299 Days: The 43 Colonels by Glen Tate

Author:Glen Tate [Tate, Glen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: 299 Days X: The 43 Colonels
Publisher: Prepper Press
Published: 2014-10-16T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 353

Col. James Hammond

(De Oppresso Liber)

“And now for something completely different, again,” Ben said. “For our next colonel, a colonelship isn’t much of a promotion; he is already a Lieutenant Colonel. Rumor has it he might be promoted to a full Colonel—an actual bird colonel,” Ben said, referring to the insignia for a full colonel, which had an eagle on it. “But I doubt he minds being an honorary colonel, too,” Ben said.

“One of the first people I met with when I came to Olympia from my hideout on the Prosser Farm was Lt. Col. Hammond, who was then, and still is, the commander of the New Washington State Guard’s Special Operations Command.” To some in the audience, the “New” Washington State Guard sounded odd. During the war, the Patriots called their state “Free Washington” to distinguish it from old Washington. Now that they had a state of their own, they renamed it “New Washington.”

“Lt. Col. Hammond was in command of those spectacular irregular units that were so instrumental in the New Year’s offensive. He also commanded the traditional special operations units for our side. He commanded our Green Berets, and there were lots of them from JBLM, and our Rangers, lots of them, too. He also commanded our Air Force Combat Controllers and even a few small SEAL teams out on the Puget Sound. He had a lot to do during the war, and he, along with the men and women under his command, did them well.”

“Lt. Col. Hammond’s contributions to the war weren’t just what happened on New Year’s day. Not at all. The reason New Year’s Day turned out so well is that Lt. Col. Hammond and others worked and planned and trained so long in advance.”

Ben realized he was cutting into Hammond’s material, so he decided to turn it over to the honoree himself. “But Lt. Col. Hammond can tell you all about that as we hear from him next.” A tall, fit man in his dress uniform stood up, waved, and made his way to the rostrum.

Jim Hammond looked like a special operations commander. He was muscular and even a little tanned, which was unusual in cloudy western Washington, and especially in the winter. He had been in the sun for so long on his deployments around the world, he had a perma-tan.

He was in his early fifties and had gray in the half-head of hair he still had. He looked very calm and confident; not cocky, but confident. He had delivered some very important presentations and this one wouldn’t be nearly as hard as motivating troops.

“Thank you, Governor,” Hammond said, always mindful of protocol and giving proper respect to superiors. “And thank you, Gen. Roswell,” who was his commanding officer, “for recommending me for this truly humbling honor.”

“Governor Trenton described a little of what I did in the war, but I wanted to describe why I did it. Like so many others we’ve heard from today, I miss America.” The audience started applauding when they heard this Patriot phrase.

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