Free Invasion USA 3 - The Battle for Survival by T. I. Wade

C-130s are currently flying food supplies to areas where we are short and today is their last day of operation before refits. The old Bell helicopters are still active, as are most of our smaller, propeller-driven aircraft. We have 100 percent of our fuel stocks heavily under guard and with our now reduced flying schedule, have enough jet fuel here at El Dorado, our Air Force bases and all the other civilian airports for approximately two years.”
    “Thank you, Manuel. This country is going to need every gallon of aircraft fuel we can find. The shipping industry is sitting useless or is at the bottom of the sea, so we are not going to get any new supplies in the near future. So, gentlemen, what is the latest information from the Los Llanos region, where my old enemies, the Calderóns and the Florencia Cartel were last focused, and where we hope they are still hiding? And your report on our dangerous neighbor, Venezuela?” asked Philippe.
    For twenty minutes most of the men at the table contributed all the information they knew, mostly from spies and infiltrators in the largest cartel in the country, the Florencia Cartel, which had over 30,000 members and had an ongoing war with the Colombian military. They currently frequented the Los Llanos area of Colombia which bordered Venezuela. It was a grassy plain area with small lines of hills where the cartel was active.
    The benefit of this area to the cartel was that when the military went in to attack the hundreds of small border villages where they were holed up, the gangs had an opportunity to cross the border to Venezuela and disappear until the soldiers gave up waiting for them to return.
    Venezuela had doubled their soldiers on the border, welcomed the banditos, and told the Colombian military to stay away.
    General Rodriquez added that because the Venezuelan Air Force was far more modern with mostly modern American and Russian fighters, they were mostly permanently grounded. The Colombian Air Force had complete superiority in the air. The Venezuelan army was bigger, but the general heard that their more modern equipment infrastructure was in disarray and Colombia would have little or no opportunity to get fuel from their neighbor. The insecurity of the Venezuelan regime was far worse than in Colombia.
    The other border countries weren’t a threat. Only Venezuela’s border area needed constant surveillance by keen eyes, and Carlos was thinking about this problem when he was brought back to the present.
    “Carlos,” stated Uncle Philippe, turning to his nephew, “do you have anything to add to what you have heard here today?” Carlos was listening intently and was surprised that his uncle wanted his view.
    “Thank you, Uncle Philippe. As an American I know little about the cartel problems here in Colombia, only what I used to hear through the media. I wasn’t expecting to be part of the discussion, but I have a few ideas.”
    “Please, young Carlos, you have our ears. I’ve heard that you are a good pilot and know most of the aircraft in our Air Force,” stated General Rodriquez.
    “These are just preliminary ideas. I have been thinking about possible scenarios for warfare in the future. We just thwarted an invasion by foreign troops in New York last month. That attack was likely the last one between modern, heavily-armed armies for a long time, perhaps a couple of decades. No country in the world now has a modern, fully operational military force to wage war against another country. Do you agree?” The men looked at each other, discussed the idea for a few minutes and slowly all nodded that Carlos was probably right. “Before he flew around the world to talk to the international leaders, my old friend, General Pete Allen, who many of you knew well and who was a great friend of this country, told me he believed that warfare as we know it today, modern electronic-warfare, is over. He expected that the only warfare possible for the next two to three decades