PAW Fiction - Tired Old Man (Gary D Ott) - The Hunting Shack

The Hunting Shack – Chapter 1
“Did you double buy staples like we talked about?”
“I couldn’t. The prices went up again and I almost couldn’t afford the regular groceries.
The cheapest bread they had was $1.79 a loaf and the good stuff was $3.99. Plain
hamburger, that greasy stuff that shrinks so badly, was $4.99 a pound on sale.”
“I checked with Stan and he told me that the company wouldn’t authorize more overtime
due to falling sales. I’m sorry…we’re going to have make do with my regular pay.”
“Don’t worry, Don; Jeanie’s husband Bob was laid off and they’re in worse shape than
we are. If they don’t cut back on their lifestyle, they’ll lose everything.”
“Can you see Jeanie doing that? Bob will pump gas, if he has to, rather than give up
their lifestyle.”
“A minimum wage job wouldn’t even touch their grocery bill.”
“She cooks at home? I thought that they usually ate out.”
“That ended when all of their cards maxed out. She said she had to put back some of
the things she picked up and used up all the cash she had. She was so embarrassed.”
“I hope we never find ourselves in that position. I was thinking about looking for a tem-
porary second job because of some the preps I wanted that we don’t have.”
“Like what?”
“I’d like some kind of generator so we could keep our food frozen and refrigerated if we
lost power; more ammo for my rifle and shotgun. We have enough for both of our pis-
tols. Which reminds me, did you get your CCW?”
“It was approved and I now have the endorsement on my driver’s license.”
“Good; in that case, I have a present for you. Hang on a minute, I’ll be right back.”
“Open it, I ordered that when we bought you the Beretta.”
“Galco?”
“Yep, the same place I got my Miami Classic rig. The purse is ambidextrous so you can
carry it on either shoulder and still access your pistol.”
“I’ll only carry one extra magazine, if that’s okay with you.”
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“That should be enough, most likely you never have to draw it, let alone shoot it. Those
124gr +P Gold Dot rounds should stop anyone not wearing body armor dead in their
tracks.”
“What do I do if they have body armor?”
“What else; put one right between their baby blues.”
“Failure to stop drill?”
“Not if you already know they have a vest, no. If you can’t tell, start with body shots and
add the third shot unless they’re already going down.”
“Where would you look for work?”
“I had it mind to look for something in the area of manual labor and kill two birds with
one stone.”
“Which two birds?”
“Earn some extra money and work off some of this gut.”
“What size of generator do you want; a home standby?”
“Not that big. Six to eight kilowatts, gas or diesel, and portable enough to move around
should we need to.”
“Let’s eat, it’s ready.”
I had in mind a generator I’d seen, a 7kw Briggs & Stratton PowerBOSS with a 12kw
surge capacity. It burned gasoline, had a 7-gallon tank, wheel kit and would run for 13
hours on the one tank of gas. If we filled it and kept 7 5-gallon cans of stabilized gas,
we’d have 42-gallons and about 78-hours of run time and we could keep everything cold
for a couple of weeks, running it part time. Bob and Jeanie had a natural gas powered
45kw residential standby. It was a huge 45kw Cummins Onan generator that could put
out 350 amps.
I asked if he had a conversion kit to switch it to propane if the need arose. He didn’t. I
asked why he didn’t buy the model that used dual fuel, both natural gas and propane.
The propane tank was ugly, he claimed. On top of that, he couldn’t move the generator
because it weighed almost a ton. I had concluded if we had a generator that large, it
would be trailer mounted and burn diesel fuel.
I got a part time job shoveling dirt, of all things. It paid a fair wage and we began saving
to buy the 7kw generator. Lowe’s had their 5-gallon Blitz cans on sale and I bought 7. I
bought a pint of PRI-G and each week, I filled one can, slowly accumulating our supply
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of gasoline. Then, I was given an empty 55-gallon drum by a friend that he’d already
cleaned out. So, I/we put the gas from the cans into the drum and kept filling cans. We
finally had the money to buy the generator and it happened to be on sale. Using the
leftover money, we bought a second pint of PRI-G to put up and filled most of the cans,
allowing us to fill the tank on the generator, finish filling the drum and having 3 cans still
full.
At the same time, Marie was able to get a few extra items by watching for sales on
things we wanted. It was like the Dirksen quote, it added up. The job lasted and I saved
up and bought a case of Remington low recoil 00 buck. I saved some more and bought
a case of #4 buck and still later, a case Brenneke slugs. Some weeks when there was a
really good sale at the grocery store, my ammo money bought more food.
Ammo had been generally unavailable or high priced since November 4, 2008. The
price of 7.62×51mm had gone through the roof. What I ended up buying was Prvi Parti-
zan 7.62×51mm 145 Grain Full Metal Jacket, a case of 1000 for around $700 and
change. My source was MidwayUSA. That was a shame because my rifle was better
than that. What I really needed was Black Hills 168gr BTHP or 165gr BTSP. My rifle,
you see, was a Springfield Armory Loaded. We had almost purchased the National
Match at the time, but comparing features, we decided on the Loaded and I bought my
magazines mail order at $20 a pop. The money saved paid for 20 magazines and ship-
ping. I also bought some Radway Green.
The National Match and the Loaded basically both had the same barrels in terms of
weight and twist, medium weight, 1:11. The Loaded had its name because it was ‘load-
ed’ with National Match features, the ones that counted. Not all of them, of course, just
the important ones. Introduced in 1957, the rifle was still in use by our military, although
it had been replaced by the M16 in 1964.
I got lucky when I went to Iraq; I was a Designated Marksman with an M14 type rifle.
When I got out, the first thing I bought was the rifle from Springfield Armory. My rifle in
Iraq had been a M21 with scope. My personal rifle was a Loaded and, later, I got the
Harris bipod, A.R.M.S. mounts and a Leupold Mark IV variable power scope. Like I said,
my rifle was better than my ammo and it was like using a coat hanger as the antenna for
your all band Yaesu radio. No, not yet, but it’s on the list.
“I thought you wanted that Black Hills ammo.”
“I do Marie, but the stuff I bought will fill the gap until we can afford some.”
“Don’t forget to put that target Mini-14 on the list too, with 20 round Ruger magazines.”
“It will be easier now that we have the gas cans, gasoline and the generator. I’ll save up
and buy one case of the Black Hills at a time. Half as many rounds, but these rounds
hurt.”
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“What do you mean?”
“They’re either Hollow Point or Soft Point. That Serbian stuff is full metal jacket.”
“Is that legal?”
“Yep, I’m a civilian now and the Hague Convention of 1899 doesn’t apply to me. If I
could get some surplus German 7.62, that would be ideal.”
“Why?”
“German 7.62×51mm NATO FMJ has an unusually thin cannelure i.e. the groove run-
ning around the circumference of a bullet which is used to crimp it to the cartridge case.
When the bullet hits the target it fractures along the cannelure and fragments, causing
massive tissue damage like the 5.56×45 mm NATO bullet but on an even larger scale.”
“Why don’t you get some of that?”
“When I saw it, we didn’t have the money. When we had the money, it was all gone.”
That in two sentences seems to be the story of our lives. By hoarding the money from
the dirt shoveling job, we acquired one case of the Black Hills at a time. The first case
was HP and the second SP. I then returned to buying a 500 round case about every
other month. I’d seen a Marine in Iraq using a Mossberg 590A1 and when I bought my
shotgun, that’s the model I specified. While Marie had the standard Beretta 92FS aka
M9, I wanted more power and spent the last of our gun buying money on a barely used
Para Ordinance P-14. Marie also wanted a 20 gauge pump so her arms were the same
as mine but favored her 5’2”, 105 pound frame.
Less than a year after we bought the generator, we had a winter ice storm roughly equal
to the winter of 2008-2009 only worse. We lost power for 10 days and while we had to
rely on the fireplace to keep warm, the generator kept our food frozen and refrigerated. I
won’t say it paid for itself with that one instance; the weather had been funny lately, we
heard warnings about global warming and were freezing our behinds off during the win-
ters.
The job ended with the ice storm because I couldn’t get to the job and had I been able,
the dirt was beneath 3” of ice. We had increased our supply of food faster than the am-
mo for obvious reasons; $750 bought far more food than ammo. I could get to work after
two days and Stan asked me if I wanted some overtime. It seems an order came during
the days I was off and it was urgent. It involved welding up pieces for several jigs that
had been fabricated during the past two days running on generator power. We had one
welder that was portable with its own built in generator and I was the most experienced
using it.
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Time and a half is way more than I was making shoveling dirt and I told him yes. I called
Marie and told her not to hold supper because I’d finally gotten some overtime and
would be working 12 hours days, 7 days per week until the job was completed. Anything
over 8 hours in a day is time and a half and anything over twelve hours per day was
double time. On the sixth day, it was time and a half for the first eight and double time
for the next four. On the seventh day, it was all double time. After that, you were in a
new work week and it started over.
I worked 12 hours on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Although I

lost pay for Monday and Tuesday, I earned the equivalent of 14 hours each of those five
days, a total of 70 hours of straight time. The following week I worked 7 days straight
finishing up the rush job. I earned the equivalent of 14 hours per day for Monday
through Friday, Saturday paid the equivalent of 20 hours and Sunday paid the equiva-
lent of 24 hours, a total equal to 114 hours of straight time. The job had been priced out
cost plus, so the customer paid the bill.
“Wow, 184 hours equivalent, we can do a few things with that.”
“Right Marie, pay more taxes.”
“So what, even with the extra taxes you did well, 4½ weeks’ pay in 12 days. Can I have
my Ruger now?”
“Is there enough to pay for it?”
“Yes, and then some. I’ll get the 20-round magazines and a case of ammo, plus I’ll be
able to buy more of the meat on sale this week.”
“Can you handle it without me helping? I need a good night’s sleep and it’s back to the
same old grind tomorrow.”
“Sure, any particular order?”
“If your name was Annie, I could say Annie Get Your Gun, so make it Marie Get Your
Gun.”
“Good, I had the rifle and magazines on layaway so it won’t eat up all of your hard
earned money. I’ll get 20 pounds of ground chuck, 6 packages of the Moran ground
chuck patties, some round steak, and roasts if I see any that I like. Would you like sau-
sage or bacon?”
“Yes. Get 2 or 3 of those small sized Cure 81s if you have the money. How are we on
chicken?”
“There’s not much left.”
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“Do they have those large breast quarters?”
“They did the last time I looked, the ice coated ones?”
“Yeah. Maybe 2 bags if you can manage it.”
“Anything else? Coffee, tea or me?”
“The last sounds the best but I’m too pooped to pop. Coffee if you can.”
I ate a sandwich and a bowl of soup, showered and crawled into bed. The next thing I
remember was Marie waking me for breakfast at 6:30, pancakes and bacon. Man, was I
tired. I took a quick shower to help me wake up, did the 3 S’s and dressed. My lunch
box was waiting and I handed her the checkbook, gave her a peck and headed for work.
That evening when I got home she showed me her new rifle, pointed out the case of
1,000-rounds of BTSP ammo and handed me the cash register tape from the grocery
store. She made out like a bandit, since our store runs their weekend sales from Friday
through Monday. Our freezer was looking much better, with the additions. Marie proba-
bly got about double the amount of food I thought she would, but between the sales, the
coupons and careful selection she squeezed those nickels until the buffalo’s growled or
did whatever buffalo’s do. I had 2,500-rounds of .308 HP, 500-rounds of .308 SP and
the 1,000-rounds of Prvi Partizan and was getting close, only two more cases.
Marie also bought 6 oil lamps from a clearance end cap for roughly 25% of their original
price and 6 packages of 4 wicks each. She suggested that we get one or two 5-gallon
diesel can(s) filled with kerosene. After we ate, I helped her put the food in the base-
ment of our rented house.
Bob and Jeanie had indeed lost their house. They were down to living in a one bedroom
apartment with their extra furniture stored. I’ll give him credit; he sold off the standby
generator before the bank got that too. He got $12,500 for the package that he told me
cost him $20,000. They’d sold Jeanie’s H3 and Bob’s Corvette, leaving them with one
car, a Ford Taurus. They also managed to sell the boat and trailer, again losing a good
share of their investment.
One evening we decided to eat out to treat ourselves. Nothing fancy, just one of the
older cafés in town. It was one of those, walk in, and grab a booth or a table kind of
places. The waitress came with the order pad in one hand menus in the other.
“Jeanie?”
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“Hi Marie, Don. Coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
She left to get the coffee pot and returned to fill our cups.
“How long have you been working here?”
“This darned economy…Bob can’t get any decent work, you know. Three months, give
or take. We sold off most of our stuff and got out of our credit card debt, but it’s not
easy. We filed for bankruptcy, it’s just so embarrassing. Have you decided on what
you’ll have?”
“I have the broasted chicken breast quarter with fries, Don?”
“I’ll take the chicken fried steak special.”
“It sounds to me like they’re trying to get themselves out of the mess they created. I
never thought I’d see the day where Jeanie was working a waitress job in a café.”
“She didn’t say what Bob is doing. I wonder if he’s working or not.”
“What was the new unemployment rate?”
“Fifteen point two percent. It’s starting to look like we’re having a second Great Depres-
sion.”
“Is your job secure?”
“It’s a custom shop and while business is down, not many firms do what we do in this
area. We’re lucky we’re renting our house instead of buying.”
“Why?”
“Uncle Pete has that hunting shack there next to the woods and if push came to shove,
I’m sure he’d let us occupy it until things turned around. You’ve seen it; it’s nothing fan-
cy, but has a potbellied stove, a wood fueled cooking stove, a solar powered well and
septic system plus the stool, sink and tub. It might not be the greatest experience, long
term, but we’d get by.”
“If I remember right, there was a huge stack of firewood.”
“Unless it’s been burned up and not replaced, there was.”
“Well, I’m glad I got those kerosene lamps now, just in case.”
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“There’s always our emergency reserve savings. I don’t want to get into that money un-
less we’re absolutely desperate. We only have one gun left on the gun list to buy, your
20-gauge pump. What did you have in mind, a 500 Bantam?”
“Not this time, I want exactly the same Mossberg you bought.”
“Why? That’s a lot of gun for someone your size.”
“Because of the ammo; the way we’ve been doing it, we have different calibers of rifles
and pistols, hence double the ammo. I’ve shot your shotgun and that low recoil ammo
isn’t bad.”
Marie got her shotgun for her next birthday. I had finished buying Black Hills and had
turned to buying her more rifle ammo. We spent some time on a range getting that har-
monic dampener tuned to the ammo she was using. As far as buying guns went, we
were done. When we had our ammo bought, it would be a simple matter of replacing
what we shot. In addition to her Galco purse, we bought her a military issue holster for
the M9.
“Did you hear about Bob and Jeanie?”
“What’s new?”
“The judge threw out their bankruptcy because they disposed of those things. He said
they did it in anticipation of their bankruptcy filing.”
“Where does that leave them?”
“Jeanie didn’t know. I think they’ll just change their names and disappear.”
While it is probably done every day, doing that is not without its problems. You have to
get a new social security number, new driver’s license and that usually means being
fingerprinted…you can run, but you can’t really hide.
“I’m sorry Don; we’ve lost too many orders and can’t keep the business going. Here’s
your severance check. It includes severance, your accumulated sick time and vacation.
The owner’s don’t plan on reopening. I’ve included a letter of recommendation in a sep-
arate envelope; I hope it helps.”
I was dumbfounded. The company had lain off two newer employees, but I hadn’t seen
this coming. Make that 15.3%. On the way home, I considered our options. We had our
emergency reserve savings, about a six month supply of food, no debt and few pro-
spects of me finding another job. I knew when I arrived home during the middle of the
work day, Marie would know immediately.
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“Oh, you’re home? Temporary layoff?”
“The company is going out of business. I’m going to call Uncle Pete and see if using
that hunting shack is a viable option. Thank God we’re past the lease and on a month to
month rental.”
“Uncle Pete? Don. Say, is anyone occupying that hunting shack? Oh, the company I’ve
been working for is going out of business and you know the state of the economy. You
will? When? Great, we’ll begin packing.”
“What did he say?”
“The shack is available for as long as we need it. He’ll clean out his farm truck and
come here to help us move our possessions. We have ten days to get everything
packed up and ready to move. He also mentioned that you could help Sarah with the
garden and canning for a share of the food and he had a bit of work I could do mending
equipment.”
Mom and Dad divorced when I was 11. He took off, never to be seen again. Pete was
Mom’s older brother and had been a big help when her melanoma spread to her other
organs and killed her. Other vitals: Donald West, age 29; wife Marie West, age 27; no
children unless we adopt. Hobbies include gardening (her), fishing (me) and shooting
(both). Marie’s family lived in California and we lived in Missouri. Her parents were also
divorced; her mother out running around and her father MIA. She and I were single chil-
dren.
As preppers, we tried to cover all of the bases, but there were just too many to cover.
We were basically well prepared for a natural disaster and a temporary economic disas-
ter. We weren’t prepared for WW III, but the things we needed were on our ‘to buy list’.
That included radiation sensors and equipment, communications gear, etc. I had a gen-
eral class ham license as did Marie; they had eliminated the main obstacle, Morse code.
Uncle Pete was also a ham, an Extra class with a fancy setup.
The easiest solution to the boxes we needed to pack everything was to buy U-Haul
boxes. It took five days of steady work to pack everything we wouldn’t need until Pete
showed up. Some things, like the ammo, were already boxed. We decided we could get
by with locking the freezer and putting the contents of the refrigerator in our 100 quart
Igloo cooler. We went to the store and bought enough frozen meals to allow us to pack
everything in the kitchen.
It was cheaper than eating in a restaurant and we wouldn’t risk running into Bob and
Jeanie. Would she rub it in if she found out I’d lost my job? At least that’s how Marie ex-
plained it to me. Marie also said we’d better be careful about our nicknames, what
would people think if I called her Marie and she called me Donnie? They’d confuse us
for Latter-day Saints.
9
°
Pete showed up and we spent a few hours loading up. He had an appliance cart that
saved the day. Some things went in my old beater, the cooler, generator, ammo and the
drum and cans of gas. Our pitiful firearms collection went behind the seat. It was May
Day, when they have the big march in front of the Kremlin and the English have big cel-
ebrations.
“What do you want to do, Don? We can unload it in the machine shed or at the shack.”
“For the moment, we want the refrigerator, freezer and our bed. Marie and I can come
up and get the rest as we need it.”
“Fine. You never got the radio?”
“No sir. We got our general tickets but don’t have a radio.”
“I’ll give you a CB to keep in touch with the house, if you plan on running that genera-
tor.”
“We won’t run it all of the time, only to keep our refrigeration going. Marie loaded up on
kerosene lamps.”
“Fine, but if they’re those cheap ones Wal-Mart sells, don’t try to read by them, you’ll
end up going blind.”
They were indeed the cheap ones from Wal-Mart. The good ones weren’t on sale at
75% off. The shack had a few lamps mounted on the wall and with these new ones; I
was hoping to get by. Marie agreed with me when I brought it up. We moved the freezer
by emptying it, hauling it to the shack and going back for the food. Our next trip was for
the refrigerator and the third was for our bed. I brought the cooler in after I unloaded the
generator and got it running to chill the freezer and refrigerator. While it cooled Marie
loaded the food back in and I assembled the bed.
After we finished with those tasks, we sat down to catch our breaths and to decide what
else to bring. The 2 cans of kerosene, the 6 lamps, two comfortable chairs, our dresser
and our portable radio. I figured I’d better get that mobile radio while it was being of-
fered, I could take 12v (13.8) from the generator when it was running. It was just a mo-
bile antenna but the shack was only about ½ mile from the house. When we went back,
Sarah said to drop off our things and come back for supper, homemade bread, baked
ham and mashed potatoes with ham gravy and Mexicorn.
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We were around bright and early the next morning, had breakfast and headed to the
house. Sarah had told Marie what needed done in the garden and Pete mentioned three
things he wanted welded up before planting season. He had a Lincoln welder and I’ve
never understood that, Pete didn’t know how to weld. He claimed he got it cheap at a
farm auction and thought it might come in handy someday. It was set up in the well
house and had extra-long welding cables so a person could park the machine next to
the well house and reach the machine to make the repair. When that wouldn’t work,
he’d have to dismantle the machine to get to the broken part.
He had a welding hood and one of those hand held plates that allow someone watch
you weld, but he refused to learn. He said it would take all of his concentration just
teaching me to farm. After the repairs were finished and he began to explain crop rota-
tion, seed selection, cultivation schedules and harvesting times, I had to agree.
Marie, on the other hand, was having the time of her life working in a real garden. I may
miss some plants, but I think there were corn, cantaloupe, pumpkins, acorn and butter-
nut squash, watermelon, potatoes, beets, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, radishes,
head and loose leaf lettuce, cabbage, plum and beefsteak tomatoes, sweet peas, snap
peas, onions, pepper plants and chili plants. Sarah told Marie she would just take a little
less to the farmer’s market.
As we began to get settled in, Sarah came to the shack and taught Marie the trick to
baking bread in a wood fired stove. She’d start her fire and begin build coals while she
mixed the bread and let it raise. More wood would be added from time to time until the
coals were just right and the bread was raised in the pans. Then, you could walk away
and come back at the end of the day and have fresh bread in the oven, cool enough to
eat.
I learned to drive a John Deere getting the corn planted in straight rows, cultivate the
same without digging it up, mow and windrow alfalfa, stack bales, pick corn and com-
bine beans. I also learned to use a milking machine, feed the hogs, feed the chickens,
gather eggs, and feed the cattle, in no particular order of importance except for the milk-
ing, 5am and 5pm. Pete’s milking machine was older than I was and worked fine other
than being labor intensive.
“I’ve got an extra Icom IC706MKIIG radio if you don’t mind an older one. It includes a
power supply, desk mike but you’ll need to get your own antenna.”
“How come it’s extra?”
“I got a Yaesu FTDX9000D and a tri-band VHF/UHF for the house and FT857Ds for the
car and pickup.”
“Why does that sound expensive?”
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“Maybe because they were, $10,000 for the FTDX9000D, almost $700 apiece for the
mobiles plus the desk mike, earphones, power supply.”
“It must be nice.”
“I’ve been working on it for a while. Another thing I ought to mention, the storm shelter
roof fell in and we built a new one. Marie and you are welcome to use if needs be. It’s
right where the old one was, but buried deeper and much larger. You can’t tell by look-
ing but the shelter, barn, hog house and hen house all connected by culverts. It’s a tight
fit, they’re only 48” in diameter, but they’re dry and well protected.”
“I’ll bet you get a crick in the neck moving around in those.”
“No way; I put in plywood floors. You lie down on a mechanics creeper and pull yourself
along and the people on the other end can pull the creeper back with the clothesline.
There’s a 100’ hank of clothesline for either way.”
We worked hard over the course of the summer but we were amply rewarded: a large
supply of canned vegetables, a side of beef and a hog, butchered and wrapped plus a
500-gallon farm tank of gasoline for our generator. Sarah gave her old Presto pressure
canner to Marie because she had two 41.5 quart All American pressure canners and the
old one was ‘taking up space’. All it needed was a new ring, about $10.
We seemed to have it made; our only utilities were gasoline and kerosene. Wood was
available in the woods after hunting season and Pete had chainsaws, a wood splitter
and everything else needed to cut firewood. At the same time, we couldn’t grow every-
thing we needed and took to acquiring ‘the other food’ in 50 pound bags, locally if we
could, mail order if we couldn’t. I do know that Pete and Sarah mail ordered two more
units of LTS food for their shelter. When I picked up on that, I asked for a shelter tour.
“Ok, but this is just between you and us, agreed?”
“Sure, what’s the mystery?”
“I would have thought that with you being a prepper, you would have picked up on that
when I told you the shelter was connected to the other buildings via culverts. I got the
idea from a story I read at Frugal’s Forums. Bottom line; it’s a bomb shelter.”
“I suspected that but wasn’t sure. How many Missouri farmers have a bomb shelter?”
“You might be surprised; if you’re putting in a storm shelter, it’s only a little extra work,
and a lot more expense, to go all of the way. The only targets are Kansas City,
Whiteman Air Force Base and St. Louis, in my opinion. I couldn’t do much with the other
buildings without starting over, except provide access. Like I said, don’t go blabbing this
around. This is an American Safe Rooms blast door, that side room over there is the
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generator room and the generator is fueled by a pair of used, recertified, 10,000-gallon
tanks of stabilized diesel.”
“How big is this?”
“It’s 36’ square, just shy of 1,300ft². There’s bedroom for Sarah and me and a unisex
bunkroom. Everything is electric powered and that room in the corner is the bathroom
with a shower. There are lines from all of the antennas running to both the house and
shelter. They switch over via shielded relays. Food is stored in that room over there
along with my small armory and ammo. The air filtration system also came from Ameri-
can Safe Rooms. Since you can access the shelter from the other buildings, there is no
escape tunnel or anything like that. What do you think?”
“Wow. How long have you had this?”
“Started working on it in 2004. Probably stupid, the Cold War ended in ’91. I have reser-
vations about that. However, what got me started was John Kerry becoming the Demo-
cratic candidate for President. Well, he didn’t win, but a Democrat won in 2008 and I’m
not so sure he’s not worse. You can’t negotiate with terrorists. And the economy? It
doesn’t matter who caused the mess, what’s being done to get out of it isn’t working.”
So, I got my shelter tour and brought Marie up to speed over supper that night.
“When are you going to start cutting firewood?”
“Are we getting low?”
“No, but doesn’t it have to cure or something?”
“I’ll start by cutting deadfalls and move to cutting standing dead trees next year. How is
our money holding out?”
“Not good, we’re down to the last thousand. What did you need?”
“Nothing, just curious. Maybe I can sell some firewood and split the money with Uncle
Pete.”
“Maybe next year, he’ll give you some money instead of putting in a fuel tank. I’d like to
have a prime power generator or a wind turbine or solar system so we had power
fulltime and not have to run the generator for an hour at a time 4 times a day.”
“I’ll use his desktop and look into it.”
I checked the Cummins website and found something relatively new, the hybrid RV
Quiet Diesel. The smallest unit was the 8/10, model 810HQDSA-6028A. Its average
diesel usage varied from 0.11gph at no load to 0.76gph at full load. The downside was
13
the rpm, it wasn’t 1,800. The 8.0 HDKK/1046 produced 8kw, 66.6amps and burned
0.13gph at no load up to 1.02gph at full load and the engine was still a stinking
3,600rpm. In order to get a longer lasting engine, the choice was the 10kw or 12.5kw
QDRV genset. The 10kw unit, the 10.0 HDKCA, could produce up to 83 amps and its
fuel usage ranged from 0.1gph at no load up to 1.1gph at full load. It was also about
$800 cheaper and more power than we would ever need, even if we moved back to
town.
“Pete, where do you buy your diesel fuel?”
“You mean when I bought it or where do I get it now?”
“Where do you get it now?”
“I make it. I plant 80 acres of soybeans each year and that yields around 3,800 gallons
of biodiesel. We just don’t use all that much in a year and I’ve been selling the extra to a
neighbor or two.”
“What do you do with the meal?”
“Mix it in the livestock feed. I’ve thought about switching to canola. You get canola oil
from it and can produce around 127-gallons of biodiesel per acre. The meal can be
added to livestock feed just like the soybean meal.”
“So you could produce over 10,000-gallons of biodiesel from the same 80 acres?”
“Sure could, why?”
“Marie brought up the subject of continuous power.”
“I wondered how long that would take.”
“Where did you get the used tanks?”
“From a fella I know, why, want one?”
“I really wouldn’t mind. Could I get some biodiesel from you?”
“Don, what do you propose to use for a generator?”
“I’ve been looking at the Cummins Quiet Diesel RV units. The only way to get a
1,800rpm engine is to get a 10 or 12.5kw.”
“Your circumstances may change and you’ll need a large one; have you given that any
thought?”
14
“The 12.5kw is about $800 more.”
“So what, I’ll be buying and you’ll be paying me back, right?”
“I hadn’t planned on asking you.”
“Nonsense, I’d like it better if you could be in communication 24/7. Plus you could get a
satellite TV hookup with high speed internet.”
“We don’t have that kind of money.”
“Well, you will. This coming year you’ll be just another hired hand and get the same
wages as any other hired hand. I didn’t do that this year because I put in the gas tank,
fuel and the meat. And, you didn’t really know what you were doing. What’s the 12.5kw
run?”
“About $9,600.”
“I can do better than that and I’ll get a tank while I’m at it. You need to get your butt in
the woods and start cutting deadfalls. The standing dead trees have orange paint on
them, but save them for last. I mark them around every July 1st. You work, you’ll get my
help; you sit on your butt, you’re on your own.”
He got the 12.5kw for the price of the 10kw. I think he patched the fiberglass tank him-
self. Then, after the generator was installed, Pete came back from town with a load of
electrical supplies. There was a 100 amp breaker panel, wire mold, fixtures and an in-
struction book. His only comment was, “Have fun.”
And, by the way, since he owned the hunting shack, he’d just keep the generator, if we
ever left, he said. That was $8,800 plus we’d never have to pay back. We continued to
use the PowerBOSS because the diesel tank hadn’t been installed, plumbed or filled.
The 12.5kw used slightly more fuel, from 0.1gph to 1.2gph. There are, on average,
8,766 hours per year. Times 1.2gph meant we’d need 10,600-gallons of diesel, at full
load and I doubted we’d ever be running at full load. It would run more like 0.5gph or
roughly 4,400 gallons per year. He said he expected us to pay the same price for the
biodiesel he’d been charging his neighbors.
After the shack was wired, the tank installed and plumbed, I returned to the woods to
harvest firewood. The tank wouldn’t be filled for some time. Pete decided to plant cano-
la, and then, we’d only get whatever was left over after his shelter tanks were filled. His
shelter tanks also dispensed biodiesel (B-100) from a fuel pump like you used to see in
service stations when they only pumped one grade. He said we’d have to think about
getting the fuel out to the new tank. He also said that the demand for the QDRV 12.5kw
was so high he had trouble getting it.
15
One of those patriot fiction writers had been telling what a good deal they were in his
stories, pricey but compact, low fuel usage, quiet and high power output. Used in an
RV, the warranty was 2 years; in any other application, only a year. We got lucky, when
he was finished processing the soybean oil into biodiesel, we got the rest, 2,600-
gallons.
Marie began to wonder what Pete and Sarah’s kids would think if they found out that
Pete had all but adopted us. Their kids were in the big cities, one in Independence, one
in St. Louis and the third in Jefferson City. He said he doubted they could get here in an
emergency, but there were food stocks for all of them. I mentioned the cattle, hogs and
chickens but left out the saddle horses. The trail rides were limited to Saturdays and
Sundays only. There were 27 horses that rented for $10 per hour plus, for that authentic
feel, you could also rent a carbine and a single action revolver with western holster rig
at $5 each. For $20 you could be Wyatt Earp, for an hour.
The weapons were loaded with blanks and the only firm rule was that you couldn’t shoot
from horseback. A few diehards brought their own weapons to shoot on the range near
the end of the trail using live ammunition. On a busy weekend, he could pull in $3,000.
I cut and removed all of the deadfalls, using Pete’s saws and splitter adding it to our
woodpile, with the exception of the cord Pete charged me to use the saw and splitter. I
bought the gas and oil for the chainsaws and any parts needing to be replaced. We’d
still had expenses, but not much more than before, plus we had prime power.
This year, 2012, saw little change in the US. The stimulus package wasn’t working yet,
although the president kept saying it was working. That must explain why gold is hover-
ing at $1,600 per ounce. Rather than run the QDRV, we stuck with the PowerBOSS de-
spite having some stabilized fuel in the tank. I don’t know if biodiesel needs to be stabi-
lized, but it sure needs an anti-gel due to its tendency to gel.
“Is that enough wood for now?”
“The pile looks bigger than when we moved down here last year.”
“Then, it must be, right? Actually it’s about 1½ times as much wood. I won’t be able do
any wood cutting in the summer and I hope Pete teaches me to use his biodiesel
equipment. He called it a mini-refinery capable of producing a maximum of 600 gallons
per day. I thought it strange that he would buy a machine large enough to produce all of
the biodiesel in 7 days. He said when he changes over, the time will increase to 2½
weeks and if push comes to shove, his capacity would be almost 220,000 gallons a
year. I not sure about that, his farm isn’t big enough to produce that much canola.”
16
“Can we start running the diesel generator in the evenings? I miss TV.”
“Ok and we can power the refrigerator and freezer during the same time which will elim-
inate one use of the gasoline generator. You can use Sarah’s phone to get a dish in-
stalled and price the high speed internet.”
Marie selected the Choice plan which included most of our favorite channels. She didn’t
agree to anything or get the internet until we could talk it over with Pete and Sarah.
There was something about a phone line that she didn’t understand and we had no cell
phone reception here, forcing us to drop the service. In the end, we ended up without
satellite TV.
According to Survival Unlimited and other sources, biodiesel required a stabilizer to pre-
vent it from becoming acidic and gelling. “North American biodiesel producers who mar-
ket fuels to Europe and other international destinations have a powerful new additive to
help them meet critical fuel stability standards and assure product freshness and per-
formance long after shipping.” SU recommended PRI-D and PRI-G products. Their
website said: “5 Gallon can, or 55 Gallon drum are available upon Request.” The six
gallons deal from Battery Stuff was a case of 6 one-gallon cans.
Pete’s farm was 480 acres, 3 quarter sections, and he had his eye on the other quarter
section if it ever came on the market. Pete and Sarah had a good operation; he was old
school and used a combination of crop rotation and manure to keep the fields fertile. He
avoided the high costs associated with chemicals and fertilizers. About as far as he
went was testing his soil and occasionally adding lime if the soil became too acidic.
They had 300 acres under tillage, the third quarter section was wooded and the source
of our firewood. The fourth quarter section he wanted was also under tillage and would
increase their farmland to 460 acres. Even so, 460 acres, if all planted in canola, would
only produce around 58,000-gallons of biodiesel.
We started in early April with me disking and Pete taking care of the livestock and or-
ganizing the forthcoming planting. The 40 acres of alfalfa were permanent as was the
20 acre pasture. The other 3 fields had been rotated between oats, corn and soybeans,
80 acres of each. Canola would replace the soybeans, but otherwise it was the same as
every previous year. When all 240 acres were disked, I switched from the disk to the
drag, leveling the fields for planting. And, by the time I was done, it was time to plant.
Sarah and Marie wanted a slightly larger garden spot to plant a few additional crops and
Pete attended to their needs. Meanwhile, I finished planting and was looking forward to
some off time tending to the livestock. It wasn’t to be, we mounted the cultivator and I
was sent out for the first of 2 passes through the canola and corn. And, because Marie
was in the garden or at Sarah’s and I was in the field, we continued to use the Power-
BOSS instead of the QDRV 12.5.
17
Next, we cut, windrowed and baled the first cutting of alfalfa. Then, I returned to the
fields for the second pass with the cultivator. We had a brief period of off time and did
the second cutting of alfalfa. Marie and I worked weekends, too. Tending to the horses
while Pete led the trail rides.
“I sure wish I had my welding job back, this farm work is going to be my death.”
“Hard work never killed anyone, Don, suck it up.”
“I don’t have anything left to suck up Pete.”
“Good, farming agrees with you.”
“I was never cut out to be a farmer. On the other hand, thanks to your tutelage, it ap-
pears that I can do what it takes. Has it always been this hard?”
“Worse, your great grandfather farmed a quarter section using draft horses.”
“How big was the farm then?”
“A half section, including the quarter section of woods.”
“Did he do it by himself?”
“Not hardly. Back in those days, they had large families. The kids provided a source of
labor, plus the infant mortality rate was high. The oldest son usually ended up with the
family farm.”
“Did you inherit the farm?”
“Your grandfather sold it to me, at market value, but carried the paper himself. I didn’t
change much, the coal furnace in the house was, and is, still good. I burn stoker coal in
the furnace and wood in the fireplace when it suits us. The REA put in electricity in the
50’s and dad had the house wired. Eventually, he even put in indoor plumbing. We kept
the kerosene lamps for emergencies. Don’t suppose we have to worry about that now
with the backup generator and the ability to produce our own diesel.”
“I was also wondering if there would be any advantage to working ourselves up to Extra
class.”
“More bandwidth, mostly. The all band radio you’re using covers nearly all of the bands.
Plus you have the CB to stay in touch with the house. These days, you study the
canned exams, learn to use a pocket calculator and you can take the Advanced and Ex-
tra on the same day. If you’re an Extra, your call sign says so by its length and nobody
bothers you.”
18
Pete paid on the first of the month after he’d counted up your hours for the previous
month. Marie and I’d make a trip to town for staples, spices and paper products. With a
regular wage, we could buy extra and store them in Pete and Sarah’s shelter. If we ran
low during the winter, one of us could go pull out anything needed. We were rapidly ap-
proaching our second anniversary on the farm. Pete had taught me the how to of ex-
tracting the oil, the chemicals involved in converting it and we filled his tanks and began
on ours. I’d add the 2 quarts of PRI-D followed by the biodiesel.
Transport had been arranged, a 1,000 gallon tank on a trailer; pump it full, empty it by
gravity. When we ended, his tanks as well as ours were full and the trailer tank held
about 300 gallons of unsold fuel, to which I added 19 ounces of the additive. We both
got a deer and Pete sent them to the locker plant to be cut and wrapped. I then started
in on the firewood, realizing that it had been warmer and we’d used less. Determined to
clear the standing dead trees, I worked well into the winter, stacking them near the hunt-
ing shack.
Pete towed over the splitter and we split two pickup loads for him and I started splitting
and stacking, with Marie’s help. She had to knock off for meals and I finished stacking
what she was behind before washing up and eating. Speaking of washing, we’d in-
stalled a 40 gallon electric hot water heater after the generator was online and moved
the washer and dryer from the machine shed. The shack was cozy, but cramped would
be more accurate.
“Have you measured the firewood pile?”
“I haven’t, but it wouldn’t be hard. It’s stacked 6 16” layers deep and 6’ high. We could
measure the length in feet, divide by 8 and then multiply 3.”
“Got a long tape?”
“Twenty-five foot.”
“Get my 100’ tape from the glove box of the pickup; let’s see how much you have.”
Added to the 12 left over from last year we had 48 cords, an average 5 years supply.
Pete also had an unlicensed still, a small one that he used to produce one batch of al-
cohol per year. The ethanol was stored in one used bourbon cask and stored for 8-12
years. He ordered plain bottles and lids every year to bottle the stuff, but hadn’t bottled
the first batch yet. He said that he decided to bottle it full strength, approximately 125
proof in the one liter bottles. Made of 75% corn, and a 25% mixture of wheat and malted
barley, the taste he gave me was breath taking, but smooth.
The longer we stayed on the farm, the more Marie and I learned about Pete and Sarah.
Their pepper mindset wasn’t confined to Pete. Sarah had an amateur Advanced class
license. Her primary responsibility was maintaining the food stores, enough for one year
of every member of their extended family. When he finally began paying wages, we be-
19
gan setting aside ammo money to replace what we’d shot up, a few 25-round boxes of
shotgun shells, more Lawman in 9mm and .45 plus Black Hills 165gr SP and 168gr HP.
It was running about $1.25 a round.
For Christmas 2012, we were presented with 1892 Winchester rifles and Used Ruger
Vaquero revolvers, both in .45 Colt and 500 rounds of full power .45 Colt ammo. Pete
explained that the idea behind the gift was that the following summer Marie and I’d lead
the trail rides and he would tend to the horses. In addition to the firearms, he mentioned
adding a few cases of 405gr round nose lead (RNL) for the Winchester 1886 .45-70
government rifles and 250gr lead RNL for the revolvers.
They were living without a TV and we gave them our old 32” model Sony, a replace-
ment work jacket for him and a sweater for her. It was a small Butterball with the usual
accoutrements for Christmas Dinner.
“I meant to tell you, your side of beef and hog are ready for pickup at the locker plant. I
didn’t pick it up because I didn’t know how much freezer space you had.”
“Do you want me to cut the three remaining dead standing trees?”
“Save them for next year. It’s a shame you don’t have TV, did you hear about North Ko-
rea?”
“I don’t think so, what happened?”
“Do you remember that so called satellite launch in 2009?”
“That failed didn’t it?”
“Yes, but they’re going to try again. The more things change, the more they stay the
same. Iran has successfully tested 3 medium range missiles plus one long range mis-
sile and I expect the Israelis to attack anytime. If the North Korean missile reaches
Alaska, warhead or not, I think they’re in for a big surprise.”
“Nukes?”
“Nah, JDAMs, either 80 500-pounds or 16 2,000-pounds, times 20 planes. I figure they’ll

use the 2,000-pound bombs and hit 320 targets, essentially all of North Korea.”
“Limited strikes on targets with appreciable military value?”
20
“Yes. Plus, if they need a few more delivery aircraft, they can follow a first strike with a
second strike of F/A-18 Super Hornets.”
“Is there any secret to this survival business?”
“The answer is yes and no. It starts with developing the proper mindset. Next comes the
spending part, acquiring what you can within your budget limits. The rule of threes is a
guide: air, shelter, water and food. Shelter covers protection against fallout so we come
to item five, defense. I believe in a rifle, shotgun, pistol and plenty of ammo for all. Think
Hank Williams Jr., A Country Boy Can Survive. Item six, one remote reading survey me-
ter is practically a must, we have two. A high range portable survey meter plus a low
range meter or Geiger counter is recommended. Gas masks with CBRN filters are also
a must along with a radiation suit, boots and gloves.”
Unknown to the world at large, the pervious North Korean test had been determined to
be a missile test and had the missile not failed, the US and others were prepared to
shoot it down. Preparations were again underway to shoot down this new missile, if
necessary. Boost phase intercept would be made using SM-3. Interception near Alaska
would use THAAD missiles. The third missile in the group was the Ground-Based Mid-
course Defense missile and the fourth the Patriot 3. The airborne laser was still in the
test stage with funding having been pulled back. The usual threats had been issued by
North Korea concerning its missile launch and the annual war games between the US
and South Korea.
The Iranians had multiple successful launches of their 1,400km Shahab-3 and one suc-
cessful launch of the 2,000km Shahab-4. Both India and Pakistan had operable IRBMs.
Israel had tested its Jericho III missile on 17Jan08 and it was now in service. The esti-
mated range was 4,800 to 11,500km. It is possible for the missile to be equipped with a
single 750 kg nuclear warhead or two or three low yield MIRV warheads. Uncle Pete
had been checking.
Just because the various countries had missiles didn’t mean that they had to use them,
but there was always the temptation. That didn’t take into account the personalities of
the leaders of the various countries. Bibi, Binyamin Netanyahu, was a hardliner and had
formed a coalition government after the 2009 election, but had problems within his own
party, the Likud, from Silvan Shalom. Vladimir Putin, the so called Prime Minister of
Russia, was the man in charge, regardless of his title. Our president was trying his best
to turn the economy around using the same tactics that FDR used without success. A
gifted speaker, his words weren’t changing what was happening.
If for no other reason, the Democratic Party lost its majority in both houses of Congress
in the November 2, 2010 elections. Not by much, though, creating a cantankerous, do
nothing, Congress. It was different in the November 6, 2012 elections. Obama was
reelected but the other party took total control of Congress. He’d had his 4 years to save
21
the country and failed, so I voted for the other guy. The liberals loved the guy, though,
and he won. I think Hillary was biding her time until 2016.
History told us that no one man, even with the support of Congress, can resolve a se-
vere economic crisis unless he is willing to cut taxes and spend money on hard goods,
like F-22s, F-35s and (nuclear powered) Destroyers and Cruisers. We may not need
them now, but they take time to build and odds favor the prepared country. Better use
nuclear power on the auxiliaries too, so they can keep up. How about some frigates?
Ours are getting old. (The fastest battleship during WW II – Iowa class)
Unless I have my facts wrong, the fastest surface ships are the Aircraft Carrier, Cruiser
and Destroyer. None of the ships can maintain either flank or full speed for very long.
They typically sail at standard speed to keep the ships from falling apart or breaking
down. Lacking a definition of standard speed, I assumed it had something to do with hull
speed. My Division in the Army didn’t use many ships, but we did ride on them, some-
times. An Aircraft Carrier had to maintain 30 knots when launching and recovering air-
craft, but I wondered if they did that all of the time. I concluded probably not, 30 knots
would wear out the Cruisers and Destroyers.
If I had a portable welder mounted in the box of my pickup, the model with the built in
generator, I might have picked additional work in the fall when harvesting ended. Most
of the models available were Lincoln or Miller. Lincoln had a combination Mig, Tig and
ark welder, only 20 grand. Your helmet and chipper were extra. Just a dream, though
one of many.
After two seasons of farming I was getting the knack and the weekend trail rides were
not only fun, but educational. The only loaded weapons, I learned, were those carried
by the trail guides. Those who brought their own kept them unloaded until we reached
the range at trails end. The explanation was, there were critters out there. I switched the
.45 caliber carbine for the 1886 Winchester. The only critters either of us saw the whole
summer were a few deer.
I don’t know how they did it, working 7 days a week. One thing was obvious, with this
schedule; they didn’t have time for church during the summer months. On the other
hand, those trail rides were a real money machine. Six months of 7 days a week fol-
lowed by six months of 5 days a week. Pete was a real bargain hunter too. Whenever
he heard about something that could be used on the farm, he’d buy it for cash, provided
he could get the right price. That was the case when he heard of another 10,000-gallon
fuel tank. He bought it as is and after trail ride season ended, proceeded to find and
patch the leaks before burying it along with his other two tanks.
That turned out to be one of his better ideas because with the canola and our limited
generator load, some of the biodiesel was treated and stored in the new tank after top-
ping off his other two tanks and our tank. Our usage, on average, was 0.61gph, 5,347
22
gallons per year. His source for filters and oil was the same source for the generator he
bought for the shack and the price he paid was above wholesale but well below retail.
The missile launched by North Korea either failed to reach orbit or was intended to
strike Alaska. Either way, THAAD worked. It was on all the news outlets and North Ko-
rea’s protestations over the US action weren’t far behind. We were being criticized by
Iran, Venezuela, China, and to a lesser degree Russia. OPEC called an emergency
meeting and agreed to cut production by ⅓. Fox News reported that several countries
had moved their military forces to an increased state of alert/readiness. MSNBC almost
slipped and criticized the president. Almost. Their spin masters eventually came up with
the expression abundance of caution.
To put the event in perspective, the launch had been planned for spring. Problems de-
layed the attempt again and again, resulting in a late October launch. I can’t remember;
either 23rd or 24th of October, 2013. The 24th in Korea would have been the 23rd here, if I
recall correctly. On the 26th of October, North Korean forces poured across the DMZ.
We sent the George Washington to support South Korea and ordered the remaining
Carrier Strike Groups to the Far East, Pearl Harbor or Yokosuka.
Our Strike Groups included our Amphibious Assault Ships; we were bringing in the Ma-
rines. The difference between a Battle Group and a Strike Group was the Amphibious
ships and it was more proper to call the Strike Groups, Battle Groups. Troops and
equipment were hastily pulled from Afghanistan and redeployed to South Korea. Two
ships loaded with M1A3 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles were dispatched
from San Diego. A third ship carried artillery and munitions. A container ship was loaded
with an assortment of additional munitions, equipment, MREs and tray packs plus cold
weather gear.
The North Korean advance was halted just north of Seoul. The North had developed a
new mine clearing device, sending civilians first. Most, if not all, US M14 and M16 mines
had been deployed to the Korean Peninsula with most of them planted just south of the
DMZ. Unless North Korea had weapons we knew nothing about, they didn’t really worry
us. You see:
The preacher man says it’s the end of time

And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry
The interest is up and the Stock Markets down
And you only get mugged
If you go down town
I live back in the woods, you see

A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
23
Country folks can survive
I can plow a field all day long

I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
Because you can’t starve us out

And you can’t makes us run
Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn
We came from the West Virginia coalmines

And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
I had a good friend in New York City

He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I’d send him some homemade wine
But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife

For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
I’d love to spit some beechnut in that dudes eyes
And shoot him with my old 45
Cause a country boy can survive
Cause you can’t starve us out and you can’t make us run
Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn
We’re from North California and south Alabam

And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
24
© 1981, Hank Williams Jr.
I misunderstood the lyrics and thought he said ‘we could make our own soap’. Thus be-
gan the great lye soap experiment. We used beef tallow and wood ashes. The tallow
was rendered to remove the pure fat. We then produced the soap by the ‘hot method’,
boiling the mixture until we couldn’t taste the lye anymore. I was the official taste tester.
When it was done, we poured it into molds. The product wasn’t Irish Spring, but after it
had totally cooled 4 days later, we had our lye soap. Nasty stuff, but it cleaned really
well.
In comparison to the song, we could make our own fuel, our own whiskey, our own lye
soap, grow tomatoes, skin a buck and probably make wine. We wanted for little, the
country life was very agreeable. Pete helped and we cut, split and stacked 50 cords of
firewood, 25 cords each for both the house and the hunting shack.
On the other side of the Pacific, the Marines dropped in to lend the Army a hand and the
Army was being assembled in Japan and flown to a base somewhere in South Korea,
film at 11. The Republic of China (Taiwan) agreed to lend the Americans over 150,000
type 57 rifles (M14s made on the original American machinery). In the jungles of Vi-
etnam, the rifle was too heavy and too long; in Korea, it was the right weapon at the
right time for the right place.
The Korean War lasted from 1951 to present; the interim period had been an extended
cease fire. The renewed hostilities came just when most of us thought surplus Lake City
5.56 and 7.62 would start to fill the shelves in the stores. I was ok; I had 4,500-rounds
168gr BTHP Black Hills and 500-rounds of 165gr BTSP 7.62×51mm. Marie had 5,000-
rounds of BTSP 5.56x45mm 60gr SP, also Black Hills. We used GDHP in our pistols
and Lawman for practice with one exception, .45 Colt only came in GDHP. Pete bought
lead RN, we bought 250gr GDHP. I also had some Radway Green and Prvi Partizan.
As the revived war played out on the Korean Peninsula, the entire world remained on
the edge of their seats. The question Pete raised was, “Will China join in like it did the
last time?”
“Pete, the last time was different, China didn’t get nukes until 1964. They would have
too much to lose if they opened that can of worms; they’re an industrialized nation now.”
“We’d better take time to check our supplies inventory and get anything we’re short of.
We can get any grains we need at the elevator and I’ll just get next year’s seed laid in
early. I’ll get 2 drums each of PRI-D plus 12 gallons of PRI-G. Get Marie and ask her to
help you with the inventory. If we can’t get it local, we’ll put in a rush order from Walton
Feed, Bob’s Red Mill, Honeyville Grain or Survival Enterprises. Tell Sarah.”
25
“Do we need to go this far?”
“It’s called LTS food because it lasts, so we’ll just eat it up if we don’t need it. I’m good
on ammo, how about you?”
“Oh yeah, we have plenty.”
“If it comes down to using those cowboy guns, we’re set. I got a few cases of .45-70-
405 Government full power loads. After I finish up my shopping, I’m driving down to
Lebanon to look up an old friend. Call me on 10 meters if something comes up. Sarah
knows the frequency. I could be gone for as long as 3 days, so don’t get your shorts in a
knot.”
“Who are you going to see?”
“He’s a retired Command Sergeant Major in the Army who works at Fort Leonard Wood.
Worked in Logistics, among other things. Keep this to yourself and Marie, Sarah already
knows.”
Command Sergeant Major…worked Logistics…still has access to the Post…I wonder

where Pete’s ammo bunker is.
This could get serious, all those Chinese container ships arriving in west coast ports
with containers full of Christmas toys. If China joined in, we might not have a Christmas
this year. We also maintained a high volume of trade with South Korea and Japan;
could the same be said for their container ships? If we run out of StarKist tuna, ship-
ments from American Samoa are also being blocked.
But wait, there’s more. Star-Kist was originally bought up by H. J. Heinz, who later sold
it to Del Monte who later sold it to Dongwon, a company from; you guessed it, South
Korea. The largest plant is in American Samoa, I’m not sure about the Puerto Rico
plant, but the website mentions Thailand and Ecuador. The American plant, located on
Terminal Island, closed during the ‘80s because of California’s pollution laws. Too much
fish oil was getting into the harbor.
We have sure come a long ways since we made our own cars, produced our own food
and extracted and refined our own petroleum products. The rice we chose to store was
Jasmine, a product of Thailand. Nine out of every ten items seemed to bear the legend,
‘Made in China’.
Pete was back late on the third day, his pickup and trailer loaded down. I offered to help
him unload it and he brushed me off, telling me he could handle it. He said the drums of
fuel additives would be delivered on Monday.
26
“What’s the story on the inventory?”
“We were down on a few items and Marie gave Sarah the list.”
“Good, good. My Sergeant buddy came through big time.”
“Like I said, I’ll help you unload.”
“Ah, what the hell, it’s not like you won’t see it eventually. One item in particular is ex-
pressly for you.”
“Really? What?”
“We’re going to find out just how good of a shot you are. It’s a long range rifle with an
effective range of 1,850 meters.”
“A .50 caliber rifle?”
“Long Range Sniper Rifle, Caliber .50, Mk 15 with a Nightforce NXS 12-42×56 scope
and the Elite Iron suppressor. Got a night vision rail on it and a total of 10 5-round mag-
azines. My buddy parted with a Magnum Universal Night Sight aka MUNS. Got me a
Long Range Sniper Rifle, Caliber .50, M107 with a Leupold 4.5×14 Mark-IV scope. I
phoned Barrett and ordered a BORS. The M107 is a 12.7×99mm Barrett M82A1M semi-
automatic rifle variant. Improved variant including lengthened accessory rail. Includes
rear grip and monopod socket; basically the M82A1M.”
“Have you ever priced .50 caliber ammo? It’s up around $4.50 a round!”
“No worries, I got ammo too, 10,000 rounds total of .50 caliber.”
“What else did you get?”
“Things you know how to use, M67s and M136 AT4s. Smoke too. I wanted some 40mm
grenades, but that didn’t work out.”
“Why not?”
They didn’t have any M79s and you don’t mount an M203 on an M14.”
“This must have cost you a bunch.”
“I didn’t spend one penny.”
“He surely didn’t just give it to you.”
“I paid another way.”
27
“How?”
“With two spaces in the shelter for him and his wife.”
“Do we need more food?”
“I called Sarah and she took care of that when she ordered the things on the list you
gave her. It cost quite a bit extra, but the delivery of the food will also be on Monday.
She added one thing we don’t usually keep, MREs.”
“I thought they were military only.”
“The packers have companion companies that package MREs with civilian labels.
Wornick produces EverSafe, Sopakco produces SurePak. She also ordered Red
Feather canned butter and cheese plus Yoders canned meats.”
“Aren’t you overreacting just a bit?”
“It doesn’t matter does it? If North Korea does, in fact, have nuclear weapons as we’re
led to believe, they’ll use them when we start kicking butt. I’m not sure how we’ll re-
spond. If we respond in kind, China will get into it. It also depends on where they use
their weapons, South Korea or Japan.”
“Or China or Russia.”
“They won’t attack China or Russia, trust me on this. Kim Il Jong may be sick, but he
isn’t crazy. They have demonstrated a capacity to hit anywhere in South Korea and Ja-
pan with missiles, which they already possess. The only nuclear test they did (2006)
sort of fizzled, but I wouldn’t count them out of the nuclear club.”
“The war in the early ‘50s didn’t involve outsiders did it?”
“The support forces for the South included an assortment of UN troops. The North was
helped by Chinese troops and Russian pilots. Truman sent the 7th Fleet to protect Tai-
wan from the Chinese. Check it out, it’s all on Wiki.”
American Carrier forces, using JDAMs, attacked North Korea without mercy. A JDAM is
a one shot, one kill device when it comes to using bombs. Our F/A-18 Super Hornets
and our F-35C fighters were far superior to anything the North could field. Even when
the CIS provided the latest Russian fighters, the North was fighting a lost cause be-
cause of insufficient training. Unlike the previous conflict, there was no Soviet Union to
provide pilots and the CIS declined to do so.
28
As predicted, North Korea used its small inventory of nuclear weapons to strike South
Korea and Japan. Japan successfully intercepted all but one missile, which struck near
Tokyo. American Aegis Destroyers and Cruisers intercepted 2 of the 4 aimed at South
Korea and missed the same one the Japanese missed. One struck Seoul and the other
Pusan. One Los Angeles class submarine, outfitted with TLAM-Ns, launched on the
north. It was a 688I class, outfitted with vertical launch tubes and this one time only car-
ried additional Tomahawks in the torpedo room. All of the Tomahawks had a yield of
150kT. The first wave of launches cleared the vertical launch tubes.
You do know that all American Aircraft Carriers have an inventory of nuclear bombs
available for delivery by its aircraft, right? They’re the B-61/10 designated as a Non-
Strategic Bomb, e.g., a tactical nuke. The sub had been armed at Guam with the TLAM-
Ns flown specifically there for a one time mission. The difference between a TLAM-N
and B-61/10 was simply put, plausible deniability. The United States and Russia weren’t
the only countries to possess submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles. The list
was long, actually, and included nearly every member of the nuclear club. A TLAM-N
was a tiny target and almost impossible for most countries to track.
I was surprised when a SUV pulling a closed trailer pulled in and parked. It was driven
by a man in his late 40s or early 50s and I assumed the passenger was his wife.
“Is Pete here?”
“I’ll get him. Are you the Command Sergeant Major he mentioned to me?”
“I am for a fact. Name’s Jonas Blane. Wife is Molly.”
And yes, before you ask, he is a black man.
“Pete, Jonas Blane is here.”
“Get Marie and shut down everything except your freezer. Move all the food from your
refrigerator to the refrigerator in the shelter. Make sure you have all of your guns and
ammo. It’s time…”
“You mean…”
“Yep.”
It was, to put it bluntly, GTW time. It took Marie and me about 20 minutes to get every-
thing in the pickup and/or shutdown. While she moved everything from the pickup to the
shelter, I helped Pete with the livestock; getting them into the barn with feed put down
and automatic water tanks checked. Jonas was adding sandbags to the doors of the
barn. I had wondered what those were for… I had seen Pete filling and stacking layers
of sandbags around the barn, hog house and hen house and stacking more next to the
doors. I kept forgetting to ask why he was doing that; maybe I subconsciously already
29
knew. You do recall that the shelter was connected to all of the buildings via culverts,
don’t you?
Molly Blane was removing all kinds of boxes, bundles and weapons cases from the
SUV. She was wearing a military holster, probably a M12, with a Beretta. I assumed she
had either a M9 or M9A1 pistol. We would find out when we were assembled in the
shelter. Sarah had called their kids and all had agreed to attempt to get to the farm. This
Jonas Blane didn’t look like Dennis Haysbert and Molly sure didn’t look like Regina Tay-
lor. I’d say he looked like an older Richard Roundtree and she more like an older Halle
Berry. Older in terms of the actor’s famous Shaft and the actress’s Catwoman.
I spotted what looked like another case for a M82A1M/M107 and several cases of
40mm grenades. Did he have a poodle shooter with a M203 or perhaps a Milkor M32
Multiple Grenade Launcher? Time would tell… There was a flash high in the sky,
HEMP? The ground shook – a ground strike or an earthquake? We didn’t enter the
shelter, waiting for Pete’s kids to arrive. Molly’s pistol was a M9A1 loaded with 124gr +P
Gold Dot. Jonas had a Kimber Tactical II, also loaded with Gold Dot, 230gr. Yes, he had
a M107, plus an M21 and a standard issue M14 with synthetic stock. Her rifle was a HK-
416 built by H&K. She also had a heavier M1A Loaded.
Introductions were made all around and I learned that he had never been attached to
Detachment D, Delta Force, just an above average supply sergeant, or so he claimed.
Molly was a housewife and had been since they’d married. Their kids were apparently
grown and married, they weren’t brought up.
Meanwhile, we waited until one of two things happened, the needle on the CD V-700
lifted off zero or my cousins showed up. I knew my cousins names and their husbands
or wife’s name, but wasn’t up to date on their kids names. My cousins were older than
Marie and me, but not by much. Pete was my mother’s older brother and in his late 50s
when we moved to the farm. Both Sarah and he were in their 60s now. They had mar-
ried young and their kids came quickly.
“Are we going to the shelter or not?”
“Do what you want; I’m waiting for the kids.”
“What makes you think they can get here? That HEMP probably destroyed the comput-
ers in their vehicles.”
“I’m sure it did. That’s why each one of them has a BOV with a non-electronic diesel,
fuel tank, auxiliary fuel tank and a cross bed fuel tank holding 98 gallons of fuel. All sta-
bilized with PRI-D. They also have a covered trailer that Sarah and I fixed up for them.
Each trailer contains a one year deluxe food supply for each member of their family
from Walton. They have Coleman lanterns, large dual fuel stoves, firearms, ammo and
anything they might need to get here.”
30
“I’m sorry, you never said and I just assumed…”
“You do that too often Don. You shouldn’t assume that I wouldn’t take care of my kids.
I’ve taken good care of Marie and you haven’t I?”
“You sure have; I’m sorry, I guess I engaged my mouth before turning on my brain.”
“And now you have Snake Doctor to take care of you.”
“Snake Doctor is Dennis Haysbert. Jonas doesn’t look anything like him. Tell him Jo-
nas.”
“It was a handle I picked up after the fact. The Unit came out in 2006, just before I re-
tired. Since a Command Sergeant Major and a Sergeant Major are both E-9s, some of
my people jokingly began calling me Snake Doctor. It sort of stuck and I’ve gone by it
ever since, even as a GS-12. I’ve never taken sniper training, so past 1,500 meters,
you’d probably be safe from me.”
“We just got that stuff last week; I haven’t even unpacked the rifle. Pete said we got
ammo, what kind?”
“Let me preface my reply by saying that they both shoot to the same point of aim. One
is the M1022, practice ammo which is ballistically matched to the other ammo, the
Mk211MP.”
“Raufoss?”
“You know it?”
“Never shot it, but I saw snipers using it in Iraq.”
“Iraqi Freedom?”
“You bet, I was a designated Marksman and used the M21.”
“You didn’t get the newer rifle? It’s the M110 SASS and available with or without sup-
pressor.”
“I got out in 2006.”
“They didn’t release them for combat until 2007. What do you have?”
“M1A Loaded shooting nothing but Black Hills. Either it’s especially accurate or I got
lucky. The barrel is the same barrel used on the National Match.”
31
“Iraqi Freedom, huh? Then you’re familiar with all of the toys I sent up with Pete.”
“Yes, used them all. Sure wish we had some of those old LAW rockets.”
“Why?”
“Lighter, more compact and enough for any civilian vehicle we might need to use one
on.”
“Then you’re in luck, care to help me unload my trailer?”
“I’ll be glad to help, is there anything that might interest me?”
“One thing for sure. Can’t say about the others.”
The last four crates, up against front wall of the trailer were LAWs crates, 15 per crate.
Before we got to those, we unloaded M183 Demolition kits and before them, obsolete
M-61 hand grenades, Mk3A2 Concussion and AN M14 TH3 Thermate and several cas-
es of white smoke (Willy Pete) used for smoke screens. Closest to the door were
M18A1 Claymore mines. I began to wonder what was in the SUV that I hadn’t noticed.
The first ones to show up were Pat and Sally from Jefferson City, followed within 30
minutes by Janice and Mel from Independence. Tail end Charlie’s were Teresa and
Matt from St. Louis. I counted noses and came up with 8 children of various ages from
teens down to 10 year olds.
The pickups were backed into the machine shed one at a time and the trailers de-
tached. The pickup was then moved to a different area of the machine shed and the
next trailer and pickup repeated the same progress. When we had finished unloading
Sarge’s trailer, it was parked outside and the SUV added to the machine shed. After the
contents had been moved to the shelter and stacked, Pete said it was time to go to
ground.
It would appear that Marie and I might end up sleeping on the floor. Pete had a different
idea, hot racking. Marie and I were assigned one bunk and advised to share. The only
things Pete’s kids removed from their pickups and trailers were food from refrigerators
plus firearms and ammo.
Over the course of the next few hours, we felt a lot more earthquakes, e.g., seismic dis-
ruptions. Pete had his log out and every earthquake was being noted, primarily the time
and apparent intensity. He wasn’t set up to be able to tell the direction the quake came
from. It is generally done using multiple seismometers, of which we had none. Were it
not for the HEMP, we may have thought it was another quake on the New Madrid Fault
Zone. Which is not to say it wasn’t; all of the radio and TV stations went off the air when
the HEMP hit.
32
“Radiation reading?”
“Nada.”
“Don, grab the CD V-700, your weapons and let’s go topside to take a look.”
The CD V-700 is a Geiger counter with maximum range of 50mR. It was reading normal
background radiation, nearly zero.
“Did you lock up your shack?”
“Didn’t have a padlock.”
“I’ll get you a matched pair and you can lock up front and back. I’m going to check out
the house one more time and then we can return to the shelter. We’ll use the culverts to
get to the hog house, hen house and barn. Better get whatever milk and eggs are avail-
able, we have a lot of mouths to feed.”
We could have accessed the buildings from above ground, but that meant un-piling the
sandbags and replacing them when we finished. Using the culverts and clothesline rope
was much easier. On my way to the shack, I had a thought. Would one bathroom be
enough for twenty people?
During boot camp, our barracks had one bathroom with six sinks, six stools and one
large shower room. The barracks held 65 men so we’d be short by nearly 50%, but
could probably manage. Anyone who couldn’t hold it could ride the creeper to the barn
and use the toilet there. A toilet in a barn; go figure.
What milk exceeded our ability to consume would be curdled using Rennet for cottage
cheese, or further processed for Colby or Jack, the easiest cheeses to make. We were
allowed all of the eggs we wanted for breakfast and any left after they were six days old
were boiled and added to one of two gallon jars holding picked eggs, something Pete
recovered from local taverns.
In addition to the cask of homemade bourbon, there were several cases of Michelob, a
Missouri product. It was rationed lest someone drink too much and having a fight break
out. The layers of sandbags produced a protection factor of roughly 900 since it was 32”
thick. The protection of 1000 would come from 36” of soil, according to Wiki.
Clarification!
The values shown on Wiki are taken from The Compass DeRose Guide to Emergency
Preparedness - Hardened Shelters. derose.net/steve/guides/emergency/hardened.html
33
A more conservative set of values is found in an Excel spreadsheet from Alpha-Rubicon
titled radprocalcent.xls. If you search using that name of the spreadsheet, you can bring
it up. Be sure to click the box to permit editing so you can add values. This is copyright-
ed material so don’t share it with others.
DeRose says 3.6” of earth = one halving thickness while the other says 5.5” and the
source of that information is Sharon Packer of Utah Shelter Systems, a Nuclear Engi-
neer.
Twelve hours after we went into lockdown, the radiation level remained the same, back-
ground level. We began to wonder, without voicing our concern, if the attack had been
limited to the HEMP, or if it included multiple missiles striking multiple locations. Had
Kansas City been hit, we would have had fallout by now.
“I’m going to suit up and go check the probes for the meters,” Pete announced. “The
rest of you stay here and wait until I get back.”
They had a war and no one came? The attack was limited to one or more HEMP devic-
es? For sure, 3 HEMP devices, atomic bombs, not hydrogen bombs, would take out
nearly 100% of the power, phones and anything connected to long wires. Had someone
taken out the core of our infrastructure and then sat back to determine the effect before
proceeding further?
The power cables from our generator to the fuse panel were protected by metal conduit
and all of the wires coming out of the fuse panel were either in conduit or metal wire
mold. Our freezer was nearly full after we added the beef, pork, bass fillets, chickens
and venison; would it thaw? It was the longest 10 minutes in my life before Pete re-
turned.
“I don’t know what to think. The radiation level is normal. I’d guess it’s safe enough for
the time being to leave the shelter. Everyone come out armed, just in case.”
Marie and I got in the pickup and drove back to the shack to check on the genset and
freezer. The genset was humming along almost like it had no load. I checked the freez-
er and it was 0°. That caused the genset to kick in and we both realized that, for the
moment, everything at the hunting shack was fine. We locked the shack back up and
returned to Pete and Sarah’s. While the house was a large two story with multiple bed-
rooms, it didn’t appear to me that it could hold everyone who had come to the farm.
“Don, why don’t you saddle up two horses for Snake Doctor and you and ride the fence
lines?”
“Do you ride Doc?”
34
“Like I was born in a saddle.”
“Do you have any cowboy guns?”
“Everything I need.”
I saddled two 5 year old geldings, gentle horses. Maybe Doc had been born in a saddle,
but I doubt he’d seen one in 30 years, give or take. On the other hand, he soon tuned
into the horse or the horse him. With the CD V-700 hanging by a loop of twine from my
saddle horn, we set off, for no reason other than Pete had suggested it. You realize that
to get the horses out of the barn, I had to remove the pile of sandbags from the door,
don’t you?
Snake Doctor was amazing in one respect; he dressed the part, wearing Wrangler
jeans, Tony Lama boots, a leather vest, a blue work shirt and a wide brimmed Resistol
Double Eagle hat in natural color. He had his own gun belt with 24 loops for .45 Colt
cartridges and 10 loops for .45-70-405 cartridges. He had a pack of smokes, kitchen
matches and two stogies sticking out of his shirt pocket. Where did this guy come from,
cattle country? He added more ammo to the saddlebags and slung one of those old
fashioned, round blanket covered 2 quart canteens from his saddle horn. I did a double
take at that, I’d always wanted one for camping and was compelled to ask about the
canteen.
“I got that from Don Gleason’s Camping Supply. It’s a two quart Oasis, but he also car-
ries a four quart Oasis. They’re made by EZ Sales & Manufacturing, Inc. and the de-
scription is Western Round Canteens.”
“So, what do you think about this turn of events? A HEMP with no follow-up attack.”
“It’s hard to say. My insides sources indicated that China was going to launch on us. I’m
fairly sure that the HEMP took out some of our satellites. NORAD can track any launch
from anywhere in the world, so it’s safe to say that they know who is responsible. The
president will probably want to negotiate with them.”
“I just don’t get it.”
“Did you ever read David Crawford’s Lights Out? The situation was similar to the one
we find ourselves in now. He never identified the source of the HEMP by name but in a
speech, the Vice President said we weren’t attacked by nuclear weapons. For those
people who had a means to generate electricity, things were bad, but not awfully bad.
Others came to depend on them.”
“Was that the karate man story?”
“You’ve read it?”
35
“I have, but don’t really remember it. I looked at it as more like entertainment than sur-
vival training.”
“Where were you based when you were in Iraq?”
“It was in Diyala Province at a forward operating base.”
“When did you separate?”
“About 9 months after I returned.”
“So you still had time on your enlistment?”
36
“In the past tense yes, four years of wondering if I’d get called back up.”
“I assume that you would have gone.”
“I would, but I wouldn’t have been happy about it.”
“Why?”
“It’s a hot as an oven most of the year. You’re wearing about 80 pounds of gear and are
so loaded down you can barely move. They need to come up with some kind of body
armor that isn’t as heavy. Plus, I carried eleven 20-round magazines of M118LR ammo
and that’s heavy. I was just glad when my time was up.”
“Looks like a cut fence.”
“It does, doesn’t it? I’ll have to go get a spool of barbed wire and fasteners to make the
repair.”
“I’ll stay here and keep an eye out.”
“Give me about 30 minutes.”
To do it right, I needed something to pull the T posts together and something else to
stretch the wire tight. Pete gave me a lightweight block and tackle plus a ratchet binder
for the barbed wire. I was 5 minutes late getting back, but nothing was amiss. Using the
block and tackle, we pulled the posts as tight as we could, attached the bottom wire and
stretched it tight with the ratchet binder. Twice more and the repair was complete. Sarge
took the bag holding the block and tackle and I took the bag holding the spool of barbed
wire and binder.
We continued along the fence until we had made a full circuit. It wasn’t much of a ride,
about 3½ miles. Sarge said he wouldn’t mind another circuit, so we dropped off the
equipment and made another 3½ mile ride. For what it’s worth, he was actually riding
like he had been born in a saddle. We were about half done with the circuit when the
radio squawked.
“Don, got your ears on?”
“Copy, Pete.”
“Come back to the house. The EAS radio stations are back on the air and the president
will be making an announcement in about 15 minutes.”
We set off at a trot and made it in about 5 minutes.
37
“What did the announcer say?”
“Just that the Emergency Alert System was active and the White House was going to
make an announcement in about…8 minutes.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, the president.
Yesterday, Sunday, October 6th, 2013, a date which will live in infamy – [the] United
States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by missile forces of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China.
The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of China, was
still in conversation with its Government and looking toward the maintenance of peace
in the Pacific.
It will be recorded that the targeting of the attack makes it obvious that the attack was
deliberately planned many days, weeks or years ago. During the intervening time the
Chinese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false
statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
As Commander-in-Chief of the military, I have directed that all measures be taken for
our defense.
But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the Ameri-
can people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we
will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form
of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our in-
terests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounding determination of our people
– we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Chi-
na on Sunday, October 6th, 2013, a state of war has existed between the United States
and the People’s Republic of China.
“I’ve heard that speech before.”
“Most everyone in the US has, that’s FDR’s Infamy speech to Congress. Maybe they
just dusted it off, changed the words to fit and he got on the radio.”
38
“I take it that we’re at war with China.”
“That’s what the man said,” Snake Doctor mused. “Now, I have a question. He didn’t
use the word retaliate. How does one characterize all measures?”
“Maybe it means that we will respond in kind, warhead for warhead.”
“Apparently nothing was hit, or he would have said so. Does that mean we use 3 HEMP
devices on a country whose infrastructure would barely be touched?”
“Could they be planning an invasion? I’ve read many stories when China attacked the
US via Mexico.”
So many questions… so few answers. It occurred to me that one squirrel I knew of had
a standard answer for situations like this, Lock and load. If he were still alive, he proba-
bly still lived in Palmdale. A US map was spread out on the dining room table and
Snake Doctor tapped his finger on the map.
“Right here, Juárez, across from El Paso. It isn’t ideal, it’s right across the border from
Fort Bliss. But, it is the closest point to the interior of the country.”
“So you think there will be an invasion?”
“I didn’t say that. I was pointing out one route an invading Army might take. Fort Bliss
maintained and trained several US Patriot Missile Batteries. Between 2008 and 2011,
elements of the US 1st Armored Division arrived at Fort Bliss and replaced Air Defense
Artillery (ADA) Brigades that moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, transforming Fort Bliss to a
Heavy Armor Training post.”
“I like it.”
“Why?”
“You said heavy armor, so that means M1A3 Abrams and Bradley IFVs. Since they fi-
nally upgraded the Abrams, They go faster, have a greater operating range and have
that new German gun, the L55.”
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I sure would like to know what’s happening in
Korea. If the North nuked Seoul and Pusan, are we pulling out? And like the rest of you,
I’d like to know what our response to China was.”
“Well Pete, it’s about 900 miles, give or take, from El Paso to Camdenton. They’d be
tied up for who knows how long at Fort Bliss and might never get out of our southern
border states. You can secure everything except the livestock, right?”
39
“Right, Jonas.”
We later learned that China had 3 satellites in orbit thought to be either GPS or spy sat-
ellites. They were neither; rather each contained an atomic warhead. Apparently some
enterprising Chinese read Wiki and learned that an atomic bomb produced a greater
EMP than a hydrogen bomb. We knew who launched them and had tracked them for 2-
3 years without realizing what they could do to us. Narrowly construing JFKs warning to
the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis would lead one to believe that the poli-
cy was an eye for an eye; if they wiped us out, we’d wipe them out. Otherwise our re-
sponse should be limited to what they’d done to us.
When nukes started flying in Korea, everyone not Korean pulled out. There were too
many surviving South Koreans for anyone to offer them a home.
“Don, how hard would it be to build a shelter for the livestock?”
“Uncle Pete, it would need to be as big as the barn, hog house and hen house com-
bined. We need some way to store their feed, either above them in a loft or below them
in a basement. How big is the barn?”
“Sixty wide by one hundred long.”
“You’d need a hole larger than that so you could get the animals up and down, probably
a ramp on the long side. Put the feed on the lower level to minimize the grade to 10%.”
“How about the grade down to the lower level?”
“Keep the 10% grade and wrap it around the corner. Know anyone with a large dragline
or something that can move that much dirt in a short time?”
“A dragline would be perfect and yes, I think I know where I can hire one. Why didn’t I
think of that?”
Pete left like a bat out of hell, returning 2 hours later, grinning.
“I lined up the dragline, and someone to frame the building. He’s even willing to change
our culverts to give us access to the building. With what’s happening he had no idea
where he could get more work for his crews. It’ll be a turnkey project with delivery in 21
days. Hell, I won’t even need a bank loan to pay for it, just delivery of 10,000-gallons of
biodiesel and the discounted cost of the materials. We have the biodiesel already and I
have enough cash in my safe to pay for the materials.”
40
“What, you don’t trust banks?”
“Do you?”
“It wasn’t their fault I lost my job. But, now that you mention it, we’ve operated on a cash
basis since coming here.”
“No gold or silver?” Jonas asked.
“Not us, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Pete had some.”
“I have a rough idea how much he has. Even Molly and I have a little, some junk silver
and a few Krugerrands.”
“Why Krugerrands and not American Eagles?”
“Smaller premium for the same coin. Both are 22 carat, but the Eagles command a
higher premium. South Africa makes some fractional ounce Krugerrands, too.”
Pete had apparently decided on his way to town to make the new underground barn
larger, 100x120 to allow room for the hogs and chickens. I’d seen or read about nearly
everything except an underground barn. The basic idea was that, should we be invad-
ed, the livestock could be hidden in an underground barn just as we could be hidden in
an underground shelter.
The drag line approached the excavation from all sides, piling the soil high for subse-
quent reuse. The concrete floor was formed and poured while carpenters assembled
the barn in modules that could and would be joined together. The concrete contained
some kind of an additive forcing it to cure faster than normal. The lower level was as-
sembled and the hay and grain added. The floor for the upper level and its walls, stan-
chions and the milking equipment were added and/or connected.
Finally, a heavy roof was built and covered by multiple layers of OSB cemented togeth-
er and nailed, tarpapered and sealed. The ramps down to the first and second level
were graded, the same fast setting concrete used and they were likewise covered over,
even before the concrete was totally set. A tanker pulled in and 10,000-gallons of bio-
diesel was pumped; Pete handed that construction supervisor a wad of cash and we set
back to wait for the concrete to set before our first test run. Would the animals descend
the grade to the lower levels?
41
The ramps fell 12 feet in 120 feet, a grade of 10%. One room on the lower level was set
aside in the lower level for the biodiesel equipment and the still with good ventilation.
The first few ups and downs required the use of cattle prods; the animals didn’t like the
slope. Actually, none of us liked the slope and the best way to get to and from the barn
was via the relocated culverts. Both the lower level and upper level had eight foot ceil-
ings and the barn had six feet of earth cover, not counting the two feet of raised earth.
Not only was the radiation protection factor high, the barn could be concealed, hiding
the livestock.
The heavily compacted soil covering the underground barn was expected to settle
slightly and the contractor allowed for that. Eventually, the location would be nearly flat
and even now could be used for its original purpose, a garden. Rather than extending
the ramp above ground, there was an open hole that could be covered. That wasn’t part
of the turnkey project, however. We built our own cover putting everyone to work.
“Have there been any more announcements?”
“Marie said she hasn’t heard any. It would take the Chinese some time to move their
troops and equipment from Pacific ports to the American border. They couldn’t have
done it before the HEMP because our satellites would have seen them.”
“I can’t dispute the logic of that, but something just isn’t right. It’s been about 3 weeks
since the attack, which should be more than enough time. Can’t we dust off our SR-71s
and take high altitude photos or something?”
“No need to dust them off, there are still 6 planes operational or in reserve, at either
Edwards Air Force Base or Plant 42; two A-12s and four SR-71s.”
“I didn’t know that, the government said that they were all retired.”
“Do you believe everything the government tells you? I got some ocean front property in
Arizona; from my front porch you can see the sea; if you'll buy that, I'll throw the golden
gate in free.”
“George Strait?”
“Yep.”
“That’s sure a good description of the government.”
What was actually happening, as we would later learn was that the Chinese offered to
buy all of the Mexican oil for $140 a barrel plus help the government with the drug war.
42
The Chinese Army, aka People’s Liberation Army, spread out south of our border, from
Tijuana to Mexicali to Juárez and on down to Río Bravo and Matamoros. Far enough
back of the border that a typical aircraft flight wouldn’t see them yet close enough to
close the distance in fairly short order.
A SR-71 from Edwards AFB, was loaded with film and fuel, took off, was refueled and
flew along the border, just inside US air space. The plane landed, the film was retrieved
and developed. The Chinese buildup was obvious from the photos and the president
ordered US forces including all active duty, reserve and National Guard units to secure
the border. It’s a long border and we only had one M1A3 for every kilometer (border =
3141 km 1,969 mi). The Bradley M2A3 IFVs and M3A3 CFV aren’t really bulletproof.
They’re supposed to provide protection up to a 30mm cannon. Marie announced that
she heard from a ham in Texas about the US military buildup.
“Now, that pisses me off! The last time we were invaded was by Pancho Villa at Colum-
bus, New Mexico in 1916.”
“Well, like you said Jonas, it’s a long way to here from El Paso.”
“Yeah…but they outnumber us 2:1. They have largest standing Army in the World.”
Do you remember Jeanie and Bob? I thought we’d seen the last of them back in 2009.
We went into Camdenton to do some clothes shopping and stopped for lunch. No,
Jeanie wasn’t a waitress, but Bob and she were there.
“Marie?”
“Jeanie?”
“Just passing through?”
“Actually, we moved here in late 2010. Where did Bob and you go?”
“Around, no place in particular. Do you live here in Camdenton?”
“In the area. What’s your take on this attack?”
“That’s why we’re still here; we’re waiting for the new engine computer to be delivered.
We were just passing through when there was a bright flash in the sky and the car died.
Someone said it was EMT.”
“Actual Jeanie,” I corrected her, “It was EMP, a high altitude nuclear detonation, called
an electromagnetic pulse, intended to disable the power grid, electronics and anything
electric connected to long lines.”
“They said our new computer will be here any day.”
43
“I hope so. Good luck.”
We left and found some other place to eat. Only a few places were open because of the
loss of electricity. We had to settle for the new Maid Rite restaurant they’d opened re-
cently. It had a large grill with sides that contained crumbled ground beef and a gas
powered deep fat fryer. They also had a big generator out back; we could hear it. The
food was good and we next finished shopping, buying extra sets of boots, jeans, under-
wear and shirts. We didn’t have Levi jackets and we got both lined and unlined Wran-
gler jackets plus oilskin dusters. According to the salesman, the long oilskin duster fea-
tured leg straps and traditionally styled front and back capes. It had a snap front closure
with snap-over storm flap; oversized double entry patch pockets and adjustable snap
cuffs plus inside draw string waist. They also had Double S slickers.
The oilskins ran $99, the slickers $25, the unlined jackets $38 and the lined jackets $60.
Since they were denim, they would really last. We bought two kinds of boots, cowboy
boots and work boots. It’s claimed you can tell who is a Saturday Night Cowboy and a
real cowboy by the amount of horse shit on their boots. With our shopping finished, Ma-
rie and I returned to the farm.
“If any of you need clothing, the store in Camdenton that sells Wranglers is still taking
cash. Old fashion receipt book, but they’re taking FRNs. Cash only, come to think about
it.”
“What did you guys get?” Sarah asked.
“We got jeans, shirts, underwear, socks, cowboy and work boots, lined and unlined
jackets, oilskin dusters and yellow slickers.”
“Wrangler brand?”
“Yes Jonas, why?”
“We have dusters too, but they came from down under and are called drover coats. The
ones we bought were Walkabout brand. We also got the fleece liners.”
“We didn’t see any fleece liners.”
“We don’t have slickers; did you say $25?”
“Yes.”
“Molly, feel like a ride to Camdenton?”
“Hold on, Sarah and I will go with you.”
44
There was only a very small amount of small talk between my cousins and me. I had the
distinct impression that they weren’t happy with us living in the hunting shack. I grabbed
Marie and said, “Let’s get our new clothes home and put up.”
“Positively frosty in that house.”
“Yeah, me too. That’s why I came up with the clothes excuse. We’ll get a fire going in
the potbellied stove, another in the kitchen stove and we can eat dinner here.”
“I can take ice cream out of the freezer if you want to warm up.”
“At the moment, a few choice words come to mind.”
“Save them for someone who wants to hear them. How about a casserole? Tuna and
noodles ok?”
“Perfect. It’s strange how before we came to live on the farm we were missing some of
the finer things in life.”
“Like what?”
“Horse riding, being able to shoot when we want, having a large enough garden to feed
two families and good, hard work where you know what you’ve accomplished at the end
of the day.”
“I just hope it lasts.”
“That Chinese invasion?”
“Well, it could happen.”
“It probably is happening. We’d be the last to know, the government would be pulling
out all stops to move the military to the border. If it were me in the White House, I dust
off an SR-71, load it with film and fuel and top it off after it took off. Then, it could fly the
length of the border, take photographs and land. From the altitude they fly, they could
see forever. Can you imagine flying at 80,000 feet going Mach 3.2? From an altitude of
80,000 feet, it can survey 100,000 square miles per hour of the Earth's surface. In addi-
tion, it is accurate enough to take a picture of a car's license plate from that altitude.”
“Dinner’s ready. If you ever do decide to run for president, I’ll vote for you.”
“Thank you, I think.”
“Don, got your ears on?”
45
“We’re here Pete, just finishing up dinner.”
“Was it something I said?”
“I’ll explain when I see you.”
“Five am. Bring Marie and she can help Sarah fix breakfast for the brats.”
“Et tu Brute?”
“I thought so. Sorry about that. I guess we’re going to have to kick some butt.”
“You may only make a bad situation worse.”
“Well, don’t hold it against us, we did our best.”
“Ok, see you at five.”
“Pete said…”
“I heard. It sounds to me like those kids and grandkids of theirs are beginning to wear
out their welcome.”
“That may be, but he won’t ask them to leave. At least while they’re here, they have all
of the conveniences, don’t want for food and have a space in the shelter.”
“That’s another thing, only you and I plus Jonas and Molly had to hot rack, all of their
kids and grandkids had beds of their own.”
“That’s probably because he didn’t have us or Jonas and Molly in mind when he built
the bunkroom.”
“Maybe we can sleep in the basement of the barn.”
“I see, want to go for a roll in the hay?”
“Mind your mouth.”
“I just meant…”
“I know exactly what you meant and I didn’t say no, I just said mind your mouth.”
“I wonder how they came up with that name, Snake Doctor.”
46
“Didn’t they say on the show?”
“Not that I can remember. I liked that show; I wonder when they took it off the air.”
“Maybe it was still playing.”
“Not likely, the TV audience seems to change their appetite frequently.”
“Good morning.”
“‘Mornin. Marie is up at the house helping Sarah. About what I said last night…”
“Treating Marie and you like outsiders? I know and so does Sarah. I will have a word
with the boys and Sarah with our daughter. If they give you anymore crap, feel free to
put them in their place.”
“What exactly is their place?”
“Well, long story short, they don’t live here and none of them is interested in farming. I
plan to have our lawyer draw up a will that puts ownership of the farm in a trust and the
land in your hands, if you want it. You’ll make payments to the trust and the trust will
evenly divide your payments among those three. I heard the fourth quarter section may
be available and if it is, I’ll be buying it. It’s all tillable land and if you plan well, you can
farm it by yourself. If not, you can get a hired hand.”
“What would you grow?”
“I’d grow 80 acres of oats, 80 acres of corn and 240 acres of canola plus the alfalfa. You
could produce around 30,500 gallons of biodiesel in less than 2 months. By the way,
Jonas contacted a buddy of his on the radio last night. Apparently the president has
federalized all National Guard units, called up all of the Reserve units and sent them
and the active military units to the border with Mexico. Jonas said you’d know what it
means.”
“It means that they got an SR-71 airborne and took a look see. They saw something
they didn’t like, maybe troops massing, and we’re trying to block the border.”
“Can we do that?”
“We can do it; the question is can we succeed.”
“And…”
47
“Who else has B-2 bombers, F-117 Nighthawks, and F-22s? A few allies have F-35s,
but I doubt they will be involved. Someone ought to get a bugler down on the border
playing El Degüello for the Mexicans supporting the Chinese.”
“Now wouldn’t that be appropriate.”
“Only problem will be that portion of the border not divided by the Río Grande, El Paso
west to California.”
“Bombing runs to keep it clear?”
“Unless I miss my guess, yes. We have plenty of places to base tanker aircraft and the
Navy and Marines can bring in their Hornets. Add to that our F-15s, F-16s, F-22s and
our F-35s together with the B-1Bs, B-2s and F-117s. Even if they took the wings off the
F-117s like they claim, it wouldn’t take that long to bolt them back on.”
“Why not nuke ‘em with tactical nukes?”
“Nuke ‘em all and let God sort them out? Well, because that would give them an excuse
to use their own. Those 2,000-pound JDAMs are more than enough. And we have clus-
ter bombs, FAEs, the MOAB, etc. Between our three large bombers, we can drop
enough directed ordnance to equal or exceed several of those missions against Ger-
man cities back WW II.”
“That’s right.”
“Jonas, I thought you slept in.”
“I’m an early riser Pete. Thought I’d lend a hand and work up an appetite. What can I
do?”
“You can feed the horses and hogs while we finish up milking. If you get done before we
do, gather the eggs and take them to Sarah.”
At the moment, we were milking 30 cows and using 10 milking machines. It took about
an hour to milk them all and put the milk in the cooling tank. It wasn’t just the milking
that took time, we also had to wash the udders, empty the milk buckets, move the buck-
et strap and so forth.
The new underground barn had the vacuum pump, the vacuum lines and new milk
cooler. Pete didn’t buy more of the Surge milkers, only some spare parts, like udder
cups, etc. When I had asked why he used the old equipment, his reply was, “They were
good enough for my father.”
“Done?”
48
“For now.”
“Good, the president is making an announcement at 10am Eastern. We have time for
breakfast before he comes on.”
Breakfast consisted of eggs to order, Canadian bacon, orange juice, coffee and toast.
Anyone not present for the early serving would get scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice
and coffee. After breakfast we turned on the radio with the volume down and visited,
waiting for the address to begin.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the president.
My fellow Americans,
Our intelligence assets have revealed the buildup of a very large force of troops just
south of the American border with Mexico. All leaves have been canceled and soldiers,
sailors, airmen and Marines are ordered to report to their units by the fastest means
possible. In addition, all military reserve units have been activated. Finally, all National
Guard units have been federalized for the duration of hostilities. Our air assets have
been fully equipped and are standing by to deliver such conventional munitions as may
be necessary.
Attempts by our Ambassador to Mexico for a dialogue have been rebuffed. I am left with
no recourse except to prepare for an extended conflict. Until forces cross our border or
enter our airspace, I cannot order our troops to attack. Rest assured that when and if
that happens we will respond and try to limit their incursion into our country.
Lincoln once found himself in a not dissimilar situation during the Civil War. In that in-
stance he found it necessary to suspend Habeas Corpus. I find myself in a similar situa-
tion and as of now, the writ of Habeas Corpus is suspended for the duration.
I must also suspend Posse Comitatus for the reason stated. Primary authority for law
enforcement with still rest with civilian agencies, however when civilian authorities are
not present or immediately available, military units may enforce the laws of the United
States and the state in which they are operating.
Finally, pursuant to Title 10 § 311 subsection b, item 2, the unorganized militia, which
consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or
the Naval Militia, will be on call, as needed. To that end, surplus ammunition stocks will
be made available by National Guard representatives at your nearest National Guard
Armory.
I ask every American to pray for a successful outcome.
God Bless America.
49
“He sounded just like Dubya.”
“You heard the man, lock and load. Where’s the nearest Armory?”
“I don’t know where the nearest is, but Fort Leonard Wood isn’t that far and probably
has a bigger ammo supply.”
“I agree with Don, the only other place that I can think of is Jefferson City. I say we try
Ft. Leonard Wood.”
“Plus, Jonas knows his way around down there and some of his friends might be more
generous when comes to handing out ammo.”
“Militia is required to provide personal weapons but not ammunition?”
“Most people wouldn’t possess sufficient ammo for an extended conflict. The military
currently has two small arms rifle calibers, 5.56×45 and 7.62×51. Others do, of course.
If any of you decide to join in the fray, remember that militia only consists of males age
17 or older and under age 45.”
“What about handgun ammo?”
“It’s mostly 9mm FMJ; but since Operators prefer the .45, .45ACP FMJ.”
“Damn, no hollow point.”
“Do you really need ammo?”
“There are three things you can’t have too much of, ammo, toilet paper and coffee.”
“You’ll get M80 ball; and M855. Since the president said, come get it, let’s go get it be-
fore he changes his mind, again.”
“Wow, a lifetime supply.”
“They only gave us on the order of 3,000-rounds. We could go through that in no time.”
“Snake Doctor, that assumes we live that long. Pete says his two boys and son-in-law
flatly refuse to go.”
“He should have sent them to the Army like his Dad sent him.”
“Pete never said anything about being in the military that I can recall.”
50
“Got the Bronze Star with a V at the tail end of ‘Nam.”
“Doing what?”
“Ask him. He was one of the few who had an M14 near the end of the conflict. Damned
fine shot, too. I always thought he deserved the Silver Star, but those officers didn’t
agree.”
“Anyway, I guess it’s going to be just the three of us.”
“If they don’t want to go, we don’t want them. That attitude might just get the rest of us
killed.”
“Did he say if we’re expected to go or just standby?”
“He said standby; regardless what he said, I’m going.”
“Me, too.”
“Make that three. And if we get out of this alive, my children are in for a very unpleasant
surprise. We’ll take our high quality ammo and leave the cheaper stuff for them to prac-
tice, not that it will do much good. I think that it will boil down the Sarah, Molly and Marie
protecting the farm if the opposition gets this far. We’ll take ⅓ of our ordnance and leave
the remainder for those three. I told Sarah that as far as I’m concerned they’ve worn out
their welcome. Since it appears we won’t have the GTW, they can leave anytime. I also
told her to fill their tanks and give them enough cash to buy generators when they get
home.”
“It’s none of my business, but aren’t you being harsh?”
“Like you said Don, it’s none of your business. Next order of business, do we take tray
packs or MREs?”
“Pete the tray packs feed 18 people, we’d better stick with the MREs. What kind do you
have?”
“Civilian Sopakco brand aka SurePak complete with heaters and accessory packs. I
added several cartons of cigarettes and I suppose you brought some of those stogies.
The cookware is simple blue enamel stuff plus a 12 cup coffee pot. There are about 6
months’ worth of rations. In case we find some real food there’s a cooking set, assorted
spices, extra bath tissue and our ordnance.”
“What kind of cigarettes?”
“I didn’t know you smoked.”
51
“I quit; but this seems like as good a time as any to take it back up.”
“If we’re lucky, the mess cooks will probably turn a blind eye and feed us whatever the
troops are eating. Is everyone squared away with their LBE, water supplies and weap-
ons?”
“I know I am; Pete?”
“Damned right I’m ready. I grabbed an extra box of 20-round rifle magazines and any-
thing I thought might prove useful, including a 4-man tent, folding grill for over the fire pit
and even a small porta john. Let’s tell our wives goodbye and light the fires.”
“Ok, but the president didn’t call us up, yet.”
“Yeah, but if we wait, we miss all of the fun.”
“I’m putting four horses in the horse trailer with our gear. I suggest y’all get your cowboy
guns and clothes. We can do a little free ranging down at the border, like those Minute-
men sometimes do. Jonas, can you help me load hay and grain into the other two
stalls?”
“Sure, but will that be enough?”
“We can find more down around El Paso if we run out.”
The pickup carried 168 gallons of diesel and at 10 miles per gallon; we could get there
and part way home. Pete added an empty drum and filled it with more biodiesel, giving
us a total of 2,230 miles at the same mileage rate. He said that if we could find some
long, flat stretches of road, we could extend the range to over 2,500 miles.
Marie was clearly upset that I was going; however, I think it was more her being upset
with Pete’s boys and son-in-law for not going. We had a wide assortment of ordnance, a
little something for nearly every situation. Rockets, a grenade launcher, assorted hand
grenades, Claymore mines, demolition charges, our military ammo and precision Black
Hills ammo. Weapons wise, we each had a M1911 pattern .45ACP handgun, usually
with aftermarket magazines that held more rounds, 28 M14 magazines each, a quality
7.62×51mm rifle with a scope and a late addition, suppressors. There were the 12
gauge shotguns and the big boys in arsenal, the Tac-50 and M107s. Regardless of the
circumstances, we had an appropriate firearm. The handgun ammo was Speer Gold
Dot; never send a boy to do a man’s job.
Two days later, we pulled into El Paso, and found it necessary to weave our way around
all of the US military assembled there. Eventually, we were stopped and asked for iden-
tification by the people running military security. Jonas had his retired military ID, and he
52
was in the clear. Pete and I were not so lucky and Jonas asked to see the Company
Commander.
“Captain, Pete here served in ‘Nam and got the bronze star. I can vouch for him without
hesitation. Young Don, did his tour in Iraqi Freedom as an Army Designated Marksman,
I’d appreciate it if you could cut him some slack. I’ve seen him shoot and he’s better
than most of the troops under your command.”
“The president hasn’t called up the militia.”
“We know, but we’re here and are willing to participate if you’ll just give us a chance.”
“Fill me in on your former ranks.”
“I was a Command Sergeant Major, Pete was a Sergeant. Don, what was your rank?”
“Staff Sergeant.”
“Here take these forms and fill in the blanks, my clerk will issue you temporary ID. While
he’s doing that, I have a word with the Battalion Commander and see about some kind
of Carte Blanche so our side won’t hassle you. What do you have for a vehicle?”
“A pickup. However, we brought a sting of horses, three to ride and one as a pack ani-
mal. It will give us enhanced mobility.”
“What will you need? I can give you ammo, and hand grenades.”
“We brought our own and picked up an allotment at Leonard Wood. We wouldn’t mind
another crate of M72s, although we can get by with what we have. Let us know if you
run short on anything, maybe we can help.”
“You brought that much?”
“Well we’d rather have it…”
“I know the feeling; some of the armor units are short on both Sabot and Heat. The A3s
are fully equipped although some the earlier versions aren’t. If it was up to me, we’d in-
vade Mexico and try to catch them with their pants down.”
“What’s the status of their buildup?”
“According to the Blackbird flights they’re level of readiness is 90% or higher.”
“Are the Chinese and Mexican troops merged?”
53
“Mexico is holding their troops back and appears to be leaving the fighting to the Chi-
nese. Keep an eye on the Mexicans; they have that new assault rifle, the FX05.”
“Any chance on our getting some body armor?”
“We’re short ourselves. The LAWs might be arranged, but it would only be 2 packages
or 10 rockets.”
“If you can get them, we’ll be happy to take them. The same goes for the M67s. We
have Mil Spec smoke grenades.”
“Where did you get those?”
“A place called Ammunition To Go.”
“I’ll see you back here in an hour.”
“Why did you lie about the smoke grenades?”
“I couldn’t tell him I had appropriated them and as it happens, that place I named sells
Mil Spec smoke grenades.”
Over the course of the next hour, Pete and I were fingerprinted, had our pictures taken
and issued the temporary IDs. Since we could provide both our previous service num-
bers and SSNs, the IDs bore our SSNs. Jonas got away with the clerk issuing an up-
dated ID. We were shown to a lounge and had a cup of coffee and a stale donut. When
the Captain returned, he said that he couldn’t get the Carte Blanche. We got 12 M67s
apiece and 10 additional M72s giving us each 10 of those. With our IDs in the system,
we’d get by and he handed us rank insignia. We drove west along the border and set up
near Malpais, New Mexico, maybe half way between El Paso and Columbus.
We set up camp in the only unexposed place we could find. With Coleman stoves, a
heater and lanterns we didn’t need a fire pit. After that, we saddled up and armed our-
selves, first, with our cowboy guns. I added my Miami Classic rig and climbed into my
saddle, with the Mossberg slung over my back and my M1A in hand. My spare maga-
zines were in my saddlebags along with an MRE and two plastic water canteens. Each
of us was similarly armed with which ever shotgun and pistol he preferred. It was about
a mile to the border and we headed south.
“Keep your eyes open for a recon party. It might help if we could we could see them be-
fore they see us,” Jonas joked.
“And then what?”
“We’ll ambush them using the suppressed M1As.”
54
“I can see the fence.”
“Is it still intact?”
“Maybe, I can’t tell from here. You guys stay here and cover my six; I’ll go check it out
and call you on channel 19.”
Squawk… “It’s been cut and is being held in place with two wire ties. The most recent
prints are headed north. I’ll start tracking them and you two can catch up.”
“10-4.”
Pete was following the tracks from off to one side and when we found them, we rode on
the other side. We followed them all of the way to the highway and beyond. One would
have thought that they would have walked on the highway for a ways to make it harder
for anyone to track them. However, they just crossed Highway 9 and kept going. There
is nothing of note north except I-10 between Las Cruces and Deming. Perhaps they
were trying to skirt Fort Bliss and White Sands. We eventually caught up to them about
4 miles further on. We dismounted, hobbled the horses and move ahead on foot. It
looked more like a patrol than a recon team.
“That’s a recon patrol,” Jonas whispered. “Find a good spot and we’ll take them down;
wait until I fire.”
The patrol leader seemed to be Mexican and the other 10 men were either Chinese or
Mexicans, evenly divided. Pete and I settled in, selected targets and waited to hear Jo-
nas’s rifle. The first round of fire reduced their number to 8 totally confused troops look-
ing around to see where the fire came from. The second round of fire reduced their
number to 5, but they had a good idea where the fire was coming from and began firing
in our general direction. The third round killed two more and wounded a third, leaving
them with two intact soldiers and one with an undetermined wound. It also allowed the
two remaining individuals to direct their fire right at us.
Squawk… “Hold your fire; let’s wait them out.”
A minute or two later the 2 remaining men began to work on the third, apparently as-
suming we were moving to a new position. With them distracted, that’s exactly what we
did, with Jonas selecting a place for each of us. Our positions were slightly staggered to
prevent us from killing each other in a cross fire. When they finished tending to the
wounded man, he got up and with his arms around the shoulders of the 2 others; they
began their trek back south. They made it 50 yards before we took all three of them
down.
Next, we collected their arms and ammunition plus all of their maps and papers. The
leader was one of the first we had killed. He was a Mexican and all his notes were in
Spanish. I couldn’t make any sense of it nor could Pete. Jonas spoke Spanish as a 2nd
55
or 3rd language. As he translated the notes and evaluated the notations on the map, he
let out a low whistle.
“We’ve got to get back to El Paso and get these to that Captain. They’re bypassing Bliss
and heading north to I-40, apparently planning on spreading out from there. It would go
much better if our forces could meet them head on.”
We tied their arms on behind our saddles and headed back south as fast as we dared. It
was a slow gallop and the horses could only maintain it for about 2 miles before we had
to slow them and let them rest. Even so, we were back at our camp in well under an
hour and the Captain’s office within two.
“Thank you; you sure earned your pay today.”
“We get paid?”
“Sorry, it was just a figure of speech. If you gentlemen will excuse me, I have to get this
to the Battalion. Draw any replacement ammo you might need.”
I don’t believe that the military packs 7.62 ammo in 12 round packs, so we went for
some of the M118LR (three cases) and more of the rockets, getting a full crate and
bringing us to 15 each. The M118LR was packed in 20 round boxes, 25 boxes to the
case. There is a difference between M118 and M118LR. The former is 173gr FMJ, while
the latter is 175gr BTHP Sierra MatchKing. They also use different powders. There is a
difference between the brass case and powder if you compare Black Hills 175gr with
the M118LR.
“I think I may have been the shooter who wounded that guy,” Jonas said. “He moved
just as the trigger let off.”
“Don’t worry about it; it could have happened to any of us. The recon patrol is dead and
the information they gathered is in the hands of the Army. I brought that big cooler and
it’s loaded with special treats for when we have a good day. How does steak and pota-
toes sound?”
“We’ll have to dig a fire pit to bake the potatoes, but there’s some hickory charcoal in
the horse trailer. We can set up the folding grill and grill our steaks after the potatoes
are done.”
“The only thing we’re missing is a bottle of bourbon.”
“I brought some, but it has only aged 6 years so it probably won’t be as smooth as you
like.”
“Got a finger in everything, don’t you Pete?”
56
“I try. I’m not sure how long the dry ice will keep, so we’ll probably have to eat up the
steaks.”
When Pete opened the cooler, I noted a solid block of dry ice about the exact size of the
cooler bottom. A block of dry ice that large, lacking a lot of exposed surface area, would
last for several days, especially in the cooler. I guess that explained why the cooler oc-
casionally burped. The spuds were scrubbed, wrapped in foil and added to the coals.
When they could be squeezed, the folding grill was set up and the steaks lay on top. I
like my steak 7 minutes on a side, medium, and Pete and Jonas were 5 minute men,
rare. Before we got too far into the bourbon, we took a few minutes to clean our rifles
using Breakfree CLP, a rag and a bore snake. We sat around visiting until the fire died
out and went to bed. The four man tent was barely large enough for the three of us.
The following morning, we took turns at the porta potti and washed up. Pete put on a
pot of coffee and dug out MREs with breakfast entrees. While we didn’t have an unlim-
ited supply of water, there was enough for everyone to take a sponge bath. I decided
that I leave my Winchester and Vaquero in the trailer, put the Mossberg in the scabbard
and carry the M1A like we did the previous day. My P-14 was in my Miami Classic with
two counter side magazines and more in my saddlebags. This way, I could wear my Tac
Force vest with 8 magazines and six grenades. I carried white smoke attached to loops
on the Tac Force straps.
“Dig out one of those Claymores and we’ll erect a little surprise at that cut in the fence.
We’ll do it by the book for an uncontrolled role.”
Specifically:
The M18A1 mine is deliberately detonated by the operator pulling or cutting a trip wire
attached to a nonelectrical firing device. A nonelectric blasting cap attached to the firing
device and crimped to a length of detonating cord sets off the detonating cord. At the
other end of the detonating cord, a second crimped nonelectric blasting cap, which is
inserted in one of the detonator wells, detonates the mine.
On this day, we saw no one cross the border and neither was the Claymore tripped. The
steaks were still hard as a rock and we decided to save them until we were forced to eat
them or had another good day. We made plans for the following day, which included
moving the pickup 5 miles west and riding the border on our horses. We left the Clay-
more where it had been placed (a trip wire setup) and rode east to where we saw our
horse tracks from the day before and turned west aiming for another five miles from our
starting place before cutting a line back to our camp.
As we came close to our new camp, we saw several individuals there, armed individu-
als. Jonas took out his binoculars to check them out.
57
“Hispanics. However, that doesn’t mean much in Texas, they have been part of the
scene since before the Alamo. More than ⅓ of the population is Hispanic. Why don’t we
tie down the horses and move up to check on them? It would be a pure shame if we
killed some guys whose families had been here for 15 generations.”
With nothing to tie the horses to, we hobbled them and spread out, Pete to the left, Jo-
nas in the middle and me to the right. Jonas took a slight lead. When he was well within
hearing range, he called out, “Hola.” The men were spooked and brought their rifles to
bear.
“Who in the hell are you?”
“Name’s Jonas. Wasn’t sure if you spoke English or not, hence the greeting in Spanish.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but none of us speaks Spanish. We came down to
the border to lend a hand repelling the Mongol invader.”
“Yep, so did we.”
“We?”
“Show yourselves fellas.”
“Are you guys some of that Minuteman organization?”
“No. I’m a retired Army Sergeant and my friends are former Army, one served in ‘Nam
and the other in Iraqi Freedom.”
“Sling your rifles; I think the Army has arrived. My name is Joseph. From left to right are
Rick, Juan and Jose. We all met up in the Corps over in Iraq.”
“Those invaders are going to come up short. Are you fellas on foot?”
“No, we hobbled our horses when we saw the camp. What about you?”
“We hobbled our horses when we saw you.”
“Ok if we join you?”
“Sure, more is always better in a situation like this. No AR-15s?”
“Well, there was John Moses Browning, John C. Garand and Eugene M. Stoner. Two
out three ain’t half bad. That’s why we all have M1As. We agreed on the Loaded model
as having the most bang for the buck. We’ll go get our horses and meet you back here,
in 15-20 minutes.”
58
“Pete, Don, let’s go get the horses.”
We had all 4 horses, our saddle horses and one with packs to carry extra M72s, assort-
ed grenades and M18A1s. We each had one M72 tied behind our saddles using the
saddle thongs to hold it in place. The Marines, I noticed, had an assortment of ALICE,
MOLLE or Tac Force gear to carry their equipment. They didn’t have a 5th horse, they
had a mule.
We arrived back before they did and set up our tent, dug out the folding table and set
the Coleman stoves up, also taking the Coleman lanterns from their carrying cases. We
took our 4 folding chairs from the front of the horse trailer and pulled out 7 steaks to
thaw. We scrubbed and wrapped 7 potatoes and dug a fire pit, adding charcoal.
“You guys travel first class.”
“We try Joseph.”
“Make it Joe, Jonas. We heard you call to the others, which one of you is Pete and
which one Don?”
“I’m Pete,” Pete identified himself.
“Then you must be Don,” Joe said, extending his hand.
“Nice to meet you Joe. Hope you’re working up an appetite; we took out steaks and
baking potatoes. What did the four of you do in the Corps?”
“We all were in the Infantry, Designated Marksmen.”
“Ironic, I was an Army Designated Marksman.”
“You used the M21?”
“I did. I assumed you used the modified M14 Designated Marksman Rifle?”
“We did. That’s why we went with the M1As when we got out. It was cheaper to buy the
Loaded model and add the bipod, scope and cheek rest. 1:11 will work with the same
ammo we used over there, the M118LR.”
“I prefer 168gr Black Hills BTHP, but we picked up some M118LR from the Army to re-
place the ammo we shot up.”
“You engaged the enemy? Are you sure, they could have been Texans, just as we are.”
59
“Half of their squad was Chinese, that Mongol Horde you referred to. Anyway, we only
fired 12 rounds, but since the Army was willing to part with three 500-round cases of
M118LR and a full crate of M72s, who were we to say no?”
“Could you spare some of the M118LR?”
“Sure.”
“Say, what did you think of that oddball speech the president gave?”
“Which speech; his Day of Infamy speech or the speech calling out the unorganized mi-
litia?”
“The first one. It seemed strangely familiar.”
“That was a reworded copy of the speech FDR gave after Pearl Harbor. We don’t much
like the idea of the president suspending Habeas Corpus, and there is no precedent for
suspending Posse Comitatus since the provisions of the John Warner Act were re-
pealed and we don’t have an insurrection or a known nuclear threat.”
“They repealed the John Warner Appropriations Act provisions? Well, I’ll be damned.”
Joseph’s friends were apparently unaware of the repeal and voiced concerns about the
president’s actions. However, given the HEMP and the presence of the Chinese in Mex-
ico, plus the assurance that the military would only intervene in the absence of civilian
law enforcement authority, the Marines were of a mind to cut the president some slack.
Their cooler was filled with Coors beer and they readily shared. Our dry ice hadn’t com-
pletely evaporated so it would take a while for the steaks to thaw.
They were from San Antonio and had considered going to Laredo to lend a hand but in
the end decided on El Paso. They had ended up being stopped and quizzed by the
same Army Security Company and issued temporary IDs. They hadn’t been offered
ordnance. We explained exactly where the Claymore was set at the cut in the fence.
The group was also using CB portables for communications and we all agreed to com-
municate on channel 31. We were now 7 men, all veterans and at least 6 of the 7 had
demonstrable marksmanship skills. Jonas remained, for me, an unknown commodity
because, as he admitted, he missed his first shot.
“Why did you set a Claymore?”
“The fence was cut and we followed their tracks, eventually catching up with them about
4 miles north the highway. With us outnumber 3 to 1; we started taking them out 3 at a
time. We wounded one and while his friends attended to his wound, we relocated. We
waited until they got close and took the last 3 down. We collected their arms and ammo
plus all of their papers. Jonas speaks Spanish and determined the Army in El Paso
60
needed the information. We took it in and got more ammo and rockets. Early this morn-
ing, we installed the Claymore with a trip wire.”
“It was a recon patrol and when they don’t show up, maybe they’ll send another party.”
“I don’t mean to be overly nosey, but what kind of equipment do you have?”
“In general terms each of us have, a .50 caliber rifle, a M1A, a 12-gauge shotgun and a
M1911 pattern pistol. We also each have an 1886 Winchester and a single action SAA
revolver, including some Colts and some of the original model Vaqueros. We started
with 20 LAWs and then picked up 10 more and in exchange for the recon team info an-
other full crate. We also have a Milkor M32 Multiple Grenade Launcher with 6 dozen
HEDP rounds. Our hand grenades include M61, M67, Mk3A2 and AN M14 TH3 Ther-
mate. Finally, we have smoke grenades in every color, with a majority of them being
Willy Pete.”
“What did you do, clean out an Armory?”
“No, but it’s a long story. We knew someone in supply at Fort Leonard Wood. And since
Jonas is a retired CSM, he was well connected.”
“Stock M107s?”
“Factory new fellas and sighted in. Pete and Jonas bought the BORS from Barrett for
their rifles. Pete gave me a McMillan Tac-50 bolt action with Nightforce scope, night vi-
sion rail and a MUNS. We have about 10,000-rounds of .50 caliber ammo, but didn’t
bring it all. And, we didn’t bring any of the M136 AT4s we have back home.”
“How many did you bring?”
“Enough.”
We were still holding our cards close in case they turned out not to be who they said
they were. They set up their tent, a 10x14, a folding table and chairs, one Coleman dual
fuel stove and two lanterns. They also had the 100 quart Igloo cooler containing an as-
sortment of food plus MREs for when they were away from camp. Except for the .50 cal-
iber rifles, their arsenal was the same as ours, minus the military hardware. We could
share grenades. We gave them 2 cases of M118LR, 12 M72 rockets, 12 M67s, 12
M61s, some concussion, Thermate and a bunch of smoke plus 4 Claymores.
We finally got the coals going and started the spuds. We were just taking our steaks off
the fire grate when we heard a distant boom.
“Let’s eat while it’s hot and go see how many we got. It was set to cover a wide area of
the fence.”
61
Before long, we had the horses saddled and set off to check the results. We also
brought 3 more Claymores. This time, it was only a rifle team, cut to ribbons. We drug
the bodies through the fence and hid them in an arroyo. We cleaned up the area and
planted the three new Claymores, spread out to provide maximum coverage. We used a
single trip wire and several feet of Det cord, the same as the previous setup with triple
the number of mines.
Then we collected their weapons and ammo plus their papers. Notations in the margin
revealed a timeline so we returned to camp and our new friends stood by while we
drove to El Paso to once again report what we had learned.
“Damn, this is good, what do I owe you this time?”
“Two cases of M118LR, 6 Claymore mines and more of the M72 rockets if you have
them.”
“Sergeant, help these three get what they need, I’m headed to Battalion.”
We got the ammo, mines and rockets and the Sergeant asked, “Anything else?”
“Yes, 7 M40 gas masks and some CS, CR or CN gas grenades.”
“I’ve got CS.”
“That’s fine.”
The US hasn’t used CR since ‘Nam and CN is even more deadly, occasionally causing
fatalities. OC gas is otherwise known as Pepper Spray and CR is also called Mace. All
four are classified as riot control agents. CS is essentially tear gas. When we arrived
back, they were waiting up and we gave them the two additional cases of M118LR, 4
more rockets and 4 of the M40s.
“What did he say?”
“He said, Give ‘em what they want, I’ve got to get to Battalion. So, we just naturally got
all we thought we could get away with. They’ve learned that the M40s deteriorate when
exposed to mustard gas and they have a new mask. The Sergeant didn’t have any of
those to spare. They’re called the M50 JSGPM (Joint Services Gas Protective Mask).”
“Do really think we’ll need gas masks?”
“You never know. We have some Mk 1 NAAK kits but no CANAs (Diazepam). Does
everyone remember their gas mask drills?”
62
Everyone affirmed to Jonas that they did and he passed out the M40s and 3 Mk 1 kits
per person. As is often the case, it was better to have them and not need them than to
need them and not have them. We discussed it and decided to do a horse patrol cover-
ing the section of the border from where our Claymores were set up to a point about 8
miles west. We could see Contrails high above us, presumably our aircraft flying above
26,000’.
We concluded that the military had probably put everything that could fly in the sky or on
standby waiting for the border crossing. The very fact that a recon squad had crossed
apparently hadn’t triggered any action. Our bomber forces could carry a lot of bombs.
The BUFF could carry 180 of the Small Diameter bombs, the B-1B could haul 24
JDAMs and the Spirit could haul 216 SDMs. So, between the precision guided SDMs
and the larger JDAMs, our bomber fleet could take a heavy toll. Add to that our F-15Es
still in service, the F/A-18s and the F-35s and the enemy would be up against a wall of
bombs. If they somehow managed to get past the bombs, they’d be up against arguably
the best tank in the world, the M1A3. That omits discussion of our artillery forces includ-
ing our M109A6 Paladin self-propelled 155mm cannons, M270 and M142 MLRS and
the new NLOS cannon. Air cover would be provided by F-22s.
No doubt Predators and other unmanned aerial vehicles were prowling the skies above
the Chinese forces, providing data to our assembling forces. Our horse patrol wasn’t
intended to fight the whole damned Chinese Army, just some of their recon patrols. Did
the Chinese have drones? Probably, but we could shoot them down faster than they
could launch them, we had technology on our side.
One thing that seemed apparent was that the enemy wanted our infrastructure mostly
intact; why else would they limit the initial attack to 3 HEMP devices and land troops in
Mexico preparatory to an invasion? Did they forget what Yamamoto said after Pearl
Harbor, I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible
resolve. Whether or not he actually said that is disputed, nonetheless, the warning is
obvious. The quote was in the movie, Tora, Tora, Tora.
[Aside: Minoru Genda, the man who largely planned and led the attack on Pearl Harbor
was an uncredited technical advisor for the film.]
A person has to ask himself what the enemy has to use against us. Undoubtedly, the
Chinese would use most of their later model tanks from T-80s up to and including the T-
99s. One has to realize that there has been an arms race since the Second World War
ended. It started when Russia displayed their IS-2 tanks in Paris at the end of WW II. It
was further fueled when Russia exploded their first atomic bomb. If Russia had devel-
oped stealth, it was: 1) a secret; and, 2) not shared with other countries, like China. If I
had my druthers, I’d prefer to be back home in our hunting shack and not on a border
900 miles away. Pete, Jonas and I would be protecting the farm, not hunting Chinese
and Mexican soldiers.
“We’ve got another cut in the fence.”
63
“Can you tell how many came through?”
“Not really, I’d guess several, there are tracks on top of tracks and they’re packed down.
They seem fresh; the edges of the top set are still sharp.”
“Do you want to go on horseback or on foot?”
“How far did you say you followed that last bunch?”
“About 4 miles. They probably came across just before dawn and that would put them
north of the highway. I suppose we can ride to the highway and hoof it from there.”
“Sounds good. How about we try to take some prisoners, Jonas, you speak Spanish.”
“We can try; I won’t promise that we won’t kill some of them, but if they give up, I’m all
for it. Turn the tables on them and let some of those Army spooks water board them.”
They spaced out some, no longer walking in single file, and we counted 8 sets of tracks.
We followed them to the highway where tracks disappeared. Apparently, they’d read our
minds. We split up with the 4 from San Antonio going west and we 3 going east. We got
a call from Joe that they’d picked up the tracks going north one mile west of where they
disappeared. He said they’d wait for us to get there.
When we arrived, Joe said the tracks were beginning to show signs of age and he sug-
gested that we ride north following the tracks until they began to appear fresher. Around
2 miles north they did.
“Remember; take prisoners, if we can.”
We moved at a slightly faster than normal for about a mile before we spotted them. We
found a place to hobble the horses and followed on foot.
The group was, again, half Chinese and half Mexican. While 6 of us took up places that
afforded clear shots, Jonas yelled, “Hola. Nuestro grupo le tiene cubierto. Ahora en-
tregúese o muera.” (Hello. Our group has you covered. Surrender now or die.)
The four Chinese apparently didn’t speak enough Spanish to understand and they
wheeled ready to open fire. At what, they were uncertain, but ready nonetheless. The
Mexican soldiers threw down their arms and raised their hands slightly. The Chinese,
realizing that they were up against an unknown group, eventually did the same.
We moved up slowly, having switched to our shotguns, and bound their hands with ca-
ble ties. Juan and Jose collected their arms and Joe and Rick did the body search and
collected papers. Jonas looked the papers over and said, “We’ve got to get these guys
to El Paso immediately.”
64
We marched them back to where our horses were hobbled, stored the weapons on the
pack animals, and mounted. They moved much faster with the big horses doing the
plodding. When we got to the road, we turned to the direction of our camp and moved
our prisoners as fast as we could. The Chinese went into the back of Joe’s pick up and
the Mexicans in the back of ours. We drove to El Paso and told the guard we had pris-
oners to turn over to the Captain.
“You’re back this soon?”
“Yes Captain with 8 prisoners, 4 Mexicans and 4 Chinese. We thought you’d like these
papers and a chance for the spooks to water board them.”
“Officially, we don’t do that anymore.”
“I can teach you, if you need help,” Jonas smirked.
“I really appreciate what you’ve done for us. Unfortunately, I have orders to pull in all of
the unorganized militia groups and send them home. The attack is coming in just a few
days and we want clear fields of fire for what we intend to do. I’m sorry; I can’t explain
further, orders. I can resupply you one more time, but you’ll have to return home. Our
fuel is limited although we can fill your tanks to get you home. Believe me when I say
that you don’t want to be caught in the middle.”
“Ok Captain, we’ll leave if we must. Can’t you give us a hint why we should leave?”
“Alright, think about this: CEM, GATOR, SFW and PAW. Know what they are?”
“Guided Cluster Bombs?”
“We’ll also be using C-130Js to deliver one more type of bomb.”
“Ok Captain, we get the idea. We go home and we tell the guys we jointed up with to go
back to San Antonio.”
“I need the IDs back, Sergeant Major, you can keep yours. Tell those other men to turn
theirs in, please.”
After we took care of the paperwork, we found a place serving coffee and sat down to
exchange full names, address, etc. with our new friends from San Antonio. I noticed that
Rick had an unusual knife and asked about it.
“This is my Tantō. I had it engraved in Japanese, here look at the blade.

だれが名誉と住むことができないか死ななければならない名誉と。That’s an expres-
sion taken from the opera Madame Butterfly, Who cannot live with honor must die with
65
honor. I carried it over there although it wasn’t allowed. You Army guys have problems
carrying knives too?”
“I carried an Explorer boot knife, but they wouldn’t allow me to bring my Rambo I. The
Explorer is made in Japan out of 440 stainless. It’s a cheap knife, but holds a good
edge. Got it used for ten bucks.”
“My Tantō is American made, but with a Tantō, it doesn’t make much difference. Finding
an engraver who could engrave Japanese characters was the hard part. We’ll go home
like the Captain said, but if they don’t pull it off we’ll probably end up fighting them on
the streets of San Antonio.”
“Another Battle of the Alamo?”
“I hope not, they all died. Where are you from?”
“Rural Camdenton, Missouri. Lake of the Ozarks country.”
We visited for a few more minutes, exchanged the information and left to requisition
more supplies and fill our fuel tanks with JP-8. We scored 3 cases of M118LR, all they
could spare, 36 M-67s, 6 M18A1 mines and some of the Willy Pete white smoke. In
case you’re curious, the 3 M18A1s at the first cut in the fence were still there. We hadn’t
had a chance to mine the second cut because the Captain sent us home.
We drove straight through to the farm, sharing driving. It took about 15 hours and we
arrived home the next morning.
“The war over?”
“It hasn’t begun although it will soon.”
“Are you home for good or are you running off somewhere to save the world again.”
“I’m here for good Marie. You have no idea how much I wished I was back home in our
hunting shack.”
“Those kids of Pete’s have been a pain in the butt. They actually expect Sarah and me
to wait on them hand and foot. I’ve had more than enough and I think Sarah is going to
talk to Pete about sending them home. You recall that Pete said, And if we get out of
this alive, my children are in for a very unpleasant surprise. Well. Sarah didn’t fill their
tanks and send them on their way. After she visits with Pete, I’d stake my life on them
being told to leave.”
“I’d be willing to bet that other than the generator money, he won’t let them leave with
anything they didn’t bring.”
66
Marie and I spent some quality time together at the shack and neither of us felt like go-
ing to the house. I took time to split more kindling for the kitchen stove and other chores
that had been undone while I was gone. Around 6pm, Pete called on the radio and
asked Marie and I to come to the house.
67
“I sent those no good kids of ours back home. We gave them enough gold to get a gen-
erator, fuel and food they might need, but I told them not to come back. I have time now
to talk to a lawyer and get that nasty surprise prepared for them.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“The lawyer will advise me on the minimum amount I can leave them and it will be cash,
Federal Reserve Notes. Sarah and you two will divide what remains. She gets the
house and you get the land, livestock and so forth. I think I have enough cash on hand,
but if I don’t, I’ll convert gold to cash and set it aside specifically for them.”
I didn’t know what to say and looked at Marie. She looked as shocked as I was. Pete
had gone from putting the land in a trust to giving it to us outright. He went on to say
that after he’d gotten back and sent those kids off, he purchased the remaining quarter
section, using gold; ½ ounce per acre or 80 ounces. I didn’t know he had that much.
“I still have enough gold left to take care of Sarah and provide you operating capital, if
you need it.”
“I don’t mean to be nosey, but how much gold did you have?”
“$100,000 worth at $275 an ounce. Just short of 364 troy ounces.”
“I didn’t realize that farming paid that well.”
“We inherited some when my parents and Sarah’s parents died. Got back everything I
paid for the farm, and then some. Your grandfather was very upset with your mother
and disinherited her. Since I got your share of his estate, it’s only fair that I pass it on to
you.”
“Won’t your children contest the will?”
“They can try. My attorney would fight that and try to get to me declared intestate. In
most contemporary common-law jurisdictions, the law of intestacy is patterned after the
common law of descent. Property goes first to a spouse, then to children and their de-
scendants; if there are no descendants, the rule sends you back up the family tree to
the parents, the siblings, the siblings' descendants, the grandparents, the parents' sib-
lings, and the parents' siblings' descendants, and sometimes further to the more remote
degrees of kinship. The operation of these laws varies from one jurisdiction to another.
If that happens, Sarah will sell you whatever I left you for $1 per acre and other good
and valuable consideration. The sum of $1 and other good and valuable consideration
doesn’t have to be defined.”
“A dollar doesn’t seem like much.”
68
“In a PAW, who is to say how much land is worth? I effectively paid $750 an acre for the
quarter section; however, in reality, I paid $137.50 per acre based on what the gold cost
us. So, maybe $640 for the farm is a fair price, especially since the will would have pro-
visions providing for you to aid and care for Sarah for life.”
Pete obviously had his mind made up and it would do no good to dispute him. Sarah
nodded at every word he said, indicating that she agreed completely. One other thing
occurred to me. What if we did manage to stop the Chinese invasion? Would they then
launch all of their nuclear weapons on the US? The people making such decisions
weren’t on the front lines in Mexico, they were in Beijing.
What was going on in other parts of the world? The EAS broadcasters reported local,
state and national news and no International news. The attack on the US had to have
had International implications. Consequently we found it disturbing that International
news was unavailable. At the moment, we didn’t even know where our naval assets
were. Jonas and Molly joined us and a conversation evolved concerning our experience
in El Paso.
“I’ve never know the Army to pass out ordnance like they did when we were down there.
Even with the president ordering them to pass out ammunition, how do you reconcile
that we got the anti-tank rockets, grenades and Claymore mines?”
“Don, I know the Captain. Since he didn’t indicate that he recognized me, I figured
something was up and let it pass. When we were issued temporary military IDs, it was
more confirmation. And then, when he told the Sergeant to give us what we wanted, I
was positive. I’ve heard him discussing the role of the militia in this country. He’s a bit of
a historian and graduated West Point in the top third of his class. He knows that the un-
organized militia as presently constituted lacks the types of military arms our standing
Army and National Guard unit have. Since we were all NCOs, we were to his way of
thinking, proven leaders and capable of employing the weapons provided to good use.
That may explain it in part; the other part left unsaid was that the military might not suc-
ceed and it will eventually fall to the unorganized militia.”
“I’d buy that if we’d been issued something heavier than the .50 caliber rifles we have,
like a couple of Ma Deuces or M240s.”
“The M2HB would be impractical except for fixed defenses because of the weight. May-
be they were short on M240s and M249s.”
“I wouldn’t take an M249 as a gift, too unreliable. I guess that means that we’re limited
to what we have.”
“Oh ye of little faith. What did the Captain say about my ID when the subject came up?”
“Yeah, he said, Sergeant Major you can keep yours, right?”
69
“Right and all they did was to restore me to temporary active duty status with that en-
dorsement they made. With that endorsement, a pair of ACUs, and two NCOs along for
support, I don’t see a problem getting anything we want. I’ll have to sign for it and turn it
back in when this is over, but we’ll have anything we need.”
“How about some toe poppers (M14) and bouncing Betties (M16)?”
“I really doubt that, most of them were deployed in Korea, but I’ll ask.”
The mines we were discussing were anti-personnel. Any available anti-tank mines had
probably already been deployed to the border. Since Pete didn’t have the ACUs, Jonas
went through his uniforms and found a shirt and trousers that fit Pete. We added the
rank insignia to our uniforms and found our patrol caps.
“Let’s hope we can pull this off. They’ll run my ID and determine I’m back on active duty
and I’ll cover you two by indicating you’re former Army I talked into helping me. I’ll say
that you’re waiting for the IDs to be delivered and they can check their database and
see where you were temporarily activated in Texas.”
“Going for a Ma Deuce?”
“I was thinking a M2A1 with those upgrades like the quick change barrel. We’ll try to get
100 cans of ammo, the AP/APIT combat mix, a 4:1 mix of M2 and M20.”
“How do we explain having M1As instead of M16s?”
“We don’t, I’ll turn on my Command Sergeant Major BS and they’ll forget what the ques-
tion was.”
We were only an hour from Ft. Leonard Wood and the gate guard stopped us. Jonas
handled him his ID and said, ‘Run it.” The Corporal came back and said his ID was fine
but he had to see ours. Jonas countered by having us tell him our Service Number (now
SSNs) and for him to look them up.”
“Sergeant Major, they check but were deactivated in Texas.”
“I reactivated them. Whose your Top (First Sergeant)? I’ll explain it to him.”
The Corporal blanched and directed us to the First Shirt’s office. A bit of discussion and
the First Sergeant had his people hustling up replacement ID cards for us and was tak-
ing notes concerning what Jonas wanted. In the end, we got everything we wanted and
more, including the M2A1, the combat mix of ammo belts, plus their total supply of M14
and M16 mines. It wasn’t much, about 100 M14s and 20 M16s. We were limited by
weight, not volume as to the amount of ammo we could take home. A can of .50 caliber
belted ran about 33 pounds, thus 100 cans ran about 1½ tons, the limit for our trailer.
70
The other items all went into the bed of the pickup. From a purely practical standpoint,
Jonas hadn’t updated his address and they thought he still lived near the Fort.
“That’s not many mines, how are we going to use them?”
“We use clusters of 1 M16 and 5 M14s. My thought was to put two clusters on either
side of the driveway. Can we erect a gate?”
“Pete, how much iron pipe do you have?”
“We’ll have to go shopping; I don’t have enough to build a gate. I’ll get it when I go see
the lawyer if you’ll draw up some plans and figure out how much we need.”
Snake Doc and I worked on a plan resulting in the decision that we could do it with 96’
of pipe, 4” or larger; preferably 6” pipe. I wanted 24’ sections, 1 to cut in half for the gate
posts, 2 for the upper and lower pipes and the remainder to be cut into 4’ sections for
the vertical supports in the gate. The result would be a gate 5’ high clearing the ground
roughly 6”. The gate posts would be buried 7’ in concrete with 5’ exposed. We’d need
some really heavy duty hinges to support the weight of the gate. I figured I could cut and
weld the gate in one day but the concrete supporting the gate posts would need at least
2 weeks to cure with an accelerant.
Pete was gone most of the day seeing his lawyer and locating the iron pipe. The only
pipe he could find was schedule 80, 6” iron pipe (schedule usually refers to PVC pipe).
The following day after chores, Pete went to work on the gate postholes and Jonas
helped me cut the pieces to length and notch the end of the 4’ vertical supports with a
cutting torch. I cut and he used a grinder to smooth them out. By noon, we were ready
to lay out the gate and begin welding. We had lunch first and Pete told us he could use
help with the postholes because his digger didn’t go down 7’. Jonas volunteered and I
was left to do the welding.
I assembled the gate and tack welded the pieces, checking for square before I finished
welding the top side. I got Jonas and Pete to help me flip it over, putting the welded side
down so I could weld the other side. When I finished, I got them again and we stood the
gate up so I could grind off rough spots and make additional welds as needed. It took
one more flip to reach the bottom parts which I ground, welded and finished by spraying
with zinc chromate primer.
Pete wasn’t able to locate the heavy hinges I wanted. Instead, he brought home some
1” rod and some ⅞”x2” metal straps that he said I could heat and form into hinges. As
you might expect for a man with a large herd of horses, he had a forge, anvil and as-
sorted hammers to make horseshoes. Most of the time, he used a farrier who made the
shoes using his equipment. Neither Pete nor the farrier he used believed in the glue on
shoes or aluminum shoes. The farrier adjusted each shoe to assure a perfect fit. Pete
check the hoofs weekly and it seemed like the farrier was also here weekly, even after
the HEMP.
71
One major thing changed after the HEMP, the farrier accepted both food and firewood
in payment for his services. In those cases where the amount of work done exceeded
the value of the food and firewood, Pete paid in either junk silver, bullion silver or gold.
Because of the HEMP we didn’t do trail rides and the hoofs needed more care than they
had previously. Those 4 horses we took to Texas benefited greatly from that desert ter-
rain.
The following day, I began building the hinges and Pete and Jonas installed the gate-
posts and filled the holes with concrete. I looked in an encyclopedia Pete had and basi-
cally decided on a hinge design used by the Egyptians. The hinge support would be a
vertical plate ⅞” thick by 2” in the vertical created by welding two straps together. I use
the 1” rod and form the two straps around it, welding everything in place. The strap
would be 9” long and I cut square slots in the gatepost, allowing the strap to be inserted
to the back side and welded front and back. That would create the hinge pin.
I intended to form two straps that were formed around ½ the diameter of the end post
and drilled front and back to allow them to be bolted to the end post. Beyond that, the
straps would be heated and formed around a 1⅛” drill bit and the ends welded. This
would form the hinge pin receptacle. I’d make 3 hinges for the gate and to insure Hercu-
les couldn’t come along and lift the gate off the pivot pins, threaded the end of the pins
and use lock nuts. To lock the gate, I’d make straps formed in a circle at the back end,
which could slide over the gatepost and secure them with padlocks or bolts. The gate
could swing either way if it was not locked and Pete didn’t want me to weld on a stop.
The farrier showed up without notice since there weren’t any phones. He checked the
horses and trimmed their hooves and shod those that needed it. He came and went for
the better part of a week. By now, we were beyond anxious because we understood
that the battle would be joined by now. None of the EAS stations broadcast any news
concerning the US-Mexico border. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I’d have been in hog
heaven.
With nothing better to do, we added a gate to the new quarter section and plowed it.
Pete announced over dinner one night that this coming year, that 160 would be planted
in canola and the other fields would consist of the 40 acres of alfalfa, 20 acres of pas-
ture and 80 acres each of corn, wheat (half durum, half hard red) and oats. Just as we
finished dinner, the farrier, Mike, knocked on the door with a list of work he’d done.
Pete grabbed Jonas and me and we loaded the canned goods and staples into Mike’s
pickup. He also asked for 5 cords of firewood, saying he’d come back and pick it up one
pickup load at a time. Pete calculated the value of what Mike took and asked, “Do you
want gold or silver to cover the balance?”
72
“I don’t suppose you‘d have a rifle and ammo, would you?”
“We have several Mexican Army FX-05s.”
“Magazines?”
“All you can use and plenty of 5.56×45mm ammo.”
“Good gun?”
“They’re similar to the H&K G-36.”
“Could I get two?”
“Sure, how many magazines?”
“Twenty too many? I have ALICE gear and that would fill 6 pouches and leave one
magazine for each rifle.”
“Get a cup of coffee and we’ll load it into your pickup.”
When we’d searched the enemy soldiers they also had bayonets and hand grenades so
we threw them in. When the truck was loaded, we returned to the home and Pete asked
for a second time, “Gold or silver?”
“Didn’t the guns cover the balance?”
“We took the rifles from some Mexican soldiers plus bayonets and hand grenades. The
ammo came from the Missouri National Guard so it wouldn’t be right not to pay you for
the work you did.”
“Don’t suppose you have a small generator you could spare?”
“Don, do you want to part with yours?”
“We do have the QDRV, so I suppose we could.”
“Mike, do you know where you can get gasoline?”
“Not really.”
“I’ll give you 6 drums of stabilized gas, but that generator of Don’s will only run 13 hours
on 7 gallons at full power; probably longer at half power.”
73
“How big is it?”
“Seven kilowatts with a 12kw surge for when something kicks in. You’d have to check
some gas stations and see if you could pump some fuel from their tanks or buy it if they
have power.”
“Is there any room in my truck bed for the barrels of gas?”
“It’s pretty full Mike,” I replied. I have some 5-gallon cans of stabilized gas. Let me run
down to the shack and get them. Only 3 are full, but I can fill the other 4 from my gas
tank.”
“Don, fill them from mine,” Pete directed.
While I was getting the cans and filling the 4 empties, Jonas gave Mike a quick rundown
on the Mexican rifle. Mike was ear to ear grins when he pulled out.
“It would be smarter to just move him out here; I’ll talk to him about it tomorrow. We
could park a mobile home for them and hook it up to the utilities.”
That DGDB Cummins Pete had was rated at 90kw prime, enough for the house, 2 trail-
ers and the remainder of the buildings. Pete and Jonas got involved in a conversation
about trailers and Marie and I told them good night.
“What were they talking about?”
“I think it was about getting Jonas and Molly a trailer. It only makes sense; I think they’ll
be staying a while. If Mike and his family moved here into a second trailer, we’d in-
crease our security by at least two, maybe more.”
“Who are you counting as security?”
“Everyone except Sarah. You have been practicing haven’t you?”
“Every chance I get; which isn’t as often as I’d like. Do you really believe we’ll end up in
the middle of a fight?”
“Had you asked me that when I was in Texas, I would have said no. You know how the
media is about reporting bad news and patting us on the back if we win some little battle
in nowheresville. If that battle is happening as expected it should be on the news. From
what little we learned, the plan was massive airstrikes followed by an armor engage-
ment.”
74
The battle on the border was going according to plan. Some Chinese units were able to
bypass American units and avoid a confrontation with anyone. One Battalion had a rela-
tively young officer in charge, equivalent to a Lt. Colonel, and a real go getter with a
specific mission which included avoiding enemy contact at all cost. Since a Battalion is
made up of several Companies, the Colonel probably had 600-800 soldiers.
Their mission was to destroy as many oil fields as possible, starting in the Midland area
and moving to Oklahoma. From there, they’d strike targets of opportunity on their way to
Kansas City and then move across Missouri to St. Louis. Their Battalion was the
equivalent to one of our Ranger Battalions, though possibly larger. Engrossed in the
battle on the border, our military was hard pressed to send troops to hunt them down.
Ladies and gentlemen, the vice president.
The Pentagon advises that a force of Chinese troops has successfully bypassed our
border units and has attacked oil facilities in the Midland, Texas and Ponca City, Okla-
homa areas. We are, therefore, calling on the unorganized militia to locate the unit and
stop them. Our best estimate is that they will next strike Wichita, Kansas.
Ammunition remains available at National Guard Armories, but supplies are limited. We
request that all God fearing American Patriots track this unit down and put an end to
their rampage. Additional information concerning their activities will be broadcast by the
EAS.
“No sweat, it’s a long way to Wichita. Do you think we can find two trailers?”
“We should check the trailer park in Camdenton and others in the area. It shouldn’t be
that hard to find a few empty ones. Maybe we can lease them or buy them outright, if
the price is right.”
We found two older 14’x70’ trailers that could be bought for a combination of food and
ammo. The owner of the trailer park indicated that they had been rental units and he’d
disconnect them from the utilities and arrange transport for a one year supply of food for
four plus 2,000 rounds each of 7.62×51mm and .45ACP, both FMJ. If we had electricity,
he’d sell us heat tape and pipe insulation for junk silver. He needed 6 days to discon-
nect both trailers, but could transport both on the 7th day.
During the six days, we installed propane lines, water lines, sewer lines and electrical
conduits. After they were delivered, we spent two days on each trailer installing the
stands, connecting the utilities, adding heat tapes, pipe insulation and the skirting. The
propane company delivered 2 additional 1,100-gallon tanks, installed and filled them.
Pete had a 1,100-gallon tank they used for the hot water heater and kitchen stove and
he had it topped off.
75
“Until the Mongol Horde gets to Missouri, I think we should just stay here. We did our bit
on the border and, as it turns out, have been amply rewarded. I need time to locate the
seeds we need for next year. I’d like to find a burr mill to grind the wheat into flour too.”
“I wouldn’t know where to look, Pete.”
“I think I do, don’t worry about it.”
Pete found a new Meadows Steel Burr Mill, 240v single phase with a 5hp motor. Ac-
cording to the seller, it was one of the most versatile mills available and could grind any-
thing from wet to dry. The dealer had ordered it from Pleasant Hill Grain in Nebraska for
a customer with only a down payment. The customer never picked it up and he let Pete
have it for the balance due, in gold. The customer had specified a stand with casters
making the mill semi-portable. Pete said we could grind wheat, corn and oats. Ground
oats produce Scottish oatmeal; American oatmeal is rolled oats. We were one step
closer to being self-reliant.
There are always things that you can’t make or produce easily; bathroom tissue and
coffee come to mind. Coffee is vacuum sealed with a long shelf life and bathroom tissue
should last until it’s used, if properly stored. You can grow some herbs and spices, but
others are imported and you must buy them at the store. If you watched Emeril Lagasse
on TV, you’ve heard about spices going bad on the shelf. That’s mostly after they’ve
been opened and exposed to oxygen.
While the lights might be out, it didn’t mean that nothing was available. Rather, it meant
that the selection was limited, both in brands and quantities. The difference between a
house brand and a brand name might be something as minor as the amount of salt in
the product; again, tuna is a good example. That also applies to canned vegetables or
any product containing salt. While some products may be specifically produced for a
large grocery chain, smaller chains buy the products with just a little too much salt and
have their labels applied.
“How’s the new house?”
“Better privacy, we like that. Did Mike agree to move out here?”
“I had to offer to store his supply of factory made horseshoes, let him use the forge, an-
vil and assorted hammers. Plus, he wanted two more of the rifles with magazines and
ammo.”
“Factory made?”
“He starts with factory made and adjusts it to fit. The most common type of horseshoe
used today is made of steel. Steel horseshoes are readily available and easy to attach.
76
They can be modified with minimal skill. Most farriers use only steel horseshoes. How-
ever, sometimes a horse needs another type of horseshoe and there are several types.”
“Can he make them from scratch?”
“He’s certified, so I presume he can.”
“But why here?”
“We have the largest herd of horses in the immediate area and we’re breeding more to
keep our herd at the same size or larger.”
“Why larger? Do you think we’ll actually have a GTW and end up back in the late 19 th
century?”
“That’s the thing, Don; I just don’t know. What happens if we do defeat the Chinese?
We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.”
“Is that why you’ve been holding on to the heifers and some of the gilts?”
“We need to replace stock. However with the present situation, I believe that the de-
mand for food will increase. The locker plant is running 18 hour days and using genera-
tor power. They’ve hired more meat cutters, too. That’s why I want to plant 80 acres of
wheat this year and bought that Meadows burr mill. We can provide much of what they
need in Camdenton and Lebanon and if some of the other folks plant victory gardens,
no one should go hungry.”
Remember I said that when Pete sent his kids off they took what they brought? Do you
also remember that each family had a one year supply of food per person? Plus, he
gave them money to buy a generator. Under the circumstances, it was generous; but, I
have a bias and maybe shouldn’t say that. OTOH, before this is over, it might not mat-
ter.
Three days later, EAS reported a Chinese Battalion had been surrounded and wiped
out in the area of Emporia, Kansas. The news continued, reporting that our enemies
had experienced over 50% casualties. Don’t forget, a casualty isn’t the same as a fatali-
ty although with so many, it might not matter. We detach personnel to care for our
wounded, maybe they don’t. None of our ground troops entered Mexico and none of our
aircraft landed there although the aircraft left a lot of ordnance. Apparently that Captain
had good information. The only bomb we could think of that was dropped by the C-130J
was the GBU-43/B aka MOAB. The bomb could also be delivered by the C-17 but the
US only had 15 bombs in inventory, left over from Iraqi Freedom.
To continue with the news report, the Chinese had withdrawn to regroup and the Mexi-
can Army moved further south to give them room. No matter what deal Mexico struck
with the Chinese, it assumed the Chinese would win. If they didn’t, the repercussions
77
could be horrific. Geez, we might even tear up NAFTA. It was a Fox News station so
that might explain the reporter’s opinion.
78
Our satellites revealed that the Chinese were standing up their missiles, but we didn’t
get the news because the relay satellites had all been taken out. Neither did we see the
missiles lift off, but radio reports were quickly passed and the government knew they
were coming. The first clue any of the American public had was like that scene in The
Day After when Whiteman ABF started launching missiles. The only problem was,
Whiteman no longer had missiles and the bombers were on the border.
Perhaps TPTB decided that a 15 minute warning would be worse than no warning at all.
Our first clue came when a sun exploded over Kansas City and moments later, another
over St. Louis. We scrambled; Marie headed for the shack to get our food and lock the
shack. Jonas, Pete and I secured the livestock and Molly helped Sarah move the food
from the house to the shelter. Mike and his kids helped Stephanie move their food and
clothes to the shelter. He and the boys went back for their firearms and ammo.
Mike had only been given a brief tour of the shelter when they moved because at the
time it didn’t appear to be needed. It was a flurry of activity, pulling radios, locking vehi-
cles and buildings, and getting the livestock down the 10% grade. We were mostly rat-
tled due to the lack of warning but it made us move faster.
As we prepared to enter the shelter, we could finally see the mushroom cloud rising
over Kansas City. My thoughts went immediately to my three cousins; like them or not,
they were family. In the Kansas City area, Janice and Mel would be dealing with the
immediate effects of the attack. In St. Louis, it would be Teresa and Matt. Pat and Sally
should be safe for now in Jefferson City.
At Pete’s insistence, each family had at least one General class amateur radio operator
and a radio provided by Pete and Sarah as part of their preparations. I remembered
Pete saying, They also have a covered trailer that Sarah and I fixed up for them. Each
trailer contains a one year deluxe food supply for each member of their family from Wal-
ton. They have Coleman lanterns, large dual fuel stoves, firearms, ammo and anything
they might need to get here.
I guess the only thing they lacked were the cowboy guns Pete wouldn’t let them take.
No one had said anything about a shelter and since their kids bugged out and came
here to shelter, did that mean they didn’t have them? This wasn’t the best time to bring
the subject up. Unlike the HEMP attack, we didn’t really feel the ground shake this far
from the targets. The HEMP attack and the shaking had been mere coincidence, a me-
dium shake on the New Madrid Seismic Zone down in the boot heel.
Would this be an all-out GTW or a limited exchange between China and the US? I pon-
dered the question and decided that had I been in charge, it would depend upon the in-
formation available. No or limited information would force me to retaliate against all
know enemies. Full information as to the source would permit selective retaliation. I
didn’t know that TPTB had limited information relayed by radio from halfway around the
79
world. I didn’t know that we had launched on both of our main enemies, China and Rus-
sia.
Russia had viewed the Chinese preparations with real concern and had raised the sta-
tus of their forces. When China only attacked the US, they turned their concern towards
the target country, us. When we launched against China and them, they retaliated
against us and China. Pakistan used the excuse of China’s launch to launch against In-
dia and India retaliated. The outcomes of the attacks were, by country: Russia had a
significant portion of its population sheltered; China didn’t have shelters for most of its
population; India basically wiped out Pakistan and suffered far fewer casualties.
The US, lacking a Civil Defense Program, had limited sheltering capabilities and hadn’t
notified the population of the incoming attacks. Congress didn’t get to the Greenbrier,
er, Marriott, the president was at Cheyenne Mountain overseeing the activity on the
border and Joe Biden was at Mt. Weather. The only sure survivors of the initial attack
would be the people who had home shelters, a very small percentage of the population.
There would be others who found shelter in basements, municipal buildings or other
places that would protect them from the radiation. The next issue for them would be
food and water. And, given everything they’d need, many would probably recall the old,
bad, information that you only needed to shelter for 343 hours, a little over 14 days.
That was only true if the peak radiation level were 100R. I had something I’d copied
from a story:
When the bombs went off, the wind was out of the west at about 15mph. Here’s the
damage caused by each 1mT bomb:
Wind speed: 15 mph

Wind direction: due east
Time frame: 7 days
3,000 Rem
Distance: 30 miles
Much more than a lethal dose of radiation. Death can occur within hours of exposure.
About 10 years will need to pass before levels of radioactivity in this area drop low
enough to be considered safe, by US peacetime standards.
900 Rem
Distance: 90 miles
A lethal dose of radiation. Death occurs from two to fourteen days.
300 Rem
Distance: 160 miles
Causes extensive internal damage, including harm to nerve cells and the cells that line
the digestive tract, and results in a loss of white blood cells. Temporary hair loss is an-
other result.
80
90 Rem
Distance: 250 miles
Causes a temporary decrease in white blood cells, although there are no immediate
harmful effects. Two to three years will need to pass before radioactivity levels in this
area drop low enough to be considered safe, by US peacetime standards.
Radius of destructive circle: 1.7 miles

12 pounds per square inch
At the center lies a crater 200 feet deep and 1000 feet in diameter. The rim of this crater
is 1,000 feet wide and is composed of highly radioactive soil and debris. Nothing recog-
nizable remains within about 3,200 feet (0.6 miles) from the center, except, perhaps, the
remains of some buildings' foundations. At 1.7 miles, only some of the strongest build-
ings – those made of reinforced, poured concrete – are still standing. Ninety-eight per-
cent of the population in this area is dead.
Radius: 2.7 miles

5 psi
Virtually everything is destroyed between the 12 and 5 psi rings. The walls of typical
multi-story buildings, including apartment buildings, have been completely blown out.
The bare, structural skeletons of more and more buildings rise above the debris as you
approach the 5 psi ring. Single-family residences within this area have been completely
blown away – only their foundations remain. Fifty percent of the population between the
12 and 5 psi rings are dead. Forty percent are injured.
Radius: 4.7 miles

2 psi
Any single-family residences that have not been completely destroyed are heavily dam-
aged. The windows of office buildings have been blown away, as have some of their
walls. The contents of these buildings' upper floors, including the people who were
working there, are scattered on the street. A substantial amount of debris clutters the
entire area. Five percent of the population between the 5 and 2 psi rings are dead. For-
ty-five percent are injured.
Radius: 7.4 miles

1 psi
Residences are moderately damaged. Commercial buildings have sustained minimal
damage. Twenty-five percent of the population between the 2 and 1 psi rings has been
injured, mainly by flying glass and debris. Many others have been injured from thermal
radiation – the heat generated by the blast. The remaining seventy-five percent are un-
hurt.
We were about 170 miles by road or 132 miles as the crow flies from Kansas City on a
heading of southeast (124.9 degrees). We should get little of the fallout from there if the
prevailing wind remained out of the west. The biggest city directly west of us was Wichi-
ta, Kansas. Much further to the west and capable of producing significant fallout was
81
Colorado Springs. We should be safe and all of the livestock was in that heavily sealed
(against water) underground barn. (Remember, Lake of the Ozarks country.)
Rather than dwell on details of how we spent the next weeks waiting for the radiation to
fall to a safe level, I’ll summarize. Our number 1 priority was caring for the animals who
didn’t like the underground barn. The horses were the most seriously affected, and we
spent a lot of time keeping them calmed down. The chickens and hogs could have
cared less, as long as they were fed, and in the case of the hogs, had a wallow.
Another major activity was getting to know Jonas and Molly plus Mike and Stephanie
better. Their boys had their noses buried in either watching DVDs or playing computer
games. The only time they showed any interest outside of that was when they were giv-
en firearms and extensive training, mostly by Jonas, with me pitching in occasionally.
They started with the Mexican FX-05s. Pete had some Glock model 19s and gave them
to Stephanie, Michael, Jr. and James to use. Mike got a Glock model 21. When the dis-
cussion turned to the cowboy guns, Marlin 1894 Cowboys in .45 Colt and Ruger old
model Vaqueros in the same caliber went to the boys and her. Mike got an 1895 cow-
boy and a used Vaquero with a 7½” barrel in .45 Colt. Pete pulled out a gun belt with 10
.45-70-405 loops and 24 .45 Colt loops.
The one thing about our trip to the border that bothered me was Jonas’s behavior. CSM
or not, he displayed an inordinate level of skill when it came to fighting a 4th generation
war. I’d watched The Unit when it was on TV which was based on show producer Eric L.
Haney's book, Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit.
William S. Lind wrote at length about 4th generation war and I had his paper on my lap-
top. Unfortunately I didn’t have a copy of Haney’s book. Anyway it was just a lot of little
things, the perfect Spanish and English, he was obviously well educated. And, like Den-
nis Haysbert and Regina Taylor, Jonas and Molly were African Americans. He had a
presence, for lack of a better term; self-assured, had an answer for every situation, or a
damned good guess. He also knew a lot about guns that the US military didn’t generally
use. Hell, he even had advanced medical skills.
I cornered Pete in the barn one day and asked, “Is there anything you want to tell me
about Jonas?”
“Like what?”
“Like was he with Detachment D?”
“He says not; but I’ve wondered the same thing myself. We were out touch for a few
years so I suppose it could be possible. That Snake Doctor handle bother you?”
“It’s not so much that I’m bothered; it’s that he has a lot more training than he admits to.
I haven’t seen a firearm that he doesn’t know inside out. The training he gave Mike’s
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family was clear, concise and left no questions unanswered. We don’t actually know
what information is coded on his military ID card either. It seems to open any door.”
“He got out in the mid ‘90s and went to work for Ft. Leonard Wood as a civilian. He nev-
er said where he was stationed before he retired. When I asked, he changed the sub-
ject.”
“I suppose it doesn’t matter,” I said. “After all, he’s on our side.”
Mike said he’d initially learned the farrier trade from his father. He’d gone out to
Snohomish, Washington and attended Mission Farrier School. It took over 100 head of
horses just to recover his tuition. Then, he’d met Stephanie, they’d dated and married.
The two boys came about a year apart and they decided two was enough. Neither boy,
Michael, Jr. 14 and James 13, showed any interest in the trade. When he was old
enough for the military, it was an all-volunteer force and he hadn’t volunteered. His older
brother had been killed in Desert Storm in a vehicle accident.
“Pete, I’ve been wondering about my cousins. Do you think they’re ok?”
“I suppose that depends on where the warhead exploded in relation to where they lived.
They all have basement shelters that Sarah and I paid to have constructed. If they
moved the food back into their shelters and found the generators we gave them money
for, they might be ok. Either way, worrying about them won’t change anything. For sure,
I think Pat, Sally and their kids are ok. Having guilty thoughts about our sending them
away?”
“I suppose.”
“They made their bed and have to sleep in it. I regret that they weren’t here and, at the
same time, know that I made the right decision. I don’t know where we went wrong rais-
ing them, but they sure didn’t turn out like we expected. You, on the other hand, don’t
appear to be afraid of work.”
“I’ve never had a choice. If I wanted to eat, I had to work. I earned a good living welding.
Now, I’m learning to farm and I never once thought I’d be a farmer. It is an important
trade, people have to eat. They say the average farmer feeds over 100 people for a
year.”
“I think it’s probably higher than that, Don. I’d guess closer to 150. We can grow every-
thing on this farm without much extra work except for rice. We could grow that too, if we
wanted to put in the work and we could get the seed. If we could get even one bag of
seed, we could grow that to produce more seed provided it was a pure strain and not a
hybrid.”
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“Do you know where to get the seed?”
“I did, but the place is in North Carolina and although it may still be there, I doubt we
could get there and back, now.”
We sheltered for 90 days and the adults left when the radiation level was around 75mR.
The boys would have to wait until it was below 50mR which we guessed would come
about 60 days later. It was colder than a Billy goat’s butt. The snow on the ground was
at least 12” deep everywhere and much deeper in the shade.
This meant that the livestock would stay in the underground barn or the topside barn;
they couldn’t get to the pasture. We decided to move them to the regular barn, feeling
that the dim sunlight might make them feel more at ease. We moved the horses first,
followed by the cattle and finally the hogs. The chickens were doing just fine where they
were.
“I guess we won’t be going to town anytime soon.”
“True. With this much snow, I don’t expect to see Pat and Sally either. In an emergency,
we could hook up a team to the old horse drawn wagon and get to Camdenton that way.
Jonas, have you ever seen this much snow in this area?”
“Pete, I’ve never seen snow like this at the Fort.”
“Same difference, it’s not that far south of here.”
“Pete, if you want, we can go to Independence, Jefferson City and St. Louis to check on
your kids.”
“What about yours, Jonas?”
“They’re in Germany so they should be ok.”
“What do they do?”
“Special Forces, both German language specialists. Last I knew, they were at Ram-
stein, specifically, Landstuhl Air Base.”
“Like father like son?”
“I never said anything about being in the Special Forces.”
“You never said what you actually did after ‘Nam.”
84
“Suffice it to say that I got around. Alright, I was a Green Beret, for a while, but changed
to a different command.”
“A step up?”
“You might say that.”
I listened to Jonas and Pete with interest. The US Special Operations Command con-
sisted of the 75th Ranger Regiment, the Special Forces (Green Berets) and the 1st Spe-
cial Forces Operational Detachment – Delta. Delta recruited from the Rangers and Spe-
cial Forces. There was only one step up from the Special Forces – Delta. I’d tried out for
the Rangers, but hadn’t been accepted. It didn’t matter; I was good at the job I did.
Delta was one of two counterinsurgency groups in the US military, the other being SEAL
Team 6, aka DEVGRU. The first Commander of SEAL Team 6 was the famous/ infa-
mous Richard Marcinco, the Rogue Warrior. He later went on to Red Cell and embar-
rassed a lot of Navy Brass. That was a real career breaker although he did put in 30
years. How do I know? Thirty years and the highest rank he held was Commander (Lt.
Colonel to us). He’d be about Pete’s age.
“Do you have any idea how much dirt we’re going to have to move?”
“Yes I do, 115 acre feet. That’s 460 acres to depth of 3”. We’ll have to dig a pit to bury
the radioactive dirt. What we need is a road grader with a big blade and a front end
loader to collect the dirt and put it in a dump truck. All of which was available from Cam-
den County.”
“It will be hard with this much snow; the ground will be soaked and we’ll have to wait for
it to dry off. Might be a year or two before we can start it and who knows how long it will
take to grade 460 acres?”
“We’ll have to get out and about and find more hay and grain to tide us over until we can
grow our own.”
“Look at the bright side, we’re alive, have more than enough food and between the un-
derground barn and the regular barn have two years’ worth of hay and grain stored.”
“Where do you want to start?”
“With the permanent pasture, after we dig the pit to hold the radioactive soil. We’ll use
soil from the pit to replace the soil we remove and seed it down to take advantage of the
moisture in the soil. We can do it one field at a time. I’d like to start with the field where I
planned to plant the wheat and oats. Next, we’ll do the corn field and finally the canola
85
field. I have alfalfa seed, but I’m not sure where that field will fit into the order, probably
after the grain but before the oilfield. We have 40,000-gallons of diesel, give or take.”
“If it were me, I do the alfalfa after the pasture Uncle Pete.”
“Why?”
“We can feed the cattle and horses hay and reserve the remaining grain for the hogs
and chickens. Besides, the alfalfa field is only 40 acres.”
“That makes sense; do it your way.”
Across the road was a farm owned by a corporation in St. Louis. They leased the land
to farmers in the area and we decided, under the circumstances, to dig the pit there and
eliminate the radioactive soil from Pete’s farm entirely. As soon as the weather permit-
ted, we borrowed the equipment we needed from Camden Country, without asking. We
used a grader to remove 3” of soil and we ended up depositing the soil in the aban-
doned quarry on the farm. Pete said we could afford to lose 3” but not much more.
Because we used large construction graders, the process went much faster than we
imagined. But it had a downside, the amount of biodiesel we were burning. That led to a
change in priorities, making the 160 acre canola field the third field we cleaned after the
pasture and alfalfa field. The upside was the capacity of the processing equipment to
produce new biodiesel. At least at 600-gallons per day, we could replace most of what
we used. With the still and chemicals on hand, we could also produce anhydrous etha-
nol to use in the process.
To say we were busy that summer would be an understatement. By the time snow
came again, all the land was ready to use and we’d had the animals in the pasture and
had done two cuttings of alfalfa. We had also produced 18,000-gallons of biodiesel in a
little over a month. The construction equipment was returned to Camden County with an
unsigned note saying, “Thanks,” attached.
The amount of fuel used was very high and it looked like we might need to transfer
some from Marie and my tank to Pete’s tanks. The generator was running somewhere
between ½ and ¾ load and burning right at 4.5gph once we were out of the shelter or,
roughly 108-gallons per day. The construction equipment had emptied one tank and
started on a second. During our 90 day stay, we’d burned about 2.4gph, the minimum.
Still, that amounted to about 5,200 gallons.
When we added up our consumption and compared it to our production, we found: used
by equipment, 12,500 gallons; used by the generator during shelter stay, 5,200 gallons;
and, used by the generator after we left the shelter, 13,200-gallons. The net change
was 30,900 gallons used and replaced with 18,000-gallons leaving us down 12,900-
gallons. We’d had to bring biodiesel from our tank and add it to Pete’s tank and all the
new fuel went back into his tanks.
86
During our shelter stay, our 12.5kw generator used 2.4-gallons per day. After, we were
careful to limit our fuel usage, keeping it to about ½gph or 12-gallons per day. We’d
been very fortunate that both generators had fresh oil and filters. It wouldn’t have mat-
tered with the big generator, but sure was important for ours. While we were supposed
to change the oil every 250 hours, we ran the risk because it was running at minimum
power. Ninety days was 2,160 hours and I was really worried it had seized up. It hadn’t
but the oil was way past due changing. The longest interval the manufacture’s mainte-
nance table showed was 1,500 hours to flush the coolant, replace the coolant pressure
cap, replace the belts and hoses and check the fuel injector pressure. We lucked out.
Big time.
The last two items were supposed to be performed by a Cummins certified technician. I
guess that assumed you could find one. Did we have parts? Of course, we read the
books and had enough parts for 5-6 years. The generator came with an owner’s manual
(the spec sheet), an installation manual and an operator’s manual. The one thing omit-
ted from the manuals was the part numbers. Cummins usually had 2-4 stores around
each state and if you took in the old parts and/or the model number and serial number
off the plate they could help you.
We got the last of the produce from the garden and the second cutting of hay put up be-
fore the snow came. It was worse than the previous year, 3’ everywhere except for the
shade where it was much deeper. Pete expected Pat and Sally to show up any day and
he was disappointed. Jonas offered more than once to make the trip, but there was too
much work to do on the farm to get ready for the following year.
Grass crops like pasture, alfalfa, wheat and oats have a fine root structure that both
binds the soil and breaks it into loam over a period of time. Loam is the black dirt you
see on farms with very good soil; also soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively
even concentration (about 40-40-20% concentration respectively), is considered ideal
for gardening and agricultural uses. Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and
humus (degraded organic material in the soil, which causes some soil layers to be dark
brown or black) than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils,
and are easier to till than clay soils. Got that?
In between some of our late fall chores, Pete and I took time to check out the QDRV to
make sure the long runtime on dirty oil hadn’t hurt it. We changed the fluids, replaced
hoses and belts, flushed the coolant and replaced the pressure cap. I’d noticed that
each oil change, the oil seemed to be a bit cleaner, almost as if it was cleaning out the
accumulation of crud in the engine. It was Castrol Tection HD 15W-40, made for sooty
diesel engines.
As everyone knows, engine oil accumulates carbon, metal particles and turns acidic.
The oil filter removes the metal and carbon until it’s blocked so that’s why it’s better to
have a bypass filter. It stops filtering, but doesn’t stop lubricating. The loss of lubrication
is due to the oil wearing out. It purred when we finished so it appeared we’d have power
87
for the winter. Marie and I were back at the cabin because we liked our privacy too. A
snowmobile got us to and from the house. How’s that go? Mama in her kerchief and me
in my cap had just settled in a long winter’s nap…when we heard gunfire from the area
of the house.
“Pete, are you taking fire, we thought we heard shots.”
“No shit, it sounds like an army. Can you come up and lend a hand?”
“Where are they?”
“Across the road, you can get in if you’re careful.”
“Who is it?”
“Hang on and I’ll ask them for their names, idiot.”
“Give me five minutes.”
“I’ll give you ten and bring Marie.”
“Pete says…”
“I heard, I’m getting dressed. You get dressed, find our parkas and rifles. I’ll get the
trauma kit.”
We took our rifles, pistols, the large first aid kit and extra ammo. It took the whole ten
minutes, too.
“What’s the deal?”
“Near as we can tell, there’s somewhere between 6 and 8 of them across the road
shooting at the house and both trailers.”
“What do they want?”
“They want that we should give up.”
“Well hell, we nearly have them outnumbered, why would we do that?”
88
We put that switch on the yard light to conserve power so they can’t really see much
beside the house lights. Mike and family had gone to bed and Jonas and Molly were
here playing cards and sampling the good stuff.
“Jonas, ideas?”
“Yeah, let’s surround them.”
“Even counting the boys, that’s only six of us.”
“Right, but they don’t know that. We’ll use some Willy Pete to screen us and toss them
some presents. It’s your choice Pete, M61s or M67s?”
“Let’s use up the old ones.”
The boys didn’t get frags; they got the smoke. We divided into two teams of 3 each and
flanked them. Their rifles had flashhiders, but they don’t really work all that well. Michael
and James threw the smoke grenades and we moved in closer and then lobbed the
grenades. After the sound of the explosions died down, it was deathly quiet. We wait a
bit and advanced slowly. Any of the six men who had survived the frags was bleeding
out fast.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Know some of them?”
“That one there, name’s Bob; Marie and I knew him and his wife Jeanie.”
“Were they from around here?”
“No, they lived where we did. We ran into them in Camdenton just after the HEMP wait-
ing for a replacement computer for their car. Haven’t seen them since; until now, that
is.”
“Friend or not don’t cut any ice with me; someone shoots us, they’re off the friends list.”
“More like acquaintances than friends Pete.”
“Pick up any usable firearms, ammo and such and leave the bodies lay. They may be
easier to handle once they’re frozen. We’ll load ‘em up and haul them off somewhere
and dump ‘em in a ditch. Better yet, let’s add them to the radioactive soil in the old quar-
ry. When we cover that over, they’ll be buried and nobody will want to dig there.”
89
Cold? Hard? What do you expect when a group attacks you late at night without making
proper introductions or knocking on your door begging for food? Pete said that part of
the conversation that he and Jonas were having over the card game was what it would
be like in a PAW. He went on to say that if this was any example, we were headed for
very tough times.
There are all sorts of rules of three. There’s the one I mentioned: 3 minutes without air,
3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. The second
rule of threes says that bad things happen in threes. There’s probably a third, but it
doesn’t come to mind. As far as the second, we had the HEMP, a ground war with Chi-
na and GTW, a total of three. Did that mean we were through? The rule has multiples
just like the 7/10 rule. It’s three, or three times three, or three times three times three,
basically a lifetime of hurt. And you never know what stage you’re in until you pass one
of the levels, like reaching 4, 10 or 28. If it gets to 3 times 27, you simply can’t win,
they’ll wear you out.
With luck we’d be able to plant crops this coming year and produce more than a garden,
alfalfa and biodiesel; specifically the food grains that could be used for both animal and
human consumption. Figure maybe 3,500 bushels of oats and wheat plus 8,000 bushels
of corn, or more. Corn was a great product and you could make flour, meal, grits plus
chicken and livestock feed.
If we got a good yield on hogs, we could produce spring and fall litters of roughly 900
hogs each. We could also market 30 cattle a year unless we kept a few heifers to re-
place some milk cows and turned the cows into boneless, e.g. ground beef. If we got
the hens to brood, we could increase our flock to the maximum size we could handle
and add that to our meat sales. I’m sure than someone in Camdenton would be more
than willing to set up a chicken processing facility.
Back in the day, say the early ’50s, nearly every small town had a Creamery and pro-
duced milk, cream and butter for local consumption. They’d have to dust off the old
equipment and resume that if this country was to get back on its feet. Don’t quote me,
but I think that TOM mentioned that in Greene, Iowa, population 1,200 the locker plant
was across the street from the creamery. I love to ask where Greene, Iowa was, but
some smart ass might say, the same place it’s always been. IIRC, he said they pro-
duced butter in 900 pound batches.
However, with 3’ of snow on the ground, we weren’t going anywhere unless it was by
snowmobile. It proved to be a long winter and colder than a well digger’s butt. Perhaps
in a year or two when the air cleared, it would warm up and we could go back to worry-
ing about global warming. Pete had laid in his supply of stoker coal before the war and
we’d get through this year. Maybe next year, he could buy some coal from a coal fired
power plant, maybe Montrose Station. We could always borrow a dump truck from
Camden County and go after a few loads. It was probably less than 100 miles away.
90
The real beauty of those wood/coal fired furnaces is that you can also burn corncobs. In
the days before using a corn head on a combine and shelling the corn in the field, you
stored the ear corn and hired a professional sheller to come to your farm and shell the
corn, leaving you with a big pile of corncobs.
Winter weather meant rib sticking meals. This included stews, chili, made with ground
beef, onions, tomatoes and beans. Few ground the coarse ground meat that chili called
for and we weren’t in Texas where chili was made from coarse ground meat, onions,
tomatoes, chilies and assorted spices. We’d had some when we were in El Paso. While
rated as mild, it burned our mouths. The waitress just described it as real Texas chili.
We couldn’t hunt with three feet of snow and didn’t need to. There were deer in the 160
acres of timber and we wanted to let them recover after WW III. Personally, I preferred
beef and pork over venison and sometimes even a clean kill would taste gamey. God
help you if you didn’t get a clean kill and had to chase it down. You could wrap it in plas-
tic inside of freezer paper and still smell it.
Marie and I made the trip daily to the house and as often as not ended up eating with
Pete and Sarah. One night he said that when the roads cleared we were going to go
looking for his kids. We’d start in Jefferson City, then try St. Louis and finally try Inde-
pendence. He went on to say that if they survived, they’d have been out salvaging first
chance they had, he’d taught them that.
Pete and Jonas left just after Mike and I got into the fields. While we disked and
dragged, they drove to Jefferson City. Sarah got a radio call from Pete on a prearranged
frequency. Jonas and he had found Pat and Sally. They’d be along directly with their
kids. When she asked why they hadn’t come sooner, he said, “Ask them.”
We had all the crops planted when the next radio call came…from St. Louis. Teresa and
Matt would be there as soon as Jonas and he found them a working vehicle…another
long story. We had finished the first cultivation and we looking at doing the first cutting
of hay when the third radio call came from Independence. Janice and Mel would be re-
turning with Jonas and Pete and when they got back, we’d all have a good cry…before
he kicked some butt.
I put off Mike shoeing any horses until Jonas and Pete returned because I could really
couldn’t do the chores and farm 460 acres by myself. They pulled in two days later and
a sourer look, I’ve never seen. Pete was seething, and it showed. Their daughter and
son in law plus their two boys and daughters in law all looked very embarrassed and
basically avoiding eye contact all around. Pete wouldn’t talk about it so I cornered Jo-
nas. He didn’t really want to say anything out of turn but I reminded him I was family and
it was legitimately my business.
The problem in Jefferson City had been simple, yet difficult. The fuel tanks on the
pickup were empty and they couldn’t get fuel. In St. Louis, their daughter Teresa let Matt
talk her into trading in the old reliable non electronic diesel pickup for a new non elec-
91
tronic diesel pickup, which ended up being unavailable after they turned in their trade-in.
Pete and Jonas solved that by going to the dealer and taking a comparable pickup off
the lot, added a cross bed fuel tank and after-market tank, filed them and sent them on
their way.
In Independence, the problem was far different. The blast had been a bit close; destroy-
ing their home but not the basement shelter. It took down the radio antenna and the
pickup and trailer looked like they’d been picked up by a tornado and twisted a lot. Pete
wasn’t mad at Mel or Janice, it was mostly frustration. He was livid with Teresa and Matt
plus Pat and Sally because what they’d done was, and I quote, Just Plain Stupid!
I asked and Jonas said he hadn’t heard anything from Germany and he didn’t even
know if there still was a Germany. He was obviously soldiering on. A person doesn’t get
to be a CSM in a front line unit without seeing a lot of death. Since the ‘Nam, America
had had a change in attitude, we were willing to fight battles but KIA and WIA were dirty
words. You don’t do battles without KIA and WIA and a few non-combat related inju-
ries/fatalities; that’s the name of the tune. I was more than certain that before this was
over, we’d have our own KIA and WIA. Maybe not, bad things only happen in threes (he
said with his fingers crossed behind his back).
People had protested Iraq just as strongly as they protested the ‘Nam and in Iraq, the
death toll was less than 10% of the death toll in the ‘Nam.
It looked like, to Marie and me, that the fecal matter was about to hit the fan and we
beat a hasty retreat back to the hunting shack right after supper. We talked it over and
agreed that only time would tell. When we arrived at 5am the following morning every-
one was up and Teresa and her sisters in law were helping Sarah with breakfast prepa-
rations. While we didn’t know exactly what had been said or if the changes in attitude
were permanent, everyone deserves a (one) break. Marie came to the barn to help
Pete, Jonas, Mike and me.
The milking didn’t go any faster because there were only 10 Surge buckets, but it did
give us a little time to visit. Pete hadn’t brought up the travails they’d experienced col-
lecting his family and since Jonas had filled me in and I Marie, there was no need to
discuss it.
After breakfast, Pete went through the process of reissuing the cowboy guns. He then
marched both his children and grandchildren to the barn and selected a horse for each
of them, indicating that care for their horse would be their responsibility. If needs be,
there were crates the grandkids could stand on and several sets of grooming equip-
ment.
Each of his kids checked with him, in turn, and ended up down by the timber practicing
with their cowboy guns. I hadn’t paid attention as I should have, after they finished
92
shooting and collected their brass, they returned to the house, went down to the base-
ment and reloaded the ammo. I didn’t know he had the ability to reload ammo. But, Pete
had all the different powder in 8-pound cans or 1-pound cans depending upon which
powder it was. He also had box after box of primers, every size of boxer primer there
was. His favorite rifle powder was Hodgdon 4895, good for everything from .17 rimfire
up to .458 Winchester and he had that in 8-pound cans, lots of them. He had a different
powder for the handguns, Alliant, including 2400, Bullseye in 8# cans and Power Pistol
in 4# cans.
He had shot shell, small and large rifle, small and large pistol and .50 caliber primers all
made by CCI. Somewhere in the middle of that was an assortment of #10, #11, #11
magnum and US musket cap primers and cans of synthetic black powder, just in case.
On top of that, he had a couple of tons of used wheel weights, melted down and formed
into ingots to use for molded lead bullets. He had molds for about 30 different calibers
and given the brass, could mold the bullets, switch the die set and reload the ammo. He
had 7 different reloading manuals. By comparison, Marie and I were rank amateurs. Te-
resa, Mel and Pat all had been taught the use of the reloading equipment. Still, before
they started, they checked with Pete to make sure they reloaded the ammo the way
Pete wanted it.
When they were on good terms, it was Mel, Pat or Terri; when they were on bad terms,
it was Melvin, Patrick and Teresa. At the moment, Matt’s name was mud although Pete
gave Mel and Jan some slack considering what they’d experienced. The main point was
that despite being only about 4½ miles from the epicenter of the detonation, they’d sur-
vived. That was slightly above 2psi.
The greatest compliment a member of our group could get was being called Lông
Trắng, a clear reference to Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock. To this point only Pete, Jo-
nas and I had been called that and then, only occasionally. We had the benefit of the
M107s and Tac-50, probably much easier to use for sniping than the M2HB. The prob-
lem with White Feather was that it required a 3rd party to confirm a kill before it was
credited and snipers either worked alone or with a spotter and no observer. I’d heard
figures as high as 300 kills. And, when he earned the Silver Star, he refused to take it.
Pete said he wouldn’t mind have those 4 Marine Corp Designated Marksmen from San
Antonio here on the farm to bolster security. We weren’t even sure we could get to San
Antonio and didn’t try. And, it was just as far for them to come here so we didn’t expect
to see them. Once Pete and Sarah’s kids and grandkids could pass muster with their
cowboy guns they were require to shoot their military weapons and make Sharpshooter
at the minimum. (Marksman, Sharpshooter, Expert)
And, that was with iron sights. Most of the rifles were loaded model M1As with the semi-
match grade sights and it would only require practice. A lot of practice. (Semi-match be-
cause they had match grade apertures but not match grade turns.) Plus, they’d been
assigned a share of the chores on the farm, either helping with the livestock or working
93
in the garden. When a grandkid complained about working in the garden, Pete was very
accommodating, putting him/her to shoveling hog manure.
94
After a month of that, he/she was more than happy to help in the garden. Marie seemed
tense after the incident where Bob got killed and when I asked, she explained that she
expected Jeanie to show up looking for revenge. I retorted that there weren’t any bodies
likely to be found and Jeanie would be hard pressed to accuse us of killing Bob. Even if
she did, we clearly killed him in self-defense.
I took note of the fact that Marie never went anywhere without a handgun; either her
Beretta or her Colt .45. Ninety percent of the time, I wore my Miami Classic rig because
it was out of the way and gave me 43 shots with the magazine in the pistol and the oth-
er two on the offside magazine pouch. Yes, I carried it in condition 1.
Around mid-summer, Pete began insisting we carry a rifle, preferably the M1As. He
claimed that with the garden producing a high volume of food and the fields doing well,
someone might take exception to our having food when they had none. I mounted a
scabbard on the tractor and added a stock magazine pouch to my rifle. I also carried my
Tac Force vest with 8 20-round magazines and 6 M67s, in the end pockets. The scope
was in a separate case and could be put back on in about the time it took to insert a
magazine.
We’d had passersby, but none had stopped. We decided that they were probably taking
inventory. Just before it came time to harvest, 4 pickups pulling 4 travel trailers pulled in
and parked. It was Joseph, Rick, Juan and Jose with their families.
“I wished more than once that you guys were here. How’s it going? Did San Antonio be-
come uninhabitable?”
“A lot changed after China and Mexico tried to invade the US. We eventually pulled out
and moved up to the panhandle. We were in Dalhart when the missiles started to fly.
We stayed there for over a year after. One day we were visiting and Juan said he had
your location, Camdenton, Missouri. We drove up here and asked around. Everyone
seemed to know Pete and we got directions. From the looks of Pete’s farm, you’re doing
well.”
“We’re getting by ok, I guess. We had a time of it that first year removing the top 3” of
soil to get rid of things like strontium. We’ve only been attacked once and they’re buried
in the radioactive soil. Tell your families to come to the house. Pete’s wife Sarah is there
with my wife Marie. All of Pete’s kids are out at the shooting range; that’s who is doing
the shooting. Jonas and Pete are in the barn, I’ll get them. Just tell Marie your names
and she’ll know who you are.”
They got out of the vehicles and headed to the house. I got Jonas and Pete, explaining
that our friends from San Antonio had just arrived. Pete’s first thought was that we didn’t
have room. I explained that they were pulling travel trailers and his next concern was
about our having enough electricity. They hadn’t gotten mobile homes for the kids be-
95
cause he didn’t have a second generator, didn’t know where he could get one and
wasn’t sure we could produce enough biodiesel.
“Now, we really need two extra generators and will have to plant the ground across the
road in canola. I guess we’re going down to Springfield and looking at Cummins for
generators.”
“I’ll get back to the guys and tell you about our trip to Springfield.” The four of them went
with the three of us and we left Pete’s kids to protect the farm. The largest genset we
could find was the Cummins DGFS rated at 230kw or 288kVA, but we did find three.
They were only defined as standby generators but could put out 639 amps when set up
for 120/240. We also picked up a second 12.5kw QDRV. We did very well on the filters
and located several drums of 15W-40 oil to add to what we had. We took drums of any
oil that was rated 10W-30 or higher. We were going to need an assortment of distribu-
tion panels and stopped by an electrical supply.
Had it just been Jonas, Pete and me, I believe we would have had trouble. With 7 of us
of riding in 3 pickups and towing 3 open trailers we didn’t have trouble. Then again,
maybe it was the rifles sticking out the pickup windows and Jose in the bed of the 3 rd
pickup with the Milkor M32 Multiple Grenade Launcher. Well, he never claimed to be
Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People). No, no trouble.
The new generators used from 4.7 to 18.1gph. We figured we’d probably use from 8.5
to 9gph. That’s just shy of 80 thousand gallons of diesel fuel for one generator running
24 hours a day, 365.25 days per year. Pete could retire his old generator and just use
the single new one with the second installed as a reserve for oil changes, etc. I did the
math and we’d need to plant between 700 and 720 acres of canola to produce enough
canola oil to produce the 80 thousand gallons they needed and 10 thousand gallons we
needed. That allowed about 5 thousand gallons for the farm equipment, vehicles and so
forth. It was certain that we’d plant the entire section across the road.
Excluding the quarry and the homestead, the place across the road had around 580 till-
able acres. Added to the 160 meant we could produce 740 acres of canola or about
94,000 gallons of biodiesel over a period of 157 days. We were short storage room for
that many gallons of biodiesel even though we’d be using it up as we went. Pete said
that there was a new tank sitting at that truck stop just waiting to be installed. It was the
largest tank made for the purpose, 40,000-gallons. If we pulled one of his empty 10,000-
gallon tanks and buried it at the hunting shack, we could increase his storage capacity
to 70,000-gallons and Marie and mine to 20,000 gallons. The double walled tank made
by Containment Solutions was the same 10’ diameter as the 10,000-gallon tank. How-
ever, it was a little over 71’ long compared to the 20’ long 10,000-gallon tank. The truck
stop had four waiting to be installed and we took them.
96
The new tanks wouldn’t solve our problem because Pete only had a 2,000-gallon tank
to store the vegetable oil, a 3 day supply. He decided to keep one 10,000-gallon tank
where it was and use it for canola oil. It could be re-plumbed to the underground barn
basement where the biodiesel equipment had been installed. And, he would need to
use a portion of the corn crop for ethanol production. The second tank came to the
Hunting Shack and the third stayed were it was to hold 10,000-gallons of biodiesel. The
other 2 40,000-gallon tanks were installed across the road.
Since he’d still have space for 90,000-gallons of biodiesel and we’d have room for
20,000, we should never run out of space for fuel. If we produced too much canola, we
could store it and switch to a different crop the following year, like wheat, oats or corn
and plant the entire 580 acres in that one crop. Wheat should yield at least 22,000
bushels up to 46,000 bushels, not counting the main farm. It would take around 2.3
bushels of wheat to produce 100 pounds of flour. So assuming a mid-range yield of
34,000 bushels, the 580 would produce about 1.5 million pounds of flour. With the burr
mill, we could produce that quantity of flour working 12/7. That Meadows mill ground 7
pounds of flour per minute or 10,080 pounds per 24 hour day or 3.6 million pounds per
year working 24/7. It would probably be worn out well before then.
It was far more complicated than that. For example, how would we bag 1.5 million
pounds of flour? It would take 15,000 100 pound bags. It would be better just to sell the
wheat to the grain elevator and let them worry about it. We could keep enough for our
flour needs and grind flour as we needed it.
How far does this, brother’s keeper thing extend? If you have to ask, you wouldn’t un-
derstand the answer. However, does that mean that you simply have to give away eve-
rything you grow for the greater good? Jerry D Young answered that question long ago
in his PAW stories. He proposed trading the food for labor or for material things, like
jars, lids, etc., which were of use to you in Percy’s Mission.
The farm was now supporting multiple families, Pete’s family of 4 couples plus children,
Marie and me, Jonas and Molly, Mike and his family plus our 4 friends from San Antonio
and their families. That’s 11 families and almost 40 mouths to feed. A travel trailer pro-
vides temporary housing, not long term housing. Mike and Jonas now lived in single
wide mobile homes. Pete said we needed 7 more so they could get his kids out from
under foot and provide more permanent housing for the people from San Antonio.
The hunt for mobile homes started. We scoured Camdenton looking for unoccupied
trailers and found ten. We held a meeting and decided to erect 3 at the farm and the
other 7 across the road. We had installed two of the huge diesel tanks there and two on
Pete’s farm. Pete would have one of the Cummins DGFS generators and the location
across the road would have two. Pete explained that the farm would have the 700 amps
divided among the house, 5 trailers and the other farm operations. Across the road, the
639 amps would be divided among the 7 homes. Although most homes have either a
100 amp or a 200 amp service, they rarely used the full load so the fact that the genera-
tors were rated 639 amps standby wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Each location would
97
have a large diesel capacity; 90,000-gallons on the farm not counting Marie and me and
80,000-gallons across the road. There would also be 10,000-gallons of canola oil wait-
ing for conversion. Pete had an expeller oil press as opposed to using chemical extrac-
tion or other methods.
The upside to having 40 mouths to feed was that: 1) we could grow the food; and 2) it
gave us a maximum of 40 people manning the defenses. OTOH, it also meant addition-
al steps needed to be taken to protect the 2 locations. A construction company proved
to be our source for chain link fence with arms for holding barbed wire. The actual
barbed wire came from a farm store. We used 9’ poles buried 3’ deep and Pete’s kids
and grandkids plus our friends from San Antonio were put to work installing the homes,
the fence and barbed wire toppers. The generators were installed in an outbuilding
along with several drums of oil and flats of filters.
Pete’s existing generator backed up his new generator for oil changes and the spare
12.5kw QDRV genset backed up our generator for oil changes. As far as the shelter
went, it was 1,296ft² divided by 40 or 32.4ft² per person, a tight squeeze. He could shut
down the big generator and just run the DGDB with its 90kw prime output.
It took the entire summer to install the mobile homes and erect the fencing. The fence
was erected across the road first and then around the rest of Pete and Sarah’s home-
stead. Marie and I didn’t get a fence, opting instead to quickly move up to the main
house in case of trouble. We were very comfortable in the hunting shack and passed on
an offer to occupy one of the mobile homes. We did manage to plow, disk, drag and
plant the 580 acres across the road and would have a late season crop of canola to add
to the 160 acres of canola we grew on Pete’s farm.
We had to divide the bee hives between the farms, basically in a ratio reflecting the ratio
pollen producing plants. We had 160 acres of canola, 40 acres of alfalfa and 20 acres of
clover (the pasture). The other farm had 580 of canola. The hives that stayed were
about 30% and those moved across the road were 70%. Canola honey is rather spicy
and we mixed it with honey taken from the alfalfa and clover grown in the pasture. It had
to be harvested early or it would crystallize in combs and be of little use. Pete took care
of harvesting the honey and my cousin Mel helped him with the process of harvesting
and extracting the honey. The beeswax was made into candles by Sarah and Terri.
Crystallized honey could be restored to liquid by heating it, very carefully. The honey
became one of our primary sources of sugar because there was very little refined sugar
available to purchase since the HEMP attack.
We learned the hard way about the downside of installing the security fences. They
seemed to represent a red flag that said we had something to protect. Not long after the
harvest, we were attacked a second time by a much larger force than the first time.
When I said across the road I didn’t mean literally across the road, they were about 220
yards further down and we wouldn’t have a direct crossfire situation.
98
In discussing our plans for defense, we learned that while Joseph, Rick, Juan and Jose
didn’t have a Milkor M32 Multiple Grenade Launcher or any M203s, they did have 2 of
the ‘Nam era M-79s and a small supply of HE grenades. Jonas supplemented their
supply with some of his HEDP grenades and we gave them some of our supply of hand
grenades. We also gave them 4 more of our M18A1 Claymores.
When you think about it, there are several ways to get through a security fence. As we
saw at the border, you can cut a hole through it. Secondly, you can climb it although
that is risky if someone is protecting the fence with a firearm. Thirdly, you can drive a
large heavy vehicle right through it, assuming you have enough momentum and there is
no ditch.
You can forget the last choice because we had good ditches except for the entrance to
the homestead. Since I’m a welder by trade, Pete provided the materials for me to weld
up two cattle grates with rings that were threaded by log chains. Given only a few mo-
ments notice, we could pull the grates and close and lock the gate. I had to make a du-
plicate gate for the other farm using the 6” schedule 80 iron pipe.
The attacking force was a bunch of gangsters from either Kansas City or St. Louis. I’d
put my money on the outskirts of St. Louis. They were armed with AK-47s, hand gre-
nades and 9mm pistols that seemed to shoot best if they were held horizontal. With
something like an AK-47, it doesn’t really matter if you’re a good shot or not, the firearm
isn’t that accurate. A pistol held that way doesn’t allow for good sighting. However, there
is sheer power in numbers and they numbered around 80, having us by a 2:1 ad-
vantage.
We only had one M2A1and no M240s to defend ourselves. Still, we had hand grenades,
rockets out the ying-yang and more than enough hand grenades and Claymore mines.
We should have gone to Leonard Wood and gotten more of those M2HBs. It was a little
late now, so we made do. The things that make the American Rifleman great are a
combination of his/her skills and the quality of his/her firearm.
Who won? Do you need to ask? We had the home field advantage, better firearms,
highly polished skills and one thing they didn’t know about, high friends in low places,
ergo across the road. The battle seemed to last for hours. Seemed. We had no fatali-
ties, 6 wounded and 2 seriously. The two with serious wounds were Matt and Pat. While
Jonas and the others sorted thought the gangsters, collected weapons and so forth,
Pete and I loaded Matt and Pat in the back of the pickup along with Terri and Sally in
the back. Our other wounded we loaded either in the back seat of Pete’s pickup of Jo-
nas’s pickup with me driving. We drove up to the Lake Regional Medical Center in
Osage Beach. Matt and Pat would need surgery and the other 4 could get whatever
treatment they required at the hospital.
99
We stayed until they were out of surgery and Pete and I plus the 4 with lesser wounded
returned to the farm.
“What did you do with the bodies?”
“We added them to the gravel pit. We picked up quite a bunch of guns and we should
be able to put together a collection of about 60 rifles and 60 handguns. They didn’t take
good care of their guns and some are nothing but junk. How are Matt and Pat?”
“We stayed until they were out of surgery. The doctor said their chances of a full recov-
ery were good. We have more .50 caliber belts than we have guns to use them. How
about we make another run to Fort Leonard Wood where we could get another M2 and
4 M240s?”
“Good idea. We need to replace the Claymores we used, too. Those M14s and M16s
didn’t do us one bit of good. Maybe we should retire them.”
“We could pull them and return them to the Fort. Do you know how to remove them?”
“Fortunately for me, they didn’t have anti tampering devices activated. If I have a prob-
lem, I have a copy of FM 20-32.”
There were a total of 24 mines to remove, 20-M14s and 4-M16s. We had 100 cans of
ammo at 100 rounds per can before the attack. It was over so quickly, we only used 4
belts. And, let’s be honest here, they were way too close to use the .50 caliber rifles. In
fact, most of the shots came from our shotguns. We had the youngsters reloading the
shotguns while we used our M1As or assault rifles. None of the kids were wounded un-
less you call getting a wood splinter a wound.
When we arrived at Fort Leonard Wood just before noon the next day, there was no
guard at the gate. The placed was simply locked up. A pair of bolt cutters got us in and
we soon found the 5 machineguns we wanted. While we knew where the .50 caliber
belts were stored, we couldn’t say the same for the 7.62 belts. It took a while, but we
found them. In the process, we found M-40 gas masks, which we took, more smoke and
gas grenades, which we also took, M16 magazines, 5.56×45mm ammo (M855),
7.62×51mm ammo (M118LR) and finally the 7.62 belts.
“I found some loose .50 caliber ammo, do you want that?”
“What do you mean by loose? Lying on the floor?”
“No, it was in ammo cans, 120 rounds per can. The label said, 120 cartridges, cal .50
Mk211 Mod 0.”
100
“Take every last can of that stuff you can find.”
“What is it?”
“It’s what they call the good stuff, High Explosive, Incendiary, Armor Piercing. You can
also call it APHEI or any combination of the letter groups; it’s all the same stuff. It’s an
anti-material round that works very well in.50 caliber rifles. With those Barrett Optical
Ranging System devices on the scope, you just change a setting to allow for that car-
tridge.”
After the growing season was over, we loaded up what we could of the wheat, oats and
corn and put two steers and 4 hogs in separate trailers. We drove to Camdenton and
set up shop. The livestock was taken to the locker plant where he’d get one steer for
butchering the other steer and processing 4 hogs.
We were mobbed almost immediately. Someone went into a store that still used paper
bags and brought them to us so we could dole out the grains. We had taken a large
quantity of canned goods and required a deposit on the jars, fifty cents. We were barter-
ing right and left when the law showed up. The Police Department had a total of 18 em-
ployees of all types before the HEMP and the war. They were down to 4 including the
chief.
“What’s going on here?”
“We’re battering away the extra food we grew this year.”
“I’ll be taking that.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
“Do you have any last wishes?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Isn’t that what they ask the condemned man before the throw the switch?”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, chief, it’s more like a promise. Don, start packing up, we’re leaving.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Yes, we can. Are you familiar with the Fourth Amendment?”
101
“Yes, but these are exigent circumstances.”
“Ok, it’s mostly gone anyway. However, we won’t be back and we had a lot of food we
wanted to trade to the people of Camdenton.”
“We’ll come to your farm.”
“And, we’ll bury you with everyone else that attacked the farm.”
“You’ve killed people?”
“Self-defense.”
“Say, we had a group of men go missing last winter. Do you know anything about that?”
“Nope. Just up and disappeared? No bodies?”
“No nothing, they just up and disappeared.”
“Good luck on finding them. I should tell you that to remove the radiation from our soil
we graded 3” off the top and deposited it in the gravel pit on the farm across the road.
Forewarned is forearmed. We dropped off 4 hogs and 2 steers at the locker plant. They
get one steer for the butchering and I doubt they’ll be giving the meat away. Saddle up,
we’re out of here.”
“Wait…”
“Pete, he said wait.”
“Let him stew in his own juices for a while. A lot of town residents saw that display of his
and the word will spread faster than a fire in a whirlwind. He may end up getting
lynched.”
Author’s note: The last lynching in Iowa occurred January 9, 1907, Victim: James Cul-
len, Where: Charles City, Floyd County, Crime: Murder, Ethnic origin: White, Lynched
by: Mass (Mob). The last lynching in Missouri, up to now, was on January 12, 1931,
Where: Marysville, Nodaway, Crime: Murder, Attempted rape, Ethnic origin: African
American, Lynched by: Mass (Mob of 2,000).
The Chief of Police didn’t get lynched. I’m sure he got his ear bent pretty well. A few
days later, he showed up at the farm. He was out of his jurisdiction and had a deputy
sheriff riding with him. The gate was open and the cattle grate in place so he just pulled
in and parked. He had a sheepish look on his face.
“Don, can I talk to Pete, please?”
102
“Sure thing chief, I’ll get him.”
“Pete the Chief of Police is here along with a deputy sheriff. He wants to talk to you.”
“That didn’t take long. Do you suppose he’s well done?”
“Chief, what can we do for you?”
“First off, I was wrong the other day. Exigent circumstances or not, the food is yours to
distribute as you see fit. We could use a lot of food, if it is available. I organized the res-
idents and we’ve collected every empty canning jar in town. We also collected every
standard and wide mouth lid we could find. The jeweler contributed his small supply of
gold and silver coins for a share. Would you be willing to do business with Camdenton?”
“Not with the town, no. We’d be happy to sell or trade with every individual in town, in-
cluding you. We can supply one steer and two hogs weekly. We have a large flock pro-
ducing eggs. As we cull them, we’ll have stewing hens to sell. This past summer, we
planted wheat, corn and oats in addition to other crops. The wheat is hard red spring
wheat and durum. The corn is an heirloom seed, not a hybrid. Actually, all of the crops
we grow are non-hybrids, come to think about it. We planted 80 acres of oats and corn
plus 40 acres of durum and 40 acres of hard red.”
“What about the other land?”
“We grow canola to produce canola oil which we convert to B-100 biodiesel. We also
produce pure ethanol to use in the biodiesel process. We have power here provided by
a 230kw standby generator with another as backup. It burns a lot of diesel when it’s
running at full load.”
“Is there anything you’re short of?”
“Mostly propane and gasoline.”
“We can provide propane. I’m afraid that the gasoline is too old to use.”
“Any chance you could come up with a tanker full of old gasoline? We can restore it to
refinery new. We have a few gasoline powered vehicles but haven’t had time to salvage
any.”
“How much would you pay for the gasoline?”
“It’s no good, right? Half the pump price when they couldn’t pump gasoline anymore. I
won’t go more because we know where to get the gasoline and just haven’t taken the
time.”
“What about the propane?”
103
“Fill all of our tanks, install 7 1,100-gallon tanks and fill those too. On top of that, leave
half of the available propane delivery trucks here, full. That will keep the town in meat
and grains for a full year. We’ll deliver the food in bulk and Camdenton and a resident’s
council can decide how to distribute it.”
“We don’t have a resident’s council.”
“Fine, form one. And, don’t forget those jars and lids. We have a few cases of lids but
are mighty short on jars.”
“Where did you find lids by the case?”
“Canning Pantry in Hyrum, Utah. The regular lids come 60 dozen to the case while the
wide mouth come 36 dozen to the case. There a limit to how much food we can pre-
serve. We have 2 41.5 quart and 1 21 quart canner. The big ones do 19 quarts per
batch and the small one 7 quarts per batch. A batch is 45 quarts and we can only do
about 4 a day or 180 quarts. We can do more pints but given the size of our group, we
mostly can quarts.”
“How big is your group?”
“We have 40 souls aboard.”
“All here?”
“No, some live on the farmstead across the road.”
“What the hell! Is that a machine gun?”
“Actually each homestead has one M2 and 2 M240s. We have a few other things that
nobody needs to know about. Although the state of Missouri sees fit to ban suppres-
sors, we have more than a few. Some of us even have switchblade knives. The bottom
line is: Don’t try to take us out, you’ll lose.”
“Are you willing to take my word that you’ll get the propane, tanks, gasoline, jars and
lids?”
“You shake my hand on it and it’s a blood oath, your blood if you don’t carry through.”
104
The chief of police extended his hand. Surprisingly, so did the deputy who hadn’t said a
single word during the entire conversation. We had a deal and would have to hurry to
get the grain loaded and hauled to Camdenton before the snow came. Pete and Jonas
discussed the livestock situation and decided to haul 24 steers and 48 hogs to the lock-
er plant. We’d provide some feed and they could butcher them as needed.
On top of that, the ladies were busy boxing up quarts, pints and jelly jars into their origi-
nal cases and labeling each case. I sure hope they like green beans, it was our most
prolific crop. We would also deliver 3,000-pounds of potatoes in 100-pound bags. The
deputy returned later in the day with burlap bags to hold the grains and ask if we could
put 100-pounds of grain in each bag. While he was there, a gasoline tanker pulled in
followed by a flatbed with 10 1,100-gallon propane tanks and cradles.
We directed that the tanks to be delivered and set up at the other farm except for one,
for Marie and me at the hunting shack. The next day, propane delivery trucks showed
up and began filling the tanks with 1,000-gallons each. The trucks returned to town, re-
filled and returned. One truck topped of all of the tanks except ours and left. The drivers
of the other two trucks rode back with the driver of the 3rd truck.
Our propane tank was our first. The upside was that we could get our stove out of the
machine shed, change the jets and install it at the shack. Marie refused to let me do it
because she had bread making figured out on the wood burning stove and unlike a
wood burning stove, the fire didn’t go out on its own. Instead, she told me to get my be-
hind in the timber and cut more wood, we were down to 5 cords.
Pete added 4 gallons of PRI-G to each of the tankers and used a pole to stir it up some.
He said he needed to find another tank and pump so he could store the fuel under-
ground. He added that if we could find one, we should get two and use one to hold wa-
ter. But, to do that, we’d need some kind of industrial sized water filter. And, while we
were at it, maybe we should get a third so the other farm could store water too.
“This warrants a trip to Conroe, Texas where the tanks are manufactured.”
“Where is Conroe?”
“North of Houston on I-45.”
“How big of tanks do you want?”
“The largest we can find, preferably a 20,000-gallon for the gas. We’ll just take 3 semis
and load up the biggest they have. If we can find 3 of those 40,000-gallon tanks, it
would be best.”
105
So, here we were, headed to Texas just ahead of winter. We were riding 3 per cab,
armed to the teeth and even had one of the M240s, just in case. As near as we could
determine from the road atlas, the trip was about 700 miles, one way. The only bad spot
on the trip was the Dallas area. We had to figure a way around that city. We decided to
get off at Sherman, drive to Jacksonville and swing back and pick up I-45 at Buffalo.
We’d change off driving and only stop at rest areas, as needed, to use their toilet facili-
ties. An alternate choice was highway truck stops. To maintain communications, we had
3 portable CB radios and would be using channel 38.
Containment Solutions facility was abandoned and we found 1 40,000-gallon tank and 2
20,000-gallon tanks. Pete learned that a company named Enhance It, LLC made an in-
dustrial sized UV purifier that could purify 140gpm. Argonide Corporation made water
filters. The first source was in South Carolina and the second in Florida. He figured to
drop off the tanks and take a second road trip to SC and FL. We would require one UV
filter per tank and one filter holder for each tank. The spare parts for the UV purifiers
amounted to spare bulbs and the spare parts for the filters were, of course, additional
filters. The reason to filter and zap the water was that it would be stored for long periods
and we needed to store only pure water.
While we’d been gone, the chief and a deputy had transferred the remaining food and
livestock feed. The chief had asked if we had any .45ACP ammunition. Sarah told him
we had some and he pulled out a gun case and gave it to her, with the cryptic comment,
“Enjoy.” The Pelican case contained 1 ea United States Submachine Gun, Caliber .45,
M1A1 and 20 30-round stick magazines. Pete test fired it and it worked fine with Gold
Dot so he loaded all 20 mags with 27 rounds each.
“You like that huh?”
“Yeah, I saw a soldier using one in ‘Nam. Always half wanted one, but there’s no way I’d
put out twenty grand for a sub machinegun. You know what the FBI did with theirs when
they quit using them?”
“Nope.”
“Destroyed them. Even worn out they were probably worth 5 to 10 grand each. I’m still
taking my regular selection of firearms, but this will give us something other than a
M240 to haul.”
“How come you can run your old fuel pump on single phase but you needed a new 3
phase generator for the new pump?”
“I had the pump motor in the old one replaced; the 3 phase motor is around here some-
where. We’ll have to find it and put it back in. The new generator will run both pumps
and more.”
106
At least, he waited until the tanks were installed and the gasoline dumped into the new
40k tank. We would need a fuel pump in addition to the water treatment stuff, but where
you find large tanks waiting to be installed, you find new pumps. A quick trip to the truck
stop solved the pump problem and a trip to Springfield provided the 3 phase generator.
This trip would only be Pete, Jonas and me, driving a pickup and pulling an enclosed
trailer with four extra drums of biodiesel with a hand pump to transfer the fuel to the
tanks as needed.
“You know where we’re going, right?”
“First stop is Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The second stop is Stanford, Florida.
I’ll take some cash and some gold, just in case. I don’t figure it’s a critical industry and
really don’t expect we’ll run into anyone.”
“How far is it?”
“A shade over a 1,000 there. Then, it’s another 300 to Sanford. The return trip will be
around 1,100 miles. We probably won’t need the extra biodiesel, but better safe than
sorry. I think we could make the trip on what we have in the tanks. If someone put a
hole in one of the tanks, it could change.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Twenty-four hundred miles in unknown territory? Are you nuts? It’s risky enough to
make the trip and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t believe it was important. Did you see how the
people in Camdenton acted when they learned we had food? I think that Thompson was
the way the chief made his apology. Is it my fault they weren’t prepared?”
“Sheeple?”
“They want to believe that things like this are possible, but just can’t quite bring them-
selves to prepare for it because of the costs, sacrifices etc.”
“Marie and I would have been up the creek without your help.”
“You’ve earned everything you have. Idle hands are the devil’s tools. Now that those
two are finally out of the hospital and beginning to heal, I feel better about going after
the things we need.”
We took off on another long trip to get something of questionable value. While we were
gone, Marie and some of the others went into Camdenton to trade more food for some
things they needed, women’s hygiene supplies. While there, who should Marie encoun-
ter, but Jeanie?
“What happened to Bob? I know for a fact that he and the others were going to that farm
you live on.”
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“Gee Jeanie, I don’t know; nobody knocked on the door asking for food. We do try to be
accommodating. Look at all the food we provided to the town.”
“You killed him, didn’t you? Where’s his body? At least let me give him a decent burial.”
“We’ve been attacked twice. I wasn’t involved in the first attack and can’t tell you what
happened. I was involved in the second, we all were. Eighty something gangsters from
Kansas City or St. Louis attacked us but we held them off and killed the entire lot. We
had 6 wounded that time, 2 seriously. They only came home from the hospital recently.
We’ve been forced to turn the farms into fortresses.”
“Where’s Don? Maybe he can tell me more.”
“Don, Pete and Jonas are off on an errand, filling a few gaps in our protection. They’ll
only be gone a few days and I’ll tell him you asked when they get back.”
“I’m not going to let go of this until I find out what happened to Bob.”
“In your position, I probably wouldn’t either. How are you supporting yourself these
days?”
“I took a night job; the pay is great and I have to work 21 days a month.”
Marie told me later that she was pretty sure that Jeanie was earning her living on her
back. But, back to our trek. We attempted to avoid all large cities and keep an open eye
as we passed through smaller communities. We had to circumnavigate so many com-
munities on our way to South Carolina; it added 2 days to that leg of the trip. We even-
tually located the company and picked up several of their industrial sized units with mul-
tiple spare bulbs. We found an operating motel and put up for the night to get a good
night’s sleep in a bed. They were only taking gold and silver and the restaurant’s menu
was just grand, you could have fried fish, deep fried fish or baked fish.
The next morning we left for Sanford with the 300 mile trip taking from sunup to dust.
We were just short of our goal and couldn’t find an operating motel or hotel and ended
up camping. At least we weren’t stuck eating fish and corn fritters aka Hush Puppies.
We were up early and completed our trip. We picked up 4 of the filter holders and nearly
all of the filters that would fit the holder. Once installed, the water stored in the 20,000-
gallon tanks would be pure.
The 1,100 mile trip back was fraught with challenges and one or two minor gun battles.
With a load in the pickup covered with a tarp and tied down, we attracted unwanted at-
tention. The weapons of choice both times were the Thompson and shotguns because
they both had about the same range, 50 yards. As soon as we could clear a path, we
took off. It took 4 days to drive from Sanford to Camdenton.
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Before we’d left Sanford, we’d refilled the truck’s tanks using the hand pump and a 5
gallon fuel can. Our intention was to drive straight through, changing off drivers. Be-
cause of the trouble, we changed our plans and limited the segments to about 300 miles
per day. Still, when it was said and done, the trip only took 9 days. We had now been to
Texas and the east coast and discovered that the attacks had been wide ranging. Most
of the large Metropolitan Statistical areas had taken one or more hits. Rebuilding our
country would take the better part of century given the reduced population and all but
eliminated manufacturing.
At some time during the course of the 20th century, selection of targets had changed. It
was no longer the military attacking military targets but the military attacking civilian tar-
gets. I think it started with WW II. While the allies had been severely criticized for attack-
ing civilian targets, they didn’t start it. Adolph Hitler started it with the London Blitz and
strikes on places like Coventry. He was the first to use fire bombs. The US and British
struck back, initially not using incendiary bombs. The bombs of that era weren’t accu-
rate and eventually the allied turned to fire bombing, destroying major portions of cities,
like Dresden and eventually Tokyo.
During WW I, the German used that huge railroad gun to attack Paris. Interestingly, the
large railway guns were initially developed by the British and French. When the airplane
came along their usefulness was doomed.
“I ran into Jeanie when we went to Camdenton to shop. She accused me of killing Bob,
but I played dumb. She claimed that she just wanted his body back to give him a decent
burial. I asked how she was earning her living and from what she said, I concluded
she’s a prostitute. I sure hope I don’t run into her again. How was your trip?”
“It took longer than planned just getting to South Carolina. The trip to Florida was also
longer than planned, but up to that point we had no trouble. On the return leg, we were
confronted twice, close up and personal. That Thompson and our shotguns worked as
intended and we got away. We’ll get the new equipment installed and settle in for an-
other nuclear winter.”
“How long will this go on?”
“The easy answer is until it’s over. I’m sorry Marie, I really don’t know. I think the TTAPS
Study said something like 3-4 years. Other studies suggested over 10 years. Then you
have the other side of the coin, nuclear summer. I’m not a climatologist so I don’t really
know. I can tell you it was fairly cool in Florida.”
“How much has it shortened our growing season?”
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“Pete says the better part of a month. We’re planting 88 day corn and fast maturing
crops.”
“You do realize that if we had a greenhouse, we could plant food crops year around?”
“That would be up to Pete, but I’ll mention it. Once we get a handle on the biodiesel, we
should be able to increase grain crops but it won’t be by much. Our supplies of PRI-D
and PRI-G are diminishing. That will probably mean one more trip, this time to Houston.
We’ll probably try to get a semi load of their products in drums.”
“Do those things have a shelf life?”
“PRI say 3 years in unopened containers. I assume that’s for maximum effectiveness.
Supposedly, you treat your fuel annually for best results. I really doubt we’ll have a
problem because of our fuel turnover. If our stabilizers get old, we’ll probably just use
more.”
I mentioned the greenhouse to Pete and his immediate response was, “Good idea, we’ll
go to Springfield and get one for each farm right after we drive a box trailer to Houston
for more fuel additives.”
“At least we’ll be on familiar ground.”
“Are you saying that we should have gone on down to Houston when we were in
Conroe?”
“No, it didn’t occur to me at the time and had it occurred to anyone else, I’m not sure we
could have found room on the two flatbeds with the smaller tanks.”
“Start a list of things we could use in case we come across them. One drum should sta-
bilize 110,000 gallons; so if we get a dozen drums or more we should be good for
years.”
“But, if we get all we can find, we might never run out. I can only think of a few things
that we could use more of, coffee, coffee filters and toilet paper.”
“What if you saw something that you couldn’t live without?”
“I’d improvise, adapt and overcome.”
We had little trouble getting to Houston where we loaded 54 drums of PRI-D and 6
drums of PRI-G. We didn’t find any PRI-Flow. We started hitting grocery warehouses
and loading the area above the drums with Charmin, Northern and Bunn coffee filters.
We were full up and hadn’t gotten any coffee. We detoured to New Orleans to the Fol-
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gers plant where we found a loaded semi. We tinkered for a while, used battery cables
and got it started. We added 220 gallons of biodiesel in the saddle tanks and headed
home. We had enough coffee to use it as a barter item. When we passed a Wally-World
distribution center on the way back, we decided to check it out. We found an unloaded
rig and got it running. We backed it up to the loading dock and went to town.
We first went for pharmaceuticals, prescription and over the counter. We added more
ladies supplies, what ammo they had and things we hadn’t seen for a while like rice,
beans, and condiments galore. We spent most of the day packing the trailer to get as
much of what we wanted packed for shipment. We were sure glad the weigh stations
weren’t open; we had to be several tons overweight.
We could have taken more from Wally World, but we already had 3 full semis and only
three drivers. There were many products that reduced or prevented diesel from gelling
and Pete suggested we try Springfield after we got home and unloaded. In particular, he
wanted to check out fuel distributors who might have anti-gelling fluids on hand in case
they still had summer formula fuel when it got cold.
Basically following the same route home that we’d used for the first and second trip, we
avoided confrontations and made it home by driving straight though. I was ready to lie
down and sleep for a week. Regrettably, that was not to be because as soon as the PRI
products were unloaded, Pete and Jonas were chomping at the bit. We used the box
trailer and two flatbeds and headed for Springfield. Once there, we found the Yellow
Pages and went through them, looking for the fuel distributors.
We secured all the anti-gel we could find, several drums, and took the opportunity to
check several nearby warehouses. This is where we stepped in it and came out smell-
ing like Chanel No 5. One of the warehouses dealt in specialty foods. Not exotic, just
high grade things like Mountain House, AlpineAire and all manner of preparedness
foods. Pete only uttered one expression, “Trade goods.”
We shopped around with one additional thing in mind, paper products. You can never
have too much toilet paper or feminine hygiene products. If nothing else, they’re trade
goods. We added 6 cases of strike anywhere matches (12,000/case). The final ware-
house was a bonded warehouse for tobacco products and we cleaned it out. They actu-
ally had fewer cases of tobacco products than we thought they would. We found two
disassembled medium sized greenhouses and loaded them on the flatbeds.
“Are we done now? I don’t know about you guys, but I could use some rest.”
“It’s starting to snow, so I guess we’ll call it quits, Don. How’s your supply of firewood?”
“Low, about four cords.”
“How about we all pitch in and get your supply back up to 25 cords?”
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“How much firewood to you have Pete?”
“A bit more than you have, but none to spare. If we get everyone involved, we should be
able to cut, split and stack all we need in just a few days. I’ll check with Joseph and find
out if they got those wood stoves he mentioned. If they did, they’ll need firewood too.”
The few days turned into a full month with nearly everyone involved. Not only had Jo-
seph et al. found woodstoves, they found enough for all 7 mobile homes and extras for
the mobile homes at Pete’s. It probably amounted to every woodstove in Missouri. It in-
cluded woodstoves for Jonas and Mike’s home and the other three. Over the 30 plus
day period, we harvested around 300 cords of wood and ran it like a factory operation.
People who use wood as a primary source of heat burn an average of 3½ cords per
year. Those who use it for pleasure only use as little as ⅓ cord per year. Marie and I
averaged closer to 5 cords because of the wood burning kitchen stove.
There is no particular shortage of trees in Missouri although one may be forced to har-
vest from places not normally used, like National Forests, etc. The problem with the
large harvesting operations was the care required to only remove the deadfalls, stand-
ing dead trees and standing irregular trees. The upside was that it allowed the remain-
ing trees to grow faster. Taking 300 cords from 160 acres of timber wasn‘t heavy har-
vesting, we could have taken all winter and harvested around 1,300 cords. The trees
weren’t going anywhere and 1,300 cords at 128ft³ each is a great big pile of wood,
166,400ft³ of wood. Stacked as a cube, the pile would be 55’ high, 55’ long and 55’ wide
(try it, 55³).
By the time we finished, there was 3’ of snow on the ground and we had processed over
19,000-gallons of biodiesel. To process all ~94,000-gallons of canola would take 157
days unless we ran 3 shifts. We had nearly 75,000-gallons of the oil to extract and pro-
cess. Our schedules were rearranged and we had a continual operation going on the
biodiesel, producing 1,800-gallons per day and extruding the oil from the seeds at the
same rate it was used, allowing us to finish in 42 days.
We were required to keep our power usage to the bare minimum because we needed to
underuse the fuel we were producing in order to build a reserve. We used every trick in
the book including those mini fluorescent bulbs (compact fluorescent lamp) that you
never turn off. There was quite the debate over leaving them on full time. If you treated
them as regular bulbs, they used slightly more power for startup, less during use and
didn’t last much longer than regular bulbs. Leaving them on all of the time extended
their lives but you were using power 24/7. We reached a compromise, using them for
certain cases, 40 watt bulbs in other cases and nothing larger than a 60 watt bulb. The
bulbs were around 30% efficient with a 60 watt using 17 watts, if left on.
Had we needed to purchase everything that we’d salvaged in the PAW, we’d have
needed a printing press or direct access to Fort Knox. If the cost were averaged over
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our 40 residents, it might not seem excessive. Might not. This year, the snowfall wasn’t
as bad as the previous year; perhaps the nuclear winter was trailing off.
Most of the salvaged goods had been abandoned for whatever reason which lessened
the guilt we invariably felt about taking something belonging to another. A portion of
those goods were provided to Camdenton, gratis. No doubt the chief of police felt giving
Pete the Thompson had been a good investment. It sure had come in handy on our trip
to the east coast.
“I believe it’s time that we just settle in, grow our crops and livestock and stay home for
a change.”
“Be still my heart. Uncle Pete, surely you’ve missed something we need.”
“Well, we could always make a trip to Wisconsin.”
“Cheese?”
“Green Bay. We will go to the Charmin factory, get 3 truckloads and be set for life.”
“Are you sure they make Charmin in Green Bay?”
“Nope.” (They actually manufacture Charmin, Bounty, Puffs, Bounce, and Downy in
Green Bay according to the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce.)
“Well, ok, but only after the crops are in.”
A half truckload of fabric softener sheets would be a lifetime supply and paper towels
were a needless luxury. We could get 2½ loads of Charmin and be everyone’s friends
for life. OTOH, in Neenah, WI, one would find the Kimberly Clark plant that made femi-
nine hygiene products and that would put us in good shape with the ladies, so make it 2
loads of Charmin and a mixed load of fabric softener sheets, Puffs and a load of
pads/tampons.
Our actual biodiesel usage was only 50,000 gallons due to our conservation measures.
At that rate, we could have all tanks full in about two years. But, as I’ve pointed out, we
had as much storage capacity as a truck stop. We had taken work chits from those in
Camdenton lacking a means to pay for the food. It had been clearly explained, honor
the chits or go hungry next year. As soon as the crops were in, we took off, driving 4
trucks rather than 3, just in case. The first three were filled with what we discussed and
the 4th hauled the pads/tampons. It was a refrigerated box trailer that could double for a
box trailer. Back home, those that remained had been told to get those greenhouses
erected.
One place we happened upon was a seed company which sold both hybrid and heir-
loom garden seeds. They wouldn’t take checks, credit cards or cash and we plied them
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with a few 10th ounce gold coins. Then there were the cheese companies and Pete
spent some of the one ounce Eagles. We got a 5th semi-reefer turned on the refrigera-
tion unit concluding that a little cold wouldn’t hurt the seeds. The people on this trip were
Pete, Jonas, Joseph, Rick, Juan, Jose and Marie who rode with me. That came about
because she complained loudly that she had no idea where we were going and a wom-
an need to go along to pick out the women’s supplies.
It was easier to agree with her than fight. Before the subject came up, I had planned to
just take all we could haul. Then it changed from 3 trucks to 4 and I needed a rider. She
lit into me like a woman scorned and I simply folded. We ended up with a full load of
feminine products, two loads of Charmin, a mixed load of fabric softener sheets and the
fifth truck holding seeds, cheese and other miscellaneous items we happened upon, like
those in Burlington, Wisconsin at Centaur Forge. Shoes and nails; Mike was in horse
heaven.
They had steel, aluminum and synthetic shoes, assorted nails, hand tools, anvils, forg-
es, coal and coke. The list was too long to relate here, but our herd of horses should be
able to avoid going barefoot for years. Were we just bouncing around looking for things?
Hardly, it would waste too much fuel. And, as it was, we were severely limiting power
usage to build our fuel supply. That changed when, on the way home, we found a fuel
distributor who had a whole lot of old diesel fuel.
“Well, why not? We have enough of the PRI products and anti-gelling fluid to treat all of
the fuel. We could find some tankers, mix the fuel treatments into the fuel as we load
them and fill all of our tanks.”
“There was that 10,000-gallon tanker the construction firm who built the underground
barn had.”
“Yes, and there are sure to be more if we just look for them. We might even find some
full of fuel. We can dump in the additives and let them slosh around on the way home
and maybe mix in a little.”
“How many people is this going to take? Somebody has to do the farming and someone
else the gardening.”
“I say six, Don. We can put the additives in the back of the pickup and we’ll set out look-
ing. Every time we find a truck, we’ll treat it and send it home with a driver and someone
riding shotgun. Now, if by chance, we find a third tanker, shotgun can drive the pickup
and the other person the tanker.”
“Who?”
“Jonas, you and me plus Mike, Joseph and Marie to drive the pickup, I trust her.”
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“We could take more people, Pete, and limit the number of trips.”
“Right, but we won’t. If we find three tankers, loaded, we could have as much as
48,000-gallons of fuel, depending on the size of the tanker and whether it is a single or
double. Whatever we get will double each time we go to the distributor. We have to
save some space for the biodiesel too. The livestock seems to be partial to the canola
cake.”
“Are you planning on increasing the herds?”
“I just might, I haven’t given it a lot of thought. As it is, we’re up to 30 sows and we have
at least 30 gilts we could breed. Sixty hogs with two litters per year should give us at
least 1,200 market hogs and probably more.”
A sow produces two litters per year and they generally run around 12-13 pigs. Allowing
for piglets killed by the sow, etc., we would easily have 1,200-1,500 hogs per year to
market and enough left over for those of us here on the farm. A cow has one calf, on
average, a year, and it take 2 years to grow it to market weight, roughly 1,250 pounds.
However, Pete had already started growing his milking herd from 30 to 60. The farm
had around 45 yearling cattle and about the same nearing market weight.
Pete’s solution to the beef vs. milk cow problem was to raise a dual purpose cow. The
typical breeds of milk cattle are Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey, Brown Swiss and short-
horn. Beef cattle could include shorthorn, Angus, Beefmaster, Brown Swiss and Texas
Longhorn. The best dual purpose breed was the Brown Swiss and that’s what we grew.
They took longer to produce a calf and were the second largest milk producing breed.
The milk had a high level of butterfat (4%) and protein (3.5%). We made our own Havar-
ti jalapeño pepper cheese.
On the first trip out, we found two tankers at a truck stop, still loaded and a third that
was empty. Pete and Jonas took the empty tanker to the distributor to fill it after adding
the stabilizers to the empty tanks. Mike and Joseph took one full tanker while Marie
drove the pickup and I followed her with the 2nd loaded tanker. The manifests said that
each pair of doubles could carry 9,000-gallons per tank, giving us a net of 54,000-
gallons. A second load in each set of tankers and we’d only need to return once more to
have a reserve in the tankers of the same quantity. I didn’t say that well, but you get the
idea.
In less than 10 days, we had all the diesel fuel we’d need. In our absence, a cupola had
been built on the peak of the old barns’ roofs. It was accessible via two ladders, one up
the side of the barn and a second from the side ladder to the cupola. It was to be
manned 24/7 Juan said. They’d had several drive by’s and had acquired several 3rd
generation night scopes together with a monocular with a magnifier, the ITT NightQuest
6015 Gen 3 Night Vision Monocular with ITT 5× Magnifier Lens F/1.5. We didn’t ask
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where he got the night vision. The night vision could run up to 11 grand although LEO
pricing was around 7. I wasn’t familiar with the NightQuest Monocular. The cupola was
being staffed by all of the teens on the farm and the one across the road.
“Now, after we finish processing the canola into biodiesel, we’ll top off all of the tanks
and not have to worry about electrical usage. Take a day off and we’ll start cultivating.”
“A whole day off? Does that exclude the livestock chores or is it the time we get off after
tending the milking, feeding the stock and so forth?”
“It means I’ll see you the day after tomorrow.”
“I saw that.”
“Saw what?”
“The Day After Tomorrow starring Dennis Quaid.”
“Oh. Go, get out of my sight and come back when I told you.”
I don’t know what other people do on their day off, but in addition to some personal time
that Marie and I had, I spent most of the day splitting the firewood down to kindling size
for the kitchen stove. Marie spent her part of the day baking bread using home ground
wheat. She also used the beans she left soaking overnight to make a large pot of chili
with beans. We ate a fair amount of beans and had finally developed whatever stomach
enzymes needed to prevent large amounts of methane.
We also spent time after supper cleaning all of our firearms, simply because we had the
time and not because they needed it. In my view, it was comparable to motor oil;
change it every 3,000 miles or every 3 months, whichever comes first.
A few changes had been made due to the circumstances. We kept our rifles and shot-
guns in the saddle scabbards and the gun belts draped over the saddle horn. We, none-
theless, carried our military pistols and kept our military rifles handy. We even added
extra ammo to our saddle bags, for all of our guns. Our weapons were always in condi-
tion 1 and our state of mental preparedness was yellow (per Jeff Cooper). Cooper is
best known for his revolutionary work in pistol training, but he favored the rifle for seri-
ous work.
“Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen
of personal weapons.”
“The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus
dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing
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meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In
fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply
cannot be tyrannized.”
“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be
used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while
the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can
certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.” - Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle
The AWB? Yeah, they passed it in 2009; we totally ignored it. They controlled guns and
magazines but forgot to control the ammo. Some states had passed that ammo serial
number legislation, but ammo sales had all but disappeared in its wake. Certain compa-
nies, mostly companies like Black Hills who made military ammo didn’t apply serial
numbers and none of the surplus ammo had serial numbers.
A company named Ammunition to Go had British Radway Green back in early 2009 and
I bought 2 cases of that in addition to the Prvi Partizan. The difference was that the
Radway had 1,500-rounds per case on stripper clips in bandoleers. The ad said:
This is Radway Green British Military surplus .308 / 7.62 NATO ammo. It has a 145gr
FMJ copper jacketed bullet. This ammo was manufactured at the Radway Green Arse-
nal in England, for the British Department of Aerospace. This ammo is stamped with the
NATO cross and L2A2 headstamp. It is brass cased, berdan primed, non-corrosive
and mostly 1990s production. It comes loaded on 5rd stripper clips for use in M14 mag-
azine guides, FAL mag chargers or Enfield 2A rifles. This ammo can be used in any
weapon chambered for 7.62 NATO ammo. This is the best military surplus ammo avail-
able. It is packed in a British 750rd sealed battle pack, enclosed in a military wood crate.
There are ten 75rd. bandoleers enclosed in the battlepack. This is some of the nicest
ammo to come along in years!
It cost $1,000 per case. It made for very good military ammo, but wasn’t sniping ammo.
I had the Black Hills to snipe with. I mentioned it earlier but didn’t dwell on it because I
was saving it for a combat situation. And, of course, we had Mk211 and A-MAX.
Horse soldiers know the poem called Fiddlers’ Green. I wasn’t in the Calvary in Iraq, but
I did memorize the poem.
Halfway down the trail to Hell,

In a shady meadow green
Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped,
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddlers' Green.
Marching past, straight through to Hell

The Infantry are seen.
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Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.
Though some go curving down the trail

To seek a warmer scene.
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.
And so when man and horse go down

Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers' Green.
You know modern Calvary by their black Stetson hats, spurs and occasional sword.
Calvary units (armor) take up collections, sort of like a pool, and buy a sword. Everyone
who contributes has his/her name put in a hat and the winning name gets the sword.
The spurs denote that you belong to the Order of the Spur.
Soldiers serving with Cavalry units (referred to as Troopers) are inducted into the Order
of the Spur after successfully completing a Spur Ride or for having served during com-
bat as a member of a Cavalry unit. Traditionally, each Trooper is presented spurs by
their sponsor at a ceremonial dining in commonly referred to as the Spur Dinner. The
spurs are to be worn with the military uniform during Squadron or Regimental ceremo-
nies and events or as designated by the Cavalry unit commander. In some units, gold
spurs are awarded for combat inductions while silver spurs represent having completed
the Spur Ride. Within the tradition, silver spurs and gold spurs hold a similar relationship
for the cavalry as the Expert Infantryman Badge and the Combat Infantryman Badge
hold in the Infantry. There is no MOS requirement for the Order of the Spur and the or-
der is open to members of foreign militaries serving with US Cavalry units. During the
Spur Ride, candidates will be required to recite from memory the traditional cavalry po-
em, Fiddler’s Green, or other traditions or historical information pertaining to the Caval-
ry.
What made the Radway handy was that it was on stripper clips in bandoleers. A person
could easily carry two bandoleers in a saddle bag along with some Gold Dot and fill the
saddlebag on the other side with ammo for his/her cowboy guns.
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One thing I practiced with the M1A 20-round magazines was loading them with only 18-
rounds. My pistol magazines were different, they were fully loaded, all five of them; and,
the pistol was in condition 1 with the magazine topped off. To this point, we’d not been
in a firefight that lasted very long. With the extra room in my military ammo side, I added
additional loaded magazines, just in case. I could just see myself in a drawn out battle
holding up my hand and saying, “Wait while I reload my magazines.”
As with anything, it could change at any moment and for that reason, Juan had over-
seen the construction of the cupola. In addition to the night vision riflescopes and night
vision binoculars, there was a pair of powerful binoculars, EL 10×42 WB by Swarovski
Optik. The teens loved the observation job because they could sit on a lawn chair and
just look around. It beat working in the garden and shoveling hog manure. Juan said he
had trouble deciding between the extending telescope and the binoculars but had opted
for the binoculars.
If we hadn’t had the observer, I don’t doubt we may have been attacked. With the ob-
server, we made it through the summer and well past harvest season. After delivering
the agreed amount of food and meat, we settled in to produce biodiesel and alcohol.
Working around the clock, we finished that in less than 60 days and then topped off the
diesel tanks. One trip was required to refill one of those 18,000-gallon tankers. Mean-
while, we completed fall plowing, leaving the disking and dragging until spring.
After that, we harvested only enough firewood to replace what we’d burned, around 50
cords total. During the same time, Jonas and Pete each drove a 5 yard dump truck to
Montrose Station and picked up two loads of coal. We had no more than finished with
the firewood than an honest to goodness genuine blizzard blew in. It was the first storm
of the new winter season and, while I can’t prove it, probably set records. Pete called on
the radio and told us not to bother trying to get to the big house until the storm was over.
Instead of chili with beans, Marie went for beef stew and fresh baked bread. I suggested
that after the stew was gone, I had a yearning for tuna and noodle casserole. The great
part about stew was that it improved with age so she fixed the casserole the following
night and we switched back and forth between stew and tuna. When the tuna was fin-
ished, she tried her hand at goulash, American style, with ground beef, onions, tomato
sauce and elbow macaroni. Next the stew ran out and she made chili with beans and
we switched between that and the goulash. One night after we began to get bored with
the leftovers, she fixed breakfast for supper including fried eggs, hash browns, bacon
and toast.
The snow lasted five days but it still was blowing 2 days later. I called Pete and asked if
we should try to make it to the house. He said that we should wait until the blowing
snow cleared and we could see the house from the shack; then, and only then, should
we try to make the trip. Looking out the window showed the snow to be about 3½’ deep.
All of the snowmobiles were at the farm along with the ATVs and Marie and I didn’t have
skis or snowshoes.
119
I called him back and told him that we couldn’t make it if we wanted because the snow
was too deep. He said they’d plow us out and to sit tight for now. So, that’s what we did.
Marie had a project going with her sewing machine and I dug out a good book I hadn’t
read in a while. We also cut back on the amount of food we were eating because we
weren’t active enough to justify the size of the meals we were eating.
It was two weeks before we got plowed out and when we got to the farm I loaded up a
two passenger snowmobile, just in case. Sarah had a large dinner cooking and insisted
we stay and eat with them, Jonas and Molly, Mike and Stephanie.
“What do you plan to do with the empty trailers?”
“Well…they’re all hooked up and doing fine, right?”
“I guess so.”
“I’m not planning on doing anything with them. Someone will show up who we might
want to invite to live on the farm. Someone like Mike and Stephanie for example; where
would we be without a farrier?”
“I have a couple of friends who might take you up on an offer like that, Pete.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner Jonas?”
“They were ok where they were. This has turned into a long drawn-out affair and I tend
to believe that their preps might be running low.”
“Where are they?”
“Waynesville, about 40 miles from here.”
“Logistics people?”
“No, they’re Military Police instructors.”
“Good shots?”
“The best in the outfit. All of them saved for years and bought Springfield Armory Super
Match rifles and only shoot Black Hills ammo in them. They also have M1A Loaded
models, either Remington 870s or Mossberg 590A1s and Para-Ordinance P-14 pistols.
They each have some of those short piston conversions from Bushmaster, too. Every
member of their families has a long gun, pistol and shotgun.”
“Pretty hard to get there with this much snow on the ground.”
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“You give the word and I’ll call them on your radio. We can leave it to them to get to
Camdenton and we can meet them in town. I’m convinced they went to the Fort and
helped themselves; either before or after we went there and cut through the gate. They
had keys, you know.”
“No Jonas, I didn’t know. Help yourself to the radio and try to reach them. Supper is al-
most ready and Sarah will have a hissy if we’re not at the table when she puts the food
on it.”
Jonas turned the radio to a frequency we didn’t use and called. On the third try, he got a
response.
“Jonas, is that you?”
“Roger. How are you doing Andy?”
“It’s been tough. Charlie and Rose aren’t much better off and Bill and Cindy are living on
Meals Refused by Ethiopians.”
“Can you get to Camdenton?”
“Is that where you are?”
“No, but close by. Can you make the trip?”
“We’ll get a snow plow and force our way there if necessary.”
“Have you been to the Fort?”
“Several times. Somebody cut the lock off the gate.”
“That was us. We needed a few things.”
“Want us to bring some T-rats?”
“The E version?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll take all you can carry.”
“Are you short on food?”
“No, but they’d be handy.”
121
The reference was to the B-ration. Specifically the UGR-E. The Unitized Group Ration –
Express (UGR-E) is a compact, self-contained module that provides a complete, hot
meal for 18 Warfighters. With the simple pull of a tab, the food is heated in just 30-45
minutes, and is served in trays to Warfighters like a cook prepared meal. The desire of
field commanders is to provide a high quality group meal as soon as possible. Often,
the logistics system will not provide for food service equipment and cooks to achieve
this objective. Further, in some cases, providing hot food to remote units via insulated
food containers is not practical. Consequently, the UGR-E provides the capability of fur-
nishing a hot meal without the necessity of equipment, cooks, fuel, or power. Combat
units that will benefit the most include small remote groups such as Special Operations
Forces, Signal Corps, Military Police, Artillery, Military Transition Teams, etc. The capa-
bility afforded by the UGR-E offers an alternative to individual meals as the sole source
of subsistence in austere, remote locations.
The UGR EXPRESS (UGR-E) traypack components are thermally processed, pre-
prepared, shelf-stable foods, and currently packaged in hermetically sealed, half-size
steam table containers. There are currently 2 breakfast and 6 lunch/dinner menus. The
module comes complete with all food items and disposable items (cups, compartment
trays, napkins, utensils, and trash bags) necessary to feed 18 individuals. Each menu
provides an average of 1300 kilocalories (12% protein, 38% fat, and 50% carbohy-
drates) per serving. Standard items that are included in all modules are coffee, creamer,
hot sauce, gloves, box cutter, hand cleaner (towelette), dinner trays, dining packets,
trash bags, and heater module. There was also The Unitized Group Ration - Heat and
Serve (UGR-H&S) which served 50 but needed basic kitchen facilities.
They varied the menus from year to year just like they did with the MREs. Some of the
menus were very good, for both the MREs and the UGR-E. Others were difficult to
choke down. If they could bring a truckload of those, it would improve our emergency
LTS food supply. Those traypacks had a shelf life of 18 months at 80° and would last far
longer if stored in the shelter, maybe as much as 36 months.
Sarah had fixed a standing rib roast and slow cooked it all day. She also had baked po-
tatoes and a green bean casserole. We were standing behind our chairs when she put it
on the table. She managed a perfect medium, cooked too much for some and semi-raw
for others, but very good nevertheless. She had chocolate cake with creamed cheese
frosting for desert and we enjoyed it with our coffee. We then turned to the matter of Jo-
nas’s friends.
“Military police? Did they do any time in the sandbox?”
“They did, that’s why they became instructors. They used a lot of MPs in Iraq to protect
the convoys. These guys got back and volunteered to be instructors so the next batch of
MPs going over there would know what to expect and how to handle it.”
“From what Pete said, I assume you were over there for Desert Storm.”
122
“That was nothing compared to what you guys had to put up with Don. It was a different
battle that started with bombing and ended with a 4 day run through the desert testing
the M1A1 Abrams. That M256 gun made most of the difference.”
“Have you noticed how history tends to repeat itself?”
“The world was engaged in an arms race at the turn of the 20 th century, resulting in the
First World War. The Great Depression and Adolph Hitler came next, which eventually
ended the depression. Because we developed nuclear weapons, a new arms race
evolved, taking a brief hiatus when the Soviet Union collapsed. It only took 15 years to
resume the arms race and by that time, it included China, India, Pakistan and North Ko-
rea. Do you think Einstein was right when he said, “I do not know how the third World
War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth – rocks!”
“Only if we run out of ammo Don. Gasoline might be different and we’ll have to switch to
pure ethanol. If you don’t mind bullets made from wheel weights, we should never run
out of bullets. Plus I have more gunpowder than you saw in the basement, the 12 cans
down there and another 24 in the shed. I have no idea how many primers I bought,
thousands. Plus I have molds for 00 buck and slugs.”
“And, when the vehicles wear out?”
“That’s a pretty big herd of horses and we can find some mules to pull a plow. We can
also trash farm to eliminate erosion and limit the amount of soil we disturb.”
“Jonas, any idea about how long your friends will take to get here?”
“How long does it take to plow 40 miles of road, 4-5 hours? They’ll have to get a 5 or 10
ton truck to run and load it with those traypacks, pin down any other ordnance they
want, hook up their travel trailers and drive to Camdenton; three days tops, more likely
two.”
The next morning Marie and I rode the snowmobile back to the house and I started
shoveling snow so the new people could access the trailers. I also raised the tempera-
ture to 65° and stacked large piles of wood for their potbellied stoves. It’s probably not
fair to call them potbellied, they were rectangular and much more efficient than the pot-
bellied stove we had in the hunting shack. The stove would burn coal, wood, pellets and
corn cobs. I finished up just in time for lunch of potato soup and homemade bread.
After lunch I checked all of the propane tanks and topped them off on both farms. I
grabbed Mike and asked if he would ride shotgun so I could go to town and refill the
propane delivery truck. He grabbed his Marlin and climbed in the cab. We stopped by
the Police Department so we could let the Chief know we were refilling the truck.
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“Now you just hold on a minute. Our supply is getting low. You ought to try Lebanon,
they have both Ferrell Gas and AmeriGas plus several retailers.”
“Ok Chief, thanks.”
“What did you mean ok Chief, thanks? We made a deal with them.”
“There are more dealers both wholesale and retail in Lebanon and it’s not that far. I’ll
mention it to Pete and he’ll figure out a new arrangement with the town.”
“But if we’d known, we could have driven the short distance to Lebanon and conserved
our fuel.”
“Mike you’re just looking for a fight; let it go, it will even out in the end. Remind me and I
have Jonas tell his friends to come to Lebanon instead of Camdenton. It’s always nice
to have an ace up your sleeve. I’m beginning to believe that the more guns we have the
better.”
“You already have a lot of guns.”
“I meant shooters, like these 3 MP friends of Jonas.”
“All we’d need to have our own town would be a gas station, a Casey’s General store
and a liquor store.”
“There more than enough Casey’s In Lebanon and Camdenton. And that liquor Pete
makes is some of the best.”
We filled up the delivery truck at Ferrell Gas and headed home. When we got there, I
explained to Pete and Jonas what had happened and Jonas called his friends to change
the meeting place. He caught them just in time. Another thirty minutes and they’d have
been on the road. Pete was po’d and, as usual, it usually boiled down to the same
cause, the chief of police in Camdenton.
This late in the game, I think we’d broken every rule in the book pertaining to living in a
civilized society. However, beginning with the HEMP, the invasion and the nuclear war
most of us felt it no longer mattered. The deal with the town over jars and lids was fall-
ing on hard times. There were no more lids and each year the number of available jars
had dropped. Come canning season this coming year, we’d have a problem.
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Ball and Kerr canning jars are made by Jarden and Canning Pantry is part of Highland
Brands. Should we go after a truckload of jars? Interesting question and it might depend
on what size of truck we could find. Some kind of enclosed delivery truck might be the
best choice, like a 24’ U-Haul truck. My best guess was that the 40’ truck would hold
over two thousand cases of quarts. If they didn’t have enough regular mouth quarts, we
could get pints and regular or wide mouth didn’t matter.
The MPs and their families arrived in Lebanon just before dark. We’d been lucky getting
to Lebanon and attributed it to having cut a path with the propane truck. Each family had
a pickup pulling a closed trailer and the beds of the pickups stacked high. In addition to
the 3 pickups and snowplow, there was a 10-ton HEMTT M977 Cargo Truck pulling a
trailer of similar size.
With it starting to get dark, we needed to get home and after Jonas had a word with the
man driving the snowplow, we headed for home. Despite conditions, we were back just
before sunset and they were shown the trailers. We all pitched in and moved the things
from their pickups and trailers into the mobile homes. With an abundance of caution, we
also moved the contents of the truck, the UGR-Es, to the shelter.
Sarah, Marie, Molly and Stephanie had been working on stock pot of chili with beans
and had baked two pans of corn bread while we unloaded. It was a little cramped in the
house so the kids were set up at the kitchen table and the rest of us at the dining room
table. We’d had bigger crowds and it wasn’t a big problem.
Andy and Mary, Charlie and Rose and Bill and Cindy really seemed like nice folks and
all of the children, mostly teens, were well behaved. Not everyone liked corn bread and
Stephanie sliced a loaf of home baked bread for those that didn’t.
“It isn’t Texas chili, but it sure is good. Thank you Sarah.”
“Are you from Texas Andy?”
“Born and raised. Haven’t been home much, except for when we went down to the bor-
der because of China. Mary is from Oklahoma. Now Bill and Cindy are from Arkansas,
high school sweethearts. Charlie there is from California and Rose is from Arizona.”
“Have you been involved in prepping long Andy,” I asked.
“Got started in 1999 because of the Y2K thing, all three of us, although we didn’t know
each other at the time. We met up in the Sandbox and became friends. When we got
back, all three of us applied for and were accepted as MP instructors at Fort Leonard
Wood.”
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“As it happens,” Bill continued, “we all had similar tastes in firearms and similar thoughts
on preparedness. We’d seen those Designated Marksmen in the sandbox using those
M21s and decided we have one if we could. Anyway, we settled on the Springfield Ar-
mory Super Match because of the stock.”
“I was an Army DM over there fellas. The four Marines living on our other farm were all
Marine DMs. I used the M21 over there but after careful consideration, settled on the
Loaded model. The one thing we’re not short on is guns. Ammo may be a different con-
sideration, eventually.”
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Charlie chuckled, “not with ten tons of ordnance in that trail-
er.”
That got Jonas’s attention. “What did you bring Charlie?”
“M136 is the biggest, Mk211, M1022, 7.62×51mm, 5.56×45mm, 9mm, .45acp, and as-
sorted grenades. We have every color of smoke left in inventory, frags, Thermate, flash
bangs, and tear gas; plus some of those non-lethal shotgun rounds.”
Our head count had increased from 40 to 53. We broke up not long after the meal to let
them get settled in their mobile homes. Marie and I took off for home on the snowmo-
bile. When we left, small snowflakes were falling, but over the course of the half mile,
they went to the size of a quarter, or larger. I put up the snowmobile and filled both
wood boxes in the shack.
“Are we going to have another blizzard?”
“I really don’t know Marie; it looks like we might get another heavy snowfall.”
Back at the house, Pete showed the three soldiers how to build a good fire in their wood
stoves and Jonas and he helped each family bring in enough wood to fill their wood
boxes. By the time they were finished, the house was also getting the quarter sized
flakes and it was coming down something awful.
“Don, are you still up?”
“Yes we are Pete.”
“I think we’re in for the mother of all snowstorms. If you can’t make it tomorrow, just give
me a call.”
“Will do. It’s snowing heavily here.”
126
When we went to bed, it was coming down hard and accumulating. The tracks from the
snowmobile were filled in and the 3½’ deep cut through the snow was beginning to fill.
We didn’t have much wind, maybe 5mph, from the northwest. During the night, the wind
picked up and finally woke me around 3 am. The snow was coming down horizontally
and I couldn’t see anything with my Maglite. I added some wood to the fire and crawled
back into bed.
“What’s up?”
“The wind. We might get another blizzard after all. I added wood to the fire since it’s
pretty cold in here.”
It took me a few minutes to get back to sleep because a second blizzard so soon after
the previous one seemed rather bizarre. But, I drifted off and we didn’t wake until 6:30.
It was immediately apparent that even with the snowmobile, a trip to the house wasn’t
practical. Marie made breakfast while I called Pete and told him what I thought. He
agreed and said he’d plow us out when the snow and wind stopped. After breakfast,
Marie set out an onion and several large potatoes for soup. Next, she started on bread
and asked if French loaves would be ok.
The snow didn’t let up for 4 days and the wind for 6. On the 7th day when he should
have been resting, Pete plowed us out and said to come up to the house for dinner, pot
roast. Marie and I had gone through the French loaves so she started another batch of
bread, intending to take warm bread when we went. I took the opportunity to refill the
wood boxes and change the oil in the generator. The bread came out of the oven and
she wrapped it in tea towels to keep it warm, packing the loaves in a basket.
It turned out that Sarah had baked bread too so we could choose between French
loaves or regular loaves. Marie’s bread followed the French recipe, flour, water, salt and
yeast. The down side was that it didn’t keep unless she made it using her sourdough.
This was more of a business dinner than a family gathering. They’d picked up a ham
radio operator in Idaho talking about the weather. There was another storm following
this one and one behind that. Pete suggested we move to the house temporarily, after
we weatherproofed our plumbing.
“Ok, if that’s what you like. We’ll go home for tonight and pack bags. Tomorrow before
we come up, I’ll drain the lines and add some antifreeze. I can turn off the water at the
well and shut down the genset to save fuel.”
“Bring any canned goods that might freeze.”
“I’ll have to use the pickup for that, but it will take a bit longer.”
“How are the guys from Texas doing?”
127
“Complaining about the cold, about like you’d expect. They’ve been talking to someone
they know down in San Antonio. After that China-Mexico thing, race relations down
there have really gotten bad. Joseph said it mostly involved gangs, Latino vs. Aryan, but
it’s been bad.”
There used to be a show on History Channel called Gangland. The show reported the
history of the various gangs around the US, usually focusing on one gang per week.
There were some bad actors out there; they’d kill for having the wrong color of bandana
or tattoo. And sometimes, they didn’t seem to need a reason and would kill you just for
being you. Since Joseph said Aryan rather than Anglo, it was two gangs facing off, per-
haps the Aryan Brotherhood and Mara Salvatrucha. MS-13 had spread all over the US
since starting in LA. We had no idea which gang had attacked us earlier and the only
thing knew for sure was they were all dead.
In 1993, San Antonio FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Jeff Jamar called El Eme, often now
the name given to the gang on the street, “the most dominant of the prison-spawned
gangs operating in Texas,” when comparing it to the 10 other large-scale gangs active
in US prisons at the time. In 1992, membership within prison was hovering at 700, while
in 1998 it was just under 1,500. Today it continues to rise. Outside of prison, La EME is
still an ominous presence, responsible for 10% of San Antonio's total homicide rate, with
thousands of members estimated to be operating across the United States. You know
who Jamar is, you just may not know that you know. He was the FBI man in charge at
the Branch Davidian Compound. He lied about what happened and had the place dozed
before the Texas Rangers could gather evidence.
While Marie and I had been snowed in, Pete and Jonas had done a head count and de-
termined that of the 53 people here, 40 would be our primary force with 8 in reserve and
5 working only in support, tending to the injured and carrying ammo, ordnance or water.
With nearly 5’ feet of snow on the ground and more on the way, I couldn’t see any way
we be doing any fighting until spring.
After dinner, we left so we could get home and pack the canned goods into boxes, pack
our suitcases and gather the clothes we might need or want, like our cowboy duds like
the slickers and dusters plus both our felt and straw hats. I don’t like walking around in
those cowboy boots with their high narrow heels and wear the Wally World work boots
most of the time, unless I’m riding. I don’t care where they’re made; they’re well-made
and reasonably inexpensive.
The storm rolled in two days later and of the three storms this year, was the worst,
dropping 55” of snow and having winds of 40mph gusting to 60. Eventually, we strung a
rope from the house to the barn to keep from getting lost. Coming from a bit further
north, I’d seen a few snow storms and a blizzard, but nothing like 3 blizzards in a row.
The coal furnace kept the house warm and most days it served as the community cen-
ter of sorts. After the chores were done and everyone had eaten breakfast, at home,
they’d come to the house for coffee and conversation. The men would separate into one
128
group and tell war stories and the women in another group and work on a meal, sew,
gossip or a combination of all three.
Some of the meals utilized the UGR-Es, making for quick meals but most of the meals
contained only what we produced on the farm. The farms on both sides of the road had
their own gardens and each did their own canning. We’d finally run out of jars and some
of the garden produce was frozen. I checked the map and Hyrum, Utah is north of Salt
Lake City. According to the map legend, it is a small town. It’s not far from Montpelier,
ID (80 miles) so maybe we should take a 40’ box trailer and a bag of gold with 3 riding
shotgun and 1 driving. In about 4 months, that is.
After the storm ended, we had just enough clear days to plow the snow and push it into
the ditch across from the driveway. The snow on the road had settled and was only
about 50” deep, as Pete put it, four foot and a smidgen. The next storm blew in almost
before we’d cleaned up from the second storm and it was worse. The temperature hov-
ered around 30° while it snowed and blew. Then, as it cleared, it fell to 0° while it
snowed and blew. Then, as it stopped snowing, it fell to 30° below zero and the wind
whipped up.
“What’s going on?”
“Global cooling, like in that movie?”
“Which movie?”
“I mentioned it before, The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid.”
“That movie was nonsense, Don; temperatures don’t fall that fast.”
“How would you explain the temperature falling 60° in 12 hours?”
“A cold front?”
“In the autumn months, cold fronts rarely bring severe thunderstorms, but are known for
bringing heavy and widespread rainstorms. These rainstorms sometimes bring flooding,
and can move very slowly because cold fronts are more prone to slow movement in the
fall. In the winter, cold fronts can bring severe cold spells, and heavy snowstorms. If
moisture is not sufficient, cold fronts can pass without producing any precipitation at all,
and the skies could be cloudless. Cold fronts do not produce the moisture; it will just
condense against the cold air into cloud and rain droplets if there is enough water vapor
in either air mass. Because the cold air wedges under the warm air, it forces it to rise,
creating instability,” Jonas replied.
“Cold fronts are the leading edges of a frigid air mass, hence the name cold front. They
can bring several cold spells in the fall and winter. Very often, cold fronts are associated
with deadly cold weather. Sometimes, though, cold fronts have no significant effect on
129
the weather. The cold fronts in the late fall become more polar in nature, and tend to
bring very cold weather, and temperature drops by up to 30°F. When cold fronts come
through, there is usually a quick, yet strong gust of wind, which shows that the cold front
is passing. The effects from a cold front can last only a few hours to several weeks, de-
pending on when the next weather front comes through. The air behind the font is cool-
er than the air it is replacing. The warm air is forced to rise so it cools. As the cooler air
cannot hold as much moisture as warm air, clouds form and snow occurs.”
130
“Would they drop the temperature that much Jonas?”
“I just said 30°, not 60°. I think that there has to be more to this than a cold front, Pete.”
“I don’t think it’s the nuclear winter; we’ve already done that.”
“Don, you were talking about a second nuclear winter,” Marie pointed out.
“I also said that I thought it was done, didn’t I?”
“I didn’t hear you say that.”
“Maybe I just thought it. I know I wrote it in my diary.”
“Any way you slice it, it’s damned cold.”
“Is this the beginning of some sort of pattern?”
“I read about a volcano erupting a long time back. It was the summer Mary Shelley
wrote Frankenstein.”
“That was Mount Tambora in the western Pacific. It changed the weather all over the
world. Shelley and two others went to Switzerland for the summer and it turned cold. To
entertain themselves, they had a writing contest. The fella with her was the man she
later married, Percy Shelley and they were visiting Lord Byron. The bad weather was a
volcanic winter.”
“Well, you don’t suppose that some volcano erupted do you?”
“I suppose it could have happened. Let’s increase our radio watch to 24/7 and see what
we can pick up. IIRC, they had snow in New England in June in 1816, the year after the
eruption.”
“That would be just perfect, a volcanic winter on top of a nuclear winter that was just
beginning to clear.”
“At least it wasn’t Yellowstone. We’d have heard the eruption and be getting ash by
now.”
“Pete, that’s like trying to make a silk purse outta a sow’s ear.”
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“We’re just speculating; if we’re right, we going to have a year or two more of bad win-
ters. The old saw says, “Red sky in morning, sailors warning; red sky at night, sailors
delight.”
“Our new National Weather Service?”
“Not entirely, there’s the weather station in the shelter. There is something to do with the
barometric pressure and cold fronts, I have to look it up to be sure, but I think that be-
fore the cold front occurs, the pressure falls, while it passes the pressure is at the lowest
and begins to rapidly increase. After it passes the pressure continues to increase.”
It was pure speculation on our part; it could have been an extension of the nuclear win-
ter or a volcanic winter. Absent any way to find out, that was all we could do. The snow-
storms continued and most were accompanied with high winds, leading to blizzard con-
ditions. It led to a serious problem when spring came, mud. We couldn’t get into the
fields to plant anything and the garden went in very late. For the most part, we had to
depend on the greenhouses for freshly grown food.
Since they had dirt floors, we could plant potatoes. With more mouths to feed, the spuds
became an important part of our diet, adding bulk. We were ahead of the curve on
canned food and using it up would provide more of the jars we needed. It was unlikely
we’d make the trip to Hyrum or Montpelier. Unfortunately, we couldn’t produce much
food for Camdenton. About the only thing we could provide them with was an assort-
ment of meat and seeds to try their own gardens.
“The roads are clear; I think we should try it.”
“Try what?”
“The trip to Utah and Idaho; who knows when it will snow again? I say get the stuff while
the getting is good.”
“Whatever you say Uncle Pete. Two semis?”
“That should do it; on second thought, let’s take three because they may have a lot of
the LTS food left in Idaho. We’ll use one of the Hummers to pull that 1,000 gallon diesel
tanker so we don’t run out of fuel.”
That was a good idea because the maximum range of an M1114 was 275 miles. It was
almost 1,300 miles to Hyrum and another 80 to Montpelier. I doubted 1,000-gallons of
diesel would be enough and suggested that to Pete.
“Well, find a second 1,000-gallon tanker and we’ll pull two.”
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Camdenton traded us the tanker for a live beef. A spare tire went for one hog each, re-
gardless of the size of the tire. That came after we told them that we were making a trip
looking for food because we couldn’t plant the fields this year. The Chief of Police was
getting the full price for his Thompson, a little at a time. Marie and I took the Hummer
with the M240. The other Hummers sported the M2A1s. If we’d have been smart, we’d
have picked up an Mk-19 from Fort Leonard Wood.
Before we left, Pete imposed the rationing of electricity for a second time to reduce our
biodiesel usage. Then, we saddled up and headed west. We skirted every major city
along the way; some had been hit with a warhead and others just because. Our main
route was I-80 and we planned to take it to I-15 to get to Salt Lake City. We bypassed
Omaha and picked the interstate up in Lincoln. We were good until we got to Cheyenne
where there’d been several strikes. We bypassed Salt Lake City and arrived in Hyrum
about 24 hours after we left.
We took all of the canning jars at the location plus all of the lids. We also took an addi-
tional 10 41.5 quart All American canners and every package of canning spice we could
find. Since they also sold other products, we took advantage of the price and loaded
half of the second semi-trailer. I think we’re going to need another building on the farm.
From there, we drove north to Montpelier. This place wasn’t abandoned and we had to
buy their products with gold. The bright side was that they were valuing gold at $2,250
an ounce. The down side was they wouldn’t sell us all we wanted, at any price. We
loaded every super pail they’d sell us and all of Mountain House foods available. We
had also picked up motorized Country Living Mills in Hyrum and could grind all of the
grain.
“It sure would be nice if I could get the price they charge for wheat from the crops we
grow.”
“Think positively, we picked up a lot of beans and rice. We can grow beans, but rice
wouldn’t be easy.”
“They oughtta carry coffee, they’d get rich.”
“Same thing with toilet paper, if you think about it.”
“We have plenty of toilet paper from Wisconsin and coffee since we went to the Folgers
plant. That police chief is starting to get on my nerves. I’m glad we didn’t tell him about
some of those trips we made.”
That was our only trip that summer and we got back with the jars just in time, the garden
dried off and began producing. Sarah and the other women had a discussion in our ab-
sence and had decided that they didn’t really want to provide food to the people in
Camdenton because it didn’t seem to be appreciated. Given the limitation of our storage
space, they relented but rotated the canned goods, selling the oldest.
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We could get through this winter with our supply of livestock feed, principally because of
the canola cake. Pete started looking for another section of land to use for canola; we’d
need a lot of biodiesel to replenish what we were burning. When he couldn’t find suita-
ble acreage, we started emptying the truck stop tanks, adding PRI products and the an-
ti-gelling solution. The tanks were nearly full when it began snowing again.
With three men for escorts, Marie, Sarah, Molly and the others hauled load after load of
canned goods and whole grains to Camdenton. They traded three of the motorized
Country Living Mills and told them to grind their own flour and corn meal. They also pro-
vided an oats roller (flaker) to make oatmeal. They, in turn, got back the empty canning
jars but no lids. We had more lids than we could use and what we had might expire be-
fore we could use them up.
Any jar that failed to seal would have the lid replaced and canned a second time and the
resulting vegetable designated for stews. The one thing that they could can all winter
was meat and with a total of 12 All American pressure canners, and a large number of
stock pots, that’s what they did; canning principally beef and chicken. Pork bellies and
loins were brined and smoked for bacon, picnics and hams were brined and smoked for
ham and the hocks brined and smoked to add to beans. The pork chucks, called butts,
were sliced on the saw to make pork steak for the freezers. The turkeys were butchered
and frozen.
The town bought the LTS food from Idaho and paid a heavy price because Pete wanted
to be compensated for the time, fuel and risk involved in securing those supplies. He
wanted every ounce of his gold back to pay for those LTS foods and more. Included
therein were several cases of the heirloom seeds if someone in town just grew enough
to allow them to harvest seeds.
Only the ⅛ mile of road between the two farms was kept open, and if time permitted the
½ mile to the shack. We logged until the weather forced us to shut down and brought
coal from the power plant on Montrose Lake. We were, indeed, very well off, consider-
ing the snow was ass deep on a 9’ Indian. The locker plant continued to process our
meat for the freezer in the same proportion as before, helping to keep our freezers filled
and giving them meat to sell in town.
Most of the folks who hadn’t been able to get off the farm were developing serious cas-
es of cabin fever and several of us began to discuss what we might be able to do to
eliminate or ameliorate the matter. A community center would help and we talked about
where to locate it, settling on our side of the road, across from the other farm. There
was a 20 some acre field, pasture according to Pete.
“If we do that, we can park all of the extra vehicles there behind the building. It’s getting
very cluttered around here.”
134
“Do you think we might be able to put in a large kitchen, Pete?”
“What for Marie?”
“We could concentrate our canning operation if we could get a minimum of 12 propane
burners. You can get an extra propane tank can’t you?”
“Probably. We can move the 90kw generator, find another diesel tank, run a water line
and install a septic system. I’d rather get a modular steel building to reduce the con-
struction time. We could look around for a large screen TV, VHS/DVD/Blu-ray player
and maybe a juke box, assuming they still make jukeboxes. What else would you like in
the center?”
“If we have a kitchen, we could always have a grill, oven, deep fat fryer, a toaster, a re-
frigerator and upright freezer. We’d need furniture for the TV area, tables and chairs for
the dining area, restaurant equipment, barware and maybe a CO2 pressured beer dis-
penser.”
“We’ll try to track down a building Marie. You can come up with a list of furnishings.”
“I’ll work on it.”
“From now on, no one leaves the farm without full battle rattle.”
I had to groan, wearing full battle rattle wasn’t any fun.
“What’s full battle rattle?”
“In addition to what you usually wear and/or carry, full battle rattle is army slang for
wearing full body armor, approximately 50 pounds of it. We’ll be wearing Point Blank
body armor with level IV plates.”
135
“Interceptor?”
“Yeah. Thank Jonas for that.”
“Do we have enough?”
“We have around $150,000 worth; more than enough to go around.”
“How did you come by that?”
“The Army declared the Interceptor obsolete in 2006 and replaced it with the Improved
Outer Tactical Vest. The Corps replaced their Interceptor with the Modular Tactical
Vest. I directed shipments of new Interceptor to my storage bin. Besides, the armor it-
self isn’t what’s so heavy, it’s the extras you hang on it. It’s brand new, still packed in
the plastic wrapping that prevents aging.”
“Why the sudden change Pete?”
“We’ll be moving farther afield to get what we need for the community center. We’ll be
traveling in smaller groups. Plus the folks in Camdenton can’t be happy with what we
were able to provide them with in terms of food.”
Interceptor came in multiple sizes and it took a few days to get everyone set up with
their body armor. Time was on our side, Marie was busy making lists and Pete and Jo-
nas were discussing their options for locating, transporting and erecting the community
center. Those of us not directly involved did the chores and did our best to stay out from
underfoot. The youngest person among the group was 13 and the small size Interceptor
fit them, but was almost too much for them to wear.
We still had no idea of what was behind the severe weather. The most common specu-
lation was a volcano erupting somewhere that had filled the atmosphere with dust. To
make matters worse, radio reception was poor and when we did manage to contact a
far off source, they usually spoke a language we couldn’t understand. French and Eng-
lish may be the official languages of the UN, but not everybody in the world was a UN
representative and there was no UN since the war when New York had been destroyed.
Even a bad thing like a GTW has it good points.
“We have decided to assemble a Butler Building. Butler Manufacturing Company –

Regional Manufacturing Locations are located in Annville, PA; Jackson, TN; Laurinburg,
NC; Monterrey, Mexico; San Marcos, TX and Visalia, CA. I think we’ll try Jackson first.”
“And, if they don’t have what we need?”
136
“San Marcos. We’ll need 3 flatbeds, 4 hummers, 3 fuel trailers and 3 persons per vehi-
cle. We’ll get another Hummer at Leonard Wood and equip this one with an Mk19. We’ll
also need 3 M2HBs so we can leave the M2A1 machineguns here. We’ll go there as
soon as the roads clear enough to let us get there.”
“Why wait, we have that snow plow Jonas’s friends used to get here.”
“If the snow let’s up, we’ll try it. Good thinking and it will save a trip later. We’ll use the
10-ton HEMTT M977 Cargo Truck and pull that military trailer. We’d better get the last
of it before someone else figures out that the Fort is deserted.”
“Let’s look around for a tanker while we’re at it.”
“Would a M978 2,500 gallon fuel tanker be large enough?”
“Sure Jonas, but I’d still want to pull the 2 1,000-gallon tankers.”
It was a month before we got to the Fort. As the snow began to settle or melt due to the
sun, we began our trek to Jackson, TN. Jackson is just south of I-40 and about ⅓ of the
way from Memphis to Nashville. We got lucky in one way and unlucky in another. Oh,
we found a building package that was perfect for our needs; what we didn’t find were
the furnishings we wanted that Marie had listed. Never give a woman a blank piece of
paper and tell her to list what she wants. Her list included:
2 six burner Viking stoves with ovens

1 pizza oven
1 Frymaster two well deep fat fryer
1 Grill
Restaurant size toaster
Walk-in freezer
Walk-in refrigerator
Assorted pots and pans including commercial 1½# bread pans
Assorted kitchen utensils and knives with sharpener
Restaurant grade china and 18 gauge stainless steel flatware
8’ folding tables
Padded folding chairs (stackable will do)
Large screen plasma TV – at least 50”
VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray player
In addition to the equipment list, we needed basic furnishings like a hot water heater,
bathroom fixtures for two bathrooms (sink and stool, at least), a large multi-fuel (wood
and coal) furnace, air conditioning, lighting, electrical fixtures and so forth. Our take on
the list was that Marie intended to move some of the home based tasks to the Commu-
137
nity Center, like baking bread and, of course, canning. With that in mind, we got a slight-
ly larger building so we’d have enough storage space.
It took all three trucks just to haul the building back to the farm, so we had an excuse for
not getting the things Marie had listed. We discussed alternatives on the way home and
decided on trying Springfield for the shopping. As soon as the first truck was unloaded,
we sent it and a Hummer to Springfield, list in hand. They returned 10 days later with
everything on the list plus the basic furnishings.
In the meantime, we had leveled a spot, dug footings, formed and poured them. We had
also installed a new septic system with an extra-large tank and large leach field. We
made a private deal with a well driller from Camdenton and he drilled a new deep well
that could put out 35gpm of good water. He got a side of beef, a hog, grain and a grind-
ing mill plus some of the LTS food from Idaho. We hadn’t installed any plumbing, yet.
We needed to see what we’d need for the furnishings. We did get the pipes and wiring,
though.
Early on, they’d found a Viking dealer. Viking makes a wide range of products intended
for home use. Instead of the walk-in refrigerator and freezer, they got multiple Viking re-
frigerators only or freezers only. The stoves were the six-burner 60” with ovens and they
brought back three, all gas. The pizza ovens were used and came from a closed up piz-
za kitchen. Viking equipment was originally designed for the home, not a restaurant. In
late 2008, Viking finally began manufacturing actual restaurant equipment.
Some of the things on the list came from a restaurant supply firm. Not realizing that we
were gathering wiring and plumbing pipes, they went to both electrical suppliers and
plumbing suppliers. When they couldn’t find a combined VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray, they opted
for a DVD/VHS unit and separate Blu-Ray player. The TV was a Pioneer Elite - KURO /
60" Class / 1080p / 60Hz / Plasma HDTV, Model: PRO-151FDl. They brought 2 in case
one went bad. Ultimately, we used both; one hooked to the VHS/DVD player and the
other to the Blu-Ray player. But, I’m getting ahead of the events as they occurred. For a
second summer, the fields were too muddy to plant. One group began to search for
abandoned farms with supplies of livestock feed. Our group began the task of erecting
the steel building.
Our first step was to install the water, septic and gas lines. We then poured the build-
ing’s floor. After a few days of letting the concrete set up so we could walk on it, we be-
gan to erect the building, using a crane we borrowed from the city yard. The building
had 12’ high walls and a peaked roof allowing us to use some of the attic for storage. It
took about 3½ weeks to erect the building and add the roof. We installed outer doors
and an airlock so we wouldn’t gain heat in the summer or lose heat during the winter.
We then moved the generator which had been freshly rebuilt using a parts kit from
Cummins in Springfield. The orientation of the building was east-west and we planned
to install PV panels as soon as we could locate enough of them, charge controllers, in-
138
verters and new deep cycle gel-cell batteries. For now, we simply wired the place put in
bathroom walls and furnishings plus the various kitchen furnishings.
“What we need here is a counter with stools and maybe a few booths,” Jonas remarked.
“Don, Jonas, you and I are going to Springfield for more shopping. I wonder if that res-
taurant supply firm had any booths or stools.”
“I’ll ask the guys and find out. They’re out looking for feed, but I can use the radio.”
They said they saw booths but were unsure about the stools. They did see a café coun-
ter in the warehouse. I related that to Jonas who told Pete and we were off the next day
for additional equipment. We left it to the others to finish installing the kitchen equipment
and entertainment equipment. Once we arrived in Springfield, we didn’t go to the restau-
rant supply. Instead, Pete got the yellow pages and we started to clean out coffee ser-
vices offices of coffee, tea and a large Bunn commercial coffee maker. Only then did we
go to the restaurant supply; where we got the booths, counter and 12 stools.
We made one more stop, to a company that had a juke box service. We got the ma-
chine and one of every music DVD we could find. The jukebox had a computer that
could be programmed with the discs and song tracks on each one. We had quite the
assortment, Country, Pop, Rock, Jazz, Bluegrass and a Misc category. The machine
was Touch Tunes digital juke box. When we got back, we put three of the teens on the
project of programming the juke box because it would take a long time to load 1,000
DVDs and the approximate 10,000 songs they contained.
The outside garden went in late and produced limited crops. The two medium sized
greenhouses could have produced more, had we gotten larger buildings. They were all
we could find at the time in Springfield. Since we couldn’t produce canola, after the
building was done, we refilled our tanks from the tanks at the truck stop. We stuck them
after we were done and they averaged about 75% empty. We have to find another
source if we couldn’t plant canola next year. Let me back up.
Quote Plus the folks in Camdenton can’t be happy with what we were able to provide
them with in terms of food. End Quote
He had that right. While we were working on the building, the Police Chief came out to
remind us that they’d need a fair amount of food.
“Then grow it Chief! You see those fields? They’re all mud and we can’t plant. You see
that miserable garden we planted this year? Even with the food we’re growing in the
greenhouses, we’re barely growing enough for ourselves. We have over fifty people
here and we come first.”
139
“You can’t make another trip and get more food?”
“First off, we mostly cleaned them out. Second off, we’re low on diesel fuel because we
can’t make biodiesel this year. Finally, it’s too late in the year to make a trip to Montpel-
ier, Idaho.”
“You seem to have plenty of time to build buildings.”
“We’re not building it, we’re assembling it. It’s a Butler building that we got in Jackson,
Tennessee. We got the things to equip it in Springfield.”
“Do tell. Why do you need it?”
“That’s not really your concern, now is it?”
“You miss my point. Why aren’t you out looking for more food?”
“We needed this building and will have enough for our needs.”
“Now see here, Pete, we need that food. If you won’t give it up, we may be forced to
come and take it!”
“I’d sure like to see you try, Chief. We’re rounding up some grain and can sell you some
of that along with the meat; I’m not sure we can provide everything you need or that we
have a responsibility to do so.”
“I’m beginning to regret giving you the Thompson.”
“I didn’t ask for it, but I’m willing to give it back, one bullet at a time.”
“Is that a threat?”
“More like a promise. Is there anything else? If not, we’d like to get back to assembling
the building. When harvest is over and we have an idea of what food we can spare,
we’ll bring it to town and sell it like we have in the past.”
One thing was clear, the food wouldn’t be a gift and Pete wasn’t willing to barter for la-
bor. He’d said at one time that he didn’t need a bunch of townies on the farm screwing
things up. Besides, with only two sections of land and a population of 53, we didn’t need
any help.
With everything completed except a final garden harvest, the residents spent a little time
on the range. We then saddled up every horse we had 4 years old or older, split up and
rode the fence lines, making repairs as needed. They returned the crane and picked up
140
the two large dump trucks for another trip to Montrose Station to get more coal. Most of
us went to the timber and harvested the deadfalls and standing dead trees. If the winter
stayed cold this year, we’d need lots of fuel.
141
As soon as the kitchen was installed in the community center, the canning operation
was moved there. We found a 3,300-gallon propane tank, filled it then got another load
and topped off the propane tanks on both farms. A third trip to Lebanon filled the deliv-
ery trucks.
The results of the search for livestock feed were moderately successful. We got a lot of
alfalfa hay, some corn, soybeans and oats. We bagged several bags of the three grains
and added 500-pounds each of rice and pinto beans plus a small portion of the canned
vegetables. The livestock went to the locker plant with the usual deal and Pete worked a
deal with a grocery store to retail the other food. We finished everything just in time with
an early snowstorm hitting the week after harvest.
While we had a mechanic, we were short on repair parts and the arrangement with the
grocery store was a barter arrangement for a long list of repair parts. We delivered the
food on trust and the store owner put several of his clerks on locating the parts. That
included motor oil, grease, gas, air and oil filters plus several sets of new disc brakes,
glow and sparkplugs and a few fancier repair parts like tie rods, shocks and so forth.
We waited until we were all locked down for the winter before opening the community
center. The center had the best menu in the rural area and the food was free although
tips were greatly appreciated for those running the kitchen. That was done by the fe-
male half of our group, but only because they were much better cooks. We men folk
pitched in and helped with chores like grinding the grain. The teens were still working on
the juke box and didn’t expect it to be fully programmed for a few more months.
We built shelves for the VHS tapes, DVD movies and Blu-Ray movies. We also built
shelves to hold much of the canned goods and kept our potatoes and onions bagged
down in the shelter. We used the ventilation system to draw in cold air so we could
maintain a temperature close to 40°. The kitchen was very well stocked and had such
amenities as a wall mounted French fry cutter, baked hamburger and hot dog buns to
complement our supply of franks the locker plant made for us using the pig intestines. In
addition the locker plant had a machine to turn out ¼ pound hamburger patties made
from extra lean ground beef (15%). The final product they produced when we requested
it was breaded pork tenderloins.
We soon realized that we didn’t have enough freezer space and Pete, Jonas and I went
back to Springfield and picked up 2 more Viking upright freezers. On the way back, a
blizzard started to blow and we were fortunate to make it home.
While the initial intent was to stop using the big house as a meeting place and using the
new building for the coffee klatch, it soon became apparent that people were asking for
sandwiches around lunch time. It wasn’t as if we hadn’t anticipated it; we did. However,
it was surprising how many people wanted to eat there and have some genuine restau-
rant food.
142
One unusual feature of the building was the rifle racks and pegs for hanging web gear.
Not your typical community center. And yes, we were still operating with full battle rattle
except when we were doing chores. Even then, it was handy and was like an American
Express Card.
Near Thanksgiving, the grocery radioed and asked about turkeys. If we could provide
them he wanted 50, all around 25–pounds. He’d go 2 ounces of gold for the 50. We re-
alized that was $60 per bird wholesale so we started slaughtering and cleaning 55 birds.
He went on to explain that the town had decided to have one large Thanksgiving cele-
bration and he estimated 50 birds that size would give most everyone about 8 ounces of
turkey. We delivered 52 birds to town and got set up to have a community
Thanksgiving of our own at the community building.
There was some discussion about that event in town and Pete and Jonas decided we’d
better keep a guard patrol running, just in case. BTW, the road between the hunting
shack and the house was kept clear, as was the ⅛ mile of road between the two farms
and the access to the community building. I don’t believe I mentioned the culvert and
driveway between the road and the community building, although you should have tak-
en that for granted. Others installed that while we were building shopping. There was
also a graveled parking lot.
Marie and I had come a long way from when I asked her if she double bought staples, a
lifetime ago. We were better off in every way imaginable and had even managed to pick
up a few tenth ounce gold coins ourselves and about $200 in face value pre-65 silver
coins. Because most of the others had family, we volunteered to ride guard during
Thanksgiving Dinner and allow the others with children to have some family time. Over
time, a second scabbard had been added to hold the shotguns and on Thanksgiving I
was wearing my Miami Classic rig with the P-14 and carrying the M1A across the sad-
dle. Marie had her Beretta in a 1942 Tanker holster with her Mini-14 across her saddle.
We both had Motorola radios and saddlebags loaded with extra ammo, just in case.
There was a very light snowfall coming down although it didn’t restrict visibility. We rode
a circuit starting at the farm across from the community building and down and back
along the fence on the farm. We then did the same with the other farm, after which we
started the circuit over. We had made it all the way to the end of the property and had
started back when a bullet whizzed past my ear. We broke into a gallop to put some dis-
tance between the shooter and us before pulling up and radioing the community build-
ing.
“This is Don. We have shots fired about a quarter mile from the end of the property. I
don’t see anyone but they have to be out there. We’ll tie the horses and make our stand
here.”
“This is Jonas; we’ll be there ASAP, maybe 15 minutes.”
143
Just then, another shot rang out, kicking up a little snow where it hit between the two of
us.
“Marie, take the M1A and I’ll get the shotguns.”
“Be careful.”
“You know me.”
“I do; that’s why I said be careful.”
It took a minute to loosen the saddlebags and grab the shotguns. I left the Marlins in the
other scabbards figuring that if we needed them we were in deep do-do.
A third shot came and Marie said, “I see him. About 400 yards down the road in a
pickup. I can’t tell how many there are.”
A fourth shot came from a different firearm indicating there were at least 2 shooters.
“This is Jonas. How are you doing?”
“Ok for now, but there are at least 2 shooters. I’m going for the one I can make out with
my M1A.”
“Hold on a minute, we’re bringing up the Hummer with the Mk-19. Don’t expose your-
self.”
Sure enough, the Hummer was coming up and was nearly abreast of us. It was a short
burst, thump, thump, thump. The pickup exploded in a ball of flames and whoever was
aboard it didn’t have a chance. The second Hummer, with a M2HB mounted, passed
the first Hummer and moved closer, just in case. Eventually, the fire burned itself out
and there wasn’t much left besides the hull of the vehicles and 3 badly charred bodies.
The driver was wearing a Police badge and closer inspection revealed Chief. One of the
two in the back was also wearing a Police badge, but without the distinctive marking.
The third person had no badge, and was a woman. I hadn’t seen bodies like this since
Iraqi Freedom and I lost my appetite for turkey. Marie hadn’t gone with me to investi-
gate, fortunately.
We rode back to the barn and unsaddled. I told Marie to go eat and I’d rub down the
horses and bring our gear. I was in no hurry, taking my time. I gathered her Mini-14, my
M1A plus both shotguns and walked to the community center. Since I still didn’t have
much of an appetite, I made a turkey sandwich and put a little of the other things like
mashed potatoes, dressing and gravy on a plate. It sure was good and before I knew it,
I had cleaned my plate and refilled it with some of the things I hadn’t taken the first time,
sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce, plus a second turkey
sandwich.
144
The four from Texas, Joseph, Rick, Juan and Jose took the second guard shift, using
two Hummers; the same two that had responded to our call. Mike and one other, I don’t
know which one, rode shotgun with them. I hadn’t realized it and no one said anything,
but I had a bullet cut in my slicker and tear in the duster I was wearing underneath. Jo-
nas saw it and said he could fix me right up. He got a roll of duct tape in a color match-
ing my slicker, yellow, and patched the rip.
Duct tape's versatility and holding power are evidenced by its nickname in engineering
circles: the ultimate material. It is commonly used in situations that require a strong,
flexible adhesive, particularly when exposure to the elements is a concern. A more spe-
cialized product, commonly known as gaffer tape, is preferred in entertainment circles,
as it does not leave a sticky residue when removed and is more easily torn into thin
strips for precise application. Gaffer tape comes in assorted colors. While the repair was
barely noticeable, I vowed to get a new slicker and duster when we towed the pickup to
Camdenton.
On Black Friday, we loaded the pickup shell with the bodies on a lowboy and made the
trip to Camdenton. We pulled in front of the Police Department, hooked a chain on the
pickup axle and around a light pole and pulled the lowboy forward, letting the pickup
and bodies crash to the ground. Marie and I headed to the store for my replacement
clothing while the others, in the 4 Hummers took questions. There really wasn’t much to
say, you mess with the bull, you get the horn. And, no, we don’t have any more food.
As it was, we need to be looking for food for ourselves if the weather didn’t let up. We
hadn’t tried looking for grocery delivery trucks and by now, everything canned or bottled
would be spoiled. When a clear spot in the weather did come, we did, in fact go looking
for staples. During the 3 weeks we looked, we found around a ton of bread flour, 300-
pounds of general purpose flour, about 500-pounds corn meal, lentils, pinto, and navy
beans, Quaker Oats, yeast jars and shortening and oil plus several cases of coffee and
tea.
It appeared that some of the trucks had been salvaged early on because they were
empty. Others had been salvaged later and all of the staples removed. Our biggest find
was a truck loaded with PV panels, charge controllers, inverters and deep cycle batter-
ies with the electrolyte stored separately. We hooked our tractor to that trailer and
brought it home. Rather than look further, we paused to install our new electrical sys-
tem. I welded racks for the batteries while others installed PV panels and ran the wiring.
The panels were ~27v and the batteries 12v. We used the battery cables we found in
the trailer to connect several rows of 2 batteries in series in a parallel network.
Each panel had a maximum output of 200 watts and we had 200 panels. We could pro-
duce 40kw and store it in batteries for use as needed. We installed the ATS so the gen-
erator would kick in when the inverters didn’t produce enough power. Up to now, we’d
been fueling the generator directly from a 10,000-gallon tanker. Jonas and Pete decided
to go looking for another underground, double walled fuel tank and bigger was better.
145
This warranted another trip to Conroe, Texas where we left 10,000-gallon tanks sitting.
Our reading of PAW fiction was paying off big time.
After much discussion, we decided to take 3 trucks like the last time and get all of the
large tanks we could find. Nobody could remember how many 10,000-gallon tanks we’d
left. Once we arrived, we found 2 tanks. Jonas asked if we wanted to try a trip to Bren-
ham, TX which was to the west.
“What’s in Brenham?”
“Ever hear of a place named Ammunition to Go?”
“Sure have; is that where they are?”
“Yep. We’ll need gold to buy the ammo in case anyone is there. They had all kinds of
ammo after that big run in late 2008 and 2009. It included everything from military sur-
plus to exotic shotgun ammo.”
“What kind of military surplus?”
“Radway Green, for one. In stripper clips in bandoleers in battle packs in wooden
crates.”
“I bought some of the Radway, good ammo; it was expensive, a grand for 1,500-rounds
plus shipping.”
“You want to check the place out?”
“If it’s ok with Pete, sure.”
The man’s name was John and he’d take gold and silver for the ammo; at the current
rate, no less. The current rate was $1,500/$30 per ounce gold/silver. We got a little of
this, a little of that, many kinds of the exotic shotgun ammo he had plus the last of his
Radway. We didn’t pay freight, but he charged us sales tax; 8.25%. We bought 15,000-
rounds of the Radway and with the shotgun ammo, our total was 8 ounces of gold, any
brand would do. The shells were a bit of buck and ball, a few flechettes, but nothing
non-lethal. The only real problem we had was the flatbed. We swapped it out for a 53’
box trailer in Brenham and had it filled before we got home.
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I think we hit every Wally-World (China Mart) on the way back, looking for toilet paper,
coffee, stapes, etc. Sometimes we got lucky; but most times it was a waste of time.
However, every little bit helped and it did add up. Considering our trip to Wisconsin, I
wonder what those folks in Camdenton would give for a roll of toilet paper.
When we pulled in behind the community center, we went inside to find out who those
pickups belonged to. It was some of the community elders from Camdenton. I could see
Pete’s neck started to turn redder and his hand was resting on his pistol.
“What do you want?”
“Supplies. We figured out what the Chief tried to pull on Thanksgiving and we had noth-
ing to do with that. Those people were the Chief, his Lieutenant and the Chief’s wife.”
“Sez you.”
“Pete, you know me. Have I ever lied to you?”
“Yeah, I still don’t believe you caught an 18” Bass.”
“Other than the fish story?”
“Not that I know of.”
“We’re desperate and if you can provide food, we’ll be happy for any you can provide.”
“We have picked up a few things, but it won’t be cheap. We won’t gouge you but we on-
ly did what you could have done on your own if anyone had the cojones. We’ve invested
time, fuel and a terrible risk to get this stuff.”
“What can you provide?”
“We have a bunch of staples on the box trailer and some toilet paper. What we have fills
most of the 53’ trailer.”
“Coffee? Cigarettes? Kitchen matches? What exactly do you have?”
“Everything you mentioned and much, much more. You find replacement fuel for what
we used up and we’ll let you have the stuff with a 10% markup. We’ll go through the
grocery store and he can set the prices.”
“The fuel is all bad.”
“That doesn’t matter, we can restore it. What do you have to use to pay for this stuff?”
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“We have all of your canning jars, a few cases of lids, some firearms, ammunition; hell,
anything you think has value to you.”
“We’ve been planting our crops using heirloom seeds, remember those?”
“Yeah, are they the ones that breed true?”
“That’s the kind. We’re short on fertilizer and the fields have been too muddy to plant
the last two years. We’ve pretty much collected all of the abandoned hay and grain in
the area. We have a lot of pork, some beef, some chickens and some turkeys. How
about you top off all our propane tanks and leave full delivery trucks; fill our fuel tanks,
both gas and diesel and give us the run of the town to see what we can use?”
“Don’t forget the jars and lids.”
“That stuff you mentioned in the beginning was a foregone conclusion. Can you live with
these terms?”
“I have your word you won’t gouge us?”
“You do. Remember something, our dear leader raised the price of tobacco products
and the states followed suit. Cigarettes were running $50 a carton before the HEMP.
We even have some roll-your-own stuff, but it wasn’t cheap either, $40 for a pound of
cigarette tobacco, a buck a pack for papers, but we’ll throw in some of those Top rolling
gadgets.”
“Great, thanks.”
“The meat will go to the locker plant to be cut and wrapped. The grocery store will sell it.
As you know, we’ve been giving the locker plant some meat to sell in exchange for pro-
cessing our meat. They make a pretty good hot dog. They form most of our lean ground
beef in ¼-pound patties.”
“What’s a beef go for?”
“One ounce of gold. A hog is roughly a tenth ounce of gold. We’re using a standard ex-
change rate of $1,500 for gold and $30 for silver unless you want to give us more. We’ll
take pre-65 90% silver coins, American Gold Eagles in all four sizes, one ounce Silver
Eagles, Krugerrands in all four denominations but no 24 carat gold coins or gold jewelry.
Can you handle that?”
“I’m not sure, but we give it our best shot. Oops, wrong expression, considering.”
“Considering we have a Mk-19 grenade launcher, a Milkor M32 Multiple Grenade

Launcher, 2 M2A1 machine guns, 2 M240s, 3 M2HB, LAW rockets, M136 AT-4 rockets,
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2 M82A1M Barrett rifles, 1 Tac-50, more .308 NATO rifles than we can count and some
5.56 NATO plus about 50 cowboy rifles, the same number of six guns and pistols for
everyone, it was, indeed the wrong expression. But, if you’re feeling particularly brave,
cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war.”
“Shakespeare?”
“Yes, Julius Caesar.”
“We’ll pass.”
“Good for you. You folks are going to need to develop some trade skills for earning
money and we’ll do our best to keep you supplied with food and the necessities of life.
What are you doing for heat?”
“Firewood, but it doesn’t burn too good.”
“I know where to get coal if you can use that.”
“Some can, I’m sure. Where are you getting it?”
“A KCPL generating station.”
“What about wood?”
“You’re doing it wrong. Harvest the deadfalls first followed by standing dead trees, it will
be ready to burn.”
“Where do we get the propane?”
“Lebanon. Try truck stops for diesel and gasoline. We mostly need diesel. When we can
plant, we can produce about as much diesel as we use, roughly 127-gallons per acre.”
“Where do you get the chemicals?”
“We produce pure ethanol and salvage the other chemicals we need to replace what we
use up.”
“Fine, but where do you get the chemicals?”
“Anywhere we can find them.”
“Do you use a lot?”
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“Yep. However, I was pretty well stocked and we’re still using what I had before the
HEMP. Making ethyl-esters biodiesel using ethanol is a tricky process, not as simple as
making methyl esters with methanol. But it can be done.”
“Tell me more.”
“Well, Ethanol in liters = 0.2738 x Amount of oil in liters and the amount of KOH in Kg =
0.013 x Amount of oil in liters
“Using a 100 liter batch of oil as an example, the KOH used reacts with 1.07kg of etha-
nol to produce 1.95kg of potassium ethoxide. This mixture now contains (27.4×0.789)-
1.07 = 20.55kg of free ethanol and 1.07kg of ethanol as potassium ethoxide catalyst.
Any water added to the entire system reverses the above reaction and quenches a pro-
portional amount of the potassium ethoxide catalyst. One part of water can quench up
to 84.15/18.02 = 4.67 parts of catalyst. The ethanol-KOH mixture is then poured into the
oil (maintained at 60° Celsius) and the transesterification process occurs.
“100 liters (91kg) of oil reacts with 13.1kg of ethanol. The 21.62kg (or 27.4L) of ethanol
used in the batch represents 21.62/13.1×100 = 165% of that required for complete
transesterification of 100 liters of oil. (A 65% excess over the theoretical requirement).
This value changes according to the oil used and thus mastering of the process can
take time. The steps are:
1. Oil is measured.
2. The required amount of ethanol is placed into a small covered container.
3. The required amount of potassium hydroxide is quickly weighed, with minimum at-
mospheric exposure.
4. The solid potassium hydroxide is added to all of the ethanol which is then vigorously
stirred in the covered container until completely dissolved. At this point the dissolved
KOH is presumed to have been converted to potassium ethoxide catalyst.
5. The ethanol-catalyst mixture is poured into the oil in the main reactor and stirred rap-
idly. Mixing is continued for 6 hours at 50°+ temperature. The reaction mixture usually
changes to a turbid orange-brown color within the first few minutes; then it changes to a
clear transparent brown color; finally, as the reaction is completed, the mixture again
becomes somewhat turbid and orange-brown colored due to the emulsified free glycerol
which has been formed.
6. In the completed reaction, the glycerol begins to separate immediately upon cessa-
tion of stirring, and the settling is mostly complete in one hour. After initial settling, the
entire contents of the reaction vessel are again mixed together and stirred vigorously for
40 minutes. After the first 20 minutes of re stirring, water is added at 15% of the initial
volume of oil used in the reaction. Stirring should continue an additional 20 minutes af-
150
ter the water is added for a total of 40 minutes of re stirring. This mixture is then allowed
to settle. A longer separation time facilitates the washing process. Remixing the glycerol
layer with the ester layer while adding water has the effect of collecting and removing
impurities and products of incomplete reaction from the ester. The washing phase can
then proceed at a more rapid pace than if the remixing stage were left out.
7. Wash the given mixture as usual.”
“How many batches per day?”
“We usually make one.”
“Soybeans?”
“Nah, we switched to canola to get a higher output.”
“How much can you produce?”
“Up to 219,000-gallons per year.”
“Jeezus.”
“I don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, watch it.”
“Ok, when can you bring in the food?”
“Give use a few minutes to get some coffee, wash up and tap a kidney and we’ll be right
in. Soy beans are only good for about 47 gallons of diesel per acre, while canola pro-
duces 127-gallons and the canola cake is good livestock feed.”
“We’ll see you in a bit.”
“The ammo is in the sleeping compartment isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“Pull that out before we head to town. I don’t want to give them ammo that they might
turn around and use on us.”
“You don’t trust him?”
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“Not completely, no. We hold off delivery of the livestock until we see how this part of
the deal works out. Just in case, make it full battle rattle.”
We were 45 minutes getting to Camdenton and pulled the truck up to the loading dock.
“They explain the deal to you?”
“No, what did you work out?”
“We want 110% of the price the stuff was going for before the HEMP.”
“Wholesale or retail price?”
“Retail. We agreed to accept canning jars, if the rims are ok and take their supply of
canning lids. We’ll bring livestock to the locker in phase 2. That won’t happen until they
hold to the bargain on propane and diesel.”
“But the fuel is no good.”
“That doesn’t matter, we have PRI-D, PRI-G and anti-gelling solution.”
“Where did you get that?”
“Houston at the manufacturing plant. By the way, in light of that trouble with the Chief of
Police, all deliveries will be accompanied with a pair of Hummers, minimum.”
“What else will you take?”
“Don’t worry about that, we’ll do our own shopping around town. But if anyone comes up
with gold or silver the prices are $1,500 for gold and $30 for silver. Keep in mind that
that junk silver is only 90% pure. You’ll have to use your calculator to do the math.”
“How?”
“Well, a $1,000 face value contains 715 ounces of silver and that equals 2,000 haves,
4,000 quarters or 10,000 dimes. The half contains 0.3575 oz at $30 or $10.73. a quarter
$5.36 and a dime $2.15. As for the gold, the one ounce are $1,500, the half-ounce
$750, the quarter-ounce $375 and the one-tenth ounce $150. Accept only 22 carat gold
coins; we won’t take 24 carat anything.”
“Why?”
“24 carat is soft and can be shaved, so I’m not interested. Let’s start unloading and you
write the stuff down. I expect a proper counting or there won’t be any more food. Sorry,
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as soon as we’re unloaded we have to get back to the farm to perform an urgent pro-
ject. Want us to leave some here to help you count?”
“Sure, no problem.”
“We’ll be in daily for our share of the proceeds.”
The urgent task that Uncle Pete referred to was getting the two tanks buried and
plumbed to the generator. By this time, we had just about any plumbing pipe or fixture
you could imagine and the hardest part was just digging the holes and installing an elec-
tric fuel pump to pump the diesel fuel to the genset. While we were doing that, others
used the tanker connected to the genset and topped off some of our fuel tanks. They
then made a trip down to Lebanon and refilled the tanker, parking it out of the way on
the other farm.
Pete’s friend was true to his word and soon propane delivery trucks showed up and re-
filled our propane tanks. The delivery trucks were refilled and left near the community
center. Next came diesel tankers and Pete told them that before the tankers filled our
tanks we needed to add the fuel supplements. I wasn’t so sure about that, we usually
did it before we filled the tankers, but it seemed to work out. Here, too, when all of the
tanks were filled, they left us with 2 filled tankers which we stabilized.
We took the box trailer into town loaded with hogs and dropped them off at the locker
plant. It wasn’t one of our best ideas; we had to clean out the trailer pretty good after we
delivered the pigs. We then went by the grocery store and picked up the jars, lids and a
lot of coins from coin collections. The grocer gave us a copy of the list of goods he’d in-
ventoried and it seemed to be pretty close to what we could remember loading into the
box trailer. He’d never done us wrong and Pete was inclined to take his word that the
inventory was accurate. However, Pete asked Juan about it and Juan said the guy was
almost religious when he did the inventory.
That late Chief of Police was well thought of by most of the people in town. He’d been
under a tremendous strain since the HEMP and later the war, maybe he just flipped. Ei-
ther way, he wouldn’t be a problem any longer. It wasn’t until between Christmas and
New Year that a Deputy came by to get our statement about the shooting. He had a
tape recorder and interviewed all participants separately. That was between our looking
around to salvage trailers and our trip to Conroe/Brenham and stops on the way home.
The HEMP and the war hadn’t killed everyone and on our various trips, we often ran in-
to people. It would be hard to say if they were survivalists, preppers or reformed
sheeple; but…they all belonged to the NRA now. I really hadn’t realized how many as-
sault weapons there were in our country. The most common firearms we encountered
were shotguns, M16s and Beretta pistols. There was the occasional SKS, AK, Garand,
M14/M1A. Say, did you know that John C. Garand was involved in developing the M14?
153
°
The M14 rifle design is one of the finest and most durable of this century. John C. Gar-
and had more than a little to do with the evolution of the M14 from his M1 Rifle, particu-
larly his work on the M14's final development at Mathewson Tool; the M14 remains the
culmination of the life's work of that immortal firearms designer. Along with the FN-FAL
and the AK-47, the M14 is considered to be one of the finest military rifles ever issued. It
certainly represents the end of an era, where lock, stock and barrel had literal meaning
and the Rifleman prized accuracy over firepower. The M14 is truly a rifle for life, an heir-
loom to be passed down the generations.
The M14 rifle is unique among US military rifles in that it has never officially been made
available to the public by either the US Government or a Government contractor. Origi-
nally, the balance of the components of the M14 rifle, save its heart, the receiver, had
been available for purchase. In recent years this supply has been supplemented by
commercial reproductions of many components. The receivers in particular have been
made available from a variety of commercial sources, with varying degrees of dimen-
sional accuracy and production quality.
We started going into town in small groups and picking up things we needed like un-
derwear, socks, jeans, shirts, some outer wear and boots. All of our ‘purchases’ were
duly recoded and offset against the amount owed for the supplies. The guns and ammo
had been assembled and after we checked it over, Pete and Jonas told the town to
keep what they had, with one exception, an M21 and a box of 25 new CMI USGI maga-
zines. I found out about it on my next birthday when they gleefully presented me with
the rifle and 2 cases of M118LR. The rifle was complete with a Leupold Mk 4 variable
power scope with Mil Dot reticule.
“You look happy.”
“I am Marie; this is nearly identical to the rifle I used in Iraq.”
“The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. What do you sup-
pose that setup is worth?”
“Well, it’s fully equipped with an Mk 4 3.5-10×40mm LR/T M3 Long Range Tactical
Front Focal Rifle Scope and a Harris bipod. The rifle ran about $2,800, the scope about
$1,600 and the magazines about $25 each. What’s that, about five grand?”
“Your Uncle Pete must think very highly of you. You plan to pass on your Loaded to
me?”
154
“If you want it, I’d love to do that. It would simplify things if we both used rifles with com-
patible magazines and ammunition. You want a .45 too?”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. The Beretta is enough gun for me and I’m used to it. Besides, with
the Gold Dot, it puts them down.”
Our conversation brought to mind a conversation we’d had many years back.
“That should be enough, most likely you never have to draw it, let alone shoot it. Those
124gr +P Gold Dot rounds should stop anyone not wearing body armor dead in their
tracks.”
“What do I do if they have body armor?”
“What else; put one right between their baby blues.”
“Failure to stop drill?”
“Not if you already know they have a vest, no. If you can’t tell, start with body shots and
add the third shot unless they’re already going down.”
It had proven to be a lesson well learned. It provoked the thought, “Never P.O. Mama if
she’s wearing her Beretta.”
The M21 brought to mind another thought, about the price of the M14/M1A in general.
They were probably the finest Main Battle Rifle ever fielded by the US Military. Even
though they’d been quickly superseded by the M-16, they remain in use in all theatres of
battle well into the 21st century. They were dependable and very, very accurate. But,
they were expensive regardless of the source: Springfield Armory, Fulton Armory or
Smith Enterprises. Other rifles in the same caliber were available; DSA had FAL rifles
and PTR 91, Inc. made clones of the H&K HK-91. Most of the rifles had threaded bar-
rels and could be fitted with improved flashhiders aka suppressors. I recall a show I saw
on TV a few years back on the Military Channel about Top Snipers. All of them pre-
ferred suppressors for their flash hiding ability. The Smith Enterprises suppressor in-
stalled via the Vortex flashhider and Smith claimed it was easily to rebuild. The OPS,
Inc. suppressor threaded onto the OPS, Inc. muzzle brake or directly onto the barrel,
depending on model.
John Maniatty (Frugal Squirrel) sold another kind of flash suppressor that got rave re-
views but I don’t recall what it was. The upside on the issue of suppressors was that we
had an assortment available including Surefire, Advanced Armaments, Reflex (import-
ed) and others that don’t come to mind at the moment; both in 5.56 and 7.62. Pete
wasn’t kidding when he said, “Don’t try to take us out, you’ll lose.”
The improved flashhiders, while available for over the counter purchase in many Euro-
pean countries, were subject the NFA in the US. I suspected that there more unregis-
155
tered suppressors floating around than registered suppressors. It wouldn’t matter in the
end either way. Do you remember what the Governor of Texas said about seceding
from the US? The country could probably divide into half a dozen regional groups of
states, or perhaps you’d see something like William Johnston’s Tri-State Collation or
SUSA (Southern United States of America).
Ben Raines’ favorite guns were the M-14 Thunder Lizard and the venerable Chicago
Typewriter Thompson SMG. He favored the .45 Colt 1911A1. It was only later that he
switched to the M4 carbine; he had to wait until it was invented.
The most significant external difference between the loaded and the M21 externally was
the stock. The M-21 had a walnut stock with adjustable cheek piece. I first concentrated
on verifying the rifle’s sighting followed by adjusting the cheek piece to properly fit me.
The National Match Flashhider was replaced with a muzzle brake and real flashhider, a
Surefire. When the M21 was first introduced, it had a Leatherwood 3–9x Adjustable
Ranging Telescope (ART) telescopic sight. While I guess I’d always been a gun nut, re-
ceiving the M21 brought back memories of Iraq. A quote may explain how I felt about
Iraq: it was the best of times and the worst of times (Opening line of A Tale of Two Cit-
ies by Charles Dickens).
Most of the time we were too busy to just sit and think about things. Most of the time.
With a full stock of fuel, refilled freezers, trading reestablished with Camdenton and the
weather mostly still miserable, a time came to just sit and think. I went to my diary and
began rewriting it as a narrative rather than a set of somewhat disjointed daily notes.
Since Marie and I can’t have children, I’m not sure who I’ll pass it on to, unless we
adopt. That subject hadn’t come up since the HEMP.
While we still lived in the hunting shack, it had basically become our bedroom home as
we spent very little time at the shack. If we weren’t doing chores, you’d likely find us at
the community center along with everyone else with free time on their hands. This year
instead of marking standing dead trees, we cut them down on the spot and hauled the
logs back to the farmstead to be cut up and split.
The 160 acres of trees had been thoroughly cleaned up and we came up short on fire-
wood. We turned to the Big Piney section of the Mark Twain National Forest, which in-
corporates Fort Leonard Wood, and used the lowboys to haul logs back. That raised a
new issue and we ended up sending a tractor back down to Brenham to recover the
lowboy we dropped.
It was very obvious when the people in Camdenton had been getting their firewood be-
cause they were clear cutting beginning right at the edge of the forest, a little west of
where Missouri 7 crosses I-40. We’d brought the crane from the Camdenton city yard to
load the logs onto the lowboys. We started with the deadfalls that remained and then
turned to the standing dead trees. Once we had 3 semi rigs we were hauling about 12
156
loads of logs per day. These were dropped off in the area behind the community build-
ing and those not harvesting wood cut and split the logs into firewood.
157
Keep in mind that the population had grown significantly since Marie and I moved here.
The one thing we weren’t short on was labor. We harvested timber for 5 weeks, only
taking Sunday’s off. We had ~350 loads of logs with over half of them cut and split. Jo-
nas and Pete returned the crane and picked up two transfer dump trucks and headed
for Montrose Power Station. In all, they made three trips and brought back a total of 60
yards of coal.
A transfer dump truck is a dump truck that pulls a trailer with sometime an equal and
sometimes lower capacity. These dumps held 5 yards each as did the trailers. Thus,
each trip brought back 20 yards of coal. When they dropped off the dump trucks, they
brought back a front end loader which was used to restack the coal.
From that point on, most of the men were cutting and splitting firewood when not occu-
pied with chores and the ladies were engaged in harvesting and canning the produce
from the garden and two greenhouses. The folks in Camdenton finally got the hint and
began planting their own gardens; sometimes in the backyard and sometimes in both
yards. We traded them some heirlooms seeds to partially offset the cost of our clothing
acquisitions.
“We need to make another trip.”
“Where to this time?”
“We’re going to take that 53’ box trailer and go back to the Wal-Marts. We weren’t think-
ing; we could have loaded up on clothing.”
“But Pete, we were thinking. We got a truckload of food and except for the small amount
we kept, it went to help the folks in Camdenton. From my perspective, it eliminated one
source of trouble, at least for now.”
“The selection of clothing in Camdenton was pretty slim Don. If we get clothing, we’ll
just have more trade goods. Maybe we should take a second trailer and possibly a third
and send those two to Sam’s Clubs.”
“We only have two more box trailers at the moment, both 40’.”
“Right, that’s 80’ of food. Actually it’s about 2,400ft³ of food per trailer (they were the
12’6” high trailers). We’ll just take the Hummer’s with the M2HBs. Who knows, they
might need the Mk-19 here.”
“Did it ever occur to you that most of the work around the farms is done by a select few
people?”
158
“Yeah, everyone except my three kids and their spouses. I’m not as dumb as you may
think. Don’t worry about it Don, they’ll get theirs; or should I say they won’t get what they
expect?”
“The will?”
“Yes and it’s recorded with the County Clerk.”
Off we went for what I hoped was the final time this year. The first place we hit was a
Super Wal-Mart, before we split up. We spent two days there loading every bit of cloth-
ing and shoes. We filled one trailer with food and had a fair amount in the second. Pete
pulled out a list of Wal-Mart stores and we headed to another Super Wal-Mart, this one
in Arkansas. We filled the second food truck and found a second 53’ trailer. We finally
got the tractor running and backed it up to the loading dock. We didn’t clean the place
out, but we had all of the clothing, shoes and food. We also cleaned out the pharmacy.
There was just enough available space to return to the first store and clean out their
pharmacy.
With two loaded 53’ trailers and 2 loaded 40’ trailers, we headed home. We were getting
close when we ran into a roadblock. As it happened it was a narrow spot in the road and
we weren’t able to turn around and make a hasty exit. Jonas ordered a second Hummer
forward and the Hummer’s proceeded towards the roadblock at a slow pace, stopping
about 500 yards back.
“Get their attention,” Jonas radioed.
Chugga, chugga, chugga; both M2Bs opened up, shredding the vehicles forming the
roadblock. Just in front of one of the Hummers, there was an explosion, probably a
40mm grenade or a LAW rocket, I couldn’t tell. The Hummers backed up to almost 900
yards and continued to pour fire on the roadblock. Eventually the roadblock became a
burning pile of scrap metal. We hadn’t seen a soul and the only person we knew for
sure was there was the grenadier.
It took the fire about 30 minutes to burn down to a point where we could risk trying to
drive through the mess. We fired up the original 53’ tractor trailer rig and it took off,
building speed. It was probably only going about 30mph when it hit the barricade, but
with the full load, it had enough momentum to plow a hole cleanly through it. As it
passed, a second grenade or rocket chased it, again missing.
We staggered the remaining vehicles, Hummer, truck, Hummer, truck, Hummer truck.
The Hummers opened up their machine guns on the right side of the road in the general
area where they thought the grenade or rocket had come from. We sailed through the
roadblock shifting gears as we went. We got up to a semi-sedate 55mph and continued
home where we parked the trailers behind the community center.
159
“Bullet holes? What happened?”
“What bullet holes?”
“Right there in the tractor pulling the 53’ trailer, you took.”
Sure enough, there were a few bullet holes in the front of the tractor. We’d check it later,
but they must not have hit anything vital, we made it home. There were more questions
about what happened than we had answers. I’m sure we all told the same story from
our perspective. Roadblock-shooting-rocket/grenade-driving through-second rock-
et/grenade-continuing the trip. It wasn’t as nearly exciting as when the Chief attacked.
Pete decided that we should grade and gravel more space behind the community build-
ing because it was a bigger parking lot than there was in front of the building. We bor-
rowed a grader and the transfer dump trucks from the city yard and got gravel at the
quarry – crushed limestone. We also got a roller and packed it down to create a fairly
even surface. We were ready when the snow came.
The snow came much later this year and in much smaller quantities. Whatever had
caused the bad winters had apparently settled down. It wasn’t nearly as cold and we
were able to sort through the loot and organize it before putting it back in the trailers.
We did that with each of the 4 trailers and set up the 2nd 53’ trailer with food for Cam-
denton and kept the rest.
With the winter proving to be very mild, we took advantage and went back to the city
yard, got the crane and returned to the Big Piney to harvest more firewood. We hauled
another 12 loads a day for about ten weeks. We were cutting faster than they were cut-
ting and spitting and everyone took Sundays off. Still, by the time we’d quit, we’d hauled
720 loads of logs and would never have to cut firewood again. It still took ten weeks to
finish cutting, splitting and stacking, but the pile was so big we had no idea how much
wood was in it.
The piles of firewood started with 4 T posts driven in the ground and were about 96’
long by 6’ high. The wood was cut to 12” long and those 4 rows made up a cord every
8’, making it 18 cords per set of 4 posts. We tried counting it but each of us came up
with a different total. There had to be a lot in a pile 6’ high by 96’ long by somewhere on
the order of 200 T posts. I figured at least 900 cords on top of what we cut earlier. I just
calculated our earlier effort, if 720 loads equaled 900 cords, then 350 loads equaled
something on the order of 440 cords, giving us a total of 1,340.
“How much do we have?”
“I figure around 1,340 cords.”
160
“That can’t be right, figure it again. I figure we had about 2½ cords per load, which
would mean we should have closer to 2,700 cords. I don’t know how you came up short,
but you’re surely short.”
Well, I got a tape measure and measured rather than guessing. The piles started at 6’
but stair stepped up to 8’ making each set of four posts 24 rather than 18 cords. I also
measured the length of the spit wood and the pieces were 16” except for the first four
rows which was cut shorter for the kitchen stoves. Therefore, the remaining 198, not
196, rows had 24 cords for every 3 rows. 66x24=1,584 cords plus the 24 cords of stove
wood for a total of 1,608 cords. I was still missing 1,100 cords.
“I’m up to 1,608, but don’t know where the other wood is.”
“Did you ask around if anyone took any wood home? Did you check to see if we sold
some to Camdenton?”
“Uh, duh, uh…”
“I take it that means you didn’t. Check with each family and see how much they took.
Most of the places have full woods piles. And, I figure that those folks in Camdenton
probably came begging for dry wood once they figured out we knew what they were do-
ing.”
(Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.) Anyway, ten cords had
been distributed to each family accounting for an additional 140 cords; total 1,748. Ask-
ing around, I learned that about 800 cords had been sold to Camdenton, bringing the
total to 2,548. Ten cords had been moved to the lowest level of the barn to provide heat
for the still and biodiesel producer, 2,558.
“Are you set on 2,700 cords?”
“Why?”
“I’ve only come up with 2,558 cords.”
“Hell yeah, I was guessing and you’re within 5% of my guess. Did we sell some?”
“They sold around 800 cords to Camdenton. Plus each trailer, the shack and your
house has 10 cords. There are 10 cords in the lower level of the underground barn. At
first I thought we’d never have to cut wood again; now, I think we’ve only managed to
put it off for a few years.”
“We can cut to replace what we use and sell and unless the weather turns bad again, it
will be less than 1,000 cords per year and maybe no more than 5-600. Did you compute
average yield per load?”
161
“No, but it is 2,558 divided by 1,070; about 2.4 cord per load.”
“It’s all hardwood, right?”
“All White Oak; including white, bur, swamp or chinquapin.”
Experience is an excellent teacher, especially if you do it wrong the first time. The next
time I counted up the wood, I wouldn’t be making any assumptions.
“Standby for an urgent message. We have company and it looks like the military.”
“How do you know?”
“They’re wearing uniforms, driving in a convoy and are only going about 35mph.”
Jonas went to his trailer and changed in his ACUs and full battle rattle. He was waiting
at parade rest when they pulled in the driveway to the main farm. He was out of uniform
because he had his M21 and Kimber Tactical II in an M16 holster hanging off a pistol
belt with a pair of double magazine pouches, butt pack and 2 canteens. He didn’t mount
his bayonet or remove the suppressor.
Jonas snapped to attention and gave a rifle salute. The young looking Lieutenant asked
who was in charge. Jonas said Pete and he were and they’d be happy to speak to his
company commander The LT’s eyes fired but he went to the third Hummer and a Cap-
tain got out, Jonas gave him a rifle salute and stood at attention.
“At ease Sergeant Major. What’s the skinny?”
“It’s a long story Captain. We can provide coffee for your men at the community center
and Pete, you and I can discuss it at length in the house.”
“Lieutenant, you and the men have been offered coffee. Where is the community cen-
ter?”
162
“Don…”
“Follow me fellas, it’s only a couple of hundred yards down that lane.”
“Come back after you’ve shown them where to go.”
“Sure thing Pete.”
“The way you’re dressed Sergeant Major, I presume you’re on active duty?”
“No sir, I’m retired. We went down to Texas for the little spat with the Chinese and
someone forgot to recode my ID card so it still shows active duty. I figured you might
appreciate a little military courtesy. By the way, it’s Command Sergeant Major, sir.”
“What’s the story?”
“My wife and I bugged out for here around the time of the HEMP. We’ve been here
since. Pete is mostly responsible for feeding Camdenton. We haven’t been able to grow
crops for the last 2 years due to the weather so we’ve salvaged food and such for the
folks in town. We’ve had a little trouble, but nothing we couldn’t handle. With the Fort so
close, we collected some ordnance and ammo to keep going.”
“We can produce 600 gallons a day of biodiesel when we can plant and harvest canola.
We could probably field a company of mounted cavalry if needed. We have 4 Hummers,
3 with M2HBs and one with an Mk-19. We also have M240s. Those came from the Fort.
I’d rather keep them until law and order is well established before we turn them in.”
I started to say something about the M2A1s, but didn’t. What the Captain didn’t know
couldn’t hurt us. I noted that the LAWs, M136 AT4s, M18A1 Claymores, the M183 dem-
olition kits and the grenades weren’t mentioned. Neither was the subject of the M107s
and Mk15 brought up. The 107s and Mk15 were our guns, we’d rescued them. The var-
ious military vehicles were parked behind the community center in plain sight and would
be returned eventually.
“I noticed a lot of M14s.”
“They’re most M1As, Captain, and personal property. However we have at least 5 Des-
ignated Marksmen in our group. Don, here was Army and we have 4 Marines who came
up from San Antonio.”
“And what did you do Command Sergeant Major?”
“Detachment D until I retired. Before that, Special Forces and before that…well it’s not
important.”
163
“Who is the law around here?”
“The County Sheriff in Camdenton. We killed the local Police Chief. He attacked the
farm on a Thanksgiving but his pickup couldn’t stand up against the Mk-19.”
“I’d like to know more about that.”
“The Sheriff has all of our recorded statements and no charges were brought.”
“I don’t believe we’ll leave a squad here in Camdenton, you seem to have things well in
hand. Could I see this community center you talked about?”
“Might as well. It’s lunch time and I think they’re serving sliders and fries today.”
We parked in back. The Captain saw the HEMTT and trailer and said they were short of
trucks. We agreed to let him take it as long as we could turn in the Hummers later. He
was impressed with our community center and noted the facts that we had PV panels
for power. Pete explained that we also had a 90kw genset for backup. He said they
were headed to town and Jonas suggested that it might be a good time to deliver the
53’ trailer of food to the Hy-Vee store.
When we dropped it off, there was a fair amount of goods for us and a little gold and sil-
ver. We admonished the man to take a good inventory and asked him to pack the goods
in the trailer after he’d emptied it. About a dozen young men showed up shortly after we
pulled in and began the process of unloading. The Captain took the man aside and
questioned him about something; probably our arrangement. He seemed satisfied with
the answers he got.
We got ready to go and noticed the Captain headed to the Sheriff’s office. Let him ask, it
was all on tape. He only had a Platoon of soldiers; we nearly had him outnumbered; if
not outnumbered, outclassed for sure. There were advantages to having a huge supply
of ammo and mandatory weekly practice. Not that we wanted to fight with the good
guys, just that if push came to shove… we could shove back. We’d take firewood orders
when we returned to pick up the trailer.
“You know that some of that flour we sent in is pretty old?”
“So?”
“It might be buggy.”
That’s why you sift it, to get the bugs out. You’re overlooking the fact that as cold as it
has been the past few winters, the flour was probably frozen and killed off the bugs.”
164
That evening sitting around in the community center a conversation developed.
“Can anyone tell me how we came to this?” ask one of the teens.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Most of the young
people these days had forgotten about things like the Cuban Missiles Crisis. In the
past,” Jonas continued, “we had lessons on how serious the world situation really was.
Throughout the Cold War, people were on edge to one degree or another. However,
when the Wall came down and the Soviet Union broke up, people wanted to believe that
the danger was over. Never mind that the nuclear club had grown to 10 nations from 5.
Israel had nukes but refused to discuss the issue. India and Pakistan had nukes fol-
lowed by North Korea and Iran.
“There are people who don’t really give much thought to what causes wars. Regardless
of why we get involved in a war, all they want to do is protest. We label them liberals
and accept that they’re just part of the mix of people that make up this country. When
they forced us out of Vietnam, a pattern developed. Every conflict since then has had its
share of war protestors. A notable example in modern times might be Cindy Sheehan.
She became a war protestor after her son Casey died in The War on Terror. Never mind
he was a volunteer, she started a campaign to end the war.
“The world is filled with differing ideologies touching on all subjects like religion, eco-
nomic systems, and forms of government and, well you get the idea. Wars are about
people, not issues. People don’t need an excuse to go to war, but they make one up if
there’s no pressing issue. If we hadn’t tried to kill ourselves off, Mother Nature might
have tried; be it global warming or a new ice age. The potential natural disasters are too
numerous to list. We learn to improvise, adapt and overcome. In time, the country will
restore itself, although not to its previous level of technology for some time to come.”
The conversation petered off after Jonas’s lecture. It gave each of us plenty to think
about. Pete had said that there weren’t many war protestors during WW II when he was
growing up. He suggested that it was because of Pearl Harbor and the US, down deep
inside, wanted revenge. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Adolph Hitler, in a
foolish move, declared war on the US. We were fighting two wars at once; the war in the
Pacific and the war in Europe that started in Africa and moved to Sicily and Italy. A year
after the Normandy invasion, Hitler was dead and the atom bomb was nearing comple-
tion. We dropped 2 atom bombs and Japan had surrendered.
That was not the end, but the beginning. North Korea invaded South Korea five years
later. That war never ended. Ten years later, Kennedy was supplying advisors to South
Vietnam. We didn’t win that one and didn’t fight again until the operations in Grenada
and Panama, where we succeeded. Then Saddam seized Kuwait and good ol’ Norm
kicked butt.
165
The same year, the wall came down and the USSR became the CIS. About 10 years
after that, 19 men hijacked 4 airplanes and flew 2 into the WTC and 1 into the Penta-
gon. The passengers of the fourth attacked the hijackers and the plane crashed in a
field in Pennsylvania. That led to our attacking Afghanistan and for some reason, Iraq.
We were out of Iraq before we left Afghanistan; Iraqi Freedom lasted about 10 years.
No one has defeated Afghanistan for a long time, the USSR couldn’t.
We also discussed if there would be an end to this, the PAW. Camdenton was now do-
ing fine, but they didn’t have much industry and restarting industry was what it would
take to bring the nation back from the edge. We eventually learned that a volcano in the
western Pacific had erupted explosively, accounting for the bad winters. We suspected
as much because the snow contained grit. However, it wasn’t until we hooked up with
an English speaking man from Micronesia that we confirmed what we suspected.
Pete’s three children and their children finally left the area after a serious argument with
Pete over his will. Truthfully, most of us didn’t mind seeing them go. Hell, we even
helped them, towing the singlewide mobile homes over to the Rolla area. They were on-
ly 70 miles away, at the NE corner of Big Piney, but it surely helped. Pete did a few
more things for them like locating a large propane fueled generator, a huge 10,000-
gallon propane tank and filling it. To be sure they wouldn’t come back, we found and in-
stalled a motel sized septic system and found a well driller who put in a well with a solar
powered water pump and a 2,700-gallon water tank.
In addition, we looked in Rolla and found them a rototiller, assorted hand garden tools
and gave them six cans of heirloom seeds. They were on their own as far as fuel for
their vehicles went, after they used up the 1,000-gallon tank of biodiesel we left them.
They kept the firearms Pete had given them and enough ammo for several years. Add
to that one year of LTS food and a portion of our canned food, a canner, jars and lids
and canning spices.
Pete took them aside when we were finished making sure that whatever he said was
private. Jonas and I strained to hear what he said, to no avail. He seemed to be,
well…disappointed but refused to discuss what was said. On the way back, Pete told us
he hadn’t been feeling well and had discussed it with Sarah. He was deeding his farm to
Marie and me, effective immediately. Sarah and he would continue to live in the big
house and we were expected to care for them if either became sick or one of them died.
About a month later, Pete had a heart attack. We got him into Camdenton after we per-
formed CPR, got his heart restarted and put him on a bottle of oxygen. Fortunately, the
National Guard had left a supply of medicine. Pete was given some kind of heart medi-
cine, high blood pressure medicine, a cholesterol medicine and nitro. He couldn’t do
much.
166
To follow the doctor’s orders, Pete took a M1A, LBE and walked the property once a
day. Although he couldn’t work, the doctor told him he had to walk. He started off slowly
and within a few weeks was walking about 2 miles, to the end of the property and back.
He had to stop when we got our first skiff of snow.
Since he didn’t own the property across the road, he had a discussion with the men
from San Antonio. They lived there and farmed it and he told them that possession was
9 points of the law. He would back their claim to ownership of the property.
To have enough canola oil to convert to biodiesel, we really needed another section of
land. Joe checked and the section behind them wasn’t being farmed. They checked the
house and found two bodies in the living room. The bodies were pretty well mummified
and didn’t stink. They buried them and checked the place out. There was a good supply
of farm equipment that only needed new batteries for the tractors. There was no live-
stock in evidence, they’d either died, run off or had been rustled. They staked a claim on
the property right then and there.
There were 630 tillable acres and it was all planted in canola. That should produce an
estimated 80,000 additional gallons of biodiesel. We were getting near to the capacity of
the machine, 219,000 gallons. I believe I said earlier, ‘almost 220,000 gallons’. Actually
if we ran 3 shifts per day and had the oil and chemicals, we could produce 365.25 times
1,800 gallons or a total of 657,450 gallons per year. That would require a lot more land
and more corn for ethanol. Almost 5,200 acres of nothing but canola. One ethanol plant
owned by farmers in Minnesota processes 11,751 bushels of grain a day to produce
33,990 gallons of ethanol and 95 tons of high-protein livestock feed.
Now, I ask you to think about that; we’re growing 80 acres of corn or about 12,000
bushels in a good year. We could make all the ethanol we needed and the livestock
would eat the canola meal instead of corn. A very bad yield would be at least 8,000
bushels, enough for 23,000 gallons of ethanol with a little for the barrel, too. Pete said
27.4L of ethanol per 100 liters of oil. Well, that means 27.4 gallons of ethanol per 100
gallons of oil. But, 219,000 gallons of oil would require 60,000 gallons of ethanol. I didn’t
realize that we were producing that much ethanol. No wonder Pete had us out looking
for more corn, he was making booze.
We’d produced ~94,000 gallons of biodiesel which means we also produced ~25,800
gallons of ethanol. That’s better; we weren’t actually converting all of the corn into etha-
nol. Most of it, but not all. This was yet another lesson learned, the number of acres of
corn we needed to plant to be sure we produced enough ethanol to convert the canola
oil to biodiesel. I asked Marie to do the math.
“Ok, you get 2.9 gallons of ethanol per bushel of corn. Your average corn yield has
been about 150 bushels per acre. Therefore, an acre of corn produces 435 gallons of
ethanol. That’s enough ethanol to process 1,587 gallons of canola oil. Divided by 127
gallons per acre shows you need 1 acre of corn per 12.5 acres of canola.”
167
“That’s all there is to it?”
“Simple math, you could have figured it out.”
“Maybe, but thanks.”
We planted according to Marie’s math.
168
The Hunting Shack – Epilogue
One day the following summer, Pete was out for his usual walk. Sarah came to me and
asked, “Have you seen Pete?”
“Not for a while, doesn’t he usually take his walk around this time?”
“That’s just it; he’s been gone an awfully long time.”
“I go check on him.”
“Thanks Don.”
I decided to take my Chevy. I found him outbound about ½ mile from the house, down
on the ground. I checked and he didn’t have a pulse. I radioed to Jonas and started
CPR. I immediately knew that it wouldn’t do any good, he was already cooling off.
“Dead?” Jonas asked when he arrived.
“Long dead. He’s already cooling off. Give me a hand and we’ll put him in the back of
my truck.”
“I’ve got a blanket to cover him with.”
We put Pete and then his firearms in the back of my Chevy. Jonas covered him with a
blanket. He said he’d go get Molly and tell Sarah. I arrived back at the farmstead where
Jonas, Molly and Marie were trying to comfort Sarah. Considering his previous heart at-
tack, I expected stoicism (admirable patience and endurance shown in the face of ad-
versity); she was anything but stoic. Jonas and I took Pete to the funeral home in Cam-
denton where Pete had prepaid their funerals with a one year supply of food for five
people. Burial was to be on the farm.
Two days later, we had a church service and took Pete back to the farm for burial. Sa-
rah was beside herself. When she reached to toss a handful of earth into the grave, she
collapsed. She was breathing and her heart was still beating, but she was unconscious.
We loaded her in a Hummer and raced to the hospital in Osage Beach. They quickly
determined that she’d had a stroke.
A stroke is a medical emergency and can cause permanent neurological damage, com-
plications and death. It is the leading cause of adult disability in the United States and
Europe. In the UK, it is the second most common cause of death, the first being heart
attacks and third being cancer. It is the number two cause of death worldwide and may
soon become the leading cause of death worldwide. That information was dated, it was
pre-war. Sarah never regained consciousness. She passed 3 days later. The hospital
called the funeral home via amateur radio via the County Sheriff. He drove out and noti-
169
fied us. We held her funeral two days later at the church and buried her on the farm next
to Pete.
A few days later, we made the trip to Rolla.
“Why didn’t you come get us before the funerals?”
“Sarah told us not to come get you when your father died. She also indicated that she
hoped you didn’t show up when she died. Little did we know she’d be dead a few days
later.”
“We’ll move back to take over the farm.”
“Uh, Pete signed it over to Marie and me before his first heart attack. That was not long
after the three of you moved to Rolla.”
“What about their wills?”
“There was nothing to leave, Pete and Sarah gave us everything before they died in ex-
change for a promise to care for them until they died. We did that at his lawyer’s office.”
I half expected them to fight, or sue. They did neither and we never heard from them
again. Everyone living at the farm and across the road stayed where they were, farming,
growing canola, corn, oats, wheat and alfalfa. We had to increase the size of the pas-
ture as the herds grew.
Marie and I adopted an abandoned baby. We later learned that the Camdenton police
had identified the mother, Jeanie. She had abandoned the baby at the hospital in Osage
Beach on her way out of town. We never saw her again either. We named the baby
Rachael Lauren West. That was the same name another Marie gave her first daughter,
Rachael Lauren.
The country slowly picked itself up again, with challenges. The Captain returned to tell
us about the new acting president. Obama had died from the influenza. There was no
living person in the line of succession who was born in America. Eventually, the Joint
Chiefs – since there was no congress – appointed Colin Powell as acting President. His
wife let him take the job, but he was in his 80s and said he’d only serve until elections
were held within 2 years.
Our friends from Texas formed a corporation and put both their farms in the name of the
corporation. We still made the occasional long distance trip getting things we needed
that were unavailable locally. Jonas and Molly slowly changed to grey hair and only
helped with the garden and cooking. Basically, Molly took Sarah’s place freeing Marie to
care for Lauren and do garden work. We merged our garden with the garden on the
170
other farm and continued to grow food in the greenhouses year round. Those teens
grew up and married and we ended up moving more homes to the farms. Since there
were 3 of the large generators, we put a total of 12 trailers on the other farm and used
both gensets to provide power for the house, trailers and farm.
Marie and I moved to the big house and let one of the teen couples occupy the hunting
shack when they grew and got married. We had no shortage of labor with them all
choosing to live here. We eventually ran across a 1mw wind turbine and had it profes-
sionally installed. That solved our power problem for good. And the generators were re-
built and the tanks refilled for the next time we needed them.
We eventually were the major biodiesel supplier in the area, raising 160 acres of corn,
40 acres of alfalfa, 40 acres of oats and 80 acres of wheat. The remainder of the farm
was the timber and pasture. Our cattle herd and horse herds both grew to about 100
head. We kept a lid on the hogs at 60 sows and 3 boars. We also kept the flock of
chickens around 400 and our milk and egg sales were a major source of income, ex-
ceeded only by our sales of biodiesel. We kept the brood hens and roosters separate
from our egg laying flock, doing a nip here and a tuck there to keep the operation from
becoming too large.
Eighteen months after the Captain visited, new national, state and county elections
were held. My name was brought up but I’d have no part of it, I didn’t have time. Even
with all of our available help, we frequently put in long days. A couple years after that,
KCPL brought Montrose Station back online and we were forced to buy our own coal. It
was hard to find if you didn’t already have a source and I went to Montrose and talked to
their Chief of Security, a guy name Williams and the plant manager. He agreed to let us
have a car of coal each year for the same price he paid.
We still harvested timber, most from Big Piney, but only replaced what we used. The
folks in Camdenton finally figured out how to harvest their own firewood. We dismount-
ed the guns from the Hummers and repainted them in a Realtree camouflage pattern.
Marie bought some cloth in a hardwood pattern and we copied it onto the Hummers the
best we could. It did cover over all of the government numbers painted everywhere.
There was one thing we continued to do, as much for fun as for necessity. We went to
the range every Sunday afternoon, weather permitting. With the wars all over the Lake
City ammo plant continued to produce ammo with a fair portion of it available on the
market at very good prices. There was an overall change in attitudes about firearms and
most states and the federal government repealed most of the firearms laws on the
books. About the only remaining law was the background check and 3 day waiting peri-
od. The NFA was modified, not eliminated, and the tax was reduced from $200 to $20
and they had to approve or reject your purchase in 30 days.
A lot of the laws to legislate morality fell by the way side. Cigarette and alcohol taxes
dropped back to pre-1980 levels. Laws requiring serial number on ammo were repealed
171
and California, if you can believe it, eliminated about 90% of their ‘dumb’ gun laws. I
guess that those liberals who favored restrictive guns law died in the war, or something.
I’ve to run, it’s Lauren’s 5th birthday and if I’m late, I never hear the end of it.
© 2011, Gary D. Ott
172

PAW Fiction - Tired Old Man (Gary D Ott) - The Hunting Shack

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The Hunting Shack – Chapter 1

“Did you double buy staples like we talked about?”

“A minimum wage job wouldn’t even touch their grocery bill.”

“She cooks at home? I thought that they usually ate out.”

“Open it, I ordered that when we bought you the Beretta.”

“What do I do if they have body armor?”

“What else; put one right between their baby blues.”

“Failure to stop drill?”

“Where would you look for work?”

“Which two birds?”

“What size of generator do you want; a home standby?”

“Let’s eat, it’s ready.”

“I thought you wanted that Black Hills ammo.”

“Is that legal?”

“Why don’t you get some of that?”

I worked 12 hours on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Although I

“Wow, 184 hours equivalent, we can do a few things with that.”

“Right Marie, pay more taxes.”

“Is there enough to pay for it?”

“Sure, any particular order?”

“There’s not much left.”

“Do they have those large breast quarters?”

“Yeah. Maybe 2 bags if you can manage it.”

“Anything else? Coffee, tea or me?”

“How long have you been working here?”

“I have the broasted chicken breast quarter with fries, Don?”

“I’ll take the chicken fried steak special.”

“What was the new unemployment rate?”

“Is your job secure?”

“If I remember right, there was a huge stack of firewood.”

“Unless it’s been burned up and not replaced, there was.”

“Why? That’s a lot of gun for someone your size.”

“Did you hear about Bob and Jeanie?”

“Where does that leave them?”

“What did he say?”

“Fine. You never got the radio?”

“How come it’s extra?”

“Why does that sound expensive?”

“It must be nice.”

“Ok, but this is just between you and us, agreed?”

“Sure, what’s the mystery?”

“How big is this?”

“Wow. How long have you had this?”

“When are you going to start cutting firewood?”

“Are we getting low?”

“No, but doesn’t it have to cure or something?”

“I’ll use his desktop and look into it.”

“Pete, where do you buy your diesel fuel?”

“You mean when I bought it or where do I get it now?”

“Where do you get it now?”

“What do you do with the meal?”

“Sure could, why?”

“Marie brought up the subject of continuous power.”

“I wondered how long that would take.”

“Where did you get the used tanks?”

“From a fella I know, why, want one?”

“I really wouldn’t mind. Could I get some biodiesel from you?”

“Don, what do you propose to use for a generator?”

“So what, I’ll be buying and you’ll be paying me back, right?”

“I hadn’t planned on asking you.”

“We don’t have that kind of money.”

“Is that enough wood for now?”

“Hard work never killed anyone, Don, suck it up.”

“I don’t have anything left to suck up Pete.”