The Last World War – Prologue

I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be
fought with sticks and stones. – Attributed to Albert Einstein in various forms… was his
prediction correct?

In my opinion the world in 2014 is on the cusp of World War Three and possibly World
War Four. I believe another PAW writer hit the nail on the head when he suggested the
basis for the latter will be religious ideology. WWIV started on December 18, 2010. They
call it Arab Spring. Residual elements of another dispute come into play partially mask-
ing the seriousness of the opening stages of WWIV. We will only fight WWIV with sticks
and stones if we run out of ammunition. – TOM

Since I’ve alluded to WWIII and WWIV, this discusses both. I agree with GRAND58742
about the Islamic faith and the actions of the adherents to Islam, I’ll go with that as the
casus belli of WWIV, even if indirectly. But first we have to take care of the hanging
chad, WWIII.

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 World War Three – Chapter 1

http://coyoteprime-runningcauseicantfly.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-sunburn-missile-
weapon-that-could.html

Sunday, September 16, 2012

“The Sunburn Missile: The Weapon That Could Defeat The US In The Gulf”

“A word to the reader: The following paper is so shocking that, after preparing the initial
draft, I didn’t want to believe it myself, and resolved to disprove it with more research.
However, I only succeeded in turning up more evidence in support of my thesis. And I
repeated this cycle of discovery and denial several more times before finally deciding to
go with the article. I believe that a serious writer must follow the trail of evidence, no
matter where it leads, and report back. So here is my story. Don’t be surprised if it
causes you to squirm. Its purpose is not to make predictions history makes fools of
those who claim to know the future but simply to describe the peril that awaits us in the
Persian Gulf. By awakening to the extent of that danger, perhaps we can still find a way
to save our nation and the world from disaster. If we are very lucky, we might even cre-
ate an alternative future that holds some promise of resolving the monumental conflicts
of our time. - MG

In July, 2004, they dubbed it operation Summer Pulse: a simultaneous mustering of US

Naval forces, worldwide, that was unprecedented. According to the Navy, it was the first
exercise of its new Fleet Response Plan (FRP), the purpose of which was to enable the
Navy to respond quickly to an international crisis. The Navy wanted to show its in-
creased force readiness, that is, its capacity to rapidly move combat power to any global
hot spot. Never in the history of the US Navy had so many carrier battle groups been
involved in a single operation. Even the US fleet massed in the Gulf and eastern Medi-
terranean during operation Desert Storm in 1991, and in the recent invasion of Iraq,
never exceeded six battle groups. But last July and August there were seven of them on
the move, each battle group consisting of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier with its full com-
plement of 7-8 supporting ships, and 70 or more assorted aircraft. Most of the activity,
according to various reports, was in the Pacific, where the fleet participated in joint ex-
ercises with the Taiwanese navy.

But why so much naval power underway at the same time? What potential world crisis
could possibly require more battle groups than were deployed during the recent inva-
sion of Iraq? In past years, when the US has seen fit to “show the flag” or flex its naval
muscle, one or two carrier groups have sufficed. Why this global show of power? The
news headlines about the joint-maneuvers in the South China Sea read: “Saber Rattling
Unnerves China”, and: “Huge Show of Force Worries Chinese.” But the reality was quite
different, and, as we shall see, has grave ramifications for the continuing US military
presence in the Persian Gulf; because operation Summer Pulse reflected a high-level
Pentagon decision that an unprecedented show of strength was needed to counter what

2
is viewed as a growing threat in the particular case of China, because of Peking’s new-
est Sovremenny-class destroyers recently acquired from Russia.

“Nonsense!” you are probably thinking. That’s impossible. How could a few picayune
destroyers threaten the US Pacific fleet?” Here is where the story thickens: Summer
Pulse amounted to a tacit acknowledgement, obvious to anyone paying attention, that
the United States has been eclipsed in an important area of military technology, and
that this qualitative edge is now being wielded by others, including the Chinese; be-
cause those otherwise very ordinary destroyers were, in fact, launching platforms for
Russian-made 3M-82 Moskit anti-ship cruise missiles (NATO designation: SS-N-22
Sunburn), a weapon for which the US Navy currently has no defense. Here I am not
suggesting that the US status of lone world Superpower has been surpassed. I am
simply saying that a new global balance of power is emerging, in which other individual
states may, on occasion, achieve “an asymmetric advantage” over the US.

The Sunburn Missile: I was shocked when I learned the facts about these Russian-
made cruise missiles. The problem is that so many of us suffer from two common mis-
perceptions. The first follows from our assumption that Russia is militarily weak, as a
result of the breakup of the old Soviet system. Actually, this is accurate, but it does not
reflect the complexities. Although the Russian navy continues to rust in port, and the
Russian army is in disarray, in certain key areas Russian technology is actually superior
to our own. And nowhere is this truer than in the vital area of anti-ship cruise missile
technology, where the Russians hold at least a ten-year lead over the US. The second
misperception has to do with our complacency in general about missiles-as-weapons
probably attributable to the pathetic performance of Saddam Hussein’s Scuds during
the first Gulf war: a dangerous illusion that I will now attempt to rectify.

Many years ago, Soviet planners gave up trying to match the US Navy ship for ship,
gun for gun, and dollar for dollar. The Soviets simply could not compete with the high
levels of US spending required to build up and maintain a huge naval armada. They
shrewdly adopted an alternative approach based on strategic defense. They searched
for weaknesses, and sought relatively inexpensive ways to exploit those weaknesses.
The Soviets succeeded: by developing several supersonic anti-ship missiles, one of
which, the SS-N-22 Sunburn, has been called “the most lethal missile in the world to-
day.”

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the old military establishment fell upon hard times.
But in the late1990s Moscow awakened to the under-utilized potential of its missile
technology to generate desperately needed foreign exchange. A decision was made to
resuscitate selected programs, and, very soon, Russian missile technology became a
hot export commodity. Today, Russian missiles are a growth industry generating much-
needed cash for Russia, with many billions in combined sales to India, China, Viet Nam,
Cuba, and also Iran. In the near future this dissemination of advanced technology is
likely to present serious challenges to the US. Some have even warned that the US Na-
vy’s largest ships, the massive carriers, have now become floating death traps, and
should for this reason be mothballed.

3
The Sunburn missile has never seen use in combat, to my knowledge, which probably
explains why its fearsome capabilities are not more widely recognized. Other cruise
missiles have been used, of course, on several occasions, and with devastating results.
During the Falklands War, French-made Exocet missiles, fired from Argentine fighters,
sunk the HMS Sheffield and another ship. And, in 1987, during the Iran-Iraq war, the
USS Stark was nearly cut in half by a pair of Exocets while on patrol in the Persian Gulf.
On that occasion US Aegis radar picked up the incoming Iraqi fighter (a French-made
Mirage), and tracked its approach to within 50 miles. The radar also “saw” the Iraqi
plane turnabout and return to its base. But radar never detected the pilot launch his
weapons. The sea-skimming Exocets came smoking in under radar and were only
sighted by human eyes moments before they ripped into the Stark, crippling the ship
and killing 37 US sailors.

The 1987 surprise attack on the Stark exemplifies the dangers posed by anti-ship cruise
missiles. And the dangers are much more serious in the case of the Sunburn, whose
specs leave the sub-sonic Exocet in the dust. Not only is the Sunburn much larger and
faster, it has far greater range and a superior guidance system. Those who have wit-
nessed its performance trials invariably come away stunned. According to one report,
when the Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani visited Moscow in October 2001 he
requested a test firing of the Sunburn, which the Russians were only too happy to ar-
range. So impressed was Ali Shamkhani that he placed an order for an undisclosed
number of the missiles.

The Sunburn can deliver a 200-kiloton nuclear payload or a 750-pound conventional

warhead, within a range of 100 miles, more than twice the range of the Exocet. The
Sunburn combines a Mach 2.1 speed (two times the speed of sound) with a flight pat-
tern that hugs the deck and includes “violent end maneuvers” to elude enemy defenses.
The missile was specifically designed to defeat the US Aegis radar defense system.
Should a US Navy Phalanx point defense somehow manage to detect an incoming
Sunburn missile, the system has only seconds to calculate a fire solution not enough
time to take out the intruding missile. The US Phalanx defense employs a six-barreled
gun that fires 3,000 depleted-uranium rounds a minute, but the gun must have precise
coordinates to destroy an intruder “just in time.”

The Sunburn’s combined supersonic speed and payload size produce tremendous ki-
netic energy on impact, with devastating consequences for ship and crew. A single one
of these missiles can sink a large warship, yet costs considerably less than a fighter jet.
Although the Navy has been phasing out the older Phalanx defense system, its re-
placement, known as the Rolling Action Missile (RAM) has never been tested against
the weapon it seems destined to one day face in combat. Implications For US Forces in
the Gulf.

The US Navy’s only plausible defense against a robust weapon like the Sunburn missile
is to detect the enemy’s approach well ahead of time, whether destroyers, subs, or
fighter-bombers, and defeat them before they can get in range and launch their deadly

4
cargo. For this purpose US AWACs radar planes assigned to each naval battle group
are kept aloft on a rotating schedule. The planes “see” everything within two hundred
miles of the fleet, and are complemented with intelligence from orbiting satellites.

But US naval commanders operating in the Persian Gulf face serious challenges that
are unique to the littoral, i.e., coastal, environment. A glance at a map shows why: The
Gulf is nothing but a large lake, with one narrow outlet, and most of its northern shore,
i.e., Iran, consists of mountainous terrain that affords a commanding tactical advantage
over ships operating in Gulf waters. The rugged northern shore makes for easy con-
cealment of coastal defenses, such as mobile missile launchers, and also makes their
detection problematic. Although it was not widely reported, the US actually lost the bat-
tle of the Scuds in the first Gulf War termed “the great Scud hunt” and for similar rea-
sons.

Saddam Hussein’s mobile Scud launchers proved so difficult to detect and destroy over
and over again the Iraqis fooled allied reconnaissance with decoys that during the
course of Desert Storm the US was unable to confirm even a single kill. This proved
such an embarrassment to the Pentagon, afterwards, that the unpleasant stats were
buried in official reports. But the blunt fact is that the US failed to stop the Scud attacks.
The launches continued until the last few days of the conflict. Luckily, the Scud’s inaccu-
racy made it an almost useless weapon. At one point General Norman Schwarzkopf
quipped dismissively to the press that his soldiers had a greater chance of being struck
by lightning in Georgia than by a Scud in Kuwait.

But that was then, and it would be a grave error to allow the Scud’s ineffectiveness to
blur the facts concerning this other missile. The Sunburn’s amazing accuracy was
demonstrated not long ago in a live test staged at sea by the Chinese and observed by
US spy planes. Not only did the Sunburn missile destroy the dummy target ship, it
scored a perfect bull’s eye, hitting the crosshairs of a large “X” mounted on the ship’s
bridge. The only word that does it justice, awesome, has become a cliché, hackneyed
from hyperbolic excess.

The US Navy has never faced anything in combat as formidable as the Sunburn missile.
But this will surely change if the US and Israel decide to wage a so-called preventive
war against Iran to destroy its nuclear infrastructure. Storm clouds have been darkening
over the Gulf for many months. In recent years Israel upgraded its air force with a new
fleet of long-range F-15 fighter-bombers, and even more recently took delivery of 5,000
bunker-buster bombs from the US weapons that many observers think are intended for
use against Iran.

The arming for war has been matched by threats. Israeli officials have declared repeat-
edly that they will not allow the Mullahs to develop nuclear power, not even reactors to
generate electricity for peaceful use. Their threats are particularly worrisome, because
Israel has a long history of pre-emptive war. Never mind that such a determination is not
Israel’s to make, and belongs instead to the international community, as codified in the
Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). With regard to Iran, the International Atomic Energy

5
Agency’s (IAEA’s) recent report (September 2004) is well worth a look, as it repudiates
facile claims by the US and Israel that Iran is building bombs. While the report is highly
critical of Tehran for its ambiguities and its grudging release of documents, it affirms that
IAEA inspectors have been admitted to every nuclear site in the country to which they
have sought access, without exception. Last year Iran signed the strengthened IAEA
inspection protocol, which until then had been voluntary. And the IAEA has found no
hard evidence, to date, either that bombs exist or that Iran has made a decision to build
them.

In a talk on October 3, 2004, IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei made the
clearest statement yet: “Iran has no nuclear weapons program”, he said, and then re-
peated himself for emphasis: “Iran has no nuclear weapons program, but I personally
don’t rush to conclusions before all the realities are clarified. So far I see nothing that
could be called an imminent danger. I have seen no nuclear weapons program in Iran.
What I have seen is that Iran is trying to gain access to nuclear enrichment technology,
and so far there is no danger from Iran. Therefore, we should make use of political and
diplomatic means before thinking of resorting to other alternatives.” No one disputes
that Tehran is pursuing a dangerous path, but with 200 or more Israeli nukes targeted
upon them the Iranians’ insistence on keeping their options open is understandable.
Clearly, the nuclear nonproliferation regime today hangs by the slenderest of threads.
The world has arrived at a fateful crossroads.

A Fearful Symmetry? If a showdown over Iran develops in the coming months, the man
who could hold the outcome in his hands will be thrust upon the world stage. That man,
like him or hate him, is Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has been castigated se-
verely in recent months for gathering too much political power to himself. But according
to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who was interviewed on US television
recently by David Brokaw, Putin has not imposed a tyranny upon Russia yet. Gorba-
chev thinks the jury is still out on Putin.

Perhaps, with this in mind, we should be asking whether Vladimir Putin is a serious stu-
dent of history. If he is, then he surely recognizes that the deepening crisis in the Per-
sian Gulf presents not only manifold dangers, but also opportunities. Be assured that
the Russian leader has not forgotten the humiliating defeat Ronald Reagan (Charlie
Wilson’s War) inflicted upon the old Soviet state. (Have we Americans forgotten?) By
the mid-1980s the Soviets were in Kabul, and had all but defeated the Mujahedeen. The
Soviet Union appeared secure in its military occupation of Afghanistan. But then, in
1986, the first US Stinger missiles reached the hands of the Afghani resistance; and,
quite suddenly, Soviet helicopter gunships and MiGs began dropping out of the skies
like flaming stones. The tide swiftly turned, and by 1989 it was all over but the hand
wringing and gnashing of teeth in the Kremlin. Defeated, the Soviets slunk back across
the frontier. The whole world cheered the American Stingers, which had carried the day.

This very night, as he sips his cognac, what is Vladimir Putin thinking? Is he perhaps
thinking about the perverse symmetries of history? If so, he may also be wondering
(and discussing with his closest aides) how a truly great nation like the United States

6
could be so blind and so stupid as to allow another state, i.e., Israel, to control its for-
eign policy, especially in a region as vital (and volatile) as the Mid-East. One can almost
hear the Russians’ animated conversation: “The Americans! What is the matter with
them?” “They simply cannot help themselves.” “What idiots!” “A nation as foolish as this
deserves to be taught a lesson.” “Yes! For their own good.” “It must be a painful lesson,
one they will never forget. “Are we agreed, then, comrades?” “Let us teach our Ameri-
can friends a lesson about the limits of military power...”

Does anyone really believe that Vladimir Putin will hesitate to seize a most rare oppor-
tunity to change the course of history and, in the bargain, take his sweet revenge? Sure-
ly Putin understands the terrible dimensions of the trap into which the US has blun-
dered, thanks to the Israelis and their neo-con supporters in Washington who lobbied so
vociferously for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, against all friendly and expert advice, and
who even now beat the drums of war against Iran. Would Putin be wrong to conclude
that the US will never leave the region unless it is first defeated militarily? Should we
blame him for deciding that Iran is “one bridge too far”? If the US and Israel overreach,
and the Iranians close the net with Russian anti-ship missiles, it will be a fearful sym-
metry, indeed.

Springing the Trap: At the battle of Cannae in 216 BC, the great Carthaginian general,
Hannibal, tempted a much larger Roman army into a fateful advance, and then envel-
oped and annihilated it with a smaller force. Out of a Roman army of 70,000 men, no
more than a few thousand escaped. It was said that after many hours of dispatching the
Romans, Hannibal’s soldiers grew so tired that the fight went out of them. In their weari-
ness they granted the last broken and bedraggled Romans their lives.

Let us pray that the US sailors who are unlucky enough to be on duty in the Persian
Gulf when the shooting starts can escape the fate of the Roman army at Cannae. The
odds will be heavily against them, however, because they will face the same type of
danger, tantamount to envelopment. The US ships in the Gulf will already have come
within range of the Sunburn missiles and the even more-advanced SS-NX-26 Yakhonts
missiles, also Russian-made (speed: Mach 2.9; range: 180 miles) deployed by the Ira-
nians along the Gulf’s northern shore. Every US ship will be exposed and vulnerable.
When the Iranians spring the trap, the entire lake will become a killing field.

Anti-ship cruise missiles are not new, as I’ve mentioned. Nor have they yet determined
the outcome in a conflict. But this is probably only because these horrible weapons
have never been deployed in sufficient numbers. At the time of the Falklands war the
Argentine air force possessed only five Exocets, yet managed to sink two ships. With
enough of them, the Argentineans might have sunk the entire British fleet, and won the
war. Although we’ve never seen a massed attack of cruise missiles, this is exactly what
the US Navy could face in the next war in the Gulf.

Try and imagine it if you can: barrage after barrage of Exocet-class missiles, which the
Iranians are known to possess in the hundreds, as well as the unstoppable Sunburn
and Yakhonts missiles. The questions that our purblind government leaders should be

7
asking themselves, today, if they value what historians will one day write about them,
are two: how many of the Russian anti-ship missiles has Putin already supplied to Iran?
And: How many more are currently in the pipeline?

In 2001, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported that Iran was attempting to acquire anti-ship
missiles from Russia. Ominously, the same report also mentioned that the more ad-
vanced Yakhonts missile was “optimized for attacks against carrier task forces.” Appar-
ently its guidance system is “able to distinguish an aircraft carrier from its escorts.” The
numbers were not disclosed.

The US Navy will come under fire even if the US does not participate in the first so-
called surgical raids on Iran’s nuclear sites, that is, even if Israel goes it alone. Israel’s
brand-new fleet of 25 F-15s (paid for by American taxpayers) has sufficient range to
target Iran, but the Israelis cannot mount an attack without crossing US-occupied Iraqi
air space. It will hardly matter if Washington gives the green light, or is dragged into the
conflict by a recalcitrant Israel. Either way, the result will be the same. The Iranians will
interpret US acquiescence as complicity, and, in any event, they will understand that the
real fight is with the Americans. The Iranians will be entirely within their rights to coun-
ter-attack in self-defense. Most of the world will see it this way, and will support them,
not America. The US and Israel will be viewed as the aggressors, even as the unfortu-
nate US sailors in harm’s way become cannon fodder. In the Gulf’s shallow and con-
fined waters evasive maneuvers will be difficult, at best, and escape impossible. Even if
US planes control of the skies over the battlefield, the sailors caught in the net below
will be hard-pressed to survive. The Gulf will run red with American blood.

From here, it only gets worse. Armed with their Russian-supplied cruise missiles, the
Iranians will close the lake’s only outlet, the strategic Strait of Hormuz, cutting off the
trapped and dying Americans from help and rescue. The US fleet massing in the Indian
Ocean will stand by helplessly, unable to enter the Gulf to assist the survivors or bring
logistical support to the other US forces on duty in Iraq. Couple this with a major new
ground offensive by the Iraqi insurgents, and, quite suddenly, the tables could turn
against the Americans in Baghdad. As supplies and ammunition begin to run out, the
status of US forces in the region will become precarious. The occupiers will become the
besieged.

With enough anti-ship missiles, the Iranians can halt tanker traffic through Hormuz for
weeks, even months. With the flow of oil from the Gulf curtailed, the price of a barrel of
crude will skyrocket on the world market. Within days the global economy will begin to
grind to a halt. Tempers at an emergency round-the-clock session of the UN Security
Council will flare and likely explode into shouting and recriminations as French, Ger-
man, Chinese and even British ambassadors angrily accuse the US of allowing Israel to
threaten world order. But, as always, because of the US veto the world body will be
powerless to act... America will stand alone, completely isolated.

Yet, despite the increasingly hostile international mood, elements of the US media will
spin the crisis very differently here at home, in a way that is sympathetic to Israel. Mem-

8
bers of Congress will rise to speak in the House and Senate, and rally to Israel’s de-
fense, while blaming the victim of the attack, Iran. Fundamentalist Christian talk show
hosts will proclaim the historic fulfillment of biblical prophecy in our time, and will call
upon the Jews of Israel to accept Jesus into their hearts; meanwhile, urging the presi-
dent to nuke the evil empire of Islam. From across America will be heard histrionic cries
for fresh reinforcements, even a military draft. Patriots will demand victory at any cost.
Pundits will scream for an escalation of the conflict. A war that ostensibly began as an
attempt to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons will teeter on the brink of their use.

Conclusion: Friends, we must work together to prevent such a catastrophe. We must

stop the next Middle East war before it starts. The US government must turn over to the
United Nations the primary responsibility for resolving the deepening crisis in Iraq, and,
immediately thereafter, withdraw US forces from the country. We must also prevail upon
the Israelis to sign the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and open all of their nuclear sites
to IAEA inspectors. Only then can serious talks begin with Iran and other states to es-
tablish a nuclear weapon free zone (NWFZ) in the Mid-East so essential to the region’s
long-term peace and security.”
- http://www.rense.com/

This was originally posted on 11-2-4, and due to ongoing improvements in the design
capabilities of this missile system the threat is even more lethal today. And we’d get into
this for what, exactly? “Democracy”, “freedom”, like we’ve given to Iraq? No, folks, it’s
about oil and natural gas, resources which we’re competing for, and money, always
money. Only a damned fool would be willing to die for Exxon/Mobil, BP and the rest of
that lot...- CP

“Iran’s Arsenal Of Sunburn Missiles Is More Than Enough To Close The Strait of Hor-
muz”
by Jim Campbell

“The Sunburn is perhaps the most lethal anti-ship missile in the world, designed to fly as
low as 9 feet above ground/water at more than 1,500 miles per hour (Mach 2+). The
missile uses a violent pop-up maneuver for its terminal approach to throw off Phalanx
and other US anti-missile defense systems. Given their low cost, they’re perfectly suited
for close quarter naval conflict in the bathtub-like Persian Gulf.

The Sunburn is versatile, and can be fired from practically any platform, including just a
flatbed truck. It has a 90-mile range, which is all that is necessary in the small Persian
Gulf and 40-mile-wide Strait of Hormuz. Fired from shore a missile could hit a ship in
the Strait in less than a minute. It presents a real threat to the US Navy. Tests using the
Aegean and RAM ship defense technology stops the Sunburn 95% of the time, but such
testing was done in open seas, not a bathtub. The payload hit with a 750-pound con-
ventional warhead can be witnessed at 1:53-1:57 in this video. Not enough to sink a
carrier, but it could take down smaller capital ships and crew.

9
You don’t have to be Hannibal preparing for the Battle of Cannae to see that the Strait is
a potential shooting gallery. Without a doubt, Iran has plotted and mapped every firing
angle and location along the Gulf, their home-court coastline. This is going to put enor-
mous interdiction pressure on US warplanes to spot and destroy platforms, which may
be as simple as a flat-bed truck. In reality, Iran has dug in from Jask in the east to Ban-
dar in the west and can easily cover any ship, commercial or military, traversing the nar-
row Strait.

Equally disturbing is Iran’s missile range for the entire Persian Gulf. Bahrain itself could
be hit by the longer-range version of the Sunburn, the Onyx. Is the US (which has three
aircraft carrier groups in play currently) going to stick around or clear out to the Oman
Sea, leaving control of the oil lanes to Iran? Or will they stay and slug it out with the Ira-
nians? If so, at what cost?”

-http://dancingczars.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/propaganda-alert-irans-arsenal-of-
sunburn-missiles-is-more-than-enough-to-close-the-strait-of-hormuz/

That was posted in 2012. The US eliminated Carrier Battle Groups in favor of Carrier
Strike Groups on 1 October 2004.

10
 World War Three – Chapter 2

Looking back…

I’d read that back on September 3, 2012. It looked like it had possibilities as the lead
into a story line. I never wrote the story because the world in 2012 wasn’t what it was
now. Someone had conducted a nuclear test last week and nobody claimed credit. A
few days before on Memorial Day, we heard from Iran.

Jihad will only end when society can get rid of America
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei in chilling threat towards US
Ali Khamenei says Iran must arm to defend itself in ‘world full of thieves’
Comments come as talks over Iran’s nuclear program run into stalemate

Published: 13:37 EST, 26 May 2014 | Updated: 16:23 EST, 26 May 2014

Iran’s supreme leader has said that his country’s struggle will only end when it defeats
US-led oppression.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told members of parliament in Tehran that Iran must be armed
and ‘have the capability to defend itself’ in a ‘world full of thieves’.

His comments came as negotiations with the international community over Iran’s nucle-
ar program ran into a stalemate, with Tehran saying world powers were ‘demanding too
much’.

‘Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist,’ Khamenei told
MPs, according to a translation by US news site The Daily Caller.

‘This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with Amer-
ica at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought.

‘This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.’

The Daily Caller’s translation of a Fars News Agency report is by a reporter pseudony-
mously bylined Reza Khalili, who claims to be a former CIA agent in Iran’s Revolution-
ary Guard.

Khamenei’s address to Parliament on Sunday continued with veiled references to the

actions of the West and Arab states as he justified Iran’s continued defiance of interna-
tional sanctions against its nuclear program.

‘Logic and reason command that for Iran, in order to pass through a region full of pi-
rates, needs to arm itself and must have the capability to defend itself,’ he said.

11
‘Today’s world is full of thieves and plunderers of human honor, dignity and morality
who are equipped with knowledge, wealth and power, and under the pretense of hu-
manity easily commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different parts of
the world.’

There has been little progress in the latest round of nuclear talks between Tehran and
the US, Russia, France, Britain, China - the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council - and Germany.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking in Tehran today before a visit to
Turkey for talks with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, laid the
blame for the impasse at the feet of the six powers.

‘They should stop demanding too much. We have our red line, and they too want assur-
ances that our nuclear program will always remain peaceful. We believe these two add
up,’ he was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

‘I feel the realism awakened from the last round of talks will bring us closer to conclu-
sion. We may be able to remove one of two of the previous hurdles, or rather face new
ones. In any case, we should make an effort to pass through this phase.’

Iran considers the right to enrich uranium for nuclear energy a red line but that levels of
enrichment are negotiable.

Enriched uranium provides fuel for nuclear generating stations but it is also, if refined to
a high level, the key ingredient for atomic bombs.

Western powers claim Iran’s declared civilian nuclear energy program is a facade for
seeking a weapons capability. Iran denies this but it has a history of hiding activity from
UN nuclear inspectors.

The powers want Iran to agree to scale back enrichment and other nuclear activity and
accept tougher UN inspections to prove it can’t quickly build atomic bombs, in exchange
for an end to economic sanctions.

But Mr. Zarif said world powers should refrain from additional pressure on the Islamic
Republic to force it into concessions.

‘Sanctions haven’t served them any purpose, only led to our making 19,000 centrifug-
es,’ he said, according to IRNA, referring to the machines that enrich uranium.

Bulletin:

May 30, 2014

12
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Friday that his country would play a larger
role in promoting peace in Asia, and called for the rule of law to be upheld in the region.

Laying out a vision of Tokyo as a counterweight to the growing might of China, Abe of-
fered Japan’s help to regional partners “to ensure security of the seas and skies”.

He said Japan and the United States stood ready to bolster security cooperation with
Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“Japan intends to play an even greater and more proactive role than it has until now in
making peace in Asia and the world something more certain,” he said in a keynote
speech at an annual Asia security forum in Singapore.

Abe said Japan will provide 10 new coast guard patrol ships to Philippines, which has
one of Asia’s most poorly equipped security forces.

He said three such vessels have already been provided to Indonesia and Vietnam may
receive similar assistance.

Abe delivered his speech as tensions simmer over territorial disputes, involving China
and some Southeast Asian states in the South China Sea as well as between Tokyo
and Beijing in the East China Sea.

Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, even waters approaching the shores
of neighboring countries, and has become more aggressive in enforcing what it says are
its historical rights.

- ‘Dangerous’ maneuvers -

In the latest tensions, Vietnam on Thursday accused Chinese war ships of pointing their
weapons at Vietnamese vessels during an escalating standoff near an oil rig in contest-
ed waters in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has also faced increasingly tense disputes with China for control of is-
lets and reefs in the sea.

In one high-profile incident in 2012, the Philippines lost control of a rich fishing ground
220 kilometers (135 miles) off its main island to China after a standoff.

China is also in dispute with Japan over islands in the East Sea, which Tokyo calls
Senkaku and Beijing refers to as Diaoyu. Tokyo has control over the outcrops.

On May 25, Japan accused China of “dangerous” maneuvers in the area after a Chi-
nese fighter flew within roughly 30 meters (100 feet) of a Japanese military aircraft.

13
“We do not welcome dangerous encounters by fighter aircraft and vessels at sea,” Abe
said, reiterating a call for both countries to establish a maritime and air communication
mechanism in order to prevent unexpected situations.

Abe repeatedly used the phrase “rule of law” during his speech, urging nations to re-
spect international norms in dealing with territorial rows, avoiding coercion in enforcing
claims and settling disputes by peaceful means.

“I urge all of us who live in Asia and the Pacific to each individually uphold these three
principles exhaustively,” he said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security forum involving
defense chiefs, military officials and security experts.

“Movement to consolidate changes to the status quo by aggregating one fait accompli
after another can only be strongly condemned as something that contravenes the spirit
of these three principles,” he said, without mentioning any country.

Abe told the forum that talks were under way in his country about Japan’s pacifist armed
forces taking on a more pro-active role in security.

US defense secretary Chuck Hagel told Abe during bilateral talks on the sidelines in
Singapore that he welcomed the initiative, Japan’s Jiji Press news agency reported.

Japan’s Self Defense Forces have not fired a shot in battle since a battered and broken
country surrendered in 1945, accepting a US-led occupation that would last until 1952.

Its once-huge armed forces were emasculated, stripped by the foreign-imposed consti-
tution of the right to wage war and restricted to a defensive role.

Chinese state media said Abe had “played with international law to advance his thinly-
veiled nationalist goals” in the address.

Speaking ahead of Abe on the sidelines of the Singapore meeting, Fu Ying, the head of
the foreign affairs committee of China’s parliament, said the Japanese leader did not
appear “to show any interest in addressing” their bilateral dispute.

Fu said Abe was trying to use the dispute as an excuse to “amend the security policy of
Japan”, adding that this is “what is worrying to the region, and for China”.

May 30, 2014

China said Friday it would promote its own security theory at an Asian defense forum
this weekend, setting the scene for a clash with neighbor and rival Japan.

14
Beijing’s delegation to the so-called Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore will be headed by
Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army,
foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

The Chinese delegation will “fully elaborate on China’s security concept in Asia”, he said
at a regular briefing.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is attending, will lay out at the meeting a vi-
sion of Tokyo – which has a security alliance with the US – as a counterweight to Bei-
jing’s growing might, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported Thursday.

But at a regional summit last week Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that countries
should not build up military alliances in Asia.

“To beef up an entrenched or military alliance targeted at a third party is not conducive
to maintaining common security,” Xi said, without naming names.

Beijing and Tokyo are embroiled in a bitter dispute over Japanese-controlled islands in
the East China Sea.

Fu Ying, head of the foreign affairs committee of the National People’s Congress, Chi-
na’s rubber-stamp parliament, will also attend the Dialogue, Hong added.

Fu is a former vice foreign minister and ex-ambassador to London, and is considered a

more effective communicator than most Chinese officials.

The three-day Asia Security Summit, starting Friday, comes amid heightened tensions
between China and its neighbors over maritime territorial rows.

As well as the dispute with Japan, China claims almost all of the South China Sea, parts
of which are also claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam, all mem-
bers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and non-member Tai-
wan.

The row between Beijing and Hanoi is currently the most volatile, after China deployed
a drilling rig in contested waters, and escalated this week when Vietnam accused a
Chinese vessel of ramming and sinking a fishing boat nearby.

No one was hurt in the incident, which Beijing blamed on the Vietnamese vessel.

China’s President Xi Jinping called for greater military communication with the US, say-
ing as he opened high-level talks between the two countries that any conflict would be a
global disaster.

15
China needs a stable environment “more than ever,” and it’s inevitable that the two
sides will have some disputes, Xi said at the Diaoyutai guest house before the US-
China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing.

“A conflict between China and United States will definitely be a disaster for the two
countries and the world,” Xi said. “As long as we uphold mutual respect, maintain stra-
tegic patience and remain unperturbed by individual incidents and comments, we’ll be
able to keep relations on a firm footing despite ups and downs that may come our way.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew arrived yester-
day for the sixth round of the dialogue, this year aimed at rehabilitating relations
strained by differences over cyber espionage and escalating maritime disputes between
China and US allies in the Asia Pacific. A year after US President Barack Obama and
China’s Xi declared their support for “a new model of major power relations,” the two
countries face two days of negotiation over issues from climate change to global securi-
ty.

“The United States and China will not always see eye-to-eye on every issue,” Obama
said in a statement released as the talks got underway in Beijing. “That is to be ex-
pected for two nations with different histories and cultures.”

Bloomberg News Jul 8, 2014 8:03 PM PT

China remains suspicious over President Obama’s intention to rebalance its military
forces to Asia, seeing the move as emboldening countries with which it has territorial
disputes. Under Xi, China has tested US alliances in the region by pressing its claims to
a large part of the South China Sea, riling Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Kerry will deliver an unbiased US position on issues of sovereignty with respect to com-
peting territorial claims, and emphasize the importance of peaceful diplomacy and ad-
herence to international norms and law, an official said before the talks, speaking on
condition of anonymity.

Kerry and Lew are joined by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and will meet with
State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Premier Li Keqiang. While Kerry tackles the strategic
differences, Lew will address tensions emanating from US firms’ growing complaints
about access into the Chinese market, the official said.

There was trouble everywhere with the US caught in the middle. The situation in the Far
East bad and getting worse and the same applied to the Middle East. And, there was
the situation in the Crimea and Ukraine; each ticking time bomb.

16
My name is Rollin James Reynolds. Most folks call me Smoke or Smokey.
I was US Amy Infantry all 37 years and made E-9 on my next to last hitch. That was af-
ter 5 years as a First Sergeant. The E-9 promotion was to Command Sergeant Major,
the senior enlisted rank in the Brigade. Thank the Lord for those 5 years as First Ser-
geant; I’d have never been able to handle it otherwise. I served at that rank for 4½
years.

“What now Sergeant Major?”

“Colonel, I was thinking about picking up a small place in the Arkansas Ozarks.”

“That’s your home of record, isn’t it?”

“Yes sir. I don’t think I will relocate to Harrison; it’s become a Mecca for the Klan. Have
their headquarters in a suburb, Zinc.”

“I thought they were mostly gone in this day and age.”

“They mostly are sir. I was thinking about either Mountain Home or Jonesboro. The dis-
advantage of Jonesboro is that it’s in the New Madrid Seismic Zone so I’ll probably find
a place in Mountain home.”

“Anywhere you locate Sergeant Major has some kind of natural disaster occurring. Ar-
kansas has its share of tornados.”

That was back in 2006. I found a piece of undeveloped property of ~4 acres south of
Mountain Home. I could see why it was undeveloped; it wasn’t the most attractive build-
ing site. The real estate agent did some research on the property at my request. It had
been acquired by a group of 3 doctors who intended to put in a spa. They drilled for wa-
ter in three locations, never finding enough flow to justify building the spa. However, the
combined flow of the 3 wells would support one home. I made a lowball offer on the
property and I’ll be damned if they didn’t accept it.

I tracked down a well-used Airstream and had a domicile. Add to that a box at one of
those mail box places and I had an address. I had a septic system installed and I had
sewer. Then, I contracted the well driller.

“Were you sure none of those well would produce an adequate flow?”

“Where did you get that idea?”

“I had the realtor check into it.”

17
“Nobody contacted me. Any of the three would produce the water they needed. That’s
provided they would have let me drill deeper. Yankees! Were in the Ozark Mountains
and sometimes you have to drill down to where the water is. This piece of land is in the
White River watershed and that last well was showing promise. I left the pipes in the 3
holes and filled them with drilling mud. I could probably bring in all 3 wells in 3 weeks.”

“What would it cost me?”

“One or all three? Setup and dismantling is $500 whether you go 1 or 3. I charge by the
foot on the drilling so if we do the most promising first, you get by the cheapest. If you
want a guaranteed flow rate, we may have to do the second and the third.”

“I can go up to $3,500.”

“Pumps separate?”

“Yes.”

“Mister, you just bought yourself a well or 3.”

I didn’t have power either and had to get by with a 12kw China diesel. Needless to say, I
usually slept in and went to bed shortly after sundown. I had 2 25 gallon (100 pound)
propane bottles that I swapped out. So far I’d been getting water in town; bottled for
drinking and 5 gallon cans for the stool/sink. With my expenses next to nothing, I had
money for each of my acquisitions and paid cash.

Being single, I had been able to save all my earnings in excess of my pay as an E-5. I
had some in the bank, and the rest in my GI surplus footlocker. That was most of 30
years of savings. Silver and gold Eagles making up the major amounts with Junk silver
the lesser amount but the greater bulk; one third in the bank account with the remainder
in the footlocker. My retirement pay was direct deposit and I keep an eye on gold and
silver prices. Saving as I did paid a bonus when I retired since I was used to living on
less than I earned. I just made the cutoff where you didn’t get your retirement before
age 65; I enlisted in ‘69 and got to see the jungle twice. Got to see the Desert for the
Storm, too.

The first well produced 15gpm, the second 18gpm and the third 27gpm giving me a total
flow of 60gpm. He supplied the well pumps, which I paid for, and I provided the PV pan-
els, batteries and inverters. I asked him which well site had the most soil above the
rock. The first had 13’, the second 26’ and the third ~40’. My new home would go over
the third well because it had the greatest volume and the most soil. I purchased a
10,000 gallon cistern and plumed all the wells to the cistern. A single float switch would
cut off all the pumps or 3 float switches would cut off the 3 individually. I went with 3 so I
could have replacements if 1 or 2 went bad.

18
I had the excavator dig the hole 21’ deep. Then, using a pick and shovel, dug out a
space for 1,000 gallon septic tank with a sewage pump and connected it to my septic
tank. That was a nasty job making that connection. Then, I dug a second hole for a
1,000 gallon cistern and connected it to my main cistern. The shelter pressure tank was
fed by the smaller cistern.

The next part was contracted because I’m no bricklayer or mason. I had a foundation
put in that was the size of the log cabin I’d picked out on the Internet, 32’w×44’l. I care-
fully explained that I wanted I beams placed on top of the 9’ layer but I wanted the block
wall to extend to the ground level. I had the construction modified.

“That doesn’t make any sense. It’s obvious that that’s a shelter of some type but why do
you want to go to the surface?”

“Footings for my new home?”

“Still don’t make no sense but it’s your money.”

The reason it didn’t make sense because the guy failed mind reading. I had them block
out one corner in the overhead and lay block to ground level. It was the escape tunnel
although I’m convinced that he thought it was the entrance tunnel. I didn’t have them do
the backfill and hired the Ready-Mix to do the pour and backfill separately. Before they
poured the overhead, I had them form the set in the 10” thick wall for the Blast Door
from USS. As they poured, they enclosed the shelter overhead and built the entrance
ramp to the Blast Door. The job foreman just said, “Clever.”

I bought the log cabin after the wells were dug and it was ready and paid for when I
called to arrange delivery and assembly.

“I just don’t get it. Propane water heater without a stove and refrigerator. How are you
going to handle those?”

“That Franklin type stove puts out enough BTUs to heat the place doesn’t it?”

“I’m sure with coal it probably does. Is that what you’re going to do is burn wood and
coal?”

“Along with some propane, yes.”

The stove was on order from Lehman’s, a Heartland Sweetheart with reservoir, as was
the refrigerator, a Diamond (18ft³) Gas Refrigerator without Freezer, and a freezer from
Sears, a 25ft³ chest type. I intended to have electric power using PV panels with a Wind
Turbine for backup along with a 30kw propane fueled generator and grid power if all
else failed.

19
I had the fuel tanks but they were far from full. I got the PV panels and Wind Turbine
from one company and they installed both, making sure that they switched properly.
When they tried to sell me the submarine batteries, I played dumb and asked if that
would require another circuit. They replied that it wouldn’t unless I had a generator.

“It’s a 30kw propane fueled and I want access to the grid.”

Well, that’s different.”

“Here’s the deal, feed the batteries from the PV panels and Wind Turbine and wire it so
that if the batteries get too low it goes to commercial first and the generator last.”

“Why that way?”

“If the commercial is out, it will automatically go to the generator. And, the generator will
help recharging the batteries. You can set it so it won’t switch back to batteries until
they’re maybe 30% recharged can’t you?”

“We can do anything. Can you afford it?”

“Yes, put in 2 banks with 2 spares, dry.”

Never let them see you sweat, it’s unbecoming. The diesel tank wasn’t that large, 5,000
gallons. The gas tank was a mere 500 gallons but the propane was big, a used 30,000
gallon tank with new relief valve. I had diesel for my Dodge Ram with the original 6BT
engine. The gas was for my 2 Stihl chainsaws.

It’s easier, at this point to tell you what I didn’t have rather than what I had. I didn’t have
10,000 gallons of propane to finish filling the tank, just as I didn’t have 2,500 gallons of
diesel to finish filling the diesel tank. The only firearms I had were a M1911A1 and a M1
carbine. I bought them both well used from another Sergeant. I did have 11 of the 15
round magazines and some Speer Gold Dot Personal Protection 110gr .30 carbine,
about 500 rounds and 200gr +P .45ACP Gold Dot, about 3 boxes. I didn’t have a fancy
first aid kit and only a one year supply from Walton Foods.

What I did have was Gold Eagles, several in all denominations and silver Eagles, too,
plus some junk silver. I went to the local gun dealer and asked if he could get me a
Springfield Armory M1A. He had a Standard and Loaded in stock and could have a Na-
tional Match or Super Match within a week. I asked him if he could call Illinois and find
out if they could mount the Super Match parkerized action and barrel in a black McMil-
lan M3A stock. He called, they could but it would take 2-3 weeks for delivery and cash
up front. I bought the Loaded and the Super Match and 2 slings. I could get everything
else that I wanted at another store.

Then I drove down to Little Rock and cashed in 80 ounces of gold at spot -2.5%. I found
a store with a supply of magazines and bought 50 (CMI – 20s). After I returned home, I

20
ordered 20 500 round cases of PMC .308 147gr FMJ from Ammoman. With that out of
the way, I rented a Ryder truck and headed to Idaho. I bought 9 more of those deluxe
supplies and headed to Orem to get 10 years from Emergency Essentials. I over did
there. I compared what one got and bought 10 Gourmet 2000 packages, mainly be-
cause it was on sale.

Well, I figured what the hell; I had 20 years’ worth of food and even a grain mill, flaker
and 2 30 quart All American canners so I was almost set. I picked up the Loaded and he
told me that the Super Match should be in the first of the week. So, I bought a Mossberg
590A1 (this one came with the bayonet) and ordered 5 cases each of Remington 3” Ex-
press Magnum 00 and no. 4 buckshot plus 10 cases of Brenneke 1⅜oz 3” Black Magic
slugs (Wilhelm Brenneke brought the modern slug onto the market in 1898). He offered
me some 175gr Black Hills BTHP at his delivered cost so I took all 18 500 round cases
he had on hand. It wasn’t selling… too expensive.

That filled in the loose ends except for the fuel. After I unloaded the truck and hauled
the stuff down the ramp and stacked it, it occurred to me that the shelter was pretty
bare. I had the walls up, insulated, drywall applied, taped and painted but no furniture or
communications gear. So there was more to buy than just the fuel. Damn.

From then on until the tanks were full, the only trip I made off the homestead was to pick
up my rifle and ammo. By mid-2007, the bank account had a balance and I bought a
queen sized bed for each of the bedrooms (2), linens, kitchenware, dishes and cutlery
(the cheap stuff). After I purchased the communications equipment, a used multiband
base station and a Galaxy SSB base station, a US Towers HDX-689MDPL Tower with 4
standoffs, the heavy duty rotor, 20’ chromolly mast, RCM-1000 remote control, MDPL-
1000 drive motor, beams, CB, Business Band and a D123J vertical and Cobra SSB CB
for my pickup, I figure I was about done.

One night mid-2008, I’m talking to a guy on my Galaxy and mentioned I had a Kenwood
TS-2000. He asked what my call sign was and I told him my handle. He said he knew
my handle, but what was my call sign granted to me by the FCC. I did the un-duh bit
and he said don’t get caught. I must have missed something when I bought the used HF
radio. I got my Technician and General license and stopped to catch my breath. The Ex-
tra Class exam was hard but I passed it the second time.

It just seemed that I should add an HF radio to my pickup and I bought another used
TS-2000. I didn’t work like the first one so I went to see the guy who sold me the first
one. He said if I drive him out to my place, he’d ‘fix it’. I went out to my pickup and
brought it in and he ‘fixed it’ in almost no time. Then, he said, don’t get caught, e.g. only
use the illegal channels if WWIII happened. I studied some more and restricted the ra-
dio use to the legal channels. Then, to round out the truck equipment, I added a Cobra
148 GTX SSB and another business band CM300.

It sure seemed like I was being told ‘Don’t get caught’ every time I turned around. When
I thought about it, it would be just my luck to be arrested by the FCC during WWIII.

21
Those Iranian Grand Ayatollahs, whether named Ruhollah Khomeini or Ali Khamenei in
their steadfast devotion to the idea that the United States is the Great Satan and Israel
is a US lackey. I doubt that BiBi would agree with that sentiment. After all, we did supply
Israel with 15 new F-15E advanced range Strike Eagles as foreign aid. Plus 5,000 of the
2,000 pound GBUs (Bunker Busters), at our expense. Although Hassan Rouhani re-
placed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, my sense of the matter is ‘same track, different train’.
The former spoke loudly and carried a small stick and the latter spoke softly and carried
a Louisville slugger.

Think about it; Russia is a major arms supplier to China and India. Both are supporters
of Iran in the UN Security Council. Plus they’ve supported Assad in the Syrian Civil War.
As an Infantry CSM, I got a belly ache so bad Doc put me on Prilosec; plus aspirin as a
blood thinner. Of course aspirin is counter-indicated when using Prilosec because
NSAIDs irritate your stomach.

As I read TOM’s and Jerry’s stories, I pick up a few ideas. I needed a McMillan Tac-50,
plus 4,000 rounds each of Hornady 750gr AMAX match and 33⅓ cans of Mk 211MP. I
had 2 rifles and a shotgun with a PPK in .380 carried in an ankle holster but was appar-
ently short on magazines. I replaced the 7 round magazines with 7 8 round stainless
magazines. The new magazines didn’t fit in the 7 round magazine pouches. I replaced
them with Ripoff CO-21V Double Pistol magazine pouches.

The Tac-50 in the newer Tac-50A1R2 had jumped in price, about 2 grand. The rifle cost
$11,990; McCann Industries Mc50 Night Vision Mount; Elite Iron Alpha 50 suppressor, 8
extra magazines plus shipping and sales tax. Maybe I should buy a drag bag. Ammo
would be Hornady 750gr AMAX match which came 200 rounds to the case for about a
grand per case.

But did I have good enough contacts with my friends in the Army who hadn’t retired? My
choices were to sell more gold, save up the money or a combination of both. That
wasn’t a hard choice since 100 ounces of gold together with my checking account bal-
ance and a wait would get everything except the Mk 211MP and the Magnum Universal
Night Sight, AN/PVS-27. I would need night vision for my Super Match but there was a
less expensive product in the Universal Night Sight AN/PVS-22 with a range that
matched the rifle. So I started to save for that.

Since the Tac-50 had a suppressor, I checked out silencer manufacturers. The one with
best guarantee was Surefire and it went on my ‘need to buy list’. It appeared that I’d
need the FA-762-K model and I might just as well use the MB-762-213F muzzle break
adapter because it reduced the recoil slightly. I could figure which adapter the rifle
would need and headed to Little Rock to get the straight scoop.

“End Mount or overlap?”

“End Mounts.”

22
“A Loaded, National Match or Super Match?”

“A Loaded and a Super Match.”

“Flashhider, Compensator or Muzzle Brake?”

“Muzzle Brakes.”

“Fill these out, get your prints and come back. I’ll submit the papers when Surefire gives
me the serial numbers. Is this the first time buying a NFA Registry item?”

“Yes.”

“Figure the better part of nine months.”

“Would you have a threaded barrel for an M1911A1?”

“Seventy-five dollars. Which brand of suppresser?”

“Whatever is the quietest?”

“Ok, AWC. Want an Amphibian too?”

“What’s that?”

“A Mark III Ruger integrally suppressed. Sixteen hundred.”

“Sure. Add a case of Lapua Subsonic .22LR.”

“Be sure you have the $800 for the ATF when you come back.”

It took hours to get fingerprinted, pull the cash from my bank account and return to the
dealer. After I handed him the signed documents, fingerprint cards and $800, he hand-
ed me the invoice for the firearms. Fortunately he’d take a check since he had plenty of
time to cash it. It actually only took 7 months; Veteran’s bonus?”

I began to look forward to actually retiring. Two more years of Obama and we’d be free.
I didn’t feel old at 62 and could get around pretty well. I had a beef and 2 hogs in the
freezer along with a fair selection of frozen vegetables, butter, hams, bacon and sau-
sage. The propane refrigerator had gone down the ramp to the shelter and was re-
placed with combination refrigerator/freezer, still propane.

While I could have gotten by with refilling the propane and diesel once a year, I went for
early spring and late fall. When I shopped, I usually went to the Super Wal-Mart in Flip-

23
pin and the Super Wal-Mart in Mountain Home. After four years of double shopping
mostly sale items, I had the one year supply of STS.

The gas tank was refilled by dumping my 5 gas cans in after I refreshed the PRI-G in
the cans. Then I added another 9.25ml of PRI-G and refilled them with premium in town.
In the beginning I had told someone I heated with wood, coal and propane. Coal rooms
are usually in basements near the wood/coal furnace. My plan had been to use the
wood/coal burning Franklin type stove. I purely outfoxed myself, lacking coal storage.

From the time the cabin was habitable, I’d ordered anthracite from a local dealer, one
dump truck load at a time. He, of course, was buying it by the rail car, marking it up and
charging a delivery fee.

There wasn’t enough wood on my 4 acres to make harvesting it worthwhile. The cutting
area in the National Forests wouldn’t let you harvest hardwood, either. So, I ended up
buying my wood, too. One guy offered a package deal, 19 cords of hardwood and 1
cord of softwood split and stacked for $3,000. Based on expectations, that would be a
4-5 year supply for the kitchen stove so I went with it. I half expected them to deliver 20
pickup loads and call it twenty cords. I suggested that I needed the exercise and offered
to stack to wood for them.

“If you want, ok, stack it. I don’t cheat my customers and you will get 128ft³ of softwood
and 2,432ft³ of hardwood for a total of 2,560ft³.”

“But I can help if I’m in the mood?”

“Yes you can. Just don’t get in the mood to move any of the wood into that cabin until
the delivery is complete.”

“I surely won’t.”

I think they delivered a little extra, 12ft³ of softwood and 25ft³ of hard wood, but I’m not
really sure.

“Are you going to want another order in 2 years? We like to plan ahead and if you say
yes, we’ll have it whether you want it or not.”

“Same price?”

“Market price at the time. It’s this package deal that actually keeps us in business. Many
folks put off getting wood for their fireplace and we generally have at least one or two
package customers turn us down, giving us wood to sell. Market on a single delivery is
far higher than the package deals.”

“Go ahead and put me down for the package in 2 years. Here’s your check.”

24
We’re into 2012 and I’d just read that business about the Sunburn missile. Everything
was coming along according to plan. My thinking was that war wouldn’t break out until
2015 or 2016. It depended on Putin, Obama and China. But then, it always seemed to
depend on Russia, China and the US. I did 2 in Iraq and 1 in Afghanistan and that was
more than enough.

I’d tracked down Avon Products and purchased 2 M50 Joint Service General Purpose
Masks along with several cases of filters. At least these filters lasted 36 hours instead of
8 hours and signaled when they expired. The principal thing was that the masks didn’t
dissolve in the presence of some of the war gases. I bought 2 because I’m still single
and am not looking for someone to share my life with. That usually means that you need
2 of everything and I barely had enough to buy one of everything.

I happened on a website named Frugal Squirrels. After reading some of the posts, I
speculated that the site once hosted Patriot Fiction. So, I tried searching for Patriot Fic-
tion with Yahoo. I found Time Bomb 2000, which eventually led me to
http://www.jerrydyoung.com. Which led me to TOM and an E-Bay link for his stories
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170861827290#ht_3464wt_
1185. Apparently Jerry had a CD but it was sold out. In response to an inquiry, Jerry
had 100 printed and they sold quickly. TOM also had 100 printed but one of the discs
had a printing error and his representatives got a second 100 as a replacement. E-Bay
only shows 50+ sold so there must be a bunch available. Near as I can tell, TOM and
Jerry have been or have become friends.

Considering the differences in their writing styles, that was surprising. I sent TOM a note
about the 2012 post that I used as a prologue and he said he’d get back to me when it
made sense to him. I’m still waiting. He’ll probably use it as the basis for a story and
send me a copy when it’s done.

25
 World War Three – Chapter 3

I should have paid better attention the news. China was making an all-out effort to bring-
ing the China Sea into their sphere of influence and the Russia/Japan spat over Kurils
was heating up. Most of the activity could be blamed on PRC forces, first the Navy and
more recently their Air Force.

Japan offered to buy 36 F-22 Raptors, presuming they could get Congress to agree, for
$350 million each plus spare parts and select munitions purchased separately and a
separate service contract they’d buy from Lockheed-Martin. They further offered to dou-
ble their order of F-35As. If the US was willing to sell the recently retired nuclear carrier
CVN-65 USS Enterprise, for $1 billion with aircraft separate, they’d take it plus 12–14
F/A-18E or F Super Hornets as strike fighters; two squadrons of 10-12 F/A-18C Hor-
nets, also as strike fighters; 4-6 EA-6B Prowlers for electronic warfare; 4-6 E-2C Haw-
keyes used for airborne early warning; C-2 Greyhounds used for logistics; and a Heli-
copter Antisubmarine Squadron of 6-8 SH-60F & HH-60H Seahawks. They’d do the re-
fueling and updating under American direction. When built, the Enterprise cost $451.3
million.

I figured fat chance, what about the Japanese Constitution and the law against export-
ing Raptors? The US was either in worse financial shape than I imaged or Japan had
deeper pockets than I imagined. Congress approved the deal he brought to them and
advised Obama to get it executed post haste. Japan had cornered nearly every market
for upgrade parts and let a contract to upgrade the reactors using their fuel. China filed
a protest in the UN and nobody that mattered listened.

You heard late last year the Abe was trying to get the prohibitions against nukes elimi-
nated didn’t you? I figured ‘never happen’; and I was wrong. The Japanese population
was getting mighty tired of China pushing them around and they repealed that law in a
close vote. They also withdrew from the NNPT, without explanation.

Japan did the carrier in two years. The ship looked almost new. They had Japanese re-
actors, a bit more powerful and Japanese electronics; they do make some of the best.
Furthermore, Abe was pushing for a new a Mutual Defense Treaty with the US. Obama
signed it and the Senate confirmed it. Oh well, we were still in a dispute with Russia
over the Crimea/Ukraine and China was fighting the cyber espionage charges.

Just to make matters worse, someone test fired a fission-fusion-fission weapon in the
South Indian Ocean. Absolutely nobody claimed credit. It wasn’t North Korea, they al-
ways use underground tests. That leaves 1 likely candidate and 2 probable: Iran, Japan
and Germany.

Iran held the line; their program was peaceful; always had been and always would be.
Japan denied having the time for such nonsense. They were turning away from nuclear
power and going to Wind and Photo-Voltaic. Every square inch in their island chain

26
would be used to generate electricity. If China didn’t like it, they’d fight. The German
Chancellor said, ‘Not that I’m aware of’. Ask me and I’ll tell you all 3 are probably lying.

Not to take a chance, I called the firewood guy and asked if I could get that next pack-
age a year early. I could and the price was only up $15 per cord. I told him to bring it
and I’d show them where to stack it. Then I called the coal guy and ordered 3 truckloads
extra for a total of 4 to be delivered when I called. I went through the pantry and made a
list of needed STS. There were plenty of Wal-Mart Super stores, I’d get it somewhere. I
was good on meat.

I had 10,000+ rounds of 147gr FMJ 7.62, 8,500+ rounds of 175gr BTHP 7.62, 6,000
rounds of 168gr PPU match BTHP and enough shotgun and pistol ammo for a while but
ordered another case of 200gr +P .45ACPGold Dot, just in case. There was 4,800+ Mk
211 and 4,800+ Hornady 750gr AMAX.

I also had 2 illegal rifles, a 5.56 and a 7.62 manufactured by H&K with 40mm grenade
launchers. The ammo for those was more match grade Serbian PPU (62gr .223 and
168gr .308). The 40mm grenades were US ‘surplus’ as were the assorted hand gre-
nades and rockets. They can only lock you up once. ATF only checked my silencers
once and I haven’t seen them since. Surefire makes adapters for the HK416 and
HK417. So, I bought spare silencers for my ‘5.56’ and ‘Loaded’.

For most of my career, my rifle was an M-16; first an A1 and later an A2. When I carried
a pistol it was the Beretta M9. The Army in its infinite wisdom had seen fit to provide
weapons that were beyond useless when they got dirty or under powered forcing one to
double or triple tap. And, for the life of me, I couldn’t understand the shortening of the
barrels; then there was the NATO compliant M855 with an exit hole almost smaller than
the entrance hole.

I think World War Three started when the Japanese stood up to the Chinese. It was
strictly conventional at the outset. A Chinese jet tried to take down a Japanese jet with a
missile, overlooking the Japanese pilot’s wingman. The Chinese missile lost lock, ap-
parently, and the Japanese wingman fired a Sidewinder X, smoking the Chinese plane.
The Chinese wingman, apparently decided he was out of position and turned west. The
Japanese didn’t follow.

There were several incidents of that nature during late ‘15 and early ‘16. The Japanese
Maritime self-defense force had 4 Kongō class DDGs with 4 more in consideration. It
also had 2 Atago class with 6 more under construction. The former were basically Ar-
leigh Burke class Flight I and the latter were Arleigh Burke class Flight IIa.

While the Maritime Self-Defense Force wasn’t large, it included one or more of the fol-
lowing:

27
4 DDH – Helicopter carrier/destroyer
6 DDG – Guided missile destroyer
12 DD – Destroyer
2 DDA – All-purpose destroyer
3 DDK – Anti submarine Destroyer
10 DE – Destroyer escort
1 PF – Patrol frigate
11 SS – Submarine
1 MHS – Ocean mine hunter/sweeper
6 MHC – Coastal mine hunter/sweeper
1 AW – Amphibious warfare ship
1 Aircraft carrier with Air Wings that included 32–38 F/A-18 C/E/F, 4–6 EA-6B, 4–6 E-
2C, C-2 6–8 SH-60F and HH-60H.

Japan also had a processing plant to recover radioactive materials and began with the
rods from Fukushima Daiichi and moved on to other fuel rods after they were cooled
enough for processing. The US DOE was aware of the activity and looking forward to
purchasing the converted radioactive materials.

When I heard/read that, it didn’t make sense. The US had storage problems for its spent
fuel rods and was working on reducing the number of nukes. I thought maybe they were
buying the material to prevent the Japanese from starting their own Manhattan Project.
Some individuals believed that Japan had its own Manhattan Project during WW II and
had actually tested a weapon, another ‘conspiracy theory’. The US had gone to great
lengths to prevent both the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese from developing nuclear
weapons if you believe the Discovery Channel.

As Japan perceived a growing external threat without adequate forces to counter it, the
National Safety Forces underwent further development that entailed difficult political
problems. The war renunciation clause of the constitution was the basis for strong politi-
cal objections to any sort of armed force other than conventional police force. In 1954,
however, separate land, sea, and air forces for purely defensive purposes were created,
subject to the command of the Prime Minister.

To avoid the appearance of a revival of militarism, Japan’s leaders emphasized consti-

tutional guarantees of civilian control of the government and armed forces and used
nonmilitary terms for the organization and functions of the forces. At first, tanks were
called “special vehicles”. The forces’ administrative department was granted only an
agency status, rather than a full-fledged ministry status. The armed forces were desig-
nated the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), the Maritime Self-Defense Force
(MSDF), and the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF), instead of the army, navy, and air
force. In theory, these are not armed forces, but merely extensions of the Police Force.

Although possession of nuclear weapons is not explicitly forbidden in the constitution,

Japan, as the only nation to have experienced the devastation of nuclear attacks, ex-
pressed early its abhorrence of nuclear arms and its determination never to acquire

28
them. The Atomic Energy Basic Law of 1956 limits research, development, and utiliza-
tion of nuclear power to peaceful uses only, and beginning in 1956, national policy has
embodied “three non-nuclear principles” – forbidding the nation to possess or manufac-
ture nuclear weapons or to allow them to be introduced into its territories. In 1976 Japan
ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (adopted by the United
Nations Security Council in 1968) and reiterated its intention never to “develop, use, or
allow the transportation of nuclear weapons through its territory.” Nonetheless, because
of its generally high technology level and large number of operating nuclear power
plants, Japan is generally considered to be “nuclear capable,” i.e., it could develop a
usable weapon in a short period of time if the political situation changed significantly.

On June 8, 2006, the Cabinet of Japan endorsed a bill elevating the Defense Agency
under the Cabinet Office to full-fledged cabinet level Ministry of Defense. This was
passed by the Diet in December 2006.

Japan’s principal military contractor was Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Japan’s Air Force had ~769 aircraft, of which approximately 350 are fighter aircraft, in-
cluding:

Attack: F-2

Electronic warfare: E-767, EC-1, E-2C

Fighter: F-4EJ, F-15J/DJ, F-2, F-35A

Helicopter: UH-60J, CH-47J, KV-107

Interceptor: F-15J

Trainer: F-15DJ, T-7, T-400, T-4

Transport: C-1, KC-767J, C-130H

These didn’t include the recently acquired F-22s or the naval aircraft for their ‘new carri-
er’.

Do you trust the Japanese? After the sneak attack on 12-7-41, we fought them for al-
most 4 years and defeated them only by use of the 2 atomic bombs. When they had the
2011 earthquake, they were less than forthcoming, initially. Their activities during WW II
included more than their share of atrocities; they didn’t follow the Rules of War. When
we were hit by Katrina in 2005, they did provide aid… $10,000.

How much did we spend trying to help them clean up Fukushima Daiichi? I don’t
know… that’s why I put it as a question. I’m sure it cost the Coast Guard more than
$10,000 to sink that wayward ship. Remember, Japan is generally considered to be

29
“nuclear capable.” Overall that begs the question of who detonated the nuke in the
southern Indian Ocean; it could have been Iran, Germany or Japan. Whoever it was
didn’t deliver it with a missile or we’d already know who it was from the Space Com-
mand. The estimated yield was ~1mT. Have they become Yamamoto’s ‘sleeping giant’?

My best guess of the activity in the western Pacific was that Japan was calling China’s
bluff. Elimination of the nuclear plants called for an affordable solution not depending on
petroleum which Japan had to import. Hence the selection of Wind and Photo-Voltaic
sourced electricity. Many of the producers of Photo-Voltaic panels were Japanese firms.

The Japanese Naval Forces and their Air Forces were, for the most part, better than the
Chinese Air Forces since the J-20 was still in testing/development. Witness the air battle
described earlier involving a pair of J-10s.

With everything topped off, the price gold and silver down and other reasons, I began
reacquiring some of the gold and silver Eagles, generally 1 or 2 ounce(s) at a time. The
HK417 did very well on the PPU 168gr Match BTHP and I began acquiring it as I had
funds and it was available. The rifling on the HK416 essentially performed better with a
bullet of 62 grains or higher. I purchased PPU .223 69grn Match BTHP, also purchased
when I had funds and it was available. Due to the difference in the price of 5.56 vs.
7.62, I had the 5.56 in almost no time. The 7.62 which I had plenty of was purchased
after the 5.56, except for the first case. I could always use the 147gr in the HK417.

I’d opened some of the cans of the various foods from Walton to see what I liked and
didn’t. Thirty-seven years of Army chow halls must have killed my taste buds. All of it
was acceptable and some of it actually good. So I bought bulk bags of what I really en-
joyed along with pails, lids, Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers and desiccants and packed a
few of my own. Mountain House products were replaced 1 for 1 except for the really
great items that I bought a case of 6 #10 cans at a time. Along with 50% of other Ameri-
cans I drank Folgers, preferring the classic roast and usually bought that 6 or 12 cans at
a time.

Northern tissue was okay but Charmin was ultra-soft and there are those things you can
never have too much of. Every time I shopped, I bought two of the largest bundles. The
pile of coal outside was beyond inconvenient so I had to come up with something better.
The end result was a 3 sided coal bin with a slab floor and a wheelbarrow to haul coal to
the inside coal box. I had lunch and went outside to level the coal. It took all four loads,
rounded and I covered it with a tarp.

On the electric side of the equation, I generated more than I used and fed the grid.
When you’re living on a 37/40 military pension, every penny counts. You get 2½% for
every year served or 92.5% in my case. When I heard a rumor we might get stopped-
loss for another tour in Afghanistan, I put in my retirement papers. I’d have had to reen-
list for 3 more anyway, so why chance it?

30
Then, a friend from my service days looked me.

“Quite the hideout you have here. Resign from the world as well as the Army?”

“I didn’t resign, I retired. How did you find me Steve?”

“They had me checking out the disappearance of some ordnance. The usual, LAW
rockets, 40mm grenades, assorted hand grenades, Mk 211 and then I tripped across
the fact that you’d retired in 2006. It took me a while to find you but the Colonel sug-
gested I check out Mountain Home. Do you have the stuff?”

“No.”

“Do you know who does?”

“No.”

“Would you tell me if you did know?”

“No. I do have a shovel and my plot is only 4 acres so search if you want.”

“Nah, I’m going to close the case and retire to Gassville.”

“That your home of record?”

“Yep.”

“Mine was Harrison.”

“Thom Robb and that bunch?”

“That’s them.”

“You still single?”

“Haven’t even looked.”

“Since Marion died, I just couldn’t get into the dating scene. Thirty one years you know.
So, I think I’ll stay with being a widower bachelor.”

“This is a 2 bedroom cabin and it does have extra features.”

“Rockets, grenades and such?”

31
“More like total energy independence, a lifetime supply of propane, plenty of wood, coal
and food. I just finished filling in my 5.56 and 7.62 ammo and heard about another used
30,000 gallon propane tank.”

“Another?”

“I told you I had a lifetime supply. That’s excluding running my 30kw generator. Have
you been paying any mind to the Far East?”

“China is really pushing.”

“The Japanese are pushing back. They bought the USS Enterprise and have refur-
bished it. Hell, it looks brand new. The US government not only sold Japan F-35As, but
36 F-22s. It appears that they’re installing Wind Turbines and Photo-Voltaic panels eve-
rywhere they can. Plus they’re processing the fuel rods from the shutdown nuclear reac-
tors.”

“Do you suppose they were behind that Southern Indian Ocean nuclear test?”

“It has to be them, Iran or Germany.”

“Were you serious about putting me up?”

“I was.”

“How much do you think that tank will run you?”

“About fifteen grand, why.”

“Let me make out a check and you buy the tank. I’ll be back in 6-8 weeks to take up res-
idence.”

The tank had a new relief valve, had been sand blasted and painted. The delivered
price was $15,000. There was room for a second tank next to the first, and more if they
were needed. The excavation ran about $1,500 and the tanks were plumbed together. I
ordered my first 3,000 gallon load of propane. One down and nine to go.

I had the 2nd load of propane in before Steve showed up. I had to laugh when he began
unload his weapons and ammo. He had a Tac-50A1R2 fully equipped, a Super Match
identical to mine, a Loaded identical to mine, a 590A1 identical to mine and nearly the
same ammunition. His pistol was a Taurus PT1911B which used 8 round magazines.
Then, he dug deeper and produced the H&K rifles, the same as I had, with Surefire
suppressors. None of his armory was ‘on the books’. The surely applied to the Mk 211,
M72A7 rockets and assorted hand grenades; the only difference I noticed was that his
M14 magazines held 25 rounds.

32
“And you were busting my chops about the Mk 211, 40mm grenades and the rest of the
stuff.”

“I already knew you had them. I was simply gauging your reaction to the questions. How
soon before I have to buy a load of propane?”

“You buy the next 2 loads and then we’ll switch to every other month.”

“I can do 2 loads immediately and we could each buy a load per month until we’re
topped off. That will have it full in about 3 months, right?”

“Right. Where’d you get the 25 round magazines?”

“I used Yahoo Search for ‘Checkmate Industries (CMI) 25 round M14/M1A magazines’
and found several vendors. I bought from the guy with the best prices. I also have 50 of
the 20 round CMI Magazines that I got first.”

“Do they feed okay?”

“I’ve never had a problem with them but I heard others claim that they had nothing but
bad luck with them. If you want to buy my 20 round magazines for what I have in them,
I’ll take the money, add to it and buy more of the 25 round magazines.”

“How about I buy some and if I don’t like them I trade the 25s for your 20s?”

“Works for me.”

33
 World War Three – Chapter 4

“So, what do you do for entertainment around here?”

“I’m not much of a social creature Steve. Maybe get a little range time about every 6
weeks, checkout a novel from the library, spend a little time on the CB or Ham radio. I
keep a little booze on hand and on a special occasion, might have a drink or 3. I’ve got
a couple spots on the White River for fishing. I usually spend at least an hour every day
keeping current, worldwide.”

“That’s it?”

“Now days, yes. When I first got out, I found the property, got the wells and septic put in,
built the shelter and had the cabin erected, got the fuel tanks and eventually filled them.
Then there was the power and resolving issues like the coal storage and getting fire-
wood. Plus there was the communication gear and getting a ham license.”

“What shelter?”

“Come on, I’ll show you. You pull up this section flooring and follow the ramp down. The
door at the bottom of the ramp is a Swiss Blast door I got from Utah Shelter Systems.
The air purifier came from American Safe Rooms and it’s their larger model.”

“Where is your generator?”

“It’s in a room that extends beyond the ramp. To move it, a person would have to take
down a solid block wall. General access is from the shelter.”

“How big is the shelter?”

“About 31’ wide and a little over 39’ long. The cabin is 32’×44’ and the stairwell is a full
4’ wide with a 10” reinforced concrete wall leaving the shelter at 39’ 2” or about 1,253ft².
That enough space for 12 people if one allows 100ft² per person. It’s fairly well equipped
with a propane refrigerator and 25ft³ Sears chest freezer, a 4 in 1 kitchen and large
storage room. There’s an easy 20 years of food for one stored plus a few extras like toi-
let paper, coffee, tea, vegetable oil and the like.”

“How you going to keep the upstairs plumbing from freezing?”

“Self-regulating heat tapes plus Anti-freeze and Rid-X after I flush the anti-freeze.
‘Course I have the septic pumped every year.”

“You’ve been planning.”

“Some.”

34
“Some of your friends said that if I ran into Smoke to not say Hi.”

“Can you blame them?”

“After the way you raped Logistics, I can’t say I can.”

“And I paid for everything in gold.”

“Whatcha got around here to eat?”

“MREs or real food?”

“If I never see another MRE…”

“Don’t say it. I got some you might like that I got from Nitro-Pak. Run about 1,800 calo-
ries and aren’t half bad.”

“Denver omelet and toast?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“No livestock?”

“Get a bunch of pullets every spring. Butcher half when their fryer size and keep the rest
for eggs until they’re baking hen size. Tried the feeder beef and hogs but it was too
much work so I buy a cut and wrapped Black Angus and a couple of hogs every couple
of years.

“You know to watch for copperhead and moccasins, right?”

“Yeah. How do you deal with them?”

“AWC amphibian and leave ‘em lay. Let’s get upstairs and I’ll dice the ham, green pep-
per and onion. There’s a gun safe in your bedroom for M1A, shotgun, and pistols. I think
I’ll have the same. Hash browns?”

“If it’s no trouble.”

“You want a little cheese on top?”

“Why not?”

I started the hash browns, got out 6 eggs, whipped up 3 of them and started cutting. I
had his omelet cooking and dropped 2 slices of bread in the toaster. Cheese Whiz and
the microwave provided the topping. I had his plated and my omelet almost done when
Steve sat down at the table.

35
“You missed your calling.”

“What?”

“You should have been in charge of the NCO mess.”

“Some of them weren’t too bad.”

“And others were named Borgia.”

“But they never killed anybody,” we chorused.

“So, did you win the Lottery or something Steve? Propane isn’t as cheap as it used to
be.”

Marion and I both had large insurance policies. I spent a bunch on my armory getting it
just where I wanted it and between my retirement and what’s left, should be able to live
comfortably.”

“Sorry if I brought up bad memories.”

“Nah, it’s been a while. Say, what are your thoughts on the Japanese shooting down
that Chinese fighter?”

“I think its beginning. During the whole Cold War everyone thought it would be US and
Russia starting it. And more recently China got dragged into the mix. Russia doesn’t
trust China as far as I can spit. With that Crimea thing, Putin wrapped up talks with Chi-
na about selling gas and building a pipeline. I think that was intended to frighten the Eu-
ropean Union into believing he might cut off their gas supply.

“If you’ve been following the Far East, China has been in an expansion mode, increas-
ing their Navy and Air Force. I think they’re slowly increasing their Army too. This whole
China Sea argument confirms that. They’re at odds with Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, the
Philippines, Malaysia and Japan. You can see how broad their ambitions are.

“On top of the Far East issues, there are the issues in the Middle East arising out of Ar-
ab Spring. Arab Spring began in December, 2011 and hasn’t ended. Sometimes I think
the patriot fiction writers know more about what’s going on than our own government.”

“Some government! If Hillary gets in, there goes the ballgame. But, if the GOP can put
up a halfway decent candidate, they might get the White House back.”

“I don’t disagree with you Steve, really. I think there is a bigger picture to be concerned
about than American Politics. I started feeling that way on September 11, 2001. We
were sucked into two major conflicts, Afghanistan and Iraq. In my opinion we accom-

36
plished exactly nothing in either. The Muslims are still fighting the Crusades so far as
Europe and the US are involved in their affairs. When we aren’t there, they’re fighting
among each other to get control and create, oh I don’t know, a Muslim Empire.

“I was reading an article somewhere, hell, I don’t even remember where. China retired
that type 92 boomer but they have 5 type 94 Jin class in service with 12 missile tubes;
and that’s 60 missiles. What if they’ve managed to develop a MIRV warhead? You
could jump from 60 to 180 or 240 in the blink of an eye. The same source says they’re
developing a type 96 with 24 tubes that US defense officials have stated that it might
begin its first sea patrol in 2014.

“I believe that the latter was a misstatement and the Jin class will start sea patrols in
2014, this year. That J-20 I mentioned is a 5th generation aircraft, stealth. Apparently,
the third is in test flights. This new leader of China, Xi Jinping, is totally in favor of a
strong military and wants all foreigners out of South East Asia’s affairs. I’m just afraid
the US will get sucked into a conflict between China and its neighbors.”

“Something about that doesn’t square, Smoke. China has always maintained a ‘no first
use’ policy and demonstrated that by limiting the number of nuclear weapons it pos-
sesses. If they’re expanding their SSBN fleet as you describe, will they have enough
missile warheads?”

“They won’t have enough and that means they’ll have to build more, doesn’t it. I believe
that outsiders are either under estimating the number of weapons they have or they’re
secretly increasing their stockpile.”

“That would follow if Xi Jinping wants to increase their military power.”

That week we went from 6,000 gallons of propane to 12,000. Four weeks later, that
jumped to 18,000. Four weeks after that, 24,000 and five weeks after that, 30,000 in the
new tank. I got the first tank topped off 4 weeks later and opened the valve between the
two tanks. I didn’t need a big generator, just 100 amps at 240vac continuously. I
couldn’t get the model I wanted to do that without buying a diesel. The other criterion
was a 1,800rpm engine. Cummins Onan could give me the 100a 240vac at 3,600rpm in
a propane engine or 100a 240vac at 1,800rpm in a diesel engine. I eventually found
what I wanted at generatorsales dot com (Central Maine Diesel). They had a Quiet Run
General Motors 30 kW LP/Natural Gas Generator. Engine speed 1,800rpm, output Load
Amperage at 240 volts 125 amps continuous.

If something serious happened, say WW III, propane wouldn’t be any harder to salvage
than diesel and propane didn’t need a stabilizer like my diesel and gasoline tanks. Not
being a social creature translated into my using very little diesel fuel. That more than
doubled when Steve showed up, but the pump had a dispensing meter and we each
logged what we pumped. I filled the tank and just charged him for what he logged. Not

37
that I didn’t trust him, but I kept track of my usage separately and always deducted my
usage from the fill up to see how closely he was keeping track.

I did a little more research on Xi Jinping and came up with the following:

BEIJING – Driven by ambitions to make China a great power, President Xi Jinping is

staking his political authority on a huge task: overhauling the Chinese military, which is
still largely organized as it was when a million peasant soldiers mustered under Mao
Zedong.

Mr. Xi wants a military that can project power across the Pacific and face regional rivals
like Japan in defense of Chinese interests. To get it, he means to strengthen China’s
naval and air forces, which have been subordinate to the People’s Liberation Army’s
land forces, and to get the military branches to work in close coordination, the way ad-
vanced Western militaries do.

China’s military budget has grown to be the second largest in the world, behind that of
the United States, and the country has acquired sophisticated weapons systems. But
Mr. Xi has told his commanders that is not enough.

“There cannot be modernization of national defense and the military without moderniza-
tion of the military’s forms of organization,” Mr. Xi told a committee of party leaders
studying military reform at its first meeting in March, Xinhua, the official Chinese news
agency, reported. “There has to be thoroughgoing reform of leadership and command
systems, force structure and policy institutions,” he was quoted as saying.

It will not be easy. Reorganizing the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, will pit Mr. Xi’s
ambitions against the entrenched power of the land forces, with about 1.4 million troops,
and he will have to manage the overhaul while ensuring that the military remains a reli-
able guardian of the Communist Party’s hold on political power, experts said.

“Military reform is part of the larger program that Xi Jinping is putting in place to put his
imprimatur on the Chinese party-state,” said David M. Finkelstein, vice president and
director of China studies at CNA Corporation, a research organization in Alexandria,
Va., concentrating on security and military affairs.

“‘This time, we’re serious’ – that should be the subtext of this new tranche of reform,” he
said. “It will be five years before you see the fruits of it. But 10 years from now, you
might see a very different PLA.”

As it is now, the army is structured around seven powerful regional commands, original-
ly set up to defend the country against invasion from the Soviet Union and to uphold the
party’s domestic control. A recasting of those military regions is at the heart of Mr. Xi’s
plans. The Chinese military that emerges is likely to be much more focused on confront-
ing Japan, whose navy is generally considered to have an edge over China’s, and on
enforcing Beijing’s territorial claims in the East and South China Seas.

38
That will inevitably mean transferring or decommissioning significant numbers of sol-
diers and bureaucrats, who can be expected to argue against Mr. Xi’s plans. Underem-
ployed or unemployed former soldiers are already a persistent source of protests in the
country.

“Forces for inertia are making real military reform more difficult,” said Andrew Scobell, a
political scientist at the RAND Corporation in Washington who studies the Chinese mili-
tary. “You’ve got a lot of fiefdoms, and there’s the strong, disproportionate influence and
power of the ground forces.”

Money does not appear to be an issue, Western analysts said. “I’m not sure there would
be much cost savings” from the overhaul, said Roy D. Kamphausen, a former military
attaché at the United States Embassy in Beijing who is now a senior adviser to the Na-
tional Bureau of Asian Research in Washington. “There seems to be a comfort level
with current spending.”

China spends about 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product on its military; the United
States spends about 4.5 percent, Mr. Kamphausen said.

The Chinese military was already trying to accomplish a lot by 2020, at which point it
hopes to have completed its mechanization and made major progress in spreading the
use of information technology, said Dennis J. Blasko, another former American military
attaché in Beijing.

“I see the PLA undertaking a much more complex modernization process, with more
components than the US military after Vietnam – but without the recent combat experi-
ence, Reagan-era defense budgets, and NCO corps the US military had,” Mr. Blasko
said, referring to noncommissioned officers.

Japan and its alliance with the United States have become prime strategic interests for
China, whose commanders have been referring to their country’s defeat at Japanese
hands in 1895 and using that humiliation as a prod for change.

“Japan’s victory was a victory of its institutions,” Gen. Liu Yazhou of the Chinese Army’s
National Defense University said in an interview with the Chinese news media last
month. “The defeat of the Qing Empire was a defeat of its institutions.”

Mr. Xi appears well positioned to take on the obstacles to the overhaul, analysts said.
Unlike his weaker predecessor Hu Jintao, Mr. Xi became chairman of the Central Mili-
tary Commission at the same time he became party leader. And Phillip C. Saunders,
director of the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the National Defense
University in Washington, said it was clear he had the backing of the six other members
of the country’s most powerful body, the Politburo Standing Committee.

39
Mr. Xi’s efforts may be helped by the impending trial of Gu Junshan, a general whose
charge sheet reads like a list of the army’s most flagrant corruption problems. Mr. Kam-
phausen of the National Bureau of Asian Research said the selling of promotions be-
came so widespread that General Gu’s case appeared to be an especially lurid example
of widespread graft.

Now, by campaigning against corruption, Mr. Xi has military commanders “so scared,
they can’t even park their cars in a restaurant parking lot – they send the driver some-
where else,” Mr. Saunders said.

Besides the senior leadership group Mr. Xi convened in March to oversee reform, five
task forces have been set up to examine specific issues, Mr. Saunders said: on training,
force reduction, political indoctrination, rooting out corruption and improving the way the
military manages its infrastructure.

But the biggest challenge may be loosening the grip of the ground forces.

“That’s the key to everything, because at this point, if you analyze the structure of the
PLA, the army dominates,” said Nan Li, an expert on the Chinese military who teaches
at the United States Naval War College in Newport, RI. “All these services other than
the ground force, their officers are marginal in the regional command structure. They
are not integrated. They are on the sidelines.”

Mr. Li said solving that problem would require creating separate headquarters and shift-
ing personnel and resources to the navy, air force and missile forces, which are better
able to project power abroad than the land forces are.

One basic tenet will remain: There are no signs that China’s military commanders will
challenge the party’s control over the army, even if they privately blanch at some of Mr.
Xi’s demands, analysts said.

“Defense of the party is always Mission No. 1,” said Mr. Finkelstein of CNA. “The offic-
ers of the PLA are party members who happen to wear uniforms.”

BEIJING – Even by the standards of the clampdowns that routinely mark politically sen-
sitive dates in China, the approach this year to June 4, the anniversary of the day in
1989 when soldiers brutally ended student-led protests in Tiananmen Square, has been
particularly severe.

The days preceding June 4 often mean house arrest for vocal government critics and an
Internet scrubbed free of even coded references to the crackdown that dare not speak
its name.

But this year, the 25th anniversary of the bloodshed that convulsed the nation and near-
ly sundered the Communist Party, censors and security forces have waged an aggres-

40
sive “stability maintenance” campaign that has sent a chill through the ranks of Chinese
legal advocates, liberal intellectuals and foreign journalists.

In recent weeks, a dozen prominent scholars and activists have been arrested or crimi-
nally detained, and even seemingly harmless gestures, like posting a selfie in Tianan-
men Square while flashing a V for victory, have led to detentions.

The police have been warning Western journalists to stay away from the square in the
coming days or “face grave consequences,” according to several reporters summoned
to meetings with stone-faced public security officials. Amnesty International has com-
piled a list of nearly 50 people across the country that it says have been jailed, interro-
gated or placed under house arrest.

“They say it’s springtime in Beijing, but it feels like winter,” said Hu Jia, an AIDS activist
and seasoned dissident who has been forcibly confined to his apartment for the past
three months.

The growing list of those swept up by China’s expansive security apparatus includes a
group of gay rights advocates gathered at a Beijing hotel, several Buddhists arrested as
they were meditating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and an ex-soldier turned art-
ist who staged in a friend’s studio a performance piece that was inspired by the gov-
ernment’s efforts to impose amnesia on an entire nation.

“The response has been harsher and more intense than we’ve ever seen,” said Maya
Wang, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong.

To political analysts and rights advocates, the campaign provides further evidence that
President Xi Jinping, 15 months into the job, is determined to stamp out dissent amid an
ideological assault against liberal ideas that many view as part of a wide-ranging drive
to consolidate power. “Until this latest crackdown I was agnostic about Xi, but recent
events suggest he would like to be a Mao-style strongman if he could,” said Perry Link,
a China scholar at the University of California, Riverside.

Although the red line of permissible public discourse often shifts with the seasons and
the whims of those in power, many longtime China watchers say the changes have
caught even the most battle-scarred dissidents off guard.

As evidence, they point to the authorities’ forceful response to a seminar, held at a pri-
vate home in early May, during which more than a dozen people met to discuss the
events of 1989. In the days that followed, the participants, including relatives of those
killed during the crackdown, were summoned for questioning by the police.

But unlike a similar, much larger event in 2009, five of the attendees were formally ar-
rested. Among them: Hao Jian, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy; Xu Youyu, a
philosophy scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and Pu Zhiqiang, a
charismatic rights lawyer. All face charges of “creating a public disturbance.”

41
Since then, the police have repeatedly searched Mr. Pu’s law office and home, carting
away computers, financial documents and a DVD of a documentary about the dissident
artist Ai Weiwei, a former client.

In an interview, one of his lawyers, Zhang Sizhi, described the charges as illogical.
“How can you create a public disturbance while meeting in a private residence?” he
asked.

Mr. Zhang and others say it seems increasingly unlikely Mr. Pu will be released after
June 4, the pattern of previous anniversary-related detentions.

In building a case against him, the authorities have rounded up a number of Mr. Pu’s
friends and associates, among them Vivian Wu, an independent journalist, and Xin Jian,
a news assistant with the Japanese newspaper Nikkei. Friends say they are unclear
why the authorities detained Ms. Xin, although some thought it might be related to an
earlier interview she conducted with Mr. Pu.

On Tuesday, two weeks after her disappearance, Ms. Xin’s husband took to social me-
dia, posting a family photo and a frantic cry for help. “It’s a mess at home,” the husband,
Wang Haichun, wrote. “Please come back. I can’t bear this alone.”

The anguish is shared by friends of Liu Wei, a young factory worker from southwest
China who was detained on criminal charges on May 17 after returning home to Chong-
qing from a visit to Beijing. According to a friend, Huang Chengcheng, Mr. Liu’s appar-
ent crime was posting online photos of himself in Tiananmen Square, including one in
which he flashed a victory sign, a common pose among Chinese tourists that can also
be seen as a sly act of subversion.

Gay rights advocates have also been feeling the heat. Over the past few weeks, the au-
thorities have canceled a number of events in Beijing, including a film screening and a
panel discussion to mark International Day Against Homophobia. Earlier this month, the
police raided a hotel where a group of civil society advocates had gathered for a semi-
nar focused on the obstacles facing gay and AIDS nonprofits.

Yu Fangqiang, one of the event organizers, said the police arrived at 1:30 am, confis-
cated his cellphone and then used it to text about 30 other would-be participants, telling
them the event had been canceled. Mr. Yu and eight others were then bundled off for
interrogations that, for several detainees, stretched into the following evening.

Sometimes the authorities’ fears of public unrest have led to confounding measures, like
the postponement of a restaurant awards ceremony scheduled for Thursday night in the
capital.

Other times their efforts were nothing if not creative.

42
Chen Yongmiao, a political commentator and rights activist in Beijing, said the police
gave him the equivalent of $800 to leave town. “They just don’t want people from the
opposition in the political center of Beijing,” Mr. Chen said by phone last week as he
traveled through northwest China.

In past years, the noose would tighten in mid-April, coinciding with the anniversary of
the death of Hu Yaobang, the reformist Communist Party secretary purged for his
“bourgeois” liberal leanings in 1989. It was an outpouring of public mourning after his
death on April 15 that coalesced into the demonstrations that swept the nation with de-
mands for justice, democracy and an end to official corruption.

This year, however, many activists say restrictions kicked in months earlier. When they
placed him under house arrest in late February, Mr. Hu, the AIDS activist, said the po-
lice told him this was an “especially sensitive” year and that they were taking no chanc-
es. “The authorities want to create an atmosphere of terror, something they’ve largely
succeeded in doing,” he said by phone, listing a number of friends who had been com-
pelled by the police to “go on holiday” and leave Beijing for May.

But Mr. Hu said he thought the campaign was ham-handed and ultimately ineffective.
Although party leaders have expunged the episode from Chinese history books and the
Internet, leaving a younger generation unfamiliar with the events of June 3-4, Mr. Hu
estimated that a million or more people were on the streets of Beijing the night soldiers
opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing hundreds, if not more.

“No matter how hard they try,” he said, “they cannot erase this experience from every-
one’s memories.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After more than a decade focused on combating Islamist

militancy, Western military planners are once again contemplating potential war be-
tween major powers – and how to prevent one happening by accident.

Although the Cold War rivalry with Moscow has never been forgotten, current and for-
mer Western officials say Russia’s annexation of Crimea has NATO powers tearing up
strategic assumptions and grimly considering both conventional and nuclear fights.

As late as March, most NATO powers – with the exception of eastern members such as
the Baltic States long worried by Moscow – had assumed Europe itself faced no immi-
nent military threat.

It is still the case that few believe Russia would attack any NATO state, but, in order to
deter, Western officials say they must consider and plan for the contingency.

43
The threat to US allies in the Pacific from a stronger China has also focused military
minds on how to contain the risks there, and ensure any localized conflict does not spill
over into global war.

In a major foreign policy speech at the West Point military academy last month, Presi-
dent Barack Obama spoke mostly on counterterrorism and the Afghanistan withdrawal.
But while he said the risk from other nations was now much lower than before the Berlin
Wall fell, he made clear it still existed.

“Regional aggression that goes unchecked, whether in southern Ukraine or the South
China Sea or anywhere else in the world, will ultimately impact our allies and could draw
in our military,” he told graduating cadets.

Tensions with Moscow and Beijing have increased faster than almost anyone in gov-
ernment in Washington expected. They are expected to dominate a meeting between
Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Normandy for the 70th anniversary of
D-Day later this week.

Last weekend’s annual Shangri-La Dialogue strategic conference in Singapore, mean-

while, showcased the growing gulf between Washington and Beijing on issues from re-
gional maritime disputes to cyber security.

In recent weeks, current and former officials say, the Obama administration has been
insistently reassuring allies and signaling foes where Washington’s true red lines are.

Washington might not be prepared to act militarily in Ukraine but an attack on a NATO
state such as one of the Baltics or a formal Asian ally like Japan, the Philippines or Aus-
tralia would commit it irrevocably to war. Those treaty obligations are not new, but US
officials say it is important to make clear that they are taken extremely seriously.

They hope that will reduce the risk of an accidental war where a state takes action
wrongly assuming other powers will not respond.

“It’s not that the leadership in Russia or China is looking for a war - and the United
States certainly isn’t,” says Kathleen Hicks, a US undersecretary for defense until last
July who now works for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washing-
ton.

“The real worry is miscalculation.”

GREAT WAR

One hundred years after the start of World War One, books on the period have become
increasingly popular in Washington, Whitehall and NATO headquarters in Brussels, cur-
rent and former officials say, and not purely for their historical interest.

44
In June 1914, the killing of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serb nationalist
triggered actions and alliances that brought war in barely a month.

Now, experts say flashpoints could range from a clash over disputed South China Sea
islands or ethnic strife in Russia’s former Soviet neighbors to a wrongly attributed cyber-
attack.

Even as Washington reassures allies, Moscow and Beijing have asserted their might
against Ukraine and Vietnam which lack such formal alliances. The risk, experts say, is
that they become overconfident and misjudge.

“The parallels with 1914 can definitely be overstated,” said Nikolas Gvosdev, professor
of national security studies at the US Naval War College.

“But they do show us that war can start through unintended consequences and an eco-
nomically interdependent world does not necessarily stop it from happening.”

As in 1914, no one really knows what a modern great war would be like.

While much military thinking assumes conflict would remain conventional, nuclear pow-
ers have kept their atomic war planning up to date, maintaining target lists for mutually
assured destruction, current and former officials say.

Cyber-attacks, some experts say, could be almost as destructive, as could the effects
on global trade in an unprecedentedly interconnected world.

Meanwhile, some of the systems supposed to prevent conflict may be starting to weak-
en.

WEAKENED LINKS

US officials had embarked on a campaign to build formal and informal communications

channels with Beijing, mimicking the hotlines and procedures set up with Russia.

Moscow and Washington have used those systems themselves in recent months to no-
tify each other of missile tests and reconnaissance flights over each other’s territory.

Links with Russia, however, have weakened this year as NATO states canceled confer-
ences and military exchanges with Moscow in protest at the annexation of Crimea.

Contacts with China have also deteriorated in the last month, particularly since Wash-
ington indicted five Chinese officials for cyber espionage, a charge Beijing denies.

A near collision between US and Chinese warships in January, a mock Russian attack
on a US destroyer in the Black Sea in April and periodic confrontations between long-
range bombers and other aircraft show the risks, experts warn.

45
Last week on Japan and China accused each other of “dangerous” and “over the top”
actions after warplanes came within a few dozen meters.

Any additional challenge to the West, some analysts say, is that both Russia and China
know Washington would struggle to handle simultaneous confrontations.

US forces are spread around the world while Moscow’s and Beijing’s, while smaller, are
almost exclusively focused on their immediate neighborhood. Since 2008, they have in-
creased military spending 30 and 40 percent respectively, according to London’s Inter-
national Institute for Strategic Studies.

The 2012 Asia “pivot”, which saw the US Navy in particular moving to increase its Pacif-
ic footprint, aimed to make crisis response easier.

In Europe, in contrast, NATO has little developed thinking beyond its post-Crimea strat-
egy of putting small numbers of US troops and jets on the frontline in eastern member
states they fear Moscow might target next.

Until Ukraine, European states had viewed their primary military focus as occasional in-
tervention, peacekeeping and counterinsurgency in the Middle East and Africa.

“We are in uncharted territory,” said one senior Western official who spoke on condition
of anonymity. “It means ... reconstituting high end fighting skills and properly thought
through doctrine for both conventional and nuclear deterrence.”

I forgot to mention it but I liked that Taurus PT1911B. Couldn’t get a new one, they now
made the PT1911B-1 with a rail, but I found a very good used one and went to Little
Rock and had a new extended, threaded barrel installed (hand fitted). I already had the
AWC suppressor so I relegated the M1911A2 to a backup handgun. I noticed at the
range when I test fired it that the 200gr +P Gold Dot was louder. I dug out a box of
230gr Gold Dot and it quieted right down. The eight round magazines for the M1911
were stainless and worked in the Taurus so they were loaded with 230gr and the Tau-
rus magazines with 200gr +P.

46
 World War Three – Chapter 5

I thought back to what had happened since I retired that had changed things. Under
Dubya, Russia had invaded South Ossetia. Bush and NATO gave it lip service and it
went away. In 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea and Obama threatened lasting ramifi-
cations and sanctions. It didn’t go away. Maybe Putin saw in Obama what many Ameri-
cans saw in Obama, an ineffective President. If Putin saw that, why couldn’t Xi Jinping?
Now there was an Interesting thought.

We already had a Mutual Defense Pact with Japan; what would be gained by seeking a
new one? Perhaps a warning to China to back off? Japan was already seen as having a
superior Navy to China’s, so why buy more? Another warning? Japan didn’t have
boomers but the US had 14, enough to go around. I didn’t get it. It never occurred to me
that Japan was simply afraid of China. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size
of the fight in the dog.

Steve and I settled into a relatively quiet lifestyle. Since these were his home stomping
grounds, he was gone more than he was here. He missed coming home some nights
and I began to wonder if he found a female companion. When I asked him about it, he
replied, ‘no, but I shor ‘nuf have a lotta cousins’. Steve didn’t eat many meals at home
either so I wasn’t out much food. About every 3 months we’d go shopping at Wal-Mart
and it was ‘fill the holes on me’. Other than a rare meal together and shooting together,
Steve almost didn’t exist.

By the way, I swapped my 25 round magazines for his 20 round magazines and chalked
it up to ‘lesson learned’. He paid me the difference anyway, based on what his had cost.
They fed okay but were too long for shooting from a prone position. I glad I got a deal
on them. The ones I received were brand spanking new. Think about it, 50 20 round
magazines was a full case of Black Hills and a half case of PPU. Maybe 75 pounds of
ammo and I’m in my sixties.

[Excuse me Colonel Sir; can I drive to the next war? Command Sergeant Major, you’re
a leader of men; get out there and lead. Yes sir; by your leave sir. Well, maybe in a
movie. I’m not Captain Nathan Brittles who retired and rode off into the sunset only to
recalled to active duty as the Chief of US Army Scouts (Lt. Colonel).]

I had continued the practice of buying a package of firewood every year and kept the
coal bunker full at about 6 loads total. Diesel, gasoline and propane were topped off go-
ing into the fall

There was another nuclear test in the south Indian Ocean and this was delivered by an
ICBM, from Japan. The Japanese government declined comment but Space Command
had the tracking records. The outgoing Obama was notified but he didn’t react. In the
November election, the GOP maintained control of the House, took a 1 seat majority in
the Senate and won the White House. Everybody’s favorite Tea Party member was in
the Oval Office. Hint: first name is Rand.

47
On January 21, 2017 local time, China attacked Japan, conventionally. No nukes were
involved but some of those Russian-made 3M-82 Moskit anti-ship cruise missiles
(NATO designation: SS-N-22 Sunburn) were fired. And, surprisingly, intercepted; lead-
ing to the conclusion they had a conventional warhead. CVN-73 USS George Washing-
ton made an emergency sortie out of Yokosuka and 4 additional Carrier Strike Groups
made ready to sail from the west coast.

People were working 24/7 to get the ships’ stores in place, sailors and Naval Aviators
[pilots] in place, ships fuelled, etc. It was January 20, 2017 in the US and RP hadn’t
even moved in yet. Sure put a crimp on the planned balls, though. If you’re not familiar
with this individual, check him out on Wiki. He believes in an oversea US military pres-
ence, e.g., concedes a role for American armed forces abroad, including permanent
foreign military bases.

The Japanese don’t hate us; that’s the people from Okinawa, and they really don’t like
us. Japan’s former foreign minister Katsuya Okada stated that he wanted to review the
deployment of US troops in Japan to ease the burden on the people of Okinawa, where
many US bases are located, the Associated Press reported October 7, 2009. 5,000 Ma-
rines of 9,000 Marines will be deployed at Guam and the rest will be deployed at Hawaii
and Australia. Japan will pay $3.1 billion cash for the moving and for developing joint
training ranges on Guam and on Tinian and Pagan in the US-controlled Northern Mari-
ana Islands.

United States military installations on Okinawa:

United States Marine Corps Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler
Camp Foster
Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
Camp Kinser
Camp Courtney
Camp McTureous
Camp Hansen
Camp Schwab
Camp Gonsalves (Jungle Warfare Training Center)

United States Air Force Kadena Air Base

United States Navy Camp Lester (Camp Kuwae)

Camp Shields
Naval Facility White Beach

United States Army Torii Station

Fort Buckner
Naha Military Port

48
Camp Lester (Camp Kuwae) is located on the flat coastline area facing the East China
Sea in Chatan town on Okinawa, Japan. Other than having an important military hospi-
tal, there was also a school, soccer field, and various living quarters. Also within the fa-
cility, the town office was being built under the agreement of Article 2 paragraph 4(a) of
the Status of Force Agreement (SOFA), which allows joint use of the area. The Marine
Corps’ Camp Lester was also adjacent to elements of the Army Petroleum, Oil, and
Lubricant (POL) Depot Kuwae, also located in the area.

The United States and Japan released the Final Report of the Special Action Committee
on Okinawa on 2 December 1996. The report made 27 recommendations to reduce the
impact of the US military presence on the Okinawan people. This included the return of
most of Camp Lester, covering approximately 99 hectares (245 acres), with the inten-
tion to finish the process by the end of March 2008. The process would require the Na-
val Hospital to be relocated to Camp Foster (Camp Zukeran) and remaining facilities to
be relocated to Camp Foster or other facilities and areas in Okinawa. The recommenda-
tions included the consolidation of US housing areas in Camp Lester and Camp Foster
and return portions of land in housing areas there with the intention to finish the process
by the end of March 2008. Approximately 83 hectares (206 acres) at Camp Foster and
35 hectares (85 acres) at Camp Lester were to be returned through housing consolida-
tion.

On 5 April 2013, the US Department of Defense released a Consolidation Plan for Facil-
ities and Areas in Okinawa. The realignment described in the plan, including consolida-
tion, of US forces within Okinawa was a significant effort by the US and Japanese Gov-
ernments, which recognized the importance of enhancing Japanese and US public sup-
port for the security alliance, which contributed to a sustainable presence of US forces
at facilities and areas in Japan as stated in “US-Japan Alliance: Transformation and
Realignment for the Future,” a document of the Security Consultative Committee (SCC),
dated 29 October 2005. When implemented, the realignment would ensure a life-of-the-
Alliance presence for US forces in Japan as stated in “United States-Japan Roadmap
for Realignment Implementation,” also known as the Realignment Roadmap, another
SCC document, dated 1 May 2006. The realignment would also maintain deterrence
and mitigate the impact of US forces on local communities. In order to realize the rea-
lignment, the US and Japanese Governments developed and would implement the con-
solidation plan.

In a SCC Joint Statement on 27 April 2012, the US and Japanese Governments con-
firmed that the total or partial return of the 6 facilities and areas designated in the Rea-
lignment Roadmap remained unchanged and that the land of aforementioned facilities
and areas utilized by US forces were eligible for return under the Consolidation Plan in
3 categories: 1) Areas eligible for immediate return upon completion of necessary pro-
cedures; 2) Areas eligible for return once the replacement facilities in Okinawa were
provided; and, 3) Areas eligible for return as US Marine Corps forces relocate from Oki-
nawa to locations outside of Japan. Camp Lester and a portion of the Army POL Depot
Kuwae were included in the second category.

49
The area designated as Camp Lester to be included in the land return covered approx-
imately 68 hectares. To prepare for the land return, the Naval Hospital and middle
school would have to be relocated to Camp Foster (Camp Zukeran) and family housing
(a total of 375 units) would have to be relocated to Camp Foster under the Okinawa
Housing Consolidation (OHC). The OHC plan under Special Action Committee on Oki-
nawa (SACO) was reevaluated and based on the post-Defense Posture Review Initia-
tives (DPRI) family housing requirement on Okinawa. Approximately 910 family housing
units, including the replacement of units to be demolished at the construction areas,
would be constructed in addition to the 56 units that had already been agreed to. It was
said that Camp Lester could be returned upon completion of conditions and necessary
procedures for return in JFY2025 or later. The Army POL Depot Kuwae Tank Farm No.
1, a part of the Army POL Depot Kuwae covering approximately 16 hectares, was also
identified for return. To prepare for the land return facilities and functions supporting op-
erations at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma would be relocated to Camp Schwab, fa-
cilities and functions supporting operations at Kadena Air Base would be relocated to
Army POL Depot Chimu-wan Tank Farm No. 2, and administrative building and vehicle
fuel points would be relocated to Army POL Depot Kuwae Tank Farm No. 2. It was said
that Army POL Depot Kuwae Tank Farm No. 1 could be returned upon completion of
conditions and necessary procedures for return in JFY2022 or later.

To put a point on this discussion of Okinawa, the dislike started with the WW II invasion
and continued because the US set up shop mostly on Okinawa. During the War in Vi-
etnam, the US based up to 1,000 nuclear weapons on Okinawa. And, how many times
have we heard of drunken Marines raping Okinawan women? It will only end when we
leave Okinawa.

But, things don’t always work out as planned. The USS Ford was supposed to replace
the USS Enterprise in 2016, the USS Kennedy was supposed to replace the USS Nim-
itz in 2020 and the USS Enterprise was supposed to replace the Eisenhower in 2025.
The Enterprise was retired in 2013. The Ford was to enter sea trials in 2015 and replace
Enterprise in 2016. Hey Pentagon, we have a hole here!

It seems like Ford construction had been accelerated and would enter sea trials in 2014
and replace Enterprise only 3 years late. Kennedy had been laid down in 2013 immedi-
ately after Ford had been launched and Enterprise would be laid in 2016 as soon as
Kennedy was launched. Building the new Ford class had been a challenge, but they
learned and would use the lessons to speed the construction of the Ford-class carriers.

In a speech on 6 April 2009, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that
the program would shift to a five-year building program so as to place it on a “more fis-
cally sustainable path”. Such a measure would result in ten carriers after 2040. There
was a movement by the USS America Carrier Veterans’ Association to have CVN-78
named after America rather than after President Ford. Eventually, the amphibious as-
sault ship LHA-6 was named America.

50
On 27 May 2011, the Department of Defense announced the name of CVN-79 would be
USS John F. Kennedy. On 1 December 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus an-
nounced that CVN-80 would be named USS Enterprise. The information was delivered
during a prerecorded speech as part of the deactivation ceremony for the previous USS
Enterprise (CVN-65). The future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) will be the ninth US Navy
ship to bear this name.

Where are the carriers? The famous question can be answered by: in overhaul, in port,
underway towards the Far East with one carrier in reserve in the Arabian Sea. We’re
short carriers because of Sequestration, remember? We can finish up CVN-78’s sea
trails and move it to the Pacific, but that will take time.

How fast can we reactivate the Ticonderoga class? Five have been stricken and are
available as museum ships and 4 are laid up for repairs. Estimated time to be sea wor-
thy for all four is at least 6 months. We can shift more to the Far East if necessary.

Don’t you just love the new job Mr. President? George had from 20Jan01 to 11Sep01
(234 days) to get his feet wet. And to give Obama a little credit, the country was already
in a mess when he got elected. We got change alright, only hours after he was out of
office. I wonder if they’ll call this one World War Three. If the US keeps its nose out and
Australia doesn’t get sucked in and by logic the United Kingdom and by further logic
NATO, maybe it could remain regional and not be a world war. Don’t forget Murphy!

A world war is a war affecting most of the world’s most powerful and populous coun-
tries. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in
multiple theaters. However, it is also sometimes applied to earlier wars, the Cold War,
or to a hypothetical future war.

The term “World War” was coined speculatively in the early 20th century, some years
before the First World War broke out, probably as a literal translation of the German
word Weltkrieg. German writer August Wilhelm Otto Niemann had used the word in the
title of his anti-British novel Der Weltkrieg: Deutsche Träume (“The World War: German
Dreams”) as early as 1904, published in English as The coming conquest of England.
The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first known usage in the English language as
being in April 1909, in the pages of the Westminster Gazette.

It was recognized that the complex system of opposing alliances–the German Empire,
Austria–Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire vs. the French Third Republic, the Russian
Empire, and the British Empire was likely to lead to a worldwide conflict in the event of
war breaking out. The fact that the powers involved had large overseas empires virtually
guaranteed that a war would be worldwide, as the colonies’ resources would be a cru-
cial strategic factor. The same strategic considerations also ensured that the combat-
ants would strike at each other’s colonies, thus spreading the fighting far more widely
than in the pre-colonial era.

51
Other languages have also adopted the “World War” terminology. For instance, in
French, the two World Wars are the Guerres mondiales; in German, the Erste und
Zweite Weltkrieg (World War I was only known or commonly recognized in public as der
Weltkrieg in Germany when it was over, while prior to the war that word had been used
in the more abstract meaning of “a global conflict”); in Italian, the Guerra Mondiale; in
Spanish, the Guerra Mundial; in Russian, the мировая война (mirovaya voyna); and so
on.

Speculative fiction authors were noting the concept of a Second World War at least as
early as 1919 and 1920, when Milo Hastings wrote his dystopian novel City of Endless
Night. In English, the term “First World War” was used in the book The First World War:
A Photographic History, edited by playwright and war veteran Laurence Stallings and
published in 1933. The term “World War I” was invented by Time magazine in its issue
of June 12, 1939. In that same issue, the term “World War II” was first used speculative-
ly to describe the upcoming war. The first use for the actual war came in its issue of
September 11, 1939; one week earlier, the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad used
the term on its front page, saying “The second World War broke out yesterday at 11
am.”

I checked but Japan Today didn’t have headline screaming World War Three. But, to be
prudent, I checked the staples on hand, made a list and headed to Wal-Mart. When I
finished there, I checked the gun store for ammo and headed home. After everything
was rotated and put up, I took the roast out of the crock pot and served dinner, to my-
self.

“Didya hear?”

“Did I hear what Steve?”

“China invaded Japan.”

“China didn’t invade Japan Steve. China attacked Japan, conventionally. No nukes
were involved but some of those Russian-made SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship cruise mis-
siles were fired against Japanese ships. They were, surprisingly, intercepted; leading to
the conclusion they had a conventional warhead. CVN-73 USS George Washington
made an emergency sortie out of Yokosuka and 4 Carrier Strike Groups are making
ready to sail from the west coast.”

“World War Three, I tell you.”

“Maybe. Want some dinner?”

“I ate.”

52
“Yeah, at the tavern, wee doggie,” I thought. Did Steve have a concealed problem, e.g.,
was he a drunk? Well gunpowder and alcohol don’t mix, if you get my drift, and Stevie
boy is going to have to make a choice. Yeah, we kicked back and had a few when we
got a little R&R, but you never knew when your friendly neighborhood Muslim was going
to attack your camp so you stayed sober when it counted. Maybe you can still operate
your M9 or M4 when you’re drunk, but can you hit anything?

He wouldn’t be the first NCO to lose his wife after 31 years, serve out his last enlistment
and retire to alcoholism. It didn’t happen often, but it did happen. On the other hand,
don’t judge a book by its cover. Maybe he was having a couple of beers with a cousin
and had a bit too much in him when he heard the news. It wasn’t like the TV was show-
ing mushroom clouds, yet. When the TV showed mushroom clouds, good ole’ Barney
Fife got a six-pack to go, hit the ATM and stopped by the Cleppers Grocery to load up
on beer and other items. But, he forgot the can opener.

Truth be told, I’ve read Jerry’s stories more times than I’ve read TOM’s. Eleven years of
prepping was going to pay off big if this set to in the Far East cranks up; assuming that
our brand new President got us involved. How could he not get us involved, our treaty
was with Japan, not China?

Anticipating that this wouldn’t happen until 2015 or 2016, I’d been faithfully rotating the
foods from Emergency Essentials, Nitro-Pak and Rainy Day Foods. I think they
changed their name so they could charge more. Anything in a Mylar bag in a pail would
be good until the second coming but I did sometimes buy another bag of hot chocolate,
etc. and bag it with an oxygen absorber etc. etc. I did it the same way every time so
there is no need to repeat myself.

Got milk? Yep, powdered whole milk in bags in cans stacked several deep. My excuse
was that I had all the Hershey’s Cocoa and my excuse for the Hershey’s Cocoa was I
had all that powdered whole milk. Neither of which recognized that I had all that hot
chocolate from Walton’s. I had Bigelow Tea too; mostly Darjeeling with a mix of Earl
Grey, English Breakfast, English Teatime, (plain) Green, Jasmine (green) tea, Chamo-
mile, and for the visitor, a case of Lipton orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea. The
first tea many of us drank.

The next morning when Steve woke up, his first question was did he dream that World
War Three had started or did it actually happen. I explained that the Chinese had fired
on Japanese destroyers but the Sunburn missiles had been intercepted and no nuclear
weapons had been used, yet. He said he couldn’t understand why he thought that and I
explained about him showing mostly tanked to the gills. He replied that he’d run into a
friend from high school and they probably did get in their cups. Was I going to eat the
remainder of the eggs or were they for him?

53
“I believe that after you shower and shave, we can sit down and discuss this more ra-
tionally.”

“I’m down to one change of clothes.”

“After breakfast, strip off and start the first load. Then while it’s washing, you can shower
and shave. After you get dressed in that last clean outfit, you can put the first load in the
dryer and start the second load. I assume you do outerwear, permanent press and
whites as separate loads, right?”

“I haven’t been.”

“Save the whites for last, add Clorox and use the presoak function on the washer. The
jeans and uniforms are just jeans and uniforms so you don’t need to bleach them.”

“My uniforms are all permanent press.”

“Then wash them with the shirts you wear with your jeans. The shirts are lighter weight
fabric so pull them from the dryer before the uniforms.”

“I guess I’m kind of messed up.”

“At little. Since you realize that, we can both get back into fighting trim for our last big
battle.”

“Are you implying we’ll be invaded?”

“Not at all. But what will it be like if this does turn into World War Three and we’re forced
to rely on our training and instincts and available supplies?”

“Wait, how about those long term supplies?”

“I’ve kept them rotated as much as possible. The STS are current as are the LTS; the
canned goods anyway have been rotated. I doubt there is anything that’s more than 6
years old.”

“Ammo?”

“I’m fine, what about you?”

“I’ll have to check but I might need to fill a few holes.”

“You best get on that because I suspect ammo is going to be harder to get than it was
during the early Obama years.”

54
Steve cleaned up good and even cleaned his combat boots. We sat down and went
through our molly gear, interceptor armor and full combat load outs. I don’t know who he
called but he brought his ammo stocks up to the same level I had. I wasn’t sure we had
enough and when checking for the military surplus and ended up with several cases of
PPU .308 match BTHP.

We each had Advanced Combat Helmets with AN/PVS-14 monocular night vision de-
vices and the rifle night vision devices. Body armor was the Improved Outer Tactical
Vest with ESAPI, ESBI and the groin protector. Two aging Army Sergeants getting
ready for a war that could happen but hadn’t yet, equipped with weapons of a previous
generation was a sad commentary on life during the 2 nd decade of the 21st century.
[That’s a paraphrase of a comment about Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, two aging
queens…]

“Okay, we’re ready; now what?”

“Now we wait for the party to begin. How about we hang up the hardware and head to
town for lunch?”

“Dressed like this? Are you nuts?”

“Maybe. But, it sure will be an attention getter.”

“There isn’t a military post anywhere around here.”

“Exactly. It sure will get the locals thinking about the news.”

“You heard anything new?”

“Well, China tried to attack an Atago-class destroyer of the Japanese Navy, unaware
that it was outfitted with Japanese type 90 cruise missiles. Anyway, they’re high subson-
ic. Scratch one Chinese destroyer. Japan has been replacing the RGM-84 Harpoon an-
ti-ship missiles with the type 90s.”

“All right; that’s showing them.”

“Back when this all started, Japan only had 2 of Atago-class. As I recall, they had 6
more under construction together with 4 Kongō class under consideration. The latter is
Burke Flight I and the former Burke Flight IIa. But for all I know, they could have just
built 10 additional Atago-class (they did). They would have a combined force of 16
Burke-class destroyers.”

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

“But, don’t you dare starch those ACUs. We don’t starch the MultiCams, right?”

55
“Soldier, did you sleep in that uniform? No starch?”

“They only issued those for Afghanistan and got into some kind of fight with Crye Preci-
sion over the price. Hell, I heard they even tried to buy up Crye Precision just to own the
pattern. Offered twenty-five million and the guy told them to kiss his butt.”

“Steve, we’re not active duty, so wear the MultiCams and screw ‘em if they can’t take a
joke.”

“A walk on the wild side?”

“I still think it sure will be an attention getter.”

We piled in my pickup and headed to town, dressed in our MultiCams. When we

stopped for lunch, every head in the place turned. Nice lunch of cheeseburger, fries and
a Coke. Next we went by the gun store.

“Got any more 5.56 or 7.62?”

“Did the Army run out?”

“Wouldn’t know. Got a case of Speer Gold Dot .45 ACP in 230gr?”

“Sorry, only 7 boxes.”

“I’ll take them. If you order in more, I’ll check back.”

“You two together?”

“Yes, why?”

“You both have the same firearms and buy the same ammunition.”

“By the time you’ve made E-8 and E-9, you have pretty good idea what works and what
doesn’t.”

With that out of the way and lunch partly settled, I said “Buy you a beer?”

“Only one.”

So, we pull into this private club went and inside. We each got a bottle each of PBR. In
walks this guy that had been in the café and walks up to us.

“Don’t you two know better than wear the uniform in a tavern?”

“What’s it to you?”

56
“I’m home on leave and noticed you two in the café. What are you doing off post in utili-
ties?”

“What post? You sound like maybe a Lieutenant.”

“First Lieutenant.”

“Well mister no name Lieutenant, MultiCam isn’t sold only to the military. In fact, we
have it on good authority that Crye and the DOD aren’t getting on so well these days.”

“So are you military or not?”

“Yes and no. We both have over 30 in and are retired. Hell, Lieutenant, there isn’t even
a commissary within driving distance. Joint us for a beer? We just stopped for one. I’d
kind of like to get your opinion on what’s going on in the Far East.”

“Sure, thanks, Bud Light.”

You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,
Know when to walk away, know when to run.
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table,
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.

The gambler then mentions that the “secret to survivin’ is knowing what to throw away,
and knowing what to keep” and that “the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep”.
At this point, the gambler puts out the cigarette and goes to sleep.

At the end of the song we are told that “somewhere in the darkness, the gambler, he
broke even”, and that the narrator finds “an ace that I could keep”, in his final words.

Bud Light?

The Lieutenant, never got his name, had been on the road coming home for leave and
only knew what he heard on the radio and saw on the TV at the motel. He did make one
profound statement, “I sure hope this new administration doesn’t rush in, ‘Damn the tor-
pedoes, full speed ahead’ [Farragut – Mobile Bay].

What’s that TOM’s quote? Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to re-
peat it.

“I don’t know about that LT, from what I’ve learned, the Washington made an emergen-
cy sortie out of Yokosuka, 4 carriers were getting ready to make sail from the mainland.
We’re short on carriers until the Ford completes sea trials. As you may be aware, Ford
was to replace Enterprise, Kennedy was to replace Nimitz and Enterprise was to re-
place Eisenhower.”

57
“Really?”

“Actually sir, you can go to Wikipedia for as long as the Internet is up and read about it
by searching for Ford-class carrier.”

“Why wouldn’t the Internet be up?”

“I don’t know, CME or some other form of EMP.”

58
 World War Three – Chapter 6

We finished up our PBRs and headed back home. On the way, I explained to Steve the
results of my range tests with the Speer .45 ACP ammo. He said that only made sense
and he had more of the 230gr Gold Dot than the 200gr +P Gold Dot. If it was the same
price, maybe we could swap some out and have 50-50. I’d started crock pot chili before
we left that morning and it was starting to smell good. I decided to stir it up and let it
cook for a while longer on high and switch to low about an hour before supper. It still
had a while to go.

I made coffee and sat down with a cup just to think. Most of us thought that if there was
ever a World War Three, it would start with either some incident like on The Day After or
being awakened in the middle of the night by our NWS EAS SAME radio with an EAN
message. Most of us never considered that it would start as a spat between two neigh-
boring countries arguing over which of the two was in control of some damned island or
islands. Some of us could remember the Taiwan Straits crises, but most didn’t but
should. The first was 1954-55, the second was 1958 and the third was 1995-96. Clinton
dispatched Battle Groups based on CV-62 USS Independence and CVN-68 USS Nim-
itz.

Never heard of it? It really wasn’t a big deal; just the PRC posturing against Taiwan as
they frequently do. Ten years later, Taiwan had a pro-China government in charge, Ma
Ying-jeou. The more things change…

If you want a big deal, it wasn’t Paula Jones or Monica; it was Clinton’s refusal to take
bin Laden into custody when he had the chance. Unfortunately that chance came and
went before 9/11. See what I mean about a big deal… if Clinton had taken bin Laden,
9/11 might not have happened and we wouldn’t have fought wars in Iraq and Afghani-
stan. But you know hindsight is 20/20. By the time Dubya took office, the terrorists had
pretty much finished up their training needed to hijack the 4 jets.

I just had the fidgets, so I turned on the TV. We’re UTC -6 and Tokyo is UTC +9 or 15
hours ahead of us. It was January 2017 so no daylight saving time to confuse the issue.
Two thirty in the afternoon in Mountain Home Arkansas translated to 1430+1500=2930-
2400=0530 in Japan. That is one of the few good reasons for military time and UTC…
figuring the times for places around the world; it’s not algebra, its arithmetic.

Dawn is a little after oh-dark-thirty, but you have the light to see what you’re doing,
sorta. In this case, one of China’s Type 095 class (?) SSNs was sneaking around with a
belly full of torpedoes looking for a Japanese destroyer. The problem with that is that
the US built the Japanese destroyers and was in the process of building more. Anyway,
one Burke-class looks similar to another Burke-class and Japan did have Flight I and
Flight IIa DDGs. It’s awfully hard to tell which flag the ship has flapping in the wind, too.
Not that ours look alike, but… the fire control computer had the solution… “Fire 1, fire
2.”

59
“Conn, CIC, I have two incoming torpedoes very close in.”

“CIC, Conn, bearing? All ahead Flank.”

“All ahead Flank, aye.”

The remainder of the conversation was drowned out by the sounds of the explosions as
both torpedoes struck near amidships. As the four turbine engines spooled down in the
flooding water, the Commander called for a damage report.

“Conn, damage control report. Sir we were at material condition zebra so the damage is
confined. However, we’re dead in the water with all 4 turbines down. We do not need to
abandon ship at this time and we’re getting the fires under control.”

“Conn, aye.”

So much for a “combination of... an advanced anti-submarine warfare system, land at-
tack cruise missiles, ship-to-ship missiles, and advanced anti-aircraft missiles.” The flag
was now more recognizable; it had 13 stripes and 50 stars. China had 2 Original Kilo
and 10 Improved Kilo-class submarines, and 5 of the type 91 Han class SSNs, 5 type
093 Shang-class subs with 3 more planned plus 2 of the type 095 out of 12 planned.

A DDG can go from all ahead standard to all ahead flank, quickly, but not that quickly.
It’s sort of like being a deer being caught in the headlights of a car coming along at
70mph. The deer doesn’t have time to react and the driver can’t avoid the deer. That
sub had to be pretty close in if the torpedoes had that short of run.

By this time, other members of the Carrier Strike Group Five centered on CVN-73 USS
George Washington were aware that USS McCampbell, DDG-85, had taken 2 torpe-
does and had a slight list to starboard. This particular Strike Group had 2 Cruisers, USS
Antietam CG-54 and USS Shiloh CG-67, 6 other DDGs, USS Curtis Wilbur DDG-54,
USS John S. McCain DDG-56, USS Fitzgerald DDG-62, USS Stethem DDG-63, USS
Lassen DDG-82 and USS Mustin DDG-89, but no Frigates. The US had no fighting
ships in port at Yokosuka.

CVN-73 was due for overhaul/refueling in 2015 and because of Congress, the over-
haul/refueling had occurred and USS Washington had returned to Yokosuka to relieve
CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan. So, the new ship, CVN-76 was in San Diego when things
happened. But they were loading stores as was CVN-70 USS Carl Vinson as was CVN-
74 USS John C. Stennis up north. The Nimitz was home ported on west coast and the
Eisenhower was home ported on the east coast. Specifically, Nimitz was in San Diego,
but can they load stores on 3 carriers simultaneously?

Back to that first question, ‘where are the carriers’? Well you see Mr. President the En-
terprise was retired in 2012. The Ford is finishing up sea trials but it will take a while for
it to get there, it has to go around Cape Horn.

60
Back in the US, breaking news came at about 3:30pm that a US ship had been hit by 2
torpedoes and Washington had been nuked. More news would follow about the disposi-
tion of the ship and the crew and Washington. Is another US Navy Commander going to
lose his command because of something beyond his control? TOM talked about Rock-
well Torrey in the movie In Harm’s Way. Torrey lost his command because he wasn’t
zig-zagging. But he was sent to intercept the Japanese Fleet that just bombed Pearl
Harbor and concluded he was expendable. The movie was generally panned by critics.

Seven DDGs with 2 CGs and one CVN? They were getting them out of port. Additional-
ly, with US down to only 10 CVNs, not counting the Ford, every effort had to be taken to
protect the remaining carrier assets. The USS Stark had a big old hole blown into it by 2
Exocet missiles and it survived. The USS Cole had a big old hole blown in it by explo-
sives in a boat and it survived. And the USS McCampbell had couple big holes in it and
it hasn’t sunk, yet… Another reason for bringing up the movie was that Torrey took 2
torpedoes and old Swayback survived. [I get the idea that TOM is a John Wayne fan.]

But, the Captain of the USS Stark, a Frigate, was recommended for courts martial and
eventually received an Article 15. That one was everyone’s fault and they passed the
blame around. The USS Cole is a Flight 1 Burke-class. The JAG concluded that “the
commanding officer acted reasonably in adjusting his force protection posture based on
his assessment of the situation that presented itself” when USS Cole arrived in Aden to
refuel. The JAG also concluded that “the commanding officer of USS Cole did not have
the specific intelligence, focused training, appropriate equipment or on-scene security
support to effectively prevent or deter such a determined, preplanned assault on his
ship” and recommended significant changes in Navy procedures. In spite of this finding,
the Commander was subsequently denied promotion and retired at the same rank of
Commander in 2007. And I thought the only arrogant SOBs in the Navy were the Naval
Aviators [pilots].

… USS McCampbell, DDG-85, was struck by two torpedoes amidships flooding the en-
gine compartment. The Guided Missile Destroyer was sailing at material condition Zeb-
ra in accordance with Strike Group Commanding Officer’s orders.

Zebra provides the greatest degree of subdivision and tightness to the ship. It is set im-
mediately and automatically when general quarters is sounded. It is also set when en-
tering or leaving port during wartime, to localize damage and control fire and flooding, or
at any time the Commanding Officer deems it necessary.

The entire engine room crew was killed in the attack and several sailors in adjoining
compartments were injured. Injuries ranged from minor to serious. The injured crew
members were transferred to the CVN-73 USS George Washington for medical treat-
ment with some being transferred to US military hospitals on Okinawa.

We’ll be back after…

61
“Where did you disappear to?”

“Smoke, I was just so tired and the PBR relaxed me just enough I slept the afternoon
away. What’s up?”

“DDG 85 was torpedoed in waters off Japan a few hours ago.”

“Our ship?”

“Our ship, DDG 85 USS McCampbell, took two in the engine room and apparently went
dead in the water. He didn’t say anything about it sinking but he did mention material
condition Zebra.”

“Zebra is when they’re sailing with everything locked down than can be locked down.
Depending upon the extent of damage, it greatly reduces the chances of sinking.”

“They were at Zebra but people outside the engine compartment were injured.”

“The MK 48 ADCAP we use has 650 pounds of high explosive plus any unexpended
fuel.”

“And I read that some Chinese fishermen recovered an Mk 48 torpedo and the Chinese
reverse engineered it. What size are the torpedoes on an Improved Kilo-class?”

“Look it up.”

“Hmm, 533mm and an MK 48 is 533mm. So if the torpedo tube was long enough, you
could shoot an Mk 48 from an Improved Kilo-class. China has a dozen Kilo-class sub-
marines and some Han-class SSNs. I don’t remember the designator for their Mk 48
copycat but 2 of those could blow a big hole or break the back of a ship if exploded be-
low the keel.”

“Well, don’t tell the Chinese.”

“Tell them what?”

“That they blew it by not sinking that DDG. Let’s eat.”

Some people’s children!

We needed more information about the strike on Washington to determine if World War
Three had started.

On an entirely new subject, Russia has launched additional Borei-class submarines. Af-
ter the first 3 Borei I class, 2 Borei II class with 20 tubes were launched and two more
were under construction and reportedly nearing completion. They originally only

62
planned on building 8. Five down and three to go but nearing completion? Mirv’d, 6
warheads per. 3×16×6=288. 2×20×6=240. 288+240=528 which is too damned many.
Nearing completion is Russia for Houston, we had a problem. Go with 5, just to avoid
overstating situation.

About this time, a sole Russian Borei-class submarine launches a Bulava with only 4
warheads. Ohio-class is limited to 4 warheads per missile. It sort of makes sense, 24
missiles per boat, 4 warheads per missile equals 96. Borei-class has 16 missiles per
boat, 6 warheads per missile equals 96. The Chinese detected a SLBM about the same
time Space Command did.

“Sir I have a launch.”

“Location?”

“Northern Pacific.”

“How many?”

“One.”

“Target?”

“Beijing.”

“Standby. This is Space Command at Anderson, did you authorize any launches. Yes
sir, a single launch from the Northern Pacific targeted on Beijing. You didn’t? Somebody
better wake Him up.”

“Sir, I have another launch.”

“Location?”

“Mid-Atlantic.”

“How many?”

“One.”

“Target Washington?”

“Affirmative.”

“I’m back. Tell him to get dressed and head for the nearest bunker, you have incoming
about 15 or less out.”

63
“What’s that damn noise?”

“That’s my NWS EAS SAME radio and it says… EAN (Emergency Action Notification). I
hope you left your clean clothes in the shelter. Otherwise grab them and your guns and
head for the shelter.”

“I left them down there.”

“Grab your firearms and move them to the shelter. I’m taking mine down and coming
back up for the food in the refrigerator. Well maybe not, we have plenty of propane. I
have most of my stuff in the shelter just because.”

“Calm down!”

“Move your stuff now Steve and I’ll be perfectly calm.”

“I’d sure hate to see you when you’re excited. Ok, I’m moving.”

“Throw your stuff on your bed and grab that laundry basket. I think we have time to
empty the ‘frig.”

“What about the stuff in the pantry?”

“Leave it; it’s only a couple weeks’ worth of food and it’s all staples.”

“Okay, now let’s get the door closed.”

“No lock?”

“Just wait. Did you close the floor opening to the shelter? Never mind, I closed it. You
know this door probably weighs half a ton.”

“How were you going to close it by yourself?”

“See that eyebolt?”

“Yeah, so?”

“See that come along?”

“Ah so. Watch your fingers!”

“Don’t yell at me; this is the first time I’ve ever been through World War Three.”

“Did you remember the chili?”

64
“Yes I did, but there isn’t much beer down here.”

“Beer doesn’t keep; what else you got?”

“A headache.”

“Now what are you doing?”

“I’m connecting the area monitors to the remote sensing heads. Then, I’m going to fire
up my desktop and plug the USB cables from the monitors to the USB ports on my
computer. I already have a spreadsheet set up that record the date, time and the 3 me-
ter readings in 15 minute intervals.”

“What are you monitoring?”

“Radiation.”

“Why 15 minute intervals?”

“Close counts in government work. The spreadsheet has 1 million rows, enough for
10416⅔ days or 28½+ years. That’s over more than the food we have.”

“We’re not spending the remainder of our lives down here are we?”

“Not hardly. Look, we got no announcement. Typically, one would expect an an-
nouncement from someone in the government. The only reason we didn’t might be the
fact that the launch was very close to the US, say a sub launched ballistic missile. That
clouds the water because we developed them first and all five major nuclear powers
have SSBNs. It could be six if India has them. So, we sit and wait for a while and see
what happens. We safe for the moment Steve and time is on our side.”

“Ok if I heat that chili back up?”

“For breakfast? Well, sure if you want to. I never really thought we’d be bringing in
World War Three with chili, biscuits and a beer.”

So far the Russians haven’t uttered a peep regarding the problems in the Far East. Ap-
parently they’re busy building the pipeline to China so they can sell their gas to the Chi-
nese instead Europe. The White House Briefings have less information than they did
when Gibbs was Press Secretary. And you know when Gibbs replacement, Jay Carney
quit, Obama had problems finding anyone who wanted the job, but Josh Earnest
agreed. Oh well. A Press Secretary is the President’s official Liar. Maybe that’s too
harsh. How about sayer of many meaningless words. Yeah, works for me.

You do know that it takes several days to move a Carrier Strike Group from San Diego
or Bremerton to the Far East, don’t you? It’s not magic where you snap your fingers and

65
they disappear off the west coast and reappear in the East China Sea. You’re not
fighting in the Sea of Japan, that’s between Japan and the Koreas. Figure an average
speed of 20 knots, 24/7. That’s 480 nautical miles per day or 552 statute miles a day. I
looked it up. The distance from Bremerton, Washington to Taipei, Taiwan is 5,251 Nau-
tical miles and the distance from San Diego, California to Taipei, Taiwan is 5,986 Nauti-
cal miles. 5,251÷480=10.94 days and 5,986÷480=12.47 days.

Assuming it takes 4 days to set sail, the 2 carrier strike groups from the north will take
~15 days and the 2 from the south will take ~16.5 days to all be in position to support
Carrier Strike Group Five which is built around CVN-73 USS George Washington.

Let’s go back to the scene as it were. Four DDGs immediately set about searching for
the submarine. But maybe the Chinese Commander/Captain put the pedal to the metal
and is making 20 knots on a course towards Korea. He had a bit of an advantage and
by the time the Yankees get their stuff together; he’ll already be 10 NM northeast of the
attempted sinking. The other 2 DDGs and 2 CG are hovering around the McCampbell
like Mother hens with the DDGs circling at 20 knots and the CGs making 5 knots. All of
the DDGs and CGs are equipped with ASROC launchers plus active and passive SO-
NAR, so maybe the Chinese Commander/Captain is creeping away at 3 knots which
puts him a whole lot closer. The finally tally was one DDG severely damaged, one Han
class sunk.

66
 World War Three – Chapter 7

Most Americans didn’t know when they woke the following morning that World War
Three began the night before. Those that paid attention to such matters knew. But that
was about all they knew. They sure got an earful the next morning when they put on
Good Morning America or one of the early morning news shows.

Two missiles had been launched, one at Beijing and one at Washington, DC by un-
known party or parties. Each missile had 4 warheads of undetermined size and the tar-
gets lay in ruins. The power was still up in most of the US suggesting that a High Alti-
tude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) wasn’t involved. On the other hand, it was worse
than 9/11/01 and a whole lot of people were late for work or didn’t show up at all. The
further west one went across the US, the poorer the level of work attendance; mostly
because people were frightened to their very core.

Every time a newscaster used the term possible World War Three, the more frightened
they became. Food riots broke out when people tried to get prepared in a hurry. In a
way, it was like watching the Watts Riots (1965) or the Rodney King Riots (1992) or the
hundreds of Riots that broke out when Dr. Martin Luther King was killed. It didn’t matter
if they could pay or not, they loaded those grocery baskets to or beyond capacity and
didn’t stop at the checkout counters. It wasn’t ethnic; everyone, red, yellow, black and
white of every ethnicity was involved. And, the looting didn’t stop with food; got to have
a big screen to follow the war don’t you know.

The initial problems arose because of the typical 3 days, just in time, inventory practices
employed by nearly every grocery chain in the country. Furthermore, it wasn’t limited to
the United States. Canada was the first to join and Europeans soon followed when they
shopped for the evening meal and made it all the evening meals they could get. All be-
cause 2 nuclear tipped missiles had been launched against China and the US. That
even included many people that held both countries in low esteem.

Students of history understood what the phenomenon was, it happened every time
someone fired one of those shots heard around the world. Concord, Fort Sumter in the
US, Sarajevo, the Second Italo–Abyssinian War, the Spanish Civil War, the Second Si-
no-Japanese War, Germany annexing Austria, Germany and Italy forcing Czechoslo-
vakia to cede additional territory to Hungary and Poland, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact,
Germany invading Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, France, Russia and Pearl Har-
bor.

The next go around was North Korea invading South Korea followed by the US provid-
ing advisors to the South Vietnamese… for ten years or more, the war on Terror be-
cause Bill Clinton wouldn’t arrest Osama bin Laden and now this. But this was a strange
one, who fired the missiles? Only you and I know that it was fired by someone not a par-
ty to the conflict in the Far East. Back up. Do you really think old Joe trusted Adolf?

67
American Rules of Engagement are, don’t fire until you’re fired upon. The real cause of
the bombing of the USS Cole… was the rules of engagement, which were obeyed, and
the Commander was subsequently denied promotion and retired at the same rank of
Commander in 2007.

US Code of law explicitly limits the total number of flag officers that may be on active
duty at any given time. The total number of active duty flag officers is capped at 160 for
the Regular Navy, augmented by a smaller number of additional flag officers in the Navy
Reserve who are either on full-time active duty, temporary active duty, or on the Re-
serve Active Status List (RASL) as part-time drilling reservists. Some of these slots are
reserved or set by statute. For example the Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Na-
vy is a two-star rear admiral in the Navy. In the Coast Guard, the Chief Medical Officer
is also two-star rear admiral In the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, at least
half of the Assistant Surgeons General are one-star rear admirals and no more than half
are two-star rear admirals. Officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not
counted against the statutory limit.

For the Navy, no more than 16.7% of the service’s active-duty flag officers may have
more than two stars. The three-star grade goes hand-in-hand with the position of office
it is linked to, so the rank is temporary. Officers may only achieve three-star grade if
they are appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank. Their rank
expires with the expiration of their term of office, which is usually set by statute, unless
they retire while holding the higher rank.

For the army, navy, and air force, no more than about 25% of the service’s active duty
general or flag officers may have more than two stars, and statute sets the total number
of four-star officers allowed in each service. This is set at 6 four-star navy admirals.
Four-star grades go hand-in-hand with the positions of office they are linked to, so these
ranks are temporary. Officers may only achieve four-star grade if they are appointed to
positions that require the officer to hold such a rank. Their rank expires with the expira-
tion of their term of office, which is usually set by statute, unless they retire while holding
the higher rank.

So, that Commander might have made Captain, but Flag Officer was unlikely and the
chances of rising above RA (UH) were impossible because even if it isn’t your fault, it’s
your fault. “All ahead flank,” was probably the last meaningful order that Commander
would give, regardless. He was driving their ship. McCampbell DDG 85 marks the intro-
duction of Navy Area TBMD capability aboard DDGs. (Navy Theater Ballistic Missile
Defense combines both Theater-Wide (Upper Tier) and Area Defense (Lower Tier) de-
fense capabilities to protect naval forces during the critical early phases of an armed
conflict. In many cases, the US Navy may be the primary line of defense against the ac-
tions of an aggressor, such as a ballistic missile attack. TBMD is the most viable near-
term response to such a threat.)

68
As of 2002 plans were for 57 DDG 51 Class destroyers through FY 2004, representing
an estimated total program cost of $40-45 billion with the last ship scheduled to deliver
in the year 2009. $45,000,000,000÷57=$789,473,684.21 average excluding inflation
and annual operating costs and maintenance. And, to think, the Chinese used a torpedo
that probably went for a million or so, an Mk 48 ADCAP costs about $3 million, or more.

Men and boys… the only difference is the price of their toys… was never truer than
when the torpedoes hit the USS McCampbell.

The surviving Chinese Leadership had no idea whom may have launched against Bei-
jing. The only clue was that 4 warheads had detonated. The surviving US Leadership
had no idea whom may have launched against Washington. The only clue was that 4
warheads detonated. Do we have a hotline with Beijing? Moscow, I know, but Beijing I
don’t know. I would only make sense that the 5 ‘major’ nuclear powers have hotlines.
But that club has expanded by one member and only the Japanese and the US gov-
ernments know who the new guy on the block is.

Before I stepped into it, I checked out hotlines and found:

USA–Russia

The most famous hotline between states is the Moscow–Washington hotline, which is
also known as the “red telephone”, although telephones have never been used in this
capacity. This direct communications link was established on June 20, 1963, in the
wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and utilized teletypewriter technology, later replaced
by telecopier and then by electronic mail.

USA–UK

Already during World War II – two decades before the hotline Washington–Moscow was
established–there was a hotline between the Cabinet War Room bunker under No. 10
Downing Street and the White House in Washington. From 1943–1946, this link was
made secure by using the very first voice encryption machine, called SIGSALY.

Russia–China

A hotline connection between Moscow and Beijing was used during the 1969 frontier
confrontation between the two countries. The Chinese however refused the Russian
peace attempts and ended the communications link. After a reconciliation between the
former enemies, the hotline between China and Russia was revived in 1996.

Russia–France

69
On his visit to the Soviet Union in 1966, French President Charles de Gaulle announced
that a hotline would be established between Paris and Moscow. The line was upgraded
from a telex to a high-speed fax machine in 1989.

Russia–UK

A London–Moscow hotline was not formally established until a treaty of friendship be-
tween the two countries in 1992. An upgrade was announced when Foreign Secretary
William Hague visited Moscow in 2011.

India–Pakistan

On June 20, 2004, both India and Pakistan agreed to extend a nuclear testing ban and
to set up a hotline between their foreign secretaries aimed at preventing misunderstand-
ings that might lead to nuclear war. The hotline was set up with the assistance of United
States military officers.

USA–China

The United States and China set up a defense hotline in 2008, but it has rarely been
used in crises.

China–India

India and China announced a hotline for the foreign ministers of both countries while
reiterating their commitment to strengthening ties and building “mutual political trust”.

China–Japan

In February 2013, the Senkaku Islands dispute gave renewed impetus to a China–
Japan hotline, which had been agreed to but due to rising tensions had not been estab-
lished.

North and South Korea

The Seoul–Pyongyang hotline was opened on August 18, 1972 and maintained by the
Red Cross. North Korea deactivated the hotline on March 11th 2013, as part of increas-
ing tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The downside to hotlines is that they’re like Press Secretaries. Unless a party has iron-
clad proof of wrong doing on the part of the party on the other end… One can even take
it a step further, e.g., Vlad calls DC and Beijing and says, “We detected a launch and it
wasn’t us.” Which is quieter, a Borei or a Virginia? Can China spare Improved Kilo-class
subs to track Borei-class?

70
What about the warheads? The JL-2 warheads, (MIRV’d) are reportedly 90kT. The Tri-
dent II carries W76 at 100kT and the Bulava carries 150kT. Can you really tell the size
of the weapon by the amount of damage? The smaller bomb devastated Hiroshima
while the larger bomb did much less damage at Nagasaki.

“Are you getting any radiation?”

“Absolutely none above background and background generally varies.”

“Ok if I hook up the TV to the outlet and dish connection?”

“Go ahead, maybe we can find out what is going on.”

“Smoke, check this out.”

…and the attack against the McCampbell suddenly became yesterday’s news with near
simultaneous attacks against Beijing and Washington. Confidential sources have in-
formed this network that Moscow notified Washington of the launch moments after it oc-
curred and denied responsibility.

The type 094 Chinese SSBN apparently has 12 tubes carrying JL-2 missiles which carry
nuclear warheads. These could be single or MIRVs 3 or 4 on the JMA, and 10 maxi-
mum JMB.

The new Russian Borei-class SSBNs have either 16 or 20 tubes each carry a Bulava
missile with 6 warheads.

American Ohio-class has a maximum capacity of 24 Trident missiles. The original 8

boats were equipped with the Trident I missiles and the subsequent boats with Trident II
missiles. The first 4 boats in the class were eventually converted to SSGNs carrying
Tomahawk Cruise missiles and the other 4 were retrofitted to carry the Trident II mis-
siles. While the Trident II has a maximum capacity of 12 warheads, they were only
equipped with 8. Due to treaties the number has been reduced to 4 warheads per mis-
sile and 4 tubes will be permanently deactivated.

Concerning the attack on Washington, a single missile was launched from the mid-
Atlantic and delivered 4 warheads to the Washington area. The President has stated
that when the nation responsible for this attack is identified to a reasonable degree of
certainty, he will ask Congress to declare that a state of war exists between our two na-
tions.

To recap, only two cities were struck with nuclear weapons, Beijing and Washington.
We will return …

71
“I guess that explains why the generator didn’t kick in. Although it shouldn’t have any-
way with 2 banks of submarine batteries charged to over 99% of capacity.”

“Those are those huge batteries that hold several thousand amps, right?”

“Seven thousand amps; and I have 2 banks of 24 plus 2 dry spares. And yes they cost
an arm and a leg, around 3 grand per installed. They were sort of an afterthought and I
had to have another excavation made to build the battery room on the other side of the
generator room. Since batteries produce hydrogen gas, the inflowing air is filtered for
CBRN and the outflowing air is under pressure with blast valves on both.”

“What’s for lunch?”

“Got a hollow leg?”

“Nah, just curious.”

“Let’s do something we should have done a long time ago. This printout shows the
Short Term Storage, STS, foods and the Long Term Storage, LTS, foods. Read through
it and see if there’s anything you think is missing. We may or may not be able to get the
missing items, depending on how people reacted to what happened. The contents of
the freezer are on another list.”

“Are we going armed when we look?”

“A rifle and a shotgun in the pickup, handguns concealed and civilian clothes.”

“Ok, here’s my list.”

“Here’s the list of what’s in the freezer. See how it changes your list.”

“Half of your beef is ground meat and so is the pork.”

“Not exactly. The C81 is a Hormel ham, the HTS is Hormel thick sliced bacon and the
ground beef is ground sirloin, 10% fat.”

“Hamburger.”

“No, hamburger is 30% fat. And, who doesn’t like biscuits and sausage gravy?”

“There ain’t no cigars.”

“Now, you’re reaching. And beer doesn’t keep.”

72
We actually didn’t need much because I’d filled the holes. However, to keep Steve hap-
py I agreed to go shopping and my WR602 was Velcroed on the dash. We took his
Loaded and my 590A1 (w/ bayonet) and off we went to Mountain Home. Grocery stores
were open but the front door of every one had a local LEO standing guard with a shot-
gun. At the first store, we found limits, a sign of things to come. Two people translated
to 14 meals, 2 loaves of bread, 1 package of lunch meat, one jar of peanut butter,1 box
of cereal, 1 12 pack of soda and 1 12 pack of beer plus cigarettes, 14 packs per person.
There was a conspicuous absence of fresh fruit and vegetables. That was considered to
be a 2 week supply for 2 people.

We made the rounds, occasionally finding ground chuck or ground round but no steaks.
I took the cigarettes although I usually drove over the state line because Missouri was
much cheaper. I had lots of cigarettes, just not Steve’s brand. With the cost of fuel, a
person had to buy enough cartons to justify the trip and I usually dropped about a
grand, ~30 cartons. I kept them in sealed Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers in pails –
unlabeled. We hit every grocery and Wal-Mart in the area and we’re good on coke, beer
and cigarettes. The other things were added to the freezer or STS.

Refrigerated bread keeps well and frozen bread even better, especially if it’s bagged 2
bagged loaves to a bag. ‘Best if used by’ foods were refrigerated because they weren’t
lying.

“Enough food for one person to eat lightly for 2 weeks. That’s not right.”

“You do realize that by making a stop at every grocery slash food store in the area that
we probably took food other people need, don’t you.”

“The early bird gets the worm Smoke and we’ll let them have their turn next. We’re pret-
ty well set for a while what with the STS and what we got today.”

“I’m set for 21 years, what about you?”

“We’ll share.”

About half of the STS came from my pocket and the rest from ‘fill in the holes on me’.
Plus half of what we got today because we went 50-50. However, all of the LTS were on
me, even if I did get carried away at Emergency Essentials. In truth, those little extras
that had been added probably amounted to another year’s worth if I could get some of
the locally grown rice and plant a garden.

Thinking about a garden brought to mind one of those bigboy or betterboy tomatoes
with bacon and lettuce. Didn’t have any lettuce nor any tomatoes, the thought crashed
quickly. Maybe in 6 months we could have tomatoes, I had those seeds from Walton’s. I

73
looked to see what kind they were and looked the type up on the web. The fruit tended
to be soft, not exactly what I had in mind earlier when I was thinking about BLT.

“I’m sorry, ‘we’ll share’? About half the STS were accumulated on your nickel and none
of the LTS. Figure the stuff from Walton at a little over $1,750 per year and the stuff
from Emergency Essentials close to $4,500 per year, on sale no less.”

“Don’t get worked up Smoke. I bought that 2nd propane tank and half the propane in it.
Yeah, maybe I wasn’t involved in laying in the LTS foods, but it sounds to me like you
have about $45,000 plus $17,500 tied up in those. I’m good for my half of what, maybe
sixty three grand… call it $32,000. You know damn good and well the only time I ever
drank overseas was when we pulled a little R&R. I do have 35 years in the same infan-
try you did and I know my job. Hell I had no idea what you were assembling for an ar-
mory and I’ll be damn if they aren’t nearly identical. Lighten up a little pal and you’ll see
just exactly what I can do. If push comes to shove, I have some gold and silver too, but
obviously not as much as you do.”

“More identical than you think you old fart, I bought a good used PT1911B and retired
the M1911A1.”

“Hallelujah, you did listen.”

“No, I tried it remember and it was just plain better. You know, the action was smoother.
My advantage was I bought some 8 round magazines for the M1911 and they work in
the Taurus. We can divide ‘em and all you have to remember is stainless if for the sup-
pressor.”

“Well, I suppose the question is will we still get our retirement checks?”

“It shouldn’t really take long to get the system back up, so I expect so. I don’t think I’d
hold onto the cash and turn it into hard currency. I’m not so sure that ‘this note is legal
tender for all debts, public and private’ cuts it. Nowhere does it say that, ‘notes are
backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government.’ The only reference
I could find was in FDIC where it says, ‘FDIC deposit insurance is backed by the full
faith and credit of the United States government. This means that the resources of the
United States government stand behind FDIC-insured depositors.’ And, as you probably
know, the insurance is limited.”

“When did you figure this out?”

“I learned at the post library, you know I didn’t socialize much.”

“I know; why is that?”

“Ever hear ‘once burned twice shy’?”

74
“A few times. What happened to you?”

“Her name was Judy and she was two-timing me with another guy in class. If you don’t
expose yourself, it’s hard to get hurt. I enlisted right after graduation.”

“Anyway are we going to be square on the food?”

“Yeah, we’ll work it out.”

“Tell me something. You have a MUNS on both your Super Match and Tac-50 when an
UNS would have been enough for the Super Match. Why?”

“The price was right?”

“The MUNS cost a grand more than the UNS.”

“True if you bought it at Optics Planet. I didn’t and paid ten grand for the pair.”

“In gold no doubt.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Are all Logistic Sergeants crooks?”

“Only the ones that we know; besides much of that stuff is accounted for as expendable
ordnance and or ammunition.”

“Listen to us Smoke. You can always tell the people who stayed in too long.”

“I’d have gone for 40 except for the rumor we were going back to Afghanistan.”

“That’s why you got out? I was surprised when I heard because I thought you were mar-
ried to the Army. You know my reason, Marion. She was always there as an independ-
ent counsel when I had a tough decision to make and while the NCOs’ run the Army,
their wives ran them.”

“You know Steve; I sure hope someone gets behind this madness in the Far East and
keeps it from actually turning into a fill blown Global Thermonuclear War. One of those
fiction, authors Tired Old Man, TOM, was in the Air Force during the early ‘60s stationed
at Edwards AFB. Virtually all of his stories are centered on the outcome of a GTW, as
he calls it. He’s said several times that he was never so frightened in his life.

“It was a day like every other day, with a twist; that night when they returned to the main
base, SAC had 12 B-47 Stratojets disbursed into a shotgun area at the end of the flight
line.

75
“There are two authors in particular that I read extensively TOM and Jerry.”

“Like the cat and mouse?”

“The names yes, but they’re no cartoon heroes although TOM has a strange sense of
humor. Jerry has this list of almost 200 potential catastrophes and has covered at least
half with stories. Many of them are coping in the aftermath of a GTW or other catastro-
phes while TOM spends most of his time preparing, much like I have done. I have to
laugh; he ends up with enough ammo to fight 3 wars and avoids getting into firefights.”

“Were they your guides when you prepared?”

“Not entirely, although for the most part yes. Take that generator I have. I wanted a pro-
pane fueled 1800rpm 30kw generator capable of a continuous 240vac at 100 amps.
While they discussed generators, by the time I got involved, the models were discontin-
ued and I had to look very hard to find what I wanted. The higher the output, the more
fuel the engine uses, explaining 60,000 gallons of propane instead of 30 thousand.”

“How do you handle the maintenance issue?”

“Several drums of oil and more filters than I’ll probably ever use. On top of that, rebuild
packages for the engine and alternator including a spare alternator head. The generator
was the quick and dirty solution to losing power. The PV panels and Wind Turbines
were later additions. Those submarine batteries were the last part of the package to
store the spare Wind and Photo-Voltaic energy. I don’t buy power; I sell power if you
can believe that. There’s a potential 60kwh from those 2 sources and with the grid tie
setup the excess is all outbound.”

“Generator too?”

“No way.”

“I was surprised at how secluded your acreage is. I take it not many people know where
it’s located.”

“That’s the so called Grey Man Theory.”

The Grey Man is always invisible in plain sight. The Grey Man is totally aware of his en-
virons, his own capabilities or lack thereof, his weaponry and his levels of competence
with that weaponry. He constantly strives to improve upon both his capabilities and
competence. In public, he is always respectful, even to the point of obsequiousness if
the situation calls for it. He always appears to be just a little confused by what is hap-
pening around him, while in reality he is alertly doing a tactical assessment.

The Grey Man NEVER draws attention to himself by word, dress, action, or mannerism.
The Young Grey Man is dismissed as a wimp, the Older as a doddering old fool. The

76
Grey Man derives great inner satisfaction from having this portrayal of himself accepted
by all he meets, for it means he is succeeding in his disguise of his actual persona.

The Grey Man is a private man. He practices with his weaponry in private, or only with
his fellow Grey Men, always in a secluded location. If he must resort to use of a public
facility, he schedules his practice for times when he is likely to be the only one there. At
such times he would probably wear bright clothing, to be remembered only as ‘that guy
in the red jacket and sunglasses’, a quite different person from his usual persona. If
right-handed, he would always occupy the leftmost station on a NRA bullseye pistol
range, with his back to an observer, or the rightmost one for riflery or combat pistol
practice. He would not have his name emblazoned on clothing or equipment, nor would
he have any noteworthy affiliation proclaimed on his cap. “He’s just a guy. Comes every
Wednesday morning for his coffeebreak. Always pays cash.”

The Grey Man does not drive a pink Cadillac with steer horns on the hood, NOR does
he drive the biggest mutherin’ 4×4-with-all-the-bells-and-whistles BOV in the lot. The
older his vehicle is, the rustier, the less likely it is to draw attention (or to be stolen, for
that matter). This vehicle is, under its exterior, scrupulously maintained and in excellent
running order. If pulled over by authority on the basis of appearance, it can be shown to
meet or exceed all requirements under licensing laws, and an obsequious co-operative
manner precludes a search under the seats. The Grey Man does not speed on the
highway: cruise control is his friend. So is the Highway Patrol: he waves to any he sees.
If he travels the same route constantly, at the same times, The Grey Man becomes a
‘fixture’ and can be dismissed from conscious observation.

It helps the Survivor to build up this persona of The Grey Man gradually and over time.
The anti-gun sheeple neighbors will quickly rat out the ‘Patriot’ who is always loudly de-
claiming about his ‘Rights’ and ‘what will happen if they try to take my guns’. The Grey
Man goes far out of his way never to offend anyone, imitating the duck which appears
calm on the surface of his pond whilst paddling like hell under the surface.

Be seen as conservative in all you do. A Survivor is a Grey Man, and that little old grey
man alone over there in the corner is probably a Survivor!

And that young guy next to him? Just another wimp? Or are they both watching each
other’s backs?

Making the other guy waste precious time in assessing the situation is a big part of stay-
ing alive. Practice being grey now, while there’s time to build your skills.

“That’s an excerpt from a website and I can’t even tell you which one or who wrote it. If
they don’t know where you are, you basically don’t exist. Some of the local vendors
know, like the propane, diesel and coal delivery men and the firewood vendor. The con-
tractors who built the shelter including the concrete block and concrete know, of
course.”

77
“You left off some, like the PV panels and Wind Turbine installers and whoever set up
the grid tie.”

“Right; I have mail box and a cellphone and the TV and Internet is satellite. You can’t
avoid everyone but you can avoid most.”

78
 World War Three – Chapter 8

“Under that theory, if we take an M1A, it should probably a Loaded model and we
should leave the bayonet home. Is that a Walther PPK in the ankle holster?”

“Yes it is. I did have my PT1911B in the glove box. Admittedly the .380 isn’t a very pow-
erful cartridge, but it’s better than a pocket knife.”

“Even if it’s an automatic knife?”

“All an automatic knife does is present the blade faster. It’s really a close in weapon.
One or two .380 rounds to the head don’t necessarily force you to expose yourself.”

“I’ll have to pick one up. All I have in 9mm is an M9.”

“At last, a difference in our armories; I have a Browning Hi-Power.”

“Foreign model?”

“The box said Morgan, Utah. It has the spur hammer dating it to about 1972 or later. I
got it in the late ‘70s.”

“Why didn’t we check all the beer joints for beer? We only checked the grocery stores.
Let’s do that and I’ll buy. It’s driving me nuts just sitting around waiting for the other
shoe to fall.”

Arkansas has 75 counties, of which more than half are dry, and all alcohol sales are
forbidden statewide on Sundays (Packaged beer and wine sales are currently allowed
on Sundays in the cities of Altus, Eureka Springs, Springdale and Tontitown. Additional-
ly, licensed microbreweries can sell “growlers” for carry-out on Sundays) and on
Christmas Day. The issue is more complex than that, however, since any local jurisdic-
tion (county, municipal, etc.) can exercise control over alcohol laws via public referen-
dum. For this reason, some cities like Jacksonville, are dry despite being located in a
“wet” county. In nearby North Little Rock, the distinction of areas is even more specific,
with a single township inside the city designated as a dry area. In Fort Smith the same
situation exists but with a wet city existing in an otherwise dry county. A city or munici-
pality can elect to go dry in a wet county, but a city or municipality cannot elect to go wet
in a dry county. Occasionally, in counties with two county seats, one district may be wet
and the other dry, such as Sebastian and Logan Counties.

Dry counties (with county seat(s) in parentheses): Ashley (Hamburg), Bradley (Warren),
Clay (Corning/Piggott), Cleburne (Heber Springs), Craighead (Jonesboro/Lake City),
Columbia (Magnolia), Crawford (Van Buren), Faulkner (Conway), Fulton (Salem), Grant
(Sheridan), Hempstead (Hope), Hot Spring (Malvern), Howard (Nashville), Independ-
ence (Batesville), Izard (Melbourne), Johnson (Clarksville), Lafayette (Lewisville), Law-
rence (Walnut Ridge/Powhatan), Lincoln (Star City), Little River (Ashdown), Southern

79
Logan (Booneville), Lonoke (Lonoke), Madison (Huntsville), Montgomery (Mt. Ida),
Newton (Jasper), Perry (Perryville), Pike (Murfreesboro), Polk (Mena), Pope (Rus-
sellville), Randolph (Pocahontas), Saline (Benton), Scott (Waldron), Searcy (Marshall),
Southern Sebastian (Greenwood), Sevier (De Queen), Stone (Mountain View), Van Bu-
ren (Clinton), White (Searcy), and Yell (Dardanelle/Danville)..

Wet counties (with county seat(s) in parentheses): Arkansas (De Witt/Stuttgart), Baxter
(Mountain Home), Benton (Bentonville), Boone (Harrison), Carroll (Berryville/Eureka
Springs), Chicot (Lake Village), Clark (Arkadelphia), Cleveland (Rison), Conway (Mor-
rillton), Crittenden (Marion), Cross (Wynne), Desha (Arkansas City), Dallas (Fordyce),
Drew (Monticello), Franklin (Ozark/Charleston), Garland (Hot Springs), Greene (Para-
gould), Jackson (Newport), Jefferson (Pine Bluff), northern Logan (Paris), Marion (Yell-
ville), Miller (Texarkana), Mississippi (Osceola/Blytheville), Monroe (Clarendon),
Ouachita (Camden), Phillips (Helena), Poinsett (Harrisburg), Prairie (Des Arc/De Valls
Bluff), Pulaski (Little Rock), St. Francis (Forrest City), northern Sebastian (Fort Smith),
Sharp (Ash Flat) Union (El Dorado), Washington (Fayetteville), and Woodruff (Augusta).
Grocery stores can only sell beer in wet counties.

The deal was to go into tavern/beer joint/bar (private club) and order a small draft beer
and get a 12 pack apiece to go. The fourth one we hit proved to be unique.

“Rollin?”

“Yes?”

“It’s me, Judy. I’ve a break coming up; can you wait so I can talk to you?”

“What could we possibly have to talk about?”

“The misunderstanding; please say yes.”

“Oh, alright. Steve, get us 3 more drafts.”

“I’m on it!”

Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? Darrell said he had a date with Judy.

“Thank you for staying. I’ll make this short and to the point. Darrell was lying. He was a
creep and always pestering me to go out him and I always refused. I haven’t had a date
with anyone since our last date.”

“Floyd Cramer, 1960.”

“Conway Twitty, 1972.”

“You two forgot Emmylou Harris, 1982.”

80
“Do you live in the area Rollin?”

“Yes, you, Judy?”

“Mountain Home.”

“Rural Route Mountain Home.

“I’d like to meet your wife some time and tell her how lucky she is.”

“I haven’t had a date with anyone since our last date.”

“Judy is it? I’m Steve and I’ve known Smoke for nigh on 40 years and he’s never dated
anyone.”

“Smoke?”

“RJ Reynolds, the tobacco company. They hung that on me during my first enlistment.”

Judy went on to explain she’d never dated because nobody met the standard that I’d set
when we were dating. (Probably like women who never found anyone as good as Dad-
dy.) People do strange things for even stranger reasons. If I could find Darrell, I offer
him a job… as a live target. She had to get back to work and we exchanged phone
numbers before she left.

“She’s an attractive woman.”

“She has aged well. When you’re young, you sometimes wonder what he or she will
look like when they’re older.”

“He?”

“It was general statement.”

“So, you were wrong about her two-timing you.”

“I’m very much afraid so.”

“Your unsociability could indicate that she was your one true love as much as her never
finding anyone that met the standard you set indicates that you were her one true love.”

“Huh?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

81
“Yes I do. That’s what I was afraid of.”

Basically, what I believe Steve was getting at that they had been and still were ‘in love’
with each other. Like Tina Turner asked, What’s love got to do with it? Everything and
nothing. They went into the club that Steve was a member of to get 2 12 packs of beer.
Smoke didn’t belong and didn’t notice/recognize Judy until she identified herself. It could
have been 2 ships passing in the night, but she had to give it one more try. I hate to rain
on their parade but the middle of ‘World War Three’ is one hell of a time to get back to-
gether.

On the other hand, what better time was there? Twenty plus years for one is ten plus
years for two or, seven years for three. It’s been a lot of years since he enlisted in the
Army, 48 years to be precise and Smoke is 66. They are going to have to get to know
each other all over again. Why is Judy still working and not retired? One possibility that
comes to mind is that some people can’t afford to retire while others can afford to retire
AND prepare for the future. Ten for two would last most of their expected life times.
And, Steve said, ‘but I shor ‘nuf have a lotta cousins’.

Preparing isn’t cheap if you do it right. Some of those appliances are expensive alterna-
tives to electrical appliances. A 30kw generator probably goes for about 10 grand in-
stalled with the automatic transfer switch. PV panels still aren’t inexpensive and 50 bat-
teries at 3 grand each is 150 grand. These days some of the inverters have the charge
controller built in, but what does grid tie setup cost? That Wind Turbine was probably
another 30 grand. His cheapest major appliance was the 25ft³ Sears freezer.

Steve never really said how much insurance he had on Marion, either. Does the military
have some program to allow soldiers to insure their spouses for large amounts at af-
fordable rates? (Check out FSGLI $100k). I do know that soldiers can acquire large
amounts of coverage for themselves ($400k) at affordable rates. Never lose sight the
expression, ‘that was then and this now’.

He’d dropped a bundle on firearms and ammo, maybe 40 grand. He’d bought a propane
tank, 15 grand and he’d bought 15,000 gallons on propane. With what he had from the
insurance settlement, 100 grand, his cashed out leave and savings I sort of assumed he
wasn’t broke, yet. He did offer to buy half the LTS, over time, we’d agreed to work that
out. It appeared that I was in the process talking myself into reestablishing a relationship
with Judy.

“Steve, if I decided to pursue a relationship with Judy, do you think you could work
something with one of your cousins?”

“Would I still have shelter privileges if I could?”

“I don’t think that would be a problem, I could swap one king with one of the queens in
the shelter.”

82
“And I’d get my share of the STS?”

“You can have all you bought.”

“Let me check, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Be ok if I left most of my arsenal here? I

don’t really want my kin to know what I have.”

“You’d be taking the Loaded, 590A1, your Taurus and PPK?”

“With enough ammo to fight my way back here. Know where I can get a broad-banded
TS-2000 and CB for my truck?”

“The CB is easy. Ham Radio Outlet or Amateur Electronics Supply would have the
Kenwood. And I know a guy who can broad-band it.”

“Anything else I should add to the pickup?”

“You might consider a Transfer Flow 98 gallon cross bed fuel tank, some pioneer tools
for the truck and possibly a winch. You’ll need something like a truck generator and
large deep cycle battery for the TS-2000 because it uses 23 amps.”

“Ok, I’ll look into it. I might switch to a service body to have storage for some spare
pickup parts, a BOB and some of the ammo.”

“Look, there’s no rush, I just wanted to give you advance notice.”

“It’s no biggie. I saw how the two of you looked at each other when the circumstances
became clear. The only thing I was left wondering was how long it would take the two of
you to get involved.”

“I haven’t called her yet. I don’t want to screw up for a second time.”

“Is she a shooter?”

“We used to go target shooting with a .22 rifle, but that was about 50 years ago. I’ll have
to ask.”

“It’s not like you have to buy many weapons since you have 2 M1As plus a HK416 and
Browning Hi-Power for her. About all she’d need would be a Walther and a Mossberg
with a bayonet. From my experience, women do better with ALICE LBE. I think I packed
Marion’s and you’re welcome to it. It has the medium pack plus the butt pack 2 stainless
canteens, a stainless stove and stainless cup with 4 magazine pouches. I have some
reduced recoil Remington slugs and buckshot we can work a deal on.”

Was Steve trying to talk me into it?

83
Beijing and Washington, how convenient; why not Moscow, London, Paris or Berlin?
Germany was building the type 212 and type 214 submarines… How about a type 216
with missile tubes that was larger than the type 214 and built out of the non-magnetic
materials used to build the type 212? Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany were allies dur-
ing WW II. Probably not, but it was an interesting thought. The JL-2 was derived from
the D-31 and the Bulava was derived from the Topol-M. Apparently Japan had an
ICBM; could it be the basis for a SLBM?

Just random thoughts you know, but most of thoughts weren’t random and had face to
go with them, named Judy. I didn’t know if she gave a land line number or a cellphone
number and the surest way to find out was to call. So I did.

“This is Judy and I’m away from my phone at the moment so leave your name and
number and I’ll get back to you.”

“Judy, it’s Rollin. I was calling to see if you’d be interested in going out to dinner and
catch up on the past 48 years. If you wouldn’t be interested, I understand. It sure was
nice to run into you. It really was a misunderstanding and wholly my fault, I’m terribly
sorry. I guess I’d better go. If I don’t hear back from you, I do understand.”

“Hi, it’s Judy. Where and when. Casual, semi-formal or jacket and tie establishment.”

“You pick and I’ll dress appropriately.”

“Ok, how about nice casual? I really don’t want to get dressed up.”

“You have a place in mind?”

“Yes, I think I do. Pick me up at the club when I get off at 5. I took a chance that you
might call and brought a clean nice casual outfit with me.”

“I’ll be there with bells on.”

“You don’t need the bells, just be here. We have a lot to talk about and I’m not sure we
could cover 48 years in 48 hours.”

“I’ve been thinking and have realized I still feel the same about you as I did before Dar-
rell said what he did.”

“Good, I’ve always felt that way. You’re rather distinguished looking; the years have
been kind to you.”

“The same applies to you, Judy.”

“Bye……”

84
“See you at 5.”

“You seem to be cheerful.”

“Got a date.”

“Judy, of course.”

“Naturally.”

“Do you suppose she’s glowing much as you are? In all the years I’ve never seen you
this happy. Want me to bunk out tonight?”

“Tonight, no…”

“I’d better talk to some of my cousins.”

“That might be a good idea.”

“Hi.”

“Hi yourself. You clean up well.”

“Yes, you do. Where to?”

“My place or yours?”

“Maybe another time?”

“Okay, we can go slowly, but we’re not getting any younger.”

We were from Harrison, Arkansas, the Boone county seat.

Thomas Robb, national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, maintains his office
near Harrison in the outlying town of Zinc and uses a Harrison mailing address for the
organization. Combined with the history of the 1905 and 1909 banishment of unem-
ployed, former railroad workers, this incidental connection to the KKK has given Harri-
son a negative image which it has taken active steps to combat in recent years. In 2013,
a billboard appeared that read: “Anti-Racist is a Code Word for Anti-White.” In response,
a local radio station removed its nearby billboard, and students from North Arkansas
College passed out fliers calling for a protest of the sign. An official statement read:

85
“The mayor’s office considers the content inflammatory, distasteful and not in line with
the truth on how Harrison is a city of welcoming and tolerant citizens.”

Judy hadn’t gone to college, which wasn’t surprising; the family wasn’t upper middle
class. She’d worked for a few years in Harrison and had gone from there to Fayetteville
and from Fayetteville to Little Rock. Her next move was to Jonesboro and she left there
for Mountain Home for the same reason I didn’t settle there, earthquakes. She said
she’d never dated because when she found someone interesting, he just didn’t have
that certain something.

I told her I could relate to an extent. I’d enlisted to get away from the bad feelings at the
time and the longer I was in the Army; the more I avoided an active social life. The up
side was I spent a lot of time studying, usually at post or camp libraries. I realized that I
ended up with most of my paychecks unspent and looked to a way to let my savings
keep even with inflation. Eventually maximizing my savings became a goal in itself. I’d
only retired to avoid a possible additional tour to Afghanistan.

I told her I had considered Jonesboro but decided on Mountain Home for the same rea-
son she had. I didn’t drink much and had I; we might run into each other as much as 10
years earlier. I also admitted I had never been with another woman during the entire 48
years. [Mountain Home is wet, Flippin is wet. [Made the same error in Sweet Dreams!]

She then told me that she had developed endometriosis in her late 20s and had gone
through 10 years of unsuccessful treatments before electing to have a hysterectomy
combined with removal of the endometriosis by excision. She achieved the first true re-
lief in over ten years. And, while she had never had sex, a fair number of doctors had
their hands all over her insides. Then she asked if I was sure I didn’t want to stop by her
apartment ‘for a nightcap’?

I told her I really shouldn’t but if she was sure, why not? Oh yeah, she was positive and
if I didn’t want alcohol she had tea, coffee, beer and soft drinks. My resolve crumbled
and we headed to her apartment. I took a ginger ale and she took a shower. Then, she
had tea while I showered.

“Good morning you.”

“I could get used to this.”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you, even with a prenuptial agreement if necessary.”

86
“Ok, what’s getting married involve.”

“Leave it all to me. Do you have enough for a couple of wedding bands?”

“No engagement ring?”

“We won’t be engaged that long.”

“Yes I have enough for wedding bands. I’ll be getting you a few other things to add to
what I have?”

“Right, which caliber?”

“A Walther PPK in .380 and a Mossberg shotgun.”

“I already have a Walther and the shotgun with the Marine Corps bayonet.”

“And you can have my Loaded M1A, HK416 and Browning Hi-Power.”

“Don’t bother on the M1A; I have a Super Match and a PT1911B that I bought when
they came out in 2006. How’d you get the HK416?”

“Don’t ask but most of the guns have suppressors.”

“How your ammo supply?”

“It should be enough. Still I better get you a Loaded as a backup and a Browning.”

“I have 20 cases of Black Hills for the Super Match but only some for a Loaded.”

“Believe me, I have plenty in 147gr ball and 168gr .308 match PPU.”

“I have 5 full ammo cans of South African surplus that I got pretty cheap from AIM Sur-
plus.”

“That’s some good ammo and it’s perfect for a Loaded M1A.” [Fact: <0.8 MOA at 500
yards with iron sights, e.g. ~4” group; my kid, not me.]

It would appear 48 years of waiting paid dividends. It would further appear that Steve
was out of house and home. The strangest part about the whole deal was Judy knew
Steve from the club and he’d mentioned his friend Smoke but she didn’t know he’d been
referring to Rollin James Reynolds.

87
Authors Note: You try to contrive circumstances like what I’ve written about and see
how YOU do. Endnote

Before a week had passed, they were married, Judy was unemployed and she’d given
notice to her apartment manager. She was on month to month and was required to give
30 days’ notice. They would take the remaining days from her one month security de-
posit and keep the cleaning deposit, leaving her with a small refund. Steve stood up
with Smoke and a friend of Judy’s stood up with her.

They spent their honeymoon dividing their time between the king size bed and the
shooting range. Smoke had ordered her a Tac-338 with all the bells and whistles and
250gr factory .338 Lapua ammunition together with some 300gr Sierra BTHP Match-
King. Judy had been saving for the rifle and ammo and she didn’t have any suppres-
sors, so they went to Little Rock and saw Smoke’s favorite class 3 dealer. The dealer,
for a consideration, just happened to have HK416s and HK417s with grenade launchers
but only military less-lethal grenades. Judy bought her own since Smoke assured her he
had ‘lots’ of .223 and .308 PPU.

Back to the war…

It seems they have a bunker in the White House and while it wasn’t nearly as good as
Mt. Weather, Site R, Cheyenne Mountain or Holloman AFB, served to protect RP until
he could get to the Mountain. That was quite the challenge and ultimately involved leas-
ing a Gulfstream V to fly him out with a fighter escort of 4 Raptors.

Once in Colorado Springs, he collected his thoughts and addressed the nation:

My fellow Americans,

I didn’t realize that my inauguration included a fireworks display, but I was too busy
ducking to enjoy it. And I won’t borrow from FDR and describe it as a day that will live in
infamy. More of our fellow citizens were killed in this attack than at Pearl Harbor on De-
cember 7, 1941.

As I stated on January 20th, when we determine with a reasonable degree of certainty

who was responsible for the attack on our nation’s capital, I will ask Congress to declare
that a state of war exists between our two countries. I have notified Chinese officials
that we were not responsible for the attack on their capital, Beijing; whether they believe
me remains to be seen.

Prior to my inauguration, two 1mT nuclear devices were exploded in the south Indian
Ocean. We had no clue who was responsible for the first weapon. The second weapon
was delivered by an ICBM launched from Japan by the country of Japan. We must
therefore assume that they were responsible for the first weapon test.

88
The United States has a contract to provide 10 additional Flight IIa Arleigh Burke-class
DDGs to Japan and after discussions we have decided to fulfill those contracts. CVN-78
USS Gerald R. Ford has completed its sea trials, has been fully outfitted with stores and
is in transit to the Pacific Ocean via Cape Horn and will resupply at Pearl Harbor before
proceeding to the East China Sea. CVN-68 USS Nimitz and her Strike Group have de-
parted San Diego is also in transit to the East China Sea.

In light of these attacks, we are reevaluating the outfitting of our Oho-class SSBNs. If
we do restore the full missile and warhead complement, it will be temporary as the Unit-
ed States full intends to comply with its Treaties.

I will be in touch with you as time and conditions warrant. God bless America.

“Whoa, it sound like all 24 tubes will have a D-5 missile with 8 W76 warheads.”

“Can you blame him Rollin?”

“No, no I can’t. It’s a shame that Obama decided to live in New York rather than Wash-
ington.”

“That’s a terrible thing do say.”

“Do you disagree?”

“Not really, no. How many SLBM warheads will that make?”

“Fourteen times twenty-four times eight equals two-thousand six-hundred and eighty-
eight. That’s exactly what they had before all those damn treaties traded off the war-
heads and later missiles.”

“I put a beef roast in the crock pot with onions, potatoes and carrots.”

“That’s one of my favorite ways to fix a beef roast. Have you ever tried crock pot chili?”

“No, I never have.”

“When we finish off the roast, I’ll show you how I do that.”

“Before you do, let me cook some southern fried chicken.”

“By all means. Would you help me move Steve’s king size mattress to the shelter? I
have a new mattress cover to put on it. Then, we’ll move my queen size from the shelter
to the second bedroom and put a new mattress cover on it and make both beds.”

89
“Steve will be coming here?”

“Only in case of an all-out nuclear attack. I promised him he could as a part of agreeing
to get him to move out.”

“Do you think an all-out nuclear attack is likely?”

“To tell you the truth Judy, I don’t know what to think. I think that what we’ve seen in the
Far East could be the beginning of World War Three. Neither World War One nor World
War Two began overnight. Britain wasn’t involved in World War Two until Hitler invaded
Poland and Russia wasn’t involved until Hitler invaded them in Operation Barbarossa.
The United States wasn’t involved until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and Hitler
then declared war against the United States.

“Although a resurgence of imperialism was an underlying cause, the immediate trigger

for World War One was the 28 June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip
in Sarajevo. This set off a diplomatic crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultima-
tum to the Kingdom of Serbia, and international alliances formed over the previous dec-
ades were invoked. Within weeks, the major powers were at war and the conflict soon
spread around the world.

“The alliances were both reorganized and expanded as more nations entered the war:
Italy, Japan and the United States joined the Allies, and the Ottoman Empire and Bul-
garia the Central Powers. Ultimately, more than 70 million military personnel, including
60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history.

“On 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians fired the first shots in preparation for the invasion of
Serbia. As Russia mobilized, Germany invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg be-
fore moving towards France, leading Britain to declare war on Germany. After the Ger-
man march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into
a battle of attrition, with a trench line that would change little until 1917. Meanwhile, on
the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, but
was stopped in its invasion of East Prussia by the Germans. In November 1914, the Ot-
toman Empire joined the war, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the
Sinai. Italy and Bulgaria went to war in 1915, Romania in 1916, and the United States in
1917.”

90
 World War Three – Chapter 9

“In this case, the opening shots were when China fired missiles against Japanese
DDGs. That was compounded by a submarine firing 2 torpedoes against USS
McCampbell DDG 85. Finally, someone(s) fired missiles on Beijing and Washington. It
is beginning.”

“Hold me.”

“Come here.”

“How come that guy in Little Rock had everything in stock and didn’t make us wait on
the federal tax stamps?”

“All that took was a little persuasion (2 gold Eagles).”

“What about registering the automatic weapons with Arkansas?”

“The H&Ks can’t be registered since they’re illegal under federal law. The M1A Loaded
and Browning Hi-Power didn’t need to be registered on anything more than a 4473. We
need to get 2 Universal Night Sights for the Super Matches. I’ll give up my extra Mag-
num Universal Night Sight for your Tac-338 when we get it. Meanwhile, I’ll check with a
few supply Sergeants I know and if they don’t have any new UNS, I think we can get
them from Optics Planet in Northbrook, Illinois.”

“Are they expensive?”

“I bought 2 MUNS from a supply Sergeant for $5,000 each. Who knows, I might end up
getting 2 more from the military.”

“How’s that work?”

“For something like that, they’re requisitioned by the Sergeant and when he receives the
order, he reports it was short 2 units. Then he pads his retirement when someone, like
me, comes looking. That only works with units that have that particular device on their
Table of Equipment (TOE). Considering the price of those scopes, that usually causes a
CID investigation.

“Actual I paid for mine in hard currency, gold. They like that because there’s no extra
cash in their bank accounts.”

“Well, okay.”

“This is Smoke.”

91
“I thought you was dead.”

“Not hardly. Any chance on getting 2 UNS or 2 MUNS?”

“UNS aren’t on our TOE.”

“But the MUNS are?”

“Oh yeah, but they’ll cost you. The CID was all over my butt.”

“How much?”

“Six in gold, apiece. But you’d better decide right now because I’m retiring and happen
to have 2 in stock. The order was for 6 but it came up short.”

“Agreed.”

“I’ll bring them to you; are you still in Mountain Home?”

“Yep.”

“Three weeks. I’ll call you when I hit town. We have a place on the Lake of the Ozarks.”

“Okay, Judy, we’ll have 2 more MUNS in 3 weeks.”

“What did they cost you?”

“With the price of gold at $1,500 an ounce, 18 grand. But I got the gold in 2001 when
the price was $280 an ounce. From that point of view, $3,360.”

“Do you have a lot of gold?”

“A whole lot less than I had when I got out; in dollar value about the same amount. And
most patriot fiction/PAW writers expect the price of gold and silver to jump if we have a
global thermonuclear war.”

“You’re rich?”

“Comfortable. Only having you in my life makes me rich.”

Eventually the dealer had the Tac-338, complete, along with the ordered ammo. It was
less than the Tac-50, a little. However, the Tac-50A1R2 was easier to shoot than the
.338 Lapua. So Judy and I swapped heavy guns. And the retiring Sergeant showed up

92
with the two AN/PVS-27s. Twelve troy ounces is one troy pound but only 0.8228571
(advp). He had a few extra things and was there anything we wanted?

“Mk 211?”

“Two cans per ounce of gold.”

“I’m sorry, I think we’ll pass.”

“Three cans?”

“Un-uh.”

“Four, final offer.”

“Deal.”

It comes 120 rounds per can and 480 rounds of ammo that cost the government on the
order of $3,600 was a real bargain. On the other hand we already had about ~4,800
rounds of the stuff. A little less actually, Judy had been practicing with Hornady and Mk
211.

We went to bed every night expecting to be woken by the NWS EAS SAME radio and it
didn’t happen. It appeared that the government had employed a news blackout. We fol-
lowed the ham bands on the TS-2000 and there was nothing there; except speculation
running from the war was over to the war hadn’t started yet.

What they weren’t saying was that was that the US had CVN-68, CVN-70, CVN-73,
CVN-74, CVN-76 and CVN-78 Strike Groups in the western Pacific Most had 2 CGs
and at least 3 DDGs. DDG-85 had been transferred to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and
repairs were proceeding rapidly. Several Virginia-class attack submarines, USS Texas
SSN-775, USS Hawaii SSN-776 and USS North Carolina SSN-777 were with one of
various Strike Groups along with the USS Seawolf SSN-21, USS Connecticut SSN-22
and the USS Jimmy Carter SSN-23. About half of the Los Angeles class (688I) were al-
so present including USS Asheville SSN-758, USS Jefferson City SSN-759, USS Co-
lumbus SSN-762, USS Santa Fe SSN-763, USS Charlotte SSN-766, USS Hampton
SSN-767 and USS Tucson SSN-770 leaving only USS Columbia SSN-771 and USS
Greeneville (SSN-772) at Pearl Harbor plus a few new Virginia-class that barely were
out of sea trials.

A 688I-class carries a mixture of 37 of the following: Mk 48 ADCAP at $4.5 million each

and Harpoon anti-ship missiles at $2 million each in addition to 12 Tomahawk missiles
at $1.45 million each

Authors Note: The US Department of Defense anticipates a continued need for a sea-
based strategic nuclear force. The first of the current Ohio SSBNs are expected to be

93
retired by 2029, meaning that a platform must already be seaworthy by that time. A re-
placement may cost over $4 billion per unit compared to the USS Ohio’s $2 billion. The
US Navy is exploring two options. The first is a variant of the Virginia-class nuclear at-
tack submarines. The second is a dedicated SSBN, either with a new hull or based on
an overhaul of the current Ohio. Endnote

In many respects the concentration of modern naval assets in the Far East was remi-
niscent of the concentration naval assets in the Pacific during WW II, minus the Battle-
ships. Others, who knew of the assets harkened back to June of 1944 in preparation for
the D-Day landings. With the delay in fielding the Joint strike fighters, only a small num-
ber of the CTOL F-35A were involved while more than a few F-22 Raptors had made
their way to Okinawa and Kadena AFB.

About the only thing a modern CVN has in common with the USS Yorktown CV-5 sunk
at the Battle of Midway, is the name, carrier. The super carriers have a length of 1,092’
vs. 824’ 9”, a beam of 252’ vs. 109’ 6” and a draft of 41’ maximum vs. 25’ 11.5”. Oh, and
they’re nuclear powered but have to be refueled after about 25 years. The Navy uses
the refueling point to upgrade the carriers.

I looked and looked, frustrated at not finding an answer. The apparent news blackout
was probably a national security issue. Our government knew what was going on and
most likely the Chinese knew. For that matter, Russia probably did too.

Judy and I went over the STS list after Steve had taken a share. With list in hand, we
went shopping again. Most of the stores were restocked or in the process of restocking.
It took a bit of time and a handful of cash to completely fill the list. Since Arkansas is a
major producer of rice, we picked up several bags of Jasmine rice, my favorite, plus
large and small white beans for boiling or bean soup. The bean that gets so hard you
can’t cook it soft is the pinto bean and the bean that never get too hard to cook soft is
the black bean.

I was partial to navy bean soup cooked with a ham bone, ham chunks or browned ba-
con, grated carrot, a touch of onion and so forth. As I pointed out earlier, I had a fond-
ness for chili and omelets. I generally selected cream of wheat or malt-o-meal for
cooked cereals and Kellogg’s Special K with almonds and vanilla or grape nuts for dry
cereal. We were pulling the trailer and loaded it with paper products, mainly bath tissue,
paper towels and paper napkins. At least I didn’t have to embarrass myself with femi-
nine hygiene products.

The list also had canned meats including tuna, ham, beef and chicken. I added some
Spam, regular and turkey. Rather than buying sliced white bread, Judy opted for frozen
bread loaves and rolls. I asked in one of stores meat department if we could get case of
½ cut Cure 81 hams and 2 cases of Hormel thick sliced bacon. No problem, they’d have
it the day after tomorrow.

94
They had fresh fruit and vegetables allowing us to fill that hole. Judy also picked up 5
20# bags of baking potatoes, explaining that if we wanted boiled potatoes, she’d peel
them and boil them, saving and drying the eyes for potato starts. Otherwise they should
keep for while in the shelter storeroom. I ‘suggested’ that the storeroom wasn’t cold
enough and potatoes were ideally stored at 40°F. She then said that the shelter refrig-
erator could be warmed to 40°F and they’d store perfectly fine and that 50 pounds of
onions would store better in the storeroom. I’d seen a newspaper article than suggested
there were foods you should never refrigerate and that included potatoes.

Alcohol
Basil
Bread
Coffee
Garlic
Hot Sauce
Honey
Melons
Onions
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Winter Squashes

When she noticed the 2 30 quart All American Pressure canners, she asked where the
jars were stored, forcing me to admit we didn’t have any.

“I know where to get them and I’m surprised you didn’t get them when you went through
Hyrum, Utah.”

“I never gave it thought”

“We can get them there along with reusable lids from Tattler in Fruita, Colorado.”

“How would we possibly determine the number of jars and lids?”

“The USDA says for a family of four, you will need 1,706 lids per year. The same article
mentioned the Tattler lids and I’m somewhat familiar with them. They are a plastic lid
with a rubber ring that with care can last several years. Tattler even sells an inexpensive
lid opener to help preserve the lids and rings. They also sell the rubber rings in bulk. I
think we should get 3,000 lids with 1,000 extra rings plus the opener. A gross of cases
of quarts and a half gross of pints (2,592 jars total) will give us a good start and we can
easily replace any with chipped rims buying locally.

95
“Those figures assume you will also be canning meat. Therefore we can easily can
stews, chili, meat balls and even loose packed ground beef. Another method of preser-
vation is dehydration and Cabelas carries several dehydrators and the spices. Plus
Canning Pantry, the place in Hyrum, sells mixes for pickles and tomato products.”

“Can you order the jars and lids? You can pay for the things with my Amex card.”

“What if they ship the jars, mixes, lids and rings and a full blown war breaks out?”

“That’s the beauty of it Judy, even if we get what we order, we may get a 100% dis-
count.”

“That’s not very nice.”

“Actually they may not even take credit cards because of what is happening in the Far
East. In that event, get bank routing numbers and tell them we’ll wire the money today.
And while you’re at it, find out if they can ship by hot shot truck. We’re going to need to
go into Mountain Home anyway. We need some gardening tools, a rototiller and a good
assortment of hybrid seeds. Everything included in the Walton packages is heirloom
seeds and they include some I simply don’t like. We also need to get cucumber seeds
that produce smaller fruit for sweet pickles and small whole dills. The cucumber seeds
included seem to produce a larger fruit, like what one would use for large garlic dills.”

“Do we need garlic too?”

“Couldn’t hurt.”

The Canning Pantry and Tattler both said that in light of current events, both would re-
quire a bank wire. Tattler would overnight the order if we were willing to pay the FedEx
charges. Canning Pantry said to give them an hour to line up a freight company and
they’d call us back with a total. If the freight proved to be more than they quoted, we’d
just to pay the driver the excess. Since freight prices are under the control of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission, I figured they’d be close. [Now a part of the DOT, Sur-
face Transportation Board.]

After Canning Pantry called back, Judy and I headed to my bank in Mountain Home and
wired the money to both companies. I learned that a bank wire fee depends upon the
amount wired. Next we went looking for a Troy-bilt rototiller, rakes, hoes, etc. I already
had round point and square point shovels and a grain scoop that I’d used to shovel coal
and the single bit axe that went with my 2 chain saws. Finally we picked up an assort-
ment of hybrid seeds. Hybrids generally produce a large crop, but don’t breed true if you
save the seed. However, if stored under the proper conditions, they have a reasonable
lifetime before they won’t germinate. One of the local stores also sold dehydrators and
we added large one to the pickup. In this area, dehydrating is a challenge because of
the relatively high humidity.

96
Judy explained on the way home that she’s added 2 24 quart stock pots to the order to
prepare the food for the canning jars as well as a canning kit that included the most of
the needed tools, like a jar lifter, etc. The various Mrs. Wages mixes were available at a
discount if you bought a minimum number, typically 12.

“Do you have any idea of what we might have any missed Judy”

“Not really. We should have a better idea once we update the STS and LTS food inven-
tories. I think we can accomplish that in 4-5 days. You have more in your cabin pantry
than I had I my apartment. May I ask why you have as many provisions as you do?”

“You mean because I like to eat? Again, blame TOM and Jerry for the ideas I was able
to incorporate.”

“Both are generally well stocked for most common disasters. TOM focuses his acquisi-
tions on the critical items and fills in less significant items he missed after the event.
With the plethora of possible events, both accept the idea no one can prepare for every-
thing. As a result, they look for abandoned property to supplement those needs. I’ve
heard the terms looting, salvaging, scavenging and scrounging used.

“Each, using their specific meaning, describes a different activity. Looting is theft from
another person who is present and akin to robbery. Salvaging is the opposite and is re-
covering abandoned property for one’s own use. Scavenging basically amounts to going
through trash under the concept that one person’s trash is another’s treasure. That
leaves us with scrounging, ergo looking for a handout with nothing being offered in re-
turn. I’ll buy or trade if the owner is present, but not steal. I’ll willingly salvage aban-
doned property and will keep track of what I took from where. I’m not much interested in
the other two but may scavenge, if necessary.

“Since you brought up the jars and lids and other canning equipment, we can eliminate
those items from our post-disaster ‘shopping list’. We could get by for at least 10 years
on one recovered mixed load of diesel and gasoline using the Products Research Inc.
fuel stabilizers I have on hand. For certain, we won’t need to look ammunition.

“As you saw, immediately after the news of the nukes on DC and Beijing, people rushed
to gather food, just in case we really were at war. Steve and I made the rounds, buying
the limits at every store and paying cash. Most of that was included in the Short Term
Supplies that Steve took with him. About the only things I kept back was 4 12 packs of
beer and my brand of cigarettes. There are cigarettes stored in sealed bags with oxygen
absorbers in sealed pails in the store room.”

“Speaking of storage, where are we going to store the jars and lids?”

97
“The lids should fit in the storage room. The jars, all 144 boxes of quarts and 72 boxes
of pints will just have to go in every nook and cranny we can find. We may have lay ply-
wood on the rafters and create an attic. Other than that, I simply don’t know.”

“The attic idea might work. Can we go to Mountain Home and pick up the plywood? I
can help you get it in place and hand you the nails.”

“It beats trying to get it when it’s radioactive outside. Sure, let’s go.”

We bought 44 sheets of ½” plywood and a box of ring shank nails, a hammer and a Skil
circular saw, folding attic steps, and we had to bring the trailer to haul the plywood. Over
the next day and a half we moved the plywood inside a few sheets at time, took a coffee
break, moved those sheets up to the rafters, took a coffee break, moved the sheets into
position and I nailed them down. We did it in batches and it took the remainder of that
day and all the next day; but, we had the storage, just in time. I hadn’t installed the attic
stairs, yet.

The Canning Pantry order showed up about 2 days after the Tattler order. We’d put the
lids in the shelter storeroom and hauled the boxes into the cabin, stacking them. When
we ran out of stacking space we moved them to the new attic using a rope and impro-
vised ‘cargo net’. Judy stacked them on the net, and then I’d pull the ‘cargo’ to the attic
and stack it, beginning at the end and moving towards the center and the attic steps.

Tired from our labors, we went to Mountain Home for a celebration supper. I didn’t men-
tion it although I had a nagging feeling we’d overlooked something. I was distracted dur-
ing the meal.

“You look like you’re a million miles away.”

“I’ve just got this nagging feeling we’ve overlooked something.”

“Then, let’s go through your preparations. We have air purification with spare filters. We
have a very large shelter. We have 3 wells with a combined output of about 60gpm. We
have at least 10 or more years’ worth of food. And, we have substantial means of pro-
tecting ourselves. Plus, I smoke the same brand of cigarettes you do.”

“That’s it, cigarettes. I have enough of the smokes for one for about 11 years. We need
to go to Missouri until we have enough Kool’s for 2 for 10 years.”

“I generally smoke the filter kings and you smoke the super longs, are they the same
price?”

“Yep.”

“So you need about 330 cartons at what, $34 a carton?”

98
“Close enough for government work.”

“That’s over 11 grand!”

“It’s not the money, I have that. I usually buy about thirty cartons at time. Let’s go up
tomorrow and buy all he’ll sell us and ask him to order the balance of what we need.”

“Two questions. Will ‘he’ do it? Is it legal?”

“Yes and mostly. You save 98¢ per pack in state taxes. That’s $9.80 per carton or about
$3,325. Stolen cigarettes only get ATF attention if the amount exceeds 7 grand. It’s
strictly a state question and the tax difference, total, may or may not get state attention.
If we get about 100 cartons at a time, ‘they’ might not catch it. I’ve never had trouble
buying 30 cartons at a time.”

“There’s no reason for us to smoke different cigarettes. Let’s just buy the super longs.
Maybe we can buy him out and get him to order in the rest of the 330 cartons.”

“First thing in the morning?”

“That should work.”

The following morning, we took state route 5 north into Missouri. Just across the border
was a place I always remember because one of the businesses was A & A Loans. We
got 90 cartons of super longs and ordered an additional 240.

“You folks must be preppers. A smuggler would buy an assortment of brands. I’m sur-
prised you need more super longs, I figured you had quite a few put by.”

“Oh, I do. But we just got married and smoke the same brand.”

“I’ll have the other 240 cartons in two days if the distributor has them. Otherwise, who
knows?”

“It will be okay to substitute filter kings.”

“Oh good. I have 90 cartons those at the moment. Want those too?”

“Sure.”

“And it will be okay if I mix the order for the remaining 150 cartons?”

“Go with the filter kings first and fill in with the super longs.”

“That will be $6,400 even money including the tax. Biggest sale I’ve ever made. Hot
damn.”

99
On the way back, I got to talking about TOM and Jerry. TOM came to mind because he
smoked Kool super longs.

“Those two patriot fiction authors I like to read, TOM and Jerry, provide a bit of an edu-
cation with a little entertainment thrown in for good measure. TOM has several themes
he uses repeatedly in his stories. For example: Would you rather have it and not need it,
or need it and not have it? Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Those who cannot remember
the past are condemned to repeat it. The opry ain’t over until the fat lady sings. Bad
things happen in threes. Be careful what you wish for because God has sense of humor
and He might give it to you! The grass on the other side of the fence is greener, but it is
filled with rocks, broken glass, barbed wire and snakes.

“Sounds like a character.”

“I think he is. He has a very strange sense of humor. I get the impression that growing in
his house wasn’t a pleasure. He was sort of a rebel without a cause.”

“Like you were?”

“Not like me. At least I thought I had a cause even though I was wrong.”

“What’s your best guess on what’s going to happen with this war talk and the action in
the Far East?”

“I think the war has started. It hasn’t escalated to the point of a Global Thermonuclear
War, but could. I can’t understand why Beijing and Washington were nuked and Mos-
cow wasn’t.”

“Maybe Moscow nuked China and the US in such a way to make both parties think the
other did it.”

“You know, you could be right. And if Moscow pushes, they could probably have the
other 3 Borei-class subs finished and doing sea trials. That would add 60 missiles carry-
ing a total of 360 150kT warheads to the mix. I really wonder if RP has reequipped the
Ohio-class.”

“Well, he said he was going to, temporarily.”

“Yes, I heard him say that, but how long would it take?”

“I figure a month tops, Rollin. There are 14 SSBNs and let’s assume 2 days each. I
don’t know how many or which locations have the Trident II missiles with 8 warheads
installed or whether they will have to actually reinstall the warheads.”

100
“Somehow I think they may be able to do it faster. With some of the SSBNs at sea, they
can rearm the ones in port and send them to relieve those at sea. The subs have an
endurance of 90 days based on the stores they carry but are equipped to be resupplied
quickly and I expect they could even switch between the blue and gold crews. To
change the subject, we need to get you some MultiCam in OEF pattern. I think 3 sets
should be enough.”

“Some What?”

“MultiCam uniforms from Propper.”

MultiCam was developed by Crye Precision as a universal camouflage adaptable to a

wide variety of environments. The reflective nature of the pattern causes it to change
apparent color depending on the surrounding environment. Special fabrics and coatings
help it blend in under various lighting conditions across both the visible and IR spec-
trums. The infrared spectrum camouflage makes this pattern effective even when
viewed with night vision equipment.

MultiCam Camo vest with light tans and greens, on a white background

MultiCam works by tapping the ability of the human brain to “fill in the gaps” when view-
ing an image. Very little of the brain is dedicated to processing colors. Instead, the brain
picks up cues and uses pattern recognition, which it excels at, to construct that we ac-
tually perceive as sight. MultiCam tricks the brain into seeing the pattern as a part of the
surrounding environment. The unique pattern absorbs certain wavelengths of light and
reflects others, which allows this camouflage to work in a variety of environments at
nearly any time of day.

Referred to as OEF Camouflage (Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage), the Multi-

Cam pattern has been adopted by the US Army and other NATO forces participating in
the ongoing military campaign in Afghanistan. Because it was developed for the US mili-
tary, all MultiCam products are made in the USA. All clothing and uniform components
using the MultiCam pattern are fire resistant and use no melt-no drip Cordura fabric.

One of the unusual aspects of MultiCam is the use of a unique, non-repeating pattern.
Current ACU, and even MARPAT, patterns have the same hue no matter where you
sample the pattern. This leads to an overall blurring of the colors of the pattern into only
one recognizable color at long distances.

This “blobbing” effect causes the current ACU uniform to take on an overall blue-ish hue
when viewed at long range.

MARPAT patterns fare slightly better, since they blur into natural tans and a dark brown-
green color depending on whether the desert or woodland pattern is viewed, but they
still present a large single blob.

101
Because the MultiCam pattern can change so much over a given section of cloth, it
tends to further break up the pattern when viewed at long range and virtually eliminates
the “blobbing” found with most other patterns.

Crye Precision refers to this aspect of MultiCam as “macroflage.” The macroflage char-
acteristics of MultiCam means some colors may dominate some areas of the pattern
and be completely absent in others. The small patterns within MultiCam help the wearer
blend in with the immediate environment, while the larger dominating patterns break up
the silhouette and eliminate the “blobbing” when viewed at long range.

What’s more, in some areas the colors actually blend into each other, which is distinctly
different from the various other digital camouflage designs where each color location is
clearly defined.

The MultiCam pattern is currently standard issue for US troops in the Army’s 12th Infan-
try 2nd Battalion deployed in Afghanistan, where it is referred to as OEF Camouflage
(Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage) and is also in use by a number of private
military contractors and Special Forces teams operating in the theater.

Ongoing testing suggests that more military units based in Afghanistan and elsewhere
will be incorporating the MultiCam design.

“Now, you have to understand that that write up I just mentioned dates to about 2011. In
2014, the DOD bitched about the price and Crye Precision said, tough. Then they tried
to buy Crye offering $25 million and the owner told them to kiss his butt. Its good camo
and we wore it in Afghanistan. I think we’ll go to Little Rock tomorrow and back to Mis-
souri the next day. That should have most of the loose ends tied up.

“You’ll need some good boots too. The clothing and boots should get you squared away
and if this ‘situation’ does turn into a GTW, we’ll be mostly ready.”

“Mostly?”

“Remember what I said about TOM and his attitude that people seem to overlook some-
thing? I can’t for the life of me think of anything we’ve overlooked. But, like the ciga-
rettes, I’m sure there’s probably something.”

102
 World War Three – Chapter 10

The area the US Carrier Strike Groups was primarily +15 hours from Mountain Home.
Primarily because they spread out to prevent the Chinese, or North Korea for that mat-
ter, from eliminating all of the groups with a single nuclear tipped SS-N-22. Like Patton
said in the movie, Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book! [‘Infanterie greift
an’]

During WW II, Bull Halsey was duped into chasing the Japanese. In October 1944, am-
phibious forces of the US Seventh Fleet carried out General Douglas MacArthur’s major
landings on the island of Leyte in the Central Philippines. Halsey’s Third Fleet was as-
signed to cover and support Seventh Fleet operations around Leyte.

In response to the invasion, the Japanese launched their final major naval effort, an op-
eration known as ‘Sho-Go’, involving almost all their surviving fleet. It was aimed at de-
stroying the invasion shipping in the Leyte Gulf. The Northern Force of Admiral Ozawa
was built around the remaining Japanese aircraft carriers, now weakened by the heavy
loss of trained pilots. The Northern Force was meant to lure the covering US forces
away from the Gulf while two surface battle-groups, the Center Force and the Southern
Force, were to break through to the beachhead and attack the invasion shipping. These
forces were built around the remaining strength of the Japanese Navy, and comprised a
total of 7 battleships and 16 cruisers. The operation brought about the Battle for Leyte
Gulf, the largest naval battle of the Second World War and, by some criteria, the largest
naval battle in history.

The Center Force commanded by Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita was located October 23
coming through the Palawan Passage by two American submarines, which attacked the
force, sinking two heavy cruisers and damaging a third. The following day Third Fleet’s
aircraft carriers launched strikes against Kurita’s Center Force, sinking the battleship
Musashi and damaging the heavy cruiser Myōkō, causing the force to turn westward
back towards its base. Kurita appeared to be retiring but he later reversed course and
headed back into the San Bernardino Strait. At this point Ozawa’s Northern Force was
located by Third Fleet scout aircraft. Halsey made the momentous decision to take all
available strength northwards to destroy the Japanese carrier forces, planning to strike
them at dawn of October 25. He considered leaving a battle group behind to guard the
strait, and made tentative plans to do so, but he felt he would also have to leave one of
his three carrier groups to provide air cover, weakening his chance to crush the remain-
ing Japanese carrier forces. The entire Third Fleet steamed northward. San Bernardino
Strait was effectively left unguarded by any major surface fleet.

[Halsey was portrayed by James Cagney in the 1959 bio-pic, The Gallant Hours; by
James Whitmore in the 1970 film, Tora! Tora! Tora!; and by Robert Mitchum in the 1976
film, Midway. Halsey has been portrayed in a number of other films and TV miniseries,
played by Glenn Morshower, Pearl Harbor, 2001, Kenneth Tobey, MacArthur, 1977,
Jack Diamond Battle Stations, 1956, John Maxwell, The Eternal Sea, 1955 and Morris
Ankrum Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, 1944. Cagney even resembled Halsey.]

103
Not all of the SS-N-22s were intercepted and a group of 3 Japanese Flight IIa DDGs
was taken out with a nuclear tipped Sunburn. The Japanese launched 1 theatre ballistic
missile (maximum range 3500km) with a 1mT warhead against China, aimed at the
Three Gorges Dam, destroying it and releasing 32 million acre-feet of water which de-
stroyed everything on its 1,600 km journey to Shanghai. Japan already has the missiles.
Keep in mind the movie Force 10 from Navarone. Water doesn’t compress and see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_nuclear_weapon_program

China, already smarting from the 4 warhead attack on Beijing, launched a salvo against
major Japanese cities. The Japanese were able to intercept many, but not all, of the
missiles using PAC-3 and RIM-161 Standard Missile 3. One US SSGN, outfitted with
TLAM-N missiles retaliated against China. As part of his September 1991 “Presidential
Nuclear Initiatives,” President George H. W. Bush ordered the Navy to “withdraw all tac-
tical nuclear weapons from its surface ships and attack submarines.” This included all
nuclear-armed Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM-N) deployed on US ships, in-
cluding some Los Angeles-class attack submarines. Nuclear Tomahawk has been in
storage since the Navy completed the withdrawal in early 1992.

Obviously, the TLAM-Ns were never fully retired although the US Navy attempted to re-
tire them fully by the end of 2013. A SSGN carries 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles. The
missiles carry a W80-0 warhead. The W80-0 is a small thermonuclear warhead (fusion
or, more descriptively, two-stage weapon) in the enduring stockpile with a variable yield
of between 5 and 150kT of TNT.

[All’s fair in love and war? Maybe as a generalized statement, but really! Cliché In some
situations, such as when you are in love or waging war, you are allowed to be deceitful
in order to get what you want. Often said as an excuse for deception.]

The Tomahawk had qualities that made it a very good choice: it was subsonic, it cruised
at a low altitude and the TLAM-N required 7 terrain matches to arm its warhead. Even if
only 150 of the 154 made it to their targets they would do a lot of damage at 150kT per.

Already smarting from the 2 major strikes, China picked up on the Tomahawks and
launched their entire remaining fleet of nuclear ICBMs against the US, including those
JL-2s. The US had deployed the THAAD, Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
and Land based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System using SM-3 and PAC-3 sys-
tems.

Not all of the PRC missiles were successfully launched. Enough were that the NWS
EAS SAME radios were activated with the announcement that Space Command had
detected incoming missiles from China and that the US was making a full retaliatory re-
sponse and citizens were advised to shelter against possible strikes; I was surprised
they didn’t say Duck and Cover.

104
We had completed our mission to Little Rock the day before and were in the process of
unloading the 150 cartons of filter kings into the shelter. We couldn’t have cut it closer
had we wanted to. While we moved food from the refrigerator/freezer to the shelter and
emptied the pantry contents into additional laundry baskets, Steve pulled in with a fe-
male passenger. Both of them began unloading the STS food supplies he had followed
by his weapons, ammo and PPE.

“I picked up some additional equipment. This is Melody, we’re dating. All I could get on
short notice was a Ruger SR-556, Browning Hi-Power, extra magazines and some sur-
plus M855 and 9mm ball.

“Judy, Melody. Melody, Judy, Smoke’s wife and Smoke of course.”

Twenty one years for 3 equals 7, while 21 years for four equals 5. At least she was
smoking Marlboro’s, of which we had 6 cartons. Then Steve drug in 60 more cartons of
Marlboros, maybe a 6-8 month supply, depending their usage rates. Two days before
we’d packed up the Kool’s, labeling my original with the notation SL and her supply FK.
We’d need to pack up the other 150 cartons and label them FK. I’d left out 30 cartons
and Judy had done the same. Only she and I knew about our cigarette inventory.

“Let’s get locked down and watch the end of civilization as we know it.”

“Is that the same as TEOTWAWKI?”

“Nope. That’s the end of the word as we know it. Unless someone has a doomsday de-
vice, I doubt the world will be destroyed.”

“But, On The Beach…”

“Was a war protest book by Nevil Shute.”

We hooked up the remote area monitors, AMP 50, AMP 100 and AMP 200. The reason
most authors tell you to use the reading one hour after peak is because of the short
lived isotopes. However, if you’re any distance from the detonation, those short lived
isotopes don’t make it to wherever you are. At the moment of detonation, the instant ra-
diation can be as high as 10,000R/hr. As soon as the short lived isotopes decay, the
ground zero radiation is ~3,000R/hr.

I went down my checklist and the PV panels were putting out 99% and the Wind Tur-
bine ~80% because the wind was down a bit. The battery bank was at 99.25% and I cut
the manual grid tie switch. While the grid tie went through an ATS, there was an in-line
manual switch between the ATS and the grid. I got Steve to sit at the communications
table and watch the monitors. I also connected a spare NWS EAS SAME radio to a long
wire antenna using an alligator clip.

“Did you bring in your radios Steve?”

105
“Damn…”

“Let’s get them. I forgot to get ours from the cabin too.”

All of our vehicle radios were on slide mounts and easy to remove. There was no radia-
tion, yet, above background. So, we opened the blast door and scampered to get the
things we’d overlooked. Five minutes later, we were securing the blast door, again. The
first radiation took a bit to get to Mountain Home. The average wind speed was 12-
13mph, westerly and the needle came off the peg around 26 hours and 45 minutes after
we entered the shelter.

“That’s about 330 miles, give or take. Anything significant 330 miles west of us?”

“Oklahoma City and Tinker AFB. Tinker is the headquarters of the Air Force Matériel
Command’s Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, which is the worldwide manager for a
wide range of aircraft, engines, missiles, software and avionics and accessories com-
ponents. Defense Mega Center Oklahoma City is the local branch of the Defense Infor-
mation Systems Agency. The Mega center operates computer systems for the base and
serves 110 other bases in 46 states. That’s a critical installation.”

“And the bonus is Oklahoma City’s metro population of about 1.4 million. Good target
and the radiation should peak at 60R/hr.”

“So, we’ll be out of here in no time.”

“It doesn’t work that way. Be that as it may, we’ll just trust the area monitors.”

Melody and Judy were getting to know each other and I could see something approach-
ing disapproval on Judy face.

“What’s wrong? Do you know her?”

“We’ve never been formally introduced before if that’s what you asking. It’s more what I
know about her. She’s a barfly, moving from one man to another as long as they keep
her fed and liquored up. She doesn’t work that I know of unless it’s on her back. Steve
is in for a rude awakening.”

“The liquor is under lock and key and Steve doesn’t know where it’s stored.”

“Where is it stored?”

“That cabinet in the storeroom labeled ‘medical supplies two’. Alcohol is sort of a pain
killer so it’s a medical supply.”

“Sneaky.”

106
“For a while I was worried about Steve having an alcohol problem and made it a point
not to tell him where the liquor was stored.”

“Are we going to be alright?”

“If we don’t get any more radiation than what we’re getting, I think so. That’s assuming
that China attacked us and Russia doesn’t get involved. China was the 3rd largest
known nuclear power. The Russian’s have more weapons in their reserve than we do.
However, if we got those SSBNs fully rearmed and used something other than those
Minuteman III missiles against China, the US still has its pre-treaty nuclear capacity. If
they installed all of the W87 warheads on the Minuteman missiles and cranked them up
to a full yield of 475kT, that’s about 214mT we can throw at a target. Add to that
268.8mT from the boomers, assuming what we discussed happened, and the total is
about 482.5mT.”

“How many missiles?”

“Seven-hundred eighty-six.”

“What was that term you used, TEOCAWKI? It would appear that that just might hap-
pen.”

“I have an opposite view, now. The more I think about Russia, the less inclined I am to
believe they’ll get involved unless China or the US attacks them. While we can’t count
out the possibility that China attacked Russia, the Chinese just don’t have enough IC-
BMs to go around.”

“So, is it or isn’t it World War Three?”

“Oh yeah, no doubt about it. While it’s not a conventional World War, it is a World War
and has to be the Third.”

“What’s it going to be like when we get out of the shelter?”

“That depends on how long we have to stay here. Worst case, we’ll have to shelter
about 9 months. The radiation decay is timed from the time of detonation. In this case it
was 26¾ hours before we got our first indication of radiation, and the long term isotopes
began to decay at that time, or an hour later, according to the 7-10 rule. That says that
for every 7th interval in time the radiation decreases 90%. At 7 hours, it’s 10%, at 7×7
hours, it’s 1%, at 7×7×7 hours, it’s 0.1% and so forth.”

“Then at 60R/hr we’ll be out of here soon.”

“Like I told Steve, it doesn’t work that way.”

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“We received 60R/hr 26¾ hours after the warhead detonated. Let me show you TOM’s
spreadsheet. Now, I enter 3,000R/hr in the box and move down one space. In the hours
column it shows 27.33 and in the right column it shows 59858mR/hr. Divide by 100 and
you get 58.86R/hr. That’s close enough to estimate when we can leave. Go down the
last column until the number is below 104 and what do you see?”

“Uh, 94.868.”

“Right. Now move back to the hours column and what’s the number?”

“It’s 6,352.45.”

“That’s right and the previous reading in the far right column is 119.432. The difference
between the two lines is 24.564. Half of that is 12.482 and 119.432 minus 12.482 is
106.95 which is close enough. To get the difference in the number days in the higher
row and deduct the lower row. Divided the difference by half and add that to the number
of days in the upper row to get the approximate number of days until we can leave.

“We can go out earlier if we have to for short periods if necessary. We risk getting can-
cer if we go out too soon, but at our age, it may not matter.”

“I don’t know if I can put up with her for eight months.”

“I have feeling that Steve won’t want to stay long if we can’t keep her in liquor. I have a
bottle of Everclear that actually is for medical purposes that I can give him and tell him
the well is dry. If you’re right about her, she won’t stay and Steve will go with her under
some excuse.”

About 3 weeks into the stay, Melody was about to pull her hair out. Steve came to me
and asked if I had any liquor because the beer was gone. I told I had one bottle of me-
dicinal alcohol 190 proof, but only one. I’d get it when I could and slip to him, but it
wasn’t sippin’ whiskey. That managed to last about 3 more weeks when he was back.

“Sorry dude, I only had the one bottle.”

“I’ve been watching those monitors and they’ve come down from about 60 to about 0.8.
I think we’ll just get our things around and head to town.”

“It’s too early to go out.”

“You’re just saying that Smoke, what do you know about it?”

“Only what I’ve read.”

“I think I’ll get our short term supplies, my armory and we’ll be leaving.”

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“You had 4 months for one and the two of you have gone through all but about 4 weeks’
worth of food. I’ll have Judy set it out for you while you move your other things topside.”

“Thank you.”

“Judy will you please box up 4 weeks’ worth of STS foods for Steve and Melody?”

“Yes, give me a hand.”

“Sure.”

“Once in the storeroom she asked, “Are you nuts? The radiation is barely below
800mR/hr.”

“I know and so does Steve. I think he must have slept through the NBC classes. I’d like
to tell him not to lose his head over a little piece of tail but it’s not my place.”

“He’s thinking alright, with the wrong head.”

And, so he was, a not uncommon male failing. Every time Judy looked at Melody she
had a little more fire in her eye and it had only gotten worse as time passed. Steve
came to me about his firearms. He could give me a real deal on a Tac-50, with ammo
because he was about tapped out.

“Hard times Steve, I can go 12 thousand.”

“Ok, I guess.”

“Gold or cash?”

“What do you figure gold is worth?”

“Maybe $2,500.”

“Okay, 5 ounces.”

“What denominations?”

“Tenths?”

“Let me get you fifty out of the safe.”

I counted out the tenth ounce Eagles and he handed me the Pelican case containing his
Tac-50A1R2, suppressor, scope and MUNS. The ammo was still stored with the other
ammo.

109
“Once you get to town, try to find someplace to shelter like the Courthouse.”

I could have only paid the twelve-thousand, but I got a deal and knew it. That gave us
two .50 caliber rifles and the Tac-338, plus the M1As and H&Ks. We stayed in the shel-
ter until the meters read 100mR/hr. The generator had only kicked in a few times and
cutoff when the batteries were back to a full charge. We were in the shelter for 8½
months.

While we waited for the radiation to decay, we were on the radio a lot. It may have been
Thermonuclear and World War Three, but only three countries were apparently involved
China, Japan and the United States. We got all of the Chinese ICBMs and about three-
fifths of their SLBMs having sunk 3 subs before they could launch. Russia had stayed
out of it as far as anyone knew.

The US still had its full complement of Ohio-class SSGNs and SSBNs. The SSBNs had
their full complement of missiles, however many that was and one SSGN put into port to
reload all the Tomahawk missile tubes.

Born of a three-way marriage of early Cold War strategic necessity, World War II pro-
gress in underwater acoustics, and an extraordinary engineering effort, the Navy’s pio-
neering Sound Surveillance System – SOSUS – became a key, long-range early-
warning asset for protecting the United States against the threat of Soviet ballistic mis-
sile submarines and in providing vital cueing information for tactical, deep-ocean, anti-
submarine warfare. And although subsequent events – most notably the end of the Cold
War – robbed SOSUS of much of its mission, its history remains an object lesson in
how inspired, science-based engineering development can lead to extraordinary opera-
tional effectiveness.

Indeed, rudimentary passive and active sonar techniques had already been used in
World War I to search for submarines, but these earliest systems, at relatively high fre-
quencies, achieved detection ranges of only several thousand yards under favorable
conditions – and World War II sonars seldom did much better. The basic physical phe-
nomena subsequently exploited in SOSUS to achieve longer-range submarine tracking
were only discovered in the late 1930s and not adequately understood until mid-way
through the 1939-1945 war.

An important early step in developing more effective sonar systems – and SOSUS in
particular – was the invention of the sonic depth finder (SDF) in the early 1920s as a di-
rect outgrowth of the rudimentary active sonars used in World War I. Not only did the
SDF advance the state-of-the-art in acoustic technology, but it also facilitated detailed
depth and ocean-bottom surveys with a speed and accuracy never before available us-
ing lead-line techniques. This, in turn, led to growing interest in marine geology and the
adaptation of seismic methods developed for use on land to geological exploration of
the sea floor. It was in this context in 1937 that Lehigh University scientist Maurice

110
Ewing made a seminal observation while doing seismic refraction experiments in three-
mile-deep water in the North Atlantic. Using underwater explosive charges as sound
sources, Ewing noted that a chain of impulsive echoes – generated by repeated reflec-
tions between the ocean bottom and the sea surface – was clearly perceivable onboard
his research vessel. From this result, Ewing reasoned that even allowing for a signifi-
cant loss of sound intensity at each bottom and surface encounter, the sound signal of
the charge – particularly at the lower frequencies – was capable of traveling great dis-
tances underwater with only limited attenuation. He further postulated that if there were
horizontal sound propagation paths in the deep ocean that avoided surface and bottom
reflections – a so-called “deep sound channel” – acoustic signals could travel hundreds,
or even thousands, of miles and still be detectable by judiciously located hydrophones.

Almost simultaneously, another crucial element appeared with the invention and refine-
ment of the bathythermograph by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technolo-
gy (MIT) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. For the first time, the
bathythermograph made possible the continuous measurement of ocean temperature
with depth – and most importantly, the determination in detail of how underwater sound
speed varied with distance below the surface – the sound velocity profile (SVP). In con-
junction with numerous in situ measurements of the SVP, growing theoretical under-
standing of how underwater sound “rays” are refracted – or bent – by vertical variations
in the sound velocity provided the analytical tools to support Ewing’s hypothesis of long-
range propagation paths under certain conditions of ocean temperature and depth.

In general, in warmer waters near the ocean surface, the sound speed is relatively high.
At greater depths, where the water is increasingly cooler, the sound velocity decreases
toward a minimum. At that point, pressure effects take over, and the sound speed be-
gins to rise again as depth continues to increase. The deep sound channel is found at
the depth where the sound velocity is a minimum. Because sound “rays” always tend to
bend away from regions of higher sound velocity, a wave directed upwards from the
sound channel axis will be refracted back down again – and a wave directed down-
wards will be bent upwards. Thus, sound paths from sources in the deep sound channel
weave back and forth across the channel axis and – because they become “trapped” in
a deep ocean layer away from the surface or bottom – can travel long distances with
minimum attenuation. Moreover, if there exist propagation mechanisms available to
bring near-surface sound down to the depth of the sound channel, those signals will al-
so become trapped and traverse long distances with minimal loss. The sound channel
axis is normally found at a depth of several thousands of feet, depending on thermal
conditions, and because of the unusually warm waters of the Gulf Stream and Sargasso
Sea, it lies more deeply in the Atlantic than in the Pacific.

As part of the upsurge of ocean-acoustic research that accompanied the coming of

World War II, Ewing and his colleagues performed a variety of at-sea experiments that
further confirmed sound propagation in the deep sound channel, while also discovering
the phenomenon of the near-surface convergence zone. On the basis of these experi-
ments, Ewing proposed in 1943 that the Navy develop a system for communicating over
long ranges by detonating time-coded explosive charges in the sound channel itself.

111
Accordingly, during the spring of 1944, he supervised a major sea test in which USS
Buckley (DE-51) steamed outward from a stationary receiving ship, periodically drop-
ping small explosive charges fused for various depths. These explosions were still
clearly discernable until Buckley had to break off the trial at a distance of 900 miles. By
the end of the war, the Buckley experiments had led to a subsequent effort to develop
an air-sea rescue system known as SOFAR – for Sound Fixing and Ranging. In the
SOFAR concept, downed pilots would drop small explosive charges to the depth of the
deep sound channel, where their sound output could be expected to travel for thou-
sands of miles to deep, bottom-mounted hydrophones and triangulated to locate the
survivors. At the time, however, exploiting the SOFAR channel for submarine detection
at long range seems not to have been suggested, although by mid-war, the US Navy
was already using ray-tracing methods tactically for sonar performance prediction.

Even after World War II ended in mid-1945, the Navy continued to support a strong re-
search program in underwater acoustics and, in particular, made enough additional pro-
gress in understanding the deep sound channel to establish – with the Army Air Force –
major SOFAR networks in both the Pacific and Atlantic. However, with the onset of the
Cold War and the growing danger of a Soviet submarine force based on the best of
German World War II technology, the application of underwater sound specifically to an-
ti-submarine warfare (ASW) became a top priority. By early 1950, the Navy had come to
believe that Soviet submarines posed the greatest threat to America’s security and ap-
proached the Committee on Undersea Warfare (CUW), an academic advisory group
empanelled in late 1946, for suggestions on studying the problem. The result was Pro-
ject Hartwell, a series of MIT-organized technical meetings attended by top-level scien-
tists and naval officers during the first half of the year. Not unexpectedly, long-range
submarine detection was among a variety of undersea warfare topics discussed by the
Hartwell participants. In this regard, physicist Frederick Hunt, former head of Harvard’s
Underwater Sound Laboratory, electrified the gathering with a convincing argument that
Ewing’s SOFAR channel could support long-range propagation modes sufficient for de-
tecting submarines passively at distances of hundreds of miles. Moreover, frequencies
below 500 Hz would penetrate readily to the deep sound channel from virtually any
source depth. This insight – not universally accepted at the time – formed the scientific
basis for SOSUS and made possible long-range undersea surveillance surprisingly ear-
ly in the post-war era.

As a key result of the Project Hartwell findings, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in
late 1950 funded a contract with the American Telephone and Telegraph company
(AT&T) and its manufacturing arm, Western Electric, to develop an undersea surveil-
lance system based on long-range sound propagation. Under this aegis, Bell Telephone
Laboratories initiated a series of experimental trials by installing undersea listening ar-
rays off Sandy Hook, New Jersey and Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Additionally, AT&T
adapted its sound spectrograph, which had recently been invented as a tool for analyz-
ing speech sounds, into a similar device called LOFAR – for Low Frequency Analysis
and Recording – designed to analyze low-frequency underwater signals in near-real
time. Both LOFAR and the spectrograph generated a frequency-versus-time represen-
tation of an incoming sound “bite” on which the time history of its spectral content was

112
indicated by the blackening of specially-sensitized paper by an electrostatic stylus that
swept repeatedly along the frequency axis. In this way, the presence of distinctive sub-
marine sound signatures – comprising both broadband noise and discrete frequency
components (“tonals”) – could be discerned against the ocean background in the com-
posite signal picked up by an array. This body of work, largely at AT&T, was code-
named Project Jezebel and placed under the direction of CAPT Joseph Kelly at the Bu-
reau of Ships.

Meanwhile, the Navy continued to support Maurice Ewing, by then at Columbia Univer-
sity’s Hudson Laboratory, to study the general phenomenology of low-frequency under-
water sound. This effort, augmented by additional work at Woods Hole and the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography in California, was focused on establishing a solid under-
standing of long-range sound transmission and denoted Project Michael. When the find-
ings of Projects Jezebel and Michael were brought together for the purpose of design-
ing, engineering, and deploying the broad-area surveillance system envisioned by
Hartwell’s Frederick Hunt, the resulting effort – with the highly classified acronym,
SOSUS – was eventually given the unclassified designation, Project Caesar.

The first prototype of a full-size SOSUS installation – a 1,000-foot-long line array of 40

hydrophone elements in 240 fathoms of water – was deployed on the bottom off Eleu-
thera by a British cable layer in January 1952. After a series of successful detection tri-
als with a US submarine, the Navy decided by mid-year to install similar arrays along
the entire US East Coast – and then opted two years later to extend the system to the
West Coast and Hawaii as well. These early SOSUS line arrays were positioned on the
sea floor at locations that accessed the deep sound channel and oriented at right angles
to the expected threat axis. Their individual hydrophone outputs were transmitted to
shore processing stations called “Naval Facilities” – or NAVFACs – on multi-conductor
armored cables.

At the NAVFACs, the acoustic signals were processed to create a fan of horizontal
“beams,” each of which represented the composite sound signal from a small angular
sector – on the order of two to five degrees wide – oriented in a particular azimuthal di-
rection. Narrow-band time-frequency analysis in the spectral region was performed on
these multiple beam outputs simultaneously using the LOFAR technique described
above. The ability of narrow-band frequency analysis not only to discriminate against
broadband ocean noise but also to identify characteristic frequencies associated with
rotating machinery was key to detecting and classifying targets. A LOFAR analyzer was
associated with each beam of each array served by a NAVFAC, and typically, the large
watch floors were filled with hundreds of these “gram-writers” busily turning out LOFAR-
grams on “smoky paper” 24 hours a day. These records were scrutinized continually by
specially-trained personnel looking for the distinctive submarine “signatures” which gave
indication of a possible target along a given bearing line. Then, if simultaneous contacts
were gained on multiple arrays in separated locations, the target’s position could be es-
timated by triangulation.

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The first NAVFAC built by the Caesar program was commissioned in September 1954
at Ramey Air Force Base in northwestern Puerto Rico. Before the end of the year, simi-
lar stations were in operation at Grand Turks and San Salvador in the Bahamas, and by
late 1957, additional NAVFACs had been established at Bermuda, Shelburne (Nova
Scotia), Nantucket, Cape May, Cape Hatteras, Antiqua, Eleuthera, and Barbados. A
glance at the map of the eastern North Atlantic makes clear the rationale for siting these
first-generation listening facilities. They form a huge semicircle from Barbados to Nova
Scotia, opening toward the deepwater abyss west of the mid-Atlantic Ridge. This pro-
vided both excellent coverage of the deep ocean basin off the eastern seaboard and the
opportunity for contact correlation among arrays with widely separated vantage points.
For optimum acoustic coupling with the deep sound channel, the arrays “looked” out-
ward from the edge of the continental shelf, and because cable lengths were limited to
somewhat less than 150 miles, the NAVFACS had to be located at coastal sites where
the shelf break came closest to land. Two years later, this concept of operations was
expanded to incorporate a SOSUS station at Argentia, Newfoundland to process the
outputs of a number of shallow-water arrays south of the Grand Banks.

The year 1957 also saw the extension of SOSUS to the Eastern Pacific, with the instal-
lation of NAVFACs and associated arrays at – from south to north – San Nicholas Is-
land, Point Sur, and Centerville Beach, California; Coos Bay, Oregon; and Pacific
Beach, Washington. Still later, additional arrays would be terminated at Guam, Midway,
Adak (in the Aleutians), and Barber’s Point near Honolulu.

Operationally, the Navy intended SOSUS to provide early warning of hostile submarines
entering the North Atlantic or Eastern Pacific, as well as generating “cueing” information
for area ASW forces. By combining bearing data from separated arrays “holding” the
same contact, geographic “probability areas” of target position could be calculated and
passed to patrol aircraft, surface ships, or submarines to facilitate reacquisition of the
target for fine localization and prosecution. This concept of operations necessitated the
establishment of regional SOSUS Evaluation Centers – later called Naval Oceano-
graphic Processing Facilities (NOPFs), with the first two at Norfolk and New York – that
correlated contact information from multiple NAVFACs with other intelligence sources,
such as radio direction-finding. The NOPFs then forwarded the resulting target position
estimates and probability areas to local and regional ASW commands.

The primary threat against which SOSUS was originally designed was snorkeling Soviet
diesel submarines at the surface, and the system’s key technical characteristics – such
as frequency coverage – were established accordingly. Fortunately, the resulting capa-
bility proved even more effective against deep-running Soviet nuclear-powered subma-
rines when the first of these went operational in 1958. In a 1961 demonstration of the
capabilities of the system, SOSUS tracked the USS George Washington (SSBN-598)
across the North Atlantic on her first transit from the United States to the United King-
dom. Then, in June 1962, NAVFAC Cape Hatteras achieved the first SOSUS contact on
a Soviet diesel submarine, to be followed a month later with the first detection of a Sovi-
et nuclear boat west of Norway by NAVFAC Barbados. Later that year, during the Cu-
ban Missile Crisis, the first positive correlation with a visual sighting was made, when a

114
patrol aircraft confirmed the presence of a Russian FOXTROT-class submarine that had
already been detected by NAVFAC Grand Turks. In 1968, NAVFAC Keflavik made the
first SOSUS detections of Soviet CHARLIE- and VICTOR-class nuclear submarines,
and that same year, SOSUS played a key role in locating the wreckage of USS Scorpi-
on (SSN-589), lost near the Azores in May. Moreover, SOSUS data from March 1968
facilitated the discovery and clandestine retrieval years later of parts of a Soviet GOLF-
class submarine that foundered that month north of Hawaii.

Subsequently, as increasing numbers of Soviet submarines from bases in the Barents

and White Seas achieved access to the North Atlantic by rounding northern Norway and
steering south through the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap, the decision
was taken to extend SOSUS into more northerly waters, and new NAVFACS were es-
tablished at Keflavik, Iceland in 1966 and Brawdy, Wales in 1974. Also, better pro-
cessing and cable technology allowed siting arrays farther from shore and using “split
array” techniques in which a single line array was divided into segments whose outputs
were processed separately and then re-combined electronically to achieve narrower
beams and greater directivity. In 1974, Keflavik was the first NAVFAC to detect a DEL-
TA-class Soviet SSBN as it moved down into the North Atlantic.

As the Cold War deepened, and both the size and capability of the Soviet submarine
fleet continued to grow, SOSUS became “the secret weapon” that enabled US ASW
forces to keep close track of virtually all potentially hostile submarines operating in the
deepwater regions off both coasts. This capability was facilitated by geographical con-
straints that forced Soviet submarines into predictable deployment patterns and the ru-
dimentary state of Russian acoustic quieting, which left their submarines some 30 dB
noisier than US counterparts – and hence easily detectable from thousands of miles
away. In the mid-1980s, the network of fixed SOSUS arrays was augmented by a small
fleet of civilian-manned, ocean-going, acoustic surveillance ships deploying the Surveil-
lance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), a towed line array over 8,000 feet long.
By means of satellite communication links, contact information developed by the SUR-
TASS ships at sea was passed to the SOSUS Evaluation Centers ashore and melded
with data from the fixed arrays to establish position estimates for likely targets. In time,
the totality of fixed arrays, shore processing facilities, and SURTASS ships became
known as the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS).

Eventually, with the help of key information supplied by the Walker-Whitworth espio-
nage ring, Soviet intelligence learned of the existence of SOSUS and its remarkable
success in tracking Soviet submarines at long range. Thus, beginning shortly after John
Walker’s first treasonous revelations in 1968, the Russian navy embarked belatedly on
a rapid submarine quieting program, and within five years, the radiated noise levels of
their first-line boats had begun to drop precipitously. By the end of the Cold War in the
late 1980s, Russian submarines were much closer to their US equivalents, and the abil-
ity of IUSS to detect and track them at long range had deteriorated significantly. In an
attempt to regain some of the acoustic advantage lost to Soviet quieting, IUSS system
developers turned from long line arrays and their fans of pre-formed beams to large
fields of simpler, “upward-looking” hydrophones densely distributed on the ocean floor,

115
each capable of detecting submarines only in its immediate vicinity. Thus, detection and
localization were subsumed into a single process, and the first “Fixed Distributed Sys-
tem” built in accordance with this strategy was deployed in 1985.

Moreover, with steady improvements in acoustic signal processing through the 1970s
and 1980s, the first generation of shore-processing hardware, which turned out hun-
dreds of single-beam LOFARgrams – 24 hours a day, every day – was gradually re-
placed by computer-based workstations that could analyze the incoming acoustic data
digitally and display it on multiple computer screens. Additionally, to reduce manpower
requirements and achieve other efficiencies, most of the original arrays were re-
terminated at alternative shore sites or “remoted” to central processing facilities, which
led to a steady reduction in the number of operational NAVFACs. These transitions
were completed in 1997 and 1998, but by that time – ironically – quieter submarines,
major changes in Soviet operating patterns, and finally, the end of the Cold War had al-
ready eliminated much of the justification for maintaining IUSS at its full capability.

Today, while the Navy maintains a number of SOSUS arrays in either operational or
standby status, only three shore facilities at Dam Neck, Virginia, Whidbey Island, Wash-
ington, and St. Mawgan, United Kingdom – remain to process their dwindling output.
With few possibly-hostile, nuclear-powered submarines still operating at sea and mod-
ern, quiet, diesel-electric boats essentially undetectable at long range by passive
means, there’s not a lot to listen for anymore, and targets of potential interest are rare.
However, several existing arrays have achieved well-publicized successes in peacetime
pursuits such as tracking migrating whales and detecting illegal driftnet fishing on the
high seas. Moreover, as the Navy explores the use of low-frequency active (LFA)
acoustics for detecting and tracking quiet submarines in the future, both the fixed arrays
and the remaining SURTASS ships may well play an important role as adjunct or bi-
static receiving sites.

When it was first suggested over 50 years ago as a means of exploiting contemporary
oceanographic findings and state-of-the-art technology for wide-area undersea surveil-
lance, SOSUS was an audacious concept, and its successful implementation was one
of the most impressive engineering feats of the early Cold War. Later, during the most
dangerous phases of that simmering conflict, IUSS gave the United States an unprece-
dented capability for long-range submarine detection and strategic early warning that
we can only envy today in this new era of asymmetric threats.

There was a rumor on the Ham bands that the US had been dusting off some old cold
war technology because of SSBNs. Back in the ‘60s, according to TOM, he’d gone TDY
to OLF San Nicolas Island. Apparently his job was to work on the 3 rd stage motor of a
rocket engine applying strain gauges. This involved sanding flat spots of the motors’ ti-
tanium case.

116
There was nothing particularly secure on the Island and one night he and the Staff Ser-
geant he was with went to the site where they were downloading signals from Telstar.
Another night they went to the radar station and got to see all the ships between the Is-
land and coast on Radar. Yet another time they went to the fire station and TOM was
introduced to Chile Relleños. There was one place on the Island that was Off Limits and
it had the fence and barbed wire and gate guard. All of the people who worked in the
facility were Sonarmen PO2 or above. The facility was the SOSUS station.

Did the Cold War really end or did it just change character? TOM says the latter is true.
The lead flying around in Iraq and Afghanistan sure was hot, so maybe he has a point.
Consider Russia and South Ossetia and Russia and the Crimea and Russia and the
Ukraine. Lots to consider and you get to consider Russia each time. Was that new
Borei-class as quiet as an Ohio-class? Noisier? Quieter? What if the rumor was planted
specifically to get back at whoever launched on Beijing and Washington? You can’t
break wind anymore without NSA hearing you and probably getting a sniff. Was RP
running a mind game on the Russian President? Whether he’s President or the Foreign
Minister, Vlad is the actual President. Since they have term limits, they trade off.

Rumor also has it that that old useless, outdated Internet will be back up in a few
months. If Wikipedia is up, I’m going check out SOSUS. For the sake of argument, I’ll
assume the Borei-class is quieter than the Typhoon. The Borei-class is also larger than
the Ohio-class or did I mention that before?

Judy and I spent 2 days restocking the pantry in the cabin and 2 more days listing what
it would take to bring the STS back up to a full year. We decided when that was done
we’d worry about refilling the freezer and replacing the LTS foods, if we could get them.
When I saw her wearing her Hi-Power in a Monarch rig with 3 extra magazines and a
Cold Steel FGX Boot Blade I, I was impressed. Her PT1911 was in a paddle holster with
2 CO-21V Double Pistol magazine pouches and the 590A1 had the sheathed bayonet
on it. Not to be out done, I loaded my Super Match with along with 15 20 round maga-
zines of Black Hills 175gr BTHP and the HK417 along with a dozen 40mm grenades
and 21 magazines loaded with 168gr PPU. My PPK was in the ankle holster with the
extra magazine and a double magazine pouch on my other ankle. I had a Gerber Multi-
tool and an automatic knife. My Hi-Power was in an IWB holster with 2 CO-21V Double
Pistol pouches. In our view, we were being prudent.

“Do you think we need hand grenades?”

“I’ll grab some white smoke and OC grenades.”

“Non-lethal?”

“Less-lethal. Even those Taser shotgun shells can kill a person.”

“Are we going to hold the Wal-Marts up?”

117
“We’re going to protect our purchases if any.”

Both the Flippin Wal-Mart and the Mountain Home Wal-Mart are super stores. We start-
ed in Flippin, the more distant store. It was hit and miss, providing ~⅓ of the items on
our list. The Mountain Home store had more stock and getting us to about ¾ of the
items on our list. I filled our fuel tanks and headed home to unload and relist the remain-
ing items in a shorter list. The store manager on duty at the Mountain Home store said
deliveries were running about 1 truck every 4 or 5 days. Both were accepting cash and
checks on local area banks. I heard someone discussing gold and the fact that the spot
price was ‘about 2,000’.

I wanted to contact the coal company for more coal, the fuel distributor for more diesel
and gasoline and the propane supplier to top the tanks off. I suggested we order the
various fuels the following day along with seeing about another 20 cord firewood pack-
age. I added replacing the Everclear to the list, yet another ‘just in case’ measure. With
everything dated and put away, we started to inventory the LTS foods.

The following day, we finished the inventory of the remaining LTS foods and determined
a single order from Emergency Essentials ought to be enough. The next day we laid out
the garden and rototilled it with one pass. After watering it down, we’d leave it for a sec-
ond pass the following week, incorporating the fertilizer.

Every other day we’d check with the Mountain Home Wal-Mart about their expected de-
livery. Theirs was due the next day since Flippin got theirs today. We thanked him and
headed for Flippin. We came away missing only a very few items and agreed to return
to Mountain Home the following day to finish replenishing our STS.

“Do you feel like driving to Orem?”

“That’s a long drive; I’ve done it before.”

“I can accept that Rollin. Do you have a better idea how to get the LTS foods?”

“Not really. Day after tomorrow?”

“Yes. We can’t go tomorrow because we have to go to Wal-Mart to finish resupplying

the STS.”

“It’s over 1,300 miles so we should figure on 2 days up and 2 days back plus the time to
get the order. Nitro-Pak isn’t that farm from Orem. Maybe we should go to Heber too.”

“If we’re going that far, maybe we should go to Hyrum and Montpelier.”

“So long as we limit ourselves to those 6 gallon pails, I don’t have a problem with Mont-
pelier. What do you want from Canning Pantry?”

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“A better flaker than the one you got and a powered Country Living Grain Mill.”

“The Diamant 525 is supposed to be the best on the market?”

“Have you used it?”

“No.”

“It is a good mill and I’ve found if you run the grain through 2 passes you get nice con-
sistent flour. However it clogs when you use oily grains. I’m perfectly willing to buy the
new powered mill.”

“That won’t be necessary. I wonder what became of Steve and Melody.”

“Do you want to drive up to Mountain Home and check with law enforcement?”

“Actually, that sounds like a good idea. You ready to go?”

“You were friends for a long time, I take it. Maybe they made it despite the radiation lev-
el being so high.”

The Mountain Home Police had no record and referred us to the Baxter County Sheriff.
A deputy went down the list of identified bodies recovered and found Steve’s name. It
also indicated that he was accompanied by Melody.

“There was a sealed envelope found addressed to ‘Smoke’.”

“That would be me. My full name is Rollin James Reynolds and since my first hitch in
the Army, they tagged me with Smoke or Smokey.”

I opened the envelope and read the letter. In a shaky hand, Steve said we had been
right and they should have sought shelter. By the time they were done with their drink-
ing binge, they had way too much radiation and their hair was falling out, they had
bloody gums, etc. Everything was in the service body of his truck and he was leaving
me the truck. I handed the letter to Judy and she read it.

“Deputy, the letter says he left me his truck.”

“It’s in the impound yard. Let me see the letter. If you can identify the truck, I guess it’s
yours. We just don’t have time to deal with things like this in the ‘normal’ way.”

“That’s it right there.”

“Yes, that’s the vehicle impounded from the location where we found the bodies. Come
inside and I’ll have you sign the release form.”

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Maybe they were a little lax, but we’d just had WW III. Judy drove my pickup and I drove
Steve’s back to the property. The first thing we did was unload the firearms and ammu-
nition and get them into the shelter. She fixed supper while I cleaned the rifles, shotgun
and handguns.

“Well, we basically have 3 of everything if you lump the Tac-50s and Tac-338 together.”

“Are we still on to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow and north the following day?”

“If I can rent a Ryder truck like I did the last time, yes.”

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 World War Three – Chapter 11

The rental was gasoline fueled and we went hunting for 55 gallon drums. Nine drums
would hold most the gasoline and we couldn’t count on being able to buy gas on the
trip. If we could buy gas for a reasonable price, so much the better; we took some PRI-
G. The decision was to go with our pistols on us and the rifles, excluding the HK416s, in
the back of the truck.

Our route for this trip depended upon which cities had been hit. Based on what we were
hearing on the Ham bands, most of the strikes had been counter-force. If a major city
was near a counter-force target, so much the better. Apparently the only counter-value
target hit as a counter-value target was New York, NY. Were they home or vacationing
in Hawaii?

We had cash and a substantial amount of gold and silver with us since one never knew
what the suppliers would want. After driving from dawn to well past dusk, we were only
⅓ of the way on our journey, due to detours. We located a motel and this one wanted
cash on the barrelhead. We went to our room, heated water for 2 Mountain House
meals, showered and fell into bed.

The next 2 days went much the same and we arrived in Orem late in the evening. This
motel wanted silver and I forked over the amount of silver it took. Emergency Essentials
was open, the food wasn’t on sale and it was gold or silver only. We decided to skip Ni-
tro-Pak because we were able to buy 10 years’ worth of the 2000 Gourmet packages for
one.

Our next stop was Hyrum and we got the motorized grinder, accessories and spare
parts along with other items on Judy’s list. Up in Montpelier, we bought 10 Basic 1 Year
Unit - UU025 which had 13 pails per unit and 2 boxes of miscellaneous products. From
Montpelier, we cut US 30 down to I-80 and made it back to Mountain Home in 2 very
long days. It took most of the next day to unload the truck into the cabin, empty the
drums containing gas, and turn in the truck. I had taken a few minutes to make crock
pot chili before we started unloading. When we got home, Judy used a package of Jiffy
corn bread mix for a small pan of cornbread.

We showered, collapsed into bed and cuddled.

“Is that all going to fit in the shelter storeroom?”

“I don’t think so. I think we’d better store the Walton stuff in the shelter’s second bed-
room. We should be sure to date everything when we put it away and rotate the stocks
as much as possible.”

“You’ll have to get the pails Rollin; they’re too heavy for me.”

“That’s fine Judy, but I’m not going to kill myself hauling everything downstairs.”

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Considering what we’d used up in the shelter stay, we now had about 1 year STS for 2
and 20 years LTS for 2. That didn’t include the beef, pork and poultry products we
would be purchasing to restock the freezer. We took our time moving everything to the
shelter. The next week we went into town to see about the meat products. About the
best we could do was a side of beef, a hog and a box of whole chickens on ice. We hit
both Wal-Marts for bacon, sausage, butter and coffee. Shortening wasn’t available but
they had lard so we bought that. We also stopped by the locker plant and asked them to
include the leaf fat for rendering. They said they could render the fat for so much per
pound and Judy told them to go ahead.

Today, vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, safflower, sunflower, or cottonseed oil-or
“polyunsaturated fats”-are commonly used to replace trans fats. But when heated to
temperatures required for frying food, these highly unstable oils can create oxidation
products that are extremely toxic. From The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat &
Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.

For more than sixty years, Americans have been told to eat polyunsaturated vegetable
oils instead of saturated fats. This advice has been based on the simple reality that
vegetable oils lower total cholesterol (and LDL cholesterol, too, as later discovered).
The fact that vegetable oils also create toxic oxidation products when heated and trigger
inflammatory effects linked to heart disease, are, it seems, less important to mainstream
nutrition experts, whose focus hasn’t wavered from cholesterol. Most Americans don’t
realize that their nutritional advice is based on such a narrow set of health concerns, nor
that large edible-oil companies have been contributing funds to their trusted, guiding in-
stitutions, such as the AHA, as well as to schools of medicine and public health. And
while the scientists at large food manufacturers might understand the problems of un-
saturated oils, they have not had alternatives to work with, due to the prevailing stigma
against saturated fats. Everyone has therefore gotten on board with the advice to use
vegetable oils in both the home and industrial kitchens alike.

Our consumption has moved from saturated fats at the beginning of the twentieth centu-
ry to partially hydrogenated oils to polyunsaturated oils. We have therefore unwittingly
been subject to a chain of events starting with the elimination of animal fats and eventu-
ally winding up with aldehydes in our food. Looking ahead, it is little consolation that the
FDA is poised to ban trans fats entirely, which will make liquid oils and their oxidation
products even more common. Mom-and-pop restaurants, local cafeterias, and corner
bakeries will then follow in the footsteps of the large fast-food restaurants in eliminating
trans fats but will be less likely to employ rigorous oil-changing and ventilation standards
into their operations. Despite the original good intentions behind getting rid of saturated
fats, and the subsequent good intentions behind getting rid of trans fats, it seems that
the reality, in terms of our health, has been that we’ve been repeatedly jumping from the
frying pan into the fire.

The solution may be to return to stable, solid animal fats, like lard and butter, which
don’t contain any mystery isomers or clog up cell membranes, as trans fats do, and

122
don’t oxidize, as do liquid oils. Saturated fats, which also raise HDL-cholesterol, start to
look like a rather good alternative from this perspective. If only saturated fats didn’t also
raise LDL, the “bad” cholesterol, which remains the key piece of evidence against them.
But like so many of the scientific “truths” that we believe but which, upon examination,
start to crumble, maybe the LDL-raising effect isn’t quite an incontrovertible certainty,
either.

The NWS EAS SAME radio activated and we were told to standby for an announcement
by the President.

My fellow Americans,

As I stated on January 20th, when we determined with a reasonable degree of certainty

who was responsible for the attack on our nation’s capital, I would ask Congress to de-
clare that a state of war exists between our two countries.

China is no longer an issue having been attacked by the Japanese which destroyed the
Three Gorges Dam and wiping out everything between it and Shanghai. This country
followed suit by launching 154 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles – Nuclear, and destroy-
ing 150 Chinese targets.

China retaliated with their land based ICBMs and attempted to launch their SLBMs. For-
tunately our attack submarines followed the SSBNs from China to their apparent launch
locations and sank 3 of the 5. The only intentional city to be struck was New York City.
A strike directed against the Air Matériel Command at Tinker AFB devastated Oklahoma
City.

Due to efforts by the first Bush Administration, the Clinton Administration, the second
Bush Administration and the Obama Administration, our underwater listening system,
SOSUS with several existing arrays have achieved well-publicized successes in peace-
time pursuits such as tracking migrating whales and detecting illegal driftnet fishing on
the high seas. Moreover, as the Navy explores the use of low-frequency active (LFA)
acoustics for detecting and tracking quiet submarines in the future, both the fixed arrays
and the remaining SURTASS ships may well play an important role as adjunct or bi-
static receiving sites.

We have analyzed the data from those resources and can say with a certainty who at-
tacked Washington and Beijing. We’ve had enough of war and only want peace. There-
fore if the leaders of that country contact the leadership of this country with reasonable
offers of reparations, we will entertain those offers. If they have not contacted us within
96 hours, a state of war will exist between our nations and we will use any and all
means to prevail.

I pray that nation comes forward timely. Goodnight and God Bless America.

“Well?”

123
“Flip a coin, Judy. I give it 50-50 odds.”

“Did he suggest who I think he was suggesting?”

“If you were thinking Russia, it would be my guess too. They have a massive shelter
system as part of their Metro. They no doubt have satellites that observe us much as we
observe them. If this Administration was smart, they would have been rearming the
SSBNs in the light of day. RP is no fool and I’d bet dollars to donuts that he directed that
strategy. He’s hard core Tea Party, sort of like a latter-day Ronald Reagan. Since he
admitted they used TLAM-Ns, I suppose the SSGNs will be rearmed with the same to
the extent we have the missiles and warheads.”

“Any idea how many?”

“Rough guess, 200 or so. They have a lot more W80-1 warheads for the ALCMs that
the Air Force uses, perhaps as many as 1,400. According to the Nuclear Archives the
US only had 100 W80-0 warheads active and 197 inactive. They obviously dusted off
some of the inactive which would explain 4 failures.”

“Could they substitute?”

“I looked at a picture at the Nuclear Weapons Archive and while the interiors were the
same, the exteriors were slightly different. I honestly don’t know. If they told some Chief
Machinist’s Mate he couldn’t do it, he’d probably say ‘watch me’.”

“I think I agree with the President, We’ve had enough of war and only want peace.”

“We’ll know for sure in 96 hours.”

It was worse than waiting for radiation to arrive. We did manage to get the gas tank re-
filled and stabilized along with filling the diesel tank with 500 gallons of biodiesel. The
propane tank was a different matter. Neither AmeriGas nor Ferrellgas would deliver
more than 3,000 gallons so I scheduled one for the next day and one for the day after.
We need ~6,000 gallons anyway. We ended up full and they accepted cash.

We were able to pick up the beef, pork and poultry because they swapped us cured
hams and bacon. We got Hormel hams and more coffee from the 2 Wal-Marts. We used
about 2 rolls of bath tissue a week, on average. There are 30 rolls to the bundle which
translated into 3½ bundles per year and I had 50+ bundles of Ultra Charmin (cute bear),
a 15 year supply. We also had a lot of Puffs because Judy didn’t like Kleenex. On the
other hand, I didn’t throw away the Kleenex since it could substitute for Puffs and bath
tissue.

Halfway into the 96 hour countdown, I started moving the pantry contents to the shelter,
timing it so I’d be done about an hour before the deadline was up. This would give us

124
time to move the contents of the refrigerator/freezer to shelter before the countdown
ended.

“You have a Virginia-class on each Borei-class?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I want their tubes filled, and torpedo tubes opened ready to fire one minute after the
deadline is up. They will fire unless ordered not to.”

“Mr. President, that’s pretty risky.”

“Yep.”

“Yes, sir.

“Next subject, the ICBMs. Those will be on a one minute alert but will not fire until the
SECDEF and I give out the codes. Finally, the SSBNs will be on a 6 hour hold and will
release their missiles unless we issue a stand down. The majority of our weapon sys-
tems will presumptive mode to launch.”

“Yes, sir.”

At $6 billion a pop the Seawolf-class was intended to replace the Los Angeles class.
The Seawolf-class is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines (SSN) in ser-
vice with the United States Navy. Design work began in 1983. At one time, an intended
fleet of 29 submarines was to be built over a ten-year period, later reduced to twelve
submarines. The end of the Cold War and budget constraints led to the cancellation in
1995 of any further additions to the fleet, leaving the Seawolf class limited to just three
boats. This, in turn, led to the design of the smaller Virginia class.

Designed to be the world’s quietest submarine, Seawolf is reportedly less detectable at

high speed than a Los Angeles-class submarine at the pier. Advanced weaponry and
new tactical capabilities and communications, combined with an increased weapons
load of Mk 48 ADCAP torpedoes, and Tomahawk cruise missiles, allow Seawolf to op-
erate from under arctic ice to shallow water close to shore. A special addition, CDR
Howard noted, was the computer-driven autopilot helm, which keeps the ship main-
tained at a level depth “in some cases better than the helmsman can. This thing is a
Ferrari.”

After a period of post-construction testing, additional modifications, and depot level re-
pairs, Seawolf departed in June on her first deployment. She sailed with a relatively in-

125
experienced crew - 11 of her 14 officers and 65 percent of the enlisted Sailors would
deploy for the first time in their careers on what would prove to be a multi-theater and
multi-mission assignment.

Pre-deployment workups for Seawolf prepared the ship for independent operations in
the North Atlantic to test the crew’s ability to use multiple sensors and to train on the
tasks of undersea and surface warfare and intelligence gathering. The plan for the sec-
ond half of the deployment, although unknown at the time of departure, was to support
carrier battle group operations in the Mediterranean Sea. This turned out to be a unique
and exciting opportunity. The ship would need to adjust to a tactical and philosophical
approach quite different from that of independent operations, and even the skipper con-
fessed his own lack of battle group experience. But events across the Atlantic Ocean
scuttled those plans.

The terrorist attacks of 11 September forced an early underway from a planned upkeep
in Faslane, Scotland and accelerated the submarine’s passage through the Straits of
Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. Because of the nature of submarine operations,
“we had extremely limited access to events in real time and actually wouldn’t hear much
of the details until days later – and we would not see any news coverage for weeks,”
CDR Howard said. Crew emotions, he added, “were all over the map. Our country had
been attacked, yet we were in a great position to do something about it. We were able
to get word quickly that our families and friends, many of them New Yorkers and many
of them working in the Pentagon, had avoided the terrible attack. Trust me, it did not
take much to get the crew excited about going back to sea again.”

The ship sortied from Scotland, moved halfway back to the East Coast to await the arri-
val of the USS Theodore Roosevelt battle group, and earned a certification to conduct
strike operations. Soon after, urgent orders sent the submarine directly to the Mediter-
ranean to increase the number of Tomahawks and launch platforms in the theater of
operations.

“There is no other submarine in the Navy, and few surface ships, for that matter, that
can cover as many miles as we did in the limited time it took,” CDR Howard said. “We
went halfway across the Atlantic in about 48 hours,” even as Seawolf maintained robust
battle group communications and ran propulsion-limiting casualty drills.

As Seawolf waited for potential orders for Operation Enduring Freedom, while addition-
ally providing support to the Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group, she played a role in her
first NATO exercise, Destined Glory 2001. The ship enjoyed a chance to test its stealth
abilities against a NATO force diesel submarine, closing to extremely close range be-
fore Seawolf “lit her up with active sonar to make the most of the training period.” The
submarine also got valuable contact-management team training at Gibraltar, with at
least 30 additional warships adding to the tight traffic in the busy doorway to the Medi-
terranean.

126
Seawolf later met up for the first time with the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land,
AS-39, in La Maddalena, Italy, to trade some of the submarine’s torpedo payload for
cruise missiles, take on another 60 days’ worth of food, and conduct minor voyage re-
pairs. Then she set off to use her exceptional stealth and agility in support of the war on
terrorism.

CDR Howard was proud of the fact that despite her new design, Seawolf sent out fewer
casualty reports for material failures during 2001 than “the average boat on the water-
front.” The skipper explained that the ship makes maximum use of commercial-off-the-
shelf (COTS) equipment, a key principle of the Submarine Force’s modernization plan,
and that the few material problems discovered during this deployment would help de-
termine maintenance and spare-part requirements for future operations of his ship and
the other two Seawolf-class submarines. The true impact of the cruise, the Seawolf CO
said, is how the ship “delivered on the Submarine Force’s new message of plug-and-
fight, multi-mission capability,” including independent and battle group operations in two
global theaters.

Seawolf’s skipper told the audience that one side effect of having a small class of sub-
marines was insufficient pre-deployment logistical support; Seawolf’s crew and the New
London repair activities spent thousands of man-hours in planning for the potential need
of critical parts to meet the deployment schedule. CDR Howard said he was told if he
could simply keep the ship away from its Groton homeport for six months without return-
ing for more repairs, the deployment would be considered a success, “no matter what
we did tactically,” he said. “We did that and more, and the outstanding material condi-
tion of the ship throughout the deployment was largely due to the supreme efforts of the
New London waterfront.”

The Virginia-class was quieter than the Seawolf-class and less expensive. As construc-
tion continued, the price in constant 1995 dollars continued to fall and the boats were
improved. If the Seawolf was quieter than a Los Angeles-class at the pier, the Virginia-
class might be quieter than the Seawolf at pier.

Ring… and the light flashed on the phone…

“Ah, Mr. President, I was waiting for your call. Excuse me while I get a sip of water. Put
everything on hold it’s Putin. Have you come to a decision? I see. Well, the amount isn’t
really negotiable, but I believe we can come to terms, say a sort of payment plan. Well,
you know, you extract gold and diamonds from those mines. No, I don’t believe we even
considered asking for any portion of your gas revenues. This thing with the Ukraine
needs to be worked out, we let you keep the Crimea and you let Ukraine remain inde-
pendent.

“Well, look at it this way, there are the same numbers of members to the nuclear club
and Tokyo is further from Moscow than Beijing. Yes, I’ve given instructions for the Vir-

127
ginia subs to back off; actually I’m surprised you heard them. Oh, I see, you didn’t hear
them you just assumed they were there with all 4 torpedo tubes open. Good guess, they
were about 90 seconds from firing. Yes, orders have been issued to the SSNs, SSBNs
and SSGNs to stand down along with the Minuteman missiles.

“Well to tell you the truth, the only reason I won the election was because of the bad
taste Obama left in the mouths of most Americans. No, I don’t recall meeting Reagan
but Dad did, several times. We’re at full stand down but we can go from DEFCON 4 to 1
in the blink of an eye. Yes, I think it would be a good idea for you to come to the US.
How about Holloman AFB?

“Oh, I assumed you knew that’s the bunker nobody talks about. That’s why the Moun-
tain is the best choice. I’ll have our Secretary of State contact your Foreign Minister. No,
thank you very much Mr. President.

“Knock them down to DEFCON 3 for 24 hours and if the situation is stable, DEFCON 4
for 72 hours and then DEFCON 5 if things are back to normal. Oh, and get those Carrier
Strike Groups and other ships and boats back to their homeports.”

We were just start to drag the blast door closed when the NWS EAS SAME radio acti-
vated and we were told to standby for an announcement by the President.

My fellow Americans,

I can’t believe it but I believe I just won just one for the Gipper. We received a call on
the hotline moments ago and the responsible party for the attack on Washington agreed
to make restitution. I serious doubt that we’ve ever been seconds away from DEFCON
1, but avoided it at the last moment. We are at DEFCON 3 and will go to DEFCON 4 in
24 hours with DEFCON 5 to follow that in 72 hours.

I have ordered all Carrier Strike Groups to return to their homeports as well as the sub-
marines not on patrol.

God Bless us all.

“Is it alright if I wait until tomorrow to haul everything back upstairs?”

“Why don’t we just finish closing the blast door and go to bed?”

“I can do that by myself Judy. A cup of hot chocolate would be nice. There’s an open
pail of that in the storeroom with the lid just sitting on the top. Use that yellow measuring
cup in the cabinet and use one measure per 8 ounces of water.”

128
 World War Three – Chapter 12

Earlier, the other trouble spot, the Middle East, was brought up and the intentions of the
people to form a new Muslim Empire. Iran was at odds with the world over their nuclear
program and whether it was for peaceful purposes, as they claimed, or a cover for de-
veloping nuclear weapons, which much of the balance of the world believed.

As we learned earlier, Japan had managed to successfully develop nuclear weapons.

They tested 2 and used 1, all with yields of approximately 1mT. They also had missiles
to deliver the weapons on target, accurately. The initial speculation was that 3 countries
were likely candidates for the first test in the southern Indian Ocean, Iran, Japan and
Germany. When the second test proved that it was Japan, those who knew sat on the
information.

It seemed that in the Middle East, the approach to form the Muslim Empire was taking a
different approach, called ‘Arab Spring’. Arab Spring began on December 18, 2010 in
Tunisia. Algeria, Jordan, Oman, Egypt, Yemen, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan*, Iraq*, Bah-
rain*, Libya, Kuwait, Morocco, Mauritania, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria*, Israel and
Palestine followed in chronological order with the countries designated with an *, ongo-
ing into 2014.

The enlightened governments were able to end their uprisings in periods as short as a
single day with concessions that satisfied their populations. Four hadn’t. Sudan, Iraq,
Bahrain and Syria. One had to realize the situation had taken a step towards the preci-
pice when Iran offered to help the United States resolve the situation in Iraq. Iran is
Shi’ite; the majority in Iraq is Shi’ite; and the insurgents in Iraq were Sunni. The previous
war between Iraq and Iran lasted 8 years… about as long as Iraqi Freedom.

Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, was going to Hell in a handcart in mid-2014

because the US refused to pull the troops. Was that because the US failed to recognize
the similarities between the Viet Cong and the Taliban? I’m just asking because...
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

When the situation in the Far East became intense, many stopped following the events
in the Middle East, a major mistake. I was just as guilty as the next person.

During late 2013 and early 2014 Yellowstone began a period of increased activity and
the government we all hated clamped a lid on the reporting of the event by the USGS
and every other outlet. They waited and watched because the situation in Far East was
demanding most of their attention. I routinely checked all 5 Volcano Observatories and
YVO wasn’t carrying their usual coverage. Strange, but nothing to write home about as
the expression goes.

129
YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT

Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:31 AM MST (Tuesday, February 18, 2014 16:31 UTC)

YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO (VNUM #325010)

44°25’48” N 110°40’12” W, Summit Elevation 9203 ft (2805 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

Since late summer 2013, the Yellowstone GPS network has tracked a small ground de-
formation episode in north-central Yellowstone National Park. During the past five
months, the NRWY GPS station has recorded about 3.5 cm (1.4 in) of uplift and about 1
cm (0.4 in) of southeastward ground movement, relative to a stable reference station
north of the Park. Measurements from other GPS stations in northern Yellowstone show
smaller displacements, forming a circular pattern of deformation consistent with a minor
pressurization, about 6 to 10 km (4-6 miles) deep, near Norris Junction.

Similar patterns of ground deformation have occurred before in this part of Yellowstone.
From 1996 through 2003 the Norris Geyser Basin rose about 12 cm, before beginning
to subside in 2004. More information about this event is available at
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_monitoring_51.html.

Episodes of ground deformation, which occur commonly in Yellowstone and at other

dormant volcanoes around the world, pose no direct volcanic hazards, nor do they imply
that an eruption is pending. They do, however, create a scientific opportunity to better
understand the geologic processes at work in Yellowstone and elsewhere. YVO and
other scientists are pursuing this opportunity, and will continue to monitor the ground
deformation closely.

UNAVCO, a YVO member agency, operates the Yellowstone GPS network.

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) provides long-term monitoring of volcanic

and earthquake activity in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site
of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and
the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor
volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.

YVO Member agencies: USGS, Yellowstone National Park, University of Utah, Universi-
ty of Wyoming, UNAVCO, Inc., Wyoming State Geological Survey, Montana Bureau of
Mines and Geology, Idaho Geological Survey

We added a few more STS, mostly staples, and didn’t give it much thought. The buildup
on the war got most of our attention. I still checked YVO and became slightly concerned

130
at the lack of news. If it was going to erupt, it was going to erupt and there was nothing
we could do about it.

FAQ about Recent News Reports - Earthquake, Ground Uplift, Animal Movement, and
Helium

April 02, 2014

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of news, real and imagined, about the Yellowstone
volcanic system. Below is a brief FAQ about several topics that have appeared in recent
news reports.

Has earthquake activity at Yellowstone increased dramatically over the last month?

With the latest swarms, earthquakes are elevated, but are not unusual for Yellowstone.
The previous uptick in earthquakes in this part of the park was during the previous peri-
od of uplift in this region.

Is the recent episode of ground deformation worrisome?

No. Current rates of ground deformation are well within historical norms. Please see our
February 18, 2014 Information Statement, for more information about ground defor-
mation at Yellowstone.

Are animals leaving Yellowstone National Park?

According to the park, any animal migrations are typical for this time of year. Most of the
recent videos on the internet that show running bison were filmed weeks (at least) be-
fore Sunday’s earthquake. Park spokesman Al Nash discusses this and other topics in a
YouTube video.

Do helium emissions at Yellowstone signal an impending eruption?

No. YVO Scientist-in-Charge Jacob Lowenstern and colleagues recently published re-
search on helium (He) emissions at Yellowstone in the journal Nature. The new re-
search looked at apparent changes in the helium output of the Yellowstone area during
its two-million-year volcanic history, compared with the previous two billion years of
comparative stability. The research has nothing to do with current activity at Yellow-
stone, and has no implications about volcanic hazards. For a humorous and informative
take on the new research, read the Los Angeles Times article, “It’s up, up and away for
ancient trapped helium at Yellowstone,” or watch the Slate.com video “Ancient Helium
Is Escaping by the Ton from Yellowstone.”

For additional information, see the April 1, 2014 Monthly Activity Update.

YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY MONTHLY UPDATE

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Tuesday, April 1, 2014 11:57 AM MDT (Tuesday, April 1, 2014 17:57 UTC)

YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO (VNUM #325010)

44°25’48” N 110°40’12” W, Summit Elevation 9203 ft (2805 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

Seismicity

During March 2014, the University of Utah reports 277 earthquakes were located in the
Yellowstone National Park region. More events will be added as the University of Utah
Seismograph Stations, responsible for the operation and analysis of the Yellowstone
Seismic Network, processes the remaining March events. The largest event was a light
earthquake of magnitude 4.7 on March 30, at 06:34 AM MDT, located four miles north-
northeast of Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The M4.7
main shock was reported felt in Yellowstone National Park, in the towns of Gardiner and
West Yellowstone, Montana and throughout the region. This is the largest earthquake at
Yellowstone since the early 1980s. Initial source analysis of the M4.7 earthquake sug-
gests a tectonic origin (mostly strike-slip motion).

March 2014 seismicity was dominated by two earthquake clusters in the Norris Geyser
Basin region and are described below.

1) A north-south trending series of earthquakes, over seven miles in length, began in

September, 2013 and persisted throughout March with 130 events. The largest earth-
quake (magnitude 3.5) occurred on March 26, at 05:59 PM MDT, located 13 miles
south-southwest of Mammoth, WY.

2) The earthquake series containing the March 30 magnitude 4.7 event began on March
27 and continues into April. At the end of March the series consisted of 70 located
earthquakes, including the largest earthquake of the month, four magnitude 3 earth-
quakes, and numerous magnitude 2 and smaller earthquakes.

Earthquake sequences like these are common and account for roughly 50% of the total
seismicity in the Yellowstone region.

Yellowstone earthquake activity in March is elevated compared with typical background

levels.

Ground deformation

The ground deformation occurring in north-central Yellowstone continues. Since August

1, 2013, the NRWY GPS station has moved about 1.5 cm east, 2 cm north, and 5.5 cm
up.

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Further south, the caldera subsidence, which began in 2010, has ceased. Since the be-
ginning of 2014, the caldera has been slowly rising at a rate of about 2 cm/yr. All the de-
formation currently occurring in Yellowstone remains well within historical norms.

The Yellowstone GPS network recorded no deformation associated with the March 30,
2014 M4.7 earthquake. Earthquakes of this size and depth do not typically produce
ground displacements large enough to detect with GPS.

Other

The GPS field crew at Yellowstone has traveled around the Park over the past week
and has not observed any effects from the earthquake. If any subtle changes have oc-
curred, they are most likely to be found after the snow melts.

YVO’s real time temperature data in Norris Geyser Basin indicate no significant chang-
es to the thermal features that are monitored.
(http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_monitoring_32.html)

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) provides long-term monitoring of volcanic

and earthquake activity in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site
of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and
the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor
volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.

YVO Member agencies: USGS, Yellowstone National Park, University of Utah, Universi-
ty of Wyoming, UNAVCO, Inc., Wyoming State Geological Survey, Montana Bureau of
Mines and Geology, Idaho Geological Survey

We were sound asleep when Yellowstone erupted. We received a small amount of

shaking after it let loose. The Long Valley Caldera let loose shortly after Yellowstone.
The Cascade Range erupted. Half of Alaska erupted. Cascadia had subducted begin-
ning the chain of events and the San Andreas and New Madrid let loose. Millions of cu-
bic meters of ash were tossed to the heavens and I almost ended up on my butt on the
carpeted floor of the shelter bedroom.

“What was that Rollin?”

“I don’t know, maybe the New Madrid.”

“I’d better get dressed.”

“I’m dog tired but I guess I’d better get dressed too.”

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“If that was New Madrid, it had to be a big one.”

“Probably a 6-7 something.”

“I’ll put on coffee.”

“We’re on battery power and the state of charge is 99.7%. I’m going to throw the manual
grid tie switch to off.”

As I made my way to the generator room, we got our first after shock and I quit counting
at 100. When it stopped shaking, I got the switch flipped and returned to the shelter
main room. Judy was on the floor and the filled pot of water was in the sink. I helped her
up and checked the basket to see if she had added fresh grounds. She had so I added
the water, put the pot under the basket and got out the wire bail I’d fashioned to hold the
pot under the basket.

“You anticipated an earthquake?”

“That’s why I didn’t settle in Jonesboro. It’s just a wire loop to hold the pot in place if it
shakes again. Let’s see if we can get anything on the Ham radio.”

“Hadn’t we better check to see if the Tower is still up?”

“I suppose, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Ok.”

“Ok, give me a hand with the door.”

“What will we do if we can’t get it open?”

“Use the emergency exit. That ladder in the bedroom goes up towards the cabin floor to
access a blast hatch that comes out at ground level,”

The Tower was fine and we returned to the shelter and locked down. I took the radios
out of the Faraday cage and hooked them up. The Kenwood had a separate Kenwood
power supply. I set up the Business Band first, the Galaxy second and then the Ken-
wood. Then I added the NWS EAS SAME radio, clipping the antenna to the long wire
with the alligator clip and Judy set up her AOR USA AR-5001D-U Unblocked ‘Govern-
ment Version Only’ 40Khz-3.15GHZ Receiver connecting it to the AOR DA3200 25MHz-
3000MHz, receive only wideband discone and AOR SA7000 30kHz-2000MHz receive
only whip antenna we had mounted when she moved in. Static and more static, giving
us no clue as to what had happened other than the likelihood that the New Madrid
Seismic Zone had let loose.

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°

“Why wasn’t I told about this?”

“The potential eruption? The reason was because of the concern regarding a potential
World War Three and no one in any position of authority being allowed to hear from the
geologists.”

“Do we have any satellite views of the US?”

“We moved a satellite in position, there was nothing to see because of apparent ash in
the atmosphere.”

“What about these earthquakes we’ve experienced?”

“The consensus of opinion is that the Cascadia subduction sent massive energy
through the mantle causing volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on several faults. So far
we have confirmed the New Madrid Seismic Zone and the San Andreas Fault letting
loose. Some of the volcanoes in the Cascade Range have also erupted due to Cas-
cadia subducting and two of Supervolcanoes have erupted.”

“What about La Palma?”

“We simply don’t know.”

“So, that’s moot. The military?”

“Most of the Chinese strikes were counter-force and at the moment the largest branches
of the military are the US Navy and State Army National Guard units.”

“And they haven’t reached their home ports yet.”

“Exactly. Plus it is problematic calling up the Guard.”

Right about now, I’d be willing to bet that he wished he’d recertified as an ophthalmolo-
gist and never entered politics. His batting average was very low. If one counted who
was least damaged by WW III, it was probably the US. Japan had taken a few nukes
but they did take out the Three Gorges Dam. The US had only received 1 counter-value
strike and 1 combined counter-force/counter-value strike with the remainder being pri-
marily counter-force. Washington didn’t count since it was a hit by Russia. If it did count,
it was definitely counter-value.

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Improvise: Take your hollow handled knife and remove the cap and survival pack. Find
a nice straight stick, preferably ash, and use the knife to cut it down. Then, using the
knife cut one of the ends down so it will fit in the handle. Finally, use some of the para
cord in your back pocket to hold the knife in place on the stick and you have – a spear.

Adapt: The HK416 works better with M855 ammo but if all you have is M193, use it.

Overcome: Where is it written that you can’t stab/shoot your adversary in the back? See
Improvise and Adapt.

“Here we go again. Damn I’m glad I didn’t settle in Jonesboro.”

“Don’t cuss please?”

“Sorry.”

“Is there anything we should do?”

“Now that you mention it, I should make sure the emergency exit from the shelter is
clear. If it’s not, I should rectify that problem immediately.”

“I’m coming with you so I can see where it is.”

“Grab a coat and your… shotgun.”

“Bayonet?”

“If it’s fixed, sure.”

We were wearing headlamps because of the dark. Took a few pails of coal in and set
them next to the Ben Franklin. It wasn’t actually a Franklin stove in design. The ‘stove’
Franklin invented was a metal-lined fireplace named after its inventor, Benjamin Frank-
lin. It was invented in 1741. It had a hollow baffle near the rear (to transfer more heat
from the fire to a room’s air) and relied on an “inverted siphon” to draw the fire’s hot
fumes around the baffle. It was intended to produce more heat and less smoke than an
ordinary open fireplace. It is also known as a “circulating stove” or the “Pennsylvania
fireplace”.

Our stove was a multi-fuel stove capable of burning multiple fuels, wood and coal. The
appliance consisted of a solid metal closed on back and three sides fire chamber, a
grate instead of fire brick on the bottom and an adjustable air control. The appliance
was connected by ventilating stove pipes to the chimney, which filled with hot combus-
tion gases once the fuel was ignited. Many wood-burning stoves are engineered such
that they can be converted to multi-fuel stoves with the addition of a grate as was ours.

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We finished up and returned to the shelter. We occupied our time buttoned up in the
shelter.

“I bought in enough coal last night for about 3 days, just in case.”

“I wonder why Justin never married Dorinda.”

“You’ve read Jerry?”

“I’ve got his CD; TOM’s CD and downloaded all the new stories posted.”

“I’ve got some of the old stories from Frugal’s archive. I’ve got TOM’s CD but Jerry’s
was sold out. I know he posted them on Kindle, but, a buck apiece was too much. I think
I have most of his stories because I downloaded them from his website.”

“You know Rollin, if they used the same publisher; they probably have the same ‘extra’
files. I’ll have to check that.”

I wasn’t completely accurate when I said I didn’t download any Kindle files. I did down-
load The Contract and Expedition and ordered Shipwrecked and Mr. Man but was that
Kindle or directly from Jerry’s website? Right it was from his website because I figured
he got more money selling directly. What do people think about in times like these? I’ll
bet, are we going to die tops the list. Everyone dies, eventually, leading to the correct
answer being yes, eventually. Is this an E.L.E.? For the population of the country close
to the Supervolcanoes, no doubt about. [Everyone learned the term Extinction Level
Event from the movie Deep Impact.]

The nuclear strikes against China could have possibly killed up to hundreds of millions
of their population and the volcanic activity, if that’s what happened, killed tens-
hundreds of millions more. What do we do now? We live life one day at time for long as
we have. The event is over, done with, so all we can do is cope.

On the practical side the PV panels wouldn’t produce much electricity and the Wind
Turbine might have to be braked and locked down to protect the bearings. When day-
light came, we covered the PV panels with tarps and locked down the Wind Turbine.
That left us with the 30kw generator to recharge the batteries and ~60,000 gallons of
propane to fuel the generator. Since I’m not an engine mechanic, who is going to rebuild
the generator or repair the alternator?

The thoughts rushed through my brain in staccato fashion, overlapping, with each
thought pushed away with the next. I gave up and got a bottle of chill pills and hoped it
wasn’t expired. When Judy saw me with the bottle in my hand, she asked, “What are
those?”

“Chill pills, anti-anxiety medication.”

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“Give me one too.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next Judy, so we’d better plan on staying in the
shelter.”

“I suspected as much and started a meal down here.”

“What are we having?”

“Crock pot chili and yeast biscuits from the freezer. I just put them in the oven and the
chili is ready. What kind of liquor is in the medical cabinet?”

“Did you take the chill pill yet?”

“No, why?”

“The pill is a benzodiazepine and it’s synergistic with sedative hypnotic drugs which
happen to include alcohol. Synergistic is like 1 plus 1 equals 10, it’s one or the other.”

“Any beer left?”

“About a six pack but it’s old.”

“There’s not much alcohol in a bottle of beer. I have the beer with the chili and save the
pill for later.”

“If you’re saving the pill for later, I can mix drinks.”

My thinking was we were talking about a single cocktail/highball before eating followed
by the food and taking the pill around bedtime. I didn’t take a pill either. She wanted an
Old Fashioned and it sounded good so I made 2. The crockpot had been switched to
low and biscuits were taking time. We were down to the last sip when the kitchen timer
for the biscuits went off. She had set out a short stick of butter so we were set.

“Did you change the ingredients? That chili was better than what I make.”

“I added a small amount of garlic powder as an experiment because it seemed to be

missing something.”

“How much?”

“A well rounded ⅛ teaspoon so probably a leveled ¼ teaspoon.”

“Anything else?”

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No. I used the 7% ground beef to save the ground chuck for hamburgers. One of the
mistakes people make with hamburgers is using too lean of a ground beef. The lean
stuff dries out too much when you grill the hamburgers.”

“We won’t have to worry about hamburgers… no buns.”

“I can make buns from either the yeast biscuits, yeast bread or from scratch.”

“About the only thing we can conclude happened, at the moment, is an earthquake on
the New Madrid.”

“Then explain the problems with communications.”

“I don’t have a clue.”

“I can wait to find out.”

“We sure won’t run out groceries. So you know how to make mayonnaise?”

“Isn’t it a thick, creamy sauce that consists of a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolks and ei-
ther vinegar or lemon juice?”

“My aunt always used vinegar.”

“And, my aunt always used lemon juice, so either will work. Do we need mayonnaise?”

“Not for a year.”

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 World War Three – Chapter 13

Sometime after the earthquake we heard a mighty explosion followed by another of

lesser intensity.

We were running on battery power. The plans were for the generator to kick in periodi-
cally and recharge the batteries. Although set to not cut in until the batteries reached a
charge level of about 30%, that was adjustable and could be changed. The point for the
generator to kick out also adjustable. We used an amp hour meter to determine the lev-
el of charge.

The effect was the generator ran at 100% capacity for quite some time and then the
generator cutout when the batteries were at 99-100%. Theoretically, the problem with
that was the batteries not being fully charged when the generator need servicing at 500
hours, forcing me to watch the hour meter.

Five-hundred divided by 24 equals 20.833333 days and .083333 times 24 equals 20.
Translated to a practical value, I would have to shut down the generator every 20 days
plus 20 hours, let it cool and service it. The battery charger I had was an AV
PosiCharge™ DVS with dual chargers, one for each battery bank, and a charging rate
of 250 amp hours for each bank. One bank holds 7,000 times 24 or 168,000 amps di-
vided by 250 equals 672 hours or more than one ‘generator cycle’.

What it amounted to was running the generator for 500 hours, servicing it, and running it
for an additional 172 hours to have the battery bank fully recharged. However, I realized
that the generator had been set up to kick in when there was no commercial power
when the batteries reached a 30% power level which was 100,800 amp hours still avail-
able. Moreover, the installers had left the generator kick out somewhere between 99%
and 100%.

With pen, paper and calculator I determined that the run time to restore the batteries
from 30% charge to full charge was about 235,200 amp hours or a generator run time of
470.4 hours. Therefore, when the batteries were fully recharged and the generator shut
down, all I had to do was wait for it to cool off and service it and it would be ready for the
next time the batteries hit a 30% charge level. I wondered why they hadn’t told me.

The shelter computer wasn’t connected to the internet unless Judy or I plugged in the
Ethernet connector, by design. In fact it wasn’t connected to the power line unless we
plugged the power line pigtail into the back of the computer, again by design. With as
much rebar, steel mesh and copper mesh as was in the overhead and attached to the
inside block wall under the 2×6 framing the entire shelter was a huge faraday cage.
Why take chances, if an EMP hit while we were connected to outside power we might
be toast? It was easier to keep things like the communications gear and computer un-
plugged and in the Faraday cage.

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We had eternal darkness living in the shelter. Not knowing what to think about the situa-
tion, we carried our M50 gas masks. One day I decided it would be a good time to move
more coal into the cabin and we headed up the ramp. When I shined my Maglite out of
a window the light was absorbed.

“Houston, we have a problem.”

“Huh?”

“Look out the window where I’m shining my Maglite.”

“I can’t see anything.”

“Exactly. That is probably ash with a little smoke in the air.”

“What caused that?”

“We haven’t had the typical pattern of aftershocks one would expect if the New Madrid
let loose on its own. Considering the timing, I’m thinking somewhere far off. If could
have been one of our Supervolcanoes, and if so, we’ll get volcanic ash. Although some
of it could be smoke mixed with volcanic ash.”

“Rollin, I’m going back down, have a drink and going to bed; and, you should do the
same.”

“Ok, what do you want to drink?”

“An Old Fashioned?”

We had the cocktail and went to bed. Each day after that, we’d check from the cabin to
see if the air was filled with ash. And, it slowly cleared with visibility going from a few
feet to a few yards to ⅛ mile, ¼ mile and ½ mile.

“I think we should go into Mountain Home and see how the residents fared.”

“Okay Rollin, I want to check on some friends. How should we be armed?”

“Shotguns in the gun rack in the back window with my HK417 and you carrying your
HK417 to give us covering fire, if necessary.”

“Do you think many made it?”

“I’m not really sure although I suspect a few managed to survive. We’ll pull the trailer in
case there is any grocery store food that we find and can use. The generator only
charged the batteries twice and 470.4 hours times 3.3gph times two is a bit over 3,100
gallons propane. While we don’t need it at the moment, we should see if we can find a

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3,000 gallon 10 wheel delivery truck and fill it. I can drive it back to the acreage and refill
the propane tank.”

“Would you rather have it and not need it or need and not have it?”

“Exactly. We need to check auto supply stores and get more filters, oil and antifreeze for
our vehicles for the same reason. Under the same philosophy, we should get brake
pads and new rotors since I know nothing about turning rotors.”

“How about some grease and a grease gun?”

“Add it to the list.”

At first, we didn’t see any people out and about. We checked Wal-Mart and most of the
food had been taken but not all. We took the remainder of the food that we could use
and checked various departments including men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, sport-
ing goods for weapons and ammunition, automotive, etc.

We then checked other food sources and just took enough to finish filling Judy’s list.
Two auto supply stores provided the automotive supplies and we went to check the
propane dealer. He had 3 delivery trucks, 2 empty and one full. The can of ether we
picked up at the auto supply and a jump got the truck going, roughly at first. Looking in
the office produced an open gallon jug of PRI-D and I added an appropriate amount to
both diesel tanks. After a while, the running smoothed out.

Before leaving, I found an installed 60kw diesel generator and added PRI-D to the base
tank. After the PRI-D worked its magic, we could return and fill the 2 empty delivery ve-
hicles. The thought occurred to me if we filled our propane tank from the truck we were
taking home, we could take it back later and replace the propane we put in the tank,
leaving us with 9,000 gallons in reserve.

The following day, we picked up the 2 delivery trucks, filled them and took them home.
That pretty much filled the day and the following day, I took the empty truck in and re-
filled it, eliminating one of several line items (goals). Judy brought up the fact that we
better accumulate all the canned goods we could to avoid them freezing and becoming
unusable. That took 4 days. While I agreed with her thinking about the freezing, we col-
lected enough bottled and canned products that a good share of them would probably
spoil anyway unless stored above 32° and below 40°

The next line item on the list was automotive and was spare batteries and mounted and
unmounted tires. The auto parts stores supplied the batteries and a tire dealer one set
of rims for each vehicle and 8 tires for each vehicle. I eventually was able to mount 8
tires, 4 for each vehicle, and figure out the balancing machine. That eliminated the au-
tomotive line item, excluding fuel. The Yellow Pages told us where to look and we found

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the gas/diesel distributor. His delivery vehicles included tractor-tanker delivery vehicles
for service stations and small 10-wheel delivery trucks probably used to fill tanks like the
one we had, farm tanks.

Checking around, we found 5 gallon and 1 gallon containers of PRI-G and PRI-D. The
various large tankers had the capacity listed on the side of the tankers, 9,000 gallons.
That left us with the task of getting one of the semi-tractors to run. We first treated the
fuel in the saddle tanks with PRI-D. Then, we had to get the 100kw 3-phase generator
running. I tried the same trick as before, adding PRI-D to the base tank after shutting off
the fill pipe from the large storage tank.

We let everything sit for 3 days before trying to get the delivery trucks started. They
started with a jump and a shot of ether so we filled them and took them home over a
several day period. The semis were a greater challenge and we ended up getting a bat-
tery charger from an auto parts store and using my old China diesel 12kw generator to
recharge the batteries on one truck. When it was running, we manhandled the battery
charger back into my pickup. We then added the PRI-D to the tanker and filled it.

Eighteen thousand gallons of diesel as a standby supply was probably more than we
could use, just as 500 gallons of stabilized gasoline was more than we would probably
ever use and we could now strike the gas and diesel line items.

It was very cold outside and getting colder and Judy was pressing me to check out the
Wal-Mart in Flippin. We went into Mountain Home and got the same Ryder truck we’d
probably used before, stabilized the fuel and returned home to drop off my pickup. We
then went to Flippin and found the Wal-Mart there had been stripped much like we had
stripped the Mountain Home Wal-Mart. We turned around and went home, keeping one
eye on the rearview mirrors.

“I think our salvaging days just ended Judy. I had the feeling in Mountain Home that we
were being watched and more so in Flippin. We have about 140 cords of firewood less
the amount used and a large quantity of coal. We can haul in the coal as needed.”

“That’s going to be a lot of difficult work Rollin; can we just use the wheelbarrow to bring
in what we need when we it?”

“Of course, what was I thinking about? I didn’t check either the coal guy or the firewood
guy. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind having more of both.”

“If either or both made it, they’ll probably contact us. Besides, didn’t you say you had 2
chainsaws?”

“Yes we do and for all practical purposes they’re nearly new although I do have a selec-
tion of spare parts. That’s like the situation with the generator, I’m not a mechanic.”

“How long have you had the gasoline?”

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“Got that in 2006 for the chain saws and added a pint of PRI-G every year so it should
still be good.”

“How much do you have invested in this set up?”

“Most of the money I had when I retired and about ⅔ of my post-tax retirement pay.”

“And your funds are mostly hard currency?”

“All but the last three retirement checks which I deposited and later withdrew so we had
cash for incidentals.”

“How did you figure it all out?”

“I didn’t. What I did was a mixture of ideas I gleaned from…”

“TOM and Jerry?”

“Add Grand58742 and a couple more of the PAW writers to the mix and you have it
covered.”

“Grand58742?”

“Yeah, Grand58742.”

“Why are the cabin walls so thick and why can’t the windows be opened for circulation?”

“You’ve noticed that the exterior and interior logs are rounded, right?”

“Yes, but what does that have to do with what I asked?”

“How thick do you think the walls are?”

“I never gave it any thought, why?”

“Both sets of logs are double tongue and groove and essentially separate. The outer 10”
layer is backed by doubled up 1¼” Lexan, completely. The Lexan is covered by 3” of
foam insulation except for the windows and the insulation is covered by a 6” layer of
tongue and groove logs with rounded side facing inward. The total wall thickness is
21½”. It is virtually bulletproof. They certainly aren’t bulletproof against something like a
.50BMG but are highly bullet resistant.

“That’s why those shutters are constructed as they are. The wood is a laminate while
the actual shutter under the laminate is 2” of cold rolled steel. I doubt their good against

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.50BMG but anything else would play hell punching through the walls, shutter and
doors.”

“What are the doors made of? They seem a little heavy but aren’t difficult to open and
close.”

“They’re the same as the shutters but the cold rolled steel is 1” thicker. The only thing I
didn’t ask them to design in was lead sheeting.”

“Why not?”

“From the description I just gave you, you do understand that with exceptions, the cabin
is a sealed box, right?”

“Except for the doors I guess so.”

“The one section of attic flooring that was already there supports the mechanicals
needed to keep the cabin habitable. In his story Bad Times, Jerry described a home that
was so tight that it required a heat and humidity air exchanger to keep fresh air circulat-
ing. I believe that this cabin may be even tighter than Roger Tanquirdy’s home. The ca-
pacity of those larger air systems from American Safe Rooms would allow us to ex-
change the air in the cabin and shelter half as often.”

“What’s the downside? Everything is a series of tradeoffs.”

“We can’t shoot back from inside the cabin. But we can exit using the emergency exit, if
necessary.”

“How do you lock the shutters when they’re closed?”

“You stand by this ‘window’ and I’ll show you.”

I went outside and closed the shutters for the window Judy was looking out of. When
the shutters were hard against the stops, I went back in and pointed to a small protru-
sion on either side of the ‘window’ and said, “Slide these inward.” They traveled about 2”
sliding into a block of metal on the inside of the shutter. “I defy you to get the shutters
open from the outside.”

“This is more of a Castle than a Cabin.”

“Strange you should say that, I have both The Cabin and The Castle in my fiction direc-
tory under the Other subcategory.”

“One more question. This couldn’t have been inexpensive, so why did you build it this
way?”

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“Would you buy, ‘because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time’?”

“Nope.”

“How about ‘because I’m a crackpot survivalist’?”

“Closer, but nope.”

“Well, Steve suggested it was because I resigned from the world.”

“Now, that I can believe. Why, broken hearted?”

“As a matter of fact, sort of. Nobody can hurt you if your shell is thick enough.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It was none of your doing. I did it all by myself to myself. At the time you couldn’t have
convinced me otherwise.”

“I half tempted to take your head off, you know? What happened didn’t affect only you; it
affected me too.”

“I know and I can’t begin to say I’m sorry enough times.”

“You already said it and once was enough. Are we going to live through this?”

“I don’t really know other than we’re going to live until we die. I think we can live here for
the remainder of our lives without leaving the place other than to get more coal or fire-
wood.”

“We’d better do that sooner than later.”

I knew that both the coal dealer and firewood harvester had ‘yards’ where they stored
their inventories. I didn’t know where they were, only that they had them. Coal has more
energy than wood. One ton of coal equals about one cord of wood (one short ton of an-
thracite equals 25 million BTU v. one cord of wood equals 20 million BTU). I had always
purchased Chestnut sized coal to avoid the premium price of stove coal. The invoices
for both dealers weren’t much help, listing phone numbers and Post Office boxes.

We discussed possibilities and decided to locate the coal first and haul all he had,
dumping it in a pile. Afterwards we could bring out a front end loader to reload the coal
bunker. With that completed we’d find the firewood dealer and do the same with him,
hauling a dump truck load at time, dump and stack it. Plan B in both cases was paying
for the product and letting the dealer deliver and dump or deliver and stack. We didn’t
really have a plan C.

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Although the coal dealer wasn’t around, we located his manager. We offered his cost
and the delivery charges without the markup. He thought it over before agreeing; most
of his usual customers were nowhere to be found. At that, he only agreed to deliver half
their supply of anthracite, some 60 tons. It would be delivered and dumped and it was
up to us to move it as needed. He would take cash on the barrel head, collecting for
each load delivered before making additional deliveries. He also directed me to the fire-
wood lot.

“I have 5 spare packages at $175 per cord and it will have to be gold or silver. Do you
have $17,500 in gold?”

“At what price per ounce?”

“$2,500, take it or leave it.”

“Yes we have 7 ounces in Gold Eagles.”

“That will be prepaid before each package is delivered.”

“Stacked, right?”

“If that’s what it takes, I suppose.”

“Here’s one ounce for your first delivery. Mind you, the coal dealer will be delivering and
dumping coal.”

“We’ll work around him. When?”

“Just soon as you can get a delivery truck loaded.”

They must have both been hungry; the orders were both filled in full before sunset with
half of the firewood sacked. They returned the following day and a crew stacked the re-
maining firewood. To avoid mixing the softwood and hardwood, they were stacked sep-
arately.

We were left with a single problem, storing the canned and bottled goods between 32°
and 40°. Judy remembered something from Disaster in the Burbs and we went hunting
a reefer trailer, found one and brought it home. After some discussion, it was decided to
add a propane heater with a thermostat to use in the winter and plumb the propane
cooling unit so the temperature in the trailer was a ‘well regulated’ temperature of 32° to
40°. (Fahrenheit folks, I don’t do Celsius well. However, we’re talking between 0°C and
4.45°C… I have Josh Madison’s Convert Program.)

Let’s compare wood and coal. One cord of wood is 128ft³ while one ton of anthracite is
40ft³. However, the ton of coal is 25m BTU and the cord of wood is 20m BTU. It follows
that 1¼ cords of wood equals 25m BTU. One and one-quarter cord is 160ft³. It follows

147
that by volume, coal has ~4 times more energy than wood. Approximately because the
moment you say something is absolute, 15 people jump down your throat to dispute
your claim.

Recap. We probably have a lifetime supply of wood and coal for heat, years’ worth of
propane, more than a lifetime supply of diesel and, considering my age, too much gaso-
line. We have food for 2 for 15+ years and enough ammo for a couple of wars. Based
on my combat tours and how much ammo I actually fired at the other side, World War
15. The Rules of Engagement discourage firing at the other side unless they’re firing at
you or attempting an ambush and the latter is iffy. You hold your fire until you identify
their weapons.

World War Three had been bad enough despite there being no targets in our TO (Thea-
ter of Operations). The seismic activity, however, did include our TO. We had decided to
strictly limit our TO to our acreage unless we needed to do additional salvaging. Steve’s
supplies had included sandbags and after Judy and I considered using them, started
filling them with dirt taken from both sides of the track into our place.

I did most of the digging, putting in the 4’ deep holes and we worked together filling the
sandbags. We had enough bags to create a ring around the fighting positions with 3
layers of sandbags in width and height. We stocked the fighting positions with ammo,
40mm and hand grenades and one carton of 5 LAW rockets, M72A7. We added loaded
magazines for the Tac-50s, M1As, HK416s, HK417s, PT1911s, Walther PPKs and 25
round boxes of shotgun shells. We also added some of the Nitro-Pak Hungary Man
MREs and a five gallon can of water and a folding camping potty. The stocking was a
just in case measure and assumed we’d be able to get into the ‘foxholes’ at the first sign
of trouble.

Prepping is much more than having a bomb shelter with a storeroom full of food, gener-
ator and etc. Prepping is a mindset and proper preparation includes anticipating future
needs and preparing for them. Only the coal delivery people, the firewood delivery peo-
ple and fuel delivery people know exactly where we’re located but that has the potential
of being 3 groups of people too many.

Someone had gotten to the gun stores ahead of us and had taken the MBRs, including
M1As, and Assault Rifles, including AR-15s, magazines and all the ammo in
5.56×45mm and 7.62×51mm. While it could have been strictly for self-defense, that
could be a dangerous assumption. Plus we both had the feeling that we’d been watched
in both Mountain Home and Flippin. While we knew the gun dealer I used could get
M1As and Tac-50s and stocked a few M1As and AR-15s, he only special ordered the
pricey firearms like the Tac-338 and Tac-50. Plus, he carried very little ammo in those
calibers. We took what he had, less than a case of Hornady, in each caliber.

While we didn’t maintain a watch rotation since there was only the 2 of us, we kept an
eye open, just because. Sooner or later someone would happen on our digs and realize

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we had a lot of things ‘put up’. Of course, that said, it happened sooner rather than later
and we managed to get into the ‘foxholes’ before things got bad.

There must have been 8-10 of them and they had a mix of firearms including MBRs,
ARs, shotguns and handguns plus knives if they could manage to get close enough.
Our goal was to make sure they didn’t get very close at all. One of them exposed him-
self and Judy took him out before I could get him in my sights. Then another tried to
move to a better position and earned a round of 7.62 from my HK417. That only cut the
odds marginally. They tried to maintain cover as they moved closer but confused con-
cealment with cover and another paid the price. Judy and I were in contact using our
Business Band portables.

“Got one trying to flank you Rollin and I can’t get a good sight picture.”

Bang

“That one?”

“Yep. Looks like they going to ground.”

“That won’t last too long; these guys are hungry for a kill.”

Bang

“That SOB tried to flank me. Watch yourself Rollin. Wait, they are sort of grouped up,
can you see them?”

“Nope.”

“I have a treat for them, a HEDP.”

BOOM

“That cut’s them down to size. How many did you get Judy?”

“Three.”

“That makes 7. How many more are there?”

“I see 2 more.”

“And, I see 1. Change magazines and switch to full auto. On the count of 3; 1, 2, 3.
Fire.”

“That’s got them.”

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“Hold tight Judy.”

“You cover the front, Rollin, I’ve got to pee.”

Ka-bang. There was at least one left and it sounded like a magnum caliber rifle. Maybe
a .300 Winchester magnum, a long range cartridge that could penetrate the sandbags if
the shot were placed just right (at a seam).

“Keep your head down Judy, that’s a magnum caliber.”

She apparently brought her Super Match and spotted the shooter when she finished her
bathroom break.

Bang

“Got him. Are there anymore Rollin?”

“I’ll be darned if I know; that was at least one more than I thought there were. You have
your Super Match?”

“Affirmative.”

“Sit tight.”

“10-4.”

The wait seemed endless, but after about a half hour, I eased myself out of my ‘foxhole’
after informing Judy I was ‘on the move’.

The first few were indeed dead. However, one wasn’t and I announced, “Fire in the
hole,” before I dispatched him.

After accounting for the entire group of attackers, I advised Judy I was collecting weap-
ons and she should standby, covering me until I finished. Unable to carry the weapons
in a single trip, I started with most distant and worked my way in, dropping the weapons
and ammo at her ‘foxhole’. Meanwhile, Judy was reloading her magazines and setting
out each of her firearms that needed cleaning. I finished collecting firearms, ammo and
knives and moved them into the cabin. Lastly, I refilled my magazines and took my
‘dirty’ firearms into the cabin.

“We still have to do something with the bodies. That can wait until after we’ve cleaned
everything and replace our firearms in the ‘foxholes’.”

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 World War Three – Chapter 14

“Do you think this will be an ongoing event?”

“It’s certainly possible. I pray it doesn’t happen enough to be considered ongoing.”

“Are we going to be okay?”

“We can be careful; there’s no way I can guarantee we’re going to be ok. As you have
seen, there are 3 kinds of people, the good, the bad and the apathetic. The latter group
can quickly become members of either the good or the bad depending on circumstanc-
es. A parent with a starving child will probably do anything to see that child fed. That’s
why my primary concern was simply filling in the STS foods.

“Your point about preserving the food that would be damaged by the cold is well taken.
Volcanic winter is proven fact as shown by The Year Without a Summer, 1816. What we
should do is locate other survivors and share those goods with them.”

“Are there other survivors?”

“Sure there are but the count was reduced by 11 today.”

“Why didn’t they just ask?”

“I have no idea; perhaps they scouted the place out, saw all the coal and firewood and
concluded we were preppers who were armed to the teeth and lacking any Christian
charity. Or, they simply could have been part of the bad.”

“How do you want handle it?”

“Load up a pickup load of food and start in Flippin, working our way back to Mountain
home. First, we need to clean all of the firearms, match the ammo to the weapons and
dispose of those bodies. I’ll do that while you figure out what to include in the first load
of food.”

When I cleaned the recovered firearms, the ARs when into the pile of guns to trade
along with the MBRs that weren’t M1As. That gave use 6 long arms to trade along with
5 handguns. I added the 4 knives to the trade goods. The Remington 700 turned out to
be a Model M-24 SWS in .300 Winchester magnum with a Leupold, Ultra M3, 10 Power
scope and a Surefire suppressor. I located the case and accessories in the old pickup
they used to get to our acreage. I decided to add that to our collection. There was a gul-
ly on our property that became the final resting place of the attackers after I first
dumped the bodies and used the front end loader to cover them with about 4’ of soil.

The ‘foxholes’ were resupplied and covered over, concealing them. A trip to the Baxter
County Sheriff’s office provided additional .300 Winchester magnum Black Hills 190gr

151
BTHP ammo and a bullhorn. I figured we could use it to announce that we had food
available at the pickup in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

We would go the next day. Before we left, a decision about which weapons to take was
required. We concluded that we’d each take a HK416, HK417, 590A1, PT1911, Brown-
ing Hi-Power and PPK with enough loaded magazines, where appropriate, to defend
ourselves for an extended period of time. While we could only fire one long arm at a
time, we could switch magazines and weapons if we ran out of ammo for what we were
using. We weren’t literally armed for bear since we didn’t take the Tac-338 or a Tac-50.

“What did you select Judy?”

“Three pails of hard red wheat, yeast, sugar, oil and my Country Living Mill so they can
produce bread. Two pails of Durum wheat so they can produce pasta. One pail of corn
for corn meal. Four cases of pasta sauce and 2 cases each of corn and green beans. A
pail each of pinto beans, great northern beans and navy beans along with 2 fifty pound
bags of rice. Salt, pepper, baking soda, baking powder, catsup, mustard and finally half
a case of tobasco sauce. And for treats, cases of peaches, pears and fruit cocktail. I did
include 6 boxes of candy bars.

“I didn’t include things like the pancake mixes, biscuit mixes or cookie mixes but I did
include a pail of quick oats, a pail of instant non-fat milk and some cans of whole egg
powder. They can make comfort foods from the other things I included. I put everything
in the back of the pickup. Did you reach a final decision on the firearms from the attack-
ers?”

“We’re keeping the M1As and the .300 Win Mag M-24 SWS rifle. That leaves us with 6
long arms, 5 handguns and 4 knives as trade goods.”

“When are we going?”

“Yellville tomorrow, Summit the next day, Flippin the next day, Cotter the next day, Gas-
sville the next day and finally Mountain Home. Even God rested on the 7 th day. Some of
those communities are small and we might be able to do 2 in 1 day.”

“Will we need to put a second identical load in the trailer?”

“I think not. Assuming the number of survivors is proportional to the size of the commu-
nity, we should be able to do 2 smaller communities with the same amount of supplies
as the large communities. Yellville population was ~1,300, Summit was about 600, Flip-
pin around 1,400, Cotter maybe 1,100, Gassville 2,200 and Mountain Home was just
shy of 13,000.”

“But Mountain Home is almost a Ghost Town.”

152
“It is and that makes me wonder where that group of 11 guys came from. I’m reasonably
certain that .300 Win Mag M-24 SWS rifle belonged to the Baxter County Sheriff be-
cause I found more 190gr BTHP match ammo there and it was the same ammo that
guy had. Between what he had and what I found, there are about 1½ 200 round cases.”

“If you’ll help me Rollin, we can set out supplies for the second day and we’ll try to stay
one day ahead.”

“Sure Judy; tell me something, where are you getting your energy, it’s been a long day.”

“I don’t have that much energy left, dear. After we’re finished and eat, I’m going to need
a good 12 hours of sleep.”

“The sleep is a very good idea. We’ll need to be at the top of our game when we’re look-
ing for survivors. You’ll no doubt meet the good, the bad and the apathetic when we find
some. As I implied before, beware the apathetic. We’ll need our handguns cocked and
locked with one up the pipe and full magazines.”

“Condition 1, Color Yellow?”

[Condition One: A round chambered, full magazine in place, hammer cocked, safety on.
Color Yellow: Yellow: Relaxed alert. No specific threat situation. Your mindset is that
“today could be the day I may have to defend myself”. You are simply aware that the
world is a potentially unfriendly place and that you are prepared to defend yourself, if
necessary. You use your eyes and ears, and realize that “I may have to shoot today”.
You don't have to be armed in this state, but if you are armed you should be in Condi-
tion Yellow. You should always be in Yellow whenever you are in unfamiliar surround-
ings or among people you don't know. You can remain in Yellow for long periods, as
long as you are able to “Watch your six.” (In aviation 12 o’clock refers to the direction in
front of the aircraft's nose. Six o’clock is the blind spot behind the pilot.) In Yellow, you
are “taking in” surrounding information in a relaxed but alert manner, like a continuous
360 degree radar sweep. As Cooper put it, “I might have to shoot.”]

“Exactly and we watch each other’s backs to the extent possible.”

Despite its small size, Yellville is the County Seat for Marion County. The crowd that re-
sponded to our announcements over the bullhorn numbered in the mid-60s and they
were a pathetic group of people, bone showing skinny, eyes still showing residual ef-
fects of the volcanic ash and disorderly; everyone trying to get to the first place in line.

“Listen up folks; we have enough for everyone until we can come back again. You are
going to need containers for your share of what we brought. Understand, that will be an
equal share, a given amount for each person. We should be able to provide humanitari-
an supplies until some government organization gets its act together and takes over.
That said; our resources are not unlimited. We need someone to grind the wheat since

153
we only have one mill. There are two kinds of wheat, hard red for bread and durum for
pasta.”

Had it been a military operation, an observer would have called what followed a cluster
…. It was what it was including the anticipated griping, assertions that the division
‘wasn’t’ fair and that we hadn’t brought what we should have.

“Has everyone gotten their allocation? Some of the foods are what you would expect to
find in a grocery store and some are Long Term Storage foods. We have identified sev-
eral communities in Marion and Baxter counties that we will assist as long as we’re
able. We can’t supply meat. Some of items are high in vegetable protein and are ade-
quate substitutes. We recommend that you check with grain elevators, farmers and es-
pecially rice producers and packers. Rice is the staple food of over half the world’s pop-
ulation. It is the predominant dietary energy source for 17 countries in Asia and the Pa-
cific, 9 countries in North and South America and 8 countries in Africa. Rice provides
20% of the world’s dietary energy supply, while wheat supplies 19% and corn 5%.

“We do have a few trade goods including sanitary needs and other things. We will ac-
cept things gathered from grain elevators, farmers and rice producers and packers in
exchange for those trade goods. We will also accept gold and silver for a select group of
those trade goods. We can discuss that when we return.”

While we noted firearms and even one fellow with a compound bow and a dozen or so
broad tip arrows, no one in Yellville made any threatening gestures despite griping and
other complaints. I had the thought that it may have been due to the fact that we told
them ‘We’ll be back’.

When we returned home, it was with relief that any serious problems had been avoided.
Tonight, supper would be a crockpot beef roast with onion and carrots plus instant pota-
toes and brown gravy mix. The bread in the wood stove oven was done as perfectly as
one could expect and Judy had taken butter out of the freezer.

“How about I load tomorrow’s load while you get supper around? I don’t know why, but
I’m starving. Maybe all the nervous energy burned breakfast off.”

“I won’t be long Rollin; the roast is done and the potatoes and gravy will only take a few
minutes.”

“I’ll hurry.”

I had used a crockpot for years for meals requiring minimal effort and Judy had done
the same because she worked. The major advantage in addition to the minimal effort
was the limited energy used and our energy came from nature, most of the time.

154
°

“Why were they angry with us?”

“I’m not sure; maybe because we had and they didn’t. Unfortunately the only decent ac-
cess to most of the communities is Highway 62/412. Eventually someone is going to get
something running and follow us home. If they think about it, it’s likely someone will fig-
ure out adding a fuel stabilizer and changing all of the filters on a vehicle will get them
transportation. It’s not the situation we’d be in if we had an EMP or HEMP event.”

“What’s next? TOM claims bad things happen 3s.”

“You’re excluding the attack?”

“Aren’t you Rollin? That was skirmish; uneven odds but a skirmish nonetheless. From
what you’ve said, we can expect more skirmishes.”

“Which brings up something I realized today; we be better off with the HK416s as long
arms because we can carry more ammo than with the HK417s.”

“Why did you insist someone grind their grain on the spot?”

“How many Country Living mills do we have?”

“I had 2, my primary and a spare.”

“That’s what I have also, only 2. We’re 3 short if we supply each community with one
and keep one for ourselves.”

“I wouldn’t want to get down to just one, despite having parts kits.”

“Neither would I and that’s why I made them grind the grain on the spot.”

“I’ve having second thoughts about doing this.”

“We must make one round since we’re committed. We can evaluate the remaining sup-
plies and based on what we’ve distributed the first time, determine the amount available
for the second round. We may only have enough for two rounds.”

“What will we do if we run into trouble? You know… those that prefer to take rather than
ask?”

“If there’s any way to make a distribution we’ll make it and not mention coming back.
Otherwise we’ll leave and eliminate that community from the list. Either way, they’ll only
get the single visit.”

155
“Yellville seemed to have 5% of the population that survived the war and volcanic erup-
tion. Will that be representative?”

“I’d prefer to make that decision when we’ve visited all 6 communities.”

At the end of 6 days, we had our answer; the further east we went, the greater the per-
centage. Summit had 45 survivors, 7.5% of their population, Flippin had about the same
110 or 7.9%, Cotter 88 or 8%, Gassville had 196 for 8.9% and Mountain Home was
1,183 minus the missing 11 men for a total of 1,172; a pre-skirmish rate of 9.1%. The
total population for the 6 communities was 1,676 not counting the 2 of us. Mountain
Home wasn’t the Ghost Town it appeared to be. We didn’t have anywhere near enough
food to make a second round. We realized it had been a good suggestion we gave to
each community about salvaging grains. I traded two rifles with 7 magazines each and a
case of ammunition each in Mountain Home for 7 of the 10 Country Living mills some-
one was offering for trade. We made a second trip to the first five communities, giving
each a grain mill and their ‘share’ based on population of what remained in the semi-
trailer.

The majority share went to Mountain Home, of course, so we pulled the trailer in and
dropped it off explaining they had to keep the cooler and heater supplied with propane.
This ended our short-lived adventure with salvaging food to keep it from freezing. Not
one person in Mountain Home inquired about the 11 men we were forced to deal with in
the skirmish. But, we left tracks and someone followed us home. I guessing they saw
the stacked firewood, pile of coal and tanker of diesel, propane delivery trucks, made a
note and left.

This area isn’t the flattest area in the US being in the Ozark Mountains and when the
snow got deep, travel was nearly impossible. We had a relatively quiet winter that lasted
far too long. I kept the front end loader parked near the cabin pointed towards the wood
pile and when we need wood, I hauled a large pile to the apron in front of the cabin.
This allowed me to keep the wood box filled easier and the coal merely required raising
the slider and filling several buckets.

Those double sheets of ballistic Lexan transmitted the cold very well, forcing us to hang
heavy wool blankets over each with one tied back to let some light in. Since even one
uncovered window defeated the purpose of the wool blankets, we turned on the lights
and covered the window. A small fire was kept in the wood burning kitchen stove to add
to the heat put out by the coal burning ‘Franklin’ stove, keeping us warm.

Mountain Home weather averages:

Annual high temperature: 68.9°F

Annual low temperature: 47.4°F
Average temperature: 58.15°F

156
Average annual precipitation - rainfall: 48.07 inch
Days per year with precipitation - rainfall: N/A
Annual hours of sunshine: N/A
Average annual snowfall: 11 inch

Without a heat source, the shelter was balmy 58.15°F and the cabin slightly cooler due
to the outside temperature and wind.

We only left to gather more firewood from the stack for the kitchen stove and coal for
the ‘Franklin’ stove. The overall mood put me in mind of Seattle, Washington where, ac-
cording to a guy I served with, it rained 10 months of the year. He claimed the city was
gloomy most the time. Never been there, so I’ll have to take his word for it.

It took 6 months for the snow to start melting and another month for it to be completely
gone. We were desperate for contact from another human being, provided they didn’t
come in shooting. We were fortunate in that respect because the first people to ap-
proach the acreage were Arkansas Army National Guard. The guy in charge was First
Sergeant (E-8) named Ott.

He explained that it was just a census and said his day job was a History Professor at
ASU in Jonesboro, teaching Medieval History. He’d gotten his PhD from Saint Louis
University In Medieval History and returned to Jonesboro after he graduated, giving up
his job with the Social Security Administration that paid his way through his PhD pro-
gram.

He asked if we had any firearms, noting that we were ‘out in the boonies’. I admitted we
each had a M1A Loaded, a Mossberg 590A1 and a PT1911. He laughed and said he
had the same; and, since he had more than enough ammunition was carrying all 3.

“I got those from my father back in 2012 along with a Sauer und Sohn 38H.”

“Is TOM your father?”

“His name is Gary but he used the pseudonym of Tired Old Man, so I suppose some
might have called him TOM.”

“Past tense?”

“He had COPD and Palmdale got a fair amount of ash from Long Valley. They wore N-
95 filter masks but the ash finally got to them and Dad, his wife, and my half sister and
her two children plus my step sister succumbed from ash cutting up their lungs.”

“How long do you have in?”

“Twenty-three years. I planned to retire at 24, but we’ve been stop-lossed.”

157
“I had 37 when I retired as a Command Sergeant Major. Heard a rumor we were being
sent back to Afghanistan and I had to reenlist for 3 more or retire. I saw the Desert, did
two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.”

“FEMA is starting to get reorganized and they’ll eventually be distributing food. It may be
a while, they couldn’t handle Katrina and this must be 1,000 times worse.”

“If you run low on 7.62, I have several cases of PPU 168gr match.”

“I wouldn’t mind having 168gr. What Dad gave me was 2,880 rounds of 147gr South Af-
rican. That stuff is accurate, but it sure isn’t match and the 1:11 rifling is perfect for
168gr.”

“Round for round swap?”

“Sure, give me a hand; a full ammo can of the South African is 1,260 rounds and the
empty cans go 10 pounds.”

“I’ll give you a full 1,000 round case of PPU and another 13 20 round boxes from the
same lot.”

“Wouldn’t have any 71gr .32ACP ball would you?”

“Not much; 2 50 round boxes. We use Walthers in .380.”

“PPKs?”

“Yes.”

“Dad always wanted one but never got one. Thanks for the swap, maybe I can shoot
tighter group with this ammo.” [Like <0.8 MOA at 500 yards with iron sights wasn’t good
enough.]

That’s the last we saw of the Sergeant. TOM and his family in California had bit the
dust. When I considered the probable weather, a low pressure system rotates counter-
clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and if a low passed through when Long Valley let
go, it would drag some of the dust to the southwest. The succeeding high pressure area
would be rotating clockwise and add to the effect by continuing the flow of dust to the
southwest. Even if they didn’t get much ash fall, the dust could have been debilitating.

Four months later when we were canning everything we could, a HMMWV pulling a
trailer pulled up and we received a 3 month allocation of staples, 30 pounds of ground
beef and 2 boxes of Speer 95gr .380 Lawman FMJ.

We divided the ground beef into 1 pound packages and put them in the freezer. The
staples were added to the STS in the shelter storeroom. Over supper that night, we de-

158
cided to drive up to Mountain Home the next day because Judy said we didn’t have to
harvest anything from the garden the next day. We agreed to carry the same arms we
had when we made distributions. For the heck of it, I planned to take the Remington 700
Model 40-XS Tactical Rifle system with the Surefire suppressor and ammo with us.

There was a new Sheriff in town, the former Chief Deputy and he liked to have a heart
attack when I gave them back their sniper rifle.

“How did you come by this rifle?”

“Eleven people attacked us at our acreage. We prevailed. One of the men was carrying
this rifle and I speculated that it was a Law Enforcement weapon. We had the day off
from gardening today and I decided to bring it in.”

“I notice you’re packing. Do you have carry permits?”

“Afraid not.”

“Let’s get your prints and I’ll issue you both permits. With things being as they are now,
County Sheriffs are issuing the permits rather than the State Police and the number of
handguns isn’t limited to 3.”

“We usually only carry 3 anyway, a .45ACP, 9mm and a .380ACP, 2 of which are con-
cealed.”

“Colt or Taurus, Browning and a Walther?”

“You read the book?”

“Nah; it’s just that those are the most popular. We’ve changed the permit process slight-
ly and in addition to you fingerprints, we’ll take mug shots and photocopies of your driv-
ers’ licenses. We’ll also give each you a notarized photocopy of your information just in
case you lose your wallet or purse. What do you have for firearms?”

“Two Tac-50s, 1 Tac-338, 3 M1A Supper Matches, 3 M1A Loadeds, 3 HK417s, 3

HK416s, 3 590A1s, 3 PT1911Bs, 1 M1911A1, 3 Browning Hi-Powers, 3 Walther PPKs
plus the 2 M1As we collected after the attack. We traded off 6 long arms… 2 PTR-91s,
2 AR-15s, 2 shotguns, 5 assorted handguns and 4 knives.”

“Gun collector?”

“Not really… retired with 37 years in the Army as a Command Sergeant Major. We ac-
quired what we knew would work and added to it when we got married.”

“Grenade launchers?”

159
“Yes, but less-than-lethal rounds.”

“Any chance we could call on you as an advisor if we run into something outside our
experience?”

“My DI told me to never volunteer.”

“Mine did too. Still, you have many years of experience in the higher NCO ranks I pre-
sume?”

“Over 14 years at the level of E-7 or higher. Ok, here’s my cellphone number. Give me a
call and if we can help, we’ll come.”

“Your wife too?”

“Ask her, not me.”

“I’ll come, circumstances permitting. While I’m canning, that will be iffy; after that, no
problem. And, I am as accomplished with my firearms as Rollin is with his. We have ex-
actly the same firearms with extras.”

“How about I make you both reserve deputies? That would eliminate any problems with
some of your equipment.”

“Aren’t we a little old for that?”

“Only about 4 years, but who is counting?”

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 World War Three – Chapter 15

If we wanted uniforms, we’d have buy our own from Propper, but they were optional be-
cause we were advisors with badges to make our illegal hardware legal. Mandated uni-
form was Men’s/Women’s Tactical Pant (Lightweight) with Men’s/Women’s Tactical
Shirt - Long Sleeve, all in black; optional badge tab included. Outerwear was PROP-
PER Defender™ Gamma Long Rain Duty Jacket with Drop Tail and the PROPPER De-
fender™ Halo I Long Hi-Vis Rain Jacket with Drop Tail was optional.

But we were advisers, not deputies and I dug out my MultiCams and we each had 3
complete uniforms, except for the tan rough-side-out boots. But then again we weren’t
US Army and we had a pair of tan smooth-side-out boots that fit Judy. We were close
enough in size, despite the difference in the male and female form, that Judy could take
a tuck here and there and get by just fine.

The Sheriff had provided badge cases of the type that bent back allowing one to slip the
badge case in the left shirt pocket when it was appropriate and or necessary to display
the badge. I even had two parkas in MultiCam, so we had cold weather gear. The gov-
ernment in its infinite wisdom had changed camouflage patterns post-Enduring Free-
dom and had gone to a pattern they owned to avoid paying Crye Precision. The pattern
called Scorpion W2, was developed in 2002 by Crye Precision using government fund-
ing. The government had dusted it off and decided on 3 patterns, Woodland, Transition-
al and Desert. http://www.hyperstealth.com/scorpion/index.html

Expensive items, like body armor, were planned to be produced in Transitional as they
would work with Woodland and Dessert and save the government big money. Congress
had mandated that all 5 services use the same camouflage. Since MultiCam was a
modified version of Scorpion, we could get along just fine. MultiCam was more suited to
Arkansas backgrounds than Afghanistan backgrounds, anyway.

The Sheriff had also had our vehicles fitted with mobile radios and issued us each a
handheld. We were instructed to wear the radios anytime we weren’t bathing or sleep-
ing because one never knew when something would come up requiring our advice.

After discussing it with Judy, I had a local welder fashion a second gun rack that mount-
ed behind the front seat of the crew cab and faced backwards. It held 7 long guns. Be-
tween the 2 racks, we could carry 2 M1As (SM), 2 HK416s, 2 HK417s, 2 shotguns and
2 Tac-50s in condition 1 for those times when the response called for immediate action.

Our first call up came in the middle of the night and it was for barricaded suspects. I
said what the heck and added 6 HEDP 40mm grenades and 2 M72A7 LAW rockets to
the toolbox. The barricaded suspects had night vision and the Sheriff’s Department’s
uniforms were shining beacons for the suspects. The deputies had already tried OC and
the suspects apparently had gas masks, because the OC didn’t force them out of the
detached garage where they were holed up.

161
The M72A7 is a rocket with low penetration, improved blast effect and uses an im-
proved launcher assembly. The LAW might be a better choice in this situation since it
would open a hole in the garage door. I explained it to the Chief Deputy on scene and
left the choice up to him.

“I was told you only had less-than-lethal grenades.”

“So, the HEDP slipped my mind. I didn’t want mention the rockets since they’re military
only.”

“Put a rocket into that door.”

“Yes sir.”

KA-BOOM

The blast effects put the 5 suspects on their hind ends and the deputies rushed the gar-
age, entering before the 5 suspects recovered. Mark down one for the good guys. It
caused a visit later that day by the Sheriff.

“What else do you have besides 40mm HEDP grenades and M72A7 rockets?”

“Forty millimeter Illumination and smoke grenades and more of the rockets.”

“How many?”

“How many what?”

“How many HEDP and M72A7s?”

“Started out with 4 containers of the HEDP grenades and 4 crates of the rockets. Used
one grenade against the attackers way back when and one rocket this morning.”

“I’m not familiar with how many units are in each package. How many do you have left?”

“One less of each.”

[72×4=288-1=287 and 4×15=60-1=59]

“That really doesn’t answer my question.”

“I know; but what I said was true. Let it lay Sheriff. If and when you need something le-
thal like the M433 or M72A7, you know who to contact. It’s a limited supply and we
would be ill-advised on wasting them on practice.”

“What if I got a search warrant and looked for them?”

162
“You wouldn’t find them.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Try me. Face it, we’re both in our late 60s and won’t live forever. Go along with us and
your department will inherit everything we have when we’re both gone. We think you’ll
be pleasantly surprised.”

“Ok.”

Like First Sergeant Ott suggested, FEMA finally showed up, or should I just call them
what they were, jackbooted thugs. They didn’t have any food, except at the ‘Relocation
Centers’. The centers were east of Mountain Home where the ash fall ‘wasn’t as bad’.
Un-huh, the ash fall wasn’t all that bad in Baxter County.

We loaded up all of Steve’s firearms and ammo and headed for Jonesboro; his day job
was a History Professor at ASU in Jonesboro, teaching Medieval History. We had one
heck of a time tracking him down because he lived in Lake City and the University was
on hiatus.

“You’re the folks from Mountain Home, aren’t you?”

“You remember; good. We came over to see you Sergeant because my friend Steve
died of radiation poisoning and I inherited his gun collection. We got a lot of pleasure
and an education reading TOM and Jerry stories. Since your father didn’t make it I de-
cided to give Steve’s gun collection to you, with the ammo.”

“My full name is Derek Spencer Ott but I go by Spence. What did he have?”

“Largest to smallest, a Tac-50A1R2, A Super Match, a M1A Loaded, a HK417, a

HK416, a 590A1, a PT1911B, a Browning Hi-Power, a Walther PPK in .380 and an in-
tegrally suppressed AWC Ruger Mark III Amphibian. A large supply of extra magazines
including 100 25 round CMI magazines for the M1As. You shouldn’t run out of ammo
and everything except the shotgun has a suppressor.”

“What kind of suppressors?”

“The Tac-50 has the Elite Iron and the other rifles, Surefire. The handguns all have
AWC.”

“Are the AWC the best?”

163
“I don’t know, but they seem to work and are what the dealer suggested so they’re ei-
ther the best or had the highest markup.”

“What the hook?”

“You get what we brought regardless. Do you have any influence with FEMA?”

“A little; sometimes they get in over their head and call on us for support. They giving
you trouble?”

“Not yet. By the way, do the designations M72A7 and M433 ring a bell?”

“What, no Mk 211MP?”

“We brought that; 26 cans, along with 16 cases of the 750gr Hornady AMAX match.
There are 19 M72A7s and 95 M433s you can pick up when you’re in our area.”

“I’ll talk to the Captain and suggest we go to Mountain Home and visit the guy in charge
of FEMA. No guarantees but if I can persuade the Captain to suggest we might withhold
support, FEMA might listen to him. I used to live in the area; first Gassville and then
Flippin. My ex-wife’s family is from Flippin.”

“Jolene?”

“No, Mary.”

TOM had mentioned Derek’s first wife, Jolene and his second wife, Mary. I’m sure
there’s a story there but he didn’t offer and we didn’t ask since it obviously wasn’t any of
our business.

Derek didn’t show up for a while and I didn’t really know how to construe the delay.
When he and his Captain did show up, the Captain was relaying orders from Brigade
level. His unit was part of the 142nd Fires Brigade which consisted of:

• Headquarters & Headquarters Battery

• 1st Battalion, 142nd Field Artillery Regiment (M270A1 MLRS)
• 2nd Battalion, 142nd Field Artillery Regiment (M109A6 Howitzer)
• 1st Battalion, 181st Field Artillery Regiment (HIMARS) (TN NG)
• 1st Battalion, 117th Field Artillery Regiment (M777 howitzer) (AL NG)
• F Battery, 142nd Field Artillery Regiment (Target Acquisition Battery)
• 142nd Signal Company
• 217th Brigade Support Battalion

164
Specifically, he was Top of F Battery, 142nd Field Artillery Regiment (Target Acquisition
Battery), the counter fire target acquisition unit. He was driving and the Captain was his
only passenger. They stopped by our acreage first and he and I loaded the ‘packages in
the trailer the HMMWV was towing. There were 3 ‘packages’, M72A7 LAWs, M433
40mm grenades and assorted hand grenades from smoke to fragmentation.

“Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, Sergeant Ott relayed your concerns. Rather than act on my
own, I took the matter up the chain to the Brigade Commander. We have heard of iso-
lated incidents around the state but no one actually stepped forward to raise the issue
before now. What can you tell us of what’s been happening?”

“That’s difficult Captain because we haven’t actually witnessed people being rounded
up and transported. However, after the volcanic events, Judy and I passed out provi-
sions we had collected from several area stores to people in Yellville, Summit, Flippin,
Cotter, Gassville and Mountain Home.

“From what we’ve seen, the first 5 communities no longer have any residents and the
population of Mountain Home is shrinking at an alarming rate. We found ourselves in
the position of becoming advisers to the Baxter County Sheriff, probably due to my mili-
tary background.”

“The First Sergeant said you retired as a Command Sergeant Major.”

“That’s right Captain, 37 years.”

“Why didn’t you stay for the 40?”

“I was due to reenlist to reach 40 and a rumor was making the rounds that we were go-
ing back to Afghanistan. I’d seen all of Iraq and Afghanistan I cared to see and figured it
would just my luck to get my hind end killed on my last enlistment, so I quit. Considering
what happened in the 2008 elections, it was the right choice.”

“We’re in contact with the Mountain and they’re sitting tight for the moment and running
the remaining government from that location. The war was very limited in scope, pri-
marily due to China having a limited number of nuclear weapons and our sinking 3 of
their 5 Jin-class subs.

“Yellowstone had been under careful observation for about 5 years but no one expected
Cascadia to subduct and trigger the Cascade Range, the San Andreas, Long Valley or
Yellowstone. We had a limited reaction on the New Madrid Seismic Zone due to the en-
ergy from Long Valley and Yellowstone being transmitted through the upper mantle.”

“Excuse me; lunch is ready if the two of you would like to join us for lunch. It’s nothing
special but it is home cooked,” Judy advised our guests.

165
We had a working lunch, with our sharing everything we knew about the local events.
The Captain indicated that he’d been directed by the Brigade Commander, a Bird Colo-
nel (O-6) to resolve the issue or radio for assistance and the Colonel would set FEMA
straight.

“Captain, Judy and I are Reserve Deputies and advisers to the Baxter County Sheriff.
Would it be ok if we tailed along in case those Jackboots get nasty?”

“Was your wife also in the Army?”

“No sir. I’m confident that she’ll pull her weight. What did the two of you bring for weap-
ons, M9s?”

“Exactly.”

“Would you prefer HK416s?”

“The civilian version?”

“The military version loaded with PPU match grade ammo and a dozen M433s each.”

“Know a Supply Sergeant?”

“I knew several. They weren’t the source of the H&K firearms. Yes or no?”

“Yes.”

“Sergeant, will you give me a hand loading magazines?”

“Be glad to Sergeant Major.”

As soon as we got to the shelter, Derek asked, “Are you nuts?”

“If FEMA does give the two of you problems, you’ll be glad you have the weapons.
Sometimes the mere presence of a firearm…”

“That’s from ‘The Armed Citizen’ in The American Rifleman. Dad had over 50 years
when the ash got him.

“Are you 100% sure they didn’t make it?”

“Actually no. They didn’t have gas masks or a bomb shelter, so it’s an educated guess.
Phone service has been restored to most of southern California and I haven’t been able
to reach them at any of the land lines or on their cellphones.”

“Don’t bury him until you see the body. Where would they head if they did survive?”

166
“Probably Lake City, he has my address.”

“You realize that most of the communications in that area go through Los Angeles, don’t
you? LA was hit so it could be nothing more them losing long distance.”

We didn’t bother with the bayonets because TOM had claimed in his stories that Derek
said, “If you’re close enough to use a bayonet, you’re too close.” They’d brought their
body armor so I didn’t offer them IOTVs. The Captain took my HK416 and Derek took
Judy’s HK417. I called the Sheriff on the radio and gave him a heads up and advised
him we’d be accompanying two Army representatives. The Sheriff said he’d round up
the man in charge of FEMA and have him in his office.

“Are you the man in charge of FEMA in the area?”

“I am; Seth Brown at your service.”

“I understand, Mr. Brown that you’re rounding up local residents and transporting them
to ‘Relocation Camps’.”

“That’s true. What concern is it of the Arkansas Army National Guard?”

“I’ve also been told that you’ve been relocating people who have no desire or need to
relocate.”

“Most of the people don’t know what they need.”

“This still America, Brownie. If they don’t want to go, you have no right to force them.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“By order of Colonel James Whitman, you are hereby ordered to cease and desist. Fail
to heed these orders and the Guard will arrest all FEMA employees in Arkansas and
advise the other states in Region VI to do the same. Furthermore, the Arkansas Army
National Guard will check out each ‘Relocation Center’ and release anyone being held
against their wishes, effective immediately”.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me.”

“Mr. Brown, my office full supports the National Guard in this matter. You aren’t per-
chance related to Michael D. Brown are you?”

167
“No, I am not. Why do you ask?”

“Oh nothing much, you just seem to have a lot in common with him. From this point for-
ward, the Baxter County Sheriff, my office or representatives of the Arkansas Guard will
supervise who you send to the ‘Relocation Center(s)’.”

“You’ll do no such thing! Our orders come from the very top.”

“Like anyone would believe that RP would issue orders that; Colonel Whitman checked
with the Mountain and FEMA Region VI has not been declared a disaster area. You are
without standing and I again order you to cease and desist.”

“Go to Hell!”

Mr. Brown turned on his heel and began to move off. The Captain called “Halt!” Mr.
Brown didn’t appear to have heard him. “First Sergeant, that man is escaping.”

Bang

“Not anymore Captain.”

“Sheriff, I’ll radio for backup from Fort Chaffee. Can you round up the FEMA people and
hold them until my troops arrive?”

“It would be my pleasure Captain. The FEMA Camp is over east on US 62 and north on
County Road 842. We’ll show you where when your people arrive.”

According to the map on my computer, FEMA has ~630 ‘Relocation Centers’ around the
US.

168
 World War Three – Chapter 16

World War Three and a lot of seismic activity added up to 2 major events. Derek’s father
claimed that bad things happened in 3s. Judy and I had brought that up earlier at differ-
ent times and if one counted the problems with FEMA, we’d had our 3. The Sheriff and
Captain seemed to think that the problem with FEMA was an effect of the second disas-
ter and not a disaster in and of itself. Sort of like Katrina was the disaster and someone
named Brown couldn’t handle the situation. Last I knew Michael D. Brown was a talk
show host for a radio station in Denver. That’s a good job for a lawyer. Is Denver still
there? Yes; but is Denver habitable?

With the passage of time, the government got caught up on my military pension pay-
ments and the grocery stores were restocked allowing us to fill in our STS foods. We
inventoried our LTS foods and came up with a list to fill. This time around, we rented a
diesel fueled Bob truck and a 1,000 gallon tanker to haul diesel fuel with us (from our
tank). Judy and I assumed the trip would take 10 days or more and asked the Sheriff if
someone could make pass by our place once or twice a day. They would, if they could.

We took a little bit of everything on the trip because the places we usually got our LTS
were buried under ash and we had to choose alternates. We didn’t go north and west,
we went south to Louisiana. There was a place there called Survival Unlimited and they
carried Mountain House and Nitro-Pak LTS foods. Even if they charged more, part of
the cost would be offset due to our lower fuel usage.

We had already replaced the grains in the pails so our principal interest was in replacing
the freeze dried food. They didn’t carry the Nitro-Pak Hungry Man MRE, but Nitro-Pak
was out of them more often than they had them in stock. Excluding the MREs, we got
everything on our list. That said I’m not sure the reduced fuel usage offset the going
price. But, we paid in cash and cash wasn’t all that popular in Arkansas. I can say that
because gold was above $2,500 an ounce. The government was still around, apparently
in the Mountain, if the Captain wasn’t lying.

We picked up some more ammo, too. Not that we needed it, but the PPU was pretty
good stuff and the price was right. They also had Carl Gustaf NATO 5.56×45 62grn
1,000rd can on 10 round strippers for $375 a can. Berden primed, but I don’t reload.

“You aren’t going to believe who showed up at my place,” First Sergeant Ott said.”

“Your father?”

“How’d you know?”

“Have you ever seen the John Wayne movie, Big Jake?”

169
“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Your father is a big John Wayne fan. The most repeated line in Big Jake was I thought
you were dead. You didn’t have any proof he was dead; the only evidence you had was
that you couldn’t reach him by phone. Did he like the Super Match?”

“He most certainly did. However he had to pass on the Tac-50 because he couldn’t pick
it up. So instead, he took a PT1911B, 590A1, HK416 and PPK.”

“All with silencers?”

“Yes. He only took 12 M433s because they go about ½ pound each. Someone in supply
came up with some of those old M61 grenades and made him a very happy man. He
doesn’t get around very well so we found one of the heavy duty wheelchairs rated at
600 pounds and added spare batteries, a gun rack and trailer to haul matériel. Oh, and
we rigged a canopy for shade.”

“Which rifle does he use as his primary rifle?”

“A Loaded M1A with iron sights and a suppressor. He also took the newer model 51663
Mossberg 590A1 with the OKC3S Marine bayonet. We couldn’t fill one request he had.”

“What was that?”

“Something about someone named Gunkid and an Assault Wheelbarrow. He settled for
a MICH helmet and IOTV with level IV plates.”

“Did they all make it?”

“Yep, all 6 and I have wall to wall people until they get a place rented.”

“I would think there would be many vacant homes.”

“There are, that’s not the problem. The problem is we can’t locate the owners.”

“Why would that be a problem? Your father was big on salvaging.”

“He is also big on taking only truly abandoned property as salvage. For example, if we
found homes with bodies that could be cleaned up, he’d go for it. Without bodies, he
says we have to assume the owners will return forcing them to move again. FEMA
made a pass through northeastern Arkansas and collected the bodies for burial as soon
as the ash began to thin; they didn’t mark the properties where they removed bodies
like they did after Katrina.”

“How old is he?”

170
“He was born 23Mar43, so he’s 76. He only has 2 plus years to achieve his personal
goal of outliving my grandfather.”

“Perhaps we’ll have the chance to prove his theory that bad things happen in 3s.”

“Damn, I sure hope not. He’s focused on the Middle East at the moment because on the
insurgents declaring a new Muslim Empire. He’s said he has a sinking feeling in his gut
that some guy named Grand58742’s prediction is correct. Since the 6 party talks with
Iran haven’t born fruit on the nuclear issue he’s asserting that an Islamic Union is being
formed to take out Israel. I haven’t had time to read the story he sent me titled Normal.
Check this picture of the new Caliphate out.”

“It gets better; on 29 June 2014, the militant Islamist group formerly known as the Islam-
ic State in Iraq and the Levant declared territories under its control in Iraq and Syria to
be a Caliphate, and demanded all Muslims pledge obedience to its leader, Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi, whom it referred to as Caliph Ibrahim.”

“But Iran is Shi’a, not Sunni and ISIS aka ISIL is Sunni.”

“He has more maps identifying Muslims by location in the same part of the world. The
first shows the distribution in the Middle East and Far East. The second shows the
worldwide Muslim distribution and the third shows the historic Caliphates. Dad is sug-
gesting that Grand58742 had it right and we’re going to have another World War along
more traditional lines, ergo, Islam against the world.”

“Do you agree with his assessment?”

“I think I do and if you consider the distribution of Sunni versus Shi’a, Iran is in for a rude
awakening.”

171
172
I realized that TOM was guessing. Given that, his record of guessing wasn’t all that bad.
He stayed tuned in to multiple news sources, including several English language foreign
news sources, when the internet was available. Several years back, he’d run a little
news series on Frugal’s. Here’s an excerpt:

SANTA MONICA, California (AP) – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to his

alma mater turned into an exercise in perseverance when virtually his every word was
accompanied by catcalls, howls and piercing whistles from the crowd.

Schwarzenegger’s face appeared to redden during his 15-minute commencement ad-

dress Tuesday to 600 graduates at Santa Monica College, but he ignored the shouting
as he recalled his days as a student and, later, his work as a bodybuilder and actor.

Ignore them, Arnold, they probably won’t vote for you anyway.

The last line or some variation appeared after each news article. So, he’s a smartass,
what else is new? One of the things I found to be interesting was his perseverance. He
wanted an M14 rifle from the time he first read about them in 1956 and pursued that
dream until he got one in 2006… 50 years later. The government paid $104 for the se-
lect fire version and he paid ~$1,750 (including sales tax) 50 years later for a semi auto
version with match barrel. $104.00 in 1956 had the same buying power as $770.82 in
2006. He bought 1; the government bought 1.5 million and didn’t pay sales tax. He said
the rifle was $1,599.00 plus sales tax of 8½% and the NCIS fee.

Did he get ripped? Well, that Loaded M1A he bought fired <0.8 MOA at 500 yards with
iron sights… so apparently not. Did I mention that was shooting using South African
surplus? Did I mention that First Sergeant Ott was the shooter? Remind me not to piss
him off.

It wasn’t really all that far to Jonesboro and Lake City lay just a few miles further east.
Judy and I discussed driving over just to meet TOM; however, we ultimately tabled the
idea because we didn’t want to get that far from home, again. I would have thought that
TOM would have selected the HK417 over the HK416 due to his favoring the
7.62×51mm cartridge. Although the HK417 was select fire, he apparently didn’t have
anything in 5.56×45mm, so his choice was logical to fill that niche.

World War IV had begun before World War III, given the timing of the events in the Far
East when compared to the events in the Middle East. The buildup to WW IV began,
again, on 18Dec10, while the events that led up to WW III may have commenced in
roughly the same time period but came to a head much faster. A major naval response
to the Far East began under Obama and ended shortly after his successor took office.
At that time US involvement was limited to a single Carrier Strike Group in the Middle
East and with most of the Pacific Carrier Strike Groups being deployed or on standby to

173
deploy to the Far East in response to Chinese claims concerning the China Sea and the
conflicts with the 6 nations mentioned previously.

Obama had threatened over the Ukraine and supplied funds to Syrian insurgents. For
its part, the Ukraine had embraced the European Union and Putin had backed off. He
went so far as asking the Duma to withdraw their consent to the presence of Russian
troops in the Ukraine. Like Obama, his concerns turned to the Middle East and with the
declaration of the new Caliphate, increased Russia’s support of Iran and Syria. Further,
he said not a word when Obama returned a small contingent of military personnel to
Iraq to protect the US Embassy and another group to work with the Shi’ite military of
Iraq under Nouri al-Maliki (Shi’a).

During the same timeframe, 2014, Hamas was pushing Israel, attacking with Iranian
supplied rockets and Israel was responding with increased bombing of targets in the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Further, to put a fine point to the escalating violence,
Israel had bombed Syrian targets near the Golan Heights.

The US had fought a 2 front war during the first decade of the 21 st Century in Afghani-
stan and Iraq and had been forced to withdraw from Iraq when the al-Maliki govern-
ment, after agreeing to the US–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement but declined a guaran-
tee of immunity from Iraqi courts, a concern for American commanders in the field who
also had to worry about the Sadrist response should troops stay and the general state
of Iraq’s readiness for transfer of power.

We found ourselves at that point in time of being 5 years after declaration of the new
Caliphate. The plans hadn’t followed the proposed timeline although they had pro-
gressed significantly. Africa had, for the most part, embraced the new Caliphate. The
Kurds were an entirely different story.

The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim, belonging to the Shafi school. There is also a
minority of Kurds who are Shi’a Muslims, primarily living in the Ilam and Kermanshah
provinces of Iran, Central and south eastern Iraq (Fayli Kurds). Mystical practices and
participation in Sufi orders are also widespread among Kurds.

The Alevis, usually considered adherents of a branch of Shi’a Islam with elements of
Sufism) are another religious minority among the Kurds, living in Eastern Anatolia. Ale-
vism developed out of the teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, a 13th-century mystic from
Khorasan. Among the Qizilbash, the militant groups which predate the Alevis and
helped establish the Safavid Dynasty, there were numerous Kurdish tribes. The Ameri-
can missionary Stephen van Renssalaer Trowbridge, working at Aintab (present Gazi-
antep) reported that his Alevi acquaintances considered as their highest spiritual lead-
ers an Ahl-i Haqq sayyid family in the Guran district. If nothing else, the Kurds are
skilled fighters. Saladin, a Kurd, defeated the Crusaders by forcing a truce.

174
TOM’s other concern, according to Derek, was the extent of the Muslim population in
the US. Relying on the 2010 census, TOM was claiming that though Muslims repre-
sented no more than 5 million people in the US, if one-tenth of one percent were from
the radical school, we had ~5,000 capable and willing to cause trouble for the remainder
of the population. A few bullets from a magnum caliber hunting rifle through a Hi-voltage
transformer could bring down the already shaky electrical grid.

TOM had been assigned the task of ‘protecting the home place’ and took to his duties
with a responsible attitude. The Sheriff wouldn’t give TOM a concealed carry permit so
the Walther was carried a little higher on his right leg and the weapons on his ‘combat
wheelchair’ were carried in condition 1. Because he had the trailer, he carried 3 bando-
leers of M433 40 mm grenades. He also followed the Field Manual guidelines for carry-
ing hand grenades in the pockets on his magazine pouches.

“Judy, I believe I agree with TOM’s assessment of the situation as outlined by his son.
We are in a build up to WWIV.”

“How long did the war with the Muslims last in Normal?”

“I’m not really sure. His daughter Hope was 4 years old the first time Thomas saw her
after he went to Europe to battle the Islamic Union.”

“Do you want to go to Lake City and discuss his views with him?”

“We’ve had this conversation before and decided not to make the trip. It would be just
our luck to have another earthquake on the New Madrid if we drove over there.”

“I am curious enough about one thing to justify the trip.”

“What might that be?”

“Does he really have Cowboy guns?”

“The Sergeant is due back in a few weeks; I’ll ask.”

We didn’t have Cowboy guns for two related reasons. We were pushing 70 and had
enough ammo that we should never run out before we died of old age. The US hadn’t
been invaded by armed forces since Pancho Villa hit Columbus, New Mexico in 1916.
During the 20th and 21st centuries, the invasions had been mostly limited to illegal al-
iens.

A few Muslims had tried to pass themselves off as Méxicans to infiltrate our southern
border and an unknown number pulled it off. They didn’t even try Canada due to the
significant Canadian and American Border Patrol agents. We had serious doubts that
these were Lion Claw teams. ISIS had a clear hold on Iraq and Syria and was attempt-

175
ing to take over Lebanon and Jordan. They had deferred any action against the Emir-
ates’ or Saudi Arabia.

Some of the other countries associated by the Arab Spring had fallen or were close to
falling under the control of ISIS included Tunisia, Egypt, Monaco, Sudan, Libya and
Bahrain. When RP had taken office, he had to deal immediately with World War III be-
tween China, Japan and the US plus the nuclear attacks against Washington and Bei-
jing. Then there were the seismic events in the western US.

Some of the ‘unaffected’ Middle East countries were considered US allies, including Is-
rael, Saudi Arabia and to a lesser extent The Emirates’ and even Yemen. At best any
effort the US troops provided Iraq was limited in scope due to the small number of
American troops involved. I wondered if things would have been different if the US
hadn’t invaded Iraq. Did we really win? In light of Arab Spring and subsequent events,
like ISIS, I think not. ISI merged with Syrian insurgents forming ISIL which was translat-
ed by many as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). Shortly thereafter, ISIS was re-
named the Islamic State.

That sounded a whole lot like Grand’s Islamic Union. As of 2010, over 1.6 billion or
about 23.4% of the world population were Muslims. There were Muslims in nearly every
country in the world. Even China, before WWIII, had its share of problems with Muslims.
Would that 23.4% of the world population be able to control the other 76.6% of the world
population? As much as I hate to steal a line, the answer is probably no… if things were
Normal. Things weren’t Normal because of WWIII and the North American seismic ac-
tivity.

We were, in fact, barely getting our feet back under us. Judy and I had it much better off
than most because we were grid independent and had more food stored than years of
life left. Moreover, we had the means to keep what we had in most circumstances. The
cabin gave away nothing about its construction to the casual viewer. While it wasn’t bul-
letproof, it came close.

It had more secrets than the US government. For example, the job foreman that said,
“Clever”, made a suggestion and I told him to go for it. After the soil was fully compacted
to about 7’ below the top of the block, pedestrian underpasses were installed; 2 on the
Franklin Stove end. One below the beginning of the ramp and 4 on each side. They
were connected and led to another (locked) Swiss Blast door in the side of the ramp.
The tunnels each led to a small gun port allowing me and whoever was with me to de-
fend the cabin since one couldn’t shoot through the cabin walls.

If a person examined the cabin floor closely, the section of floor that lifted to give access
to the ramp could be identified. When we were in the shelter, deadbolts held the floor
section closed and the movable metal strap was turned downward; otherwise one simp-
ly pulled up on the movable metal strap to begin the opening process. The floor section
was partially counterbalanced and it really wasn’t hard to lift, maybe 30-40 pounds.
Surely something had been missed, if one were to believe TOM.

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ISIS was renamed the Islamic State and the new Caliph was designated as Ibrahim
Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai. His name was Ibrahim ibn Awwad ibn Ibrahim
ibn Ali ibn Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai and his nom de guerre Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi. On 4Oct11, the US State Department listed al-Baghdadi as a Specially Des-
ignated Global Terrorist and announced a reward of $10 million for information leading
to his capture or death. He earned a master’s degree and a PhD in Islamic studies from
the University of Islamic Sciences in the Baghdad suburb of Adhamiya. Only Ayman al-
Zawahiri (the Egyptian physician), chief of the global al-Qaeda organization, merits a
larger reward ($25 million).

Prominent Sunni Muslim scholar Yusef al-Qaradawi said that the declaration of an Is-
lamic caliphate by jihadists fighting the governments in Syria and Iraq violates sharia
law. Which brings to mind a question… does it matter what Yusef al-Qaradawi thinks if
the Islamic State gains total power?

If I recall one of TOM’s early stories, he mentioned being moved to California by the Io-
wa Department of Revenue and looking for housing in Pasadena. His friend Paul Jack-
son was along and advised him he was looking in the wrong neighborhood when Paul
observed that the neighbors were all Muslims. He took an apartment in Panorama City,
which was a Hispanic area and had a neighbor who was deported for being a member
of MS-13. Perhaps that explains his claim that having bad luck is better than having no
luck at all. They moved to Palmdale when all the large vacant lots had apartment build-
ings moved in to low income Hispanic housing.

177
 World War Three – Chapter 17

Although I didn’t ask, I’d be willing to bet that TOM/Derek had at least 5,000 rounds of
PPU match 7.62×51mm in 168gr and 175gr and the like number of rounds in
5.56×45mm M885. If the rule of like father, like son applied, they also had 2,000 rounds
per handgun except the Walther/Sauer and 2,000+ rounds of 12 gauge. I would further
guess that the 168gr was a mix of FMJ and soft point and the 175gr was BTHP. He’s
pretty consistent on his choice of ammunition.

Unlike Normal, the triggering events were totally different. Six nukes were exploded in
the US in Normal, while the number of strikes during WWIII was higher, but primarily
counter-force as opposed to counter-value. We got only a little of radiation from Okla-
homa City, the strike upwind of our location. And when the volcanoes let loose we had
less than the anticipated amount of ash.

We did set 2 6” pipes in concrete at the entrance to the acreage and string a heavy duty
log chain to bar vehicle entrance. The chain was Transport Chain Grade 70 5/16” × 25’
Standard Link chain. We were safe against pickups if nothing else. We also added PIR
sensors, the hard wired version, to pick up people walking around the gate. That Radio
Shack 102dB Piezo Siren would wake the dead. There were 2 sirens, one in our bed-
room and one in the shelter, wired in parallel.

Most of what went on in the Middle East escaped notice of those of us focusing on the
Far East. It was only after WWIII and the seismic activity that the focus shifted to the
Middle East. To be honest, it was a sometimes thing because news was hard to come
by. We had been battered and or participated in the two actions in the first decade. Fur-
thermore, Afghanistan turned into the longest war the US was engaged in, running from
2002 through 2014. Iraq had lasted 7 years with a forced conclusion by Nouri al- Maliki.
This ultimately led to ISI to ISIL to ISIS to IS, our current concern.

Before the World War, the US was probably the most informed nation on Earth. There
were the Big 3, ABC, CBS and NBC. There were the newcomers, CNN, HNN, Fox,
CNBC and MSNBC who fought for their slice of the pie. It was the age of Television
Network News combined with Cable Network News. If one didn’t agree with the com-
mentator on a particular issue, change the channel. When I wanted International News,
I went to the Internet and brought up CNN’s International Edition or an English language
version of major news organizations from around the globe.

Sometimes I spent half a day comparing the various versions of an event to get a glim-
mer of the truth, because everyone was a spin doctor. Post Yellowstone, things
changed when news was hard to come by and the Internet was down.

The news today was my 70th birthday present when the Sheriff came by to collect our
badges. Strangely he said nothing about our illegal weapons and told us we were both

178
on call as advisers. Beats a sharp stick in the eye; and speaking of eyes, we both had to
get lens replacements because our old eyes had the beginnings of cataracts and lost
the ability to change focus. God bless modern medical technology, the replacement
lenses were imbedded progressive lenses and took some getting used to. The medical
treatment included a pair of Oakley sunglasses which we were advised to wear when-
ever we were outside during daylight.

Breaking news on the Ham net – IS has invaded Turkey, a NATO member.

Some Hams on the East Coast picked up broadcasts either in Arabic or Turkish or both.
It seemed that IS had invaded Turkey along the same route the US was denied use of
to invade Iraq in 2003. Well, I suppose turnabout is fair play. I hope that IS realizes that
they’re in the heart of Kurdistan and the Kurds are nothing if not vicious fighters. The
main Kurdish opposition group PYD and its armed branch YPG have been battling Al-
Nusra Front and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant since 2012. Committees for the
Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG) expelled Al-Nusra Front and ISIS members
from the strategic town of Ras al-Ain in Hasaka province and have fought them in
northern Raqqa province in July 2013.

Then again, Saladin (Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb) is never around when he’s really
needed. TOM says The Cold War Never Ended and the Muslims claim The Crusades
Never Ended. Perhaps this little military action will settle both for all time and forever.
Yeah right, only when one side wins decisively. However, Russia taking an interest in
the Iranian nuclear issue as well as taking an interest in the new Islamic State is heart-
warming news. Furthermore Putin’s 2014 reversal of his position on the Ukraine really
helped. Maybe Putin is like most Americans and simply doesn’t like Obama, the most
unpopular president since World War Two.

What’s wrong with the previous assertion is that for all practical purposes, the Muslims
won the Crusades and are holding a grudge against Europe for ever starting them to
begin with. The battle is between Christianity as represented by the Roman Catholic
Church and the various branches of Islam. And as the conflict in the Middle East points
out, not all the branches of Islam are in agreement.

“Rollin, is the invasion of Turkey by IS a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Probably a bad thing because if they conquer Turkey, that advances them into the Eu-
ropean Continent. Turkey lies both in Europe and Asia.”

“You’ve been following this closer than I have, what’s it all about?”

“In simplest terms the difference between various branches of Islam. With that resolved
the ongoing desire for revenge for the Great Crusades. Islam won’t be happy until the
other 76.6% of the world embraces Islam.”

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“How can we keep up with what’s happening over there?”

“Most of the major news networks haven’t recovered from the war or seismic activity so
it’s going to be difficult. My best guess is probably from the Ham net. The east coast is
only 1 hour ahead of us in time and if hams spread the word on the net, we should know
something within an hour or two.”

“Someone is at the gate intercom, you get it Rollin.”

“This is Smoke, help you?”

“Smoke, Derek. I brought someone to meet you.”

“I’ll be right down to unlock the padlock and drop the chain.”

The guest was an old man. It looked like he used a haircutter without attachments to cut
his hair; he was buzzed all the way. Maybe 5’4, 125-30 and he hobbled, using a Hurry-
Cane. He wore moccasins with no socks, light blue stretch jeans, tight in the waist and
loose in the ass, and a polo shirt about 2 sizes too large. His head was topped with the
grungiest straw hat I’ve ever seen; the sucker needed an oil change 20 years back. It
was obviously Derek’s dad Gary.

“Tired Old Man?”

“Only since 2004, but I was the first one to use the name.”

“I’m pleased to meet you. My name is Rollin James Reynolds but I go by Smoke. Come
on in and meet my wife Judy.”

“I hear you got Folgers. I’d kill anyone you want for a can of Folgers. Add a few cartons
of Kool’s 100s and I’ll take out the whole family.”

“How about 24 cans of Folgers and 60 cartons of Kool’s?”

“I don’t have any nukes.”

“That’s a gift for what you’ve given us.”

“Hell, that’s more money than I got from selling 199 CD’s.”

“Did Jerry make it?”

“Don’t know but I think so; his older brother, Terral, lives in Winnemucca.”

“How old is he?”

180
“He’s 10 years and 3 months younger than me. He was born on July 3, 1953. His story
Bugging Home is semi-autobiographical; it was Jerry and his father clearing out the old
storm shelter.”

“We’ve read everything either of you have published. I’m a fan of most of the firearms
you like.”

“How did you come up with an extra set?”

“Those weren’t mine originally. They belonged to a friend named Steve who chose to
leave the shelter too early.”

“That’s a heavy door and these walls must be just shy of 2 foot thick; bulletproof?”

“Bullet resistant.”

“Cold rolled steel?”

“Only the doors; the walls have 2 layers of 1¼” Lexan.”

“The ballistic stuff?”

“Yes.”

“Each layer has NIJ rating of 4?”

“Yep.”

“Won’t block a .50BMG or a 40mm M433.”

“Right.”

“Shelter below the cabin?”

“Yep.”

“I won’t pry anymore, I was just speculating on what I was seeing.”

“TOM, meet Judy, my wife; Judy, Tired Old Man.”

“TOM, do you really have Cowboy guns?”

“We have enough to ‘go around’ and it includes Marlin Cowboy rifles in .45 Colt and .45-
70, all shooting ‘full power’ loads or reloads. The revolvers are Ruger pre-2006 Vaquer-

181
os. The 7½” is carried in a single holster and the 5½” and 4⅝” carried in a double
crossdraw rig. Kirkpatrick Leather Company, Laredo, Texas.”

“Laredo Bowie?”

“One for each rig plus a tomahawk and 24” Latin Machete for each person. We picked
them up in Phoenix on our way east. I couldn’t get into McMillan; they have better doors
than you do. God does that coffee taste good. Bum a smoke?”

“Here’s my pack; help yourself. Derek, come with me and we’ll haul the coffee and ciga-
rettes upstairs.”

Back in the Prologue, there was a reference to: According to the Navy, it was the first
exercise of its new Fleet Response Plan (FRP), the purpose of which was to enable the
Navy to respond quickly to an international crisis. Here’s an excerpt:

TRANSFORMATION IN OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS – ENHANCED

EMPLOYABILITY

“Our security will require transforming the military…a military that must be ready to
strike at a moment’s notice in any dark corner of the world.”

– President George W. Bush, 1 June 2002

The demands of the Global War on Terrorism have underscored the need for forces that
can quickly be deployed to any “dark corner of the world,” and arrive ready for the entire
range of combat operations. The forward expeditionary nature and rapid surge capabil-
ity of the Navy - Marine Corps Team combine to make our Services ideally suited to
meet these challenges by providing combat-ready forces nearly anywhere in the world,
by projecting decisive power with sea-based forces, and by enabling the rapid arrival of
transformed combat-ready forces from other Services and Agencies. We are transform-
ing the methods by which we organize and train, deploy, and employ naval forces to
enhance our ability to rapidly transition across the continuum from peacetime deter-
rence operations to major combat operations. The Global Concept of Operations was
developed to guide our planning to distribute naval striking power simultaneously to a
greater number of locations, deterring aggression, providing immediate response, and
setting conditions for the rapid deployment of additional forces. A number of innovative
initiatives are being developed to increase the employability of the various elements of
the naval force. Seamless Scalability of our Marine Air-Ground Task Forces (MAGTFs)
will allow us to more rapidly close and combine additional forces, increasing operational
tempo and seizing early opportunities for Joint Force Commanders. Interwoven combi-
nations of transformed forward-deployed, pre-positioned, and surge capabilities will
support Joint Forcible Entry Operations by leveraging the speed and mobility gained by
our control of the maritime domain.

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A. Global Concept of Operations

The Navy and Marine Corps met the challenges of the Cold War by deploying in Carrier
Battle Groups and Amphibious Ready Groups, which carry Marine Expeditionary Units
(Special Operations Capable), both supported by the Combat Logistics Force and sup-
plemented by the Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF). Now we are transforming that
force to meet the challenges of the Global War on Terrorism by implementing a new
Global Concept of Operations.

To support the forward deterrent and rapid response requirements of today and tomor-
row, new organizational constructs such as the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) and Expedi-
tionary Strike Group (ESG) are being instituted as key components of the global inte-
grated naval force. Organizing naval deployments around ESGs and CSGs will increase
the number of independently employable naval strike groups that provide Regional
Combatant Commanders with greater operational freedom and scalable joint response
options. In the far term, forward naval operating forces will be organized into an Expedi-
tionary Strike Force (ESF), elements of which will train together to ensure readiness for
a wide range of contingencies. The ESF will consist of CSGs, ESGs, and Maritime
Prepositioning Groups (MPGs). The ESF can be enhanced with the introduction of for-
cible entry-capable Marine Expeditionary Brigades in combination with in-theater as-
sets. The ESF will bring complementary capabilities to Air Force Air and Space Expedi-
tionary Task Forces, Army Future Forces, and Joint Special Operations Forces for inte-
grated joint operations across the spectrum of conflict.

B. Fleet Response Plan

The requirement to be able to swiftly defeat aggression in overlapping conflicts called

for in the 2001 QDR has necessitated a focus on developing new surge capabilities to
complement and capitalize on our current competency in providing immediately em-
ployable forward-deployed naval forces. The recently created Fleet Response Plan
(FRP) will significantly increase the rate at which we can augment deployed forces as
contingencies require. Under the regular rotation approach, the training, manning,
maintenance, and readiness funding practices of the Inter-Deployment Readiness Cycle
(IDRC) were optimized to meet the requirements of Global Naval Forward Presence
Policy. While a modest number of forward deployed units were at peak readiness, the
majority of ships and associated units were not deployed and thus at a point in their
IDRC that made it difficult and expensive to swiftly “surge” to a crisis, conflict or for
Homeland Defense.

The FRP features a change in readiness posture that institutionalizes an enhanced

surge capability for the Navy. Under the guidance of Commander Fleet Forces Com-
mand (CFFC), a revised IDRC is being developed that meets the demand for a more
responsive force. With refined maintenance, modernization, manning and training pro-
cesses, as well as fully-funded readiness accounts, the Fleet can consistently sustain a
level of at least 6 surge-capable carrier strike groups, with two additional strike groups

183
able to deploy within approximately 90 days of an emergency order. In parallel with this,
the Naval Reserve Force is embarked on a fully integrated active-reserve transfor-
mation to a more flexible unit structure. Part of this transformation is focused on provid-
ing a rapid surge capability of skilled aviators who have trained with active-duty units to
reinforce them and rapidly boost their ability to generate combat sorties.

C. Flexible Deployment Concept

The enhanced and expanded readiness availability delivered by the Fleet Response
Plan provides the President with unprecedented responsiveness. Instead of predictable,
lock-step, 6-month deployments to pre-determined regions in support of the Global Na-
val Forward Presence Policy, the Flexible Deployment Concept allows units that have
attained high readiness to embark on deployments of varied duration in support of spe-
cific national priorities such as Homeland Defense, multi-national exercises, security
cooperation events, deterrent operations, or prosecution of the Global War on Terror-
ism…often in multi-Carrier Strike Group formations. These deployments provide “pres-
ence with a purpose” and can also occur in less predictable patterns, thereby forcing
potential adversaries to adjust to our operational timelines. The sustained readiness
created via the Fleet Response Plan will enable the Flexible Deployment Concept.

Flexible Deployment Concept implementation will occur under the emerging Joint Pres-
ence Policy. Naval implementation of these new presence requirements will be carefully
monitored to ensure that schedules and OPTEMPO standards are adhered to so that
our unprecedented force levels will not result in uncertainties for our sailors or allies.

D. Enhanced Networked Seabasing

The recent Navy-Marine Corps concept for Enhanced Networked Seabasing (ENS), a
subordinate operating concept that supports the NOC, provides a vision for how the na-
val Services will use more employable naval forces to provide Joint Force Commanders
(JFCs) with the ability to project and sustain multi-dimensional power from the sea.
Recognizing that the declining number of overseas bases, and the uncertain degree of
future of host nation support, ENS exploits the strategic, operational, and tactical mobili-
ty available to those who control the sea. More than just a collection of platforms, it is a
new way of projecting, employing, and sustaining expeditionary naval forces to support
and enhance the enduring missions of the naval Services: sea control, deterrence, for-
ward presence, and power projection. ENS provides a “place” for increasingly employa-
ble naval forces to surge “to”, whether they are supporting theater security cooperation
efforts and the demands of the Global War on Terror or conducting Major Combat Op-
erations. The sea base will integrate: Joint Command and Control capabilities; Expedi-
tionary Strike Groups, Marine Expeditionary Brigades, Carrier Strike Groups, Maritime
Prepositioning Forces, Combat Logistics Forces; and emerging high-speed sealift and
lighterage technologies. Reflecting the synergy achieved through the use of combined
arms, ENS will concentrate the many technical improvements in naval warfighting sys-
tems and networked naval forces – both current and future. Enhanced Networked Sea-
basing enables forward deterrence and assures access from the sea for the joint force

184
without dependence on static land bases, ports or airfields in the Joint Operations Area
(JOA). Like the NOC, ENS also demonstrates the ability of the Navy – Marine Corps
Team to develop and pursue a common vision that enables and exploits the capabilities
being developed by the other Services and Agencies.

E. Streamlined MAGTF Scalability

Recent operations including ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM reaffirmed

the scalability and tailorability of our MAGTFs. The ability to rapidly combine Marine
forces from around the world under a single commander provides joint warfighters with
a powerful operational advantage, one that enables the potential of other joint capabili-
ties. As the Navy – Marine Corps Team pursues innovative methods such as Seabasing
to support the JOCs, however, we are working to speed the seamless blending of Ma-
rine Corps units from around the globe as crises demand. The ability to more rapidly
fuse MAGTFs from in-and out-of theater along with integrated naval tactical aviation and
other elements of the flow-in echelon to support our single battle concept will require
careful consideration of our MAGTF training and readiness cycles. The experimentation
campaign SEA VIKING 04 is being developed in part to help support key decisions and
strategies to support this goal. Along with the Navy’s transformation in the operational
availability of our ESGs and CSGs, streamlined scalability of our MAGTFs will provide
Joint Force Commanders with superior strategic agility by more rapidly and effectively
integrating forward-deployed, pre-positioned, and surge forces.

F. Maritime Contribution to Joint Forcible Entry Operations

Building on the Global Concept of Operations, the Fleet Response Plan, and the Flexi-
ble Deployment and Enhanced Networked Seabasing concepts, maritime Joint Forcible
Entry Operations (JFEO) forces provide flexible and adaptable warfighting capabilities,
staying power, and self-sufficiency that are uniquely tailored for creating opportunities
for early-entry capabilities of other joint and coalition forces. The capabilities required to
execute Forcible Entry – providing strategic agility, operational reach, and tactical flexi-
bility- will also allow new methods for conducting a wide range of operations across the
spectrum of conflict. In addition, the utilization of naval forces in these types of contin-
gencies enables a compressed timeline for planning and movement.

The naval concepts for maritime JFEO support parallel – vice sequential – execution of
all phases of forcible entry with a shortened time of response. They provide for the sim-
ultaneous defeat of a multi-dimensional threat without in-theater host nation support.
These concepts enable a rapid, scalable, pre-emptive Joint Forcible Entry capability,
tailored to the threat and mission. By the 2015 time frame, naval forces employing
ESGs, CSGs, Amphibious Forces, and MPF (Future)-equipped MPGs will provide the
sea-based assets required to ensure dominance across the joint operating area, and
compress the timeline for assembling a MEB to 7-14 days. This concept will transform
naval forces’ ability to conduct forcible entry and will preclude the adversary’s integra-
tion of his anti-access capabilities against joint and coalition efforts.

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TRANSFORMATIONAL CAPABILITIES

The Navy and Marine Corps are working in a synergistic fashion to transform the capa-
bilities in each of the Naval Operational Concept’s Naval Capability Pillars: Sea Shield,
Sea Strike, Sea Base, and FORCEnet.

A. Sea Shield

The Navy – Marine Corps Team will provide the naval defensive capabilities that will
enable the joint force to operate effectively despite adversary efforts to deny theater ac-
cess to US forces. Sea Shield will extend precise and persistent naval defensive capa-
bilities not only throughout large maritime areas, but also deep overland to protect joint
forces and allies ashore. We will achieve these goals by exploiting global sea control to
defeat enemy area denial/anti-access threats including aircraft, missiles, small littoral
surface combatants, mines, and submarines; as well as terrorist and asymmetric
threats, both in CONUS and abroad. The sections that follow discuss transformational
concepts and capabilities being pursued within the Sea Shield mission capability areas
of air and missile defense, undersea warfare, anti-surface warfare, and force protection.

1. Air and Missile Defense (AMD)

Key Elements of Transformational Improvements in Air and Missile Defense. Transfor-

mational efforts in air and missile defense focus on two areas: the initial deployment of
sea-based ballistic missile defense capability, and dramatically improved and integrated
air and cruise missile defenses. Efforts in ballistic missile defense will provide a com-
pletely new sea-based capability. This transformational capability will greatly expand the
options of the Joint Force Commander for protecting forward-deployed US and coalition
forces as well as key host nation targets from missile-borne chemical, biological, radio-
logical, nuclear, and high-explosive (CBRNE) weapons, while also supporting homeland
defense ballistic missile defense operations. Naval air defense efforts will provide the
existing sea-based system with far greater capabilities against a broader range of tar-
gets and under a wider spectrum of circumstances by integrating both Navy and Marine
Corps systems to extend protection to naval, joint, and coalition forces at sea and
ashore. Together, these capabilities will enable projection from the sea of a highly effec-
tive air and missile defense umbrella that reaches over the horizon and deep inland, ex-
tends from ground level to the exo-atmosphere, and defends against multiple types of
aircraft, ballistic and cruise missile threats.

AMD Transformational Concepts and Capabilities – Near – and Mid-Term (2005-

2015).

Theater Air and Missile Defense (TAMD), the ability to shoot down hostile aircraft and
cruise missiles, will be based upon the participation of US, allied and coalition air de-
fense elements at sea and ashore to effect improved defensive response times, more
rapid and effective sensor-weapon-target pairings, and long-range engagement of
threats. The Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) and the Marine Corps’

186
CEC-based Composite Tracking Network (CTN), including a new “backbone” of joint
common tracking algorithms, will fuse radar data across the battleforce, creating a
common network of sensors and weapons that extends the naval air defense capability
over sea and shore. These advances will also reduce requirements for airborne Defen-
sive Counter Air (DCA) patrols, thus freeing sorties for offensive operations, enhancing
naval platforms’ ability to deliver precise offensive effects.

The AEGIS mid-course intercept BMD system, slated for deployment at the end of the
decade, is designed to destroy theater-range ballistic missile re-entry vehicles while
they are moving through the exo-atmosphere. AEGIS BMD-capable ships will be linked
to a network of airborne, space- and land-based sensors and directed by a highly re-
sponsive command and control system. Leveraging the inherent ability of naval forces
to operate with sovereignty in international waters, these ships will provide detection,
command and control, and engagement capability throughout the battle-space against
theater-range ballistic missiles. In the near term, AEGIS combatants, deployed in the
right place at the right time, will also provide early surveillance and track data on longer-
range ballistic missiles that endanger the United States to the Ballistic Missile Defense
System (BMDS) for potential engagement by ground-based, mid-course interceptors.

The Navy – Marine Corps Team is working with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA),
which assumed responsibility for development of all ballistic missile defenses in January
2002, to develop and field a ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) for protection of
the US homeland by 2004. The objective of this system, which is being developed in
accordance with National Security Presidential Directive 23 (NSPD-23), signed by Pres-
ident Bush in November 2002, is to protect the United States and her allies from the
threat of long-range ballistic missiles. The Navy is working with the MDA to accelerate
deployment of the sea-based element of this capability as part of the Initial Defensive
Operations (IDO) capability in October 2004.

The Navy and MDA are working together to provide engagement solutions against bal-
listic missiles at a variety of altitudes and phases of flight – including a sea-based sys-
tem, which is designed to intercept longer-range missiles while they are in midcourse
flight. Progress in this effort – recently re-named the AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense
System – has included a series of test flights in which a missile launched by a Navy
cruiser at sea hit its targets on three out of four occasions. With respect to lower-
altitude, endo-atmospheric ballistic missile intercepts, MDA is currently planning a se-
ries of experiments, beginning in 2003, to assess sea-based terminal BMD solutions, as
part of a range of alternative means to fulfill this mission requirement.

The Navy, in conjunction with the Joint Staff and MDA, is also exploring a sea-based
terminal missile defense capability. It is currently conducting a study of the requirements
and options to develop a capability to defend American and allied forces in areas requir-
ing a protected footprint against TBMs, particularly where land-based TBMD options are
restricted. It is anticipated that the study will be followed by creation of a roadmap for
developing the sea-based terminal defense capability through the integration of existing
technology and future capabilities, as they become available.

187
Detect/Track. In addition to incorporating joint and national air and missile defense ca-
pabilities, the Navy and Marine Corps are working toward a transformational capability
to detect and track threat aircraft and cruise missiles at significantly longer ranges using
integrated airborne, sea-based and land-based sensors. While part of this capability de-
rives from new sensors and platforms, much of the synergy in detection and tracking
accrues from the ability to share and leverage sensor data through a Single Integrated
Air Picture (SIAP), which is made possible by extensive sensor networking. Joint devel-
opment and acquisition of other systems, joint development and implementation of new
tactics, techniques and procedures that take advantage of the newest technologies, and
joint training on these new technologies will speed transformation and ensure its long-
term success.

As part of Naval Integrated Fire Control – Counter Air (NIFC-CA), the E-2C Advanced
Hawkeye (AHE), equipped with an ADS-18 radar and Space-Time Adaptive Processor
(STAP), will significantly improve our ability to detect and track air and cruise missile
threats in difficult overland and littoral environments. Cueing from the E-2C AHE will im-
prove the detection and tracking capability of the Active Electronically Scanned Array
(AESA) radar, installed in the F/A-18E/F fighter and the Joint Strike Fighter. In recogni-
tion of the important contribution of the E-2C Advanced Hawkeye, the Navy is examin-
ing adding in-flight refueling to the E-2C to increase the persistence of its surveillance
capability and remove the potential need for performing handovers during critical stages
of an engagement. Through CEC and CTN, the AHE radar data will be fused with other
naval force air surveillance sensors such as the next-generation AEGIS SPY radar,
VSR on the DD(X), the new CG(X) solid-state radar, and USMC Multi-Role Radar Sys-
tem (MRRS) to create a SIAP.

The MRRS is designed to be the first land-based sensor ashore. The High mobility Mul-
ti-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) mounted radar will possess the mobility required to keep
pace with supported maneuver elements to fill gaps in naval Air and Missile Defense
coverage created by extended littoral operations. The MRRS is transportable by CH-53
or MV-22. It will provide cueing information for the Complementary Low Altitude Weap-
ons System (CLAWS), Stinger MANPADS and Avenger. The radar will provide detec-
tion and tracking of small radar cross-section cruise missiles and Unmanned Aerial Ve-
hicles.

The Marine Corps AN/TPS-59 (V) 3 long range air surveillance radar tracks theater bal-
listic missiles and calculates their launch points and impact points and forwards this in-
formation to joint command centers and weapon systems. The AN/TPS-59 (V) 3 will be
replaced by the Highly Expeditionary Long Range Air Surveillance Radar (HELRASR),
which will provide air surveillance of TBMs with increased of battlefield mobility com-
pared to the AN/TPS-59 (V) 3.

The Common Aviation Command and Control System (CAC2S) will provide real-time
shared awareness of the joint battlespace and provide commanders and weapons con-
trollers with intuitive decision aids. The ultimate advantage of CAC2S is its expedition-

188
ary packaging and modular application that allows commanders the flexibility to employ
CAC2S from the sea base, ashore, and aboard airborne platforms. The shared aware-
ness of the enemy, friendly and non-combatant situation, coupled with decision aids and
collaboration tools, will increase the speed of command and decision making in a time
competitive environment.

The AEGIS SPY-1 radar will serve as the foundation of the Navy’s ability to detect and
track ballistic missile threats. In the near term, planned upgrades to this radar will en-
hance its detection and discrimination capabilities for effectively performing the BMD
mission. Over the longer term, the advanced solid-state radar to be deployed with
CG(X) will provide even greater power, sensitivity and discrimination to enable sea-
based detection and tracking to keep pace with the evolving ballistic missile threat.

Decide/Task/Relay. The networking of sensors, command and control elements, attack

platforms, and weapons to share information in real time to increase the speed of com-
mand and decision making will be realized through upgrades to CEC/CTN and the field-
ing of the SIAP. Advanced BMD command and control systems are being developed for
joint theater and homeland defense by the MDA. CAC2S will provide real-time shared
awareness of the joint battlespace and provide commanders and weapons controllers
with intuitive decision aids. The ultimate advantage of CAC2S is its expeditionary pack-
aging and modular application that allows commanders the flexibility to employ CAC2S
from the sea base, ashore, and aboard airborne platforms.

The Office of Naval Research is sponsoring the Advanced Multifunction Radio Frequen-
cy Concept to investigate the feasibility of developing a system with a common set of
radio frequency apertures whose function would be determined by software. This sys-
tem could integrate and simultaneously support multiple beams for radar, electronic
warfare (EW) and communications functions. Replacing legacy disparate radar, EW and
communications system would have significant impact on the physical design of ships
allowing them to be made more stealthy and efficient, and would reduce the number of
independent logistic support chains needed for sustainment of the systems.

Engage/Attack/Assess. In the near-to-midterm, naval initiatives will provide a number

of new weapons and platforms for engaging air targets from the air, from the sea, and
from ground-based platforms.

Air-to air engagements will be conducted by an upgraded version of the Advanced Me-
dium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). A pre-planned product improvement (P3I) to
AMRAAM will provide the missile with improved kinematics, as well as GPS and en-
hanced data-link capabilities.

New naval aircraft such as the stealthy Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will increase our ability
to provide air defense at extended ranges and over extended durations. JSF will also
include software systems that enable the aircraft to participate as both sensors and
shooters in the new integrated air defense. Similarly, upgrades to the weapons control

189
systems for F/A-18 will enable these aircraft to fully support collaborative air defense
engagements.

In addition to air defense from aviation platforms, the Navy is developing a new surface-
to-air missile, the ship-launched Extended Range Anti-Air Missile (ERAM). In the future
Joint Integrated Fire Control Architecture, this new ship-launched missile will be fully
capable of conducting over-the-horizon engagements to its maximum kinematic range
against manned/ and unmanned aircraft, cruise missiles flying over the land and the
sea, and short range TBMs.

The Marine Corps’ CLAWS integration within the NIFC-CA architecture allows for en-
gagements of cruise missile threats attacking deployed ground forces and assets
ashore via netted and shared E2-C sensor data. When deployed ashore, CLAWS ex-
tends the battlespace by providing the joint force additional overland cruise missile de-
fense capability. CLAWS, provides the speed and flexibility required for enhanced air
defense capabilities in the execution of Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare.

For BMD, the achievement of an engagement capability is focused on the development

of a hit-to-kill warhead for the SM-3 missile. This weapon will be utilized to intercept
theater class ballistic missiles while they are in the exo-atmosphere and will utilize AE-
GIS Weapon System data integrated into the BMDS. Progress in this effort, recently re-
named the AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense System, has included a series of test flights
in which a missile launched by a Navy cruiser at sea hit its target on three out of four
occasions.

There’s more but you get the idea. Didn’t happen, but that’s government for you.
They’re still thinking they’ll get the bugs out of the Joint Strike Fighter.

190
 World War Three – Chapter 18

“We made it 36 cans TOM, and 60 cartons for you and Steve’s leftover cartons for
Derek.”

“Smoke, my name is Gary. That TOM business got started on Frugal’s because TOM
was easier to write than Tired Old Man. We’ll go easy on the coffee, too. We’ll probably
limit ourselves to 2 pots a day to make it last. The truth of the matter concerning the
firearms you provided is that I can’t pick up that Tac-50 and telescopic sights and I nev-
er saw eye to eye so Derek is going to get the Super Match back. I’ll keep the hand-
guns, the Loaded M1A and the 590A1 with bayonet. I wish he’d give me back my origi-
nal Loaded M1A, but I can’t see 500 yards, let alone hit a target at 500 yards. But I’m
working with a machinist putting on a bayonet lug on the flashhider and adapting a 16”
1905 bayonet to the M1A.”

“That’s the bayonet that fit the M1903 Springfield and the M1 Garand?”

“Yes and a new scabbard, the M3, which was developed to replace the earlier scab-
bards. The M3 scabbard had a fiberglass body, with a metal throat, and was equipped
with hooks which fixed to the cartridge-belt. I’ve located a parkerized bayonet and the
M3 scabbard and we’re working on the bayonet lug. The problem that came up during
WWII in the pacific theater was the long type 99 Arisaka rifle with the 15¾” bayonet; our
Marines were at a disadvantage.”

“Are you guys going to be able to make it work?”

“He said, if it doesn’t work, I don’t owe him anything. He was a Chief Machinist Mate in
the Navy and I have a track record with them.”

“The guy who built Thumper?”

“Damn that was my first story. I doubt Bob Root is alive today but a Gatling gun is legal
according to the BATFE, God rest their miserable souls. I never met a gun law I didn’t
want to break.”

“I heard about the PPK. Do you really believe they won’t find it higher on your leg?”

“I double damn guarantee they won’t find it on me.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I put it in Sharon’s purse. The guns aren’t concealed; they’re just out of plain sight. But
I figure they’ll be so busy worrying about the HK416 Extended with the grenade launch-
er they won’t look any further.”

“You added an Extended lower?”

191
“Hard to come by, but I got it done; four positions, S, 1, 3, A.”

“I’ve read your stories and if I hadn’t seen a Special Ops type with one I wouldn’t have
believed it.”

“Well, I got one thing wrong when I described the Enhanced lower. I said it was 4th gen-
eration. What was 4th generation was the stock, not the lower. I am convinced that all it
takes to convert an M16 type to Enhanced is the internals, like the sear, and the exter-
nals like the fire selector. My machinist is looking into what we’d need to do to convert
the HK417. It might be as simple as I described in The Dome Series or we might need
to scale up the internals and change the sear to 4 positions as well as do something
about the fire selector. I’m not big on 3 round burst so if the HK417 only has S-1-A, it’s
not a big deal.”

“What do you carry on your wheelchair?”

“I haul everything but the Tac-50. I used to be fat, anywhere from 180 to 200 pounds,
back when I was drinking. When I was out running around in the late ‘90s, I slimmed
down pretty good. After I gave up and went home, I went back up to 175, but started to
watch my intake. I wasn’t drinking and between the absence of booze and watching
what I ate, I was down to 133 by early 2014. As long as I can keep it between 128 and
133 I don’t worry about it. I want to keep my Body Mass Index in the 22 range, to make
it easier on my heart. I don’t have a heart problem and don’t want to get one. Anyway, a
standard wheelchair is rated at 300 pounds so I probably wouldn’t need a heavy duty
model.

“But Derek got me one and it’s all fixed up to haul the weapons, has extra batteries for a
longer run time and can pull my supplies. Could I have another cup of coffee?”

“Cream or sugar?”

“Nope, black, just like my soul.”

We were coming up on meal time and we had home baked bread and bean soup. They
stayed for supper and Derek said something about getting a motel because it was so
late. We pointed out we had a second bedroom in the cabin and the master bedroom in
the shelter wasn’t occupied. TOM took the second bedroom and Derek the shelter bed-
room.

Breakfast the next morning was fairly simple, reconstituted frozen orange juice, coffee,
pancakes and Vermont maple syrup.

“That was really good, thank you. I love that Vermont Maple syrup. I suppose we’d bet-
ter hit the road Derek so you can show me where you lived in Gassville and Flippin be-
fore we head back to Lake City. It was a pleasure to meet you folks and the next time

192
Derek comes this way, I’ll have him bring a copy of all of the stories on my computer in-
cluding the one I almost never finished, Dream a Little Dream of Me.”

“Why did you almost not finish it?”

“It was illogical. You’ll see when you read it. Jerry liked it but I couldn’t wrap it up, so I
didn’t try for a long time. I know your name from somewhere, but I can’t remember from
where.”

“I sent you a file containing an article that dated to 2012 about the Sunburn missile.”

“That was you? Huh, small world; I’m thinking about working on a story based on that
and all that has happened since. Thank you.”

Judy filled their ½ gallon Stanley stainless thermos after warming the inside with boiling
water and off they went. I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if both showed up again. TOM
had never seen the shelter causing me to wonder why. Maybe the ramp was just too
much of challenge. That was an easy fix; we had an AmeriGlide Heavy Duty (500#)
Stair Lift installed. Besides people, we could move any object weighing less than 500#
that would fit on the seat.

“How are we on money?”

“We have some without cashing out gold or silver; what do you need?”

“I don’t specifically know Rollin. It’s similar to that time we needed cigarettes and you
only stumbled on the need by accident. Maybe it will come to us if we review each cate-
gory we have stored. Let’s eliminate them.”

“Ok, Food – covered, Water – covered, Air – covered, Shelter covered, Protection –
covered, You don’t need hygiene supplies – covered, Fuel, coal and firewood – cov-
ered, Spare vehicle parts – covered, Generator supplies – covered and Spare batteries,
PV panels and parts – covered.”

“How many spare batteries?”

“One per bank.”

“We should double that and add additional spare inverter/charge controllers. We should
go through the first Medical Cabinet and replace any outdated drugs, and anything with
tape. I should talk to my doctor and get some prescription analgesics and you should
talk to yours and get more chill pills. Is there anything for radiation sickness?”

193
“Concerning your doctor, try for Norco 10/325. Potassium Iodide or Iodate and Radio-
gardase (Prussian Blue) are drugs for radiation. The Potassium Iodide (KI) or Iodate
(KIO3), over-the-counter drugs, saturate the thyroid gland blocking the absorption of ra-
dioactive 131Iodine and Radiogardase is an insoluble 500mg capsule, Rx only, used to
remove 137Cesium and 201Thallium after its ingested. It reduces the biological half-life of
137
Cesium from ~110 days to ~30 days and 201Thallium from ~8 days to ~3 days. The
only other drug I’m aware of is DTPA, diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid, plus calcium
or zinc. Begin treatment with Ca-DTPA, and then change to Zn-DTPA for maintenance,
as indicated. That’s generally introduced by an IV.

“Obviously Radiogardase and DTPA are given under a doctor’s direction. There’s a
shortcut to that information on my desktop labeled REMM. Double click on it to bring up
the data shown on the CDC website about radiation. It’s updated annually and has all
kinds of guidelines and information. It’s displayed in your web browser although the in-
formation is stored on your computer.

“The old adage was duck and cover. All that’s worth is to lean over and kiss your butt
goodbye.”

“If we have the radiation instruments, is it fair for me to assume we have KI?”

“Actually KIO3 tastes better and we have 24 bottles, enough for 24 adults. I haven’t
been able to get the prescription drugs.”

“I’ve got all of that down; do we have any money left?”

“Plenty.”

“I may not need hygiene supplies… but they might be worth their weight in silver when
the last shoe drops.”

“What would you get?”

“Maxi-pads, panty liners and tampons and they don’t have to be brand specific; I used
Always products for the pads and liners and Tampax for the tampons.”

“Add them to the list. Anything else?”

“Soap to wash dishes, laundry and us. Your washer and dryer are almost 15 years old
and we should have something as a backup… like those large laundry twins. And, more
comfort foods like candy bars and so forth. We can store them in one of the freezers.”

“I think there’s plenty of room for them… anything else?”

“May I think about it for a while and bring it up tomorrow?”

194
“Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya Tomorrow! You’re always A day A way!”

“A little of that goes a long way.”

“I wonder what she’s doing these days.”

“Who?”

“Andrea McArdle.”

“I think she was still on Broadway.”

“Past tense is right.”

“Not necessarily; she signed a long term deal with Oceania Cruises as a featured enter-
tainer.”

The next day the list was a little longer but didn’t include anything that would be difficult
to locate. The problem was with the prescription drugs and if they would be available at
all. The Norco wasn’t hard to get to get as it was a common analgesic with generic de-
scription of hydrocodone APAP 10/325. In order to build a supply Doc prescribed it for
each of us QID for a total of 240 caplets per month. Six months would build a supply of
1,440. The Xanax wasn’t much harder prescribed 0.5mg TID, again for both of us allow-
ing us to accumulate 1,080 in six months. However, a doctor could no longer prescribe
refills and you need a separate written Rx for each fill.

On the other hand he was reluctant to prescribe Radiogardase and DTPA in the two dif-
ferent forms. She didn’t say how she had managed to talk Doc into prescribing the
drugs, but she did. He added Neupogen® (Filgrastim). Then there was the matter of
waiting for the distributor getting the drugs to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions. We
had ample time to learn to establish IVs, a review course for me and a new course for
Judy.

Doc went a step or 2 further prescribing IV starter sets along with the IV sets and full
cases of IV fluids in 500ml bags including normal saline, 3 cases, lactated Ringers, 2
cases and D5W, 1 case and D5NS, 1 case plus a small selection of IV antibiotics, with
specific instructions. It was easily accomplished because the hospital had a practice
arm. Next, we both were certified in CPR. We didn’t have packed red blood cells or
plasma and had to rely on the IVs we had. The goal was to stabilize and transport un-
less the injured person was an attacker. They came under the rule: shoot, shovel and
shut up.

With continuing presence of the Arkansas National Guard, at unpredictable intervals,

attacks seemed to be a thing of the past. On a rare occasion, Sgt. Ott would stop by
with another story… generally unedited. Judy and I found ourselves editing the stories
for typos et alia and sending the revised story back to Lake City. Later, we’d receive a

195
re-edited version where TOM had reviewed our corrections and made corrections to our
corrections.

“What’s he working on now Sergeant?”

“He’s not working on anything. He claims he’s run out of ideas. Apparently his original
goal was to educate and entertain. He went on to say that the stories were falling short
on being entertaining and if people weren’t educated by now, he had nothing left to
say.”

“How many does that make?”

“He’s not sure because he combined several stories when he was assembling his CD.
The last numbered story was 103 and it’s incomplete.”

“Writer’s block?”

“I don’t think so. He mostly sits in the wheelchair nodding off from time to time. He’ll jerk
awake, scope out the neighborhood and nod off again. I really don’t think he’s faking
because I can sneak-up on him. When I do that, I’m always ready to grab both of his
hands in case he overreacts. He doesn’t move so fast that it’s a problem.”

“Do you have any idea what the next disaster will be?”

“Not really. It will probably be the end of civilization as we know it, TEOCAWKI, over the
Middle East.”

“Why would that be the case?”

“My PhD may be in Medieval History but one has to study a lot of history as an under-
graduate covering the overall history of civilization and that’s extended somewhat work-
ing on the Master’s degree. So, I have a fair understanding of the history of the Middle
East. The Crusades were instituted by the Pope to preserve holy sites for the Roman
Catholic Church.

“There weren’t just one, two or three Crusades; there were seven major Crusades and
numerous minor ones. There isn’t even an agreement on how many major Crusades
there were. The Crusaders won some and the Muslims won some and basically, every-
one was a loser in one way or another. The Crusades had mostly ended by the Medie-
val Period but to understand the Medieval Period, one has to understand what led to the
Period.

“If you study the Bible from a historical perspective, you see two names, Lord, Yahweh,
and God, Elohim. Those are Jewish names while the Arabic word for God is Allah. The
Arabs and Jews are all ‘Sons of Abraham’. The Qu’ran refers to all sons of Abraham as
‘people of the book’ and dictates that followers of Allah respect ‘people of the book’. The

196
three types of adherents to faiths that the Qur’an mentions as people of the book are
the Jews, Sabians and Christians. In Islam, the Muslim scripture, the Qur’an, is taken to
represent the completion of these scriptures, and to synthesize them as God’s true, fi-
nal, and eternal message to humanity. Because the People of the Book recognize the
God of Abraham as the one and only god, as do Muslims, and they practice revealed
faiths based on divine ordinances, tolerance and autonomy is accorded to them in soci-
eties governed by sharia (Islamic divine law).

“The recent debate on who the Sabians were is directly connected to how to best trans-
late the verses from the Qur’an out of the original Arabic. Basically, there is no agree-
ment on who the Sabians were.”

“What about the diaspora?

“The Jewish diaspora began with the Assyrian conquest and continued on a much larg-
er scale with the Babylonian conquest, in which the Tribe of Judah was exiled to Baby-
lonia along with the dethroned King of Judah, Jehoiachin, in the 6th Century BCE, and
was taken into captivity in 597 BCE. The exile continued after the destruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Many more Jews migrated to Babylon in 135 CE after
the Bar Kokhba revolt and in the centuries after.

“Many of the Judean Jews were sold into slavery while others became citizens of other
parts of the Roman Empire. The book of Acts in the New Testament, as well as other
Pauline texts, makes frequent reference to the large populations of Hellenised Jews in
the cities of the Roman world. These Hellenised Jews were affected by the diaspora on-
ly in its spiritual sense, absorbing the feeling of loss and homelessness that became a
cornerstone of the Jewish creed, much supported by persecutions in various parts of
the world. The policy encouraging proselytism and conversion to Judaism, which spread
the Jewish religion throughout the Hellenistic civilization, seems to have subsided with
the wars against the Romans.

“Of critical importance to the reshaping of Jewish tradition from the Temple-based reli-
gion to the rabbinic traditions of the Diaspora, was the development of the interpreta-
tions of the Torah found in the Mishnah and Talmud.

“Upon Solomon’s death, a civil war erupted between the ten northern Israelite tribes,
and the tribes of Judah (Simeon was absorbed into Judah) and Benjamin in the south.
The nation split into the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the
south. Israel was conquered by the Assyrian ruler Tiglath-Pileser III in the 8th century
BCE. There is no commonly accepted historical record of the fate of the ten northern
tribes, sometimes referred to as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, although speculation
abounds.

“So despite Muhammad’s teachings, the current interpretation of Qu’ran by the various
Islamic scholars leaves non-Muslims between a rock and a hard spot. They won’t be
satisfied until they rule the world and everyone converts to Islam.”

197
“They’re only 23.4% of the world population! How do they propose to do that?”

“If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn’t be a Professor; I’d be the Chancellor or Presi-
dent of the ASU.”

“And a General in the Arkansas Army National Guard.”

“No way, I despise officers.”

“Run into a butter-bar with his head stuck?”

“More than one; it must be a human condition that when they pin on that yellow bar, the
person loses every bit of common sense they have.”

What followed wasn’t a pretty sight. Iran had managed to complete several single stage
nuclear weapons, atomic bombs for those who don’t know. They had some Plutonium
but apparently not enough time to build a ‘hydrogen bomb’. So, they built the simple
atomic bomb, the gun type used at Hiroshima. They were loaded aboard a Panamanian
registered cargo vessel and shipped to the State of Israel and the United States of
America. The two leftovers went to Iraq and Syria.

The weapons were on timers and all would detonate at the same Iranian date and time.
Unlike previous Caliphs, the new Caliph didn’t have a sole seat of power, he had two.
He would be seen in Baghdad one day and in Damascus the next. It seemed that he
preferred to travel between the two capitals at night. The Iranians hoped that Pakistan
or North Korea would be blamed for the nuclear detonations. If not, they hoped that the
damage done to the State of Israel and the United States of American would prevent
any immediate retaliation.

The shipping containers were labeled in the language of their destination, Hebrew or
English. With the weapons safely dispatched to their destinations, the Iranians focused
their energies on completing the shelter system they’d been building for years. While it
wasn’t as extensive as Switzerland, Norway, Sweden or Moscow, it would shelter the
entirety of their educated population and their military and military assets.

The atomic bombs would be detonated at ground level, producing maximum fallout and
they were ‘dirty’ bombs. The term ‘dirty’ bomb could refer to radioactive materials mixed
with conventional explosives. The term has also been used historically to refer to certain
types of nuclear weapons. Due to the inefficiency of early nuclear weapons, only a small
amount of the nuclear material would be consumed during the explosion. Little Boy had
an efficiency of only 1.4%. The Iranian bombs were intentionally constructed in the pat-
tern of Little Boy. Four were sent to the State of Israel and fourteen were sent to the
United States of America with one going to Baghdad and one going to Damascus.

198
That was the extent of Iran’s HEU, enough for 20 Little Boy type bombs. Iran hadn’t
done their homework, but what’s new. The 3rd North Korean test was an implosion de-
vice. The Pakistani devices were boosted implosion devices and India had thermonu-
clear devices. Just because Iran thought the Jews were stupid didn’t mean that they
were. Israel X-Rayed cargo from certain points of origin and between Mossad, Shin Bet,
Aman (IDF) and the intelligence branch of Israeli Police they knew the origin of the car-
go.

When the X-Rays wouldn’t penetrate the heavy boxes due to the shielding, the boxes
were opened and the contents discovered. The Americans were immediately informed
of the discovery and the name of the Panamanian registered cargo vessel. The vessel
was identified by satellite and a Virginia-class was sent to intercept and sink it when it
passed over the Kings Trough. Not a word of the Israeli or US activities was made pub-
lic and it was contained to those in the government with the highest possible security
level, well above Top Secret.

It was a Pinnacle event except that it didn’t:

Generate a higher level of military action

Cause a national reaction
Affect international relationships
Cause immediate widespread coverage in news media
Affect current national policy

It most certainly was clearly against the national interest, thus the order to sink the ship
over one of the deepest parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Did I mention that Israel revealed
the point of origin of the cargo? But it would not generate a higher level or military ac-
tion, by the United States. Try to picture what was going through the mind of the Israeli
Prime Minister… Shall we use Jericho 3 missiles or bombs dropped by our new Strike
Eagles? After they come out of those shelters they think we don’t know about…

199
 World War Three – Chapter 19

You did notice that none of the Israeli Intelligence Agencies spell their names CIA, did
you not. Central Intelligence Agency... Now, there’s a contradiction in terms. How do
you tell a Republican from a Democrat? Look them up on their personal website since
most disclosed their party affiliation there.

“Pinnacle – Nucflash, Pinnacle – Nucflash, Pinnacle – Nucflash. Time of the event

06:15:30 Zulu, Location of the event 33° 19’ 30” N, 44° 25’ 19.2” E. Standby for second
event at 06:15:35 Zulu, Location of the second event 33° 30’ 46.8”N, 36° 17’ 31.2” E”

“This is STRATCOM. We concur that 2 Pinnacle – Nucflash events occurred at the

same coordinates and time.”

“Locations?”

“Event 1, Baghdad, Iraq and Event 2 Damascus, Syria. No further events to report at
this time.”

“Between what the Israeli recovered and those we sank, whoever perpetrated these
events may well be out of nukes for the moment.”

“How certain were the Israelis about the point of origin.”

“One hundred percent.”

“Since we intercepted and destroyed the weapons, would we gain anything by attacking
the Point of origin?”

“Probably not… but Mr. President we can’t allow them to get away with what they
pulled.”

“I agree Mr. Chairman. It would be better if we let someone else handle it.”

“Do you have someone in mind?”

“The other aggrieved party. They have nothing to lose and we have everything to gain.
How many Strike Eagles can we spare to give them a hand?”

“We could send them a maximum of 25. They’re still in production. Do you want to send
them the American versions or the Israeli version?”

200
“Do you know how many are in production at the moment?”

“No sir. We could check with Boeing.”

“You do that and I’ll call the Prime Minister.”

“Mr. Prime Minister, we appreciate the tip. The ship is on the bottom of the Atlantic.
Your Joint Strike Fighters aren’t ready for delivery, yet. I have my people checking on
how many Strike Eagles we could provide you. Ok, BiBi then. Would 25 be enough for
you folks to take care of the offending party?

“Is it important which version we furnish, the E model or the I model? Yes, I’m familiar
with the expression, any port in a storm. Well, I think I can persuade Congress to write
off the cost of the aircraft since it’s little when compared to the cost of the event that
could have happened had you not informed us.

“You’re aware of the nuclear detonations in Baghdad and Damascus? No, I’m not ac-
cusing, just asking. They shipped a package to both cities? I’ll be damned. Oh, it’s that
Sunni-Shi’ite thing huh? Which weapons will you be using, the ones you have or the
one you know nothing about? Yes, that could be a problem… let me call Moscow and
tell them what’s happened and discuss proposed actions. Yes, I’ll let you know soonest.
Thank you, goodbye.”

“Yes, connect me to the Russian President. Ah, General, what the word on the Strike
Eagles? I see, E models including 6 new and the remainder with less than 2,000 hours.
It will just have to do. BiBi said any port in a storm.

“Mr. President, we have a situation that requires your input. Iran built a large number of
Little Boy type nuclear weapons. They shipped four to Israel, an unknown number to the
United States and one to Baghdad and one to Damascus. No, it wasn’t Israel, they were
an intended victim. They captured the four weapons and I sure they could be persuaded
to allow you to examine them.

“No we didn’t have a problem because the Israelis informed us immediately; we located
the ship via satellite and sunk it in the Kings Trough. A Virginia-class using Mark 48
ADCAPs. Were you aware of the large scale sheltering system they built? You weren’t?
According to sources in the know, it was large enough to shelter all of their educated
population, military and military equipment.

“When they leave the shelters. That’s why I’m calling. We’re providing them 25 F-15Es
in gratitude and the question is how you will react if they use the weapons they don’t

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have? You know them; they’ll keep at it until there’s nothing left but rubble. It’s actually a
matter of what’s quicker.

“I see, will you have to run that by the Duma? Ok, I’ll pass the word. Don’t expect it to
happen until they have the F-15s and their target comes out of the shelters. Yes, you
too.”

“General get the planes and get them to the Israelis soonest, they have a go on what-
ever they decide to do.”

“Judy, there’s a rumor on the Ham net that the government pulled 19 F-15Es from oper-
ational commands. Another guy said that Boeing was rushing completion of the 6 they
have in production. Something is going on.”

“Do you think it’s that Middle East thing Rollin?”

“It almost has to be. Someone clamped down on the news media, almost like a black-
out. Something happened somewhere that they don’t want us to know about. I’ll just
keep listening to see what I can find out. Are we square of all those loose ends you
wanted to attend to?”

“Yes, all my itches have been scratched and we have enough to last until we die.”

“Don’t talk about dying. The current life expectancies in the US have been rising due to
the quality of available medical care. The life expectancy in the US is up to 79.8 overall
with males having 77.4 and females having 82.2 years life expectancy. The highest in
the world is Monaco with an overall of 87.2, male of 85.3 and female of 89.”

“The best doctor in the world can’t save you if you get shot in the head.”

“Right and the Enhanced Combat Helmets are nothing but plastic.”

“Do you think that some of the members of the public with military experience have hit
armories and supply points and armed themselves, Rollin?”

“Some probably have. Some may have only served one enlistment years ago and may
not be familiar with some of the modern weapons.”

“So, the M-16 has been around since Vietnam and it hasn’t really changed that much.
And, it’s just a select fire version of the AR-15. The military replaced the M9 because it
was worn out and ineffective. Why they went with what they did is inexplicable because
nothing beats the .45ACP.”

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“True, even the 230gr Full Metal Jacket has enough energy to put a person on their
butt; and, no pistol cartridge will penetrate body armor.”

Would you listen to that conversation, she sounded like she had 37 years in the Army. It
goes to show you how much of me rubbed off onto her. It wasn’t like we’d been married
40 years either. When a couple spends lifetime together, they can finish each other’s
sentences and know what their partner is thinking, most of the time. That’s something I
won’t claim is an absolute, but you know…

So, the military didn’t readopt the M1911? That would make too much sense, wouldn’t
it? Never mind that the special operators either use the .45ACP for its stopping power or
the M9 due to availability. Standard .45ACP ball ammunition is subsonic and can be ef-
fectively suppressed. Our problem was my selection of the 200gr +P Gold Dot which
was barely subsonic while standard 230gr Gold Dot was subsonic. The speed of sound
is 343 meters per second. The velocity of 200gr +P was 330 meters per second and
shouldn’t have been a problem… extra hot loads? Standard military ball was rated at
250 meters per second and 230gr Gold Dot was rated at 271 meters per second.

In the Earth’s atmosphere, the chief factor affecting the speed of sound is the tempera-
ture. For a given ideal gas with constant heat capacity and composition, sound speed is
dependent solely upon temperature. In such an ideal case, the effects of decreased
density and decreased pressure of altitude cancel each other out, save for the residual
effect of temperature.

Some Background:

Iraq was mostly flat compared to Afghanistan. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline
measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf and its territory encompasses the
Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, and
the eastern part of the Syrian Desert.

A landlocked mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest, Afghanistan
is described as being located within Central Asia or South Asia. The population of Af-
ghanistan was represented by 3 majority groups in 2012 accounting for 84% of the pop-
ulation; Pashtun 40%, Tajik 33% and Hazara 11%. The Taliban is an Islamic fundamen-
talist political movement in Afghanistan. It spread throughout Afghanistan and formed a
government, ruling as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from September 1996 until
December 2001, with Kandahar as the capital. However, it gained diplomatic recogni-
tion from only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Mo-
hammed Omar has been serving as the spiritual leader of the Taliban since 1994.

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While in power, it enforced its strict interpretation of Sharia law, and leading Muslims
have been highly critical of the Taliban’s interpretations of Islamic law. The Taliban were
condemned internationally for their brutal treatment of women. The majority of the Tali-
ban are made up of Afghan Pashtun tribesmen. The Taliban’s leaders were influenced
by Deobandi fundamentalism, and many also strictly follow the social and cultural norm
called Pashtunwali.

From 1995 to 2001, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and military are widely al-
leged by the international community to have provided support to the Taliban. Their
connections are possibly through Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, a terrorist group founded by
Sami ul Haq. Pakistan is accused by many international officials of continuing to support
the Taliban; Pakistan states that it dropped all support for the group after 9/11. Al-
Qaeda also supported the Taliban with regiments of imported fighters from Arab coun-
tries and Central Asia. Saudi Arabia provided financial support. The Taliban and their
allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplies to
160,000 starving civilians and conducted a policy of scorched earth, burning vast areas
of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes during their rule from 1996 to
2001. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee to United Front-controlled
territory, Pakistan, and Iran.

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Taliban were overthrown by the American-
led invasion of Afghanistan. Later it regrouped as an insurgency movement to fight the
American-backed Karzai administration and the NATO-led International Security Assis-
tance Force, ISAF. The Taliban have been accused of using terrorism as a specific tac-
tic to further their ideological and political goals. According to the United Nations, the
Taliban and their allies were responsible for 75% of Afghan civilian casualties in 2010,
80% in 2011, and 80% in 2012.

The Taliban are Sunni Muslims. Remember that, it might become important.

The first picture of the territory claimed by the new Caliph obviously includes Pakistan,
Afghanistan and portions of western India. Most people either think of India in terms of
sacred cows, cobras or providing most of the American Tech Support. They have the
2nd largest population in the world, following only China. What people overlook is the
fact that India is a major military power. That they’re a nuclear nation is given, but, they
have Hydrogen Bombs, those high yield 3-stage devices.

India has over 600 million men and women of military age although they don’t have
conscription. The Indian Army has 124 Mk1 tanks in service, 124 Mk2 tanks ordered
with speculations that the number might increase to 500+. The Mk2 is comparable to
the latest generation US, UK, German and French Main Battle tanks and has a 120mm
rifled cannon. They even have a Tank Urban Survival Kit, TUSK.

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Their Air Force has Su-30MKI, MiG-29, HAL Tejas, Dassault Mirage 2000, over 200
ground attack aircraft, C-17, Il-76MD, C-130J, AWACs, tankers, old Hinds and new AH-
64 Apaches, etc.

The Arihant class (Sanskrit, for Slayer of Enemies) is a class of nuclear-powered ballis-
tic missile submarines being built for the Indian Navy. The lead vessel of the class, INS
Arihant, was launched for sea trials by August 2013. Four vessels are being built and
are expected to be in commission by 2023. One is in sea trials, 2 are under construction
and a total of 6 are planned.

If those Sunni invade India, they’re in for a surprise almost as bad as if they invaded the
US. Am I big on my expectations of the US military? Absolutely… we kicked butt in
WWI, won WWII, lost Vietnam because of our leaders, not our enlisted and the same
could be said for Iraq and Afghanistan. There is nothing more fear inducing than a
pissed off 19 year old American Soldier, Marine, Sailor or Airman. I saw that on TV, way
back when. It was a reference to Vietnam, I believe.

“Heard a new rumor on the Ham net.”

“What?”

“Those F-15Es ended up in Israel as E models. Everyone knows the Israel is a nuclear
power, regardless of what they do or don’t say. Israel has 25 I models so 25 E models
would double their force of strike fighters. I wonder who they are going to strike and
what Russia will say about it if they do.”

“Maybe the President made arrangements with Russia.”

“Yeah, I can just see that. ‘Hey Vlad, buddy, Israel is going to nuke Iraq, Syria and Iran
to force Hamas to back off.’”

“Maybe there is more to it Rollin. We’re not always in the loop because of World War
Three and the Seismic Activities.”

“Point taken Judy; I hate not knowing what is going on!”

Rollin was making an assumption about what Israel was going to do. Israel still hadn’t
decided what they were going to do. GBUs, cluster bombs and a full assortment of Pa-
veway bombs were in their arsenal and they didn’t have to open the can of worms that
using nuclear weapons represented. If they could quickly develop their own MOABs,
maybe they wouldn’t need nukes.

Obama may have been the ‘worst’ president since WWII and Clinton the ‘most popular’
president since WWII, but who was the ‘best’ president since WWII. My vote would be

205
for Reagan because how could you not like a guy who liked jelly bellies and told his
wife, ‘Honey I forgot to duck’? He broke the Soviet Union, literally, with his 600 ship na-
vy and Star Wars Defense. We never got to 600 ships and Star Wars was a movie, a
concept not realized until he was dead and buried.

The program included:

Recommissioning the Iowa-class battleships

Keeping older ships in service longer
A large new construction program
Stepped up production of Nimitz-class aircraft carriers
Adding Ohio-class SSBNs
Building more 688I class
Building the Seawolf-class
Building the Ticonderoga-class Cruisers

Things were different under H.W. because we lost 2 nd Amendment rights, with his im-
port ban. Judy and I like the M1A, but… there’s nothing wrong with the HK91 or HK93 if
you like that style of weapon. They worked well because they were made by H&K and
H&K made high quality products.

Funny thing about the government… they retired the Iowa-class and all 4 became mu-
seum ships. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t reactivate them. All the parts required to
repair Iowa’s turret #2 are inside turret #2. The ships cost $100 million each to build and
there was the refit that may have cost as much as the ship due to inflation. During the
refit, the fuel used was also changed as each battleship was overhauled to burn navy
distillate fuel and modernized to carry electronic warfare suites, close-in weapon sys-
tems (CIWS) for self-defense, and missiles.

What the heck is going on in the Middle East? After the discussion on the Ham net
about the Strike Eagles actually being sent to Israel, everyone seems to be asking
what’s going on and no one has an answer. Neither Judy nor I really believe in conspir-
acy theories but that could change in a New York minute. I do believe in UFOs because
anything you see flying in the sky that you can’t identify is by definition an unidentified
flying object. I don’t believe in little green men or anything like that.

Then there was that fuss between Congress and the Navy over the Ticonderoga-class.
The Navy started upgrading them before I retired and had half upgraded before money
got tight.

Due to Budget Control Act of 2011 requirements to cut the Defense Budget for FY2013
and subsequent years, plans are being considered to decommission some of the Ticon-
deroga-class cruisers. For the US Defense 2013 Budget Proposal, the US Navy is to
decommission seven cruisers early in fiscal years 2013 and 2014.

206
Because of these retirements, the US Navy is expected to fall short of its requirement
for 94 missile defense cruisers and destroyers beginning in FY 2025 and continuing
past the end of the 30-year planning period. While this is a new requirement as of 2011,
and the US Navy has historically never had so many large missile-armed surface com-
batants, the relative success of the AEGIS ballistic missile defense system has shifted
this national security requirement onto the US Navy. Critics have charged that the early
retirement of these cruisers will leave the Navy’s ship fleet too small for the nation’s de-
fense tasks as the US enacts a policy of “pivot” to the Western Pacific, a predominantly
maritime theater. The US House has passed a budget bill to require that these cruisers
instead be refitted to handle the missile defense role.

By October 2012, the US Navy had decided not to retire four of the cruisers early in or-
der to maintain the size of the fleet. Four Ticonderoga-class cruisers, plus 21 Arleigh
Burke–class destroyers, are scheduled to be equipped to be capable of antiballistic
missile and antisatellite operations.

I doubt that has anything to do with what is going on in Israel. Maybe Israel intends to
challenge the new Caliphate. That would explain them increasing their fleet of strike
fighters from 25 to 50. Maybe Judy and I should drive over to Lake City and ask TOM
his opinion. TOM doesn’t seem to be short on opinions, just answers. But it would get
us out of the house for a day or two.

“Want to go over to Lake City tomorrow?”

“What for?”

“I thought it would be nice to get TOM’s opinion about what’s going on in the Middle
East.”

“He doesn’t know any more about it than you do. He always has an opinion, even when
he’s wrong. I would like to see that ‘combat wheelchair’ that his son put together for him.
So sure; loaded for bear?”

“Not that it’s necessary, but sure.”

Judy assembled some of the Nitro-Pak Hungary Man MREs, coffee, a roll of bath tissue,
the folding toilet from her foxhole plus a care package for Elizabeth. TOM was always
talking about the Cure 81 hams and she got a whole ham from the freezer, 10 pounds
of thick sliced bacon and 10 chubs of Jimmy Dean whole hog sausage. I got 12 cans of
Folgers, 12 cartons of Kool’s, a jug of Vermont Maple Syrup and 2 5 pound bags of
pancake mix.

Early the next afternoon we were past Jonesboro and getting close to Lake City when
the pickup began to swerve. I let it slow down naturally and pulled to the shoulder. Judy
was looking at me and asked, “Earthquake?”

207
“It wasn’t very big and didn’t last long but it makes me glad I didn’t locate here when I
retired.”

“I’m happy too, since I was working in Mountain Home and we would have never met.”

“Good point. Let’s see if we can get there without any further excitement.”

Spence had given me his address and it was easy to find. There sat TOM in his ‘combat
wheelchair’, dozing. I noticed he had the 590A1 instead of the Loaded M1A across the
arms of the wheelchair.

“TOM, its Smoke and Judy,” I yelled… he was hard of hearing.

He jerked awake and squinted at us and then waived.

“What brings you two across the state?”

“We come bearing gifts and I need your opinion on something.”

“What gifts?”

At least he had his priorities straight.

“Judy brought a care package for Elizabeth and we also brought a Cure 81 ham, 10
pounds of thick sliced bacon, 10 chubs of Jimmy Dean whole hog sausage, 12 cans of
Folgers, 12 cartons of Kool’s, a jug of Vermont Maple Syrup and 2 5 pound bags of
pancake mix.”

“Damn, that was good syrup. Let me show you where everything goes and we’ll make a
pot of Folgers and sit a while and discuss your question about the Middle East.”

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t. It does seem logical what with those Sunni declaring a new Caliphate. Did you
know that Baghdad and Damascus were taken out by nukes?”

“I hadn’t heard that.”

“Can’t prove it but I think it was Iran’s doing. They’re Shi’a and the Shi’a and Sunni don’t
get along. Iraq has a majority of Shi’a but Saddam was a Sunni and this IS thing proba-
bly got under the skin of those religious leaders in Iran. The president over there is a
puppet of the Ayatollah. Way I heard it was the bombs that got the two cities were Little
Boy types. They’re running thousands of centrifuges to produce HEU but I don’t have
any idea how much Plutonium they’ve been able to extract.

208
“The three primary research and production sites of the Manhattan project were the plu-
tonium production facility at what is now the Hanford Site, the uranium enrichment facili-
ties at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the weapons research and design laboratory, now
known as Los Alamos National Laboratory. During the Cold War, the US reactors at
Hanford and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina produced 103 metric tonnes of
plutonium. SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, estimated the
world plutonium stockpile in 2007 as about 500 tons, divided equally between weapon
and civilian stocks.

“I know that Iran has Plutonium extraction capability due to President Ford, but I’d be
guessing if I say that they don’t have much. Since the bombs in Baghdad and Damas-
cus were HEU and the gun type is the easiest to construct, I’m thinking Iran was behind
those bombings. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t ship bombs to Israel and the
US.”

“Maybe they did and the bombs were somehow intercepted. The US government and
Israeli government might not be talking about it.”

“If that’s the case, I’d put my money on the Israelis intercepting the bombs sent to them
and notifying the US. If they identified the ship, maybe the US located it by satellite had
a Virginia-class waiting for it. Then to avoid bad publicity, they put the Jews up to getting
even. That would explain the Strike Eagles.”

“You know about those?”

“Everyone knows about those.”

“Nineteen, right?”

“Twenty-five and you know it. They pulled nineteen of the newest from operational
commands and added the 6 just coming off the production line.”

“You don’t let much get by you do you?”

“Hah, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast or even if I had breakfast. If I had cold
cereal it was Grape Nuts or Special K with Vanilla and Almonds and if I had hot cereal it
was Malt-O-Meal. Either way, if it’s cold cereal I have to let the cereal soak up the milk
so I can gum it to death. It could have been peanut butter on toast too.

“Can the two of you stay for supper? We have a fresh pot of beans cooking, the last of
the goulash and fresh baked bread. If you don’t eat many beans, we have Beano.”

“We really should get back.”

“Why? You have a delivery coming or something? I would really appreciate someone to
visit with other than family; especially 2 preppers that I can compare ideas with.”

209
“Judy?”

“Okay.”

“Tell me something TOM, where do you get your ideas from?”

“Sometimes newspaper articles, something I see on TV, something someone says,

even a favorite song. There are over 1,000 downloads from YouTube on my computer
and I caved in and got Real Player Cloud so I could play them all. That’s not all I have
on the computer since I have about 300 PAW fiction stories, including my own and most
of Jerry’s.

“David was really in his element with the North to Alaska series. I didn’t appreciate Don
Quixote de Palmdale, but I knew where he was coming from. I just didn’t feel like laugh-
ing at myself at the time. I may be senile but I’m not that bashful. Five bucks is five
bucks.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Whether my nurse was a natural blonde or redhead.”

“And the only way to tell was if she stripped?”

“Exactly.”

“You men are awful.”

“That’s the truth, Judy. We’re rotten to the core.”

“So is Israel going to nuke Iran or not?”

“Not.”

“Why not?”

“Given that everyone has known about the nukes since the revelations in 1986 by Mor-
dechai Vanunu, a technician at the Negev Nuclear Research Center who served an 18-
year prison sentence as a result. Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, but supports establishment of a Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass de-
struction. Given that, no one really knows what they have, just that they have them.

“If they use them, the cat is out of the bag whereas if they don’t, everyone is left guess-
ing just like we’ve been guessing for years. If I were BiBi, I’d go conventional. An F-15E
can carry how many 2,000 bombs, four, maybe six? I don’t really know but the payload

210
is awesome. Using 1,000 pound bombs, the total is probably close to double that. So 50
aircraft with, say six, 2,000 pound bombs is 600,000 pounds per trip.”

“Close, TOM; 5 GBU-10 Paveway II which is built around the Mk 84; stations LCT 1,
LCT 3, RCT 1, RCT 3 and station 5.”

“Close counts, huh? Fifty planes with 5 bombs each is 250 2,000 pound precision guid-
ed bombs per sortie, 500,000 pounds per trip. So they make an extra trip or two, big
deal. The Iranians will think they’ve been invaded by the whole US Air Force consider-
ing the F-16s the Israelis have. Don’t they have their own guidance package that’s sup-
posed to be better than the JDAM?”

July 1, 2013 at 3:23 PM

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 1 (UPI) – Israel is reported to be seeking US loan guarantees of
$5 billion to finance the purchase of the advanced weapons systems the US administra-
tion has offered the Jewish state under a $10 billion package for its Middle East allies.

These include AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles made by the Raytheon Corp., that
can knock out air-defense radar systems and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers that will
greatly extend the reach of Israel’s strike jets.

In the long term, the procurement of the US arms package will be financed by US mili-
tary aid which in fiscal 2013 will total $3.1 billion, the highest total for any US ally.

The bridging loans, the US journal Defense News reported, would be arranged with US
commercial banks to cover the intermediary period. The weekly said both Israelis and
US sources expect a response concerning the loans request by this summer.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon pressed US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on
this when he visited Washington in mid-June, Israeli sources say.

The unprecedented upgrade of US-Israel security cooperation followed the July 17,
2012, passing of US President Barack Obama’s United States-Israel Enhanced Security
Cooperation Act.

It was widely supported by Republicans and Democrats and extended until the end of
2014 the funding provided by the US government placing emergency US arms stock-
piles on Israeli soil in case of war.

The Israel segment of the military aid package, which also includes weapons systems
for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, covers advanced radars for the Israeli
Air Force’s F-15I aircraft and up to eight V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft manufactured by
Bell Boeing.

211
All these systems would significantly enhance Israel’s capability to launch pre-emptive
strikes against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
has repeatedly threatened to unleash.

The reasoning behind offering Israel such a cornucopia of advanced weapons systems
and long-range capabilities would seem to be to reassure Israel that the United States
stands behind the Jewish state, but does not want it to launch any attack on Iran while
the diplomatic efforts and an international sanctions regime are in play.

The AGM-88 missile, first used in combat in March 1986 by US jets against a Libyan
SA-5 surface-to-air missile site in the Gulf of Sidra, would be a substantial upgrade of
Israel’s current AGM-78 anti-radiation missiles.

The advanced radars for Israel’s 25 F-15I Ra’ams and the Ospreys, aircraft which can
land like a helicopter and each carry two dozen fully equipped Special Forces soldiers
over long distances at aircraft speeds, also would provide greater offensive capabilities
for any operation against Iran.

The Osprey “is the ideal platform for sending Israeli Special Forces into Iran” observed
Kenneth Pollack, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst who is currently at the
Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

The unique tilt-rotor aircraft would give Israel the capability of inserting special ground
forces to either attack Iranian facilities such as the new uranium enrichment plant buried
deep inside a mountain at Fordow, outside the holy city of Qom south of Tehran, that
may be resistant to even the heaviest US-made bunker-buster bombs designed to pen-
etrate hardened underground facilities, or to “paint” targets with lasers for the attacking
aircraft.

Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of the Democ-
racies in Washington, said the US package conformed to an Israeli wish-list presented
to the Pentagon that included some items that were not discussed publicly, presumably
because they were intended for an assault on Iran.

Details of the arms package have yet to be revealed. It’s not known how many weapons
and aircraft will be sent to the three countries, nor are delivery dates.

“The timeline of delivery will dictate when Israel can use these weapons,” observed the
US global security consultancy Stratfor.

Although it’s not clear how many KC-135 tankers Israel will get, it’s expected to be
enough to sustain a major air strike that would most likely involve all of the air force’s 25
F-15Is and 100 F-16I Sufas, its entire strategic strike force, and its seven KC-707 and
four KC-130H tankers.

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The current tanker force would not be able to support a force of that size receiving at
least two mid-air refuelings during the 1,000-mile flights to and from the targets. Add a
couple tankers to the list, they’re old and worn out anyway.

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 World War Three – Chapter 20

“I believe that Israeli system is called the ‘SPICE’, an acronym for Smart, Precise Im-
pact, Cost-Effective, an Israeli-developed, EO/GPS-guided guidance kit for converting
air-droppable unguided bombs into precision guided bombs. It’s supposed be much bet-
ter than the JDAM. The Israeli ‘SPICE’ is comparable to the American EGBU-15, which
also combines EO and GPS guidance and can be fitted to a variety of warheads.

“On the ground, an unguided bomb is fitted with a ‘Spice’ guidance kit. Still on the
ground, each bomb’s memory may be loaded with up to 100 different targets, complete
with their image (usually acquired by imagery intelligence) and geographical coordi-
nates. The bomb is then loaded on a strike aircraft. In the pylon to which the bomb is
attached there is a datalink between the aircraft’s cockpit and the bomb.

“As the aircraft flies in the air and approaches a target, either the Weapon Systems Of-
ficer (WSO – the backseater in such aircraft as the F-15E Strike Eagle or F-16I Sufa) or
pilot (in single-seat aircraft) can use the TV\IIR display in the cockpit to see the image
the bomb sends to him. Once he selected one of the preprogrammed targets, or fed the
bomb with a target himself (by feeding it with either an image or geographical coordi-
nates to home on), the bomb is ready for release into a guided trajectory.

“Once the bomb is released, it begins searching its target in order to acquire it and
home on it. This can be done in several ways:

“First, there is pure CCD or IIR (for low lighting conditions) image matching, when the
guidance section uses algorithms in order to match the target image in its memory with
the image provided by the seeker, and align the center of the seeker's FOV with the de-
sired image.

“Second, if the CCD\IIR seeker cannot acquire its target for any reason (such as visual
obstructions), the bomb can automatically switch to GPS\INS guidance. This means that
the bomb aspires to bring itself to the target’s altitude at a known geographical location.
The bomb receives data on its current location from GPS satellites, or from an inertial
navigation system in the bomb itself, that has been fed, through the pylon datalink, with
the dropping aircraft’s coordinates a fraction of a second before drop, and can therefore
calculate its own coordinates from the dropping time and on.

“Third, there is a manual ‘man-in-the-loop’ guidance option, in which the WSO looks at a
backseat TV display in order to see the seeker’s view (sent to him through a RF data-
link) and uses the backseat stick to control the bomb all the way to the target. With a
skilled WSO that has a ‘sensitive hand’, this guidance method is probably the most ac-
curate one employed today for air-dropped munitions, and has no measurable miss dis-
tance. Its main drawback is that it allows for only one bomb to be guided at a time.”

“How many of the late version F-16s does Israel have Smoke?”

214
“They have about 100 TOM.”

“I’ll take those odds. It will be the reverse of Osiraq with F-16s flying cover and the F-
15s delivering the weapons but whatever works.”

“We’re assuming a lot.”

“Life is a gamble from the day you’re born until they plant you. Did you know that for
every year you live your life expectancy increases?”

“What’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?”

“Not one thing. What it has to do with is my goal of outliving my father by a single day
with every day after that a bonus.”

“Spence mentioned that.”

“Just so you know, I picked the name Derek and his mother picked his middle name af-
ter her maiden name. I don’t call him Spence… hey you works most of the time.”

“You don’t call him Doc?”

“My dad had a mechanic named Louie Bauer and he called everyone Doc just to irritate
them and I was his favorite to pick on because he liked me; so, in a word, no.”

“Do you like anybody?”

“Some more than others but I can count them on my fingers. Now, I’ve had a couple of
dogs and a cat I was partial to. I divorced Sharon and then figured out what a damn fool
I was and she accepted me back. Pure luck from my point of view, but dammit, I let my
sense of morals get in the way. I had the hots for some broad and my ethics slash mor-
als said it wasn’t right to run around on my wife; so naturally I had to get a divorce.
Turns out, she’d have let me run around as long as I didn’t bring home anything that
wasn’t gift wrapped like a STD. Dumb, dumb and dumb.”

“So life hasn’t been a bowl of cherries?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but cherries have pits. Got a question; when I’m gone do you want
the firearms and matériel back?”

“What for? We have more than you have and probably closer to 10,000 rounds per rifle,
2,500 per handgun and more shotgun shells than we’ll ever use.”

“Good, I have someone in mind for the firearms. Bought my oldest son the M1A Load-
ed, 590A1, a Taurus PT1911B-1 and a Walther PPK in .380ACP. I have a grandson I
only met when he was about 21 and I had him in mind. He’s not quite as good as Derek,

215
but like they say, the apple doesn’t fall from the tree. An empty shotgun is just a club
unless you have a bayonet.”

“Did you get a bayonet on your rifle?”

“I told you I’ve always had good luck with Machinist Mates. It was a model of 1942 with
16” blade. And, believe you me; Derek has it sharper than my Rambo knives. The same
goes for the Laredo Bowie. Being old and shaky and hating to shave I haven’t tried to
shave with it but it’s almost sharper than a razor.”

“Where’s Derek?”

“Either in Jonesboro at the University or running around playing soldier, again; I gave up
trying to keep track.”

“Have you had any trouble over here?”

“Define trouble.”

“Attack to get your resources or things of that nature?”

“Not lately. We just shoot, shovel and shut up. And you should know how it is in these
small towns.”

“Mountain Home is down below 3,000 people and has been since Yellowstone.”

“If my count is right, I’ve based three stories in that locale.”

“How are you on long term supplies?”

“We have ground beef, round steaks, garden produce and locally grown rice and plenty
of great northern and navy beans. I also have 25 pounds of pinto beans. I’d have more
but Sharon doesn’t care for them.”

“Where is the rest of your family?”

“I think they shopping but don’t hold me to that.”

Meanwhile…

Before the bombs had detonated, the Caliph had spent a week in Syria handling prob-
lems his fighters were experiencing and had returned to Baghdad 3 days before the
timers were set to detonate the bombs. Again he went into the field to handle pressing
issues and when the 2 bombs detonated and was neither in Damascus nor Baghdad.

216
He and his advisers had two immediate suspects, Israel and Iran. They were next on his
list; Israel via Hamas and Iran by direct invasion. The decision was made to finish with
the tasks at hand before attacking the two. Hamas could keep Israel busy for the mo-
ment and little activity had been noted in Iran.

It’s well that he waited because Israel mounted a massive bombing campaign against
Iran, reducing the cities to rubble and attempted to destroy multiple underground loca-
tions. Were these Iran’s nuclear facilities or something else? He concluded, rightly so,
that Iran was behind the bombings and Israel had made his task tackling Iran far easier.

Israel assumed that bombings of Damascus and Baghdad were Iran’s attempt to take
out the new Sunni Caliph and in this they were correct. They, like Iran, assumed the at-
tempt was successful. In this, both were wrong. That last little push by the Caliph had
completed putting Iraq and Syria in his Caliphate. Iran was easier than Israel so they
moved on Iran. Beside, having supplied Hamas with additional missiles, Hamas was
giving Israel fits.

TOM took time, every little bit, to check on the beans and Judy offered to take over the
task so he and I could visit. She even baked the bread when it was ready to go into the
oven and found powdered sugar to make a glaze for the cinnamon rolls, using almond
and vanilla extracts to flavor the glaze. We had a midafternoon snack with Folgers and
cinnamon rolls slathered in butter.

Israel reacted to the Hamas as they typically did, with bombing attacks. Their Iron Fist
system had been upgraded and had an improved ability to determine whether or not to
attack an incoming missile. Plus, it rarely missed an incoming missile it decided to hit.
When the bombing attacks failed to produce the hoped results, they invaded… like they
always did. With Israel tied up in their Gaza invasion, IS was able to roll through Iran
with little resistance.

The Caliph now had to decide between Israel and Turkey. He opted for Turkey for sev-
eral reasons, not the least of which was Israel experiencing difficulties dealing with Ha-
mas. Turkey mostly followed the Hanafite school of Sunni Islam. ISIS is known for its
harsh Wahhabist (Saudi Arabia) interpretation of Islam, and brutal violence directed at
Shi’a Muslims and Christians in particular. The Kurds, who are mostly Sunnis, in the
northeast of Iraq were unwilling to be drawn into the conflict, and there were clashes in
the area between ISIS and the Kurdish Peshmerga. Kurds are found in Iran, Syria, Iraq
and Turkey. They kicked butt and don’t bother with the names.

How had Saddam managed Kurdish Genocide? The al-Anfal Campaign, also known as
the Kurdish Genocide, Operation Anfal or simply Anfal, was a genocidal campaign

217
against the Kurdish people (and other non-Arab populations) in northern Iraq, led by the
Ba’athist Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and headed by Ali Hassan al-Majid in the fi-
nal stages of Iran-Iraq War. The campaign takes its name from Surat al-Anfal in the
Qur’an, which was used as a code name by the former Iraqi Baathist government for a
series of systematic attacks against the Kurdish population of northern Iraq, conducted
between 1986 and 1989 and culminating in 1988. The campaign also targeted other mi-
nority communities in Iraq including Assyrians, Shabaks, Iraqi Turkmens, Yazidis, Jews,
Mandeans, and many villages belonging to these ethnic groups were also destroyed.

The Anfal campaign began in 1986 and lasted until 1989, and was headed by Ali Has-
san al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein from Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit. The Anfal
campaign included the use of ground offensives, aerial bombing, systematic destruction
of settlements, mass deportation, firing squads, and chemical warfare, which earned al-
Majid the nickname of “Chemical Ali”.

Thousands of civilians were killed during the anti-insurgent campaigns stretching from
the spring of 1987 through the fall of 1988. The attacks were part of a long-standing
campaign that destroyed approximately 4,500 Kurdish and at least 31 Assyrian villages
in areas of northern Iraq and displaced at least a million of the country’s estimated 3.5
million Kurdish population. Amnesty International collected the names of more than
17,000 people who had “disappeared” during 1988. The campaign has been character-
ized as genocidal in nature. It is also characterized as gendercidal, because “battle-age”
men were the primary targets, according to Human Rights Watch/Middle East. Accord-
ing to the Iraqi prosecutors, as many as 182,000 people were killed.

“Let me introduced everyone. This is RJ Reynolds and his wife Judy. This is my wife
Sharon, daughter Lorrie, daughter Amy, Amy’s two children Audrey and Udell. The oth-
er three are Derek’s children Elizabeth, Joshua and Thomas.

“Judy has kept an eye on the beans and they’re ready. She also baked the bread and
cinnamon rolls. I don’t know what she used for glaze but it was outstanding. I invited
them to supper because it’s a long drive back to Mountain Home.”

“I’m pleased to meet you RJ and Judy. I didn’t intend on putting you to work, but we
ended up running late.”

“Sharon, call me Smoke.”

“Are you the folks that gave Gary all the weapons?”

“Yes, they belonged to a friend who died of radiation poisoning.”

“He can’t use the Tac-50 because it’s too heavy.”

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“You know Barrett makes a soft mount for their M107. Maybe we could figure out some-
thing similar for the Tac-50. Since we have 2 Tac-50s and a Tac-338, I’ll look into it.”

“Great. Having him equipped with that cannon will make my day.”

“It’s not that loud.”

“Oh, I know that, I’ve heard Derek shoot it. I’m not sure he can handle the recoil.”

“It shouldn’t be bad in a soft mount because the pintle takes up much of the recoil and
the A1R2 has as recoil mitigation feature.”

“What’s a pintle?”

“A pintle mount is a fixed-mount that allows the gun to be freely traversed and/or elevat-
ed while keeping the gun in one fixed position. It is most commonly found on armored
vehicles, gunner stations on bomber aircraft, and helicopter gunships. Unlike a turret, a
pintle has little or no armor protection.”

“I’m sure that Derek can get some ballistic Lexan.”

Sensing something in Sharon’s mood, I suggested that Judy explain how we just
dropped in unexpected and Gary invited us to stay to have someone to visit about preps
with. She should also explain our concern with the Middle East situation and how we’d
come to pick Gary’s brain for ideas. After explaining, Judy returned carrying a magnify-
ing glass and Sharon’s statement of, “Good Luck.”

“What’s with the magnifying glass and the ‘Good Luck’ statement?”

“I think the magnifying glass is to locate his brain and the “Good Luck’ refers to getting
any useful information from him.”

“He’s not that far gone since we’ve already gotten useful information from him. He’s col-
laborated our theories about the Middle East if nothing else.”

“He does seem to understand the ramifications of what the new Caliph is trying to ac-
complish. If they do go after Iran, who would be on their list?”

“Best guess, some of the Emirates or Israel. On the other hand, they might go for Tur-
key to get a foothold on Europe.”

“Wouldn’t they want to tie up the Middle East before moving against a NATO country
like Turkey?”

“I forget about Turkey being a member of NATO. Would NATO respond?”

219
“You’re asking me? Answer your own question.”

“NATO would respond because they’re looking for an excuse the go up against the IS.”

“Rollin, I think we should make some excuse to leave after supper. Rather than driving
home, we can find a motel. I saw several along the way, many of which were in Jones-
boro.”

“Derek did say they’re wall to wall people so I agree. TOM pretty much confirmed our
suspicions and did fill in some missing information. I’ll explain the soft mount to Derek if
he shows up and he’ll have to get something mounted to the wheelchair to accept the
pintle. The difficult part will be attaching the pintle to the rifle.”

Derek didn’t show up and we left after supper and found a motel on the east side of
Jonesboro. I was concentrating on the mount, not the pintle and decided a step mount
like they used on the Willys Jeep, the M38 Jeep step mount would put the rifle at the
appropriate elevation, 24”, to be used by someone sitting in a wheelchair. The Barrett
rifles had pins holding them together which the Tac-50 lacked.

If we couldn’t engineer a solution with the Tac-50, we could look for a Barrett Rifle and
mount one of those on the wheelchair. Barrett had a suppressor and the BORS plus 10
round magazines. Their soft mount absorbed the recoil and TOM had written about the
Barrett in many of his stories. That would also let Spence keep the Tac-50.

Barrett claimed their most accurate rifle was the model 99, available in .416 or .50BMG.
Of course the 99 was a single shot bolt action rifle with barrel length of 32” Heavy (81.3
cm) or 29” Fluted (73.7 cm) .50 BMG only. That would never do so we decided on the
M107 due to the two extra features it included: the M107 was issued with “spike feet”
bipods, and the 82A1 was issued with “smooth feet” bipods; also, the M107 was issued
with the monopod, but the monopod was optional for a Model 82A1.

Looking at the road atlas, we could tell that we were almost halfway to Murfreesboro,
TN. We had our traveling money since one never knew when some cash, gold or silver
would come in handy.

The trip to Murfreesboro took the entire day. We got another motel when we arrived and
went out to eat. At best, getting a Barrett rifle was a longshot. After breakfast, we got
directions and drove to Barrett’s. I explained we came to make a purchase and asked if
we could talk to Chris or Ronnie. We met with Ronnie because Chris was unavailable.

“Mr. Barrett, my name is RJ Reynolds and this is my wife Judy. We’re here to make an
unusual request and the focus of the request is your soft mount. We have a close ac-
quaintance, who due to age can’t handle the McMillian Tac-50A1R2 we gave him. He’s
essentially wheelchair bound and has one of the oversized 600 pound capacity wheel-
chairs.

220
“After some consideration, we feel the solution to his problem is your M107 with a soft
mount, BORS and your new suppressor.”

“That’s the M107A1 now.”

“If we can convince you to, and you’re willing to sell the firearm, we can pay in cash or
gold. I think the step mount like they used on the Willies Jeep would put the rifle at the
appropriate elevation to be used by someone sitting in a wheelchair. As I said, we’re in-
terested in purchasing the M107 with the BORS and soft mount will solve his problem.
Do you still have BORS with bundled scopes or would we have to locate a separate
scope?”

“Assuming we’d sell you a rifle?”

“That goes without saying since neither of us has a FFL.”

“Are you acquainted with a FFL who could accept the shipment?”

“Yes, several.”

“Are you prepared to pay the full MSRP?”

“Whatever it takes. And we need 11 magazines in total.”

“Where are you from?”

“Mountain Home, Arkansas.”

“And the person you intend to give the rifle to?”

“Lake City, Arkansas.”

“Color Preference?”

“Black parkerized finish.”

“Accessories?”

“Part kits for sure and whatever you recommend.”

“You said cash or gold?”

“Your choice with gold valued at spot.”

“Why are you doing this?”

221
“The guy is an author and he and another author have educated us about prepping and
entertained us at the same time.”

“TOM or Jerry?”

“TOM.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“I didn’t know you knew who he was.”

“Those 2 have more than a few fans. Of course TOM stopped recommending the M82,
moving to the Tac-50 due to the perceived accuracy claims. Believe me, it’s the shooter
who makes for an accurate rifle. Jerry seems to like Vigilance VR-1 in .408 CheyTac.
They’ve even brought out their own semi-auto .50BMG.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll supply an M107A1, the extra magazines, the suppressor, the
BORS including a Nightforce 8-32×56mm scope, mounted, an AN/PVS-27 and a soft
mount installed, all at cost. Don’t go looking for serial numbers because nothing will
have one. Can you stay over for the night and see me here tomorrow around 8am?”

“Absolutely.”

“Do you need ammo?”

“We’re well supplied with Mk 211MP and Hornady 750gr AMAX. Will the rifle be ready
to go with everything mounted and tuned?”

“That’s why I asked you to come back tomorrow. Gold is running around $2,500 an
ounce so 8 gold Eagles will cover everything; can you handle that?”

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.”

“See you in the morning.”

It was as simple as that. I noticed that the rifle and suppressor didn’t have serial num-
bers. He didn’t even ask if TOM was still alive, taking our word that he was. It was a
long drive back to Lake City. When we arrived, Derek was there and was astonished at
our return.

“I was told you left to return to Mountain Home.”

“That’s what we said; however we decided to Murfreesboro, Tennessee.”

“Was Barrett open?”

222
“Oh yeah and we picked up a one of a kind, an M107A1 fully equipped including a soft
mount absent serial numbers. If you can’t get a M38 Jeep step mount for the pedestal,
let me know and I find something somewhere. Anyway the light fifty is engineered for
the soft mount and the rifle came with it installed. If the soft mount pin is different from
the regular pin, I’m sure Barrett included it.”

“Barrett the company or Barrett the man?”

“Ronnie Barrett himself saw to getting what we wanted put together. Funny thing, I
wasn’t sure he would go for it until I brought up you dad and Jerry.”

“Why would that make a difference?”

“Just guessing but early on they had high praise for the M82A1. Your dad switched to
the Tac-50 and Jerry to the Vigilance VR-1 in .408 CheyTac, which Mr. Barrett noted.
By the way, we had to pay for the equipment but got it for what he claimed was cost.
Can you get a pedestal and mount it on the wheelchair?”

“I’ll figure something out or he’ll have my head. Since you got him the M107A1, does
that mean you want the Tac-50A1R2 back?”

“Heck no, more is always better, ask your dad. Everything is supposed to be ready to go
but I don’t know if the scope bore sighted at 100 meters or actually sighted in at 100
meters. How are you fixed on .50BMG ammo?”

“As you may recall, I started out with 26 cans of Mk 211 along with 16 cases of the
750gr AMAX. I’ve used one can of Mk 211 including the loaded magazines and one
case of the AMAX including the loaded magazines. Do the math, 25×120=3,000 rounds
of Mk 211 and 15×200=3,000 rounds of the AMAX plus the loaded magazines.”

“So, with 2 rifles now, you’re short about 1,000 rounds of each?”

“How did you arrive at that number?”

“The Barrett website used to give an average barrel life of 4,000 rounds.”

“I think the Tac-50 is better than that; say 6,000+ rounds depending upon circumstanc-
es.”

“So, you have 6,000 rounds and would need an additional 4,000 rounds to the limit of
the barrel life?”

“If your estimates of barrel life are accurate, yes.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

223
“Things are different these days.”

“In what way?”

“With the computerized inventory system, things tend to not turn up missing.”

“That only goes so far Derek; someone still has to place the order and enter the quantity
received when the goods arrive. There probably as many crooked Supply Sergeants
now as there were before. Remember, a gun doesn’t pull its own trigger and Supply
Sergeants still have needs above their level of military pay. Yes, the computer automat-
ically generates a request for an investigation when one computer says 6 were shipped
and 4 received, but so what?

“The greater the value of the missing items, the deeper they investigate. No crooked
Supply Sergeant would be stupid enough to store the stolen items in supply or in his/her
residence. In fact, they probably wouldn’t have a safety deposit box at their bank.

“The AMAX is the easier of the two because it comes in 200 rounds cases so you’ll
need 10 cases. The Mk 211 comes in 120 round cans and you’ll need 17 of those. Like I
said, let me see what I can do.”

“And, I’ll find the appropriate pedestal.”

“Why don’t you wait to tell your dad until after you have the pedestal mounted and test-
ed?”

“Good idea.”

224
 World War Three – Chapter 21

While I’d never seen that particular pedestal, I did confirm that the soft mount pintle was
standard. Therefore, any pedestal that met the military standard would work and the on-
ly adjustment that would be required would be to the height, shortening it to 24”. My first
stop was at a metal recycling dealer where I described what I was looking for.

“I don’t have one that short, will longer work?”

“How long is the one you have?”

“Forty-eight inches... four feet.”

“How much?”

“I’ll weigh it and will let go for the retail price we usually charge for scrap.”

“What do you mean by retail?”

“It’s just like any other metal, buy low… sell high. We earn our income on the difference.
It’s steel and steel sells for more than cast iron for example and aluminum sells for more
than steel since it’s almost totally recyclable.”

“Ok, weigh it and give me a price.”

“Twenty dollars.”

“Cash ok?”

“Got any precious metals?”

“I wish.”

“A dollar just isn’t worth what it once was so for cash, I’ll have to have 25 dollars.”

“Here you go.”

“I hope it works out for you, whatever it is you’re trying to do.”

“Know a good welder who can cut out 24 inches from the middle and rejoin the top and
bottom sections?”

“Yeah, me.”

“How much to do that?”

225
“Call it another 25 dollars.”

“I need it as straight and as strong as it was before you started, when you finish.”

“Come back in two hours.”

“Right.”

It probably didn’t take the full time because when I returned, he’d ground down the new
seam, primed and painted the pedestal with Rust-Oleum and it wasn’t sticky. The color
was ‘primer gray’.

“Judy… Judy… there you are. Check this out.”

“What is it, the pedestal?”

“Yes it is.”

“It looks brand new.”

“The one I found was 48” tall so I had it shortened and he ground down the new seam,
added primer and painted it.”

“How much?”

“Fifty dollars because he didn’t think the dollars was worth as much.”

“Smart man… does this mean another trip to Lake City?”

“Yes, it does.”

“When?”

“The day after today.”

“Tomorrow?”

“That’s always a day away. But yes we’re going tomorrow.”

“But we’re coming home as soon as we drop it off, right?”

“We’ll have to stick until Derek gets home.”

“That’s fine… but I don’t really want to have to stay for a meal because TOM’s wife Sha-
ron was really stressed out.”

226
“In that case, you can leave early and get a motel room and come back later and pick
me up. That reminds me, we should sort out the ammo they’re short on from our stocks.
I know we can get the Hornady and that Mk 211 might not be the problem it has been in
the past. I have an idea about that but won’t voice it until I’m sure.”

What I was thinking about was the ammo supply point for Arkansas. If anyone knew, it
should be Derek. If I explained my problem replacing the Mk 211, maybe he could help
out. Heck if he knew where the Arkansas ammo supply point was, he could get his own
Mk 211 and we’d just give him the Hornady. We weren’t really short on the AMAX any-
way. Although the Hornady has a case price of $1,000, depending on the source, I/we
had miscounted and had 10,000 rounds rather than 8,000 rounds. At the time, I won-
dered where the money went, until I inventoried the ammo.

There was action occurring every day… in far off places. We must have picked up a rep
of being a place not to fool with because nobody did. Ask yourself if you would fool with
someone that carried 3 handguns, only 2 concealed, and a shotgun in the rifle rack at
the minimum and a total of 10 long arms when they were serious. Not only were our ve-
hicles equipped with that coded security plug under the dash, but they had cut out
switches for the fuel pump. We sort of preferred the Service body because it had so
many hiding places.

The trip to Lake City went smoothly because Derek was home (it was a Saturday) and
he hadn’t found a pedestal. He did have a sheet of ½” plate to mount the pedestal on
and we got it installed before supper. Judy had already gone and gotten a motel room
and was back to pick me up. She told me that Sharon seemed to be in a better mood
when she got back from the motel.

The setup was adjustable 2 ways: the bolts mounting the plate to the wheelchair could
be loosened and the plate moved in the slot and bolt holes for the pedestal were pre-
pared as slots. TOM watched what we were doing and said we’d read too many of his
stories. But how, he wondered, were we going to attach the pintle to the Tac-50.

“We’re not going to attach it. The Tac-50 isn’t like a Barrett with mounting pins that you
can use to attach a soft mount with the pintle.”

“But, I don’t have a Barrett!”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well… you’ve got one now, the M107A1 with suppressor, BORS and a Nightforce 8-
32×56mm scope, mounted, an AN/PVS-27 and a soft mount installed. Don’t try to pick it
up.”

227
“Magazines?”

“A bunch.”

“Ammo?”

“We brought more Hornady and your son should be able to get some more Mk 211.”

“Where are the M61s?”

“Sorry about that. Can you throw a grenade far enough to be out of the blast radius?”

“Don’t have to, I have 40mm grenades.”

“If that’s the case, why did you ask?”

“I actually just wanted to have more.”

We had dinner at a local café and returned home the next day. He wanted to hold one
because he’d only seen pictures? Strange little man, who still had fire in his eyes and in
his voice.

The Caliph was very unhappy that several close companions had been killed by the Ira-
nians and he had his revenge with heads being lopped off left and right. The first to go
was the Ayatollah followed by the Iranian President and senior military officials when
they were captured. This man was filled with hate and if he wasn’t careful, that hate
would be his undoing.

Although the Saudis had placed 300,000 troops on their border with Iraq, he didn’t at-
tack them because they were about 25 million people who are Muslim, or 97% of the
total population. Excluding foreign workers, about 100% of its population is Muslim. Da-
ta for Saudi Arabia comes primarily from general population surveys, which are less re-
liable than censuses or large-scale demographic and health surveys for estimating mi-
nority-majority ratios. About 85–90% of Saudis are Sunni, while Shi’as represent around
10–15% of the Muslim population. The official and dominant form of Sunni Islam in
Saudi Arabia is commonly known as Wahhabism (a name which some of its proponents
consider derogatory, preferring the term Salafism), founded in the Arabian Peninsula by
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in the eighteenth century, is often described as ‘puritan-
ical’, ‘intolerant’ or ‘ultra-conservative’.

However, proponents consider that its teachings seek to purify the practice of Islam of
any innovations or practices that deviate from the seventh-century teachings of the Is-
lamic Prophet Muhammad and his companions. The Caliph was a Wahhabist and the

228
description of Wahhabism certainly applied to how he did business… which was Jihad.
After all, ISIS has captured and employed surface-to-air Stinger missiles, M198 howitz-
ers, DShK guns mounted on trucks, anti-aircraft guns, self-propelled guns and at least
one Scud missile.

When ISIS captured Mosul Airport in June 2014, it seized a number of UH-60 Black-
hawk helicopters and cargo planes that were stationed there. However, according to
Peter Beaumont of The Guardian, it seemed unlikely that ISIS would be able to deploy
them.

ISIS captured nuclear materials from Mosul University in July 2014. In a letter to UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iraq’s UN Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said that
the materials had been kept at the university and “can be used in manufacturing weap-
ons of mass destruction”. Nuclear experts regarded the threat as insignificant. Interna-
tional Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Gill Tudor said that the seized materials
were “low grade and would not present a significant safety, security or nuclear prolifera-
tion risk”. Famous last words?

“It seems to me that we may not live to see Caliph Ibrahim complete his plans to expand
the Caliphate to incorporate the entire world Muslim population under his control. I
mean they’re fierce fighters and have managed to raise a well-disciplined Militia with
significant financial resources. They should be able to find people familiar with the cap-
tured military equipment skilled enough to put it to good use.”

“Assuming I buy that Rollin, to what purpose?”

“My initial thought was that they’d go for the Emirates or Israel next. They might overrun
the Emirates next but I’m beginning to think they plan on attacking Turkey next. That will
work as long as they can avoid a confrontation with the Kurds. With Turkey conquered
they can work over Kurdistan.”

“Why not Israel?”

“The Islamic State apparently lacks nuclear weapons and they’d be foolish to tackle Is-
rael face to face. Israel has managed to avoid a nuclear confrontation with their Arab
neighbors since they developed the weapons. Remember what I said about them not
using what they have to avoid the world knowing exactly what they do have?

“If Osama bin Laden was able to infiltrate 20 terrorists for the 9/11 attacks, there is no
reason to believe the Islamic State can’t do the same. ANNM worked well for Timothy
McVeigh for the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City and the nature of the explosives was
well documented on Wikipedia.

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“The 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, and the
successful 9/11/01 second attack on the World Trade Center are covered in detail at
several different locations. It’s almost a roadmap for terrorist targets. Freedom Tower
has replaced the World Trade center and the Pentagon was quickly repaired.”

“What would they gain by attacking targets in this county other than angering the popu-
lation and the government? After our experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, the govern-
ment and the people will think twice before getting involved in that mess. We’ve been
beaten down between WWIII and the seismic activity. We’ve lost a significant portion of
our population between those two events.”

“They’re religious crackpots, so they don’t really need a motive, now do they?”

“I hope you’re wrong Rollin.”

“So do I Judy, so do I.”

Unfortunately, Rollin was only half right. He was correct that they didn’t need a motive
and he was incorrect when he assumed the Islamic State lacked nuclear weapons. Iran
had been in the final stages of building the plutonium based ‘hydrogen bombs’ (fission-
fusion-fission) which had an expected yield of 20-25mT. It was basically an assembly
line process and they had 12 completed and 4 more on the assembly line. One of the
‘military’ shelters was in fact both nuclear assembly facility and a military bomb shelter
that no one suspected. While the IS lacked the wherewithal to complete the last 4, they
now had a dozen and 2 enemy states that ranked #1 and #2 on their list, Israel and the
United States.

Unfortunately for the IS, they killed the people assembling the hydrogen bombs when
they attacked Iran. The IS was very much aware that the majority of strikes on the US
by China were counter-force and that Washington and New York were counter-value
and the strike on Oklahoma City was counter-value/force. They didn’t know that the
strike on Washington had been done by Russia.

The IS suspected that the rumor that Israel had captured 4 ‘atomic bombs’ that had
supposedly been manufactured by Iran was probably true. When one of their soldiers
found records indicating that 20 such bombs had been manufactured and 18 were load-
ed aboard a Panamanian registered cargo vessel and shipped to the State of Israel and
the United States of America while the two leftovers went overland to Iraq and Syria,
they began to understand why Damascus and Baghdad were bombed.

There were no indications that the 14 bombs intended for the US ever reached the US.
A careful investigation showed the ship never reached its destination and was listed as
‘missing and presumed lost’. The IS presumed that either a Los Angeles-class or Virgin-

230
ia-class had sunk the cargo ship. All three of the Seawolf-class were supposedly home
ported in the Puget Sound.

Sometimes knowing both sides of the story, ruins the story and sometimes it doesn’t.
Neither Rollin nor Judy knew both sides of the story. If anything, the IS probably had a
better handle on what had happened that the average US citizen because RP was hold-
ing the cards so close to his vest and hadn’t said anything other than he’d won one for
the Gipper. Or, did you lose sight of the fact that RP is a politician?

Any person who thinks terrorists are stupid isn’t a student of history. They’ve forgotten
about the Archduke and every other terrorist event since the beginning of the 20 th Cen-
tury. The 21st Century has more than its share of terrorist events, too, witness 9/11/01
as a starting point. Russia invaded the Crimea to support pro-Russian terrorists and
someone shot down a commercial passenger jet flying over the eastern Ukraine.

That doesn’t include World War Three or the Russian attacks on Beijing and Washing-
ton either. Only Vlad and RP know about the attacks on Beijing and Washington. So
what if Putin cut off gas to Europe, he was being sanctioned over the shoot down of that
airplane, among other things. Vlad was an opportunist and Barack’s only diplomatic tool
was threats. When RP confronted Vlad, it was a totally different story.

Was RP bluffing? Only he knows for sure although I am sure the Chairman of the JCS
probably believed him, Vlad did. He claimed that all the Russian boomers had a Virgin-
ia-class nearby with the torpedo hatches open. Some of the submarine movies predated
the Seawolf and Virginia classes so I don’t really know if the Borei class could hear the
torpedo tubes opening. Then again, why take a chance? It would be easy to open the
hatches before closing on the Borei.

That was yesterday’s news. The current news was focused on Arab Spring and World
War Four. The IS had 12 functional (?) hydrogen bombs in the 20-25mT class and the
same enemies as Iran had, Israel and the United States. They decided to use 2 on Isra-
el and the other 10 on the US. The bombs going to Israel would be transported by truck,
much the same as Iran had done to Damascus and Baghdad. They now controlled Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon and Iran plus several African counties.

The problem they faced was getting those massive 25mT bombs to the US because
Iran had mastered the technology but not the miniaturization. The bombs weighed
something on the order of 10 metric tonnes, double the weight of the old US 25mT
bomb, the Mk 41. Ten bombs equaled 100 metric tonnes. Getting them to the US was
far less difficult than unloading them from the ship and moving them to their ultimate
destinations.

The weapons were heavy but not massive and could easily be stored in the tanks of a
supertanker of crude oil, assuming they could get the US to accept a shipment of crude.
They hadn’t tackled the UAE yet or Kuwait; and, the US and Kuwait were on relatively
good terms because of the First Gulf War. The plan slowly took form and the weapons

231
would be removed from the supertanker just before it entered the Gulf of México. They
would be transferred to shrimp boats and unloaded in Louisiana.

Shrimp boats is a-comin’

Their sails are in sight
Shrimp boats is a-comin’
There’s dancin’ tonight
Why don’t-cha hurry, hurry, hurry home
Why don’t-cha hurry, hurry, hurry home
Look here! The shrimp boats is a-comin’
There’s dancin’ tonight – Jo Stafford Thunder Bay 1953

[Yes, I saw the movie several times. It starred James Stewart, Joanne Dru, Dan Duryea
and Gilbert Roland, among others. Stewart gets his oil platform built but has a problem,
shrimp are clogging the system. The shrimpers are angry because they think the oil
platform is scaring the shrimp away; ending by Walt Disney.]

The IS hadn’t finalized their plans because they weren’t sure they could get the weap-
ons beyond US security. They chose to store the weapons in 10 different storage facili-
ties in New Orleans until they could identify the 10 best targets.

“TOM called, Rollin.”

“What’s up?”

“He said to tell you that the Saudis couldn’t have put 300,000 troops on their border with
Iraq because they only have 233,500 active duty military and 25,000 reserves. He went
on to say that the IS was going to take Jordan next and move against the other Middle
Eastern states saving Turkey for last.

“Apparently they mopped up Iran after Israel had finished with the country. The Middle
East, he says, includes Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Leba-
non, Northern Cyprus, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United
Arab Emirates and Yemen.”

“Did he have any idea about the order they’d tackle the remaining countries?”

“Only that Turkey would be saved for last.”

“Remember what I told you about Turkey? When the IS takes Turkey, they’ll have a foot
on Asia and Europe.”

“We’re getting a little long in the tooth to fight World War Four.”

232
“I rather suspect we’ll be dead and buried long before we have a World War Four. We
should make arrangements with TOM’s family to collect our weapons, ammunition and
matériel when we’re gone. I’ll call and set it up. How about we set up a comm schedule
and if we don’t communicate per the schedule, they come here and check on us?”

“Maybe his older son will just move here and take up residence.”

“That would be even better.”

233
 World War Four – Chapter 1

We drove over to Lake City and established the communications schedule. TOM didn’t
pay much attention to us, he was lost in a world of his own, talking about World War
Four and how Einstein got it wrong.

“As long as modern weapons can be preserved, we won’t be fighting with sticks and
stones. We may be using the old fashioned black powder firearms but black powder is
nothing more than 75% nitrate, 15% carbon and 10% sulfur.”

“What do you use?”

“Pyrodex rifle and Pyrodex pistol with the appropriate caps. It’s a direct substitute by
volume for black powder. We segregate the .45 Colt rounds into rifle and revolver
rounds. I think the Vaqueros could handle the rifle rounds if one could maintain control
of the revolver. What brings you two over here?”

“Estate planning; we intend to leave our firearms, ammo and matériel to your family.”

“Property too?”

“Everything.”

“That might work for Derek Jr. He was raised in Bolivar, Missouri north of Springfield.”

“Is he any good with firearms?”

“He’s second best in the family behind his father.”

“TOM, we’ve got to get back to meet with the lawyer tomorrow to draw up our wills.”

“Drive carefully.”

We made it back just after sunset and the crockpot chili that had been cooking all day
on low was ready to eat. Our appointment with the lawyer was scheduled for 10am the
following day in Mountain Home.

Neither of us was impressed with the lawyer. His first comment was how hard it would
be it transferring property to non-relatives. Although we assured him we had no living
relatives and rather insisted that one couldn’t find someone who didn’t exist, he disa-
greed. That tore it for us and we paid for the initial consult and looked for another law-
yer.

When we got home, I got on the radio and contacted Derek, asking if there any good
lawyers in Jonesboro.

234
“How many do you need?”

“One, if he’s as good one.”

“There are plenty of lawyers here. I can’t speak for how good they are… what are you
looking for?”

“Someone to draw up our wills.”

“I’ll tell you what, you have someone draw them up and give to my dad to read before
you sign them.”

“Why?”

“Before dad went to law school, my grandfather insisted he and mom get wills. Grandpa
even picked the lawyer. So mom and dad went to the lawyer and made their wishes
known. The law firm put together some boiler plate and called them up to come in and
read the will. There something about it that just struck dad wrong and he asked if they
could take it home and read it.

“The bottom line was the law firm made a mistake with their boiler plate and under cer-
tain circumstances, mom’s parents would end up with the entire estate. Dad got a refer-
ral to law school out of the deal.”

“But if I remember correctly, he quit law school.”

“Yes he did because law school gave him ulcers. He claims that’s where he learned
about situational ethics and decided it wasn’t his cup of tea.”

“Literally or figuratively?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The tea; what does he drink?”

“Lately Bigelow Earl Grey, Darjeeling and Jasmine when he can find it.”

“We’re coming over tomorrow to check out the lawyers. I told your dad yesterday that
we’re leaving everything to your family when we’re both gone. That includes the fire-
arms, ammo, matériel, the cabin, shelter, fuel, electrical sources and the whole she-
bang.”

“Why?”

“Well, why not? We don’t have any remaining family to leave it to and I’ll be damned if
I’ll leave it to Baxter County.”

235
“Thank you in advance.”

We left for Jonesboro a little after sunup and had the sun in our eyes most of the way to
Jonesboro. We checked into the motel we usually used and I pumped the desk clerk
about who he thought was the best lawyer in town. He said it depended on what type of
lawyer we wanted. Several specialized in business law, some in estate planning and still
others in criminal law. I told me we wanted someone specializing in estate planning. He
gave me names of the two best state planning firms, in his opinion.

We called the firm he said was probably the best and made an appointment for the next
day. With little else to do with the remainder of the day, we did a lot of shopping and a
little sightseeing. Jonesboro had taken it on the chin when Yellowstone spread and trig-
gered the New Madrid. They were close to finishing the rebuilding.

One set of equipment we bought was climbing equipment. It included 2 11mm static
ropes 600’ long and 2 12.5mm climbing ropes 1,200’ long plus his and hers body har-
nesses, climbing helmets, assorted carabineers, mechanical ascenders and a large as-
sortment of pitons. The waterproof ropes were 2 layers consisting of an inner core and a
braided outer sheath. With only a few exceptions, we’d be able to handle most of the
mountains in Arkansas and Missouri. We also managed to buy more ammo including
the M855A1, green (lead free) ammo plus enough fill in Black Hills to round out our
stock of 168gr and 175gr. Ammo wasn’t getting any cheaper, either.

“Good morning, I’m Joseph Hill, how can I help you today?”

“My name is RJ Reynolds and Judy and I need wills drawn up and frankly the first law-
yer we talked to wasn’t much help.”

“Is there anything unusual about your circumstances that caused him problems?”

“We have no surviving relatives to leave our estates to and have decided to leave eve-
rything to a local man here who teaches History at the University. Our estate consists of
a small acreage south of Mountain Home in Baxter County. We want to leave Professor
Ott the property and everything on it. His oldest son, Derek Junior will probably take up
residence. Is there a simple way to convey everything that would amount to lock, stock
and barrel?”

“Patriot or retired military?”

“I’m both and Judy and I got married after I got out of the Army.”

“Do you concur Mrs. Reynolds?”

236
“Absolutely. Father and son have the same names, Derek Spencer Ott. The Professor
generally refers to his son as DJ for Derek Junior.”

“This sounds like a simple will and we could have it ready for your review tomorrow. Do
you want to leave everything to Senior or Junior?”

“I don’t know. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Not really, it will be up to you to decide.”

“Can you do it both ways?”

“Sure, it’s only as difficult as adding Senior or Junior after the name. I’ll need information
about the property being conveyed and identifying information for each of you.”

“We brought the deed and both have our driver’s licenses, social security cards and
military identification cards. Is that enough?”

“More than enough. How about 3pm tomorrow?”

“How much is this going to run us?”

“Two hundred fifty dollars or one-tenth ounce of gold if you happen to have gold.”

“We’ll pay with gold.”

“I rather expected that and that’s why I offered.”

“The only thing wrong with gold is that you can’t eat it.”

“My sentiments exactly. Tomorrow at 3?”

“We’ll be here.”

His secretary copied our identification and retained the deed so they could include the
legal description of the property in the will.

“First Sergeant, the wills will be ready tomorrow but a question came up. Should we
name you as the beneficiary or Derek Junior as the beneficiary?”

“DJ. If I do happen to accumulate any sizeable estate, it would be better for him to have
it to avoid estate taxes. From outward appearances your property appears to be essen-
tially undeveloped except for the cabin and outbuildings. I’m relatively sure that your
electrical setup won’t use up your lifetime exemption.”

237
“But the fuel…”

“Who knows beside you and the fuel companies?”

“You do have a point because most of the fuel was purchased. Plus there are rebuild
kits for the generator engine and alternator.”

“Use the generator much?”

“We run it every 2 weeks for 15 minutes under a full load.”

The wills were simple one page affairs and he had his secretary print out one of each
after we told him Derek Spencer Ott, Junior was the beneficiary. He even added a pro-
vision for the surviving spouse to live out their remaining days on the property, if they so
chose.

After we signed them and his secretary notarized them, he had two copies of each run
off, one for the beneficiary and one for us. We dropped of the copies and headed home.
He said he’d file the document with the county recorder and hold copies of the recorded
document for DJ and us.

IS had finally decided where to place those 10 25mT bombs… in the major cities that
China hadn’t hit and that escaped the ash fall. Sort like if the left one don’t get you, the
right one will… he may have had a big mouth but he was a great boxer. One of those
targets was in Missouri in the new national capital, Saint Louis. It was an easy target,
put the bomb on a barge and move it up the Mississippi River.

For the sake of protecting the bombs from the crude oil, each had been placed in a 20’
Conex. Aside from the problem of fitting the Conex on the shrimp boats, they had little
trouble storing the bombs around NOLA. Their plan allowed for contingencies because
no plan survives first contact with the enemy. If you’ve followed the antics of IS, you
must realize how successful they’ve been.

Remember Matthew 24:36: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even
the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

Only the Caliph and a few select members of IS knew the hour and day of the attack to
come. Only the Caliph and one trusted aide knew everything. They had been successful
because of OpSec and cruelty. IS trucked the bombs through the West Bank and into
Israel and placed one in Tel Aviv and the other near the closed down Dimona Nuclear

238
Facility. [Closed in 2012 due to concerns about the reactor and threats from Hamas and
Iran. Hamas had fired missiles at it in 2012 and 2014.]

Israel was under the misunderstanding that IS was saving them for last in the Middle
East because they were an undeclared nuclear power. They caught Iran attempting to
sneak in atomic bombs and had warned the US, earning them additional US Govern-
ment aid. IS was saving Saudi Arabia for last because they were Wahhabi. They hoped
to persuade the Saudis to joint them in taking over the world because the Saudis had
the money they needed to expand from their foothold in Turkey.

China hadn’t bombed Denver due to the limited weapons and had concentrated on Col-
orado Springs, Anderson AFB and the Mountain. The same could be said for several
large cities because of the weapons limit. Fortunately for China, Yellowstone and the
Cascades had taken out cities they would have targeted had they more weapons.

Although RP had identified St. Louis as the new capital, the construction was ongoing
and he spent every free moment traveling the country with his Secret Service detail de-
termining who need what when. Since the White House Detail didn’t have a lot of time
preparing for his trips, they did the next best thing and clamped a press blackout on his
activities. A permanent press pool traveled with the President and SS and they only
knew where they were going next when they arrived.

IS had selected those major cities that would hurt the US the most if they were taken
out because they were generally industrial centers or involved in food production. Cali-
fornia’s drought had ended and the big valley was in full production. The rail systems
were repaired and or upgraded to transport the food where it was needed. Several
states produced large quantities of citrus and they too were included in the plan to feed
the survivors. These were all counter-value targets.

The most seriously affected states were the Dakotas with their production of beans cur-
tailed. The Department of Agriculture was doing its best to line up other producers, even
for the short term. Iowa’s production of corn, soybeans and pork fell off because of the
ash fall and Wisconsin’s production of cheeses fell, but California picked up much of the
slack.

With my military pension and Judy’s Social Security we were in reasonable condition
financially. So we refilled both the STS and LTS foods first and topped off the fuels. Af-
ter that, we went looking for ammo. More is better and would you rather have it and not
need it or need it and not have it? While 1 turn in 10 might be ideal for 175gr
7.62×51mm, it didn’t mean you couldn’t shoot it in a 1:11 barrel or 147gr in 1:11 or 1:10
barrels.

For most of its existence .45ACP was 230gr FMJ ammo and it hit them almost hard as
JHP. In fact the fact that the .45ACP put them on their butt was more important than an-
ything else. Given a choice between a 12 gauge shooting 3” magnum shells and a
.45ACP put the shotgun way ahead of a .45ACP. Plus for the people who couldn’t han-

239
dle the recoil there was the low recoil LEO ammo. Any legal questions about the hollow
point and the Mk 211 had been resolved by JAG lawyers and didn’t apply to us because
we were civilians and could even use soft point hunting ammo, which Black Hills also
happened to manufacture. We weren’t Black Hills sales representatives; we also rec-
ommended Hornady, Winchester, Remington and several the commercial brands when
they were available.

Judy suggested that she’d like to drive up to St. Louis and do some shopping so I
checked the bank balance and available precious metals and we made plans for the
trip. It was about 250 miles and a trip of 4½ hours. We went loaded for bear but used
Steve’s Service Body truck and would pick up a U Haul in St, Louis if we got carried
away.

We spent the afternoon of the first day shopping for things Judy wanted. The morning of
the second day, we hit gun dealers looking for ammunition. We had lunch and headed
back the way we came, arriving home around 6pm. She stated supper while I unloaded
the truck, and U Haul. I was able to turn it in in Mountain Home and returned just as she
was setting supper on the table.

The next morning about 8am the WR602 went off. The announcement was brief, the US
had been attacked with 10 triple signature hydrogen bombs in the 25mT range and the
cities included the capital, St. Louis. They didn’t announce the other 9 cities attacked
and we heard the now standard announcement to take cover.

“Do you realize that had we delayed our trip by a single day, we’d probably be statistics
now Rollin?”

“The thought did occur to me Judy but I’m more interested in the other 9 cities they
struck. Apparently the nukes were detonated at ground level and the fallout potential is
extremely high. I’m going to see if we can raise TOM or Derek on the Kenwood and of-
fer them shelter here.”

“For all we know, they’re already on the way.”

“True, I doubt ASU is open for classes. Are we short on anything we can get at Wal-
Mart in Mountain Home?”

“We’re okay on food and short on feminine hygiene. From what Sharon told me, Eliza-
beth, Audrey and Lorrie will need the supplies.”

“Why not Amy?”

“She uses Depo-Provera. But she may not be able to get the shots so maybe we should
add her to the list.”

“I think we’d better both drive up because it’s likely to be a mob scene.”

240
“What are we taking?”

“Handguns with the 590A1s in the pickup.”

“I have cash leftover from our trip to St. Louis. How about you?”

“Yes, I have some cash but I wonder if our debit cards will work. I used my card more
often in St. Louis than actual cash.”

“Well either way, we should have enough. Did you check the charge level on the batter-
ies?”

“Yes, they’re at 99%. Let me get the shotguns and we’ll be ready to go.”

We had a choice of wearing the PT1911s and Hi-Powers in right side paddle holsters,
Andrew Leather Monarch holsters or IWB holsters. Judy opted to wear the Browning in
her Monarch rig, the Walther in her ankle holster and carry the Taurus in her Galco
Purse. I opted to carry my Taurus in the paddle holster, my Browning in my Monarch rig
and the Walther in the ankle holster because I don’t carry a purse and lacked an IWB
holster for the PPK.

My shopping list was very short because we’d just stocked up on cigarettes and ammu-
nition in Missouri and I only needed some beer, Chivas and Drambuie. I doubted TOM
had gone off the wagon since he had about 20 years sober. Besides, Medical Cabinet 2
was full of booze and he didn’t have a key.

When we returned home, we had company from Lake City.

“I thought about trying to get you on the radio but it slipped my mind. Have any trouble
getting here?”

“The usual; Dad wanted to sit in the front yard and catch the warhead. I finally con-
vinced him that the weapons were bombs, not warheads, and Jonesboro was an unlike-
ly target. I’ll need a hand with his wheelchair because it’s so heavy. We’ll have to leave
it in the cabin because ramp is too steep. It’s not a problem, he has a regular wheel-
chair.”

“Did you bring everything?”

“All the firearms, ammo and ordnance and the food we had on hand which pales in
comparison to what you have.”

“We went up to St. Louis shopping the day before yesterday and returned yesterday
stopping for smokes on the way home. We have about 22 years of food for one plus ex-
tra beans, rice and coffee.”

241
“Beano?”

“A full case. Anyone in your family claustrophobic?”

“Not that I know of, but we have Xanax 0.5 mg and Hydrocodone APAP 10/325 running
out our ears. Since Mom, Dad and Amy take insulin, they each have about a year’s
worth of that along with 18 months’ worth of their other medications except aspirin and
Benadryl which they have about 2 years’ worth. Fortunately, they’re all generics except
for the insulin.”

“Have they announced any of the 9 other cities?”

“Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston were announced on the Weather Radio on the way
over. The President was on the road so he missed the St. Louis bomb.”

“Did they say where he was?”

“He was in Murfreesboro, Tennessee discussing the XM109 with Ronnie Barrett. Ap-
parently Barrett found a way to overcome the excessive recoil because of that silencer
they developed.”

“That’s the one with the $25 ammo isn’t it?”

“The first fielding test in Afghanistan of the XM-25 used hand built rounds that cost
$1,000 each. The initial low rate production (ILRP) rounds run about $55. The Barrett
rifle has greater range than the XM-25 and is more accurate. Plus the M109 is an upper
that can be swapped out for the .50 caliber upper.”

The weather radio went off and they announced more cities: Dallas, Phoenix, Philadel-
phia, San Antonio, San Diego and Seattle.

“Those are some of the largest cities,” Tom said. “I did some research for some stories
and identified the 101 largest cities. Each of those cities had a population exceeding
one million, except for the new national capital. Even its Metropolitan Statistical Area
exceeded one million.”

“Whodunit?”

“My money is on IS. I don’t know; maybe Iran did develop a hydrogen bomb and they
had more plutonium than anyone thought. There’s just so much we don’t know and
‘winning one for the gipper’ doesn’t tell us crap. If they follow the pattern that Aaron laid
out in Normal, we’re in for some very hard times.”

“Was that you and David Murphy he mentioned in By Law?”

242
“Yeah, he wrote and asked if it was okay and I told him to go ahead. The other guy,
Chris, I think went by Freedom of the Hills. He wasn’t going to end it like he did, but the
threats apparently worked. You didn’t know until the very last if it was Charlie or Lori
that survived. I think he intended to leave it hanging.”

“Dad, I just picked up an English language radio conversation from the Middle East.”

“I suppose they got Israel too.”

“Two bombs, same size, one in Tel Aviv and one near the Dimona Nuclear Facility.”

“I doubt that Israel stores their nukes at Dimona.”

“I agree and that mean they’ll probably turn the Middle East into a glass parking lot.”

“With all the Russian alliances with the Arab countries, Russia will probably finish off the
Middle East and turn to us because of our support of Israel.”

“Maybe; don’t count you chickens until they hatch.”

Considering some of the targets, Judy and I urged everyone to get their things and put
them in the shelter. Gary and Sharon had several bags of Jasmine rice, small and large
white beans, pinto beans, beano, shell corn, coffee, cigarettes, their medications and
plenty of Charmin. Apparently he practiced what he preached. While they didn’t have a
grinder, they had hard red wheel and durum wheat and several cases of pasta sauce.
Apparently Sharon would only eat that brand of pasta sauce and she got that at Sam’s
Club. They also had an assortment Bigelow tea plus Swiss Miss ‘for the kids’.

Russia was tired of paying off the US for the attack on Washington and when Israel be-
gan nuking the Middle East, they attacked Israel per mutual support agreements and
the US because of the relationship between the US and Israel. Many of the American
power players were Jewish and the pressure to retaliate on Russia would, they thought,
result in the US succumbing to the pressure. Unlike the US, Russia had a Civil Defense
program with sheltering in the Moscow subway system. The Americans knew about
their program, but not the full extent of it.

Russia moved their Borei-class submarines into position and activated their Perimetr
system. All the while, moving citizens into the shelter system based on carefully defined
parameters that insured those people needed to help rebuild the country after the Amer-
ican attack would be on hand to do so.

The purpose of the Dead Hand system (Perimeter), as described in a book of the same
name, was to maintain a second strike capability, by ensuring that the destruction of the

243
Soviet leadership would not have prevented the Soviet military from releasing its weap-
ons.

Soviet concern about the issue grew with the US development of highly accurate sub-
marine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) systems in the 1980s. Until then, the United
States would have delivered most nuclear weapons by long-range bomber or ICBM.
Earlier US sub-launched missiles, such as the 1960s-vintage UGM-27 Polaris and
1970s-vintage UGM-73 Poseidon, were considered too inaccurate for a counterforce or
first strike attack, an attack against an opponent’s weapons. SLBMs were reserved for
attacking cities, where accuracy was of less importance. In the first case, an opponent
with effective radar and satellite surveillance could expect a 30-minute warning of an
attack before the first detonation. This made an effective first strike difficult, because the
opponent would have time to launch on warning to reduce the risk of their forces being
destroyed on the ground. The development of highly accurate SLBMs, such as the Tri-
dent C4 and later the D5 upset this balance. The Trident D5 is considered to be as ac-
curate as any land based ICBM. Therefore, US or UK Trident submarine systems could
stealthily approach an enemy’s coast and launch highly accurate warheads at close
range, reducing the available warning to less than 3 minutes, making a counterforce first
strike or a decapitation strike viable.

The USSR took steps to ensure that nuclear retaliation, and hence deterrence, re-
mained possible even if its leadership were destroyed in a surprise attack. In contrast,
Thompson argues that Perimeetr’s function was to limit acts of misjudgment by political
or military leaderships in the tight decision making window between SLBM or cruise
missile launches, and impact. He quotes Zheleznyakov on the purpose of Perimeter be-
ing “to cool down all these hotheads and extremists. No matter what was going to hap-
pen, there still would be revenge.” By most accounts, it is normally switched off and is
supposed to be activated during dangerous crises only; however, it is said to remain ful-
ly functional and able to serve its purpose whenever needed. It was discussed in a
news article on 7Sep14. http://www.businessinsider.com/russias-dead-hand-system-
may-still-be-active-2014-9 [The name of the system was spelled wrong in the article…
the Soviets created a system called Perimeter, also known as Dead Hand. The correct
name is Perimetr.]

Russia didn’t have to worry about China either because they had been eliminated from
the equation with World War Three. While Russia assumed that the US had implement-
ed a ‘launch on warning’ posture, the US still had the previous policy of notifying the Na-
tional Command Authority to decide upon the appropriate response to a perceived at-
tack. Once NCA transmitted to codes to the NMCC at Raven Rock, the military took it
from there. In this case, the responsible military officers were safely locked away in the
Mountain.

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245
 World War Four – Chapter 2

“LOCK IT DOWN!”

“Two more minutes, Smoke, two more minutes.”

“Hurry Spence.”

“That’s it, I got my baby. Radiation shouldn’t hurt the ammo.”

“How much is left?”

“Ten cases.”

“We’ll risk it. Everyone grab as much as they can carry and pile it inside the shelter.
We’ll sort it out later.”

“I never asked, but you do have an emergency exit, right?”

“It’s in the master bedroom; I’ll show you later.”

Finally, everyone was in the shelter, the AV-300 activated, the power cut off from the
grid and stores were being moved to where they belonged. Every building on the acre-
age was locked down. TOM was sitting at the table sorting the pinto beans and Sharon
was giving him a dirty look.

When he finished sorting 2 pounds of pinto beans, he started in on the 2 pounds of

great northern beans followed by the 2 pounds of navy beans. Finally, he put of ground
beef in the refrigerator to slowly thaw and set out 2 pounds of elbow macaroni and 2
cans of Italian flavored diced tomatoes. That ought to cover the first 2 weeks or up to
the point where someone said no mas.

I went ahead and hooked up the AMP 200, 100 and 50 and got out the radiation log. We
wouldn’t be hooking up any radios to the outside antenna other than a WR602. We had
enough of those to be able to lose a few. They were actually cheaper if you bought a
case.

Each person’s radios were labeled with masking tape and stored in separate boxes.
World War Four wouldn’t be fought with sticks and stones either, until we ran out of
ammo for the black powder firearms. And, if you could recover the bullet, it could be re-
cast. We had an ample stock of nitrate from the bat caves, willow charcoal, sulfur and
large pistol and large rifle primers with the manual Lee loaders.

246
In the film The Carpetbaggers, Nevada Smith, Alan Ladd, and Jonas Cord, George
Peppard, Jonas Cord becomes one of America’s richest men, inheriting an explosives
company from his late father. Cord resents his father bitterly and is psychologically
scarred by the death of a twin brother. Believing his family has insanity in its blood, he
does not want children of his own.

Cord buys up the company stock held by Nevada Smith, a former gunslinger. He had
practically raised Cord in the absence of his father. Cord pays off his father’s widow Ri-
na Marlowe, who he believes had married his father strictly for money. She is portrayed
as a gold-digger and sexually assertive.

Cord becomes an aviation pioneer and his wealth grows. He ruins a business rival
named Winthrop, then seduces and marries the man’s daughter Monica. He quickly
abandons her and demands a divorce.

Nevada Smith finds work in western films. Rina resurfaces to become a movie star for a
studio owned by Bernard Norman. Cord seeks to buy that studio, but Norman refuses
until after learning that Rina, by then alcoholic, has died in a car crash. A public rela-
tions man, Dan Pierce, betrays his employer Cord, who pays Norman more money than
the studio is worth absent its chief box-office draw.

Cord goes on an alcoholic binge and disappears. Upon his return, he decides to run the
studio, even directing films. He casts an attractive call girl, Jennie Denton, as the stu-
dio’s new girl star. Cord cuts his ties with aviation partner Buzz and longtime lawyer
Mac. He so badly mistreats Jennie that his old friend Nevada Smith challenges him to a
fistfight and badly beats him.

A contrite Cord returns to Monica, with whom he has a child. He has learned from Ne-
vada that there was no insanity in his family after all. His and Monica’s daughter grows
up as a healthy, normal girl (as much as is possible given her parents’ pasts).

Due to the success of The Carpetbaggers a prequel Nevada Smith followed starring
Steve McQueen as Max Sand and Brian Keith as Jonas Cord Sr. Max Sand using the
alias of Nevada Smith tracks down the 3 men who killed his parents, going so far as to
being locked up in prison and joining the gang led by Karl Malden.

The point is that Jonas Cord in the prequel loaded .45 Colt ammunition with what looked
remarkably like a Lee Loader. The Jonas Cord character was based on Howard
Hughes.

It was a western that has no bearing on the situation we found ourselves in.

World War Five will be the sticks and stones war that Einstein predicted. Einstein was
apparently terrified of the Atom Bomb, but he hadn’t seen what the weapons system

247
morphed into. The same could be said for Ronald Reagan. While he began the Strate-
gic Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars), he died before it was fully implemented. After all,
all it took was time and money to develop SDI.

While Spence had a large quantity of ammunition in the proper bullet weights, most of it
was PPU match. He’d gone through the South African but his 2 for 1 replacement policy
left him with much more than TOM had. TOM had some PPU that was relegated to a
backup role. He was actually shooting up the 200gr +P Gold Dot and replacing it with
230gr Gold Dot. He was sitting on ~2,000 rounds of the 230gr Gold Dot, the same
amount of 12 gauge and the 168gr PPU for the Standard and Loaded models.

Most of the 5.56 was also Serbian except for the M855A1. He told me that he read a
review of the M855A1 and it performed better with a 1:9 twist rate.

By John L. Plaster
May 21, 2014
June 2014 – American Rifleman

The US Army replaced its green-tipped 5.56x45 mm NATO, M855 standard ball car-
tridge in June 2010 with the lead-free, or “green,” M855A1 cartridge. Like its predeces-
sor, the new bullet weighs 62 grains, but since its copper core is one-third lighter than
lead, it is approximately 1/8 inch longer. As such, the bullet is seated deeper (and the
propellant compressed) to achieve an identical cartridge overall length of 2.248 inches.

The cartridge’s tip is bronze-colored, which is actually an anti-corrosive coating on its

hardened steel penetrator. Unlike that of the M855, the M855A1’s arrowhead-shaped
penetrator extends 0.275 inches beyond the front of the gilding metal jacket and, being
longer, protrudes deeper inside, where a mechanical lock (i.e. cannelure) secures it.
The latter is commonplace on many new non-bonded personal-protection handgun bul-
lets.

The propellant is temperature-stabilized St. Mark’s SMP842, with additives to reduce

muzzle flash and copper fouling in the bore. Its No. 41 primer is identical to the M855’s,
but uses a stab crimp rather than the common circumferential crimp, apparently to bet-
ter withstand the new load’s higher chamber pressure.

This cartridge has generated considerable interest because of its non-lead, “green” bul-
let. Sufficient M855A1 cartridges were obtained to compare performance to the previous
M855 variant, and to measure any improvements, differences or deviations. The tests
employed Colt, Remington and Smith & Wesson flattop ARs, having 1:7- and 1:9-inch
twist rates, with both 16-inch standard and 24-inch match-grade barrels. Each rifle was
topped by a high-magnification scope to allow precise aiming and target definition.

248
One initial US Army claim, that when switching to the new round shooters were, “Not
required to re-zero,” was immediately disproven. At 100 yards, there was a 3-inch zero
shift with M855A1; a shooter must re-zero his rifle or carbine when transitioning from
M855 to the new cartridge. The Army’s Armament Research Development and Engi-
neering Center (ARDEC) recently modified that guidance, asserting that it “lessens the
need to re-zero the weapon.”

Accuracy cannot be assessed without addressing the rifle barrels’ twist-rates. In the ear-
ly 1980s the M855’s 62-grain bullet was developed for the M249 Squad Automatic
Weapon (SAW). For purposes of interoperability, the same load was adopted as the
M16A2 rifle’s standard ball as well. A February 1986 US Army study noted that the
M855’s bullet required a “1:9 twist [which] would be more appropriate for the M16A2 ri-
fle, improving accuracy and reliability.” Multiple studies confirmed the 1:9-inch twist re-
quirement.

But then a problem arose. The US military’s standard M856 5.56 mm tracer round was
longer, heavier (63.7 grains) and slower than the M855 ball, and simply would not stabi-
lize with a 1:9-inch twist barrel. Thus, despite it doubling M855 group sizes, the M16A2
(and later, the M4) specified a 1:7-inch rate-of-twist barrel to stabilize the tracer round. It
remains so to this day. Therefore, M855A1 was test-fired with both 1:7- and 1:9-inch
twist barrels, and it was verified that this new cartridge is consistently more accurate in
the latter barrels – as was its predecessor.

The M855A1’s developers have described it as yielding “match-like” accuracy, which

most rifle shooters would define as one minute-of-angle (moa), or groups measuring no
more than 1 inch at 100 yards. While the new ammunition has proved more accurate
than the green-tipped load it replaced, testing did not yield match-like accuracy, espe-
cially in the standard 1:7-inch twist-rate found in today’s M4s and M16s. At 100 yards,
the best group with a 1:7-inch barrel was 1.62 inches (1.6 moa). At 300 yards. it similar-
ly fired 1.6 moa (4.9 inches) and widened to 1.8 moa (7.5 inches) at 400 yards. At these
same distances, firing the M855A1 through a 1:9-inch twist barrel reduced group sizes
by approximately half.

On average, the new ammunition produced one flyer in roughly each five rounds, which,
it can be argued, exaggerated the group sizes. Since the Army announced that, “On av-
erage, 95 percent of the [M855A1] rounds will hit an 8×8-inch target at 600 meters,”
each group’s most errant bullet impact was discarded and group sizes recalculated.
Statistically they improved, but not enough to place 95 percent of rounds so close at
600 meters, at least when using the standard 1:7-inch barrel – which may explain why
accuracy was less than expected.

When US Army shooters twice fired public demonstrations of the new round, they did
not employ standard 1:7-inch twist M16A2s or M4s, but accurized, match-grade, stain-
less-barreled rifles from the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU). I contacted the AMU and
learned that these rifles did not have standard-issue 1:7-inch barrels, but most likely
1:8-inch twist, which probably accounts for their “match-like” accuracy.

249
Further analyzing the new cartridge, 10 bullets were pulled to measure their weight.
Seeing as it lacks lead, the new M855A1 “green” bullet is considerably longer than its
M855 counterpart. Bullets weighed within 0.2 grain of 62 grains – a tolerance worthy of
match-grade projectiles – while the average for all 10 was an impressive 61.99 grains.
However, while using an impact puller there was a great variation in the number of
blows required to release a bullet; some popped out with only four strikes while others
required more than 40. This was most likely attributed to an inconsistent application of
the bullet’s waterproof seal, inducing unbalanced separation of the bullet from the car-
tridge mouth. This could well account for the flyers experienced.

Interestingly, while inspecting the M855A1 cartridges, it was noted that 18 percent of the
exposed penetrators rotated with finger-pressure. However, testing those cartridges
separately, they proved to be no less accurate than the others.

Overall, it was found that M855A1 is more accurate than the old green-tip, but capable
of even better accuracy when fired from a 1:9-inch twist barrel

Recent combat experiences identified the green-tipped M855’s tendency to occasionally

“ice-pick” – that is, poke completely through enemy personnel without neutralizing them
– even with multiple hits, especially during close-range gunfights. Sometimes it per-
formed well; sometimes it did not.

Army researchers found that lethality was dictated by the 5.56 mm bullet’s yaw; that is,
after impact a hardened ball projectile must wobble or turn against its axis – yaw – or
fragment, to inflict significant tissue damage. “At a low angle of yaw,” an Army study de-
termined, “the bullet reacts more slowly, causing the inconsistent effects observed in the
field …. [T]he location and amount of yaw depend upon the speed of the bullet at im-
pact, angle of impact, and density of tissue.”

A related factor was the physiology of Afghan Taliban and Iraqi insurgents. Usually mal-
nourished, their torsos are only about 7.5-inches thick, while the older M855 projectile
often penetrated, “up to 7 inches before beginning to yaw, and will already have exited
the body before yaw or fragmentation occur.” According to published standards, the
new cartridge is designed to yaw no more than 3 inches beyond the impact point, pro-
ducing a temporary cavity diameter of 4 to 6 inches and minimum penetration depth of
12 inches, and to do that consistently.

To test those standards, the Black Hills Ammunition ballistics lab assisted me by test-
firing the M855A1 into ballistic gelatin. In particular, I was interested in the bullet’s per-
formance at close-quarters so it was fired at 12 feet, a distance at which the old round
sometimes failed. The results were impressive. In less than 1 inch the lead-free bullet
yawed, immediately opening a 4.5-inch wide temporary cavity, which extended for 14.5
inches – exactly as claimed. That would certainly be effective against the thin-torsoed
insurgents operating in the Mideast and Southwest Asia.

250
°

Surprisingly, he suggested making the first menu goulash with homemade French
bread. We all visited over supper and decided to try the navy beans next for bean soup.
Most agreed that bean soup sounded good and asked if we had beano.

“We have plenty of beano and can probably get more. TOM said that if you eat enough
beans, the enzyme needed to break them down adapts quickly eliminating flatulence.
Judy and I save the ham scraps from the cure 81 hams to flavor the beans and like I
said we do have beano. We can put together sausage and biscuits, bacon and eggs,
oatmeal, cream of wheat or granola for breakfast. The frozen orange juice is somewhat
limited so we’ll limit that to once a week.

“While we’re inactive here in the shelter, we’ll go with a lite lunch and make supper the
main meal of the day. We have a large supply of cocoa from Rainy Day Foods for the
kids and anyone who wants a cup to relax them before bed. We also have Folgers and
a large assortment of tea.

“All of the freezers are full of Black Angus beef, Hormel thick sliced bacon, Cure 81
hams, ground sirloin and roasts. One of the freezers is packed with bread flour and
yeast. We froze a portion of the garden produce and canned the rest. We have home
canned garlic dills, regular dills, bread and butter and sweet pickles.

“We also have acorn and butternut squash. The onions and potatoes are bagged and
line the various tunnels. Spence is a great cook and between him and TOM, food
shouldn’t be a problem.

“On to other things. Keep your firearms clean and in Condition one. You can either ro-
tate the magazines or download them 10% to 27 rounds in the 30 round magazines, 22
rounds in the 25 round magazines and 18 rounds in the 20 round magazines. I also
suggest that you keep you primary loadout to full magazines and switch them weekly.
Questions?”

“What about the handguns?”

“Wear what you have fulltime with enough spare magazines to get to your rifle.”

“Ok, why?”

“A handgun has a very limited range and if you’re using it, you’re already in trouble. Call
for help on Guard, channel 1 on the CP-200A (lower bands – the upper bands were on
the CP-200B)and remain behind cover. If possible, call in a SALUTE Report. So we’ll
have an idea what we’re up against. We’ll be covering a SALUTE report tomorrow.”

251
SALUTE Report

Size: how many men in the unit?

Activity: what are they doing?
Location: where are they? Give map coordinates if available, otherwise the best de-
scription available.
Unit: who are they? Uniforms? Descriptions?
Time: when did you see them?
Equipment: what weapons do they have? Vehicles? Radios? Anything else distinctive?

After breakfast the next morning, Derek and I drummed the concept of a SALUTE Re-
port into everyone’s thick skulls. We hadn’t received any radiation initially and the first
indication of radiation came after the training session. Over the course of the day, the
floor of the shelter vibrated more than once, suggesting multiple waves of attacks.

Derek was showing his dad, one more time, the art of sharpening a knife with the DMT
stones. TOM just didn’t have the ability to hold the knife at the proper angle to the stone
to get a uniform edge and gave up in frustration. Derek laughed and said it wasn’t like
we were going anywhere soon and started working on his dad’s knives before moving
onto someone else’s set. The easiest to sharpen were the shovels and machetes using
the belt sander and the oval steel.

San Mai III steel is a laminated stainless steel which consists of three layers of steel.
The outer two layers are made of a softer tough steel, sandwiching a harder, high car-
bon core that forms the actual cutting edge of the knife.

Earlier variants of San Mai III steel had an AUS-8 steel core, sandwiched by softer,
tougher stainless sides possibly made from 420J2. Current San Mai III steel, sometimes
called VG-1 San Mai III, uses a VG-1 stainless core which is a slight upgrade from AUS-
8. San Mai looks very nice, but given the actual application of the knives in using this
steel, the necessity of the San Mai construction is questionable. Cold Steel has a repu-
tation for being all hype and gimmicks, and San Mai III steel is considered by many to
be just another gimmick.

San Mai III is used exclusively by Cold Steel, and is manufactured exclusively for them
in Japan. Since VG-1 is a proprietary product of Takefu Special Steel, it is possible that
they manufacture the steel for Cold Steel.

That said, the Cold Steel San Mai III knives would take and hold a remarkable edge.
The DMT sharpening stones ranged from coarse to extra-extra-fine and when the knife
was finished off with either the 4000 grit or 8000 grit, it would cut most anything. While
not a true Damascus steel they were close.

252
Now, more than ever, I wished we’d installed a CCTV system and was relieved that we
hadn’t. TOM had his full blown Global Thermonuclear War. The results of WWIII and
Yellowstone probably paled in comparison to what was happening above ground. We
could feel the occasional weapon strike and presumed those were the larger warheads.
We actually began to wonder how many weapons were used in the attack against the
US. Both Russia and the US had enduring stockpiles of bombs and warheads giving
rise to the question of whether or not we’d both use up everything we had.

The AMP 50 jumped off the peg and seemed to reach its maximum limit in only mo-
ments so we shut it down and began following the AMP 100. It took longer before the
AMP 100 reached 1,000R/hr whereupon we shut it off and began following the AMP
200. It wasn’t likely that the AMP 200 would reach its maximum of 10,000R/hr. It
reached 8,000R/hr, finally stopped at ~3,000R/hr an hour later.

“TOM, it’s your spreadsheet what does this reading mean?”

“It means that we’re close to a target. The short-lived isotopes die out within an hour
leaving the longer lived radioactivity. In general terms, the radiation level at ground zero
falls to about 3,000R/hr one hour after the detonation. Do you have a weather station? If
you do, what are the readings?”

“It’s nothing fancy, just something we picked up from Oregon Scientific. The wind is out
of the west at 12mph gusting to 18mph.”

“Let’s average that to 15mph and use the spreadsheet to determine where the weapon
went off. Wow, that was close, about 20 miles to the west. That would probably be Yell-
ville. There’s no significant target 20 miles west of Mountain Home so I’d have to specu-
late the weapon was off course. We can check outside in about 68 days. We can’t stay
out until about 265 days and the younger people can’t stay out before 1 year without
risking serious side effects.”

“What levels do those day figures represent?”

“Well, 68 days for 0.5R/hr and 265 days for 95mR/hr with the radiation falling to
60mR/hr right around 1 year. Males are at greater risk than females for genetic damage
for any given level. That means that Judy and you plus Sharon and I will be the first to
leave to check out things. Maximum daily dose doesn’t change from the maximum of
2.5R/day but given our ages we probably won’t live long enough for the cancer to show
up.”

“What does maximum daily dose have to do with anything?”

“The guideline is you won’t experience significant symptoms if you’re not exposed to
more than 300 Rads in 120 days, thus the daily limit of 2.5 Rads. It’s just an average so
don’t count on it.”

253
“What can we count on?”

“Everybody dies some time. You’re born… you live… and when your time comes, you
die. That one is up to God according to Jesus. My father and I didn’t get along and in
my later years and my goal was to outlive him at least one day. Every additional day I
get now is a bonus, even if I’m miserable.

“I can’t hear from my right ear because of not using hearing protection when shooting;
diabetes gave me cataracts and I got new lenses but since then, the covering over the
lenses has thickened and my vision isn’t the best. Then I developed osteoporosis with
my bones thinning and my teeth breaking. I don’t eat a soft diet by choice. The only
thing I have that works well is my heart… at the moment with only a minor amount of
regurgitation. My COPD frequently leaves me breathless and it’s treated with Albuterol
and Atrovent or resting for half an hour to get my breath back. I have a generous supply
of both and a nebulizer so I get by.

“I had carpal tunnel syndrome but by the time it was diagnosed the muscles were fully
atrophied. That was follow by diabetic neuropathy with my left hand and right foot being
in worse shape than my right hand and left foot. That doesn’t include my bleeding ulcers
but I have Prilosec to help with those.”

“So you have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel?”

“I didn’t mention the dysthymic disorder or seasonal Major Depression Disorder which
comes on during the late fall and lasts through the New Year.”

“What would be your best contribution in this situation?”

“Probably holding down the homestead and coordinating the away teams.”

“That’s not going to happen before 265 days have elapsed.”

“It will be risky at 265 days and those extra 100 plus days could come in handy. I’m cu-
rious about something… how did you happen to get interested in the 7.62×51mm car-
tridge as opposed to the 5.56×45mm cartridge?”

“We have both cartridges in our armory. My objection was the action of the M-16, the
direct gas impingement system. After Stoner left ArmaLite, they came out with the AR-
18, a gas piston system that overcame everything wrong with the AR-15. By then the
government had adopted the AR-15, designating it as the M-16. We all know the gov-
ernment is never wrong, even when they are. Curtis LeMay was a 4 star after all.

“I suppose the lightweight M-16 made sense in Vietnam even if it wasn’t the ideal fire-
arm. The ammo was light and a soldier or Marine could carry 300 rounds without diffi-
culty. Plus the 20” barrel gave the M193 cartridge some real velocity and it tended to
yaw making it deadly as configured.

254
“As you know, they had to adopt the SS109 cartridge, our M855, and it was poorly de-
signed. Next, they shortened the barrel giving up velocity for CQC. Plus they hadn’t
fixed the real problem, the direct gas impingement system. Plus the only people using
the AR-18 were the Irish Republican Army who called the rifle ‘the widow maker’.”

“We didn’t have any major wars until after 9/11/01. Desert Storm was months of getting
ready and then Stormin’ Norman’s Hail Mary. Seeing the open spaces over there, I had
a feeling that the M-16 was the wrong arm at the wrong time and place. But, we never
got to test it to any real degree.

“I ended up in Iraq for 2 tours before going to Afghanistan and the Designated Marks-
men and the Snipers weren’t using 5.56×45mm rifles. They were using the M-21s and
the M107s. I was still single and got the Springfield parkerized Super Match action in-
stalled in a McMillan adjustable synthetic stock. Over a period of time, I just kept adding
the M1As and replaced the M9 with a real handgun in .45ACP. How about you?”

“Read an article in a magazine about the M14 before they were done developing it.
Wanted one from that day forward and finally got it in 2006. I selected the M1A Loaded
model because it was the least expensive rifle with an air gaged match barrel. I went
with a Mossberg shotgun on the recommendation of Fleataxi because they had the
beefed up 590A1. I asked around on the .45 and my buddy Russ suggested the
PT1911.”

“The Canadians were using the Tac-50. I noticed you were recommending the Barrett
and only later switched to the Tac-50.”

“Switched when I learned of them and how accurate the rifle was. Even if you have the
most accurate rifle made, it’s still on the shooter to make the hit. I think Derek is slightly
farsighted based on that 4” group at 500 yards with iron sights shooting South African
surplus.”

“You’re proud of him.”

“I’m proud of both of my boys. My oldest son is too much like me and I’m closer to
Derek. Derek made a career of the military and I’m very proud of his service although I
liked to crap my pants when he went to Kosovo and volunteered for Iraq.”

If I learned anything about TOM during the next 70 days while the radiation level fell be-
low 500mR/hr, it was his total fascination with the M14 rifle. He had a document on his
computer that covered the history of the rifle from development stages to the Springfield
Armory days by Lee Emerson. Funny thing was that when we went topside to check
things out, he took an HK417 with 6 M433s and 6 assorted hand grenades; 2 fragmen-

255
tation, 2 white smoke, one concussion and one thermate. He had his .45 and 590A1 for
backup.

I took my HK417, 12 M433s, 21 loaded magazines and my PT1911. The ladies were
outfitted with HK416s and Browning Hi-Powers.

First things first, the cabin was still standing and the doors opened and closed so the
cabin wasn’t out of plumb. It was cold though, see your breath cold. We checked the
vehicles and they eventually started and we called it good for our first trip. Back inside,
we hooked up the various radios and set a listening watch.

It was weeks before we ran across an amateur transmitting on 80 meters. We learned

from him that much of the traffic in their area of Iowa used 75 meters so we transitioned
and listened. It was a talkfest because Iowa hadn’t been hit with any weapons during
WWIII and few during WWIV. They had lost power in the first wave of warheads but lo-
cally generated power was available if they had natural gas or coal.

They described conditions that sounded more like they were in Canada than in the sec-
ond tier of states from the north. Many of the people were relying on fireplaces to heat
their homes and the occasional kerosene heater. Fuel was available in the Capital, Des
Moines, and was away from the strike area of West Des Moines. Derek was the last
among the group to live in Iowa and he translated what we heard into meaningful terms.

His favorite expression became ‘this is not good’ and I asked him if he’d read any of Jer-
ry’s fiction. He hadn’t had time to read his dad’s and wanted to know why I asked. I told
him that Jerry used the expression often in his works. He replied that Jerry must have
had a premonition because things really weren’t good.

256
 World War Four – Chapter 3

We concluded that Russia had to realize that the US would never sit still for Russia’s
attack on Israel and it followed that they felt obligated to launch an attack on the US at
the same time. We also concluded, rightly or wrongly, that both sides had dug into their
enduring stockpiles and used every weapon they could. This was evidenced by the at-
tacks occurring in waves. The detonation to our west wasn’t at any known target unless
Russia didn’t like Ranger boats.

We limited our outside intervals to when the radiation level fell another 100mR/hr, ergo,
400mR/hr, 300mR/hr, etc. Right around 260 days, the radiation fell to 100mR/hr and
everyone was allowed out for a few minutes, especially the children. Most of them had
celebrated a birthday in ‘the hole in the ground’. It was a toss-up who appreciated the
outside time the most, the children or the adults.

All of the vehicles still started after a time and no computers had been fried. A decision
was quickly reached to allow the children 4 hours above ground, either outside or in the
cabin. Derek, TOM and I would arm up and drive up to Mountain Home and see what
the prospects were.

Mountain Home looked like it had been hit with some of the blast wave from the detona-
tion to the west. We didn’t see a single person and some of the homes were leaning.
TOM said it didn’t seem right and something about the inverse squares law. He went on
to say he’d included the effects of a 1mT blast in some of his stories, but he’d have to
look it up because he simply couldn’t remember.

The effects of a 1mT surface burst, assuming a wind speed of 15mph, a wind direction
of due east and a time frame of 7 days are:

3,000 Rem
Distance: 30 miles
Much more than a lethal dose of radiation. Death can occur within hours of exposure.
About 10 years will need to pass before levels of radioactivity in this area drop low
enough to be considered safe, by US peacetime standards.

900 Rem
Distance: 90 miles
A lethal dose of radiation. Death occurs from two to fourteen days.

300 Rem
Distance: 160 miles
Causes extensive internal damage, including harm to nerve cells and the cells that line
the digestive tract, and results in a loss of white blood cells. Temporary hair loss is an-
other result.

257
90 Rem
Distance: 250 miles
Causes a temporary decrease in white blood cells, although there are no immediate
harmful effects. Two to three years will need to pass before radioactivity levels in this
area drop low enough to be considered safe, by US peacetime standards.

Radius of destructive circle: 1.7 miles

12 pounds per square inch

At the center lies a crater 200 feet deep and 1000 feet in diameter. The rim of this crater
is 1,000 feet wide and is composed of highly radioactive soil and debris. Nothing recog-
nizable remains within about 3,200 feet (0.6 miles) from the center, except, perhaps, the
remains of some buildings’ foundations. At 1.7 miles, only some of the strongest build-
ings – those made of reinforced, poured concrete – are still standing. Ninety-eight per-
cent of the population in this area is dead.

Radius: 2.7 miles

5 psi

Virtually everything is destroyed between the 12 and 5-psi rings. The walls of typical
multi-story buildings, including apartment buildings, have been completely blown out.
The bare, structural skeletons of more and more buildings rise above the debris as you
approach the 5-psi ring. Single-family residences within this area have been completely
blown away – only their foundations remain. Fifty percent of the population between the
12 and 5-psi rings are dead. Forty percent are injured.

Radius: 4.7 miles

2 psi

Any single-family residences that have not been completely destroyed are heavily dam-
aged. The windows of office buildings have been blown away, as have some of their
walls. The contents of these buildings’ upper floors, including the people who were
working there, are scattered on the street. A substantial amount of debris clutters the
entire area. Five percent of the population between the 5 and 2-psi rings are dead. For-
ty-five percent are injured.

Radius: 7.4 miles

1 psi

Residences are moderately damaged. Commercial buildings have sustained minimal

damage. Twenty-five percent of the population between the 2 and 1-psi rings are in-
jured, mainly by flying glass and debris. Many others have been injured from thermal
radiation – the heat generated by the blast. The remaining seventy-five percent are un-
hurt.

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°

If I understand what he saying about the inverse square rule, the warhead must have
been close to 5mT. That came from comparing damage in Mountain Home with the es-
timated distance to the strike. Apparently the degree of damage fell the greater distance
from ground zero and double the distance it was ¼ the level of the 1mT explained on
the chart on his computer. He didn’t explain it and in all truth, I was guessing.

On the other hand, the radiation level this close could be determined by the 7/10 rule
because the level was 3,000R/hr one hour after the detonation. We could stop relying
on the spreadsheet and use the reading from the AMP 200, 100 and eventually the 50.

With the radiation below 100mR/hr he suggested we could spend a maximum of 8

hours on the surface unless we found a hot spot. We were wearing the dosimeters, 0-
500mR, 0-100R and 0-200R dosimeters along with carrying a portable 500R/hr survey
meter.

With that in mind, we located any empty reefer trailers and a Kenworth to pull them. We
were hitting, on average one store per day.

Given the very cold weather, most of the canned goods had burst except for canned
meats. The staples were pretty much intact. The situation required 2 box trailers, a re-
frigerated trailer and a flatbed trailer. The trailers weren’t a problem but running semis
were few and far between. But we still had the one from WWIII and Yellowstone so we
could get by.

We started with any usable canned goods before moving to the dry goods. Wal-Mart
carried bread flour in 25 pound bags and dry yeast, neither of which the cold weather
hurt. In fact it probably added to the shelf life. After a week or so mining the Mountain
Home Wal-Mart we switched our focus to other stores adding clothing, footwear includ-
ing boots and athletic shoes. We also tried to corner the market on tools, spare parts for
those Stihl chain saws and checked out the firewood dealer, coal dealer and fuel deal-
ers.

Judy and Sharon were recording what we found in an Excel spreadsheet which would
be combined with our previous inventory spreadsheet. I had serious doubts about locat-
ing firearms and ammunition… but we came up with a reasonable amount, mostly hunt-
ing rifles and shotguns with the appropriate ammo for each. During this phase of our ac-
tivities, TOM started to chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was remembering the last time I went hunting. I was using a Marlin Glenfield .22 and
managed to hit a squirrel. It must have been a glancing blow because the squirrel was
only stunned. In order to make sure it was dead, I blew its head off with my surplus
M1911 and we didn’t see another squirrel the rest of the afternoon. The guy I was with

259
was royally po’d and that was the one and only time we went hunting together. He end-
ed up buying the .45 from me, probably so I didn’t spoil any more hunting trips. It was a
fairly good pistol but needed the barrel replaced because it looked like 10 miles of un-
maintained county road.”

“Unless someone objects, I wouldn’t mind having that Winchester model 70 in .30-06
and an assortment of .30-06 ammo in every bullet weight we can find. That Silver Tip
will be plenty good for the intended use.”

“Help yourself. I think we should consider moving the propane, coal and firewood since
each of my suppliers has a fair amount on hand. We have some empty tankers from the
last time that we can use. Has anyone tried any frequencies beyond 75 and 80 meters?”

“Not that I know of. Do you want to try 40 meters or 20 meters?”

“Probably both. We haven’t heard anything on 11 meters but given the range and the
power limit that’s not surprising.”

“Do you have a linear?”

“Sure; unless the other party has one, they aren’t much use.”

“What size?”

“The main one is a 100 watts and the one I seldom use is 1,000 watts.”

“Might as well use them since I doubt the FCC is focusing on people using linear ampli-
fiers.”

“Assuming the FCC is still in business, I have to agree. Remind me to add the 100 watt.
I have enough of those to equip every vehicle and the base station. The antenna is rat-
ed at 1,500 watts so it won’t be a problem. It also gives us a second radio for distance
communications in each vehicle. Once we’re finished here I like to see the inventory
we’ve acquired sorted so we know where we stand.

“On another issue, I’ve heard more bad about the M118LR ammo than good so we
should probably take any Black Hills or Federal Match we come across.”

“What about the .45 Colt and .45-70?”

“It should be okay if we find some horses although we don’t have scabbards for the ri-
fles and carbines. It would be nice if we could find someone to put together some.”

“Judy and I have some from Kirkpatrick Leather Company.”

“Enough?”

260
“Two per horse and since we have a pattern we can probably make some more.”

“Funny you bought from Kirkpatrick.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s who I always recommend. Of course if you want to play Paladin or Matt Dillon, you
should buy from Alphonso’s of Hollywood. That Paladin rig they have is expensive be-
cause of the silver Paladin on the holster.”

“You mean that chess piece?”

“Yeah, it’s the knight; and, the best knights in Charlemagne’s service were called Pala-
dins. A knight is essentially a hired gun, which is the role Richard Boone played.”

The only person who knew more trivia than TOM was Derek. That was to be expected
because Derek had a PhD in history and history is a collection of mostly useless facts
and trivia. I say mostly because I’m excluding military history which brings in the Santa-
yana quote, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

The generations of warfare described by these authors are:

1st Generation: tactics of line and column; which developed in the age of the smooth-
bore musket. Lind describes First Generation of warfare as beginning after the Peace of
Westphalia in 1648 ending the Thirty Years’ War and establishing the state’s need to
organize and conduct war. 1GW consisted of tightly ordered soldiers with top-down dis-
cipline. These troops would fight in close order and advance slowly. This began to
change as the battlefield changed. Old line and column tactics are now considered sui-
cidal as the bow and arrow/sword morphed into the rifle and machine gun.

2nd Generation: tactics of linear fire and movement, with reliance on indirect fire. This
type of warfare can be seen in the early stages of WWI where there was still strict ad-
herence to drill and discipline of formation and uniform. However, there remained a de-
pendence on artillery and firepower to break the stalemate and move towards a pitched
battle.

3rd Generation: tactics of infiltration to bypass and collapse the enemy’s combat forces
rather than seeking to close with and destroy them; and defense in depth. The 3GW mil-
itary seeks to bypass the enemy, and attack his rear forward, such as the tactics used
by German Storm Troopers in WWI against the British and French in order to break the
trench warfare stalemate. These aspects of 3GW bleed into 4GW as it is also warfare of
speed and initiative. However, it targets both military forces and home populations.

4th Generation: warfare has often involved an insurgent group or other violent non-state
actor trying to implement their own government or reestablish an old government over

261
the current ruling power. However, a non-state entity tends to be more successful when
it does not attempt, at least in the short term, to impose its own rule, but tries simply to
disorganize and delegitimize the state in which the warfare takes place. The aim is to
force the state adversary to expend manpower and money in an attempt to establish
order, ideally in such a highhanded way that it merely increases disorder, until the state
surrenders or withdraws.

It is often seen in conflicts involving failed states and civil wars, particularly in conflicts
involving non-state actors, intractable ethnic or religious issues, or gross conventional
military disparities. Many of these conflicts occur in the geographic area described by
author Thomas P.M. Barnett as the Non-Integrating Gap, fought by countries from the
globalized Functioning Core.

It has much in common with traditional low-intensity conflict in its classical forms of in-
surgency and guerrilla war. As in those small wars, the conflict is initiated by the ‘weak-
er’ party through actions which can be termed ‘offensive’. The difference lies in the
manner in which 4GW opponents adapt those traditional concepts to present day condi-
tions. These conditions are shaped by technology, globalization, religious fundamental-
ism, and a shift in moral and ethical norms which brings legitimacy to certain issues
previously considered restrictions on the conduct of war. This amalgamation and meta-
morphosis produces novel ways of war for both the entity on the offensive and that on
the defensive.

Examples of 4GW: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and IS.

How did we get from a 4GW back to a 3GW? It was the treaties that Russia had to sup-
port the Middle Eastern countries. When Israel used conventional weapons, Russia
lacked an excuse but when they decided to turn the Middle East into a glass parking lot,
Russia had the excuse. The US was involved only because of our nearly 70 year history
of supporting Israel and the assumptions that Russia made about our response to them
attacking Israel.

So now not only is the Middle East, and portions China earlier, glass parking lots, signif-
icant portions of the US and Russia have joined the club. But there are people out there
on the 75 & 80 meter bands. It’s too cold to go where they are because the snowplows
aren’t running.

Did you assume that Russia would attack counter-force targets? Which ones? The US
has more silos than missiles these days and we still have a nuclear triad, the land, the
air and the sea. We couldn’t get the B-2s loaded, but we could get them airborne. We
couldn’t move the silos so they were probably fired first. Remember, we took out China
with those TLAM-Ns that Bush Sr. retired. And China only hit a few Japanese targets.

But the Japanese must have an ICBM because their second test was in the southern
Indian Ocean. If the US could track it, so could Russia. I think it’s similar to a Minuteman
III missile with a range of >8,100 miles (13,000km). There was no reason for Japan to

262
test the full range of their missile and they could have terminated the 3 rd stage motor at
any point after it ignited.

Despite the weather, we hauled propane, diesel, gasoline, coal and firewood until we
had all there was (coal and firewood) or ran out of room. The construction of the cabin
allowed it to be kept warm with only the ‘Franklin Stove’. The kitchen stove added the
extra heat need during the day. We were short on accommodations and the ground was
frozen solid.

TOM said to keep an eye open for new singlewide mobile homes that we could
transport and install when the ground thawed. Even if we only added 3 trailers, we’d be
short on electricity so there was more to his suggestion than just getting the homes.
We’d need more plumbing… water and sewer, another bigger septic system, PV pan-
els, wind turbines, batteries and charge controller/inverters. The maximum flow rate on
the 3 wells was 60gpm and there was the 10,000 gallon cistern.

After we pinned down the singlewides; we found 4… all 3 bedroom models, we added
furniture and went for the major items needed to finish up. We got plumbing and electri-
cal components in Mountain Home and headed to Little Rock for the rest. It took more
than one brand, but we found 4 30kw, 1800 rpm, propane generators and a lot of con-
sumables like oil filters and rebuild parts.

There was room for 3 more battery banks and 2 spares per bank so they went home on
the next trip along with the charge controllers/inverters/relay racks. Finally we located
300 watt PV panels and took 100 per trailer. The underlying reason for 30kw per sin-
glewide was to guarantee 240 volts at 100+ amps. There was no way to mount 100
panels on a trailer so we took mounting stands to set up a PV panel array. We hadn’t
found wind turbines and kept looking until we came up with 4 30kw units. Last, but defi-
nitely not least, we checked out my favorite class 3 dealer.

His vault would put an average bank vault to shame. TOM said to get thermal lances
and plenty of oxygen and we’d cut our way in. Must have been something he picked up
from Jerry because Jerry was big on using thermal lances to break into vaults. Once we
got it figured out and began cutting, it was just a matter of time before we knew if the
work would be rewarding.

Offhand, I’d say that the 20 HK416s and 4 HK417s with full sets of barrels, 20 maga-
zines per, German silencers and 12 AG-C/EGLM grenade launchers were worth the ef-
fort. But then, so was the Black Hills ammo and the less lethal grenades we found.
Checking the rest of the back room, we found an unlocked door to another storeroom
that had more ammo and his ordinary inventory of hunting rifles and ammo. TOM had
his model 70, in .30-06 with a full assortment of ammunition. He didn’t say why he
wanted that particular setup; maybe he thought his name was Carlos.

263
Derek was right when he said, ‘this is not good’. Apparently nuclear winter was a fact,
not a supposition. We were way south of the dividing line, I-70. Those folks we talked to
in Iowa weren’t on the ham bands anymore and we wondered if they had moved south.
TOM made a comment… it was something I’d heard before but couldn’t identify…

These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot
will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, de-
serves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily con-
quered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glori-
ous the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only
that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods;
and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly
rated.

“I recognize the quote TOM, but who said that?”

“I’ll give you some clues: Common Sense, The American Crisis, The Rights of Man and
The Age of Reason.”

“Thomas Paine?”

“I read that he was so hated for his positions that only 6 people showed up for his fu-
neral. I don’t know if many know it, but he was the first influential person who could be
considered an Abolitionist. I’d tell you to look it up on Wiki, if we still had Wiki.”

“What are we going to do now?”

“Any salvage left to do that we haven’t already started?”

“I think we have everything covered. We have your intentional community, enough am-
mo for 10 world wars, enough shelf stable food to last our lifetimes and more weapons
than we can haul at one time, unless I missed something.”

“What we’re short on is medical care and prescription drugs. Some last forever while
some have a very definite shelf life. The cyclines are only good for about 1 year, the
same as epinephrine. The things with long shelf lives we already have a large supply of
or can find more without difficulty. The drugs we don’t normally use, like antibiotics and
condition specific drugs, like heart drugs, are a concern.

“Way back when, I was using a bottle of Humulin N and noticed the Rx label indicated it
was expired. However, reading the manufacturers label discovered that it was good for
2 more years. Another oddball thing about insulin is that the instructions say to discard
any remaining after it’s been opened for 28 days. I was on Lantus for a few years and
took 28 units per day. Each bottle held 1000 units and would cover 35½ days. On top of
it, the stuff ran about $100 a bottle so they expected me to throw away 6½ days’ worth
at a cost of ~$20. I didn’t say anything, but I guarantee you I emptied every bottle.

264
“What concerns me the most is Sharon and her stents. The first one plugged up in less
than a year, was replaced and a second added. What do we do now when they both
become clogged?”

“Could an MD replace them?”

“An interventional cardiologist or interventional radiologist do things like that and usually
charge $1,000 per minute. We had Kaiser when she had both heart attacks and we got
by cheap, a co-pay of less than $200. Kaiser is strictly west coast if any of the founda-
tion facilities are open. Kaiser, if you don’t know, is a Health Maintenance Organization
exempt from Obamacare as they come under The Health Maintenance Organization Act
of 1973.”

“I understood from your stories that you both had Social Security, pensions and that
Trust Fund your father set up for you in his will.”

“That’s true. Sharon’s pension from Disney has been used to pay our taxes. My pension
from Iowa was only about $600 per month and our combined Social Security based on
our individual contributions is less than $2,500 a month. We finally got Iowa to agree on
a fixed sum payment of $2,500 a month less the car loan that they financed. It may
sound like a lot, but California was a damned expensive place to live.

“Had we lived in Iowa, my Iowa pension would have been tax exempt which it wasn’t in
California. What we should have done is moved back to Iowa in 1992 when I quit my
job. She didn’t want to because of Lorrie and Amy and the Iowa weather. In hindsight
that was probably a good decision considering how cold it must be where I lived 35
miles south of the Minnesota border. That said she’d have wanted to move to Des
Moines where her family lives.”

“I heard mention her Ottumwa and Pella during a conversation,” Judy said.

“Sharon was born in Ottumwa. She was a preemie who was delivered when her mother
fell on the ice. Her first Husband, Herb Hangar, was a minor radio personality and he
worked for a Pella station for a while. We’ve never discussed it in depth because the
SOB wouldn’t pay the child support for their daughter Lorrie.

“I met Sharon when I went to work for the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance as
a corporate income tax auditor. My first wife Joyce and my marriage was already rocky
and getting worse by the day. I thought we had a handle on working out our problems
when she left the boys at the neighbors and got in a cab to the bus station so she could
return home to Ames. In those days I had a tendency to flirt and I suppose that was the
straw that broke the camel’s back. I had never cheated on Joyce and probably wouldn’t
have. She made it plain in the note she left on the kitchen table that the marriage was
over and I accepted that. When her father suggested taking the boys for a couple of
weeks to let things cool down, I went along. When I returned to Ames to pick up Damon

265
and Derek, Herb handed me her engagement ring and wedding ring that she’d thrown in
a trash can.

“That was it and I began the process of getting the apartment in order.”

266
 World War Four – Chapter 4

“Sharon was a single mother with one child and I was soon to become a single parent
with two children. I made arrangements for the boys to be taken care of at an Open Bi-
ble Standard Church child care center through family friends and Sharon and I began
seeing each other. Once the dissolution was final, I proposed and after getting a court
waiver we were married in her Lutheran Church a month later.

“The two of us are living on borrowed time. When the time comes, that’s all well and
good; until that time I’ll do everything I’m capable of doing to prevent our untimely ends.
I’ve never shot anyone or killed anyone and have no idea how I’ll act if the situation pre-
sents itself. I sincerely hope I have it within me to do what is necessary.”

“With that kind of attitude you should be able to do what you need to do, unless you’re
ambushed,” Smoke observed.

“That’s sort of why I sometimes choose the HK417, you know. With those X Products 50
round magazines or the HK 50 round drums, at least you have enough ammo to lay
down suppressing fire in case of an ambush. Plus the PPU ammo is match grade and a
lot less expensive than Black Hills. There’s not much difference in weight between an
M1A with a 50 round drum and a HK417 with the same sized drum.

“We’re fortunate that Derek had enough of the 50 round drums for both rifles and that’s
probably due to you sharing what you had. I can’t recall if it was Jerry, Aaron Burr or
even me who said something to the effect that full auto fire was in its element when an
ambush occurs; probably all 3 of us at one time or another. I know that I’ve been push-
ing select fire, in certain cases since I began writing. It does keep the OpFor heads
down. I know for certain that Jerry made a point about it in Cowboy.”

“You do realize that using either HK rifle in full auto will heat the barrel if you put enough
rounds through it don’t you?”

“About the best I’ve been able to do is 5 or sometimes 4 round bursts. Because they fire
from a closed bolt, everything is going to heat up. I’m guessing that spacing the bursts
out will help keep the barrel and bolt cooler but that’s just a guess. One thing I can do is
have the Super Match/M21 to use in semi auto while the HK cools off. Also, if circum-
stances permit, I can use the HK416.”

“That’s a lot of weight TOM. Do you actually think you can haul 3 rifles and the maga-
zines you’ll need?”

“That depends Smoke on whether or not I have my wheelchair. Without it, there’s no
way. With it, it might be possible depending on the circumstances. If I have to choose,
I’ll probably use the Super Match with the Taurus for close in. It may boil down to how
well I’m feeling on a particular day. Ideally, I can use the M1A, 590A1, PT1911 and
PPK. I’d carry the rifle with a 20 round magazine in it and 2 of those double pouches for

267
the drum magazines. The shotgun would have the 9 rounds in it along with the 15 in the
sling, and 6 in the side saddle and 6 in the butt cuff. I figure to have a total of 7 Taurus
magazines and 3 Walther magazines.”

“That’s a lot of ammo and the weight will add up.”

“That’s why I qualified it about how I’m feeling. Push comes to shove and I’ll just use the
HK416 and PT1911 with 1 drum in the rifle plus 4 in the pouches and the 7 .45ACP
magazines.”

“We don’t know what we’re going to come up against. It will be our luck to runs across a
bunch that just cleaned out an Armory.”

“If we do, we do… that’s not in our hands. It would be nice to have one of those Dillon
Aero 134D Miniguns, but wish in one hand and spit in the other…”

“Does Dillon Aero have any relationship to Dillon Precision?”

“Both are owned by the same guy. Aero is based in Scottsdale, Arizona but I don’t know
where Dillon Precision is located; it could be in Scottsdale too.”

They were formerly co-located in Scottsdale. Phoenix was gone, either in WWIII or
WWIV, not that it makes a difference. Palo Verde wasn’t hit but the operators scrammed
the reactors and neither it nor the other power plants in Arizona were producing electric-
ity. It was like that around most of the country and only where people hadn’t been af-
fected by the WWIV attacks and had local resources to produce power was electricity
available.

In that regard, we were sitting pretty with PV panels, wind turbines, battery banks and
propane fueled generators with more propane than we had room to store. We had
switched to non-electronic diesel vehicles, either civilian or military. Our salvage efforts
had been well rewarded and we had no troubles with others, given the level of security
we maintained. Since we originally had 2 battery banks, we ended up with 5, one per
residence.

The Dillon Aero 134D wasn’t practical for us to have or use due to the weight of the
ammo containers. The larger ammo box held 4,400 rounds and the HMMWV box held
3,000 rounds. Figure the larger, 295 pounds, could only be moved with a forklift and
HMMWV magazine wasn’t much better at 204 pounds. Dillon produced mounts for the
Huey, Blackhawk, Chinook and a ring mount for the HMMWV. None of us flew helicop-
ters although most could drive a HMMWV.

Moreover we’d have to find up-armored HMMWVs with first or second generation
CROWS and add the extra armor Derek’s unit used In Iraq, bulletproof glass in the door
wells below the bulletproof glass windows. The Army uses JP-8 in their vehicles, BUT,

268
the vehicles will run on diesel, gas or kerosene. They also had a large amount of JP-8
at Fort Chaffee.

This wouldn’t be a minor effort either, we had to convert the doors of the up-armored
HMMWVs with CROWS’, stabilize the JP-8 with PRI-D, transfer JP-8 to tankers, locate
the stores (munitions, POL and spare parts) and get everything back to Mountain
Home. Derek had leaned the CROWS on the fly in Iraq in early 2006 and they had 3
second generation systems at Fort Chaffee. The systems could use the Mk19, M2A1,
M240B or the M249. Their 3 had one or the other of the first 3 installed, ergo 1 Mk19, 1
M2A1 and 1 M240B.

It takes a while for new devices to reach the National Guard units, ergo the M2A1, but it
eventually happens. We planned to take a 40’ tractor-trailer rig to haul back the stores
and a tanker to haul back the JP-8. Extras, like body armor would be brought back for
those who needed it. Some would go without, they didn’t make body armor in that large
of sizes.

Derek and I would drive the semis over and TOM, DJ, and Judy would drive the
HMMWVs back. They would be our security initially and everyone except TOM would
help load. The CROWS wouldn’t have a gunner on the way back because we didn’t
have the people. TOM, in addition to providing security while we loaded would look
through Logistics for anything he thought we might be able to use. He said he’d check
all the dusty corners for any obsolete items they may have overlooked.

TOM found M136 AT-4 rockets, M61 grenades, and a M107 along with Mk211MP am-
mo, none of which were on the unit’s TOE. He suggested we ‘help them out’ and get rid
of the inappropriate items. Well, why the hell not, if they’re not on the TOE according to
Derek. Just more things we probably wouldn’t use. We had the HMMWVs upgraded, the
supplies loaded, the fuel transferred and everyone given fundamental instructions on
driving the HMMWVs and we were just minutes from departure when up popped trou-
ble.

“What’s going on here?”

“Who the hell are you and why do you want to know?” I asked.

“I could ask you the same.”

“My name is Rollin James Reynolds, US Army Command Sergeant Major, Retired.
We’re redistributing equipment and supplies to where they’re needed. What about you?”

“My name is Paul R. Haskins, US Army Command Sergeant Major, Active duty. I’m
here with some members of the unit to do what you’re attempting to do.”

“Attempting?”

269
“You haven’t cleared the gate yet.”

“We will.”

“How can you be sure?”

“We retrofitted 3 of the up-armored CROWS equipped HMMWVs with extra armor. Plus
we brought many of our personal weapons, HK416s, HK417s, M1As, military style
shotguns and .45ACP handguns. First Sergeant Ott has trained us on the controls for
the CROWS.”

“Derek is here? How come he isn’t in Jonesboro?”

“Well, we had a shelter in Mountain Home and put up his family this last go around. This
is our last salvage operation, unless we run out of JP-8.”

“I was Derek’s superior NCO and was due to retire until World War IV. Derek said he
told his father about our place with the shelter and stores. But I suppose Palmdale got
hit?”

“He never said. It took them almost forever to get to Lake City. Hang on and let me get
the others.”

I gathered up Derek, DJ, TOM and Judy and we headed to the gate to chat with CSM
Haskins.

“Sergeant Major; figured you made it.”

“First Sergeant; figured you didn’t.”

“May not have if I hadn’t run into Smoke.”

“R. J. Reynolds. Started calling you Smoke during boot camp?”

“And for the 37 years that followed.”

“You have time in grade over me, I only have 35 active.”

“Maybe, but I’m retired. I got out in 2006 so I didn’t have to go to Afghanistan again.”

“How may tours?”

“Two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.”

“I did two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.”

270
“Those people in Iraq were bad news but those in Afghanistan were purely crazy.”

“Same kind of nuts that make up the Islamic State.”

“Present tense?”

“The Israelis only got a few, not that they didn’t try to wipe them out.”

“How do you know?”

“We have some hams in our group along with some linguists. Israel didn’t attack Turkey
because Turkey was a member of NATO. The IS did and they’re now in Europe, the
Balkans at the moment.”

“Still waging a terrorist campaign?”

“They jacked it up after they went through Iran and are using or have used NBC.”

“Those 25mT bombs?”

“Word is IS found those in Iran and sent 2 to Israel and 10 to the US. When the 2 went
off in Israel, Israel nuked the Middle East. Russia retaliated and the battle was joined
between the US and Russia. It’s was pure luck that the President was in Murfreesboro.
They somehow got him to a bunker somewhere and later transferred him to the Moun-
tain.”

“What about the BC?”

“That’s what they’re using in the Balkans. If they continue to succeed in their endeavor,
they start stomping on Russian toes when they move north into the former USSR.”

“You’re assuming there are any Russian toes left to step on, although Russia covers
more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area.”

“It’s the largest country in the world so we couldn’t have killed all of them.”

“Russia was also the world’s ninth most populous nation with 143 million people as of
2012. Extending across the entirety of northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Rus-
sia spans nine time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and land-
forms. Too true, but how many of them are there left? Enough to invade us?”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population

“We haven’t heard any talk about something like that and the Russian navy is a joke.”

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The problem wasn’t Russia, it was the IS.

In Raqqa, heavily-armed jihadists are seen celebrating on US armored vehicles seized

during their advances in Iraq, while Sharia police patrol streets and markets with rifles
over their shoulders.

Patrol chief Abu Obida orders traders to remove a poster showing “infidels,” then blithe-
ly tells a man to change the fabric on his wife’s veil.

“Those who don’t obey will be forced,” Obida explains.

In one gruesome scene, a crucified murder convict is displayed in the public square. In
another, the bodies of Syrian 17th Division soldiers, killed by the jihadists during a re-
cent offensive, are dumped on the sidewalk, their severed heads impaled on gate
spikes.

“The Islamic caliphate has been established, and we will not stop,” said IS press officer
Abu Mosa.

A bearded man with a penchant for Ray-Ban sunglasses, Mosa accompanied Dairieh
on his reporting and was shown shooting at Syrian soldiers during a skirmish.

He portrayed the group’s fight as a battle against infidels like those in the West.

“Don’t be cowards and attack us with drones. Instead send your soldiers, the ones we
humiliated in Iraq,” Mosa said of the Americans.

“We will humiliate them everywhere, God willing, and we will raise the flag of Allah in the
White House.”

- Child training camps -

Young boys look into the camera and pledge to take up the cause to “kill infidels.”

A nine-year-old preparing for Kalashnikov rifle training said he was learning “to fight
Russians -- umm, America.”

“What do you want to be? A jihadist, or to execute a martyrdom operation?” a man iden-
tified as Abdullah the Belgian asked his six-year-old son.

“Jihadist,” the boy replies, saying under prompting that infidels “kill Muslims.”

Boys under 15 attend Sharia camp, while older ones learn military operations.

“We believe that this generation of children is the generation of the caliphate,” said one
man while children splashed in the Euphrates River.

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“The right doctrine has been implanted in those children,” he added. “All of them love to
fight for the sake of building the Islamic State and for the sake of God.”

Few women can be seen in the documentary; those who are shown wear the hijab.

Dairieh leads viewers through a courthouse where residents file complaints or wait on
rulings from a Sharia judge on matters related to finance, alcohol use, adultery and oth-
er personal matters.

Asked if the process meets international standards, a clerk declares: “We aim to satisfy
God, that’s why we don’t care about international standards.”

Following a lightning offensive across Iraq in which IS was accused of numerous atroci-
ties, the group on June 1 declared its caliphate from northern Syria to parts of eastern
Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled.

Within days, jihadists advanced on autonomous Kurdistan, driving tens of thousands of

minority Christians and non-Muslim Yazidis from their villages.

IS media coverage has been exceptionally rare due to security reasons. A New York
Times report on the group last month did not identify its author or persons interviewed.

The brutal violence – which has reportedly claimed the life of Mosa and another IS offi-
cial since they were featured in the documentary – makes Dairieh’s time behind the IS
veil extraordinary.

Kevin Sutcliffe, Vice News head of news programming for Europe, said Dairieh is likely
“the only person they’ve let in for this amount of time.”

The news outlet, part of Vice multimedia group, launched last December. Vice notably
claimed a role in the 2013 “basketball diplomacy” which saw ex-NBA star Dennis Rod-
man travel to North Korea to meet leader Kim Jong-Un.

The Crusades, like the Cold War, never really ended according to TOM. TOM’s quite
the character and he said if he knew for certain someone was going to nuke Palmdale
he’d go out to the front yard and try to catch it. The whole time we were in the shelter,
he refused to eat meat because his ‘gums were worn out’. He liked soft foods like Jell-
O, puddings, soups, potato and macaroni salad. If the ladies made ham, chicken or tuna
salad he was in the front of the line to make his own sandwiches and it was always 2,
not 1.

Most folks put something like celery in ham, chicken or tuna salad. They also use it in
potato and macaroni salad. We didn’t have a lot of celery and he told June and Sharon
to substitute celery seed, a common spice. It seems like he didn’t know potato salad
used celery and he’d never eaten macaroni salad until he was in college.

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°

Sometimes I get distracted. We’re at Fort Chaffee talking with CSM Paul R. Haskins,
Derek’s boss. The CSM is grilling Derek about the ‘military property’ we got to before he
did. Of course, TOM just loaded up the things he found and ‘forgot’ to mention them to
Derek, DJ, Judy or me. [What they don’t know can’t hurt you. TOM was a tax auditor,
set a thief to catch a thief.]

The Taliban are Pashtun of the Deobandis School and some Deobandis may prefer to
use the term Wahhabi to describe themselves or may identify as members of both
sects. Wahhabi is the powerful tribe in Saudi Arabia, or they were. If I can get a word in
edgewise, I’ll ask.

While I’m waiting let me clue you into another tidbit of information. Saudi Arabia was the
# 2 oil exporter and Venezuela was # 1. Furthermore, Venezuela’s estimated reserves,
according to the USGS, exceed the proven reserves of the remainder of the world.

It looks like we can take what we gathered up since we left more HMMWVs than we
took. Derek told the CSM he didn’t have the key to the trailer and the tankers were filled
with stabilized JP-8. They checked; JP-8 has a very strong, persistent odor and we
were home free.

An inventory would reveal most of what we took but, so what? The CSM had the name
of the town and little more to go on. When Derek found the M107 while we were unload-
ing the trailer, he blew his top.

“Dad, why in the hell did you get the M107?”

“Well, before I discovered the Tac-50 it seemed to be the best thing going and there’s a
soft mount in the case. I scrounged around until I found that Pedestal Mount you can
insert the pintle into. I also got one of those heavy M2HB tripods. I noticed you were
loading mostly combat mix of AP and APIT, so I presume the ball and tracer is mostly
for practice or if we run low on the combat mix. You just got ball and tracer for the
M240B, right?”

“That and some M1022 to go with the Mk211MP.”

“Did you get more M67s?”

“A dozen cases, 360.”

“I got some of my generation’s grenades, the M61.”

“Those are obsolete and were supposed used up or destroyed.”

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“Fine, I got some oblong M67s. I also found some M136 AT-4s and I know they’re obso-
lete too. Do you know the difference between and M26 and a M61?”

“The jungle clip?”

“Right. Have you seen any jungles around Mountain Home?”

“Not many. That doesn’t mean you can remove the jungle clips. I’ll show you how to re-
move and install them on both M61 and M67.”

“You mean like this?”

“PUT THAT BACK ON!”

The portion of the clip that attaches to the lever is similar. The method of attaching the
clip to the body of the grenade is completely dissimilar. The latest version of FM 3-23-
30, Pyrotechnics and Grenades, only shows the M26A1 and it’s no longer mentioned in
Obsolete Grenades.

The kill radius of the M61 is less than the M67 although it may throw pieces of piano
wire further. The M67 really was an improvement because it throws shrapnel as op-
posed to pieces of wire and thin sheet metal. The Mk3A2 Concussion grenade is con-
sidered as an offensive grenade while the M67 Fragmentation grenade is considered as
a defensive grenade. That never made any sense to me. If all you had was a M67,
wouldn’t if work as well in a pill box? Maybe the concussion would be less… but the
M67 has all those chunks of shrapnel bouncing off the walls of the pill box.

TOM brought up an interesting thought and wondered aloud if it explained the current
state of the US. Rand Paul had never served in the military nor had Barak Obama.
Dubya’s Air Force Reserve service had been questioned. He did his 2 years of active
duty although his service in reserve status was questionable. Bill Clinton smoked pot
and participated in Vietnam War protests and organized an October 1969 Moratorium to
End the War in Vietnam event. Bush Senior was a WWII Navy pilot who got shot down.
Ronald Reagan was a movie star… Reagan was popular because he forgot to duck and
cowboys are heroes.

He didn’t look good at all. They don’t use the term senile anymore, favoring dementia. It
fit. On some days he couldn’t remember that the Tac-50 was too heavy for him to pick
up and he hauled it out to his wheelchair before he remembered. When he started with
the lightest weapons, he could sometimes get everything but the Tac-50. With the mag-
azines downloaded by 10% he just kept them as they were, in the trailer.

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The last thing he did before he called it a day was plug in his wheelchair to the re-
charger and asked one of his grandchildren to bring in his long arms. He used an office
cabinet for a gun safe and claimed he had the only key. I mentioned that to Derek and
he showed me his copy and said that Sharon had a copy too. He then asked if I wanted
his extra copy. I took it, just in case.

Despite the 2 bedrooms in the cabin and the 4 in the shelter we experienced minor
crowding. Sharon and Judy, being the oldest women took over the cooking duties un-
less we were having Gary’s Pepper Steak recipe. Rice was prepared in a rice cooker.
The steak concoction consisted of thinly sliced round steak cut into pieces ~1½” long
and ~⅜” wide. These were browned in a small amount of shortening in a large skillet…
fresh diced onions were optional… Soy sauce was added (regular or low salt). Frozen
green pepper strips (actually the package had green, yellow and red) and simmered un-
til heated through. Brown gravy mix using ½ the water called for was mixed in and al-
lowed to thicken. The meal was served buffet style with extra Soy sauce on the side
when the rice was ready.

TOM claimed he got the idea for the dish from Delmonico’s in Des Moines when his
Dad and Stepmother were dating and they took him out to eat. He further claimed that it
was best if you use regular white rice prepared in a rice cooker with Minute Rice or Un-
cle Ben’s both coming in a distant second. His idea of SOS was hamburger gravy thick-
ened with a roux of butter and flour and as much milk as it took. We weren’t short on
instant whole milk so we had everything needed except the rice cooker. They had 2, just
in case.

Sharon visited with Judy and explained about the dementia; it was an old family tradition
that Gayle said his father suffered from. It occurred to me that maybe TOM didn’t get
along with his father because the fruit didn’t fall far from the tree. Derek also told me
that TOM was half crazy not knowing what happened to his older brother Damon. I
hadn’t given it much thought and didn’t until who should appear but Santa Claus and his
8 tiny reindeer. Check that, Damon and his 2 sons, Aaron and Eric.

Britney had gotten married and her husband and she moved to somewhere on the Gulf
Coast. Apparently Damon made sure all of his kids first looked for them in Mountain
Home. Derek introduced me to him and told me that if we needed anything, just tell
Damon and he’d find it. Damon was the dumb one, he claimed and his IQ didn’t break
130 whereas Derek had him aced by at least 30 points.

This was a case of been there, done that, got the T Shirt since Derek had to attend the
same schools Steve and I had to reach the rank of First Sergeant. One thing about our
military was the fact that they trained you before they promoted you. You might have the
rank of Sergeant First Class/Gunnery Sergeant/Master Sergeant of Chief Petty Officer
but you didn’t get E-8 or E-9 about without additional schooling. What’s that saying? Oh
yeah, all Chiefs and no Indians.

276
 World War Four – Chapter 5

Maybe it’s time to bring up the warning by the King of Saudi Arabia.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) – The king of Saudi Arabia has warned that extremists
could attack Europe and the US if there is not a strong international response to terror-
ism after the Islamic State group seized a wide territory across Iraq and Syria.

While not mentioning any terrorist groups by name, King Abdullah’s statement appeared
aimed at drawing Washington and NATO forces into a wider fight against the Islamic
State group and its supporters in the region. Saudi Arabia openly backs rebels fighting
Syrian President Bashar Assad, but is concerned that the breakaway al-Qaeda group
could also turn those very same weapons on the kingdom.

“If neglected, I am certain that after a month they will reach Europe and, after another
month, America,” he said at a reception for foreign ambassadors Friday.

Official Saudi media carried the king’s comments early Saturday.

“These terrorists do not know the name of humanity and you have witnessed them sev-
ering heads and giving them to children to walk with in the street,” the king said, urging
the ambassadors to relay his message directly to their heads of state.

The Islamic State group has been fighting moderate rebels, other extremists and As-
sad’s forces in Syria for years. Iraq has faced an onslaught by the Sunni extremists and
their supporters since early this year, and the country continues to be roiled by instabil-
ity.

While providing arms and support to Sunni militants in Syria, Saudi Arabia has denied
directly funding or backing the Islamic State group.

British officials raised the country’s terror threat level Friday to “severe,” its second-
highest level, because of developments in Iraq and Syria, but there was no information
to suggest an attack was imminent. The White House has said it does not expect the
US to bump up its terrorism threat warning level.

Saudi Arabia, a major US ally in the region, has taken an increasingly active role in criti-
cizing the Islamic State group. Earlier this month, the country’s top cleric described the
Islamic State group and al-Qaeda as Islam’s No. 1 enemy and said that Muslims have
been their first victims. State-backed Saudi clerics who once openly called on citizens to
fight in Syria can now face steep punishment and the kingdom has threatened to im-
prison its citizens who fight in Syria and Iraq.

A decade ago, al-Qaeda militants launched a string of attacks in the kingdom aimed at
toppling the monarchy. Saudi officials responded with a massive crackdown that saw
many flee to neighboring Yemen. In the time since, the kingdom has not seen any mas-

277
sive attacks, though it has imprisoned suspected militants and sentenced others to
death.

Meanwhile Saturday, police in Iraq said a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden
car into an army checkpoint in the town of Youssifiyah, killing 11 people, including four
soldiers, and wounding at least 24 people. Youssifiyah is 20 kilometers (12 miles) south
of Baghdad.

Hours later, a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol killed two soldiers and wounded
five in Latifiyah, a town 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of ano-
nymity as they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

You have to ask yourself about the Saudi King, a Sunni with the official and dominant
form of Sunni Islam in Saudi Arabia is commonly known as Wahhabism, the same as
IS. The difference I see between the Saudis and IS relates to their tactics. Saudi Arabia
is one of the richest countries in the world. IS is selling off captured oil, et cetera and
isn’t having problems raising money for their war. They demanded a ransom of $138
million for that journalist they captured and when they didn’t get it they lopped off his
head.

Then there was that report of them executing captured Syrian soldiers. These people
are serious and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them sneaking across the Mexican or
Canadian border. Considering the current condition of the United States after 2 World
Wars, the question becomes, ‘can we stop them if they invade’?

My best guess is ‘yes we can’. Grand had an interesting discussion of just that subject
in Normal. And, even as a broken nation under the control of a thinly disguised Nancy
Pelosi, the reformed states achieved that end.

Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

Men, all this stuff you’ve heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of
the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans
love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble
shooter, the fastest runner, big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Americans love
a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give
a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost,
and will never lose a war... because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.

Why is it that when you need your heroes like Patton, Leonidas I and Jefferson they’re
all dead and at best you can only try to emulate them? The battle at Thermopylae oc-
curred a second time in Texas at the Alamo. For all his faults, Patton was our ultimate
soldier and Jefferson one of, if not, our greatest political thinker. If Barbara Boxer, Diane

278
Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi had their way, the US would be left with axe handles to fight
an invasion. The Roberti-Ross Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989 was a reaction af-
ter the school shooting in Stockton. Later, when .50 BMG caliber rifles became popular
for long range shooting contests, California added them to the Banned list.
That piece of legislation pertained solely to the caliber of the rifle. To date, no .50BMG
caliber rifle has been used by a criminal in a criminal act. They even outlawed .50BMG
caliber ammo.

“Are you and the boys armed?”

“Nope; I’m on the NCIC list and the boys don’t have the money.”

“Ok, M1A Loadeds, Mossberg 590A1 shotguns, M1911/M1911A1 pistols, plus a back-
up. Any thoughts on a 5.56×45mm rifle?”

“What do you have?”

“Mini-14s or Ruger SR-556s.”

“Probably the SR-556s and a knife.”

“You can use the OKC-3S bayonet as a fighting knife and we’ll dig out some Buck 110
Folding Hunters.”

“How long will that take?”

“Just as soon as you get showers and shave. Do you have a set of clean clothes?”

“Sorry.”

“We’ll give you ACU pattern MultiCams. You can wash your own clothes. When did you
last eat?”

“Mary fed us when we located her in Jonesboro.”

“Will that hold you until the next meal?”

“It should. Now, where is the list of things you want me to acquire?”

“Don’t have one because we’ve done it ourselves.”

“You’re kidding.”

“We didn’t know if you’d show up… and if you did, if you could find us.”

279
“Mary only knew that you were in the Mountain Home area; since she’s moving back in
with her folks.”

“How’s she doing?”

“I didn’t ask and she didn’t tell.”

“Are the two of you still fire and ice?”

“I don’t expect that will change.”

“What happened to Pam?”

“She is still at the farm keeping an eye on things. She said she wasn’t going to go on a
wild goose chase and if I found you I could drive back and pick her up.”

“Is she equipped with firearms?”

“Pam isn’t on the NCIC list and she bought a standard M1A, a Ruger Mini-14, a Moss-
berg 590A1 with bayonet, a Browning Hi-Power and a compact M1911 EMP in 9mmP,
all used. She has 1,000 rounds of Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P, low recoil Remington
Sluggers and 8-pellet 00 buck. We also got 1,000 rounds of PMC M855 and 1,000
rounds of Federal 149gr FMJ.”

“Magazines?”

“Ten for each rifle, all 20 round, 4 extra for the Hi-Power and the same for the Spring-
field Armory 1911 EMP 9mm.”

“When do you plan to go after her?”

“We need a week to rest up. Then, Eric and I’ll make the trip.”

“Can’t you contact her by radio?”

“I didn’t get the Kenwood TS-2000 that you recommended.”

“Why not?”

“Rosetta wouldn’t approve the expense.”

“Take my word for it, ammunition is the least of our problems. Let’s get the 3 of you in-
troduced to our hosts and you guys can get cleaned up.”

“Smoke, this is my eldest son Damon and his 2 boys Aaron and Eric. Guys this is our
host Rollin James Reynolds and his wife Judy.”

280
“Your folks didn’t like you? What kind of name is Smoke?”

“I picked that up in Basic Training based on R. J. Reynolds. What did they call you,
Dickhead?”

Derek interrupted and said, “No but it fits. Smoke was a Command Sergeant Major
when he retired with 37 years in.”

“Why didn’t you go for 40 and get 100% retirement?”

“The rumor mill said we were scheduled for another trip to Afghanistan. I’d done 2 in
Iraq and 1 in Afghanistan and that was 1 deployment too many.”

“You know how the military rumor mill works… the rumors are mostly wrong.”

“As a general rule, you’re correct Damon but as an E-9 I had it on very good authority.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t stop-loss you.”

“What branch were you in?”

“Navy as an ET PO3.”

“Either your dad or brother mentioned that you got out early on a medical.”

“Yep; and with usual Navy efficiency, my discharge was Honorable. I eventually ended
up with 100% disability. Since it was a medical I had to have a representative payee.
That Jeep we showed up in could have been paid for with cash but Rosetta set it up to
be financed to establish my credit. We did the same thing when I got my Kubota trac-
tor.”

“So are you a prepper?”

“I’m a member of the Zombie Squad that was based in St. Louis.”

“Anyone survive the IS attack and Russian attack?”

“Actually, most of the members who didn’t live in a target city and about half of those
from St. Louis survived. We built a fruit cellar on my farm that doubled as a fallout shel-
ter.”

“Store home canned food?”

“That and bulk grains sealed in Mylar bags with an oxygen absorber and a desiccant.
We have a motorized Country Living Mill and a few other old fashioned appliances. We

281
put an 18ft³ upright freezer down there that will hold a hog and a side of beef. Then
there are the STS, mostly from Costco and Sam’s Club. We could probably last about 3
years on the stored food.”

“How many people for 3 years?”

“Six. That includes Britney, her husband, Aaron, Eric, Pam and me.”

“That’s probably better than 95% of the survivors. And Pam has all of the weapons?”

“I can’t buy a firearm because of the NCIC listing. Dad and I were just discussing that
and he has a solution for that problem.”

“Do you have a specialty?”

“Salvage. Dad and I are a lot alike when it comes to recovering abandoned property.”

“He’s written about that frequently.”

“A tax auditor is similar to a cop and they know the best ways to recover abandoned
property. The thing they have most in common is being sneaky.”

“What’s your take on what the Saudi King said?”

“I don’t get it. IS and Saudi Arabia both adhere to the same sect of Islam. One would
think that they wouldn’t have a dispute over religion so it has to be something else. I’m
not sure but it seems to me that the Saudis have the largest remaining military in the
Middle East. If IS takes them out, they shouldn’t have any problems with those Emir-
ates. That would put them into Turkey in short order and once they take Turkey, they’ve
opened the door to Europe.”

“They already defeated Turkey and are in the Balkans.”

“So what? How does a European distinguish a Turkmen from other Arabs? You knew
that Turkey’s military is the second largest in NATO with the US being the only country
with a larger military?”

“Maybe before China, IS and Russia attacked we had the largest. Do you still believe
that applies?”

“Our active duty military was nearly triple the size of Turkey’s. On top of that, the US
stores 90 B-61 bombs in Turkey of which 40 are dedicated for Turkish use. They have
6-8 Perry-class frigates and a large number of those type 212 and 214 submarines.
They don’t have any Burke-class Guided Missile Destroyers that I’m aware of. Presum-
ing IS takes on the Saudis and the Emirates before they pursue further, IS could get

282
their butt kicked by Turkey and NATO. You’re forgetting the Kurds who have an axe to
grind with IS.”

After Damon and his boys got cleaned up before supper, TOM went about arming them
with M1A Loadeds, 590A1s with bayonets, Ruger SR-556s, M1911A1s, and Buck Fold-
ing Hunters. We weren’t short on magazines and passed out 21 20 round M14 maga-
zines, the same number of Ruger magazines and 7 8 round M1911 magazines. He also
passed out 1,000 rounds of 168gr 7.62×51mm PPU match, 1,000 rounds of M855, the
Brenneke slugs and the 00 and no. 4 buckshot. It would be up to them to find backup
handguns.

The next day, Damon and the boys went shopping for the backup guns and found 3
Browning Hi-Power Classics with 5 13 round magazines per. They didn’t get a lot of
9mmP ammo, one case, but what they did get was Speer 124gr +P Gold Dot. Over the
course of the afternoon, everything was sighted in and cleaned while Derek finished
sharpening the 3 bayonets. Later, DJ, Aaron and Eric got acquainted. TOM dug through
his accessories and handed over Ripoff CO-21V double magazine pouches.

Fox News Exclusive

01Sep14

Online posts show ISIS eyeing Mexican border, says law enforcement bulletin

Social media chatter shows Islamic State militants are keenly aware of the porous US-
Mexico border, and are “expressing an increased interest” in crossing over to carry out
a terrorist attack, according to a Texas law enforcement bulletin sent out this week.

“A review of ISIS social media messaging during the week ending August 26 shows that
militants are expressing an increased interest in the notion that they could clandestinely
infiltrate the southwest border of US, for terror attack,” warns the Texas Department of
Public Safety "situational awareness" bulletin, obtained by FoxNews.com.

The three-page bulletin, entitled “ISIS Interest on the US Southwest Border” and dated
August 28 was released to law enforcement on Thursday.

“Social media account holders believed to be ISIS militants and propagandists have
called for unspecified border operations, or they have sought to raise awareness that
illegal entry through Mexico is a viable option,” states the law enforcement bulletin,
which is not classified.

It notes no known credible homeland threats or specific homeland attack plot has been
identified. That assertion was underscored by Department of Homeland Security Secre-
tary Jeh Johnson, who said Friday that DHS and the FBI are “unaware of any specific,
credible threat to the US homeland” from Islamic State.

283
Despite assurances that no threat to American soil is imminent, the watchdog group Ju-
dicial Watch said Friday that Islamic State operatives are in Juarez, just across the bor-
der from Texas, and are planning to attack the United States with car bombs.

“Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all
been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources
concerning this imminent terrorist threat,” Judicial Watch stated on its website.

The Texas law enforcement bulletin cites suspected fighters from the terrorist group
previously known as ISIS and based in Syria and Iraq as eyeing a border crossing.

“The identities of persons operating these accounts cannot be independently verified;

however the accounts were selected for monitoring based on several indications that
they have been used by actual ISIS militants for propaganda purposes and collectively
reach tens of thousands of followers,” states the bulletin. “One account was verified as
belonging to an individual located in Mosul, Iraq.”

Some 32 Twitter and Facebook posts monitored by law enforcement over one recent
week reflected interest in the southern border, according to the bulletin. The messages,
which were forwarded thousands of times, included calls for jihadists to cross over from
Mexico to carry out attacks and even alluded to a recent video by US activist James
O’Keefe, who was recorded coming across the Rio Grande valley in an Osama bin Lad-
en costume.

The bulletin details numerous “calls for border infiltration” on social media, including one
from a militant confirmed to be in Mosul, Iraq who explicitly beckons the “Islamic State
to send a special force to America across the border with Mexico.”

“This Twitter account holder, who is the administrator of an ISIS propaganda trading
group, stated that the time was right for such an action because ‘the US-Mexican border
is now open large numbers of people crossing,’” the bulletin said.

Another message sent out via Twitter suggested that Islamic State fighters have already
entered the US via the border, warning that, as a result, “Americans in for ruin (sic).”

The Texas DPS bulletin comes on the heels of a federal Department of Homeland Se-
curity and Department of Justice Joint Intelligence bulletin dated August 22, a copy of
which was also obtained by FoxNews.com. That bulletin, entitled “Online Reaction but
No Known Credible Homeland Threats from ISIL and Its Supporters Following US Air
Strikes,” addresses potential threats to the Homeland in response to recent US air
strikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in Iraq and the murder
of journalist James Foley.

This bulletin notes that while the FBI and DHS are unaware of specific credible threats
against the US from homegrown violent extremists, ISIL or other violent extremist

284
groups overseas “we continue to assess that violent extremists who support ISIL have
demonstrated the capability to attempt attacks on US targets overseas with little-to-no
warning.”

The report also says that “because of the individualized nature of the radicalization pro-
cess – it is difficult to predict triggers that will contribute to [homegrown violent extrem-
ists] attempting acts of violence…lone offenders present law enforcement with limited
opportunities to detect and disrupt plots, which frequently involve simple plotting against
targets of opportunity.”

“FBI and DHS assess that civilian deaths reportedly associated with these US military
air strikes will almost certainly be used as further examples of a perceived Western war
against Islam in English-language violent extremist messaging that could contribute to
[homegrown violent extremist] radicalization to violence,” the report notes.

The FBI and DHS bulletin includes a section titled “ISIL Supporters Increasingly Using
Social Media to Encourage Violent Acts against US Interests.”

“ISIL and its online supporters have employed – and will almost certainly continue –
Twitter “hashtag” campaigns that have gained mainstream media attention and been
able to quickly reach a global audience of potential violent extremists, highlighting ISIL’s
supporter message and encouraging individuals to commit acts of violence, in Iraq or in
the West,” the bulletin states.

“Several of the Tweets in response to the air strikes featured original and creative use of
graphics – including a photo of the ISIL flag in front of the White House – and graphical-
ly rendered images depicting desecration of US monuments and landmarks.”

Interesting, no?

Then, there’s the term ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’ which has an interesting effect when dis-
cussed with respect to the US. The minute there’s trouble anywhere in the world, the
first question the President asks is where are the carriers? Older nations developed the
tactic but the US soon joined them using the tactic. When one might ask?

In 1793 Portugal reached a peace agreement with Algeria, ending its blockade of the
Mediterranean, thus allowing Algerian ships back into the Atlantic Ocean. By late in the
year eleven American merchant ships had been captured. This, combined with the ac-
tions of Britain, finally led President Washington to request Congress to authorize a na-
vy. The Barbary Pirates began to seize American merchant ships.

The bill was presented to the House on 10 March and passed as the Naval Act of 1794
by a margin of 50-39, and without division in the Senate on the 19th. President Wash-
ington signed the Act on 27 March. It provided for acquisition, by purchase or otherwise,

285
of four ships to carry forty-four guns each and two ships to carry thirty-six guns each. It
also provided pay and sustenance for naval officers and sailors, and outlined how each
ship should be manned in order to operate them. The Act appropriated $688,888.82 to
finance the work.

Three 44 gun frigates, Constitution, President and United States were built along with 3
38 gun frigates, Congress, Constellation and Chesapeake. President Thomas Jefferson
was the first President to engage in ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’ in the Barbary wars. It’s an
Old Family Tradition. What, you never heard of the Great White Fleet?

The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet
that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February
1909 by order of US President Theodore Roosevelt.

It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with various escorts.
Roosevelt sought to demonstrate growing American military power and blue-water navy
capability. Hoping to enforce treaties and protect overseas holdings, the U.S. Congress
appropriated funds to build American sea power. Beginning with just 90 small ships,
over one-third of them wooden, the navy quickly grew to include new modern steel
fighting vessels. The hulls of these ships were painted a stark white, giving the armada
the nickname “Great White Fleet”.

In as much as the US following a policy of ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’, that meant that about
half the carriers with their support ships were out of harbor when the Russians struck
the US. One lesson learned in WWIII was that when it came to Cruisers and Destroyers,
more was better. Each Strike Group had at least one Cruiser, depending on where the
Group was patrolling. The minimum number of DDGs was 4 although 6 were more
common. The Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates were either sold to other countries or
decommissioned as of September 2015.

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 World War Four – Chapter 6

Despite the warnings given to the US, most of the survivors of WWIII, Yellowstone and
WWIV dismissed the warnings about IS penetrating the Méxican and or the Canadian
borders. The population had dropped precipitously and was below 35 million. The 35
million included Survivalists, Preppers and those people who were just plain lucky.

Nature’s reaction to the 2 wars and Yellowstone was predictable, nuclear/volcanic win-
ter. Until the air was cleansed of radioactivity and the volcanic ash, the planet would
remain significantly below average temperatures due to the sunlight being unable to
penetrate the atmosphere. Growing food in a greenhouse would be difficult because
Smoke and Judy didn’t have one and neither did the Ott family.

Damon and the boys rested up and, before they headed north, were capable with their
new firearms. Damon should have been able to buy firearms now because the NCIC
was down for the count. He and the boys seemed to be happy with ‘Grandpa’s’ choices
and would only keep an eye out for more ammunition, Folgers and toilet paper.

After a 2+ day trip back to Coulter, they packed up their possessions using a U-Haul
truck and 2 trailers and headed back to Mountain Home. They made a few stops along
the way on their return trip and added better backup and hideout handguns plus ammu-
nition, Folgers Classic and Custom Roast, Charmin and those things that TOM liked
that were hard to find like Cure 81 hams, Hormel thick sliced bacon, Hormel beef tama-
les, etc.

They stopped a few times on the return trip checking out all the communications equip-
ment stores and added radios compatible with those that Judy and I had. They cut
through Illinois on the return trip and stopped in Geneseo, Illinois and upgraded the
M1As too. Each of the 4 had Super Matches, cases of magazines, the accessories like
chamber brushes and tool kits that SA sold.

Illinois wasn’t a ‘good’ state to locate ammo in so they stopped in a few Arkansas loca-
tions to our east. They actually had a little less food than what constituted a 3 year sup-
ply for 6 people. One thing they seemed to have more than enough of was boxes of
Maid Rite meat with the spice packages in addition to frozen breaded pork tenderloins.
They kept their freezer cold with a 12kw ‘portable’ diesel fueled generator.

His Kubota tractor and all the accessories were on a larger trailer pulled by the U Haul
truck and the Jeep pulling one of the 2 6×12 enclosed trailers with Pam pulling the sec-
ond behind her old beater. Not everyone can afford to trade cars every 2-3 years so
they traded in her car for a late ’90s, Dodge pickup with the Cummins 6BT engine and
cross-bed fuel tank.

When they returned a week after they left I began to understand his ability to cumshaw
needed goods. Since they took PRI-D and PRI-G with them, the only problem they had
was getting the stale fuel from the tanks.

287
“I think we picked up a tail in either Illinois or Missouri. You might want to stand by to be
boarded.”

“Have any trouble on the trip?”

“Aside from the possible tail, we had a little trouble getting fuel from the service station
tanks. We got scopes for all of the rifles along with the rings and 4th generation mounts.
I hope one of you knows how to mount them and sight them in.

“I’m forgetting myself. Pam, this is Smoke and his wife Judy. When I find Sharon, Lorrie
and Amy I’ll introduce you to the remainder of my family. Smoke, do you have any idea
where they are?”

“They went shopping and you know how some women act on shopping trips. While you
were gone, we erected a storage building to keep everything out of the elements. It was
bladed flat and footing poured. We erected what amounts to a pole building to enclose
the space using dimension lumber and galvanized siding on the roof and sides. It has a
16’ rollup door and connects to the shelter with pedestrian walkway tunnels.”

“Derek working?”

“I don’t know where he went. I think they’re involved in hauling some singlewides to our
acreage. Have you given any further thought to the warning issued by the King of Saudi
Arabia and the Judicial Watch? Both seem to suggest that IS is contemplating a direct
attack upon the US.”

“Only a little; what do they stand to gain? There isn’t a Christian in this country that
would accept Islam even under a death threat. They believe that if they forfeit their life
for Allah, they’ll go to Paradise and most Christians believe that Jesus will look favora-
bly at their devotion to Him. That sounds like a rock and a hard spot.”

“Did you read Grand’s story Normal?”

“Yeah, it must be nice to have money, 1,500 acres in Colorado and a gun collection
that’s larger than Dad ever had if he kept ever gun he ever owned. You’ve got to take a
critical view on some of that stuff my old man puts out. I don’t doubt he wants the fire-
arms he describes. However, he doesn’t have the money to buy them.”

“Actually he has most of the things he wants because when my friend Steve died, I gave
Steve’s collection to your Dad and Derek.”

“What killed him?”

“World War Three and the fact the bimbo he was hooked up with was an alcoholic and
we wouldn’t give her any more booze.”

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“Dad’s familiar with bimbos and he beat booze in 1999. With his diabetes as bad as it is,
he won’t drink because he’s afraid the booze would kill him almost as fast as a bullet.
I’m surprised he’s lasted this long. It may be that he’s just too bullheaded to lie down
and die. Did you fix him up with those H&K rifles, the 416 and 417?”

“Everyone here has one or both and at least one of those AG-C/EGLM grenade launch-
ers. We’ll get to that subject once you get settled in. I just wish that H&K had given the
HK417 a different rifling twist of 1:10. They claim the rifles will shoot anything from
147gr to 175gr bullets accurately.”

“How many of the long range large caliber rifles do we have?”

“Five, 2 Tac-50s, 1 Tac-338 and 2 M107A1.”

“It sounds to me like the only thing you’re missing is field artillery.”

“I was 11B and later 11Z, infantry. I don’t know much about artillery other than indirect
fire can be very useful at times. Your brother was in Counter-Fire and probably knows
more than I do on the subject.”

Thirty million American survivors was 30 million too many in the view of the Islamic
State. The only exception they’d be willing to make was to Muslims in the US if those
Muslims happened to follow their party line. The Caliph was generous in assuming that
maybe a quarter of the surviving American Muslims might adopt their beliefs. He over-
looked the fact that many of the Muslims in America were in the cities they bombed. If
they didn’t bomb the city, the Russians probably had. On top of that, the Russians had
problems with their own Muslims, like in Chechnya.

Not one to be constrained by the impracticality of his actions, he decided to invade the
US via the Gulf of Mexico. They had wrapped up what remained of the Middle East and
controlled Turkey. Europe and Asia could wait until they put the Americans to the sword.
Given that the Americans had been victims of WWIII, Yellowstone, their 10 nukes and
WWIV at the hands of Russia, America should be an easy target. The survivors would
probably be found in small groups and, if armed, probably had hunting rifles.

He discounted suggestions that the only living Americans were Survivalists/Preppers

and the Lucky. He’d been informed that they’d missed the American President because
he wasn’t in the Capital and had been visiting a firearms manufacturer. Those crazy
Americans did like their guns… he’d been told.

The Caliph was aware of William S. Lind’s description of 4th Generation War. They had
adopted the Insurgent’s tactics and had done well with them. It didn’t occur to him that
the USMC had adopted Lind’s philosophy in Fleet Marine Field Manual One. He didn’t

289
know that one of the survivors living in Arkansas was a William S. Lind fan. No matter, if
they ran into someone like that, he’d get the Marie Antoinette treatment and lose his
head.

“But first they have to catch us,” TOM thought.

The example of 4th Generation War that TOM had included in several stories was Oper-
ation David. He had Lind’s paper on 4th GW as an article on his computer along with the
Marine Corps Fleet Marine Field Manual in a separate directory from his Army Field
Manuals.

The small group in Mountain Home, Arkansas was more prepared for a 4th GW and any
of the other types of warfare. They operated out of a ’secure’ location that was on the
map, but difficult to find unless one knew where to look. They were very well equipped
with necessary matériel and supplies. They combined the latest generations of weapons
with weapons from 140 years in the past. They had 3 individuals who had experience as
high ranking NCOs. One of those individuals he had on call his CSM who was a dyed in
the wool survivalist who had raised a small force from the survivors of their command.
The second NCO was a retired Army CSM he was the third, a First Sergeant.

Fourth generation warfare is normally characterized by a violent non-state actor (VNSA)

fighting a state. This fighting can be physically done, such as by modern examples
Hezbollah or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In this realm, the VNSA uses
all three levels of fourth generation warfare. These are the physical (actual combat; it is
considered the least important), mental (the will to fight, belief in victory, etc.,) and moral
(the most important, this includes cultural norms, etc.) levels.

Fourth generation warfare goals: survival; and, to convince the enemy’s political deci-
sion makers that their goals are either unachievable or too costly for the perceived ben-
efit.

Lind cites H. John Poole who is an American military author and Marine combat veteran
of Vietnam, specializing in small unit and individual tactics. His books focus on the role,
training, and skills of the individual infantry soldier and Marine, and on those of the
combat NCOs (non-commissioned officers). Poole has focused on terrorist and insur-
gent tactics, as well as the counter-insurgent tactics to defeat them.

Poole accurately described what would happen when we entered the war in Afghani-
stan. As a result he sold a lot of books to military NCOs who wanted to know what they
were up against.

How do you convince the enemy’s decision makers that their goals are either unachiev-
able or too costly for the perceived benefit? There comes the time when there is no
easy answer and you kill them. But, you say, Iran tried that and look what happened to
Iran. That is a case of opposing religious fanatics. TOM wasn’t familiar with Poole and
neither was Derek, but I had several of his books.

290
“Who among you is familiar with 4th Generation War?” TOM asked.

“I’ve read Lind’s paper on the subject and some of Poole’s books, TOM,” I replied.

“Derek, you and I discussed it. Did you any follow-up research?”

“No Dad, sorry.”

“Damon?”

“Me either.”

“On the off chance that IS actually decides to invade the US, we’re going to be forced to
fight a 4th GW. I’ll print off what I have if Smoke can locate those books he mentioned.
I’m not going to be a lot of help due to my age and condition. Can you get in touch with
your CSM Derek?”

“Probably, no promises.”

“Any chance he’s read about 4th GW?”

“He may well have since my unit did 2 tours in Afghanistan.”

“Didn’t you tell me he had a bunker full of ammo at his place?”

“If you know that, I must have. When did I tell you about that?”

“We were discussing the McMillan Tac-50 and Mk 211.”

“And I told you that getting Mk 211 was possible didn’t I?”

“You do remember?”

“Vaguely, yes.”

“Ok, we aren’t short on large caliber sniping rifles and ammo. That gives us an ad-
vantage. One of the common booby traps in ‘Nam was the grenade in the can setup. If
we can get enough grenades and empty cans, we could set those up.”

“TOM, I have a dozen cases of those M49A1 trip flare warning devices with a light radi-
us of 300 meters.”

“We may need them Smoke. How many are there in a case?”

“Thirty-two.”

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“Then, you must have 384?”

“Minus 4 that are currently deployed around the cabin.”

“Have they been tripped?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Then, you still have 384. A suggestion only… Derek and you take more of them and
circle the cabin. If you identify additional locations, deploy more.”

“Any other suggestions?”

“Use those M61s to setup grenades in cans. Since those grenades are obsolete and
probably date to the late ‘60s or early ‘70s, be careful out there.”

“Anything else?”

“Are there any staples that we can acquire? How good is the fuel supply? You had
60,000 gallons for the single 30kw you started with, so do we need 8 additional 30,000
gallon tanks for 4 additional generators? Now would be a good time to look for them
since we can empty them into the delivery trucks, haul them here, bury them and plumb
them all together.”

“Where are we going to find 240,000 gallons of propane?”

“Around? We’ll put Damon and Eric on that. And get it 6,000 gallons at a time on every
trip from whatever source we locate.”

The 30,000 gallon propane tanks mostly came from farmers who used propane in grain
dryers. We decided to wait on installing them until we had all 8. When that occurred, we
dug a very large hole and set the tanks in place about 6’ apart like the 2 previous tanks.
We back filled first half layer with gravel and then earth to just shy of the top and
plumbed them together.

Damon and Eric had about half the needed propane to fill the tanks spotted. While they
hauled, Derek and DJ went looking for more.

Over the course of a month, the tanks were filled. I doubt Gary, Sharon, Judy or I will
live to see the day when the tanks are empty. We could recharge the battery banks with
a single 30kw generator, it just took time. It took a whole lot less time running all five
generators. Of course we had those 4 new wind turbines to install and each singlewide
would have a similar power setup as the cabin after we installed the 3 battery banks and
inverter/charge controllers.

292
°

Judy had spent any of her ‘free time’ listening to the ham net. A ham from El Paso, Tex-
as broadcast to anyone listening that a large group of ‘Méxicans’ had arrived at several
locations along the Gulf Coast. He was concerned because they definitely weren’t
speaking Spanish.

“Does anyone speak Arabic or Farsi?”

“I don’t speak it TOM, but I heard Arabic plenty when I was in Iraq. Why do you ask?”

“Maybe those ‘Méxicans’ who don’t speak Spanish, speak Arabic or Farsi.”

“Afghans speak a version of Farsi called Dari so I’d probably recognize either. There are
many languages spoken in Afghanistan, so I could be wrong.”

“When Derek was in Kosovo, he picked up a little French from the Foreign Legion and a
little German from the Krauts. I’m sure he must have heard some Muslims speaking Ar-
abic.”

“You’re wrong dad, I only heard Arabic in Iraq. I recognize it but don’t understand it.”

“TOM, I’m in the same boat, I recognize Arabic and Dari but don’t know what they’re
saying. We had linguists to translate for us.”

“How do you know if the linguists are correctly translating what the person is saying?”

“That’s where trust comes in, right Derek?”

“That and who the translator works for.”

Having trouble following the conversation? It’s me, Smoke, at first, followed by TOM,
followed by me and closed by Derek. You ought to hear the conversations when Da-
mon, Aaron, Eric and DJ are involved… you need a program to know who is speaking.
They watched an old movie on the DVD tonight, Ender’s Game. I read the book and
didn’t care for the movie. It was well acted and everything but it shows just how low
mankind can go to defeat a perceived enemy.

Ender performed Xenocide on the Buggers who were called the Formics in the movie.
The Formics, also known as Buggers, are a fictional insect-like alien species from the
Ender’s Game series of science fiction novels by Orson Scott Card. Formic suggests
ants.

Xenocide (plural xenocides)

1. (Science fiction) the genocide of an entire alien species.

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2. (US, colloquial) the intentional killing of an entire foreign (plant or animal) species.

If it’s up to that bunch from the Middle East, they’ll perform genocide on the Americans.
On the same subject from a different direction, TOM says we’ll only use sticks and
stones when we run out of ammo. It’s not like we have unlimited ammunition (and we
don’t reload) it boils down to how long it takes to reload the cowboy guns. He has a
point about cowboy guns and his friend Jerry must agree with him because he wrote
Cowboy. In fact, TOM pointed the story Cowboy out to me to prove a point.

Judy just told me that she heard another ham and those ‘Méxicans’ are landing from St.
Petersburg, Florida to El Paso, Texas. She also heard something that sounded to her
like Shrimp Boats. The first ham was from El Paso and the second from St. Petersburg;
so I’m assuming as of the moment until we hear from more hams.

“Rollin, I can confirm Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Another report said re-
sistance from survivors was stiff and they hadn’t made it to Georgia yet.”

“Let me get with Derek, TOM, Damon and the grandsons. Did you tell TOM?”

“Yes, I saw him first.”

“Did he say Lock and Load?”

“No he didn’t.”

“It must not be time yet. I think I’ll see if Derek has a way to contact CSM Haskins.”

“First off fellas, they’ve landed in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Apparently they
haven’t pushed far enough inland to get to Georgia.”

“Do you have a count?”

“Sorry Derek, I sure don’t. What are the chances of you contacting higher… say CSM
Haskins?”

“It depends on where they are; if they’re at the bunker, good. Otherwise I really don’t
know. He has a HF radio in his pickup. If they took the HMMWVs, they might not have
transferred it because of the different voltage. There was some talk a long time back
about adding a pair of 12 volt batteries in series with each other parallel to the main bat-
tery. If they did that, they may have moved the radio.”

“If you can reach him, do you think we could join forces?”

294
“To be honest that depends on the mood he’s in. We might need to give up some of
what we took from Fort Chaffee.”

“For instance?”

“The M107A1.”

“Nothing else?”

“I think not because that bunker is well stocked with rockets, both hand and 40mm gre-
nades and all the ammo that was supposedly expended on the firing range. We left be-
hind enough of the M2A1s, Mk19s, and M240Bs to equip the HMWWVs without
CROWS.”

“Are the HMMWVs up-armored?”

“Only about 60 percent are up-armored. They can get more of the up-armored versions
from Fayetteville if they choose to make the trip. Danny Sesker was the gunner on an
up-armored HMMWV pulling escort duty when an IED went off beside the vehicle. It cut
him into pieces and he never knew what hit him.”

“What did you do over there?”

“We were all volunteers with the Iowa Army National Guard’s Troop C, 1st Squadron,
113th Cavalry in LeMars, Iowa serving as Task Force 49th Military Police Personnel Se-
curity Detachment as part of a security force that protected high-profile people in Iraq,
such as ambassadors and diplomats. That bunch from the Westboro Baptist Church in
Topeka, Kansas showed up to protest at his funeral. Thanks to a law the Governor
signed after Danny was killed and before his funeral, they were kept more than 500’
from the funeral.

“We were lucky, I guess. We only lost Danny to an EFP.”

295
 World War Four – Chapter 7

We continued salvage operations to an extent, getting extra diesel fuel and stabilizing it
with PRI-D along with extra gasoline stabilized with PRI-G and Kerosene stabilized with
PDI-D. While we went to get lengths and distances to secure extra everything, Derek
drove down and hooked up with CSM Haskins.

CSM Haskins and his group had, in fact, gone to Fayetteville and picked up additional
up-armored HMMWVs and moved several tankers of JP-8 to his property. When they
compared notes the First Sergeant and Command Sergeant Major determined that
some swapping around was called for. We would have to give up the M107A1 and they
would have to give up 40 cans of Mk211MP. They had extra M240B with tripods and we
would get 2 of those with 10,000 rounds of belted 7.62×51mm ammo. Instead of a sin-
gle spare barrel, each machinegun that used the pre-headspaced barrels, the M240 and
the M2A1, would have 4 spares.

We gained some extra belted 40mm grenades in exchange for other belted 40mm gre-
nades they were short on. One item we didn’t have any of was the M18A1 Claymore
mines. They had so many they could put out a triple tier using only a third of their inven-
tory. We ended up with half of the remaining non-deployed mines allowing us to set out
a triple tier around the building area with half of what we had held back as replace-
ments.

We had sold the IS short because they seemed to be able to identify groups, move to
them and attack inflicting heavy or total casualties while sustaining minimal (?) losses.
After pondering the issue for a while, we concluded they were using radio direction find-
ing equipment to locate new groups. It might be old technology but it was working for
the IS.

Although we had access to SINCGARS (Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio
System) model RT-1523G (ASIP) in addition to the amateur radios, business band radi-
os and citizens band radios, they weren’t trying to eavesdrop; they were just looking for
any radio signals. They were using directional antennas and triangulation to find targets.
And, it was working. It told us that our enemy was using their heads for something more
than a place to carry a hat.

The one piece of information that would have done us the most good was the size of
their units and whether the units were detached and free ranging or controlled by a cen-
tral command. Detached free ranging units could be a problem because each unit would
move at a speed dictated by the outcome of their previous action. Hams were slowly
going off the air. This could mean one of two things. First they figured out that IS was
using radio direction finding or, two that IS had located the group and taken it out.

We had a decision to make. Should we detach and seek them out, ambushing them
when we found a group or should we remain where we were and use the home turf ad-
vantage? TOM wasn’t exactly what you’d call a lean mean fighting machine and was

296
barely mobile. Sharon was about in the same boat and while Judy and I were mobile;
we weren’t getting any younger. I visited with TOM and got his opinion and spoke to
Sharon next. Damon and Pam were together so they were next on my list. I finally took
what I’d heard to Derek and got his opinion before I shared what I’d learned from the
others. It was decided to remain where we were and let them come to us.

It was possible, even probable, that if we stayed home and laid low they might overlook
us entirely. Derek and CSM Haskins had never reached a decision. We didn’t want to
contact them because of the possibility of giving away our position to someone if they
were actually using radio direction finding.

Instead, we carefully surveyed the 4 acres looking for positions which would give us the
maximum advantage if someone attacked. In the process, we finally got around to plac-
ing the additional M49A1 trip flare warning devices, bringing the count to 16. We identi-
fied locations to place the grenades in a can booby trap but held off for the moment. We
decided to place the cans, insert the grenades with the pin still in and string the tripwire.
When it was time to activate them, all we’d have to do was pull the pin and slide the
grenade in. Until we needed them, no kid would be killed because ‘they forgot’ where
the bobby traps were.

Derek gave Judy a frequency on 10 meters and asked her to monitor it for him. If a call
came for ‘Spence’ she should acknowledge with “F Battery” and take down any and all
information but to make no further acknowledgement. He then explained to the 2 of us
that F Battery was his counter fire radar intercept unit and it would be CSM Haskins with
suggestions/instructions. The short “F Battery” reply wouldn’t give a listener time to use
their direction finding equipment to locate us. Furthermore the recorded location for F
Battery wasn’t Fort Chaffee but Fayetteville with the roster showing they were based in
Fayetteville. In fact, all the training occurred at Fort Chaffee.

Damon came dragging in a HF scanning receiver and got it hooked into the same AOR
SA7000 30kHz-2000MHz receive only whip antenna use by the AOR receiver. It wasn’t
that far to Fort Chaffee and his friend’s bunker. Damon lowered the tower, installed the
D130J, SINCGARS antenna, coaxial cables, straightened the tower and raised it back
to full height.

My radio tower was a US Towers HDX-689MDPL Tower with 4 standoffs, the heavy du-
ty rotor, 20’ chromolly mast, RCM-1000 remote control, MDPL-1000 drive motor. I think
I told you that before? The chromolly mast, mounted above the rotor, carried a Mosley
PRO-96. One standoff had a Deviant SP ⅝ wave CB antenna, a second the Business
Band Vertical, the third the AOR antennas mentioned earlier with one standoff as a
spare, intended to be used for a SINCGARS antenna. The second beam was a 2 meter,
70cm and 23cm yagi. Mounted above the beams was a MFJ-1798 10 band vertical. You
probably recognize the equipment because it was high on TOM’s list of communications
gear.

297
When IS crossed the Arkansas border, Judy got the call for Spence. She acknowledged
as instructed and turned on the tape recorder in case she missed something. The
‘Méxicans’ had entered Arkansas via Highway 71, Highway 63/167 and Highway 65.
Looking at a map, we saw they had entered west, central and eastern Arkansas. The
suggestion was for us to ambush the center group while Haskins ambushed the western
group and another group he was in contact with ambushed the eastern group.

Well, so much for a static defense. After a confab, it was decided that Damon, Derek,
DJ, Aaron, Eric, TOM and I would handle the ambush while Judy, Sharon, Pam, Amy
and Lorrie kept the property guarded. Audrey and Udell would watch over (baby sit)
Elizabeth, Joshua and Thomas locked down in the shelter. That didn’t go over well be-
cause Elizabeth and Audrey wanted to join the women and Udell was a better shot than
any of the rest. Joshua threw a temper tantrum at being excluded. Given Tommy’s age,
someone had to be with him in the shelter and Josh got elected.

That put 7 of us on the road and left 10 at home. Considering the experience of both
groups, we were more powerful than those at home while they had the home turf ad-
vantage, the M49A1 trip flares and grenades in cans. If nothing else, Josh could lock
Tommy in the shelter and use one of the HK416s. Given Josh’s mental condition due to
his mom and dad getting divorced and him blaming himself, he might turn out to be a
real badass.

The 3 mobile groups gained an advantage in being mobile; they could use radio com-
munications again. They had to be brief SITREPs given while they were on the move. It
beat a sharp stick in the eye. The overall control of the operations fell to CSM Haskins
who had the largest group.

The mobile communications between the groups were made using the SINCGARS ra-
dios set to the same encryption code which changed daily. CSM Haskins had the larg-
est group and his intent was to move east after dealing with his group of ‘Méxicans’. His
group was in place and had an L set ambush in place before the ragheads put in an ap-
pearance. It turned out to be an easy decision because the group was toting an black
ISIL/ISIS/IS flag.

When they’d completed their ambush and gathered the weapons, magazines, ammo
and other ordnance, Haskins radioed Derek with a SITREP and received a SITREP in
return. We were a little further south (El Dorado) than they were (Texarkana) and had
just spotted the black flag. Derek cut the call short and we did our thing using the heavy
rifles on the vehicles and the small arms on the individuals. The call was ‘no mercy’ and
like Thomas said in Normal, What survivors?

Nobody puked, except TOM. He didn’t have anything in his stomach and the ‘dry
heaves’ soon stopped. What came up was bloody. The bunch was armed with AK-47s,
AKMs and a couple of Russian SVD-S rifles with folding butt stocks and polymer furni-
ture. Their handguns were American Colt 1911s style and included Taurus PT1911s.

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At least this bunch of people took care of their weapons as they only showed the use of
the current battle albeit short. This was one of those 5% times when full auto is useful,
ergo, an ambush. After we collected their stuff, we set about pulling the vehicles off the
road. Before we finished, CSM Haskins and his group caught up with us.

“Kill them all?”

“Not in the initial battle, but TOM went around shot them all in the head after he got over
puking. The way he cussed at them, reminded me of a sailor I knew once. Small group,
only 14, but they have weapons for 18 and they had American handguns.”

“Ours had some 9mm and some .45ACP.”

“Ours only had .45s, Colt and Taurus.”

While we finished up, Haskins got on the radio and got a SITREP on the third group on
Hwy 65. At first he couldn’t get a reply. After about 25 minutes, he heard from them dur-
ing a lull in fighting. This opposing group was about the size of the group Haskins took
out combined with the group we took out. The radio conversation was short consisting
of GPS coordinates, some minor details and a message to hurry.

His third group on Hwy 65 was about 14 people and the IS had come up river on a
barge and disembarked near Eudora. They had vehicles and apparently had brought
them with them because they had fuel trailers.

HUMMWVs aren’t built for speed. Figure 55-70 mph depending on the condition of the
engine, the load, etc. We weren’t loaded down all that much, having 3 HMMWVs among
us with a driver and someone manning the CROWS. We had refueled before we got the
SITREP and were eastbound on US 82 when it came. Therefore everyone heard what
the caller had to say and the gunfire in the background. Our 3 were up-armored with a
CROWS II so we weren’t at maximum payload. We were pushing maybe 63-65 mph.
The distance involved was ~104 miles… 96 minutes at 65 mph and 99 minutes at 63.

One of the guys knew a shortcut and we picked up Arkansas 8 at the south edge of
Hamburg and took a more direct path. He said we should save 15 to 20 minutes, de-
pending on road conditions. Interestingly enough, it put us behind IS.

Creighton Abrams and Chesty Puller have something in common; each said something
to the effect of Abrams – They’ve got us surrounded again, the poor bastards; Puller –
They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that
outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now! Great. Now we can shoot at
those bastards from every direction.

The majority of our third group and the opposing third group were reloading magazines
with a few on each side keeping the others’ heads down. Most of the ragheads were

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concentrating on shooting at our people, watching for flanking maneuvers or reloading
magazines. It must not have occurred to them to check their six.

CSM Haskins got the First Sergeant in charge of our third group on the radio and told
him where we were and to get behind good cover. When the radios clicked twice about
a minute later, we opened fire. It may not seem like much, but we wiped out about a pla-
toon of the IS troops and confiscated their firearms, ammunition and ordinance over the
course of 3 battles. Our most serious casualties were 2 people who had taken a bullet in
the plate of their Interceptor Body Armor, one in the front and one in the back. Both
were shot in this particular battle.

CSM Haskins, First Sergeant Ott and First Sergeant Jones got together to consult. After
the meeting, each contacted their home base and indicated that they were successful
and on the way home. The contacts were very brief in case there were more ragheads
somewhere nearby. The message was encrypted and generally, we’re on the way home
and no one injured or killed. If the opposing force, IS for sure now, locked on the loca-
tion their broadcasts were made from, the most they would find was the bodies of their
teammates.

All’s fair in love and war. (The earliest form of this quote can be found in John Lyly’s
Euphues (1578). In Euphues the quote goes “The rules of fair play do not apply in love
and war.” In other words, They’ve got us surrounded again, the poor bastards. What
about no plan survives contact with the enemy?

Moltke the Elder, Chief of the General Staff from 1857–88, modernized the Prussian
Army during his tenure. Moltke’s main thesis was that military strategy had to be under-
stood as a system of options since only the beginning of a military operation was plan-
nable. As a result, he considered the main task of military leaders to consist in the ex-
tensive preparation of all possible outcomes. His thesis can be summed up by two
statements, one famous and one less so, translated into English as No plan of opera-
tions extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main strength
(no plan survives contact with the enemy). Strategy is a system of expedients.

When we pulled in at the acreage, everyone came out to meet us.

“How did it go?”

“Coffee on? Derek can cover all three actions.”

“You all have coffee, now give.”

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Derek started into it with, “CSM Haskins group ran into a slightly larger group at Texar-
kana than we did at El Dorado. They eliminated the opposing force with zero KIA, zero
WIA and zero MIA. They moved east to join us just as we cleaned up our group of 14.
We successfully ambushed them with zero-zero-zero on our side. We also established
that Dad isn’t a sociopath because he puked everything out of his nearly empty stom-
ach. When CSM joined us, we were ready to head to Eudora, the site of the eastern
group.

“The eastern group under First Sergeant Jones was up against a group about the size
of our combined groups and they were locked in combat. One of the guys in Haskins
group knew a shortcut and we were able to arrive on 65 behind the opposing force.
Their OpSec was awful and we took the rest of them out. The final count on our side
was zero-two-zero. The injured guys took a bullet in the plate, so the worst they suffered
is blunt force trauma.

“After a brief discussion among the leadership, everyone headed home.”

TOM still looked a little green around the gills, if the truth be told. He sat there staring at
the floor and when he looked up; his eyes had that 1000-yard stare.

“If it’s all the same to you,” TOM said, “I’m not going on any more missions that may
arise. I guess I saw the elephant and that mofo is bigger than me. I can man the radios
and lend a hand in defending our home turf but, that’s it. I’m too old for this crap.”

[The phrase “seeing the elephant” is an Americanism (or American phrase) of the mid to
late 19th century. Seen throughout the United States in the Mexican-American War, the
Texas Santa Fe Expedition, the American Civil War, the 1849 Gold Rush, and the
Westward Expansion Trails (Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail), the mythical
elephant was an extremely popular way of expressing an overwhelming emotion. During
the 20th century the phrase faded from popularity but when historians started taking
note of its recurrence in historical newspapers, journals, and literature they often
summed the elephant up too quickly and categorized it as a negative experience. Deso-
lation and sadness may have been one trait of seeing the elephant, but it was certainly
not the only or even the most prevalent. More often, American pioneers of the Overland
Trails talk of the excitement and anticipation of heading west to see the elephant. Ele-
phant “sightings” often begin with excitement and high ideals only to be disappointing or
disenchanting. The high excitement followed by the low frustrations are what epitomize
the elephant as something most wanted to “see” but few would have wanted to “see”
again.]

“I think I’ll get a good night’s sleep, have breakfast, clean my guns, reload my maga-
zines and start a new story about Would War III, Yellowstone and World War IV.”

TOM cleaned his weapons monthly or every time they were fired. He didn’t shoot the
Super Match much to avoid dismantling it. With the passage of time, he shot less and
less. He managed to keep his knives sharp by running the 8,000 grit DMT stone along

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the blade instead of across the blade. His stomach was bothering him and he had Da-
mon locate some Carafate in a pharmacy.

Even with the Carafate, he began eating less with the passage of time. He was also
dropping weight, just a little at a time. He even had trouble with some of the soft foods
and had mostly turned to soups, certain casseroles and crust-less bread. I’d seen him
wipe his mouth at certain times and I’m positive the Kleenex was soaked with blood. I
didn’t say anything to the others because I decided it wasn’t my place.

We never experienced a direct attack on the acreage, so we were only expending am-
mo on keeping ready for whatever came next. At TOM’s direction, Damon and Aaron
made a trip to Phoenix and cleaned out Cold Steel, getting everything including their
spears. After they returned, he had them locating Pyrodex and primers. When that failed
to turn up any more goods, he had them switch to compound bows and arrows with
broadheads.

One night after supper, he took me aside and asked if I had any Jack Daniels Single
Barrel in Medicine Cabinet 2. When I asked why, he told me that his stomach had been
bothering for quite a while and he just wanted to kill the pain. It was his sobriety and it
wasn’t my place to say he couldn’t break it. He had only one shot out of the bottle.

“I think I’d like SOS and eggs for breakfast,” he said and then turned in. I left the bottle
out.

It was a good plan, but he never woke up. When we told Sharon, she had a heart at-
tack, dead before she hit the floor. That presented a problem of sorts because TOM
wanted to be cremated and Sharon had never said. There weren’t any undertakers to
embalm bodies so it was decided to give the 2 our version of a Viking funeral, without
the boat. Ranger boats don’t burn worth a crap.

We went back to the location of the guy who sold me firewood and got some hardwood
logs plus softwood firewood and built the pyre. It was a good sized stack of wood when
we finished assembling it in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We laid them out on the top of the
pyre and got the softwood going with a little kerosene. Then, we backed off in case the
smoke drew unwanted company. We bid the adieu from on far.

Amy and Lorrie shed tears for their mom while Damon and Derek and children mostly
shed tears for Gary. Derek later explained to Judy and me, “Damon and I considered
Sharon our second mother and had strong feelings for her. Our dad was just our dad
and we loved him wholeheartedly. Lorrie had about the same feelings for dad as we had
for Sharon but Amy hated him beyond understanding.”

“So, where do you go from here?”

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“Charles City,” Damon answered. “Grandpa didn’t trust dad and dad’s share of the es-
tate was in a trust fund. So were going to Charles City to see if First Citizens National
Bank is still around. If they are, well get the trust monies. Sharon, Derek and I were the
beneficiaries. We may or may not divide Sharon’s share between Lorrie and Amy if
there’s anything to divide.”

©2014 Gary D. Ott

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