Threatcon Delta – Chapter 1

“I’d like to buy a gun.”

“We sell guns; you’re in the right place. What kind of gun are you looking for? We have
many to choose from: rifles, shotguns, revolvers and pistols.”

“Revolvers and pistols are handguns?”

“So you do know something about guns.”

“I’ve watched cowboy movies so I know what a six-shooter is. The older style guns
might be great for a hobby, but I was thinking about something more relevant to the sit-
uation the country is in.”

“Well, I can see that you need an education. The AK-47 that Russia built about 100 mil-
lion of, is an assault rifle. The M1 Garand and the M14 are American Main Battle Rifles.
The Main Battle Rifles are the CETME, FN FAL, FAMAS and the German G3. The
American assault rifle is the AR15/M16.”

“I’ve heard them called poodle shooters.”

“They do have some detractors. The problem is the gas system that causes the action
to get dirty over time and fail to function.”

“I don’t believe I’d like that. The Garand was WW II, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, but it’s a fine action. The M14 that we went to in the 1950s was based on the
Garand and mainly added a detachable magazine.”

“Do you carry those?”

“We have the less expensive models in stock and I can get you one of the more expen-
sive models in about a week or two. The current civilian version is manufactured by
several companies. We carry the rifles made by Springfield Armory, Inc., in Illinois. They
have six models: Standard, Loaded, National Match, Super Match, M21 and M25. We
don’t carry the M21 or the M25.”

“Can you show me the two least expensive models?”

“Here’s the Standard and here’s the Loaded.”

“They look the same.”

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“Maybe, but looks can be deceiving. The Loaded has several match features including
trigger, sights, medium weight air gauged barrel and so forth. The Standard will shoot
just fine; however, the Loaded will shoot much better. Will you be match shooting?”

“No, why?”

“The National Match has more match features than the Loaded including an adjustable
stock. The Super Match is something to behold and better than a National Match. If you
change the stock on the Super Match to an adjustable stock, you end up with the M21,
a sniper rifle.”

“How much money are we talking?”

“Loaded, I can go $1,500; Super Match, I can go $2,800.”

“Gee, I don’t know, that’s a lot for a rifle.”

“The Loaded will shoot a 6” group at 600-meters and the Super will shoot a 3” group at
the same range, with iron sights.”

“I’ll think about it for now, what can you show me in shotguns?”

“Single shot, pump or auto?”

“I think maybe pump.”

“We have several variations on the Remington 870 and several variations on the Moss-
berg 500/590.”

“Got anything with a sight like what’s on the rifles?”

“Yes, in both brands, I’ll lay out a couple. Here’s an 870 and here’s a 590A1.”

“I like the look and feel of the Mossberg, what can you tell me about it?”

“Eight round magazine plus one in the chamber, Ghost Ring sights, metal trigger guard
and safety, heavy barrel with cylinder bore.”

“How much?”

“Five hundred.”

“Let’s discuss handguns.”

“Pistol or revolver?”

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“Pistol; with a reasonable capacity magazine.”

“Any idea what caliber you might be interested in?”

“I’ve shot a friend’s Colt .45, I liked that.”

“Model 1911?”

“The one the military used for 70 years.”

“Yep, the M1911. I don’t stock Colt’s, but I do stock Para Ordnance and Taurus. Let me
get you the Para to look at, I don’t think you’ll want anything else.”

“Nice pistol, how much?”

“I can sell you the PX1445EB for $850 and that’s a good price.”

“What about the Taurus?”

“Good gun, less expensive, call it $600 plus tax. Here, take a look.”

“Do you carry Ruger?”

“Which model?”

“10/22.”

“How many do you need?”

“Only two. Here’s the deal, I’ll pay cash for whatever I buy and I need a 5% discount for
cash. Before you say no, wait until I tell you what I want, ok?”

“This had better be good.”

“The M1As, I’ll take both; plus two of the Mossberg shotguns and two PT1911s and the
two 10/22s.”

“Which both, the Standard and the Loaded? I can give you 5% off for cash on the ammo
too. Are you sure? This is a very large transaction.”

“No, two Super Match. I’ll pay for the ammo on delivery. Wait, I forgot one.”

“What now?”

“Walther PPK in .380?”

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“Two?”

“Of course.”

“Buying for the wife?”

“Would a married man be in a gun store spending thousands of dollars in cash?”

“Future bride?”

“You never know.”

“Why don’t you just buy her the same guns as you’re buying for yourself?”

“What if it didn’t work out and she divorced me? I don’t think I could stand to see all the
expensive guns filing out the door.”

“On the other hand, if she had the same firearms as you have, she would feel she was
your equal; just something to think about.”

“Do you have two of everything?”

“Well, it just so happens…”

I was always a sucker for a salesman’s pitch and the guns weren’t for a future wife. I
didn’t get out of the store for hours. I had to fill out 4 4473s because there is only room
on the form for 3 guns. Since the transaction included more than two handguns in a five
day period, we had to list the handguns on the 3310.4. There were other things I wanted
beyond the guns, like spare magazines, leather, cases and the ammo.

“You want what?”

“Eight thousand-rounds of Black Hills 175gr Match BTHP and 2,000-rounds of Black
Hills 180gr Nosler AccuBond. I’ll take 2,000-rounds each of Speer Lawman 200gr and
Gold Dot 200gr +P. Shotgun ammo, um, two cases of Brenneke Black Magic 1⅜oz
slugs, four cases of Remington 15-pellet Express Magnum 00 buck and 40 bricks of
Remington .22LR, ¼ hollow point and ¼ Hyper velocity and the other half solid point.”

“Did you just win the Lottery? Don’t remember seeing your face in the paper.”

“Well, friend, I was shining you on a bit when I came in because I wanted to see what
you’d say. You must have said the right thing, too, don’t you agree? I am in fact single
and got back from the sandbox a while back. I’m in the Iowa National Guard. Thing is, I
had all this money saved up to pay cash for a new car, but with the price of gas $3.25 a
gallon; I’m keeping my old Jeep.”

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“What is it, a Wrangler?”

“Nope, WW II surplus, a Willys MB, fixed up some. I basically added a top and rebuilt
the drive train, replaced everything under the hood or had it rebuilt.”

“Is that it out front?”

“Yes.”

“Looks like a CJ.”

The original CJ was the MB.”

“The total on the firearms before tax comes to $9,800, less your cash discount. What
about magazines?”

“Each handgun should have a total of magazines. I’ll want USGI factory new 20-round
magazines for the rifles, probably CMI. 25 each for the M1As and 5 each of the 25-
round for the 10/22s.”

Before I walked out the door, I passed him 5 figures, in cash. He said the ammo would
be in by the end of next week and he’d deliver it or I could pick it up. I told him to deliver
it to the address on the 4473s, but to call first so I’d be sure to have the cash.

Let me fill in the blank spots. My full name is William Tecumseh Sherman and it’s a fam-
ily joke. I generally go by Will. Well think of it, they could have named me William Tibe-
rius Sherman. I was born in 1983, am 25 years old and single. I was raised on a farm
right near the Iowa-Missouri border. The land was pretty much rolling hills and hard to
farm.

I had joined the Iowa National Guard and was sent to the extended boot camp. I hung
out for a while and eventually, I got orders for the sandbox. I had joined the Guard to
avoid that, Mom had ovarian cancer and I just wanted to be around. She passed before
I left, so I did get to attend her funeral. My father, who was only 50, had a time bomb
ticking in his chest aka an arrhythmia. The doc called it supraventricular tachycardia and
said it could be far worse.

Dad said not to worry about him; he’d be fine and my sister Jill could check in on him
from time to time. If her name was Jill, why was mine that family joke? I got over there
before the President decided to surge the troops, so we were very busy dodging IEDs
and EFPs. My squad leader was Sgt. Derek Ott from Huxley. His wife and kids had
moved to Arkansas, just before he left, and he would be moving there when we got
back. I served from Oct05 to Oct06 and we came home, only short one soldier, Danny
Sesker, from Ogden.

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When we arrived back at Camp Dodge, they had quite the celebration and I looked eve-
rywhere expecting to see Dad and Jill. They simply weren’t there. Before the reverie be-
came pronounced, the First Shirt pulled me aside.

“Your father and sister won’t be here, Will, there’s been an accident.”

“What kind of accident?”

“An auto accident. According to the Iowa Highway Patrol, your father lost control. Your
sister was airlifted to Iowa Methodist Hospital, is in a coma, and is in intensive care but
is expected to live. Your father wasn’t so fortunate, he didn’t make it. The Captain said
to fill you in and we’ll provide transport to the hospital. Get your gear around and a driv-
er will be out front.”

I didn’t hurry because hurrying wouldn’t change anything. I couldn’t believe Dad was
dead and sis in a coma. I got my duffle and other gear and climbed in the Hummer. It
was about 40 minutes to the hospital and I thanked the driver and headed to intensive
care lugging my gear.

“I’m William Sherman; I understand that my sister Jill was brought in by air ambulance.”

“Yes Mr. Sherman, they transported her and your father. Do you know his condition?”

“I was told he died.”

“I’m very sorry for your loss. We had quite a time tracking you down, have duty this
weekend?”

“No, I just got back from Iraq. I hadn’t seen Dad or sis in 6 months.”

“That explains the uniform and all the gear. You can put it over there and we’ll keep an
eye on it for you. Then, you can come with me and I’ll show you your sister. You’re al-
lowed to visit briefly once an hour but can’t talk with her until she is moved to critical
care.”

I checked on Jill and aside from some light bandages, she didn’t look much the worse
for wear. I went looking for a payphone to call my uncle John.

“Uncle John, this is Will.”

“Welcome home, Will. Did you get down here okay?”

“I’m at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines. On the way up, Dad and Jill had an auto acci-
dent. I’m sorry, but Dad is dead and Jill is in intensive care in a coma.”

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“We’ll come of course, is there anything else we can do?”

“Ask Jack to drive my Jeep up so I have a way to get around. I’d like it if you could make
funeral arrangements for Dad using the same funeral home that handled Mom’s funer-
al.”

“Are you ok Will?”

“No, I’m not ok Uncle John, but I can’t change what happened. I’ll get a room at a near-
by motel and change into civvies. How long do you think it will take you to get here?”

“You’d better give us two hours. Where’s the key for the Jeep?”

“Jack knows where the hidden key holder is Uncle John.”

I had to stay up until they arrived so I got the motel room, showered, changed into jeans
and a shirt and got something to eat at the nearby Burger King. I returned to the hospital
and looked in on Jill.

“She’s starting to come to, Mr. Sherman. They’re in checking on her now. I see you got
out of your uniform, but you really look tired.”

“I’m exhausted. We rode in the back of a truck most of the day from Camp McCoy. I
contacted Dad’s brother John and he should be here in about 30 minutes. Do you have
all the information you need? Dad had health insurance on himself and Jill.”

“They brought her purse, thank you. Your Dad went first class with the best Blue
Cross/Blue Shield Plan offered. I’d expect most, if not all, of the costs will be covered.”

I was also covered on the policy because Dad had a lawyer form a corporation to own
the farm and the health insurance was an employee benefit. We’d never talked about
what would happen if he died, but I was sure that the same lawyer made out a will. Both
Jill and I were carried as employees; she was the bookkeeper/accountant and I was As-
sistant Farm Manager. I had an Agriculture degree from ISU. The farm was near the
border in Decatur County and Jill also worked for a store in Bethany, Missouri.

“Did you get a room?”

“At the motel, room 103.”

“How’s Jill?”

“Coming out of the coma, is Jack here?”

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“Give him a few minutes, he was right behind us but had to find a different parking spot.”

“Mr. Sherman?”

Uncle John and I both answered, “Yes?”

“And you are?”

“I’m her Uncle and the brother of her father.”

“They’re transferring her to critical care, it should take about 30 minutes and then you
can see her. Her father is…”

“I called the mortuary and they’ll be here in the morning to pick him up.”

“If you’ll give the information to Admitting, they’ll make arrangements.”

“Hey Jack, thanks for driving my Jeep up.”

“I found the hidden key; do you have yours with you?”

“They’re at the house as far as I know. Dad fired it up periodically to recharge the bat-
tery. He probably even drove it occasionally to keep the lubrication moved around.”

“Will, this may be premature, but there are a couple of things I think you should know.”

“What’s that Uncle John?”

“When your father and mother were just getting started out and they had a large mort-
gage, he took out life insurance to cover the mortgage and then some. Eventually he
paid the farm off, but he never dropped the coverage. It’s payable to Jill and you. Sec-
ond, his will provides that Jill and you each inherit 50% of the remaining corporation
stock, so you will jointly own the farm. What you may not know is that he made a gift to
each of you each year up to the limit, in corporate stock. You may not owe any inher-
itance taxes. You know him, he always paid cash and you won’t have many expenses
to cover. He even had funeral insurance, so that’s covered. If you have any questions
about his wishes, I can probably answer your questions.”

“Thanks, let’s go see Jill.”

“Hey you.”

“Hey yourself. Aren’t you the picture? What happened?”

8
“All I can remember is Dad saying he was dizzy and starting to swerve. Can’t remember
anything after that, sorry Will.”

“Did they tell you what your condition is?”

“I have a concussion, several sprains and this laceration on my forehead. I had my

seatbelt on and the car had the airbags, front and sides.”

“You get better Jill. I need some sleep and I’ll be here first thing in the morning.”

We walked back to the motel and Jack would bunk with me while Uncle John and Aunt
Shirley got their own room. John came over to visit for a few minutes.

“We checked on your Dad’s car, Will. It’s totaled. He bought a new pickup, you know.”

“What did he get?”

“He bought a 6-passenger diesel 4WD with dual rear tires and the long bed.”

“What kind?”

“Ford, F-550 Super Duty with a lot of bells and whistles. He shelled out over 60 grand
and it’s in the name of the corporation.”

“That’s just about the opposite of my Jeep.”

“He said it was the last pickup he intended to buy. Prophetic, I guess.”

“What’s the situation on the farm?”

“All the crops are in and sold. All the livestock has been taken to market. There’s a beef
and two hogs that you’ll have to pick up at the locker plant. You only have one cow wet
and the others are dry. The sows have been bred, you’ll have litters soon enough. You
father finished up fall plowing so all you’ll have to do come spring is disk and drag. I can
tell you which crops were planted in which fields so you can rotate the beans and corn.”

“Ok, we’ll talk more tomorrow; I’ve got to get some sleep.”

Jill was out of the hospital in time for the funeral. Dad had 4 plots and we put him next to
Mom under where his name was on the headstone. I was surprised at the turnout be-
cause this area is so rural. Of course, people were there from Jill’s job, a couple of my
buddies from the Guard showed up, and an after the funeral reception was set up at a
church in Bethany.

9
I had a chance to check out Dad’s new pickup and he’d gone all out. Some things, how-
ever, were the factory standard rather than an option, like the radio. He did have a busi-
ness radio mounted in the pickup that could call the house. He had radios in his car that
I retrieved from the junkyard and dropped it off at the dealer in Bethany to have checked
out. Jill also had one in her car and I had one in my Jeep.

We all had technician’s licenses for amateur radio and our vehicles also sported ama-
teur radios and CBs. Dad had gone with Yaesu brand even though it cost more. His
main radio was the Yaesu FT DX 9000MP and he also had a FT 7800R. He’d had a el-
evating tower installed with a 10 band vertical on top and a set of beams for most of the
bands. His base station could generate 400-watts but didn’t cover 2-meters. The 7800
cover 2-meters and 73cm. Conversely, the radios in our vehicles were all band, the
model FT 897D.

Dad was a successful farmer as you can tell. He kept enough of the grain he produced
to feed the livestock and sold the excess. He made his own livestock feed using the
corn, soybeans, oats and supplements. He bought a still to produce ethanol, just in case
and also had a biodiesel converter and an oil press. We had made trial runs on the
equipment, once. It seemed to work fine. He took the few gallons of alcohol he pro-
duced and stored it in a used oak barrel from one of the distilleries. It should be about 4
years old now.

Jill was back to work in about 3 weeks and I moved back into my room and did the
chores. We talked about Iraq, the war, my staying in the Guard and she brought me up
to speed about the year I was gone. She was beating herself up because she said she
knew that Dad had fainting spells but was too proud to admit it. She didn’t want to start
a fight by insisting she drive.

The estate settled quickly and the insurance paid off. I took the money I’d saved up to
buy a car together with some of the insurance money and scratched an itch. That itch
was the firearms I mentioned at the beginning. I was actually buying for myself and Jill,
but that salesman didn’t need to know that. I walked in the store with a list in my head
and played dumb.

I’d seen both the Accuracy International rifle, the Barrett Mike 107 and a few SEALS
with Mk-15s. The Mk-15 is made by McMillan and called the Tac-50. If I were to buy a
.50-caliber rifle, I’d probably go with the Mk-15 for several reasons. First, it was the least
expensive of the three. Second, it came as a set that included an extra magazine, the
scope and a few other extras. Third, I could afford one if I wanted one, including the
ammo. Finally, it was the only one with guaranteed 0.5MOA accuracy.

“Is this Will Sherman?”

“Yes.”

10
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 2

“Your ammo order is in, sorry it took so long. Do you want us to deliver it or will you pick
it up?”

“I’ll pick it up, there’s one more rifle I’d like to order. Will you still give me 5% off for
cash?”

“That depends on the size of the transaction.”

“Order the rifle now and call me when it comes in. I come up then and pick up the rifle
and ammo. Now, here’s what I want: a McMillan Tac-50 package with the Night Force
NXS 12-42×56 Mil Dot scope, eight extra magazines and any parts kits they sell. The
color will be dark earth.”

“My God, that’s going to run you close to twenty grand.”

“Less 5% for cash, right?”

“Right. Did you ever shoot a McMillan?”

“I haven’t but I’ve been with snipers using the Mike 107, the AW 50 and the Mk 15.”

“It going to take a while to get it in and I’d like to have 50% down. Why don’t you come
up and get the ammo and I’ll order the rifle when I get your down payment?”

“That’s a long trip and gas is expensive, can you make it worth my while?”

“Hang on a second; I’m looking at my catalog. How about I pay for one case of the am-
mo?”

“Deal, see you in a couple of hours.”

I had to go to the bank and pull out a bundle of cash in addition to the cash I already
was holding to pay for the ammo. He said close to 20 grand, so I’d give him ten grand
down, plus pay for the ammo I was picking up. I was beginning to wish that I didn’t itch
so badly.

“Didn’t bring your Jeep?”

“It wouldn’t hold everything, so I bought the farm truck.”

“You didn’t say what you wanted for ammo.”

“Hornady 750gr A-MAX. Nineteen cases on me and one case on you. I have the money,
go ahead and start loading. Will ten thousand be a large enough deposit on the Rifle?”

11
“I’ll have to order the ammo. It’s made in Grand Island, Nebraska so it won’t take long to
come in. Ten thousand down will do nicely. The bill for your ammo is $19,350.”

I started counting out the Ben Franklins. I’m sure he was going to take a cruise in the
Caribbean with the money he made off me.

“How long on the Tac-50?”

“Hang on and I’ll call.”

“Three days, four if you want the scope mounted and sighted in.”

“I can wait an extra day.”

“That’s what I told them, now is there anything else I can do for you today?”

“Where can I get ammo cans and desiccants?”

“I can get them wholesale for you and I’ll be cheaper than any surplus store. You want
enough cans to store all of the ammo in your truck?”

“Enough for 5,200 rounds.”

“I’ll let you have them for my cost and the shipping.”

“Will they be in when the rifle is here?”

“They’ll be here before the rifle arrives.”

It was a dreary Christmas with both Mom and Dad gone. Jill spent Christmas with her
new boyfriend at his parent’s home in Bethany. I had a turkey TV dinner. I had time to
reflect on something Derek had told me about his father. His father, a life member of the
NRA for over 40 years, was a bit of a gun nut and a survivalist. His hobby was Patriot
Fiction and most of his stories were posted on Frugal Squirrel’s. I had time to kill and
began reading his stories in the order he’d written them.

Can’t say which story I liked best, some were better than others, and some worse. The
man was a dedicated fan of the M1A rifle. He also despised the M16, because of the
dirty gas system and its limited power. They aren’t that bad, if you keep them clean. Ask
me how many Bushmaster A3s I bought; or, Colt HBARs. The designated marksman
always used a .30-caliber rifle. I saw a fair number of M21s in Iraq, but they all had
scopes mounted.

12
Anyway, between Christmas and New Year’s, I had managed to read through Mountain
Man. That was a story he wrote with a great deal of input from Rock River, I believe. I
made the trip to pick up my Tac-50, the ammo and the ammo cans and parted with
even more money. However, I had all I intended to buy for now.

When I tried to give Jill her set of firearms, she looked at me like I was crazy and we
had words. Now, come on, Dad had taught us both to shoot. With her small hands, the
P-14 didn’t really fit and I picked up a Taurus for her and an 870 Express combo. She
did take a .22 so I replaced the one she took.

One of those stories caught my eye and gave me an idea. This is hilly country with more
than a few caves. I didn’t know of any caves on the farm, but the hills intrigued me. A
short way behind the house was a fairly tall hill that was probably 10’ higher than the
peak of the roof. The 2½-story house was probably built in the 1920s, but I’d be guess-
ing. The basement was made out of limestone blocks mortared together. There was a
limestone cliff on the farm that was probably the source of those blocks.

I got a roll of shelf paper and did my best to design a better storm shelter than we had.
But, I’m a farmer, not an architect and my best effort was lame. I fooled around with it
for a while but finally gave up. The sows farrowed and I was busy for a while taking care
of over 300 newborn pigs.

Eventually, before I could get into the fields, I contacted another member of the Guard
who was a stone mason and we got together to discuss what I wanted. He said my
basic plan was okay, with a few changes. Did I want him to build it?

“I hadn’t given it any thought, Roy. What would be involved if you built it?”

“First off, I’d have to come down and see about the limestone you have. If you have
enough, we’d have to mine it and move it close to the location where you want the
storm shelter. Then, you’d have to get an excavation contractor to come in and remove
all the soil. Are you sure you want it connected to the back wall of your basement by a
tunnel?”

“Absolutely. Even if we can’t make it to the shelter, the basement will afford us some
protection.”

“Poured concrete would probably be much cheaper.”

“I’ll have to tell you Roy, I don’t really care what it’s built from as long as it’s in the center
of that hill and below basement level.”

“Want me to work up a proposal?”

“When could you do it?”

13
“During my two-week summer vacation. How big do you want it?”

“About 30 by 50.”

“You’ll have two rows of posts supporting the overhead.”

“Whatever. Can you do it?”

“Can you afford it?”

“That depends on how much it costs.”

“It will take four loads of concrete. My boss said he would lend me the forms. I do have
a few questions, however. What about water and drainage?”

“The septic tank is well below the house, we can tie in there. The well has a solar pow-
ered pump and we can install a tank above the shelter and still be well below ground
level. We’ll need two tanks, one for water and a second for diesel fuel. I have one
change I want, a room off the tunnel to hold a diesel generator.”

“What about an air intake?”

“I’ll have the equipment on hand before you build the storm shelter. It will be a positive
pressure setup and the air intake will bring in more air than the volume of the shelter.”

I’ll work by the hour for $10 an hour and my helpers will get $7.50 per hour.”

“Can you arrange everything?”

“Turnkey project?”

“Well, I’ll either be planting, cultivating, taking care of livestock or be in a state of col-
lapse. Turnkey would be better, but I’ll pay for the materials and subcontractors as we
go.”

“Will you get the tanks?”

“I’ll do that and I’ll have more flexibility that way.”

I contacted Utah shelter systems and discussed the AV-150 and the AV-300. I ordered
the 300 and two filters (one spare). I also ordered two 3-bar blast valves for the genera-
tor intake and exhaust plus two more for air to cool the generator. I planned on some

14
kind of inline hepa filters to keep radiation out of the generator room. Finally, I ordered
the Swiss PT Armored Door. I mailed off a check for ⅔ the total of my order. I was told
the items would be delivered to my door. I located a Cummins dealer and bought a
Cummins DGCB extended stack single phase generator and a multi range ATS. My
next call was to Texas where I ordered a 40,000-gallon fiberglass truck stop diesel tank.
My final call was to a dealer in Bethany who said he’d get in a 5,000-gallon water tank
for me.

As you can tell, my machine shed was getting filled up. We birthed a small herd of
calves and I got set to take up milking 30 cows. Thank God for Surge. Dad, and now I,
raised shorthorn cattle, not the Holsteins normally found on dairy farms. Therefore, we
produced less milk but got better market beef. We have 10 sows and 30 cows, one of
whom was ready to dry up. Our chicken flock was small, probably 12 layers. Springtime
was when we bought the pullets. I didn’t much care for plucking chickens. None the
less, we bought around 100 every year and sometimes butchered the old hens to use
as stewing/baking hens. It was 100 in and 100 out, but not always the same 100. Jill
usually gathered the eggs and washed them when she got home at night.

We never bought roosters because roosters caused bloody eggs and you can’t sell or
eat bloody eggs. The hens don’t seem to know the difference. So, during the summer
we produced lots of eggs and fattened hogs and beef. Of course we bred the sows
again because they can handle two litters a year, only we kept five of the gilts to in-
crease the herd. I planned to use all of the grain we produced right here on the farm.

Everything was sitting there in the machine shed when the excavation contractor
showed up. I showed him the basement wall and the hill and told him to have fun. I not
sure that Roy told him he’d be moving so much overburden. From the top of the hill to
where we wanted the shelter slab was close to 50 feet, straight down. He was very
clever, starting about mid-level of the hill and taking off the first 25’ then working his way
down. He used a bucket crane to remove the piled up soil and a front end loader to pile
it. I paid him when he finished up.

The next thing that happened was a couple of flatbeds showed up with the forms which
were unloaded and stacked. Two weeks later, Roy and his three men showed up and
began to cut in the drain line and assemble the forms. (Our septic tank was a large
3,000-gallon affair and I added bacteria once a month.) Once the drain line was in and
the foundation formed up, they got a load of concrete and poured the footings. He and I
had worked out detailed plans showing where every water, sewer and electrical line
went. While they waited for the footing to cure, they installed all of those. Next, they
formed the walls, had them poured and I paid for more loads of concrete.

While one of them cut a hole in the basement wall, the other three formed up the over-
heads. We installed anything in the shelter that would be too big to pass through the
tunnel, which was only the generator. Roy subcontracted having the concrete sealed. I
got a lifetime warranty and wondered, “Whose lifetime?”

15
I got busier than a one armed paper hanger in a hurricane. I had to find a hired hand
and I put an ad in the paper. I had one application, a 19-year-old fella from rural Mis-
souri. He seemed to know his crops and livestock so I took him on trial. Jim was from
rural Bethany and his last name, not that it matters, was Ross. He could drive a tractor,
use a milking machine, didn’t mind collecting eggs and proved to be a good hand.

“What’s that you’re building?”

“I’m putting in a new storm shelter.”

“All the way under the hill? What kind of storm are you hiding from?”

“Once it’s filled back in and compacted, just about any kind of storm that comes our
way.”

“What are the tanks for?”

“The big one is diesel and the small one is water.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing it when it’s done, if it’s okay.”

“I don’t see why not, you know about it now. Do me a favor, though; don’t mention it to
anyone else.”

“It’s a secret?”

“More like it’s nobody’s business.”

“Gottcha. I have to leave early on Friday; my sister Karen will be home from college.
Would that be ok?”

“She just graduate?”

“Yes, she went to Northwestern Missouri State University and got a Master’s degree in
History. She plans to teach.”

“Married or single?”

“Single, why?”

“Just curious. I’m 26 and she would be what, 24?”

“That’s right, 24.”

“It’s time to start milking. I’ll herd the cattle in and you get them in their stalls.”

16
I had a few more things that I wanted to do. An example was to move the 25ft³ freezer
from the basement to the shelter. Another was to buy some radiation equipment that
Derek’s dad had talked about from that place in Texas. Yet another was to put in a per-
manent firing range, up against one of the many hills. I’d like 500-yards if I could do it.
The shelter was bare bones and I planned to put in a stove, refrigerator, possibly a mi-
crowave and of course the plumbing fixtures and assorted cabinets. I wanted to move
the radio equipment down there too and extend the cables.

“Will, it’s done except for back filling it. What now?”

“I’ll use my tractor and blade to refill it part way and compact the soil. Next, I’ll install the
tanks and plumb them in. Finally, I’ll finish filling and compacting and will seed it over.”

“What about the tanks?”

“The water tank will fill itself. I’ll have to get the dealer to deliver more diesel as I can af-
ford it.”

I lied, but he didn’t need to know that. He already knew too much as far as I was con-
cerned. Roy knew about the blast door entrance to the shelter, but the basement tunnel
entrance was left open with the block they removed all nicely stacked in the basement.
It was something that TOM had mention in one of his stories, Just because you’re para-
noid, doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you. In another of his stories, he had
talked about a hidden gun room behind a bar.

How about a hidden shelter behind a basement wall? It might take a little engineering,
but before I was through, those blocks, or the front part of them, would be used to con-
ceal a door opening into the tunnel. If I could manage it, I’d much prefer to use the
whole blocks because of the radiation protection factor they would provide. The ques-
tion was, “How do you support that much weight and allow it to swivel easily?”

Oh, and that small insurance policy Dad had? Well, it wasn’t so small. Even before I fin-
ished the building project, I invested some of it in gold and silver. I got in when gold was
around $525 and silver around $10. I also bought $6,000 face value in junk silver, two
bags each of dimes, quarters and halves. I was obviously betting heavily on my predica-
tion of what was coming. I envisioned the economy going into the toilet, gold and silver
rising and, if we weren’t careful, WW III. I’ll admit that I missed guessing about $5 gaso-
line and $6 diesel.

I got Jim to help me back fill over the shelter, after he got the grand tour. He spent a
whole day in that hole compacting the soil, wetting it down and compacting it more. The
next day, after we milked and gathered eggs, we set the water tank in and hooked it up.
The day after, we used the loader to set the fuel tank in the hole. As it was, the tank was
almost too heavy to lift and I had to add weight to the back of the tractor. We made the

17
finally connections and I told Jim that I’d do the farm work and he could finish backfilling
and compacting the hole.

I did get the tank filled and it cost me $75,000 for the diesel and almost $1,600 for the
20 gallons of PRI-D I bought. Buying it in the 6-gallon lots hadn’t been economic so I
contacted the company that made it, Power Research Inc. (PRI) and discussed buying
a drum. Best they’d do was in the area of $60 a gallon, plus shipping. Hell, I have two
rifles that cost nearly that much and one that cost way more than that, so why not? I
bought PRI-G and PRI-D, going for broke.

I had this yea-so-long stick that would allow me to stick the diesel tank and come within
a couple of hundred gallons of what it actually contained. As the price of diesel and
gasoline continued to rise, I kept it topped off, 2,000-gallons at a whack. I also kept the
500-gallon farm tank of gasoline topped off and treated with PRI-G, which I bought in a
6-gallon lot.

On the 4th of July of 2007, I was invited to Jim’s family picnic. I put on my best pair of
Wrangler’s, the ones with the creases, and a nice western cut shirt. I buffed up my Tony
Lama’s and added my Stetson. Not the Calvary one, the other one. I’m about 5’10, 150-
pounds and clean up pretty good. I drove my Jeep and it took me a while to find their
farm, even with the directions Jim had given me.

“Help you?”

“Is this the Ross place?”

“Why yes.”

“I’m Will Sherman, Jim invited me.”

“Oh hi Will, I’m Karen.”

The hell you say. Before me stood one of the best looking women I’d seen in a very
long time – about 5’6, maybe 105-110 and a nice but not outlandish figure. Her hair
flowed all the way down to the middle of her back and had such a shine. I couldn’t see a
hint of makeup, so either it was skillfully applied or wasn’t there to see. I’m afraid I was
tongue tied for a moment.

“Uh, hi Karen, nice to meet you.”

“Care to come in the house and meet our parents?”

Already? “Sure, lead the way.”

“Jim, maybe you’d better make the introductions.”

18
“Dad, this is my boss, Will Sherman. Will, my father Jim Ross. Mom, Will Sherman, Will
my mother Susan.”

“You farm up on the other side of the border?”

“Right up to it actually; the section just north of the road about 2 miles east of I-35.”

“That must be a real roller coaster ride working them thar hills.”

“Yes sir, it’s a challenge.”

“Jim here says you’re in the Guard?”

“Yes sir, I got back last October from a one year tour.”

“My name is Jim, not sir. Call me Jimbo if that makes it easier having two Jim’s around.
High School nickname I sometimes use.”

“Yes sir.”

“I see you wearing western dress, are you into Single Action Shooting?”

“I have several firearms but no revolvers or lever action carbines. As far as the clothes
go, it’s just my idea of casual, being a farm boy.”

“We have quite a few of the single action revolvers and lever action rifles. Some of them
are new in the box that I bought up quickly when Winchester dropped the lever actions.
I also have some new Colts I got a deal on many years ago. Both Karen and Jim have
western rigs and scabbards for their carbines when they ride.”

“That’s one thing my father wasn’t into, horses. You should see this Gawd-awful pickup
he bought a few months before he was killed in the auto accident. It’s a Ford F-550 die-
sel with everything but fancy electronics.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, was that recent?”

“The day I got back to Iowa from Iraq.”

“On the way to greet you, I suppose?”

“Exactly. My sister Jill was in a coma briefly but miraculously escaped serious injury.
She works here in Bethany at the Hy-Vee.”

“Do you do most of your shopping here in Missouri?”

19
“Yes and no. I bought some firearms recently, but that was in Des Moines. Typical gro-
cery shopping, we do at Hy-Vee, here in town. I’ve intended to join Costco Wholesale in
West Des Moines for some time, but haven’t gotten around to it just yet.”

“Jim said he helped you on your storm shelter.”

“”Really? What else did he say about my storm shelter?”

“Just that he spent quite some time compacting earth. He got a kick out of it because as
he added dirt and compacted it, he sort of worked his way to the top of whatever hill you
built it in. That must be quite the storm shelter.”

“It is, actually, it’s top of the line.”

“Time to start the coals; would you care for something to drink? A beer or a Coke?”

“I’ll take a Coke, please.”

I could see Susan and Karen bring out things to the large picnic table in the backyard. I
also noticed they were carrying on a hushed conversation. I occasionally snuck a peek
at Karen and she was sneaking peeks of me because our eyes met a couple of times.
Jimbo cooked burgers and hot dogs on the grill and we sat down to eat. Happenstance
or whatever put Karen directly across from me.

“I understand from Jim that you going to be teaching history.”

“That’s correct, High School History, right here in Bethany.”

”Is History an interesting subject?”

“I believe so. There was a man named George Santayana who said, those who cannot
remember the past, are condemned to repeat it."

“A philosopher?”

“George Santayana, who died in 1952, was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.
A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States,
wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters, although, of
his nearly 89 years, he spent only 39 in the US. He is perhaps best known as an apho-
rist, and for the oft-misquoted remark, Those who cannot remember the past, are con-
demned to repeat it, from Reason in Common Sense, the first volume of his The Life of
Reason.”

“An aphorist?”

20
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 3

“It’s a way of phrasing something in a memorable way. Let me give you another ex-
ample, Life is short, art is long, opportunity fugitive, experimenting dangerous, rea-
soning difficult: it is necessary not only to do oneself what is right, but also to be se-
conded by the patient, by those who attend him, by external circumstances."

“You lost me on one of the turns.”

“It was just an example that I spent time memorizing. Did you go to college?”

“I graduated from Iowa State with a major in Animal Science. After I graduated, I came
back to the farm to help out. I also joined the Iowa National Guard, assuming that if the
world was becoming more dangerous, a man ought to know a little bit about soldiering. I
learned a little more than I planned on, though.”

“What’s this about you building a storm shelter?”

“What it’s about is your brother talking out of turn. I gave him the tour and he helped me
finish it up. I asked him to do me a favor, though and not mention it to anyone else.”

“He was just hyped up about filling up the hole.”

“Since your whole family knows about it, would you like to see it? Your mom and dad
would be welcome too.”

“Maybe sometime, we’ll see.”

In my limited experience that generally meant that she’d wait and see if she got a better
offer. I suppose she could have just been coy (modest). Damn, was she good looking!
And, there was no way she didn’t know it. Single Action Shooting? It might create an
inroad.

“How are we today?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m here to buy a gun.”

“You don’t say, what did you have in mind?”

“Do the numbers P1840, P1850 and P1870 mean anything to you?”

“You said you weren’t into Single Action Shooting. You may recall that I told you I don’t
sell Colts.”

21
“Don’t sell them or can’t get them.”

“I have some perfectly good Ruger’s, Beretta’s and Taurus SAA, for much less money.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I can get them, but...”

“Stop before you say something we’ll both regret. I want one each of those three revolv-
ers. If you can locate a new in the box Winchester rifle Model 94 Original Legacy 24"
round barrel in .45 Colt I pay you a fair price.”

“I might get lucky on that, but no promises.”

“What about the Colts?”

“Here, start filling out the 4473 and I’ll have them in 2 days. They’ll run you $1,100 each,
no cash discount.”

“I’ll need ammo.”

“Cowboy?”

“No.”

“Your best bet would be to get new 2005 Ruger Vaqueros built on the Blackhawk frame
since they’ll handle full power loads.”

“The Colts won’t handle full power loads?”

“That depends on the load. Buffalo Bore loads some hot .45 Colt loads that work well in
the Winchester and the original Vaqueros.”

“Safer?”

“Absolutely and they have that transfer bar safety. Buffalo Bore tested the hot loads in a
5½” original Vaquero. The Vaqueros come in 4⅝”, 5½” and 7½” barrels and are much
less expensive.”

“Do you sell Buffalo Bore?”

“I can get it. It’s expensive ammo.”

“And in consideration of my paying full price on the guns and being your best customer,
you plan to give me a really good discount?”

22
“If I have to, say 5%?”

“Say 10%?”

“Split the difference?”

“Done. I want ten cases of the of the Buffalo Bore ammo. Maybe I’d better get one case
of cowboy ammo, just in case.”

“That is a 500 round case and much, much cheaper, maybe 85 cents a round.”

“I’ll pay for everything except the Winchester.”

“I don’t see your Jeep.”

“I’m driving the big truck today. I’m going to West Des Moines to Costco and fill up the
back of the truck and the trailer I’m pulling.”

“I wasn’t sure, but you just gave yourself away.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re one of those survivalist crackpots.”

“Not actually, but I know some. I’ll admit that I have given more thought to being pre-
pared since I got back from Iraq.”

“Got the bomb shelter, generator, a jillion gallons of fuel, two tons of food and an armory
to die for, right?”

“Let me set you straight, since you ask. I originally bought the duplicate set of firearms
for my sister Jill. All she would take was the 10/22 so I came back and bought a re-
placement for the 10/22. Are you following me?”

“Well, so far.”

“To quote Paul Harvey, Page 3. I met a young lady on the fourth of July who is drop
dead gorgeous and the sister of my hired hand. She is into Single Action Shooting and I
just thought…”

“Say no more, I understand now. How big is your shelter?”

“Fifteen hundred square feet, but it’s not equipped yet.”

“What’s that going to take?”

23
“I need a stove, refrigerator, microwave, plumbing fixtures, beds, lighting, furniture and
food.”

“That means you have the shelter, a blast door, an air system and a generator with
fuel.”

“Takes one to know one?”

“You’re smarter than you look. Yeah, me too. Got into it over that Y2K thing and just
kept going. Your best bet on LTS food is either the Mormons or the Mormons. I was re-
ferring to some of the Church related stores and places like Walton Feed in Idaho. You
might want to consider Mountain House from Emergency Essentials or Nitro-Pak.
Meanwhile, shop Costco and load up on things like coffee, toilet paper and large pack-
ages of the food you eat. The rule in this business is, buy what you eat and eat what
you buy. I’ll give you as good a price on this stuff as I can, all things considered. Got
any radiation equipment?”

“I bought the package.”

“Go back and buy a CD V-717 and a CD V-700. You might want to get extra CD V-
742s; it sounds like you have room for 15 people. Above all else, you need to think
ahead. There is a drought in Australia; does that mean anything to you?”

“Should it?”

“Wheat shortage. In this country we’re planting extra corn for ethanol and that bubble is
going to burst real quickly. Think of all the things they make from corn. Buy large quanti-
ties of things you regularly consume that are imported; for example, canned tuna and
rice and coffee.”

“One of my favorite authors keeps harping on beans and rice.”

“TOM? Beans, rice and corn are the staples in the Mexican diet. He’s a little crazy, but
he’s more right than wrong. Give me five thousand for now and we settle up when I get
everything in. I may need a week on some of the stuff.”

I had a wad in my right front pocket that was exactly $5,000 and gave it to him and let
him count it. There was an identical wad in my left front pocket and the same amount in
my wallet. I intended to get as much as I could in one trip to Des Moines. I started at an
appliance store and got the stove, microwave and refrigerator on sale. Home Depot
supplied lighting and plumbing fixtures (sinks, stool and shower). A furniture store with a
going out of business sale sign provided beds and mattresses. Staples in Altoona had 8’
folding tables and padded folding chairs.

Do I have to describe Costco? I joined in the name of the corporation and got one of
those flat trolleys they have. I started with 10 50-pound bags of Jasmine rice, paid for it

24
and put it in the truck. I returned and got 12 of those trays of Folgers coffee. There was
room on the trolley, so I added Kirkland canned beef, canned chicken and 6oz cans of
tuna. I checked out again, unloaded, and returned. I got flour, sugar, Crisco and vege-
table oil, filling the trolley again. Next pass was pancake mix, brownie and muffin mixes,
and an assortment of spices that I knew we used. On the way to the checkout, I spotted
the beans – next trip.

I got 10 bags of pinto beans and didn’t see any other kind. I realized that I was begin-
ning to attract attention of some of the employees. I topped that trolley with paper towels
and checked out. An employee came up to me as I was loading the truck and offered to
take my trolley. I told him my truck wasn’t full so I had a way to go. When I went back in,
the guy waved me through, again.

“Excuse me; are you shopping for a business?”

“The tag said manager.

“I am, for my corporate kitchen, plus a little for myself. Am I exceeding a limit or some-
thing?”

“The only limited purchases are marked as such. For example, cigarette purchases are
limited.”

“I don’t smoke.”

“It was just an example.”

“Is toilet paper limited?”

“To the stock available on the shelf.”

“Butter? Hams? Anything?”

“As I told you, if it’s limited, the limit is posted.”

“Thank you, cook will be so happy.”

Yeah right. I had to do the toilet paper three times because it was very bulky and they
had to keep restocking the shelf. When they stopped restocking, I made a slow pass
through the aisles picking up things I’d overlooked. The only difference was I was using
a regular cart now. A little here, a little there, half a cart full of hams and half full of but-
ter. I picked up some of everything I could remember mom having in her pantry. About
the only thing that I got that we grew was potatoes. I got one bag of those red potatoes
so I could boil them and pan fry them in butter, I loved them fixed that way.

25
Where was Jill? I haven’t seen much of her lately. Her boyfriend got an apartment and
what with the rising price of gas, she claimed, she couldn’t make the commute. Her
business, I don’t care. I was bone tired when I got home and only handled the things I
had to do something with, the butter and the hams (not canned). Fortunately the refrig-
erator was at the back of the trailer and I moved it to the basement and plugged it in. I
filled it with hams and butter and went to bed.

The next morning, I called a plumber and an electrician and explained what I needed.
The electrician could be out later in the day and the plumber the following day. I took my
lantern into the shelter and used a piece of chalk and a tape measure to lay out interior
walls. There would be two bunk rooms 10’ deep by 15’ wide and two bedrooms 10’x10’,
so I’d need framing, sheet rock, insulation, pre-hung doors. The bath was on the oppo-
site wall, in the corner and it was a ¾ bath with sink, stool and shower; more framing,
insulation and a pre-hung door. Next to it was a small room intended to be the armory.
No insulation but a good steel door with a good lock. Next was the kitchen against the
wall and a day room of sorts in the center. It would have 2 8’ tables and the folding
chairs. In the far right corner I would put the radio shack. Next to the radio shack table
would be a grounded metal cabinet in case of HEMP or EMP.

“Are you down here Will?”

“Jim? Sorry, I was busy doing some planning. Could you get the cows in and milk them
this morning?”

“No problem. Karen really thinks you are something special.”

“What did she say? Tell me exactly.”

“You too? My God, it’s the Montague’s and the Capulet’s.”

“Yeah, but what a lousy ending.”

“What are all the marks?”

“Two bunk rooms, one male and one female plus two bedrooms large enough for a
queen size bed but not much else.”

“What’s the capacity of this shelter?”

“Easily fifteen. That would include me, your family, Jill and her boyfriend and probably
his family.”

“How are you going to stock it?”

26
“I spent the day in Des Moines and dropped a wad of cash. The trailer and the truck are
packed. I have an electrician coming this afternoon and a plumber tomorrow. If you can
handle the chores, I’ll try to get this sorted out and put together. I need some shelving,
supplies from a lumberyard and maybe a carpenter to help me out.”

“You want to keep this sort of quiet, right? Call my dad; he’s a damned good carpenter.
Besides, maybe mom and sis will come up and can take the tour you offered her.”

“You call him and ask him to meet me at the lumberyard, if you would.”

“Fine, but I’d better get on the milking before the cows break down the door.”

“Jimbo, good of you to meet me; I need roughly enough framing for a 9’ wall 50’ long
plus three divider walls about 10’ deep. I want the walls insulated for privacy and pre-
hung hollow core doors. The bathroom will be about 6×6 and contain a stool, sink and
shower. I’ve got a plumber coming out tomorrow. I also want a stout room for firearms
storage, maybe two layers of ¾” plywood and a steel door. The electrician will be out
this afternoon to put in the lighting and the plumber tomorrow.”

“Cancel the plumber, he’s a drunk and I can do better in my sleep than he can sober.”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I only have one question, is this a bomb shelter or a storm shelter?”

“We already have a good storm shelter.”

“I kind of wondered who builds a storm shelter 50’ deep and only accessible from a
basement.”

“I suppose you think I’m crazy.”

“I’d use the term prudent.”

“Can you do this in your head?”

“Close enough. Marty, I want to place an order for delivery early this afternoon. I’ll need
2×4s 18’ long, say 40 plus 20 20’ long. Framing nails for my nail gun, nails and cartridg-
es for my ramset, 5 pre-hung hollow core doors, 1 pre-hung steel door 6 sheets of ¾”
plywood, some of those special hurricane nails, say one box and about 600’ of R-11. I
need enough ⅝” sheet rock to cover the inside and outside of the walls. Terms are COD
and I expect my usual discount. Here’s the address.”

“Will, the ladies aren’t coming up for a couple of days. Is that trailer full?”

27
“And the pickup too.”

“So you mind paying a little day labor at minimum wage to help unload and such?”

“Know someone?”

“I know a couple of locals down on their luck. Good workers, though.”

“Can you find my place?”

“Jim gave me exact directions.”

“You’d better hope that they’re better than the directions he gave me.”

“Say two hours? The lumber and supplies should be there by then. You have an exten-
sion cord?”

“Yes, 2 100’ 15amp.”

I paid up and Jimbo left for his tools and helpers. It seems that money talks and BS
walks. I was going to need to be a little tighter with my money, the hogs were just short
of market weight and I like to keep a reserve in the corporate account and my personal
account. We had 275 hogs at 225 pounds that we’d sell at 250. 250×275×0.75=
$51,562.50 or in round numbers fifty grand. We’d sell another litter before the year was
over for about the same money. Well, actually more, we’d added 5 gilts and they should
produce a minimum of 6 pigs each. That meant the next sale would be 300 hogs at 250
pounds at 0.75 cents = $56,350.

The feeder cattle would be sold as two year olds with a market weight on the order of
1,250 pounds for about a buck a pound. The income from that was 1,250×28=$35,000.
We bred for calves every year and most times were feeding 30 cows, 30 feeders 30
yearlings. I usually butcher two hogs and a beef for the freezer plus those damned
chickens. The chicken slaughter would come in late June, early July.

The lumber delivery truck arrived before Jimbo and I had them place the load near the
outside basement entrance. Jim and I started dragging the lumber into the shelter. Jim-
bo and crew arrived at the same time as the electrician. I showed them the chalk marks
on the floor and reminded Jim it was 2 15’w×10’d plus 2 10’×10’.

The electrician started by installing the ATS and running a new power cable to and from
the breaker box in the house. He mounted the fluorescent fixtures and connected them
with armored cable (flex). Next, he mounted the conduit and pulled the wire to the out-
lets. At that point, he stopped and connected the new wiring to a second breaker box in
the generator room. He explained that if we lost power, both the main breaker box and

28
the second breaker box would be fully powered. We could cut off the power to the
house with the switch box next to the new breaker box.

He said he had to leave but would be there at 8am to finish the wiring. The rough fram-
ing was done and Jimbo and his two men were finishing up the bathroom. Before they
left, we moved the contents of the pickup and trailer into the basement. I had 12 lockers
for the bunk rooms and a chest of drawers and queen sized beds for the two bedrooms.
There were 6 bunk beds in each dorm. It looked pretty rough at the end of the day; by
tomorrow night, it would need seams sanded, a coat of paint and the appliances moved.
Plus I had several sets of shelving to assemble.

Jim, Jimbo and the two other locals showed up at 8:30, barely 30 minutes after the elec-
trician arrived. He was moving along at a good clip and had one dorm wired and was
working on the second. Each room got one light, a switch and a double duplex outlet
box. He managed to stay ahead of them and was ready to make the final connections
by 10:30. After that was done, he installed the duplexes and the switches. Around noon,
he flipped the breakers and we had light and power. Next, he tested the generator and
the switchover took less than a minute. Finally he connected the power to the AV-300
and we had air.

While that was going on, I assembled shelving and Jim joined me after he finished the
chores. I expected him sooner and he explained that he had to muck the stalls and pig
pen. We were actually getting close, I’d have to paint the shelter and move the assem-
bled shelves and freezer. The meat was still at the locker plant.

My order from Texas arrived and I put it in the storage cabinet. A few days later the or-
ders from Walton Feed and Nitro-Pak both arrived. We put them in the basement for the
moment. I asked if those two fellas would hang on another day and get it painted. They
readily agreed, if I could top off a fuel tank. I agreed to that and began to wonder, was I
adding the correct amount of PRI-G to the gas. Sixteen ounces of PRI-G treats 256 gal-
lons of gas. There are 473.1765 ml in a pint and that means the amount of PRI-G per
gallon is 1.95ml. I’d been using 1.925 ml. I’d adjust that to 9.25, the correct amount for a
5 gallon gas can. About the gas; in July 2007, the price was dramatically lower than
what it was a year later.

When it was painted, everything moved to its proper location and the shelves moved,
anchored and filled, I was finally ready to show off my/our accomplishments. I picked up
some New York Strips, baking potatoes and salad fixings. I Invited the Ross family up
for dinner on Saturday and suggested they come early. I had a call from Des Moines
and my order was in including the Winchester. I told him I was having a shelter warming
on Saturday and would see him on Monday or Tuesday.

Jimbo had figured out how to create the door to the tunnel and showed me his plan. It
looked like it could work and I told him that if he knew anyone who could fabricate the

29
steel, do it and I’d pay for it. He replied that he’d have it done and delivered and I could
pay the welder COD. The welder called that morning and said he’d deliver the contrap-
tion on Monday.

When the family showed up mid-afternoon on Saturday, I gave them the grand tour ex-
plaining most of the features incorporated in the shelter. Susan marveled at the quantity
of food, and Karen noticed that I had hot water (an afterthought, the lines were in but I
forgot to buy a 50 gallon electric hot water heater). The beds were unmade because I
needed mattress pads, sheets, bedspreads and pillows. I told them I had an order to
pick up in Des Moines and while I was there, I’d stop at Penny’s and get the bedding.

Karen kidded me about having an elaborate radio setup and no TV or VHS/DVD player.
There were a 27” TV and a VHS/DVD player in my bedroom that I never turned on. I
decided that I could put it in the shelter rather that spending more money. I started the
oven and put the pre-washed spuds in. Karen helped with the salad, a bagged thing
from Hy-Vee. When the potatoes were close to being done, I fired up the grill and asked
how everyone liked their steaks. I had 2 medium rare and 3 (including me) medium.

I loved being near her. She was very attractive, was wearing some faint trace of per-
fume I couldn’t identify, was extremely intelligent and a good conversationalist. During
the shelter tour, I caught her examining the contents of the gun closet. I thought I saw
her nod, but it was so slight, I couldn’t be sure. When dinner was over, Susan and Ka-
ren gathered the dishes and took them in to wash them while Jimbo, Jim and I sat at the
picnic table discussing the state of the world.

“I don’t like it,” Jimbo said. “Were looking at a recession or worse; gas is going to go up
another buck, buck-fifty a gallon, diesel probably more. Have you noticed the price of
food is rising because of shortages and higher transportation costs? For two cents, I’d
build a shelter for my family.”

“You don’t need one. How long did it take you to drive here, 15 minutes? This shelter
was designed with a capacity of at least 15 but could probably handle 50 in a pinch. The
bedroom in the corner is mine and I had the one next to it in mind for you and Susan.
There’s enough LTS and regular food stored for 50 people for 100 days. My arsenal
isn’t large, but it’s a start. I have some more weapons coming in that I’ll pick up on
Tuesday. Say, that raises a question, where did you buy those single action holsters
and gun belts?”

“There are several choices, El Paso Saddlery, Kirkpatrick Leather Company, Alfonso’s
Gun leather of Hollywood and about 20 more. I thought you weren’t interested in Single
Action.”

“Everyone needs a hobby. Know anywhere I can get a few good horses? Nothing fancy,
just riding horses, hopefully for less than $1,000 each.”

“With or without saddles?”

30
“Good used saddles should be okay.”

“Want a stallion and several mares?”

“I don’t really know what I want. Broken to saddle and harness; maybe a buggy and a
horse drawn wagon. Jimbo, Dad didn’t have horses and I don’t ride. I’m going to have to
find someone to teach me, maybe Jim.”

“I can teach you,” Karen said returning from the kitchen. “How much do you pay?”

31
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 4

“Seven-fifty an hour plus gas.”

“Hey, you don’t give me gas,” Jim chided.

“Maybe not, but you’ve arrived more than once on an empty tank.”

“Did I hear you saying something about a trip to Des Moines?”

“I thought it, but don’t remember saying it Karen. As a matter of fact I have an order to
pick up in Des Moines Monday afternoon.”

“You told us you had an order to pick up and planned to stop at Penny’s for bedding.”

“I guess I did say that. What to help me with the bedding? I’d appreciate that. We could
probably use bath towels, hand towels and wash cloths.”

“I wanted to do some shopping for clothing for my new job.”

“If we leave early, we can do that. Why don’t you come with Jim on Monday? I’ll leave
him enough cash to pay the guy installing the door frame and we’ll do what we can in
one trip.”

“I’ll do that.”

Jimbo said he’d look around for a string of horses, at least 4-year-olds broken to saddle
and harness. He’d see what he could do about a buggy and the wagon, too. He told me
to expect to pay around $750-$1,000 per mare, $250-$500 for useable saddles and
$2,000 or more for a good stallion. He could spend money as fast as I could!

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

“Jim, I have a welder bringing out a door frame that goes in the basement wall entrance
to the shelter. Have him mount it so we can fill the frame with the old basement wall
blocks. We will have an extra layer of protection plus conceal the entrance to the shel-
ter. Here’s an envelope with cash. Be sure you get a receipt.”

“Anything else?”

32
“Not today, just the chores. I don’t know for sure when Karen and I will be back so you
may have to milk twice. If you have any questions on that door, call your dad, he de-
signed it.”

“I decided to pull the trailer to Des Moines, just in case; although, I don’t really know just
in case of what. We were about 30 minutes into the trip when Karen spoke.

“That a very nice gun collection, two of everything except the big rifle. That must be aw-
fully expensive to shoot.”

“It is Karen, $5 a round. You try not to waste rounds with a gun like that.”

“What are the M1As, Loaded models?”

“Hardly; they’re the Super Match.”

“That explains why you only have the Black Hills ammo.”

“I wanted the ammo to be as good as the rifles. Do you have an M1A?”

“A fella I dated when I was a junior in college had one and we went shooting once. His
rifled was called a Loaded Standard.”

“They renamed them slightly, dropping the Standard and just call them the Loaded
now.”

“I didn’t see your pistols.”

“Para Ordnance P-14 and a Taurus PT1911 in .45 auto with Walther PPKs in .380 for
backup.”

“First class guns all the way?”

“I saw some of the junk the insurgents used in Iraq, mostly AK-47s. They’ll work under
any circumstances, but they’re very inaccurate. Our designated marksmen use M21s
which is essentially the same rifle as the Super Match with a different stock. I saw snip-
ers using the Alpha Sierra 50s and the Mike 107s and I don’t believe the AS50 is worth
an extra five grand.”

“No AR15s?”

“Absolutely not. I carried a M4 for a full year and fortunately rarely had to use it. The
problems with the M4 are a barrel too short to be of any real use and the same fouling
problem as the M16.”

“What came in that you have to pick up?”

33
“Some Ruger revolvers and a Winchester rifle plus the ammo.”

“Single Action?”

“Maybe you can teach me those, too.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re trying to get on my better side.”

“You don’t know better and I am, Karen. I would like to get to know you better and be
your friend.”

“I think I’ve heard that particular line before.”

“I’m just being as straight with you as I can. I would like very much for us to be friends.
My sister is off to Bethany living with her boyfriend and I’m alone on the farm except for
Jim. I enjoyed the family gatherings on Independence Day and this past Saturday. My
family basically ceased to exist the day I got home from Iraq. I’ve even had to take over
the bookkeeping for the farm corporation because Jill’s not around.”

“It seems as if you’ve spent a lot of money.”

“I had a lot of money available to spend, Karen. I was saving for a car when I was in
Iraq and had a bundle of cash. Jill and I inherited the farm tax free and Dad had a mon-
ster of an insurance policy. My squad leader in Iraq’s father is a prepper or survivalist
and a Patriot Fiction writer. I read most of his stories, took what good ideas I found and
used the money available to implement them.”

“But you have so much.”

“I’ll admit it, I have a lot. In a year or two, we’ll see if you still think I have too much. I’m
in the process of increasing the size of my herds so we can use all the grain we grow
right on the farm and won’t have to sell any. Beef is a buck and hogs seventy-five cents
and I did major in animal science not agronomy.”

“What pays the best, beef or hogs?”

“Hogs. Two litters a year versus birth one per year on the cattle. We do chickens in the
summer for butchering and I keep a dozen laying hens year round for eggs. I generally
butcher two hogs and a beef each year but probably won’t this year because my freezer
is fairly full. I may live on the Iowa side of the line, but the nearest large town is Betha-
ny.”

“We’re here, come in and see what I bought and I’ll finish paying for it.”

“Is this your sister Jill?”

34
“Nope.”

“The young lady from the Independence Day picnic?”

“Yep.”

“You chose well.”

“What am I missing here?”

“Nothing Karen. Did you get the Winchester?”

“I told you I might get lucky and I did. Got a good price on the Vaqueros, too and even
on the ammo. I owe you a refund on the revolvers, want cash or is there something else
in the store I can let you have?”

“I haven’t paid for the Winchester.”

“Oh, that’s right, sorry. Let me add it up while you fill out the 4473 for the rifle. I got
some more Black Hills 175gr Match BTHP in. Didn’t get the .45 Colt ammo yet.”

“I’ll take two cases of Black Hills.”

“I thought you might. There are just some things you can’t have too much of. How did
you make out at Costco?”

“Before I got there, I got the appliances, furniture and plumbing and electrical fixtures. I
must have made a dozen trips in and out of Costco. I need to shop for bedding for the
beds in the shelter and she needs to shop for work clothes. Depending on the amount
of time left, I thought we might go to Costco again, I brought the trailer.”

“Did you check those LTS food places?”

“Walton Feed and Nitro-Pak. I laid in a good food supply. I got the extra things from
Texas, too.”

“You’re right on the border aren’t you?”

“The border is the southern boundary of my farm.”

“Not that it will happen, but should we get into a GTW, Omaha and Lincoln are likely
targets. You might get some fallout.”

“You have my address, why don’t you come down some weekend and assess what I’ve
done?”

35
“Will she be there?”

“Karen?”

“Yes.”

“I rather doubt it, we’re not even dating.”

“Young man, she appears to be a winner, don’t let her get away.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I’m afraid we’ll have to park off a block or two from Penny’s because of the trailer.”

“Why did you bring that?”

“I thought if we had enough time, we might stop at Costco, Sam’s Club and/or Wal-
Mart.”

“Don’t you have enough food?”

“Probably, but there are some things a person can’t have too much of, like bathroom
tissue.”

“I didn’t see any feminine hygiene supplies.”

“I don’t use them and I don’t know either you or your mother well enough to inquire in
that area.”

“This could be slightly embarrassing.”

“No more for you than for me, Karen.”

“You can park in that lot; it’s only two blocks from Penny’s.”

“Okay.”

The guy charged me double because of the trailer. It wasn’t that expensive and it
wouldn’t do much good to complain. Once in Penny’s, we started in the Women’s De-
partment and Karen was able to find several nice, but serviceable outfits. I offered to
take them back to the truck while she looked for bedding. I suggested two of everything
for each of the beds and reminded her there were 12 bunks (twin) and two queen sized
beds.

36
By the time I returned, she had the sheets, pillow cases, mattress pads and was work-
ing on bedspreads. They didn’t have a large number of any particular color and we end-
ed up with a rainbow assortment. The sheets and pillow cases were the basic white
percale. I paid cash and considering the amount and the volume of the purchase they
got a stock person to help getting the purchases to the car. I got the truck from the lot
and we loaded up the things in the back of the truck. I’d laid Karen’s bags on the back
seat.

We stopped at a Wally World and Karen made the purchases of the hygiene supplies
and put them in the truck. We picked up some miscellaneous groceries to fill in. Then
we went to Sam’s Club and I joined so we could make more bulk purchases of the
things that Costco didn’t carry. I was rather surprised at what I had overlooked. We
found Coke on sale and each bought the limit of 4 cases. Finally, we went to Costco
and began the process of emptying their toilet paper display. Karen was looking in their
meat cases and added some things I hadn’t. It was things we could freeze like sliced
lunch meat, sausage, etc.

By the time we got back, Jim was gone. He was supposed to wait until Karen got back
so he could take her home. We put the perishables in refrigerators or freezers and de-
tached the trailer.

“It’s late; could I take you out to eat in Bethany?”

“You don’t have to do that Will; I can get something at home.”

“I’d like to take you out to dinner if you’d permit.”

“Hardee’s?”

“How about sea food? Or, maybe Italian or Chinese?”

“I’ll eat any of it, you pick the place.”

We ended up at Dos Chiquita’s, a Mexican restaurant. There are several restaurants in

Bethany, but not many good ones. Most are what I’d call average and only a few would
be classified as bad. We visited throughout the meal, getting to know each other just a
bit better. We shared some likes and dislikes, talked about her training me to ride and
enjoyed our meal. All too soon it was time to take her home and when we got there, I
helped her carry her purchases into the house.

“Jimbo, can you come by tomorrow or the next day and show me what we need to do to
finish that door?”

“Sure, have a nice trip?”

37
“It was late when we got back so I took Karen to the Mexican place for dinner.”

“Karen ate Mexican? Well, I’ll be damned.”

“It was good Dad.”

“The company or the food?”

“Both.”

“I’ve got to go, Jimbo. See you when you come up.”

When I got home, I checked the various sources for gun leather that Jim told me about.
I didn’t care for the stuff El Paso made and Alfonso way too expensive. I liked two rigs I
saw at Kirkpatrick and planned to call them the next day and see if they could combine
the cross draw with the double allowing me to have the 7½” on my strong side, the 5½”
on the other side and the 4⅝” in the cross draw. I also wanted to ask if it was possible to
make the belt wider to hold two rows of 24 cartridges each. The two Jim’s arrived early
and the younger started milking while Jimbo and I examined the steel door frame.

“Perfect. I brought my Skilsaw with the diamond edged blade, do you have some mor-
tar?”

“Tell me what you need and I go to Bethany and get some. I can be back before you fin-
ish cutting the bottom row of stone.”

“I doubt that, but you need to tell Marty I want two bags of the standard mortar mix I
usually buy.”

It was positively neat the way Jimbo had designed the door. The cut blocks set on a
shelf with a lip that extended to the floor. We mixed some mortar and once they were in
place; you couldn’t tell that the wall wasn’t the original wall. Better still, even if you knew
that it was a door, you couldn’t tell how to unlock it.

“I saw this on TV, Will. During Prohibition, 21 Club had a liquor storage room in the
basement hidden behind a wall. You used a long steel hook to release the latch. Same
principle here provided you can find the hole. I figure you might want to put something
on wheels in front of the wall, but that’s up to you.”

“It’s so, I don’t know, James Bond comes to mind. That author I like had a hidden gun
room in the first story he wrote, The Ark. It was way more complicated than using a
hook, but I don’t think we need to go that way.”

38
“I had him put on that sheet of steel plate on the backside, in case someone figured out
it was a doorway. That’s some surplus armor plating and about an inch thick. I have no
idea how much it weighs, probably a few tons.”

“His fee wasn’t too bad; he must have gotten a deal on the surplus plate.”

“Or, stole it; you never know about that guy, but he does good work and he’s cheap.”

“Any news on finding horses?”

“I have some leads that I want to check out, but nothing yet.”

“I plan to call Kirkpatrick Leather about a rifle scabbard and a western rig.”

“Find something you like?”

“Two, actually, the Laredoan double and the Laredoan cross draw. I was going to call
them and see about combining the two and adding an extra row of cartridge loops.”

“I don’t think you’ll be happy. It will weigh a ton and a wide belt like that would be un-
comfortable. Karen said you bought 3 revolvers.”

“Yes Jimbo, the case hardened 2005 Ruger Vaqueros in the three barrel lengths. I also
managed to get a Winchester legacy in .45 Colt.”

“I guess that eliminates some things from your wedding gift list.”

“What wedding?”

“Why Karen and yours of course.”

“We’ve only been out to dinner once and not on even one date.”

“Are you saying you’re not interested?”

“Oh, I’m interested and I’d be lying if I said I weren’t. Isn’t there supposed to be a period
in the beginning where you get to know more about each other? After which you each
decide if you want to take it further? And then, isn’t it up to the man to propose?”

“That’s the way it’s supposed to work. You put in a bedroom for yourself in that shelter,
but your single, so why did you put in a queen sized bed?”

“It was an economy measure.”

“You bought those after you met Karen.”

39
“I did, I can’t deny that.”

“When you bought those firearms, you bought two of each model except the Tac-50.”

“I bought a set for my sister Jill. She’s changed and wouldn’t take them so I replaced the
one she took.”

“And, right after the Independence Day picnic, you ordered those Single Action Revolv-
ers and the Winchester.”

“True.”

“And last night she went out with you to eat dinner and you ended up in a Mexican res-
taurant, right? That would be the first time, to my knowledge, that she’s ever eaten Mex-
ican food.”

“I didn’t know that, but they weren’t many good places open. Karen is attractive, smart
and just about everything in a woman that a man looks for. I think she’s independently
minded, but not controlling. She’s the sort of woman who would make a blouse out of a
Gadsden flag.”

“You should hear what she has to say about you.”

“I’d love to.”

“Ask her, not me. Loose lips sink ships. If you want good restaurants, take her to La-
moni.”

I hadn’t even considered Lamoni and it was as close as or closer than Bethany. I chose
Bethany because that’s where Karen lived and Lamoni was in the opposite direction. I
realized that we were making finding good horses harder than it needed to be. The
Amish have plenty of horses and probably have some for sale. They surely have bug-
gies and wagons.

Amish can be found in northeast Iowa, in an area that runs from Independence to Oel-
wein and encompasses the villages of Hazleton and Fairbanks. Another large Amish
settlement is located mostly south of Kalona and north of Washington. The Kalona set-
tlement is the largest in the United States west of the Mississippi. Other smaller Amish
settlements are located in Davis County, between Milton and Cantril along Iowa High-
way 2 in Van Buren County, south of Chariton in Lucas County and near Lamoni in De-
catur County.

“Karen, it’s Will.”

40
“Hi.”

“Hi. After I talked with your dad and he mentioned restaurants in Lamoni, I got to think-
ing about the Amish community near Lamoni. They might be a good place for him to
find horses and tack.”

“You should be telling him this, not me.”

“No, I wanted to talk to you. I have all of the stuff we bought in Des Moines stacked and
could use some help putting it away, sorting it, making beds and domestic chores. I
could repay you for your help by taking you out to dinner in Lamoni and maybe catching
a show.”

“Are you asking me for a date?”

“Yes.”

“What time Saturday?”

“As early as is convenient. And, bring some dress up casuals for dinner and the show.”

“Is there a lot to do?”

“It’s Jim’s day off and I have milking, feeding the livestock, gathering eggs and the usual
chores. I’ve been washing the bedding and folding it to remove the sizing.”

“I didn’t see a washer and dryer in the shelter.”

“That’s because I didn’t put them in.”

“You know those small stacked duos like the one Sears brought out years ago? It might
be a good idea to add the combo to the shelter. Nobody is going to be thinking about
bringing clothes if they are heading to the shelter.”

“I’ll check Sears. If I find one that I think will do, I’ll order it and have it delivered.”

“Okay. I guess I can be there around 8:30 Saturday morning.”

“Thank you.”

I went to the Sears online website and found a White Frigidaire 27” Front Load Electric
Laundry Center that seemed to be a good choice. One feature that I liked was that it
was quiet. I placed the order for store pickup, COD, because I didn’t have a Sears Card.
I would have to go to Des Moines on Thursday and pick it up at Merle Hay Mall. There
weren’t many Sears stores close.

41
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 5

Because of moving so many appliances, I’d caved in and bought a good appliance cart.
It helped, but moving that freezer to the shelter had been an exercise in planning. The
stacked unit didn’t come with a power cord for the dryer, another $35. I didn’t have a 30
amp power outlet and the electrician charged me $65 bucks for that, saying I got a deal.
I placed one set of bed linens on each bed and put the second set either in the bottom
dresser drawer or the top locker shelf.

I’ll have to say that it was coming along well. The white walls were intended to produce
a clean look, but they were boring. The only things that broke up the monotony were the
appliances. After I returned from Des Moines on Thursday and got the laundry center
installed, I got a beer out of the shelter refrigerator and sat down at the table, trying to
think of anything I might have missed.

We’d have to enter the tunnel every 100 hours or so to change the oil in the generator.
What would we do for power while it was being serviced? How about a small portable
diesel we could run until the oil was changed? What would the radiation level be in the
tunnel? How about an AMP 200 remote to measure the outside radiation and using the
CD V-717 to monitor the radiation level in the tunnel? How about both? What about the
bath towels, hand towel and wash cloths? Put one set in each locker and two sets in
each dresser?

A person could allow the unanswered questions to drive them crazy. I’d looked at the
map and any radiation danger we’d face in case of a GTW was from Lincoln, Nebraska,
not Omaha. However, we weren’t anywhere near having a GTW. We had always plant-
ed a garden in the past, when mom was alive. It was different now, Jill was in Bethany
and I was alone except for when Jim was here helping. I could grow the produce, but if
it had to be canned, I was in trouble. I planted two hills of watermelon and several of po-
tatoes plus two rows of onions. I figured when the onions were ready, I could pull them
and let them sun-dry for a day or two and bag them. The potatoes would come later, but
we’d had watermelon for desert for our cookout. The watermelon was almost growing
faster than I could eat it. Maybe I could harvest it for seeds.

“This is Smith at the gun store in Des Moines. You invited me down some weekend;
how does this weekend sound?”

“Saturday is tied up, but you’d be welcome to come on Sunday.”

“After church? Okay, that should work. Is there anything I can bring you?”

“I’ll take a case of the cowboy ammo if you have it.”

“Anything else?”

42
“Not unless you can sell me Black Hills for 50 cents a round.”

“How’s that girlfriend of yours?”

“She’s fine.”

“You can say that again.”

“About 2:00 Sunday afternoon?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Karen had her hair tied up in a ponytail. I showed her the laundry center and that I’d laid
out sheets, pillow covers and bedspreads. The milking was done and I had to gather
eggs and feed the livestock before I could lend a hand. It didn’t take me all that long to
finish my chores but when I returned to the shelter to help, she had 14 beds made, the
feminine hygiene supplies in the cabinet in the bathroom and was moving food to vari-
ous shelves. We were beginning to run out of storage in the shelter and I asked if she
needed me to assemble the final set of shelves.

“Yes, please. That’s about all we have room for though, so I hope you didn’t buy any
more.”

“Actually I did, but not with the shelter in mind. My mother used to grow a large garden
and can every year. I’ve been acquiring new and used canning jars and storing them in
the basement. I’m sure you’ve seen the boxes.”

“What did she use for a canner?”

“I think it was a Presto or Mirro pressure canner that held 7 quart jars.”

“Have you heard of the All American Pressure canner?”

“How is it different?”

“It doesn’t require a gasket. The largest size will hold 32 pint jars or 19 quart jars.”

“Think I should get one?”

“That’s up to you Will, but one batch in it is about the same as 2½ batches in the one
you have. Do you have spare gaskets for your canner?”

“I don’t think so. Mom was going to buy one and then she got sick. We didn’t plant a
garden that year or after from what I can tell. I used up the remaining home canned
goods after I got home.”

43
“How did your mother die?”

“Ovarian cancer. My father had something called supraventricular tachycardia that

sometimes made him dizzy. He got dizzy while he was driving up with Jill to meet me at
Camp Dodge. I think the crash killed him, not a heart attack, but the results were the
same.”

“Were you closer to your father than your mother?”

“No, Dad taught me farming and Mom helped with my school work and made sure I got
into college. I think I cared for them equally. Jill was little sister until the accident. I be-
lieve that took something out of her.”

“So much tragedy.”

“Karen, all the tragedy I’ve seen in my life doesn’t account for one day of tragedy I saw
in Iraq.”

“I think we’re done.”

“Would you like to go shooting for a while?”

“Which gun?”

“The Super Match?”

“Sure, why not?”

Karen didn’t need any lessons from me when it came to shooting unless it was how the
sight adjustments worked. I’m sure she would have figured it out on her own with very
few shots. We started at 100-meters and worked back to 200, 300 and 400.

“I can’t believe I’m shooting this well.”

“You have a good rifle, good ammo and an excellent eye. Want to try 500-meters? It
gets tougher the further back you are.”

“I know. Why not? What’s the maximum effective range with iron sights?”

“Five hundred yards or about 460 meters; and, with optics, up to at least 800 meters or
about 875 yards.”

“I think we’d better stop at 500-meters Will. What kind of optics would be good?”

44
“Leupold Mark IV 4.5-14×50mm LR/T M1. I’d probably use the A.R.M.S. mount and
rings. I could probably get the scopes for around $600 and the mounts for an additional
$2-300.”

“That sounds like a lot.”

“Not for a rifle that cost $2,800.”

“You definitely have to get the canner, you do everything first class.”

“Does that include my choice in dates?”

“Absolutely.”

“Yeah, modest, too. When we get back, you can go ahead and clean up while I milk the
cows. I’ll come in when I’m done and we can leave for Lamoni in 30 minutes.”

When I got in, Karen was in Jill’s room with the door closed, probably brushing out her
hair. I got a quick shower, shaved and dressed in my western style casual.

We seemed to be stuck in late summer. Karen had innocently turned my life upside
down and I was smitten. Do you remember that song, Lady in Red by Chris De Burgh?
The lyrics were:

I’ve never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight

I’ve never seen you shine so bright
I’ve never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
They’re looking for a little romance
Given half a chance
And I’ve never seen that dress you’re wearing
Or that highlights in your hair
That catch your eyes
I have been blind

The lady in red is dancing with me

Cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here
It’s just you and me
Its where I wanna be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I’ll never forget the way you look tonight

I’ve never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight

I’ve never seen you shine so bright you were amazing

45
I’ve never seen so many people want to be there by your side
And when you turned to me and smiled it took my breath away
And I have never had such a feeling such a feeling
Of complete and utter love, as I do tonight

The lady in red is dancing with me

Cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here
It’s just you and me
It’s where I wanna be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I’ll never forget the way you look tonight

I never will forget the way you look tonight

The lady in red
My lady in red

The song was written in reference to (though not specifically about) his first wife Diane
and was released on the album Into The Light, reaching #1 in the UK charts in July
1986, and peaking on the Billboard charts at #3 in May of 1987 when I was 4 years old.
It got occasional play even into the late nineties so that must be where I’d heard it.

A couple of the guys had it on CD when we were in Iraq, so maybe that’s where I heard
it. I only bring it up because she came out of Jill’s bedroom dressed in a red dress and I
almost couldn’t breathe. I must have been standing there with my jaw on the floor be-
cause she asked, “Do you approve?”

“Uh, I can change into slacks and a jacket.”

“For dinner and a movie, don’t be silly. I like your western look.”

The selection of restaurants in Lamoni wasn’t much better than Bethany. We narrowed
it to Grandma’s House, Quilt Country Family Restaurant and The Raging Buffalo and
then did paper, scissors, stone. Hello, Grandma. For entertainment we had one choice,
the Coliseum. At least Bethany had a movie theatre. We returned to the farm and put on
a movie, The American President.

I was embarrassed about how our evening out had turned out. The food was okay, but
nothing we couldn’t have made ourselves. Rural town Iowa was and had been for some
time, the pits. Karen was enjoying the movie and I popped some popcorn and got out
some cokes.

“Do you have anything to put in this?”

“You mean ice?”

46
“I mean something like rum.”

Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker? No way. “I’ve got some Myers’s Dark Rum.”

“I love Myer’s.”

Fortunately, there was only about ½” in the bottle, perhaps enough for one or two
drinks. Karen had her rum and coke and didn’t ask for more. We finished the movie, I
apologized about the way the trip to Lamoni had gone and she told me that she enjoyed
the company and had a wonderful time. Maybe, she suggested, we should just drive
around and scout for good restaurants. Bethany was the County seat and the largest
city/town/village in Harrison County. Although Leon was the County seat for Decatur
County, Lamoni had the largest population. It was also an excuse to spend more time
with Karen.

The Ross family was, in their own way, adopting me. I had their youngest working for
me and was head over heels smitten with their oldest. I believe I worried that she might
meet another teacher her age and fall for him. Be that as it may, Smith was right on
time. He was lugging the case of cowboy ammo and set it down and returned to his car
and picked up a case of Black Hills 175gr BTHP.

“I can’t go fifty cents, how does seventy five cents sound?”

“Sounds like you just sold a case of ammo. I’ll take more at that price.”

“It costs me $365 plus shipping. I can’t really go $375 on a regular basis, but I suppose I
could go $400.”

“I’ll take any part of 20 cases you can get.”

“Doing more shooting?”

“I have a shooting partner and she’s as good as or better than me. I need optics for the
M1As. What I had in mind was Leupold Mark IV 4.5-14x50mm LR/T M1 with A.R.M.S.
mount and rings.”

That should run you about $850 per rifle.”

“That is about what I figured. How long to get them in?”

“Maybe a week; I’ll call with a total and you can mail me a check.”

“Let’s check out the shelter. We’re in the basement and somewhere in this room is the
entrance to the shelter. You can find it while I’ll get my check book.”

47
“Four solid stone walls, sorry, I just don’t see it.”

“You know about 21 Club?”

“I thought of that, but I don’t see a hole for a wire or a wire to put in the hole.”

“You have to slide this cabinet out to find the wire. The hole is right here.”

“If you were inside would the wire still work?”

“Not if we throw the bolts. I’ll show you.”

“Steel plate?”

“Armor plate, 1” thick.”

“Jeez, you’re a bonafide survivalist.”

“The tunnel has about a 5% grade down to the shelter. This room here is for the genera-
tor. I just added the 12kw China diesel for power when we service the big generator.”

“How big is big?”

“About 250 amps, maximum. You should recognize that, the sensing element for a CD
V-717.”

“Is that one of those Swiss blast doors?”

“Yes.”

“But, you already have a blast door.”

“That’s new; this went in when we built the shelter. I decided to turn the shelter into the
hidden room.”

“TOM?”

“His first story where Clarence found the gun room behind the back bar. Check this out
and tell me what you think.”

“Bedrooms on the left?”

“Two bunk rooms for six people each, one for males and the other for the females. Be-
yond that on the left is the bedroom I’ve assigned to Karen’s folks. The last bedroom is
mine. In the far right corner is the ¾ bathroom and next to it is a small gun closet. Next

48
you have the kitchen area, a storage cabinet for electronics and medicines and finally
the radio shack.”

“All neatly packaged, I must say. I was right about 15 people, but you have supplies for
15 people for at least a year and more in the basement. I don’t understand why you
don’t have more firearms.”

“Actually I have eight long arms and seven hand guns that I bought from you. Karen’s
family has a cabinet full of lever action firearms and several new in the box Colt and
Winchesters. They’re into cowboy action shooting so I suppose they probably have
some coach guns.”

“Springfield Armory changed the barrel on the Standard to six grooves. It not match
grade, but if I bought enough, maybe I could get you a good price. If you’re interested, I
shop around some.”

“You look and I’ll think. When I sell this next lot of hogs, I’d have the money.”

“I’ll look for some surplus. I might be able to get some of that South African; Aim Surplus
has it for $187 for 980 rounds.”

“I’ll order direct, but if you get some let me know, I’ll probably take it. And yes on the ri-
fles if the price is reasonable.”

We visited while longer and he left. I went on the web and found their website and
phone number. I planned to call in the morning.

“Aim Surplus.”

“Hi, my name is Will Sherman and I’m calling about the South African surplus. Do you
have quite a bit?”

“Probably a five to six week supply.”

“Are you limiting purchases?”

“Just to what you can afford.”

“How many rounds in an ammo can?”

“1,260, but we have to remove two battle packs or it’s too heavy to ship by UPS.”

“How many ammo cans on a pallet?”

“I don’t really know I’d have to count.”

49
“I like to purchase a full pallet and have it shipped motor freight. If you can give me your
banking information and a total, I can have my bank wire the funds.”

“We checked; there are 60 cans per pallet. My assistant says $14,425 plus shipping. I’d
have to check on shipping.”

“Can you call me back? I’ve already faxed my driver’s license and military ID Card.”

“I have it here. Give me your number.”

Interstate motor freight is much cheaper than UPS. Way cheaper. Not counting freight,
the ammo cost about 19 cents per round. At the time, I didn’t realize that those cartridg-
es would be selling for 43 cents a round by July the following year. And to top it off, I still
had 11,000 rounds of the Back Hills with another 10,000 rounds on order.

Shortly after, we got busy bringing in the harvest, shipping the hogs to market and
checking on the beef we could sell. I checked my bank balances and ordered the tanks
topped off. I needed another freezer and Karen and I drove to Des Moines to pick it up.
While I didn’t need to add meat to the freezer, my hinky feeling told me to do it.

Smith recommended Ark Institute for heirloom seeds and I ordered 6 packages, with an
assortment of 40 different kinds of seeds per package. We generally don’t use kerosene
for anything but I got 2 55-gallon drums for lamp oil and 2 bulk rolls of wicks. Mom had
workable oil lamps dispersed around the house in their original wall mounts. Shortly af-
ter Smith called to say he had the rifles at $1,300 per copy. The pallet of SA containing
75,600 rounds of high quality surplus.

We did another trial run on the still and the biodiesel converter using used vegetable oil
from stores in both Lamoni and Bethany. It worked as intended and I gave Jim a list of
chemicals and a blank signed check. The lye was easy to get, the methanol much more
difficult. The pallet of 7.62 NATO was stored in a locked basement room. All four mem-
bers of the Ross family helped with the chickens and I took the beef and two hogs to the
locker plant. I was short of freezer space even with the new freezer, another 25ft³ chest
freezer.

Karen and I started to date on a regular basis and often made road trips on Saturdays
after the chores were done, seeing the sights and hunting for above average restau-
rants. She discovered the locked basement room and asked about it.

“It’s a pallet load of surplus 7.62 NATO ammo.”

“Is that a lot?”

50
“Around 75,000-rounds. I also got a better price on the Black Hills from Smith and
bought another 20 cases of the 175gr Match BTHP.”

“You knew Daddy has some military rifles didn’t you?”

“I thought all he had was lever action rifles.”

“Those too, but a long time ago H & K imported a model 91 rifle into the US. They were
fairly expensive, he says. He had a good year selling hogs and cattle and bought six. I
think that they’re now worth 5 times more than he paid for them.”

“How much did they cost?”

“About $400. He has about 150 magazines but he only has a little surplus ammo.”

“I didn’t tell you, but Smith gave me a really good deal on some Standard model M1As
and I bought six. He’s looking now for six good used Colt M1911s.”

“You might want to move that surplus ammo into the tunnel. It would be a shame if your
home caught fire and set it off.”

“I’ll ask Jim to help me with that on Monday. Those ammo boxes are very heavy, and I
darned near broke my back moving them from where the freight company dropped them
off to that basement room. I got the canner you mentioned from a company in Utah,
Canning Pantry. They had regular mouth lids by the case and I got two cases of those.
Most of the stores around seem to have leftover quarts and pints at the end of canning
season and I managed to add a dozen cases.”

“Planning on a big garden next year?”

“More like thinking about it. I have the seeds, most of the jars I’d need and a new can-
ner. I don’t know squat about canning garden produce.”

“Where did you want to go today?”

“Would Des Moines be ok?”

“Another all day shopping trip?”

“One stop or two. I want to see how Smith is doing and I need another freezer.”

“But, you already have two freezers.”

51
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 6

“I know, Karen. But I’ve gotten the cart ahead of the horse and need another freezer.”

“That reminds me; Daddy found you a string of horses; a stallion and five mares with
tack. The mares are with foal so you won’t be riding them for a while and you’ll have a
fair sized vet bill. However, you’ll end up with 11 horses.”

“I’m going to need his guidance about allocating space in the barn.”

“You have more than enough room, for now. That barn is older than Daddy and the guy
who built it probably farmed with horses. He found a buggy and wagon, but you have to
deal with the Amish guy who has them.”

“When did you start wearing western casual?”

“I had them for a long time, Will. We wore them for Single Action Shooting. The only
thing I have that’s new is the hat.”

It was the first time she’d worn her western dress around me and I liked it. The hat was
strangely familiar and was obviously the same model I chose to wear, the Stetson, black
Calvary hat with the 3” flat brim. I got my hat from the Global Security online store and
when I bought my Calvary hat I bought a second, without the trim and changed the hat-
band. I also had a set of the gold combat spurs.

“Well, look at the two of you. The Black Hills is in and I have 5 of the 6 M1911s. I’m still
looking for more of the South African.”

“I bought a pallet load of that, you can stop looking on my behalf.”

“I think the price is going to go through the roof, I’ll keep looking.”

“Let’s get the paperwork done on the guns you have so far and get the ammo loaded
into the trailer. Can you recommend a good restaurant?”

“Try the Speakeasy up on Euclid. It really depends on what you want; you can get most
anything here in Des Moines.”

The pistols came in around $2,000 total, including sales tax. I told Smith to order
12,000-rounds each of 200gr Lawman and +P Gold Dot and get me some magazines.
He suggested Ammoman. We also had to do the 3310.4 so the ATF would know I was
building an armory. We hit Sears at Merle Hay Plaza and got the third freezer. Now I
could pick up the rest of the meat from the locker plant. On the way back across Doug-
las/Euclid, we stopped for fast food at a Burger King.

“We have about 5 hours before dinner time, what would you like to see?”

52
“Museums.”

“We have the Iowa Historical Museum, the Wallace House Museum, the State of Iowa
Historical Building, the Fort Des Moines Museum and Living History Farms. Which
one?”

“All of them that we have time to visit.”

“Living History Farms is an all-day event; how about the Historical Building and the His-
torical Museum, if we have time?”

“Lead the way.”

The way it worked out, we only saw one exhibition, the Historical Building. Des Moines
could be a History Teacher’s dream come true. We headed to the Speakeasy and were
seated fairly quickly. Over dinner, Karen said, “I’d really like to see Living History Farms,
could we stay over?”

“I didn’t bring a change of clothes.”

“Neither did I, but there was a Penny’s store in the mall and we can pick up what we
need.”

“Won’t your folks be worried?”

“I’ll call them from the motel.”

“Okay, if we can find a motel with two rooms.”

“One room with two beds; same difference, right?”

“Well, sort of, I suppose.”

I figured, “What the hell, I can always claim I didn’t know how to do something, but I
spent the night at a Holiday Inn.”

Our day was far from over. We hit Penny’s and I got a package of shorts and one of T-
shirts, a new shirt and a pair of pajamas. Karen got new underclothing and a nightie,
from Victoria’s Secret. I didn’t know exactly what she bought; I waited outside on a
bench. We got a room at Holiday Inn with two queen sized beds and put our things in
the room. It was still early and she wanted to see a movie.

“I liked that, I wonder why it got such bad reviews.”

“I always said the best movies were probably the ones that the critics panned.”

53
“It’s getting late. Can we stop for a drink and go to our room?”

“Sure, they have a bar at the Holiday Inn.”

Karen got a Myers and Coke and I had a Jack and soda. We returned to our room and
she suggested we shower to save time the next morning and insisted that I go first. I got
my clean (new) clothes and pjs and got my shower. Thank God you can get a disposa-
ble razor and small can of shaving soap, a toothbrush and paste most anywhere includ-
ing the motel lobby.

When I came out, she was sitting on one bed watching TV and I turned down the covers
on the other and climbed in. She left at a commercial break with one of her packages
and I heard the shower start. I turned the TV off and put the light on low. I was almost
asleep when she came out wearing that nightie she bought. She turned the light off and
slipped into bed with me. The day turned out to be a learning experience for both of us.
She must have gotten an A in Sex Ed. I almost proposed on the spot.

“Get a good night’s sleep?”

“After I got to sleep, yes.”

“What neither of us has been willing to say is that we were smitten from the day we met
on the 4th of July.”

“I told your father that you are attractive, smart and just about everything in a woman
that a man looks for. You’re independently minded, but not controlling. You’re the sort of
woman who would make a blouse out of a Gadsden flag.”

“He told me. Have you made any special plans for June?”

“That’s months away. About the only plans I have are to plant the corn and beans. Wait
a minute, are you saying what I think you are saying?”

“I accept.”

“But I haven’t asked yet.”

“No, but you will and you shouldn’t have to wait for an answer. Any good jewelry stores
in Merle Hay Mall?”

“Several. Would you rather go shopping than to go to Living History Farms?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

54
It was about 1½ carats, brilliant cut, grade D, flawless and it wasn’t cheap. I got the
whole set, but had to write a check because I didn’t have quite enough cash. We re-
turned to the farm and unloaded the freezer, guns and ammo. Then, we had to go to
Bethany and I had to face Jimbo.

“‘Bout damned time. That must have set you back a bunch.”

“Don’t ask. Karen said you have some HK91s. I’ve never seen one except in pictures,
care to show me one?”

“We’ve only shot 4 of them, and I still have two that are nib. They’d probably fetch a
couple of thousand.”

“I had a chance to pick up some South African surplus so don’t buy ammo, I have
enough.”

“I wouldn’t want to shoot up your ammo.”

“I bought sixty cans.”

“First class all the way?”

“I try. Sure did well on picking a bride.”

“I’d have to agree with that. Watch it; she has a mind of her own. Your best bet is just to
say yes ma’am and follow her lead.”

Warning, be careful when you place a help wanted ad in the newspaper, strange things
happen. I used the Bethany Republican Clipper. The nightie Karen bought wasn’t in-
tended to be worn for very long. She told me that the model was: Sexy Little Things®
Lace peek-a-boo babydoll. She also said that it was the first time in her life she’d bought
and worn, albeit briefly, anything like that. She preferred knee length gowns that were
more modest. She went on to say that 90% of the times when she wasn’t at work, she
wore jeans and a blouse or polo shirt.

I told her that had she climbed in bed with me wearing anything else, the result would
have been the same. I went on to say, that I’d wondered and worried about how we
would get to that part of the relationship, but I wasn’t going to be the one that pushed.
Her reply was that I should have pushed and she would have responded.

I planned ahead and ordered more canning jars, assembled the additional shelving, re-
placed mom and dad’s old full sized bed with a new king size. Jim helped me move the
ammo cans to the tunnel, and even got me started riding the stallion once he had him

55
tamed a bit. He told me to be not scared or the horse would sense it and it would be
Katie bar the door, here come the Indians.

I finally decided on the Laredoan cross draw rig and one scabbard for my horse. I was
basically undetermined whether I’d continue to ride the stallion or switch to a mare. Ka-
ren started spending the weekends, most of the time – probably 3 out of 4, and we were
busy redecorating the house, planning a garden and an endless number of chores.

I got the corn and beans in and she had started the garden by the time the 14 th of June
rolled around. We were married at the United Methodist Church and Jimbo and Susan
hosted the reception out on their farm. I got to meet many of Karen’s fellow teachers
and a couple of the guy’s gave me a hard look. They had the same chance as I did, not
my problem. I was guessing that they were very liberal and didn’t like firearms. That was
confirmed when I made a point to invite them up to our farm to go shooting.

I had a non-professional Iowa CCW, probably because the Sheriff gave a little slack to
those of us in the National Guard. That was pretty much a County to County thing with
widely varying standards based on the Sheriff’s personal attitude. The legislation pro-
posed this year to make Iowa a shall issue state died in the legislature. Shortly after our
wedding, I took Karen to meet the Sheriff and get her CCW. Her Missouri driver’s li-
cense already carried the CCW endorsement. She applied for an Iowa driver’s license
only after she got her Iowa CCW.

When they asked for her Missouri license, she went through the motions of getting it out
of her purse only to discover it was missing. She told them her license number and they
must have checked, because she got her license right away. The idea behind that is
that states collect your previous driver’s license so you aren’t running around with two
and alternate between the two if you get stopped by a LEO. We put together a BOB for
her car in case something happened while she was at work.

The garden was as large as I can remember and we ended up buying a second All
American canner and more jars. Susan had a large supply of empty jars and rather than
planting her own garden, went in with us and took home filled jars. The mares foaled
and we got two colts and 3 fillies. They’re really cute when they’re young. I’ve had high-
er vet bills, too.

Jimbo got the Amish farmer who sold the horses talked into looking at the foals and tell-
ing us what they would need for tack. The farmer was a long time horse breeder and
knew the blood lines of the foals, their parents, etc. The only problem was the guy re-
fused to ride in a car. It was a half day buggy ride to our farm and while the breeder
might not expect to be compensated, we had to do something.

Karen and Susan put together and assortment of homemade jams and jellies, two box-
es worth. It wasn’t much, but I sure hoped he’d accept it. He came down on July 14th.
He looked the foals over, looked Karen and I over, asked if we planned to gild to colts
(yes) and stood there thinking.

56
“English, you need 15” saddles and don’t get anything fancy. Fancy saddles cost more
and aren’t much different from a standard ranch saddle.”

“Thank you, would you join us for lunch?”

“A sandwich, perhaps?”

“We have homemade lemonade.”

“That would be good, thank you.”

“I put a box in the back of your buggy in appreciation of your long ride down here.”

“Thank you. I ask $50 for an evaluation.”

Maybe not so old fashioned after all? You see them in towns buying things and the
money had to come from somewhere. I’d always assumed it came from selling livestock
and grain. However, $50 for a full day of the man’s time wasn’t much in the long run. He
even suggested a good source for the saddles. The saddles were made by Miller and
sold by a firm in Kentucky. He recommended the Model 102 Trail Pleasure with West-
ern Fenders.

Jimbo disagreed with him on the saddle only to the point that he recommended 16”
saddles. Other than that, Miller was a good brand of saddle. It was another five grand
plus, but we had the hog money and it didn’t present a problem. What did present a
problem was my little sister Jill. She wanted me to buy her out. She said she’d settle for
book value of the stock she owned. That’s good because that was all that it was worth,
on paper. However, I didn’t have enough in the corporate or my personal account to pay
her off and had to talk to the banker.

I showed him the books and the loan committee approved the transaction because this
was a successful operation, despite the mess the country was in. That’s right, it’s now
July 2008 and all you have to do is read your morning paper to understand what I’m
talking about. Jill was an idiot because the farm was worth several times the book value.
But, given her attitude towards me and especially Karen, who she called a gold digger
to her face, it didn’t really bother me. Blood isn’t always thicker than water. When we
sold the cattle and the second lot of hogs, I managed to pay the bank off. We didn’t
butcher hogs or cattle this year because we had about two freezers full and a third with
chickens.

The gold and silver I bought for $525 and $10 had doubled in value and almost kept up
with inflation. Fuel was up to almost $5 for diesel and $4 for gas. We did minimal tilling
this year in an effort to cut costs. Jimbo recommended gelding the colts at six months

57
and having the vet perform the maintenance semi-annually. Or, he said, Jim could do
the maintenance. We decided to try extracting the oil from the soybeans and feed the
meal because I could add the biodiesel to the tank and over a period of time, blend it in.

I had to buy a tank to hold the biodiesel because the large tank was almost full. I got
around 60bu/acre on the soybeans which translated into about 60gpa. The biodiesel
yield was about 80% of that or 48gpa and I had 240 acres of soybeans. We only con-
verted 80 acres to oil and we got about 3,800 gallons of biodiesel. The cattle love soy-
bean meal.

“I didn’t plan that very well.”

“Plan what?”

“We’ve had the equipment to produce biodiesel for several years. I put in a 40,000-
gallon diesel tank then spent $75,000 to get it filled. We don’t use that much diesel fuel
on the farm, including my pickup. Your car and my Jeep both burn gas. We can also
produce ethanol and I could blend E85 if the vehicles would run on it. Your car isn’t flex
fuel and I’m not sure how to convert the Jeep. The five hundred gallons of gas could be
used to produce 2,200 gallons of E85.”

“Can’t you look it up on the web?”

“I’ll try.”

“There’s a mechanic in Bethany that does the ethanol conversions.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, honey, I found the answer?”

“I didn’t know about it when we talked. Mom told me.”

“Do you have any idea how much he charges?”

“About $150, but he guarantees his work and you get back the parts to run on gasoline.”

“We have the ethanol permit from ATF.”

“Jim said you and he produced a batch.”

“It’s in a keg aging. I also have some that Dad and I made that’s about 6 years old.”

“What did you do with the biodiesel you produced?”

“I added it to the big tank.”

“Where did you get the equipment?”

58
“The still or the biodiesel equipment?”

“The biodiesel equipment.”

“That came from Utah Biodiesel Supply.”

“The still?”

“Homemade from a kit we got from the utility free. It’s a 3” column still.”

“What did you do with the mash from producing the ethanol? Have you tasted that whis-
key you made?”

“I dried the mash and fed it to the cattle. I haven’t tasted the whiskey since October of
2006.”

“Don’t you think you should see if it’s ready to bottle?”

“I’ll draw off a little tonight and we can both taste it.”

“You should probably cut that, but it’s good.”

“It is good, Karen. I don’t have a lot of bottles so I think I’ll just bottle it at this strength.
We can cut it when we mix a drink.”

“I won’t be drinking for a while.”

“Why not?”

“We are expecting.”

“Are we expecting a boy or a girl?”

“Yes.”

“I have Guard this weekend or I’d take you to Des Moines to celebrate.”

“Des Moines will still be there the following weekend.”

The National Guard still serves one weekend a month, two weeks a year excluding call-
ups. Because of Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, National Guard soldiers were
averaging much more time in uniform. I was just at the point where I had been home 24-
months and could be called up again in October.

59
I asked my First Sergeant if he’d heard anything about a possible call up. He hadn’t, but
wondered why I was asking. I explained, again, that I’d recently married and we were
expecting. I said that I didn’t want to see my wife in the same position as Danny Ses-
ker’s fiancée. He said he just didn’t know, but he hadn’t heard any rumblings. The Pres-
ident was downsizing.

The first deployment was on an all-volunteer basis. They asked for volunteers, you
raised your hand and they cut the orders. We’d endured 4 months of training at Ft. Lew-
is and then had shipped out with only a 4 day pass in between. Downsizing or not, they
were turning over troops because those deployed for a year or more were coming
home.

I’m as patriotic as the next guy and I don’t see myself as being cowardly. I’d done my
time and didn’t want to go back to that forsaken place. And, we were expecting and I
really needed/wanted to stay home. If I had to go, Jim was going to have to take over all
of the farming and maybe hire a second hired hand.

We had those floods this year and the expected Iowa corn and soybean crops were ex-
pected to be down as much as 20%. My fields looked good and we might get a bumper
crop. Two hundred and forty acres of corn at 175 bushels per acre at a price of $7.50
sounded awful good (market value $315,000). Even producing biodiesel and ethanol
and putting up corn and beans for the livestock, we ended up with a lot of corn and soy-
beans to sell.

I told you it was a full section and just explained that we had 400 acres in beans and
corn. I had 60 acres of alfalfa hay, 80 acres of oats and 100 acres that was too hilly to
farm. That was a permanent pasture and included the homestead plus the shooting
range. The most concise description I can make of the area would be Billy goat country.
I didn’t have topo map software and didn’t need it. If you have it, look in the area of the
Iowa/Missouri line about 3 miles east of I-35.

“I saw that.”

“Saw what?”

“Where you admitted there was something you didn’t have.”

“It doesn’t matter what I don’t have, it matters much more what I do have.”

“For instance?”

“The most beautiful wife in the world.”

“You’re on a roll, don’t stop now.”

60
“I don’t want you to get a big head. Do you know where you want to go this coming
weekend?”

“I checked it out, we have several choices. There’s Vern’s on Hickman Road in Clive, J.
Benjamin’s on Franklin Avenue Des Moines, Riverwalk Café at the Des Moines Botani-
cal Center, Dolce Vita Grill and Vineyard on University Avenue, Mojo’s in Johnston, The
Big Steer in Altoona, Mosaix Restaurant in West Des Moines, Cosi Cucina Italian Grill in
Clive, Jimmy’s American Café in West Des Moines, Trostel’s Greenbriar Restaurant in
Merle Hay Mall, Chuck’s Italian American Restaurant in Des Moines, Tursi’s Latin King
in East Des Moines, Turnea and Sons at the I-Cub Stadium, Jesse’s Embers in Des
Moines and Chef’s Kitchen on Beaver Avenue in Des Moines.”

“Where did you learn all that?”

“From a website.”

“You read reviews of those restaurants?”

“Every one.”

“Then it seems appropriate that you choose Karen. We’re celebrating your pregnancy.”

“I still have that Sexy Little Things Lace peek-a-boo babydoll.”

“That’s what got this started. Okay, but let’s just get the King sized bed.”

Karen gave me a strange look before she realized that I was referring to the night she
bought the outfit from Victoria’s Secret. I had eaten at Chuck’s several times and it was
good and a landmark but nothing exceptional. I let her choose because she’d read the
reviews and knew what I liked and disliked. That’s always a part of getting to know each
other. Fortunately, in this case, our tastes were similar and a good steak, good seafood
or even a really good tenderloin sandwich would put smiles on our faces. When it came
to hamburger, I really liked the Maid-Rites.

I offered Jill and her husband – they finally got married – a place in the new shelter and
she basically told me off, before she hung up. I made the same offer to Uncle John and
Aunt Shirley and he was actually interested. Next I had called Jack and offered him the
tour, but made sure to leave the basement door open. He came over with his wife and
they were very interested. He wanted to know what he could do to contribute to the
preparations. I told him they could start stocking food, canning supplies, seed and
weapons that he wanted that Karen and I didn’t have. His wife, Rachael, said they’d get
AR15s and Beretta 92F pistols. I told them not to forget ammo, I didn’t have those cali-
bers.

61
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 7

Karen got Jim to do the chores and we left early. I wanted to pick up the final M1911
from Smith because he called and was holding it for us. He told me that he had found a
pallet of the South African but he was following the market and it was up to about $60
per battle pack. Even with 14 rifles (our 8 and Jimbo’s 6) shooting the 7.62 NATO, we’d
never run out of ammo. He also had the Leupold scopes and A.R.M.S. mounts (about
time).

“How much did you pay for the South African?”

“About 16 cents a round, delivered.”

“I paid 19 cents plus freight.”

“I’ll give you 25 cents a round if you’ll deliver it.”

“So you can turn around and sell it for 43 cents a round?”

“A man has to make a living.”

“I helped about all we can afford.”

“She has the glow, are you expecting?”

“She is, but I’m not.”

I paid for the purchases that I hoped ended my long gun buying spree. It was getting
towards lunch time and I was hungry.

“I’m hungry and would like to get either a pork tenderloin or a Maid Rite sandwich.”

“We’ll be here for two days, so we can do both. How about a Maid Rite today and a pork
tenderloin tomorrow?”

“If we can find pork tenderloins, I wouldn’t mind putting some in one of the freezers.”

“I’m sure that someone must make them. I can’t believe that every restaurant makes
their own. We’ll ask around and if the restaurant we eat at tomorrow has really good
ones, maybe they will sell us some.”

“Have you decided about dinner yet?”

“I’ve narrowed it down to two places; I’ll let you know. Care to eat and spend half a day
at the Living History Farms?”

62
“You bet. We can pick up ideas about how it was done before all of the modern equip-
ment and conveniences.”

“I can see where it would be interesting from a historical perspective, but why would you
care how they used to do it?”

“You know that I read a lot of the stories Derek’s dad wrote. He seems convinced that
we’re 30 minutes away from WW III. From what I’ve read, he was apparently in the Air
Force during the Cuban Missile Crisis. SAC parked about a dozen B-47s on their flight
line, loaded with nukes. It’s just possible that he could be right.”

“Is that what prompted you to build the shelter?”

“I’d be lying if I claimed it didn’t influence me. I can’t outright say that was the reason;
nonetheless, I considered what he was saying carefully.”

“Let me guess, he has a Super Match.”

“No, he has the Loaded and wants a Super Match. He lives somewhere in California
and they can’t own .50-caliber rifles out there. He wants one, but I have the distinct im-
pression he couldn’t afford one if they could have them.”

“But he has a Mossberg 590A1 and a P-14, right?”

“Yes to the Mossberg, but no to the P-14. He settled for a Taurus PT1911.”

“There’s a Maid Rite right there.”

“California has about the most restrictive gun laws in the country. Reading between the
lines, he bought 20-round magazines for his M1A and had them shipped to Derek and
Derek forwarded them. The Taurus is also illegal in California, but Derek bought it and
his older brother took it to their dad.”

“Why are they illegal?”

“I think that Taurus doesn’t want to play their Mickey Mouse games.”

“Take your order?”

“Karen?”

“I’ll have a Maid Rite and fries.”

“I’ll have two Maid Rites with pickles and fries.”

“Why did you order pickles?”

63
“Because if you order it that way, they put them on the bottom and I’ll add the ketchup to
the top.”

“What do you eat on your pork tenderloins?”

“Mustard and pickles.”

“Hey, look at the menu.”

“What do you see?”

“Pork tenderloins.”

“I think I’ll get one of those to go, I might get hungry at Living History Farms.”

“On top of 2 Maid Rites and fries? You’re going to get fat.”

“I hate to keep bringing up Derek’s dad, but in one of his stories he mentioned being fat
as a kid and going on a diet during his senior year in high school. He did it by eating
Maid Rite sandwiches.”

We finished eating and headed for Living History Farms in West Des Moines. On the
way, I got us the room with the king size bed at the Holiday Inn. I managed to down the
tenderloin before it got cold. Once at the Farms, Karen and I had slightly different agen-
das. Her interest was viewing the exhibits from the perspective of a History teacher,
while I was thinking ahead and trying to figure out how we’d farm a section using only
horses.

I concluded it would be nearly impossible to farm more than a ¼ section using horses,
even if we had all of the horse drawn implements. It would take draft horses, not saddle
horses and they hadn’t manufactured much of the horse drawn equipment for several
decades. The Amish didn’t use tractors and they got by, maybe I should make the bug-
gy trip to Lamoni.

Karen selected Chuck’s Italian American Restaurant for dinner. I like their onion rings
and we had a quiet, enjoyable meal. After dinner, we returned to the motel because it
had been a long day. We showered and started watching a movie on TV. We turned off
the TV shortly and were asleep within an hour. The following morning, we had breakfast
at the motel and I asked how she wanted to spend her day.

“Will, I went through our supplies and we need a few things from Costco.”

“They don’t open until noon on Sunday.”

“I know how we can kill some time.”

64
We arrived at Costco just as they were opening and we only got a cart and a trolley of
goods this trip. Our next stop was Maid Rite for the tenderloins.

“Could I speak to the manager?”

“Is there a problem, sir?”

“Oh no, not at all, I wanted to ask him or her a question.”

“You asked for me?”

“Do you make your tenderloins here or do they come in a box?”

“Is there something wrong with your tenderloin?”

“Quite the opposite, I like to buy a box or two of the tenderloins, they’re really good and
we live a long way from a Maid Rite.”

“I’d have to check our inventory, I’ll be right back.”

“We can spare three boxes.”

“We’ll take them, thank you.”

“How are we going to get them home?”

“I put the cooler in the back; all we need to do is buy some ice.”

We were about halfway home when I had a thought.

“Damn.”

“What?”

“They must get the Maid Rite meat in a box, I should have asked about that.”

“I can almost duplicate it, Will. I think it’s basically ground beef and onions. It might not
be exactly the same, but it should be close enough until we go back to Des Moines
again.”

“Did you enjoy Living History Farms?”

“I had a good time and it was informative, how about you?”

65
“I was looking how they farmed before the advent of modern equipment. It was informa-
tive and discouraging. Even with draft horses and horse drawn equipment, I doubt we
could farm more than a quarter of the farm.”

“Why would you be thinking about something like that? Oh, WW III, again?”

“I think we’d better stock up on parts for the John Deere and the equipment. We
shouldn’t need a lot and we can produce our own fuel.”

“What happens if they want you to go back to Iraq?”

“I won’t volunteer like I did the last time. I asked the First Sergeant and he said he
hadn’t heard anything about a possible second deployment. If I get orders before my
enlistment is up, I have to go.”

“How long is your enlistment?”

“Eight years; 2 active duty and 6 years in the National Guard. I joined before I started
college and spent the summer in boot camp. When I finished active duty, I started col-
lege and just graduated when I went to Iraq, as a member of the Guard. I have about a
year left on my enlistment. I’m in C troop, 1st of the 113th.”

“The time frame doesn’t quite make sense.”

“I finished college in 3 years by going full time, including summers.”

“Still, if you joined when you were 18, and your enlistment was for eight years, you
should have finished your enlistment.”

“Crap, you’re right. That’s why I got the reenlistment talk last weekend. I’ll be out in 1
month.”

“You’re not going to reenlist?”

“I’ve had my turn and learned all the soldiering I need.”

Apparently I was concentrating on winning the hand of the gorgeous lady in the seat
beside me and lost track of time. I don’t know how that happened; most soldiers can tell
you the month, day and minute their enlistment expires. One more weekend and I’ll be
out!

“I think I go have a talk with that Amish breeder and find out a little about draft horses.”

“Won’t they be expensive?”

66
“Probably; I don’t really see money as being the main problem. You know that I’m not
really a horseman and when it comes to the big horses, I’m a total idiot. I’m lucky if I can
get the harness on correctly to pull the buggy or wagon. We’d have to do something to
protect the livestock if we did have a war.”

“Any ideas?”

“Not really.”

“Maybe you should talk to Daddy.”

“I’ll call when we get home.”

“Jimbo? Will. I have a question, if you have a minute.”

“Have a good time in Des Moines?”

“Yes we did. We went to Living History Farms.”

“And, you saw their horse operation and want to know about horse farming, right?”

“Am I that transparent?”

“Not at all. However, considering the steps you’ve taken over the last couple of years to
prep, it seems like the logical next step for a farmer. I don’t know much about horse
farming because it was before my time. We need to talk to that Amish horse breeder.”

“I have a fair amount of livestock; do you have any ideas how we could protect them
from, say, radioactive fallout?”

“That would take a fairly large underground shelter. You’d need to be able to segregate
the cattle, hogs, horses and chickens.”

“How big of a shelter?”

“Probably as big as your barn, if not larger.”

“We couldn’t do something with the barn?”

“I suppose you could cover it in concrete and earth. Either way, it wouldn’t be cheap.
You have, on average, 90 head of cattle, 30 sows and 390 feeder pigs, 11 horses and
around a hundred or more chickens. Make that 15 horses if you buy a team or two of
draft horses. Your best bet might be to do something with the barn.”

“Let me know when you’re free to go to Lamoni.”

67
“I’m free tomorrow.”

“I’ll be here.”

“Ah English, a problem with the horses?”

“Not at all. We’re looking for an education on draft horses and possibly to buy them.”

“What breed?”

“What do you have?”

“Belgians. I have two teams of 3 year olds that are trained to harness. You can’t really
work them for another year. I’d make you a package deal, $8,000.”

“$6,000.”

“$7,200 and I’ll include the harness.”

“Is that a good deal?”

“It’s about what you’d pay at an auction and not get the harness. What do you have in
the way of horse drawn implements?”

“Nothing.”

“You’ll need a plow, a straight disc, you can use the drag you have, a planter and a
combine. You’ll want more wagons and we can build them for you. So, you want to farm
the old way?”

“I’d like to be able to, should the need arise.”

“If you wish, I’ll gather up the equipment, but you will have to provide your own
transport. A large horse trailer will transport the Belgians.”

“Jim?”

“Not a bad price for draft horses. I have a horse trailer. I say go for it.”

“English, except for the wagons, the equipment won’t be new, but will be serviceable.”

“We’ll be back in two hours or so and I’ll pay cash. How long to find the equipment?”

68
“It will take a few weeks. Do you want pneumatic tires or the old fashioned tires on the
wagons?”

“Pneumatic if it isn’t a problem.”

We picked up the horses and the harnesses later in the day. The barn was filling up and
starting to fall apart. Maybe my next major expenditure should be to replace the barn
and make it large enough to house all of the livestock, including the chickens. I started
toying with the idea of a concrete barn built with double walls and dirt between the walls.
That should stop any radiation. Next there was the issue of providing them with filtered
air. Feed could be stored in the loft. Air – shelter – water – food. And, a place to store
manure until the barn was opened.

This was going to be a major expense, probably triple the cost of the shelter. We’d have
to put in either a metal or concrete culvert connecting the shelter to the barn. This was
way beyond anything Roy and his crew could handle, I’d need a regular contractor. It
wasn’t really hard to estimate the concrete if you knew the dimensions. I started making
assumptions, 10,000ft² building (100’x100’), 6” thick and 20’ high, plus three slabs of
10,000ft² each. 520 yards of concrete at $75 a yard = $39,000. Installed, probably dou-
ble that. That didn’t consider the dirt fill, the air system, homemade vault style doors,
moving the milking equipment and repairs as needed. Maybe $150-$175 thousand
when it was all said and done.

“I’ve been looking at plans to replace the barn.”

“It is starting to come apart. “What did you have in mind?”

“A concrete barn. At the moment, there’s no way we could pay the full cash price, we’d
come up short about $80 thousand. However, I believe we could get a bank loan and
have it paid off in one year or two at the most.”

“With all the supplies we’ve accumulated, we could go years without a single bill, except
for electricity, seed and fertilizer.”

“Are you saying to go ahead?”

“I think so, but you might want to run it by Daddy.”

“So, Jimbo, that’s my solution to protecting the livestock. Karen suggested that I run it
by you.”

“How much of the cost can you come up with now?”

“At least 50%.”

69
“Cash?”

“Cash.”

“You’ve have a couple of good years, run it by your banker and see what he thinks.”

“He’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Probably. But he will have a mortgage on the farm until it’s paid for so he’ll probably
make the loan.”

I got a line of credit for $100,000, to draw down as the money was needed to build the
barn. I found a contractor willing to do most of the work, excluding putting in the dirt fill,
because it was labor intensive. I decided on 4 AV-300 systems for air and the first step
was to put in the concrete culvert connecting the shelter to the barn. We emptied the
livestock out and fortunately all but one cow was dry. I also sold another lot of hogs and
banked the money, further reducing the amount I would have to draw on the line of
credit.

Jim and I removed the milking equipment and stored it in the machine shed. The con-
tractor razed the barn and began construction. Jim and I we busy hauling dirt from vari-
ous sites around the farm to provide the dirt fill. The contractor actually had the building
up in short order and held off putting on the roof so we could add the dirt fill. I’m sure he
must have thought I was nuts.

It took Jim and me a month to complete the dirt fill and compact it. The contractor re-
turned and added the roof. We added 6’ of dirt on top of that and planted grass seed to
hold the soil in place. It was about the weirdest barn you ever saw; a 10,000ft² building
20’ tall with 6’ of soil on top. The electrician wired the place and we reinstalled stalls and
milking equipment, making those repairs I talked about. Jimbo help us build various
pens and the barn was good to go. We installed a fenced in area on one side for the
chickens and when we got the new crop; they’d live in the barn. I only drew $60,000 on
the line of credit.

I had attended my last weekend drill and had received my discharge papers in the mail.
Karen began to show about her fourth month and it looked to me like she had a basket-
ball team growing in there. We sold hogs in the spring and I repaid all but $10,000 of the
line of credit. I could have paid it all, but we needed operating capital.

I’m not going to comment on the outcome of the election, I get angry just thinking about
it. But, he’d have to find them before he could take them away. Inflation continued its
upward spiral and fuels and food became almost prohibitively expensive. We were pro-
ducing ethanol and biodiesel continuously. We had the Jeep and her car converted to
run on pure ethanol, anhydrous alcohol.

70
The doctor detected two heartbeats and we had to decide on names. Not knowing
whether the babies were boys or girls, we picked William and James and Karen and Jil-
lian. The names ended up being William, James and Karen, and she said she wasn’t
sure she wanted to do that again. The boys were identical and the girl was fraternal, ac-
cording to the doctor. The odds of triplets were 1:6,400 for a woman over 35 and rarer
for a woman Karen’s age. If God had wanted a woman to have triplets, He would have
given her three arms and three spigots. Nobody starved, but it was a challenge. Karen
had taken Maternity leave from school and wouldn’t be returning until the fall (2009).
Susan claimed child care would eat us alive and volunteered to care for her grandchil-
dren.

I had to make a trip to Des Moines on my own and pick up more diapers and baby
clothes. I stopped by Smith’s on the way out of town and told him I’d take three Mini-
14s. I also told him I needed about 15,000 rounds of M193 on strippers and to ship it.

“Why three rifles?”

“We had triplets.”

“What are their names?”

“William, James and Karen.”

“You’ll want 30-round magazines; I throw in a couple for each baby and the striper
guides. Fifteen thousand rounds?”

“Yes. Why don’t you drop ship it and I’ll mail you a check?”

“I had the distinct impression you didn’t like the .223.”

“I don’t like the M16, M4 or AR15. The Mini is just a scaled down M1A.”

“Anything else?”

“Not that you can get.”

“You’d be surprised what I can get.”

“Two Surefire FA762S.”

“Two grand apiece, cash only and no paperwork. Free installation of the adapters.”

71
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 8

“I’m not complaining, but isn’t that a bit steep?”

“Not considering Iowa law.”

“No sales tax right?”

“Right. I’m Smith, so you must be Jones.” (He explained that he was referring to an old
TV show, Alias Smith and Jones)

“Don’t suppose you have any of the fun stuff, do you?”

“You’re in the Guard, get it yourself.”

“I’m out. Did my eight and called it quits.”

“You could make a trip to El Salvador and buy them on a street corner for about $3
each.”

“But how would I get them back into the country?”

“One of those border tunnels, probably. If I hear of anything, I could keep you in mind.
How many were you looking for?”

“Maybe 150.”

“Jeez. They’d lock you up and melt the key. If I could find them, they’d be drop shipped
and I’d be paid up front.”

“Give me a call when you do.”

“I bought all the cotton diapers they had and a bunch of diaper pins. I got those baby
shirts you wanted and those sleepers and gowns.”

“What else did you get?”

“I got them their first rifles.”

“Will!”

“Not for now, for later. I also order 18 cases of 5.56 for the rifles and got 13 magazines
per. Smith is getting some other things for us, but they’ll take a while.”

72
“What?”

“Suppressors for the Super Match rifles, for example.”

“They’re illegal in Iowa, but they sort of make sense. What else?”

“Just a gross of M61s.”

She didn’t know what I was talking about and I didn’t offer to explain. Never volunteer!
Surefire appealed to me was their durability. Surefire hadn’t been able to wear one out,
or so they claimed.

“So, how are you going to protect the animals?”

“I’ll put a double blast door on each entrance Jimbo. Double double, inside and outside.
They’re the same door as the one on the shelter except about twice as wide. Not for the
faint of heart, let me tell you. They had to be cast in place and the walls in the door are
in had to be 10” thick. It may be ugly, but the animals don’t care and I can pull down the
chicken house and erect another storage building.”

“What do you plan to store?”

“Seed and fertilizer, especially fertilizer.”

“What do you think of our new President?”

“Did you vote for him?”

“No, I didn’t vote for him.”

“Neither did I. Someone voted for him, I sure hope they’re happy with what they have.”

“Would it be okay if I stored our HK91s in the shelter?”

“Of course. If they can’t find them, they can’t take them away?”

“Right. I may bring most of our guns and only keep a shotgun and a .22 at home.”

“I have some things coming and Karen knows about them and approves to the extent
she understands what they are.”

“What?”

73
“Two Surefire suppressors for the Super Match rifles and 150 of the M61 hand gre-
nades.”

“There’s no way those grenades could be legal.”

“They’re not. I’m also trying to get some of that Mk 211 MP ammo that the Army uses
for sniping.”

“That’s explosive like a grenade, right?”

“Yeah. Can you imagine a $200 tax stamp on every round? What I’d really like is for
them to misplace about 20 cans of the stuff. I have about 3,800 rounds of the A-MAX
ammo and should buy more. I still have a small balance on the barn project to pay off so
I’m waiting.”

“How much did it end up costing, if I may ask?”

“Around $180 thousand.”

“You must really love that livestock.”

“If you figure a new wooden barn would have cost as much as $100,000, it’s a bargain.
In the unlikely event we did have a GTW, we have everything we’d need to start over.
We have enough food to weather most any nuclear winter, animal power to replace me-
chanical power, where necessary, and security in spades for all of us.”

“Nonetheless, you seem to be on the fringe of the prepper group.”

“Do I propose the overthrow of the government? Absolutely not, that’s why we have bal-
lot boxes. However, Jefferson thought a revolution was necessary every once in a
while. Besides, the Supreme Court cleared up the issue of firearms ownership with Hel-
ler.”

“And DC acted less than a month later almost in direct opposition to the decision.”

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. – Ecclesi-
astes, Chapter 3, Verse 1.”

“So, how many grandchildren are you going to bless us with?”

“I initially thought maybe 3 or 4, but not all at once. Karen almost said, never again.”

“You probably have another. In my experience most women go through the birthing pro-
cess twice before calling it quits.”

74
“I’ve stopped buying gas and diesel for now. Jim and I are producing biodiesel and eth-
anol. Dad got the permit for the still from the ATF.”

“I don’t suppose you put some in oak casks did you?”

“We did that twice, once about 7 years ago and again right after Jim started working
here. Want a sample of the old stuff?”

“Maybe just a little taste.”

“Here you go, pour your own. Let me warn you, it wasn’t cut.”

“Maybe just 2 fingers, then.”

I had those big old shot glasses that held almost 3 ounces, like you see in western mov-
ies. Two fingers in one of those was a good sized shot.

“Wee doggie, that’s stout.”

“Karen thought we should dilute it with either water or something like vodka.”

“If you could cut it to 100 proof, it might be better. Do you know what proof it is?”

“As far as I know, 180.”

“So, if you cut it 50/50 with water, you’d have 90 proof?”

“I think so.”

“I’d do it, but only one bottle at a time and I’d probably use distilled water to avoid
changing the flavor.”

“That bottle is right at half full, shall we try it?”

“Do you have distilled water?”

“A gallon or two.”

“Let’s try.”

“Now, shake it up good to mix the water and the whiskey and then pour me another two
fingers.”

“Well?”

“Try it, you’ll like it.”

75
“I’ll take your word for it Jimbo. Want to take that bottle home?”

“I don’t mind if I do.”

I like a drink, occasionally. I’d prefer to have it with Karen and not her father. She wasn’t
drinking because she was still nursing. The whiskey wouldn’t change in the bottle and I
could wait until we could sit down and have a drink together. I did replace the bottle of
Myer’s Rum and it hasn’t been opened.

I got a phone call and sent a check for $4,000. About three weeks later, I got a second
phone call and was told he’d need a check for $864. I didn’t ask questions, but when the
boxes arrived via freight, I opened one. There were 150 of M61s all right and an as-
sortment of smoke and Mk3A2 concussion grenades. I counted them and they came to
$3 apiece.

I called someone I knew in Supply at Camp Dodge and inquired about Mk 211 MP. He
started by shining me on, but finally admitted that they had some, but very little. He said
if even one can came up missing, someone would be served his head on a plate. I
laughed and told him I wasn’t looking for an ammo can of the stuff, but more like 20
ammo cans.

“How are much you willing to pay?”

“$2 a round, call it five grand even.”

“This would be hard to do.”

“$7,500.”

“But not THAT hard. They’re going to be looking for a shipment of explosives that got
misplaced and they’ll probably bring in the CID, the FBI and the BATFE.”

“I was thinking cash.”

“Maybe the NCIS and the CIA.”

“Ten thousand and not one penny more.”

“How soon do you want it?”

“Yesterday.”

“The trick to this will be to…”

76
“I don’t need to know any details, pal. I just want 20 ammo cans of Mk 211 MP sitting in
my front yard so I can give the deliveryman ten grand in cash.”

It would be cheap at $15,000. The government pays about $7.50 per round. Hell, Bar-
rett M33 costs $4.25 a round and A-MAX over $5 a round. By insisting that he deliver it
personally, I made us into co-conspirators. I was getting upset with how things were go-
ing in 2009 and was a bit more willing to take the risk. I’d have him unload it unto a trol-
ley and a minute later, it would be behind the basement wall. Let anyone try to prove I
had it, unless they had it on video.

Perhaps I was being played for a fool, but I didn’t believe this guy was bright enough to
do that as quickly as he responded. The phone call only lasted about three minutes.
And melt the key, huh? I’d once heard someone say, what you need to do is get a $3
bottle of wine and a cheap piece of ass and reevaluate yourself.

Don’t look back; they may be gaining on you. Who are they? Take your pick. I had to
talk to Karen.

“Do you think we should pay off the bank and have the farm free and clear?”

“How much do we owe?”

“Around ten thousand.”

“And how much cash do we have in reserve?”

“Around twenty-five thousand, but I’ve committed ten thousand of that.”

“Do you have the seed and fertilizer?”

“Yes.”

“Do it, being out of debt is always preferable and you have the gold and silver.”

“I didn’t tell you about that.”

“I was looking around and discovered it. You really should put it in the shelter.”

“I will. We have the suppressors and the M61s. I have to go to Des Moines to get the
adapters installed.”

“How long will that take?”

“If I leave early and get there by the time Smith opens, I should be home early.”

77
“Stop by Maid Rite and get some of their ground beef and more tenderloins if they have
them.”

I was under the impression that Maid Rite Corporation pre-cooked the beef. They pre-
seasoned it, but didn’t pre-cook it. When you think about it, it made sense. It came in 5-
pound boxes, or that’s what was available. I got 4 boxes and two more boxes of tender-
loins, after I ate. It hadn’t taken long to install the adapters because he had the right
tools. He had the bill for the 5.56 ammo that he said was in transit via motor freight. I
had forgotten about that and had to write a check for $7,200. I guess the bank would
have to wait.

“I got 4 boxes of Maid Rite meat, but it’s uncooked. I also got two boxes of tenderloins.
When I was talking to you about paying off the bank, I forgot about the 5.56 ammo I or-
dered.”

“Jim put it in the basement, it came today.”

“Good. The bank is going to have to wait until we sell cattle. That should be in about a
month to six weeks. The hogs won’t be finished for at least two months. I did want to put
up a storage building to store seed and fertilizer, but that will have to wait too.”

“What are we going to do with the frozen Maid Rite meat?”

“How about getting a grocery store to use their meat saw to cut it into one pound
chunks? We can double wrap it and put it in the freezer.”

“I was going to go down to mom’s tomorrow, why don’t you take me and go to Hy-Vee in
Bethany and have them cut it for you?”

“Okay, but I don’t like going in there because of Jill.”

“She’s your sister. You can’t change that any more than you can change her attitude.”

“I really didn’t appreciate what she said to you.”

“Get over it, I have.”

“And then when I tried to make things right and invited her and her husband to use the
shelter, she told me off and hung up.”

“If the need arises, she will probably show up with her husband and his family.”

“We might not have room. Well, I mean we might not have enough beds.”

“Pick up some air mattresses at Wal-Mart in Bethany.”

78
“How many?”

“Get a dozen, just to be safe.”

I also had to stop at the bank the next day and get out ten thousand in cash to hold for
the ammo I was hoping would turn up. Jill actually said Hi, I can’t believe it. She was
busy checking someone out and couldn’t talk, so I just returned the greeting. I found the
meat department manager and explained what I wanted. He said seeing it was for a
member of the family, no problem. They’d use a ruler and would preset the saw. It
would be close, but no guarantee. I guess close counts in horseshoes, hand grenades,
dancing and sawing meat.

I was thinking about skipping the air mattresses, but after I went to the bank, I went to
Wal-Mart and got 12. They were the Coleman Twin Sized Flocked Air Bed and I bought
some generic brand air pump they carried. I spent less than $300. If trouble came, we’d
have to move the kids’ cribs to the shelter. It didn’t make much sense to have duplicates
of something you’d only use for a year or two, except for firearms.

Speaking of which, I got the scopes mounted and both rifles sighted in. The one I used
was sighted in 600 meters but I only sighted Karen’s in to 100-meters. I thought it better
to allow her the opportunity to sight her rifle in herself. About two days later, a pickup
pulled in, a man got out (my pal) and he started unloading ammo cans. I grabbed the
wad of cash and the trolley. I started stacking the cans on the trolley and there were
sure enough twenty. I handed him the ten grand and said Count if you want to. He took
off after stuffing the cash in a pocket and never looked back. I rushed the ammo to the
tunnel and closed the door.

Nobody showed up later with an arrest warrant, a video tape or anything so I presumed
we were home free. It would later turn out that I was and he wasn’t, but they couldn’t
prove anything. Suspicion can really serve to ruin an Army career. However, the order
was not submitted from his computer but from an extra that everyone used. Some guys
just must be born lucky, I was. Twelve months in Iraq without a scratch and I have the
most gorgeous wife in the world. Plus, we have 3 children in our first year of marriage;
kind of cute too, for babies. You oh and you ah and then you end up changing a few
poopy diapers and you suddenly get a slightly different perspective.

My pal didn’t get caught because he knew not to spend the money right away. Those
feds look at the darnest things, including your spending patterns. If an Army Sergeant
who makes yea so much a month suddenly starts spending money like he’s an E-9,
he’s waiving a red flag that says, catch me, I did it.

The farm was a real money producer, but you couldn’t tell it by looking at our bank ac-
count. I filed quarterly estimated tax returns so we didn’t get caught on April 15 th owing
all the money the spring hogs would bring. I was happy, Karen was tired but happy and

79
in our spare time, Jim and I were tearing down the hen house. While I sure hope our
house doesn’t catch fire, at least I won’t be in the same condition as that fella in Califor-
nia. I have more ammo than he had and probably way more explosives. He had about
50# of gunpowder. I haven’t added it up, but we have more than 100,000 rounds of
ammo, almost 300 assorted hand grenades and 20 cans of Mk 211 MP, the best .50-
caliber sniper ammo in the world.

It was about time I settled down and started to take my responsibilities seriously. We
were coming up on planting season 2010, I hated the President more each day, I need-
ed to get the bank paid off, build the storage building and stock it. It would be nice to
have some cash in the bank, too. I wouldn’t mind having a little cash at home in case a
whim strikes and Karen I just want to take off for a weekend. Susan and Jimbo would
take care of the kids in a heartbeat and spoil them rotten, that’s what grandparents do
best.

I was fairly sure that Susan would go in with us again this year on the garden, which
had worked well in the past. I asked Karen about jars and lids and she said she already
ordered them. She had also ordered additional heirloom seeds for the garden so when
she used the current batch of seeds, she would still have a full supply and wouldn’t
need to harvest seeds. She said Susan and she were going to try a new pasta sauce
recipe this year using the Roma tomatoes and a different spice blend.

With the completion of the storage building and acquisition of seeds and fertilizer, our
preparations would be nearly complete. From that point forward, we’d switch into a
maintenance mode of maintaining our stocks. I had been increasing the herd of breed-
ing sows and decided to do the same with the cattle, five per year. With as much per-
manent pasture as we had, there was ample grazing. Jim and I completed planting and
began a project to improve the fenced lots near the barn. There’s always something to
be done on a farm.

We had an exceptional crop this year, despite a shortage of water. Karen and I had a
grain surplus which was sold off to retire the bank loan. It allowed for the construction of
the storage building and acquisition of fertilizer and seed. I bought two kinds of soybean
and corn seeds, hybrids and heirlooms. The hybrid purchases were planned around
planting 240 acres each of corn and soybeans, while the heirloom seeds we planned
around planting 80 acres each of corn and beans. Yes, I bought oat seed, I didn’t men-
tion it. There was room inside the new building to store the horse drawn equipment, ex-
cluding the combine. I didn’t buy a combine because we already had Dad’s old pull type
combine and there was ample fuel for the tractor to use it to harvest the crops.

“Well, finally. The bank is paid off, the new storage building is up and stocked. We had
excellent production from the garden and we finally have some money in the bank.”

“I wouldn’t do that Will.”

“Wouldn’t do what?”

80
“Keep much money in the bank. I read today of three more bank failures. You may want
to consider keeping it here, in cash.”

“We don’t have a safe honey.”

“Well, buy one of those cheap fire safes from Costco and keep the safe in the gun clos-
et in the shelter.”

“That cup is about to run over. With the number of firearms we ended up acquiring,
there’s no room for most of the ammo and I had to transfer it to the tunnel. There’s room
under the radio table for a small safe.”

“I could use a weekend off. How about we spend the weekend in Des Moines? Mom
said she’d watch the kids. We need to shop for kids’ clothes too, so it won’t be all pleas-
ure. You can go talk to Smith while I’m shopping and let him talk you into more guns.”

“I’ll call the bank manager and ask him to order the cash. Otherwise, they limit you to
either $5,000 or $10,000, depending on their available cash.”

“How much is left after erecting the building and stocking it?”

“A shade over fifty.”

“Let them keep the shade and bring home the fifty. There’s one other thing I need to
mention, we’re pregnant again.”

“Your father said that would happen. What do you want, a boy or girl?”

“I want a healthy baby, but a girl would be nice to round out the set. I may have a tubal if
the baby is okay. They do a belly button procedure before you leave the hospital.”

“Have you those about names?”

“Jillian if we have a girl, no idea if we have a boy.”

We’d essentially used up the family names if we had a boy and I didn’t plan to name a
baby after my father, Clarence. I wanted something that could be shortened and pro-
duce a good nickname, like Don for Donald, Sam for Samuel or Chuck for Charles. I ran
those three past Karen and we agreed on Charles. The banker wasn’t happy that we
were pulling 90% of the cash from both our personal and corporate accounts. I left
enough in to make the quarterly IRS payments

81
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 9

When we arrived in Des Moines on Saturday morning, I gave Karen a grand and told
her not to spend it all in one place. She said to be back in an hour so she could go to a
second store. I headed for Smith’s.

“Is Smith here?”

“The business changed hands.”

“I’ve bought a fair number of firearms from this shop.”

“I recognize you and Smith mentioned you in passing. You pay cash and expect a 5%
discount for cash, right?”

“That’s me, all right. I’m looking for another Mini-14 and 4 Beretta 92FS.”

“Unless I miss my guess, you’ll want 5,000-rounds of M193 on strippers, and both FMJ
and Gold Dot for the pistols; five magazines per pistol and 13 30-round magazines for
the rifle?”

“What did he do, write it down?”

“He sure did.”

“The pistol ammo will be 1,000-rounds of Lawman and 1,000-rounds of Gold Dot per
pistol.”

“Why don’t I sell you the rifle and two pistols today and order the ammo? When you
come to pick up the ammo, I can sell you the other two pistols and we won’t have to
mess with a 3310.4.”

“Are you going to give me 5% for cash?”

“Yes I am. Allow two weeks for the ammo to come in and I’ll set aside the other two
Berettas. Smith is still around; he just sold out so he could spend more time concentrat-
ing on his preps. Anyway, he left me with a list of about 12 customers who are ad-
vanced preppers, like you. He didn’t give me many details, but he said you had the best
setup he’d seen in Iowa. I think the exact term he used was anything short of a direct
hit. What did he mean by that?”

“My shelter is under a hill and covered with at least 50’ of soil. I needed to replace my
barn and built the new one out of two layers of concrete with compacted soil between
the inner and outer walls. We’ve combined all of our livestock into the single building,
including the horses, cattle, hogs and chickens.”

82
“Plus you’ve bought a lot of firearms.”

“And ammo. It’s one of those things you can never have too much of. There’s the com-
pleted 4473. Give me some extras and I’ll fill them out at home whenever I want to buy
another firearm.”

“Any idea what you might want?”

“Four original model Vaqueros with 5½” barrels.”

“I‘ve got them. Want me to set them aside?”

“Do that. Order me 8 cases of the Winchester cowboy ammo and ten of the Buffalo
Bore.”

“He made a list of your purchases. Well, most of them. He said he sold you some things
that weren’t on the list and wouldn’t say what that was.” (Thank you Smith)

“Sorry I took so long, I picked up a couple of items.”

“I got clothing for the kids in 4 sizes and went a bit overboard so I’ll need a little more
cash. Prices are through the roof.”

“Will ten more Ben Franklins be enough?”

“More than enough. By the way, with three kids and a fourth on the way, I’m not going
back to teaching.”

“But, you love teaching.”

“Maybe I can home school our children. I have teaching credentials.”

Karen shopped until we both dropped. We got lunch at a Maid Rite and had dinner at
Chuck’s. I told her what I had purchased at the gun store and she said her father and
mother were planning on giving the kids Winchester rifles. She suggested we get four of
the John Wayne rigs with an assortment of belt lengths. I told her I’d have to come back
in two weeks and she told me she’d come too.

She went on to explain that she liked the shoulder holster rig that Don Johnson had
made famous on Miami Vice. She wanted one of those with a Browning Hi-Power. I
called the gun store and explained what we wanted and told him I’d take two. The rig
was originally called the Jackass rig and was made by Galco International. He told me
that their catalog didn’t include what they now called the Miami Classic rig for a Brown-
ing Hi-Power. Did I want him to call them and see if they could produce them?

83
He called back and said their custom shop would make them and did we want black or
tan? I told him tan and he said to wait to come up until the leather was in. I told him we
were only going to make one trip, 3310.4 notwithstanding. He’d better get in an extra
2,000 rounds each of 124gr Lawman and 124gr +P Gold Dot.

It finally came together a month later and we drove to Des Moines to pick up the ammo,
leather and hand guns. I’d solved the problem with the John Wayne rigs by using Kirk-
patrick leather as a source. By this time, we had a large fortune tied up in firearms and
ammo. There was probably more ammo than we could reasonable expect to shoot in a
lifetime. We could always unload the SA surplus for about double what it had cost. Fire-
arms were not going down in value.

Karen had Jillian in the very early spring of 2011. She had all her fingers and toes and
the doctor pronounced her 100% healthy. Karen had her belly button procedure before
she came home. We had ample moisture and were expecting another good to excellent
crop. Jim and I were using the draft horses when we needed to pull a wagon and it was
fun.

The price of fuel had continued to climb and the only fuel we bought was gasoline. We
were running all of the equipment and vehicles on home produced fuel, ethanol or bio-
diesel. When we sometimes had a little ethanol left over, I was adding it to a used
charred oak barrel, a big one we’d bought from Jack Daniels. It typically was never
more than a gallon or two. I cut it 50/50 with distilled water before I added it.

The summer of 2011 was, to say the least, interesting. We had a huge garden now and
Karen and Susan were running 4 canners at once at 15-minute intervals. The basement
now had row after row of shelving, all filled with home canned goods. It looked like they
could take a year off and only plant potatoes and onions. Jim had taken some of the
wages he’d earned from us and gone to a Missouri gun store, returning with a P-14 and
a Super Match that had the scope mounted. He borrowed some of the Black Hills ammo
to sight it in.

“That’s one fine shooting rifle Will.”

“How far did you shoot?”

“1,000-yards.”

“That’s right around 915 meters; try it at 1,000 meters or 1,093 yards.”

“You think?”

84
“Only when I have to. Karen and I have been able to work up to 1,000-meters. With the
McMillan, we’re shooting at 2,000-meters, nearly 2,200 yards or about 1¼ miles.”

“Your draft mares and all of the riding mares and fillies have been bred. You’ll have a
large string of horses when they all foal. Is the barn big enough?”

“It had better be because I’m not building another.”

“What do you do with all the money you make off of this operation?”

“We keep it mostly in cash. Despite the price, I’m going to turn a portion of it into gold
and silver to increase what we have.”

“What’s it running these days?”

“Gold is around $1,100 and silver around $20.”

“What are you going to buy?”

“Krugerrands and American Eagles, both gold and silver.”

“Why two different currencies?”

“Not many fractional Krugerrands around. I’ll buy Krugerrands because of the low pre-
mium and fractional Eagles plus the one ounce silver Eagles.”

Nearly every member of C Troop, 1st of the 113th was trained as a combat lifesaver, in-
cluding me. I had scrounged around and come up with Mk 1 kits, containing atropine
sulfate and pralidoxime chloride. I also had one injector of diazepam for each three MK
1s. We had ordered gas masks, extra filters, Tyvek suits and stuff like that from Ap-
proved Gas Masks. I had a good medical cabinet, but it only included things that I had
been taught to use. Fortunately, Combat Lifesavers are taught to establish an IV;
hence, we had a case of normal saline, a half case each of Ringer’s and D5W.

I had sutures but hoped we never had to use them because suturing is both a skill and
an art. We got Cipro, Doxy and Keflex from a Canadian drugstore without a prescription.
I had to choose between the various blood stoppers and couldn’t decide, so I bought
some of each. There are about 6 kinds out there and new ones keep popping up.

After the grain harvest was done, the final produce harvested from the garden, the ex-
cess corn and beans sold off and we had marketed the cattle and hogs, we were sitting
on a large amount of cash. Karen I agreed to put 80% of it into gold and silver and keep
the remainder in cash.

85
During early November of 2011, an epidemic broke out in several large cities nearly
simultaneously. The CDC got involved immediately and after 6 days had identified the
culprit as the Ames strain of anthrax. The Ames strain is the weaponized strain that was
involved in the anthrax attack right after 9/11/01, ten years before. However, we weren’t
guilty. An article from the Washington Post explains:

In four months, FBI agents and scientists have unraveled many of the mysteries sur-
rounding the strain of anthrax used in last fall's deadly attacks. The Ames strain is now
known to be highly virulent, resistant to many vaccines and a perennial favorite of mili-
tary researchers and bioterrorists.

But here's one thing the lethal bug is decidedly not: originally from Ames, Iowa.
New details emerging from the infamous bacterium's murky past suggest the Ames
strain did not come from the sleepy Iowa college town of the same name, or from any-
where else in Iowa. It was a Texas strain, cultured from a Texas cow, federal officials
now say.

How it came to be known internationally as the Ames strain is a story of confused label-
ing and mistaken identity in the Defense Department's two-decade-old quest to find the
perfect vaccine to protect troops against a near-perfect killer.

It's been a puzzle, said the US Department of Agriculture's Tom Bunn, one of several
officials of the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service who have been try-
ing to sort out the strain's true origins since it was first linked to the spate of bioterrorism
attacks in Florida, New York and Washington.

The Ames strain – one of 89 known genetic varieties of anthrax – was used in each of
the attacks on US Senate offices and Florida and New York media companies in Sep-
tember and October. To law enforcement officials, that suggests the attacker had a sci-
entific background and, quite possibly, access to one of a small group of US military re-
search labs and contractors known to possess Ames.

The Army acquired the strain in 1981 as part of a national search for novel types of an-
thrax to use in testing vaccines. It had no name until 1985, when it was described in a
scientific paper by researchers at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious
Diseases in Fort Detrick, Md.

The name Ames was chosen because the researchers believed the strain came from
there: The shipping package bore a return address from the USDA's National Veterinary
Services Laboratories, an Ames, Iowa, lab that diagnoses illnesses in cattle, according
to Gregory Knudson, a former USAMRIID scientist and a co-author of the article that
identified the strain. The label stuck.

But in the weeks after the anthrax attacks, questions emerged about the strain's origins.
The Washington Post filed a request with the USDA under the Freedom of Information
Act asking for details about the strain's history. After an exhaustive search, USDA offi-

86
cials in Iowa could find literally nothing: no record of anthrax strains delivered to the Ar-
my and no reports of anthrax outbreaks among Iowa cattle in the early 1980s.

"When we went back and checked, there was no record of a bacterial culture coming
from a cow in Iowa in 1980-81," said Bunn, chief of the USDA's Diagnostic Bacteriology
Laboratory. He added: "If the Army asked for something we would have given it to
them."

A search of long-forgotten Army documents finally resolved the mystery. The strain, it
turns out, had come from Texas, which did experience anthrax outbreaks around 1980.
The bacteria was isolated by the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory at
Texas A&M University and shipped to USAMRIID in May 1981.

The germs were mailed in a special container, a package identical to hundreds of others
that the USDA supplies to veterinary labs around the country. The return address on the
package: The USDA's Veterinary Services Center, Ames, Iowa.

“I knew it. Sooner or later, someone was going to attack this country.”

“I suppose simultaneous outbreaks of anthrax in several cities couldn’t be chance,

right?”

“Right, but never fear we’re covered.”

“How?”

“We have both Cipro and Doxy. Either one will stop the anthrax bacillus. If I recall cor-
rectly, anthrax can enter the human body through the intestines (ingestion), lungs (inha-
lation), or skin (cutaneous) and causes distinct clinical symptoms based on its site of
entry. Inhalation is likely 100% fatal. We have N-95 disposable masks we can wear, so
that shouldn’t be a problem. I think we’d better plan on staying home.”

“You seem to be taking this casually.”

“Well, they aren’t shooting at us.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Sorry. However, I’ve been shot at in Iraq and that’s never pleasant. Our Hummer was
upgraded from a Ma Deuce to the CROWS and we had extra panels of bullet proof
glass in the doors.”

“Who did this?”

“I suppose it was terrorists.”

87
“And you don’t believe it was state sponsored?”

“I hadn’t even considered that. I suppose that it’s possible, Karen. Why would you sug-
gest a state sponsor rather than terrorists?”

“I was thinking about the scope of the attacks. What was it, 9 or 10 cities?”

“Yes, 9 or 10, why?”

“And one source speculated that around 300 pounds of anthrax was released in each
location.”

“So?”

“So, that’s a ton of a highly specialized and virulent form of anthrax. I read somewhere
about the Soviets producing large amounts of anthrax. They had an accident in1979 at
Sverdlovsk that resulted in almost 100 people becoming infected and more than half of
them died.”

“I didn’t know about that.”

“It didn’t become public knowledge until 1992. I remember it because it had a ⅔ mortali-
ty rate.”

“If it was state sponsored, why would they only have struck 10 cities?”

“For appearances sake. Plus they would have had to use a small, general aviation air-
craft. Something like a Cessna or Piper.”

“We’ll put Jim up here and no more travel until this is sorted out.”

The good news, if there is any, about anthrax is that there is no human-to-human
transmission. It is highly resistant to removal, forming spores to encapsulate the bacillus
and has been known to survive for 50 years in certain settings. The British tested it in
1942 on Gruinard Island which remained contaminated until 1990.

The cities hit, in order of size, were New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoe-
nix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas and San Jose. The first nine had a
population in excess of 1,000,000. The Department of Homeland Security and FEMA
rushed in response, as did the CDC and USAMRIID. The problem was an absence of
hospital beds and respiratory support equipment.

This was the worst attack against the country in history and the MSM was throwing out
figures ranging from 100,000 to 50,000,000 dead or dying. In order to prevent the fur-

88
ther spread of panic, the President invoked an Executive Order clamping down on the
media, who immediately filed suit in Federal District Court. By the time the case was
heard and ruled on and appealed and ruled on a second time, the issue would be moot.
The FCC was instructed to pull the broadcast license of any radio or TV station report-
ing on the situation and the papers were subject to heavy censorship.

I’m sure that the CID, FBI, BATFE, NCIS and the CIA were otherwise occupied assist-
ing the CDC and the EPA on trying to locate the source of the toxin. The CDC was di-
vided in to six separate agencies. I suspected that the National Center for Prepared-
ness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases was very busy at the moment,
they’re charged with dealing with bioterrorism.

“Until this mess is sort out, Karen and I want you to stay here. We’re going under self-
imposed quarantine. Bring several changes of clothes and anything else you might think
is necessary.”

“Starting when?”

“Tomorrow, when you show up for work.”

“What about the milk pickup?”

“We’ll just have to avoid contact with the pickup guy.”

“What about heat, winter isn’t that far away?”

“I’ll order double our usual supply of stoker coal. He won’t even have to get off the truck
to dump it. Then you and I can shovel it into the coal room.”

That’s right we still used stoker coal to heat the house. Considering the price of fuel oil,
I’m glad Dad never switched over. We’d only needed to make minor repairs over the
years, a new bearing, a new furnace grate, etc. It had a large hopper that you filed
about 3-4 times a week. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Wood and coal were probably the
cheapest form of heat. It was forced air, not a boiler.

Two truckloads filled the coal room with a scant amount remaining. We decided to order
2 additional truckloads, increasing our supply to 20 tons. Jimbo called and said he was
sending Susan up, but would remain at home to care for their livestock. “Watch MSM
and follow the amateur bands,” he suggested.

“Why, Jimbo?”

“I’m not sure Will, but I have a sinking feeling in my gut.”

“Would you like to transport your livestock and supplies up here?”

89
“I’ve thought about it long and hard. I just don’t know if there will be more terrorist at-
tacks.”

“For what it’s worth, Karen isn’t so sure it was terrorists. She expressed a view that the
attacks may have had state sponsorship or had been direct actions by an unknown
state.”

“When did she express that?”

“Two nights ago.”

“That does it; I’ll start by moving the horses. We do the cattle second and the hogs third.
You have any portable chicken coops?”

“No, but Jim and I could probably construct some.”

“Is there room in your basement for our canned food?”

“Maybe; it would be very tight squeeze.”

Can I borrow your pickup and trailer?”

“I send Jim down with it.”

“And, I’ll call that guy in Bethany that moves livestock; he’s the guy you use when you
send your beef and hogs to market.”

“That should work; do you have any market ready stock?”

“I could unload about half of what we have; good idea, I hadn’t thought of it. Send Jim
down and he can moved the canned goods. Do you have lumber and wire for the co-
ops?”

“Not on hand, but I can get it and you can move the chickens tomorrow.”

“Won’t be able to move the other livestock except for the saddle horses until I figure out
what to sell.”

“I don’t believe it’s quite that urgent, can you get it done in a week?”

“Say, do you have enough room in the house?”

“We do unless Susan and you want separate bedrooms. In that case one of you would
have to stay in the shelter.”

“No, we still share the same bed.”

90
“I’ll send Jim. You’d better get on the phone and get prices for your extra livestock and
arrange to sell them.”

“Do you have enough shelving?”

“Fresh out.”

“I’ll have Jim bring up our shelves tied on the top of the load.”

“Do you have that much stuff?”

“You sort of rubbed off on me, but you probably don’t have much more home canned
than we do. The potatoes and onions are bagged so they won’t present much of a prob-
lem.”

“I could come along and help him load the truck and trailer.”

“I’ll help then; we’ll get saddle horses on the horse trailer. It has a tack room, so I can
bring the saddles, too.”

It wasn’t as organized as we would have liked. It took 2 days. Jimbo had to go back on
the third day when they picked up the cattle followed by the hogs. He stopped by the
stockyard and picked up his check and headed to the bank to cash it. They would only
give five grand up front, but would order the cash if he wanted. He elected to take the
balance in a cashier’s check and then headed to Des Moines to see the coin dealers.

He didn’t get back until late, bringing back Krugerrands, gold Eagles in all 4 denomina-
tions, silver Eagles and junk silver. He said the coin dealers were swamped and he had
to hit every coin store in Des Moines. He wasn’t able to spend the last ten grand, leav-
ing him with a total of $20,000 in cash. He wanted to know if I felt up to a trip to Kansas
City. I hadn’t been there since I’d shipped out for Iraq and told him sure. He ended up
with a mixed bag of junk silver and took the balance in fractional gold Eagles.

His explanation of wanting company to KC was straight forward simple, KC made him
nervous and always had. He went on to claim that he didn’t know why. I didn’t quite be-
lieve that, but didn’t press.

Jillian slept in a crib in our room, the toddlers in their own room, Jim in the 3rd bedroom
and Jimbo and Susan in the 4th. That only left us with one unoccupied bedroom. In a
pinch, we could put up a few folks in the attic, using mattresses from the shelter. It was
nice having children who now slept through the night, except for Jill. I had ammo and
guns to pick up in Des Moines but was reluctant to run the risk Jimbo had. I called the
gun store, got that balance owed and ask if, under circumstances, we could complete
the transaction by mail

91
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 10

The Gun Control Act of 1968 eliminated mail order guns sales. We were talking about 6
handguns, the Galco holsters and the ammo. Because I’d been to the store to order the
guns in person, except for the Browning’s, he agreed. He’d ship them UPS for overnight
(in this case, ground) delivery. We were in zone 1 according the UPS zone schedule. I
mailed the 4473s and a check, including enough, I thought to cover the shipping charg-
es. The shipment came in three days later.

The shipping was less than I’d have had to pay for gas for the round trip, had we still
been using gas. He called and asked if I wanted a refund on the excess shipping costs
or a store credit. I told him to hang onto it and get me some cheap slings for the Stand-
ard model M1As. The ones he sent were surplus leather slings and he said we were
even.

We had a most unusual setup for firearms. A P-14 as our primary handgun worn in a
USGI leather flap holster backed up with a Browning Hi-Power in a Miami Classic
shoulder holster backed up by a Walther PPK in an IWB holster in the pit of our backs.
We could choose between our Super Match rifles or Mossberg shotguns with a third op-
tion of one Tac-50 or one of several Mini-14s. With the exception of the Tac-50, every-
thing was duplicated in some manner.

Jimbo had more firearms than your average Missouri farmer including four sets of well
used Single Action Army revolvers, Winchester rifles and coach guns. Beyond the arms
they’d regularly used in the SAS sport, he had HK91s, Remington 870s with 20” barrels,
rifle sights and magazine extension tubes from Choate plus the original barrels. His
supply of ammo was smaller than ours by a vast margin, but ours resembled what you’d
typically see in a small ammo dealer’s warehouse or a military depot.

I tend to shop on impulse and anything good enough for Karen was good enough for me
and vice versa. The Tac-50, however, cost as much as some new cars so we only had
one. Not half bad when you consider we were both under 30. With Jimbo and Susan
here, we could barely transit the basement due to the amount of food stored. Both sides
of the tunnel from the basement to the shelter were loaded with ammo narrowing the
tunnel to barely 4’.

We had anhydrous ethanol for the Jeep and Karen’s car plus biodiesel for my pickup
and our John Deere. To quote Charles Dickens’s opening line in A Tale of Two Cities, It
was the best of times, it was the worst of times... We were battening the hatches before
the storm struck, in our area. Winter was just around the corner and winter time was the
slow time on a farm, do the chores and chase mama around the bed.

A week after the CDC identified the bug as Ames strain anthrax, the Administration an-
nounced during a press conference that they’d tracked down the planes used to deliver
the spores but hadn’t located the pilots, none of whom appeared to be of Middle East-
ern descent. They were all men, possibly of European extraction. They’d rented the

92
planes using false credentials, but obviously knew how to fly including takeoff AND
landing. From that general description, they could have been any group out of maybe
200 million Americans; or more because of the flying credentials which proved to be
forgeries. The government had, in effect, hit a brick wall.

“Maybe we acted too soon.”

“Maybe and maybe not; those attacks could represent just the first in a series of events
intended to bring us to our knees.”

“So what do you expect to happen next?”

“They didn’t damage our infrastructure with the first attack, so maybe that’s a clue. How
about a radiological attack?”

“You mean nukes?”

“No, I mean dirty bombs.”

“Where?”

“How about Detroit, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Mem-
phis, Fort Worth, Baltimore and Charlotte? They’re the next ten largest cities.”

“Were the first ten cities the largest?”

“Yes, they were. If there is any kind of pattern to this, I’d expect them to work their way
down the list. There are lists on the internet listing the 101 largest cities and the next
101 largest cities. I view it as a strike list and it’s highly possible that any attacker might
too.”

“What does this fiction author think about this?”

“He hasn’t posted a story in a couple of years, but his old stories referred to the year
2000 list of 100 largest cities. He seemed to think that attacking the cities according to
their size gave the attacker the most bang for their buck.”

“What if it goes to a GTW?”

“Same list plus military targets. They’ll want to eliminate as much of our industrial base
as possible. Karen’s the History teacher; ask her how quickly the US geared up for WW
II.”

“Is that where you think this is headed, WW III?”

93
“I don’t know, but we’re prepared in any event. I didn’t limit my reading only to TOM.
There were a group of prolific authors and I read many of them. In a roundabout way,
that’s where I got the idea for a concrete barn connected to the shelter by a concrete
culvert. I think that one was called Percy’s Mission, except Percy built domes. You’d
have to think that in a GTW, they’d go for all the federal and state seats of government.
I doubt they’d go for the missile silos because of our launch on warning policy, although,
they might hit Whiteman. It’s more likely that they’d go for the bases, camps and posts
with the largest populations. They’d hold a few missiles in reserve for cleanup.”

“Don’t go counting the chickens before they hatch. The attacks could have been an iso-
lated event. Like those hijackings on 9/11.”

“Maybe so, but I don’t think so.”

“And why not?”

“Too many people involved and it was all over the country, not limited to New York and
Washington. They had to know which way the wind was from to be able to use the right
flight path to do the most damage. I sure wouldn’t want to be the person handling 200
pounds of anthrax spores.”

“But there’s a vaccine, right?”

“Sometimes the cure is as bad as the disease Jimbo. It’s a painful series of shots and
you need a booster every year. I looked it up and it said: The trade name is BioThrax,
although it is commonly called Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA). It is administered in a
six-dose primary series at 0, 2, 4 weeks and 6, 12 and 18 months; annual booster injec-
tions are required thereafter to maintain immunity. The injections are typically very pain-
ful, and may leave the area of injection with swelling; this area may be painful for sever-
al days.”

“Dirty bombs, what will they think of next?”

“Chemical warfare?”

“Is that efficient?”

“It could be in a large city, especially if they used a persistent agent.”

“Give me an example.”

“VX, a nerve gas.”

“I thought that we’d disposed of our VX.”

94
“Most, if not all of it has been incinerated or otherwise destroyed. However, any good
chemist worth his salt could duplicate it.”

“If I’m following you, what you’re proposing is an escalating campaign against the US.
Let’s say I buy it, where will it lead?”

“Our intelligence apparatus may eventually figure who is behind it, but I believe they’ll
be three steps behind. They moved the threat level to orange and when we’re attacked
again, it will probably go to red. Portions of the military have been on DEFCON 4 since
we started to Global War on Terror. I know we’ve drawn Iraq down to a Division, and
pulled out of Afghanistan, but I doubt they’ll be satisfied until all of our troops leave.”

“I don’t see the advantage of talking about it because it either happens or doesn’t. We’re
here and with a moment’s notice will be secure in the shelter.”

Jimbo had a point; we couldn’t change what was going to happen by talking about it.
Over the course of 10 years or so, I had changed, and in my humble opinion, for the
better. I had the best looking wife in two states who was really smart and a History
Teacher to boot. Historia Vitae Magistra was a Latin phrase that was her mantra, Histo-
ry, the Teacher of Life. As a whole, people kept doing the same things over and over
again, somehow expecting different results.

Using her mad money, she had acquired a complete set of textbooks going all the way
up to the senior level of high school. She also had all of the teachers’ guides. Although
Karen had a Master’s degree in History, that’s not the same as having a Master’s de-
gree in physics, biology or math. Oh, she had the books, but would need to find some-
one to teach the subjects if it ever came to that.

For my part, I had maintained a degree of skepticism, until the anthrax attacks. It was a
contradiction, I know, we were preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Once the
attacks came I/we lost much of our skepticism and even merged Jimbo’s operation into
ours, thinking that it would be for the short haul. Six months later, we were still merged
and Jimbo and Susan were seriously considering moving back home. I had to agree
and we spent several days moving their livestock and belongings back to Missouri.
They got back just in time to prepare the fields for spring planting. He had a lot of mar-
ket ready hogs and after he sold them, came to see us.

“The way I figure it, I owe you a share of this money. I brought the hogs, but we used
your feed to fatten them. We’re going 50/50 on the proceeds, like it or not. When I sell
the cattle, we’ll do the same thing only we’ll go 75/25 with me taking the lions share.”

“You don’t have to do that, we had plenty of feed.”

“Yes, I do and there will be no more discussion. Here you go, $30,000 in cash, just the
way you like it.”

95
°

“Smith’s.”

“This is Will Sherman and I’d like to order a rifle.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“A McMillan Tac-50, just like the first one I bought a few years back.”

“They’ve gone up in price.”

“So has everything else. I still want 20 cases of the ammo, I haven’t shot up much.”

“Squirrel hunting?”

“Yeah right, how long will it take to get it in?”

“Maybe four days.”

“Call me when it arrives and my wife and I will drive up to pick it up. I’ll fill out one of the
blank 4473s and bring it with us and we should be in and out.”

“Are you paying cash?”

“Yes, and you’re giving me my usual discount. Pull the previous invoice and duplicate
the purchase except increase the ammo. Any chance you could get 2 Jet Suppres-
sors?”

“$3,000 each.”

“How soon?”

“Pick ‘em up with the rifles.”

“Who were you talking to?”

“I called Smith’s store and ordered you a new rifle. We’ll spend any leftover from the
thirty grand on things you want or think we need.”

“Plan on taking the trailer, we need to shop at Costco. With mom, dad and Jim being
here, we used up more than the usual amount of supplies. Oh, mom said we’d go to-
gether on a garden again this year. She is going to order one gross of cases of pints
and two gross of cases of quarts.”

“Will that be enough?”

96
“I thought I’d order the same.”

“You’d better get another eight cases of lids.”

Everything we stored was dated and we used the first-in, first-out inventory system. We
even gathered Morrell mushrooms and wild asparagus and enjoyed them, early in the
spring. We ground our own corn meal using a Country Living Grain Mill, for which we
had two sets of spare parts. It was the motorized version, naturally. We even had a
Schnitzer manual steel flaker which was ideal for rolling oats, wheat, rye, spelt and all
other dry grains, including soy beans.

We drove to Des Moines on Saturday after dropping the kids of at Jimbo and Susan’s.
We started out picking up the new rifle and stowed it in the back of the pickup together
with the 20 cases of A-MAX. That ammo weighed in the neighborhood of 500 pounds;
thank God they loaded it for us. We also picked up a few odds and ends to replace
ammo we had shot up practicing.

We went to Chuck’s for lunch and then headed to Costco in West Des Moines. The first
item Karen loaded up on was toilet paper. We used two trolleys and went through sepa-
rate lines, meeting up at the trailer and stacking our purchases. We bought 30 bundles,
enough to replace what had been used and a little extra. It was pretty much the same
for all of our other purchases, replacing what we’d used. With the outlandish supply of
food we’d built up, we wouldn’t have had to go to Costco. We just felt better when we
were back to full.

Next, we started hitting Maid Rites, buying tenderloins and frozen meat. We hit four
places and ate at the last. Once home, we unloaded everything except the ammo and
headed south to pick up the kids.

“Were they good?”

“They’re kids, they acted their age. Have a good trip?”

“We picked up one firearm and a load of ammo. We hit Costco and filled in the blank
spots and stocked up on Maid Rite meat and tenderloins. We unloaded the stuff from
Costco and Maid Rite, but I’m waiting for Jim to help me unload the ammo tomorrow.”

“You’re going to have to do that yourself. Jim is in the hospital and they’re taking out his
appendix tomorrow. It’s not an emergency, but it was highly inflamed and that’s what
the doctor recommended.”

“No problem; I only have one appliance cart anyway.”

“I’ll come up and give you a hand. You still have the trolley, right?”

97
“That would cut the job down to size, thank you.”

“His surgery isn’t scheduled until 11am so we can be there for the operation.”

“What for?”

“To sit in the waiting room and worry, like all parents are supposed to do.”

Jim was off for three weeks while he healed up. When he returned to work, he was on
light duty so I had him on the tractor most of the time. We planted the usual ratio of
corn, beans and oats. The alfalfa was a permanent field because keeping a permanent
alfalfa field increased the production. I decided to go with no till again this year.

The last of our troops were home from Iraq and for some reason, our permanent force
in Korea was being gradually reduced to zero. The only overseas troops we’d have
would be liaisons with most countries, a hospital in Germany and the naval presence in
Yokosuka. The President had proposed cutting the standing Army, Navy and Air Force
but Congress was leery.

The Joint Strike Fighter was now operational and replacing the worn out F/A-18s with
the Navy, the AV-8B Harriers, with the Marine Corps and the F-16s with the Air Force. It
would be quite some time before they were all manufactured and delivered. The Air
Force had succeeded in increasing the number of F-22 Raptors, but not to the 381 they
wanted. They had made it to about 250 before the funding dried up completely. Con-
gress is reluctant to build $450 million fighters, even when we’re at war, which we
weren’t at the moment.

We had some success selling off low-hour airframes, especially the F-16s that most
countries seemed to like. The Eagles had all been retired and they were working on an
E model Apache. Boeing had sold a batch of C-17s overseas and it kept them going
long enough for Congress to resume purchases. After nearly 50 years of use, the ser-
vices retired the M16/M4, electing to go with the HK416/417 platforms. I don’t know why
they did that, it made sense.

I got a phone call the other day from the Sergeant, now Sergeant First Class, who had
supplied us with the Mk211MP. He pointed out that he had far better access now and
was going to be retiring soon. He wanted to know if there was anything I wanted before
he was gone. I told him I could always use another 20 ammo cans of you know what,
and some of the replacements for the M-61s. It was just a shame, I mentioned, that the
Army didn’t use the LAW rocket anymore.

“They’re fifteen to the case and I can’t demonstrate a need for more than 10 cases.”

“Ten cases will be fine.”

98
“I can go 250 on the replacement bangers, but that my limit. I can do the twenty cans,
but this is going to cost you.”

“How much?”

“Round numbers, $26,000, cash.”

“How long to get the stuff in?”

“Three weeks. I’ll deliver like before.”

“I need 4 AN/PVS-27s.” (Gen 3+ night vision)

“$5,000 each.”

“Ouch.”

You can buy them retail, $10,700 each plus tax.”

“Ok, I’ll take 4.”

It never occurred to me that this could be a sting because I still had 19 and a fraction
cans of the original purchase. I could also blame him for the M-61s, Mk3A2s and the
smoke grenades. I’ll say this much, his timing was perfect. It kind of made me wonder if
he knew about my new rifle. Nah…

Using cash only, we had amassed a significant amount of cash in the small safe. We’d
converted it to gold and silver when the prices dipped, which wasn’t often. The more
things changed, the more they stayed the same. Our only bills were property tax, insur-
ance, electricity and vehicle registration. There was the occasional repair, but those
were done by the guy who converted the Jeep and Karen’s car, the Ford dealer or the
John Deere dealer. He was trying to sell me a new tractor and I told him the old tractor
had been good enough for my dad and was good enough for me. We weren’t farming
any more land than dad had farmed. I also had a small John Deere utility tractor to pull
wagons, etc.

Three weeks later, I got a delivery, checked it over and handed over forty-six grand in
cash. I loaded it on the trolley and eventually got all of it in the tunnel between the
basement and shelter. I was going to need to quit buying things or start storing them in
the storage building. Later the same day, Jill and her husband David pulled in unan-
nounced with their three kids. Karen took a box of pork tenderloins out of the freezer
and moved two bags of fries from the freezer to the freezer on the refrigerator. We had
several packages of frozen buns in a freezer.

“The place looks the same.”

99
“It may look the same, but it isn’t as you remember it being. For one thing, I added that
storm shelter. But, to be truthful, it’s more than a simple storm shelter. We’ve amassed
a significant amount of food and other preparations. I’ve even acquired a bit of an arse-
nal.”

“Like that rifle you bought for me?”

“I still have it and Karen uses it. I’ve added others, mostly run of the mill weapons, but I
do have a fifty caliber rifle.”

“You still as crazy as you were before?”

“Probably worse. There was that anthrax attack last year and they never figured out
who did it. The final death toll was in the millions. It’s not if, only when and what. It could
be a tornado hitting the farm, a rock from the asteroid belt, a nuclear war or any of about
a couple of dozen other scenarios.”

“I suppose that includes earthquakes?”

“We’re not that far from the New Madrid Fault zone. Give or take about 350 miles.”

“An earthquake wouldn’t come this far.”

“Are you willing to bet your life on it?”

Jill was probably right, at best, we might feel a quake on the New Madrid Fault. There
were many more things that could happen and they could be far worse, especially a tor-
nado rated EF-5. Even a simple lightning strike could take out the radio antennas, but
there were spares. Everything on the farm, in large, was double or triple redundant. The
only gasoline powered vehicle I hadn’t converted from gasoline to ethanol was the utility
tractor. We didn’t burn much gasoline over the course of a year and the farm tank held
500-gallons of stabilized gas.

We got caught up and I gave them the tour of the shelter, omitting mention of the ar-
mory. I got enough strange looks when they walked down the tunnel and saw the thou-
sands of rounds of ammo and other ordnance.

“You’re really into this survivalism, aren’t you? Planning on overthrowing the govern-
ment?”

“No David, I’m not. If something really, really bad happened and civilization as we know
it ended, I want the ability to take care of my family. You won’t find any machine guns,
artillery or automatic weapons. Since I served in the Army, I do know how to use them,
but don’t see any point in breaking the law to have them.”

100
“Is everything you have 100% legal?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.”

I lied, but I told the truth. It was legal for the military and LEOs to have them, just not us.
The suppressors we had would have been legal, with qualifications, in most states. Jill
hadn’t been such a liberal until she met and began dating David. I planned to let a
sleeping dog lie. I viewed him as the guilty party for changing her attitude. I’m surprised
he let her take the 10/22. I’ll bet that they didn’t have more than a box of ammo for the
firearm. They probably had it bound with cables locks, the ammo stored a mile from the
gun and rarely took it out except to oil it.

“What do you mean by in a manner of speaking?”

“I guess I should have just said yes. Everything we have is 100% legal.”

“I’ve got both deep fat fryers going, is everyone ready for supper?”

“What’s on the menu Karen?”

“Breaded pork tenderloins and fries.”

“Commercial?”

“We buy them from Maid Rite Jill.”

“What did you say the new baby’s name was?”

“Jillian.”

“A namesake, how sweet.”

It was getting to the point that I was having trouble stomaching what Jill had become.
She no doubt voted for Obama, and thought he was doing a great job in his present en-
deavor. She’d probably vote for him again. It was a shame that we didn’t live in the
same state so I could cancel her vote.

On other issues, Karen had lost her conceal carry endorsement when her driver’s li-
cense had expired. By then, however, she had the Iowa carry permit. It wasn’t a prob-
lem because, “It is unlawful to carry a firearm concealed on or about one’s person with-
out a concealed carry endorsement on the Missouri driver’s or non-driver’s license or a
valid permit to carry concealed firearms issued by ANY state.” More recently, she’d got-
ten a Galco Pandora Holster Handbag ($340+tax) and carried the Browning loaded with
Gold Dot. The .380 was in an ankle holster with one spare magazine in her purse. She
said it was like walking around with two library books in the handbag.

101
I favored my P-14 and the Walther. We had to carry concealed because it seemed that
the sight of a handgun got tongues wagging. It might not have in a Post Apocryphal
World (PAW), but we hadn’t gotten to that point, yet. I studied all the history I could get
off Wikipedia trying to understand where we’d been and where we might be headed.
When I had a question, more often than not, Karen either knew the answer or could
point me in the right direction.

I also made it a habit to read several news outlets every day via their online sites. A
person had to ignore the MSM’s conclusions and do a Jack Webb, “Just the facts,
ma’am” sort of analysis. Reading through the lines, I became concerned. Not only had
Iran not ceased its nuclear activities, but they were suspected of having produced nu-
clear warheads for their IRBMs. Israel, mired in controversy after a second Lebanon
war, was unable to find enough agreement between Labor, Likud and Kadima and the
minor parties to come up with a plan of action.

102
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 11

The IDF had practiced until they could fly the mission in their sleep; still, the word didn’t
come from on high. Apparently, no one had put forth a compelling enough reason to at-
tack Iran and risk the anger of Russia. The relationship between Russia and Iran was
frequently strained because Russia had a clear track record of being against Muslims.
Afghanistan was one example; the Beslan School Hostage situation was an opposite
example.

On this particular day, Iran must have been irritated with China and Russia; they
launched an IRBM that struck in the West Bank. It may well have been a test flight; it
had neither an explosive warhead nor a nuclear warhead. The Israelis got their act to-
gether and launched 30 aircraft, 18 F-16s and 12 F-15s to provide air cover. They used
a deep penetrating variation of the JDAM and they wiped out Iran’s nuclear program just
as they had Iraq’s. Iran responded by launching all three of their nuclear tipped missiles
and an unknown number of conventionally tipped missiles.

Israel responded in kind with Jericho III missiles, not armed conventionally. Israel had
the Jericho III since 2005 and it was rumored to be capable of carrying a single nuclear
warhead. Which is rubbish because Israel isn’t a nuclear power; or wasn’t officially until
they launched those missiles. Putin wasn’t President of Russia anymore, but he was
Foreign Minister. Russia launched against Israel. Israel isn’t that large of a county and
the three Iranian warheads had done considerable damage. The single missile Russia
launched with 6 MIRVs finished off what Iran had missed.

The US went from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 2 in a heartbeat. The only clue some of us
had was that Homeland Security went immediately to RED. Next, came a leak to MSM
and Fox News announced that the military was at DEFCON 2. They went on to say that
politicians were being evacuated from the District of Columbia, etc. I called a friend and
asked. He told me Threatcon Delta, DEFCON 2.

“Jimbo, you’d better get your butt up here.”

“Why?”

“We just went to Threatcon Delta, DEFCON 2. Israel bombed Iran, Iran nuked Israel,
Israel nuked Iran and Russia nuked Israel. Load your horses and put your guns and
ammo in with your tack. I’ve got to call my sister Jill.”

“What are the wives doing?”

“Canning; and they’re just taking another batch off the stove.”

“It will take at least an hour.”

103
“Take your time, I’d bet you have an hour or more. Everyone is going to think twice be-
fore they start a GTW.”

I suppose they did think twice, no one is around who knows. What I can tell you is that
eventually, Russia launched at us, just as they’d promised. We retaliated against both
Russia and China who came aboard, late. Russia launched against the US and China
and the EU. About the only countries spared were African countries or countries they
couldn’t reach. One way or another, the US has the ability to reach out and touch eve-
ryone. The Minuteman ICBM always had the theory that the missiles are at T-minus 2
minutes and holding. The Trident system and the Polaris system have been designed
with a different philosophy. They're at sea and can be up and running in a matter of a
few hours. But they don't try to keep them on alert all the time like the Minuteman.

Any attack launched by the US that included both Minuteman missiles and D-5 missiles
would, of necessity, come in waves. Kind of like, if the left one doesn’t get you, the right
one will. I know, I know, it took long enough to get here. Given a choice, I’d have pre-
ferred not to be here. Karen and I have one bedroom, Jimbo and Susan the second
leaving 12 beds for our four kids, Jim and my sister and her family. Got lucky, we had
two empty beds, both in the girl’s dorm.

Jill assumed that the second bedroom was for her and David, getting us started off on
the wrong foot. I told both of them to be thankful they had a place to duck their heads. I
further set them off because I was openly carrying my P-14.

“Why do you need to wear that?”

“So I know where it is when I need it?”

“Can’t you at least wait until we’re out of here?”

“No.”

“But…”

“Whatever you’re going to say next, I don’t want to hear. You have a 10/22, did you
bring it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“We sold it.”

I was wrong; they didn’t have any ammunition because they didn’t have any firearms.
They didn’t need to look to us to bail them out. She knew what she thought I had, not
what we actually had. I wasn’t about to enlighten her. Jimbo had arrived and his guns

104
were in the gun closet long before Jill and David arrived. He was wearing a Colt SAA
with a 7½” barrel, Susan a SAA with the 5½” barrel and Jim the 7½”. Karen was wear-
ing her Miami Classic.

“I think that’s the peak level. We’ll have to wait an hour to be sure and then I can input it
in the spreadsheet.”

“What is it?”

“265.”

“How long?”

“I’ll let Jill go when the radiation level reaches 104mR/hr. We’ll stay in until the radiation
is at or below 50mR/hr.”

“She really pissed you off didn’t she?”

“I would have expected her to put up the gun, not sell it off; especially after I made a
special trip to Des Moines to get a replacement.”

“She’s going to insist we give her food. What can we say; they’re your nieces and neph-
ew?”

“We can give them food and tell her that if she doesn’t return the jars, there won’t be
any more.”

“She’s your sister Will.”

“Was my sister. She made it plain that she wanted no part of you, me or the farm.”

“That’s cold.”

“Then you deal with her Karen, I won’t. You’ll see soon enough that I’m right and if you
don’t, I’ll apologize to you.”

“You won’t owe me an apology; you will owe one to Jill.”

“I might, but it will be a cold day in hell before…”

“Don’t say anything you might regret.”

That was when I decided to open up the armory and clean my guns, including both Tac-
50s. David may have wet his pants and the look Jill gave me was a Kodiak moment. I

105
kept going, cleaning the Super Matches the Loadeds, Standards, the shotguns, the kids’
guns and even my SAS firearms. Jill had all but turned purple, but she never said a
word. Is there a word that conveys livid times 100? I didn’t think so.

Then, I went through the process of loading the magazines from the supply of ammo I
kept in the shelter, loading 5 magazines of Mk211MP and 5 magazines of A-MAX for
each of the fifty caliber rifles, 20 magazines of 175gr BTHP and 5 magazines of 180gr
Nosler AccuBond for each Super Match. The bullets clicked in place and Jill jerked with
every click. How had she gone from an average farm girl who loved to shoot with dad
and me to being an I don’t know what to call her? It was the accident, I’m sure.

We didn’t use the radios for the first two weeks after the attack. When Jimbo and I
thought it was safe, we connected the portable NOAA radio to the long dipole wire an-
tenna to see what we could pull in. Initially, it was just static, but that began to clear and
finally we picked up a Des Moines radio station, WHO. They obviously weren’t putting
out their full 50kw, but it was enough to get a signal. The majority of the broadcast was
devoted to local Des Moines news and one hour, at noon each day, to statewide and
national news. We started to keep a list of the cities that had been attacked and how
many weapons were used when the information was available. The body counts they
gave must have been estimates either from the state or the feds. We noted them but
didn’t take them too seriously.

“For every person that dies in the initial attack, I’d expect double that with radiation sick-
ness and probably triple that considering cancer.”

“You may be a little high Will.”

“According to most estimates, the immediate effects of the blast of the bombing of Hiro-
shima killed approximately 70,000 people. Estimates of total deaths by the end of 1945
from burns, radiation and related disease, the effects of which were aggravated by lack
of medical resources, range from 90,000 to 140,000. Some estimates state up to
200,000 had died by 1950, due to cancer and other long-term effects. From 1950 to
1990, roughly 9% of the cancer and leukemia deaths among bomb survivors were due
to radiation from the bombs.”

“What was the population before the bombing?”

“At the time of the attack, about 255,000.”

“What about Nagasaki?”

“I don’t have the figures. The Japanese were spared on that drop because the bomb
was 2 miles off target. The Hiroshima bomb was 13kT and the Nagasaki bomb around
21kT.”

“How do you know this stuff?”

106
“Blame your daughter, she got me interested in history and I studied it from a military
point of view. We were building 7 more of the Nagasaki type bombs and would have
been able to drop them on Japan over the course of about another two months. The
United States expected to have another atomic bomb ready for use in the third week of
August, with three more in September and a further three in October.”

“Did they complete those bombs?”

“I think so. They were our first nuclear stockpile. Fat Man was given the designation Mk
3 and we built the one we used on Nagasaki, one experimental model and 120 produc-
tion models with a yield in the range of 18kT up to 49kT for the last 40.”

“So we were ready to go from the beginning?”

“Not really. The Mark 3 could be in combat ready status for just a short time. The life
span of its lead acid batteries, once charged and installed was only nine days, during
which time they had to be recharged twice (the batteries retained their charge for three
days at a time). After nine days, the entire bomb had to be disassembled to remove the
chemical batteries, lest they begin to corrode. Another problem was core heating: the
large amount of plutonium in the weapon radiated so much energy (from alpha decay)
that the pit had to be removed after ten days or its thermal effects would damage the
high explosive charges and detonators. Like battery change, pit replacement also re-
quired complete disassembly and reassembly of the bomb, a procedure that took forty
to fifty men between 56 and 76 hours to complete."

“You didn’t get that from Wiki.”

“Global Security, it’s no longer relevant and of great historical interest.”

“What color of blood runs in your veins, you’re a dyed in the wool, genuine, dedicate
survivalist.”

“Red, the same as yours. A survivalist proposes the overthrow of the government if cir-
cumstance warrant; I don’t. Thus, I’m more properly called a prepper.”

“Your sister sure has a bone to pick with you.”

“Her problem, not mine; I can’t figure out what her problem is either. I bought her some
firearms and she took one which they sold off. As far as I’m concerned that was the last
straw. I’m booting them out the minute the radiation is be below 104mR/hr.”

“Just like that?”

“We’ll probably give them some food, but yes, just like that.”

107
“Remind me not to get you pissed off at me.”

“You know what it could be? She promised to keep an eye on dad. She may have
known he was having dizzy spells and feels guilty she didn’t drive and they ended up in
that accident.”

“Maybe, people sometimes run from things when they feel guilt.”

“If that’s the case, it wasn’t her fault; you had to have known my dad.”

“Stubborn?”

“Like a mule.”

“Did you try to talk dad out of driving to pick me up?”

“He wouldn’t listen, Will. I tried to be ready to grab the steering wheel if necessary but
he cranked it hard over and there was nothing I could do.”

“And you feel guilty because you didn’t insist.”

“More than you’ll ever know.”

“And, it’s partly my fault because the two of you were coming up to Camp Dodge to pick
me up.”

“To a lesser extent yes.”

“So for almost 6 years, we’ve been enemies or something like that?”

“I’ve changed.”

“I noticed.”

“Take the gun thing, for example. Having guns in a home in the city isn’t like having
guns in a home on a farm. David is terrified of firearms and he nagged me for years be-
fore I sold it.”

“When did you sell it?”

“About a month before the attacks.”

“Any chance you could tell the buyer you changed your mind?”

108
“Possible, but not likely, he really wanted the gun. He was worried his wife would find
out and there would be hell to pay. Besides, we spent the money.”

“Money isn’t an issue, believe me. When we get out of the shelter, are you willing to go
talk to him about buying back the gun? I’ll pay for it.”

“But you had gotten me that M1A.”

“I have 6 extra and while they aren’t the fancy Super Match, they’re very good rifles.”

“I don’t know; David would have a fit.”

“How would David feel if a bad guy tried to assault his family?”

“He’d probably just try and talk them out of it. If he failed, he’d probably claim that it
could have been worse.”

“Yeah, like well, he could have killed you after he raped you?”

“That sounds like David.”

“There a name for people like him in the circles I run around in these days. We call the
sheeple. Personally, I classify him as a POS.”

“A what?”

“You’ll figure it out.”

“What’s with the ammo?”

“I got the 7.62 NATO surplus for 19 cents a round and it’s now worth 50 cents a round
or more. I bought Black Hills Match grade ammo for the Super Match rifles. I have two
kinds of ammo for the fifty caliber rifles and three kinds of shotgun ammo, buckshot,
slug and flechettes. The ammo for the kids rifles in US surplus on 10-round stripper
clips. I have an assortment for the old fashioned single action revolvers. Altogether,
there are over 100,000 rounds of ammo.

“What’s in the crates?”

“M72s.”

“And the other boxes?”

“M61, M67, concussion and smoke.”

“Where’s your howitzer?”

109
“Back pasture? Actually the fifty calibers and LAWs are our largest weapons. You really
should get back into practice.”

When the radiation level was down to about 100mR/hr, Jill and I took off, much to eve-
ryone’s surprise to see if we could repurchase the weapon. She pointed out the house
and I went up and knocked on the door without getting an answer.

“Nobody seems to be home Jill.”

“That’s strange he claimed he had an improvised shelter in the basement.”

“Do you think I should go in an announce myself? It could be they didn’t hear me
knock.”

“Let’s both go, he knows me.”

It was apparent from the odor that assailed us when we entered that something was
very wrong. I told her to wait in the living room and I’d check out the basement shelter.
The shelter proved to be of exceedingly poor construction and lacked an air filtration
system of sufficient quality. The guy had an air pipe sucking air from the outside that
had two simple furnace filters. They’d poisoned themselves without realizing it.

“Here is your gun back.”

“How much did it cost you, I’ll pay you back.”

“I got a bargain, it was free.”

“What did you find in the basement?”

“The bodies of three people who died of exposure to radiation. Homemade air filters
may work provided they’re properly constructed, his weren’t.”

“Did you get the magazines for the 10/22?”

“They were in a box with a small quantity of ammo. I’ll give you ammo when we get
home and let me know if your husband gives you any crap, I believe that I’d enjoy set-
ting him straight.”

Let me back up and fill in the middle. We were all in the shelter by the time the missiles
hit. As noted, the fallout, probably from Lincoln, peaked at 265R/hr. The first night, Ka-
ren stayed up late, working on a batch of bread. While it was in the bowl rising, she
came to bed, but set the alarm. Around oh dark thirty, the alarm went off and she got up

110
to punch down the bread and knead it. She formed two loaves of French bread, 4
loaves of 1 pound loaves and a pan of cinnamon rolls. She came back to bed, set the
alarm and went back to sleep.

When the alarm went off for the second time, she heated the oven and baked the bread.
When the bread was done, she put in the cinnamon rolls. When she pulled those out,
the smell woke me up. We had a quiet conversation discussing, among other things, the
attack and Jill. She thawed a large can of orange juice and everyone woke to a conti-
nental breakfast of coffee, cinnamon rolls and orange juice.

That was an example of how it went for the first 25 or so days. Jill and David were bare-
ly civil, but they held their tongues. The kids, on the other hand, didn’t have any idea
about the problems between Jill and me. Eventually I had that conversation with Jimbo
and after much thought, decided to give it one last chance, mainly to clear my con-
science. I intended to throw them out when the radiation level reached 104mR/hr.

Things didn’t work out that way, I’m happy to say. Jill and I returned to the shelter,
washed the contamination from our suits and entered the shelter. David took one look at
the gun and started to say something. However, he thought better of it. I looked through
the gun closet and tagged a M1A to give to Jill when they left.

I took a duffel bag and added a universal cleaning kit, bore snakes, Breakfree and a sili-
con gun rag. I set it aside with 25 empty magazines and all but forgot about it. Jill apol-
ogized to Karen, profusely. The tone of her voice indicated that her apology was genu-
ine. David remained barely civil. I figured he’d probably come along or get booted out
the door with the clothes on his back.

On more than one occasion, Jill and David met in the girl’s dorm and we could hear
them arguing through the door. Nothing was said when they emerged, but Jill had a half
smirk on her face. This went on until David came to me and asked if I could teach him to
shoot an M1A, a .45 caliber pistol and a shotgun. Although I would, gladly, I made him
stew a day while I thought it over. When he looked as if he’d lost his best friend I told
him I’d do it. I only attached one condition, he take a spare M1A, shotgun and used .45
so he could protect his family.

Karen and Jill did discuss food and Karen was more than generous, starting them off
with a 3 month supply. She showed Jill how to bake bread, make several quick and
easy meals using the supplies we were providing, etc.

I told David I’d loan him the small generator for their fridge and/or freezer plus several
cans of stabilized fuel. Jill and I recovered her firearm somewhere in the middle of all
that. I suggested they stay until the radiation reached a maximum of 100mR/hr.

“What are we going to do for employment? How are we going to pay the bills, buy food
and gas?”

111
“How about we find a mobile home and move it out here?”

“One of those cramped little trailer homes?”

“No, a 16’x74’ single wide; or perhaps a double wide if we can find one and figure out
how to assemble it.”

“I’m going down to check on our livestock, Will; can you back me up?”

“Want me to bring my shotgun or my rifle?”

“Yes.”

Thinking I wouldn’t be sniping, I took one of the 6 Standard model M1As, filled the 25
magazines with SA surplus and a shotgun bandoleer with an assortment of shells. Half
of Jimbo’s herd was dead and the other half was mostly staying in the barn except when
they went to the pasture to eat. His old windmill kept the stock tank full. However, for
whatever reason, the fallout level was higher here and we didn’t stay long. We returned
to our farm, got the horse trailer and started moving Jimbo’s livestock. When we had the
20 surviving cattle moved, we moved the surviving 12 sows. All of the chickens were
dead except for two, a hen and a rooster.

“Do you suppose we can move back next year?”

“You could move back now, but the radiation is a bit high and I can’t explain that. I also
checked the reading in Bethany and they’re even higher. I discussed a singlewide or
possible a doublewide for David and Jill. You can either stay in the house or we could
look for a second mobile home.”

“What did you have in mind Will?”

The dealer in Bethany has two display models, a Beacon Hill with floor plan D and
Lifestages floor plan A. It wouldn’t take much to plumb them and we could either get
separate generators or PV panels and batteries plus controllers.”

“How would we go about it?”

112
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 12

“Well, first off, we’d decide where to set them and install sewage and water lines and
then grade the spots level. We could find a semi-tractor and pull the halves up here and
set them in place. We’d have to find the equipment they use to pull the homes together
and assemble them. I’d run the houses East-West so you have a roof with a southern
exposure.”

“Know anything about assembling mobile homes?”

“Line up the holes and insert bolts? No, but the four of us should be able to figure it out.
We’ll have to find stands and skirting and that’s about all I know.”

“Is your septic system large enough?”

“It should be able to handle the output from several homes. The way the water is
plumbed, water won’t be a problem either. The well fills the tank over the shelter and a
water pump does the rest. About the only thing I don’t have is propane.”

“We could steal a pair of tanks and two propane delivery trucks. That should do us for a
while. There’s a terminal near Des Moines so when we’ve used up the local supply of
propane, we could go there.”

“Well, propane would be the best choice because it contains about 7-8 times the energy
of LNG.”

It was, as always, easier said than done. Nevertheless, we had spots ready for the new
homes in about 3 weeks. We only found one semi-tractor that we could get running and
made four trips to haul the homes from Bethany to the farm. The house for David and
Jill was the smaller of the two and we did it first, for practice. Next, we assembled the
Beacon Hill for Jimbo, Susan and Jim. We returned to the dealer and collected heat
tape and pipe insulation. After we had the plumbing protected against cold weather, we
found and installed the skirting and added a row of bales of oat straw two bales high.

We found and installed 1,000-gallon (net) propane tanks and filled them. Next, we lo-
cated a pair of RS30000 propane fueled generators that could put out 240v at 125 amps
of prime power. They were wired to the circuit breaker box, omitting the ATS entirely.
Finally we moved furniture from both homes to stock the mobile homes.

It was very cold when I took David out to learn to shoot. We had disassembled and as-
sembled the M1A until he could almost do it with his eyes closed. We started by break-
ing in the barrel, ten shots and the bore snake between every shot. We were using the
surplus, but the rifle and ammo were accurate, perhaps 1-1.5MOA. Jill shot too because
she hadn’t fired a rifle since dad died. She revived her shooting skills quickly but was
nowhere near as good as Karen. We had seven adults comprising our entire defense
force in the beginning. Later, Jack Smith and his wife joined us.

113
“Do you have access to any more mobile homes?”

“There were only two in Bethany.”

“There are all kinds in Des Moines, would it be okay if the wife and I stayed here and
put together another doublewide?”

“No problem; however, we’ll need another semi-tractor to tow the second half and we’ll
need to haul a generator and propane tank down here. What’s the status on Costco?”

“Looted, along with most of the grocery stores. How large of a generator?”

“We used two RS30000s. We have propane on hand to fill the tank after it’s installed.
We use coal to heat the house.”

“The other lady about your age; your sister?”

“We reconciled. Does your wife shoot?”

“As well as I do and we both have Super Match rifles, P-14 pistols and Mossberg shot-
guns. Actually I have extra shotguns. When they didn’t sell, I took them home and put
them up for a rainy day. Our ammo supply includes Black Hills and SA surplus for the
rifles, 00 and slugs for the shotguns, Lawman and Gold Dot for the pistols.”

“I bought another Tac-50 from the store you used to own.”

“I put half of the money from the sale into gold and silver Eagles.”

“I’ve mapped out possible defensive positions along the north side of 100th street. We
can start to work on them after we get you a home. What will it take two trips or three?”

“One to get the home, a second for furnishings and a third to get a generator and pro-
pane tank. We won’t have to look far for a generator; I already have one, a Cum-
mins/Onan RS45000. It’s a heavy sucker, around 2,750 pounds. I’m not sure how we
can load it.”

Jack found one he liked, a Fleetwood Beacon Hills, floor plan D. While David and Jim
extended the sewer and water lines, Jack, Jimbo and I went to Des Moines. We loaded
the generator first into the back of the pickup (we took the top off before we left) and a
1,100 gallon (gross) propane tank in the trailer. We hooked the semi to one half of the
home and the second half to a tractor we found and got running. We went by Jack’s
house and loaded the furniture through a slit we cut in the paper of one of the halves.
We cut the number of trips from three to one.

114
The David and Jim were still grading when we returned so we left the halves sit until the
following day. It took us two days of hard labor to bolt the halves together and another
day to attach the trim and connect the water and sewer. We sat the large generator in
place just before supper, but left connecting it to the next day. We did get heat tapes
installed and the pipes insulated. We use a long extension cord to power them tempo-
rarily. The next day, we installed the tank, connected it to the house and generator and
fired up the generator. The final step was to rearrange the furniture which didn’t take
long at all.

We boxed up quite a bit of food for the Smith’s and he paid for it in gold. His wife Sally
and he divided the activity room into two sections, one for her hobbies and the other half
for his. He promptly installed 4-gun rifle racks and filled three of them. The ground was
frozen so hard, we couldn’t dig the fighting holes and we resorted to filling sand bags
and building them. There was a two-person position every 200 yards for a mile.

It didn’t warm up enough to plant anything and we only got one cutting from the alfalfa.
Fortunately, Jimbo had enough corn, oats and soybeans stored to get us through the
winter. While it was unseasonably cold, we had experienced worse winters. I don’t re-
member when, but Jimbo claimed we did. We couldn’t plant a garden either, but we
didn’t need to, we could use up some of the home canned food and we did have three
freezers nearly full of meat.

Jill suggested that we go to the Hy-Vee store in Bethany and get one of their three meat
saws so we could cut and wrap meat when it came time to slaughter. She’d leave a
note explaining to the meat department manager that we had the saw and would return
it when requested to do so. We also got their grinder, slicer, tenderizer and a few
knives. Our biggest prize was the knife sharpener. We also took all the butcher paper
we could find.

Because of the attacks, we didn’t have elections last fall. The radio brought news of the
deaths in Washington; it appeared that we might be able start back up with a clean
slate, if and when they held elections. John McCain announced from his Sedona home
that he wasn’t interested. He was probably too old anyway, having turned 76 this year.
The country would probably do better without leadership than it did when it had it.

The pecking order was the federal government followed by the state government fol-
lowed by the local government. The federal government seemed to think that the 10th
Amendment didn’t apply to them; anyway, that’s the way they had acted for a very long
time. Karen said there were mixed opinions about when it started, but by the time of the
Civil War, it was securely entrenched. Iowa had fought in the Civil War and had fur-
nished 48 infantries the 1st through the 48th Infantry Regiments plus one Regiment of
African Americans. That war was a bad war from any viewpoint, brothers fighting broth-
ers, etc. Just across the street was the Confederacy, literally.

115
This time, however, we were united in a common cause, surviving in a PAW. We didn’t
need to salvage for quite some time, but decided to do so anyway, if we didn’t get the
salvage, someone else would and we intended to share what we could with others.
When the weather permitted, we could grow a substantial amount of food and it
wouldn’t be hard to split up the oat field into oats and wheat. Forty acres of wheat was
more than we could use. One could get the maximum yield by planting wheat in rows
7½” apart with 8 plants per foot of row. Theoretically, 64 bushels per acre or 2,560
bushels total. It took roughly 2¼ bushels of wheat to produce 100 pounds of flour.
Therefore we could, again theoretically, produce approximately 113,778 pounds of flour
from a 40 acre field. That was a whole lot of biscuits.

“Big town, small town, in between town?”

“I say we hit a big city. There are so many more resources available, Jim what do you
think?”

“Medium or larger, Will.”

“David?”

“I’m opposed to looting, just on principle, and calling it salvage doesn’t change it into
something that it isn’t.”

“We wouldn’t want you to violate your principles, feel free to stay here.”

“Thank you.”

“Jack?”

“Our best bet would be Des Moines and work our way down.”

“I’ll top off the pickup, hook up the trailer and we can take off, give me 30 minutes.”

“What are you taking for guns?”

“I’m taking the Tac-50, my Super Match and my Mossberg and three pistols.”

“Three? I thought all you had was the .45 and the .380.”

“We picked up Browning’s.”

“God Bless John Moses Browning.”

“You can add Garand to the list. We’d better take a few cans of gasoline and diesel fuel.
Want to hit grocery warehouses?”

116
“Nah, Hy-Vee only has two, one in Chariton and one in Cherokee.”

“But Chariton is closer than Des Moines, go to Osceola and turn west.”

“It would be nice if we could find a semi-tractor trailer rig. We don’t have much storage
space left.”

There were several trucks pulled up to Hy-Vee’s loading docks and the way bill indicat-
ed the cargos. Using their forklift, we removed some things and added others. The
trucks had full tanks so we wouldn’t need the cans of fuel we’d brought. We selected
bathroom tissue, feminine hygiene supplies, unrefrigerated canned hams, pasta, sauc-
es, boxed meals like Hamburger helper and about a truck load of canned goods. We
were able to break into the pharmacy storage and selected drugs I recognized plus all
of the bandages they had in stock.

When we finished we went back in and walked the aisles looking for anything we’d
missed. They were well organized with about 1 million ft². We did find some things we
missed, soft drinks, bottled water, tea bags, plus all of the flour, sugar, shortening and
vegetable oil they had. Did I mention the hams? We clean them out of the shelf stable
hams and canned tamales, one of my favorites, made by Hormel. We added a couple of
cartloads of spices and decided to leave and try to get back home by dark.

“Four truck loads? Will it all keep?”

“It’s all shelf-stable and should be good for at least a couple of years. We’ll sort through
the trailers tomorrow and deliver one truckload to the Hy-Vee in Bethany.”

After dinner, we were sitting around sipping some whiskey and discussing the day’s
events.

“We made out like bandits in Chariton.”

‘We should be able to fill the shelves in the Hy-Vee in Bethany.”

“Plus we did it without a shot being fired. I’ve been wondering something since the
nukes. Does anyone think the anthrax attack had any connection to the war?”

“I suppose that would depend on whether you believe it was a terrorist attack or a state
sponsored event. Although Karen has a point, it’s a reach to assume that they’d bother
with an anthrax attack it they were planning on a war.”

“You’re forgetting how that war got started. Iran attacked, Israeli bombed, Iran respond-
ed with nukes and then Israel replied with nukes. Russia attacked Israel and we backed
them up. Russia then launched a strike at the EU, China and the US. China retaliated
against the US and Russia.”

117
“But what if they weren’t expecting Iran to make that missile test?”

“That might explain it, provided Russia was the sponsor. It doesn’t matter; the GTW did
a lot more damage than the anthrax. There isn’t always an answer for every question,
fellas.”

“You’re the fanatical survivalist, where do we go from here?”

“We help where we can, we salvage whatever is available and we keep the home front
secure. We plant gardens and crops when the weather permits and we expand our live-
stock operation to its limits. I have two years’ worth of hybrid seed and two years’ worth
of non-hybrid plus fertilizer for 3-4 years. Combine that with the manure and we should
be okay.”

“When can my family and I return to our farm?”

“Anytime you choose Jimbo. With David to help, I can let Jim go if you need him. If Da-
vid can’t help, Jill can like she did growing up. I should have built a greenhouse, but I
didn’t believe a war would cause weather this cold.”

“Does that qualify as an oops?”

“I have rolls of plastic, all I need is framing.”

“Will one trip to the lumberyard be enough?”

“Should be.”

“I’ll talk to Marty if I can find him. Dirt floor, treated lumber for the bottom?”

“Should work. We can double up the plastic.”

“How big?”

“I don’t know, maybe 32’x48’.”

“I think he has 32’ trusses.”

“That would make it go faster. We’d need 25 of those and enough 2x4s to frame it.
Maybe a single or double door.”

“I’ll have to see what he has in stock. How are we going to pay him?”

“We have food, cash and if necessary, a small stock of gold and silver.”

“Want to ride along?”

118
“When are you going?”

“First thing in the morning. We can leave Jack, Jim and David to start sorting out the
contents of the trucks. The women may want a few of those things for our use.”

“You ready?”

“Let’s go.”

Jimbo and I chit chatted about nothing really until we got to Bethany. The interstate was
blocked north and south of the off ramps.

“What’s up? Why the road block?”

“Who are you mister and what do you want?”

“My name is Jim Ross and I live here. Who might you be?”

“Never you mind who I am, what do you want?”

“It that a radio?”

“Yessir.”

“Call in and tell them Jim Ross is at the road block and wants in.”

“He can’t be more than 18 or 19; they shouldn’t have a kid on a road block.”

“Not with an M16, they shouldn’t.”

“Okay, you can go directly to the Sheriff’s office.”

“George.”

“Jim. What brings you to town?”

“A couple of things. The kid you have on the roadblock didn’t know me. Why aren’t you
putting experienced Deputies on the road blocks?”

“We’re a bit short handed. He called in didn’t he?”

“He did. Look, you know Will, right? Married Karen.”

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“Oh that’s right; don’t see much of you Iowa boys. What can I do for the two of you?”

“It’s more like what we can do for each other, George. We need a load of lumber to
build a greenhouse. We have a load of food from the Hy-Vee warehouse in Chariton. If
we can get a greenhouse up, we can supply fresh food too.”

“You out on the farm?”

“We stayed in Will’s shelter up on his farm.”

“You don’t say. Real bomb shelter?”

“Pretty much. So, how about I go see Marty about the lumber and the Hy-Vee manager
about what food he needs.”

“Marty didn’t make it, Jim. I’ve seen the Hy-Vee guy around, but not for a couple of
days.”

“What about the lumber?”

“You won’t need a lot, right?”

“Some 2x4s and some trusses plus a couple of doors.”

“You can load it up and take it. We’ll work something out to offset it by the value of the
food you bring in.”

We got the name from the sticker on the door at the store. I didn’t know this new man-
ager. We looked him up in a phone book and went to his home.

“I’m Jim Ross and this is Will Sherman. Will’s sister Jill works for you.”

“What can I do for you fellas?”

“Give us a list of food you need to restock your shelves.”

“You have food?”

“Oh yeah. Just to make it look good, we’ll even deliver it in a Hy-Vee truck.”

“We’ll have to go to the store and get the inventory list. Then I’ll have to do a quick in-
ventory and that could take 2-3 hours.”

“We’ll meet you at the store in 3 hours then. You might want to double up on some of
the fast moving items.”

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“Now what?”

“We go to the lumberyard, load up and take it to your farm. We dump the load and bring
the truck back. That should give him enough time to get the inventory done.”

Jimbo did a fast count on the 2x4s and took a little extra. We loaded the trusses and two
pre-hung doors on the truck. Marty had sold lighting so we picked up all the 4’ double
bulb fluorescent fixtures he had in stock plus warm and cool white bulbs. We drove the
load up to the farm and used the loader to unload it. Then, we returned the truck to the
lumberyard, got my pickup and went to Hy-Vee.

“Did you get the list made up?”

“I just finished. You took some of the equipment from our meat department.”

“Only what we needed.”

“I’ll have it back now.”

“Okay, we’ll go after it.”

“Don’t you want the grocery list?”

“I won’t need it.”

“Why not?”

“I’m going to be too busy looking for a replacement meat saw and related equipment to
have time to deliver you any food.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“No, I’m going home to get your meat saw. See you in about an hour. If you’re not here,
I’ll just unload it in front of the store.”

Jimbo looked at me, but didn’t say anything. I headed for the pickup.

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

“Keep the meat saw. Here’s the list.”

“You were bluffing, weren’t you?” Jimbo asked on the way home.

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“I had a pair of Aces in the hole. Make it four Aces. Their records only show where Jill
and David live. I’d have taken the equipment back and let them wait a good long while
before we delivered any food. The Sheriff knows where I live, but he’d be out of his ju-
risdiction. We’d have given the same food as before but with just in time inventories, I
doubt they could have waited long.”

“That’s cold.”

“Karen accused me of the same thing concerning Jill. Jimbo I have to put the interest of
my family and the interests of our small group ahead of any feelings I may have in the
matter. It’s like that thing Karen occasionally reminds me of, remembering history.”

“How long will it take to put together their order?”

“We’ll just have to see how Jack, Jim and David are doing.”

Jack, Jim and David had managed to empty two trailers and were well into a third. They
sat the goods on some of the plastic I had stored. I gave them the list to load on trailer
and Jimbo and I shot two steers and four hogs. We skinned then and let them hang to
cool off. When they were cool enough, I used a saw to split the carcasses in half.

“That’s going to have to do; I’m not sure where you break them down from here.”

“We’ll have to take it in tomorrow. It’s too late to do it today.”

It was eleven the next morning before we had the goods sorted and loaded. We added
the animal carcasses last and headed for Bethany. When we arrived at the roadblock,
we told the Deputy to call the Sheriff and ask him to get the store manager and meet us
at Hy-Vee.

“It took longer than I thought. The last things we loaded were 4 sides of beef and 8
sides of pork. We’ll just leave the truck here and you can unload it as you see fit. The
meat was freshly killed yesterday, so you may want to age it yourselves.”

“We can buy live animals and butcher them ourselves, provided you have some to sell.”

“We’ll see.”

“Well, I believe we may have a few. The Sheriff knows where I live and can send some-
one up when you want some. Keep in mind, it won’t be a lot by your usual standards, I
only raise around 30-40 head of beef a year and around 600 hogs.”

“The meat isn’t tainted by radiation is it?”

“My livestock had their own bomb shelter.”

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 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 13

“I almost believe that,” George chuckled.

“See for yourself, Sheriff.”

“You didn’t mention the livestock I raise.”

“I can’t speak for you Jimbo. You culled your herds and will have to build them back up.”

“It won’t take long to build the hogs back up and about half of the calves born should be
heifers. All the more reason for us to move back to my farm. We’ll stay to help with the
greenhouse and then we’re gone.”

The construction didn’t take long and we started by moving the livestock. Next, we
moved a good store of food and finally, they left. Jill and David moved from the house
they were using to the larger mobile home that Jimbo and Susan had used.

We emptied a propane tank and hauled it down south, installed it and refilled it. We also
took one of the generators down so they had power. We had to replace the generator,
so we made a trip back to Des Moines. The tank was the easy part, the generator took
longer and we ended up with an RS20000. The home was, at the moment, a spare;
however, I’d lost my hired hand and wasn’t sure David would make much of a farmer.

Jack, David and I finished sorting the trailer contents and redistributing the loads after
taking anything we could use. Jack was on board concerning security, but David said he
probably couldn’t shoot someone.

“You’ll get over that about three seconds after they shoot at you. If you don’t, you’ll most
likely end up dead. You need to practice until you can shoot the eye out of a butterfly at
100-yards and aiming and shooting become second nature.”

“You’re freak of nature Will. Nobody should have that level of skills except a soldier.”

“What do you think I learned in boot camp? They don’t really teach that in boot camp
and you learn the first time someone takes a shot at you. If you’ve honed your instincts,
you react and walk away intact. I saw a lot of guy’s puke the first time it happened to
them. Would you rather puke your guts up or die?”

“But this is America, those thing don’t happen here.”

“This is PAW America and they will happen. Probably to a lesser extend in this area, but
they will happen. You work with Jill until defending yourself and your family becomes
second nature.”

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We sold the remaining barrows a few at a time and did the same with the steers. We
bred 44 sows/gilts and 40 cows/heifers. We also bred the mares as there seemed to be
a market for both draft horses and saddle horses. A dairy in Bethany asked for our milk
and was willing to pay for it in gold and silver.

“If nothing else, you’re going to die rich.”

“Very rich, I hope, I’m not ready to die anytime soon. We’re down to the final trailer load
of food for Bethany; I wonder what they will do after that?”

“I’d imagine they buy all the vegetables we can grow, most if not all of the meat and
wheat, if you get a crop in next year.”

“They’ll probably buy any excess hay, corn and beans too. How about Maid Rites for
supper, it’s been a while.”

“Ok, I’ll form some of the bread into buns.”

“Make extra and we can freeze them, I might want breaded pork tenderloins soon, too.
Thaw two packages and I’ll invite Jack and Sally over.”

“I’ll have to make some fries from scratch.”

“You peel and I’ll push.”

We had acquired a wall mounted French fry cutter with two sizes of blades, ¼” and ⅜”. I
could cut up 20 pound of fries in just a few minutes. They fell into a stainless steel pail,
were washed and dried then pre-cooked. I’d first seen a wall mounted cutter in a restau-
rant across from the ISU campus. Run by a Greek family, if I recall correctly; can’t re-
member the name, Campus Café?

“We’ll just do enough for tonight Will, they’re better because we have no way to sharp
freeze them.”

“I’ll go ask Jack and Sally and cut them when I get back.”

“Jack would Sally and you like to come over for Maid Rites and fries tonight?”

“Genuine Maid Rites?”

“Bought the meat from the restaurants in Des Moines.”

“Sally?”

“Sounds good to me.”

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“Come over anytime, we working on it. The meat will take about an hour to be ready.”

“Care for a drink?”

“What do you have?”

“Homemade whiskey, several years old. Bottled it at around 6 years.”

“I could do with a taste, what do you have for mix?”

You name it, we probably have it.”

“Squirt?”

“Got that.”

“What about you Sally?”

“The same.”

“Karen, we’re having drinks. What can I get you?”

“Myers and Coke?”

The Maid Rite was steaming, the French fries pre-cooked and everything was ready as
soon as the meat was done. We had time to sit down and enjoy a drink or two and visit.
Jack had sold his share of guns in the day, but I was his largest customer. He suggest-
ed that the ammo was a good investment because it was a military caliber and aside
from military sources could become scare. He thought maybe I could get $100 a battle
pack, that’s what he’d ask. He thought the GTW would make all the difference. It was
still cheaper than some of the ammo available 4 years before. While Jack no longer had
the quantity of ammo we had, he had enough he could sell some, if need be.

We had three kids sitting on booster chairs and the fourth in the high chair. To make life
easier, Karen feed them first and put on a Disney movie. Jillian wasn’t a bit happy about
that, due to her age no doubt.

Are you wondering what’s become of Uncle John and Jack? They went together and
built their own shelter. They’re around and working John’s farm. When I last checked,
their operation was larger than ours by at least 50%. They already had a greenhouse
and had raised food the first summer after the attack and again after that crop was har-
vested. They were selling their production in Lamoni and Osceola. Food tastes must run

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in the family, they had a freezer dedicated to nothing but Maid Rite meat and tender-
loins.

They were prepared as much as a family could be security wise. I wouldn’t have select-
ed AR15s, 870s or Ruger GP100 revolvers for myself, but different strokes for different
folks, I suppose. Fortunately they had magazine extensions for the shotguns and speed
loaders for the revolvers. There’s nothing wrong with the .357 magnum cartridge and
they had 158gr Gold Dot ammo. I can’t imagine what they were thinking of when they
bought the Bushmaster A3s, 20" A3 Chrome Lined Barrel Target Rifles in pre-ban con-
figuration. Jack (Smith) laughed and said they had insisted on the rifles and even had
him get bayonets.

They quit making real bayonets sometime during WW II. I could have put national match
flashhiders on the rifles with bayonet lugs, or had Jack do it, but the bayonet was a
stubby little thing, not worth the effort. When I mentioned it to him, he asked if I wanted
to do all 8 rifles or just the 6 Standard models. I told him you didn’t need a bayonet on a
sniper rifle and he came out with 6 flashhiders and 6 M1942 bayonets with the 16”
blades. He said the M1905 bayonets had wood handles and these were brown plastic
grips, parkerized and poorly finished. They were manufactured by Wilde Drop Forge
and Tool Company, Kansas City, MO (WT). The best part was he installed the new
flashhiders and gave me the bayonets for no charge.

“No charge?”

“That’s what he said.”

“Did you get them for the Super Match rifles?”

“Why would a sniper need a bayonet? The idea is not to get too close to the target.”

“Why if they spotted you and snuck around behind your back?”

“They either kill you or you’d spot them and shoot them.”

“You have that knife sharpener from Hy-Vee, couldn’t you sharpen them?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I can’t remember why I asked.”

“Getting old are we?”

“If I’m old, I guess I don’t need to wear my Sexy Little Things Lace peek-a-boo babydoll,
anymore.”

“You still have that?”

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“Yes and it still fits.”

She was right. Despite our having four kids, her weight was within 1-2 pounds of what it
was when we’d met. I suppose I’d put on 5 pounds, but didn’t have a gut. Somehow
we’d gone from discussing bayonets on sniper rifles to bedroom talk. She was clever
that way. I ended up telling Jack we wanted bayonets on the Super Match rifles. He said
he was out of M1942 bayonets, but he had two M1905s he could modify. I got out the
grocery store knife sharpener (a modified belt sander) and put a good edge on the first
6 bayonets.

In a way, the 100 plus years old bayonets made sense. They were of a higher quality
and had been manufactured by the original Springfield Armory and the Rock Island Ar-
mory. These weren’t Parkerized, either. The leather sheaths had seen better days so I
took an animal skin and tanned it. I made new sheaths from the leather. Karen was very
happy and I counted my blessings.

With the new improvised greenhouse, we were able to grow garden crops. We were
careful over what we planted. We put in iceberg lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, radishes
and red cabbage so we could have salads. We also planted a row of sweet corn which
needs no explanation. Although we had potatoes left, having as many people as we had
before and continued to have led us to add those and onions. To satisfy any craving for
Mexican fare, we put in Anaheim chili peppers and plum tomatoes. We both liked
squash and we had acorn and butternut. Karen would eat summer squash but I’d rather
die than eat it.

David showed his mettle when he started puttering around in the greenhouse. He
seemed to have a green thumb and it was like Manna from Heaven; even he could pull
his own weight. He could be useful for other things, too. He didn’t like it, but he got to
muck out the stalls in the barn. He started a project composting the manure to use in his
greenhouse. Composting manure requires that it be turned, so it became a running joke
to say David was out playing in his manure pile. We had more manure than we had
composting bins, allowing us to accumulate it for application to the field the following
year.

Man, was it quiet. We had no traffic on 100th street for days on end. Sometime in Au-
gust, a Deputy from Leon went from farm to farm conducting a census of the survivors.
He saw the greenhouse, of course, and wondered aloud whether we had food to sell. I
had to explain that we were only growing a few crops, the unseasonable vegetables and
fruit (tomatoes). I went on to say that my uncle John was providing food to Lamoni and
even Osceola. He hadn’t been there yet, but he’d be sure to look him up.

I got on the amateur radio and called my uncle to give him a heads up. He told me that
they had more customers than food and until they could plant an outdoor garden it

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would remain that way. I explained back that the Deputy had really perked up when I
mentioned he was supplying Lamoni and Osceola. If that would cause him a problem,
call and let us know and we drive up and provide support.

He wanted to know how we were making out and I told him that Jill and I had buried the
hatchet and that her husband turned out to be useful because he was quite the garden-
er. I added that the former owner of his favorite gun store had moved onto the farm. He
asked about Jimbo and Susan and I told him they’d returned to Missouri and in the pro-
cess I’d lost my hired hand.

Since the ground wasn’t frozen hard, I plowed and Jack disked the 160 for corn, the 160
for beans, and the 80 we planned to put in wheat (triticum) and oats (avena sativa). In
the storage building, there were two varieties of wheat, hard white and durum. We could
alternate and make pasta flour one year and bread flour the next plus enough heirloom
oats and corn for two plantings. I couldn’t remember the last time we were done plowing
and disking by mid-August. The pile of manure that David couldn’t use had been spread
on the intended corn field prior to plowing. For that little task, Jack used the loader and I
spread the manure.

“Jack and I are going to take that trailer down to Bethany. Did you get everything you
want out of it?”

“I believe I did.”

“You cleaned out the toilet paper, right?”

“I thought you did.”

“Jack and I will unload it and put it in the storage building. There are some of those thirty
packs of Charmin like we got at Costco.”

“You never see those in grocery stores.”

“I think they break them down to the six packs so they can charge more.”

“Will it be hard to unload? I can help if Sally watches the kids.”

“It was the last thing we put on the truck when we sorted it. No, we won’t need help.”

It took us about twenty minutes to unload the Charmin and move it to storage. I was a
bit concerned about the reaction in Bethany when I told them this was the last trailer
load. We had simply dropped off the previous tractors and trailers and if they wanted to
go to Chariton, they had the resources. We had extracted a consideration for every

128
truckload of food. In my humble opinion, the consideration represented a charge for our
labor and the risk we took going to Chariton.

“That’s the last trailer load we have. You have four rigs so you can go to Chariton and
get more, if that’s your choice.”

“Is that where this all came from? Where do you get off selling us stolen food?”

“It wasn’t stolen, it was salvaged. There’s big difference between the two. Besides, con-
sidering what we received in exchange for the loads, it was nothing more than a han-
dling charge for taking the risk of going to Chariton. Let me ask something. If you take a
truck or two up there and get more, what will you call it, salvaging or looting?”

“That’s different.”

“How it that different?”

“Because I work for Hy-Vee.”

“Does Hy-Vee pay their drivers wages?”

“Of course, why?”

“Consider our small charges as being labor costs.”

Well, not so small they could be an hourly wage, I’ll admit. Plus, we took a portion of the
goods on the trucks as compensation. On the other hand, they didn’t know that and we
had no intention of enlightening them.

On the 14th of September, we had two visitors driving an old beater of a pickup. They
looked pretty rough, needing haircuts, shaves and clean clothes to begin with. Each had
a shotgun standing up between them.

“Watch it, they may have handguns.”

“You take the passenger and I’ll take the driver.”

I slipped my P-14 from the holster and held it behind my right leg and Jack did the
same. Our Super Match rifles were slung.

“Help you?”

“We’re looking for food.”

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“I’m sorry, but we’re barely getting by. The plants in our greenhouse aren’t ready to har-
vest and we’ve used much of our stored food.”

“But not all, right?”

“We still have a little but it’s just enough to get by. We have three families living here.”

“I only see the two of you; what are you, father and son?”

“He’s Smith, I’m Jones.”

Looking across the passenger compartment of the pickup, I could see Jack pickup and
smile just a little. When I diverted my glance, the driver came up with a cheap .22 re-
volver and pointed it straight at my chest.

“Whoa, wait a minute, what’s that all about?”

“You still have food, we don’t.”

“That’s a big gun you have there.”

“Put your rifles on the ground. Do you have a handgun?”

“No I don’t have one (I have 3).”

I unslung my rifle and lowered it to the ground by the sling careful to not damage it.
Once they thought they had us disarmed, they began climbing out of the pickup and
walked right into a pair of P-14s. Two shots center mass, one apiece, resolved that con-
flict.

“I sure wish they hadn’t done that.”

“Why not?”

“Because… now I have to clean my gun.”

“What do you want to do with them?”

“Help me throw them in the back of their pickup. I’ll get my Jeep and you can follow me.
We’ll drive across the state line a ways and drop them off.”

“Do you want those guns?”

“Let’s see what they have.”

“Two single shot shotguns and the H&R revolver.”

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“Shotguns loaded?”

“I’ll check.”

“Nope, both empty. How many rounds in the revolver?”

I opened it and looked. “Five rounds.”

“They asked for it. Two empty shotguns and a .22 revolver with only five shots. They
must have been desperate.”

“What brand are the shotguns?”

“Same brand, H&R. Not a bad shotgun, but cheap, really cheap.”

“Let’s keep the guns, maybe we can trade them off.”

“If you can find someone dumb enough, maybe.”

“The revolver has a removable cylinder.”

“It’s a model 922 H&R and would be okay to plink with but don’t use hyper velocity car-
tridges. They used a malleable frame until around 1953.”

“High velocity okay?”

“Yes, no problem.”

Like I said, I got my jeep and we drove about half way to Bethany, drove across the
median and parked the pickup on the north bound lane. Jack got in the Jeep and we got
the hell out of Dodge fast. I don’t know about Jack, but I figure we got lucky that time. It
could have been a problem if we’d slung the rifles muzzle up on our strong side instead
muzzle down on our weak side. The muzzle down position is generally only used when
it’s raining. It turned out to be a damned good idea not to block our pistol hands.

“What was all the shooting about?”

“It was just a couple of guys with their hands out.”

“Did you give them some food?”

“Nope, we killed them.”

“Why?”

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“The hand was holding a revolver. The guy had us cold.”

“What did you do?”

“What he said to do; put our rifles on the ground.”

“And?”

“Jack and I had our P-14s out and held behind our right legs. When they got out, we let
them have it, one round, center mass. God do I love Gold Dot.”

“What did you do then?”

“Collected their guns and drove the bodies about halfway to Bethany and left the pickup
on the northbound side of the road.”

“Good guns?”

“I might keep the revolver for plinking and trade off the shotguns. I sure this was an iso-
lated incident and not a sign of the times. In a PAW, most authors seem to think being
in a survival mode is more than simply having shelter and food. They suggest you end
up fighting to keep what you have. If those two were an example of we’re going to be up
against, no problem. Otherwise, we could have a big problem when a large force of bad
guys armed to the teeth shows up and wants to takes us on. We don’t have enough
people to have real security.”

I discussed the security problem I foresaw with Jack and David. Jack was quick to
agree that even if all the wives pitched in it would only be six against how many. David
started to say something and realized the implications of what Jack and I were saying.
About then I do believe he would have volunteered to babysit so Karen could fight. He
did that thing with his shoulders, raising them and pushing them back that you see men
to do signifying that they have some spine.

When he did open his mouth to speak, he pointed out that at least we had an empty
mobile home and could possibly find someone willing to help in exchange for a place to
stay and food. I didn’t know whether to crap or go blind. I’d seen this same thing come
over people in Iraq and once they showed the spine, they didn’t go back for fear of hu-
miliating themselves. Next he dropped a name, Gene Young.

“I’d be willing to bet that Gene Young would be willing to come here and help out. Mar-
ried guy, early 30’s 3 kids and his wife was expecting. Lives near Bethany, ex-Army or
Marine, no he was a Marine. Semper Fi and all that crap is a Marine, right?”

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 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 14

“That’s their motto, Semper Fidelis.”

“He was in Iraq 3 times, I think. I may be remembering wrong, but it seems like he did 3
9-month tours. By the way, he agrees with everything you say about the M16 and M4.
He was a Designated Marksman and used a specially modified M14.”

“They are similar to the M21,” Jack said. “Sally’s rifle is a Super Match too. She has the
Harris bipod and the Surefire suppressor, same as I do. The optics on her rifle are the
same as the ones you have Will. The only thing missing is the adjustable stock. If he
came, he’d need Match grade ammo.”

“I don’t have a shortage of Black Hills, that’s for sure. It seems like every time we shot
up one 500-round case, we’d replace it with two.”

“So where do you know this guy from?”

“From work.”

“Just exactly where did you work?”

“Wal-Mart. Gene was a fulltime employee who farmed at night and on weekends. I know
he has some firearms, because he bought them from the store. We didn’t sell anything
like those M1As you have and I don’t know if he could have afforded one if we did.”

“Where does he live? Rural Route Bethany, Missouri doesn’t really tell us much.”

“I don’t know, I never been to his farm.”

“Jimbo, got your ears on?”

“This is Susan, Jim is in the barn.”

“Ask him to call me when he gets in. I’m looking to locate a part time farmer named
Gene Young. All I know about him is that he worked full time for Wal-Mart in Bethany
and farmed evenings and weekends. If it helps, he was a Marine.”

“You had trouble?”

“Nothing we couldn’t handle. Two guys showed up with empty shotguns and a $30 re-
volver and tried to take on Jack and me.”

“How far did they get?”

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“Got the drop on us, but we got them. It’s a long story that I don’t want to broadcast over
a radio.”

“Will, got your ears on?”

“Been waiting, must have caught you just when you started milking.”

“Milking was done, we had a mare foal. Gene Young, you say?”

“That’s the name I was given. David says he worked full time at Wal-Mart and did 3
tours in Iraq as a Marine.”

“I think I know who you mean. Why don’t you three drive down here tomorrow and we’ll
go look him up. I don’t want to put the directions on the radio and I want to hear in per-
son about those bad guys.”

“Nine okay?”

“Perfect.”

“I’m clear.”

“Me, too.”

When we arrived the following morning, Jack and I had to explain about the dead
would-be thieves, how they got the drop on us and how we managed to prevail. About
thirty questions later, Jimbo understood our thinking about asking Mr. Young and family
to move into the empty home. When David pointed out that the guy was a DM, Jimbo
wanted to know if we had a good rifle for him. Jack mentioned Sally’s rifle and said
while it didn’t have an adjustable stock, he had the M1A/M14 tactical strap-on cheek
pad made by Smith Enterprises available.

“Well, if he’s who I think he is, it’s about 4 miles to his farm. He’s farming a 160 and the
only livestock I know he has is chickens.”

“Grain farmer?”

“That’s right, corn and soybeans. His equipment is older than dirt and I’ve sometimes
wondered how he keeps it running.”

“Have you met him?”

“Not that I can recall. Why don’t you follow me?”

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It was a short drive to the farm, taking 6-7 minutes and when we pulled in, a fella just a
little younger than me stepped out of the door holding a shotgun. I also notice a flap
holster hanging from a pistol belt and a pair of those surplus canvas magazine pouches.
When he saw David his posture relaxed, but not much.

“Gene, I see you made it through the war.”

“I made a quick improvised shelter in the basement, David. Don’t think we got much ra-
diation, but only time will tell. What’s up? Something I can do for you?”

"The fella on my left is Will Sherman, my brother-in-law. The man to my right is Jack
Smith, a gun dealer from Des Moines. The other fella is one of your neighbors, Jim
Ross. We three are living at Will’s place just across the Iowa line. At my suggestion, we
came to see if you might be interested in moving up to Will’s farm.”

“Why don’t you come in and we’ll talk it over?”

“Honey, this is David Merrill who I worked with at Wal-Mart; that fella is Will Sherman,
that man is Jack Smith and the other fella one of our neighbor’s Jim Ross. Gentlemen,
my wife Rose. They’re here to talk to us about moving to Iowa.”

Rose was at that stage of her pregnancy where she was really uncomfortable, probably
due in 2-3 weeks. She took a chair and Gene got us empty cups and the coffee pot
which he set on a trivet.

“Help yourself to the coffee. Got some creamer and sugar around here somewhere.
Now please explain what you have in mind.”

I spoke first. “I understand that you did 3 tours in the sandbox, I was Army National
Guard and only did one. David says you were a DM. Marines in general are riflemen so
you must have been above average to earn a DM slot.”

“I can generally hit what I aim at. A DM is not the same as a sniper.”

“Why is that?”

“Snipers have more field craft and usually shoot at longer ranges.”

“Ever shoot a .50 cal rifle?”

“Once or twice; why do you have a Barrett?”

“Two McMillan Tac-50s. We have 750gr A-MAX and Mk 211 MP.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

135
“Thirty-nine and a fraction cans of the Raufoss and a whole lot of ball. The wife and I
have Springfield Armory Super Match rifles and so do Jack and his wife Sally. We’d
have a Super Match for you to use should you decide to move up to my farm.”

“So what’s the catch?”

“We have housing for four families, but only have three families living there. We had a
minor bit of trouble a day or two back with two men looking for food. We realized that
when it comes to security, we’re shorthanded. David brought up your name and here we
are.”

“How are you supplied with food, you seem to have enough guns?”

“We have more food than guns, I assure you. My herd is up to 40 sows and 40 cows
plus we have a large herd of saddle and draft horses. There’s no shortage of chicken,
either. We produce biodiesel and ethanol and have two vehicles converted to run on
pure ethanol while the others are diesel except for one old utility tractor.”

“My old clunker burns gas and I’m all but out of gas.”

“We have more than enough equipment and can farm by tractor or use horse drawn
equipment that I got from the Amish folks near Lamoni. You wouldn’t be any further
away from the Harrison County Community Hospital for when the baby comes.”

“Do you want an answer right now?”

“I’m sure Rose and you would like to talk it over. I know that my wife Karen wouldn’t like
me making a decision like this without consulting her.”

Rose had a bit of an expectant look on her face. I could tell that she wanted to say
something but was holding back. Gene noticed it too.

“Would you excuse us for a moment? Rose and I would like to have a word.”

They left the room and Jimbo made like he was looking in the refrigerator for creamer
for his coffee. He held the door wide open to show a nearly empty refrigerator and then
closed the door and sat back down. Not only was it empty, it wasn’t running although
the kitchen light was on. There was a hand cranked grinder on the counter and part of a
bag of popcorn from Sam’s Club sitting on the floor next to the refrigerator. I’m not say-
ing that all they had to eat was corn meal, but little other food was in evidence. Gene
and Rose returned to the kitchen and sat down.

“We have a decision, but that will depend on you answer to one question. Are you a
prepper or survivalist?”

“Yes. Why would that be important?”

136
“Whether you are or are not wasn’t important, only your answer was. Had you said no,
I’d have told you I had to check out your operation including wherever you stayed while
there was fallout. Had I found out you’d lied, I’d have said the deal was off. I could care
less, provided you aren’t out to overthrow the government, if we still have a govern-
ment.”

“The government has done a good job of overthrowing itself. I have nothing to add to
that mess. My goal is to provide for my family and the good folks that live and work on
my farm. If someone comes to our farm and tries something I think they shouldn’t, I’ll
fight them with every ounce of strength in my body.”

“Anyway, our answer is yes. Is the house furnished?”

“No, it’s not beyond a stove, refrigerator and a generator with propane.”

“Do you think what little furniture we have would fit in your two pickups and my old
one?”

“We can try. If we can’t get it all, we’ll come back for the rest and bring my trailer if nec-
essary.”

“Rose, go pack the kids clothes and I’ll pack ours. Fellas, would you just start loading
furniture?”

The four of us didn’t take over an hour to load everything they had. Part of that was be-
cause they didn’t have much and part of it was we’d learned how to pack really well
when we brought the furniture to the homes in the beginning and later moved Jim and
Susan’s back. I got on the radio in my pickup and suggested that Karen be prepared to
serve a good hot meal to a group of hungry people, explaining about the apparent lack
of food. She said she had a large pot of homemade beef soup with vegetables going
and she’d baked bread.

If they had been on short rations, it might be a good idea to start the family on soup an-
yway and I was willing to bet that a bowl of soup, a slice of bread and a glass of milk
would be about all their children could handle. The kids were 6, 4 and 2, stair steps, and
all boys. Their names were Gene Jr., Ryan and Neal.

The pickup with the dead guys in back was missing from I-35. I didn’t much think about
it on the way down and can’t say whether it was there or not, but it was gone when we
drove north. All of the beds were on Jim’s pickup so when we arrived at the farm, we
unloaded them first. He headed home and we went in to see about getting the Young
family something to eat. After they ate, the kids fell asleep on the sofa and we finished
putting the furniture in the home. Karen came by with a box of food she said was just for
breakfast and we’d see about getting them set up tomorrow.

137
Jack got Sally’s rifle, the cheek pad and a box of magazines. I went after a case of
Black Hill 175gr BTHP match. I thought that Gene had a M1911 and he did, in a manner
of speaking, it was a Springfield Armory 1911A1 GI .45 High Capacity Model. It was
loaded with FMJ ammo. I returned home and got a second case of Black Hills and two
boxes of Gold Dot (100 rounds). It would take 65 rounds just to fill his magazines. I told
them that we were having dessert and if they wanted, they could have dessert and cof-
fee before we helped them get their kids home and in bed.

“Would you mind giving me a tour, tonight?”

“Not at all; let me caution you, you might see a few surprises.”

We went to the basement and he got a firsthand look at some of the food we had. I
showed Gene how to access the tunnel to the shelter and pointed out the surprises
stacked along the wall of the tunnel.

“Where did you get those? The Army went to the M136 AT-4 and only the Corps uses
them.”

“The Army resumed using them in Iraq. They also discontinued the M-61 and I have
about 250 of those plus the same number of M-67s and Mk3A2 concussion. There is
every color of smoke, including Willy Pete. You can see the Raufoss and the open can
is in my gun closet in the shelter. I have magazines already loaded for both Tac-50 ri-
fles.”

“Where are your M16s?”

“I don’t have any because I do not like them. As far as I’m concerned, they’re a Piece Of
Sh*t rifle that will get you killed quicker than a hand grenade. Standard load out is 210
rounds. By the time you go through that many rounds, you have to open it and lube the
crap out of it. Three more magazines and you’re up the creek. We do have 5.56 rifles,
but they’re Mini-14s with 30 round magazines. Our principal firearm is the Springfield
Armory M1A.”

“What’s the ammo in the cans?”

“South African surplus, I bought a pallet load of sixty 1,260-round cans. That’s 75,000
rounds.”

“Where are the machineguns?”

“Don’t have any. Probably should, they can’t lock me up any longer than they can now
with the Raufoss, grenades and LAWs. They probably have them at Camp Dodge, but I
didn’t go looking.”

138
“Even one machinegun might make the difference if the farm were attacked by a large
force. Two would be better, the main gun and a backup in case it failed.”

“What would you recommend?”

“Mike 240 Bravo. A heavy machinegun is just that, heavy. Figure around 175 pounds for
gun, tripod and some ammo. The Mike 240 Bravo, while crew served, can get by with a
single operator from a fixed position. I said Bravo because it has the pintle mount and
can be fired from a tripod.”

“They’re issued with two barrels and we’d need a fair amount of ammo. We could save
the links and link some of that SA, but that would be awfully time consuming.”

“I sleep on it and come up with something. What did you do in the Army?”

“Mostly drove a M1114. Got switched around twice, but I started for a Sergeant whose
father wrote Patriot Fiction. That’s what got me started into preparing. My Dad and sis-
ter were in an accident on the way to pick me up at Camp Dodge the day we got home.
We got the farm essentially free and clear without estate taxes and one hell of a chunk
of insurance. On top of that, I was single and had saved a bunch of money to buy a new
car when I got home. A whole lot of money went into firearms, accessories and ammo. I
kept my Jeep and Dad had a Ford F-550 pickup I ended up with. My sister and I had a
falling out and she sold me her half of the farm for book value or about 20 cents or less
on the dollar.”

“How big is the farm?”

“It’s a full section with about 540 acres arable. We have 400 acres in beans and corn,
60 acres of alfalfa hay, 80 acres of oats and 100 acres that was too hilly to farm. I
planned to plant the oat field 50/50 in oats and wheat. You’ll get free housing, food, fuel
and a fair wage. We have a good water supply and a two year stock of seed and fertiliz-
er plus more manure than we can use. At any given time there are between 80 and 120
cattle, 40 sows and about 400 plus pigs. We have two 5 year old draft teams and their
foals. We started the saddle horse operation with 5 bred mares and a stallion and that
herd has tripled. The original horses were trained to both harness and saddle and I
might try and get the Amish breeder I bought them from to lend a hand to train the rest.”

“I’ve got 160 and the soil has been overworked. It’s been hard to get good yields and
I’m barely making the mortgage payments. Without working at Wal-Mart we’d have lost
the place. Wouldn’t be the first I suppose, but I’ve put every free hour in the place trying
to make a go of it.”

“How big is your loan?”

“Right at fifty.”

139
“What would it take to make it work?”

“Seed, fertilizer, good weather and good yields for a change.”

“How have you been planting?”

“Everything out of the homestead itself is either in beans or corn.”

“Seventy some acres of each?”

“Eighty corn and whatever is left in beans.”

“While you’re thinking about security, I’ll be thinking about what I can do to help with
your farm. You can pretty much figure that Wal-Mart will be a long time reopening.”

“Jimbo, will you be home tomorrow?”

“Have a problem?”

“In a way, yes and I need your advice.”

“Okay, same bat channel, same bat time.”

“Okay you’re here, what the problem?”

“Gene’s farm and his low yields.”

“He probably needs some combination of potash, lime and anhydrous ammonia.”

“Is there any way to find out?”

“We could take samples and ask the Extension Service to test them. I thought you
wanted him on your farm.”

“I do, but if he could get his farm to produce some good crops, he could pay off the
mortgage. I could supply the seed and some fertilizer, depending on what he needed.”

“The previous owner used manure only and never had the soil tested once. Getting that
farm up to speed could get expensive; does he have the money?”

“I doubt it, but Karen and I are rather well off and I could guarantee his loan with bank,
to keep the pressure off until he could produce one crop of nothing but heirloom seeds.”

“Non-hybrids? They would put him in the seed corn/beans business.”

140
“Can you think of a better idea?”

“Not off the top of my head.”

“Let’s go get the samples and take them to Bethany.”

We had the test results in a week. They were quite specific, outlining the soil treatments
required. Jim said we could use his tractor, plow and disk once we had the soil treated. I
had to provide the diesel fuel, chemicals, etc. We incorporated the potash and lime and
Jim Jr. did the plowing. I lined up a supply of anhydrous for half the land or about 77
acres at the recommended rate of application. Finally I went to talk to Gene’s banker
with Gene in tow.

“I’ve been working on Gene’s farm and except for the application in the spring it should
produce very good yields. Gene needs time to plant, raise and harvest the crops. I
came to guarantee his loan.”

“How do you propose to do that?”

“Well, I could put up my farm for security, but I don’t want to do that. I could deposit a
sum equal to the loan balance in a high interest saving account. My last choice would
be to buy up the loan, at a discount.”

“How much would you pay?”

“How much would you get if you decided to factor the loan?”

“Bank loans aren’t typically factored. That’s more a tool for selling accounts receivable.”

“Okay, I’m not an expert on factoring, but how much would you sell the loan for, in
cash?”

“Maybe 95%.”

“I was thinking more like 75%”

“I don’t see how we could go below 90%.”

“I don’t see how I could go over 80%.”

“Eighty- five; subject to the approval of the directors.”

141
“I’ll hold the offer open two days. The terms will be cash and I’ll want a lien release on
the title.”

“What did you just do?”

“I think I bought your loan for 85 cents on the dollar. That will leave an approximate bal-
ance of $42,500. You should be able to pay me off in a year or two. Jim Ross Jr. has
your fields all plowed and will disk and drag in the spring. It’s costing me the fuel and
labor, but with you working here, I’ll benefit more than you will.”

“I left the thermostat set at 55°. I hope we don’t run out of propane.”

“We’ll get the delivery truck and top your tank off. You’ll find that we invested some
thought in our actions after we came out of the shelter.”

“Rose won’t be much help.”

“You’d be surprised, Gene. She can watch our 4 kids freeing up Karen. Karen is an ex-
tremely competent marksman.”

“But Jack gave me his wife’s rifle.”

“And I’ll give her a Standard model M1A to replace it, if Jack doesn’t already have a re-
placement.”

“So, everything is ready for spring, provided we have a spring?”

“Just so. You’re helping us with our short one coming and in return, we’ll use you’re 160
for grain crops, if spring does indeed come.”

“Does anyone know how much you’ve accumulated?”

“Most of it came from Jack or a guy I knew in the Iowa National Guard. The Ross family
knows, of course, and the guy who bought out Jack’s store. That’s about it, we don’t ad-
vertise.”

“Does either Sheriff know anything? That could mean trouble.”

“The only thing the Sheriff of Decatur County knows is that we have CCWs. The only
thing the Sheriff of Harrison County knows is that we supplied four trailer loads of food
to the Hy-Vee store in Bethany. Like I said before, we don’t advertise; I hate like the
dickens to have any authority figure show up and demand we turn over what we have
‘for the good of the community’.”

142
 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 15

“What about the Amish? They know what you have.”

“Only so far as the horses and horse drawn implements.”

“Are they Older order Amish or the German Group from the Amana Colonies?”

“I don’t know, is it important?”

“I suppose not. Do you have a range here? I’d like to check the sighting on the rifle.”

“I’ll get my rifle, some ammo and I’ll show you where we shoot.”

“Bring a Tac-50; I’d like to work with one of those.”

“Karen, do you mind if I let Gene use your Tac-50?”

“Be my guest. His wife Rose is close to popping, it could be any day now.”

“At the first sign of labor, we’d better get her to the hospital in Bethany. I’ll let him shoot
your rifle, but I doubt there will be any changes to the sights.”

As a practical matter, I selected only the magazines containing the A-MAX. We had
more of it than we did Mk 211 and I thought that in a pinch the A-MAX would be easier
to replace. Had I not bought the pallet of SA surplus, it would not have seemed that we
had so much ammo, I was generally following TOMs rule of 5,000-round per rifle.

We had a good session on the range. Gene was a distinguished shot and I tried my
best to match his performance. I didn’t, but I came close. His personal shotgun was a
Mossberg 590 but not the Marine Corps version. He explained that they wanted too
much extra money for the extra features the Marine Corps Model had. I told him we had
4 of the 590A1s between Jack and me, so that wouldn’t present a problem. I added that
we had a few boxes of flechettes, Brenneke slugs and plenty of 00 buck.

Karen drove Rose to the hospital while Gene and I were in Des Moines. We were look-
ing for new clothing for his boys; they had outgrown nearly everything they had. Rose
and he were handing down the stair steps, but Gene Jr. was in a growth spurt. We tried
several stores before we found what he was looking for. While we were at it, I got more
clothing for our four. When we’d finished up, Gene asked me if I planned on going to
Camp Dodge.

“I hadn’t planned on it. Are you still chomping at the bit to get a couple of Mike 240 Bra-
vos?”

143
“They could make all the difference.”

“I have no idea where they’re stored or which bunker holds the ammo.”

“Don’t worry about it, I do; we were given a tour a few years back.”

“Let’s do it.”

It was almost as easy as picking grapes off a vine. Gene got the two machine guns with
their spare barrels, found more barrels and set the headspace and we pretty much filled
the pickup with ammo. The belts contained M276 Dim Tracer and M973 AP. We avoid-
ed the SRTA because of its limited range. He brought the head spacing gauges back
with him, just in case.

When we arrived home, Jill told Jim that Rose was at the hospital having her baby. He
was low on gas and asked to borrow my Jeep. I told him that I’d come too, for moral
support. When we arrived, Karen met us and told Gene which room Rose was in and
that they had a healthy newborn daughter. I gave him the keys to the Jeep and she and
I returned home.

“I picked out clothing I thought might fit, honey. I got three different sizes plus an as-
sortment of sneakers. I figured we could get them leather shoes at Wal-Mart in Betha-
ny.”

“What’s with the ammo, don’t we have enough?”

“We don’t have any belted ammo.”

“You got a machine gun, didn’t you?”

“No, we got two. I wasn’t overly excited at the prospect, but Gene all but insisted. He
claims if a large group comes here, it could make all the difference.”

“What caliber?”

“.30 caliber, the .50 caliber are crew served and too heavy.”

“It reminds me of when Jill asked you where the howitzer was.”

“Well, we don’t have any, you know that.”

“If we divided up all the weapons available here and what Mom and Dad have, I think
we could equip a Platoon of fighting men for the duration, however long that is.”

“No doubt. I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

144
“When you were in Iraq, how much did you shoot your M16?”

“We burned up more ammo on the range than we did in actual fighting. I doubt I fired
more than 1,000-rounds between the range and the few fire fights we got in.”

“And, your rifle worked flawlessly?”

“I kept it clean. The one thing I wouldn’t have wanted to do was get in an extended fire
fight. It’s that direct gas impingement system. The rifle gets dirty too quickly and you get
failures to feed, failures to eject, stovepipes, double feeds and all sorts of problems. The
only solution is a thorough cleaning and you can’t do that in the middle of a fire fight.”

One of the problems the National Guard always had was that they were at the end of
the food chain. When a new weapon or system was developed, it usually went to Spe-
cial Forces and later Regular Army. The improvement would be scheduled for the
Guard, but there never seemed to be enough money to buy what the Guard needed. As
a consequence, the Guard rarely got the new equipment until they were in training to be
deployed or actually deployed. I had trained on an M16A1 and only got an A2 and later
M4 when we deployed.

An example of that policy was the Knight’s Armament Corporation’s M110 SASS, the
newest sniper rifle intended to replace the M21 and M24 SWS. KAC was having trouble
filling the orders from the military and they weren’t even available to LEOs.

I thought that a hushpuppy was an American food consisting of small cornmeal

breads that are deep fried in a spherical or oblong shape. There was also a brand of
shoes called Hush Puppies. Jack explained that the Hush Puppy was the Navy’s Mk
2 suppressor developed for the SEALs in Vietnam. It had one advantage and one
disadvantage: it was quiet when it was new; but after a magazine of bullets went
through the wipers, it got loud until the wipers were replaced. The wipers were made
of rubber and totally blocked the gas, but they were enlarged with every shot. They
got their name from the SEALs using them to kill dogs in Vietnamese villages. They
was one other advantage to a Hush Puppy, you could make your own.

“That’s nice, but it won’t do us much good.”

“How do you figure Will?”

“How are you going to attach them to the pistols, with super glue?”

“I planned to screw them on. Would super glue work better?” he asked feigning igno-
rance.

145
“You have threaded barrels?”

“In and of themselves, about the only place they’re illegal was California, before the
war. They will fit, with minor adjustments, about any M1911 design handgun.”

“Including the Para-Ordinance P-14?”

“I have threaded P-14 barrels because both Sally and I have P-14s.

“Is there any reason why we should have suppressors for the pistols?”

“No, but I wanted to let you know we had the option if you thought it was necessary.”

“I appreciate that Jack. I think we’ll just stick with the Surefire suppressors.”

We had toys, enough to make an Army or Marine unit proud. Gene placed the two
Mike 240 Bravos, mounted on tripods, covering them with camouflage tarps. Our
timing was good because it started snowing the next week. It was later this year,
more like a normal winter and the amount of snowfall was within the range of the
average for the area. While accumulating information on my computer, I recalled
TOM saying he had this and that file on his computer and giving a list of the places
he’d done research. While I may not have had the same files he had, yet I probably
had nearly as many, at last count over 500,000.

TOM said he was trying to educate and entertain. I guess that’s where he got the
idea of including the URLs (Uniform Resource Locators, or URLs, used as address-
es on the World Wide Web to indicate the virtual location of a website or document)
for most of the sources he used. I’ve also noticed that I’ve picked up some of his
writing style. He went from one thought to another, but if you considered the flow,
one was related to or naturally followed the other.

Gene took Jim’s place helping with the livestock and Jack began helping David in
the garden. David was referring to various books and planting his crops in the
greenhouse to produce maximum production. While we weren’t producing enough
inside the greenhouse to provide large quantities to Bethany, there was pretty much
a continual flow of goods to Hy-Vee.

They were still picking up the milk we produced but bought biodiesel for their truck. I
was charging $6 a gallon although I’m reasonably sure our cost was considerably
less. We continued to produce ethanol but not all of it got denatured and used as
vehicle fuel. I got an Amish craftsman to build us white oak casks which we charred
and filled with 125 proof liquor. Since I didn’t have a large filtering vat filled with sug-
ar maple charcoal, it was bourbon, not Tennessee drinking whiskey.

146
That was another of TOM’s ideas that I got from his trilogy titled, An Unexpected
Outcome, A Lady for All Seasons and The Odyssey. We did have the ingredients
listed, but had to experiment to get a good recipe. I’m sure that every brewer had
done the same thing, why did Jack Daniel’s call his whiskey Old Number 7?

In a PAW, agencies like the BATFE, if they still exist, didn’t have the time or person-
nel to check out everyone making a little moonshine or homemade bourbon. We
didn’t box it up and sell it by the case; we sold individual 1 liter bottles. They were
labeled but revealed no information that could be traced back to the farm and they
lacked tax stamps. We had one outlet, The Spirit Shoppe.

We produced biodiesel five days a week; the generator used anywhere from 1.2 to
4.7gph – 28.8 to 112.8 gallons per day. Running the processor at full capacity, we
could produce 500 gallons per day, in two batches, although we usually produced
only one. On some days, we produced none at all, either lacking storage space for
the fuel or oil to convert.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, it was quiet and the only sounds were from the gen-
erators and the livestock and it was peaceful. We spent some of the time on salvage
operations. We couldn’t produce motor oil for the generators or vehicles so we had
to search around. Our favorite place to look was the oil change shops and our sec-
ond favorite was automobile dealers. Both had oil in 55-gallon drums and some had
filters to take and setback for our vehicles. The extra filters I had on hand for my
generator also worked on the propane generators.

If only one man and his family survived a GTW, would there be enough supplies to
keep them going forever? The answer, I surmised was probably yes, provided you
could find them. Of course, not being the sole survivors meant we had competition
for the available supplies. Jim and Susan’s standby generator ran on propane, so
we got in the habit of trading the diesel for propane.

Our weapons were mostly from a previous era, we didn’t have the latest that the
government was buying for the frontline troops and the Special Forces. The FN
SCAR was well accepted among Special Forces as were other developments like
their new sniper rifle made by Knight’s Armaments. Newer doesn’t always mean bet-
ter. Russian snipers during WW II were using a 50 year old rifle for sniping while we
generally used a 40 year old rifle. There is no perfect rifle. While we liked the M14
design, it was heavy, the ammo was heavy and the overall length didn’t lend itself to
CQB. It didn’t matter; we weren’t clearing houses in Mosul.

Instead, we worked on constructing an insulated, heated, glassed in enclosure on

the roof of the barn. Only 6’ off the soil covering the overhead, it gave us a view of
the farm’s southern exposure for the full mile. Jack produced another trick from his
bag, 2nd generation night vision. Not the latest or greatest, it fulfilled its function ad-
mirably. Throughout the winter, one of we four men was in the OP. It was about the
147
most boring thing I’d ever experienced and Jack, David and Gene agreed. Gene
pointed out that the day after we discontinued the lookout, we’d probably get at-
tacked. It wasn’t something we could keep up forever, either. Once we got into the
fields, we’d probably need to ask our wives to take over for us.

Anyway, October came and went and we entered November. Our wives started
planning Thanksgiving dinner because we had a lot to be thankful for. We didn’t
have any turkey left in the freezers so they decided on a Cure 81 ham. There were
canned yams (sweet potatoes) on the shelf, potatoes to mash, an assortment of
vegetables, cans of cranberry sauce plus the ham gravy they’d make and the
homemade bread. Compared to what some people probably had to eat, it was an
extraordinary feast.

“Father, we thank you for this feast. We have food to eat, a roof over our heads and
a means to protect ourselves from those the Devil would send to take what you have
provided. We have a new baby with us this year, another blessing, and we thank
you for little Rose. Amen.”

“You were on a roll, what happened, run out of steam?”

“You know, I just didn’t know where to begin. I’ll relieve Gene so he can eat and then
someone can relieve me so I can eat.”

“I’ll do it,” David offered.

Forty-five minutes later, I was relieved.

“Anything?”

“I haven’t seen a thing. I hope you didn’t overeat; I wouldn’t want you falling asleep.”

“I’m good; I didn’t gorge myself and planned to go back for seconds.”

“Well, I’ll see you in a while.”

“Wait, what’s that on the far west edge of the property?”

“Let me check with the binoculars. Um, well crap, it’s a SUV, and it looks to me like
there are four people inside. You’d better call Jack and Gene. Tell Gene to man the
west machine gun and Jack to join us here. We’d better get our wives standing by,
just in case.”

Rose was elected to watch the 8 kids and Karen, Sally and Jill came up to the roof
of the barn with Jack. Karen was carrying her rifle and my Tac-50. I unfolded a tarp
and got the big rifle set up, passing the binoculars off. Through my scope, I could
148
see a man driving, a woman on the passenger side and two kids in back, teenagers,
unless I missed my guess.

The SUV was moving along the road slowly, apparently looking for someone or
something. Coupled with the fact that the road was slick, it was probably a good
idea. Jack was the first to say something.

“I’ll be damned; that’s the guy who bought the store from me. That’s his wife too, but
I don’t know his kids.”

“Did he have teenagers?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Gene, this is Will, they may be friendly; it’s the guy who bought the gun store in Des
Moines from Jack.”

I can’t say why I didn’t recognize him; maybe it was the moustache or possibly the
longer hair. The women returned to the house and I was fairly sure Karen was add-
ing 4 more plates to the table. David stayed in the OP and we all returned to ground
level, waiting for the SUV to pull in. It did and the man got out.

“Jack?”

“Barney, I see you found me.”

“I suspected that you might end up with our favorite customer. I had one hell of a
time finding this place. The roads haven’t been plowed and they’re as slick as glass.
We left Des Moines about 5 hours ago and I was down to a quarter tank of gas.”

“Why so little?”

“I’ve been looking for two hours, checking every mailbox.”

“Get your family and come into the house; it’s cold out. Have you eaten?”

“Not since breakfast. Oh, you’re having Thanksgiving dinner. We wouldn’t want to
impose.”

“Nonsense, we have more than we can eat.”

Not only had they not eaten since breakfast, I rather doubt they had breakfast. We
visited while we ate. Some were eating pumpkin pie with dream whip while others,
like me, were eating Thanksgiving dinner. Gene had eaten dinner and dessert and
he relived David so David could have pie.
149
Des Moines had undergone some changes and they weren’t all good. Barney had
moved the inventory from the store to his basement. He said it would take a pickup
pulling a large trailer to haul the entire lot. They had been lucky, having stocked up
at Costco the day before the war. He did mention that he was getting awfully sick of
beans and rice. They had sheltered in the basement and stayed there the first year,
going through a significant portion of their food supply. It was supplemented with a
garden planted with hybrid seeds and they’d used a Coleman stove and a water
bath canner to preserve the food.

He took small quantities of ammo to his store two days a week and traded it for addi-
tional food and enough fuel to keep his SUV running. He commented that the bodies
of would be thieves were taken away and dumped. That sounded familiar. He had
finally gotten down to just enough ammo to supply the guns his family planned to
use, three M1A Standard models and one Mini-14. His handgun was an H&K USP
Tactical, while his boys and wife had Browning Hi-Powers; used, but good used.

“The average American,” he said, “Barely puts enough rounds through a Hi-Power to
break it in, let alone wear it out. The first thing you do when you get one is remove
that magazine safety so you have a reasonable trigger pull.”

“What kind of ammo do you use?”

“I prefer Speer, but I use whatever is available. I’m about out of Gold Dot and have
some Federal Hydra Shok.”

“Would you say your situation in Des Moines remains tenable?”

“I’d say that it’s getting worse by the day and we’re not going to have any choice ex-
cept to bug out.”

“Where would you go?”

“Are you asking if I have a prepared bug out location? We don’t, so we’ll probably
end up in some national park or forest.”

“Do you know anything about farming?”

“I really only have two skills, I know firearms and I know horses. While I lived in the
city, I spent a lot of time at my cousin’s farm and they had a large herd of horses. He
taught me all I could absorb over the years so I can train them to saddle or harness.
I can’t make a saddle, but if I have the leather, I can make harnesses.”

“Are you familiar with horse drawn equipment?”

150
“Only in passing; I’ve driven a buggy and a wagon.”

We put Barney, Jane, Brad and Bill up in the house until we could find another mo-
bile home, propane tank, and generator and move their possessions. Karen and I
discussed it first and then I discussed it with Jack, David and Gene. Having the addi-
tional skill of a horseman on the farm would add to our skill set and like Barney said,
he knew horses and firearms.

Some things proved harder to find than others. A mobile home was the easy part,
the generator was very difficult while the propane tank came from the same source
as we had been using. We had to thaw the ground so we could install new water
and sewer lines and level the spot for the home. We found the generator at Cum-
mins Central Power in Cedar Rapids. Cummins had 5 locations in the immediate ar-
ea, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Omaha, Rock Island and Kansas City. We
scratched Omaha and Kansas City from the list.

The good part of our search for a generator was the extra parts and we found multi-
ple cases of oil filters and both drums and cans of oil. We picked up several of the
Onan Homesite 6500 portable generators with batteries and wheel kits to carry in
our vehicles.

We had them moved in the day before Christmas and Karen and the ladies had
something planned for Christmas Eve. There weren’t much in the way of Christmas
presents, the kids all got some new clothes, I passed out several cases of the SA
surplus and a small portion of my Lawman and Gold Dot. We had eggnog laced with
the homemade bourbon for the adults and plain for the kids. Sally read the Nativity
story for the kids, mainly. (Luke, not Matthew)

As it happens, our group, now consisting of 5 families in the main, and Jimbo and
Susan down by Bethany, was composed entirely of Christians of various denomina-
tions. Jill and I plus our spouses were Methodists. Jimbo and Susan and Gene and
Rose were Baptists. Jack and Sally belonged to the Presbyterian Church, while Bar-
ney’s family belonged to an Evangelical sect of the Lutheran Church.

From the viewpoint of security, we had gained 4 more guns to use against maraud-
ers. In the beginning, the boys thought it was great fun to take a guard tour in the
OP. That didn’t last long and they soon became bored with it just as the remainder
of us had become. However, with more people, the shifts were fewer and since we
had an odd number of people, you never pulled the same shift on your next tour of
duty.

Around late February or early March, it began to warm up and it looked like we’d be
able to plant. Jimbo confirmed as much on the radio and said they’d put in Gene’s
151
crops when they finished planting theirs. We made a trip to Jim’s farm to distribute
the fertilizer and seed and I reminded him he’d have to save back seed.

“I thought you said that you were giving me all heirloom seeds to plant his farm.”

“I did.”

“Well, then, we’ll have to harvest all of it as seed that he can sell as seed and get his
seed business going.”

“Don’t mind me, sometimes it seems like I have too many irons in the fire. That new
fella, Barney, will take care of our horses, including the farrier work. David is running
the greenhouse and garden, Gene is helping with the chores and farming and Jack
generally helps David. David says our garden this year should be big enough to
supply a good share of the fresh food Bethany will require.”

“How long has it been?”

“How long has what been?”

“How long have you been on a dead run? If I had to guess, I’d say ever since you
got home from Iraq. Would I be right?”

“You would. It has been worth it in one sense, Karen and I are well off, we have 4
great kids and we have all the basics, air, shelter, water and food. We’re becoming
more secure as time passes and we add additional people living on the farm. It
seems to average out around two fighting people per family. We added those ma-
chineguns last fall and…”

“What machineguns?”

“Gene wanted two Mike 240 Bravos and we got them and belted ammo from Camp
Dodge.”

“Where’s mine?”

“I didn’t know you wanted one.”

“I hadn’t given it any thought, but if they’re available, it seems foolish not to have
one. Heard any news?”

“I haven’t been on the amateur bands much.”

“No; the Des Moines radio station, WHO.”

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 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 16

“They started out transmitting about 16 hours a day with an hour devoted to state
and national news around noon. Then, they cut to 12 hours and then six hours. Now,
they broadcast about two hours per day, one hour of local and one hour of state and
national. I stopped listening to them a long time back; it was almost as if they were
playing a tape loop.”

“Same stuff, different day?”

“Basically. They’d run a list of the latest attacks against people and property, list
those murdered and play an announcement from the Governor urging calm. I’m pos-
itive that was a tape; it contained the same small error, a mispronunciation.”

“How about we go up to Camp Dodge and get us one of these machineguns?”

“We’ll have to take Gene, he has the gauges to set the headspace and you’ll need
extra barrels. I didn’t see where he got the extra barrels because I was busy loading
ammo.”

“Hell, the more the merrier. Susan can come up and spend the day with Karen and
the grandchildren and Jim can join us for the trip; how about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow works for me; 9am?”

“More like 7am.”

“We’ll try to have the milking done by then.”

One thing I should have invested in was a Surge milking system that piped the milk
directly to the tank and only used a set of teatcups. We were still using the Surge
hanging milker. Prior to milking a cow, a large wide leather strap called a surcingle
was put around the cow, across the cow's lower back. The milker device and collec-
tion tank hung underneath the cow from the strap. This innovation allowed the cow
to move around naturally during the milking process rather than having to stand per-
fectly still over a bucket on the floor. I was two generations behind the latest system,
but grateful we didn’t have to milk by hand. Although Surge went out of business in
1999, you could still get parts because you couldn’t wear out most of the milking
system.

“Ready?”

153
“Give us a minute to wash up the milking machines and grab a bite to eat. You’re
early.”

“Six forty-five close enough for government work.”

“May be, but you know we have to wash the equipment and you wouldn’t want our
bellies complaining all the way to Camp Dodge.”

“We didn’t eat either; I figured you’d still be milking. What’s for breakfast?”

“Karen put cinnamon rolls in the oven and we have plenty of eggs, so you can have
bacon and eggs, ham and eggs, rolls or whatever you want.”

“Sounds like 750 lawyers on the bottom of the ocean.”

Jimbo ate three eggs, a ham steak and two cinnamon rolls. We all used the bath-
room and got in the F-550 to go to Camp Dodge. We were lightly armed, 3 M1A Su-
per Matches and 1 H&K 91. Everyone had a .45 loaded with Gold Dot because, well
just because. The roads were fair and we made Johnston in less than 3 hours. The
gate was standing open, a new development. Gene and Jimbo went for the Mike
240 Bravo and Jim and I looked for more of the belted 7.62 NATO. We eventually
found it, but in the process came across a few other things that might come in
handy. It was in the area of non-lethal ordnance. We had M6/A1s, M7/A1/A2/A3s;
M25A2s and M84s.

In the lethal area, add about 125 cans of 7.62x51mm, the last we could find. The
ammunition box contains two cartons. Each carton has a bandoleer for carrying pur-
poses. Each carton contains 100 rounds and weighs about 7 pounds. Ammunition in
the bandoleers may be linked together, attached to the hanger assembly, and fired
from the container or the bandoleers may be removed for firing. (FM 3-22.68 §3.3d
Packaging) By the time we had everything loaded, Gene and Jimbo were standing
out front with the machinegun and 4 spare barrels.

“Man, I sure wish Maid Rite was open.”

“Are you still on that kick? Don’t you have some at home?”

“We don’t have much left. Maybe I should stop by my Uncle John’s and see if they
can spare some.”

“How are they doing?” Jimbo asked.

“Jack and I sometimes talk on the radio. They seem to be doing okay. They planted
in a greenhouse last year, and were feeding Lamoni and Osceola.”

154
“When did you erect your greenhouse?”

“Just before winter.”

“We helped with that and took off for home when it was done,” Jimbo added.

“Jim and I picked up some non-lethal items at Camp Dodge.”

“What for? Are you going to use non-lethal ordnance on bad guys?”

“We may not be able to tell if they’re bad guys. I like having alternatives. We can al-
ways blow them up.”

“Not to change the subject, but is your diesel tank full?”

“Yeah Jimbo, it’s full. I added PRI-D and anti-gel to keep it as good as possible.”

“I thought you didn’t need PRI-D with biodiesel.”

“Maybe not with B-100, but we’re not there yet. To tell you the truth, I don’t know and
just keep adding it.”

“What’s this about PRI-Flow? I can’t say that I ever heard of that.”

“I tripped across a reference somewhere on the web and couldn’t find it on their
website. So I searched for PRI-Flow and ended up at their website on a page not on
their menu.”

“Do you remember where you found it?”

“What difference does it make, there is no internet.”

“Did something happen while you were in Iraq?”

“What do you mean? The day I got home my Dad and sister were in an auto acci-
dent where he was killed. Is that what you mean?”

“No, before that, did anything unusual or special happen?”

“About the only thing I recall is Danny Sesker being killed. It was an IED and he
didn’t know what hit him.”

“What was it like?”

“Gene, you can tell him better than I can, you did three tours.”
155
“It was utterly insane. You never knew what was going to happen next. One day you
might be in Anbar and a week later in Diyala or Basra. You’d do a job and get pulled
to go someplace else, maybe Baghdad or Kirkuk or Karbala. The Army had it differ-
ent than we did. Many of them were assigned to a location for the duration of their
12 month tour. They do the same thing over and over, like escorting convoys, for
example. The problem with that even without trying they established patterns and
the insurgents learned those patterns and took advantage of it.”

“Where were you Will?”

“Diyala, at a FOB.”

“Doing what?”

“Mostly convoy escort.”

“You were infantry?”

“No, we were military police. We spent 4 months at Ft. Lewis getting training.”

“So was it like what they say, hours of boredom followed by seconds of sheer ter-
ror?”

“Not for me, but it may have been different for Gene. You realized that the people on
the other side had weapons and given the chance would use them on you. At one
time or another, we all came to the realization that we could get killed at any mo-
ment. We had Dust-off’s just like they had in Vietnam, generally with Blackhawks. If
you weren’t killed outright your chance of dying fell to 1 in 11. I think more of us wor-
ried about being wounded than killed. That’s one of the reasons so many of us had
combat lifesaver training. If we could keep an injured comrade going until the Dust-
off, his chances were good.”

“The trauma surgeons were the best around. They could usually get you patched up
enough to make the flight to Ramstein. From there, you might end up at Walter
Reed or Brooke, just to name two. I don’t know what hospitals the Marines used, but
I’d imagine they include North Island plus their fleet of hospital ships.”

“Gene what about it, did you make it to a hospital during your three tours?”

“Yeah, but just to get a band-aid. Took a hit or two in my body armor, but those are
mostly ice pack injuries.”

“Gene, I suppose your experience was different.”

156
“Had to be, I was the DM. It’s not like regular infantry, you see each person you
shoot and know whether or not you took them down. If you hit them you either kill
them or wound them. The dead don’t require help, but occasional they try to help
some guy you just wounded, giving you more targets; that’s why I like the M21; it
made it easy to take out three or four. But, I was a Marine just like all the others ex-
cept I had a more powerful rifle with greater range. The snipers used the specially
built M-40s.”

“You’re going to have to give us the short course on this machinegun.”

“Let’s go to the range I run you through the basics.”

Although thoroughly prepared for an attack, none came. I thought, maybe they’re
right, I’m suffering some PTSD and it’s made me paranoid. The crops this year were
primarily intended to produce vast quantities of heirloom seeds, which would give
other farmers the seeds they lacked to plant crops. Because we still had power
equipment, we grew the normal amount of crops, 200 acres each of corn and beans,
40 acres each of oats and wheat and 60 acres of alfalfa.

Jimbo and Jim planted their usual and planted 80 acres of corn on Gene’s farm. Our
garden was nearly triple in size, taking advantage of the 100 acres I couldn’t farm. It
was good that we had enough subsoil moisture because it didn’t rain early on. Just as I
began to fear a drought, we had a long gentle rain followed shortly thereafter by a mas-
sive thunderstorm with high winds.

We began harvesting the garden, canning half and taking the other half to Bethany
where a Farmer’s Market had been set up in the Hy-Vee parking lot. Most of the days
we attended, we sold out before noon. We were accepting gold, silver, junk silver and
Mason jars in trade. I let Karen, Susan or Jill decide if they’d give food to a hungry fami-
ly without requiring payment. When the occasion arose, they’d get the name and ad-
dress and set back a small quantity of food which they delivered after they closed up
shop. It really got to Karen because when they delivered the goods, the gratitude was
overwhelming.

As far as accumulating a ton of gold and silver went, we didn’t. We had plenty of
Mason jars, and lids. Most of the silver we saw was of the junk silver variety. A one
ounce silver Eagle was rare and a fractional gold Eagle even rarer. Considering how
much surplus SA 7.62 NATO I had, we usually took a battle pack or two and
sold/traded the ammo by the 20-round box.

The summer was good to us, ample sunshine, warm days and sufficient water. The
crop yields would have been disappointing had we not considered what we were us-
ing for seed. In plain English, the seed we were using is used by seed companies to

157
produce hybrid seed. The normal yield of 175 bushels per acre for hybrid seed went
by the way side and we had an especially good year, getting 105 (average) bushels
per acre on the corn and a resounding yield of 35 bushels per acre on soybeans.

Gene’s old worn out tractor was hauled to town and rebuilt from the ground up, to
the extent possible, using available parts. He traded seed corn for enough gasoline
to farm the next year and I gave him enough PRI-G to restore the gas and keep it
stable. We sold pork and beef to Hy-Vee and I have no idea where they came up
with the gold, but it was paid for in gold Eagles. Seems to me I’d heard something
about one of the bankers in Bethany being fearful of an economic collapse.

The trouble came shortly after we finished the harvest. New crops were growing in
the greenhouse and the outside garden crops had been harvested and canned or
sold. The corn and soybean seed was stored, a portion of the oats and wheat stored
and the remainder sold in Bethany. It was late fall and we were adjusting from the
heavy farming pace of summer to the more leisurely pace of winter. We continued to
maintain security, using the OP and the FRS and other radios.

By now anyone who could shoot a firearm was at least an acceptable shot and most
were extremely proficient because, I felt, our lives depended on it. Even driving a
tractor, plowing, disking, planting or picking, everyone had a rifle available, generally
one of the six Standard model M1As. We used some of the leather from butchering
cattle to make our own rifle scabbards and mounted them on the tractors. Overkill?
Maybe!

The trouble was deceiving; it was two men from Bethany that we knew by sight, if
not by name. They approached under the pretense of lining up seed for the coming
year. Garden seed, not field seed. Not giving it a great deal of thought, David gave
them a short tour of the greenhouse, fallow garden areas and what not. I can’t say
that I wouldn’t have done the same. They discussed seed prices, quantities and
possible delivery dates. To all intents and purposes, it seemed to be an ordinary
seed buying trip.

“How did they know where we lived?”

“I didn’t think to ask, Will. Surely many people in Bethany know where you live.”

“Yeah, Jimbo, the Sheriff and one banker.”

“Maybe they asked around.”

“I’ll call Jimbo and ask.”

158
“Jimbo, got your ears on?”

“What’s up Will?”

“We had a couple of guys from Bethany out here today looking for garden seed. Did
you tell anyone where we live?”

“No one. You think you have trouble?”

“I don’t know, yet. They could be what they said they were or they could have been
checking the place out.”

“Who were they?”

“I recognized them but can’t put names to the faces. I can’t really say where I know
them from so that’s not much help either.”

Jimbo started naming off places in Bethany where I might have met one or both of
them. Nothing rang a bell. He named off 50 or so people he thought might represent
trouble and I didn’t recognize the names. Finally he said that I should ask Karen, she
went to school in Bethany.

“Honey, did you recognize those two guys?”

“What two guys?”

“The ones that David was showing around who said they were interested in buying
garden seeds.”

“I saw them and they looked vaguely familiar. They weren’t in my high school class,
or I’d have known them. One of them may have had a younger brother in my class;
I’ll get out my yearbook and see if I can figure out whom.”

“I looked. One of them was the older brother of Billy Johnstone. I don’t remember his
name and don’t know much about him.”

“I’ll call your dad, maybe he’ll know.”

Jimbo, this is Will.”

“Did Karen figure it out?”

“One of them was the older brother of someone in her class, Billy Johnstone.”
159
“Now I know who you mean. His name is Harvey and he did about 5 years for armed
robbery. I don’t know who he is running with these days, probably someone like
himself. You may want to change your status and go to Threatcon Alpha.”

“We’ll consider that, thanks.”

I open my computer file on DEFCONs, LERTCONs and Threatcons. With respect to

Threatcons, I found:

(1) At regular intervals, remind all personnel and dependents to be suspicious and in-
quisitive about strangers, particularly those carrying suitcases or other containers.
Watch for unidentified vehicles on or in the vicinity of US installations. Watch for aban-
doned parcels or suitcases and any unusual activity.
(2) The duty officer or personnel with access to building plans as well as the plans for
area evacuations must be available at all times. Key personnel should be able to seal
off an area immediately. Key personnel required to implement security plans should be
on-call and readily available.
(3) Secure buildings, rooms, and storage areas not in regular use.
(4) Increase security spot checks of vehicles and persons entering the installation and
unclassified areas under the jurisdiction of the United States.
(5) Limit access points for vehicles and personnel commensurate with a reasonable flow
of traffic.
(6) As a deterrent, apply measures 14, 15, 17, or 18 from Threatcon BRAVO either indi-
vidually or in combination with each other.
(7) Review all plans, orders, personnel details, and logistic requirements related to the
introduction of higher Threatcons.
(8) Review and implement security measures for high-risk personnel as appropriate.
(9) As appropriate, consult local authorities on the threat and mutual antiterrorism
measures.
(14) Move cars and objects (e.g., crates, trash containers) at least 25 meters from build-
ings, particularly buildings of a sensitive or prestigious nature. Consider centralized
parking.
(15) Secure and regularly inspect all buildings, rooms, and storage areas not in regular
use.
(17) Examine mail (above the regular examination process) for letter or parcel bombs.
(18) Check all deliveries to messes, clubs, etc. Advise dependents to check home de-
liveries.

After reading them over several times, it boiled down to don’t let anyone on the farm, go
armed at all times and maintain communications. I called a short meeting and went over
the concerns and Jimbo’s suggestion. I told them we’d be on a heightened state of alert,
but not overly so. An extended alert period would have the opposite effect and make
people sloppy when nothing happened. My emphasis was that people pulling guard
shifts should pay close attention. David went on to describe the two men and their vehi-
cle. They weren’t expected back until March to pick up the seed.

160
TOM claimed that bad things happened in threes. It was discussed to one extent or an-
other in over half of his stories and it was 3 raised to a power, as in 3, 9, 27 and 81. We
had two major bad things happen, the anthrax attack and the GTW. I discounted that
minor confrontation with those two want-to-be thieves; it was over almost before it had
begun. Things were returning to as normal as they could be, in the circumstances. A trip
to Leon and a trip to Bethany to have a word with the County Sheriff’s couldn’t hurt and
might just help.

Karen and I put together a gift box for each office containing an assortment of home
canned and home grown food. A personal gift for each Sheriff was a bottle of the 90-
proof. She and I would make the trip under the assumption that a couple might seem
less threatening. Our first stop was Leon.

“Sheriff in?”

“Right through that door.”

“Sheriff? Harvest is done and we thought we bring a small donation for your office.
Share it with your Deputies or take it home. The bottle of 90-proof is for you. Don’t know
who makes it, but it’s pretty good stuff.”

“Lou, the guy here brought you a present.”

“Sorry, I don’ drink, but Lou will love it, I’m sure. You farm down on the border, don’t
you?”

“Right, a ways east of I-35.”

“Have a good year?”

“Can’t complain; may have a problem, though. A few days back, two fellas showed up
from Bethany looking for seed for their garden, they said. We figured out that one of
them was Harvey Johnstone. He did time for armed robbery. It might be nothing, but we
have had trouble before. We have good security and all, but it would be nice to be able
to call on your office if we got in over our heads.”

“We don’t have many Deputies, but would respond to any request for help. What do you
have for communications gear?”

“Just about everything.”

“Do you have any police radios?”

“No, Sheriff, we don’t.”

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“I have one spare mobile, a Motorola XLT 2500. It would allow you to call this office or
the Sheriff in Harrison County because he has compatible equipment. Can you see I-35
from your location?”

“We might be able to if we had a good telescope.”

“Do you have riflescopes?”

“Of course.”

“Can you adjust the focus to see the interstate?”

“Can’t do much more than tell you that you have traffic and the direction it’s headed.”

“That should be enough. Okay, in exchange for the radio, antenna and a power supply,
you will keep this office and the Harrison County office informed of traffic on I-35 in ei-
ther direction. The radio is preprogrammed with our operating frequencies. I’ll have Lou
give you a list of our channels.”

“I don’t know what he expects us to do with a rifle scope.”

“What about the spotting scope, isn’t it 60 power?”

“Yes and we wouldn’t have to take a scope off a rifle. We can mount the police radio in
the OP or in the radio shack. I think the OP might be better; there should be a good line
of sight to Leon. We’ll have to establish some radio procedures so every vehicle sight-
ing doesn’t turn into a full alert.”

“Are we going to go home or straight to Bethany?”

“Bethany first and then home.”

“Sheriff in?” Karen asked.

“Need something?”

“We have something for the Sheriff and news from the Decatur County Sheriff.”

They almost acted like we were beneath being allowed to see the Sheriff. However, we
got in and went through the bestowing of gifts as we had in Leon. The Harrison County
Sheriff didn’t call Lou and pass of the bottle. We explained about the radio and asked
for a list of Harrison County channels. That resulted in a long pause while he thought it
over. He eventually consented and was less eager than the Decatur County Sheriff.
When we finished, Karen asked me to drop by her parents.

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 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 17

“I didn’t expect to see you two.”

“Daddy, we just came from the Harrison County Sheriff’s office. What’s with that guy?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“First they didn’t want to let us in to see him, although we had a large box of supplies.
We went up to Leon and the Decatur County Sheriff loaned us a police radio that he
said was set up for both Decatur and Harrison County frequencies. In exchange for the
radio, we’re to watch I-35 and report all traffic to both offices.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

“Right, so the Harrison County Sheriff didn’t seem to be really interested and dragged
his feet in giving us his channels.”

“Hell, I can give you the channels from my scanner.”

“That’s not the point. The point is that he doesn’t seem to be interested in free help of
the type we can provide. We didn’t even bring up him responding if we were attacked
because we’re out of his jurisdiction.”

“I helped raise the money that put him in office!” Jimbo exploded. “We’ll just see about
his Attitude!”

“Don’t antagonize him more than he already is, Jimbo.”

“In a pig’s eye. He’ll be saying yes sir and no sir by the time I’ve finished with him. Let
me know if you have any more problems with the guy.”

Later, a Deputy called and asked if he could come up and bring the ‘correct’ channels.
We told him we’d keep an eye open for him and if he could manage to come by at din-
ner time, we’d set an extra plate. The Sheriff could have refused to give us the channel
numbering system, that would have been a shame, but ethical. Instead, he provided us
with an outdated list of the channels his office used. This particular model of radio had a
capacity of 512 channels, each representing a different frequency. There were four fre-
quency bands, ranging from 136 MHz to 870 MHz

The Deputy was a relatively young, single man. I asked flat out what the Sheriff’s prob-
lem was and he said that with us selling and trading our crops to feed Bethany, we were
slowly depleting the existing supply of gold and silver. No one, he said, wanted anything
to do with US Federal Reserve Notes. Jim Ross had been in to see the Sheriff and you
could hear the yelling through the door. After Jim left, the Sheriff had seemed more

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desperate than ever, but did agree to have the Deputy give us the correct radio chan-
nels.

“Karen, I think we’d better take some of our gold and silver and deposit in our account at
the bank in Bethany.”

“How much do we have?”

“A lot. You remember that I got in when gold was around $525 and silver around $10. I
also bought $6,000 face value in junk silver, two bags each of dimes, quarters and
halves. Then, the dairy in Bethany asked for our milk and was willing to pay for it in gold
and silver. Plus, there was the year that you and I agreed to put 80% of it into gold and
silver and keep the remainder in cash.”

“Daddy has a lot too.”

“I know. Jack Smith also has a lot and if the three of use agreed to deposit half of what
we have, Bethany would have a good supply of gold and silver. The good part is that we
might get most of it back when we sell goods.”

The next morning we sorted through what we had and put half in the F-550. I had a long
talk with Jack about it and he agreed to follow my lead. We three drove down to Jimbo’s
and I outlined what Karen and I were doing and that Jack was doing the same thing.

“I’ll do it; might be better than having all of it stored here. Give me 30 minutes to divide it
up and we can go.”

“We’d like to make a deposit.”

“How much are you depositing?”

“Twenty-eight hundred sixty ounces of silver and forty ounces of gold.”

“How much is that in money?”

“Twenty-eight hundred sixty ounces of silver and forty ounces of gold. I don’t know what
gold and silver are worth these days.”

“The last I saw, gold was around $1,600 an ounce and silver around $35 an ounce.”

“The problem is I don’t want dollars, I want the gold and silver. Can you figure out some
way to account for my deposit in those terms?”

“It would have to be a new accounting system.”

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“These 4 bags of junk silver are $1,000 face value and each contains 715 ounces of sil-
ver, but you’ll have to do the math to value the halves, quarters and dimes.”

“I have some to deposit too,” Jack added.

As Jack was finishing up, Jimbo began to set his bags of coins on the counter. He may
have been more of a survivalist than I first thought. (I momentarily forgot about his trips
to buy up gold and silver) The bank suddenly had a literal cartful of gold and silver and
we had slips of paper showing our deposits as ounces of gold and silver. Somewhere in
the middle, word had gotten to the Sheriff that we were at the bank and depositing met-
al. To say he looked relived would be to understate the situation. He immediately as-
signed a Deputy as a bank guard.

“You look like a happy man, Sheriff.”

“Anything that was worth anything was leaving town and I had no hope of ever seeing it
again.”

“We heard about your dilemma and decided to do something to help you out. I heard
somewhere that money in circulation turns over about eight times. Since no one would
accept the FRNs, we three decided to get some money circulating. We’ll need that if we
are to have customers for our produce.”

“Figure that out all by yourself?”

“Not really, I read about it in a story titled Percy’s Mission.”

“I can’t say as I ever heard about that one.”

“I’m not surprised; however, the author bases many of his stories in Missouri, usually in
the Ozarks.”

“Is he from around here?”

“Maybe in the past, but the last I knew was that he lived in the Reno, Nevada area. One
of the other author’s I’ve read a lot is well educated, with a degree in Business and
Economics and an MBA.”

“Is he from Reno too?”

“Palmdale, California. He was raised in northern Iowa. He seems to like the same guns
that I do.”

“Maybe it’s a case of monkey see, monkey do.”

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“You could be right, but I’ve found that I really do like what he likes.”

“Ever talk to him?”

“No, but I sent him an email and got his spreadsheet.”

“What spreadsheet?”

“He titled it seven_ten_rule.xls. You use it to tell when it’s safe to leave a fallout shelter.
All you have to do is enter the peak radiation and press enter and it does the rest.”

“Are you explaining the facts of life to George?”

“I was talking about some of the Patriot Fiction authors I’ve read.”

“Which ones?”

“TOM and Jerry D Young.”

“What’s TOM’s last name?”

“Oh, his name isn’t TOM, that’s his handle, Tired Old Man. His name is Gary D Ott. We
have a 60 power spotting scope Sheriff, so we should be able to keep a good lookout
on I-35.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. Now if we do get attacked, are you going to feel constrained by a
line on the map?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. As long as my Deputies are on the south side of 100th
Street, we’d be in our jurisdiction.”

“Stay off to one side or you’ll likely be in our line of fire. If you do come, there’s a tarp
about a quarter mile in from my property line. If we’re not there, you’re free to use what
you find.”

“What will I find?”

“A Mike 240 Bravo and about 6 cans of ammo, military load, 4 ball to 1tracer.”

“What don’t you have?”

“We don’t have any 40mm grenades.”

“Why not?”

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“Mainly because I don’t care for the M16.”

“What does that have to do with 40mm grenades?”

“The M203 launcher attaches to an M16.”

“Why didn’t you get some of those Mike 320s that H&K builds for the Army?”

“I was out before they went in service.”

“So, you seem to have everything else, why didn’t you get those.”

“The Iowa National Guard didn’t have any.”

“I’ll trade you one for 2 cases of 40mm HEDP.”

“Will you trade me two for 4 cases?”

“Make it 5?”

“How many can you spare?”

“For enough 40mm rounds of various types, I can spare 3.”

Don’t you just love a challenge? We hooked the trailer to the F-550 the next morning
and headed to Camp Dodge after we finished milking. Gene’s knowledge of the various
rounds was more prolific than mine so once we located them; I let him select which
rounds we wanted. He chose HE, HEDP, CS gas, thermobaric, para ilumm, white
smoke and practice rounds. It was a case of taking all they had of those rounds be-
cause we had more carrying capacity than they had rounds.

We returned from Camp Dodge to Bethany and let the Sheriff select what he wanted.
He gave us his three spare Mike 320s that he had to launch non-lethal rounds and eve-
ryone was happy. In less than a month, we began to get orders for seed corn and our
other seeds. I let Gene sell out first so he could repay a portion of what he owed us.

Eighty acres at 105 bushels per acre equals 8,400 bushels which he sold for $6 a bush-
el. Not only had he paid us off, he had money in his pocket for the first time in a very
long time. Oh, I paid a nominal wage, but much of his compensation from me came in
the form of housing, propane, food and gasoline. He kept back just enough seed to
plant 175 acres the following year.

“Are you moving back to your farm?”

167
“Not for a while. I can commute down there and do it like I’ve always done it, work at
night and on the weekends. I have enough money to buy the fertilizer I’ll need and if I
can get 100 bushels per acre next year, I’ll have over 17,000 bushels of seed to sell.”

Seed was sold in ½ bushel bags and this past year, he was selling it for $3 a bag. Be-
fore the war, hybrid seed corn was tens of times more per half bushel. Jimbo and I held
off until Gene sold his and sold for the same price. I was convinced we should ask for
more but Jimbo said to let Gene get established and then we could have a gentleman’s
agreement about the price. I didn’t want to go down that path.

“Why don’t we produce our own hybrid seed corn? We have the heirloom seed that
Gene can provide and we call buy all of his seed to produce hybrids.”

“Growing hybrid seeds isn’t a one or two man operation. We’d need help.”

“I’m sure that some of the teenagers in Bethany and maybe Lamoni would love to have
a chance to earn detasseling money.”

“Doing it the old fashioned way?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Not really. I guess it will be good because we’ll be putting more money in the local
economy.”

“Yes, that’s why I like it, put it in the economy and it turns over a few times and ends up
right back in our pockets.”

“Have you ever thought about counseling?”

“For my PTSD? No, I’m coping; it’s just harder at some times than others. PTSD creates
a dissociative condition, but in my case, it isn’t chronic. It just surfaces on rare occa-
sions.”

Those grenade launchers were more valuable than I first imagined because of the para
ilumm rounds. They had a parachute attached and illuminated a wide area. The para-
chute lowered the round at about 7’ per second and the round burns for 40 seconds.
Should someone attack during the night, we’d be ready for them.

We reported the vehicle traffic on I-35 to both offices and occasional got a call to check
for a vehicle that one of the Sheriff’s offices had spotted. No one had seen Harvey and
his friend since they’d stopped by that day. I maintained Threatcon Alpha, just in case.
We had basically been at that stage all along, but without identifying it. We had been

168
since those two fellas in the pickup. We mostly used the teenagers during the day dur-
ing farming season. Since we were past that for this year, the schedules were altered to
include all of the men.

Before you say that is sexist, I’ll hasten to point out that our wives were our backups
and would double our available fighting force, if a fight came up. One thing that did
come up was the location of the Mike 240 Bravos. Gene reconsidered their location and
suggested that we move them much closer to the homestead. We did so and notified
George of their new location. We also increased the ammo supply from six cans to
twelve. A can holds 200 rounds and the rate of fire for the Mike 240 was set to 750rpm.
In heavy use, 12 cans wouldn’t last for more than a few minutes.

The uninitiated might think that 1,200 rounds would only last 1.6 minutes. However the
Field Manual says:

Sustained Fire: 100 rounds per minute fired in 6- to 9-round bursts and 4 to 5 seconds
between bursts (barrel change every 10 minutes).

Rapid Fire: 200 rounds per minute fired in 10- to 13-round bursts and 2 to 3 seconds
between bursts (barrel change every 2 minutes).

Which explains why one spare barrel wasn’t enough; it might be if you were using sus-
tained fire, but for continuing rapid fire, three spares might not be enough. The saving
grace was the fact that all ammo cans contained only 200 rounds. We linked the two
belts in each can for convenience, but in a firefight, we’d still have to put in new belts
and change barrels.

Everyone was trained to operate the Mike 240 Bravo and the Mike 320, using practice
rounds in the case of the grenade launcher. In the event of an attack, whoever was in
the OP would bailout of the OP and move to a fighting position, made up of sandbags,
on the roof of the barn. With the machineguns closer in, they could be manned quicker,
but not more safely. I got a man down from Lamoni to cut a trench from near the house
to the two machinegun positions. We couldn’t spread around all of our money in Mis-
souri, Iowa needed help too.

The Amish community near Lamoni was doing a good job of providing for their neigh-
bors and I suppose that may be why Uncle John went to Osceola to sell food. This
group wasn’t the same as the group that was portrayed in the movie Witness. Those
folks were the Amish that originated in Switzerland. Our Amish group had originated in
Germany. The Pennsylvania Amish were much stricter in following their traditions. Dur-
ing the early 20th century, the Amish in Iowa began to abandon some, but not all, of their
traditions.

We had only regressed 50 years, so far, from the second decade of the 21st century to
the mid-20th century. Over a period of time, the hand detasseling went from hand detas-

169
seling to a combination of mechanical and hand detasseling to improved methods, elim-
inating the summer jobs for many teenagers.

It was early October and we continued to report traffic on I-35 to both Sheriff’s offices.
Traffic, for the most part, was rare. We almost never saw any trucks of any description,
except for pickups. So, it came as quite a shock when one the boys reported a semi
tractor-trailer rig southbound for Bethany. The office replied that they’d sent a tractor-
trailer to Chariton and they were expecting it back. They’d gone the back way to Chari-
ton, through Albany. The roads were in a state of disrepair and they couldn’t bring the
loaded truck back on the poorly maintained highways they’d used to get to Chariton.

We were ready to settle in for the winter, manure had been spread, all of the plowing
was done and livestock sold. We sent 3 steers and 6 hogs to the butcher to restock the
freezers. He had frozen turkeys and we bought a dozen of the 22-pound size. We also
butchered the chickens and added them to the freezer, except for the brood hens and
layers. He had one other item that we seldom saw, fish filets. Most of the fishing was
done by individuals and they ate what they caught. Anyway, we bought 4 boxes of the
frozen fillets. We were well stocked on food although we’d sold a lot of it in Bethany and
a small portion in Lamoni.

“We have traffic on 100th Street.”

“Which direction is it coming from?”

“The west and they aren’t moving fast. It appears that they’re looking for something.”

“Notify both Sheriff’s that we’re on alert due to the traffic. Raise the Threatcon to Delta,
the DEFCON to 2 and we’ll get everyone into position.”

The car continued down the road, albeit slowly. There were 4 men inside but we didn’t
see any firearms. It continued past our driveway and passed beyond our farm. We par-
leyed after they were gone and concluded we should leave the Threatcon at Delta and
lower the DEFCON to 4.

Threatcon Delta applies in the immediate area where a terrorist attack has occurred or
when intelligence has been received that terrorist action against a specific location or
person is likely. Normally, this Threatcon is declared as a localized condition. Our intel-
ligence was Humint, ergo, direct observation. Had the vehicle traversed the area at a
more normal speed, we may not have considered it to be a threat.

“We need to put the least well qualified on rifles on the machineguns.”

“Any ideas who, Gene?”

170
“I’d say Rose on one and David on the other. If it were my decision, I’d talk to Jimbo and
see if they could come up here and stay for a brief period of time.”

“How brief of a period of time?”

“Say 30 days.”

“I don’t know that they would want to be away from their farm for that long. Plus they
have all the livestock to care for.”

“It was just a thought, Will. Maybe since we’ve added the 40mm grenades, we’ll be
okay. Everyone’s up to speed on their use and we have the para ilumm rounds if we get
a night attack.”

“Let me see those pictures again. What’s this?”

“We think it’s what it appeared to be, a mound of dirt.”

“And this?”

“It’s obviously a watchtower.”

“And this?”

“That’s the second mound of dirt.”

“Did anyone put boots on the ground and check?”

“No because you said not to draw undue attention to ourselves.”

“But, you’re sure the farm is occupied?”

“They had someone in that watchtower.”

“Is that the only person you saw?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t mean there weren’t more. Do you see the picture with the mobile
homes? We figured one family per home. We might be going up against 5 men.”

“Let’s assume there are 5 men and maybe a couple of teenagers.”

“What about wives and daughters?”

171
“Maybe one or two of them might participate, carrying ammo and such. We don’t know
how many of the guys are married, but for safety’s sake, we’ll assume the men have
some military background.”

“When do you want to do this?”

“Around oh dark thirty three days hence and we attack, I want those mounds checked
out.”

Around 3am on the third day, they came. The decision was made to bring ⅔ of the
crew, some 39 men. The 20 women would stay at their primary location, a farm 3 miles
south of Lamoni on the highway. They used 8 cars to haul everyone and they parked at
the west fence line of our property and set out on foot.

Like I said, our night vision was only 2nd generation, but it worked. Gene was in the OP
and he spotted them soon after they disembarked and started walking. The generation
2 night vision allowed detection around 300 meters and identification around 250 me-
ters. We went to DEFCON 1 in a heartbeat while Gene notified both Sheriff’s offices.
Both offices said they would respond as soon as possible.

By the time they got to the first mound of dirt, Rose had pulled the machinegun back a
ways in the ditch. All they found was an abandoned fighting position. Those of us with
suppressors started to pick them off, one by one. This caused them to spread out and
go to ground. When I couldn’t find a clear shot, I switched from the Super Match to my
Tac-50 and took out the first and last vehicle using Mk211. Then, I worked my way to
the front and disabled each vehicle in turn. When I started to get return fire, I moved
back to my Super Match with its vastly improved flashhider and resumed individual tar-
gets.

Meanwhile, Rose had returned the Mike 240 Bravo back to the fighting position and was
laying down a withering pattern of fire. David was far enough from the people that he
could barely make them out in the light the para ilumm flare provided, hence was main-
taining a fair volume of fire. We were mostly launching flares, not grenades.

Some twenty minutes into the ongoing firefight, the Harrison County Sheriff and a pos-
se, if that was what it was, approached the attackers from the south, placing them in a
crossfire. Shortly after, the Decatur County Sheriff and some people from Leon showed
up. With the additional fire, the fire from the attackers petered out and stopped.

Of course, not all of the attackers were dead, although it may have run as high as
50/50. The firearms were collected and questioning began. It generally went something
like this.

“I’m hurt, I need a doctor.”

“Answer my questions and we’ll get you one. Otherwise, you might just not make it.”

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 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 18

“What do you want to know?”

“Is this all of you?”

“Except for the women, yes.”

“Where might they be?”

“A farm 3 miles south of Lamoni, on the highway.”

“How many?”

“I’ve said all I’m going to say until I get help.”

BANG.

You will have to admit that the guy was out of his misery. Some of the wounded expired
before they could be questioned.

We started to check our people, seeing if there were any fatalities or injured. Barney
had a crease on his left shoulder and a through and through in his left upper arm that
missed the humerus. Bill has a hole in his coat where a round barely missed him. Gene
took a round down the length of his back, not deep, but ugly. Jill and David, Karen and I,
Jack and Sally plus Brad and Rose were uninjured. Everyone else had been in the
house or more specifically, the shelter.

The Sheriff (Decatur) found a manila envelope full of digital photos of the farm. They
had things circled and notes. They knew the number of homes, the location of the
watchtower and both of the mounds were circled with a note, check out. They had been
armed with an assortment of firearms, ranging from M4s and M16s to a PTR copy of the
HK 91. The Sheriffs’ divided up the automatic weapons and allowed us to choose from
the remaining weapons. I took a modified M14 and Karen took the PTR. Everyone was
allowed to choose one firearm and when we were done, the Sheriffs’ divided up the re-
mainder and the ammo.

Our injured were loaded in an ambulance and transported to the Harrison County
Community Hospital. We decided to leave the destroyed vehicles sit until daylight and
then pull them off the road. We searched the bodies and loaded them aboard my pickup
and trailer. Everything we found went into a cardboard box for later distribution.

Eventually, word got out about the battle and it was called the Battle of 100th Street.
Emptying the pockets of the 39 attackers was worth the effort, although gruesome. Eve-
ry one of them had at least one gold Eagle or more and some fractional Eagles plus and
assortment of junk silver. Not every one of them had silver Eagles, however. The gold

173
and silver was evenly divided among those who had participated in the battle. It was
probably the most money Brad or Bill had ever had at one time.

The participants were: Karen and me, Jack and Sally, Gene and Rose, Jill and David,
Barney and Jane, Bill and Brad.

I wished the word hadn’t gotten out for at least two reasons: it suggested that we had
something worth taking and you’d better bring your big guns because we were well pre-
pared. It took Barney and Gene about two months to fully heal. In the meantime, Jack
and I made a trip to Johnston to get bigger guns, in this case two Mike 2 Hotel Bravo
machineguns and the ammo they used in their M1A1 tanks, 4 rounds of AP and 1 round
of APIT. We didn’t have to worry about headspace or timing; you did that when you re-
placed a barrel.

“So you notched it up one more step. What’s next, an M1A1 Abrams tank?”

“Only if you think we should have one David. I don’t for several reasons, not the least of
which they have a four person crew, the driver, loader, gunner and commander.”

“I sure wasn’t suggesting it. This place is more like an armed camp than anything I’ve
ever seen.”

“That’s right David, it is and you should glad it is. Without the preparations we’d made in
the defense area, we could have been taken over. We’ve had two attempts to get what
we have and the second was an escalation of the first. We’ve made adjustments, but
always after the fact, not before. The Mike 2 Hotel Bravo will be the last we add to the
armory. It has an effective range well past our property line and nobody will even get
close. If you don’t like it, feel free to leave at any time, I’ve had about all I can stand
from you.”

That ended the conversation quickly. There was unexpected steel in my voice that he
must have noticed. Despite having eaten the Maid Rite meat and tenderloins sparingly,
they were all gone and I would have considered giving my left arm up to the elbow for
more. I decided to take that to Jack.

“Maid Rite Corporation is in Des Moines, right?”

“Yes they are, on 86th Street.”

“Do you have any idea where they produce their products?”

“I don’t have a clue, why?”

“Because Jack, I’d like to get more. I’d get a truckload of their products if I could find it.
We like the Maid Rite sandwiches and the pork tenderloins. However, their onion rings

174
are good too. We can get a freezer trailer and pull it with a semi-tractor, provided we
knew where to look.”

“We could just go to their company headquarters and look around to find out where the
plant or plants are. I don’t know that we would find any product so long after the war, but
all you’d be out is the fuel and time.”

We went to Bethany and located a reefer trailer that could be cooled to freezing or be-
low. It had a separate tank for the non-road diesel so we had to stop back at the farm to
fill that tank. That accomplished, we set off looking for the needle in the haystack, a
truckload of Maid Rite products. That might take a very large magnifying glass.

Except that the corporate headquarters offices were part of the processing plant. The
processing plant had a natural gas fueled standby generation system in case they ever
lost power, probably because of the goods they had stored in large, minus 60° freezers.
At those temperatures, they didn’t have to worry about freezer burn. Freezer burn is
caused by water molecules migrating to the surface of the frozen product and evaporat-
ing. The colder it is, the smaller the migration, and for vacuum packed products held in
very cold climates the product doesn’t burn for a very long time. We would need cryo-
genic storage to continue to prevent the product we found to not burn, provided we
didn’t eat it up first. We didn’t have cryogenic storage available, or enough freezers to
hold what we had.

However, the reefer could be set to very low temperatures, well below 0° F. Essentially,
all we had to do was provide electricity and we had electricity to spare. All, I might point
out, because we hadn’t scrimped when we’d put in our systems. Which brings up the
point of scrimping; if you have a choice, don’t. Put in enough backup power, a large
enough shelter and either buy or borrow an appropriate arsenal. You still have to eat
and Walton Food, Emergency Essentials and online preparedness firms can supply you
until things begin to get tight. An example: in late 2008, you couldn’t get any Mountain
House products from the usual sources. Food was short, prices were high and all those
sheeple finally decided they’d better prep too.

In the aftermath of the two attacks, the people who were attacking the farm were most
likely sheeple, not preppers. Preppers would have what they needed and know to ask
rather than try to take. They might not ask us, but they might ask one of the Sheriff’s if
he knew where they could buy or trade for food. Alternatively, they could pay attention
when we made deliveries to the various communities and ask us then.

Maybe a month after our trip to Des Moines, the ground shook. We were anxious and
began discussing what it might be.

“The New Madrid Fault?”

175
“I don’t know that’s about 350 miles.”

“Yellowstone?”

“It’s further.”

“NEO slammed into the planet?”

“It could be any one of the three. It could even be Long Valley Caldera or San Andreas
out in California. We’ll have to monitor the ham radio until someone says something so
we can pin it down. Hang on, here we go again.”

It soon became apparent due to repeated shaking that it probably wasn’t a NEO unless
the rock had broken up. A day later, we were convinced it wasn’t a NEO when the shak-
ing continued. Hams in southern Missouri said it wasn’t the New Madrid Fault System. A
ham from Bishop, California said that things were fine out there, eliminating the San
Andreas Fault and Long Valley Caldera. Yellowstone was looking more likely every day.
That is until we picked up a ham from Wyoming who claimed it wasn’t Yellowstone.

“So you have no idea what it could be?”

“Sorry, Jack, all the things that we discussed earlier isn’t the source of the shaking.
Whatever it is, I think it’s big. I suppose it could be anyone of the dozen or so calderas
in the US waking up. I have a list of them:”

Battle Ground Lake State Park (Washington)

Mount Aniakchak (Alaska)
Crater Lake (Oregon)
Mount Katmai (Alaska)
La Garita (Colorado)
Long Valley (California)
Island Park (Idaho)
Newbury Volcano (Oregon)
Mount Okmok (Alaska)
Valles Caldera (New Mexico)
Yellowstone Caldera (Wyoming)

“There are as many in Canada are there are in the US.”

“But it isn’t Yellowstone? Are you sure about that?”

“The guy I talked to said that they felt significant shaking but someone checked and Yel-
lowstone was fine.”

“What else is in that area?”

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“La Garita and Valles.”

“Do you know much about them?”

“Only what I read on Wiki. Valles had the most recent eruption, but La Garita was prob-
ably one of the largest explosions in the history of the world. It was given a VEI of 9.2
and was about one fiftieth of the rock that killed off the dinosaurs. It created what they
call the Fish Canyon Tuff and was about double the volume of the largest Yellowstone
eruption.”

“Sounds like a Supervolcano.”

“It is, but it’s supposed to be extinct.”

“Maybe it doesn’t know it’s supposed to be extinct.”

If you recall what the scientists at YVO say about predicting an eruption, there would be
earthquake swarms preceding the eruption as the magma works its way to the surface.
Many of the calderas have resurgent domes where magma has created a new mound,
for want of a better term, in the caldera or volcano. Long Valley has a dome as does Mt.
St. Helens. All we can do was hope for the best, absent more information.

In the aftermath of the war, there had been pockets of civilization like Bethany and La-
moni. Big cities, like Des Moines, lost a majority of their populations because it was hard
to grow a garden on concrete. Even larger cities had been targets. The further east a
person went, the greater the death toll to fallout, due to the westerly winds.

“I’ve been thinking about this rumbling, Jack. It could be La Garita waking up. The prob-
lem with that is we’d be right in the path of any major ash fall. I don’t believe a pyroclas-
tic flow would get past Nebraska, however.”

“Any idea how far it is?”

“Not really, maybe 700 miles line of sight.”

“What are the chances that it could get this far?”

“I would guess that might depend on the volume of the eruption. I’m sure that we would
get ash, but hot gasses? Hopefully we’ll have enough warning to get in the shelter if
needed.”

“Do you need to give Jim and Susan a heads up?”

“I’ll call him on the radio and see if he wants to start moving his herds up here.”

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“Who were you talking to on the radio?”

“Your father. I was giving him an advance warning that we could have a Supervolcano.”

“Yellowstone?”

“No, perhaps La Garita.”

“Where is that?”

“Western Colorado. It produced the largest volcanic eruption in history.”

“Do you really believe it could explode?”

“It has to be a possibility.”

“Why haven’t I ever heard of La Garita?”

“It’s supposed to be extinct. In practice, it is often impossible to distinguish between a

dormant and an extinct volcano and several volcanoes thought to be extinct have sub-
sequently re-erupted. Volcanoes can be dormant for hundreds or thousands of years
and, due to the lack of eruptions, are usually eroded and worn down. The eruptions
from a dormant volcano are usually very violent because the plug inside the volcano
stops the lava from coming out of the vent for a very long time, thus building pressure.
The volcano will then erupt again and be classified as an active volcano.”

The rumbling continued and at times seemed to be heavier than others. First Jimbo
moved everything they had to our place. Next, it was time to prepare the fields for plant-
ing and we disked and dragged all fields. It wasn’t quite warm enough to plant so we
held back. WHO Radio confirmed that the extinct La Garita caldera seemed to be mak-
ing a comeback. It had spat lava a few times but hadn’t erupted. Kate Hutton of the
USGS in Pasadena, now in an undisclosed location, suggested that if the La Garita did
erupt, it could range from a minor eruption to something unimaginable. Thanks, Kate,
tell us something we didn’t know.

“Are we going to plant or not?”

“You can if you want Jimbo; I think the only thing I’ll plant is a garden. We have enough
feed put up for both herds for a year or more. If you want to haul some hay up here, it
should last longer.”

“How about we bring half of what we have in the barn?”

“Do you want Jack, Gene and Barney to help?”

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“Sure, if we can come up with enough flatbeds.”

We ended up hauling three flatbeds of hay and covering it with tarps without taking it off
the trailers. If nothing came of the rumbling, they could haul it back. The barn was
crowded although not overcrowded. We saddled up some horses and did a turn around
the farm, checking fences and enjoying the spring weather. For the fun of it, I was carry-
ing my Winchester and wearing a Vaquero.

Preparations wise, we’d done some salvaging and had an ample stock of those things
we couldn’t produce or grow; just the usual suspects, toilet paper, hygiene, spices, cof-
fee, oil and filters. If we had a volcanic eruption, we were ready. It didn’t happen. The
ground shaking tapered off until there weren’t any noticeable tremors. We stayed to-
gether until planting season neared and then Jimbo’s family moved home. Gene, Rose
and their kids moved to their farm, leaving Jack and Sally, Barney and Jane, David and
Jill.

The ladies cleaned up the empty mobile home, for the next time. Gene was producing
the soybean and corn seed for the people in the area and making a good living doing it.
On our farm, we returned to growing corn, soybeans, wheat, oats and alfalfa. We al-
ways seemed to have a bit of ethanol left over that the fuel tank wouldn’t hold and we
saved it for other uses. Unfortunately the generator used anywhere from 1.2gph to
4.7gph. We were producing only 3,800 gallons of biodiesel, leaving us short from
10,519-3,800=6,719 to as much as 41,200-3,800=34,700 gallons. That was the genera-
tor only and didn’t count the semi tractors or my Ford F-550.

So far, we’d recovered fuel from truck stops and refreshed it with PRI-D to make up the
shortfall. We had 2 drums of PRI-D, one of PRI-G and an anti-gelling compound to
begin with. Fifty-five gallons of PRI-D will only treat 110,000 gallons of diesel and soon-
er or later we were going to have a problem, possibly as soon as 3 years.

PRI is Power Research Inc. and they’re located in the ruins of Houston, Texas. We
needed a bunch if we were going to continue to recover stale diesel fuel. It was only
around 840 miles to Houston and the radiation should have decayed by now. Jack, Bar-
ney and I could take a 40’ box trailer and load it up with what we needed. If there was
someone there who wanted paid for the product, I had gold; if not, we’d use their forklift
and load up the trailer. We’d do that as soon as the crops were in and I’d either get Jim
or Gene to handle our chores while we were gone.

“I’m trying to get my stuff around for the trip, Will, do you have any recommendations?”

“I was thinking a box of hand grenades, the Mike 320 and some HEDP rounds. We’ll
probably take one Tac-50, our shotguns, handguns, the Super Match rifles and ammo.
We can take some of those Mountain House meals and a camp stove so we can heat

179
the water. Maybe a chemical toilet and 6 5-gallon cans of water plus a pocket filter.
We’ll take the CD V-700 and the CD V-715 and our dosimeters, just in case.”

“Where are we going to sleep?”

“Do you think Barney and you would be up to driving straight through and getting a mo-
tel or something on our way back?”

“Maybe, what about fuel?”

“We’ll take four drums with us. We should be able to get there and half way back before
we need to stop and refuel. This could be risky although it’s sort of a must do trip.”

Our only problem getting to Houston was avoiding stalled cars on the way down. Lucki-
ly, we were able to push them to the side and continue. We had to bypass Kansas City
because it had been a target. Further south, we had to do the same at Topeka and then
Emporia. Next came Wichita and Oklahoma City. We went west to avoid Dallas for two
reasons, it had been a target and Jack saw a road block in time for us to avoid it.

I don’t know how we managed, but we finally made it to Power Research, interacting
with not another human being. All of their products were in gallon jugs or smaller so we
began loading pallets of the 6-gallon cases of PRI-D and PRI-G, mostly the diesel addi-
tive. We were probably overloaded but there weren’t any weighing stations open to wor-
ry about. All that meant was that we needed to drive carefully and slower than normal.

Our detour into Huston put us through the city of Pasadena and we went the same way
on our return trip. We looked on the way in and the way out for Gilley’s, but it was no
more. We did, however, pass by more than one bar and liquor store. From the liquor
stores, we salvaged a bit of the best, but nothing that sold for less than $50 a bottle. We
added to the weight of the trailer by picking up full kegs of beer from the refrigerated
storage in several bars. It wasn’t so much that it had been kept cold as I was that it
hadn’t been allowed to get hot.

Karen and I had a 2-keg refrigerated dispenser but no product to put in it. Generally, a
keg of beer lasted long enough to become gassy, putting out a whole lot of foam. We’d
finished off what we had during the first 18 months. If it wasn’t good enough to drink, I
was betting that someone in Bethany or Lamoni might like to acquire it.

Rather than restoring diesel fuel that was available at the numerous truck stops along
the way, we elected to use the fuel we brought with us. We kept a list of places that
seemed to have fuel, just in case. One of the largest sources close to home was the I-
80 truck stop in Iowa, just west of Davenport. It was one of, if not the, largest truck stop
in the nation. Conservatively, I guessed that it held as much as one million gallons of
diesel fuel plus a few thousand gallons of gas.

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When we returned, without a scratch I’ll point out, we were happy to be home. Having
not seen any real destruction because Des Moines wasn’t a target, we were chagrined
by the level of destruction in the big cities like Kansas City, Dallas and Houston. I
couldn’t see how anyone had managed to live through those detonations. KC had taken
one and it appeared that Dallas and Houston had taken at least two, each. Given the
quantity of PRI products we’d recovered, Jack and Barney agreed to look for and bring
back tanker loads of diesel fuel that had been restored, if possible.

David and I stayed home tending to the crops and livestock while they located and
brought back 6 tandem trailers all treated with PRI-D and anti-gel. Now we had enough
fuel on hand for a few years. The generator finally gave up the ghost and it took a me-
chanic from Bethany more than a week to rebuild it. We used the standby 12kw China
diesel in the interim, mostly because it was already wired in.

There is no rest for the weary, if you haven’t heard. We needed more canning jars and
lids, something on the order of a truckload. We knew that Jarden made the Ball and
Kerr jars and lids, but didn’t know where they made them or where their warehouse
was. In the past, we’d ordered canning supplies from a place in Utah, Canning Pantry.
Since we’d pretty much cleaned out any place in the area of canning products, it was
decided to make a trip to Utah and have the goods we needed before the ladies ran out.
They were located in Hyrum, UT which was northeast of Salt Lake City and almost to
Logan. It was further, too, over 1,100 miles. However since empty jars weighed less
than full jars, we should be able to recover all they had available. I was hoping for a full
truckload of jars, lids and other canning products. We got to the Utah state line without
major difficulty. There was a roadblock we couldn’t avoid.

“Where are you headed?”

“Hyrum?”

“Looking for meat? Canning supplies? What?”

“Canning supplies.”

“They take gold and silver. If you don’t have that, turn around and return to where you
came from.”

“We have gold and silver and hopefully it will be enough.”

“Current exchange rate is $1,500 an ounce on gold; $30 an ounce on silver and the
prices for what they have hasn’t changed. Can you handle that?”

“I believe so. It would depend on how much they have in stock.”

“We’ll be providing an escort, so don’t try anything funny. It looks to me like you’re pre-
pared to defend yourselves.”

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“Do you get many semis?”

“Once in a great while we’ll get one, but most them are looking to salvage and we just
turn them around. You do salvaging?”

“We do, but only when the property is clearly abandoned.”

“Don’t suppose that you’d have anything to trade, would you?”

“What do you need?”

“Fuel treatments; all of the gas and diesel have gone bad.”

“Would 18 gallons of PRI-D and 6 gallons of PRI-G help?”

“Would it ever. It would probably get you 200 cases of jars. Do you have some?”

“In the trailer.”

“Can you get more?”

“We can, but probably not enough for the whole state of Utah.”

“We’ll give $500 a case for all you can get.”

“You might want to make a trip to Iowa with a truckload of canning jars and lids. We’re
easy to find, take I-35 south of Des Moines and stop at the state line, 100th street. Park
there and someone will come to get you. How about we get this show on the road, it’s
been a long trip.”

We were escorted to Hyrum and to Canning Pantry’s warehouse. We unloaded the 4

cases of PRI products we’d thrown on the trailer at the last minute, just in case. They
loaded the trailer with jars, lids, canning spices, and All American canners. We got out
of the place with most of our gold intact; most, but not all. They suggested that they
could put together one more truckload and would if we paid for it with PRI products and
enough fuel to top off their tanks. We told them the areas to avoid if they made the trip.

“How long have you been driving semis, Will?”

“Am I doing something wrong?”

“Not really, I was just curious.”

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 Threatcon Delta – Chapter 19

“Counting the trip to Houston, this is my second trip.”

“A full truckload? Salvage?”

“No, Karen, we had to pay for it. They had more and will bring us more in exchange for
PRI products.”

“Do you have enough?”

“A cases of jars cost us $10 and the PRI stuff was worth $500 per case. It won’t dent
our supply and you’ll have a lifetime supply of jars and lids.”

“The lids don’t store well, they go bad.”

“Would sealing them in a vacuum bag help?”

“We won’t know until we try.”

“Let’s give it a shot and put a dozen boxes per bag.”

We didn’t feel any more rumbling throughout the summer months. We got the delivery
from Utah and stored it for future use. The garden had been expanded and we hired
some teens from Bethany, paying them in food. Most of the time, we had at least 4, if
not 6, canners running at one time. They were staggered, time wise, so they’d be empt-
ing and reloading it while the others cooked. It was nearly a 24 hour a day operation.
The teens picked and prepared while Karen, Jill, Sally and Jane did the actual canning.
One of the teens also baby sat.

We got through the harvest and had produced the biodiesel and then topped of the die-
sel tank. We produced enough ethanol to refill the tanks and used the extra few gallons
the way we usually did. Some of the stuff had been left to age and we were still working
on the few bottles Dad had produced. There was very little drinking despite the fact we
were practically floating in the stuff. Bullets and booze don’t mix and you never knew
when the next group might show up and want their share. Just because it had been a
while didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen again. There was talk of outlaws in both Lamoni
and Bethany.

On what would have been Columbus Day, October 12th, the ground resumed shaking
with a vengeance. It was enough to knock things off shelves although no cabinets
tipped over because they were secured. Three hours after the shaking began, Gene
and Rose were there followed within minutes by Jimbo and his family. We moved all of
the livestock back into the barn or kept them in the near pasture. We settled in to wait
for whatever followed.

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Not that it’s pertinent to the immediate situation, but Gene mentioned that his seed corn
business had slacked off from the people using the heirloom seed and all he was selling
now was hybrids. The difference in yield between the hybrids ~165 and the heirloom
~100 meant he was selling all of the hybrids he could produce.

On October 15th, the ground all but exploded and no one was left standing. It even
knocked some of us out of our chairs.

“I thought we were passed this.”

“It did seem like we were. I ran the ham bands the past three days and the only hams I
haven’t been able to contact are those in Colorado and Wyoming.”

“La Garita?”

“Could be. If it is and the eruption is as large as the last one, we’re looking at 5,000km³
of ash extending all the way to the east coast and some Caribbean islands.”

“How about around here?”

“It could be from 5cm to 5meters, but probably somewhere in between.”

“Five meters is, what 15 feet?”

“About sixteen and one half.”

“So, you suggesting up to 8’ of ash?”

“Of course, the further away you are from it, the less deep it would be. If I recall correct-
ly, La Garita and the Fish Canyon Tuff weren’t that large when compared to the Huckle-
berry Ridge eruption. Most of it went to the SSE and it was a lot of lava.”

“Yellowstone?”

“You’d better hope not. If it exploded and put out as much ash as La Garita, we really
would have up to 5 meters of ash.”

Five thousand km³ is equal to 1,199.56mi³. One would assume that the conversion fac-
tor is 4.1682, give or take. I finally found another table on my computer and it said, “cu-
bic kilometers x 0.2399 = cubic miles; cubic miles x 4.168 = cubic kilometers.” The point
was that Huckleberry Ridge put out 585mi³ or 2,450km³. We were looking at possibly
double that volume if it was La Garita and the volume equal the previous major eruption.
Except that: 1) it wasn’t La Garita, but Yellowstone; and, 2) Yellowstone put out

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±5,400km³ of ash, this time when it erupted on October 19th although we didn’t know the
volume at the time. We had about ½ meter of ash by the time it tapered off.

“Are we going to be able to plow that in?”

“We might if we take several passes. We’re going to need to start from scratch on eve-
rything Jimbo, especially the permanent pasture and my alfalfa field.”

“What are you going to use for pasture?”

“Maybe Bermuda grass if I can find seed.”

We had spent two weeks in the shelter, leaving only long enough to care for the live-
stock and gather eggs. We fed most of the milk to the hogs; we were getting 400 gal-
lons twice a day.

A person wouldn’t have dared run a vehicle with the amount of ash in the air. As it was,
the air filters for the generators required daily cleaning. We shut down all the generators
after two days of that. We also weren’t maintaining a watch for trouble, it seemed be-
yond likely. With little else to do besides the livestock and cleaning air filters, we sat
down and cleaned all of the firearms taking care to remove any grime previously missed
and properly lubricate them. We also unloaded our magazines and reloaded the ammo
into the spare set we had for each weapon, to rest the springs.

When we were in Iraq most of us had at least 1½ to 2 sets of magazines and we rotated
them. I guess I should have swung by Bull Shoals Lake and looked up Derek. I wonder
if Derek ever got his father’s firearms. His Dad had 4 that he mentioned: an M1A Load-
ed, Mossberg 590A1 (ghost ring sights, no speed feed stock), Taurus PT1911B and a
Sauer & Sohn model 38H in 7.65 Browning (.32acp). The German pistol had a very low
serial number (under 300,000) and was probably in the first lot manufactured.

Until the eruption stopped, the earthquakes continued. My first thought was, “That
makes three, we can quit now.” Plowing the ash in was more difficult than it appeared. It
was so abrasive, it looked like it would wear out the plow before we finished. The tractor
pushing through the ash blew it up in the air and we had to stop after every furrow to
clean the air cleaner. The first three passes didn’t seem to accomplish much because
only a small amount of soil was showing. We made one pass with the disk and resumed
plowing. Three more passes with the plow and one more pass with the disk and we had
enough soil to plant in.

We wouldn’t be planting this year; the volcanic winter beat the nuclear winter hands
down. Any gardening would be confined to the greenhouse. When we’d finished prepar-
ing our fields and Jimbo finished his, we both lent Gene a hand. There were 3 of us that
could drive a tractor, David didn’t count, and Jimbo had himself and Jim. Gene only had
himself and it seemed like the neighborly thing to do.

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As I’d hoped, that was the last of it. Among the three events, untold millions in our coun-
try and untold billions around the world died. Not enough to reduce the gene pool as
happened when Mt. Toba erupted, but closer than anyone would have imagined. There
weren’t many banditos left and those that showed up were quickly dealt with, justice be-
ing rendered by Samuel Colt, Oliver Winchester, John Browning or one of his heirs.

We continued to carry at least a handgun for the next ten years due to the shortage of
food. We could grow enough for our group and Jimbo erected a greenhouse in partner-
ship with Gene. Both Bethany and Lamoni were forced to follow our example and erect
greenhouses. We supplied some seed, but after that they were on their own.

Finally the ash and sulfuric acid was out of the atmosphere and we had the warmth and
sunlight to grow food and crops outside. The only commerce we engaged in up to that
point was the sale of milk, cheese, eggs and meat. Our four were old enough now to
teach them the proper use of firearms. We started with a 10/22 and moved them to their
Mini-14s, starting with Billy, Jim and Karen. The next year, we moved them to the 9mm
Beretta pistols and Mini-14 and started Jill on the 10/22. They were good students and
took their training seriously. Finally Jill moved to the Beretta and the triplets asked to
shoot the M1As. Karen and I had enough of everything and soon everyone was shoot-
ing every firearm in our arsenal. The kids more or less taught themselves to hunt be-
cause I didn’t have time to share what little experience I had.

A slow recovery had begun from those locations like Bethany and Lamoni, even Osceo-
la where people managed to survive the 3 disasters. A few firms in Des Moines re-
sumed production, including Maid Rite. Food production was a major industry and we
did what we could to supply meat. We sold beef and hogs to the company and took a
portion of what we sold back in finished products and the remainder in gold.

A new census was being taken and the population of the United States was between 20
and 25 million. The figures were the initial numbers before the final count was known.
Survivors in the Midwest who’d managed to make it through the Anthrax and the war
had succumbed to Yellowstone. The largest group of survivors was in the eastern Mid-
west, places like Ohio and Indiana.

We cleaned up and stored the things like the Mike 240 Bravo and Mike 2 Hotel Bravo,
just in case. A bunker was built to separately house the explosives and ammunition. We
had a lot of ammunition and more of it was burned up on the target range than ever in
any fight.

David and Jill separated and then divorced. Eventually, she found another man whose
attitudes were more in keeping with those of us on the farm. He was raised on a farm
and it worked out well. Jack and Barney aged gracefully, as did Jimbo. Gene bought
more land and expanded his seed business.

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We could quit worrying about another anthrax attack, the terrorists were dead. There
wouldn’t be another WW III because all of the nuclear weapons had been used up. Yel-
lowstone wouldn’t be due to blow again for 600,000 years. I bought 3 additional sections
of ground in the area so that each of our children could have their own farm when the
time came.

Eventually, power was restored and limited phone service restored, but you had to call
the operator and tell her who you wanted to talk to; she’d either connect you to them or
long distance. It was like the late forties or early fifties, or so I’m told.

We made many more trips around the country, mainly looking for parts to repair the
equipment. The generators needed to be rebuilt, the tractor engine rebuilt, bald tires re-
placed. I made it to Flippin, Arkansas during one of those trips and Derek wasn’t there.
Another trip found him in Palmdale, California living in his father’s house. We lay over a
couple of nights and I left him 4 full ammo cans of the South African ammo. The only
changes they’d made over the years were to extend the concrete block wall all the way
around the house and install gates. Using one at a time, he’d managed to stretch use of
one of the four computers in the house and still had all of his father’s collection of files.
He burned me a DVD and gave me the spare CD he had from KI4U. I don’t believe I’ll
need that one.

I’ve got to go now, Karen has prepared breaded pork tenderloins with pickles and mus-
tard and I’m hungry.

© 2011, Gary D. Ott

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