Figured I would post here first, if I don't get enough traction, I'll go over and ask on the military forum:

In the process of writing a book, without giving away too much plot: we got monsters, and zombie like things for people to fight against. Book takes place in rural Virginia. Book is from the perspective of a family of civilians at first, then last part of the book transitions to a specific soldier that is in a leadership position, their perspective. So, my question is:

If the US military sends out forces to A) secure a hospital for evacuation of civilians and B) sending some special forces types to go into some caves to fight some scary creatures, who would be sent?
Delta? Seals? Marines? Rangers etc.

I want to be as acruate as one could be in a work of fiction like this.

Any suggestions??

Any type of military operation on US soil is fairly far reaching. Fiction loves the use of small special forces teams to do everything but a disaster involving monsters will most likely involve the national guard.

Reach out to this guy. I think he has some military experience and definitely some writing experience and might enjoy someone asking him for expertise.

https://roddavisauthor.com/books/

You need to look at this as an escalation of commitment. And it totally depends on what level of urgency you portray as the federal govt taking it.

If it's literally ET sending zombies and monsters, then yes, the Pentagon will respond with air power and spec ops and they will be backed up by more conventional infantry and armor units and maybe even strategic weapons (nukes, rods from god, bunker busters).

If it's a slow burn, go local cops, to state police, to holy F this, then National Guard arrive, then Marines and Army and throw the kitchen sink at it, F22's, bombers. big drones, etc.

That would be the real world response.

If you have never read The Stand, maybe read the first few chapters as to how King rolls out the response to the mass pandemic (an actual one). You just have to decide what level of severity you're starting with.

Don't get suckered in by the last two decades of zombie apocalypse because most of it is weapons grade dumb.

IMO

It would be a joint Seals Rangers strike force. If you're looking to be accurate, that's the contingency that has been put in place.

Thank GOD they haven't had to use it. Yet...

You need to base it out of NORTHCOM tasked with defense of the homeland:

https://www.northcom.mil/About/

iceman08 said:

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...we got monsters, and zombie like things for people to fight against. Book takes place in rural Virginia.

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So...the enemy is a bunch of cousin lovers?

If you don't have the background you might struggle to make it super realistic. Consider making it a small town county Sherriff way over his head, or make up some secret government task force that exists specifically for hunting these monsters.

vmiaptetr said:

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iceman08 said:

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...we got monsters, and zombie like things for people to fight against. Book takes place in rural Virginia.

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So...the enemy is a bunch of cousin lovers?

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He didn't say West Virginia.

Indeed, it's Western Virginia, not West Virginia. BIG difference, yall have given me some good ideas of where to go now, much appreciated

The Marines were sent North on I-5 to LA during the LA riots. So there's a real life precedent.

In reality I think you'd want the best combat teams to do this which each unit has. Delta and Six do a lot more than combat including reconnaissance and espionage.

Depending on the scope and location the 75th Ranger Regiment would probably be my guess.

WestGalvestonAggie said:

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It would be a joint Seals Rangers strike force. If you're looking to be accurate, that's the contingency that has been put in place.

Thank GOD they haven't had to use it. Yet...

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I don't think a task force full of Rangers and Seals would be appropriate for the OP's scenario.

I would send in two Ranger companies from 1/75 out of Savannah, GA to seize and secure the hospital utilizing 160th air support. I would have a brigade from the 82nd dropped in to seize a local airport and opened up for logistical support for food, ammo and resupply. Establish OPs and start patrolling around the area of operation to keep an eye on the enemy.

As far as the Caves go, are they empty or filled with water? Both?

iceman08 said:

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Indeed, it's Western Virginia, not West Virginia. BIG difference, yall have given me some good ideas of where to go now, much appreciated

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Depending on how into the weeds you want to get, I can get pretty technical as an Infantry Officer who has experience in reconnaissance, light and mechanized infantry. I have some SOF insight as well.

Caves are where the scary monsters originated, so sending in units to find their "nests" if you will, and either wipe them out or close of their access to the surface (might be some water when you go super deep, but for the most part should be relatively dry)

Big theme of the book is we (people in general, gov. Military, police, doctors, etc) we make decisions many times based on incomplete knowledge, but are necessary due to the quickly evolving situation at hand

Aggie Therapist said:

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iceman08 said:

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Indeed, it's Western Virginia, not West Virginia. BIG difference, yall have given me some good ideas of where to go now, much appreciated

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Depending on how into the weeds you want to get, I can get pretty technical as an Infantry Officer who has experience in reconnaissance, light and mechanized infantry. I have some SOF insight as well.

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Oh man I would love your perspective!

I'd think either Ranger regiment or Marines would be the combat force you would send. Maybe even Marine Force Recon? I wouldn't imagine sending a Tier 1 element like CAG or DevGru into a situation like this, as their focus is more counterterrorism. Your T2 elements like Special Forces, Rangers, or SEALs I would feel would be more likely?

I guess it would also depend on the timing. If there was something really bad going on, they would probably send whatever unit is closest and quickest to the scene. Over the last twenty years, just about all the special operations units in the military have trained for the same types of missions, though they each have their own specialties. SEALs obviously the go to for maritime or waterway incursions. Special Forces are the ones you send to drop behind enemy lines and help a populace fight against another local group. Dop a small team of those guys and give them several weeks or months to create a small army of resistance.

The Marines serve at the behest of the President, so can be sent pretty much anywhere on immediate Executive Order without confirmation from Congress for a certain amount of time. Can't remember all the details around that, though that was also my understanding before the last 20 years of the GWOT where we're basically sending the military all over the world without a formal declaration of war.

ETA: Also, please don't make the common mistake of mixing up Special Operations Forces (SOF) and Special Forces (Green Berets). People do it all the time. Green Berets are a SOF unit, but all the other SOF units are not Special Forces.

I would send in SG-1. O'Neill could make some cool jokes, Daniel could talk to them. Sam could figure our their technology. And Tealc could smash them to bits.

However, keep in mind that you have SEAL Teams 2, 4, 8, 10, and DevGru based out of Virginia Beach.

ETA: Well, I guess Virginia Beach and Fort Liberty are both equidistant to Western Virginia, so you could really pull from either.

Invaders from Mars (1986) used actual Marines in some scenes, the movie has quite a few scenes of the protagonist and the Marines fighting aliens in an underground cave system.

You read all this on the internet?