, Sharpe had proven himself to be a demanding boss, but only one that wanted to get the best from his subordinates.
“The East African Republic won independence from its colonial masters back in the 1980s, under Emmanuel Xavier, and whilst you could hardly call it democratic it was peaceful and civil rights were relatively high for the region and the period,” Harrelson replied promptly. “After a couple of decades however, it seems that Xavier underwent some sort of mental break, and his regime became increasingly oppressive, which just so happened to coincide with the rise of social media, and resistance to his rule grew steadily.”
Harrelson paused as they continued to walk towards the Operations Centre.
“Outright hostilities began in 2010, opposition leaders finally having enough, initially it was a purely guerrilla campaign, however over the years as success built on success, the rebels have a far more established regular militia that by and large has succeeded in holding back conventional government attacks, although resistance cells inside Government-controlled Somalia continue to do damage,” Harrelson continued. “As it stands, the Government controls Somalia, and thereby the majority of the population and key resources, however the rebels have a solid position in Eritrea and Djibouti, however their position is tenuous in the long-term, due to the small size of both these territories, both in geographical and population, in short, both sides agreed to our ceasefire because the conflict is not sustainable”
“Which is where we came in,” Sharpe nodded, pleased with his aide’s grasp of the situation. “What’s our position here?”
“As per the orders establishing JTF-EA, our job is to keep the two sides apart whilst we try and negotiate a lasting peace, however our negotiating team is going to struggle, as the rebels want Xavier gone before they agree to anything, and Xavier and his cronies are unlikely to agree to that, indeed it may end up with a two-state solution in the end, but that’s a bit above even your pay grade, Sir,” Harrelson commented wryly. “As it stands, we’ll have liaison officers from both the Government and the Rebels here at PS9, whilst the Federation shall administer a buffer zone between the two states… we’ve also got an ‘Observer’ from Ostafrika, some smart idea from the Department of the Exterior no doubt, but understandable on their part… as for Ethiopia… they’ve been isolationist for the past half century, I doubt they’ll change that now just because we are here… they know we’re not hostile towards them, so they’ll keep themselves to themselves..”
“Good, someone certainly did their home work,” Sharpe nodded.
“It was a long flight, Sir,” Harrelson deadpanned.
“Indeed it was,” Sharpe shook his head with a grin. “Alright then, we’ve got a lot of work, so let’s get to it.”
Upon reaching the Command Centre Sharpe and his entourage split up, each of the staff officers and their enlisted staffers interested in their own area of responsibility and set about doing just that. Which left Sharpe and Harrelson with little to do, after all the hallmark of good staff work was that the unit commander could focus on strategic planning and liaison up the chain of command, confident in his staff’s ability to get everything else done. Fortunately, Sharpe had been able to hand-pick his staff for this operation, as such he knew and trusted each of his staff officers implicitly, most closely his Chief of Staff, Colonel Adam Franklin, given that they had gone through the Academy together. This left the General and his aide to explore the Operations Room, which has Lt. Colonel Sharpe had said had been retrofitted to UDF specifications and the first elements of Sharpe’s command staff were beginning to man their stations, ready for orders. Sharpe and Harrelson climbed a small set of steps to a higher level of banks before stepping into a respectable sized office with views out over the countryside and then, beyond, to the sea.
They also found, an irritated looking East African Militia, the name adopted by the uniformed arm of the rebel movement, officer sat in the chair behind the desk.
“I take it you’re here for the office,” The Militia Officer commented, the scorn obvious despite the accented English.
“I thought I’d say hello first, then take the office,” Sharpe replied dryly. “I see the Corps of Engineers didn’t evict you.”
“I lost dozens of men taking this place from the Tyrant’s forces, I wasn’t about to surrender it just anyone,” The Militia Officer scowled as he stood from the chair. “I’ll be blunt, General, I don’t agree with my leadership’s decision to invite in the Federation… we could have beaten the government, given time.”
“And how many lives would that have cost, on both sides,” Sharpe shook his head. “The Federation is only here to keep the peace, its up to you and your leaders to make that peace work.”
The Militia Officer scoffed.
“I hope you’re ready for a difficult time out here then, General, even those like myself who aren’t about to disobey orders don’t like this ceasefire, and that’s without the factions on both sides that are going to keep up the fighting, against orders,” The Militia Officer scowled again. “The only thing, other than the Government, that I can’t stand is officers and men who disobey orders; if we don’t maintain a uniformed, military-disciplined force to oppose the Tyrant, we are nothing more than terrorists… the day of the guerrilla freedom fighters are long over.”
“I’m aware of the difficulty facing my mission here,” Sharpe conceded. “Do you know when my Militia liaison officer will arrive?”
“You’re looking at him,” The Militia Officer smirked. “Major Omar Alwaki, at your service.”
“I can see we’re going to get along brilliantly,” Sharpe grinned. “We’ll have to have a proper conversation later on today.”
“I look forward to it, Sir,” Major Alwaki nodded, offering a respectful, if unpolished, salute.
Sharpe and Harrelson watched the Major depart before sharing a look as Sharpe settled into the surprisingly comfortable seat behind the desk, noting the various documents and other small pieces of equipment all over the desk. Harrelson, noticing his General’s disease for the mess, quickly got about clearing the desk and sorting the documentation, mostly from the Construction Battalion but some from the base prior to the Federation taking ownership of it, and after a few minutes the modest office looked significantly clearer and before befitting the office of a Federal Marine.
“Make sure you take yourself one of those smaller offices just outside Ops, I want you to have some space to yourself,” Sharpe ordered, leaning back in his chair. “I’m gonna be running you ragged out here I’m afraid Mike, you think you can take it?”
“I know I can, Sir,” Harrelson replied, with typical Marine bravado. “Where shall we start?”
