The Cold War – Chapter 1 – Correcting the Facts

[There may be nothing more dangerous than people being misinformed. I heard the
President say last night that Russia and China are the US’s allies when it comes to
keeping Kim Jong-il in his place. When did the Cold War end?]

The Cold War began after World War Two. The main enemies were the United States
and the Soviet Union. The Cold war got its name because both sides were afraid of
fighting each other directly. In such a “hot war,” nuclear weapons might destroy every-
thing. So, instead, they fought each other indirectly. They supported conflicts in different
parts of the world. They also used words as weapons. They threatened and denounced
each other. Or they tried to make each other look foolish.

Over the years, leaders on both sides changed. Yet the Cold War continued. It was the
major force in world politics for most of the second half of the twentieth century.

Historians disagree about how long the Cold War lasted. Some believe it ended when
the United States and the Soviet Union improved relations during the nineteen-sixties
and early nineteen-seventies. Others believe it ended when the Berlin Wall was torn
down in 1989.

The United States and the Soviet Union were the only two superpowers following the
Second World War. The fact that, by the 1950s, each possessed nuclear weapons and
the means of delivering such weapons on their enemies, added a dangerous aspect to
the Cold War. The Cold War world was separated into three groups. The United States
led the West. This group included countries with democratic political systems. The So-
viet Union led the East. This group included countries with communist political systems.
The non-aligned group included countries that did not want to be tied to either the West
or the East.

During the Second World War, the Soviet Union was an ally of the Western democra-
cies, in their struggle against the Axis Powers of Germany, Japan and Italy. As the War
neared its conclusion, the future of Eastern Europe became a point of contention be-
tween the Soviet Union and its Western allies. The Soviet Union had been invaded via
Eastern Europe in both the First and Second World Wars. In both conflicts, some of the
nations of Eastern Europe had participated in those invasions. Both Wars had devastat-
ed the Soviet Union. An estimated twenty-five million Russians were killed during the
Second World War. The Soviet Union was determined to install “friendly” regimes
throughout Eastern Europe following the War. The strategic goal was to protect its Eu-
ropean borders from future invasions. Since the Soviet Union was a communist state,
the Soviet government preferred to install communist regimes throughout Eastern Eu-
rope. The Red Army was liberating the nations of Eastern Europe and therefore, the
Soviet Union was in a position to influence the type of governments that would emerge
following the War.

1
The Soviets believed that they had an agreement with the western democracies that
made Eastern Europe a Soviet sphere of influence, i.e. the Soviet Union would have
dominant influence in that region. In 1945 Joseph Stalin pronounced that any freely
elected governments in Poland, Czechoslovakia and other Eastern European states
would be anti-Soviet and he refused to allow this. In March 1946 Winston Churchill re-
ferred to an iron curtain descending across the continent. The cold war began because
of this struggle for control of the politics of these nations. By 1948, pro-Soviet regimes
were in power in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia.

The Western democracies, led by the United States, were determined to stop the
spread of communism and Soviet power. While not being able to stop the Soviets in
Eastern Europe, the US and Britain were determined to prevent communist regimes
from achieving power in Western Europe. During the Second World War, communist
parties throughout Western Europe had gained popularity in their resistance to Nazi oc-
cupation. There was a real possibility the communist parties would be elected in both
France and Italy.

Harry Truman was the first American President to fight the Cold War. He used several
policies. One was the Truman Doctrine. This was a plan to give money and military aid
to countries threatened by communism. The Truman Doctrine effectively stopped com-
munists from taking control of Greece and Turkey. Another policy was the Marshall
Plan, which provided financial and economic assistance to the nations of Western Eu-
rope. This strengthened the economies and governments of countries in Western Eu-
rope, and as the economies of Western Europe improved, the popularity of communist
parties declined.

This conflict extended to the future of Germany, and the Soviet Union blockaded all sur-
face transport into West Berlin in June 1948. In June 1948 the Soviets blocked all ways
into the western part of Berlin, Germany. President Truman quickly ordered military
planes to fly coal, food, and medicine to the city. The planes kept coming, sometimes
landing every few minutes, for more than a year. The United States received help from
Britain and France. Together, they provided almost 2.5 million tons of supplies on about
280,000 flights. Gradually there was a massive buildup of an airlift of supplies into that
city through September 1949, although the blockade was officially lifted in May 1949.

The United States also led the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in
1949. NATO was a joint military group. Its purpose was to defend against Soviet forces
in Europe [or, as the saying went, to keep Russia out, America in and Germany down].
The first members of NATO were Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States. The Soviet Union
and its east European allies formed their own joint military group – the Warsaw Pact –
six years later.

In 1953 Soviet leader Joseph Stalin died. His death gave the new American President,
Dwight Eisenhower, a chance to deal with new Soviet leaders. In July 1955 Eisenhower
and Nikolai Bulganin met in Geneva, Switzerland. The leaders of Britain and France al-

2
so attended. Eisenhower proposed that the Americans and Soviets agree to let their mil-
itary bases be inspected by air by the other side. The Soviets later rejected the pro-
posal. Yet the meeting in Geneva was not considered a failure. After all, the leaders of
the world’s most powerful nations had shaken hands.

Cold War tensions increased, then eased, then increased again over the years. The
changes came as both sides actively tried to influence political and economic develop-
ments around the world. For example, the Soviet Union provided military, economic,
and technical aid to communist governments in Asia. The United States then helped
eight Asian nations fight communism by establishing the Southeast Asia Treaty Organi-
zation. In the middle 1950s, the United States began sending military advisers to help
South Vietnam defend itself against communist North Vietnam. That aid would later ex-
pand into a long and bloody period of American involvement in Vietnam.

The Cold War also affected the Middle East. In the 1950s, both east and west offered
aid to Egypt to build the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The west canceled its offer,
however, after Egypt bought weapons from the communist government of Czechoslo-
vakia. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser then seized control of the company that
operated the Suez Canal. A few months later, Israel invaded Egypt.

France and Britain joined the invasion. For once, the United States and the Soviet Un-
ion agreed on a major issue. Both supported a United Nations resolution demanding an
immediate ceasefire. The Suez Crisis was a political victory for the Soviets. When the
Soviet Union supported Egypt, it gained new friends in the Arab world.

In 1959 Cold War tensions eased a little. The new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, vis-
ited Dwight Eisenhower at his holiday home near Washington. The meeting was very
friendly. But the next year, relations got worse again. An American military plane was
shot down over the Soviet Union. Eisenhower admitted that such planes had been spy-
ing on the Soviets for four years. In a speech at the United Nations, Khrushchev got so
angry that he took off his shoe and beat it on a table.

John Kennedy followed Eisenhower as President in 1961. During his early days in of-
fice, Cuban exiles invaded Cuba (The Bay of Pigs Invasion). They wanted to oust the
communist government of Fidel Castro. The exiles had been trained by America’s Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency. The United States failed to send military planes to protect them
during the invasion. As a result, almost all were killed or taken prisoner.

In Europe, tens of thousands of East Germans had fled to the west. East Germany’s
communist government decided to stop them. It built a wall separating the eastern and
western parts of the city of Berlin. Guards shot at anyone who tried to flee by climbing
over.

During Kennedy’s second year in office, American intelligence reports discovered Soviet
missiles in Cuba. The Soviet Union denied they were there. American photographs
proved they were. The Cuban Missile Crisis easily could have resulted in a nuclear war.

3
But it ended after two weeks. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles if the United
States agreed not to interfere in Cuba.

Some progress was made in easing Cold War tensions when Kennedy was President.
In 1963, the two sides reached a major arms control agreement. They agreed to ban
tests of nuclear weapons above ground, under water, and in space. They also estab-
lished a direct telephone line between the White House and the Kremlin. Relations be-
tween east and west also improved when Richard Nixon was President. He and Leonid
Brezhnev met several times. They reached several arms control agreements. One re-
duced the number of missiles used to shoot down enemy nuclear weapons. It also
banned the testing and deployment of long-distance missiles for five years.

A major change in the cold war took place in 1985. That is when Mikhail Gorbachev be-
came leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev held four meetings with President Ronald
Reagan. He withdrew Soviet forces from Afghanistan. And he signed an agreement with
the United States to destroy all middle-distance and short-distance nuclear missiles.

By 1989 there was widespread unrest in Eastern Europe. Gorbachev did not intervene
as these countries cut their ties with the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall, the major symbol
of communist oppression, was torn down in November. In less than a year, East and
West Germany became one nation again. A few months after that, the Warsaw Pact
was dissolved.

And two years later, after 45 years of protracted conflict and constant tension, the Cold
War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

During the Cold War, excluding the Korean Police Action, 325 Americans died as a re-
sult of hostile action; More than 200 airmen were killed by Communist air defenses, and
more than 40 American intelligence aircraft were shot down, killing 64 Cryptologists and
40 crew members. Countless other Americans had their lives disrupted through military
service in support of the Cold War.

The foregoing text is quoted directly from Global Security. Minor corrections to spelling,
etc. have been made. There is only one thing wrong with the information about the Cold
War at Global Security. The Cold War never ended; it simply went underground for a
few years. That was never more apparent than in the year 2005. During early 2005, the
Russians held joint maneuvers with the Chinese. Later in 2005, the Russian supplied
missiles to Syria and nuclear technology to Iran. That’s fact, not speculation.

Speculation involved whether or not the Russians were missing any nuclear material.
Vladimir Putin told Ariel Sharon that he stopped the sale of missiles to Syria that could
reach Israel because Israel didn’t have a system that could stop the long-range missiles
Syria really wanted to buy.

4
It’s necessary for our Iranian partners to reject the creation of nuclear cycle technology,”
referring to enriching uranium, “and not to hinder placing all its nuclear programs under
complete international control, Putin said.

The statement by Putin, whose country is completing the US nuclear power plant in
Iran, was perhaps his strongest call for Tehran to convince the world it does not want
nuclear weapons. But Putin, who had said in February he was convinced Iran was not
trying to build nuclear weapons, stressed that Russia’s cooperation with Iran was for
purely peaceful purposes.

Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said Thursday that Russia is selling Iran components
that can be used to make non-conventional weapons, and that Russia’s assistance to
Iran is a cause of concern. Olmert, who took part in the Sharon-Putin luncheon meeting,
told Israel TV afterward that the two agreed on a number of practical steps on security
matters, but he gave no details.

He also defended a deal to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Israel’s foe Syria, a plan that has
clouded improving Russian-Israeli relations and has loomed over the historic visit.

Putin said the missiles could not be converted to portable use by terrorists without au-
thorities being aware, and he repeated earlier assurances that the short-range missiles
were no threat to Israeli territory.

The only way you can come into contact with these missiles would be to attack Syria.
Do you want to do that? Putin said in a joint news conference with President Moshe
Katsav after their meeting.

Katsav said selling Syria missiles could hurt Israel’s attempts to fight terrorism – a jab at
the Russian President, who called for strengthening cooperation against the common
threat of terrorism.

Also, Israeli media reported Thursday that Sharon also opposes Russia’s plan to sell
military equipment to the Palestinians.

Palestinian officials have said Russia is interested in selling armored vehicles to their
security services for use in riot control. Israel fears the armored vehicles could fall into
the hands of militants.

Putin is to meet Palestinian leaders on Friday, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov told reporters they would discuss how Moscow can help the Palestinians with
security.

Another issue that analysts said would probably be raised, the presence in Israel of
Russian tycoons the government wants to prosecute for alleged crimes, was not
brought up at all, Lavrov said.

5
Some people write Patriot Fiction and they notice things like Israel’s connection to the
Russian Mafia. The also take note of the fact that the Russian Mafia is one of the larg-
est arms suppliers is the world.

Bush said among other things, Look, Kim Jong-il is a dangerous person. He’s a man
who starves his people. He’s got huge concentration camps. And, as David accurately
noted, there is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don’t know if
he can or not, but I think its best when you’re dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong-il to as-
sume he can. I do think it’s making a difference to have China and Japan and South Ko-
rea and Russia and the United States working together with North Korea. In my judg-
ment, that’s the only way to get this issue solved diplomatically, is to bring more than
one party to the table to convince Kim Jong-il to give up his nuclear ambitions. And how
far we let it go on is dependent upon our consensus amongst ourselves. Condi, the oth-
er day, laid out a potential option of going to the United Nations Security Council. Obvi-
ously, that’s going to require the parties agreeing. After all, some of the parties in the
process have got the capacity to veto a UN Security Council resolution. So this is an is-
sue we need to continue to work with our friends and allies. And the more Kim Jong-il
threatens and brags, the more isolated he becomes. And we’ll continue to work with
China on this issue. I spend a lot of time dealing with Chinese leaders on North Korea,
as do people in my administration. And I’ll continue to work with our friends in Japan
and South Korea. And Vladimir Putin understands the stakes, as well.

Who wasn’t paying attention? The Russians and Chinese held military exercises earlier
in the year, Putin was giving the Syrians missiles, the Palestinians armored vehicles
and the Iranians enriched radioactive material. Maybe they broadcast a different news
conference in California and maybe the news media had it all wrong about joint exercis-
es and what was happening in the Middle East.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices rose for the first day this week on Thursday as fund
buying fueled a late rebound.

Crude prices fell earlier to less than $50 for the first time since April 18, weighed down
by swelling crude supplies and signs that high prices have slowed US economic growth.

US light crude settled at $51.77 a barrel, up 16 cents on the day after earlier sinking as
low as $49.80.

London’s Brent crude settled at $52.48, up 19 cents.

Oil prices were also boosted by the closure of the Sabine Channel in Texas on Thurs-
day. The waterway is used to bring crude oil to four refineries that account for 6 percent
of US gasoline and distillate fuel production.

The US Coast Guard could not say Thursday evening how long the channel would be
closed to crude and oil product tankers. Six vessels were waiting offshore in the Gulf of
Mexico as of Thursday evening, said Adam Wine of the Coast Guard’s Houston office.

6
That bottleneck shouldn’t affect California because California refineries refined the oil
burned in that state. That morning the price of gas in Palmdale had been $2.499 for 87
octane at the cheaper stations. The odds were it would be $2.549 on Monday and
$2.599 by Friday, May 6, 2005. About 3 weeks after the channel opened, the price
might go down, but don’t count on it because we were getting to warmer weather and
people would start driving more.

Did you see the news conference? Did you catch what CNN had to say afterwards?
Pretty pathetic, if you ask me, which you didn’t. I don’t drive anyway so the price of gas
doesn’t bother me a bit. All I want these days is my pills, smokes and a 12-pak of Coke
C2, the one with the reduced sugar. And several cans of coffee every month, I eat to
live, not the other way around, and as long as it’s hot and the can says ‘Green Beans’
I’m a happy man.

There isn’t much going on here in Palmdale. The Three Amigos went to the 9:30 meet-
ing on Wednesday morning. It was the first of the month and Sharon and Amy had been
doing the shopping and filling the shelves with another 30-day supply of groceries. Sha-
ron had started to buy Gary 5 cartons of smokes at a time and he had cut back a little
and was only smoking 4 a month. He hid the extra cartons for a rainy day. Another thing
that old Gar-Bear had that was a rainy day supply was Vicodin and Xanax. He’d
stopped buying Vicodin and had a 3-year supply of Xanax. He also kept a few hundred
Benadryl capsules on hand, 100 25mg and 400 50mg. He also switched from Vicodin
ES to Norco which contained 325mg of Tylenol and 10mg of Hydrocodone.

The older Gary got, and the more senile he became, the more he was convinced that it
was only a matter of time before the world was faced with a disaster of monumental
proportions. Back in 1982, he’d looked forward to moving to California. If they’d done
that before 1973, they’d have been a whole lot better off. That’s the year that the prices
of homes began to soar, fueled by Proposition 13 and lower property taxes. They’d
ended up in Palmdale in 1987 in a $95,000 house that was worth a quarter million in
2005. The house was earthquake resistant but it didn’t have much going for it. Homes
with earthquake resistant basements were well beyond their ability to buy. And, by
2005, California was one of the most restrictive states in the nation when it came to
owning firearms. That didn’t sit well with a Patron member of the NRA who was a politi-
cal conservative and a Republican to the core.

Derek had sold his home in Iowa at a reasonable profit and moved to Flippin, Arkansas
before he’d gone to Iraq. They paid off the loans and had bought a two home acreage
for $70,000. Their new monthly payment on a 30-year loan was $275 a month and the
rental income from the other home was $250 a month. Flippin, AR is on US 412 about 4
miles south of Bull Shoals, AR and ridge runner country. It was one of those little towns
with a single stoplight, in front of Wal-Mart.

Gary and Sharon had about $155,000 clear equity in their home. That amount of money
would buy a new home in Flippin Arkansas. Flippin had its downsides, too. It was in tor-

7
nado alley. “Colorado and Arkansas are still included (in tornado alley) because they
record many smaller tornadoes each year and have had significant tornadoes in their
history. So the area marked on this map as tornado alley is based on where dangerous
tornadoes and tornadoes in general are most likely going to take place in a given year.
This area averages 3 tornadoes or more per year per 10,000 square miles in general.”
The other downside to Flippin was the humidity. It was very high being only 4 miles from
Bull Shoals Lake. The climate in the South Shore is mild with a mean daily low tempera-
ture of 46 degrees and mean daily high of 71 degrees. Normal humidity is 57% at noon
and 77% at midnight. The number of days with highs over 90° total 73 and the number
of days with lows below 32° total 91.

Arkansas individual income tax is graduated, up to 7 percent at the $25,000 income

level. Arkansas Sales & Use tax is 6%. County and cities may also enact local option
sales taxes. Real property is assessed at 20% of its fair market value, and total real es-
tate taxes are based on this assessment. To calculate the real estate taxes in a particu-
lar city, you must add the total county millage rates to the city, school district, and fire
protection district millage rates. For instance, if the property is valued at $50,000, it is
assessed at $10,000. Total millages for Cotter would be 45.8, and total taxes on the
property would be $458.00. Why would anyone want to live in California?

Daughter Lorrie was using Sharon as a taxi and she had had about enough of that.
Daughter Amy was divorced and living with them, but she was 28. You have to cut the
apron strings sometime. Sister Charlene was living in California City, but she was get-
ting loonier by the minute. Sharon checked and there were plenty of quilting guilds in
Arkansas. Most of their furniture wasn’t worth moving because having 3 dogs and 6 cats
in the home ruined the furniture. But, you don’t move to an area sight unseen and they
decided to visit Derek and Mary.

Sharon was beginning to develop health problems due to all of the stress. The time to
strike is when the iron is hot. The Ott’s didn’t have a strong sense of family like the An-
derson’s did. Consequently, Gary had never met Mary, DJ, Elizabeth or Joshua. Gary
had waited for the opportunity to move back to the Midwest. With their fixed income,
they’d probably have a higher spending power in Arkansas as well. Gas was reportedly
$0.50 a gallon cheaper. The sin taxes might be lower too and maybe cigarettes wouldn’t
be $35-$40 a carton. Got that wrong, but it’s not that far to Missouri and only South
Carolina is cheaper than Missouri.

The following day, on April 29, 2005, The Washington Times reported:

Record-high energy prices thwarted consumer and business spending in the first quar-
ter, causing growth to fall off to a 3.1 percent pace, the slowest in two years, the Com-
merce Department reported yesterday.

The oil-induced soft patch set in last month when premium crude oil prices soared to
more than $58 a barrel in New York trading, and most likely is continuing in the spring
quarter, economists say.

8
Because no one can say how long oil and gasoline prices will stay elevated, it’s difficult
to predict how long and deep the effects will be on the economy.

Despite a setback in the last week, oil prices remained higher than $50 yesterday, while
average gasoline prices remained only pennies below their nationwide record of $2.28 a
gallon.

Worries that the slowdown may be long lasting have plagued Wall Street, where the
Dow Jones Industrial Average posted another triple-digit plunge of 128 points yester-
day. The Dow is down nearly 800 points from its February high, sinking further with
each new report showing a loss of economic momentum.

Some think Wall Street is overreacting.

That’s right, and some don’t. What did I tell you about the price of oil only yesterday? It
was in the papers, all you had to do was open your eyes and read a little. How long
could the country continue with its deficit spending before the economy totally col-
lapsed? Now, think about it… that would be a disaster of monumental proportions. You
wouldn’t need Ebola or one of the calderas to erupt. What would happen to people on
fixed incomes if the economy totally collapsed?

The Congressmen would all make speeches and point fingers to begin with. The fed
couldn’t really cut interest rates very much. The Fed had raised the interest rate on Feb-
ruary 4, 2004 from 2.5% to 2.75%. The next meeting was scheduled for May 3, 2005
and the Fed was expected to raise the interest rate. The only other country that was ex-
pected to raise their rate was Canada from 2.5%. The London price of gold was at $436
and New York was at $432. (I always use the London prices in my stories.)

People with a survivalist mentality seemed to prefer to think in terms of keeping a few
pre-65 US silver coins or, if they were rich enough, a little gold on hand. In the event of
a major disaster, you know one of the TEOTWAWKI or TEOCAWKI situations; gold and
silver were presumed to hold their value when paper money was no longer good for an-
ything. The London price of silver was $6.98 and the New York price of silver was
$6.87.

US coins were originally issued with the idea that every coin had an intrinsic value equal
to its face value. Coins were made of precious metals; and were one to melt the coin
down, one would have metal value equivalent to the coin’s face value left over. This
held true for all US coins of 10 cents face value and higher until 1965, when the gov-
ernment started issuing today’s sandwich coins, which have essentially no intrinsic val-
ue. Naturally, people started hoarding the silver coins, and by 1968 it was difficult at
best to find silver coins in circulation. Today these coins sell at a premium determined
by their silver value. Each coin is 90% silver, and 10% alloy. One bag ($1000 face val-
ue) of dimes, quarters, or halves contains approximately 715 ounces of content in pure
silver. These coins are very popular among those that feel they are keeping silver as a

9
hedge against a collapse of the economy, for historically, in countries where the econ-
omy has collapsed, the money of the realm with intrinsic value has always been good
bartering material.

WASHINGTON – The United States Mint is announcing today (4/19/05) that it will de-
velop a program to manufacture 24-karat (99.99% fineness) uncirculated gold bullion
investment coins in early 2006. This will mark the first time that the United States Mint
will produce 24-karat gold coins. Upon completion of a successful test strike, the de-
signs, specifications, quantities and denominations will be considered. Possible themes
for the images on the 24-karat gold bullion coins will be presented by teleconference at
the April 28, 2005 meeting of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee at the United
States Mint in Washington. The potential global market for 24-karat gold bullion coins is
estimated at $2.4 billion.

The problem with the 24-carat coins was that they were pure gold and easily damaged.
Once damaged, they lost some of their value. A better bet would to be to buy the Amer-
ican Eagles. They were 22-carat gold but contained exactly the amount of gold stamped
on the face. A one oz. Eagle contained exactly 1 oz. of gold and the coin weighted a lit-
tle more than an ounce. That’s troy ounces, 12 to the pound. One troy ounce equals
1.09711 regular (avoirdupois) ounces. They came in various sizes, 1 ounce, ½ ounce,
¼ ounce and 1∕10 ounce. As do Gold Eagles, Krugerrands come in four sizes: 1-ounce, ½
ounce, ¼ ounce, and 1∕10 ounce. All four gold coins carry the same design. The 1-oz coin
is by far the most popular but cannot always be found in large quantities. The fractional-
ounce coins are sometimes difficult to find at all.

In 1994, Congress lifted the importation ban, and gold bullion Krugerrands were again
offered for sale in the US. By then, however, Gold Eagles had captured the gold bullion
coin market in the US, and South Africa stopped promoting Krugerrands in the US. To-
day, Krugerrands sell at prices below Gold Eagle prices. Since 1 ounce of gold is 1
ounce of gold, that is worth remembering.

10
 The Cold War – Chapter 2 – Finding Someplace Safe

Ron told Gary that it wasn’t too bad of a drive to Arkansas. He knew because he went to
visit Jennifer in Ft. Smith. Of course Flippin was a ways from Ft. Smith; it turned out to
be about 175 miles. Derek and Mary had a pretty nice 3-bedroom home. The little
house on the property wasn’t bad either, but they’d lost their renter. Gary asked Derek if
he could rent if for a couple of months until they got a home of their own. There was
good fishing and the weather wasn’t half bad when they were in Flippin. Sharon found a
quilting circle and the move was on.

They returned to Palmdale and listed the house. It sold in 3 weeks and they had most of
their things hauled to the dump. Amy kept Baby and Scrappy plus the yellow tabby cat
name Taffy. Neither Amy nor Lorrie was too happy their mother was moving to Arkan-
sas. Tough. The ICC governs a mover on an interstate move and they only got half
gouged moving to Arkansas. Sharon and Gary moved what they had into the little house
and bought new box springs and mattress for the master bedroom plus 2 Lazyboy re-
cliners for the living room.

Gary had to start over when it came to fishing equipment. He’d used a Mitchell Garcia
300 for years and then let Udell use it one time. It came home in irreparable condition.
The rod was broken in half and the reel was missing the handle and the spool. Gary had
no idea what ever happened to his tackle box with the 2nd spool. Mitchell now made the
300X and they had a list price of close to $90. There is something about getting used to
a particular reel and Gary was too old to want to change. He guessed what happened,
Udell used the reel on top instead of letting it hang and cranking with his left hand, as
was intended. He cranked the hand right off the reel and probably dropped it in the
pond. How the rod got broken or the spool went missing was a mystery.

They talked to a contractor about a new home. As far as Gary and Sharon were con-
cerned, he could use any of a dozen tract home plans he’d built before. They just want-
ed a few upgrades; nothing too special just ¾” drywall throughout, solid core doors, R-
19 insulation in the walls and R-40 or higher in the lid. At least the contractor knew what
a furnace humidifier was. This meant no more dry air in the winter when they ran the
furnace.

Gary’s mother, Doris, had survived the F-5 tornado that hit Charles City on May 15,
1968 by going to the basement. The house only took a glancing hit or the basement
might not have saved her. FEMA had certain recommendations about how to tornado
proof a home. That was all well and good, but old Gar-Bear had written one too many
fiction stories and spent too much time on the Internet doing research. The tallest forms
the contractor had available were 9’ forms and Gary suggested that he use them. He
wanted the walls a minimum of 10” thick and a foot would make him happier.

They picked out a 2-bedroom floor plan and moved the basement staircase to one end
of the living room. Both bedrooms were master bedrooms so company would be com-
fortable. The house, which should have cost them $80,000, came in at $120,000 be-

11
cause of the upgrades. The basement staircase was enclosed in its own walled in
space and Gary had the contractor install a 3 bar blast door that they left open and con-
cealed behind a curtain. He’d gotten that idea by watching programs on the Discovery
Channel that described the Greenbrier.

To finish their new home off, Gary put in a 30kw Onan residential generator and an air
filtration system for the basement. The overhead of the basement was made from pre-
stressed concrete slabs. The contractor had set in the chest type freezer before he in-
stalled the final slab. Sharon’s quilting room went in the basement along with a small
workshop, a ¾ bathroom and the propane-fueled generator in its own little sound-
proofed room. They made several trips to a Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart stocking the
basement pantry with a 3-month supply of the food they usually ate. Gary and Sharon
still had money left but they stopped spending. There are all of those loose ends you
need to take care of when you build a new home, like decorating. You can burn through
a lot of money in a hurry and junk on the walls that has to be dusted.

Gary finally applied for a new driver’s license now that his health was a little more sta-
ble. He shopped around until he found an old 1960 Ford F-100 ½-ton pickup that need-
ed a little work. He had the 4-speed transmission and the engine rebuilt and added a
new set of tires, belts and hoses. Sharon settled for decorating the home by hanging
family photos and some of the paintings they brought with them from California, less to
dust.

The contractor had made sure the home was wheelchair friendly and Gary could now
get out and take Missy for a walk every day. The old pickup had a rifle rack in the back
window, but Gary just used it to hold his fishing pole. He didn’t like fishing from a boat
because that made fishing too complicated for an old man who hadn’t used a boat since
high school. He found a nice spot to go fishing up at Bulls Shoals where he could set his
butt on the shore and catch enough fish to keep him happy.

During the summer of 2005, the price of gasoline slowly edged up until it was almost
$2.499 a gallon in Arkansas. The Russians had delivered the missiles to Syria, the ura-
nium to Iran and the armored vehicles to the Palestinians. The Israelis were very un-
happy come Labor Day. The Republicans in Congress had carried out their threat of us-
ing a ‘nuclear option’ to force their legislation and judicial appointments through. The
only thing that was stalled was the Social Security bill.

In Africa they got a handle on the Marburg virus outbreak after 400 people had died.
Condi Rice couldn’t handle Kim Jong-il and the 6 party talks were stalled. Obviously the
talks with the European Union failed because Iran had resumed their nuclear program.
Just as obviously North Korea wasn’t waiting for the 6-party talks to resolve the problem
with their nuclear program. Word came out that Russia and China were planning anoth-
er joint exercise the following year. China now had an Air Force with a group of bomb-
ers, courtesy of Russia. The Chinese had purchased two Tu-22M3 regiments – 40 air-

12
craft. The bombers were Tu-22M3, armed with the latest Russian Granit missiles. But
China was our ally, weren’t they? So was Russia according to George W. Bush.

The contractor had installed a high efficiency wood-burning unit in the fireplace space
and it put out enough heat to warm the entire house. They kept their furnace set at 65°
for when the fire died down at night. The new house didn’t cool off that fast, but the bed-
rooms were cold, making for idea sleeping conditions. Gary had a new set of chores,
cleaning the burner in the fireplace and taking out the trash. Plus Sharon and Gary had
a very safe place to live and family just down the road.

The only expense that they had that went up was their phone bill. Now it was 3 phone
calls to California and one call to Iowa every week or more often. Speaking of which,
Linda called and they were going to be in Ft. Smith visiting Jennifer and Bobbie Joe and
wondered about coming to Flippin for an overnight. With no grandchildren to keep the
house in a constant mess, the housekeeper Gary had hired for Sharon kept the house
ready for company all of the time. She came in once a week for 4 hours. They didn’t
spend a lot of time in the house anyway, all of their things were in the basement and
Sharon really hated to climb stairs. AmeriGlide stair lifts are built to last, with low
maintenance and high reliability. They run on batteries, which are automatically re-
charged. This also means that an AmeriGlide stair lift is whisper quiet and incredibly
smooth. Even if there is a power outage, the lift glides smoothly to its destination. The
beauty of it was Medicare paid 80% of the cost due to Gary’s disability.

They also solved another problem; they could never agree on what to watch on TV.
Gary wanted to watch all of the Discovery Channels and Sharon wanted to watch things
like Oprah Winfrey and Montel Williams. Gary bought Sharon a 32” TV and kept his old
Panasonic 27” TV. He kept his in the basement in the little living room they set up and
hers was in the living room upstairs. Gary used the pillars that supported the basement
ceiling to divide the basement in half. On one side of the partition were the generator,
laundry room and the freezer plus a fair amount of storage space. On the other side of
the partition were his little workshop, a fold down bed, a small living room and Sharon’s
quilting area. Gary’s tired old computer had died and they shared her Dell computer.
Gary installed another 512Mb and added the HDD from his computer that had gone
south and transferred all of his files to her HDD. Then he got his brand new 60Gb drive
out of the box, formatted it and moved his files to the new D drive.

The next time the Trust fund made a large distribution in the fall of 2005, Sharon un-
loaded her Buick Skylark and put money down on a good, used 2005 Ford Explorer
XLS 4×4 and it was about as plain as a vehicle could be. When Sharon wasn’t looking,
Gary went to the dealer and bought a backup ignition system with the computers and a
new set of belts and hoses. His old Ford F-100 had all new belts and hoses so he only

13
put up spare ignition parts for it. In a TSHTF scenario, the problem would be getting the
parts, not the mechanic.

“Hey, partner, you’re looking good,” Gary greeted Ron when they showed up in late
September. “Give me your bags and we’ll put them in the spare bedroom.”

“You take one and I’ll take the other,” Ron suggested. “Lyn can get her cosmetics bag.”

“How are things back in California?” Gary asked.

“We almost can’t afford to live there anymore,” Ron replied. “Gas is at $3.25 and climb-
ing.”

“How are Clarence and Shirley?” Gary asked.

“Same stuff, different day,” Ron laughed. “Linda’s father finally passed away so we’ll be
moving to New Mexico in a few months. What’s with the antennas?”

“I was able to buy a returned Kenwood TS-2000 from AES in Las Vegas so I finally had
a chance to put in a ham radio. I did that instead of replacing my computer when it died.
One of the antennas is VHF/UHF and the other is HF.”

“Gar-Bear without a computer? I don’t believe it,” Ron responded.

“I had a spare 60Gb drive that I installed in Sharon’s and we share hers.”

“Your house is nice and tidy, how do you keep it so clean?”

“We mostly live in the basement, partner. I’m either up at Bull Shoals fishing or down in
the basement. We have a housekeeper come in and clean once a week but with no
grandchildren it’s a lot easier to keep it clean.”

“Got anything to drink?”

“Lipton iced tea and a bottle of Sweet and Low.”

“Perfect.”

They’d done NY Strips and Patti potatoes on the grill and spent the evening visiting.
Gary had given Ron the grand tour of their basement and Ron laughed and said that it
was just like what he’d imagined Gary would always build it he ever got the chance. He
wanted to see Gary’s new gun collection and was surprised to learn that Gary hadn’t
bought a single gun since moving to Arkansas. Gay explained that he wanted a Super

14
Match M1A but couldn’t afford it and the scope that went with it. Ron suggested that
Gary just buy a FAL rifle.

“That’s what Derek keeps telling me partner,” Gary smiled. “I just can’t make up my
mind.”

“Be practical, Gary, even with a scope you can’t shoot a rifle 600-yards. Why not buy
the FAL and a few of the cheap magazines and be done with it?”

“You can own a machine gun in Arkansas, Ron, but they have to be registered with the
feds and the Arkansas Secretary of State. I haven’t decided what I want to do. But for
the price of a Super Match I suppose I could buy a FAL and a Mini-14 for Sharon.”

“Do you really need assault rifles?”

“Do you still watch the news?”

“Why?”

“The Cold War isn’t over, it has just changed character. Iran and Korea are nuclear
powers and North Korea admits it although Iran denies it. Russia and China are very
cozy since last winter when they held joint maneuvers together. I hear that they’re plan-
ning the same thing for 2006. Russia sold 40 of those Backfire C bombers to the Chi-
nese. Syria has missiles now and the Palestinians have armored vehicles. The econo-
my is in the toilet and the price of gas has gone up 50 cents in Arkansas.”

“Seventy-five cents in California, but California is always the highest priced gas in the
country,” Ron pointed out.

“We’re tied up in that occupation of Iraq and Derek is leaving next month to go over
there for at least a year. Bush can’t get the other 4 members of the talks with Korea to
support a resolution in the UN. And even if he could, what good would it do? South Ko-
rea wants the US out of their country. The minute we pull out, North Korea will push
over the DMZ and invade. Since they have a nuclear weapons program, they can
threaten Russia and China to mind their own business.”

The United States today is the only truly global power. Its military reach extends to eve-
ry corner of the world. Its economic achievements fuel international trade and industry.
Its political and cultural traditions and values appeal to people around the world. And
while no one questions America’s paramount position, many raise the issue of how the
United States is trying to transform this unique power into sustainable influence.

September 11th may have marked the end of the age of geopolitics, defined by con-
tainment and balance of power. It also signaled the advent of a new age – the era of
global politics, primarily focused on global threats. It has become a demarcation point
for US foreign policy, now rooted in the two new phenomena of the times, catastrophic

15
terrorism and American unipolar power. Although America’s pre-eminence began with
the collapse of the Soviet Union over a decade ago, until Nine-eleven the United States
did not see itself as a global policeman. Nine-eleven made it clear the United States had
enemies capable and willing to inflict substantial damage to its interests at home and
abroad.

These new threats to US and global security necessitate a rethinking of the organizing
principles of international order, say analysts. But America’s new assertiveness in set-
ting standards, determining threats and using force many find harmful to the fabric of
the international community and political partnerships. This new preventive doctrine ne-
gates the sovereignty of other nations by insisting on the right of the US to interdict oth-
er nations in advance of an act of aggression. The doctrine announced by the US is
based on perception, possibilities, something that might happen or could happen. It an-
nounces the right of America to take up arms against another.

States have never abandoned the right of preemption, nor have proponents of multilat-
eralism always acted under the framework of the United Nations. It is only recently that
anyone has claimed the United Nations was the sole legitimator of international action.
European states did not disagree several years ago when the United States and NATO
acted in Kosovo without a UN sanction. Theorists argue that if there is a superpower
that throws its weight around, the result will be an incentive for other powers to gather
together to check the hegemon. China is a rising power, and there is at least the possi-
bility of Russia making some sort of resurgence. To avert such developments, US poli-
cies could go beyond an almost exclusive focus on achieving security through force.

Among rogue states, those most aggressively seeking to acquire or develop WMD and
their means of delivery are Iran and North Korea, followed by Libya and Syria. It is also
the case that these states are among those the US identifies as state sponsors of terror-
ism. The Bush Doctrine aims not just to prevent the spread of WMD, but also to “roll
back” and ultimately eliminate such weapons from the arsenals of rogue states, and en-
sure that the terrorist groups they sponsor do not acquire weapons of mass destruction.

In 2001 the US State Department identified seven countries – Cuba, North Korea, Iran,
Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Syria – as sponsors of international terrorism. Prior to 2003 Iraq
was a sponsor of anti-Israel terrorism. Among the terrorist groups that maintained offic-
es in Baghdad are the Palestine Liberation Front and the Abu Nidal Organization. Iraq
also supported the Mujahedin-e-Khalq’s terrorism against Iran.

The primary target of Iranian-sponsored terrorism is peace negotiations between Israel

and the Palestinians. Iran provides the terrorist groups Hezbollah, HAMAS, the Pales-
tine Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Com-
mand with weapons, funding, training, logistics, and safe haven. Iran is encouraging
these groups to increase terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Iran also supports terrorist
groups operating against Algeria and Turkey and permits Uzbek terrorists to broadcast
over Iranian radio. Syria is another country that supports terrorist groups opposed to Is-
rael. Syria gives safe haven and support to Fatah-the-Intifada, the Popular Front for the

16
Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Com-
mand, HAMAS, and the Palestine Islamic Jihad. Damascus serves as the primary trans-
it point for weapons from Iran to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.

Sudan has expelled some terrorists, but it continues to harbor associates of the Afghan-
istan-based al Qaeda terrorist organization, led by Osama bin Laden. Sudan also pro-
tects terrorists from the Egyptian group, al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, the Egyptian Islamic
Jihad, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, and HAMAS. Libya continues to maintain links to ter-
rorist groups like the Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine-General Command. Of the other state sponsors, North Korea is reported to
have sold weapons to Philippine terrorists. And Cuba provides safe haven for Basque
ETA terrorists. Cuba also has longstanding ties to Colombian terrorist groups.

In his State of the Union speech in January 2002, President Bush said, We’ll be deliber-
ate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not
stand by, as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit
the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive
weapons.

In a major speech defining the Bush Doctrine delivered on 01 June 2002 at West Point,
Bush placed his ideas in historical context: For much of the last century, America’s de-
fense relied on the cold-war doctrines of deterrence and containment. In some cases,
those strategies still apply. But new threats also require new thinking. Deterrence – the
promise of massive retaliation against nations – means nothing against shadowy terror-
ist networks with no nation or citizen to defend. ... Containment is not possible when
unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons or
missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies. ... We cannot defend America and
our friends by hoping for the best. We cannot put our faith in the word of tyrants, who
solemnly sign non-proliferation treaties, and then systematically break them. ... If we
wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long. ... [T]he war on terror
will not be won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his
plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge. In the world we have entered,
the only path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act.

In a prime time news conference on October 11, 2001, President Bush called Afghani-
stan the first battle in the war of the 21st century. ... How long will this last? This particu-
lar battlefront will last as long as it takes to bring al Qaeda to justice. It may happen to-
morrow; it may happen a month from now; it may take a year or two. Right…

Norman Podhoretz argues that America should militarize the clash of civilizations, as it
is George W. Bush’s mission “to fight World War IV – the war against militant Islam.”
Podhoretz credits Eliot Cohen with the phrase “World War IV.” Podhoretz suggests that
after September 11th, “having previously been unsure as to why he should have been
chosen to become President of the United States, George W. Bush now knew that the
God to whom, as a born-again Christian, he had earlier committed himself had put him

17
in the Oval Office for a purpose. He had put him there to lead a war against the evil of
terrorism.”

In March 2002, Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, and President of The Project
for a New American Century, declared that, “for the US, the world really changed on
September 11. ... We are no longer prepared to rely mainly on negotiations, trade pres-
sures, arms control regimes and international institutions in order to solve critical world
problems. The Israeli operation against the Iraqi nuclear reactor in Osirak is our new
paradigm. Time is not on our side. We need to act soon, act preemptively, and act alone
if necessary. Osirak is now the model of how foreign policy has to be conducted,” said
Kristol. “Indeed, today the US is committed to forcing regime change in Iran, Iraq, and
North Korea,” continued Kristol. “We will be much more aggressive in pursuing this goal;
no longer are we content to wait for history to work things through. Unfortunately, Eu-
rope does not yet seem to understand our new world. They wish to return to pre-
September 2001 rules.”

James Woolsey stated on 02 April 2003 at a speech at UCLA that the war on Iraq is the
opening of a much-to-be-desired “Fourth World War” and that the governments of Iran
and Syria are “America’s enemies” in this war. Woolsey stated that, “We are fighting
“World War IV, a war that will last longer than World Wars I or II. As we move toward a
new Middle East,” Woolsey said, “We will make a lot of people very nervous,” including
Egypt and Saudi Arabia. “We want you nervous,” said Woolsey. “We want you to realize
that now, for the fourth time in 100 years, this country and its allies are on the march
and that we are on the side of those whom you - the Mubaraks, the Saudi Royal family -
most fear. We’re on the side of your own people.” A few days later, Woolsey suggested
that, “In World War IV, as was true in WW III, we must understand that different ene-
mies require different tactics. South Korea in 1950 could only be saved by American
military power, but Poland in the ‘80s required a very different touch. Freedom in Iran
may well arrive in Polish guise.”

Vice President Dick Cheney said on 13 May 2003 that, Clearly, we are locked in the
kind of the struggle that will continue for a good many years, that calls upon the very
best in the United States military. ... The only way to deal with this threat ultimately is to
destroy it. There’s no treaty can solve this problem. There’s no peace agreement, no
policy of containment or deterrence that works to deal with this threat. We have to go
find the terrorists. ... The only sure way to security and stability and the protection of our
people and those of our friends and allies is to go eliminate the terrorists before they
can launch any more attacks. And this President is absolutely bound and determined to
do that.

The US has adopted a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East. President
George W. Bush announced the policy on 06 November 2003, at a twentieth anniver-
sary celebration of the National Endowment for Democracy. He celebrated the success
of countries from Eastern Europe to Latin America, to parts of Asia and Africa that have
moved from dictatorship to democracy. In June of 1982, President Ronald Reagan
spoke at Westminster Palace and declared the turning point had arrived in history. He

18
argued that Soviet Communism had failed, precisely because it did not respect its own
people. ... But, President Bush said, In many nations of the Middle East, countries of
great strategic importance, democracy has not yet taken root ... The questions arise:
Are the people of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty? Are millions of
men and women and children condemned by history or culture to live in despotism? Are
they alone never to know freedom and never even to have a choice in the matter? I for
one do not believe it. I believe every person has the ability and the right to be free. ...
The advance of freedom is the calling of our time.

President George W. Bush says, the greatest security for the US and for all countries
comes from the advance of human freedom: ... because free nations do not support ter-
ror. Free nations do not attack their neighbors. Free nations do not threaten the world
with weapons of mass terror. Americans believe that freedom is the deepest hope and
need of every human heart. And I believe that freedom is the right of every person. And
I believe that freedom is the future of every nation. The cause of freedom led the United
States and a coalition of nations to liberate Iraq. Now, says Mr. Bush, the coalition is
working to help the Iraqi people build a democratic country that is at peace with its
neighbors – an Iraq free of oppression, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism.

The great democratic movement got underway in the 1970s. Portugal, Spain, and
Greece held free elections. By the 1980s, there were new democracies in Latin Ameri-
ca, and free institutions were spreading in South Korea, Taiwan, and elsewhere in Asia.
By the end of 1989, every Communist dictatorship in central Europe had collapsed. In
1990, the South African government released Nelson Mandela from prison; four years
later, he was elected President. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke up, and many of its
newly independent republics began moving toward democracy.

It’s not a new idea but it is a new doctrine in practice. It is a change from decades of the
practice of foreign policy in the United States where, because of the Cold War and the
conflict with the Soviet Union, the US pushed democracy around the world depending
upon how it affected the power struggle with the Soviet Union, which meant that the US
would be friends with a dictator if that dictator was an enemy of the Soviet Union. The
Administration is hoping that if the US can successfully establish a democracy in Iraq
that will have a demonstration effect. The people in the next-door countries who are in
similar circumstances would feel that they deserve the same kind of thing. When there
is local ferment and pressure, the US can come in and insist that the government not
fire on crowds. This would begin the movement internally in all of these countries to-
wards democracy.

Unhinged from the containment of Soviet power, the sources of US unilateralism, and
its military manifestation of “preemption”, are rooted in the logic of unipolarism.

Leaders in countries ranging from China, Russia and Iran to many European capitals
share deep anxieties about the emergence of the United States as a “benevolent
hegemon” – seeing a “rogue superpower” instead. Short of joining forces formally, the
outlines of a counter-veiling bloc are seen in the convergence of threat perceptions.

19
Russia is disquieted by the post-September 11th American incursions into traditional
Caucasus-Central Asian security zone. China remains uneasy over the Korean Penin-
sula and Taiwan, while fixing at a “new Silk Road” allowing unfettered access to the
Middle East and Eurasia. The Islamic Republic of Iran is emerging, as a frontline state
in their global lineup against US hegemony is prevalent in the Chinese and Russian for-
eign-policy community.

I didn’t write that, it came from Global Security. What happened to World War III?
What’s all this talk about World War IV? We had World War III; we just called it by a dif-
ferent name, the Cold War.

Hegemon: One that exercises hegemony.

Hegemony: The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or

others.

When did the US ask to be the World’s policeman? Did the Congress or the American
people vote on becoming the World’s policeman? The United States became the de fac-
to World policeman when it won the Cold War. Did we really win the Cold War or has it
just changed character until World War IV could come along? IF this country won the
Cold War then it was all Ronald Reagan’s fault. He’s the President who bankrupted the
Soviet Union with his 600-ship Navy. Hard questions, aren’t they? What was our great
prize for winning the Cold War? The military didn’t seem to think we’d won anything.
They went ahead with their plans for the Future Combat Systems.

Search the web with the term ‘Hegemon’. You won’t like what you find. Freedom of
speech should be responsible, not some of the crap you’ll find about our President. If
you were the President of the United States of America on September 12, 2001, what
would you have done? Apologize to Osama bin Laden for making him angry at the Unit-
ed States? Had it happened on September 11, 2000 instead of 2001, what would Clin-
ton have done? He’d already passed on 3 offers made by the Sudan to take Osama bin
Laden into custody.

Do you remember what Albert Einstein said? I do not know with what weapons World
War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Close but
no cigar, World War IV would be fought with nuclear weapons and World War V would
be fought with sticks and stones. The only question that remained to be decided was
who would win World War IV? The answer should be obvious; there wouldn’t be any
winners, only losers.

20
 The Cold War – Chapter 3 – The Slippery Slope

Wars are socially constructed, as are their names. The war known in some circles as
the Civil War or the War Between the States is also known in other circles as the War of
Northern Aggression.

The Oxford English Dictionary reports that the phrase “world war” was first noted in use
in the 8 April 1909 edition of the Westminster Gazette.

The conflict that erupted in August 1914, and that ended at the 11th hour of the 11th
day of the 11th month of 1918, was known at the time simply as the Great War. In the
United States, it was officially designated The World War. On October 7, 1919, War De-
partment General Orders No. 115 directed: “The war against the Central Powers of Eu-
rope, in which the United States has taken part, will hereafter be designated in all official
communications and publications as ‘The World War.’” It was also called “The War to
End All Wars,” but this optimism proved unjustified. Some would suggest that this War
was just the first phase of the Second 30 Years War, spanning the period 1914 - 1945.

The term “First World War” was used in 1920 by Lt-Col à Court Repington, in his book
The First World War 1914-18.

The phrase “World War 2” was first noted in use in Manchester Guardian on 18 Febru-
ary 1919. It seems that World Wars I & II were named together for the first time by Time
magazine on 11 September 1938.

On 27 April 1942 a Gallup Poll indicated that people preferred the term World War II for
the ongoing global war. During the war, many Americans also called it as “The War in
Europe,” or simply, “The War.” Noting that the term “World War II” had been used in at
least seven public laws to designate this period of hostilities, and that analysis of publi-
cations and radio programs indicates that this term had been accepted by common us-
age, President Truman officially named the war in September 1945.

During the Cold War the term “World War III” was widely used to denote the anticipated
and dreaded final conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union [what Her-
man Kahn termed “an insensate wargasm”] that would shatter modern civilization, if not
destroy life on Earth.

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is one of the most influential and powerful “dystopi-
an” (implying “nightmare world”) fictions alongside H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine and
George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Huxley’s book the Nine Years’ War led to
almost total destruction. After a severe economic crisis the world submitted to the World
Controllers who took over and redefined the social order. This global disaster made the
rulers of civilization so nervous that they decided that individual freedoms must be sacri-
ficed to communal well-being; contentment is enforced at all costs. “People still went on
talking about truth and beauty as though they were the sovereign goods. Right up to the
time of the Nine Years’ War. That made them change their tune all right. What’s the

21
point of truth or beauty or knowledge when the anthrax bombs are popping all around
you?” The Nine Years War started in 141 AF [After Ford]. American automobile manu-
facturer Henry Ford (1863-1947) defines the era, with dates computed A.F., or After
Ford, starting with the year his Model-T car was first produced (1913). This would make
the year 141 After Ford the year 2057. The Nine Years War, which ushered in the era of
Ford, ensured stability through dictatorship. Huxley’s Nine Year’s War should not be
confused with the Nine Year’s War of 1688-1697, also known as the War of the League
of Augsburg or the War of the Grand Alliance.

US military operations initiated post-September 11 have largely been identified by the

Bush Administration, the Department of Defense, and the service branches as being in
support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) is
the name assigned by the military to operations conducted in support of the Global War
on Terrorism. The various campaigns of the war on terrorism tend to be described as
sub-operations of Operation Enduring Freedom. For instance, operations in Afghanistan
are identified as Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan (OEF–A), and operations
in the Philippines are identified as Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines (OEF–P).
During the build-up of military forces prior to the initiation of combat operations against
Iraq in March 2003, deployments were announced as being in support of OEF or the
Global War on Terrorism.

On 19 September 2002 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed
Services Committee that Iraq was not separate from the global war on terrorism, but ra-
ther it is part of it. The secretary and Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, returned to Capitol Hill for the second time in two days to discuss
the Bush administration’s position on Iraq. Rumsfeld said stopping rogue states from
developing and using weapons of mass destruction is a key aspect of the global war on
terrorism. “We can fight the various elements of the global war on terror simultaneous-
ly,” he said.

On 17 September 2003 President George W. Bush submitted a proposal for $87 billion
in supplemental appropriations to Congress for funding the War on Terrorism. The re-
quest would provide critical funds for military and intelligence operations in Iraq, Afghan-
istan and other countries, as well as resources for the reconstruction and economic de-
velopment of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eliot A. Cohen, writing in the Wall Street Journal on November 20, 2001, suggested,
“World War IV - Let’s call this conflict what it is.” This theme has continued among the
strongest proponents of the War, however it is named.

Global Security again. I disagree with Cohen, if we didn’t have a World War III, how
could the Global War on Terror be World War IV? The GWOT was just a continuation of
the Cold War only this time they were shooting real bullets instead of threatening each
other. What was the Gulf War in 1991, chopped liver? It was a shooting war and people
died. It involved several nations so why wasn’t it World War III? There are lots of ques-
tions, but don’t ask me for the answers. All I know is that I’m getting darned tired of my

22
boy going off to fight another war. I’m beginning to think that the plan is to just keep
sending him to wars until someone kills him off.

Ron and Linda had to leave and Gary couldn’t decide what to do about a rifle. He set-
tled on the Super Match rifle, deferring the purchase, and bought a Mini-14 for Sharon.
Sharon didn’t really need a handgun and if she did, she could use the .32 auto. Gary
bought a PT1911, a Mini-14 and 590A1. The Onan 30000 Res produced 125 amps at
240v on Propane fuel. It used anywhere from 1.9gph to 4.2gph depending on whether it
was running at 25% power or 100% power. The largest propane tank he could get the
dealer to put in was a 1,100-gallon tank. So, they bought their own 3,300-gallon tank

Flippin was a nice little town.

Water - There is an unlimited supply of water since the water comes from Bull Shoals
Lake. Flippin’s water system can pump more than a half million gallons a day and has
storage of 400,000 gallons. Flippin’s rural water rates are $12.95 for the first 2,000 gal-
lons plus $3.32 for any additional part of 1,000 gallons. Sewage treatment capacity is a
half million gallons/day. Rates are $9 for the first 2,000 gallons plus $1 for an additional
part of 1,000 gallons. For more water information, call City Hall at 870-453-8300.

Trash – Trash pickup service is provided to commercial customers by the company,

which receives the bid for city trash pickup. Residential pickup charges are $7.45 per
month. For more information, call City Hall, 870-453-8300.

Cable TV – Cable television service is by Cox Communications, 870-425-3161.

Electricity – Entergy Corporation serves the Flippin area with transmission voltages of
161,000 volts. City primary voltages are 13,800 volts. Call 800-368-3749.

Gas – Arkansas Western Gas provides natural gas service with 1,000 BTUs of heat
value. Call 870-449-6215.

Internet – NATCO Technologies offers DSL & ISDN as well as 56K Internet access. Call
1-800-775-6685.

Propane – Pioneer Propane sells propane for the area. Call 870-427-3271.

Those 3,000-gallons of propane could last for as long as 52 days, depending upon us-
age. But, as you can see, Flippin also had natural gas. Gar-Bear had written about how
to set one of those generators up to take both natural gas and propane, but he couldn’t
remember which story explained the process. The generator came with everything for
either and all a person had to do was switch it over when they went to propane.

Conversion Procedure (Natural Gas to LP Vapor): This unit was manufactured to oper-
ate on Natural Gas as it leaves our factory. To convert to LP Vapor, after disconnecting
both battery leads, follow these instructions:

23
1. Remove both doors
2. Remove the top panel.
3. Remove the front housing.
4. Remove the cap from the “LP” marked outlet on the Brass Tee located on the upper
right side of the Gas Regulator.
5. Unscrew the fuel line that leads to the carburetor from the “NG” side of the tee and
reinstall the hose to the “LP” side.
6. Install the cap removed in step 4 on to the outlet marked “NG”.
7. Be sure that no leaks exist in any connection by using thread sealant to seal. Do not
use excessive amounts of thread sealant taking care to keep it from entering the gas
lines.
8. Test for leaks.
9. Reinstall the front housing.
10. Reinstall the top panel.
11. Reinstall both doors.
12. Stop holding your breath.

Easy enough to do in the daylight, but what would it be like using a flashlight? It was
easier just to insert a value and use a line from both sides of the Brass Tee to the Valve.
You also had to put a valve in front of the Brass Tee to switch the source of the gas. It
was harder to describe than it was for the installer to do. If there was one thing you
learned when you got old, it was your limitations. With only the inaccurate Mini-14,
Gary, he didn’t feel bad buying surplus ammo.

Eric the Ammoman had an ad: 7.62 NATO US Military Lake City 7.62×51 Packed Loose
– Brand New Ammo Made at the Military Arsenal Manufactured in 2004 $239-1,000
rounds delivered. He also had 5.56 Lake City M855 Green Tip 5.56062 Grain - Steel
Penetrator - Packed Loose 1000 Rounds per case $399-2000 rounds delivered. .45
Federal 230gr. FMJ Red Box American Eagle $229-1,000 rounds (one sealed case).
Man is this dated…

He guessed that that would cover Christmas very well. The Mini-14 only needed a sin-
gle modification, the barrel threaded. “Aint no way,” he heard, “I’ll order you a new
threaded barrel. Gary had the muzzle brake unsoldered and the barrel threaded. The
Mini-14 got a M4-FA after a wait of 8 months. If anyone got close enough to require
Gary to use the PT1911, a suppressor wasn’t needed. His last preparation was to get
Rambo I and Rambo III sharpened, top and bottom, to a shaving edge.

Thanksgiving 2005…

“Where’s the turkey?”

“I thought since it was just the two of us we have game hens,” Sharon replied.

“Oh yeah? How many did you fix?”

24
“One, that’s enough for the two of us,” she replied.

“Stuffing?”

“Stovetop with mashed potatoes and gravy.”

“It’s so quiet I can almost hear myself think,” Gary smiled. “I dearly love my grandchil-
dren, but only when they are at home instead of here. Is the freezer full?”

“To the top,” Sharon replied.

“I’ve got to order a load or two of firewood and we should go to Sam’s Club while we
have the money,” Gary suggested.

“Gary, we just went last month and stocked up for the quarter,” Sharon disagreed.

“I don’t like the news, Sharon. Gas is $2.749 a gallon and the price of gold went over
$500 on the London market yesterday. I called Texaco and told them we needed a 300-
gallon gas tank on a stand. I think that’s the only way we’re going to be able to keep on
driving.”

“Linda called and they’ve sold their house and are building one in Cedar Hill.”

“How’s Ron doing?” Gary asked.

“They had to do an angioplasty, but aside from his leg hurting he’s ok.”

“What about John, Brenda and Kevin?”

“They stayed in California. They have a new project for Brenda and John to guard since
JAG had its last season. I guess that Kevin is just lying around at John’s apartment.
Linda thinks that Brenda is going to move back to Ft. Smith.”

“If she does that, Jennifer and she can always bug out to here if TSHTF,” Gary sug-
gested.

“Linda gave me Jennifer’s number in case of emergency.”

“That might come in handy,” Gary replied.

“Do you really think that there’s going to be trouble?”

“We’re already in trouble with the economy and the price of gas. Do I think that the other
countries will move against the US? I have no idea, but Russia and China aren’t very
happy with us over North Korea. Plus the French and the Germans are getting more vo-

25
cal over Iraq every day. The Israelis are mad at the US because we didn’t block the
sales of missiles to Syria, armor to the Palestinians and enriched uranium to the Irani-
ans. And. lest I forget, the North Koreans flew another test missile over Japan and they
protested to the UN.”

“What about that anti-missile system?” she asked.

“The system is called THAAD. THAAD is scheduled for deployment in 2011. The first
intercept attempt of the THAAD system will take place in late 2004 or 2005. In July 2004
THAAD testing moved from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to the Pacific
Missile Range for block 6 and 8 flight tests. Past failures hampered THAAD’s test
schedule.

“The Theater High-Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] system will provide extended cover-
age for a greater diversity and dispersion of forces and the capability to protect popula-
tion centers,” he continued, “But the principal additional capability provided by this sys-
tem is the ability to deal with longer-range theater missile threats as they begin to
emerge. THAAD also reduces the number of missiles that the lower-tier systems must
engage and provides a shoot-look-shoot capability-the ability to engage incoming mis-
siles more efficiently. With a range of over 200 km and a maximum altitude of 150 km,
THAAD is designed to intercept ballistic missiles at long ranges above the atmosphere.
The sites would also be protected with lower and medium tier defensive shield systems
such as the Patriot PAC-3 which intercepts hostile incoming missiles at 20 to 100 times
lower altitudes.”

“Is that what it has come to, hiding behind a missile shield?” Sharon asked.

“Maybe someday, but at the moment, we don’t even have that. When was the last time
you saw a Patriot PAC-3 battery in anybody’s neighborhood? The overall procurement
objective of 1,159 PAC-3 missiles remains unchanged. The larger purchases in FY-03
and FY-04 may be offset by lower production in FY-08 and FY-09. Instead of buying
216 missiles in each of those years, DOD would receive 184 units annually. As of a year
ago there were no major issues during the Patriot PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhance-
ment preliminary design review, which will be followed by one more review, the critical
design review, was completed late this past summer.”

“What are they doing with them?” Sharon asked.

“I suppose a lot of them went to the Middle East, but some of them may be protecting
military bases here in the US.”

“If I understand you right, you’re expecting trouble before the THAAD missiles are in
place?” Sharon asked.

“It’s possible, Sharon. What if the Russians and Chinese use one of those joint maneu-
ver exercises to start a war?”

26
“What would they have to gain? If they use the nuclear option, we’ll wipe them out and if
they don’t we can kick their butts.”

“The US can barely support the operation in Iraq,” Gary replied. “I think that they could
start a conventional war and get away with it. The only thing the US has going for it is
the most powerful Navy in the world. Don’t kid yourself about those Russian fighters and
Russian pilots, they’re well trained and their only problem is their tactical approach.
They’ve always controlled their fighters from the ground. I’ve always wondered what
would happen if they changed their policy and fought like we do. I think that the last time
we went head to head with Russian pilots was in Vietnam. They shot down a lot of our
planes.”

The POWs and defectors also told stories about Soviet jet pilots in dogfights against the
Americans over North Vietnam’s skies. The Soviet pilots, as well as the North Koreans,
always flew warplanes bearing North Vietnam colors. Rumors, later confirmed, ran that
the Americans shot down some Soviet pilots’ jets and they landed safely by parachutes
on the ground. The Soviet pilots never wore insignias or marks to tell that they were
from the Soviet Union. They were immediately arrested and were beaten to pulp by the
militiamen in the area, most of whom didn’t understand Russian. Some who could tell
that the downed pilots were Russians usually beat them more brutally as if they had
mistaken them for the Americans. From 1964 to 1973, 6,359 Soviet generals and other
officers “visited” Vietnam. Soviet-guided surface-to-air missile (SAM) regiments were
deployed to encounter US warplanes. Thirteen Soviet servicemen were lost in action
during these years. In Indochina the US lost almost 60,000 men and 8,612 aircraft.
Somehow the Cold War doesn’t sound so cold does it?

The Russian military studied the first Gulf War very carefully and as a result modified
the combat procedures, reducing their reliance on ground forces and emphasizing the
use of air power. While the Russian air force might have been in disarray in 2000 that
was changing very rapidly. The only problem was money to buy the aircraft. The im-
proving Russian economy has now made that possible. Predictions that if the US went
up against Russian airframes in the future they would learn that they were flying against
Chinese pilots were correct at the time, but now dated.

Gary had every right to be worried about the Russians and the Chinese. The Chinese
could supply massive numbers of ground troops but they lacked a transport system.
The Russians built some of the best aircraft in the world and they were mainly designed
to counter threats they perceived the US military aviation represented. They didn’t have
the Raptor, but neither did the Americans in any great number. The $130 million plane
turned out to cost twice as much. The American plan called for a limited number of F-
22’s and a far larger number of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The US wanted 339 F-22’s

27
but they were already limited to around 183 because Congress wouldn’t increase their
airplane budget. The Air Force traded off F-35’s to get the Raptors they couldn’t afford.
In simulated combat tests, a single F-22 had taken out an attacking force of 10 F15-C’s.
In November of 2004, an F-22 crashed at Nellis AFB. The cause of the crash was unde-
termined but the pilot ejected safely.

Apparently Sharon was worried too. She had also caved in on the question of the food
and in early December, had added a full six-month supply of food from Sam’s Club.
During December Gary called Ron to see how he was feeling and how their house was
coming. Ron had more or less duplicated their home but had built a 5-bedroom 2-story
affair. His leg was healed and he was feeling marginally better. Robert and he had re-
loaded all of his empty brass and he’d made some purchases. Ron bought a SA-58 FAL
rifle, ammo and magazines. He’d contacted the people in Gonzales, Texas and bought
the package deal plus extra KI and a CD V-717.

“How are Ron and Linda?”

“Ron’s healed up and the contractor has their house sealed in. It will be another month,
minimum, before they can move in. Brenda did move back to Ft. Smith and I told him to
send Jennifer and Brenda over here if TSHTF. He bought Survey Meters from
Radmeters4U. Maybe we should do the same. You can probably figure $1,000 by the
time we buy the package deal, a CD V-717 and extra Potassium Iodide. Maybe I could
buy the extra Potassium from Frugal, but we need enough for at least a dozen people.”

“You sound really worried.”

“It’s a question of when, not if, Sharon. Do you really think the other countries will wait
around while we totally update our military? Once we field the THAAD System and have
the F-35’s tested and built, there won’t be a country in the world that can hurt the US
without turning to the nuclear option.”

“Damon called.”

“Did he want me to call back?”

“No, he just said to tell you that he got an 80% service connected disability and Social
Security classified him as 100% disabled. Where were you anyway? It’s too cold to go
fishing.”

“I was at the gun store ordering ammo for the shotgun.”

“What did you order?”

28
“Brenneke 3” Black Magic slugs and Remington 3” Magnum Express 15 pellet 00 buck-
shot. I can’t shoot a shotgun worth a dang so I just bought a couple of boxes of #6 shot
if I have to use it for hunting. The only weapon missing from our arsenal is a Springfield
Armory Super Match and .22 rifle and ammo. We should have bought 2 freezers instead
of one, you know.”

“We don’t eat enough meat to justify a second freezer.”

“I was just trying to plan ahead.”

“Could we get another chest type freezer in the basement?”

“If they took it down the stairs a certain way, we could. The door is 36” and the freezer is
less than 30” deep. We can vacuum pack the meat and it will hold about twice as long.
We don’t have to buy it all at once.”

“I was planning on buying a long-arm quilting machine.”

“Then buy it first and if there’s money left over, buy the freezer. You ought to stock up
on extra backing and quilting supplies while you’re at it.”

The first of the year is a good time for the Trust fund. There are several months where
the income is on the order of $3,000. Sharon got her Pfaff long-arm quilting machine
and Gary bought a used Winchester model 9422 and an assortment of ammo. They al-
so bought another Sears 25 ft³ chest type freezer. Unless you raise your own beef, it
isn’t any cheaper to buy a whole steer and have it butchered. If you watch the sales at
Sam’s Club and only buy what they have on sale, you can stock a freezer in a reasona-
ble amount of time and if you vacuum pack the meat, it will hold longer. The same goes
for the frozen vegetables.

Russia and China held the joint maneuvers but nothing came of it, this time. Under ap-
propriate operating conditions, the neutrons given off by fission reactions can “breed”
more fuel from otherwise non-fissionable isotopes. The most common breeding reaction
is that of plutonium-239 from non-fissionable uranium-238. The term “fast breeder” re-
fers to the types of configurations, which can actually produce more fissionable fuel than
they use, such as the LMFBR. This scenario is possible because the non-fissionable
uranium-238 is 140 times more abundant than the fissionable U-235 and can be effi-
ciently converted into Pu-239 by the neutrons from a fission chain reaction. France has
made the largest implementation of breeder reactors with its large Super-Phénix reactor
and an intermediate scale reactor (BN-600) on the Caspian Sea for electric power and
desalinization.

Brushing aside US concerns, the (Russian) government has indicated that it plans to
continue building new nuclear reactors in Iran like one that American officials have re-

29
peatedly warned could be used to develop nuclear weapons. Russia’s assistance in
building a nuclear plant in the city of Bushehr, near the Persian Gulf, has been a nag-
ging irritant in relations with the United States for years. It produced the sourest note in
otherwise friendly meetings between Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin
here in May (2002).

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards carried out a series of military maneuvers to test
Shahab 3 rockets, as part of a plan that the government devised in order to respond to
any possible threat. In return, the Israeli media said that Israel also did some new tests
on missiles, in order to respond to any attack from the Iranian Shahab 3 and 4 rockets.
A military analyst in Ha’aretz said that Iran’s intention is to promote its security condi-
tions and ameliorate the morale of its people. He also said that Iran does not need such
missiles in order to target Israel, because its weapons are long enough in Lebanon and
Syria, and Iran is capable of targeting military civilian bases through these countries
deep inside the Hebrew state.

A European mediator representing the countries involved (France, Britain and Germa-
ny), is expected to travel to Tehran; perhaps he could prohibit the sanctions in return for
restraining the Iranian state with the conditions of the IAEA. On the other hand, Tony
Blair’s government is trying to diminish the fears from Sharon’s plans of attacking the
Iranian nuclear reactors, which will only increase animosity against Israel and the US,
and weaken the hope of achieving a historical reconciliation through direct negotiations.
According to the British, the continuation of the Israeli polices of oppressing the Pales-
tinians, in addition to the occupation of Iraq and the destruction of the Iranian nuclear
reactors, will destroy the chances for peace. Whoever knows Sharon’s history, would
see that Sharon does not cooperate with his neighbors, and bases his programs on mili-
tary might and the possession of a nuclear arsenal.

30
 The Cold War – Chapter 4 – Another Year of Fear

The Origin of Intelligent Design

It’s an idea with a history as illustrious as its mere mention today can be contentious:
that the order and complexity of the natural world are evidence of supernatural design.
So-called natural theology is a doctrine that can be traced back to the Bible and that
shaped the thinking of such early Christian philosophers as Thomas Aquinas.

One of the influential proponents of the notion that the existence of God could be un-
derstood by studying His creation was English philosopher John Ray (1628-1705).
Ray’s cataloguing of mammals, birds, fish, insects and plants inspired subsequent natu-
ralists to collect and classify organisms as a reflection of the divine order of creation.

“There is for a free man no occupation more worthy and delightful,” wrote Ray, “Than to
contemplate the beauteous works of nature and honour the infinite wisdom and good-
ness of God.”

Ray’s systems brought order to the chaotic study of nature. His insight that fossils were
once living organisms overturned popular hypotheses of his time (that they were, for
example, lusi naturae or mere games of nature). And, by encouraging naturalists to look
at an organism’s form in relation to its function, he paved the way for studies of adapta-
tion.

A century later, English theologian William Paley (1743-1805) elaborated on these con-
cepts in his “Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the
Appearances of Nature.” Using his famous analogy of a watchmaker, Paley inferred the
existence of a creative god:

“In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how
the stone came to be there: I might possibly answer, that for any thing I know to the
contrary, it had lain there forever... But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground,
and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; ... When we
come to inspect the watch, we perceive (what we could not discover in the stone) that
its several parts are framed and put together for a purpose ... This mechanism being
observed ... the inference, we think, is inevitable, that the watch must have had a maker
... who comprehended its construction, and designed its use.”

Just as the watch’s complexity provides evidence of a watchmaker, Paley reasoned, so

the natural world’s complexity provides evidence of a world maker.

This “argument from design” prevailed until Charles Darwin published his “Origin of
Species” in 1859, shattering the existing paradigm.

31
Few scientists held out against the empirical evidence for natural selection that Darwin
presented, but among them was one of the founders of the modern American scientific
tradition, paleontologist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873).

Agassiz, whose vast private collection of fossils formed the nucleus for Harvard’s Mu-
seum of Comparative Zoology, openly opposed Darwinism. He believed that the study
of natural history was ultimately analogous to the analysis of God’s thoughts.

“The combination in time and space of all these thoughtful conceptions exhibits not only
thought,” he wrote, “It shows also premeditation, power, wisdom, greatness, prescience,
omniscience, providence. In one word, all these facts in their natural connection pro-
claim aloud the One God, whom man may know, adore, and love.”

The arguments have evolved, but many of today’s proponents of intelligent design echo
the fundamental philosophy of the pre-Darwinian thinkers. In the words of one of the
movement’s leaders, William A. Dembski: “Undirected natural processes like the Dar-
winian mechanism are incapable of generating the specified complexity that exists in
biological organisms... the natural sciences need to leave room for design.” Evolutionary
scientists, on the other hand, point to powerful evidence to demonstrate that the mech-
anisms described by Darwin are perfectly capable of explaining the complexity of life. –
Frances Stead Sellers, for the Outlook staff

Just so you all know, if you don’t already. I didn’t know about the so-called Intelligent
Design Theory. I worked it out on my own. I happen to subscribe to the Philosophy. It
doesn’t say the God didn’t do it, it merely explains How He did it. None of us can ever
understand God’s thinking. He does what He wants to do When He wants to do it. It is
easy to see How God handled the 10 plagues that Moses brought down on the Egyp-
tians. Right up until you get to the death of the firstborn of Egypt. That was obviously
retribution for the Pharaoh killing the first born of the Hebrews. No one can explain How
it happened without simply attributing the Act to God.

The Russians and Chinese held their joint-maneuvers again in 2006. The Chinese had
a new program of building freighters so they could deliver the goods to Wal-Mart. They
were using the proceeds of their American sales to do 2 things, improve their military
and build more ships. The Russians had refurbished several of their nuclear submarines
and they participated in the joint-exercise. And the occupation of Iraq continued.
Rumsfeld was talking about troop reductions beginning in the middle of 2006. The goal
was to reduce American troops to ‘under 100,000’. The first operation tests of the
THAAD Missile system were completed and they needed to do more software revisions.
But at least the missile worked, it just missed. The Russians had a solution to their ina-
bility to put an ABM on target; they equipped it with a nuclear warhead. Rumor had it
that the Chinese were also working on an ABM system.

32
The operation range of a Backfire C bomber is 7,000km. That is without refueling. The
Russians had removed the refueling systems from the Backfire C bombers. When the
Chinese bought an additional 40 Tu-23M bombers from Russia in 2006, they also
bought 80+ refueling systems and contracted with the Russians to reinstall them. The
Chinese also bought several used 707 airliners from the US. Purportedly for airline use,
the airliners were secretly converted to tanker aircraft.

Someone tested a nuclear weapon in the Indian Ocean. The detonation showed up at
NORAD instantaneously. No one admitted to testing a nuclear weapon. Russia quickly
confirmed that the Iranians had returned the depleted uranium as agreed. The Iranians
denied any knowledge of the test and the North Koreans refused to comment. Obvious-
ly somebody was lying. The next time Sharon went to Sam’s Club, Gary strongly sug-
gested that she buy a whole case (12 cans) of the 57 ounce cans of Folgers’s coffee.
She usually bought a case every three months, but this time she bought 2 cases. They
managed to go through 4 cans a month. Did you know that drinking too much caffeine
would cause food allergies?

Before they moved from California in 2005, Gary had gotten an Rx for all of his prescrip-
tions, including the drugs that Dr. J usually provided as samples. Sharon did the same
thing. It was a shame that they lost those prescriptions, they had to make another trip to
LA to pick up duplicates. The prescriptions were for a 2-month supply of the drugs at a
time and they had 5 refills. When they got to Flippin, they filled the prescriptions at a lo-
cal pharmacy and the duplicate prescriptions at a Mountain Home pharmacy. They had
to find a doctor in the Flippin area to monitor Gary’s diabetes and the doctor wrote the
same set of prescriptions. They took those to a second Mountain Home pharmacy. Eve-
ry other month, they bought a 6-month supply of their prescriptions. Everything was
carefully rotated. When the following year came, they intended on filling the local Rx at
the pharmacy in Flippin. It was a dang good thing they didn’t have a house payment. It
was, however, a one-time expense spread over a year’s period.

There is a limit to how much preparing a person can do. You are very lucky if the
canned goods you buy have a shelf life of over a year. Things like flashlight batteries
have a shelf life too. You can’t get too far ahead on medicine, what if the doctor chang-
es one of your prescriptions? A 2-year backlog of prescriptions was pushing it, but over
the years, Dr. J had figured out what worked and what didn’t and there really wasn’t any
reason to change their prescriptions nor was there any reason to go to the doctor every
month. They cut that back to once a quarter.

Gasoline can be stabilized, of course, and many prefer to use PRI-G. At $2.999 a gallon
gasoline was getting quite expensive in 2006. They debated whether or not to accept
Ron and Linda’s invitation to come to Cedar Hill, but in the end, decided to make the
trip. Mary could keep an eye on the place and feed Missy and the cats. The drive to Ce-
dar Hill is 1,047 miles and takes the average person 17 hours, 22 minutes. Gary was

33
driving so make that 15 hours. The Judge had called Gary’s brother ‘lead foot’. He
shouldn’t have, Roger was just carrying on a family tradition.

“Hey partner, how are you doing?” Gary asked.

“I’m tired,” Ron replied.

“You look tired. Don’t you guys have a housekeeper?”

“Oh you know Linda; I had to clean the house so the housekeeper wouldn’t think that
we actually lived in the house. Did you make good time?”

“Don’t I always?”

“Friggin’ gas prices are as bad as California. We’d go back to see John and Kevin but it
would almost take a bank loan.”

“You should have plenty of money between Linda’s inheritance and selling your house.”

“Can you ever have enough money? Maybe Bill Gate’s has enough, but the rest of us
have a long way to go.”

“Show me the basement.”

“We didn’t put in a stair lift.”

“I’ll manage, partner.”

“I divided the basement in half the same as you did, but I put our bedroom in the back of
the storage room. Since we entertain, we fixed the basement up with a wet bar and a
large screen TV. The kitchenette is also in the storeroom along with the bathroom, the
laundry and generator.”

“Where’s your ham shack?”

“I don’t have one because I don’t have a license.”

“Ronald, put the equipment in anyway. In a true TSHTF scenario, I doubt the FCC will
be coming around checking licenses. It’s only a little memory work to get a license.”

“That’s the problem, I can’t remember nuttin’ anymore. I’m 65 on September 9th, you
know.”

“Have you heard from Clarence?”

“Not one word.”

34
“I haven’t either, but I keep expecting him to call.”

“Call him, you have the number.”

“I tried that and the phone is disconnected.”

“Maybe they moved back to Birmingham.”

“Did you fix up BOB’s?”

“I have emergency kits in the cars, but the only place we’ll be bugging out to is home.”

“I didn’t make up any either for exactly the same reason. I put in a 300-gallon gasoline
tank on a stand.”

“The Russians and Chinese didn’t start anything this year. I half expected they would.”

“It’s only a question of when, Ronald, not if. Who do you figure tested the bomb in the
Indian Ocean?”

“Probably the Iranians. You watch, as soon as Israel is sure it was them, they’ll bomb
the hell out of their reactors.”

“The Iranians put in a Russian built missile defense system. I don’t think the Israelis can
go up against it.”

Things change. Ron and Robert were really into guns and reloading. Surprisingly, Gary
wasn’t into reloading. These days he went fishing during warm weather and sat in the
basement during cold weather and watched one of the Discovery Channels. Missy got a
walk every day there wasn’t snow on the ground. Gary and Sharon had only left Califor-
nia a year before, but sitting around waiting for Derek to get home from Iraq made the
time seem to pass very slowly. They didn’t have any place they had to rush back to so
Sharon and Gary stayed for 3 nights and 2 days. Then, they packed and headed back
to Arkansas.

Amy had taken over Sharon’s chore of getting Lorrie to baby steps with Jeffrey. Gary
was pretty certain that Sharon was helping Amy out with gas money to the tune of about
$100 a month. Sharon managed the money and as long has everything was paid for in
cash and they had enough to live on, he didn’t really care. They had zero bills, except
for the monthly utility bills and even had those that they could were set up on a level pay
plan. They were probably 6-7 months ahead on food, maybe more, and 2 years ahead
on all of their prescriptions. They even had a little cash on hand in the lockbox in the
basement. It wasn’t a lot of cash but enough. When they got back from New Mexico,

35
they added all of their leftover cash to the box in the basement and it looked to be close
to $1,000 in total.

“Do you know what we ought to do? We ought to take the money in the basement and
buy some silver. The best forms of silver for survival purposes are pre-1965 US 90%
coins and 1-oz silver rounds. The most useful forms of gold would be 1∕10-oz Gold Eagles
and ¼-oz Gold Eagles.

“But, before going forward, it is imperative that we discuss which coins to avoid. That is
because hundreds of web pages promote numismatic and collector coins, as well as
foreign coins. Such coins are simply wrong for survival purposes. If the time ever comes
that gold and silver coins were again used as money, coins would be worth only their
metal content. Numismatic (collector) premiums would disappear. Anyone using gold or
silver coins to buy goods or services would not be asked, ‘What’s the mint mark on your
coin?’ Nor will they be asked, ‘When was it minted?’ The question would be, ‘What’s the
gold content?’ Hand someone a St. Gaudens and tell him it contains .9675 ounce of
gold, and it will be difficult – if not impossible – to convince him to accept it at more than
.9675 times the price of gold.

“Second, the coins should have their gold or silver contents stamped on them; except
for the bullion coins, most do not. In an emergency, having the gold content stamped on
a coin could go a long way toward causing someone to accept it. Third, the coins you
buy for survival purposes should contain amounts with which Americans are comforta-
ble. We understand one-ounce, ½ ounce, ¼ ounce, and 1∕10-ounce coins. Americans do
not easily grasp the concept of .2354 ounce or .1867 ounce.”

“How much were you thinking of buying?”

“Well, I suppose we ought to keep some regular cash on hand, but not over $1,000.
Other than the money in the basement, do we have anything to invest?”

“Not at the moment, but the Trust distribution next time should be over $3,000.”

“How much of that could we invest?”

“I suppose you could invest the whole thing if you really think we need to.”

“Depending upon the price of silver, a $1,000 face-value bag of pre-65 90% coins will
run about $2,500. “If we buy a $1,000 bag every time we have the money, we’ll be in
pretty good shape if TSHTF.”

“Do whatever you think is best.” It was a smart idea to buy her the Pfaff long-reach quilt-
ing machine. Best investment I ever made. Maybe this time next year I’ll have a Spring-
field Armory Super Match M1A rifle with a fancy scope and several hundred rounds of
match ammo. 1) Don’t hold your breath; 2) There is just something about my spending

36
$3,000 on a rifle that yanks her chain; and 3) That’s only for the rifle, the scope is ex-
pensive, too.

Incorporating the best features of the Mark 4 M3 and VX-III Illuminated Reticle scopes,
the Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10x40mm LR/T M3 Illuminated Reticle scope features M3-style
adjustments and an eleven position illuminated reticle control dial. Suggested Retail
Price: $1299.99 Price - $940.17

The Super Match M1A rifle embodies the most sophisticated development in Gas Gun
technology. Capable of sub-MOA accuracy with the proper ammunition, the Super
Match is built for the individual who demands the very best. A truly custom gun. Spring-
field’s latest proprietary development for the Super Match is the rear lugged receiver.
Additional extraordinary features include an ultra-heavy air gauged national match bar-
rel, custom oversized op-rod guide and maximum dimension match grade stocks avail-
able in American walnut and McMillan fiberglass. Caliber: 7.62mm NATO; Barrel: 22”,
Twist: 1 turn in 10 inches, right hand, Douglas Premium air-gauged custom heavy
match (Optional Hart stainless steel or Krieger barrels available on special order);
Size/Weight: Walnut 11.2 pounds, Fiberglass 11.8 pounds, Length: 44 1/3” long; Mech-
anism: Rotating bolt, gas operated, air cooled, semi-automatic magazine fed; Front
Sight: National Match front blade .062; Rear Sight: Match-grade hooded aperture with
one-half minute adjustments for both windage and elevation. 26¾” sight radius; Capaci-
ty: 10 round box magazine (Rifles shown with optional pre-ban 20 round magazine,
available from Springfield Armory); Trigger Pull: 4½ lbs., two-stage military match trig-
ger; and, SA9805 $3,149.00 (McMillian Marine Corps camo stock). Dealer price if you
can find a good dealer: $2,519.20. Have you priced the M24 SWS? It sells for $8,000
without the scope.

Eric, The Ammoman, has (Chinese T-57) M\14 magazines for only $139 for 10 mags or
$880 for 80 mags. That’s only $11 each in quantity. He claims: You cannot tell these
from USGI mags – brand new sturdy steel construction they work and look great. We
also have a one-month (no hassle) guarantee. Let’s see, 80 magazines at 20-rounds
each would take 1,600 rounds of ammo to fill them one time. You wouldn’t have to re-
load magazines for the remainder of your life.

Black Hills: 100 rounds of Black Hills 7.62 180gr Nosler AccuBond ammo - $89.25; 100
rounds of Black Hills 7.62 175-grain BTHP ammunition. This ammunition is loaded with
the Sierra MatchKing. 30 caliber - $89.45.

Let’s say you can get the rifle for $2,519.20 + 6% sales tax. That’s $2,670.35. Then you
add the scope for $940.17 plus $10 shipping and handling. Total - $3,620.52. Add 20
Korean magazines $278 for $3,898.52. Now add 1,000 rounds of Black Hills ammo, half
and half. $446.25 + $447.25 and $60 worth of shipping. Grand total - $4,852.02. Unless
you can shoot the eye out of a needle at 600-yards in a strong wind, buying an M1A
Super Match rifle and all the extras doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. What does mak-
ing sense have to do with anything?

37
Do you really need a BOB when you rarely leave home? That depends on how far you
get away from home, doesn’t it? Maybe if you get over ½ hour away from home from
time to time, it is worth the investment. Make it 15 minutes if that’s too far. If you aren’t
sure what to put in your BOB, read Fleataxi’s Alaskan series of stories. Just don’t add a
Glock because they have problems, too. The S&W J-frame revolver is very compact.
The air weight J-frame was good enough for Sgt. Joe Friday. The model 360PD only
weighs 12oz. empty and shoots .357 Magnum rounds. It has a scandium alloy frame,
barrel shroud and yoke; titanium cylinder; overall length 6 5/16”.

Remember this one from May 1, 2005?

WASHINGTON (CNN) – It appears North Korea has conducted a test of a short-range

missile, White House chief of staff Andrew Card told CNN Sunday.

“I got the report this morning, so I don’t know an awful lot about it. It appears that there
was a test of a short-range missile by the North Koreans and it landed in the Sea of Ja-
pan,” Card said on CNN’s Late Edition.

“We’re not surprised by this. The North Koreans have tested their missiles before.
They’ve had some failures.

“We have to work together with our allies around the world – especially the Japanese,
the South Koreans, the Russians and the Chinese – to demonstrate that North Korea’s
actions are inappropriate. We don’t want them to have any nuclear weapons; we don’t
want the Korean Peninsula to have any nuclear weapons on it.”

Six-nation talks on persuading North Korea to curb its nuclear ambitions – involving the
two Koreas, United States, China, Japan and Russia – have been stalled since last
June after three inconclusive rounds.

North Korea has already said it will stay away from the nuclear talks until Washington
apologizes for comments by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which she de-
scribed the communist state one of the world’s “outposts of tyranny.”

US Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, told Late Edi-
tion that Sunday’s test shows the Bush administration’s refusal to hold direct talks with
Pyongyang is leading to an even greater nuclear threat.

“The test,” Levin said, “is additional, very discouraging evidence that this administra-
tion’s policy towards North Korea is failing. We’ve had a lot of other evidence in the last
four years – the fact that they have renewed their reprocessing program of plutonium;
the fact that they’re now enriching uranium; and the fact they apparently can now put a
nuclear weapon on a missile.”

38
That’s right, it’s George W. Bush’s fault that the North Koreans are buttholes. The North
Koreans are going to lose their heads trying to save a little face. As for the apology, I
wouldn’t advise that you hold your breath.

The distance from Seoul, South Korea to Seattle, WA is 5179 miles (8336 km) (4501
nautical miles). The estimated range of a Taep’o-dong-2 (Nodong-4) is 6,000km. How-
ever, the North Koreans are capable of putting things into orbit using either the NKSL-1
- a Taep’o-dong-1 (Nadong-2) missile with a third stage and satellite added or a NKSL-
X-2 - a Taep’o-dong-2 missile with a third stage and satellite added. If the North Kore-
ans have orbital capacity, why couldn’t they put their nuclear weapons on one of those
platforms? How far would they reach? You don’t think 6,000-miles, perhaps? The US
Defense Intelligence Agency warned last week (the week ended April 30, 2005) that
North Korea has the ability to mount a nuclear device on a long-range missile and the
communist state could hit US territory.

See what happens when you speculate and then look for something to back up your
guess? Sometimes you find out things you really didn’t want to know. If North Korea at-
tacks the US, a single Peacekeeper missile will constitute over retaliation. If the Peace-
keeper can’t reach North Korea, we have 14 SSBN’s with 24 Trident-D missiles apiece.
The military has several installations in Arkansas: Highland IP, Camp Pike, Camp Rob-
inson, Fort Chaffee, Little Rock AFB, Ebbing ANGB, Everton ESS and Fort Smith.
Thank God Whiteman AFB is so far away. I think we’re in pretty good shape here in
Flippin, it’s mountainous and we have the shelter.

It was sort of hard for a Yankee to live in Arkansas. These good ol’ boys were all mixed
up. They didn’t even know the name of the Civil War. Arkansas was a member of the
Confederate States of America. The southern boys called it the War of Northern Ag-
gression. If that was their viewpoint, more power to them. The thing was the sum bit
ended in 1865. Gary wasn’t even born until 1943, 78 years later. And he was born in
California, for crying out loud. As far as he knew, he didn’t have any kin who fought in
the Civil War. The American Revolution, but not the Civil War. The Ott family was from
McConnellsburg, PA, about 50 miles west of Gettysburg. They were farmers. On the
Boggess side of the family, his great-great-grandfather was born July 17, 1824 in Frank-
lin Co, KY, and died July 08, 1904 in Bassett, Chickasaw Co., IA. He married CLARIN-
DA JANE LIPSY April 29, 1863 in Vermilion Co., IL. She was born July 11, 1846 in Indi-
ana, and died February 02, 1909 in Bassett, Chickasaw Co, IA. The oldest of their chil-
dren was his great-grandmother who was born in 1864.

Was everyone named Bubba or just the cops? Pretty darned confusing for a Yankee.
And the southern cops weren’t all bad; some of them smiled when they handed you the
ticket. Most people had the facts of the Civil War all messed up anyway. It was the Bat-
tle of Bull Run not the Battle of Manassas. The Rebs kicked the Yanks’ butt 2 times, or
was it 3? It was a nasty, mean war that pitted family against family. Abe Lincoln freed
the slaves, but only in the south. By any measure, good boys died on both sides and it
was a rotten shame. Two proud groups of people with inflexible backbones. Most of the
time the Yanks were better equipped but that didn’t keep Johnny Reb from kicking their

39
butt. Now if Booth hadn’t shot Lincoln they never would have had to put up with the car-
petbaggers, so whom do you blame for that? A truly sad time in the history of the coun-
try, for both sides.

Except for Francisco Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, NM on 3/9/1916 the US hadn’t
been invaded since 1812. Those Mexican’s gunned down about 17 (14, 18, pick a num-
ber) innocent civilians, contrary to Pancho’s instructions. Black Jack Pershing and
George S. Patton chased Villa (José Doroteo Arango Arámbula) all over Mexico but
never caught up with him. Wikipedia claims Villa had 1,500 men in Columbus, but the
correct number was 485. Villa starred as himself in 3 movies and 25 other actors played
the part in other movies. The battle of the Alamo occurred in Mexico, Texas hadn’t de-
clared independence until during or after the siege.

Francisco “Pancho” Villa was born to rural peasant parents in San Juan del Rio, Mexico
on June 5, 1878. Named Doroteo Arango, he later took several aliases, the most popu-
lar and well-known being “Pancho Villa”. Raised in poverty in Durango, he turned to cat-
tle rustling and robbery as a young man and soon became one of Mexico’s most wanted
bandit leaders. As an enemy of the Mexican federal authorities who were trying to arrest
him, Villa became a natural ally of Francisco I. Madero in Madero’s struggle to over-
throw President Porfirio Diaz. Appointed a colonel in Madero’s revolutionary army, Villa
led his forces in a daring raid against Juarez on May 11, 1911, capturing the city and
securing Madero’s position as the new President. When Madero was assassinated two
years later in a coup led by General Vittoriano Huerta, Villa quickly reorganized his Ar-
my of the North and became one of the most important leaders of the anti-Huerta alli-
ance. Villa’s highly mobile mounted troops, called “Villistas”, inflicted a major defeat on
Huerta’s army in northern Mexico in the Battle of Zacatecas on June 23, 1913, and then
began a campaign to the south. By December, in conjunction with the forces of
Venustiano Carranza and Emiliano Zapata, Villa captured Mexico City, forcing Huerta to
flee and placing control of the government in the hands of the three rebel leaders.

However, the following spring Villa was forced out of the triumvirate when he lost a
power struggle with Carranza, and in the ensuing conflict his troops were badly defeat-
ed and Villa was forced to return to his headquarters in Durango. There he resumed his
life as a bandit, raiding American border towns and mining camps as well as Mexican
villages. On March 9, 1916, troops under Villa’s command raided the border town of Co-
lumbus, New Mexico – although it was never established if Villa ordered the raid or if it
was carried out without his knowledge – looting the town and killing some of its resi-
dents. The US government sent an expeditionary force into Mexico under General John
J. Pershing to capture Villa. However, Villa’s maneuverability and superior knowledge of
the terrain enabled him to elude the pursuing American troops, and Pershing’s forces
withdrew from the area the following year. In 1920 the new Mexican government
reached an agreement with Villa in which he agreed to halt his raids in exchange for his
settling down on a ranch in Canutillo and being appointed a general in the Mexican ar-
my. However, on June 20, 1923, Villa was ambushed and killed by followers of Alvaro
Obregon, a former army general, who feared that Villa would oppose their leader’s can-
didacy for President in the upcoming elections.

40
During the month of May, Patton was in charge of a 15-man contingent traveling in
three Dodge Touring Cars, for the purpose of buying corn from Mexican farmers. Rely-
ing purely on a hunch, Patton led a raid at a place called the Rubio Ranch, believing
that one of Villa’s men might be there. As it turned out, not one, but three of the enemy
were there and during their attempted escape, Patton and his men engaged them in a
lively skirmish resembling an old western movie gun fight. All three of the banditos were
killed. Patton triumphantly strapped the bodies to the cars, one on each hood. He took
them directly to Pershing’s headquarters for identification where he created quite a
commotion. Later, he carved two notches in his Ivory-Handled Colt .45 to commemorate
his good fortune. After that, Pershing always referred to Patton as his bandit.

41
 The Cold War – Chapter 5 – Dear John

…that’s all she wrote. Source 1st Lt. Robert Howe, a B-17 bomber pilot in WW II. Does
Lt. Ralph Juhl ring a bell? He drove George S. Patton’s jeep in Europe for a while. How
about Pat Lockwood? He participated in Doolittle’s raid over Tokyo. The only problem is
that Doolittle never heard of him and he isn’t on any roster of the men who participated
in the mission. Every war has its ‘heroes’ who either weren’t what they claimed to be or
whatever. How about all of those SEALS from the Vietnam era who can’t swim? At least
they try and expose those guys.

Gary Ott wasn’t any hero. He was just a drunk in the Air Force from 1961 to 1965. He
never intentionally did anything brave. Stupid, maybe, but bravery wasn’t on his to-do
list. They try to make working at the Rocket Site glamorous. It wasn’t, but it was scary.
They had tanks of hydrazine, pentaborane, diborane, hybolene and nitrogen tetroxide,
liquid florine and 50 chemicals you never heard of. Like most of the Airmen at the Rock-
et Site, Gary had a ‘Get out of Jail Free Card’ – properly called a Toxic Fuel Handler ID
Card.

On a 50’ range, Gary was pretty reasonable with a handgun but until he got his cata-
racts removed and new lenses, he couldn’t even see 300-yards. Unfortunately the left
eye was 20/20 and the right eye now 20/25. Only Gary didn’t want to let anybody get to
within pistol range. He bought a stack of B-27 full-size (24”x45”) police silhouettes and
some target pasters. 100-yards seemed like a pretty good range to start shooting at. He
spent a day sighting in Mini-14 rifle. The following day he moved the targets to 200-
yards and spent 2-days at that range, readjusting the sights to shoot dead center mass.
Finally, he went to maximum range, 300-yards, and noted the drop in the group on the
targets. The rifles remained sighted in for 200-yards. The following week he spent a day
on the range, again at 100-yards and noted the rise in the group on the targets.

The day after, he only took the handguns and fired at 50’ and 21’. He had fixed sights,
so he just vaguely noted where the groups were falling. Sharon said she wanted no part
in carrying a pistol, CCW or not. Gary qualified for a CCW in Arkansas. He acquired an
inside the waistband holster for a Walther PPK and it fit his gun like it was made for it,
which it wasn’t. Since it was only a .32 auto, it wasn’t coming out of the holster except
as a last resort.

Gary caught a fair number of fish during the summer of 2006 when he wasn’t off doing
something else. He checked every nook and cranny for their 22-quart canning pressure
cooker, but couldn’t find it. He mail ordered an All American 41-quart pressure cooker
because it would do 19 one-quart or 32 one-pint jars at a time, and it didn’t have a gas-
ket to go bad. Ron always accused Gar-Bear of going 1st class. This time he definitely
did. It would do over 1½ case of quart jars in a single pass. They never did more than 3
7-quart loads on a single day. Sharon had sold their quart jars at her garage sale. Gary
started off with 2 gross (24 cases, 288 jars) of jars and 48 12-count boxes of extra lids.

42
He planned to rototill a small garden and plant blue lake green beans, Brandywine white
onions, California Wonder sweet bell peppers and Kennebec potatoes the following
year. He might plant some cucumbers to make bread and butter pickles too. He was go-
ing to rototill in a little wood ash and a few bags of steer manure. He thought about how
hard it was to use a rototiller and decided to hire the work done. The last time they’d put
in a large garden was in 1979, and it had been a monster. By the time they were done,
they had 147 quarts of green beans, 70 quarts of bread and butter pickles and 1,500# of
potatoes put up. Raccoons had a feast on their sweet corn; maybe they should fence
this garden in. All of this was to take place in 2007, next year.

Meanwhile, the price of gasoline had continued to rise, a penny here, 2 cents there,
sometimes as much as a nickel, but it never came down. The Dow Jones Industrial Av-
erages had slipped below $10,000 and then slowly edged their way below $9,000.
There was a disaster in the making, but it was happening in slow motion. News organi-
zations were expressing concern over the failing economy, but no one had a solution.
Geraldo wanted to know if ‘Has American seen its heyday?’ He didn’t have anything
constructive to say; just his usual unsupported opinions trying to force a conclusion.

Alan Greenspan had retired, it had been long expected, and the new Chairman of the
Federal Reserve had some different ideas about how to stimulate the economy. He
wasn’t getting a chance to put them into play because the Fed was forced to respond to
the current economic situation. The cost of living in 2006 jumped 7.2%, primarily due to
the price of gas and a food shortage brought on by the continuing drought. At the same
time, the real income fell 3%, marking a year where real inflation was 10%. This put the
Fed in a terrible position. They usually lower the interest rate to stimulate the economy
and raise it to dampen inflation.

Gary and Sharon bought their first $1,000 face value of pre-65 US dimes, quarters and
halves. The coins cost them a shade over $5,000, forcing them to dip into the cash in
the basement and Sharon’s checking account reserve. There is a difference between
the buy price and the sell price, generally in the region of 8%-10%. During the last half
of 2005 and most of 2006, they’d avoided depending on the Trust income for their living
expenses. It hadn’t been too hard to do because moving from California to Arkansas
had reduced their expenses dramatically. The money went to preparations instead of to
essentials. Then Wal-Mart stopped advertising price rollbacks and Sharon suspected
the country was in trouble.

Rumsfeld held a press conference to announce that US forces in Iraq were finally below
100,000. When a reporter tried to corner him on when the remainder of the troops would
be home, Rumsfeld sidestepped the issue and General Myers gave an obviously pre-
pared statement about how we were reaching our goals. Five more bombs went off in
Baghdad that day; were we really accomplishing anything? The price of gas in Arkansas
was now $3.149. According to the Internet, it was pushing $4.00 in San Francisco, the
highest price in the nation.

43
In truth, the United States had never recovered from 9/11. There was Patriot Act I and
Patriot Act II, but all they had done was taken away peoples’ rights. Hell, they might just
as well repeal the Bill of Rights, somewhere in the rush to protect the country from
Osama bin Laden those rights had taken a beating. Remember the Minuteman Project
in Arizona? 800 volunteers worked for a month. When the month was over, referrals
had been made to the Border Patrol resulting in the arrests of 320 illegal immigrants.
Immediately after a new project based on the Minuteman Project, in concept, had start-
ed in San Diego. The San Diego project only wanted retired police officers and people
with military combat experience.

People had learned their lesson from the 10-years assault weapons ban. As soon as
the prices came down, people started stocking up on high capacity magazines and
weapons that were now legal in most of the country. By late 2006, it was almost as if the
assault weapons ban had never taken place. There was one thing you could count on. If
the Congress ever enacted another assault weapons ban, the theft rate of firearms
would triple/quadruple overnight. Cops aren’t dumb and with everyone claiming a break-
in a few days or weeks before the assault weapons ban would be due to be reinstated,
they probably wouldn’t even bother to investigate the reports. Unless you could catch
the guy with the assault weapon he claimed to have sold to John Doe, how could you
prove he hadn’t?

Thanksgiving 2006…

Thanksgiving is as good a point of reference as anything. They thanked God for the
food and the roof over their heads, but Sharon and Gary had very little else to be thank-
ful for. Derek still wasn’t back from Iraq. He hadn’t been blown up yet; they had that to
be thankful for. He wasn’t scheduled to return to the US until March 2007. That was 5
long months and anything could happen. As had been the case when he’d gone to Ko-
sovo, Derek had stopped keeping in touch. Gary maybe got one email a quarter at the
Army Knowledge Online website. If Kosovo had been the armpit of the Universe, what
was Iraq really like? Gary asked but Derek never answered. Kosovo had been total cul-
ture shock for Derek. You didn’t go anywhere without your M16 and at least one maga-
zine, on post. Off post, they carried anywhere from 1 to 4 extra magazines in addition to
their usual allotment of 7 30-round magazines.

“Little turkeys, again?” Gary asked.

“I made the same menu as last year, you seemed to enjoy it.”

“It was good, not too much food. Thanksgiving and Christmas are just an excuse to
gorge yourself.”

“All they had was the pork favored Stovetop stuffing, do you mind?”

“It all tastes the same to me anyway,” Gary laughed. “Are we going to get enough mon-
ey from the Trust to buy another $1,000 face value of silver this year?”

44
“Not until January, Gary, I thought you knew that.”

“Maybe I did, but you know how my memory is. I think that I’ll try and call Ron after we
eat. I’d like to know how they’re getting along there in Cedar Hill.”

“Hey partner, what’s happening in New Mexico?”

“Same stuff, different day. How are things in Arkansas?”

“Same old stuff. We bought a bag of pre-65 silver coins. Derek hasn’t been blown up,
yet. I’ve been fishing a lot. Bought some mason jars and a fancy canner so we can put
in a garden next year. Are you feeling ok?”

“A little more tired every day, but it’s nothing to talk about. Have you heard from Clar-
ence?”

“I’m not sure he even has our number, Ron.”

“Can you believe the price of gas?”

“It’s $3.15 here, how much is it there?”

“$3.299.”

“I’ll bet you’re glad you don’t own a Hummer.”

“They can’t even give them away in this part of the country. Lyn and I didn’t buy any sil-
ver coins. We bought 48 Krugerrands instead.”

“Do you think that’s wise, partner? You can’t chop them up like pieces of 8, you know.”

“I’ll suggest to Lyn that we buy some silver the next time her rent check comes in. It’s
not so bad living here in New Mexico now that we aren’t feeding 3 extra adults.”

“Plus you’re only a block from Robert’s, right?”

“That, too. I’ve got to let you go, Gar-Bear, we have a house full of company. Ciao.”

“Ciao.”

The Three Amigos had been a sensation at a time in the past, but that was over and
each of them had moved on with their lives. Gary was in Arkansas, Ron in New Mexico
and neither one of them knew where Clarence was, probably Birmingham, Alabama;

45
that was where most of his family was. As individuals, they were each different than
they were in a pack. Grouped together, they were all trying to outdo each other being
conservative. As an individual, Clarence was a little liberal, Ron conservative and Gar-
Bear was somewhere in the middle, neither one nor the other. In real life Gary was like
what he’d been in college, able to understand macroeconomics but having trouble with
microeconomics. Macro looked at the country and micro was more like looking at an in-
dividual family’s spending habits. He understood the country but could never manage
his own money.

Just to set the record straight, Ron Green’s last name is really Brown, Clarence Rawl-
ings is really Clarence Floyd and his wife’s name is Shirley, not Lucy. Bobbie Joe is re-
ally Ronnie Joe. The other names are correct, as far as I know; Linda’s sister’s name
isn’t Shelia. The guy up in San Jose who made Thumper for The Ark runs a machine
shop and really does make Gatling guns as a hobby. The same federal government that
outlawed the trigger cranks for rifles says that a Gatling gun in not a machine gun be-
cause you have to continue to crank it to make it shoot. I stumbled on that fact a couple
of weeks ago. A lawyer, who doesn’t even know what a Gatling gun is, probably wrote
the letter. And, it was written in 1997. I have no opinion on the matter, but I ought to see
if Bob R. is still alive and commission him to build me a 12-gauge Gatling gun. Hand
cranked, of course. I also have a link to a website that demonstrates full automatic
shotguns. I’ll bet those are fun to shoot. They come in 20-gauge and 12-gauge. Reflex
makes a suppressor for the shotgun, but it isn’t much more than a flashhider. If you’re
close enough that you have to use your shotgun, who gives a rip if they hear it?

In January of 2007, Sharon bought another $1,000 face value in pre-65 silver coins.
She told Gary that they had enough for any foreseeable emergency. By the way, the
population of Flippin, AR is 1,357, officially. And they really do have one stoplight, now.
It is a very progressive community with a lady Mayor. Probably couldn’t get anyone else
to take the job.

During January and February, the Russians and Chinese held joint maneuvers for the
third straight year. The Chinese didn’t buy any more Backfire C bombers from the Rus-
sians, either. Apparently they felt they had plenty. They had managed to launch 6 more
large cargo carriers, bringing their total to 18 of the new ships that could haul 5,000 con-
tainers, each. Gary let out a sigh of relief when the maneuvers ended and the US was
still intact. Gold hit $600 on the London market at the end of December and gas was
hovering around $3.249 in Arkansas. Sharon started buying bread flour and making
homemade bread. She blended in some of the general purpose flour to use it up.

Mary said that Derek was already trying to get lined up with the armor unit in Shreve-
port, LA. How long can you hold your breath? Gary had been holding his since July of
2005. He’d also figured out that Derek wouldn’t be back to the states until the end of
June of 2007. He couldn’t even remember why he’d thought Derek would be back in
March; maybe it was wishful thinking. He was also wondering how Lake City could have
surplus ammo or overruns when they couldn’t supply enough ammo for the troops in
Iraq. Maybe this stuff was the rejects, but it fired ok so he didn’t worry about it, he just

46
ordered more. You can never have too much/many of: coffee, cigarettes, ammo, maga-
zines, bandages or toilet paper. Things that you can have too much/many of: antibiotics,
prescription drugs, flashlight batteries, flour, yeast and canned goods.

Antibiotics start to lose their effectiveness after 1 year. Epinephrine is only good for 1
year so you have to replace your Epi-pen. Epi-pen is the brand name of the most com-
mon type of auto injector of epinephrine (i.e. adrenaline). Because they can be self-
administered and are very fast acting, persons with severe allergies and a risk of ana-
phylactic shock commonly carry Epi-pens. In the US and the United Kingdom, Epi-pens
are regulated medical devices and require a prescription.

The standard dosage of Epinephrine, which is supplied by an Epi-Pen, is 0.3ml of 1 in

1000 Parts (.3mg). The Pen usually has a shelf life of about 12 months, or until the con-
tents contain a Precipitate or they discolor, whichever comes earlier. Once this occurs,
the Epi-pen should be discarded if unused by returning it to your local drugstore, phar-
macy or hospital for safe disposal. Despite being trademarked, common usage of the
word Epi-pen is drifting toward the generic context of any auto injector. The carrying
tube that the pen comes in is easily broken; however, several companies sell durable
replacement carrying tubes.

Batteries lose their charge after a while. You can either buy rechargeable batteries or
check the date on the package and keep them rotated. If you have a source of power,
you might consider doing both. I don’t use rechargeable batteries because they have
less energy than the non-rechargeable batteries. It is a matter of personal preference
and circumstances. Canned goods generally have a maximum shelf life of 2 years. Jars
of dry yeast are generally good for the same period of time. One way to make sure you
always have good food is to rotate at least half of it every year, e.g., have 2 jars of yeast
one a year newer than the other.

Most, but not all drugs have an actual shelf life of about 5 years. The pharmacist puts
one year on the label or maybe less. If you can make friend with your pharmacist ask
him what the expiration date was on the bottle he dispensed the pills from. I have 3
sealed 100-tablet bottles of generic Vicodin ES. The one I got in 12/03 will expire 09/05;
the one I got in 3/04 will expire in 11/05; and, the one I got in 12/04 will expire in 08/07.
The bottles are sealed and only contain Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen. Their shelf
life should be a minimum of 5 years. Generic Vicodin isn’t that expensive, $20 per 100.
The problems are in getting your physician to write you an Rx for #100 and getting the
pharmacy to dispense an unopened bottle. Plus these days I have several unopened
bottles of Norco. Do you ever get physician samples with those little desiccants in
them? Save them and add them to your back up prescriptions, assuming they come in
open bottles.

In my opinion, you should never have less than a 2-month supply of all of your prescrip-
tion medications on hand. Maybe that’s easier said than done, but the next time, get the
doctor to write your refills a little early and go to a different pharmacy. What if you have
high blood pressure or are insulin dependent and TSHTF a week before you’re going to

47
refill your prescriptions? Even FEMA advises to have a little extra medication. Ask your
doctor about keeping a single course of antibiotics on hand that he is most likely to pre-
scribe if you get sick. Generally, a broad-spectrum oral antibiotic is best; it will treat the
most illnesses. Assuming you’re an average person who uses antibiotics once a year or
more often, you have a built in rotation system. Take the old Rx and store the new one.
Always be sure to take the full course of treatment, usually 7 or 10 days. If you walk out
of your doctor’s office with any questions it’s your fault, not the doctor’s. Don’t let him
shine you on, you are paying him for his services and that includes information. And, if
you still don’t understand, go to WebMD and look it up.

Doctors use big words and charge you $100 a visit. Carcinoma sounds a lot more ex-
pensive than cancer, doesn’t it? You can buy a medical dictionary, I recommend
Steadman’s. WebMD also as a dictionary function, try typing in a word you don’t know. I
didn’t know what a Whipple Procedure was or what the big deal was that I didn’t have
cancer until after the surgery. That was a good thing, but I sure in hell learned a lesson.
All they ever told me was that I had a cyst. Yeah, right, that’s why the operation took 9½
hours and they kept me so doped up I didn’t even know my name. If you need a Whip-
ple Procedure, see Dr. Mateo at USC, he’s very, very good. They have this Russian
redheaded nurse in the recovery room, va-va-va-voom. Nice legs, about a D. Just don’t
let them give you extra pain medication; especially if you are on an epidural.

On February 12, 2007, Sharon turned 60 and on March 23, 2007, Gary turned 64. That
was the most notable thing of the spring of 2007 except that Derek didn’t get blown up
and the Russians and Chinese didn’t attack. There wasn’t a SARS epidemic; nobody
got the Spanish Flu or Ebola. None of the calderas erupted, but the price of gas sure
did. By the end of July, when Derek finally showed up in one piece, the price of gas was
$3.719 in Flippin, Arkansas. That put the price around $4.50 a gallon in San Francisco.
Unemployment was 6.9% and rising. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was at $8,000
and falling. Bush needed another $55 billion for the GWOT. The Feds had pushed the
interest rates down to 1%. The annual COLA that Social Security made wasn’t keeping
up with inflation that was running about 9%.

Based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of
2001 through the third quarter of 2002, Social Security and Supplemental Security In-
come (SSI) beneficiaries will receive a 1.4 percent COLA for 2003. On 11/9/04, Social
Security announced: More than 47 million Americans will get a 2.7 percent increase in
their Social Security checks starting in January (2005), meaning an additional $25 per
month for the typical retiree. But almost half of that gain will be absorbed by a record
increase in Medicare premiums. The cost of living adjustment announced by the Social
Security Administration will be the largest percentage gain since a 3.5 percent increase
in 2001. The increase last January (2004) was 2.1 percent. The increase for 2006 was
3.7% and the increase for 2007 was 4.1%. However, they were fully offset by the in-
creases in the Medicare premiums.

48
°

Derek was best described as gaunt. His time in Iraq hadn’t been kind to him. He had
lost 25# and had a new set of lines on his forehead. They’d been lucky and although
Balad was in the Sunni Triangle, most of the fading insurgency was in other cities,
towns and villages. He’d not hooked up with 1 of the 2 tank units in Shreveport and was
to now with the Arkansas National Guard, counter battery target acquisition. Meanwhile
he had to find a job. Sometimes small towns are less affected by a turn in the economy.
This wasn’t the case in Flippin because the town’s largest employer, the manufacturer
of “Ranger” Bass Boats wasn’t selling a lot of boats. Flippin was home to Actronix, Ark-
Plas Products, Inc., Micro Plastic, Inc., Mountain Home Mold & Manufacturing, Ranger
Boat Company, Rebrod, Inc. and Volt Industrial Plastic, Inc. Plus there were twice as
many other manufacturers in the area.

Derek and Mary were better off financially than at any time in their lives. Not that they
had a lot of money, but lower expenses. The rent from the second house nearly paid the
house payment on the property. Groceries were more expensive, but while on active
duty, Derek was bringing in more income than when he wasn’t on active duty and work-
ing at a civilian job. When he saw the price of gas, Derek went into orbit. Gary told
Derek to fill up for the trips from his gravity tank. If Derek wanted to go in with him re-
placing the gas, he could do all of his fill ups from the tank. Derek told his Dad that his
unit wasn’t being replaced and Bush intended to stop replacing the units when they ro-
tated home.

In August of 2007, someone tested another nuclear weapon in the Indian Ocean. NOR-
AD picked up the test this time too, but no one knew who had tested the weapon. There
were, according to CNN, 3 likely suspects, Israel, Iran and North Korea. North Korea
refused to comment, Iran denied everything and the Israelis said, “What nuclear weap-
ons?” The official policy of Israel had been to deny the existence of the 200 plus nuclear
weapons since they built the first one. Some countries weren’t signatories to the Nucle-
ar Test Ban Treaty. The only people who needed to test weapons were the newest
members of the Nuclear Club, North Korea and Iran. The Russians again reported that
Iran had returned the expired uranium, just like they’d promised. Iran steadfastly denied
permission to the IAEA to examine its reactors because their agreement with Russia
guaranteed they were in full compliance.

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is a United States cabinet-level official coor-
dinating all 15 components of the Intelligence Community, and is the principal intelli-
gence adviser to the President and the statutory intelligence advisor to the National Se-
curity Council. Creating the post of DNI was one of the recommendations in the report
by the House-Senate Intelligence Committee investigating the September 11th attacks.

On February 17, 2005, President George W, Bush named US Ambassador to Iraq John
Negroponte to the post, pending confirmation by the Senate. It has been reported that
President Bush’s first choice for Director of National Intelligence was former Director of
Central Intelligence Agency Robert M. Gates, who declined the nomination. On April 21,

49
2005, John Negroponte was confirmed by a vote of 98 to 2 in favor of his appointment
as Director of National Intelligence, and was sworn in by President Bush on that day.
Negroponte gave his first briefing to the President on April 19, 2005.

The US intelligence community had 2 real problems, the lack of Humint due to an over
dependence on technology and the inability of the 15 intelligence agencies to share the
information they gathered. Each of the 15 agencies felt that their information was pro-
prietary and didn’t want to share. No doubt the post was envisioned as a clearinghouse
where the intelligence of the different agencies could be combined into a comprehen-
sive report. That assumed that each of the 15 agencies wouldn’t hold anything back
from the Director of National Intelligence. All the heads of those 15 agencies had to do
was to tell their staffs that they didn’t want to know something ‘officially’. It was a politi-
cal solution to a political problem and it didn’t work.

When the heart starts to beat abnormally, it’s called an arrhythmia. There are two basic
types: Tachycardia is an abnormally rapid heartbeat and Bradycardia is an abnormally
slow heartbeat. Ron has a bad heart and in 2004, the doctor implanted a pacemaker in
his left shoulder. Two of the most dangerous kinds of arrhythmias are ventricular tachy-
cardia and ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation is when the ventricles of the
heart begin to beat so quickly that they can’t pump blood anymore. This causes cardiac
arrest, which can lead to sudden cardiac death. Although it’s often confused with a heart
attack, cardiac arrest is a very different problem. Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators
(ICDs) help with other problems faced by many people with heart failure: ventricular
tachycardia and fibrillation. These occur when the heart’s ventricles beat too quickly. If
the heart beats so fast that it can’t pump blood, a person can have cardiac arrest (sud-
den cardiac death). If untreated, cardiac arrest can lead to death within minutes.

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT), or biventricular pacing, is an exciting new

kind of treatment for people with heart failure. It’s an advanced version of the pacemak-
er. When the heart’s natural pacemaker stops working or doesn’t work properly, an im-
planted pacemaker can help. It sends out electrical signals to keep the heart beating at
a normal rhythm. Pacemakers are usually attached to just one side of the heart; howev-
er, a standard pacemaker may not be enough for some people with heart failure. Sim-
pler pacemakers are still available to treat people with heartbeats that are too slow, a
condition called bradycardia. These are some of the smallest implantable devices – of-
ten about the size of a wristwatch. They attach to the heart with one or two leads and
send impulses when necessary to keep your heart’s rhythm steady.

This list may make it seem like these are three distinct devices. But many implantable
devices have more than one – and sometimes all – of these features. For instance,
many ICDs also work as CRT or standard pacemakers. Some people need an “all-in-
one” device. That way, they can be treated for a slow or irregular heartbeat but also be
protected from sudden cardiac death. Ron’s doctor had selected the “all-in-one” device
to plant in Ronald. It didn’t appear that Gary and Sharon would need the home defibrilla-
tor or the Epi-pens when Ron and Linda visited.

50
 The Cold War – Chapter 6 – The Last Summer

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. on
Tuesday posted mostly expected declines in US auto sales for April, as car buyers con-
tinued to shy away from traditional sport utility vehicles amid lofty gas prices.

What on earth is traditional about a SUV? A SUV is a Yuppie toy and they burn a lot of
gas. Gary didn’t do as much fishing in 2007 as in previous years. There was a garden to
weed, it seemed like that took a little time every day, and a son newly home from Iraq to
get to know again. If TSHTF and Damon showed up, he could use the shotgun. There
still was the problem with the family being spread out between Iowa, Arkansas and Cali-
fornia, but that couldn’t be helped. The best that they could hope for was some sign that
the world was not going to destroy itself. Even with Derek home again, it was an uneasy
summer in Flippin, Arkansas.

George W. Bush had everyone out of Afghanistan and had accelerated the pullout from
Iraq. Did George know something that the country didn’t? If he did, he sure wasn’t talk-
ing about it. He was concentrating on getting Social Security Reform through the Con-
gress but was still having a lot of trouble. Just before the Labor Day holiday, Ron and
Linda showed up for a visit.

“Did Clarence call you?” Gary asked. “I finally tracked him down in Birmingham and he
said that he would.”

“Maybe he lost the number, I haven’t heard from him.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired. Old. Man, life’s a bitch and then you die.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in Amy’s saying.”

“Well, that was then and this is now. If the price of gas goes any higher, the economy is
going to totally collapse.”

“You never drive very fast; you should be getting great mileage. I’ve even had to slow
down a little. What’s new with the family?”

“We had to go to California, Gar-Bear; we lost Kevin.”

“What the hell happened?”

“Same as always, he went into a diabetic coma only no one was around to call the Par-
amedics in time. He probably had a snootful of speed or coke. We didn’t ask and they
didn’t tell. Lyn is taking it especially hard because Kevin was her youngest.”

51
“I’m really sorry to hear that, partner. I wish that there was something I could say to
change things.”

“I think that it was inevitable, Gar. Linda kept sending him money for food and he prob-
ably converted it all to dope and sponged off of John.”

“What’s John doing these days?”

“He moved to Durango and got a job as a guard there. He’s living with Linda and me.
It’s only about 27 miles to Durango. At least we don’t have family in California anymore.”

“Damon is still in Mason City, that’s about 590 miles. Both girls are still in Palmdale and
that’s 1,615 miles away.”

“Mark and Paula are still in Austin and I think that’s about 1,190 miles.”

“You tell them that if they have to bug out and don’t have time to get to Cedar Hill to
come here. Austin is only 640 miles from Flippin. It’s not like this is the biggest town in
the country. You tell Brenda and Jennifer to come here too. It might get a little crowded
in the shelter, but they can stay here until the all clear is sounded and drive over to Ce-
dar Hill.”

“You can tell the girls to come to Cedar Hill, Gar-Bear. It is only 762 miles from
Palmdale to Cedar Hill.”

“That’s a lot of people, are you sure you have the room? David and Lorrie have 5 kids
and Amy has 2.”

“My shelter is bigger than your shelter,” Ron chuckled.

“I miss having Clarence asking who’s on first,” Gary replied. “Ok, in an emergency, we’ll
just switch daughters temporarily. Did Brenda ever get back with her husband?”

“Not that I know of, but he never remarried, so anything is possible. At least she
straightened out her act and gets to see her son. If she had any doubts about using
dope, Kevin’s death scared that out of her.”

“I’m grateful every day that Damon is into model rockets instead of dope.”

“How is Derek doing?”

“He has a job and gotten into the Arkansas National Guard. I pay for his gas so he can
afford to make that trip. He bought an Italian Tanfoglio Witness Series 10mm pistol, so
he’s very happy.”

“I thought you were particular to the Kimber Eclipse II 10mm pistol,” Ron replied.

52
“I am, and I plan to buy one, the day after I buy a Super Match M1A rifle and a Night-
force NXS 8-32×56mm scope. The price with 1,000 rounds of Black Hills ammo and 20
magazines works out to be roughly $4,847.02. I priced the Kimber and they’re over
$900. With the fancy rifle and fancy handgun, someone might shoot me just to get the
weapons.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday issued a blunt warning to North Korea,
which test-fired a missile on Sunday that the United States can “deter whatever the
North Koreans are up to.”

“I don’t think anyone is confused about the ability of the United States to deter – both on
behalf of itself and on behalf of its allies – North Korean nuclear ambitions or gains on
the peninsula,” Miss Rice said during an appearance at the State Department with
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier. “We have, after all, a very strong alliance with
South Korea and a very strong alliance with Japan.

“And, of course, the United States maintains significant – and I want to underline signifi-
cant – deterrent capability of all kinds in the Asia-Pacific region,” she added. “So I don’t
think there should be any doubt about our ability to deter whatever the North Koreans
are up to.”

Was Condi threatening the North Koreans back in 2005? They didn’t seem to pay one
hell of a lot of attention. They just kept building nuclear weapons and third stages for
their Nadong-4 rockets. I wonder what the fly time is for the Trident II D-5 missiles on
that SSBN that’s stationed off of the Korean coast? How long does it take to fuel a
Nadong-4 booster? Since the Nadong-4 rocket is liquid fueled, maybe the US could
launch if they ever saw the Koreans fueling all of the rockets at one time. I believe that it
would be what is called a pre-emptive strike. Then again, the US always promised that
they wouldn’t do that. That’s why the US doesn’t have a Civil Defense program. The re-
al question would be on whether or not China and Russia would retaliate against the US
if the US launched a pre-emptive strike on North Korea. It was just a shame that Curtis
LeMay was dead.

A Backfire C bomber is capable of carrying: One to three H-22 missiles; six to ten H-15
missiles; or, 24,000 kg of 250-9,000kg free fall bombs. That’s something to think about,
especially since the Russians reinstalled the refueling probes for the Chinese. Some-
times it gets difficult to separate fact from fiction, doesn’t it?

In September 2000 Congress commissioned the second Nuclear Posture Review (NPR)
– the first by this name took place in 1994, although the Reed Panel certainly qualified
as such a review. This second NPR was completed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on
New York and the Pentagon, and the secret report was submitted to Congress on 8
January 2002.

53
The March 11th issue of Time magazine published an article about a terrorist alert the
previous October (2001). According to a report by the DOE’s top-secret Nuclear Emer-
gency Search (Support) Team, presumably leaked to Time, that an intelligence agent of
“undetermined” reliability said a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb missing from the Russian ar-
senal was in the hands of terrorists. The report went on to say that terrorists planned to
smuggle that bomb into New York City.

Almost simultaneous with the DOE report being leaked to Time magazine, another se-
cret document – the NPR report – was leaked to the Los Angeles Times Newspaper.
The secret NPR report named seven countries as potential targets for tactical nuclear
weapons – Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, and Libya. Three conditions
were listed that could call for the use of nuclear weapons: 1) to destroy targets invulner-
able to conventional weapons, 2) in retaliation to a nuclear, chemical, or biological
weapons attack, and 3) in the event of a “surprising military development.” It almost
seemed that the scare of nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists was used to justify
an escalation in US nuclear doctrine. Two secret reports conveniently leaked to the
mainstream media with such precise timing should raise critical questions.

When asked about the leaked information from the NPR, President George W. Bush on
13 March 2002 answered: We’ve got all options on the table, because we want to make
it very clear to nations that you will not threaten the United States or use weapons of
mass destruction against us, or our allies or friends.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, further confirmed the ac-
curacy of the leaked information – the NPR preserves for the President all the options
that a President would want in case this country or our friends and allies were attacked
by weapons of mass destruction. Myers also alluded to what a “surprising military de-
velopment” might be – something like Iraq attacking Israel, North Korea attacking South
Korea, or China attacking Taiwan.

President Bush was asked at the 13 March 2002 White House Press Conference what
his feelings were on building smaller nuclear weapons. In six paragraphs of transcript
he waffled all over the place – covering everything from nuclear deterrence foolishness
and warhead reduction negotiations to political gibberish and patriotic propaganda. He
avoided a recognizable answer. The closest he came was: [T]he more firm we are and
the more determined we are to take care of al Qaeda and deal with terrorism in all its
forms, particularly that of global reach, that we have a very good chance of solving
some difficult problems – including the Middle East and the subcontinent.

In case you can’t tell from reading the excerpt, the guy who wrote the paper is absolute-
ly opposed to nuclear weapons in any number or any form. What about Iran attacking
Israel, is that the same as Iraq attacking Israel? The Chinese have made it very, very
clear that they intend to retake Taiwan. You had better believe that if the US exercised
the nuclear option against China or Russia, the countries would retaliate. Would they
retaliate if the US attacked Iran or North Korea? Maybe they’re just looking for an ex-
cuse. Darn, I left my crystal ball in California when I moved to Arkansas.

54
I’ve been worried about the US military ever since the first Gulf War. They should have
appointed H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. as the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1990
he was chosen to run Operation Desert Storm, and was responsible for the “left hook”
strategy that went into Iraq behind the Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait, and widely credit-
ed with bringing the ground war to a close in just four days. He was personally very visi-
ble in the conduct of the war, giving frequent press conferences, and was dubbed
“Stormin’ Norman.” Richard Myers didn’t follow Colin Powell as the Chairman. Here’s
the list:

Powell, Colin L. General, US Army. Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: 1 Oct 1989 - 30 Sep
1993.

Jeremiah, David E. Admiral, US Navy. Served as acting CJCS, 1-24 October 1993.

Shalikashvili, John M. General, US Army. Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: 1 Oct 1993 –
30 Sep 1997.

Shelton, Henry H. General, US Army. Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: 1 Oct 1997 – 30
Sep 2001.

Myers, Richard B. General, US Air Force. Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: 1 Oct 2001-
Present.

You notice that they usually serve a 4-year term. Dick Myers wasn’t the exception to the
rule. The next in line was General Peter Pace, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff. In this capacity, he is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Nation’s sec-
ond highest-ranking military officer. General Pace is the 17th officer to hold the position
and the first Marine. After I wrote that, look what I found: On April 22, 2005, at a White
House press conference, President George W. Bush nominated General Peter Pace of
the US Marine Corps to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Current
Chairman Richard B. Myers will retire from the position on September 30, 2005. On his
nomination, Pace said, “This is an incredible moment for me. It is both exhilarating and
humbling. It’s exhilarating because I have the opportunity, if confirmed by the Senate, to
continue to serve this great nation. It’s humbling because I know the challenges ahead
are formidable.”

Gary had better stop running the second stoplight they put in by the Wal-Mart Super
Center. He was going to get a ticket, sure as rain. BTW. The first Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff was a General who had 5 stars on his collar and his name wasn’t MacAr-
thur or Eisenhower. There were 2 6-star generals: General of the Armies John J. “Black
Jack” Pershing and General of the Armies George Washington, (President Washing-
ton’s was awarded retroactively). You realize, of course, that the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs was a Marine in 2007 & 2008 and only the first Marine to ever hold the position.
Only 4 Air Force generals and 4 Admirals had held the position, while 8 Army Generals
had the job. The first Chairman was the “soldier’s general”. He graduated from West

55
Point with Eisenhower. He was along with Patton when they went chasing Pancho Villa.
He didn’t meet him until years later when he was assigned to the 27th Infantry of the
Hawaiian Division. He was promoted from Lt. Colonel to Brigadier General, skipping the
rank of Colonel. At the end of operations in Europe, his 12th Army Group was the larg-
est ever commanded by an American general. It consisted of Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodg-
es’ First, General George Patton’s Third, Lt. Gen. William Simpson’s Ninth, and Lt. Gen.
Leonard Gerow’s Fifteenth Armies, a force comprising 12 corps, 48 divisions, and 1.3
million men.

On 15 August 1953, General of the Armies Omar Nelson Bradley left active service. In
the 28 years before his death in 1981, he occupied himself in industry and was periodi-
cally consulted by civilian and military leaders. He retained an active interest in the Ar-
my, spoke at its schools, and frequently visited units and met with soldiers of all ranks.
There is no standard against which to compare Bradley as an army group commander.
During the fighting in Europe, his calm and effective presence was important in times of
crisis, as was his deft touch in handling subordinates. It is difficult, for example, to imag-
ine Patton without Bradley, who exploited the talents of that volatile commander as well
as any man could have done. Finally, it was his superb wartime record, combined with
his reputation for fairness and honesty, which made him effective in what was probably
his most difficult job, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Derek and Gary were fans of George S. Patton. Maybe Patton was a little coarse, but
he got the job done. L’avance, l’avance, toujours l’avance. George C. Scott was the per-
fect actor for the part.

“A few years ago, I had the pleasure of reading The Patton Papers, a collection of Gen.
Patton’s diary entries and letters edited by Martin Blumenson. Having seen the movie, I
think that no actor has ever better captured the spirit of a man better than George C.
Scott, nor has any movie better portrayed that spirit than PATTON.

“Patton was a man who lived for war. World War II was the high point and culmination of
his life. He didn’t fight for any principles, he didn’t fight to defend freedom or democracy
or any abstract idea; he fought because he loved fighting. In his diaries you can read of
his fear of flunking out of West Point; the prospect terrified him because he was certain
that he would never be good at anything except being a general or a leader of a coun-
try.

“As a leader of men, he was exceptional. His speech at the beginning of the movie is
vintage Patton, an almost exact reproduction of a speech Patton actually gave to Third
Army. It’s tough, and no-nonsense; Patton lets you know in no uncertain terms that he is
here to win, to destroy the enemy, and by God you’d better be too. I don’t know if Patton
actually directed traffic on the roads as he is shown doing in the movie, but it was a very
Pattonish thing to do. Patton did on at least one occasion get out of his staff car and join
a squad of G.I.’s in heaving a vehicle out of the mud. Try to imagine Montgomery doing
that; the very thought is hilarious!

56
“Patton’s character explains his treatment of his men. To those who had been wounded
fighting for him he was always kind and considerate. But to those whose minds could
not stand the horrible strain that war imposed on them, he was merciless; he could not
comprehend the fact that other people didn’t share his love of violence for violence’
sake. PATTON shows this aspect of his character very well.

“Karl Malden’s Omar Bradley is shown in an almost father-like role; he sees and recog-
nizes Patton’s immense talents as a general, and uses them in spite of Patton’s natural
ability to antagonize everybody around him. Not shown in the movie is Patton’s unlova-
ble characteristic of turning on his subordinates once they surpassed him in their ca-
reers. Patton had nothing but good to say about Bradley, until Bradley was promoted
over Patton’s head, whereupon Patton savaged Bradley in his diary. Patton did the
same to Eisenhower.

“A general can have no higher compliment than the fear and respect of his adversaries,
and as PATTON demonstrates, Patton was more feared by the Germans than any other
Allied general, at least on the Western front. As one German officer observes all too
prophetically, “the absence of war will destroy him [Patton].” And although mankind’s
single greatest stroke of good fortune in the 20th century was that Russia and America
never came to blows, it is still hard not to feel sorry for Patton as he desperately seeks
his superiors’ approval to carry the war on eastward into the Soviet Union - anything,
just to have a war to fight. Patton is like an addict to a destructive drug.

“Hollywood has rarely given us such a textured and human portrait of a great man: cru-
el, often foolish in his relations with others, rude, and psychopathically attached to vio-
lence, but brave, dedicated, and loyal. Certainly those who, like myself, have Jewish
blood, or who were otherwise marked for death by the Nazi state, all owe him a great
debt of gratitude for his pivotal role in destroying that state. And yet, had he been born
German, Patton would surely have fought just as devotedly for the Nazi side. I’m glad
he wasn’t.” AMEN.

Monday, October 2, 2007…

My Fellow Americans,

At the recommendation of the Chairman of the Joint Chief’s and the Secretary of De-
fense, and after consulting with my Cabinet, we are increasing our land forces in South
Korea. Recent intelligence has revealed a situation which requires our immediate atten-
tion. North Korean forces have amassed along the Demilitarized Zone. We will begin by
inserting the 82nd Airborne, followed by the 101st Air Assault Division. The 10th Mountain
Division (Light Infantry) is designated a Force Package 3 unit and is considered a rein-
forcing combat unit or “follow-on force”. They will follow the 101st Airborne Division.

57
We will have troops on the ground within 36 hours. The 82nd is already preparing for de-
parture. For the interim, all passes and leaves are cancelled and members of the mili-
tary should report to their units. Secretary Rice will present this matter before the United
Nations Security Council tomorrow afternoon.

I will continue to report to the American people as the situation develops. God Bless
America.”

“Ron, Gary. The girls are on their way to your house. If this doesn’t break until after they
get there, maybe there will be time for them to get here,” Gary announced.

“Do Mark and Paula need to pick up Damon?”

“He’s on his way already. He can hurry when he has to. I don’t know if Mutt will let Brit-
ney and the boys come with him and his girlfriend or not.”

“Do you have any idea how much time we have?”

“Not a clue, partner. Until the 82nd lands in Korea, the North won’t really have any rea-
son to invade the South. Derek disagrees with me, so I don’t know what to tell you. Let
me know when Amy and Lorrie get there and we’ll talk it over then. Jennifer and Brenda
and their families can be here in 3 hours so tell them to make sure they bring everything
that they need. I tried to find out what the DEFCON level is but even Derek couldn’t find
out.”

“Did you tell the girls to hurry?”

“I told them it was a Buster situation and to be on the road in no more than 30 minutes.”

Buster

Controller term for full military power: to hurry up, go as fast as possible.

Zero-Dark-Thirty

Technically a half-hour after midnight, but commonly used to describe any event that is
scheduled to take place after midnight and before sunrise.

What the President didn’t tell the nation was that he had ordered the Carrier Battle
Groups (CBGs) to sortie as soon as they had stores aboard. Under the circumstances,
anyone missing the movement would be hauled to the CBG aboard a C-2A Greyhound.
Once the CBG passed the range of the Greyhound, personnel would be forward de-
ployed to catch up with the CBGs out of Japan. Neither did he tell the nation that the US
military was on DEFCON 3 and ready to advance to DEFCON 2. However, the Depart-

58
ment of Homeland Security raised the Threat Level to Orange from Yellow and this was
announced by all of the networks and cable news channels. All submarines not in the
yards for repair were ordered to sortie, too.

EMERGENCY SORTIE: C3/7F OPORD 201 PG C-19-1

CPF OPORD 201 APP H

C3F OPORD 301 PG C-11-A-1 “KENT RUNNER”

Port SOPA’s promulgate emergency sortie instructions for their area of responsibility.
Emergency sortie plans are contingency operations to evacuate ports in an orderly way
in the event of national or local emergency. These plans are often implemented in the
event of hurricanes or other dangerous weather. Ensure that:

• A copy of the Sortie plan, sortie comm circuits, task organization, and formatted mes-
sage blanks are available to the CDO.

• All CDO’s and other important duty personnel are trained in the use of emergency sor-
tie materials and the actions to prepare for heavy weather.

• “Kent Runner” is an emergency sortie exercise conducted in PACFLT. Refer to C3F

OPORD 301 for specifics.

Material Conditions (NWP 3-20.31) establish the fighting integrity of the ship and main-
tain its survivability. The determination of the material condition set at any time is the
responsibility of the Commanding Officer, who may authorize modifications of any mate-
rial condition:

• X-Ray provides the least tightness and the greatest ease of access throughout the
ship. It is set when the threat to the ship is minimal, during working hours when in port,
or when there is no danger of attack or bad weather.

• Yoke is set when at sea, or in port during wartime.

• Zebra provides the greatest degree of subdivision and tightness to the ship. It is set
immediately and automatically when general quarters are sounded. It is also set when
entering or leaving port during wartime, to localize damage and control fire and flooding,
or at any time the Commanding Officer deems it necessary. Modified Material Condition
ZEBRA - allows movement around the ship for special conditions such as: Underway
Replenishment (UNREP); Vertical Replenishment (VERTREP); Air Operations; Amphib-
ious Operations; transit of known or suspected hazardous navigation areas.

All ships were at Modified Condition Zebra. A few hours later, DHI advanced the Threat
Level to Red. Severe Condition (Red) – A Severe Condition reflects a severe risk of ter-
rorist attacks. Under most circumstances, the Protective Measures for a Severe Condi-

59
tion are not intended to be sustained for substantial periods of time. In addition to the
Protective Measures in the previous Threat Conditions, Federal departments and agen-
cies also should consider the following general measures in addition to the agency-
specific Protective Measures that they will develop and implement:

• Increasing or redirecting personnel to address critical emergency needs;

• Assigning emergency response personnel and pre-positioning and mobilizing specially

trained teams or resources;

• Monitoring, redirecting, or constraining transportation systems; and

• Closing public and government facilities.

In the event of a national emergency, a series of seven different alert Conditions

(LERTCONs) can be called. The 7 LERTCONs are broken down into 5 Defense Condi-
tions (DEFCONs) and 2 Emergency Conditions (EMERGCONs).

DEFCONs are phased increases in combat readiness. In general terms, these are de-
scriptions of DEFCONs:

DEFCON 5 Normal peacetime readiness

DEFCON 4 Normal, increased intelligence and strengthened security measures
DEFCON 3 Increase in force readiness above normal readiness
DEFCON 2 Further Increase in force readiness, but less than maximum readiness
DEFCON 1 Maximum force readiness

EMERGCONs are national level reactions in response to ICBM (missiles in the air) at-
tack. By definition, other forces go to DEFCON 1 during an EMERGCON.

DEFENSE EMERGENCY: Major attack upon US forces overseas, or allied forces in any
area, and is confirmed either by the commander of a unified or specified command or
higher authority or an overt attack of any type is made upon the United States and is
confirmed by the commander of a unified or specified command or higher authority.

AIR DEFENSE EMERGENCY: Emergency which exists when attack upon Continental
United States, Alaska, Canada, or US installations in Greenland by hostile aircraft or
missiles is considered probable, is imminent, or is taking place.

60
 The Cold War – Chapter 7 – Full Alert

There was plenty of time to run to Wal-Mart and top off their stored food. It now seemed
likely that they were going to need more of everything. Sharon and Gary had replen-
ished the cash in the basement and they took it and their ATM card to the Wal-Mart Su-
per Store. Derek went along, he was an employee. Examples of some of the efforts in
Arkansas that Wal-Mart made to reach out to the community include:

• Literacy Grants: $107,000

• Safe Neighborhood Heroes Grants: $160,200
• Teacher of the Year Grants: $112,000
• Arkansas’ 2004 Teacher of the Year is Shannon King from Flippin Elementary School
in Flippin.

Average store size (national average)

Supercenter: 186,077 sq. ft. with approx. 116,000 items

Discount Store: 98,079 sq. ft. with approx. 62,500 items
Neighborhood Market: 42,286 sq. ft. with approx. 38,845 items
SAM’S CLUB: 127,776 sq. ft. with approx. 6,000 items

During the past year, Wal-Mart spent $4,656,240,388 for merchandise and services with
2,056 suppliers in the state of Arkansas. As a result of Wal-Mart’s relationship with
these suppliers, Wal-Mart supports 76,444 supplier jobs in the state of Arkansas.

Not everyone in the world hates the Wal-Mart stores. China, for example, loves them.
However, union grocery store employees, especially in California, hate them. When you
are on a fixed income, every little bit helps. Especially when the store is right down the
street at the new green-yellow-red stoplight and the Threat Level is Red. Back in Cali-
fornia Sharon and Gary price shopped on their prescriptions. Wal-Mart not only had the
lowest price, they gave a discount for people on Medicare. At the moment, the pharma-
cist was very understanding and didn’t make them wait one more day to refill their pre-
scriptions. The nice thing about the Super Store, among other things, was the size of
some of the packages. They emptied their bank account using their ATM card. They
made up the difference in cash and Derek paid for the entire group of purchases. They
only lived a short distance from the Wal-Mart and Mary and the kids were welcome to
stay at their house, along with her folks or at their home, it was a very short distance
away. Derek could be home in a few minutes, if necessary.

The first people to show up were Brenda and her ex-husband plus their little boy. Jen-
nifer and Ronnie Joe were right behind them. Gary got out the folding beds in the
basement and Ronnie Joe helped him set them up. About 13 hours after the President
broadcast his message to the nation Ron called to tell Gary that David, Lorrie, Amy and
7 kids were at his house. Gary said that they should just stay there and put Brenda on
the phone to her Dad. On a straight through drive between Ron and Gary’s it was may-
be 19 solid hours, depending upon your speed. Ron and Linda told Brenda and then

61
Jennifer just to stay put for now. When Mark and Paula got there, that would even
things out, 10 for 10.

And then when Damon got there with his girlfriend, and hopefully his 3 kids, they’d have
15 people not counting themselves or Derek and Mary and their 3 kids. Damon swung
by Bolivar, Missouri and showed up with DJ. That little detour meant that Mark and Pau-
la arrived before him and his bunch. Linda tried to get in touch with her sister, according
to Ron, but couldn’t get an answer. He thought that maybe she had headed for New
Mexico. When Mark and Paula got to Gary’s, Paula called her Dad and her aunt was at
Ron’s house. That meant that everyone was accounted for.

The 82nd Airborne arrived in Korea without any hassle. The Security Council at the
United Nations got bogged down in an argument after Condi made her speech. The
President quietly slid the DEFCON level to DEFCON 2. Airliners were pressed into ser-
vice to get the 101st Airborne personnel to Korea and all of the commercial cargo carri-
ers were loaded up with military hardware and sent off as well. The fleet of C5A Galax-
ies (all 109) was used to ferry the 101st’s equipment. The 101st has 281 helicopters in-
cluding three battalions of Apache attack helicopters. Restructuring of the 101st began
in 2004 and was completed in 2005.

When the original aircraft arrived back in the US after delivering the 82nd Airborne, they
rotated crews and began loading the 10th Mountain Division. The flying time from San
Francisco to Seoul is about 12 hours and the 82nd Airborne is stationed in Fort Bragg,
North Carolina. That makes the flight at least 16 hours, each way, if they don’t have to
refuel. The 101st Airborne is stationed in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky and the 10th Mountain
Division has to come from Fort Drum, New York. Over the last decade, the 10th Moun-
tain Division has been involved in more deployments than any other division in the Ar-
my.

“Maybe,” Gary thought, “I should call the Kremlin and find out what the DEFCON Level
is. They would most certainly know.”

Gary went down to the basement and put on another pot of coffee. Ronnie Joe was
watching Geraldo on FOX and Geraldo said that the country was at DEFCON 2. It
seemed to Gary that if the government wanted the country to know that, they would
have told the country. This was the second time in his life that he’d been though a
DEFCON 2 situation. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the US Strategic Air Command
was placed on DEFCON 2 for the first time in history, while the rest of US military com-
mands (with the exception of the US Air Forces in Europe) went on DEFCON 3. On 22
October 1962 SAC responded by establishing Defense Condition Three (DEFCON III),
and ordered B-52s on airborne alert. Tension grew and the next day SAC declared
DEFCON II, a heightened state of alert, ready to strike targets within the Soviet Union.
On 15 November 1965 the day Strategic Air Command (SAC) postured down to de-
fense condition (DEFCON) III.

62
If the sirens went off, that probably meant that the country had gone to DEFCON 1 and
one of the EMERGCONs. A Defense Emergency meant they were attacking some-
where overseas and an Air Defense Emergency meant they were attacking North Amer-
ican or Greenland. Greenland didn’t seem like a likely target. It was a good thing they
had picked up another dozen 57ounce cans of coffee the way it was going. By the way,
Costco is generally about the same price as Sam Club or the Super Stores.

Mary and her parents had elected to stay at Mary and Derek’s. That helped a little with
the space. Gary had cots for the adults and sleeping bags for the little kids. The little
kids thought this whole thing was quite an adventure. It had been one hell of a lot easier
to get some deli food like potato salad, macaroni salad and hamburgers and hot dogs
and turn the whole event into a picnic than to try and fix meals for that many people.
Gary suggested that they should either fix a big pot of stew or chili. No one was going to
want to have a picnic every day. All the men brought their firearms and whatever ammo
they had on hand. Gary didn’t have a lot of guns and there was plenty of room in the
storage cabinet he used as a gun safe for the weapons.

The North Koreans withdrew 5km and the President lowered the DEFCON from 2 to 3.
Nothing else changed except Russia and China reacted accordingly. NORAD was
tracking a pair of North Korean satellites that the North Koreans had launched into polar
orbits in 2006 and 2007. Both satellites were schedule to pass over the US at approxi-
mately the same time 3 days hence. Space Command had always assumed they were
spy satellites but the North Koreans had remained mum. Since the North Koreans had
never crossed the DMZ, the United Nations was helpless to sanction the North Koreans
and the Security Council dropped the matter. A lot of people were making a lot of as-
sumptions. Tick.

Dubya decided to continue the troops transfer to South Korea, just in case. Critics in the
House and the Senate immediately got on the media and began to complain loudly.
Homeland Insecurity reduced the Threat Level back to Orange. A substantial portion of
the US Commercial air assets were busy transferring remnants of the 101st and the
10th Mountain Division to Korea and the FCC kept the commercial airlines grounded
until the assets returned from Korea and could be returned to service. Tick.

“This whole thing is like watching a ballet, Ron,” Gary said. “It looks like things might be
settling down and as long as the kids have come this far, why don’t yours go the rest of
the way to your place and Lorrie and Amy come here for a visit?”

“I’ll buy that, let me talk to one of the girls,” Ron asked.

Ron gave Lorrie and Amy money for gas and they headed to Flippin. Gary gave the
same amount of money to Ron and Linda’s daughters and they took off for Cedar Hill.
Both groups of children were planning on driving straight through to their destinations.
Gary was allowing Lorrie and Amy 24-hours because it’s never fun to travel with chil-

63
dren, regardless of their age. It took them 30 hours because they stopped and cat-
napped somewhere in Oklahoma. Tick.

OPEC concluded an emergency meeting and the Ministers agreed to absolutely cap oil
production at the current level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid $275 at the news.
Space Command had projected the paths of the North Korean satellites and something
was most peculiar. The satellites would be in a nearly synchronous pattern on the 3rd
day and one would bisect the eastern half of the US and the other would bisect the
western half. Space Command hadn’t realized that the North Korean satellites had the
ability to reposition themselves, until now. Amy had not only brought her kids, she’d
brought Baby, Scrappy and the cats. The Ott household had gone from bad to worse.
Tick.

“Cheyenne Mountain is suggesting that those North Korean satellites are being con-
trolled and placed into position to do this country some real damage if they happen to
be nuclear weapons, Mr. President.”

“Have they made any recommendations?” the President asked.

“There have been some suggestions that the North Korean might be planning an EMP
attack tomorrow, but they haven’t made any recommendations.” The Chairman replied.

“What do you think we ought to do, Peter?” Dubya asked.

“We don’t have the ability to shoot down those satellites, so about all we can do is issue
a warning to our military forces to prepare for an EMP attack as a precaution.”

“I’ll get the Secretary of Energy in here and ask him what the consequences of such an
attack might be. You go ahead and issue the necessary instruction to our military units.
We’ll get the FCC to continue the grounding of the commercial aircraft fleets for 24-
hours.”

Electromagnetic pulse

In addition to other effects, a nuclear weapon detonated in or above the earth’s atmos-
phere can create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a high-density electrical field. EMP
acts like a stroke of lightning but is stronger, faster and briefer. EMP can seriously dam-
age electronic devices connected to power sources or antennas. This includes commu-
nication systems, computers, electrical appliances, and automobile or aircraft ignition
systems. The damage could range from a minor interruption to actual burnout of com-
ponents. Most electronic equipment within 1,000 miles of a high-altitude nuclear detona-
tion could be affected. Battery powered radios with short antennas generally would not
be affected. Although EMP is unlikely to harm most people, it could harm those with
pacemakers or other implanted electronic devices. (from the DHI)

64
The Secretary of Energy said that there was a limit to how much his department could
do. The millions of miles of wire that made up the electrical grid would act as antennas
in the event of an EMP attack and it would probably take the electrical grid down for an
unbelievably long time. The people of the US should be warned because an EMP attack
could kill people who had pacemakers. Dubya had his Press Secretary call an emer-
gency news conference and give the news to the nation. Tick.

Right track, wrong train. Have you ever heard that expression? The repositioning of the
satellites was a ruse to attract the US’s attention off the growing crisis in Korea. There
was so much going on that it was like trying to rub your head and tummy and chew gum
at the same time. Magicians call it misdirection. In South Korea the US was still trying to
match all of the soldiers with their equipment and move them to a position between the
DMZ and Seoul. The Herculean effort had moved 2 Divisions to South Korea in 54
hours and the third was on the way. No one had thought it possible, but they didn’t talk
about it, they just did it.

Zero hour came and passed and the satellites didn’t detonate. Right about the time the
10th Mountain Division was preparing to land in Korea, the North Koreans came across
the DMZ like it wasn’t even there. They made it 3km into South Korea before anyone
was able to react and put up a serious defense. China and Russia raised their alert sta-
tus and the US responded in kind, returning to DEFCON 2 and raising the Threat Level
back to Red. The White House recommended that the local governments impose a vol-
untary dusk to dawn curfew until the extent of the threat was known.

China took advantage of the situation and attacked Taiwan. The President diverted 2
CBG’s to the area of Taiwan. Have you ever played 3-card Monte? It’s a variation on
the old shell game only it’s done with 3 cards. Even if you pick the right card, you some-
how manage to lose. China had made a lot of promises to Kim Jong-il in return for him
distracting the Americans. Among those promises was a promise not to press on the
nuclear question. Using their new ships and their old ships, the Chinese were able to
attack Taiwan with over 200,000 troops. They also had 80 Backfire C bombers loaded
with conventional weapons, permitting them to stage a Blitzkrieg on Taiwan. The US
was committed to the defense of Taiwan and moved to DEFCON 1.

China introduced three new types of ballistic missiles, including the land-based DF-21
and DF-31, and the submarine-launched JL-2, in the 1990s to replace the older genera-
tion liquid-propellant DF-3, DF-4 and JL-1. The DF-21 intermediate- and DF-31 long-
range ballistic missiles are both solid propellant, road-mobile missiles with shortened
launch preparation times and improved accuracy. An improved version of the DF-31,
known as DF-31A, has been given real ICBM capability by increasing its range to
10,000km. This would be sufficient to cover the entire western portion of North America.
There is also evidence showing that China was developing the MIRV capability for the
DF-31A and JL-2 to improve their strike capabilities.

65
At the same time, China continues to improve the performance of its older DF-4 and
DF-5 ICBMs. Early models of the DF-4 and DF-5 have been replaced by the more ca-
pable DF-4A and DF-5A. The DF-4A was upgraded in the early 1990s under the name
of CZ-1D space launch vehicle project, which gave the missile an extended range of
8,000~10,000km. The DF-5A was upgraded to an extended range of 13,000km, ena-
bling it to strike any corner of the earth from China. Both missiles are deployed in
“ready-to-launch” status in silos located in central China.

The Dong Feng-5 (DF-5, NATO codename: CSS-4) is China’s first intercontinental bal-
listic missile (ICBM). Developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology
(CALT, also known as 1st Aerospace Academy), it is a silo-based, three-stage, liquid
propellant ballistic missile. The missile carries a single 2 megaton nuclear warhead and
has an effective range of 12,000km. The DF-5A is the improved variant with an extend-
ed range. The PLA currently deploys approximately 24~36 of this missile deployed in
central China.

The DF-31 is a three-stage, solid fuel, 8,000~10,000 km range ICBM, which could reach
targets in all of Europe, the west coast and several northern Rocky Mountain states of
America. Current load of the missile is a single 700 kg one-megaton yield thermonucle-
ar warhead, although MIRV with lighter yield warheads is an expected option.

As part of the new generation of missiles, the DF-31’s characteristics include road mo-
bility, advanced materials engineering for payload and booster, improved solid-fuel pro-
pellant as well as endoatmospheric re-entry decoys, making it very difficult to counterat-
tack at any stage of its operation, from pre-flight mobile operations through to terminal
flight phases.

The foregoing information is very dated; it had a copyright of 2003. I read a few things
that got my interest: 12,000km; MIRV; and, upgraded to an extended range of
13,000km, enabling it to strike any corner of the earth from China. The numbers of mis-
siles sounds small, but that was in 2003 and they didn’t have MIRV’s. The year is 2007
and maybe we should change our assumptions about how many missiles China has.
What else had Kim Jong-il promised China in return for their promises? Back in 2004, it
was reported that North Korean had as many as 7 nuclear weapons. Perhaps they have
more in 2007? It doesn’t seem to make much sense to have more missiles than you
have warheads. The US and Russia have more warheads than missiles. Tick.

Perhaps some things are inevitable. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, for
example. China has long insisted that it would take back Taiwan. The North Koreans
are, plain and simple, buttheads. The entire world is angry at the United States of Amer-
ican and accuses the US of being a Hegemon. If the US had learned a single lesson
from 9/11, it ought to be that there are people out that that don’t like the US and are will-
ing to die to prove their point. The number of lives lost on 9/11 wasn’t the point. Osama
says that he never expected the WTC to collapse, although he was happy that it did.

66
Much of the dispute isn’t about religion. The North Koreans and the Chinese are Com-
munists and unless I recall incorrectly, Communists aren’t big on religion. I also seem to
recall that not all of the Muslims in the world hate the US. They may have some issues
with the US approach to problems, but it’s not necessarily about religion. Much of it is
simply a difference in ideology. Russia has been a whole lot better off since they em-
braced capitalism. The country has turned into quite the arms dealer, among other
things.

DHI says that if there is a nuclear terrorist attack on the country it will probably be terror-
ists using the non-stolen, non-missing, non-Russian 1kt suitcase bomb (same refer-
ence). Do I think that we’ll ever get to the point in human history that we finally use all of
those nuclear weapons? God, I hope not! But, what if we do? Tick.

I ended The Rifleman with a chapter entitled Duck and Cover. The film includes a few
factual errors. Boys haven’t worn ties to school in my lifetime and I haven’t seen a
schoolgirl in a dress since the 1950’s. The film pre-dates the hydrogen bomb. However,
it might be very appropriate if terrorist had suitcase nukes, they only have a blast radius
of ~360 meters. If you see the flash, you’ll probably be blind. Don’t look for the Civil De-
fense shelter because we don’t have any. The reason is that we wanted to persuade the
Russians we wouldn’t make a first strike. That was in the 1970’s. This is the first decade
of the 21st Century. How come the Russians have shelters and we don’t? Disney still
has those large boxes of emergency equipment in all of their buildings in Los Angeles.
It’s intended for earthquakes, but one disaster is as good as another.

The North Koreans had served their purpose and quickly withdrew back across the
DMZ. The Americans and South Koreans didn’t pursue them as they were still getting
organized. The President diverted 2 more of the CSG’s to Taiwan. Nobody knows
where the boomers are except for the people aboard the boats. They can easily be
reached using ELF, Extremely Low Frequency radio. The boats can be staged to a par-
ticular level of preparedness and put on hold, if need be. Under this circumstance, it de-
pends on whether they been given the PAL codes and put on hold for 6 hours or not
given the PAL codes and are waiting to receive them. In the former instance, they may
end up launching when the hold period expires if they haven’t received orders counter-
manding their previous orders. For the sake of argument, assume it’s possible. Tick.

Where are the hands on the Doomsday Clock? They’ve been ticking down and are
about 10 seconds before midnight. Chicago, February 27, 2002: Today, the Board of
Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of the “Dooms-
day Clock,” the symbol of nuclear danger, from nine to seven minutes to midnight, the
same setting at which the clock debuted 55 years ago. Since the end of the Cold War in
1991, this is the third time the hand has moved forward. The link suggests what the
world must do to turn the hands back. It didn’t happen. The hands should have been

67
moved 410 seconds closer to midnight. That didn’t happen either, everyone was too
busy ducking and covering. In 2010, it was moved up to 6 minutes from 5.

The Discovery Channel changed the name of the Wings Channel to the Military Chan-
nel. I watched what happens on a boomer when they get an EAM. EANS is the emer-
gency action notification system and EAMAS is the emergency action message authen-
tication system. ELF is defined as extremely low frequency (30-300 Hz). Just because
we keep telling ourselves that it will never happen doesn’t mean that it won’t. Otherwise,
why does the guy with the football go everywhere that the President does?

In the boomer program, they end up the drill by showing a test launch of a Trident I or
Trident II missile. D-5 missiles were first intended to carry the 475-kiloton W88 war-
heads encased in Mark-5 reentry vehicles. But less than 400 of these warheads were
manufactured (some sources say the number is 384). The Mark-4/W76 has 100
Kilotons yield and have a START-1 restriction of six maximum on Trident-1 and eight
maximum on Trident-2. I probably told you that already. 24 times 8 times 14 = 2,688
times 100 Kilotons = 268Mt of warheads on the boomers. One D-5 missile will take care
of North Korea, leaving 24 times 14 minus 1 missile available for other targets (335).

Do North Korea and China have a mutual defense pact? Even if they did, North Korea
did what China wanted and China probably wouldn’t honor it. I mean, hell, the US still
has 2,680 warheads on subs plus the Minuteman and Peacekeeper missiles, so would
you? I sure as hell wouldn’t. I believe that Russia can tell where the missiles are target-
ed, too. They aren’t going to reply to missiles that obviously aren’t aimed at them.

I just heard Oprah say on TV that Americans want to know. That’s a lot of BS; Ameri-
cans don’t give a crap about most things that don’t directly affect them. Most Americans
think that people who believe in being prepared are crackpots until the hurricane blows
down their house. And then, they want to borrow your portable generator. Be a good
neighbor and tell him that he can use it in a couple of months when you’re through with
it, unless he has a gun. Chris never loaned me the generator that I bought and paid for
when we had a power outage. It was a 5kw generator that I bought back when you
could afford one. Are you really going to be an idiot and let 7 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 2 (22) extra
people into the shelter you designed for 2 people? Sure you are, if they’re family, or,
your in-laws, or maybe your favorite neighbor and his wife and their 4 kids. Plan for the
unexpected then double or triple it, if you can.

Don’t believe that the US will never make a first strike. Don’t believe that they don’t have
any of the nuclear tipped Tomahawk cruise missiles on the 4 SSGN’s (one tube – 7 in
each). The government readily admits that they have them in inventory and when you
carefully read Global Security, you’ll discover that they have about 400 of the nuclear
tipped cruise missiles deployed. If you were China and you were really, really smart,
you’d accept your losses of ships and troops that occurred when the US launched some
nuclear tipped cruise missiles (TLAM-N) from something at the ships standing off Tai-
wan. The Chinese lost great face.

68
“I’m surprised that I got through, Ron, we have incoming,” Gary spoke rapidly. “I think
this is one of those Katie bar the door, here come the Indians situations. Good luck,
partner.”

“You too, Gar-Bear, I’m sure glad we got the hell out of California.”

“You did get off your butt and buy a radio didn’t you?”

“I bought one for 10-meters only.”

“Good. Unhook your antenna and call me on 10-meters in 2 weeks, I set up the scanner
for the 10-meter band.”

“Ciao.”

“Arrivederci.” (Ciao means hello.)

TOCK.

The hands on the clock reached midnight when China retaliated. NORAD saw the mis-
siles being launched and sent the 50 Peacekeepers and some of the Minuteman mis-
siles to have Chinese for dinner. The President issued the PAL codes to the boomers
and put them on a 6-hour hold. The Peacekeeper missiles have 10 W87, 300Kt war-
heads each. Some of the W87 Peacekeeper warheads will be redeployed on Minute-
man ICBMs under the Safety Enhanced Reentry Vehicle (SERV) program. Each W87
warhead will displace one W62 (170Kt), or three W78 (335Kt) warheads currently de-
ployed on Minuteman. The W62 will be retired by the end of fiscal year 2009. The US
currently has 620 B83 bombs that have an adjustable yield from low to 1,200KT. Eight-
een of the B-2 Spirit Bombers can carry 16 of the weapons. 16×18 = 288. The B-52
bomber can also carry 8 of the B83 bombs. The US has 44 combat-coded and an active
force, 85 of B-52 bombers and a reserve force of 9.

During the Cuban Missiles Crisis in 1962, the first time in history that the US went to
DEFCON 2, all of the nuclear bombs were loaded aboard the planes. The military has a
pattern of doing the same thing over and over again. The best way to save a plane is to
get it airborne. That way if the Chinese react to your attacking their fleet with a nuclear
tipped cruise missile, all of your bombers and bombs are safe. It might be a good idea
to use up the Minuteman missiles that still have the MIRV’d warheads, too. That way
you won’t have to replace them.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Cold War had finally ended. Parts of the country were
very, very hot, as in 3,000R/hr an hr after the detonation. Other parts of the country
weren’t nearly so hot. Ft. Smith had taken a hit, I wonder why, and the radiation drifted
to the east, as expected. All 48 state capitols had taken at least one, and sometimes
more, nuclear weapons and so did many or all of the 100 largest cities in the United
States. Other targets included military installations. However, the Chinese hadn’t hit any

69
of the missile silos. THAAD was still in the test stage and the US didn’t have an ABM
umbrella. Maybe some of the military installations had the Patriot PAC-3 missiles and
maybe not.

70
 The Cold War – Chapter 8 – Click, Click, Click

“Derek, would you please turn that damned thing off?” Gary asked. “We already know
there’s radiation out there and the needle is off the scale. We can turn it back on in a
couple of weeks. You know the drill, right?”

“Yes Dad, I’ll turn it off,” Derek replied. “Whoever it was has gone and done it this time
haven’t they?”

“The last news on the TV said that China had attacked Taiwan. Somehow I didn’t think it
would be the Russians, they are better off than the US was before all of this happened.”

“What did they hit us with?” Derek asked.

“I seem to recall that there was some division about how many weapons China had.
The numbers ranged from a low of 300 up to 1,200. The best estimate I think I ever saw
was about 400, but that was back in 2004.”

“But why?” Damon wanted to know.

“Why what? Why did they attack us, knowing full well that we’d wipe them off the face of
the earth? Maybe we made the first strike, who knows? It would only take one or two
nuclear cruise missiles to wipe out most of the force they had attacking Taiwan.”

“Damon, the Chinese could never let a nuclear attack, even it was only on their Navy,
go unanswered,” Derek explained. “You were in the Navy, you should know that better
than anyone.”

“What’s for supper, honey?” Gary asked Sharon.

“Chili. Do you think that Charlene, Shirley and Johnny are ok?”

“Johnny for sure, he was a jarhead. Charlene was in California City and there is nothing
there to attack. I can’t speculate about Shirley, I’d guess that they hit Des Moines. But,
Shirley has a basement so she might be ok.”

Sharon didn’t like cooked tomatoes and never had. It had been nearly 30 years into the
marriage before she found a spaghetti sauce she liked. Consequently for many years,
they didn’t eat a lot of spaghetti. She also thought of chili as a soup. Her chili wasn’t
thick and instead of tomato sauce and tomato paste, she used one can of diced toma-
toes added near the end of the cooking process for every 2 pounds of meat. A person
had 2 choices, eat the food the way she cooked it or put up with a woman who felt as if
she’d been scorned. Gary might have been slow, but he wasn’t stupid. Besides, that
was the way his mother fixed chili, except for the tomato part. Plus, you could always
add more chili powder to your individual bowl of soup.

71
As far as Sharon’s brother and sister’s went, there was nothing that they could do but
wait and see. Shirley probably would have come to Flippin once she was totally con-
vinced that there wasn’t any other alternative. That probably didn’t come until the mis-
siles were flying. John Alfred was somewhere in Colorado. The last time Sharon and
Johnny had talked had been in 2003 or 2004. They’d gotten into a fight over Sharon’s
dollhouse that her dad had built for her 8th birthday years before and didn’t speak to
each other anymore. Sister Shirley had recovered the Ark (as in Noah with wooden an-
imals) and the dollhouse Roy had built and she paid a carpenter to restore them to their
original condition and then spent a fortune shipping them to California.

North Korea, China and the United States were, to varying degrees, Wastelands. How-
ever, the mightiest military power in the world didn’t just roll over and play dead because
the country had been hit. Much of the projected power of the country had been at sea or
in the air when the warheads hit. It hadn’t been that difficult for the bombers to find
someplace to land, there were places like Edwards AFB, Rosamond Dry Lake and Area
51, for example. The F-117A Nighthawk’s again made their home at Groom Lake. There
are 54 of the aircraft in the fleet and they moved back to Area 51 along with the B-2
bombers. The B-52 bombers all landed at Edwards, as did the B1-B’s.

Originally envisioned as a major upgrade in US long-range capabilities over the B-52,

the first B1 program was cancelled by Jimmy Carter in 1977. The B1-B is a multi-role,
long-range bomber, capable of flying intercontinental missions without refueling, and
then penetrating present and predicted sophisticated enemy defenses. It can perform a
variety of missions, including that of a conventional weapons carrier for theater opera-
tions. Through 1991, the B-1 was dedicated to the nuclear deterrence role as part of the
single integrated operational plan (SIOP). Converting the B-1B to the conventional role
was a gradual process, beginning in 1993 and culminating in October 1997 when the
7th Bomb Wing at Dyess AFB flew the last nuclear mission.

As a conventional bomber the B1-B is an exceptional aircraft. The aircraft suffered from
only one major problem. Constraints on development of the B model and budget re-
straints resulted in an aircraft that wasn’t as good as it could have been. Dale Brown
wrote a book published in November of 1999 titled Battle Born. It is about a B-1B Lanc-
er unit in Nevada being trained into a new tactical strike unit.

What would you do if you were stuck in a bomb shelter for 2 weeks with 23 other peo-
ple? You don’t have a TV or radio that can get any reception, but you can always play a
movie or play cards or clean your guns or read a book or just plain go crazy. I’ll skip the
latter, been there, done that, etc., etc., etc. You could try to count the clicks on your CD
V-717, assuming you have one. If you are getting very many clicks on your CD V-715,
you have a problem, especially if it’s on the 500 R/hr setting. You know that your house
is still standing, especially if you’re in Flippin or Cedar Hill. You also know there’s a
coating of fine ash because your CD V-717 is going crazy. Finally, you know that the
only news you’ll be getting for a while will be very local.

72
After a couple of weeks, when you can come out of your shelter, you’re going to have to
clean up the decayed radioactive fallout and check on friends and neighbors. You saw a
lot of them at the Wal-Mart Super Store when you stocked up so you’re hoping most of
them made it through and have enough supplies to last for a while. You know you have
plenty, for now, but only because you’re one of those crackpots who were convinced
Armageddon was coming.

The odds are that there wouldn’t be any electricity or natural gas. But Gary saved all of
the instruction manuals for the stove, hot water heater, dryer and furnace and bought
the jets to convert them to propane. You know you have a problem from the getgo be-
cause you only have 3,000-gallons of propane and now you’re going to be running eve-
rything off that single tank. But, you know where the propane company is located and
you can always barter for more, or steal it if necessary. When he moved to Flippin, Gary
gave up on writing Patriot Fiction and concentrated on trying to stay alive as long as
possible and getting ready for the Big One whatever the ‘Big One’ turned out to be.

Derek probably wasn’t going to Shreveport anymore, either. To get there, he had to go
through Little Rock, which was probably gone, only to get to Shreveport, which was
probably gone also. They couldn’t call him on the phone and order him to active duty
because the phone lines were gone. They couldn’t broadcast a Presidential Order or-
dering all of the National Guards and Federal Reserves to active duty, because there
wasn’t any radio or TV. For a change, he could stay home and take care of his family
instead of going God knows where and helping other families.

Amy would be grateful to be alive, but wondering why she had spent the last 10 years
getting an education. She had her BA from Bakersfield and had finished 2 years of law
school before TSHTF. What could you tell her? Suck it in and establish residency in Ar-
kansas; maybe you can be a politician. Lorrie wouldn’t care about what was happening
one way or another. David could always find a job as a locksmith in the area. It would
be very handy having David there, because you forgot to buy a pair of heavy-duty bolt-
cutters. David could pick the locks, instead.

Damon had spent the entire 2 weeks calculating where his next model rocket would
land, once he found someplace to buy more motors and tubing, etc. Gary had spent the
entire 2 weeks taking inventory of the things stored in the shelter. Because he was anal
retentive, he marked down everything that was used and managed to get everything on
a spreadsheet. Ron hadn’t been on 10-meters yet, but that could be for a dozen rea-
sons, including the fact that he didn’t know anything about radios.

“I think that’s the end of it, kids,” Gary announced. “Russia won’t attack this county be-
cause there isn’t much to attack. They won’t invade because there’s nothing to get and
we still have a military because we had 3 Divisions in Korea and the entire Navy was
out of port.”

“What do you want to do first, Dad?” Derek asked.

73
“Decontaminate everything, but that’s probably going to have to wait until spring. For
now, everyone will take the KI for the recommended period and you can check out the
homes for any radioactive hot spots.”

“We don’t have any electricity or natural gas, Dad. Our home won’t be habitable.”

“You have a fireplace and I have 4 cords of wood. We’ll just have to get by. I have a
7kw portable generator and there are 300-gallons of gas in the tank. Improvise. Adapt.
Overcome.”

“That was only a movie.”

“It is still very good advice. I’ll put Damon and his family up with me. You can put Amy
and her kids up with you. If your spare house is empty, we can put David and Lorrie
there. We’re going to need to go to Wal-Mart and find a generator and some wood cut-
ting tools so David and the boys can harvest extra firewood. I don’t have any extra guns
so either I’m going to need to give David Sharon’s Mini-14 or we’re going to have to see
what we can find at the Super Store.”

“The store will be closed, Dad,” Derek pointed out.

“David’s a locksmith, so that won’t be a problem. When there is no one around, it’s
called scavenging. They only call it looting when you get caught. They sell firearms so
we can probably equip David and the boys pretty well. Grab the Survey Meter and let’s
get going. The early bird gets the worm. Amy you stand by the scanner and listen for
Ron to call.”

“Listen, you aren’t going to have electricity to run the lights, so get kerosene lamps and
all the 2-gallon jugs of kerosene you can find plus spare wicks. The vehicles all run so
we didn’t get any EMP. Don’t worry about spare parts for the vehicles. Concentrate on
food, shelter, clothing and a means to defend yourself. Here’s a list of our prescriptions,
get what you can from the pharmacy, but don’t take anything we don’t need. I have a list
of antibiotics to take but don’t take more than a couple of courses of treatment for each
family. I wrote down the quantities for a single course of treatment,” Gary instructed.

The scavenging went very well and Gary concentrated on making a list of everything
they took. After the country puts itself back together and Wal-Mart reopened the store,
he’d come in and settle up with the store manager. Derek left a note for the store man-
ager telling him that he and his family had been in the store and taken some things.
They had a list and could settle up later. It allowed them to feel more like consumers
and less like thieves. A 2-gallon jug of kerosene will run an oil lamp for a very long time.
If you buy kerosene and store it for a very long time, it will varnish the inside of the jug,
but it will still burn. It is much worse if you buy lamp oil instead of kerosene. And don’t

74
forget to buy extra wicks, because to keep a lamp burning evenly, you have to trim the
wick. Sort of straight across and nip off the corners a tiny bit. It is also probably a good
idea to have a few spare chimneys.

I’ve often wondered about something. The markets in London, New York and other
places presently set the prices of gold and silver. After a major disaster, say like a ther-
monuclear war when the markets have been destroyed or closed, how is anyone going
to know the price of gold and silver? One is going to have to assume that the govern-
ment somehow managed to survive, that’s why they have shelters for government offi-
cials all over the country, so why is paper money not going to be worth as much as it
was before? Inflation, I can understand, but why assume money will be worthless?

When the tsunami hit in December of 2004, the whole world rushed to the aid of the
people in the Indian Ocean. Why won’t the whole world rush to the aid of the belliger-
ents in case of a nuclear war? South Korea probably took the opportunity to help North
Korea recover after the US launched that single Trident II D-5 missile and ended the
Korean War once and for all. Countries that would no doubt move in to help the Chinese
also surround China. Even though the US and Canada have had their problems, I can’t
imagine the Canadians and probably the Country of Mexico wouldn’t lend aid to their
North American cousins. You simply have to believe that Great Britain would be there
as well. People have long memories and the US participated in WW I and WW II. The
US helped Europe rebuild after WW II with the Marshall Plan.

The US would probably be inundated by the UN whether or not they’d been invited.
They would be there to help, not to invade. Everyone knows that the ideology of the US
and the UN are at odds. Without doubt, the UN would move to Europe, probably The
Hague, Netherlands, after a thermonuclear war involving the US and some other coun-
try. Second choice would probably be Brussels, Belgium. The greatest danger from the
UN being in the country would be the gun grab that would accompany the other coun-
tries lending aid.

The Wall Street Journal by ROBERT L. BARTLEY, Editor

Monday, October 7, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are en-
dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liber-
ty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are insti-
tuted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Jefferson’s phrases are well worth remembering just now. The government created by
the Declaration of Independence two centuries ago is weighing war against Saddam
Hussein before he acquires nuclear weapons. And high-minded folks around the world
are urging it to submit to the judgment of the United Nations as arbiter of when war is
justified. Just what is the United Nations, anyway? When and how did it receive “the
consent of the governed”?

75
To ask this question is not to dismiss the UN out of hand. It does serve helpful functions
on the likes of post and telephone service. Its efforts to aid the world’s refugees have
often been exemplary. On a grander scale, it is a forum where the world’s governments
meet and talk; if the UN didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it. At times it has even ad-
vanced the interests of security; when the first President Bush was seeking support for
the first Gulf War, the UN signed up before the US Senate did. Even in its darkest hours
its promise – a forum for settling disputes among nations without violence – is a promise
worth preserving.

A moral exemplar it most emphatically is not, however. Its moral standing and moral
record deserve to be rehearsed just now. Whatever its pretensions, and however much
they’re cheered by the limp-minded, in fact the UN is the epicenter of world cynicism.
Here idealistic rhetoric is routinely invoked on behalf of power politics and often-sheer
tyranny. In extenuation, it could scarcely be otherwise.

The nations of the world are after all a mixed lot. They range from long-standing democ-
racies such as the US and United Kingdom to one-man-all-the-votes politics in Cuba or
Zimbabwe. They range from giants such as China and India to dwarfs such as Andorra
and San Marino. Kiribati and Maldives worry about vanishing if global warming raises
sea levels on their Pacific atolls. In the Caribbean, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and
also St. Kitts and Nevis, claim Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.

Under the principle of “state sovereignty,” each of these 191 nations has the same vote
as any other. Except of course that the five “permanent” members have a veto in the
Security Council; the favored members include France but not Japan or India. For that
matter, the permanent members are not so permanent, with the definition of China
changing at the convenience of “world opinion.”

Now, how many of these governments can claim the consent of their governed? In its
latest annual exercise, Freedom House judged the state of freedom of 192 countries for
2001-2002. Of these, 85, with some 41% of the world’s population, were “free,” enjoying
political rights and civil liberties. Another 59, with 24% of the world’s population, were
“partly free,” with significant but abridged rights – in particular one-party political sys-
tems. The remaining 48 countries, or 35% of the world’s people, were “not free,” with no
consent of the governed or respect for the individual.

The United Nations is what you get when you have this mélange send representatives,
confine them in a hothouse on the East River, stir briskly, and tell them to go forth to
solve the great issues of the world. In the political pushing and shoving, too, some na-
tions follow Marquis of Queensbury rules and others do not. Left to its own devices, the
cacophony produces a contorted consensus.

• Consider: While Freedom House counts 192 nations, the UN counts 191. The pariah is
a nation rated free, indeed a nation of 23 million souls and the world’s 17th largest
economy. Namely, of course, Taiwan, which has been blocked from UN membership
every year for 10 years now. China, rated not free, has managed to impose its view; its

76
foreign minister proclaimed, “All acts aimed at the independence of Taiwan are doomed
to fail.”

• Consider: The United States has just been readmitted to the UN’s 53-member Com-
mission on Human Rights. It was voted off last year by opposition from the tyrannies
and perfidy by the Europeans. Other commission members include such paragons of
human rights as Cuba, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The
agenda concerns much mischief over Israel, as well as efforts to revoke consultative
status of Freedom House.

• Consider: In President Bush’s UN speech in September, he said the US is willing to

return to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It withdrew from
UNESCO in 1985 after Congress sent its General Accounting Office to confirm that di-
rector Amadou Mahtar M’Bow had created a fiefdom without a trace of accountability,
financial or otherwise.

• Consider: Secretary-General Kofi Anann thought it was a great victory when Saddam
Hussein offered to talk about letting UN inspectors back into Iraq on the same terms
that didn’t work the last time. The important thing is not whether or not the inspections
succeed in curbing weapons of mass destruction, that is, but whether they come under
UN auspices.

President Bush tolled off all of the resolutions the UN Security Council passed in its bet-
ter moments, resolutions that Saddam Hussein has systematically violated these last 10
years. The UN now faces “a difficult and defining moment,” as the President put it, in
progress toward its promise. If it fails, it has no reason in justice or morality to claim def-
erence from a government that has for two centuries now pursued Jefferson’s princi-
ples.

As we later learned, Kofi Annan’s actions with respect to the Food for Oil Program
raised a lot of questions. It would be better if the UN moved to The Hague or Brussels, it
would get them closer to their constituents. Besides, the Survey Meters are clicking
loudly in parts of New York City anyway. What do you think would happen when the
United Nations sent in troops to help China and the United States recover from World
War whatever number it was? I have my opinion about that, too. The United States has
always been a rebellious nation. Nothing you can say will change my opinion on that.
Most Americans are pretty independent thinkers and they don’t like to be told what to
do. How many people do you know who tell me to do something and I tell them to go to
hell, but ask me and I’ll do almost anything?

An all-out nuclear attack on the United States or China wouldn’t kill all of the people, re-
gardless of what anyone says. Most people in the Tornado Belt have storm shelters.
This would just be a storm of a different kind. Ask most people over 60 what the 7-10
Rule is and they maybe can’t explain it, but they know it means that you have to stay in

77
a shelter for at least 2-weeks after a nuclear war. Depending on where they are located,
some of those people might get a little extra radiation. The rule-of-thumb is 300R in 4
months to avoid medical problems. If you don’t have Dosimeters or a Survey Meter,
you’re going to need to limit your exposure. That’s common sense and we’ve had
Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl to remind us. Keep the kids indoors as much as pos-
sible unless you have Potassium Iodide or Potassium Iodate.

There are presently approximately 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world. They are not
all in the hands of sane people, by my measure of sanity. Remember 2003 and 2004?
India and Pakistan were at each other’s throats over the Kashmir and there was a lot of
concern that one or both of the two countries would use their nuclear weapons. In 2004
and 2005, most of the concern was focused on Iran and North Korea. I can’t think of 2
more insane countries, can you? I also believe that the Chinese are, at best, duplicitous
(contradictory doubleness of thought, speech or action).

Possibly, the citizens of the US should be more worried about what will happen after a
nuclear war than the actual war itself. The war will probably result in the loss of half to
two-thirds of the population of the United States, sooner or later. Since the US has a lot
of tornados, let’s assume one-half out right in the first few months following the nuclear
exchange. They will either be immediate casualties or die from radiation sickness. The
rest of this story is about what might happen afterwards, when the countries of the world
rush to the United States and China to help us pick up the pieces.

It took about 3 weeks to get enough of the weather radio stations up and running for the
President to address the country.

My fellow Americans,

The attack that the United States experienced was at the hands of the Chinese gov-
ernment in their former capitol of Beijing. You government has survived and effective
immediately the United States will be under martial law with a dusk to dawn curfew. Any
members of the United States Reserve military forces or the state National Guards are
ordered to report to their posts, stations or bases, if possible.

Your government has been in contract with the governments of Canada, Mexico and
Great Britain and aid for both our country and China is forthcoming. FEMA will begin or-
ganizing camps for those members of our population that have survived. However, our
resources will be stretched to the limit and I am advising you not to report to the camp
established in your area if you do not require assistance. If you have extra supplies,
please share them with your neighbors.

78
At this early stage of our recovery, you can expect looting. Looters will be shot on sight.
I’m sorry, but I don’t see that I have any other choice in this matter. It is far too early to
estimate our casualties. We expect them to run at least 50% and possibly as high as
67%.

The United Nations is reforming in The Hague, Netherlands and additional aid will be
forthcoming from the world at large through the auspices of the UN. Presently Secretary
Rice is in The Hague and is discussing the conditions that the UN may wish to attach to
that aid. The United States needs the aid, but not at any price. I shall not allow the other
nations of the world to dictate our form of government.

I shall only remain in power for another year, however during that year I will do every-
thing possible to hand a functioning country over to my successor. Stay tuned to the
station you are listening to for further information.

God Bless America.

The President of the United States hadn’t revealed where he was located during his
speech. While many would assume he was in Mt. Weather, he had been on a tour of
military installations when the balloon had gone up and was staying at the ultra-secure
facility at Holloman AFB.

The following Executive Orders are associated with Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Ex-
ecutive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the
stroke of a Presidential pen:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transpor-
tation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communi-
cation media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power,
gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to seize all means of transportation,
including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control over all high-
ways, seaports, and waterways.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10999 allows the government to take over all food resources and
farms.

79
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work bri-
gades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education
and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national

registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft,
including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate
communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned,
and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland wa-
terways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency

Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of in-
creased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the
plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and
legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and
to advise and assist the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal de-

partments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fif-
teen-year period.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to

develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution,
of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in US financial institu-
tion in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when the President de-
clares a state of emergency, Congress cannot review the action for six months. The
Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the na-
tion. General Frank Salzedo, chief of FEMA’s Civil Security Division stated in a 1983
conference that he saw FEMA’s role as a “new frontier in the protection of individual and
governmental leaders from assassination, and of civil and military installations from
sabotage and/or attack, as well as prevention of dissident groups from gaining access
to US opinion, or a global audience in times of crisis.” FEMA’s powers were consolidat-
ed by President Carter to incorporate the:

80
National Security Act of 1947 allows for the strategic relocation of industries, services,
government and other essential economic activities, and to rationalize the requirements
for manpower, resources and production facilities.

1950 Defense Production Act gives the President sweeping powers over all aspects of
the economy.

Act of August 29, 1916 authorizes the Secretary of the Army, in time of war, to take
possession of any transportation system for transporting troops, material, or any other
purpose related to the emergency.

International Emergency Economic Powers Act enables the President to seize the
property of a foreign country or national. These powers were transferred to FEMA in a
sweeping consolidation in 1979.

81
 The Cold War – Chapter 9 – The Strings

You don’t imagine that the world would rush to the aid of the United States or China
without attaching a few stings do you? If you do, I suggest that you think again. The
strings turned out to look more like ropes and the President was forced to decline the
offer of aid from the UN. To put a point on the end of his sentence, he instructed Condi
to inform the UN that the US was withdrawing as a member of that august body. At the
moment, he told her; the US had nothing to spare, especially not what remained of its
military might.

There are friends and there are allies. Webster’s Dictionary defines an ally as: 1. to
unite or form a connection between (associate); and, 2. to connect or form a relation be-
tween (relate). The same dictionary defines a friend as: 1. a. one attached to another by
affection or esteem; b. acquaintance; 2. a. one who is not hostile; b. one that is of the
same nation, party, or group; 3. one that favors or promotes something; 4. Paramour;
and 5. (Capitalized) a member of a Christian sect that stresses Inner Light, rejects sac-
raments and an ordained ministry, and war (Quakers). Given that set of definitions, I
think maybe a friend is better than an ally, but that’s just one person’s personal opinion.

America’s roots are in England or the British Isles or wherever. We could always count
on England, even if the people were angry at the United States. We were two peoples
separated by a common language, according to George Bernard Shaw. You start out
happy that you have no hips or boobs. All of a sudden you get them, and it feels sloppy.
Then just when you start liking them, they start drooping. (Cindy Crawford) There are a
lot of women who live with pot-bellied pigs. (Catherine Zeta Jones)

The string that stuck in George’s craw was the UN insistence of that America disarm.
There were a lot of firearms in the hands of the American public. Some Americans
might hand over their weapons, BUT there were many who would not. And, that was
something that the President was absolutely certain of. If provoked, the citizens of the
country would turn the disaster into another Civil War. If FEMA pressed the public too
hard, the President was equally certain that the same thing would happen. Dick Cheney
had addressed the Annual Meeting of the NRA in 2004 and given the membership cer-
tain assurances. The membership had given the Vice-President some assurances too.
While the NRA didn’t speak for more than 1% of the American population, based on its
membership, it was the most vocal 1%.

As of 1996, it was estimated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that there
are about 239 million guns in the United States, well over 86 million of which are hand-
guns. Some estimates place the number of privately owned firearms nearer 300 million.

How about this article published in the San Bernardino County Sun on May 5, 2005:

82
The left-leaning media like to point out that their polls show that even gun owners sup-
port sensible gun legislation. The problem is simply that is an oxymoron, at least with
some in our state legislature.

Here are two examples of gun control bills that are just plain ignorant, and what is most
frightening is that both of them are moving toward floor votes in their respective houses.
SB 357, obviously named after the magnum handgun round in a clever display of whit
by the bill’s author Joseph Dunn, D-Garden Grove, would mandate that all handgun
ammunition have matching serial numbers on each bullet and bullet casing so ammuni-
tion used in crimes can be traced back to the original purchasers.

Now, that sounds brilliant on first reading, doesn’t it?

A little critical thinking, however, makes you wonder. Never mind the astronomical costs
involved making such ammunition, or that it would create a monopoly for one company
that has been touting its ability to make such ammo while supporting the legislation.
Never mind the record-keeping nightmare that it would create. If it would help solve
crimes, gun owners would support the idea. But the reality is that it wouldn’t help solve
crimes, and it could implicate innocent people.

What’s to keep crooks from mixing ammunition between different boxes of ammunition
so serial numbers from the sold lot point to a different person than the one who created
the crime?

Would crooks even buy ammunition in California or simply have fellow criminals pick up
ammo in Las Vegas, or would it merely create a black-market for older, unmarked am-
mo?

The reality is that it would create as many problems as it might solve, confusing juries in
serious criminal cases with questions about otherwise obvious guilt or innocence be-
cause the ammo didn’t match the suspect or it implicated someone with a rock-solid ali-
bi.

AB 352 is a similar bill by Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, only this legislation would
mandate that all handguns have chambers micro-etched with the make, model and se-
rial number of the gun so that this information is transferred to the cartridge casing when
the gun is fired.

The theory here is similar to SB 357: crime scene investigators find a casing and know
exactly which gun fired it. Since the bill would also create a registry of all these guns,
they could go right to the registered owner and arrest him.

Since most guns used in crimes are stolen, this would not be a help at all. It would be a
snap to polish out the etching. It would make the chamber rough, making the gun less
safe, probably causing it to jam occasionally, especially if the gun were dirty. And how
about taking brass that was fired in one gun, reloading it, and then shooting in an older

83
gun without the fingerprint? Now you’ve left brass at a crime scene that points investiga-
tors the wrong direction.

Again, never mind that registration is expressly forbidden by federal law or the costs in-
volved in making guns with this feature or the awful bureaucracy this would create. It’s a
failure in crime control. Massachusetts had a similar law pass several years ago, and
the justice department there is recommending it be scrapped because it has cost tax-
payers an immense amount of money to run and did nothing to help solve crime. Zero.

It turns out that criminals who are stupid enough to be caught by the benefits either of
these bills provide, usually leave a pile of other evidence that will convict them.
Legislators know this legislation is stupid, but it’s a back door way to make gun owner-
ship excessively expensive and onerous. They don’t want you and me to have firearms
at all.

The Chairman of the US House Committee on Armed Services, Duncan Hunter, sent a
letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urging him to oppose SB 357 (Bullet Seriali-
zation) on the grounds that it would harm our national and homeland security.

Blair had been elected to a 3rd term back in 2005 and he had gathered his forces and
had sent them to the US when Bush had given an all clear on the radiation levels. The
new President of Mexico, Roberto Madrazo was ready with aid and troops, too. Canada
had been dealing with the problem from the outset because cities like Windsor and
Vancouver had received fallout.

Groom Lake and Rogers Lake looked like parking lots with all of the bombers and fight-
ers moved to those two locations. The Nighthawks had moved from Holloman to Area
51 and many of the other fighters had moved to Rogers. It had been a challenge and
heartbreaking for the pilots ferrying their aircraft to alternate locations. They had wit-
nessed several of the Chinese missile strikes and saw their country being destroyed be-
fore their eyes. There weren’t enough tankers to refuel all of the aircraft being moved
and some had to land at commercial airports and refuel with Jet fuel A.

Other military units had dispersed according to long established plans and most made it
through the attack. The President had them remain under cover until the radiation levels
were something they could cope with MOPPed up to level 4. In mid-October, much of
the country is cold and some parts of the country even have snow on the ground.
MOPP level 4 wasn’t the problem it had been in Iraq. A week before the President’s an-
nouncement, the troops were already out there effecting rescues. In areas where trou-
ble was expected, they put on a show of force with their Bradley’s and Abrams tanks.
Order prevailed in most locations and looters were shot in others.

84
Ron had finally figured out the 10-meter radio and checked in with Gar-Bear. Everyone
in Cedar Hill was fine. He’d had trouble assembling his antenna or he’d have been on
the air earlier. They were overcrowded in New Mexico but some of the kids had moved
in with Robert. Neither man had any idea what had happened to Clarence because Bir-
mingham had probably taken a strike. It was nothing like the stories Gary had written.
Both men had moved to the nether reaches of the country just in time. They discussed
getting together but dismissed the idea as being impractical.

It didn’t take the Manager of the Wal-Mart store very long to show up at Derek’s wanting
to know what he had taken and suggesting strongly that payment was in order. Derek
took him over to his Dad’s and Gary produced the list. He offered to pay for everything
with a check drawn on the Trust fund account up in Iowa. Under the circumstances, the
Manager didn’t want to take an out-of-town check. Neither did the bank in Flippin, but
they didn’t really have a choice. Gary wrote a check on Iowa and deposited it in their
Flippin account and wrote a check on the Flippin account to pay Wal-Mart. The Manag-
er agreed to hold the check for a day and told Derek to get to work because they were
shorthanded. He was so happy to be reimbursed for the things they had taken; all of the
paperwork on the weapons had gotten overlooked. Derek had a decision to make and
since the President had only told the Guard and Reserve to report in if they could, he
decided that, for a change, he couldn’t.

President Bush got another offer of aid. The Russians couldn’t afford to provide aid, per
se, but they could provide soldiers and civilians to assist with the cleanup. There were
no strings attached and Bush gratefully accepted the offer. Maybe it was in Russia’s
vested interest to help the US. The United States bought a lot of their products, guns
and ammo to name a few, and had provided homes for many of their criminals. More
than that, the US had taken care of a couple of thorns in Moscow’s side, China and
North Korea.

Was it possible that Russia had another motive in mind? The US had finally demon-
strated a willingness to use its nuclear arsenal. Number wise, the Russians had more
nuclear weapons on hand than the United States. However the US had the delivery sys-
tems and they had been demonstrated. They worked very well indeed. The President
had rescinded the order for the SSBN’s to launch their missiles when it was apparent
that the Peacekeepers and Minuteman III missiles had done their job. The US still had
14×24 (minus 1) missiles roaming the high seas, plus 2 of the SSGN’s. India and Paki-
stan were engaged in peace talks. Israel was on full alert and had fighters standing by
with nuclear weapons in case Iran got any ideas.

My fellow Americans,

85
I have an update on the situation in this country. All of the state capitals and most of our
major cities were hit in the nuclear exchange. The estimates of the loss of life remain
unchanged, but at the moment, they are only estimates. Canada, Mexico and Great
Britain have offered aid, as has Australia. I have accepted their offers and an offer from
Russia for relief workers. If you hear someone speaking Russian, please don’t shoot
them, they are here to help.

The United States retains its ability to react to any other threats against this great coun-
try of ours. In my considered judgment, we do not face any other threats. There are no
winners in a nuclear exchange. People have survived in all of the countries involved in-
cluding North Korea, China and the United States of America. Life as we know it will
never be the same, but we will recover. The FEMA camps have been established for
those who need them. If your homes are habitable and you have sufficient resources,
please remain there. Efforts are already underway to reestablish supply chains, but we
expect temporary shortages in the immediate future.

The country will remain under martial law for the foreseeable future. Do not attempt to
take the law into your own hands. If you observe looting, contact the nearest law en-
forcement officer to handle the situation. There will be additional announcements in the
coming days.

God Bless America.

In order for the defense system of any country to function, the governments have had to
make an assumption. They have had to assume that when called upon to do so, the
men in the loop would push the button. The dangers of going to a fully automated sys-
tem were clearly demonstrated in the movie titled, War Games. There were probably
other movies with the same theme, (The Forbin Project, Terminator) I know there were
more, but I don’t remember the titles. War Games was probably the most recent. One
thing that Americans who had the responsibility of activating the weapons have always
had was that the US would never make a first strike and anything they did was in retal-
iation. In this story, North Korea began fueling its nuclear missiles and the US respond-
ed with a single Trident II D-5 from a boomer. In this story, the Red Chinese attacked
Taiwan and the US responded with nuclear cruise missiles.

It can’t happen, can it? Have you seen the movie, The Bedford Incident? How about By
Dawn’s Early Light? Richard Widmark had James MacArthur so wound up he launched
an RUR-5 ASROC at a Russian sub and the skipper of the boat responded with a snap
shot of a nuclear torpedo. In the latter movie, Powers Boothe refused to stop his mis-
sion to deliver a nuclear bomb with a B-52.

Of that movie, on critic said, “Okay first of all this is just like Dr. Strangelove and even
more like Fail Safe. Both better than By Dawns Early Light. Several things would have
never really happened. If space command ever detected missiles they would launch the

86
bombers for survivability so they would have never been caught on the ground. The
President would not have been allowed to stay at the White House for a minute. The
Russian President would not have used the old Teletype communications system. They
have a new computerized version. That’s all I have to say. It was the worst movie I have
ever seen.” It is so easy to criticize movies, most people were scared shitless by the
movie. James Earl Jones had been in both Dr. Strangelove and By Dawn’s Early Light.

I disagree with the critic, but I was stationed at Edwards during the Cuban Missile Crisis,
so I don’t know Shoe polish from Shinola. A B-47 with 2 nuclear bombs aboard looks
just like a B-47 without 2 nuclear bombs aboard. I wonder where those bombers were
going; they didn’t really have legs. The only difference is the guards and the dogs.

Edwards had all of the dud aircraft like the B-57 & B-58. The base was even named af-
ter a pilot who was killed flying another dud, the YB-49. In May 1948, Capt. Glen W.
Edwards was selected to join the team of test pilots and engineers at Muroc who were
then evaluating the Northrop YB-49, the all-jet version of the exotic flying wing bomber.
After his first few flights, he was not favorably impressed, confiding to his diary that it
was the darndest airplane I’ve ever tried to do anything with. Quite uncontrollable at
times. Then, on June 5, 1948, he was flying as co-pilot with Maj. Daniel Forbes when
the airplane departed from controlled flight and broke apart in the sky northwest of the
base. All five crewmembers were lost. Perhaps it is fair to say that Northrop’s design
concepts were solid, but the means to implement them were still several decades away.
The YB-49 was simply a generation ahead of its time. The YB-49 was the “wrong plane
at the wrong time,” getting trapped in the transition between propeller-driven and jet-
powered aircraft. How come they named an Air Force Base after a Captain and not a
General? Gutsiest move I ever saw, Mav.

The first atomic bomb that was ever dropped was the Little Boy on Hiroshima on August
6, 1945. Nagasaki was bombed with Fat Man on August 9, 1945. Have you ever asked
yourself what would have happened if Japan hadn’t surrendered? I was curious about
that and found an answer. The US had built several (6) of the Fat Man bombs and ex-
cept for the plutonium core they were ready to go. It doesn’t answer the question, but it
sort of gives you a hint.

Concurrent with the preparations for the Trinity test, preparations were being made for
the delivery of operational atomic weapons to Tinian Island in the Pacific for use against
Japan at the earliest possible date.

Two weapon designs were available for use – the gun assembly Little Boy bomb that
used uranium highly enriched in U-235, and the implosion assembly Fat Man that used
plutonium.

After the detonation of the first plutonium bomb core in the Trinity test, the next weapon
that was available was the completed Little Boy. It was this weapon that was dropped

87
on Hiroshima. Another Little Boy weapon would not have been ready for months, for this
reason only one Little Boy unit was prepared. In contrast many Fat Man bomb assem-
blies were on hand (without plutonium), and the actual Fat Man bomb delivered against
Japan only existed when assembly of the Fat Man unit with the plutonium core was
completed shortly before the mission.

I wonder if they would have saved Tokyo for bomb number 7? They couldn’t really
bomb Tokyo because that’s where the Emperor of Japan was and it was the Emperor
who needed to surrender. You may have seen the TV movie about the last minute con-
spiracy to prevent him from surrendering. Hirohito surrendered on August 15, 1945 and
Japan signed the documents of surrender on September 2, 1945 aboard the USS Mis-
souri in Tokyo Bay. What would have happened if the conspirators had succeeded or
Hirohito had decided not to surrender?

History reveals that Stalin wanted his own atom bomb and by 1949, the Soviet Union
had tested their first atomic bomb. After the bombing of Nagasaki, no nuclear weapons
were ever fired in anger, except in the movies. And then I came along and the US made
the second first strike in history. Even if China only had 400 nuclear warheads or
bombs, they made the most of them. The United States had sent all 50 Peacekeepers
and 100 of the MIRV’d Minuteman III missiles back to China, a total of 800 warheads.

“You can go back to work if you need to, but you keep that WOP pistol in your glove box
and the shotgun behind your seat,” Gary suggested. “You’d better fix yourself up a
BOB, too.”

“Is this where Geraldo screams The Russians are coming?” Derek laughed.

“Nah, I already used that bit in three stories,” Gary confided. “I wish I could see 600-
yards.”

“I’m only a mile from home, I won’t need a BOB.”

“Вы говорите русского.”

“Немного. Велемудро изучить дороги одних враждебных. Вы не думаете?”

“I agree, but I don’t speak Russian; that was a line out of Red October.”

“So was my reply, Dad.”

“I’m glad you moved to Flippin, Derek. If we were still in California, we’d be on our way
to Barstow trying to get weapons to defend the Moon Shadows housing tract.”

88
“I sure hated selling Mom’s house, but it’s pretty safe down in these mountains,” Derek
agreed.

David found a job as a locksmith in Mountain Home. Amy went to the University of Ar-
kansas in Fayetteville to see about transferring her law school credits from California to
Arkansas. The University hadn’t resumed classes and she was told that they’d work on
the paperwork, but she’d have to wait. Amy stayed with Sharon and Gary and Damon
and his family moved in with Derek and Mary. The move from Palmdale to Flippin hadn’t
changed everything. At least Sharon could hide out in the basement when Audrey and
Udell, Jr. got unruly. Gary practically lived in the basement, he liked the peace and quiet
and he wanted to be near the radio in case Ron called again.

If you can remember how long it took to clean up lower Manhattan after 9/11 think about
it and multiply the problem by at least 1,000. Also consider that American had lost a lot
of people in the exchange. It appeared that it would take about 3 years just to clean up
the mess the US cities were in. Some cities had to be abandoned, for a while at least,
they were simply too hot to demolish. Rebuilding would take longer, but with half the
population gone, why bother?

Electricity and natural gas wouldn’t be restored to Flippin for at least a year. A 7kw port-
able generator isn’t intended to run that long and they needed to come up with alterna-
tives to keep Derek’s home and spare house powered. Pioneer Propane could provide
the fuel to keep Gary and Sharon up and running and 500-gallon tanks for Derek. They
had a large inventory of propane and more was available. The problem was finding a
residential standby generator system or 2. The second problem was money. It took the
government 6 months to straighten out a system whereby they could pay the Social Se-
curity payments. The good news was that it resulted in a large check to catch up 6
months’ worth of missed payments. That solved the problem of having enough money
to buy one residential standby system and only left Gary and Derek with the problem of
finding one.

They finally located a dealer in Evening Shade, AR, northeast of Mountain Home, Ozark
Power Company. They didn’t have any of the Onan generators but they did have the
Kohler model 12RES-LP generators and they had them for $4,000 plus tax, delivery and
installation. The transfer switches were optional. Colorado Standby Power has them for
less, but they were in Colorado. The Kohler unit put out about 65 amps. They were also
field convertible between natural gas and LP/Propane. That’s something every home-
owner should have. They were heavy-duty units that could run a very long time with
nominal servicing. Fat cats could put in a Kohler 30RES with ran on both LP and Natu-
ral Gas. They were expensive at $13,000, but you could always get a home improve-
ment loan to install one. They included a built in LP regulator and were switch converti-
ble between Natural gas and LP. It was the second unit the dealer had in stock. Gary
used the radio in his truck to contact the Shelter and explained the problem. Sharon told
Gary to put a down payment on the 30RES and they’d figure out something.

89
°

Would America ever be the same? No! The United States changed after 9/11 and many
argued the changes weren’t necessarily for the better. Osama bin Laden had burst
America’s bubble. We should have known back in 1993 when terrorists attacked the
WTC the first time. Most Americans didn’t get the message. In the run up to Y2k, a lot of
Americans got concerned because the datafields in databases weren’t big enough and
it might bring our computer systems down. But, ask yourselves how many people put in
safe rooms and standby power after Hurricane Andrew?

Andrew was a small and ferocious Cape Verde hurricane that wrought unprecedented
economic devastation along a path through the northwestern Bahamas, the southern
Florida peninsula, and south-central Louisiana. Damage in the United States was esti-
mated to be near 25 billion, making Andrew the most expensive natural disaster in US
history. Andrew was only a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale 1-5 rat-
ing. The fact that no lives were lost in the United States due to storm surge is viewed as
a fortunate aberration. Andrew reportedly destroyed 25,524 homes and damaged
101,241 others. The Dade County Grand Jury reported that ninety percent of all mobile
homes in south Dade County were totally destroyed. In Homestead, more than 99%
(1167 of 1176) of all mobile homes were completely destroyed.

Americans kept telling themselves, it can’t happen here. They were about as wrong as a
group of people could possibly be. The Cold War was well and truly over, but it ended
with a great big bang. About 400 of them to be specific. The Squirrels were prepared
and they survived. Lots of other people weren’t and they didn’t, even though they were
far away enough from the targets of the Chinese missiles they could have. Their prob-
lem was that they weren’t prepared and guns were such nasty things.

90
 The Cold War – Chapter 10 – After the Recovery

Ron finally got word from Clarence. He’d been away from home when the attack came
and although Shirley and he had lost their home, they’d managed to survive. Ron set up
a conference call with Gary and The Three Amigos decided to have a reunion. The re-
union would take place in Flippin because it was in the middle. They agreed to meet on
Gary’s birthday, March 23, 2009. Ron said he had something that he wanted to talk to
them about.

March 23, 2009, Flippin, AR…

“God you look old,” Gary told Ron.

“You aren’t any spring chicken yourself, partner.”

“Clarence, you look like you just keep getting younger, what’s your secret?”

“We age differently than you white boys Gary. Inside we’re just as old, but unless we get
grey hair, it doesn’t really show.”

“I thought I’d heard all the BPT’s I was ever going to hear, but that’s a new one.”

“I lost my bugle in the attack,” Clarence lamented.

“Probably lost your uniform too, huh?” Ron asked.

“Lost the whole kit and caboodle, Ron.”

“The doctor says that I need another bypass,” Ron announced.

“Is that why you wanted the meeting?” Gary asked.

“Nah, I wanted the meeting to have a reunion and to talk about something I ran into a
while back,” Ron explained. “The operation isn’t as big a deal as it used to be and may-
be I can go a while without more of the angioplasties.”

“When did you have your first bypass, Ron?” Clarence asked.

“1992, it’s time and then some Clarence.”

“I had mine in 2004, I suppose I have a while to go, huh?”

91
“They seem to be averaging about 15 years, give or take. Whatever, this will be my last
one. Anyway the reason I wanted to talk with you guy was that I stumbled onto a collec-
tion of brand new M14 rifles. They’re the full-auto variety.”

“I thought McNamara had all of them destroyed,” Gary responded.

“He must have missed a case. Anyway, I remember you telling me that they weren’t
worth a crap on full-auto. Didn’t you also tell me something about an Italian weapon
based on the Garand that was full auto and had something that allowed it to be used in
the full-auto mode?”

“I got a bunch of emails from a squirrel named BM59_Fan. He talked at length about the
Italian BM-59. He said the tri-compensator for the BM59 is 22mm in diameter, the
standard internal ID for a NATO Rifle Grenade. It is a combo Flashhider, Muzzle
Brake/Muzzle Rise Limiter, and Grenade Launcher. It is attached, and serves the same
purpose, as the Garand Gas Cylinder Lock. In other words it keeps the Gas Cylinder
from moving forward or backwards on the barrel. The stripper clip guide on the top of
the receiver accepts standard M14, 5 round stripper clips. I had the opportunity to shoot
a BM59 Ital, and FN-FAL in 7.62 NATO and an M-1918A2 BAR re-chambered in 7.65
Argentine all in full auto… The BM59 was completely controllable in full auto and a joy
to shoot, the tri-comp is real good, and the geometry of the weapon is also good. The
FN-FAL was a real bitch to shoot full auto it took all I could do to keep it on target. The
BAR was a piece of cake and a joy to shoot and if anything is too accurate.

“That’s what I remember, Gar-Bear. So where could we get some of the tri-comps to
modify those M-14 rifles?”

“Springfield Armory bought most or all the Beretta’s tooling equipment. They manufac-
tured BM-59’s for a while. My friend gave me a website to go to for spare parts for the
BM-59. I suppose I could start there. Were the M14’s expensive?”

“You might say they were a steal,” Ron replied. “What else did your friend tell you?”

“I had the impression, maybe wrong, that the tri-comp could be modified or manufac-
tured to use on the M-14/M1A rifle.”

“In and of themselves, the tri-comp wouldn’t be anything more than a weapon part,
would they?” Ron continued.

“I can’t see why they would be partner,” Gary replied. “Of course they haven’t manufac-
tured those rifle grenades for quite a while so I doubt we’d be able to get those.”

“I’m not interested in rifle grenades, Gar-Bear, but would that tri-comp make a fully au-
tomatic M-14 controllable?”

92
“That was my impression. Should we try and buy one and see if it can be adapted to the
M-14’s?”

“If you’ll buy one and I can get some machinist to adapt it to the M-14’s, you can each
have 4 fully automatic M-14’s for the price of the tri-comp’s,” Ron replied.

“It would be nice to have drum magazines if we’re going to have full-auto M-14’s,” Gary
suggested.

“That might be a horse of a different color. I have to see what I can do. The 100-round
Beta-C magazines were 5.56, weren’t they?”

“Yes, but the Russians and the Chinese had 75-round drum magazines in the
7.62x39mm cartridge for the AK-47.”

“Seventy-five rounds of 7.62 would be pretty heavy,” Clarence pointed out.

“True, but if we could get someone to make a 7.62x51mm 75-round drum, we’d have a
rifle as good as a BAR with enough ammo to make a difference,” Gary suggested.

Ron decided to take the bull by the horns and do the whole project himself. Gary gave
him the web address of the company that sold the BM-59 parts and told Ron just to
search what was left of the web for a Russian or Chinese magazine. The Chinese mag-
azine was easier to reload because it had a hinged plate. You loaded the magazine and
when you were ready to shoot, you wound up the spring. You had what the US military
wanted when they developed the SAW version of the M-14. Besides, if they really
needed grenades, they had their M16’s.

“Hey uglier than me,” Ron laughed.

“What?”

“I got the tri-comps on the rifles and they had a Beta C Mag for the M1A.”

“What about controlling the rifle?”

“Every bit as good as an M16.”

“How expensive are those tri-comps?”

“He made them from scratch so $100 apiece. But, they include the bipod and don’t in-
clude the sight that turns off the gas cylinder.”

93
“What about the drums? How expensive are they going to be?”

“More than that Chinese 75-round drum I bought off the Internet. $250 each if I buy
enough.”

“What’s enough?”

“100.”

“Jeezus, that 25 grand.”

“Yeah, I know, but I thought I’d get 120 and sell you guys each 40 magazines and the
tri-comp. You’re looking at $1,600 per weapon.”

“That’s $6,400, partner.”

“You’re getting the rifles for free, what are you bitching about?”

“I don’t know if I have that kind of money lying around, Ron.”

“Sure you do, do you still have the pre-65 silver coins?”

“Never needed to spend it, of course I do.”

“Have you seen the price of silver lately?”

“Un-un, what’s it going for?”

“$20 an ounce.”

“That’s less than one bag of silver coins.”

“Good investment wasn’t it?”

“What’s the price of gold?”

“About $2,000 an ounce.”

“A hundred to one? No way! Silver is either forty or gold is a grand. Why don’t you just
give us the guns?”

“Hey, I’m up to my butt in alligators with Linda already. No way. I figured you’d be happy
that I did the whole project on my own.”

94
“I am and we bought $2,000 face value of the coins so we have about 1,430 ounces of
silver. OK, I’ll take my 4 at forty an ounce for silver. Are you going to contact Clarence
and set up another reunion?”

“I sure as hell ain’t shipping the rifles. I’d go to jail forever, if I get caught.”

“Sure, when?”

“I have to go to the doctor in 4 weeks for a follow-up to my heart surgery. How about the
week after?”

“Works for me, how are you feeling?”

“You’d think as many times as they’ve cut into me that I be used to it, but I’m not. I have
a lot of pain this time.”

“Do you need some Vicodin?”

“I asked the doctor for some be he wouldn’t let me have it. How expensive is it?”

“$20 a hundred. I’ll give you a bottle of Norco and fill up your gas tank for delivering the
guns.”

“See you in 5 weeks. Ciao.”

“How are you Clarence?” Gary asked.

“Fine. I got me a new bugle and another 10th Calvary uniform. The insurance company
finally paid on our house.”

“Are you going to build a new home?”

“Not in Birmingham. How much does land cost around here?”

“Actually, it’s pretty cheap. Thinking of moving to Flippin?”

“How much fallout did you get?”

“Plenty. I thought that we would be safe here, but I looked at the wrong map.”

“But there are no targets near here, right?”

“Right. We had time to go shopping before the fallout started.”

95
“You have all of your kids in the area, too. Am I right?”

“David and Lorrie live in Derek’s spare house and pay him $250 a month in rent. David
works as a locksmith in Mountain Home. Amy and the kids live with us, again. She’s go-
ing to school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Derek works for Wal-Mart.”

“My boys survived in Palmdale, but I’m thinking they’d be better off in Arkansas with
Shirley and me.”

“We’ll have to ask Ron what his kids ended up doing. Ft. Smith took a hit and wiped out
Brenda and Jennifer’s homes. Kevin died, you know.”

“I heard. Couldn’t get his insulin or something?”

“I guess. You’ll have to talk to Derek about whether or not there are jobs for your boys.”

The following day…

“What held you up, Ronald?”

“Linda had to drive. She’s even slower than I am. Can I have the Norco now? I asked
the doc again last week and he still said no.”

“Here take 3 bottles, you need it worse than I do. Besides, we picked up a few drugs
when we went to Wal-Mart. Clarence, do you need any pain pills or anything?”

“Nope. You hang on to it in case I do.”

“How’s he going to get them to you in Birmingham?” Ron asked.

“I’m thinking about moving to Flippin.”

“Really? I still have John, Brenda, Jennifer and Lydia’s sister living in Cedar Hill.”

“They still have the rental building?”

“It got nuked. They got one hell of an insurance settlement after they got the lawyers
involved. Clarence, can you get the rifles and magazines out of my car?”

“I didn’t buy any silver coins, Ron. I don’t know how I’m going to pay you for 4 of those
rifles and magazines. I need to hang on to my money until Shirley and I build a new
home.”

“I’ll take all 8 units for now, Ron. It will still be less than $1,000 face in silver and once
Clarence gets moved, he can buy them from me,” Gary suggested.

96
“I really want the rifles, but until I see how much a home costs, I don’t want to tie up my
money in guns. Where can we get a generator?”

“All the guy in Evening Shade had left was a Kohler 12RES, Clarence. They run about
$4,000,” Gary explained.

“Natural gas or propane?”

“Yes, both.”

“You see what I mean, Ron. If I put in a shelter like Gary has and add a generator, God
only knows how much a house will cost.”

“Derek only has 2 of the 500-gallon propane tanks, you know. The largest that Pioneer
Propane will put in are the 1,100-gallon tanks so Sharon and I had to buy our own.”

“How big are his generators?”

“He put in 2 of the Kohler model 12RES-LP generators. The transfer switches were op-
tional so he didn’t get them, yet.”

“Why didn’t he buy the Kohler 30RES?”

“Money. The 12RES were $4,000 each.”

“See, that’s what I mean Ron, I’m just going to have to wait on the M-14 rifles. What
model were they anyway?”

“M14E2.”

“With the pistol grips?” Gary asked.

“Right,” Ron replied.

“And you test fired the rifle, right? No unmanageable muzzle climb?”

“Right again.”

“The drum feed every round? No stoppages?”

“I only fired a case of ammo, but I didn’t have any.”

“Probably weights as much as a BAR, huh?”

“With a 100-round drum, it’s pretty dang close.”

97
“Wee doggie, we’re in business. I’ll take all 8 and if Clarence doesn’t want his later, I’ll
keep them.”

“These aren’t for carrying around you know,” Ron pointed out. “They’re way too heavy
for old farts like us.”

“I got 3 of the tri-comps but couldn’t make them work. The conclusion was no way Jose.
David has 4 boys, Ron. They’re young and healthy. I’ll load them down pretty good.”

“Do you mind if I ask who you intend to shoot with a latter day BAR?” Clarence asked.

“Anyone who deserves shooting, Clarence.”

“Remind me to buy a piece of property out of range of your new toys,” Clarence chuck-
led. “You still have the Vaqueros?”

“Yep. Original models built on the Blackhawk frame. They’ll shoot anything including
Buffalo Bore.”

“I was going to demonstrate my new bugle, but never mind.”

“Did you ever learn to blow anything besides the charge?”

“I’ve got Boots and Saddles down pretty good,” Clarence replied. “And I learned Taps.”

“Ok, you can do my funeral.”

“What funeral?” Ron asked.

“The one they’re going to have for me when Sharon finds out I bought 8 latter BAR ri-
fles,” Gary laughed.

“She still giving you a hard time over buying guns?”

“Not lately, I haven’t bought any. We got some weapons for David and his boys at Wal-
Mart.”

“Ever shoot them?”

“Only on the range, but you never know what’s going to happen.”

Clarence snuck a peek at the sky.

“Hey, I was just looking at these bottles of Norco. They’re all expired.”

98
“Relax, Ronald, they’ll give you a really good buzz. Tylenol and Hydrocodone don’t ever
get so old they don’t work. I can give you some that expired more recently, if you pre-
fer.”

“How many do you have?” Ron asked.

“Have of what? Tablets of Vicodin, bottles of Vicodin, bottles of Norco or tablets of

Xanax?”

“Yes.”

“Ten bottles of Vicodin, which is 1,000 tablets, 12 bottles of Norco, which is 1.200 tab-
lets and 2,000 tablets of Xanax.”

“You’re a regular junkie.”

“I take one Xanax a day and haven’t had any Vicodin for 4-5 years. I figured that Sharon
could sell them all off after she kills me and pay for a pretty nice funeral.”

“On second thought, leave the guns in my trunk for now, Clarence. We’ll get them out
after Sharon goes to bed.” Ron suggested.

Clarence and Shirley went lot hunting the following day and found a nice lot on the other
side of town from Gary and Sharon’s. Nobody seemed too anxious to leave so The
Three Amigos found a meeting and sat in for a few. Clarence got Gary’s blueprints for
their house and after Ron returned to New Mexico and hired a contractor to duplicate
the house with a couple of exceptions. Clarence was putting in the Kohler 30RES and
had everything put into his basement before they closed it over. It turned out that Clar-
ence liked to fish as much as Gary did.

“I could only get a 3,300-gallon propane tank,” Clarence told Gary.

“You can get bigger tanks, but they’ll cost you and arm and a leg, partner. They’re pretty
heavy and the freight is prohibitive. 3,000-gallons should tide you over if we have an-
other emergency.”

“We’re still cleaning up from the last one.”

“Did you lose everything in the war or did you manage to save a few things?”

“We lost everything except the clothes in our suitcases and my guns,” Clarence replied.
“I never went anywhere without our BOB’s and guns.”

“Did you talk to Derek about finding jobs for your boys?”

99
“They can build boats or work at Wal-Mart, I guess,” Clarence replied.

“They could move to Little Rock. I hear that they’ve come a long way towards having the
city rebuilt.”

“How far is it to Little Rock?”

“Maybe 3 hours by car. It’s highway 65 most of the way. It’s only 136 miles, but 65 isn’t
the best road, you know.”

“We only built a 2 bedroom house. They wouldn’t have anywhere to stay if they both
came to visit.”

“You’re going to put in a garage, aren’t you?”

“Of course, why?”

“Make it 2 stories and put living quarters over the garage.”

“That would be cheaper than tacking on an addition. Sure, why not?”

“Are you going to buy the M14 rifles?”

“I think so. I’m still waiting to see how Shirley and I come out on money.”

“If it will help, I was thinking about buying an M1A back when we moved here and I got
one hell of a deal on Korean or Chinese 20-round M-14 magazines from Eric the Am-
moman.”

“You don’t have an M1A, do you?”

“I got the cart before the horse and bought 80 magazines so I’ll sell half of the maga-
zines to you for just what I paid for them, $11 each.”

“I’d have both assault rifles and machine guns?”

“Depending on which magazine you used, yes.”

“Deal.”

100
 The Cold War – Chapter 11 – Waiting

When Clarence gave Gary the $6,840 for the 4 rifles and the 40 20-round magazines,
Gary took a chance and tried to contact Eric the Ammoman in New Jersey. He got lucky
twice. First he was able to contact the business and second, they had a lot of Lake City
7.62×51mm ammo on hand. The price was $239 for 1,000-rounds and Eric was offering
free shipping. Gary thought the price was a little steep and he said so. The guy on the
other end of the phone asked how much ammo Gary wanted and his reply was, “All I
can get for $6,840”. They agreed on 35 cases shipped by freight instead of the more
expensive carrier they usually used. It worked out to $195 and change per case. With
the 15,000 rounds that Derek and Gary already had, they now had 50,000-rounds and
could fight a couple of wars.

Clarence bought 12 cases of the ammo, 3 per rifle, leaving Gary and Derek with 38,000-
rounds between the 4 M14, modified rifles. Not a lot of ammo per rifle, but hopefully
enough. They didn’t know what they were waiting for, trouble most certainly, but they
had no idea what kind of trouble. Clarence sat down and added how much ammo it
would take to fill 40 100-round drum magazines and 40 20-round magazines.
(120x40=4,800) He had 12,000-rounds and figured he had enough for both the next 2
world wars. Ammo is like toilet paper, cigarettes or coffee; you can never have too
much.

Ask Gary, he called up Eric and replaced those 12 cases of ammo and bought a dozen
more just to get the same price. Eric had a special on Lake City .223 overruns and he
bought a twenty-five cases of it as well. Eric’s price on .22LR ammo wasn’t very good at
all and Derek loaded up on it at the Super Wal-Mart store. Gary had been secretly buy-
ing guns for some time and if Sharon ever found out, he was sure to get the funeral.
However, he needed a good concealed carry weapon. I hinted when I told you that the
S&W J-frame revolver is very compact. The air weight J-frame model 360PD only
weighed 12oz. empty and shot .357 Magnum rounds. It had a scandium alloy frame,
barrel shroud and yoke; titanium cylinder; overall length 6 5/16”. All duded up with a pair
of Crimson Trace Lasergrips and loaded with .38 +P ammo, the gun was the perfect
self-defense weapon. Gary preferred the 129-grain Federal Hydra-Shok HP at 950 fps
and 260 ft. lbs. of energy.

He didn’t use, but he preferred it. What he used instead was the Speer 135-grain Gold
Dot .38 Special +P specifically designed for the 1 7/8” barrel. Say, have you ever heard
of some guy named Ronnie Barrett? Here’s what he had to say:

In the never-ending battle to destroy our constitution, more “big lie” propaganda is being
dumped on our elected officials. The rhetoric given forth by the Violence Policy Center
(VPC) so easily deceived the legislators of California, resulting in the banning of fifty cal-
iber rifles because they are powerful and their bullets punch holes when they strike.
Even single shot .50 cal rifles were banned. It’s hard to believe we live in such a dark
time that someone has actually banned a single shot rifle. But as you will see, this is the

101
cleverest of all gun bans, and the end goal is civilian disarmament, the confiscation of
your tools of liberty, your rifles.

What lies before us is the continuation of the misinformation campaign, trying to coax
yet another state to infringe upon the US Constitution as California did. The anti-
freedom/anti-gun movement has discovered how transparent they appear when they
propose sweeping gun bans and now are successful by biting off a little at a time. Ever
so small, many politicians are trading off your rights without you recognizing their viola-
tions.

First we had the “Saturday Night Special” which was all affordable handguns, then
“sniper rifles” which were any scoped deer rifles. Those were obvious, too big a scam to
go unnoticed, but with the creation and demonization of the term “assault weapon,” the
Clinton’s Crime bill produced a wasted 10-year setback on your freedoms and safe gun
design. Now comes another scam. This time they are shocked to discover that rifles are
“accurate and powerful.”

This is the same bull the officials in the 1950’s fell for when they banned the self-
unfolding knife. First the knife was demonized by giving it an evil name, “switchblade,”
then we (the trusting public) were told that the problem of gang violence was solved with
its banning. How ridiculous. It’s surprising they didn’t ban the leather jacket. In reality,
gang violence was and is a serious social problem, but it was not related to manually
unfolding verses self-unfolding knives. The elected officials voting to ban an object like a
knife proved themselves unwilling or uncaring to understand the problem, and thus, in-
capable of any real solutions.

The handful of people that make up the VPC are solely responsible for the big lie on
.50’s, claiming fantastic destruction capabilities. They manipulate fear by claiming terror-
ists will use these rifles on targets of our infrastructure. “They will shut down our airports
in flames,” they claim. VPC’s Tom Diaz refers to them as “super guns” lying to his dup-
able group of politicians, concealing the facts that there are many rifle cartridges that
are comparable in performance (those will be added to the list in phase two). He is bold-
ly telling these officials (and all who will listen) that the risk of terrorist attacks on these
targets will be solved with the banning of powerful rifles, in this case, the .50 caliber rifle.
In reality, terrorism is complex and will be defeated with improved intelligence. In this
instance, the officials voting to ban an inanimate object like a rifle prove themselves to
be ignorant of the problem of terrorism and are wasting time and resources.

You must understand the brilliance of this dangerous back door deception. Your politi-
cians are being told that the fifty is a highly destructive cartridge that can destroy air-
planes, fuel transport trucks and depot storages of fuel. They show videos like the one
on 60 Minutes showing a ½-inch plate of steel being pierced by a .50 cal round while
stopping a .308 caliber. This is all to confuse the people, those with little exposure to
firearms; their impression concludes that the .50 punches holes in sensitive targets
where other rifles cannot. Had they shot actual aluminum that is used on airplane con-
struction, or aluminum or steel used in actual transport or tank construction, both the .50

102
and the .308 will pierce along with most all centerfire cartridges. But this, they must
keep secret.

First, with the confusion of massive, (although incorrect) technical data and the ham-
mering of urgency, the VPC demands a ban or strict regulations on rifles that chamber a
cartridge that has the ability to penetrate targets. Sound ridiculous? It is.

VPC’s Tom Diaz appears often on TV with maps of Washington, DC, irresponsibly in-
structing where to position one’s self to illegally fire on vulnerable important targets of
our government, promising these specific targets will be safe when .50’s are banned.
He pressures politicians to act quickly on this URGENT legislation needed to make
these terrorist targets safe, hoping they will act before the VPC lies are discovered.

Now slow down. A ban on a rifle because the cartridge it shoots penetrates targets? By
the legislation naming and defining the targets that are damageable by rifle fire, and in
this case, .50 cal. rifle fire, they create a new class of rifles. This new class is not de-
fined by such foolishness as detachable magazines, flash hiders, or pistol grips. In-
stead, the test is; does it fire a bullet that punches a hole, and can the hole result in
damage to specified and named targets? If so, the law-abiding citizen shouldn’t be al-
lowed to have this, so they must ban this class of rifle before they can be misused. This
is the very thing California has just passed!

“Now, we are only talking about those powerful .50 cals, right? It’s such a small class,
no one will mind or even notice.” That’s what the VPC’s lies have led you to believe. No,
remember they are banning rifles because specific targets named in our infrastructure
are susceptible to damage. Now tell me, what centerfire rifle cartridge won’t punch holes
in those targets? What centerfire rifle cartridge is not powerful? Not many or not any?
So, in order to comply with the spirit and intent of the law, the Attorney General or State
Secretary must add those cartridges to the banned list. The big lie is exposed. They
aren’t just talking about .50’s. They’re after your hunting rifles, centerfire target rifles and
just about any rifle you own.

Unlike California, we cannot allow any of our local, state, or federal officials to be de-
ceived with any of this “big lie” gun control propaganda. The US has every gun law that
could possibly be needed. Virtually every real world scenario of firearm abuse is already
covered in some law that is currently on the books.

Many of you have inquired as to the outcome of the letter I wrote to Police Chief Bratton
of the LAPD. Unfortunately, the chief’s position did not change. He continued to use his
officers in the same deceptive practices formerly utilized with the city council. These few
officers testifying in Sacramento ultimately contributed to the unconstitutional AB50 law
being passed. It saddened me to have to tell members of the LAPD SWAT team that
they would have to send someone for their rifle, because I refused to assist anyone or
any organization that is in violation of the United States Constitution. In turn, the de-
partment arranged to pick up their un-serviced rifle.

103
Barrett cannot legally sell any of its products to lawbreakers. Therefore, since Califor-
nia’s passing of AB50, the state is not in compliance with the US Constitution’s 2nd and
14th Amendments, and we will not sell nor service any of our products to any govern-
ment agency of the State of California.

I appreciate all the phone calls and E-mails from LAPD officers and civilians during that
time, encouraging and supporting our actions. We shall see if other firearms companies
will follow this path. I know many are corporately owned and feel like they are unable to
risk the life of their company for the liberties of our nation, but if we lose our Republic,
our freedom, what good is any of it? I am in the proud and fortunate position that many
of our forefathers were in when they risked all for our liberties.

Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life
so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? For-
bid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me
liberty or give me death! – Patrick Henry

This “ban large bore” insanity failed in Washington years ago, but that didn’t discourage
the VPC. Now it’s resurfacing in city council meetings, in individual states, and it’s being
reintroduced in Washington. NRA-ILA Executive Director, Chris Cox, once told me
“These (anti-freedom, anti-gun) guys never go away, and they never quit.”

I’ve received thousands of E-mails and letters from you offering encouragement and
support. Our Republic, our liberty, needs and demands your support. You must take ac-
tion to guard your rights. First, find your State Senator and State Representative. Tell
them not to fall for this scam. This lie depends on the elected official being naive about
firearms and their capabilities. Stand ready to carry this same message to your US
Senator and Representatives. Know all of your elected officials’ positions on gun issues.
Do not elect any anti-gun person to any position!

Position yourself with me in the battles that we must fight. You need to join the NRA, the
Fifty Caliber Shooters Association, and the NSSF in order to stay informed. These peo-
ple have been with me in the trenches, fighting for every inch of the liberty you enjoy.

Today we draw a line; there will be no more nibbling at our freedom. Today you stand
idle no longer. Today you do something to save our country!

There’s a man with an opinion! You can talk to your Representative or Senator until
you’re blue in the face. It isn’t going to make any difference. The politicians already had
their minds made up before they were elected. LA was so desperate to enforce its stu-
pid laws; they imported a New Yorker as their new Chief of Police. Chief Bratton re-
turned to New York in 1994 when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appointed him as the 38th
Police Commissioner. His re-organization of that 50,000-person department with a $2.3
billion dollar budget resulted in a 39% decline in serious crimes and a 50% reduction in
homicides. As the LAPD Chief, his responsibilities include the supervision of 9,304
sworn and 3,055 civilian employees. Chief Bratton directs all patrol, investigative and

104
administrative operations and administers an annual budget of $927 million. Go back to
New York or Boston where you belong.

The next thing you know, someone will be questioning John McCain’s patriotism. When
they threw him into the Hanoi Hilton, he had two broken arms, a broken knee and a
screwed up shoulder. According to other prisoners, McCain was the most abused guest
of the NVA. In 1967, he was shot down over Vietnam, and was held as a prisoner of war
in Hanoi for five-and-a-half years. When his captors discovered he was the son and
grandson of admirals, he was offered a chance to go home, but he refused to break the
military code that POWs are released in the order that they are captured.

He was finally released from captivity in 1973, having survived the injuries he received
when he was shot down, the beatings from an angry crowd and his captors, a year of
torture, and two years of solitary confinement. Once released, his POW injuries pre-
vented him from receiving a sea command, so in 1977, he became a Navy liaison to the
Senate. He was discharged from the Navy in 1981 as a Captain, on the day he watched
his father buried next to his grandfather, in Arlington National Cemetery. During his mili-
tary career he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple
Heart, and a Distinguished Flying Cross. Deciding years later to not live with hatred in
his heart, he forgave his captors for his treatment. Tacky, the guy must be a Christian;
I’d have never forgiven them. John Kerry is a Vietnam veteran, too. And, despite rumors
to the contrary, John McCain and John Kerry aren’t in the same league.

Kerry’s first Purple Heart came when he suffered a shrapnel wound in the left arm
above the elbow. The shrapnel was removed and the wound was treated with bacitracin
antibiotic and bandaged. Kerry still has shrapnel in his left thigh because the doctors
tending to him decided to remove the damaged tissue and close the wound with sutures
rather than make a wide opening to remove the shrapnel. Kerry was wounded twice that
day, and he would receive his third Purple Heart. His injuries included shrapnel wounds
in his left upper buttock, which were treated with antiseptic lotion and bandaged. He al-
so suffered contusions (bruises) on his right forearm from hitting the bulkhead when the
mine exploded near his boat, which was treated with warm soaking. Kerry also got the
Bronze Star on that occasion and had earlier received the Silver Star. Kerry’s com-
manding officer, Lieutenant George Elliott, joked that he didn’t know whether to court-
martial him for beaching the boat without orders or give him a medal for saving the
crew. Elliott recommended Kerry for the Silver Star, and Zumwalt flew into An Thoi to
personally award medals to Kerry and the rest of the sailors involved in the mission.

Never question John Kerry’s patriotism. He actually had to have stiches one time. Did
you every watch the movie, The Bridges of Toko-Ri? To put Kerry’s Vietnam career into
perspective, Admiral Zumwalt was Kerry’s Fredric March and John Kerry was Admiral
Zumwalt’s William Holden. Admiral Zumwalt must have gotten tired of giving Kerry
medals, he sent him home to his girlfriend, Hanoi Jane. Yes sir, both John McCain and
John Kerry were heroes of the war in Vietnam. Without those Band-Aids and bacitracin,
Kerry would have surely died. Did I mention that I don’t like John Kerry?

105
°

Sorry, I got off the subject. We’re sitting around Flippin Arkansas waiting for the next
disaster.

“Did you feel that?” Clarence asked.

“Feel what?”

“It sort of felt like an earthquake.”

The New Madrid Seismic zone lies within the central Mississippi Valley, extending from
northeast Arkansas, through southeast Missouri, western Tennessee, western Kentucky
to southern Illinois. Historically, this area has been the site of some of the largest earth-
quakes in North America. Between 1811 and 1812, 4 catastrophic earthquakes, with
magnitude estimates greater than 7.0, occurred during a 3-month period. Hundreds of
aftershocks followed over a period of several years. The largest earthquakes to have
occurred since then were on January 4, 1843 and October 31, 1895 with magnitude es-
timates of 6.0 and 6.2 respectively. In addition to these events, seven events of magni-
tude >= 5.0 have occurred in the area. Instruments were installed in and around this ar-
ea in 1974 to closely monitor seismic activity. Since then, more than 4000 earthquakes
have been located, most of which are too small to be felt. On average one earthquake
per year will be large enough to be felt in the area.

The New Madrid seismic zone is so named because the town of New Madrid, Missouri
was the closest settlement to the epicenters of the 1811-1812 quakes. At that time, St.
Louis and other major cities in the central US were sparsely settled. At least 3 of the se-
ries of earthquakes were felt throughout much of the US and as far away as Quebec.
The potential for the recurrence of such earthquakes and their impact today on densely
populated cities in and around the seismic zone, has generated much research devoted
to understanding earthquakes. By closely monitoring the earthquake activity, scientists
can hope to understand their causes, recurrence rates, ground motion and disaster mit-
igation. The probability for an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or greater is significant in the
near future, with a 50% chance by the year 2000 and a 90% chance by the year 2040.
A quake with a magnitude equal to that of the 1811-1812 quakes could result in great
loss of life and property damage in the billions of dollars. Scientists believe we could be
overdue for a large earthquake and through research and public awareness may be
able to prevent such losses.

The New Madrid Fault was to the east of Flippin, ½ a state away. Gary didn’t feel what-
ever it was that Clarence was talking about, it wasn’t the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Un-
less an earthquake rattled their mirror doors, Gary never knew when they happened. It

106
couldn’t be as bad as living on top of the San Andreas Fault out in Palmdale. Perhaps
Clarence was just over sensitive, he only lived a mile from the San Andreas back in Cal-
ifornia. From chapter 2 of the story: The tallest forms the contractor had available were
9’ forms and Gary suggested that he use them. He wanted the walls a minimum of 9”
thick and a foot would make him happier. To finish their new home off, Gary put a 30kw
Onan residential generator and an air filtration system for the basement. The overhead
of the basement was made from pre-stressed concrete slabs. Did I mention they were
12” thick? What’s the point of building an elaborate shelter without a good lid?

“It must be your imagination, Clarence, I didn’t feel anything,” Gary replied.

“How far are we from that fault zone?”

“It follows the Mississippi River, Clarence. I think I-55 runs just east of the fault. Its east
of Jonesboro and that’s about 150 miles. We might shake, rattle and roll if they have a
Big One, but considering the alternatives, Flippin is pretty safe. They have earthquakes
everywhere. Iowa has had a few and Manhattan Island has several faults.”

Scientists estimate that the probability of a magnitude 6 to 7 earthquake occurring in

this seismic zone within the next 50 years is higher than 90%. Such an earthquake
could hit the Mississippi Valley at any time. It would be a bad quake when it happened.
The region is home to millions of people, including those in the cities of St. Louis, Mis-
souri, and Memphis, Tennessee. Adding to the danger, most structures in the region
were not built to withstand earthquake shaking, as they have been in California and Ja-
pan. Moreover, earthquake preparations also have lagged far behind. Earthquakes in
the central or eastern United States affect much larger areas than earthquakes of simi-
lar magnitude in the western United States. For example, the San Francisco, California,
earthquake of 1906 (magnitude 7.8) was felt 350 miles away in the middle of Nevada,
whereas the New Madrid earthquake of December 1811 (magnitude 8.0) rang church
bells in Boston, Massachusetts, 1,000 miles away. Differences in geology east and west
of the Rocky Mountains cause this strong contrast.

Clarence went to a window and looked at the sky. “Gary, if a tornado doesn’t get us,
and we escape the earthquake, I’d bet a rock would pop out from behind the sun and
wipe out the planet. I don’t think Russia would attack us now, but you never know about
these things.”

“Russia will wait until we get the country rebuilt, Clarence. That’s going to be a while.
You’re as fatalistic as I am.”

“That’s what I get for being around you for so long.”

107
(Fatalism: 1 – The doctrine that all events are predetermined by fate and are therefore
unalterable; and, 2 – Acceptance of the belief that all events are predetermined and in-
evitable.)

By the time you get to your 60’s you have seen a lot. Much of what you have seen de-
fies explanation. It tends to be very difficult to avoid being a little fatalistic. You’ve seen
epidemics, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, volcanic
eruptions and those are just the natural hazards. If you’re old enough, you’ve also seen
a World War, a 3-year Police Action, an 8-year war we lost because it wasn’t winnable
and countless other fights, the latest being the nuclear exchange between the US and
North Korea followed by the exchange between China and the US. Maybe things like
wars aren’t predetermined, but name a few wars that were avoided after the ball got roll-
ing. The only one I can think of was The Cold War, which never really ended like every-
one thought it did until China and the US ended it.

Military forces use first strikes, also called preemptive strikes, when they need surprise
or the extra strength they get from the element of surprise. The US made a first strike
on Korea when they saw the Koreans fueling their missiles. That first strike worked. The
US made a first strike on China with 2 cruise missiles when China attacked Taiwan. The
first strike didn’t work. The difference was in the US’s approach to the problems. They
took out all 7+ of the North Korean missiles. If they were going to do that to China, they
needed to attack all of China’s missiles simultaneously using Trident II missiles. When
they didn’t, China retaliated. The devil is always in the details. The fly time on a coastal
launch of a Trident II is a matter of very few minutes; perhaps so short China couldn’t
have retaliated. The sad part was the US knew this because that was what the Cuban
Missile Crisis was about. People who forget history…

Japan made a preemptive strike on the US at Pearl Harbor. They missed the carriers
and the battleship had already seen its day. In 1967, the Israelis made a preemptive
strike against the Egyptians. In the first 24-hours, Israel destroyed almost 300 Egyptian
aircraft and pushed the Egyptians back toward the Suez Canal. It was called the Suez
Crisis and Israel won. They warned Jordan not to intervene and the Jordanians ignored
them. That cost the Jordanians their air force and the West Bank. Moshe Dayan hadn’t
planned on taking either the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. Forty years later, Israel was
still fighting with the Palestinians. The First Gulf War was won by using a preemptive
strike against Iraq and following it up with a major land battle that lasted only 4 days.
Operation Iraqi Freedom captured Iraq in 3 weeks, but the US screwed the pooch be-
cause they lacked the final element of every preemptive strike, a viable exit strategy.
Lack of a viable exit strategy was also Japan and Israel’s mistake.

There is a disaster every minute of every hour of every day of every year somewhere in
the United States. It might be something as simple as that auto accident. It might be
something as serious as one of those super volcanoes erupting. According to NOAA,
the 2005 hurricane season was going to be worse than 2004 and 2006 was going to be

108
worse than 2005. It had something to do with a 30-year hurricane cycle. I sure hope the
squirrels down in Florida got the generators, spare gas and flashlight batteries. On De-
cember 3, 2004, Dr. Gray’s team issued their first extended range forecast for the 2005
season. They predicted a slightly above-average season, with 11 named storms, 6
reaching hurricane strength, and 3 reaching Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Additionally, they predicted a greatly increased chance of a major hurricane striking the
East Coast of the United States and the Florida peninsula. However, even these above-
normal forecasts are below the activity level of the 2004 season.

In their April 1, 2005 update, Dr. Gray’s team revised their December forecast upwards.
The updated forecast predicts 13 named storms, 7 hurricanes, with three reaching Cat-
egory 3 strength or greater. The odds of a storm striking the US were also raised slight-
ly. The first 13 names on the list of 2005 hurricanes are Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis,
Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katrina, Lee and Maria. The other names are
Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rita, Stan, Tammy, Vince and Wilma.

I wonder if Tammy will get the doctor this year? Who made the best Tammy, Debbie
Reynolds or Sandra Dee? Sandra Dee died on February 20, 2005, but Debbie is hang-
ing in there. Having survived losing her first husband to Elizabeth Taylor, she was be-
coming the unsinkable Debbie Reynolds. Her second husband lost his fortune, and
hers, too. She had to keep working and turned to stage musicals when Hollywood
stopped making them. Now she has her own casino in Las Vegas, a home for her Hol-
lywood museum. Debbie went broke and sold the hotel and casino. And, her daughter
Carrie looked pretty good in a bikini as Princess Leia. (Nice legs.)

Gary looked out the window too, but he didn’t see any rocks hurling in from the sun.
Clarence left to go home and practice his bugle. Gary decided it was time to update his
inventory of survival supplies.

Food – 21 people for ~ 1-year √

Coffee – 240 pounds √
Propane – 2,950 gallons √
Gasoline – 300-gallons √
.22 – 10,000 √
.223 – 15,000 √
.308 – 62,000 √
.32 Auto – 250 √
.38 +P – 1,000 √
.357 – 1,000 √
.45ACP – 2,000 √
.45 Colt – 2,000 √
12-gauge slugs – 1,000 √
12-gauge 00 buckshot – 1,000 √
Flashlight batteries √

109
Kerosene √
Cigarettes – 60 cartons of Kools and 15 cartons of Marlboro √
Toilet paper – 50 packages of 30 rolls each √
Prescriptions – 2-year supply √
Princess Leia – on backorder

Peter Mayhew at 7’3” played Chewbacca. Among the aliens in Jabba the Hutt’s entou-
rage are ones named “Klaatu,” “Barada” and “Nikto,” after the command given to the
robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). The dancer that Jabba drops into the
Rancor pit loses her top as she falls in. (Missed that.) David Prowse only portrayed
Darth Vader completely for the first half of the movie. In the second half of the movie,
the character was played by Bob Anderson (stuntman/sword master) during the fight
sequence, and Sebastian Shaw after the character is unmasked. James Earl Jones
voiced the character throughout, with the exception of the unmasking scene. Carrie
Fisher complained about her costumes in the previous two movies. She said they were
so long, you could not tell, “she was a woman”. Those complaints led to the skimpy out-
fit she wore as Jabba’s prisoner.

Lock Martin played Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still. He was 7’7” tall. Patricia Neal
has admitted in interviews that she was completely unaware during the filming that the
film would turn out so well and become one of the great science-fiction classics of all
time. She assumed it would be just another one of the then-current and rather trashy
flying saucer films that were popular at the time, and she found it difficult to keep a
straight face while saying her lines. She and her boyfriend made 3 movies together. Her
boyfriend was my namesake, Gary Cooper. He was married but quite the ladies’ man.
When she and her husband of 30 years got divorced, he married her (former) best
friend. Yes I’m stalling, it’s too late in the chapter to start something and introduce you
to Cliff Hanger.

110
 The Cold War – Chapter 12 – Upping the Ante

Just short of 6 months after Ron distributed the rifles, Linda and he came back to Flippin
for a visit. It was Labor Day 2009.

The US had cleared away the damage and was into the rebuilding process. Congress
had adopted a Uniform Building Code for the country and tied compliance to a withhold-
ing of federal funds. The gist of the building code was that buildings would be resistant
against all manner of natural calamities. A companion bill provided a tax credit for peo-
ple who built FEMA approved shelters.

“What a crock,” Ron said. “They waited until the horse was in the next county before
they closed the barn door this time.”

“What are you babbling about?” Gary inquired.

“That new building code.”

“What about it?”

“It was about 30 years late. Now that the Chinese have attacked the country, they start
what amounts to a Civil Defense Program.”

“The Department of Homeland Security followed 9/11, so it’s business as usual. I wish
they’d repeal the Patriot Acts.”

“And give up the extra power and restore our rights? It’ll never happen.”

“Hey Ron, good to see you,” Clarence said joining his short friends.

“What’s new Clarence? Your house done?”

“It’s finished and I get to take that new tax credit on my shelter. Big deal, Shirley and I
didn’t pay much in taxes anyway.”

“Did you get the M14’s from Gary?”

“And 12,000-rounds of ammo,” Clarence explained.

“If we ever find ourselves using the rifles as SAW’s, you’re going to run out of ammo
pretty darn quick, partner,” Gary said.

“This is a nice quiet little town, Gary. I doubt we’d ever have to use those rifles unless
we went hunting.”

111
“I hope you’re right, Clarence. If we need to defend our homes in the middle of the
Ozark Mountains, the whole country will be in trouble.”

“Mark and Paula headed back to Austin in July,” Ron announced. “Linda’s sister moved
to Albuquerque and Jennifer and Brenda are going to move back to Ft. Smith.”

“It will be so quiet you won’t be able to hear yourself think,” Gary chuckled. “As soon as
Amy finishes Law School and passes the bar, she’s planning on moving out.”

“Robert has his cancer back and the doctors told him it’s inoperable.”

“Sorry, partner, what are you going to do, you know…?”

“John is moving in with the sister-in-law and we’re selling the home. Where can I find
property to build on here in Flippin?”

“The Three Amigos are going to be back together? Great! There’s property available all
over the area. Talk to a realtor tomorrow. The contractor that built our homes is pretty
good with the shelter construction. You’ll have to get started on that home pretty quick
or wait until spring,” Gary responded.

“Could the two of you manage the project? I can set up a bank account here in Flippin
and put enough money in the account so you can acquire the incidentals. I think maybe
we’ll want a 30kw Onan standby residential generator, a couple of 25ft³ freezers and so
forth,” Ron said.

“Have the contractor get it all for you and put it in Ron. He can probably save you some
money,” Clarence suggested. “What do you have in mind for a home?”

“Lyn and I paid a pretty penny for the architect to design the home we’re living in. We
really like the floor plan so we’re building the same thing here in Flippin.”

The following day, Ron and Linda found 5 acres they liked and paid cash. They met with
the contractor that evening and gave him the blue prints to their home in Cedar Hill. The
contractor said the plans exceeded the requirements of the new federal building code
so he didn’t anticipate any problems get the plans approved. Ron gave the fella his
shopping list for the basement shelter including a 3 bar blast door and 3 bar cutoff
valves for the blast filters and generator. He even told the contractor where to buy them.
The contractor told Ron and Linda that he could get the home closed in before winter
and could have it finished by sometime in March or April of 2010. The biggest problem
would be in putting in the well Ron wanted in the basement.

“I guess we’ll be back in April, fellas,” Ron told his friends. “We’ll probably need a whole
moving van to ourselves.”

112
“Are you going to have any trouble selling your home in Cedar Hill?” Gary asked.

“Are you kidding? They’ll be lined up to buy the place. We should make a tidy profit be-
cause it has everything a survival minded family would want. We heading out tomorrow
and I took your advice about having the contractor do everything. I’m not going to need
the two of you to keep an eye on the project after all.”

April 2010, Flippin, AR…

Robert had passed and Ron and Linda had sold their home in Cedar Hill, NM. John had
moved in with his aunt and Jennifer and Brenda had moved into new homes in Ft.
Smith. Ron had been right about the moving van and they had enough ‘stuff’ to move to
fill the moving van ¾ full. They had even boxed their meat in coolers filled with dry ice
and moved it to Flippin. It took the 3 movers a day and a half to unload the truck and
they didn’t really arrange anything, they just got it in the basement, on the first floor or
the second. Gary got David’s boys to help and two days later everything was in place
and Ron and Linda were ready to settle in.

The contractor had been able to get Ron a used 30,000-gallon propane tank and had it
filled with 27,000-gallons of propane. The new home had a 200-amp electrical service
and a 200-amp transfer switch. It was pretty fancy. They had a 5-bedroom house in
case Brenda, Jennifer, John or Linda’s sister showed up. They didn’t really expect the
sister; she had been the person who’d bought their home in Cedar Hill. She told Linda
that Albuquerque gave her the jitters.

“Did you feel that?” Ron asked. “I’d swear that felt like an earthquake.”

“It probably was, Ron,” Clarence laughed. “We’re only about 150 miles from the New
Madrid Fault Zone.”

“You two yard birds are just oversensitive,” Gary smirked. “Our homes are everything
proof and it’s a long way to that fault.”

“Didn’t you feel it?” Ron asked.

“It didn’t rattle my closet doors, so it couldn’t have been very big. Clarence, have you
checked the sky lately?”

“I haven’t had time. I’ve been practicing my bugle calls.”

“What kind of horses do I want to buy for my ranch?” Ron asked.

113
“Tennessee Walking Horses,” Gary replied. “And if you want pack animals, I’d suggest
Morgan’s or Mules. I don’t see how you can call 5 acres a ranch and in this part of the
country, they’re called farms.”

“Where do I go to find the horses?” Ron asked.

“Hell, I don’t know, Tennessee?” Gary quipped.

The following day, Ron contacted the contractor and told him he wanted a slab and an
insulated steel building to house a small herd of horses, cattle and possibly hogs and
poultry. The contractor told Ron it would take about a month to get the building in. Ron
hired David’s boys to erect a fence around their property. He hired a local man with a
Ford tractor and a posthole digger to begin to put in the postholes for the new fence.
The boys waited until the fella had ⅔ of the postholes dug before they started setting
the posts. They caught up with the guy about the time he finished. In the Midwest, most
farmers put in a wood post every 30’ and 2 steel posts 10’ apart between each wooden
post. A roll of string and a tape measure insured the boys spaced the posts correctly.
They stretched in a roll of hog wire and when that was done added 3 strings of barbed
wire. By the time the fence was in, the contractor had Ron’s barn finished and The
Three Amigos headed to Tennessee to buy horses.

“I don’t know why you want livestock, Ron,” Gary complained. “When you have live-
stock, you have to stay home all of the time and tend them. The hogs, cattle and poultry
have to be fed, the eggs gathered and the horses fed and groomed. You’ll be 68 in Sep-
tember, and most guys your age would be selling off the family farm, not starting one.”

“I’m just getting ready for Armageddon, partner,” Ron replied.

“Been there, done that got the t-shirt,” Gary replied. “After World War III, what else could
happen?”

“I can’t quite picture you milking a cow, Ron,” Clarence replied. “Are you sure it’s ok for
you to be shoveling pig manure with your heart in the shape it’s in?”

“I’m a gentleman farmer,” Ron laughed. “We’re going to get a hired hand to take care of
the livestock and keep up our grounds.”

“Sharon says that I have to buy her a horse. I’m darned if I know why, she hasn’t ridden
since 1976.”

“Are you going to buy a horse named Salina for yourself?” Clarence asked.

“Screw you Clarence, I’m sorry I ever told you about that danged horse,” Gary replied.
“I’m buying the gentlest mare I can find. If she even looks like she wants to run, I’m go-
ing to shoot her. I’m too dang old for this crap anyway. The good news is that it will be

114
an excuse for me to buy a Winchester in .45 Colt caliber rifle. How much are you going
to charge me to board 2 horses, Ron?”

“Whatever the going rate is in this part of the country, Gar-Bear. What kind of tack are
you going to buy?”

“I’m going to let Sharon pick out her own saddle, partner. I’m going to get a McClellan
with a soft Calvary seat for myself.”

“This isn’t the wild, wild west, you know,” Ron pointed out.

“I live on the west side of town, sure it is,” Gary replied.

“What did the 10th Calvary use?” Clarence asked.

“The McClellan.”

“That’s what I’m getting then.”

Each of the men bought 2 Tennessee Walking Horses mares that had been bred. The
seller would deliver the horses and Ron wanted to look for a couple of Black Angus
heifers. He’d get the vet in the area to artificially inseminate them when they were old
enough. Linda had placed an order for pullets so they already had chickens on the way.
Back in Arkansas, Ron found a farmer with a Holstein cow that was almost due to birth
her calf. The only thing he lacked was a hired hand to take care of everything and
someplace for the fella to live.

Gary got Derek to order him a Winchester Legacy model 94 in .45 Colt with a 24” barrel
through the Wal-Mart store. A series of phone calls and a little work with a tape meas-
ure got The Three Amigos tack from Four Winds. All 3 men bought the McClellan soft
Calvary saddle and the women opted for something a little nicer. The mare that Gary
bought for himself came close to eating a bullet; maybe the horse’s name was Salina
after all. Or, maybe the horse just sensed his fear and was having a little fun. Gary
wasn’t laughing.

Clarence bought a Vaquero in .45 Colt with a 7½” barrel and found one of those re-
versed Calvary holsters. Ron bought a Vaquero with a 5½” barrel and some kind of fast
draw rig. Both of the men bought identical rifles to the one that Gary ordered. They got a
good price on .45 Colt ammo by buying 5,000-rounds, 2k each for Ron and Clarence
and another 1k for Gary. Each man had selected the Heavy .45 Colt +P Ammo - 260 gr.
JHP (1,450 fps/M.E. 1,214 ft. lbs.) - 50 Round Box They were a sight riding those hors-
es. Gary was wearing stretch Levis, a golf shirt, tennis shoes and a cowboy hat. Ron
was in appropriate dress and Clarence was wearing his 10th Calvary uniform. The la-
dies refused to ride with them because The Three Amigos appearance was embarrass-
ing.

115
Clarence tried blowing the bugle and got bucked off for his efforts. Gary decided to test
the theory that shooting a rifle from the back of a horse was only something that hap-
pened in the movies. At least he didn’t break anything when he hit the ground. That
mare got awfully shy for a while after that, they flat near had to tie her down to get Gary
back on her back. Gary had so many contusions he could barely walk.

“Gar-Bear, you have to wear something besides those faded old jeans and a golf shirt,”
Ron said.

“Why?”

“You look like hell.”

“I feel like hell.”

“A long sleeve western cut shirt would hide some of the bruises.”

“If you know where I can get a pair of wranglers, I’ll get some shirts and jeans. I guess I
can wear my cowboy boots with the zippers, but you know that I can’t walk in them.”

“Sharon told Linda she needs a different horse.”

“I should have bought her the Morgan like I wanted. I figured she’d be too heavy for the
one I bought. If a Morgan can’t handle it, I guess we’ll have to go to a draft horse. We
probably ought to buy a couple of Belgians anyway.”

“What for?” Clarence asked.

“Ask Ronald, Clarence, he’s the one that started this Wild West show.”

“She told Linda she wanted a Friesian,” Ron continued.

“A whosit’s?”

“A Friesian.”

The Friesian horse is gentle, honest, sober, high mettled and clever. It is descended
from the western European horse that has been in general use from the earliest days on
and that attained high perfection in the Knight’s horse, the destrier. So far, it has been
preserved in Friesland only. There is an increase of numbers outside the province. That
it is able to achieve great performances is shown by the fact that during the demanding
marathon championships for four-in-hand teams in 1977 as many as five teams of Frie-
sian horses participated. Tjeerd Velstra from Deurne (North Brabant) became Dutch
Champion and in the same year Reserve European Champion at Donaueschingen (Ba-

116
den-Wurttemberg in Western Germany). The maintenance and improvement of the
Friesian horse is supervised by the “Het Friesch Paarden Stamboek.”

The Friesian horse is unique, truly a breed to be proud of. It developed from a very old
breed, which was inherent to all of Western Europe. It’s the only horse native to Hol-
land. Historically speaking, the Friesian horse has been influenced by eastern blood-
lines and has often been threatened with extinction. Thanks to the single-mindedness
and dauntless dedication of true horse lovers, one can still appreciate the many facets
of the Friesian horse today. The Friesian horse has a talent for dressage. The founda-
tion lies in his intelligence, willingness to learn, and readiness to perform. His pleasant
character and his gentleness make the Friesian an attractive mount for competition as
well as for recreational purposes. The riding club “De Oorsprong” (the source), from Hu-
is ter Heide near St. Nicolaasga in Friesland, has been using only Friesian horses since
1937 in order to advertise their abilities as riding horses.

“Sharon probably wants one because she read about them in one of her Harlequin Ro-
mance novels. I think that that breed was used for Knight’s horses.”

“Considering what armor must have weighed, one of those could probably haul her all
day long,” Ron suggested.

“Maybe I can find her a bred mare,” Gary said wistfully. “But I think a Morgan would be
cheaper.”

“So, make her a deal, Gar-Bear,” Ron suggested. “She gets her Friesian and you get a
M1A Super Match rifle with that fancy scope, suppressor and Harris bipod you wanted.”

“I saw Geraldo on the news last night and I almost puked,” Gary said.

“Amy is becoming a lawyer,” Clarence pointed out.

“Right, but she’s neither Jewish or Puerto Rican,” Gary countered. “I don’t think she can
even read a map, let alone draw one.”

The rifle, scope, magazines and ammo cost Gary about $5,000. The horse cost a whole
lot more because it had been breed to a Champion. The rifle was the Super Match with
the McMillian M3A ladder adjustable black stock and the Nightforce NXS 8-32×56mm
scope. At 8 power Gary could see 600-yards without a problem. He rounded out the
package with a Surefire FA762S suppressor and the Harris bipod. He also added an-
other 1,000 rounds of Black Hills 175ge BTHP match.

Let’s talk about Gary’s love for suppressors. In Europe, some countries require that your
rifle be suppressed. Putting a suppressor on a match grade rifle only improves the accu-
racy. It is also the best flashhider you can buy. Unfortunately for the federal govern-

117
ment, the NFR was destroyed when the Chinese attacked Washington. In 2010, if you
knew somebody who knew somebody, you could sometimes get a suppressor without
all of the paperwork. Hey, Geraldo, Gary has his Super Match rifle now; don’t make any
public appearances in Arkansas!

Sharon named her new horse Star because of the blaze on its forehead. The horse
stood about 17 hands. Ron had to put in a ‘loading” platform for them to mount their
horses. He hired a boy straight off the farm that knew all about livestock and put in a
16’×84’ 3 bedroom, 2 bath trailer with the desert package for him. Derek sold Ron one
of the 12kw Onan generators and replaced it with a 30RES and a new 3,300-gallon
tank. Pioneer Propane picked up both of their 500-gallon tanks and transferred the pro-
pane to Derek’s new tank. Derek had worked himself up to Department Manager of
Sporting Goods. Amy had passed the Bar Exam and was a member of the Arkansas
Bar. She had gotten a job in Little Rock at a law office that specialized in suing for per-
sonal injuries. Gary and Clarence had made arrangements that if his boys or Amy were
told to bugout to Flippin, they’d get together and caravan their way north.

Gary had given Clarence some good advice, but hadn’t taken it himself. Once Amy was
gone, he had the contractor back and had a second floor added to their 3-car garage.
Derek was getting awfully tired of Damon and his family and Gary moved them in over
the garage when the contractor had it finished, defeating his purpose entirely. Ron
bailed Gary out by adding a second floor to his 3-car garage. If Amy came back to Flip-
pin, he’d put her up, for a price of $250 a month. Gary and Sharon considered it a bar-
gain at $500 a month, but didn’t tell Ron and Linda.

It wasn’t a question of if there would be another catastrophic event; it was only a ques-
tion of when and what the next disaster would be. With his new bypass surgery and his
fancy pacemaker, Ron was good to go until 80. You didn’t really expect that The Three
Amigos wouldn’t get back together did you? The Three Amigos had become an institu-
tion. Or, maybe they just belonged in an institution.

Labor Day 2010 was a special holiday because The Three Amigos were back together
and Amy was only visiting, not living there. Amy was pretty cocky, but aren’t most law-
yers? She was talking about how they’d done this to one insurance company and that to
another. Gary had to leave the room and hide out in his basement; he couldn’t take it
any longer. He was totally convinced that Amy had only become a lawyer to get back at
him for his being a poor father (he was right). The holiday was also special because
they were nearing the 3rd anniversary of World War whatever it was between the US
and the Chinese.

“I finally bought a rifle,” Damon announced.

“What kind of rifle did you buy, Damon?” Gary asked, unnecessarily. Damon was obvi-
ously busting at the seams to tell him anyway.

118
“A Barrett.”

“What model?” Damon was obviously going to drag it out for all the mileage he could
get.

“M82A1M and Derek got me extra magazines. You’d be surprised how cheaply Wal-
Mart can buy the weapons. I got 6 spare magazines and several boxes of the Mark 211
MP Raufoss Multipurpose Ammunition.”

“What about the flashhider?” Gary asked.

“Do you mean the Reflex suppressor? That was pretty danged hard to get, you know,
but I got the Elite Iron. The well-known recoil-action Barrett M82 with the suppressor is
almost comfortable to shoot, with the suppressing effect on noise and the absence of
pressure shock on shooter and spotter. They have an integral muzzle brake to boost the
recoil brake effect. Because a suppressor adds the mass of the recoil action barrel of
the M82, I added a stiff spiral spring between the suppressor and the receiver to further
soften the felt recoil.”

“You sound like a Reflex ad.”

“Right, I memorized it.”

“What did you get for a scope?

“A Swarovski PV 6-24x50 P.”

“Pretty expensive scope.”

“Derek got the full discount on the rifle, scope and magazines.”

“Derek, front and center!” Gary yelled.

“Yes, Dad, what now?” Derek replied.

“You got lame brain a Barrett rifle, Swarovski scope and extra magazines at 40% off of
retail.”

“That’s the same deal I got you on the Springfield rifle and the Nightforce Scope,” Derek
replied.

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me you could do it on a Barrett rifle and Swarovski scope.”

“You didn’t ask.”

119
“I’m asking,” Gary said.

“Pretty danged expensive,” Derek replied.

“Sharon got the fancy horse and I want to be sure I can get Geraldo.”

“Cash on the barrelhead and you get your own suppressor,” Derek replied.

“Damon, can you get another suppressor?”

“What’s in it for me?” Damon asked.

“I won’t use you for a target.”

“Are you sure you can pick up a M82A1?”

“I’ll get a wheel kit, get me the suppressor.”

“How about I slap you upside the head and restore your reason instead?”

“You wearing your vest?”

“No.”

“Don’t try it.”

“Sheesh, listen to him,” Damon said.

“Where did you get the ammo?”

“I think it’s hotter than a $3 pistol. I can get you a little of it, but do you know anything
about it?”

“No, explain it to me.”

“The round combines armor-piercing, explosive, and incendiary effects and uses a high-
ly effective pyrotechnically initiated fuze that delays detonation of the main projectile
charge until after initial target penetration – moving projectile fragmentation and damage
effect inside the target for maximum anti-personnel and fire start effect. While the round
can be used in sniper rifles similar to the Barrett M82A1/XM107, it has the equivalent
firing power of a 20 mm projectile to include such targets as helicopters, aircraft, light
armor vehicles, ships and light fortifications, and can ignite JP4 and JP8 military jet
fuel,” Derek explained.

“Perfect! How much can you get?”

120
“I can maybe get you 240 rounds, but it will set you back another grand,” Damon re-
plied.

121
 The Cold War – Chapter 13 – The FFM

“What are the 3 of you fighting about?” Sharon asked.

“We’re not fighting, it’s just a lively discussion.”

“About what?”

“Nothing much. Damon bought himself a new rifle.”

“And I suppose that you have to have one too, huh?”

“Do you like your new horse?”

“He’s ok, but I need a new saddle.”

“Derek, make a note to measure Sharon’s horse for a new saddle and bridle,” Gary
suggested. “Any particular pattern you want?”

“Same as before, only bigger.”

“Maybe I’d better get you a rifle and scabbard just in case you run into a rattlesnake.”

“Who are you worried about? Me or the snake?”

“Just don’t try shooting the rifle while you’re in the saddle. The guy was right; they only
do that in the movies.”

“What about a handgun for me?” Sharon asked.

“What do you want?”

“Maybe a .38, they’re sort of medium sized, right?” (When in doubt, always agree.)

“Right and I already have some ammo. Derek, make a note to order a Ruger model GP-
840 for Sharon (blued .357 Magnum with fixed sights and a 4” full shrouded barrel). Get
her a Winchester legacy in the same caliber.”

“Thank you dear, just don’t fight any more,” Sharon instructed.

“I noticed you didn’t reply when she asked about the snake,” Damon smiled.

“Any snake that bit her it would probably die in 15 minutes. Get me two boxes of regular
.38 ammo so we can break her in slow. Get one box of wad cutters and one of 158-
grain round nose. They barely even recoil. We’ll load her revolver and the rifle with .357.
You’d better get a strap holster and a couple of speed loaders, too. I’m going to have to

122
talk to Ron and Clarence. The minute Sharon shows up with a rifle and revolver, Linda
and Shirley will want some too. How come that .50 cal ammo is so damned expensive?”

“I think it had to do with availability, Dad. It is totally illegal.”

“You tell your buddy that I want 600 rounds but I’m not paying any $5 a round for the
stuff. If he’s stealing it anyway, he should be happy with whatever he gets.”

“What if he says no?”

“Make him an offer he can’t refuse. Offer to blow the whistle on him. Derek, you go with
Damon and take your 10mm WOP gun. Do either one of you know anything about a
25mm cartridge that they developed to replace the 20mm cartridge for the XM29?”

“That’s the Barrett M109 25mm Payload Rifle, Dad. The Army went to them when the
XM29 couldn’t drop the weight.”

“Can you get me 3?”

“Where? Those are military only. I’m not sure they even sell them to the cops,” Derek
replied. “In fact I think they may still be experimental. The cartridge is the 25mm car-
tridge from the OCSW XM307.”

“That’s the lightweight machinegun isn’t it?”

“No, that’s the XM-312, 50 caliber machine gun. The last I heard Ronnie Barrett was
working with an ammunition company trying to perfect a cartridge to use in the M109.”

“Where is Murfreesboro, TN from here?” Gary asked.

“That’s on I-24 southeast of Nashville. I guess it might be about 450 miles.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gary responded. “Forget about the rifles for now. Take care of
the other things we talked about.”

“Hey you two, how would you like to make a trip to Tennessee?”

“What’s in Tennessee?” Ron asked.

“Barrett Firearms.”

“You can’t buy a rifle in another state,” Clarence pointed out. “Especially, probably not a
Barrett.”

123
“Ron, could Linda and you loan me $20,000?” Gary asked.

“That’s a lot of money, what do you want it for?”

“Barrett developed the M109 25mm Payload rifle. I want 3 of them, one apiece. Derek
says it’s built off the M82A1 with a different upper receiver. I was thinking that we could
somehow get into the factory and liberate the 3 I want plus some ammo. I figure $20k
ought to cover the value of what I want to liberate.”

“That would be worse than shooting my .375 H&H Magnum.”

“It’s supposed to have the recoil of a 12-gauge shotgun using 3½” shells.”

“Count me out,” Clarence said with a little anger in his voice. “It’s one thing to steal
weapons from the military after TSHTF, but I won’t be party to stealing from Ronnie Bar-
rett.”

“I don’t think I want to get involved either, Gar-Bear,” Ron shook his head. “I guess Lin-
da and I can’t spare the $20k after all.”

“Don’t get mad, it was just a thought. Anyway, Damon bought a M82A1 and some spare
magazines. Somehow, he got his hands on some of that Raufoss ammo the snipers
use. I told Derek and him that I wanted a .50 caliber rifle, magazines and some of the
ammo, too.”

October 4, 2010…

A break-in over this past weekend netted thieves a McMillan Tac-50, spare magazines,
parts kits, a Nightforce NXS 12-42×56mm riflescope, a McCann night vision rail and
Elite Iron suppressor. The authorities have no leads at this time.

“So did you buy a M82A1?” Ron asked.

“Nope, I selected another rifle,” Gary replied.

“Did you hear about the break-in at Barrett over the weekend?”

“No, what happened?”

“Somebody stole 4 of those 25mm upper receiver assemblies, magazines and all the
25mm ammo that the company had on hand.”

“Really? Do they know who did it?”

124
“Apparently they don’t have a clue.”

“We should have done that; at least I was willing to pay for what we took,” Gary ob-
served dryly.

“I’ve stood in front of all the judges that I want to in this lifetime,” Ron replied.

“It’s been a tough life,” Gary acknowledged. “When are Clarence and you going to buy
the M82A1 rifles?”

“I didn’t know we were planning on buying any.”

“I was thinking that with the 12 SAW’s you put together, the assortment of firearms we
have and all the ammo, we ought to form a Militia here in Flippin.”

“Really? You must be daft. What would you call it?”

“The Frigin’ Flippin Militia, FFM.”

“Who do you plan on joining this FFM?”

“We could start out with the 3 of us. Then we could add Damon, Derek, David and his 4
boys. If we were to add Amy and Mary to the group, we’d have an even dozen. You
have to figure that the FFM wouldn’t be doing anything unless TSHTF and in that in-
stance, we’d have Ronnie Joe, Jennifer, Brenda, James and Clarence Jr.”

“You didn’t mention Mark and Paula or John,” Ron pointed out.

“Would they be here?”

“Most likely.”

“Fine, that makes 20. We still have more weapons than we have people.”

“Maybe Derek could get some of the fellas he works with to join up,” Clarence suggest-
ed.

“You want we should use the Stars and Bars?”

“Yeah, we have to have some kind of flag; it has a long and proud heritage,” Clarence
said.

“I’d like to see that,” Ron chuckled.

“See what?”

125
“Clarence carrying the Stars and Bars.”

“It’s called the Southern Cross. The Stars and Bars was the first flag of the Confedera-
cy,” Clarence commented. (Arkansas joined the Confederacy on May 6, 1861.) “The
Southern Cross was actually a battle flag and the Confederate Navy Jack.”

“Hey wait a minute, what about the Stars and Stripes?” Ron asked.

• The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing.

• The flag is flown upside down only as a distress signal.
• The flag should not be used as a drapery, or for covering a speakers desk, draping a
platform, or for any decoration in general. Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is avail-
able for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.
• The flag should never be drawn back or bunched up in any way.
• The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
• The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroi-
dered, printed or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs,
napkins, boxes or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising
signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard.
• The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag
patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, fireman, policeman and mem-
bers of patriotic organizations.
• The flag should never have placed on it, or attached to it, any mark, insignia, letter,
word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind. (Obviously adapted from freemasonary)
• The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or de-
livering anything.
• The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle, railroad
train or boat.
• When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it
should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded
neatly and ceremoniously.
• The flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary.
• When a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of the United States, it
should be destroyed in a dignified manner, preferably by burning.
• Contrary to a commonly believed urban legend, the flag code does not state that a
flag, which touches the ground, should be burned. Instead, the flag should be moved so
it is not touching the ground.

What is usually called “The Confederate Flag” or “The Confederate Battle Flag” is still a
widely-recognized symbol. The display of the flag is controversial and a very emotional
issue, generally because of disagreement over exactly what it symbolizes. To many in
the US South it is simply a symbol of regional pride and heritage. Others see it as a
symbol of the institution of slavery (Jesse Jackson?) which the Confederate government
defended, or of the Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern States
for almost a century later. According to Civil War historian and southerner Shelby Foote,
the flag traditionally represented the South’s resistance to northern political dominance

126
generally; it became racially charged during the Civil Rights Movement, when protecting
segregation suddenly became the focal point of that resistance.

On April 12, 2000, the South Carolina state senate passed a bill to remove the flag of
the former Confederate States of America from on top of the statehouse dome by a ma-
jority vote of 36 to 7. Placed there in 1962, according to one local news report, ‘‘the new
bill specified that a more traditional version of the battle flag would be flown in front of
the Capitol next to a monument honoring fallen Confederate soldiers. The bill then went
to the House, where it encountered some difficulty. But on May 18, 2000, after the bill
was modified to ensure that the height of the flag’s new pole would be 30 feet, it was
passed by a majority of 66 to 43, and Governor Jim Hodges signed the bill five days lat-
er. On July 1, the flag was removed from the South Carolina statehouse.’’ Current state
law prohibits the flag’s removal from the statehouse grounds without additional legisla-
tion. Police were placed to guard this flag after several attempts by individuals to re-
move it. Ironically enough, in some people’s views, the flag is easier seen now then it
was atop the State House Dome.

In 1955, the Georgia state flag was redesigned to incorporate the Confederate Battle
Flag. This caused much controversy, and in January 2001, a new design was adopted
intending to recognize the Confederate Battle Flag’s historical significance while mini-
mizing its prominence. Voter backlash in 2002 booted the Governor over the issue, giv-
ing way for the state’s first Republican Governor in 130 years. In 2003, because of the
continued controversy, the flag was redesigned yet again, without any image of the
Confederate Battle Flag, although it does now strongly resemble the First National Flag
of the Confederacy, known as the “Stars and Bars.” In March of 2004, another vote was
taken giving voters the opportunity to choose between the two most recent designs of
the flag, but specifically excluded the Confederate Flag version of 1956.

The Confederate Battle Flag became a part of the Mississippi state flag in 1894, where-
upon a strange series of events ensued. In 1906, the flag statutes were omitted by error
from the new legal code of the state, leaving Mississippi without an official flag. The
omission was not discovered until 1993, when a lawsuit filed by the NAACP regarding
the flag was being reviewed by the Mississippi Supreme Court. In 2000, the Governor
issued an executive order making the flag official. After continued controversy, the deci-
sion was turned over to citizens of the state, who, on April 17, 2001, voted 2-1 to keep
the Confederate Battle Flag emblem on the state flag.

The flags of Alabama and Florida still retain the distinctive saltire, while the Arkansas
flag uses a design reminiscent of the Confederate Battle Flag. Aside from the contro-
versy over official usage, many southerners - and northerners who identify with the
south and its history - display the flag privately.

If a person is going to move to a new region of the country, it is best to observe local
traditions. (My whole point.) The Confederate Battle Flag is held in high regard in the
states that were members of the Confederate States of America. Clarence could explain
it; he was from Birmingham, Alabama originally. One way to attract a few good ol’ boys

127
to your militia was to have a flag they could rally around. Besides which, Gary had been
a rebel since his 5th birthday. (I feel a song coming on.) Nick Adams, who was best
known to audiences as Johnny Yuma of the TV series ‘The Rebel’ (1959), played leads
and supporting parts in many films of the 1950s, often cast in the same ‘troubled young
man’ mold as his good friend, James Dean. He was nominated for an Oscar for his per-
formance in Twilight of Honor (1963). He died in 1968 due to an overdose of drugs he
was taking for a nervous disorder. His son is named Jeb Stuart Adams.

Johnny Yuma was a rebel

He roamed through the west
Did Johnny Yuma, the rebel
He wandered alone

He got fightin’ mad

This rebel lad
He packed no star
As he wandered far
Where the only law
Was a hook and a draw
The rebel, Johnny Yuma

[Repeat 1st verse]

He searched the land

This restless lad
He was panther quick
And leather tough
If he figured that
He’d been pushed enough
The rebel, Johnny Yuma

[Repeat 1st verse]

Fightin’ mad
This rebel lad
With a dream he’d hold
‘Til his dyin’ breath
He’d search his soul
And gamble with death
The rebel, Johnny Yuma

The Three Amigos began flying the Confederate Battle Flag. They had no trouble re-
cruiting a few volunteers for the FFM. They didn’t want to upset anyone with the name
of the group, so they told everybody the initials represented a Latin maxim they couldn’t

128
pronounce. Most of the good ol’ boys had plenty of weapons of their own. Their favorite
knife seemed to be something they called a ‘toothpick’. James Black is credited with in-
venting both the Bowie Knife and the Arkansas Toothpick.

“Y’all from up north?” Bubba asked.

“California.”

“Y’all talk like a bunch of Yankees.”

“Would a Yankee fly the Confederate Battle Flag?”

“Thas sumthin, Bubba, they’s flyin it at all thur places.”

“Waz the reasun yur makin up this here group?”

“To defend our homes.”

“Against what?”

“Geraldo claims the Russians are coming,” Gary replied.

“Geraldo? Y’all talkin bout thet ju-boy spic? He don know nuttin’.”

Some southerners, or so it is alleged, don’t much care for Jews, Catholics, Black People
or anyone who isn’t White-Anglo Saxon-Protestant (WASP). I wonder if Bubba belongs
to the Klan? What’s that the FBI calls them? Kluckers? This is a free country and you
should be able to belong to any organization you want, just as long as you don’t step on
anybody else’s rights in the process. By the early 1970s, however, most groups claim-
ing ties to the KKK dropped anti-Catholicism from their officially-stated doctrines, and in
the mid-1980s a Klan chapter was found to exist in New York City’s borough of Queens,
with most of its reputed members in fact being Catholic, primarily of Irish descent. Gary
belongs to the NRA and used to belong to The American Legion. He was also a Free-
mason for 35 years (past tense). Ron buys an NRA membership 5 years at a time. And
all 3 of the amigos belong to AA, but not the Klan, probably because they won’t let Clar-
ence in. I don’t see why, Clarence isn’t Jewish or Catholic.

“Look what I found,” Gary announced.

“What is it?”

“It’s a McMillan Tac-50, spare magazines, parts kits, a Nightforce NXS 12-42×56mm
riflescope, a McCann night vision rail, MUNS night vision and an Elite Iron suppressor. It

129
came with 1,200 rounds each of Hornady 750r A-MAX Match and 1,200 rounds of Mk
211 Raufoss.

“Where did you find that?”

“Around.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Learn to shoot it.”

“Gar-Bear, Clarence I went ahead and got those Barrett M82A1 rifles. Where can we
get the suppressors?”

“Texas.”

“Can you get them for us?”

“Ok. How much ammo do you want?”

“We bought the Barrett ammo.”

“Good ammo. Not match grade. Now how about some of the stuff the military used in
Iraq?”

“Expensive?”

“Damon thought so, but I’m getting it pretty cheaply.”

“How did you manage that?”

“That would be kissing and telling. How much do you want?”

“A couple of thousand rounds.”

“Right, 200 rounds, apiece. I’ll get you the suppressors and 200 rounds of ammo. Figure
on about $2,500 apiece, plus the ammo.”

“How much was the ammo?”

“$5 a round before I arranged a discount.”

“Ouch. The Barrett was only about $249 per 80 round case.”

“Do the shells explode?”

130
“Nah, it was manufactured to current US Military specification MIL-C-10190 for M33
Ball. It has a 661-grain FMJ projectile at 2910 fps using 233-grains of WC860. IMI
makes it for Barrett.”

“The military snipers used the Mk 211 MP Raufoss Multipurpose Ammunition in Iraq. It
explodes as it penetrates and really does some damage. That’s why the guy charged
Damon $5 a round. We more or less negotiated and I’m now getting it for $2.50 a round.
But, I’ll have to warn you, it is probably stolen ammo.”

“One .50 caliber cartridge looks like another. I can claim I bought it at a Swap Meet or a
Gun Show. I’ll take 600 rounds to split between Clarence and me, if you can get it.”

“Ok, $3,750 total. I get you 600 rounds and talk to Damon about the suppressors.”

“Why the money up front?”

“Hell, I’m broke. There was that new rifle and revolver for Sharon, a scabbard, the M1A
Super Match, scope and suppressor, plus my latest acquisition.”

“I’ll bet,” Ron chuckled. “When do we get them?”

“Get what?”

“The upper receiver assemblies, magazines and ammo.”

131
 The Cold War – Chapter 14 – Reflections

BTW, Bubba was really Jed and his companion in the Bubba conversation was Abel.
They’d done the Bubba bit to toy with the folks from California.

“What are you babbling about?”

“Those upper receivers, magazines and ammo that were stolen from Ronnie Barrett.”

“I had nothing to do with that. I was here all of the time and Damon was busy launching
a rocket. Derek had to work all weekend, so it wasn’t any of us.”

“Do you mean to tell me that Clarence and I bought the M82A1’s for no good reason?”

“You had a couple of good reasons. First, they’re good sniper rifles and have a range of
over a mile. Second, you don’t have any other sniper rifles and I may need backup if I
ever go after Geraldo.”

“When are you buying the Kimber Eclipse II 10mm pistol,” Ron asked. “You have the
Super Match and you said it was next?”

“It’s on order. Only I didn’t get the 10mm. I got the same gun that LAPD SWAT uses.”

“Why did you buy a .45 and not a 10mm?”

“Because I already had 2,000 rounds of .45ACP ammo.”

“Why did you have that? You didn’t have a .45ACP pistol.”

“I just put it on the list to see if anyone would catch it.” (Lie)

“What are you talking about?”

“Never mind. Anyway, I ordered the Kimber Custom TLE II. Other than the markings,
the pistol is an exact duplicate of the SWAT Team’s gun. The Custom TLE II features a
match grade barrel, chamber and trigger group, high ride beavertail grip safety, beveled
magazine well, and a lowered and flared ejection port. The one-piece match grade bar-
rels are machined from solid steel forgings for both accuracy and long life. It also has
the Meprolight Tritium three dot green night sights and 30 lines-per-inch front strap
checkering. The retail price was $895, but I got it for $850.”

“So what about the M109’s?”

“What about them?”

132
“If you didn’t steal them, who did?”

“I couldn’t say. I heard a later broadcast and they said that there was no sign of forced
entry. It must have been an employee.”

“Or someone who could pick locks,” Ron suggested.

“Really? I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose you’re right. That reminds me of the guy who
left the sawmill every night with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust. The guards poked
through the sawdust every night for twenty years on the assumption he was stealing
something. He was allowed to take the sawdust and they never did find out what he was
stealing.”

“And…?”

“Wheelbarrows. Never overlook the obvious (change the subject).”

The Raufoss 12.7 mm x 99 MP NM140 (US nom. Mk 211 Mod 0), seemed like the solu-
tion to Ronnie Barrett’s problem with the ammo for the M109 to Gary. In fact, he’d sent
the company a letter suggesting that very thing (really). Raufoss made the projectiles in
calibers starting at 12.7mm and going much larger. Their products included a 20mm
projectile similar to the NM140. It might not be the projectile envisioned for the OCSW,
but it would avoid the problems associated with an intelligent cartridge. It would un-
doubtedly be cheaper, too. Using the Raufoss projectile seemed like the obvious solu-
tion. They’d probably end up reinventing the wheel. Barrett actually now produced a rifle
specifically for the Mk 211 ammo.

The letter: The Raufoss 12.7 mm x 99 MP NM140 (US nom. Mk 211 Mod 0) is used in
your .50 caliber rifle by the military. Why couldn’t you develop a cartridge for your M109
using the 20mm Raufoss projectile? I read where you folks are working with an ammo
company to develop a round for the weapon.

Barrett’s reply: We are a “gun” company and not an ammunition company... we try and
direct our resources to making the best rifles in the world based on what the military us-
es for calibers. The 25mm XM109 uses the same ammunition as XM25.

Barrett missed the point, but at least they took the time to reply.

Gary had studied everything he could find about the OCSW (M-307) and Barrett’s M109
rifle. During the development of the M-307, the cartridges (HE) had cost between $30
and $36. This was considered an improvement over the 40mm grenade at $15 each
because they required 111 rounds of ammo per kill and the 25mm grenade was ex-
pected to only use 6 rounds of ammo per kill. At full production, the rounds were esti-

133
mated to cost about $22 each. In terms of cost per kill, the Mk-19 was $1,420 while the
M-307 was $130. Hell, the government couldn’t even do the math, 6 × 22 = $132. Bar-
rett couldn’t wait for the military (General Dynamics) to develop the cartridge for the M-
307. General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems is developing the airburst
25mm ammunition. Kaman Dayron, Inc. is developing the fuze and Raytheon is devel-
oping the full-solution fire control. Remember: In all the towns and all the cities, there
are no statues to Committees; a short cut is sometimes the longest distance between
two points. (Business 101)

Gary hadn’t stolen the upper receiver assemblies, magazines or ammo. That didn’t
mean that he didn’t know who had. Neither did it mean that he did know who had. Re-
member Sgt. Schultz? Sometimes the warmest place for your head is up your ass.
That’s where the expression, get your head out of your ass comes from. The exchange
of letters came before October 4, 2010. They did make a mighty fine rifle. But, Kimber
made a mighty fine pistol. Why then were these FAQ (frequently asked questions) on
the Kimber website:

My pistol will not feed semi-wad cutter ammo. Why is this and how can I remedy the sit-
uation? – Kimber pistols are throated to handle a wide variety of ammunition types and,
like all quality 1911… (They actually answered this question, at length.)

Barrel Leading – Barrel leading may be due to a number of factors inherent in shooting
jacketed lead bullets. Barrel leading may be due to a number of factors inherent in
shooting jacketed lead bullets (stick to making guns, it is a problem inherent in shooting
unjacketed lead bullets).

My pistol has poor accuracy. What could be the problem? How do I fix it? – Kimber fac-
tory parts and firearms are manufactured to close tolerances for a high degree of accu-
racy. However, damage, wear, neglect or poor quality ammunition may result in a deg-
radation of accuracy.

And, did you notice how they didn’t really answer the questions?

The FFM ended up with about 40 full time members and more if TSHTF. Now that he
had rifles that were accurate to 600-yards, Gary spent more time on the range. He was
too old and feeble and out of shape to be a really good marksman, but he got so he
could put a full magazine in a silhouette at 600-yards. He also practiced alone with his
Mk 15 rifle. He didn’t have many of the practice rounds and had to figure out how to re-
load them. It wasn’t really that difficult, but the practice reloads were only good for
shooting single shots and not in the magazine.

134
When Gar-Bear was satisfied with the Mk15 he went ahead and gave the upper receiv-
ers, magazines and ammo to Ron and Clarence. He cautioned them that there was no
legal source of the ammo and even stolen ammo might be hard to come by. They
should get accustomed to shooting the weapons, and get them sighted in, but save as
much of the 25mm ammo as possible. Gary was beset by premonitions that the country
hadn’t seen the last of trouble. Or, maybe it was just that he was old and he wanted to
live forever. Once they local boys who joined the militia got over acting like Bubba, they
put together an effective little unit. The militia was smaller than Derek and Gary had
hoped. They wanted a full platoon, but had to settle for 3 squads, give or take.

Derek eventually got papers from the government discharging him from the Armor unit
down in Shreveport. Shreveport had taken a licking, but unlike the Timex watch, hadn’t
kept on ticking. They were rebuilding, but what remained of the National Guard units
had been absorbed into the active duty military. Moreover, gasoline was in short supply
and it was a pretty long drive to Shreveport. In order to get there, Derek would have had
to go through Little Rock, and he preferred to avoid the community at any cost.

Weapons wise, the FFM was very well equipped. They had 12 of the modified M14 ri-
fles, 3 Barrett M82A1 rifles that could easily be converted to 25mm, the 2 M1A Super
Match sniper rifles, Mini-14s, an assortment of handguns and the western type firearms
to use in an emergency. A few of the militia fellas had the HK-91’s and there was even
an occasional G3. Most of the people seemed to prefer the 7.62×51mm rifles to the
5.56×45mm rifles. Although the ammo was heavier, they felt more certain of one-shot
kills if they were ever called upon to fire their weapons in anger. The Three Amigos did
a little horse-trading on the ammo and used up most of Ron and Clarence’s Barrett IMI
M33 ball ammo, saving the Raufoss cartridges for times of trouble. As they used up the
M33 cartridges, they used Damon’s contact to acquire more of the Mk 211 cartridges.

“You seem to be getting along with that horse pretty well, these days,” Ron observed.
“How did you manage that?”

“I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I took a baseball bat in one hand and an apple in the other. I told her she had a
choice.”

“Horses can’t talk.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Have you seen her give me any more trouble?”

“Not really.”

“You know fellas we don’t really do much farming. I only have an acre or so and Clar-
ence has less land than I do. You’re the only person with any appreciable land, partner,

135
and I wouldn’t exactly call 5 acres large. Having that horse of Sharon’s makes me more
convinced than ever that I ought to get some Belgian draft horses. Maybe a 4-horse
team that we could use to pull a plow or a wagon. The thing is, Ron, I can’t afford to pay
a lot of boarding charges. What if I bought some feed instead?”

“I still have to pay the hired hand, Gar-Bear. But, we can work something out.”

Jed was the leader of the first squad. He worked at Wal-Mart with Derek. Abel (what
kind of name is that – he must be a Baptist) was in charge of the second squad. The
third squad consisted of The Three Amigos, Gary’s 2 boys, David and his 4 sons. Derek
was the leader of squad three. Gary and Sharon had a lot of conversations about
Derek’s medical training in the service because he was a Combat Lifesaver and Sharon
couldn’t understand why Derek didn’t become a Paramedic. If it had been Gary’s
choice, Derek would stay in school until he became Physician’s Assistant. Sharon sug-
gested that they pay for Derek to take EMT training. Arkansas divided the training into 3
levels: EMT –ambulance, Intermediate or Paramedic level. The closest place to get
Basic level training was Mountain Home. Maybe they were wrong, but it appeared that
the closest place to get all 3 levels of training was Jonesboro.

It took a lot of cajoling to get Derek to agree to take EMT – Ambulance training, but he
aced the course. Derek was putting in 16 and 18 hour days getting the training and
wasn’t sure that he’d go beyond Intermediate level, but it was a start. Maybe Derek
didn’t share Gary’s interest in medicine. Their two most common interests were in fire-
arms and knives. Derek’s personal interests were in armor and dinosaurs. Gary had on-
ly seen an M1A1 Abrams tank when he had visited Derek at Ft. Irwin, when Derek had
been taking desert training. It was a danged shame that with all of that training, the Ar-
my had sent him to Iraq as an MP.

As with any informal organization, the squads were based as much on friendships as
anything else. Jed and Abel were buddies from way back in grade school and their two
squads worked like one well-oiled unit. The third squad was mostly a family unit with
Ron and Clarence tossed in. If TSHTF, the third squad would grow in size to a double
squad or possibly a fourth squad; but, that would mean dividing the third squad into 2 5-
man units supplemented with James, Clarence Jr., Ronnie Joe and the women. Unit
training was a problem for the third, and possibly fourth, squad. It meant getting Jennifer
and Brenda up from Ft. Smith and Clarence Jr. and James up from Little Rock. They
only managed to get in one weekend a month. Half the time was spent on the range
keeping their weapons skills honed and the other moving around the mountains practic-
ing guerilla-type movements.

All of the younger generation had been very careful when they rebuilt or bought after
they’d returned to Ft. Smith or moved to Little Rock. Unless it was a dire emergency,
they could weather the storm very well right where they were. All of them had built con-
crete block storm shelters buried in their backyards and equipped with standby genera-

136
tors, food, weapons, etc. Each family had a used, closed 6’x12’ trailer that they could
load their things into and bug out to Flippin in an all-out emergency. It would take them
the better part of an hour’s work to load their things and leave, but they essentially had
2 options. Two options were twice as many as most people had, because although the
US had adopted a Civil Defense program, after WW III (?), most people still relied on
the government and didn’t make their own preparations.

Four years into the country’s recovery from the event that ended the Cold War, found
things greatly changed in the United States. No longer was the US the world’s police-
man. Once the cleanup was over, Britain, Canada, Mexico and the Australians had re-
turned home and left it to the Americans to rebuild their cities. As mentioned, Congress
had gotten into the act with the Uniform Building Code. The companion bill that author-
ized the tax credit for building shelters also provided for extra federal assistance to
communities that put in community shelters and stocked them. In case you’re curious
where Gonzales, TX is, it is located about 50-60 miles east of San Antonio on US 183. I
only bring that up because after the war there was a high demand for certified survey
meters and potassium iodide and iodate tablets. The thing is, a survey meter should be
recalibrated about every 3 years and Radmeters4U wasn’t getting the return business
they expected.

You know how it is after any type of disaster, people cleanup and rebuild and many
promptly forget all about what put them in the position they found themselves in, in the
first place. They forget to replace the batteries for their flashlights, don’t exercise that
portable generator they were lucky enough to find and slowly used up the extra food
they’d inventoried. They were probably all convinced that after a disaster of that magni-
tude, God was going to give them a free ride for the remainder of their lives. That may
just be so, because unless they remained prepared, their life might end up being shorter
than they anticipated.

While the odds were totally against something like the San Andreas Fault triggering the
Cascadia subduction zone triggering the Long Valley caldera triggering Yellowstone and
the New Madrid Fault Zone, never assume that something like that can’t happen. If you
do, you will make an ass / u / me. If the US dropped the first nuclear weapons on Japan
in 1945 and it took until 2007 for nuclear weapons to be used in earnest again, why
would anybody assume that they could never be used a third time? The situation be-
tween India and Pakistan was an on-again, off-again affair, at best. Israel was no longer
on nuclear alert in 2011. A country simply cannot remain on alert all of the time or they
lose their edge. The US was watchful, not on alert. That never changed, regardless of
what had happened to the country.

Times change and that was never more apparent than when Gary or Ron or Clarence
went to the gas pump. As young men, they had usually paid about 21 cents a gallon for
gasoline. In the 1970’s that all changed and in 2011, the price of unleaded regular (87
octane) was well over $4 a gallon and closer to $5 than to $4. Part of the price differ-

137
ences around the country could be blamed on environmentalists. Gasoline in California
seemed to have more additives than anywhere else in the country and the price reflect-
ed it. After the war, gas-guzzlers gave way to very economical vehicles, just like they
did in the 1970’s. But, 4 years later, some companies began to market larger, less effi-
cient engines.

Perhaps some good had come out of the war. Most of the new buildings were much bet-
ter equipped to deal with Mother Nature’s temper tantrums. The infrastructure had to be
rebuilt, eliminating the problems that had existed before with things like the electrical
distribution system. Replaced refineries and factories took advantage of the latest in
technology and were not only energy efficient but environmentally sound. However, coal
was still the cheapest source of electrical power and the journey into relying on the sun,
wind and hydroelectric power was advancing only slowly. They no longer used fuel oil to
generate electricity, but they still used natural gas. One good bit of good news was that
all of the nuclear reactors had their licenses pulled. However, as with anything, the more
things change, the more they stay the same.

Ask yourself what is the government going to do with all of the fuel rods from the 100 or
so closed down reactors? Harvest the Plutonium, that’s what. They used up about 800
old weapons against China and they needed to be replaced. There is nothing in Start II
or I that prohibit the replacement of expended weapons that I’m aware of. It sort of
made the folks in Nevada very happy, too. All of the fuel rods in the mountain storage
facility had to be removed to eliminate the Plutonium. We all know that sometimes the
Government, or more specifically the President, makes a bad decision.

The “Utah Schools and Lands Exchange Act of 1998” sounds uncontroversial, and that
is the apparent reason no one objected to it. The story of how this bill passed the House
and is now ready to be slipped through the Senate without debate is a lesson on how
the game of politics is played.

Further investigation revealed there was more to the action than just political opportun-
ism prior to Clinton’s re-election. The land in question contained the largest deposit of
high-compliance coal in the world. That coal was now in high demand because of envi-
ronmental concerns over pollution from coal-fired power plants. The 1.7 million acres
given up by Utah contains the Kaiporowits coalfield, which is the largest, undeveloped
mine in the United States. It has approximately 62 billion tons of low sulfur, clean burn-
ing, high-compliance coal. It is one of the premier coalfields in the United States, per-
haps the world, according to Dr. Lee Allison, Utah state geologist.

There is one other source of high-compliance coal. It is being aggressively mined on the
island of Kalamantan in Indonesia. The mine is reported to be owned by the Red Chi-
nese army and the Lippo Group. James and Mochtar Riady, partners in the Lippo
Group, have been implicated in the growing Clinton campaign election scandal. The
land swap is touted as the largest in the history of the US giving Utah 139,000 acres for

138
the loss of 1.7 million acres to form the monument. Utah’s loss of 62 billion tons of coal
on the Kaiporowits Plateau is to be offset by receipt of 160 million tons of coal in the ex-
change. Critics say those numbers just don’t equate.

“It did not even come close to recognizing the loss of value at the Kaiporowits Plateau,
absolutely that’s true. The way they’re (Utah congressional delegation) perceiving it is
that it was lost anyway and this way they got something,” explained Randy Johnson,
Emery County commissioner and board member of the Utah Association of Counties.
Clinton was very clear about his motivations for locking up the coal mine in the middle of
1.7 million acres of Utah desert. “I am concerned about a large coal mine proposed for
the area. Mining jobs are good jobs and mining is important to our national economy
and to our national security. But we can’t have mines everywhere and we shouldn’t
have mines that threaten our national treasures,” said President Clinton shortly after he
signed the proclamation in 1996.

“You do not need to create that monument to preserve the land. There’s almost 200
state and federal laws protecting it; thousands of federal regulations; law suits that dic-
tate what happens on federal lands. You did not need to create this national monument
to preserve that land,” said Liston.

Bill Clinton has put 25% of this country’s so-called “compliance coal” or “enviro coal”
(i.e., clean-burning, low sulfur) off limits with his Executive Order declaring this section
of Utah to be a National Park. The remaining 75% of this type of coal happens to be in
places that are hard to get to, difficult to mine, difficult to transport coal from, like the
mountains of Wyoming, therefore the cost-effectiveness of mining the coal from these
other areas is diminished.

Gutmann reports that, under NAFTA, México had to “sign on to” some of our clean air
rules, so they are in the process of building new power plants which will require this type
of “compliance coal”. Utah was to be an export center for all these new Méxican power
plants. This would have meant thousands of coal mining and related jobs for Utah. The
impact on the environment would have been minimal since this coal would require UN-
DERGROUND MINING, not strip mining. The coal would have been easily transportable
through train lines to Long Beach, California, and there loaded onto barges and shipped
to México – that is, until Bill Clinton declared with the sweep of a pen that their coal is
untouchable. Now, most likely, the Méxicans will be buying their “compliance coal” from
Indonesia.

That was then and this is now and the Congress repealed the ban on mining Utah coal.
Not only did it create a lot of jobs in Utah, it improved the environment. Something must
be wrong with Congress; they were suddenly being very sensible. Maybe we should
hold our breath and wait for the other shoe to drop, it can’t be long now. Before you start
complaining about what Clinton did in the White House, just remember that George W.
Bush didn’t reverse the Executive Order either. Very few Executive Orders ever get re-
versed. The only one that pops into my mind is the Executive Order prohibiting the as-
sassination of foreign leaders.

139
Officially, the United States does not conduct or permit assassinations. However, this
policy is not codified in law, but in an Executive Order (EO 12333) that the President
can change at will and without public notice of the change. In addition, this policy does
not define what an assassination is, and the United States has long distinguished as-
sassinations as separate from military operations directed against enemy leaders in the
course of self-defense.

Executive Order 11905 is a 6,000-word national policy statement on the activities of in-
telligence services at home and abroad. President Ford signed it on Feb. 18, 1976.
Here’s one of its simplest orders: “No employee of the United States Government shall
engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination.” Under the Reagan Admin-
istration EO 11905 became EO 12333. Sometime between Sept. 11 and Sept. 14,
2001, President Bush signed a secret intelligence order revoking Ford’s. Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld would confirm the reversal in a CNN interview six weeks lat-
er. Assassinations were back on.

On Nov. 3, 2002, an unmanned CIA Predator drone fired at a convoy traveling in Yem-
en, killing a man believed to be al-Qaida’s district manager for Yemen. The CIA didn’t
know an American was traveling with the convoy. He was killed, so were four other
Yemenis. “I can assure you that no constitutional questions are raised here,” Con-
doleezza Rice, Bush’s national security adviser, said of the assassination, which turned
out to be one of many. In his State of the Union address three months later, Bush
verged on gloating, Tony Soprano-like, about the productivity of his assassination poli-
cy. While more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries,
he said, many others have met a different fate. Let’s put it this way – they are no longer
a problem to the United States and our friends and allies.

Barrett would probably adopt Gary’s idea about the Raufoss cartridge anyway and claim
it was Ronnie’s idea all along so if the Squirrel’s didn’t like someone borrowing a few of
those XM109 upper receiver assemblies from the Barrett warehouse, they would just
have to get over it. Fleataxi could just go fly his kite or write another chapter. No doubt
Barrett had theft insurance anyway, so it would be up to Banacek to figure out how Da-
vid had gotten around the alarms at the warehouse. Banacek was a Boston Brahmin
who maintained his lifestyle by locating or recovering stolen or missing items that were
stolen in an extraordinary or peculiar manner, for insurance companies for 10% of their
insured value. His friend, Felix, assisted him. He was also not liked by Henry Dewitt, the
insurance company rep who doesn’t like being beholden to him. And during the second
season, he had a rival-love interest in Carlie Kirkland, an insurance investigator who
works for DeWitt. Remember, it was only a TV show. And, George Peppard got another
gig working for the A Team.

George was a recovering alcoholic (my opinion) who quit smoking in 1992 after having
a cancerous tumor removed from his lung. He died in 1994, from pneumonia. Married 5

140
times, his former wives included: Helen Davies, Elizabeth Ashley and Sherry Boucher.
Of the 3 actresses, only Elizabeth Ashley ever remarried (and divorced). Peppard spent
much of the latter years of his life helping alcoholics and working for various charitable
organizations. (See how one thing leads to another?)

You shouldn’t be hard on the Presidents; they’re only politicians, not Superman. They
can talk out of both sides of their mouths at the same time, telling two entirely different
stories, all without moving their lips. Some of what they say is strictly for public con-
sumption. Whether they actually believe what they say is a matter for conjecture. The
only thing I’ve never understood is why they don’t become actors after they’ve been re-
placed in the White House. They are, to say the least, very accomplished. I never met a
politician with whom I couldn’t find something wrong. Mr. Clean, Orrin Hatch, had a part
in the Utah coal deal and ended up supporting President Clinton. And, sometimes, you
even have to wonder about John McCain and how he votes.

“I am not a crook!” Maybe not, but tell me what you really are, Dick. Stupid is what you
are. All you had to say was, So what? Everybody does stuff like this. Or, they exceeded
their mandate. No, you had to lie to the American public and GET CAUGHT. Blame
John Dean; a man of conscience has no place in a political administration. The public is
used to being lied to by politicians, but they don’t like to catch them at it. Ask Bill Clinton
and his, I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me ... I
did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I don’t blame old Bill; he
had to get it somewhere, but the Oval Office? Even Jack Kennedy was more discrete
than that. He used a hotel in Chicago, or something. Did Bobby have Marilyn killed (sor-
ry)?

I just got to reflecting on what the country would really be like 4 years after China
dropped 400 nuclear weapons on it. Despite claims to the contrary, it wouldn’t be the
end of the world. It would no doubt be very different and with the Democrats in the
White House, how long would it be before they tried another Assault Weapons ban?
The problem with another Assault Weapons Ban would be that the American public had
learned a lesson. Congress, the administration and the judiciary couldn’t be counted on
to support the 2nd Amendment no matter what the founding fathers had said. This was
the 21st Century and people didn’t need firearms to feed their families or to protect
them.

141
 The Cold War – Chapter 15 – The Economy

BTW, every succeeding chapter begins by being named, ‘The Next Chapter’. Some-
where during the chapter, a name for the chapter sort of pops out from the body of the
chapter. But I’m sure you already knew that, right? I wonder what the title of chapter 15
will really end up being, maybe, Bubba, Jr., perhaps. I wouldn’t want 1340cc to misun-
derstand the private email I sent. That’s why I removed my reply to the missive from
Frugal’s forum. And if Ronnie Barrett can’t stand the assistance, it isn’t my fault. A fault
is what starts earthquakes you should keep that in mind, Ronnie. Tonight is the 40th
Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, so I’ll probably end up writing another chap-
ter anyway. I’ll have to wait until 11pm to watch the Channel 43, Science of Star Wars,
episode #2. You know how the ladies and their TV shows are, right? I still didn’t get to
see the end of Tidal Wave: No Escape because it was also on at 8pm. My daughter tells
me they aren’t watching the CMA because it is the end final episode of Law & Order –
Special Victims.

(CNN) – British Parliament member George Galloway on Tuesday angrily denied profit-
ing from Saddam Hussein’s regime and criticized the Senate panel probing alleged cor-
ruption in the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq. I believe him, but only because he’s not a
US politician. “I am not now or ever been an oil trader and neither has anyone on my
behalf. I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one, and neither
has anybody on my behalf,” Galloway said. “If you had any evidence of that I had ever
engaged in any actual oil transaction, if you had any evidence that anybody ever gave
me any money, it would be before the public and before this committee today,” Gallo-
way said. “Now, I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washing-
ton, but for a lawyer, you’re remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice,” he told Cole-
man.

Galloway, 51, has been a leading critic of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his alli-
ance with US President George Bush in the war with Iraq. He was re-elected on an anti-
war platform earlier this month. He said he was “friendly” with former Iraqi Foreign Min-
ister Tariq Aziz and met him many times, but met with Saddam only twice in his career –
in 1994 and in 2002, the last time to persuade Saddam to allow UN weapons inspectors
into the country. He said he had met with Saddam twice – “exactly as many times as
Donald Rumsfeld has met with him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell
him guns and give him maps,” Galloway said in a heated opening statement. “I met him
to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war, and on the second occa-
sion, I met him to try and persuade him to allow Hans Blix and UN inspectors back into
country.” Rumsfeld visited Baghdad to meet Saddam as President Reagan’s Middle
East envoy in the 1980s, when the US sided with Iraq in its war with Iran.

“You have my name on lists provided to you by the Dopher inquiry, provided to him by
the convicted bank robber and fraudster and con man Ahmed Chalabi, who many peo-
ple, to their credit, in your country now realize played a decisive role in leading your
country into the disaster in Iraq,” Galloway told the Senate panel. “In these circum-
stances, knowing what the world knows about how you treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib

142
prison, in Bagram Air Base, in Guantanamo Bay – including, if I may say, British citizens
being held in those places – I’m not sure how much credibility anyone would put on any-
thing you manage to get from a prisoner in those circumstances,” he said.

May I ask a question? What business is it of the Congress of the United States of Amer-
ica what a British citizen did in Britain? Why don’t they get off their dead butts and elect
a judge or something? Especially when most of that oil ended up in the US anyway? I
have to quit reading the paper and the news on the web. Otherwise, I’m going to have a
heart attack. I’m beginning to believe that the only good politician is a dead politician. I
won’t say it, because I don’t want the FBI kicking in my door at 3am the day after I post
this chapter. The ultimate oxymoron is the term honest politician.

NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks vaulted higher for a second straight session Tuesday as in-
vestors welcomed the Treasury Department’s move to put pressure on the Chinese cur-
rency system and, perhaps, eventually reduce the US trade deficit.

The NASDAQ gained 9.72, or 0.49 percent, to 2,004.15, its best close since April 12.
Other indicators also moved sharply higher. The Dow rose 79.59, or 0.78 percent, to
10,331.88, after rising 112.17 on Monday. And the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up
8.11, or 0.7 percent, at 1,173.80.

Investors reacted decisively after the Bush administration declared Tuesday afternoon
that China may be using its monetary policies to unfairly affect trade. The Dow jumped
70 points higher in just 23 minutes, finishing with a two-day gain of 191, and the
NASDAQ composite index climbed past the 2,000 mark for the first time in more than a
month.

Think about the implications of the AP report. You think I make this stuff up. The admin-
istration, via the Treasury Department, was stirring up the Chinese? And that news
made the Stock Market RISE? The whole dang country was a bunch of warmongers!
Should I put in the Duck and Cover link again? I won’t bad mouth the FBI, though, I can
live with being on a half dozen of their lists because I’m really harmless, but I refuse to
tempt fate. Besides, it wasn’t me who stole the stuff from Ronnie Barrett and his flunk-
ies. And, FT doesn’t have a kite.

The US basically didn’t have any troops stationed anywhere in the world besides the
United States. The closest thing that the country had to having people overseas was the
military liaisons that we maintained with our closest allies, Britain, Canada and Austral-
ia. Personally, I’d hardly call 4 officers in each of the countries a military presence.
There was an Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force officer in each of the three United

143
Kingdom countries. Military ranks notwithstanding, they wore civilian clothes to disguise
their presence. Except for a few select individuals, few in this country even knew we
had those 12 people abroad. Much care was given to selecting these particular officers
and they were married to a native of whatever country they were stationed in. If you
were to examine the records of the Defense Department, you would find that all of the
individuals were listed as ‘retired’.

They all had the same simple cover story; they had retired after X number of years of
military service and had moved to their spouse’s homeland. This was not to say that the
United States still didn’t do business with several countries, like Norway for example.
However, in light of the response of NATO to the attack on the United States by China 4
years earlier, the US was no longer a member of NATO, or so it appeared. It was all
very cloak and dagger and under the auspices of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The
Director of DIA is a three-star military officer who serves as principal adviser to the Sec-
retary of Defense and to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on matters of military
intelligence.

The Director also chairs the Military Intelligence Board, which coordinates activities of
the defense intelligence community. The DIA is headquartered at the Pentagon in
Washington, DC, with major operational activities at the Defense Intelligence Analysis
Center (DIAC), Washington, DC, the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center
(AFMIC), Frederick, Maryland, and the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC),
Huntsville, Alabama. With a workforce of about 7,500, highly skilled civilian and military
personnel staff the DIA. To maintain the cover of the military liaisons, civilian employees
of the DIA maintained contact with the military liaisons. The civilian employees were, in
every case, retired DIA military officers.

Why all of the cloak and dagger, you might ask. Remember: The strings turned out to
look more like ropes and the President was forced to decline the offer of aid from the
UN. To put a point on the end of his sentence, he instructed Condi to inform the UN that
the US was withdrawing as a member of that august body. At the moment, he told her;
the US had nothing to spare, especially not what remained of its military might. Also:
The string that stuck in George’s craw the worst was the insistence of the UN that
America disarm. If I hadn’t made it clear, the US declined Russia’s offer of help and the
Russians ended up helping China. On the subject of Communism:

One can debate whether communism is an economic system or a political system. Ac-
cording to Wikipedia, the answer is yes. This article is about communism as a form of
society built around a gift economy, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and
as a popular movement. For issues regarding the organization of the communist move-
ment, see the Communist party article. For issues regarding one-party states ruled by
Communist Parties (and everything associated with them), see Communist state.

As a theoretical social and economic system, communism would be a type of egalitarian

society with no state, no privately owned means of production, no money and no social
classes. In communism, all property is owned cooperatively and collectively, by the

144
community as a whole, and all people have equal social and economic status and
rights. Theoretically, under communism, human need or advancement is not left unsat-
isfied because of poverty, and is rather solved through distribution of resources as
needed. This is thus often the system proposed to solve the problem of the capitalist
poverty cycle.

Perhaps the best known maxim of a communist society is From each according to his
ability, to each according to his need. This economic model is also referred to as a gift
economy.

As a political movement, communism is a more radical branch of the broader socialist

movement. The communist movement differentiates itself from other branches of the
socialist movement through their wish to completely do away with all aspects of market
society under the final stage of the system, as well as some communists’ commitment
to armed revolutionary strategies for overthrowing capitalism, and their focus on the in-
ternational working class as key in that revolution. Self-described Communist parties
successful in overthrowing a state have usually resulted degenerated into authoritarian
government. These elements of the communist movement are opposed by Anarcho-
communist, Trotskyists and others in the movement. The best-known form of com-
munism is Marxism and its various derivatives.

Within Marxism, there are several different trends. The largest of these trends is Lenin-
ism, which was based on the writings and actions of Vladimir Lenin. According to Lenin,
capitalism can only be overthrown by a Proletarian Revolution, not by parliamentary
means. Furthermore, in opposition to Marx, Lenin argued that the revolution would oc-
cur first in the less developed nations, and that it would require a “vanguard of the prole-
tariat” composed of a relatively small, tightly organized Communist Party of workers de-
classed intellectuals. Most (but by no means all) present-day communists are of the
Leninist variety.

That is a little background, only, and if you want to know more on the subject, read it
yourself. The information is included only to explain why in 2011, Russia was still a
communist nation. I can see 2 reasons; people wanted something for nothing and oth-
ers wanted power. It also explained why the US was keeping a very low profile around
the world. After a country has been battered by an enemy with ~ 400 nuclear weapons,
it learned to hold its cards very close to its vest. The US and Russia stopped asking
each other about how many nuclear weapons the other had. The US had as many as
they always had, minus none.

The US also learned a lot about making first strikes. If you’re going to strike the enemy
first, it had better be decisive and you’d darn well better have an exit strategy. You didn’t
shoot them in the foot like the US had done with China in 2007; you decapitated them at
the beginning. The entire world had learned that lesson. The Cold War wasn’t over; it
had only gone into hiding. And, that, my friends, was why the US was involved in all the
cloak and dagger. No doubt the Russians were playing the same sort of game, but it
was a case of don’t ask – don’t tell. Is there something familiar about that expression? It

145
was President Clinton’s policy about queers in the military. I’m not trying to be politically
correct, here. To me, gay is a term meaning happily excited.

The FFM also knew the rules about first strikes. Perhaps that explained why the diminu-
tive platoon was well armed. According to FM 3-21.9, Chapter 1, a rifle squad is com-
posed of 1 Squad Leader, 2 (Fire) Team Leaders, 2 Grenadiers (M-203), 2 Automatic
Riflemen (M-249), 1 Anti-tank Specialist (AT-4, etc.) and 1 Designated Marksman (he
has the rifle), e.g. 9 soldiers. Stated another way, 3 Chiefs and 6 Indians. The FFM’s
squads consisted of 1 Leader, 3 M14’s (Automatic Riflemen), 1 M16/M203 (40mm
Grenadier), 1 Sniper (Designated Marksman), 1 25mm Grenadier and 3-7 riflemen
armed with semi-automatic 7.62×51mm rifles. Add it up; it was 10-14 individuals, 1
Chief and 9-13 Indians.

The organization wasn’t the same as the Army because they had to make do with what
they had. They didn’t, for example, have any AT-4’s or LAW rockets so they had to
avoid armor. The sniper was armed with an accurate 7.62×51mm rifle, a Super Match or
a scoped hunting rifle and the Barrett rifles were equipped as M109’s. They had no
hand grenades, C-4 or Claymores, just dynamite. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Now do
you see the point? This particular group didn’t have any of those commie guns, as in
AK-47’s or their derivatives. The favored form of attack was the ambush. FT had it per-
fect in Chapter 12 of The Big One II, except that he had Claymore mines. Don’t mess
around with an enemy – kill them all. That was a danged good exit strategy.

Clarence caused a ruckus one weekend when he showed up wearing his 10th Calvary
uniform and carrying his bugle. Jeb and Abel were about ready to look for a rope before
Clarence explained about the uniform.

“This is a 10th Calvary uniform. The 10th were Indian fighters and weren’t formed until
1866,” Clarence explained. “On August 3, 1866, Gen. Phillip Sheridan, commander of
the Military Division of the Gulf, was authorized to raise one regiment of “colored” caval-
ry that was to be designated the 9th Regiment. A recruiting office was established in
New Orleans, Louisiana and later that fall, a second office was opened in Louisville,
Kentucky. Of the original recruits, the majority came from these two states and were
veterans of the Civil War. Enlistment was for five years, with recruits receiving thirteen
dollars a month, plus room, board, and clothing. The 10th Cavalry was formed at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas in 1866. The regiments’ commander and Civil War hero Benjamin
Grierson set very high standards of recruitment. As a result, recruitment and organiza-
tion of the unit required slightly over one year. By the end of July 1867 eight companies
of enlisted men had been recruited from the Departments of Missouri, Arkansas, and
the Platte.”

“Look, we can’t be fighting over something silly like Clarence honoring the 10th Calva-
ry,” Ron butted in. “Why don’t you Johnny Rebs get yourself some of those grey uni-

146
forms? That was a stupid war but it ended 145 years ago. There nothing wrong with a
man honoring his heritage.”

The following month, about half of the local volunteers showed up wearing grey uni-
forms. There weren’t any 2 alike. If you knew your history, you also know that during the
Civil War, the local Arkansas Regiments had to provide their own uniforms and every
Regiment’s was a little different and many homemade. James and Clarence Jr. were
also wearing 10th Calvary uniforms, but Ron and Gary were wearing Levis or Wran-
glers, western cut shirts and tennis shoes.

One Story about Taps:

We have all heard the haunting song, Taps. It’s the song that gives us that lump in our
throats; but do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be pleased to
find out about its humble beginnings. Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil
War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison’s
Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of
land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely
wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain
decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling
on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began
pulling him toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he
discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.

The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In
the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been stud-
ying music in the south when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy en-
listed in the Confederate Army. The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked
permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial despite his enemy status.
His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he could have a group
of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was
turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. But, out of respect for the father, they
did say they could give him only one musician. The Captain chose a bugler. He asked
the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the
pocket of the dead youth’s uniform. This wish was granted. The haunting melody, we
now know as Taps used at military funerals, was born.

A second story about Taps:

“I was much interested in reading the article by Mr. Gustav Kobbe, on the Trumpet and
Bugle Calls, in the August Century. Mr. Kobbe says that he has been unable to trace
the origin of the call now used for Taps, or the Go to sleep, as it is generally called by
the soldiers. As I am unable to give the origin of this call, I think the following statement
may be of interest to Mr. Kobbe and your readers.... During the early part of the Civil
War I was bugler at the Headquarters of Butterfield’s Brigade, Morell’s Division, Fitz-
John Porter’s Corp, Army of the Potomac. Up to July 1862, the Infantry call for Taps

147
was that set down in Casey’s Tactics, which Mr. Kobbe says was borrowed from the
French. One day, soon after the seven days battles on the Peninsular, when the Army
of the Potomac was lying in camp at Harrison’s Landing, General Daniel Butterfield,
then commanding our Brigade, sent for me, and showing me some notes on a staff writ-
ten in pencil on the back of an envelope, asked me to sound them on my bugle. I did
this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening
some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me.

“After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter
in place of the regulation call. The music was beautiful on that still summer night, and
was heard far beyond the limits of our Brigade. The next day I was visited by several
buglers from neighboring Brigades, asking for copies of the music, which I gladly fur-
nished. I think no general order was issued from army headquarters authorizing the
substitution of this for the regulation call, but as each brigade commander exercised his
own discretion in such minor matters, the call was gradually taken up through the Army
of the Potomac. I have been told that it was carried to the Western Armies by the 11th
and 12th Corps, when they went to Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, and rapidly made its
way through those armies. I did not presume to question General Butterfield at the time,
but from the manner in which the call was given to me, I have no doubt he composed it
in his tent at Harrison’s Landing. I think General Butterfield is living at Cold Spring, New
York. If you think the matter of sufficient interest, and care to write him on the subject, I
have no doubt he will confirm my statement.” -Oliver W. Norton

Other stories of the origin of Taps exist. A popular, yet false, one is that of a Northern
boy who was killed fighting for the south. His father, Robert Ellicombe, a Captain in the
Union Army, came upon his son’s body on the battlefield and found the notes to Taps in
a pocket of the dead boy’s Confederate uniform. He had the notes sounded at the boy’s
funeral. There is no evidence to back up the story or the existence of a Captain El-
licombe. In the interest of historical accuracy, it should be noted that General Butterfield
did not compose Taps; rather that he revised an earlier call into the present day bugle
call we know as Taps. This is not meant to take credit away from him. Another story
claims that Taps was a Confederate bugle call. It appears that Taps was actually a vari-
ation of a French bugle call written in 1619.

In the final analysis, the Cold War was over conflicting ideologies, Democracy and
Communism. As long as both existed anywhere on the planet, the Cold War wasn’t
over. The little militia that was formed in Flippin, Arkansas existed only to protect the
homes of the members and perhaps the town. It had almost been started as a joke
when Gar-Bear got to thinking about his stories and the Palmdale Militia he’d dreamed
up. The FFM didn’t make the FBI’s top 10 list; they were too small and rather secretive.
It was more about being prepared for an eventual emergency than anything else. David
was safe because George Peppard (Banacek) had died in 1995.

148
What would the next disaster be, World War whatever+1? Some sort of natural disas-
ter? An economic disaster seems somehow more appropriate. Where would all the
money come from to rebuild America after a nuclear war? It is doubtful that the govern-
ment could raise money from taxes because there would be little income to tax. The
government of the US seems to think that the answer to the money problem is the print-
ing press, both to print money and to print loan papers so the government can borrow
the money.

With gas hovering in the neighborhood of $5 a gallon in 2011, people were trying to
avoid travel as much as possible. The auto manufacturers were having trouble unload-
ing the inefficient, gas-guzzling engines that they’d slipped back into producing. With a
combined acreage of maybe 6½ acres, The Three Amigos weren’t producing any bio-
diesel. They were buying all of their fuels and paying dearly. On Tuesday, October 29th,
1929 the US stock market crashed. If you check Wikipedia, there as several different
Black Tuesdays, including Tuesday 9/11/01.

As told in the Koran (Qur’an), Tuesday was the day that Allah created the darkness.
The 11th of September, when suicide pilots crashed American airlines into skyscrapers,
I didn’t have to leave my television set to know what the day was: Black Tuesday had
cast its shadow over Manhattan and all the way to the Potomac River. And neither was
it a surprise that, despite the $7 trillion that we have spent since 1958 on what is eu-
phemistically called the defense budget, there was no warning from the FBI, CIA and
Defense Intelligence Agency, or any other institutions. Neither was there a single com-
bat plane that was able to fulfill its obligation. (Gore Vidal)

“…euphemistically called the defense budget…” pretty much tells you where Gore Vidal
stands on the issues. Give me George Will any day.

The economy and the expectations of the economy control the stock markets. There are
as many reasons for the ups and downs of the markets as there are investors. The
markets aren’t the economy, merely representative of peoples’ expectations of the
economy. $5 a gallon gasoline and a multi-trillion federal deficit finally combined to
polish off the economy and the country at the same time. Late in 2011 and early in
2012, inflation was rampant. A dollar was barely worth the paper it was printed on. The
average American spends about 7 percent of his or her total income on food, or about
10 percent of his or her disposable income (source: American Farm Bureau). According
to statistics from the United Nations, even people in high-income nations like Australia,
Great Britain and Japan spend about 20 percent of their disposable income on food. In
India, the average is 50 percent. Some underdeveloped countries have even higher
percentages of income spent on food.

The cost of producing food is closely tied to the cost of hydrocarbons. Farmers use die-
sel or gasoline to power their equipment. The ingredients for the production of anhy-
drous ammonia are: air, natural gas and steam. When hydrocarbons became expen-
sive, so did food. The average American farmer feeds 120 people, but he isn’t in the

149
business for his health. Farmers generally don’t farm organically anymore, e.g., use the
manure from their livestock to fertilize the fields.

Most of the members of the FFM grew gardens, greatly reducing the cost of their food.
They were prepared and pretty much self-sufficient. The same could not be said for the
rest of the country. In February of 2012, the automatic mechanisms that shut down the
stock markets began to kick in daily as investors lost confidence. The price of food had
risen to 20%+ of the average American’s disposable income. The price of gasoline had
slipped up to nearly $6 a gallon.

Reports of food riots in the major cities combined with the collapse of the economy are
the primary stories this evening,” the announcer droned. “Gasoline has risen to all-time
highs, reaching well over $6 a gallon in San Francisco. The cost of fuel has led to a rise
in the cost of food, which is currently estimated to be over 20% of the average Ameri-
can’s disposable income.

In Los Angeles today, the inability of people to pay for the higher priced foods led to a
food riot in a grocery store in Torrance. The Governor of California was forced to call in
the California State Defense Force to quell the riot. As our viewers no doubt remember,
there haven’t been any separate state National Guard units since 2007 when President
Bush was forced to place all National Guards units on permanent federal duty.

There was also sporadic rioting in Detroit, Chicago and New Jersey. Senior citizens in
Florida held a peaceful demonstration in Miami. Despite Congress authorizing the
states to raise state defense forces, many states have elected not to do so. As of this
moment, less than 30 states have defense forces of their own, leaving containment of
the violence to police and other peace officers. At a White House press conference the
President’s press secretary described the situation as deplorable and promised that
federal troops would only be used as a last resort to restore order.

“How is everyone on supplies?” Ron asked.

“The only things we’ve been buying at Wal-Mart are the things that Sharon and I can’t
produce by ourselves,” Gary replied. “I’ve had a feeling something like this might hap-
pen and I’ve loaded up on the essentials, like coffee and cigarettes. I refuse to pay
$1.79 a pound for bananas so some of the things we usually buy are no longer in our
diet.”

“Clarence, what’s the situation with Shirley and you?” Ron asked.

“About the same, Ron. What spare space we had in the shelter is full of coffee, smokes,
toilet paper and the other essentials. If push comes to shove, I think we can get by for
well over a year and longer if I can get more Marlboro’s and Folgers. We did right fine
on our garden this year.”

150
“Ronnie Joe lost his job and Jennifer has been steadily losing clients at her daycare
center,” Ron explained. “Paula called and said that Hormel laid Mark off, too. I told her
to pack up a few things and come to Flippin for a while.”

“Derek said that Wal-Mart had issued a directive freezing wages for all of their stores,”
Gary added.

“Is he going to lose his job too?” Clarence asked.

“God, I hope not.”

“It’s about the same everywhere, fellas. James called this morning and said that the
cost of living in Little Rock was getting unbearable. I half expect James and Junior to
show up any day and move in with us.”

“I don’t believe that any of the fine folks in Flippin will end up rioting over food,” Ron
suggested. “Everyone here is reasonably self-sufficient.”

“That doesn’t mean we won’t get outsiders, Ron,” Gary responded. “Maybe we ought to
talk to Jed and Abel and see what they think about putting the militia on a low alert lev-
el.”

151
 The Cold War – Chapter 16 – Deceptions and Other Things

“Arkansas doesn’t have a state defense force, what if food riots break out in the large
cities?” Clarence asked.

“You mean like Little Rock, Ft. Smith and Fayetteville?”

“And others.”

“Maybe it’s time to circle the wagons,” Gary suggested.

“Clarence, do you agree?” Ron asked.

“Ron, it’s going to happen eventually, maybe we should try to get a jump on the situa-
tion.”

“We’d better all talk to our wives before we do anything drastic,” Gary added.

“I’ve noticed that you’re nicer to Sharon since you bought her the Ruger revolver,” Ron
laughed.

“I was ok for a while, but she insisted on learning how to shoot the flippin’ thing.”

“Is she any good?”

“At 20’, it doesn’t make much difference.”

“I wonder if this isn’t a situation where we ought to think about upgrading our weapon
systems,” Clarence suggested.

“Where is the nearest Army post?”

“I don’t know about the nearest, but I think our best bet would be the Pine Bluff Arsenal.
They have Conventional Ammunition, Chemical Biological Defense, Engineering and
Technical Support, Mobile and Powered System Support and Base Operations Support
to tenant activities.”

“Where is Pine Bluff?”

“South of Little Rock.”

“Where’s the Arsenal?”

“North of town.”

“Can we pull it off?”

152
“Necessity is the mother of invention. We’d better keep it strictly family… loose lips sink
ships.”

“What’s on the shopping list?”

“Hand grenades, 40mm grenades, LAW/AT-4 rockets, Claymores, ammunition including

5.56, 7.62 and .50 caliber, MOPP suits and gas masks, night vision equipment and
SINCGARS radios.”

“How about some medium machine guns?”

“Whatever we can find.”

“When do you want to go?”

“Why wait? They’ll only increase their security when things get worse.”

The Army had already increased its security at all of its installations. Derek wore his uni-
form and Gary found fatigues and a cigar so he could pretend to be a Sergeant. Derek
called the Colonel at Pine Bluff.

“Sir, this is Staff Sergeant Ott. Sorry to bother you sir, we have an emergency and need
some tents for the displaced people in Little Rock. We could leave immediately if you
could arrange for us to get what we need.”

“Sergeant Ott, how have you been? You say you need tents?”

“Yes Sir and your facility will be locked up tight when we arrive. It’s going to take a while
to get there because of the situation in Little Rock.”

“I’ll leave orders to give you what you need whenever you get here Sergeant.”

“Thank you sir, we need to get these people sheltered as soon as possible.”

“Sergeant Major, Colonel Jessup. We have some people coming down from Little Rock
for some emergency supplies. You call and smooth the way so when they show up they
get what they need. The Sergeant told me it might be late.”

Derek used his computer to dummy up some forms and off they went to Little Rock and
Pine Bluff. Derek had worked in supply for a time when he was on active duty. Gary was
an E-9 and Derek was an E-6. They drove a tractor-trailer rig with the others in back.
When they got to the gate at oh-dark-thirty, the gate guard told them that supply was

153
standing by, if they were the people who had called. Gary told the MP that they were
from Little Rock and they’d had one hell of a time getting there.

“Can I help you?” the Corporal asked.

“We’re from Little Rock, we called ahead.”

“I’ll check.”

“The Sergeant Major said they talked to Colonel Jessup. Jessup said to give them what
they need and get them on their way. Do it Corporal.”

“I have to see some ID,” the Corporal insisted.

“Sergeant, show him your ID,” Gary instructed Derek.

“Corporal, here’s the requisition,” Derek said. “You just point the way, soldier, and we’ll
load it ourselves, we have a loading crew of civilians from Little Rock.”

“What are you planning on here, another world war? That’s a lot of matériel.”

“Soldier, you’re not paid to think,” Gary said. “Who the hell do you think you are ques-
tioning, what was his name Sergeant?”

“Colonel Jessup.”

“Questioning Colonel Jessup,” Gary continued. “What is the Army coming to these
days? Call them back so I can talk to them.”

“Sorry Sergeant Major, I was just trying to follow my third General Order.”

“I understand Corporal and you made the call. Now, should Staff Sergeant Ott call
Colonel Jessup back again, or can you handle the situation?”

“I can handle it.”

“Now is there anything on the list you can’t provide?”

“What do you need mines and rockets for?” the soldier asked.

“The Colonel said to get mines and rockets. What can I tell you, I’m only following or-
ders, like you should be?”

The best place to get military armaments is an arsenal or a depot. It is especially good if
you have a soldier who knows where everything is located and has keys to all of the
locks. Munitions are stored separately and not guarded by the regular MP’s, but the

154
Colonel had greased the wheels. The cigar was making Gary sick to his stomach and
his mood matched his discomfort. The Corporal had called the Top, and they’d made it
pretty clear he was to expedite the matter. It was about 0600 when they finished loading
the semi. They told the Corporal they were headed for Little Rock. They cleared the
post about 30 minutes before the Top showed up in supply and headed west on US
270. It was a very long way around to get back to Flippin and would actually put them in
Ft. Smith, except they got off US 270 and headed north on state route 7.

They’d changed the decals on the side of the trailer and it was now a company owned
vehicle for a mattress company and Damon was driving because he was formerly a pro-
fessional trucker. Damon is a little on the crazy side, but he knew enough to seal the
load and go off on anyone who dared stop him. He had the perfect cover story, he was
lost and the roads in Arkansas were from the Dark Ages. All he wanted to do was find
highway (pick a number) and be gone from the fine state of Arkansas. The number of
the highway and his destination were flexible, depending on where he got stopped, if he
got stopped.

“Does anybody have some Pepcid? That cigar made me sick to my stomach.”

“You could have been a Sergeant in the Army,” Derek laughed. “Your behavior was a
little dated”

“I think my acting was appropriate to my age,” Gary replied. “What’s going to happen to
the Corporal?”

“He was following orders, nothing,” Derek said.

“Won’t they get fingerprints off those papers?”

“Nope,” Derek replied and began peeling the dried liquid bandage off his fingers.

“Who added MRE’s to our requisition?”

“I sort of figured that if we really had to activate the militia we’d need something to eat if
we were on the road,” Derek replied.

“I hope you got extra Tabasco sauce.”

“We can get that at the store.”

The Claymore mines were packed in the M7 bandoleers with all of the accessories at 6
bandoleers per case. They had 50 cases. The 40mm grenades we packed in differing
numbers to the case, depending upon which grenade was involved. Each box of HE,
HEDP, and TP ammunition contained 1 can with 6 bandoleers of 12 rounds each, for a

155
total of 72 rounds. Each wire-bound box of smoke and cluster ammunition contained 2
cans with 22 rounds each, for a total of 44 rounds. Each box of CS ammunition con-
tained 2 cans with 4 bandoleers of 6 rounds each, for a total of 48 rounds. Each box of
buckshot ammunition contained 12 bandoleers of 6 rounds each, for a total of 72
rounds. They only had 4 M16/M203 rifles, so they limited the requisition to 8 boxes of
HE ammunition.

“Because of the Marine Corps, the LAW rockets had been reintroduced in 2005 and the
Corporal had readily supplied what they wanted along with several cases of the M67
hand grenades. How many hand grenades in a case? Look on the net and find the an-
swer if you can, I can’t. I asked the Green Beret across the street and he guessed 24.
Army FM 3-23.30 states that if the grenade is upside down in its container to return it to
the issuer. It turns out that each M67 was individually packed in its own container with
30 containers to the case. You weren’t to remove an upside down grenade from the
container because you couldn’t see the pin or the safety clip. During Vietnam, they
packed grenades differently. Each man got 1 white smoke and 1 colored smoke gre-
nade, allowing the Squad Leader full access to the 4 different colors of smoke, yellow,
red, green and violet.”

“Derek seemed to think the Army’s organization was better, but he was a tanker, not a
permanent infantryman. They reached a compromise by appointing one Assistant
Squad Leader who was also a rifleman. In the event that they needed to divide the
squads into 2 fire teams each team would have a leader and they wouldn’t lose one of
their heavier weapons guys. On the subject of the medium machineguns, the M240B
7.62mm medium machine gun was Army standard issue. Regular belts come 2 100-
round belts to the ammo can. The belts were either M80 Ball and M62 Tracer 4 to1 or
M993 AP and M994 APT, again 4 to1. Each of the M240B’s came with a spare barrel
that unlike the Ma Deuce didn’t have to be head spaced and timed when it was in-
stalled. They had 4 of the machine guns, one for each of 4 squads. They also had
60,000 rounds of belted ammo.

Gary had spent hours on the web a few years before looking for the pen guns. The pen
gun flare supports the small unit leader in fire control, maneuver, and initiating opera-
tions such as ambushes. Kit 1 is the pen gun flare with a threaded projector with the
projectiles contained in a cloth bandoleer. Each of the signals listed below may be fired
from a handheld projector while in a bandoleer. The nomenclature of the kits were:

Red illumination ground signal, M187.

White illumination ground signal, M188.
Green illumination ground signal, M189.
Amber illumination ground signal, M190.

The projector and the bandoleer plus seven projectiles or signals make up the signal kit.
All signals may be obtained and fired separately. The M185 red signal kit contains only

156
red signals. The M186 signal kit contains three red, two white, and two green signals.
They had several of the M186 pen gun kits. Whatever happened to the pen gun?

The Company was founded in 1960 when a man and his two sons working on a Junior
Achievement Project, created a personal tear gas protection device called a Pen Gun.
As the story goes, the black and white pen-like device reminded the boys of a penguin –
Penguin Industries was born. During its first decade the company expanded its interests
from the manufacture of Pen Guns to the production of tear gas products, signal flares,
and various pyrotechnics for the United States government and law enforcement agen-
cies. In 1969 Penguin acquired the Frank A. Hoppe Company. Penguin grew Hoppe’s
into the world’s largest and most respected manufacturer of gun care products and
shooting accessories. By the early 1970s Penguin had gotten out of the pyrotechnics
business to concentrate on its new company, Hoppe’s. In 1977 Penguin added Protecto
Plastics, Inc., a leading manufacturer of quality thermoformed plastic gun, archery and
multipurpose carrying cases, and folded the company into Hoppe’s.

That all seems to be a little confusing, doesn’t it? The company that makes the M186
pen gun got out of the business in the early 1970’s, right? FM 3-23.30 is dated 1Sep00.
Maybe Orion makes them now. Or, maybe it’s Kodiak Security Products in Canada. The
Space Shuttle crew wears escape equipment over the CAPS during launch and entry. It
consists of an emergency oxygen system; parachute harness, parachute pack with au-
tomatic opener, pilot chute, drogue chute and main canopy; a life raft; 2 liters of emer-
gency drinking water; flotation devices; and survival vest pockets containing a ra-
dio/beacon, signal mirror, shroud cutter, pen gun flare kit, sea dye marker, smoke flare
and beacon. Manual activation of the parachute automatic opening sequences is pro-
vided, as well as manual release of the parachute main canopy. Dick Rutan and Jeana
Yeager had pen gun signaling devices on the Voyager. I met Dick about 3 years ago. If I
could drive to Mojave, I’d go ask him where they got them.

Pen guns are illegal in California. What isn’t? Sometimes I think that the only that that’s
legal in California is to be gay and I don’t mean a term meaning happily excited.

The militia was now equipped to deal with almost any situation that popped up. They
would have to do it the old fashioned way without all of the smart weapons. If something
happened. Something had to happen with the economy in the crapper. When I asked
my neighbor about the grenades, we began a conversation about the state the world is
in. He was quick to point out that the links between the Bush family and the Saudis went
back 3 generations. He also said that if anyone else had done what the Saudis had
done to us, we would have already destroyed their country.

Osama and most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi. Many of the Iraqi insurgents are
Saudi, in his opinion. Most of the money that Osama uses to fund his continuing opera-

157
tions probably comes from the House of Saud, in my opinion. I mentioned that FT elect-
ed Arnold President and Arnold bombed the Saudis. You should have seen his grin.
The Saudis have the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Their expectations are that
they will be able to increase their proven reserves to 1 Trillion barrels of oil. They’ll
probably hire Halliburton to do the exploration.

The Social Security Administration had given a 4% COLA for 2011 and 5.7% COLA for
2012. Gary and Sharon were losing ground on the personal income but the Trust Fund
Manager had invested much of the fund into government bonds and they were paying a
pretty good interest rate. The Social Security Fund is a Trust Fund, too. None of the
money can be used for other government spending. What does the SSA invest our
money in? Government bonds. SSA, in and of itself, might never go broke. The problem
was the extra programs that FDR never envisioned like SSI, Medicare, etc. and the
government getting their hands on the Social Security Trust Fund, legally.

The first hint of trouble came when the gas stations began limiting fuel purchases to 10
gallons. That led to further trouble because they used diesel fuel to deliver food. The
food got to the grocery stores, but it was getting extremely expensive. People began to
cut back, eating a lot of macaroni and cheese and other lower priced foods. If you had
your own milk, and the cultures, you could make your own cheese. Even that was diffi-
cult because they had to ship the cheese cultures to you and you needed your own
cow. Ron had turned to making a little because they didn’t drink all of the milk the cow
produced and it wasn’t enough to sell.

Gary and Sharon had reached a compromise on the chili years before. She used diced
tomatoes and didn’t overcook the chili, leaving the tomato pieces whole. She never
seemed to understand that she was a sizable woman because she ate too much. Her
latest kick was eating brown rice instead of white because white bread and white rice
made you fat. As long as she kept the bills paid and money on hand for cigarettes and
coffee, Gary didn’t care. Somewhere along the way he’d stopped living to eat and start-
ed eating to live. He also had most of the things he valued in life like firearms, medicine
and a roof over his head.

“I’m telling you, this economy of ours is a disaster waiting to happen,” Gary remarked to
Ron. “How many days have they had to suspend trading on the markets?”

“Dang if I know, Gar-Bear, I don’t follow the markets.”

“Right now there’s more food in the stores than people can afford to buy. That’s going to
make the farmer’s cut back on production and next year the shelves may well be bare.”

158
“I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t cram another thing into my shelter storage room,”
Ron responded.

“I have a little room, partner. I might just stock on some of those essentials. In relative
terms some things are still moderately cheap. Next year we might not be able to get
them.”

“If I know you, you’ll get carried away like you always do. Where are you going to put
the new building?”

“What new building?”

“The one you’re going to build to hold your beans and rice.”

“Next to the garage.”

“See.”

“D-E-F-G, need I go on? We’re going to frame a slab and order a load of concrete. It
doesn’t have to be fancy. We can probably get by with just screeding the concrete level
and putting up an uninsulated frame with some plastic siding and a cheap roof. It won’t
need windows, just a door and a string of lights.”

Senior officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and
Explosives told a Senate panel Wednesday of their growing concern over these groups.
Of particular concern are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation
Front (ELF).

John Lewis, the FBI’s deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said animal and
environmental rights extremists have claimed credit for more than 1,200 criminal inci-
dents since 1990. The FBI has 150 pending investigations associated with animal rights
or eco-terrorist activities, and ATF officials say they have opened 58 investigations in
the past six years related to violence attributed to the ELF and ALF.

In the same period violence from groups like the Ku Klux Klan and anti-abortion extrem-
ists have declined, Lewis said.

Apparently there weren’t enough terrorists in the world; we had to grow our own. These
people were mostly liberals who had their head stuck where the sun didn’t shine. If it
were up to them, we would all be vegetarians.

159
The price of precious metals usually rises in a failing economy. Gary had used some of
his to make some purchases way back when, but when the price came down, he re-
placed them. Silver had proven to be more volatile than gold. When the price came
down sharply, Gary and Sharon bought. Then the economy went to hell and they were
pretty proud of themselves.

The building turned out to be nothing more than a very large shed, with the inexpensive,
round porcelain fixtures and bare bulbs. It was covered over by a sloped roof with a
couple of layers of tarpaper and cheap shingles. Shingles are relatively expensive be-
cause they are made out of asphalt, a hydrocarbon. In addition to the lights and food,
they added another 24 ft³ freezer, filled with vacuum packed hamburger.

My neighbor said that when we bombed Saudi Arabia, we should use neutron bombs so
we didn’t damage the oil wells. I don’t care either way, as long as I don’t have to help
bury the bodies. He also pointed out that he was in Saudi Arabia in the ‘80’s and they
routinely threw Bibles into trashcans. Bush’s personal financial ties to Saudis run deep:
According to various sources, Bush has been awash in Saudi money for years. Journal-
ist/author Craig Unger in his new book “House of Bush, House of Saud” traced millions
“in investments and contracts that went from the Saudis over the past 20 years to com-
panies in which the Bushes and their allies have had prominent positions - Harken En-
ergy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group among them.” According to the Boston Herald,
that includes a $1 million gift from Prince Bandar to the Bush Presidential Library in
Texas. Are we going to have 2 Bush Libraries? (I won’t bring up the Trilateral Commis-
sion or the Round Table.)

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the
voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From
that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most bene-
fits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over
loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s
greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this
sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From
courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From
selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bond-
age. - Alexander Fraser Tytler (later Lord Alexander Fraser Woodhouslee), in The De-
cline and Fall of the Athenian Republic, published 1776.

A powerful quote that stirs and frightens me. Yet every day I observe at least half the
nation succumb to apathy and dependence. For most of the last 50 years, liberalism
has entrenched itself in our society. Democrats, mainstream newspapers, network
news, and even much of our entertainment, have promoted liberal ideals.

In that time, our tax burden has become the largest it’s ever been in peacetime, millions
are now dependent on welfare, social security, Medicare and Medicaid, and much of

160
today’s society is shredded by teen moms, single-parent households, and an overall
lack of morality.

Criminals, the homeless, drug addicts – all victims. In fact, we’re a society of victims. A
woman murders her five children because she’s a victim of postpartum depression. A
man rapes numerous women because he was a victim of child abuse. Another person
shoplifts repeatedly because she’s a victim of an addiction to stealing.

So where does all this leave us? Well, certainly there is no individual responsibility an-
ymore. So who will protect us? Take care of us? According to liberals, the federal gov-
ernment. With every new law, and every new bill created to protect us from ourselves,
we sacrifice more freedom. Is it really worth it?

Liberals that I talk to, or the ones who read this, undoubtedly will shake their heads at
such a leap. They know that things are not what they were 200 years ago, the environ-
ment needs to be protected from evil corporations, minorities can’t make it without gov-
ernment help, patients need a bill of rights, etc., etc.

In fact, now I’d say, it’s hip to be liberal – at least if you live on either coast, or in a large
city. This frightens me. But, it’s the root of these beliefs that frightens me more than any-
thing else – a simple ignorance of basic history. The most obvious lesson of history is,
“those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it.” Yet, for all of recorded civiliza-
tion, we’ve done just that. And it seems our nation may be no different. The quote is one
of my favorites, George Santana.

Giving money and power to Government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage
boys. – P. J. O’Rourke

The foregoing was penned before 9/11/01 by a fellow named Jason Wang. The US de-
clared its independence in 1776, well over 200 years ago.

161
 The Cold War – Chapter 17 – A Shocking Surprise

Where was it all going to lead? Wang was right when he referred to an apathetic Ameri-
can public, but he was wrong when he concluded that people always depended on the
government. In order to be able to depend on the government, one has to have a gov-
ernment one can depend upon. Over the course of 230+ years, the democracy that
Americans held so dear had begun to unravel at the seams. When the rights of animals
were more important than the rights of people, and other people just stood by and didn’t
object, somebody, somewhere, had to know the system was in decline. This is not
about another Revolutionary War. That would be illegal.

It is about the inevitable evolution in the country known as the United States of America.
There were some in the country who wanted to grab the country back from the liberals.
These people wanted to restore morality, decency and independence. These people
were few and far between. They didn’t want another Civil War, which would be counter-
productive. What they really wanted was to be left alone and for the government to do
what it was supposed to instead of telling them how to live their lives. That’s an interest-
ing question, what is the government supposed to do?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the gen-
eral Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do or-
dain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Hmm, how do things like that happen?

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the
powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are en-
dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liber-
ty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, - That when-
ever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on
such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most like-
ly to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly
all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accus-
tomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is

162
their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future se-
curity…

The Constitution, Article III, § 3:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in
adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted
of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Con-
fession in open Court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder
of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the
Person attainted.

If you want to know more about the subject, read my story entitled, Title 18. The Con-
gress, in its infinite wisdom, wasn’t satisfied with the simple description of Treason in
the Constitution, they rewrote it in USC, Title 18. You find the whole thing in Chapter 1
of that story. The Three Amigos didn’t want any trouble; they just wanted to live in
peace and have a little food on the table, gas in their tanks and to be left alone. One
other thing, Social Security Retirement funds aren’t a gift from the government. Social
Security Retirement funds are the return of the money the government took from you
and your employer, perhaps with a little interest, back when you were working. They are
not an Entitlement like welfare. It is YOUR money.

Go back to the Declaration of Rights and the Constitution. Do I detect a contradiction or

perhaps a latent ambiguity between the two documents? They teach you words like that
in Law School, you know. Hey, don’t get angry with me; I’m just pointing out what I per-
ceive to be a dichotomy.

Latent Ambiguity: An ambiguity that does not readily appear in the language of a docu-
ment, but instead arises from a collateral matter when the document’s terms are applied
or executed.

Treason: The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of one’s country or of

assisting its enemies in war

Corruption of Blood: Corruption of Blood was part of ancient English penalty for treason.
It was usually part of a Bill of Attainder, which normally sentenced the accused to death.
The corruption of blood would forbid the accused’s family from inheriting his property.
Such bills and punishments were often inflicted upon Tories by colonial governments
immediately following independence.

163
Get it? Good! I’m just bringing up a little point about a possible conflict I noticed. There
was only so much money to go around among The Three Amigos and their families.
They concentrated of buying things they couldn’t produce and producing what things
that they could. Eventually, as things got worse, Ronnie Joe and Jennifer, along with
Brenda, her former husband and their little boy showed up in Flippin. So did Mark and
Paula. And as far as that goes, James and Junior and their families were there, too. All
of a sudden The Three Amigos were paying the living costs of three times as many
people on their meager incomes. It really wasn’t so bad, but the kids, who had homes in
Ft. Smith and Little Rock couldn’t even give their homes away, let alone sell them.

Eventually the Army figured out it had been had when the folks showed up at the Pine
Bluff Arsenal. It took them quite a while because Colonel Jessup had given an order
and there wasn’t really any reason to question it. It only came to light when one Ser-
geant Major mentioned something to the Colonel’s Sergeant Major who said something
to the Colonel about supplying the munitions and supplies for that problem in Little
Rock. The SM was curious because there had been no news about any problems in Lit-
tle Rock and the SM that had been along with the SS to pick up the supplies had been
under arms and had mentioned something about Fayetteville to the Corporal. It was
highly irregular for the SM and SS who picked up the supplies to be under arms.

The ensuring discussion found the missing supplies somehow otherwise accounted for.
This wasn’t the Army way because the Army did things by the book. Conversely, you
don’t get to be an E-9 or O-6 by not knowing how to use a broom (sweeping things un-
der the carpet). The thieves hadn’t even filled up the semi-trailer and the SM thought it
odd that they only took enough matériel for a small group of people. They had taken
very few firearms, only the 4 M240B machine guns. Maybe, the SM reasoned, Arkansas
did have a state Defense Force after all albeit small. And they already had most of their
own equipment judging by what they’d requisitioned, mostly consumables. Both men
concluded that whoever scammed them had a military background, probably Army, be-
cause he knew exactly how to manipulate the system and generate the proper forms.
No doubt the identity and the ID card the SS had were false, who would be STUPID
enough to use his own name?

The timing of things can be pretty strange. One would have thought that things would
have gone to Hell in a handcart immediately following the nuclear exchange. They
hadn’t and a few friendly nations had pitched in to help. The strain was more than the
country could bear, however, and eventually things really did begin to go to Hell in a
handcart. That’s the way things work, you know. It is always darkest before the dawn
and just when everything is getting good, someone always rains on your parade. Some
folks call it fatalism.

“We’re going to have to start taking horses and wagons to the store,” Clarence ob-
served. “Between buying just the necessities and keeping everything topped off, Shirley
and I can’t afford gasoline any longer.”

164
“I sort of figured having our own herds of livestock would come in handy someday,” Ron
agreed. “I think that Gary and Sharon have cornered the market on beans and rice and
we have our gardens plus an alternative means of transportation. Be sure you take a
big bucket and a shovel. Those people at Wal-Mart might get a bit TESTY if you leave
manure in their parking lot.”

“Well, I don’t like the way things are going one dang bit,” Gary snorted. “I’m smoking
less and still spending $200 a month on cigarettes. Toilet paper doesn’t weigh all that
much, it doesn’t make sense the way the price has gone up. I’m saving the J. C. Penny
catalog, just in case. That reminds me Ron, I have a bunch of .45 Colt and .45ACP I
need reloaded. I have the primers, powder and bullets; do you have time to reload the
ammo?”

“No 5.56 or 7.62?”

“Everything is sighted in and I only practice to be able to control my breathing and not
shake so badly. We can’t draw attention to ourselves by shooting the machine guns or
the M109’s.”

“Yeah and I can’t reload the 25mm ammo either.”

“I hate to change the subject,” Clarence said, “But what are we going to do if some
MZB’s really do show up?”

“Tell them to get on their Harley’s and head back to Texas,” Ron suggested.

“I was serious.”

“Clarence, we all have CB radios and we only live a short distance apart. Just get on
channel 9 and yell, The Russians are coming. We’ll get the message and we’ll lock and
load,” Ron replied.

“As long as Gary doesn’t mistake me for Geraldo.”

“If you need help at your place, just scream HELP,” Gary suggested.

“How do we notify the rest of the militia?”

“They’ll hear the gunshots and come running.”

“What if it’s the Army instead some MZB’s?”

“I think that they’re supposed to be on our side, Clarence. But I guess we need a code
for that, too. Just include the expression Custer’s Last Stand in you transmission.”

165
“What do I say if the UN shows up? Or, some Russians?”

“How about you say, the Russians are here, or, the UN is here?” Ron asked.

“Yeah, there you go Clarence, call everyone by what they are. You can say the Army is
here, the Marines are here, the Russians are here or the Blue Hats are here,” Gary
agreed.

Silly? Nope, the US was in such bad shape that the American President, a Democrat,
invited the UN in to help maintain order amid the growing unrest. The UN responded
instantly, they couldn’t miss a change to disarm the United States. The US military didn’t
like the UN being in the country and refused to work with them maintaining order. Colo-
nel Jessup or maybe it was the SM, got on the computer and ran the name Ott through
the database, just in case. The only SS Ott they came up with in Arkansas was a former
SS Derek S. Ott in Flippin.

“Do you know what I want accomplished Sergeant Major?” Jessup asked. “You realize
that I can’t really tell you to do it, it is totally against Regulations.”

“I’ll handle it Colonel,” SM Kowalski replied. “But first I have to verify that this is the guy
we’re not looking for.”

“Take that Corporal, he saw the SS and the SM,” Jessup suggested. “They are going to
need some Block II FIM92A’s, heavy machine guns, .50 caliber ammo, vests and
plates.”

“Can we get our hands on any of the Ghillie suits, sir? I have a sneaking hunch these
fellas are more like guerillas than conventional infantry. “

“I’ll make a call SM, they usually go directly to the sniper schools. Check these guys out
and if they are what we think they are, give them anything they want, within reason.”

“Sir.”

The modern Army isn’t the same Army that fought WW I, II or Korea. It bears little re-
semblance to the Army that fought in Vietnam. Many of the weapons weren’t the same.
These people are all professional soldiers and volunteers. Nonetheless, Sergeant Ma-
jors are Sergeant Majors and the nature of that beast hasn’t changed completely. A SM
made things happen. Kowalski got the Corporal; they dressed in civilian clothes and
took off for Flippin in the SM’s personal vehicle. They were looking for a man named Ott
who used to be a tank Commander in the Iowa National Guard.

“That’s the guy SM,” the Corporal said, pointing to Derek at the Super Wal-Mart.

166
“Excuse me, I’m SM Kowalski from the Pine Bluff Arsenal, could we have a word, SS
Ott?”

“Sure SM, but I’m a civilian now,” Derek replied.

“I know, SS,” Kowalski smiled. “What do you call your group?”

“The Frigin’ Flippin Militia,” Derek answered honestly.

“How large is your organization?”

“About a Platoon.”

“Ex-military?”

“Mostly. Look, SM, I get off in about 30 minutes, why don’t you and the Corporal get a
drink at the refreshment center and I’ll come by and get you then?”

“Ok, but if you take off, we can find you.”

“Ready to go SM?” Derek asked.

“Where?”

“There are some people you need to meet before I can say anything else.”

“Lead the way.”

“Dad, this is Sergeant Major Kowalski from the Pine Bluff Arsenal. Can you call Ron and
Clarence and get them over here?”

“That’s the guy!” the Corporal said pointing to Gary. “He was the Sergeant Major.”

“Sorry Corporal but I was never higher than an Airman First Class in the Air Force in the
1960’s. That’s an E-4, the same as you are. Coffee, fellas?”

“Clarence and Ron, the Army is here. Don’t bother to lock and load; they’re dressed in
civilian clothes. Clarence, Assembly.”

“Are you guys sure you don’t belong in a convalescent home?” the SM asked.

167
“SM, I got out of the Air Force before Vietnam really got started. All you modern military
types know how to do is read the Regulations,” Gary replied. “I never saw a Regulation I
couldn’t bust.”

“Things are different now that the President has invited in the United Nations. Not eve-
rybody is happy with that decision.”

“I saw on CNN where the military is refusing to help the UN, Gar-Bear,” Ron added.

“That was pretty ballsy of you guys requisitioning the munitions.”

“Who in the Hell do you think paid for the stuff, SM? Those were our tax dollars at
work.”

“No harm, no foul, that’s not why I’m here.”

“Why are you here? You seemed to be able to find us without looking too hard.”

“We figured you were some sort of local militia and decided to give you a pass because
you were more interested in consumables than in weapons.”

“We have about all of the consumables that we need,” Clarence responded.

“We noticed that you didn’t take any heavy weapons or air defense weapons. You didn’t
take any of the Interceptor body armor either.”

“We don’t have anyone trained to use air defense weapons, SM,” Derek replied. “Actu-
ally we do have a dozen of the M14 rifles and some 100-round Beta C drum magazines
for them. “

“Really? We could train people to use the Stinger missiles, you know.”

“We don’t need them, SM. In Somalia, the rebels shot down Blackhawk helicopters with
RPG-7’s. We have 4 of the XM109 upper assemblies and some ammo. We also have 4
of the M82A1 rifles and some Raufoss ammo.”

“How about I get you the lower receiver assemblies so you won’t have to swap out
those upper receivers? I can also get you more of the 25mm ammo.”

“What’s the catch?” Ron asked.

“Arkansas doesn’t have a state Defense Force and some folks would like to change
that. No catch.”

“Derek, it’s up to you.”

168
“We could probably use 4 Ma Deuces, some .50 caliber belts and so forth, Dad.”

“Derek, the Ma Deuce isn’t exactly the weapon of choice for a guerilla unit. They weigh
too much,” Gary pointed out.

“Would you prefer the M312’s?”

“Now you’re talking, SM, they weigh a third as much, but do they work?” Gary asked.
“All of this new plastic equipment makes me nervous.”

“Very well, Mr. Ott.”

“What about the M307?” Gary asked.

“They work too, now that they got the bugs worked out.”

“Four of each and enough body armor for say 5 squads?” Gary asked.

“Come to the Arsenal in 2 days and we’ll have everything you want. If anybody asks you
where you got it, tell them you stole it.”

“What if we end up needing a resupply?” Derek asked.

“You have the SINCGARS radios, call in on channel 1000 and request a resupply for
the 1st of the 1st of the 1st of the Arkansas State Defense Force. We’ll monitor the
channel. We’ll make up a canned requisition form and you can make your requests by
line item and quantity. That will simplify everything and disguise the transaction in case
we’re overheard.”

“I’ll be damned,” Gary said shaking his head.

“Probably, Gar-Bear.”

“We’re going to need to reorganize the militia slightly and recruit another squad of peo-
ple, you know.”

“Bubba and Bubba Jr. will take care of that once we tell them what equipment we’re go-
ing to add.”

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Reuters) – US and North Korean diplomats held their first face-to-
face talks in five months last week amid increasing signs that Pyongyang is taking steps
to advance its nuclear weapons program, the White House said on Thursday. With con-

169
cern that Pyongyang may conduct an underground test of a nuclear device, and with the
six-party talks looking increasingly fragile, Washington is under pressure from its own
partners to open some form of dialogue.

James Foster, State Department director of Korean affairs, expressed concern about
North Korea’s actions since openly declaring on Feb. 10 that it possessed nuclear
weapons.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. May 19, 2005 – Two doctors who examined a Virginia man accused
of joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush have concluded that he
was tortured while in Saudi custody, according to defense lawyers.

The torture resulted in Ahmed Omar Abu Ali giving a false confession to Saudi authori-
ties, according to the lawyers, who are seeking to have the statement thrown out.

“The physical and psychological abuse that Abu Ali suffered over a two-year period crit-
ically impaired his capacity for self-determination and overcame his will,” wrote defense
lawyer Ashraf Nubani. “It resulted in him making involuntary, false statements to allevi-
ate his suffering and appease his interrogators.”

Federal prosecutors have consistently denied that Abu Ali was tortured. Nubani also ac-
cused the US government of complicity in the Saudis’ alleged torture of Abu Ali. Abu Ali,
24, of Falls Church, is accused of joining al Qaeda while attending college in Saudi Ara-
bia in 2001. The government contends that he discussed numerous possible attacks,
including plans to assassinate Bush or members of Congress.

(CBS/AP) Salvadoran officials closed schools and began evacuations on Thursday with
the approach of what threatened to be the first recorded Pacific Cyclone to strike the
country.

El Salvador and Guatemala declared emergencies as unusual Hurricane Adrian, the

eastern Pacific’s first named tropical storm of the season, gained force and headed di-
rectly for their coastline, carrying heavy rains that forecasters said could cause devas-
tating flooding.

Salvadoran President Tony Saca broadcast an appeal for his citizens to obey evacua-
tion requests.

1998, Hurricane Mitch, arriving from the Caribbean, killed at least 9,000 people in Cen-
tral America. Most Pacific storms tend toward the northwest, marching roughly parallel
to the coastline and then edging out to sea or veering inland. The Hurricane Center said

170
that since 1966, only one tropical depression has ever hit the coasts of Guatemala or El
Salvador in May and none have done it so early, CBS News reports.

Did someone just say something about the Saudis? Did that have anything to do with
the Bush-Saudi connection, or was Gary just confused? The Three Amigos weren’t to-
tally confused, just in shock. They had expected the Army to show up, eventually, but
never dreamed it would be to give them more things instead attempting to recover what
they’d requisitioned. There is some rule about gift horses and their mouths, but Gary’s
memory was on-again-off-again, just like the relationship between India and Pakistan.
The very last thing the US needed was to be vulnerable. Unfortunately, the President
failed to realize that inviting the UN in to maintain law and order was the one thing he
could have done to make the US almost totally vulnerable.

When the military informed the President that they had sworn allegiance to the Constitu-
tion and not to him, he fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. That started the snowball
rolling down the slippery slope and before it was over, all of the military Chiefs of Staff
were gone. Not all of the General Officers of the US military were so enamored with
their oaths’ of office. Most were, but there a rotten apple in every barrel. The President
simply interviewed officers until he found one in each branch of service willing to sup-
port his policy. Sometimes officers skip a rank on their way to the top. It doesn’t happen
very often, but it happens. Rarely does an officer skip more than a single rank. The only
fellow I can think of at the moment where that happened was to George Armstrong Cus-
ter (according to the movies) and I believe we all know what happened to Custer in the
end. I don’t know if Custer was shot or got an arrow. Dead is dead, no matter how you
died. The movie where Custer received the promotion was They Died with Their Boots
On (1941).

“Flynn’s Custer was a larger-than-life cavalier, prone to getting in trouble with his supe-
riors, but so charismatic that one enlisted man remarks, We’d follow him to hell. Barely
allowed to leave West Point to serve in the Civil War (his academic record is the worst
in West Point’s history, “even worse than Ulysses S. Grant” one instructor laments), the
new lieutenant is accidentally promoted to Brigadier General, and uses his rank to lead
his command in a series of charges at Gettysburg, ultimately saving the day, and the
Union, in the process.” Custer received a Brevet promotion. He didn’t lose his hair be-
cause he’d cut it short before the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

On June 28th, 1863, newly-appointed head of the Army of the Potomac, Major General
George G. Meade appointed three captains in the Cavalry Corps as brigadier general in
the US Volunteers: Wesley Merritt, Elon J. Farnworth, and George A. Custer. When he
traded his captain’s bars for brigadier’s stars, Custer received command of the Second
Brigade of the Third Cavalry Division – known simply as the Michigan Brigade or, to
Custer, the Wolverine Brigade. At 23, Custer was commanding an inexperienced unit.
Few had ever heard a shot fired, and their discipline and organization was raw. The

171
Wolverine Brigade would get their first lesson in combat as a result of General Robert E.
Lee’s second invasion of the North.

172
 The Cold War – Chapter 18 – The Top of The Hour

The response of the United States Government against Japan ultimately was the use of
the Atomic bomb. Never before had an Atomic bomb been used in military warfare.
Never before had the world seen an atrocity of inhumanity such as this. Or have we? To
justify the nuclear response, the American public needed only to go back in history to
Custer’s massacre at the Little Bighorn River. Fourteen years after Bighorn, the Indian
problem was solved. In the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, at Wounded Knee,
what remained of the faded hopes of the Native American cause were massacred.
American soldiers at the battle against the Sioux were heard to shout, “Remember Cus-
ter!” The Last Stand of Custer at Bighorn was used as justification for the massacre of
the Native American race. Custer and all his fallen comrades became national martyrs.
The cause they died for became the cause the nation should fight for.

More than half a century later, the martyrs changed, but the cause for the fight re-
mained. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they sealed their own doom. The
past tells us America’s reaction to Pearl Harbor, and the past justifies it. “Remember
Pearl Harbor!” “Remember Custer!” Remember the American cause and our fallen he-
roes!! On August 6th, 1945, the first Atomic Bomb the world had seen was dropped on
Hiroshima, killing over 100,000 inhabitants. On August 9th, 1945, the second Atomic
Bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing over 60,000 inhabitants. Was American action
rightfully justified by the history of the past?

The 2 preceding paragraphs about Custer and the Japanese are from an undergraduate
paper pertaining to the movie with Errol Flynn. I suspect the kid is a liberal. Maybe after
he finished college he became a tree-hugger or something useful. My answer to the
kid’s question is, “You bet your butt it was!” The estimated death toll, had the US been
forced to invade Japan was more than a million Japanese and one-half million Ameri-
cans. I think 160,000 lives are a fair exchange. Who attacked whom?

Just like the actual Cold War, The Cold War had taken on a life of its own. Events were
building so slowly, one almost wondered if TSHTF before The Three Amigos died of old
age or medical conditions. 100 times out of 99, TSHTF before people were ready. Clar-
ence, Ron and Gary were, if nothing else, ready for whatever was looming in their fu-
ture. They didn’t have anything that one could really describe as a heavy weapon be-
cause even in their advanced age, they envisioned themselves as guerillas, not sol-
diers. Yes, Gary had a wheelchair. He also had a walker and a cane, but he didn’t use
any of them. It was difficult for him to walk and running was out of the question. Maybe
he was an over-the-hill guerilla, but his heart was in the right place, just a little above his
stomach. Hell, all 3 of the amigos were over-the-hill and possibly 2 valleys over. War is
something for the young people, not old-farts.

Heavy weapon may have 2 meanings. The military refers to a 5.56mm as a light ma-
chine gun, a 7.62mm as a medium machine gun and a .50 caliber as a heavy machine

173
gun. At 42 pounds without the ammo or spare barrel, an M312 was a heavy machine
gun, especially if you were pushing 70. It only weighed one-third the weight of the Ma
Deuce. Then there was the question of the 25mm ammo which all turned out to be
M1019HEAB cartridges at a pound per round.

(CNN) – Dramatic new data from the December 26, 2004, Sumatran–Andaman earth-
quake that generated deadly tsunamis show the event created the longest fault rupture
and the longest duration of faulting ever observed, according to three reports by an in-
ternational group of seismologists published Thursday in the journal “Science.”

“Normally, a small earthquake might last less than a second; a moderate sized earth-
quake might last a few seconds. This earthquake lasted between 500 and 600 seconds
(at least 10 minutes),” said Charles Ammon, associate professor of geosciences at
Penn State University.

The quake released an amount of energy equal to a 100-gigaton bomb, according to

Roger Bilham, professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado.
And that power lasted longer than any quake ever recorded. Scientists estimated the
average slippage (ground movement up and down) along the entire length of the fault
was at least 5 meters (16.5 feet) – with some places being moved nearly 20 meters (66
feet).

Scientists have also upgraded the magnitude of the quake from 9.0 to between 9.1 and
9.3, a dramatically more powerful event. As a comparison: the ground shook 100 times
harder during December’s earthquake than what was felt in the 1989 Loma Prieta
quake in California. That 6.9 magnitude quake caused extensive damage from Santa
Cruz to San Francisco.

“Globally, this earthquake was large enough to basically vibrate the whole planet as
much as half an inch, or a centimeter. Everywhere we had instruments, we could see
motions,” Ammon said. “There will be more earthquakes of this type, and with more
humans exposed to the hazard there will be more devastating losses of life. What we
hope to do is develop technologies that can minimize that loss,” Lay said.

GOULBURN, Australia (AP) – The rolling hills around this historic city were once re-
nowned as some of Australia’s best grazing land. After four years of drought they are as
bleached and lifeless as old bones. Goulburn is perilously close to becoming Australia’s
first major settlement to see its reservoirs run completely out of water as a Big Dry grips
much of the nation. Desalination isn’t an option for landlocked Goulburn, one of Austral-
ia’s oldest settlements. Experts say the water supply in the city of 22,000 will run dry by
year’s end without significant rain. Homes are now restricted to just 150 liters (40 gal-
lons) per resident per day – about enough for a 10-minute shower.

174
Adding to the city’s concerns are signs of a developing El Nino weather pattern, caused
by fluctuations in ocean temperatures and believed to spur drought conditions in Aus-
tralia. “This is our fourth year of drought now,” Goulburn’s water engineer Matt O’Rourke
said, adding that if another El Nino forms, “then we may be faced with the prospect of
another couple of years of drought.” Charlie Prell, whose ranch is just outside Goulburn,
fears the drought could last another decade.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The International Committee of the Red Cross gathered “cred-
ible” reports about US personnel at the Guantanamo Bay naval base disrespecting the
Quran and raised the issue with the Pentagon several times, a group spokesman said
Thursday. Although Red Cross employees did not personally witness any mishandling
of Qurans, Schorno said, they documented and corroborated enough reports from de-
tainees to share them with Pentagon and Guantanamo officials in confidential reports.
Schorno said the Red Cross would not have raised the issue if it had been an isolated
incident, but he would not offer specifics about the number of complaints.

Mr. Schumer simply went too far: Justice Brown’s view on economics make Justice
Scalia look very liberal. She doesn’t want to roll back the clock to the 1950s or even the
1930s. She wants to go back to the 1800s, Mr. Schumer said.

Mrs. Brown is a black woman born and raised in the deep south of Alabama. Given that
history, it doesn’t take much to see what rolling back the clock to the 1800s means for
her. At best Mr. Schumer’s statement is calling Mrs. Brown a person imprisoned with a
slave mentality. But blacks and whites on the Hill yesterday felt he might as well have
called her a House Negro or an Uncle Tomasina.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist last night scheduled the “nuclear option” vote for Tues-
day, an expected announcement that came shortly after a bipartisan group of senators
failed yet again to reach a last-minute compromise on judicial nominees. “We’ve made a
tremendous amount of progress in the last few days,” said Sen. Mark Pryor, Arkansas
Democrat, who is among those still negotiating. “We don’t have a deal at the moment
but we’re still very hopeful.”

The F-117A Nighthawk, America’s first stealth aircraft was developed on the basis of
mathematical formulas and tests. Most of our results are based on Pyotr Ufimstev’s
groundwork of stealth technology, more specifically, his article Methods and Principles
in reducing RCS. Specifically: In April of ‘73, Denys Overholser, presented information

175
that would be the greatest breakthrough ever for stealth technology. Code-named Have
Blue the information he gave would make an aircraft so hard to detect that it would be
literally invulnerable against any radar system in the world. The irony of this is that the
information that was found was found in a technical paper published by Moscow prem-
ier scientist Pyotr Ufimstev, who until 1990 did not know what he had given to America.

“Why on earth did you move to the mountains, Gar-Bear?”

“The mountains serve a couple useful purposes, Ronald. There is nothing like a straight
road in the area. It would slow down anyone unfamiliar with the area. It also gives us an
advantage of being able to ambush outsiders.”

“Yeah, well, mountains all go up and down. The mountains may be a nice backyard for
a 20-year-old kid, but we all about 70.”

“The bright side of that picture is that once we get where we’re going, it’s always down-
hill from there.”

“I can’t believe that anyone would want to attack or invade Flippin,” Clarence said.

“Oh, I agree with that, Clarence. It’s just that if you’re on US 412, you have to go
through Flippin. However, US 412 is the main highway across northern Arkansas.
And… once people get into town on their way to wherever they’re going, they’ll see the
Wal-Mart. I not only wrote a little fiction in my day, I read everything that everyone else
wrote. Wal-Mart’s appeared in lots of those stories. They may have called them China-
mart’s BUT the heroes usually ended up in a Wal-Mart store getting the things they
needed to survive. We did. A Wal-Mart is sort of like one-stop shopping. It is obvious
that their intended market is the blue-collar customer.”

“The store here sure is a lot different from the stores in the Palmdale area,” Ron ob-
served.

“That’s because half their inventory isn’t illegal, partner.”

“What are we going to do if some of those UN people show up?” Clarence asked.

“If we can take them, I’d prefer to bury them. We’ll just have to be very careful to cover
our tracks. I was sitting around thinking about the Army giving us that additional equip-
ment. Setting aside the fact that their behavior was totally unbelievable, I believe that it
is a matter of them being forced to do something they can’t stomach, so far as the UN is
concerned. Why hasn’t the President been on TV and announced what’s going on?
Why isn’t the media tearing apart everything that the Administration and Congress are
doing? You can’t keep a reporter from telling everything he or she knows. I can only

176
conclude that the government has clamped down on papers, TV and radio. EO 10995
allows the government to seize and control the communication media.”

“I can’t believe that.”

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. – Lord Acton “Who is generally
considered the most powerful man in the world? I’ll answer my own question: it is the
President of the United States.”

“That’s why we have 3 branches of government, Gary.”

“Think back a few years to George W. Bush’s second term in office. He had a majority
in both the House and Senate. The Senate majority wasn’t overwhelming, only about 55
to 45. However, I remind you what the Republicans did to force their judicial nomina-
tions through the Senate.”

“What they did made sense, Gar-Bear,” Ron insisted. “The Democrats stalled some of
those nominations for 4 years by threatening a filibuster. “

“Only because of the nasty seven Ron. It got pretty bad when a liberal like Chuckie Ba-
by got in the face of that black female judge over being a black female judge. But in-
stead of doing what legislators are paid to do and negotiate, the Republicans invoked
the nuclear option.”

“And you didn’t approve?”

“If that were an isolated incident, it wouldn’t have bothered me at all. Somehow, I came
to realize that it was part of a pervasive pattern. After 2 terms of a President that had
forced 2 wars, packed the judiciary with ultra conservatives and so forth, the American
public back lashed. He ended his term on a really high note with a thermonuclear war.
This country is coming apart at the seams. Way back in the beginning when I started
writing Patriot Fiction, a few stories in particular got my attention. One was called Pax
Americana; another was Battle of Jakes; and, of course, there was Lights Out. I read all
three of those several times. I’ve noticed that I’m not the only person who thinks that
society is crumbling and that the 2nd Amendment will be the only thing that saves this
country, assuming it can be saved.”

“It sounds like you’re proposing a second Revolution or Civil War,” Clarence said.

“Not at all, my friend. I simply want what the founding father’s promised us: Life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of Happiness. We have 2 tools to do that, the ballot box and the 2nd
Amendment. When the first one doesn’t work, you need the second. Listen:”

…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent
of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new

177
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

I, (state your name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will
bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any
mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the
duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

“The 1st is an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence. The 2nd is the federal
Oath of Enlistment. I swore that oath on June 6, 1961. Maybe I got out of the Air Force
in 1965, but how does a person un-swear an oath he’s given? How about this:”

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for
which it stands; one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.”

“I was in 5th or 6th grade when they added under God to the pledge. We said that
pledge every day we were in school for 12 years. You’ve probably said it as many times
as I have, maybe more. We can’t renege on a promise we made every school day for
12 years, fellas.”

“So, you’re saying…”

“That it is our duty to kick the UN out of the US by any and every means possible. It is
our duty to help others to try and restore the government.”

“You can get off the soapbox now, Gar-Bear.”

During the spring of 2012, the Blue Hats finally made it to Arkansas. Arkansas is mostly
rural and in 2012, had a population of a little over 1 million people. As far as many were
concerned this was the Second War of Northern Aggression. Most of the UN troops who
made it to Arkansas were from what we call third-world countries. If they chose to pass
right through, they weren’t bothered, at first. If they didn’t, the 1st of the 1st of the 1st
gave them what for, assisted by the other residents of this small Arkansas community.
The bodies were buried and the vehicles sunk in one of the Bull Shoals. Weapons that
were salvaged were distributed among the townspeople.

During the American Revolutionary war, snipers using Kentucky rifles often harassed
British troops. It was a risky business because they used black powder back in those
days, which gave away the sniper’s position. This was the age of smokeless powder,
suppressors and very accurate, very long-range rifles. A 25mm round or perhaps a
LAW rocket into the grill of the lead vehicle would stop a column. A 25mm round or per-
haps a LAW rocket into the last vehicle would tie the column up. The UN could hide, but
they couldn’t run. When they tried, they were cut down; if they didn’t it was Abdul’s last

178
stand. Gradually, the population of Flippin became very adept at cleaning up the car-
nage and removing the signs of the battle that had occurred.

US and Soviet doctrine had long concluded that beyond 300-meters, most fire was sup-
pressive fire. US doctrine was more realistic than Soviet doctrine, the Soviets said 400-
meters and the US said 100-meters, but required proficiency to 300-meters. All I can tell
you is that Geraldo would have been a dead man. A .50 caliber Barrett rifle is just get-
ting warmed up at 600-meters and the M109 is pretty efficient to 1,000-meters and even
beyond, as is the M25. The McMillian Tac-50 is even more accurate. The US Army was
expending large amounts of ammunition in firefights they never had, controlling the local
rebels. The munitions were getting expended in far different firefights. The first rounds
always took out the antennas, preventing the UN forces from communicating their loca-
tion and the next rounds tied up the columns. If you don’t like my order of battle, tough!

In 1776, the British complained that the Americans didn’t fight fair. In 1991 and again in
2003, the Iraqis complained that the Americans didn’t fight fair. In 2012, the UN com-
plained that the Americans didn’t fight fair. Did the Indians at the battle of the Little Big
Horn fight fair? Sure they did, they won the battle. The Marquis of Queensbury can kiss
my butt.

The idea that certain laws should apply even amid the violence and anarchy of war isn’t
new. The saying may have been that all’s fair in war, but restrictions on battlefield con-
duct have always been recognized. The Hebrew Bible forbade soldiers from, among
other things, destroying fruit-bearing trees in hostile lands, and chivalric codes existed in
the Middle Ages. It was the Dutch philosopher Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), however, who
came to be seen as the Solon of today’s laws of war. His influential 1625 work On the
Laws of War and Peace argued that there exist natural laws, independent of any indi-
vidual state’s legal system, that are apparent to human reason and should prevail even
during hostilities.

Over the next two centuries, Enlightenment philosophers built upon Grotius’ ideas. Mon-
tesquieu argued against the killing of prisoners of war. Rousseau insisted that prisoners
receive humane treatment and be freed after hostilities ended (instead of being en-
slaved). These ideas made their way into various friendship pacts signed between na-
tions and the war manuals individual countries issued to their soldiers. The unprece-
dented carnage of 19th-century warfare led Western nations to try to mitigate the most
unnecessary forms of battlefield suffering. Innovations in weaponry and the advent of
“total war,” which exacted unconditional surrender from the defeated party, had made
combat deadlier than ever before. In the Civil War (1861-1865), 600,000 American sol-
diers died – more than in all other American wars combined, before or since. In the Cri-
mean War (1853-1856), in which Russia fought England, France, Turkey, and Sardinia,
more than 100,000 people died of typhus, cholera, dysentery, and other diseases.

179
As the Crimean and Civil wars prompted the first Geneva Convention, World War I,
which saw record death tolls due to trench warfare and the use of poison gas, spurred
the world to bolster what were now seen as inadequate existing rules. The Kellogg-
Briand Pact of 1928, signed by most of the world’s major powers, renounced war as a
tool of policy; though symbolic, it formalized the notion that aggression against another
state violated international law and was cited in the post-World War II trials of Axis lead-
ers. Also adding to the burgeoning body of law were the 1925 Geneva Protocol, barring
the use of poison gas and biological weapons; the 1929 Geneva Convention, improving
the rules on the treatment of POWs and the wounded; and other treaties regulating the
wartime use of submarines.

Buttressing the laws of war, alas, did not check the human instinct for savagery, as
World War II and the Holocaust showed, and the war’s aftermath produced a slew of
efforts to stop such horrors from recurring. In 1948 the new United Nations ratified the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which asserted that all human beings should
enjoy a host of civil and social freedoms. Also that year an international genocide treaty
outlawed any effort to exterminate a people. (The United States ratified it in 1988.) And
the 1949 Geneva Conventions again expanded the laws of war, extending protections
to noncombatants and augmenting the rights accorded to POWs and the wounded. Al-
most every nation on the globe has now signed the Geneva Conventions.

One method of enforcement was based on ancient principles: to require individual coun-
tries to do so. (Aut punier aut dedere, the Romans said; either punish or let others pun-
ish). The 1949 Geneva Conventions stipulated that signatories must search for sus-
pected war criminals and either try them or turn them over to other nations willing to do
so. Occasionally states have done so, as the United States did during the Vietnam War,
prosecuting American servicemen accused of violating the laws of war. But on the
whole, states have rarely been willing to charge their own soldiers with war crimes, and
even more rarely let other countries or international courts do the work. The recent flap
over the extradition and trial of Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet underscored
the difficulty of getting nations to agree to what in principle should be a workable sys-
tem.

The other method pioneered after World War II was the international tribunal. The Nu-
remberg and Tokyo trials of Axis leaders were conducted by multinational courts under
procedures widely deemed to be fair and open. Dozens of German and Japanese offi-
cials, including Hermann Goering and Hideki Tojo, were convicted and given the death
penalty or other stiff sentences. Although limited in scope, the trials offered hope that
the laws of war might for the first time carry real weight.

There were critics, to be sure, who decried the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials as victors’
justice – which of course they were. But the World War I experience had shown the futil-
ity of letting the defeated try their own, and in fact the international court represented a
great advance over past forms of victors’ justice, such as show trials or summary execu-
tions (which Winston Churchill at one point recommended for the Nazi leaders). As US
Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, America’s chief prosecutor at Nuremberg, not-

180
ed, “That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung by injury, stay the hand of
vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is
one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason.” The question
was not whether the victors would mete out justice, but what kind of justice they would
mete out.

Time for a musical interlude:

Newsweak-a-Ville [To the tune of Margaritaville]

Chewin’ Falafel,
Bush is so awful,
Stealin’ that sweet crude mid eastern oil.
Bummin’ like nothin,
Wish we had somethin,
Some plan to cover ol’ Shrubby in soil.

Chorus:
Wastin’ away again in old Newsweak-a-ville,
Searching for my lost Pentagon source.
Some people claim that the Chimperor’s to blame
But I know it’s all Karl Rove’s fault.

I don’t know the reason

Limbaugh said it was treason.
Nothin’ to show but this big ol’ black eye;
But I say screw Newtie,
F*** honor and duty,
I’ll report the story, even if our troops die.

Chorus:
Wastin’ away again in old Newsweak-a-ville,
Searching for my lost FBI source.
Some people claim that Ol’ McShrub is to blame
Now I think…
It’s Karen Hughes’ fault.

My blown reputation,
Mental masturbation,
I’d much rather be working up there at the Times;
But it’s Howie Dean’s Party,
And soon Doctor Smarty,
Will cover the Bushies with all their own slime.

181
[Aaaaaaaarrrggggghhhaaaaa…ah yay] [crescendo]

Wastin’ away again in old Newsweak-a-ville,

Searching for my lost stripey-pants source.
Some people claim that Chimperor is to blame
But I say it’s all Karl Rove’s fault.
Yes and some people claim Karen Hughes is to blame
I won’t admit it, it’s my own damn fault.

UN troops kept disappearing in northern Arkansas. The UN upped the ante and sent in
more troops to seize everyone’s weapons. The UN couldn’t find any weapons, even us-
ing the ATF’s records of weapons purchasers. They weren’t even sure where on US
412 the troops kept disappearing. The people in charge decided to go back and round
up most of the Arkansans living along US 412 and put them in a camp. Nobody was
home. The UN had a spy in their camp and didn’t know it. He was a Pollock named
Kowalski who said that the military should obey the President. Kowalski worked for a
Colonel Jessup who totally agreed with his Sergeant Major. These gentlemen were from
one of the few loyal military posts in the entire US, the Army’s Pine Bluff Arsenal.

182
 The Cold War – Chapter 19 – Janus

These gentlemen were from one of the few loyal military posts in the entire US, the Ar-
my’s Pine Bluff Arsenal. They were loyal to the Constitution and their oaths of office, as
were many of the military. They were loyal as far as the UN was concerned because
they supported the President and officially refused to supply military units who were not.
It was an extremely fine line they were walking. The Colonel and the SM were like Ja-
nus, having 2 faces. Janus is the Roman god of gates and doors (ianua), beginnings
and endings, and hence represented with a double-faced head, each looking in oppo-
site directions. He was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest time, planting, mar-
riage, birth, and other types of beginnings, especially the beginnings of important events
in a person’s life. Janus also represents the transition between primitive life and civiliza-
tion, between the countryside and the city, peace and war, and the growing-up of young
people.

“How are you doing SM Kowalski?” Derek asked.

“We’re getting by, SS Ott, but it is getting tougher by the day,” Kowalski answered. “I
could have radioed, but I didn’t want anyone to overhear. The UN is planning on picking
up all of the residents along US 412 from Ash Flat to Harrison.”

“Crap. We’ll get the warning out, but I don’t know if people will believe us.”

“Use the locals. Just make certain that everyone is gone who doesn’t want to end up in
some camp. How are you folks on supplies?”

“We are conserving our supplies as much as possible. I assumed that it would be diffi-
cult for you to conceal our using vast quantities in spray and pray tactics. We have
adopted sniper tactics and those Ghillie suit kits you provided are coming in very
handy.”

“How are the old guys holding up?”

“They only go out on missions where they can climb the hills and mountains. They have
the best weapons but share them with the militia. Do you want to take back the brass
we’ve accumulated? We can’t reload the .50 caliber or the 25mm. We could reload the
7.62×51mm, but not in the volume we use it in the M240’s.”

“Get someone to deliver it to the Arsenal in the 5-ton truck we provided. We’re going to
have to issue military ID for the members of the militia to use when they drive the truck.”

It would be almost impossible to duplicate the current military smartcard ID card,

DODCIO/OUSD(P&R), with its multicolored multidimensional bar code, black and white
picture on the back and color picture on the front. It had other security features not men-
tioned.

183
The FFM managed to contract everyone along US 412, and as I said, when the UN
showed up, no one was home. It was a dang good thing for the UN that they didn’t try to
force their way into anybody’s home, especially Gary and Sharon’s. Gary was up on the
slope a little ways away with his Tac-50 and that damned Raufoss ammo. In actuality,
no one was far from his or her home. The UN couldn’t pick up people they couldn’t find.
They picked up a few things they didn’t plan on, mostly in their tires. The things they
picked up were called Caltrops. The Caltrop was used extensively to deflate German
tires during WW II. They were still a good idea for guerillas 70-years later. One version
was made with hollow spikes and another with metal plates. Think of them as punji
sticks for tires.

The Cold War didn’t end in 2012. A United Nation’s Peacekeeping mission began in-
stead. The Peacekeeping Mission went against the grain of the people for whom peace
was being kept and where there might have been a little unrest due to the failing eco-
nomic system, there was now major unrest. SS Derek S. Ott had been Sgt. Derek S. Ott
in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo. He had mixed feeling on the issue of at-
tacking the Peacekeepers in light of that experience, but this wasn’t some third-world
country fighting over religious differences and genocide. Soldiers from other countries
whom he met in Kosovo had a different attitude from the Americans involved in that
Peacekeeping Mission. Above all else, the Americans had used restraint while some of
the others hadn’t. Although the Rules of Engagement for all of the Peacekeepers in Ko-
sovo had been the same, interpretations of those Rules of Engagement varied.

Use of US Forces and other allied military forces in peace operations abroad continues
to increase, to include once again the naval service of the USS Cole (as of April, 2002).
The terrorist massacres of September 11, 2001 have also placed the US and other mili-
taries on a war footing against an enemy capable of striking anywhere, at any time,
against both combatant and innocent alike. If you wear a US uniform, you are especially
at risk abroad – anywhere, and at any time. The mobilization of over eighty thousand
National Guard and Reserve Forces for homeland defense makes the future application
of military ROE within the borders of the United States more likely. Furthermore, the ex-
igencies of the current terrorist threat may even call for the use of ROE by active military
forces within the United States, in spite of restrictions placed by The Posse Comitatus
Act on the domestic use of active duty military forces for law enforcement operations.
Given these rapid and ongoing developments, what lessons should we learn from re-
cent cases such as those sketched above for a more consistent formulation of ROE in
this new and dangerous climate?

In general, ROE serve to proscribe certain uses of unreasonable force. Short of such
proscriptions, other ROE are justified by their instrumental value for achieving the politi-
cal or military end sought within constraints imposed by moral principle and law. Doctri-
nally, the US military defines ROE as directives issued by a competent military com-
mander which delineate the circumstances and limitations under which United States
Forces will initiate and/or continue combat engagement with other forces encountered

184
(DOD 1998: xx). ROE cover the gamut of military operations, from the high end of the
use of force spectrum, the traditional high-intensity combat operations, to the low end,
Operations Other Than War. But common to any military operation of any nation within
that spectrum, certain relevant factors inevitably appear.

Within any state’s military operation, in any military conflict however characterized, five
moral principles must be operative. After careful study, I believe each is consistent with
all three factors influencing the American PME. But only the first three of the five listed
are ever consistently recognized in various versions of Just War Theory. While all five
are consistent with the values demanded of the US PME, and which are embodied with-
in the US Constitution and the international law of war, our current situation helps in un-
derstanding why the last two principles may be less acknowledged. These Moral Princi-
ples (MP) are:

MP1: It is wrong to intentionally harm innocent human beings.

MP2: One is sometimes obligated to protect innocent human beings from harm.
MP3: Human suffering ought to be minimized.
MP4: A combatant always maintains the right to self-defense.
MP5: Commanders are always obligated to protect subordinates under their care.

War? MP2 overrides MP1. No war? MP1 overrides MP2. Employ these decision-making
criteria to justify war:

1. Just Cause
2. Proportionality (Good achieved by political ends of war > suffering from war.)
3. Legitimate Authority
4. Publicly Declared
5. Reasonable Chance of Success
6. Right Intention
7. Last Resort

Hmmm, that paper was written in 2003. Oh, that’s AFTER George W. Bush responded
to the events of 9/11 by attacking Afghanistan and Iraq. Wrong countries, George, you
should have attacked the Saudis and taken their oil, they have more and they were be-
hind 9/11. You should have also told our troops not to abuse the prisoners and throw
their religious books in the toilets; we’re supposed to be the good guys here. You can’t
turn a blind eye and then get away with blaming a female General Officer, that won’t
wash. The soldiers who were prosecuted maybe deserved it BECAUSE any order to
abuse a prisoner would have been ILLEGAL. Theoretically one cannot be punished for
refusing to obey an UNLAWFUL order. That’s why David James Elliott had a job for 10
years. Speaking of which, having his real-life wife (Nancy Chambers) playing Lt. Singer
in the series was a real stroke of genius.

185
The current American President had guaranteed that he wouldn’t get reelected in No-
vember of 2012. Assuming the UN allowed the US to have elections. The UN wanted to
monitor the November 2004 elections, you know. There is nothing in the Constitution,
including the Amendments, covering a situation where an election cannot be held.
Right?

Twentieth Amendment: Section 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of
the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become
President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the begin-
ning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice Presi-
dent elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress
may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President
elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in
which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a
President or Vice President shall have qualified.

Gee, they thought of everything, except the US being taken over by peacekeeping forc-
es that wouldn’t allow elections OR the Congress to meet. Parlez-vous français? ¿Ust-
ed habla español? Вы говорите русского? Sprechen Sie Deutsches?

We. See. Nah-yet. Nine. Interesting, the only Constitutional provision for the continua-
tion of the American federal government requires a functioning American federal gov-
ernment to begin with. Now, that’s a scary thought.

Fortunately the UN Commander only sent Muslims to Arkansas. Muslims believe if they
die as a martyr in a cause they go immediately to Paradise (Heaven). Some people
were just trying to help those Muslims out. The real beauty of the Raufoss round was
that you didn’t need to take a head shot. Neither did you using the M1019. If you just
want gore, go watch the SciFi channel. I’m just giving you a few hints about what some
of the high-tech ammo rounds do to a person. They kill them deader than a rock. And
depending upon which cartridge you use – it might get gory. The Arkansans did what
the turtle told them to do in the 1950’s; they ducked and covered.

It occurs to me to ask if you believe me when I say God has a sense of humor? I can
prove it, you know, with a single name: Bobbitt, Lorena. Do you believe this? If you look
her up in Wikipedia you can see a picture of what she bobbed. Yetch… Sorry if I ruined
your breakfast. After they divorced, her ex- became a porn star playing Frankenstein.
How appropriate. In “Frankenpenis,” Bobbit played a character who was made with
spare parts, much like “Frankenstein”, whose penis inexplicably comes off during a
rousing session of intercourse. Bobbit then moans, “oh no, not again.” Siskel and Ebert
gave the movie two thumbs up. Hee-hee-hee. They call me Mellow Yellow (Donovan)…

(So mellow, he’s so yellow)

186
Electrical banana
Is gonna be a sudden craze
Electrical banana
Is bound to be the very next phase

They call it mellow yellow

(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

There are some sick people in this world and one of them lived in Palmdale, CA. He’s
an ‘expert’ on: bimbos, blonde.

Bush to 2005 grads: Get involved. You mean they aren’t already? I heard that a lot of
strange things happen on campuses. About 20 percent of graduates and some faculty
members wore buttons and stickers saying, “God is not a Democrat or a Republican” in
a silent protest. Some also wore armbands. A handful did not stand up to applaud when
Bush was introduced.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) – Sunni Arabs flexed their weakened political muscles, an-
nouncing Saturday the establishment of a nationwide coalition representing their reli-
gious community as their three-day, mosque-closing protest began. Since the Iraqi
leader was overthrown, Shiite Arabs – 60 percent of the population – and Kurds have
gained power and the Sunni Arabs have been on the margins of the new democracy.
Officials think the insurgency is primarily made up of Sunnis.

How do you spell Civil War?

Clinton aides Friday confirmed that the former first lady – widely expected to seek the
Democratic nomination for President in 2008 – is inviting supporters (Iowans) to her
Washington home for a fundraiser. (She’s afraid to go to Iowa.)

Edward Cox, an attorney and son-in-law of former President Richard Nixon, is “seriously
considering running” against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in her re-
election bid next year, according to an adviser.

187
Her fundraiser is for the 2006 Senatorial campaign in New York. Right. Eddie should be
sure to tell everyone he isn’t a crook, either, only a lawyer, like Hillary. You all know how
to tell if a politician is lying, right? Her, or his, lips… Bill isn’t a lawyer anymore. Ask
Monica.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – When his mother found out what porn star Ron Miller does
for a living, she was heartbroken. She never wanted him to be a criminal defense law-
yer.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Saturday it had not considered a proposal that Russia
enrich uranium for it – an idea floated as a way out of a deadlock in talks with the EU
over Tehran’s nuclear program.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With concern that Pyongyang may conduct an underground

test of a nuclear device, and with the six-party talks looking increasingly fragile, Wash-
ington is under pressure from its own partners to open some form of dialogue.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Hours before flying to Washington for talks with President
Bush, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai demanded greater control Saturday over American
military operations in his country and called for vigorous punishment of any US troops
who mistreat prisoners. He also said he wants the United States to hand over all Afghan
prisoners still in US Custody.

143 Americans died hunting Osama bin Laden and getting the Taliban out (as of
5/20/05). The US oversaw free elections where Karzai got elected. Now he wants us
out? He wants to punish Americans? You can never find the CIA when you need them
to do some wet work. I wonder what the Mossad is doing? “Hey, Ariel, got a minute?”

“Fricking ragheads,” Ron muttered. “I hate those SOB’s”

“It is not good to hate, partner. You want we should hunt some down so you can kill
them?”

“That might not be a bad idea, Gar-Bear, either that or give me a Xanax.”

“We’ll hunt down some Muslims, I don’t want you getting hooked on Xanax, like I am. It
is the real pits when you have to take a pill to go to sleep.”

“Take something different.”

188
“Been there, done that, didn’t work.”

“What did you take?”

“Benadryl. You get used to the stuff and it doesn’t make you sleepy anymore.”

“I thought you told me that Benadryl was the most common over-the-counter sleeping
aid.”

“I did. It is. Most of the over-the-counter sleeping drugs are nothing but 25mgs of Bena-
dryl. That’s why they stop working after a while.”

“But you take 50mgs of Benadryl every night, unless you lied to me again.”

“Guess that proves my point. I have one bottle of 25mg Benadryl that Sharon bought by
mistake if you want it. She never looks at the labels.”

“Why did you keep it? All you had to do was double up until it was gone.”

“In case someone is visiting and needs a Benadryl capsule.”

“Give me a Xanax.”

“They’re one pound of flesh per tablet.”

“Bullcrap! We’re partners.”

“Take two, they’re small, but cut them in half. I take the 500µg tablets, not the 250µg,
jobs. (µg = micrograms; 1,000µg = 1mg) 250µg usually puts most people on their butt.”

“I still want to kill a Muslim.”

“The FFM is a Defense Force, not an Offensive Force.”

“Well, I don’t want to offend the Muslims, I just want to kill them. If I wanted to offend
them, I’d flush one of their Bibles down the toilet or dress them in panties.”

“Their Bible is called the Qur’an (Koran), not the Bible.”

“Why are the Muslims mad at us anyway?”

“They weren’t mad at the US, they were mad at the English for the Crusades.”

“They’re mad at us now.”

“True. Don’t ask me, ask Ayatollah Khomeini.”

189
“Are the Saudis Sunni or Shiite?”

“Neither. The Saudis are Wahhabi (Sunni) Muslims. Saudi Arabia has been inhabited
for thousands of years by nomadic Semitic tribes. With the birth of Muhammad (AD
750), in Mecca, Saudi Arabia was briefly the center of Islam, but by the end of the 7th
century, the area was disunited. Modern Saudi Arabia owes its existence to Ibn Saud,
an adherent of the Wahhabi Muslim sect. Beginning in 1902, Saud conquered the Nejd,
Al Hasa, and Hejaz regions, and in 1932 he proclaimed himself king of a united Saudi
Arabia.”

Wahhabism began in central Arabia in the mid-eighteenth century by an obscure fanatic

known as Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who formed an alliance with a group of de-
sert bandits, the Sauds. The histories of Wahhabism and the Saud tribe, the ruling fami-
ly of Saudi Arabia, have been linked since the foundation of the movement. Ibn Abd al-
Wahhab considered it his religious duty to conquer all other forms of Islam and was un-
welcome among Arabian tribes, except the Sauds. They formed a pact with him in 1744
and began their conquest of Arabia 20 years later.

Many prominent religious scholars describe Wahhabism as an Islamic sect that is intol-
erant of other forms of Islam, unwilling to accommodate other religions and likely to cre-
ate a narrow view of the world among its followers. This extremist sect of Islam consid-
ers itself to be a puritanical reform movement. Followers believe that Wahhabism is the
purest form of Islam. In reality, Wahhabism is a distortion of Islam, known as Islamism.
Wahhabists are intolerant of Shi’ite Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism. They
seek to challenge and destroy these faiths.

In most of the Islamic world, the Wahhabis control basic schooling. Between the ages of
7 and 15, students are taught fundamentals of strict Islam and religious obligations. Ini-
tial introduction to basic education is entirely absent, except as an addition to the teach-
ing of strict, literal Islam. Between 15 and 25, young men are taught to fight and are
prepared for jihad.

Osama bin Laden has capitalized on this widespread Wahhabism to unite Muslims
across the Islamic world. The movement grows by indoctrinating youngsters in its ha-
tred while ostensibly educating them. It is fueled by massive infusions of Saudi money.
Wahhabism remains the dominant sect in Saudi Arabia, which has spread its influence
to other Muslim countries through financial support for religious education. Wahhabi ex-
tremists cannot be stopped by reason. They cannot be starved out, and they certainly
cannot be changed. Their message of universal fundamentalist Islamic rule over all
Muslims now and over the entire world as soon as possible cannot be ignored.

The state Wahhabi philosophy of Saudi Arabia is distinct from more radical Wahhabi
beliefs; the Saudis do not agree with war against Islamic rulers or with declaring fellow

190
Muslims to be infidel. The Saudi state was declared traitorous and infidel by Osama bin
Laden for its connection to the US military setting foot on sacred (Arabian Peninsula)
soil. The government of Saudi Arabia is probably not Islamist-Wahhabi. The Islamist
government in Sudan and the now-defunct Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan were both
influenced by the Wahhabi movement. A flight of bombers with neutron bombs resolved
the issue.

Many Muslim terrorists that attack non-Muslims ascribe to or admire Islamist beliefs,
especially in Sudan and the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The terrorists that
hijacked four Western airplanes to attack the World trade Center and Pentagon in 2001
were almost certainly Islamists, and Osama bin Laden is also considered an Islamist.
Islamists also regard Christians and Jews as infidels rather than believers of the Old (or
New) Testament and some believe that there is coming a final battle of Armageddon
that will pit true Muslims against Jews and Christians. This is why the more radical Is-
lamists consider it positive to kill Christians or Jews through acts of terror.

That’s the difference between a guy like Jerry and me. I write for the fun of it and he has
done it for a living. There were only about a half dozen typos in the entire story. I proba-
bly have 3-4 in every chapter and I proof my work, twice, before I take it to the forum
and once when I get there before it’s posted. It was interesting reading work written by a
pro and offering comments. It was awfully well researched and smooth as a baby’s bot-
tom.

“I’m not going hunting for any Muslims. All we have to do is sit around and wait and
sooner or later, they’ll show up. Ron, take a Xanax. Clarence, maybe you’d better take
one too.”

“I ain’t taking no pills, Gary.”

“Suit yourself, don’t say I didn’t offer.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Good.”

“We just got word they’re coming back, Dad.”

“Are they looking for people or returning to wherever they came from?”

“They’re driving straight through.”

“Alert everyone but don’t put them on alert. Maybe they’ll never even slow down.”

191
“Lock and load, Gar-Bear?”

“Couldn’t hurt.”

“I’ll go get my rifle and my bugle. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Stop by my place and pick up my Tac-50, would you? Just tell Linda to give you the
LBE and the rifle.”

“Do you need cigarettes, too?”

“I can always smoke yours, they’re cheaper.”

“Right, two packs of Marlboro’s.”

“They’re about 30 minutes out, Dad.”

“Dang, Clarence is cutting it close. I guess he can always tell them he’s with the Nation
of Islam and would be glad to help them hunt down the white folks.”

“He’ll be back in plenty of time. It’s only a mile to his place and I live in between. But, if
he isn’t, can I use a rifle?”

“I reckon. Sharon, could you put on another pot of coffee?”

“Make it yourself.”

“Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t take any wooden nickels.”

192
 The Cold War – Chapter 20 – The Long Hot Summer

“Did I ever tell you about the Centennial celebration they had in Charles City in 1954?
On second thought, never mind, I was going to tell you something about wooden nick-
els, but I forgot.”

“A wooden nickel isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.”

“Hey, I guess you’re right. I’d better make that pot of coffee before I forget how.”

“I’m back,” Clarence said walking in the door.

“Did you bring my stuff?”

“It’s in the truck.”

“Let’s get a thermos of coffee, our stuff and go watch the road from up on the hill.”

“Sure. Linda said to tell you that you’re smoking too much.”

“She’s a fine one to talk, she smokes more than I do.”

“Coffee’s on.”

“Put it in a thermos and let’s go watch the UN drive by.”

“Right. Clarence, did you bring Ron’s rifle?”

“It’s in the truck.”

“Good, then I can take my Yac-50 instead of the M109. That will give me twice as much
ammo.”

“Expecting trouble?”

“My mama says that you can never be too careful.”

“Have you found Jesus yet, Gump?”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking for him, sir.”

“It was a bullet, wasn’t it?”

“A bullet?”

193
“That jumped up and bit you.”

“Oh, yes sir. Bit me right in the buttocks. They said it was a million dollar wound, but the
army must keep that money ‘cause I still haven’t seen a nickel of that million dollars.”

“We was always taking long walks, and we was always looking for a guy named Char-
lie.”

Charlie was in Lancaster, CA, not Vietnam. Anyway, the UN finally got serious about the
folks on US 412. They also began to suspect they had a leak; there were people but no
guns when they went looking for the weapons and nothing when they went to pick the
people up. Just because they spoke English as a second language, didn’t mean they
were stupid. Many of the countries the UN sent in were also members of NATO, a fact
not lost on many Americans. Great Britain, Canada and Australia didn’t send troops;
they were protesting the UN action. However, the folks at FEMA seemed to be glad for
the help of the United Nations. They provided a few jack-booted thugs familiar with the
country to show the UN troops where everything was. Homeland Insecurity went to
green, all the countries that might attack the US were already here, lending aid and
keeping the peace.

It was almost humorous that the UN wanted to disarm America. In the United States,
you had to fill out a form and go through a background check before you could purchase
a firearm. In most of the world, all you needed was some money and the ability to find a
street corner. In El Salvador, an M16 went for $220 and a hand grenade (American
made) for up to $3. Russia had flooded the world with new and used AK-47’s when they
went to the newer, less powerful, AK-74. Everybody sold off their previous military
weapons when they came up with a new and improved design.

The US made the M1 Garand rifle and used it with great success during WW II. Its
drawbacks were the weight and the 8-round enbloc clip that prevented reloading the
weapon until it was empty (sorta). The .30-06 cartridges were heavy, too. The M-14 rifle
in the 1950’s attempted to address some of the problems, replacing the 8-round enbloc
clip with a 20-round detachable magazine and slightly lightening the weapon. The car-
tridge was the new NATO standard, the 7.62×51mm. The weapon and ammo were still
too heavy, especially in the jungles of Vietnam. Enter General Curtis LeMay who adopt-
ed the M16 rifle for the Air Force to replace the useless M1 carbines they had. They
gave the M1 carbines to the Vietnamese.

The Army had to reinvent the wheel and they changed the powder in the 5.56×x45mm
cartridges and didn’t chrome the barrels. The early weapons were POS. However, the
M16 rifle was the service rifle with the longest length of service with the US military. The
M16 was fine, especial the M16A2. The M4 carbine was another POS because its bar-
rel was too short, reducing the power of the .223 round and causing the barrel to over-

194
heat. The H&K M8 rifle system based on their G36 rifle, looked to be the weapon of the
future. In 2012 in the US military it was the standard issue weapon. The M25 rifle with
its fancy 25mm cartridge was having trouble making the grade because it needed to go
on a diet and cut some weight.

There is something about a man and his rifle. Gary preferred the M1A, the civilian ver-
sion of the M14. However, there was nothing wrong with the FN FAL rifles either, they
used the same cartridge and the magazines were cheaper. With the Beretta designed
tri-comp, the M14E2 rifles worked as originally hoped and they made a darned fine re-
placement for the 1917 BAR. The M82A1 rifles were heavy, as was the ammo. But ei-
ther as a .50BMG rifle or as a 25mm M109 rifle, they were very deadly. Civilians, if not
the military, had come full circle and were using Main Battle Rifles and sniping, just like
they did during the American Revolution. The .30 caliber rifles were much more likely to
put down your target.

With unseasonable high temperatures, it was proving to be a very long, and very hot,
summer. They couldn’t really afford to run their air conditioners and Sharon spent most
of her time in her quilting room in the basement shelter. By the 4th of July, they were
ready for some nice, cold slices of watermelon. Rather than add to the heat to the
homes, everyone got together and grilled. Macaroni salad required less heat to produce
than potato salad. Independence Day, 2012, was ok but no one felt very independent.
Through the spring and into early summer, the Colonel and the SM kept them up to
speed and they avoided any direct confrontation with the ragheads. Except, of course,
when they ambushed them and killed them all.

It wasn’t Independence Day for the UN forces and whoever was in charge decided that
the 4th of July would be an opportune moment to try and round up the people along US
412 in Arkansas, again. They ran into trouble right off the bat and at Ash Flat and Harri-
son and took heavy casualties. Maybe the folks in Ash Flat and Harrison didn’t under-
stand that if you didn’t cut off the UN troops’ communications, they would just call up
reinforcements. Lots of reinforcements, not all of whom were ragheads. If you learned
nothing else from watching all of those WW II reruns on the History Channel, you should
have learned that a well-fed, well-supplied, non-demoralized German Army is tough to
beat. The French, well, they’re the French, what can I say?

“We just got flash traffic from Ash Flat and Harrison. The UN has attacked both commu-
nities and they appear to be winning.”

“DEFCON 1?” Gary asked Ron and Clarence.

“DEFCON 1, set condition Zebra,” Ron agreed.

“We don’t have any watertight hatches to batten, Ron,” Clarence complained.

195
“Just get a lot of ammo, partner.”

“Which rifle?”

“Bring ‘em all.”

“Derek, tell the members of the militia we have a red alert. Tell them to assemble every-
one and everything at Wal-Mart.”

“Somebody had better alert the town, they’re having a parade, Dad.”

“Cripes, what next?”

Somewhere the warning system had broken down. They hadn’t had any warning from
the SM. Neither the SM nor the Colonel could give a warning because they were under
close confinement. Their fate would hinge on the outcome of today’s operation. If the
Arkansans appeared to have warning, they’d be in the clear because it meant that
someone else was the spy.

The German Wehrmacht (Defense Force), now called the Bundeswehr, consists of the
Heer (Army), Marine (Navy) and Luftwaffe (Air Force). The French military consists of
the Armée de Terre (Army), Marine Nationale (Navy), Armée de l’Air (Air Force) and the
Gendarmerie Nationale (a military police force). The French Foreign Legion is part of
the Army. Previously, the Legion was not stationed in mainland France except in war-
time. Until 1962 the Legion headquarters were stationed in Sidi-Bel-Abbes, Algeria.
Nowadays, some units of the Legion are in Corsica or overseas possessions, while the
rest is in the south of mainland France. Current headquarters are in Albagne, France,
just outside Marseille. The French serving in Kosovo were Legionnaires.

By the time a UN helicopter made it over Flippin, the militia and the townspeople were
assembled at Wal-Mart. It managed to get off a message indicating that the people had
been warned before an M307 brought it down. When the message made its way to the
Commander of the UN forces, he released the Colonel and the SM. The UN decided to
use the force from Harrison to swat those pesky insects in Flippin. That particular force
consisted of Pakistanis and Legionnaires and was Company size in strength.

“Put the snipers on the roof at those notches cut to drain the water,” Jed suggested.

“What about the heavy weapons?”

“Spread them around the edges of the parking lot and we’ll surround them.”

“There’s more of them than there are of us.”

196
“We won’t tell them. Let them get into the parking lot and we’ll spring the trap. We have
the advantage and they’ll be forced to circle the wagons. The French lost at Bien Dien
Phu when they were surrounded.”

Nuclear tests in May 1998 confirmed that Pakistan, like India, has nuclear weapons. In
April 1998 Pakistan test fired a long-range missile easily capable of reaching the capital
of India. This means that Pakistan’s nuclear warheads can be delivered by airplanes
and missiles, and reach most of India. Some of the sanctions that were handed to Paki-
stan have been relinquished and in early 2004 US President George W. Bush gave the
government of Musharraf a $3 billion aid package that will undoubtedly be spent on the
military. In March 2005, US government confirmed that it intended to sell two dozen
F16’s to Pakistan despite India’s resistance to the idea. In 2005, Pakistan had 620,000
active troops making it the 7th largest military in the world. The Pakistanis are equipped
with a mix of US, Chinese, British and French equipment.

The UN Company Commander was ½ right when he thought he had the American in-
surgents trapped at the Wal-Mart store. What he didn’t know about that group of insur-
gents most certainly could kill him and his Company. He didn’t know they had M72
LAWs, M307s, M312s, M109s, M240Bs, latter day M14 SAWs, and a pretty fair number
of sniper rifles. Neither did he know that the local militia had 300 M18A1 Claymore
mines, not to mention some dynamite. He wouldn’t get to tell his grandchildren either.
Ah, technology.

“Let them all get into the parking lot.”

“Some of them are staying on the road.”

“Wait, let them get closer.”

“If they were any closer, we could shake their hands.”

“Fire!”

They didn’t need 4,000 Indians at the Little Big Horn. The Flippin militia and the towns-
people only had a force of between 90 and 100. On second thought, maybe they did,
the Indians didn’t have the same weapons the militia had, even though they had the lat-
est weapons available at the time, including 1873 Winchester rifles. When the smoke
finally cleared, the townspeople had more weapons. They included the French-made
FAMAS rifles in the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge. They also included some AAT F-1
light machineguns in the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The Pakistanis used the G-3 rifle.
They also carried MP-5s and the MG-3 machineguns. Their arms were licensed from
Germany and built locally.

197
“Anybody killed or wounded?”

“A couple of the townspeople got killed and several people are wounded.”

“Finish the UN people off, collect their equipment and we’ll sort through it later. For now,
take all of it to the boat factory.”

“The Germans will be showing up in a few hours.”

“We can’t take Fritz head on; I think maybe we’d better ambush them east of Flippin.
Somebody get a cherry picker and get my Dad off the roof. He doesn’t like to climb lad-
ders.”

“Well, are you over wanting to kill some Muslims, Ronald?”

“I’d like to have some Stollen for dessert.”

“Suits me, but you know I haven’t killed a President in quite a while.”

“You haven’t shot Geraldo, either.”

“600-yards…”

For folks unfamiliar with my stories, Gary usually manages to kill at least one President
and Geraldo Rivera in every story. He dreams of a head shot on Geraldo at 600-yards;
it couldn’t hurt Geraldo’s looks. Gary doesn’t like: lawyers, politicians and reporters. I
don’t kill of my heroes very often in my stories. Neither does Tom Clancy. I like Jack
Ryan and John Clark. Ryan makes it all the way to President and John Clark runs Rain-
bow Six. If you read Flight of the Intruder, I should point out that Jake Grafton makes it
to Rear Admiral. If you read Flight of the Old Dog, Patrick McLanahan makes it to Major
General. Even in a TSHTF survival situation, not everybody has to die.

A mile east of Flippin, US 412 goes south around a mountain. It would mean letting the
krauts get a little close, but further east were a lot of residential areas. They didn’t have
time to travel very far and get set up anyway; the German Commander was on the radio
trying to raise his French allies. Derek had picked up a little French and German in Ko-
sovo and he conversed with the German Hauptmann (Captain). Most Germans speak
English as a second language. So do a lot of other Europeans, except the French. The
German Captain wasn’t stupid and he realized that he was speaking to an insurgent be-
fore the conversation ended, just like Derek wanted him to.

198
Damon had perfected one of his model rockets and it could carry a payload equal to
one stick of dynamite, a cap and a crudely fashioned plunger that usually detonated the
cap (a nail). About 50% of the time (25%, but he’s my kid), he could actually put the
rockets on target using the launcher to aim them. They should have gotten mortars from
the Army, but they never planned on needing them.

According to Global Security, all maneuver units require indirect fire to win. Mortars pro-
vide unique indirect fires that are organizationally responsive to the ground maneuver
commander. Military history has repeatedly demonstrated the effectiveness of mortars.
Their rapid, high-angle, plunging fires are invaluable against dug-in enemy troops and
targets in defilade, which are not vulnerable to attack by direct fires. Although they are
part of the total fire support system, mortar sections and platoons are not simply small
artillery batteries. They play a unique and vital role on the AirLand Battlefield. Depend-
ing upon the model of mortar, they have a maximum range of 7,200-meters. The US
Army currently has five models of mortars:

• M224, 60mm, light mortar, each round weighs about 4 pounds.

• M29A1, 81mm, medium mortar, rounds weigh about 15 pounds each.
• M252, 81mm, medium mortar, rounds weigh about 15 pounds each.
• M30, 107mm, heavy mortar, rounds weigh about 28 pounds.
• M120, 120mm, heavy mortar, rounds weigh almost 33 pounds each.

That curving section of road around the hill/mountain 1-mile east of Flippin was the per-
fect spot for a mortar attack. When you don’t have mortars, you do the 2nd best thing
and use Claymore mines and use the tripwires or a standard M57 firing device. The
M18A1 is adaptable for covering the ranges between maximum hand grenade throwing
distance and the minimum safe distance of mortar and artillery supporting fires. Da-
mon’s rockets weren’t accurate enough to be substitute mortars. You can also set up
the M307s, M109s or use LAW rockets. The whole point is that you have to ambush the
Germans, just to keep things on an even playing field. Having the German peacekeep-
ers strung out on US412 allows you to use the tactic of stopping the front and rear vehi-
cles.

“Here they come.”

“Wait.”

“Screw it, they’re close enough, I’m firing.”

“Dang… I missed.”

“That’s why I told you to wait.”

199
“Why DID you tell me to wait?”

They weren’t in range.”

“Oh.”

“Well, shoot again.”

“Are they in range?”

“They know we’re here, it doesn’t make a lot of difference now. Dad, I’m the squad
leader for a reason.”

“Sorry. But, I guess that being sorry doesn’t fix anything, does it?”

“That’s what you’ve always said.”

“My eyes aren’t what they used to be, kid.”

“Yeah, they’re a hell of a lot better, but they aren’t that good.”

“Did I ever tell you how I discovered I had cataracts?”

“No, but I’m sure you’re about to.”

“There was a blank spot on my computer screen and I had to turn my head to see my
stories.”

“When are you going to stop writing those stupid stories?”

“When they quit making replacement keyboards.”

The roar of the firing weapons was very loud. The missed shot no doubt gave the UN
Commander an opportunity to call for reinforcements. It also occurred to him that they
had probably located the insurgent stronghold. The person on the other end of the radio
call for aid advised the Captain that UHT Tigers (helicopters, think Apache) were on the
way.

Meanwhile, a flight of 4 USAF F-16 fighters was airborne out of Little Rock. The fighters
were hot, equipped with 2 AIM-9 Sidewinders, 2 AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and 500-
rounds of 20mm ammo for their Vulcan cannons. The USAF unit was loyal, too, to the

200
Constitution and their oaths of office although they pretended otherwise. Their ground
controller advised them that the UN forces were dispatching a flight of UHT Tigers to
Flippin in support of some German Peacekeepers who were under fire by the local in-
surgents. Would you rather be in the Fighting Falcon or the UHT helicopter?

It is always darkest before the dawn. Colonel Jessup knew a Colonel at Little Rock AFB.
They occasionally played golf together. Both men were of the same mind and on this
particular day, the AF Colonel was leading his flight of 4, getting in his flying hours.

“Leader to flight. We have some good ol’ boys on the ground in Flippin about to be visit-
ed by a flight of UHT choppers. Any opinions?”

“Leader. Apollo 2. It doesn’t seem right that we should stand by while a bunch of Krauts
and Frenchmen kill Americans on US soil.”

“Apollo 3. Go for it Leader.”

Apollo 4 was silent, probably thinking.

“Apollo 4. Leader. How say you?”

“Leader. Apollo 4. Where is the danged weapons arming switch?”

“Leader to flight, weapons hot. Let’s go rescue those boys in Flippin.”

Sometimes, having dumb luck is better than having no luck at all. The FFM and the
townspeople were taking out the German company, albeit slowly. They had no idea that
the German Captain had made a radio call, or that a flight of UHT choppers was in-
bound or that a flight of 4 F-16C’s was inbound. The French/German helicopters were
configured for a ground assault with missile pods not unlike the Zuni rockets. The UHT
helicopters were also based in Little Rock. And remember, it was July 4th, Independ-
ence Day.

“Leader. Apollo 2. I have a flight of 6 UHT choppers at 10 o’clock, Angels 2.”

“Roger, Apollo 2. AMRAAMs. Take them according to our positions. Go.”

The air battle, or whatever you call it, took place in the vicinity of Marshall, AR. It was
akin to shooting ducks in a shooting gallery. The FFM had no idea that the USAF had
just saved their bacon. Not then, anyway. The ground crews had 6 replacement AM-
RAAMs ready to reload the fighters when they landed. These were extras, unaccounted
for in the inventory and had supposedly been fired in previous training exercises. The
duplicity was getting worse by the minute.

201
“Keep firing, we almost have them.”

“I wonder why they haven’t called for air support, they had plenty of warning.”

“Maybe they did and it’s on the way.”

“Maybe we should quit, we’ve gotten most of them.”

Pop. “That’s another. Don’t stop now, they might have seen who we are.”

“Assuming they got off a radio message, the entire world knows that Flippin is the home
of some insurgent Freedom fighters.”

“Good. Maybe some other people will get off their butts and fight the UN too.”

“Who is to say that they aren’t already? Danged news blackout.”

“It looks like we got the last German. Let’s get this mess cleaned up, the bodies buried
and move the equipment to the boat factory.”

“I sure hope we didn’t damage many of their weapons, the Germans make real fine
guns.”

“This is going to be a 4th of July that people will remember for a while.”

On the 4th of July 2012, a small group of local militiamen and some townspeople start-
ed something in a small town in north central Arkansas. They didn’t know that all over
the US the UN had picked this particular holiday to round up several groups of insur-
gents. The UN didn’t have much success on that 4th of July. Word soon spread, via the
Ham communications network that the fight with the Blue Hats was joined. I told you
that the 2nd Amendment would be important to saving the country. It probably explained
why the remainder of the world wanted to disarm America so badly.

202
 The Cold War – Chapter 21 – The Irregular Army

The M224 60mm Lightweight Mortar is a smooth bore, muzzle loading, high-angle-of-
fire weapon. The cannon assembly is composed of the barrel, combination base cap,
and firing mechanism. The mount consists of a bipod and a base plate, which is provid-
ed with screw type elevating and traversing mechanisms to elevate/traverse the mortar.
The M64 sight unit is attached to the bipod mount via a standard dovetail. An additional
short-range sight is attached to the base of the cannon tube for firing the mortar on the
move and during assaults. It has a spring-type shock absorber to absorb the shock of
recoil in firing. The M224 replaced the older (WWII era) M2 and M19, 60mm Mortars.
These weapons only possessed 2,200 yards of effective range. The M224 was de-
signed to fire all types of the older ammunition, but its primary rounds are of the newer,
longer-range type.

The M224 Mortar System consists of the following major components:

• M225 Cannon Assembly (14.4 lbs)

• M170 Bipod Assembly (15.2 lbs)
• M7 Baseplate (14.4 lbs)
• M8 Auxiliary Baseplate (3.6 lbs)

“You owe me 6 AMRAAM missiles, Jessup. My flight bailed out your boys in Flippin last
week.”

“I really appreciate that, Roger. They had no idea that the UN flight of choppers was in-
bound for certain. Now they want some M224 mortars. The SM and I had a close call.
The UN must have figured we were spying on them and they held us for several hours
on the 4th of July.”

“What happened?”

“They guys in Flippin were assembled when they sent in a Gazelle to check on them
and the UN area commander assumed that we weren’t the source of their intelligence.”

“How did the guys in Flippin pull that off?”

“We have SINCGARS radios spread out among the civilian population and someone
must have put out a call for help, probably the people in Ash Flat. The UN really did a
number on them.”

“If they have SINCGARS radios we can communicate with them. Do you have the fre-
quencies they use?”

“It might be easier to give the various militia units your frequencies.”

203
“I’ll have my Chief Master Sergeant get in touch with your SM to exchange frequencies.”

“That’s a gimme.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t forget to count the stroke.”

“SM we’d rather have the M8 Auxiliary Baseplates than the M7 Baseplates, it will be
less to carry.”

“What do you want for ammo, SS?”

“What do you recommend?”

“The M720 and M888 High Explosive Cartridges are designed for use with the M224
60mm Mortar System and are used against personnel, bunker and light matériel targets.
The high fragmentation steel projectile is loaded with Composition B explosive. The
M720 and M888 are identical with the exception of the fuze. The M720 is equipped with
the M734 Multi-Option Fuze, which can be set to function in the Proximity, Near Surface
Burst, Impact, or Delay mode. The M888 is equipped with the M935 Point Detonating
Fuze which functions in the Impact mode.”

“We’ll take some of both and some practice rounds.”

“I’m going to give you an assortment SS. You’ll get M720 and M888 plus M721 Illumina-
tion, M722 Smoke and M766 practice rounds.”

“I’m a civilian.”

“Bzzz. Wrong. You were a Member of the Arkansdas National Guard when TSHTF. Like
it or not, you’re on active duty. However, we haven’t figured out how to issue you your
pay without someone else figuring out you’re still alive. Oh, by the way, it’s Sergeant
First Class now. You’re out of uniform.”

“I’m wearing civilian clothes, of course I’m out of uniform. My wife is really going to be
po’d.”

“Why? I’d think she’d be happy that you made First Class.”

“We talked it over a long time ago and she absolutely doesn’t want me to be fulltime mil-
itary.”

204
“We managed to salvage a few Platoons of tanks from Shreveport.”

“Which model?”

“M1A1s, but we’re thinking about upgrading them to M1A2SEPs.”

“Don’t SM, the M1A1s were the best model of the entire series.”

“As a Sergeant First Class, you’d be a Platoon Sergeant. We can let you have a tank
Platoon if we can come up with a Platoon Commander. What the hell, I’ll talk to the
Colonel and we’ll make you the Platoon Commander.”

“What about ammo for the tanks?”

“We have sabot and HEAT. The .50 cal and 7.62mm, you already have. Where will you
hide a tank Platoon?”

“At the boat factory with the equipment we salvaged from the 2 UN Companies.”

“The UN is going to be coming after you folks in Flippin, you know.”

“What about a few Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles?”

“How many do you need?”

“Eight should be enough.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Colonel, Sergeant First Class Ott says he’ll take a Platoon of Abrams. They’re ready to
go, Sir, and I recommend we make SFC Ott the Platoon Commander.”

“Make it so. How many Bradley’s did he want?”

“Eight.”

“How many M224’s are we giving him?”

“Four, plus a fair amount of ammo.”

“They’ll have to get up to speed pretty damn quick. The UN is already putting together
plans to attack Flippin again. Oh, you’ll be hearing from an Air Force Chief Master Ser-
geant with the frequencies the ANG’s are using at the Little Rock AFB. See that you get

205
them to all of the units than have SINCGARS radios and they’ll be able to call in air
support in a pinch.”

“Ott said that his wife was going to be po’d at his getting the promotion.”

“Why?”

“He said that she didn’t want him to be fulltime active military.”

“Really? She was in the Army too, wasn’t she?”

“Yes Sir. She drove a M1070/M1000 HET.”

“Put her back on active duty as a SS and get her 4 of the HETS.”

“Sir.”

Technically Mary had served her full reserve commitment and the Army couldn’t put her
back on active duty. These were extraordinary times and extraordinary times call for ex-
traordinary measures. The SM finally figured out how to give Derek his back pay and he
went back to the day they’d showed up at the Arsenal and picked up the munitions. He
also backdated Mary’s active duty to the same date and issued her 8 of the M8 rifles in
the standard carbine model and 8 of the M9 pistols. The FFM had now become an ar-
mored unit and mechanized infantry unit. All the members of the FFM that had prior mili-
tary service were placed on active duty at their previously held military ranks except for
Jeb and Abel who were promoted to Sergeant First Class. The 1st of the 1st of the 1st
was now an active Army unit instead of being an active unit of the fledgling Arkansas
State Defense Force.

Was that a Rebel Yell the SM had just heard? It couldn’t be, it was a long way from
Flippin to Pine Bluff. Certain members of the FFM couldn’t be put on active duty even
though they had prior military service. Gary was pushing 70 years of age, for example.
And, considering the ages of The Three Amigos, none of them could even be made ci-
vilian employees of the DOD. Or, could they? Nah, apparently the 3 old men were off on
a secret mission to the east coast.

“How are we going to pull of assassinating the President of the United States, Gar-
Bear?”

“Give me time, partner, I’ll think of something. Does anyone have any idea where
Geraldo is these days? It might be good practice.”

206
“You’re really going to do it, aren’t you?” Clarence observed.

“What are they going to do, give us life in prison? It will be the shortest sentence in his-
tory. But, if I can figure it out right, maybe we won’t get caught.”

The President of the United States has been the charge of the United States Secret
Service (USSS) for nearly 100 years. The USSS takes its responsibility very seriously. It
doesn’t matter what party the President belongs to or what his or her politics are. The
USSS is protecting the office and the officeholder, not a particular individual. They are
very, very good at what they do. A cordon of agents surrounds the President at all
times. Whenever he or she makes a public appearance, the cordon extends well out to
rifle range. It has become especially difficult in recent years, given the range of the
modern .50 caliber rifles. A circle with a one-mile radius has an area of ~ 3.14 miles² (a=
πr²). The circumference of a circle = d where d equals the diameter of a circle. The cir-
cumference the USSS has to guard is therefore about 6.28 miles.

= 3.14159265358979323846… times 2 = 6.28318530717958647692 times 5,280’ =

33,175’. Assuming you could put an agent every 100’, it would take 332 people to encir-
cle the President. That’s why they use local police. The May 11, 2005 incursion of a
Cessna aircraft into the restricted airspace over Washington, DC caused brief panic, but
nothing came of the accidental incursion. If you want to understand my attitude about
reporters, read the White House briefing that occurred shortly thereafter. I believe that if
you added up the IQs of all the reporters in that room, you’d get a single digit number,
and that is being generous. It is worse than ‘Who’s on First’? Those reporters probably
all had college educations. Lawyers go to college for 7 years and doctors, who only
PRACTICE medicine, average about 11. Our colleges are in real trouble. Come to think
of it, lawyers only practice too, on an unsuspecting public.

Geraldo doesn’t have anyone protecting him and he’s in New York City. You’d have to
do that one close up and personal. Everyone knows how those New Yorkers are about
guns. They have something in New York they call the Sullivan Law. They also have a
very high murder rate.

Have you ever seen a M1070/M1000 HETS? Now that’s a real semi tractor-trailer rig.
The tractor has a curb weight of 45,000 pounds, 8 tires and a 6-man cab with an NBC
filter system. The trailer has a curb weight of 50,000 pounds, 5 axle lines (4 steerable)
and 40 tires. They use Michelin tires. The M1070 provides line-haul, local-haul and
maintenance evacuation on and off road during tactical operations worldwide. Unlike
previous HETS, the M1070 is designed to carry both the tank and its crew. The trailer
has a payload of 140,000 pounds and can: Self Load/Unload Disabled Tanks. That’s
how Derek met Mary. Speaking of female soldiers, did you see Jessica Lynch on TV
last night? One of her companions who was killed was a female Native American and it
was some show about them building a home for the dead friends 2 children and par-
ents. While they were at it, they put in a facility for the Navaho Code Talkers of WW II.
Nice.

207
With the economy in the toilet, Mary was having trouble finding work. Her usual occupa-
tion was school bus driver. The Army paid a Staff Sergeant a lot more than the Flippin
school system paid its bus drivers. She was happy to be back in the Army, go figure.
How much do an E-7 and an E-5 make together? One hell of a lot more than a depart-
ment manager at Wal-Mart and a school bus driver make. The Army spends considera-
ble time training people to operate Abrams tanks and Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles.
They had 3 weeks, top. A M1A2SEP Abrams weighs 69.54 tons. Unless I’m mistaken,
140,000 pounds is 70 tons. I guess they better empty the ashtrays before they load the
Abrams tanks.

Gar-Bear was back on Norco because his stomach was bothering him. Between you
and me, I think it was his pancreas. He had a constant pain just below his ribcage.

“Are you Geraldo Rivera?”

“Yes I am, are you a fan?” Geraldo asked.

“In a peculiar kind of way, yes.” Pop-pop-pop.

Geraldo won’t be on TV any longer, due to a pressing commitment shoveling coal and
drawing maps for the Iranians. That took care of Geraldo, but it was going to be very
difficult to get anywhere near the President because he refused to come out of the Situ-
ation Room in the basement of the White House. In the first place, he couldn’t get the
yellow stain out of the back of his shirt; and, in the second place, he didn’t get his par-
ty’s nomination for a second term and they picked Howard Dean instead. Except it didn’t
look like there would be an election anyway. Once a President is out of office he still
gets the protection of the USSS, just not as many people. Which way is it to Massachu-
setts? He’s always worth the price of a bullet, maybe 2. John Edwards was Dean’s run-
ning mate. Hey Howard, Edwards is a liability, get Joe Lieberman instead, he’ll bring out
the Moral Majority.

“Did you have a nice vacation, Dad?”

“Very nice, thank you Derek. What’s new around here?”

“I’m a Sergeant First Class and Mary is a Staff Sergeant. The Colonel came up with 4
Abrams M1A1s, 8 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and 4 M1070/M1000 HETS.”

“Are we going mechanized?”

“I am… you aren’t. The 3 of you are a little long in the tooth for this man’s Army.”

208
“Really? I’m a pretty good shot with that Kimber now.”

“It doesn’t matter. All of the former military personnel in the militia have been reactivat-
ed.”

“What about the civilians?”

“Maybe you can use them to form the Flippin Defense Force.”

“FDF? It doesn’t have the same ring as the Frigin’ Flippin Militia. You do what you want,
you will anyway. However, I wouldn’t count on taking the M14 SAWs or the M109 rifles.”

“That’s ok; they won’t fit in the Abrams anyway.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t mind having one of those.”

“I left two of them with the 12” barrels.”

“How hard would it be to fit them with a M4-FA?”

“For some reason the M4-FAs aren’t available. I fitted the 2 I had left with the FA flash-
hiders, anyway.”

“What about Ron and Clarence? They like boy toys as much as anyone.”

“I anticipated that, they already have theirs. Did they get New York fully rebuilt?”

“Uh-huh. Now all they need to do is take out the trash. Geraldo won’t be on TV any
longer, he has some stomach pains.”

“Really? What a shame. I guess you did have a good time, didn’t you?”

“1 stinking yard. All of the practice was for nothing.”

“He bought the two of you off with a couple of M8 carbines, huh?”

“Nice,” Ron remarked.

“Plastic magazines.”

“The entire world is made of plastic, Gar-Bear. That’s what you’re always bitching
about.”

“They’re full-auto,” Clarence added.

209
“But he’s taking two-thirds of the militia and forming an armored, mechanized infantry
unit.”

“His math stinks. An Abrams has a crew of 4, that’s 16 people. The Bradley’s have a
crew of 3 making for 24 more. The entire small force he’s building will be tired up crew-
ing the 12 vehicles.”

“Maybe he’s planning on recruiting additional people. They can haul up to 48 infantry
dismounts in the Bradley’s.”

“You’re forgetting something. They’re also getting 4 of the M1070/M1000 HETS and
they have a crew of 2.”

“I think they have a problem. The M307, M312 and M224 mortars are crew served
weapons. They’ll need 24 people just to crew those weapons. Unless I can’t count any-
more, they need a total of 72 people for crews and another 36 infantry.”

“Those things are Derek, Jed and Abel’s problems. They’ll figure it out. Our problem is
putting a militia back together.”

“I’m not done bitching about the Army. I half figure they’ll get some Bradley IFV. The
Stryker IAVs are wheeled and have a crew of 2 and 9 infantry dismounts. The M113A3
has a crew of 2 and 11 infantry dismounts. I read where the Army prefers the Stryker to
the M113.”

“Are they getting IFVs, CFVs or IAVs?”

“IFVs. The CFVs are scouts with only 2 dismounts and the IAVs have wheels.”

“So, if they get let’s say 8 of the IFV Bradley’s, they’ll have ½ a Company sized force,
right?”

“I’m getting confused.”

“You’re always confused.”

“Let’s see:

4 Abrams, crew of 4 = 16
4 HETS, crew of 2 = 8
8 Bradley IFV, crew of 3, 6 dismounts = 72, including the crew served weapons
2 M978 2,500-gallon tankers, crew of 2 = 4

That makes 100 people doesn’t it?”

210
“That sounds about right.”

“I’m still confused.”

“What’s new?”

“It isn’t that. If they’re in the military does that mean that the military is taking an active
role in kicking out the UN?”

“Gar-Bear, what I believe is happening is that the military is helping without been seen
as helping. While they give every appearance of following orders from the White House,
in actuality, they are supporting the resistance to the UN by supplying the rebels.”

“Oh. That means that if we were to ask the Colonel directly for assistance for our militia,
he’d probably provide it. Then why are they beginning to equip units like the FFM with
front line military gear and turning them into regular soldiers?”

“Not regular soldiers, irregular soldiers. I think that this is the next move to confront the
UN more directly without actually involving the military directly.”

“They are beginning to look like regular soldiers to me,” Clarence shook his head.

Using irregular soldiers gave the military plausible deniability. Little Rock Arsenal actual-
ly manufactured some of the materials they we giving to the civilians. That is why they
seemed to have an unlimited supply of some things. The Colonel and the SM weren’t
alone in their activities. Obviously the Arkansas ANGs were involved. In truth, it was
happening all over the country. Some officers were mavericks and they didn’t give a flip
if they we seen as opposing the UN. They wanted the foreigners out of the country. Pe-
riod.

Waiting for the familiar whine when he ordered his tank engine started, Derek was in for
quite a surprise. They’d been pulled and replaced by brand new engines that had been
developed for the Crusader program. That prompted Derek to check the tank over more
carefully. It was a M1A2SEP. The Abrams tank was originally developed for fighting
Russian tanks in Europe. Most of the improvements to the tank had been in keeping
with the original design. The tanks had better armor, a 120mm gun instead of the origi-
nal 105mm gun and the targeting equipment had been drastically upgraded over the
years. The price of all of the improvements had been to increase the weight of the tank
from 60 tons to 70 tons, all without replacing the AGT-1500 turbine engine. The Army’s
Abrams modernization strategy includes a new tank engine program, the LV-50-2, the
AIM program, the TUSK upgrade and a parts obsolesce program to reduce the opera-
tions and support costs and logistics footprint associated with the Abrams tank. These
initiatives are funded by the Army to sustain its tank fleet over the next 25 years. Appar-
ently, these 4 tanks had been through Ohio and were restored to new condition and up-

211
graded to the M1A3 (because of the engine). He’d have to be careful not to scratch his
armor. One other individual was rated as a tank commander and he would become the
assistant tank platoon commander.

They decided that their first mission would be to go to Little Rock and rout the UN head-
quarters there. Since they were the insurgents, they didn’t need to worry about IEDs.
They did, however, have to worry about antitank missiles on the UN attack helicopters.
They added the reactive armor to give them a little extra protection. Some of the UN
countries used Hellfire and TOW missiles too. They needed a strategy that would allow
them to attack UN forces without coming under attack from any of the antitank missiles.
Maybe if they had elected to go with the Stryker’s, they could have pulled it off. The
Abrams and the Bradley were both tracks and made way too much noise.

In their role as Peacekeepers, the Germans didn’t have their Leopard II tanks and
French didn’t have the Leclerc. When the Abrams was initially designed, there were 4
models. The British took one, the Challenger, the Germans a second, the French a third
and the US the fourth. All of the MBTs of the four nations were comparable and used
the 120mm gun and the British designed armor. The only major difference was in the
120mm ammo they used and the fact that the British gun was rifled.

Perhaps the mission was overly ambitious. If they could surprise the UN forces, they
would have a better chance. But unless they could avoid the remaining Companies of
UN forces out of Little Rock, they would have a problem. The answer was a diversion.
The UN was there to keep the peace so they needed to stir up trouble somewhere else
and draw the UN forces out to restore order.

“How would The Three Amigos like another mission?” Derek asked.

“Lock and load,” Ron told his friends.

“What’s the mission?” Clarence asked.

212
 The Cold War – Chapter 22 – Remember Kent State?

“The FFM is planning on taking out the UN command structure in Little Rock. They have
Hellfire and TOW missiles but they’re deployed with the mobile Companies. What we
need is someone to stir up a little hate and discontent somewhere that will cause the
UN to dispatch their troops to resolve the matter. The 3 of you may be a little long in the
tooth, but you’ve had lots of practice raising hell. How about it? Would you like to go
somewhere and start a ruckus?”

“So I’m too old to be in the Army but you want I should go do your dirty business? Huh!
Maybe I’ll think about it.”

“What’s it going to take?” Derek asked.

“For starters, we want our name back. You can call your irregular army something else.”

“What else?”

“You took our M307s, M312s and M224s. We want at least ½ of them back.”

“I’ll get you some more; three each, right?”

“Now you’re talking,” Clarence smiled. “What are you going to call your new irregular
army?”

“Damon’s Devils.”

“Damon isn’t a part of the group is he? They gave him a section 8.”

“No, but you don’t think I’d be stupid enough to use my own name again, do you?”

“What happens if we get caught raising hell?” Clarence asked.

“Tell them your name, rank, serial number and date of birth.”

“And, if they decide to shoot us?”

“Refuse the blindfold and give them the bird.”

Ron’s serial number was 1 because he was the oldest. Clarence was 2 and Gary was 3.
Jed made a special trip to Pine Bluff to get the weapons after he spent a little time in Lit-
tle Rock getting the lay of the land. They had been able to recruit former soldiers from
several communities and even found people who were tankers or knew the Bradley.
Word came via radio that the UN was planning on hitting Flippin and other communities
in the area the following week. The Three Amigos loaded all of their stuff in the back of
their pickups and gathered up what remained of the FFM. They were going to Fayette-

213
ville and raise a little hell. Fayetteville had a small UN contingent of its own, possibly a
couple of Platoons. You know where Fayetteville is, right? It’s the same danged place
it’s always been, on I-540 north of Ft. Smith a ways.

Did you know that there’s a town in Arkansas named Murfreesboro? Barrett is in Ten-
nessee. The Three Amigos had more guns than they could possibly shoot. When they
ran out of ammo for one, they could switch to another. By now, the entire FFM was well
equipped with German weapons or the German clones from Pakistan. They didn’t like
the French bullpup rifle and neither did the townspeople. They had a greasy feel to
them, almost like the soldiers had been eating croissants avec du beurre.

Two-dozen people weren’t going to be a very imposing force in Fayetteville. The SM

had sent along a few extra presents for the FFM with Jed, including some Mk3A2 con-
cussion grenades. He didn’t think to include a wheel kit for their weapons. They were
going to the college and find some students who didn’t think much of the UN being in
the US. The students would be their force multiplier. The 4th pickup was filled with the
cast off French FN-MAS bullpup rifles and ammo.

Students make the ideal candidates when it comes to raising hell. They’re young and
filled with enthusiasm and idealism. Plus, most of them aren’t too bright in the ways of
the world and they take a lot of risks. Students tend to listen to older people, especially
if they’re well educated. Maybe The Three Amigos could form a new chapter of the
SDS. They ran out of FN-MAS rifles and issued the remaining students Mk3A2 concus-
sion grenades. They told the students to start a protest of the UN presence and if the
UN got too pushy, just to shoot them.

“I love it when a plan comes together!”

“Hannibal Smith, The A-Team.”

“Right again, partner.”

Look to this day, for yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is but a vision. But today
well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of
hope.

“Hannibal?”

“Faceman.”

“How do the two of you do that?” Clarence asked.

All of the silly banter meant that Ron and Gary were nervous. In terms of facing off
against the UN, they had more than enough students and the students had about 100,

214
give or take, of the bullpup rifles. Before they started anything, they explained to the
students that the UN didn’t always follow the ROE. What they really wanted was for the
UN to be forced to call in reinforcements so when the students started using the rifles,
they shouldn’t kill all of the UN forces.

“Roger, keep an ear on the UN frequencies. Rumor has it that there’s going to be an up-
rising in Fayetteville and the UN will be forced to dispatch some choppers.”

“Right, I have a flight of 8 ready on the flight line.”

“That action is just a diversion to pull the UN forces out of Little Rock. So whatever you
decide to do, Roger, don’t send all your planes after the choppers. It should get interest-
ing this afternoon.”

“How many irregular units have you equipped so far, Bob?”

“More than a few. Some of those units are better equipped than we ever were. They
have the upgraded Abrams from the National Guard in Shreveport with the new LV-50-2
engines. We’re calling them the A3 model. Anyway, I’d advise against scrambling all of
your forces for training flights when the UN takes off for Fayetteville. I’m surprised the
UN doesn’t raise hell about your planes carrying live munitions.”

“They’ve been re-painted blue and re-lettered and carry the color and nomenclature of
the practice stuff.”

“It will be dicey if the UN ever starts looking in all of our munitions stores here in Pine
Bluff and finds out most of the boxes are filled with rocks,” Jessup chuckled.

“Say could I get some 20mm ammo from you for our Vulcan cannons?”

“How do you want to handle this?”

“Send the students and we’ll snipe from 600-yards out. I want to take advantage of all
the practice I put in.”

“The UN will probably fire on those students, Gary,” Clarence suggested.

“I don’t know any of them, so it won’t bother me too much. They are Americans and
should be willing to die for their country. However, can you imagine what will happen
when word gets out that the UN killed a bunch of protesting students in Fayetteville, Ar-
kansas? We could have lost the war in Vietnam over Kent State.”

215
“We did lose the war in Vietnam.”

“Yeah, but for other reasons.”

“I knew it! You shouldn’t have done Geraldo. He could have got out a chalkboard and
drawn a map for everyone showing them where Fayetteville is located,” Clarence com-
plained.

“Most people didn’t know where Kent State was located and that didn’t keep them from
raising hell over 4 students getting killed.” (Kent, Ohio)

The Kent May 4 Center is a nonprofit educational center dedicated to preserving the
history of the Kent State Massacre.

The shootings killed four students and wounded nine. Only one of the four students
killed was participating in the protest, and one of the students killed, William Schroeder
(who was observing but not participating in the demonstration) was a member of the
campus ROTC chapter. Of those wounded, none was closer than 71 feet (22 m) from
the guardsmen. Of those killed, the nearest was 265 feet (81 m) from the guardsmen.

In response to the attacks President Nixon gave a speech, saying “This should remind
us all once again that when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy.” Many students
felt that this placed blame for the tragedy on the protesting students, and not on the
guardsmen. In the following days, Nixon repeatedly expressed regret for the tragedy,
and invited some of the Kent State students to the White House.

Neil Young of the folk-rock group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young quickly wrote and rec-
orded a protest song, “Ohio”, in reaction to the shootings. The song starts with:

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’.

We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin’.
Four dead in Ohio.

Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy has a song titled “Tin Omen” (on their 1989 al-
bum Rabies), in which they compare the shootings to the 1989 Tiananmen Square
Massacre. Guardsmen – none of whom were later punished, civilly, administratively, or
criminally – admitted firing at specific unarmed targets; one man shot a demonstrator
who was giving him the finger.

The history of the next few years is very sad. A federal prosecution was finally brought,
but the presiding judge is said to have signaled his preference for the defendants, guid-
ing their attorney’s conduct of the case to help them avoid legal errors. He dismissed all
charges at the close of the prosecution’s case, avoiding the need for a defense and tak-
ing the case away from the jury. Among his reasons: a failure to prove specific intent to

216
deprive the victims of their civil rights; due to the lack of any investigation, it was almost
impossible at this late date to show which Guardsmen shot which victim.

A civil suit brought by the wounded students and the parents of the dead ones deterio-
rated among infighting by the plaintiffs’ lawyers. Unable to agree on a single theory of
the case, they contradicted each other. The jury returned a verdict for the defendants.

This verdict was overturned on appeal – the main ground was that the judge did not
take seriously enough the attempted coercion of a juror who was assaulted by a
stranger demanding an unspecified verdict – and a retrial was scheduled. On the eve of
it, the exhausted plaintiffs settled with the state for $675,000.00, which was divided 13
ways. Half of it went to Dean Kahler, the most seriously wounded survivor, and only
$15,000 apiece went to the families of each of the slain students, a pathetically small
verdict in a day when lives are accounted to be worth in the many millions of dollars.
The state issued a statement of “regret” which stopped short of an apology for the
events of May 4th, nine years before.

The students left the rifles on the campus. They weren’t into guns. Once the protest got
started, the FFM began sniping at the UN troops. The UN called for reinforcements but
held their fire because they couldn’t see any students with firearms. Then a student
lobbed an Mk3A2 concussion grenade and all hell broke loose. The UN gunned down
about 20 of the students in the general direction the grenade had come from.

Radar picked up the flight of UN helicopters and the Colonel scrambled 4 F-16s for a
training session. Apaches and their counterparts aren’t bulletproof; that had been prov-
en in Iraqi Freedom and again in the vicinity of Marshall, AR. Up in Fayetteville, the UN
was going to have to wait for the ground reinforcements. The students gathered up their
dead and wounded and withdrew. The FFM kept up the sniping so the UN forces
wouldn’t cancel the request for reinforcements.

In Little Rock, they unloaded the 4 Abrams and 8 Bradley’s from their transports and
headed for the UN Headquarters. The UN had retained only a small guard force and the
M240s on the Abrams and the 25mm Bushmaster’s took care of them. The UN Com-
mander was left with two options: Surrender; or, die for the UN. Nobody should ever die
for the UN; he surrendered to Damon’s Devils. The F-16s weren’t needed in Little Rock
and they took off on a practice flight to practice their ground assaults. They caught the
UN force of 2 Companies on US 64 west of Russellville. They clearly demonstrated that
they didn’t need the practice.

Originally conceived as a simple air-superiority day fighter, the aircraft was armed for
that mission with a single six-barrel Vulcan 20-mm cannon and two Sidewinder missiles,
one mounted at each wingtip. Over the years, however, the mission capability of the air-
craft has been extended to include ground-attack and all-weather operations. With full

217
internal fuel, the aircraft can carry up to 12 000 pounds of external stores including vari-
ous types of ordnance as well as fuel tanks.

The original F-16 was designed as a lightweight air-to-air day fighter. Air-to-ground re-
sponsibilities transformed the first production F-16s into multirole fighters. The empty
weight of the Block 10 F-16A is 15,600 pounds. The empty weight of the Block 50 is
19,200 pounds. The A in F-16A refers to a Block 1 through 20 single-seat aircraft. The B
in F-16B refers to the two-seat version. The letters C and D were substituted for A and
B, respectively, beginning with Block 25. From Block 30/32 on, a major block designa-
tion ending in 0 signifies a General Electric engine; one ending in 2 signifies a Pratt &
Whitney engine. The US Air Force took delivery of its last F-16 Fighting Falcon on
March 18, 2005, the last of 2,231 F-16s produced for the Air Force. The first delivery
was in 1978. Now days, they had the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The killing of 7 students and the wounding of 11 others in Russellville, Arkansas has re-
newed calls for the UN to withdraw its Peacekeeping forces. The Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff broke with the Administration in an announcement this afternoon and
stated for the record that, America has always allowed freedom of dissent. Millions of
Americans have died to keep it that way. Effective immediately the military forces of the
United States will drive these invaders from our homeland. I call upon the President to
resign.

“Where are you headed Gar-Bear?”

“Massachusetts.”

“What’s in Massachusetts?”

“Only a few USSS agents, guarding his and Terry’s home. We ought to be able to get in
and prepare a barbeque for him this time for when he begins his vacation.”

“Maybe he’ll resign. The Chairman seemed to suggest that he’d better.”

“Nah, he won’t resign. That was just some of Wolf Blitzer’s speculation.”

“Gary, Bill O’Reilly seemed to think he should resign.”

“Bill O’Reilly doesn’t like Democrats any more than we do. Nobody ever listens to his
opinions.”

“He’s often right.”

“I know, but Geraldo was often wrong and he had a bigger listening audience.”

218
“O’Reilly drew a map on a chalkboard showing the country where Fayetteville is located,
Clarence.”

“That was quite the funeral they gave for Geraldo. Why didn’t anybody come?”

“They were probably all too busy practicing drawing maps in their sandboxes. Are the
two of you coming to Massachusetts with me, or do I have to do this alone, too?”

“What do you mean alone? We went to New York with you.”

“Yeah, but when the fat was in the fire, you two were at Times Square hustling the bim-
bos.”

“No we weren’t. We were looking for hookers.”

“The only difference between a hooker and a Bimbo is whether you give them cash or
spend the money on them.”

“What are we taking for weapons?”

“A can of lacquer thinner to wash off the yellow stripe.”

“I wish I had some MP-5s like the USSS has.”

“Call the Colonel, maybe he will give you some.”

“Nah, he’d just want to know what we wanted them for. I don’t want anyone to know
what our plans are.”

“What exactly are our plans?” Clarence asked.

“Just a minute, I have to delete a story I posted at Frugal’s. I unintentionally infringed on

the guy’s copyright. There, that was easy. I hope he won’t get too angry with me.”

“What are you babbling about now?”

“I made another mistake. I fixed it the only way I knew how and un-posted the story.”

“How many mistakes does that make that you’ve made?”

“Just today, or in my lifetime?”

“Well, you’re close to 70 years old, I figure at least 25,000, Gar-Bear, that’s one a day.”

“That was before I woke up and got out of bed, Ronald.”

219
“Maybe it is a mistake to go to Massachusetts,” Clarence suggested.

“Maybe, but it wouldn’t be an official Three Amigos story if I didn’t killed at least one
President.”

“Assuming we can pull it off, what are we going to do next?”

“Assuming we pull it off and don’t get caught, I’m coming home and plunking down in
my recliner to watch the Military Channel. I’m old and tired. Very tired. I don’t have an-
other yarn in me and I can’t really afford another keyboard.”

220
 The Cold War – Epilogue

The Three Amigos did get caught. Never underestimate the USSS. They all plead not
guilty by reason of insanity. Jerry Spence got them off. He charged them $1 each for his
services. They returned to Flippin and Gary thunked down in his recliner to watch the
Military Channel.

It had been a very interesting ride… BTW, the UN left, but not of its own accord. They
didn’t have much choice when someone was able to bypass the PAL Codes and gave
them an ultimatum. The President survived the scrubbing with the lacquer thinner. They
never could get rid of the yellow stripe.

© 2011, Gary D. Ott

221