MONTCLAIR

[TheShammySocialist]

[b]Open Channel Transmission[/b]

"All units, Mountain West, I say again, Mountain West."

A flurry of return transmissions, all over open channels, replied, "Mountain West Confirmed, repeat, Mountain West Confirmed." All over the western frontier of the State of Queensland, and across the border in Pihana, the radio call could be heard.

At SCAS Mount Isa, in Central Queensland, two C-17 "Globemaster" Strategic Airlift Aircraft began taxiing down the runway, and grudgingly pulled up into the air. The two large aircraft banked to the west, after gaining some altitude. Behind them, a wave of aircraft followed, in tight formation, all streaking westwards. The large wave of mixed aircraft would be easily detected on any radar system.

[Sgt Shidner]

"Sir, i think you should have a look at this." Private Janus slid his headset back and turned in his chair.

"Wow..." His partner Corporal Adrian shook his head and mumbled under his breath as he looked at his radar suite, "That is the most original line i've ever heard."

The supervisor of the watch for the night, Lieutenant Emil, walked calmly to the radar display and looked at it before his eyes went wide. "Where is that???"

"Looks to be a western area of Queensland. We're got two large signatures, possibly transports and..." Janus peered closed, "An number of other aircraft. Accurate profiling isn't possible because of the distance."

"Ok...keep an eye on this. I want to know everything about this move." Emil replied as he walked over to a nearby com terminal to relay the information to Sector Command.

[TheShammySocialist]

[OOC: Pursuant to this [url=http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=100311&view=findpost&p=2681788]post[/url].]

[b]Classified[/b]

[b]Barkly, Queensland
75km South of Camooweal, Queensland
35km East of USC/Pihana Border[/b]

Within sixty hours of being fully mobilized, the entire First Division, along with the 3rd, 7th, 9th, 14th, and 15th Brigades had all been forward deployed to Barkly, Queensland. A small outpost on the frontier, Barkly served as the command center for the newly-christened 'First Corps', or "I" Corps. The entire force that had been deployed totaled forty-eight infantry battalions of mixed types, plus sixteen battalions of armor, plus substantial artillery support.

Spread out along a front stretching twenty five kilometers, "I" Corps had sprawled across the countryside like a sea of khaki ants. At 0545 hours, the call 'Mountain West' had come through the radio channels, and all battalions had acknowledged the call. As soon as the call came through, all troops were roused from their hastily dug foxholes and slit trenches. Many had anxious looks on their faces as they quickly nibbled at 'energy wafer' bars, or drank from their canteens. Many checked their weapons and ammunition, looking to the west often, as the sun came up behind them on the eastern horizon.

Gun batteries had been hastily camouflaged with tan coverings, and tank crews were starting up their vehicles along the entire line. Company commanders were doing last minute briefings with their platoon commanders, some taking notes, some just listened. The company commanders had to yell over the revving tank and vehicle engines as crews made sure the behemoth vehicles were properly running. Some tanks were getting last minute top-offs for their fuel from the snaking column of supply and replenishment trucks that wove their way behind the huge front.

At the mobile command center in Barkly, a call came through direct to Lieutenant General Arnold Sweeney, he picked up his headset, and adjusted it, then replied, "This is Sweeney, go ahead." The middle-aged Sweeney had been one of the Free Australians that had come back to Australia with Robert Abel. While appearing gruff, with a full head of salt-and-pepper hair, Sweeney was well liked by his soldiers for his being a 'soldier's general'. While not leading from the front, of course, Sweeney would mingle with soldiers, going around to command posts and talking with individual soldiers, from buck private up into the officer cadre.

"General Sweeney, this is Defense Minister Brown, you are a go, I repeat you are a go," crackled the other end of the line.

"Roger that, sir, we are a go, Sweeney out."

[b]Public Channels/Action[/b]

"All units, OBOE, I say again, OBOE," came Sweeney's voice over the open airwaves. There was a flurry of responses to the callsign, as all of the units replied in acknowledgment.

As soon as the callsign 'OBOE' went out, there was a sudden thundering of howitzers along the entire front. Close to five hundred artillery pieces began belching shells into the air along the entire front of "I" Corps, with forward observation posts, calling the shots. The observation posts, mostly manned by assorted units from the Special Operations Division, were posted about fifteen kilometers west of the main line of "I" Corps. The artillery barrage of shot and shell started to rain down about nine kilometers from the fenced border of Pihana, but then the artillery batteries began to walk their fire westward systematically.

Troops along the frontline of "I" Corps, troops cheered, many were giving play by play accounts while looking through rangefinders and binoculars. The front line had a fairly good view of the barrage, as it was stationed along a long ridge that overlooked the valley that was situated closer to the border. Shells whistled and artillery pieces barked and thunder as they spewed out a walking barrage of high explosive.

Edited April 1, 2011 by TheShammySocialist

[king of cochin]

The last Cochin unit to leave the USC-Pihana DMZ, a S-RECO launched from the CNS Hunter caught the unfolding action of the incoming USC invasion. The UAV operators aboard the destroyer immediately alerted the Commanding Officer of the warship, who after seeing the images streamed live from the UAV, ordered the operator to immediately recall the S-RECO. With Cochin Peace Keeping Force withdrawn from sector that DMZ was no longer his concern. It seemed the scant few weeks of Cochin enforced DMZ had given only a temporary respite from a USC invasion. USC had wisely co-opted Pihana to agree to their destruction by calling for withdrawal of Cochin forces and acting before the Selenarctos forces would arrive in theater. Now pending Selenarctos response to this bit of trickery it was no longer Cochin's business. Planning out the emergency dispatch to the Admiralty on this development the Commanding Officer returned to the bridge.

[TheShammySocialist]

The artillery barrage seemed to inexorably go on and on, slowly creeping towards the border. The artillery batteries slowed their rate of fire a bit, to allow their gun barrels to cool down a little. The artillery barrage had lasted about thirty minutes, and had crept to within four kilometers of the border. It slowed its approach as the gun barrels cooled down, but still moved forward, but slower now.

That was when the next open-air transmission came over the radio waves from Sweeney, "Command to all units, Avalanche Mountain West, I repeat, Avalanche Mountain West."

The radio call went out to all battalion headquarters, which then ordered their forces forward. Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, trucks, and the like began a march towards the border. The entire First Corps seemed to move like a wave of khaki, forward across the twenty five some-odd kilometers of open ground between themselves and the border. Behind the "I" Corps lines, the fifteenth brigade, the airmobile task force assigned to "I" Corps, began to load into its helicopters to begin their air assault.

Tank engines roared as the behemoths, followed by significant mechanized infantry support streamed forward across the rugged terrain. Some of the tanks, IFVs, and APCs had banners that fluttered in the airstream of their movement forward. Units like the Queensland Dragoons had the state's flag fluttering in the breeze as their Leopard 2A9s rolled into the open, their flags adding a colorful touch to the dusty scene of dust-caked olive drab and khaki. The infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers of the "Australian Irish" Brigade carried much more colorful banners. Bright green flags, with the Harp of Erin surrounded by white lettering of Celtic script on red banners flew brightly through the columns caught high in the breeze as the troops lumbered forward.

Riding on one of the infantry fighting vehicles, that bore one of the flags, Lieutenant Colonel Patrick St. Claire, the commander of the 1st Battalion, Queen's Irish Regiment of Australia sat in the turret. He called out to the troops who were mounted on the vehicles around him.

"Lovely mornin' lads! A lovely mornin' for the Southern Cross!" There was a general applause, the troops holding up personal weapons, or some taking off their helmets or bush hats, and waving them. "C'mon you Irishman, can't let the boyos from South Australia beat us to the border!" he said, noting that some of the tanks from the South Australia Dragoons on their right flank had begun moving forward of them. "Onward!" he yelled, encouragingly, getting another general cheer. The IFV's ten cylinder engine engine roared as the driver put it into fifth, the flag that trailed behind him fluttered straight out, as the massive columns rode for the border.

[TheShammySocialist]

The charge towards the border was like a scene out of a Napoleonic Wars, except there were no horses, just vehicles, for kilometers in either direction, north or south. The tanks and vehicles rolled over the terrain at breakneck speed, some units jokingly racing each other as they made a beeline for the border. The advance to the border would probably take about forty five minutes, but the days of pent up anxiety in the men suddenly came out, it felt like the advance across the plains of frontier Queensland took minutes.

As the vehicles roared across the plains towards the fenced border, the artillery took up a strong tempo with its fire again, when the troops reached within ten kilometers, the artillery was proceeding from four kilometers out, and doing a standard walk-in barrage. The guns thundered and crashed as shells sent dust into the air, creating an artificial sandstorm that the troops advanced into, donning goggles they wore around their necks, or ballistic eye wear. There was no guessing how much artillery ammunition was being spent, but the air was full of cordite and explosive, the troops that advanced into the dust were quickly caked in a mixture of light dust and dark cordite.

Above the advancing columns, the helicopters of the Fifteenth Brigade thundered over the plains, catching up with the armor quickly. The helicopters did circles over the troops, who let out cheers that could even faintly be heard inside the loud cabins of the rotary aircraft. The helicopters continued to circle protectively over the soldiers of a few minutes of the advance, like mother hawks watching their young, then took off towards the border, advancing ahead of the soldiers. They were closing in on the border quickly, at five kilometers, the a number of mortar crews dismounted from their vehicles and began setting up their weapons.

Looking at a radar scan of the airspace about seven-five kilometers behind the advancing columns would raise eyebrows. Over four hundred combat aircraft were circling in the air, preparing for close air support missions. As the mass of soldiers closed in on the fenced in border, the aircraft began breaking off and heading for the border. Behind them, the two large strategic airlifters that had grudgingly took off from Mount Isa, broke off into individual units, and began making for the border as well.

[supercheese]

OOC: Youve got to be !@#$@#$ kidding.

IC: Public Transmission to USC:

This is Pihana command, explain the purpose of the large amount of troops and artillery fire coming towards our borders.

[TheShammySocialist]

[quote name='supercheese' timestamp='1301778766' post='2683057']
IC: Public Transmission to USC:

This is Pihana command, explain the purpose of the large amount of troops and artillery fire coming towards our borders.
[/quote]

[b]Ministry of Defense to Pihana Command[/b]

"The Ministry of Defense, and therefore the government, of the Union of the Southern Cross has a policy of [b]not commenting[/b] on military movements or operations for the sake of the safety of our soldiers. We can gladly redirect you to the Southern Cross Foreign Office if you'd like to submit a grievance or complaint."

[supercheese]

[quote name='TheShammySocialist' timestamp='1301780131' post='2683067']
[b]Ministry of Defense to Pihana Command[/b]

"The Ministry of Defense, and therefore the government, of the Union of the Southern Cross has a policy of [b]not commenting[/b] on military movements or operations for the sake of the safety of our soldiers. We can gladly redirect you to the Southern Cross Foreign Office if you'd like to submit a grievance or complaint."
[/quote]

Pihana command

Yeah you could say we have a complaint.

[TheShammySocialist]

[quote name='supercheese' timestamp='1301780485' post='2683069']
Pihana command

Yeah you could say we have a complaint.
[/quote]

"You have a complaint about us conducting sovereign military operations on our soil?"

[supercheese]

[quote name='TheShammySocialist' timestamp='1301781308' post='2683074']
"You have a complaint about us conducting sovereign military operations on our soil?"
[/quote]

We have a complaint of how close the operation is to our borders.

[iKrolm]

[b]Classified:[/b]

Elements of the 6th Mechanized Division in transit via boat to the Pihana DMZ are raised to [size="1"]HIGH ALERT[/size]. Additional satellite surveillance resources are being allocated to monitor Pihana and the Union of the Southern Cross.


[b]Public Transmission to the USC:[/b]
Selenarctos too would like to request an explanation.

[TheShammySocialist]

The artillery barrage abruptly stopped at about a kilometer from the border, and the troops appeared through the dust storm, a long line of dirtied khaki uniforms and colorful banners. At about three quarters of a kilometer from the border, the helicopters that had ran forward of the column landed, and the troops all abruptly jumped out. They quickly formed into their respective platoons, but did not move. The helicopters quickly peeled away to the east, to take up positions over the column of troops and tanks racing up to the border.

As soon as the helicopter troops had landed at the border, an open-air transmission was sent out, "All units, Montclair, I say again, Montclair."

The mobile troops continued marching, but once reaching the line set by the airmobile troops, they all suddenly stopped. The troops then let out a cheer, as jets suddenly passed overhead, but they broke north and south instead of going over the border and to the west. The troops awed and oohed as their air force counterparts came in low to the ground, almost three hundred feet up, and broke hard, pulling barrel rolls or wagging their wings in a friendly fashion, as they broke north and south before returning formation farther back to the east and heading away from the border.

Many of the troops produced cell phones and cameras, and then looked to either of their flanks as the two C-17 Aircraft, each lumbering towards one end of the line, suddenly opened their rear cargo doors. Suddenly, a large object was dropped from each of the aircraft, about ten kilometers back from the border, and ten kilometers from the troops. The huge objects fell towards the ground quickly, and impacted the ground with a tremendous force, the Massive Ordinance Air Blast munitions sending chunks of earth high into the air. The troops all whooped and cheered as they enjoyed the spectacle of the first tests of the massive weapon, which would conclude their first exercise as a full-Corps unit. The troops slowly began marching away from the border after exchanging 'high-fives' and fist bumps with each other, a successful mass maneuver for the SCGDF.

[b]Public Statement from the Union of the Southern Cross Government[/b]

[quote]"Today marks the first mass exercise put on by the Southern Cross Ground Defense Force, and we are glad to announce that it went off as planned and was meant to test our abilities to coordinate as an army in a massive frontal advance. We felt that working together as one large unit was best done in one of our more open areas. These areas are, of course, located close to the border of Pihana, add the inclusion of our first test of our MOAB munition, we needed to stay away from populated areas.

We would also like to remind any concerned parties that the Union of the Southern Cross, as a modern military force, does not use Napoleonic-style tactics to advance into an opposing force. The mass amount of forces used should have been more then enough of a pretext to know that this was a large maneuver-style exercise, meant to ensure discipline in the ranks of an advance and test the command and control capabilities of our general staff. The Defense Ministry is not allowed to talk about these exercises, as they are considered ongoing military operations, and we feel that to give forewarning might give another nation the time to watch these tactics and therefore undermine the operational security of our ground forces.

We apologize if we caused any undue panic or alarm, but the size and scale of this operation, an advance by more then seventy-thousand men, was no more then a military training exercise on a grandiose scale.

We also would like to officially extend our welcome to the nation of Selenarctos and their peacekeeping force, and know as being one of the peacekeepers in Australia before, they will do this job well. Thank you for deployment, and we will put you in contact with all of our border units that are now patrolling the USC border with Pihana.

We will also reiterate again to a public statement made not so long ago; 'After an evaluation of these attacks, we are not planning to respond with any use of force against the state of Pihana at this moment, and don't plan to in the near future. Any attacks on our borders will be responded to, but with limited applications of force if the need should arise.'[/quote]

[Centurius]

"We honestly wonder what the hell either Selenarctos or Pihana have to do with the internal military matters of the Union of the Southern Cross."

Edited April 3, 2011 by Centurius

[Centurius]

Edit: nvm

Edited April 3, 2011 by Centurius

[supercheese]

We apoligize for the misunderstanding.

Classified

The troops of pihana let out a sigh of relief and forces have pulled back from the neutral zone.

[iKrolm]

[b]Classfied:[/b]

Elements of the 6th Mechanized Division deployed to the Pihana DMZ hereby return to [size="1"]LOW ALERT[/size].


[b]To the USC:[/b]

We are glad to see the USC is not about to invade Pihana, however we would appreciate more warning before another such large-scale training exercise is conducted so close to our and the Pihanan forces.

[TheShammySocialist]

[quote name='iKrolm' timestamp='1301945616' post='2684122']
[b]To the USC:[/b]

We are glad to see the USC is not about to invade Pihana, however we would appreciate more warning before another such large-scale training exercise is conducted so close to our and the Pihanan forces.
[/quote]

[b]To the Nation of Selenarctos[/b]

"We will do our best to make sure you are forewarned of any military exercises, we do not have any large scale exercises planned in the foreseeable future. This was a test of our general staff's ability to handle large numbers of troops in small areas and coordinate them, so we doubt such large scale exercises will be occurring anytime soon.

We will note however that regular military activity along the Pihana border is to be expected, as we have Border Units continuously patrolling the border in helicopters and on the ground in light utility vehicles."