When We Were Young – Prologue

After Israel 'invaded' Lebanon, over 2 kidnapped soldiers and Dubya refused to say
anything to get them to stop, I began to ask myself why. Especially when it went on and
on and on. I had a new story in the works and it was over half done. Derek was home
on leave from Iraq for 2 weeks and to be honest, I didn't want him to go in the first place,
let alone return. Not that he had a choice; the boy was a true Patriot.

He was riding around in a M1114 equipped with a CROWS, in his case, a Ma Deuce.
Considering that he was in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, which was a very good thing.
We discussed his ROE and they couldn't even fire when fired upon, their rules were
much more stringent. He sort of told me who he was guarding, but only sort of. Sorry
that I can't tell you, but Jack Ryan was one of them.

CROWS is a remotely controlled gun. The first group of 35 remotely-operated weapons

for mounting on top of Humvees arrived in Iraq recently and the systems were divided
among military police, Special Forces, infantry and transportation units.

The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, or CROWS as they are known, pro-
vide crews the ability to locate, identify and engage targets with better accuracy and im-
proved range, while keeping the gunner inside, protected by the vehicle’s up-armor.

The technology used on the CROWS is a variation of the remote-controlled crew-served

weapons system already used on combat vehicles like the Bradley fighting vehicle and
the M1A1 Abrams tank.

“We will be fielding, in the next two years, over 300 systems,” said Picatinny's Maj.
Frank Lozano, the assistant product manager for the CROWS project on Life Sustain-
ment Area Anaconda.

At LSA Anaconda, four CROWS were issued to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, from
Ar Ramadi and the 155th Brigade Combat Team on Forward Operating Base Kalsu.
Prototypes were installed on vehicles belonging to the 42nd Military Police Brigade in
December, Lozano said.

Since then, more CROWS have been installed, bringing the total up to nine systems
serving troops at LSA Anaconda.

Presently in Iraq, CROWS are only assembled and fielded at LSA Anaconda. Crews are
issued the system there and receive training on how to operate it, said Sgt. 1st Class
Jeffrey Januchowski, the project’s training developer.

The nearly $200,000 system is designed to replace the turret gunner on Humvees to
improve combat effectiveness, Lozano said.

CROWS allows Soldiers to operate successfully from within the safety of the Humvee’s

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armor, without being exposed to the threat of improvised explosive devices and small-
arms fire.

“The important thing is increased survivability and increased lethality,” Lozano said.

The system incorporates a 15-inch color monitor with live video from cameras in the
daytime and thermal imaging cameras in darkness.

Both cameras use a laser range finder, which allows the gunner to zoom on targets,
lock onto them and maintain that lock accurately while the vehicle is in motion. The
camera and the weapon can be used together or separately.

The camera allows the gunner to look one way with the weapon pointed another. This
feature becomes particularly useful when observing suspicious subjects from a dis-
tance, Lozano said, adding that way people are not scared off by a weapon pointed at
them.

The gun itself is controlled by a joystick which gives the gunner 100-percent functionali-
ty, allowing the operator to control the weapon with just one hand. The weapon can be
aimed up to 60 degrees above and 20 degrees below in front of the vehicle and can turn
a full 360 degrees, allowing the gunner to see almost any threat, no matter where it is
located in relation to the vehicle.

With all the features used properly, the weapon can be used at 98-percent accuracy
while the vehicle is in motion and the enemy on the run.

“The weapon is smart enough to know your movement, the earth’s movement and the
enemy’s movements,” said Lozano.

CROWS is compatible with the M-2 .50-caliber machine gun, M-240B medium machine
gun, Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher and the M-249 squad automatic weapon. The
weapons operate off of a larger ammunition supply than that of the standard crew-
served weapons, Lozano said. He said with larger combat loads, the weapon is reload-
ed less, keeping the crew inside the vehicle.

The system keeps gunners like Sgt. Darrin Hill, 98th Cavalry, 155th Brigade Combat
Team, out of the turret where he had spent his days since being deployed in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“I think it’s a great system. For one, it gets me out of the turret; it gets (me) out of the kill
zone,” Hill said. “I feel privileged to be able to learn how to use it.”

He wasn't at LSA Anaconda, but somewhere in the area at a FOB. I called him on Fri-
day to say goodbye and his phone cut out in the middle of the conversation. Since Ma-
ma says I can have a M1A, I’ll wait for him to get home to buy one for me in Arkansas, it
will be fully equipped and we'll have plenty of 20-round magazines. I don't know that I

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can even pick it up, but I'm old and he gets all of my guns when I'm gone. We discussed
it and decided on 1. M1A Standard Model, California illegal; and 2. Mini-14, basically the
same gun in .223. Then I'll lay a guilt trip on the wife to get a 590A1. After that, I'll give
her my Nazi .32 auto, YES it's real, and I'll talk her into a M1911 for me. Assuming I live
that long.

In order to understand why George would get Condie to just tell the Jews to 'knock it
off', I did a little research. The US Department of State is a bundle of info:

First US Aircraft Hijacked, May 1, 1961: Puerto Rican born Antuilo Ramierez Ortiz
forced at gunpoint a National Airlines plane to fly to Havana, Cuba, where he was given
asylum.

Ambassador to Guatemala Assassinated, August 28, 1968: US Ambassador to Guate-

mala John Gordon Mein was murdered by a rebel faction when gunmen forced his offi-
cial car off the road in Guatemala City and raked the vehicle with gunfire.

Ambassador to Japan Attacked, July 30, 1969: US Ambassador to Japan A.H. Meyer
was attacked by a knife-wielding Japanese citizen.

Ambassador to Brazil Kidnapped, September 3, 1969: US Ambassador to Brazil

Charles Burke Elbrick was kidnapped by the Marxist revolutionary group MR-8.

Attack on the Munich Airport, February 10, 1970: Three terrorists attacked El Al pas-
sengers in a bus at the Munich Airport with guns and grenades. One passenger was
killed and 11 were injured. All three terrorists were captured by airport police. The Ac-
tion Organization for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Democratic Front for
the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.

US Agency for International Development Adviser Kidnapped, July 31, 1970: In Monte-
video, Uruguay, the Tupamaros terrorist group kidnapped AID Police adviser Dan Mitri-
one; his body was found on August 10.

"Bloody Friday," July 21, 1972: An Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb attacks killed
eleven people and injure 130 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Ten days later, three IRA car
bomb attacks in the village of Claudy left six dead.

Munich Olympic Massacre, September 5, 1972: Eight Palestinian "Black September"

terrorists seized eleven Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village in Munich, West Germany.
In a bungled rescue attempt by West German authorities, nine of the hostages and five
terrorists were killed.

Ambassador to Sudan Assassinated, March 2, 1973: US Ambassador to Sudan Cleo A.

Noel and other diplomats were assassinated at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khar-
toum by members of the Black September organization.

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Consul General in Mexico Kidnapped, May 4, 1973: US Consul General in Guadalajara
Terrence Leonhardy was kidnapped by members of the People’s Revolutionary Armed
Forces.

Attack and Hijacking at the Rome Airport, December 17, 1973: Five terrorists pulled
weapons from their luggage in the terminal lounge at the Rome airport, killing two per-
sons. They then attacked a Pan American 707 bound for Beirut and Tehran, destroying
it with incendiary grenades and killing 29 persons, including 4 senior Moroccan officials
and 14 American employees of ARAMCO. They then herded 5 Italian hostages into a
Lufthansa airliner and killed an Italian customs agent as he tried to escape, after which
they forced the pilot to fly to Beirut. After Lebanese authorities refused to let the plane
land, it landed in Athens, where the terrorists demanded the release of 2 Arab terrorists.
In order to make Greek authorities comply with their demands, the terrorists killed a
hostage and threw his body onto the tarmac. The plane then flew to Damascus, where it
stopped for two hours to obtain fuel and food. It then flew to Kuwait, where the terrorists
released their hostages in return for passage to an unknown destination. The Palestine
Liberation Organization disavowed the attack, and no group claimed responsibility for it.

Ambassador to Cyprus Assassinated, August 19, 1974: US Ambassador to Cyprus

Rodger P. Davies and his Greek Cypriot secretary were shot and killed by snipers dur-
ing a demonstration outside the US Embassy in Nicosia.

Domestic Terrorism, January 27-29, 1975: Puerto Rican nationalists bombed a Wall
Street bar, killing four and injuring 60; two days later, the Weather Underground claims
responsibility for an explosion in a bathroom at the US Department of State in Washing-
ton.

Entebbe Hostage Crisis, June 27, 1976: Members of the Baader-Meinhof Group and the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) seized an Air France airliner and its
258 passengers. They forced the plane to land in Uganda. On July 3 Israeli commandos
successfully rescued the passengers.

Assassination of Former Chilean Diplomat, September 21, 1976: Exiled Chilean Foreign
Minister Orlando Letelier was killed by a car-bomb in Washington.

Kidnapping of Italian Prime Minister, March 16, 1978: Premier Aldo Moro was seized by
the Red Brigade and assassinated 55 days later.

Ambassador to Afghanistan Assassinated, February 14, 1979: Four Afghans kidnapped

US Ambassador Adolph Dubs in Kabul and demanded the release of various "religious
figures." Dubs was killed, along with four alleged terrorists, when Afghan police stormed
the hotel room where he was being held.

Iran Hostage Crisis, November 4, 1979: After President Carter agreed to admit the
Shah of Iran into the US; Iranian radicals seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took 66
American diplomats hostage. Thirteen hostages were soon released, but the remaining

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53 were held until their release on January 20, 1981.

Grand Mosque Seizure, November 20, 1979: 200 Islamic terrorists seized the Grand
Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, taking hundreds of pilgrims’ hostage. Saudi and
French security forces retook the shrine after an intense battle in which some 250 peo-
ple were killed and 600 wounded.

US Installation Bombing, August 31, 1981: The Red Army exploded a bomb at the US
Air Force Base at Ramstein, West Germany.

Assassination of Egyptian President, October 6, 1981: Soldiers who were secretly

members of the Takfir Wal-Hajira sect attacked and killed Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat during a troop review.

Murder of Missionaries, December 4, 1981: Three American nuns and one lay mission-
ary were found murdered outside San Salvador, El Salvador. They were killed by mem-
bers of the National Guard, and the killers are currently in prison.

Assassination of Lebanese President, September 14, 1982: President Bashir Gemayel

was assassinated by a car bomb parked outside his party’s Beirut headquarters.

Colombian Hostage-taking, April 8, 1983: A US citizen was seized by the Revolutionary

Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and held for ransom.

Bombing of US Embassy in Beirut, April 18, 1983: Sixty-three people, including the
CIA’s Middle East director, were killed and 120 were injured in a 400-pound suicide
truck-bomb attack on the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility.

Naval Officer Assassinated in El Salvador, May 25, 1983: A US Navy officer was assas-
sinated by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.

North Korean Hit Squad, October 9, 1983: North Korean agents blew up a delegation
from South Korea in Rangoon, Burma, killing 21 persons and injuring 48.

Bombing of Marine Barracks, Beirut, October 23, 1983: Simultaneous suicide truck-
bomb attacks were made on American and French compounds in Beirut, Lebanon. A
12,000-pound bomb destroyed the US compound, killing 242 Americans, while 58
French troops were killed when a 400-pound device destroyed a French base. Islamic
Jihad claimed responsibility. They're now called Hezbollah!

Naval Officer Assassinated in Greece, November 15, 1983: A US Navy officer was shot
by the November 17 terrorist group in Athens, Greece, while his car was stopped at a
traffic light.

Kidnapping of Embassy Official, March 16, 1984: The Islamic Jihad kidnapped and later

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murdered Political Officer William Buckley in Beirut, Lebanon. Other US citizens not
connected to the US government were seized over a succeeding two-year period.

Restaurant Bombing in Spain, April 12, 1984: Eighteen US servicemen were killed and
83 people were injured in a bomb attack on a restaurant near a US Air Force Base in
Torrejon, Spain.

Temple Seizure, June 5, 1984: Sikh terrorists seized the Golden Temple in Amritsar,
India. One hundred people died when Indian security forces retook the Sikh holy shrine.

Assassination of Indian Prime Minister, October 31, 1984: Premier Indira Gandhi was
shot to death by members of her security force.

Kidnapping of US Officials in Mexico, February 7, 1985: Under the orders of narcotraf-

ficker Rafael Caro Quintero, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena
Salazar and his pilot were kidnapped, tortured and executed.

TWA Hijacking, June 14, 1985: A Trans-World Airlines flight was hijacked en route to
Rome from Athens by two Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists and forced to fly to Beirut. The
eight crew members and 145 passengers were held for seventeen days, during which
one American hostage, a US Navy sailor, was murdered. After being flown twice to Al-
giers, the aircraft was returned to Beirut after Israel released 435 Lebanese and Pales-
tinian prisoners.

Attack on a Restaurant in El Salvador, June 19, 1985: Members of the FMLN (Farabun-
do Marti National Liberation Front) fired on a restaurant in the Zona Rosa district of San
Salvador, killing four Marine Security Guards assigned to the US Embassy and nine
Salvadorian civilians.

Air India Bombing, June 23, 1985: A bomb destroyed an Air India Boeing 747 over the
Atlantic, killing all 329 people aboard. Both Sikh and Kashmiri terrorists were blamed for
the attack. Two cargo handlers were killed at Tokyo airport, Japan, when another Sikh
bomb exploded in an Air Canada aircraft en route to India.

Soviet Diplomats Kidnapped, September 30, 1985: In Beirut, Lebanon, Sunni terrorists
kidnapped four Soviet diplomats. One was killed but three were later released.

Achille Lauro Hijacking, October 7, 1985: Four Palestinian Liberation Front terrorists
seized the Italian cruise liner in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, taking more than 700
hostages. One US passenger was murdered before the Egyptian government offered
the terrorists safe haven in return for the hostages’ freedom.

Egyptian Airliner Hijacking, November 23, 1985: An EgyptAir airplane bound from Ath-
ens to Malta and carrying several US citizens was hijacked by the Abu Nidal Group.

Airport Attacks in Rome and Vienna, December 27, 1985: Four gunmen belonging to

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the Abu Nidal Organization attacked the El Al and Trans World Airlines ticket counters
at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport with grenades and automatic rifles. Thirteen per-
sons were killed and 75 were wounded before Italian police and Israeli security guards
killed three of the gunmen and captured the fourth. Three more Abu Nidal gunmen at-
tacked the El Al ticket counter at Vienna’s Schwechat Airport, killing three persons and
wounding 30. Austrian police killed one of the gunmen and captured the others.

Aircraft Bombing in Greece, March 30, 1986: A Palestinian splinter group detonated a
bomb as TWA Flight 840 approached Athens airport, killing four US citizens.

Berlin Discothèque Bombing, April 5, 1986: Two US soldiers were killed and 79 Ameri-
can servicemen were injured in a Libyan bomb attack on a nightclub in West Berlin,
West Germany. In retaliation US military jets bombed targets in and around Tripoli and
Benghazi.

Kimpo Airport Bombing, September 14, 1986: North Korean agents detonated an explo-
sive device at Seoul’s Kimpo airport, killing 5 persons and injuring 29 others.

Bus Attack, April 24, 1987: Sixteen US servicemen riding in a Greek Air Force bus near
Athens were injured in an apparent bombing attack, carried out by the revolutionary or-
ganization known as November 17.

Downing of Airliner, November 29, 1987: North Korean agents planted a bomb aboard
Korean Air Lines Flight 858, which subsequently crashed into the Indian Ocean.

Servicemen’s Bar Attack, December 26, 1987: Catalan separatists bombed a Barcelona
bar frequented by US servicemen, resulting in the death of one US citizen.

Kidnapping of William Higgins, February 17, 1988: US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel
W. Higgins was kidnapped and murdered by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group while
serving with the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organization (UNTSO) in southern
Lebanon.

Naples USO Attack, April 14, 1988: The Organization of Jihad Brigades exploded a car-
bomb outside a USO Club in Naples, Italy, killing one US sailor.

Attack on US. Diplomat in Greece, June 28, 1988: The Defense Attaché of the US Em-
bassy in Greece was killed when a car-bomb was detonated outside his home in Ath-
ens.

Pan Am 103 Bombing, December 21, 1988: Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was
blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb believed to have been placed on the air-
craft by Libyan terrorists in Frankfurt, West Germany. All 259 people on board were
killed.

Assassination of US Army Officer, April 21, 1989: The New People’s Army (NPA) as-

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sassinated Colonel James Rowe in Manila. The NPA also assassinated two US gov-
ernment defense contractors in September.

Bombing of UTA Flight 772, September 19, 1989: A bomb explosion destroyed UTA
Flight 772 over the Sahara Desert in southern Niger during a flight from Brazzaville to
Paris. All 170 persons aboard were killed. Six Libyans were later found guilty in absentia
and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Assassination of German Bank Chairman, November 30, 1989: The Red Army Faction
assassinated Deutsche Bank Chairman Alfred Herrhausen in Frankfurt.

US Embassy Bombed in Peru, January 15, 1990: The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary
Movement bombed the US Embassy in Lima, Peru.

US Soldiers Assassinated in the Philippines, May 13, 1990: The New People’s Army
(NPA) killed two US Air Force personnel near Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines.

Attempted Iraqi Attacks on US Posts, January 18-19, 1991: Iraqi agents planted bombs
at the US Ambassador to Indonesia’s home residence and at the USIS library in Manila.

Sniper Attack on the US Embassy in Bonn, February 13, 1991: Three Red Army Faction
members fired automatic rifles from across the Rhine River at the US Embassy Chan-
cery. No one was hurt.

Assassination of former Indian Prime Minister, May 21, 1991: A female member of the
LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) killed herself, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and
16 others by detonating an explosive vest after presenting a garland of flowers to the
former Prime Minister during an election rally in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Kidnapping of US Businessmen in the Philippines, January 17-21, 1992: A senior official

of the corporation Philippine Geothermal was kidnapped in Manila by the Red Scorpion
Group, and two US businessmen were seized independently by the National Liberation
Army and by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, March 17, 1992: Hezbollah claimed re-
sponsibility for a blast that leveled the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
causing the deaths of 29 and wounding 242.

Kidnappings of US Citizens in Colombia, January 31, 1993: Revolutionary Armed Forc-

es of Colombia (FARC) terrorists kidnapped three US missionaries.

World Trade Center Bombing, February 26, 1993: The World Trade Center in New York
City was badly damaged when a car bomb planted by Islamic terrorists exploded in an
underground garage. The bomb left 6 people dead and 1,000 injured. The men carrying
out the attack were followers of Umar Abd al-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who preached
in the New York City area.

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Attempted Assassination of President Bush by Iraqi Agents, April 14, 1993: The Iraqi
intelligence service attempted to assassinate former US President George Bush during
a visit to Kuwait. In retaliation, the US launched a cruise missile attack 2 months later on
the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Hebron Massacre, February 25, 1994: Jewish right-wing extremist and US citizen Ba-
ruch Goldstein machine-gunned Moslem worshippers at a mosque in West Bank town
of Hebron, killing 29 and wounding about 150.

FARC Hostage-taking, September 23, 1994: FARC rebels kidnapped US citizen Thom-
as Hargrove in Colombia.

Air France Hijacking, December 24, 1994: Members of the Armed Islamic Group seized
an Air France Flight to Algeria. The four terrorists were killed during a rescue effort.

Attack on US Diplomats in Pakistan, March 8, 1995: Two unidentified gunmen killed two
US diplomats and wounded a third in Karachi, Pakistan.

Tokyo Subway Station Attack, March 20, 1995: Twelve persons were killed and 5,700
were injured in a Sarin nerve gas attack on a crowded subway station in the center of
Tokyo, Japan. A similar attack occurred nearly simultaneously in the Yokohama subway
system. The Aum Shinri-kyo cult was blamed for the attacks.

Bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995: Right-wing extremists
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols destroyed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City
with a massive truck bomb that killed 166 and injured hundreds more in what was up to
then the largest terrorist attack on American soil.

Kashmiri Hostage-taking, July 4, 1995: In India six foreigners, including two US citizens,
were taken hostage by Al-Faran, a Kashmiri separatist group. One non-US hostage was
later found beheaded.

Jerusalem Bus Attack, August 21, 1995: HAMAS claimed responsibility for the detona-
tion of a bomb that killed 6 and injured over 100 persons, including several US citizens.

Attack on US Embassy in Moscow, September 13, 1995: A rocket-propelled grenade

was fired through the window of the US Embassy in Moscow, ostensibly in retaliation for
US strikes on Serb positions in Bosnia.

Saudi Military Installation Attack, November 13, 1995: The Islamic Movement of Change
planted a bomb in a Riyadh military compound that killed one US citizen, several foreign
national employees of the US government, and over 40 others.

Egyptian Embassy Attack, November 19, 1995: A suicide bomber drove a vehicle into
the Egyptian Embassy compound in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 16 and injuring

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60 persons. Three militant Islamic groups claimed responsibility.

Papuan Hostage Abduction, January 8, 1996: In Indonesia, 200 Free Papua Movement
(OPM) guerrillas abducted 26 individuals in the Lorenta nature preserve, Irian Jaya
Province. Indonesian Special Forces members rescued the remaining nine hostages on
May 15.

Kidnapping in Colombia, January 19, 1996: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

(FARC) guerrillas kidnapped a US citizen and demanded a $1 million ransom. The hos-
tage was released on May 22.

Tamil Tigers Attack, January 31, 1996: Members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) rammed an explosives-laden truck into the Central Bank in the heart of
downtown Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 90 civilians and injuring more than 1,400 others,
including 2 US citizens.

IRA Bombing, February 9, 1996: An Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb detonated in
London, killing 2 persons and wounding more than 100 others, including 2 US citizens.

Athens Embassy Attack, February 15, 1996: Unidentified assailants fired a rocket at the
US Embassy compound in Athens, causing minor damage to three diplomatic vehicles
and some surrounding buildings. Circumstances of the attack suggested it was an op-
eration carried out by the 17 November group.

ELN Kidnapping, February 16, 1996: Six alleged National Liberation Army (ELN) guerril-
las kidnapped a US citizen in Colombia. After 9 months, the hostage was released.

HAMAS Bus Attack, February 26, 1996: In Jerusalem, a suicide bomber blew up a bus,
killing 26 persons, including three US citizens, and injuring some 80 persons, including
three other US citizens.

Dizengoff Center Bombing, March 4, 1996: HAMAS and the Palestine Islamic Jihad
(PIJ) both claimed responsibility for a bombing outside of Tel Aviv's largest shopping
mall that killed 20 persons and injured 75 others, including 2 US citizens.

West Bank Attack, May 13, 1996: Arab gunmen opened fire on a bus and a group of
Yeshiva students near the Bet El settlement, killing a dual US/Israeli citizen and wound-
ing three Israelis. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but HAMAS was sus-
pected.

AID Worker Abduction, May 31, 1996: A gang of former Contra guerrillas kidnapped a
US employee of the Agency for International Development (AID) who was assisting with
election preparations in rural northern Nicaragua. She was released unharmed the next
day after members of the international commission overseeing the preparations inter-
vened.

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Zekharya Attack, June 9, 1996: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a car near Zekhar-
ya, killing a dual US/Israeli citizen and an Israeli. The Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) was suspected.

Manchester Truck Bombing, June 15, 1996: An IRA truck bomb detonated at a Man-
chester shopping center, wounding 206 persons, including two German tourists, and
caused extensive property damage.

Khobar Towers Bombing, June 25, 1996: A fuel truck carrying a bomb exploded outside
the US military's Khobar Towers housing facility in Dhahran, killing 19 US military per-
sonnel and wounding 515 persons, including 240 US personnel. Several groups
claimed responsibility for the attack.

ETA Bombing, July 20, 1996: A bomb exploded at Tarragona International Airport in
Reus, Spain, wounding 35 persons, including British and Irish tourists. The Basque Fa-
therland and Liberty (ETA) organization was suspected.

Bombing of Archbishop of Oran, August 1, 1996: A bomb exploded at the home of the
French Archbishop of Oran, killing him and his chauffeur. The attack occurred after the
Archbishop's meeting with the French Foreign Minister. The Algerian Armed Islamic
Group (GIA) is suspected.

Sudanese Rebel Kidnapping, August 17, 1996: Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)
rebels kidnapped six missionaries in Mapourdit, including a US citizen, an Italian, three
Australians, and a Sudanese. The SPLA released the hostages 11 days later.

PUK Kidnapping, September 13, 1996: In Iraq, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) mili-
tants kidnapped four French workers for Pharmaciens Sans Frontieres, a Canadian
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official, and two Iraqis.

Assassination of South Korean Consul, October 1, 1996: In Vladivostok, Russia, assail-

ants attacked and killed a South Korean consul near his home. No one claimed respon-
sibility, but South Korean authorities believed that the attack was carried out by profes-
sionals and that the assailants were North Koreans. North Korean officials denied the
country's involvement in the attack.

Red Cross Worker Kidnappings, November 1, 1996: In Sudan a breakaway group from
the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) kidnapped three International Commit-
tee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers, including a US citizen, an Australian, and a Ken-
yan. On 9 December the rebels released the hostages in exchange for ICRC supplies
and a health survey for their camp.

Paris Subway Explosion, December 3, 1996: A bomb exploded aboard a Paris subway
train as it arrived at the Port Royal station, killing two French nationals, a Moroccan, and
a Canadian, and injuring 86 persons. Among those injured were one US citizen and a
Canadian. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Algerian extremists are sus-

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pected.

Abduction of US. Citizen by FARC, December 11, 1996: Five armed men claiming to be
members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) kidnapped and later
killed a US geologist at a methane gas exploration site in La Guajira Department.

Tupac Amaru Seizure of Diplomats, December 17, 1996: Twenty-three members of the
Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took several hundred people hostage at
a party given at the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru. Among the hos-
tages were several US officials, foreign ambassadors and other diplomats, Peruvian
Government officials, and Japanese businessmen. The group demanded the release of
all MRTA members in prison and safe passage for them and the hostage takers. The
terrorists released most of the hostages in December but held 81 Peruvians and Japa-
nese citizens for several months.

Egyptian Letter Bombs, January 2-13, 1997: A series of letter bombs with Alexandria,
Egypt, postmarks were discovered at Al-Hayat newspaper bureaus in Washington, New
York City, London, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Three similar devices, also postmarked in
Egypt, were found at a prison facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. Bomb disposal experts
defused all the devices, but one detonated at the Al-Hayat office in London, injuring two
security guards and causing minor damage.

Tajik Hostage Abductions, February 4-17, 1997: Near Komsomolabad, Tajikistan, a

paramilitary group led by Bakhrom Sodirov abducted four United Nations (UN) military
observers. The victims included two Swiss, one Austrian, one Ukrainian, and their Tajik
interpreter. The kidnappers demanded safe passage for their supporters from Afghani-
stan to Tajikistan. In four separate incidents occurring between Dushanbe and Garm,
Bakhrom Sodirov and his group kidnapped two International Committee for the Red
Cross members, four Russian journalists and their Tajik driver, four UNHCR members,
and the Tajik Security Minister, Saidamir Zukhurov.

Venezuelan Abduction, February 14, 1997: Six armed Colombian guerrillas kidnapped a
US oil engineer and his Venezuelan pilot in Apure, Venezuela. The kidnappers released
the Venezuelan pilot on 22 February. According to authorities, the FARC is responsible
for the kidnapping.

Empire State Building Sniper Attack, February 23, 1997: A Palestinian gunman opened
fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City,
killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Swit-
zerland, and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by
the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine."

ELN Kidnapping, February 24, 1997: National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas kid-
napped a US citizen employed by a Las Vegas gold corporation who was scouting a
gold mining operation in Colombia. The ELN demanded a ransom of $2.5 million.

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FARC Kidnapping, March 7, 1997: FARC guerrillas kidnapped a US mining employee
and his Colombian colleague who were searching for gold in Colombia. On November
16, the rebels released the two hostages after receiving a $50,000 ransom.

Hotel Nacional Bombing, July 12, 1997: A bomb exploded at the Hotel Nacional in Ha-
vana, injuring three persons and causing minor damage. A previously unknown group
calling itself the Military Liberation Union claimed responsibility.

Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing, September 4, 1997: Three suicide bombers of HAMAS
detonated bombs in the Ben Yehuda shopping mall in Jerusalem, killing eight persons,
including the bombers, and wounding nearly 200 others. A dual US/Israeli citizen was
among the dead, and 7 US citizens were wounded.

OAS Abductions, October 23, 1997: In Colombia ELN rebels kidnapped two foreign
members of the Organization of American States (OAS) and a Colombian human rights
official at a roadblock. The ELN claimed that the kidnapping was intended "to show the
international community that the elections in Colombia are a farce."

Yemeni Kidnappings, October 30, 1997: Al-Sha'if tribesmen kidnapped a US business-

man near Sanaa. The tribesmen sought the release of two fellow tribesmen who were
arrested on smuggling charges and several public works projects they claim the gov-
ernment promised them. They released the hostage on November 27.

Murder of US Businessmen in Pakistan, November 12, 1997: Two unidentified gunmen

shot to death four US auditors from Union Texas Petroleum Corporation and their Paki-
stani driver after they drove away from the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi. The Islami Inqilabi
Council, or Islamic Revolutionary Council, claimed responsibility in a call to the US Con-
sulate in Karachi. In a letter to Pakistani newspapers, the Aimal Khufia Action Commit-
tee also claimed responsibility.

Tourist Killings in Egypt, November 17, 1997: Al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya (IG) gunmen shot
and killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians and wounded 26 others at the Hatshepsut
Temple in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Thirty-four Swiss, eight Japanese, five
Germans, four Britons, one French, one Colombian, a dual Bulgarian/British citizen, and
four unidentified persons were among the dead. Twelve Swiss, two Japanese, two
Germans, one French, and nine Egyptians were among the wounded.

UN Observer Abductions, February 19, 1998: Armed supporters of late Georgian presi-
dent Zviad Gamsakhurdia abducted four UN military observers from Sweden, Uruguay,
and the Czech Republic.

FARC Abduction, March 21-23, 1998: FARC rebels kidnapped a US citizen in

Sabaneta, Colombia. FARC members also killed three persons, wounded 14, and kid-
napped at least 27 others at a roadblock near Bogota. Four US citizens and one Italian
were among those kidnapped, as well as the acting president of the National Electoral
Council (CNE) and his wife.

13
Somali Hostage-takings, April 15, 1998: Somali militiamen abducted nine Red Cross
and Red Crescent workers at an airstrip north of Mogadishu. The hostages included a
US citizen, a German, a Belgian, a French, a Norwegian, two Swiss, and one Somali.
The gunmen were members of a sub-clan loyal to Ali Mahdi Mohammed, who controlled
the northern section of the capital.

IRA Bombing, Banbridge, August 1, 1998: A 500-pound car bomb planted by the Real
IRA exploded outside a shoe store in Banbridge, North Ireland, injuring 35 persons and
damaging at least 200 homes.

US Embassy Bombings in East Africa, August 7, 1998: A bomb exploded at the rear en-
trance of the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 12 US citizens, 32 Foreign Service
Nationals (FSNs), and 247 Kenyan citizens. Approximately 5,000 Kenyans, 6 US citi-
zens, and 13 FSNs were injured. The US Embassy building sustained extensive struc-
tural damage. Almost simultaneously, a bomb detonated outside the US Embassy in
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 7 FSNs and 3 Tanzanian citizens, and injuring 1 US
citizen and 76 Tanzanians. The explosion caused major structural damage to the US
Embassy facility. The US Government held Usama Bin Laden responsible.

IRA Bombing, Omagh, August 15, 1998: A 500-pound car bomb planted by the Real
IRA exploded outside a local courthouse in the central shopping district of Omagh,
Northern Ireland, killing 29 persons and injuring over 330.

Colombian Pipeline Bombing, October 18, 1998: A National Liberation Army (ELN)
planted bomb exploded on the Ocensa pipeline in Antioquia Department, killing approx-
imately 71 persons and injuring at least 100 others. The pipeline is jointly owned by the
Colombia State Oil Company Ecopetrol and a consortium including US, French, British,
and Canadian companies.

Armed Kidnapping in Colombia, November 15, 1998: Armed assailants followed a US

businessman and his family home in Cundinamarca Department and kidnapped his 11-
year-old son after stealing money, jewelry, one automobile, and two cell phones. The
kidnappers demanded $1 million in ransom. On January 21, 1999, the kidnappers re-
leased the boy.

Angolan Aircraft Downing, January 2, 1999: A UN plane carrying one US citizen, four
Angolans, two Philippine nationals and one Namibian was shot down, according to a
UN official. No deaths or injuries were reported. Angolan authorities blamed the attack
on National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels. UNITA officials
denied shooting down the plane.

Ugandan Rebel Attack, February 14, 1999: A pipe bomb exploded inside a bar, killing
five persons and injuring 35 others. One Ethiopian and four Ugandan nationals died in
the blast, and one US citizen working for USAID, two Swiss nationals, one Pakistani,
one Ethiopian, and 27 Ugandans were injured. Ugandan authorities blamed the attack

14
on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Greek Embassy Seizure, February 16, 1999: Kurdish protesters stormed and occupied
the Greek Embassy in Vienna, taking the Greek Ambassador and six other persons
hostage. Several hours later the protesters released the hostages and left the Embassy.
The attack followed the Turkish Government's announcement of the successful capture
of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. Kurds also occupied
Kenyan, Israeli, and other Greek diplomatic facilities in France, Holland, Switzerland,
Britain, and Germany over the following days.

FARC Kidnappings, February 25, 1999: FARC kidnapped three US citizens working for
the Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural Conservancy International. On March 4, the bodies of
the three victims were found in Venezuela.

Hutu Abductions, March 1, 1999: 150 armed Hutu rebels attacked three tourist camps in
Uganda, killed four Ugandans, and abducted three US citizens, six Britons, three New
Zealanders, two Danish citizens, one Australian, and one Canadian national. Two of the
US citizens and six of the other hostages were subsequently killed by their abductors.

ELN Hostage-taking, March 23, 1999: Armed guerrillas kidnapped a US citizen in Bo-
yaca, Colombia. The National Liberation Army (ELN) claimed responsibility and de-
manded $400,000 ransom. On 20 July, ELN rebels released the hostage unharmed fol-
lowing a ransom payment of $48,000.

ELN Hostage-taking, May 30, 1999: In Cali, Colombia, armed ELN militants attacked a
church in the neighborhood of Ciudad Jardin, kidnapping 160 persons, including six US
citizens and one French national. The rebels released approximately 80 persons, in-
cluding three US citizens, later that day.

Shell Platform Bombing, June 27, 1999: In Port Harcourt, Nigeria, armed youths
stormed a Shell oil platform, kidnapping one US citizen, one Nigerian national, and one
Australian citizen, and causing undetermined damage. A group calling itself "Enough is
Enough in the Niger River" claimed responsibility. Further seizures of oil facilities fol-
lowed.

AFRC Kidnappings, August 4, 1999: An Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC)

faction kidnapped 33 UN representatives near Occra Hills, Sierra Leone. The hostages
included one US citizen, five British soldiers, one Canadian citizen, one representative
from Ghana, one military officer from Russia, one officer from Kyrgystan, one officer
from Zambia, one officer from Malaysia, a local Bishop, two UN officials, two local jour-
nalists, and 16 Sierra Leonean nationals.

Burmese Embassy Seizure, October 1, 1999: Burmese dissidents seized the Burmese
Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, taking 89 persons hostage, including one US citizen.

PLA Kidnapping, December 23, 1999: Colombian People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forc-

15
es kidnapped a US citizen in an unsuccessful ransoming effort.

Indian Airlines Airbus Hijacking, December 24, 1999: Five militants hijacked a flight
bound from Katmandu to New Delhi carrying 189 people. The plane and its passengers
were released unharmed on December 31.

Car bombing in Spain, January 27, 2000: Police officials reported unidentified individu-
als set fire to a Citroen car dealership in Iturreta, causing extensive damage to the build-
ing and destroying 12 vehicles. The attack bore the hallmark of the Basque Fatherland
and Liberty (ETA).

RUF Attacks on U.N. Mission Personnel, May 1, 2000: On 1 May in Makeni, Sierra Leo-
ne, Revolutionary United Front (RUF) militants kidnapped at least 20 members of the
United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and surrounded and
opened fire on a UNAMSIL facility, according to press reports. The militants killed five
UN soldiers in the attack. RUF militants kidnapped 300 UNAMSIL peacekeepers
throughout the country, according to press reports. On 15 May in Foya, Liberia, the kid-
nappers released 139 hostages. On 28 May, on the Liberia and Sierra Leone border,
armed militants released unharmed the last of the UN peacekeepers. In Freetown, ac-
cording to press reports, armed militants ambushed two military vehicles carrying four
journalists. A Spaniard and one US citizen were killed in a May 25 car bombing in Free-
town for which the RUF was probably responsible. Suspected RUF rebels also kid-
napped 21 Indian UN peacekeepers in Freetown on June 6. Additional attacks by RUF
on foreign personnel followed.

Diplomatic Assassination in Greece, June 8, 2000: In Athens, Greece, two unidentified

gunmen killed British Defense Attaché Stephen Saunders in an ambush. The Revolu-
tionary Organization 17 November claimed responsibility.

ELN Kidnapping, June 27, 2000: In Bogota, Colombia, ELN militants kidnapped a 5-
year-old US citizen and his Colombian mother, demanding an undisclosed ransom.

Kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan, August 12, 2000: In the Kara-Su Valley, the Islamic Move-
ment of Uzbekistan took four US citizens hostage. The Americans escaped on August
12.

Church Bombing in Tajikistan, October 1, 2000: Unidentified militants detonated two

bombs in a Christian church in Dushanbe, killing seven persons and injuring 70 others.
The church was founded by a Korean-born US citizen, and most of those killed and
wounded were Korean. No one claimed responsibility.

Helicopter Hijacking, October 12, 2000: In Sucumbios Province, Ecuador, a group of

armed kidnappers led by former members of defunct Colombian terrorist organization
the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), took hostage 10 employees of Spanish energy con-
sortium REPSOL. Those kidnapped included five US citizens, one Argentine, one Chil-
ean, one New Zealander, and two French pilots who escaped four days later. On Janu-

16
ary 30, 2001, the kidnappers murdered American hostage Ronald Sander. The remain-
ing hostages were released on February 23 following the payment of $13 million in ran-
som by the oil companies.

Attack on USS Cole, October 12, 2000: In Aden, Yemen, a small dingy carrying explo-
sives rammed the destroyer USS Cole, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others. Sup-
porters of Usama Bin Laden were suspected.

Manila Bombing, December 30, 2000: A bomb exploded in a plaza across the street
from the US Embassy in Manila, injuring nine persons. The Moro Islamic Liberation
Front was likely responsible.

Srinagar Airport Attack and Assassination Attempt, January 17, 2001: In India, six
members of the Lashkar-e-Tayyba militant group were killed when they attempted to
seize a local airport. Members of Hizbul Mujaheddin fired two rifle grenades at Farooq
Abdullah, Chief Minister for Jammu and Kashmir. Two persons were wounded in the
unsuccessful assassination attempt.

BBC Studios Bombing, March 4, 2001: A car bomb exploded at midnight outside of the
British Broadcasting Corporation’s main production studios in London. One person was
injured. British authorities suspected the Real IRA had planted the bomb.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, March 4, 2001: A suicide bomb attack in Netanya killed 3
persons and wounded 65. HAMAS later claimed responsibility.

ETA Bombing, March 9, 2001: Two policemen were killed by the explosion of a car
bomb in Hernani, Spain.

Airliner Hijacking in Istanbul, March 15, 2001: Three Chechens hijacked a Russian air-
liner during a flight from Istanbul to Moscow and forced it to fly to Medina, Saudi Arabia.
The plane carried 162 passengers and a crew of 12. After a 22-hour siege during which
more than 40 passengers were released, Saudi security forces stormed the plane, kill-
ing a hijacker, a passenger, and a flight attendant.

Bus Stop Bombing, April 22, 2001: A member of HAMAS detonated a bomb he was car-
rying near a bus stop in Kfar Siva, Israel, killing one person and injuring 60.

Philippines Hostage Incident, May 27, 2001: Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas seized 13
tourists and 3 staff members at a resort on Palawan Island and took their captives to
Basilan Island. The captives included three US citizens: Guellermo Sobero and mis-
sionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham. Philippine troops fought a series of battles with
the guerrillas between June 1 and June 3 during which 9 hostages escaped and two
were found dead. The guerrillas took additional hostages when they seized the hospital
in the town of Lamitan. On June 12, Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya claimed that
Sobero had been killed and beheaded; his body was found in October. The Burnhams

17
remained in captivity until June 2002.

Tel-Aviv Nightclub Bombing, June 1, 2001: HAMAS claimed responsibility for the sui-
cide bombing of a popular Israeli nightclub that caused over 140 casualties.

HAMAS Restaurant Bombing, August 9, 2001: A HAMAS-planted bomb detonated in a

Jerusalem pizza restaurant, killing 15 people and wounding more than 90. The Israeli
response included occupation of Orient House, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s
political headquarters in East Jerusalem.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, September 9, 2001: The first suicide bombing carried out by
an Israeli Arab killed 3 persons in Nahariya. HAMAS claimed responsibility.

Death of "the Lion of the Panjshir", September 9, 2001: Two suicide bombers fatally
wounded Ahmed Shah Massoud, a leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, which
had opposed both the Soviet occupation and the post-Soviet Taliban government. The
bombers posed as journalists and were apparently linked to al Qaeda. The Northern Al-
liance did not confirm Massoud’s death until September 15.

Terrorist Attacks on US Homeland, September 11, 2001: Two hijacked airliners crashed
into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Soon thereafter, the Pentagon was
struck by a third hijacked plane. A fourth hijacked plane, suspected to be bound for a
high-profile target in Washington, crashed into a field in southern Pennsylvania. The at-
tacks killed 3,025 US citizens and other nationals. President Bush and Cabinet officials
indicated that Usama Bin Laden was the prime suspect and that they considered the
United States in a state of war with international terrorism. In the aftermath of the at-
tacks, the United States formed the Global Coalition Against Terrorism.

Attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature, October 1, 2001: After a suicide car
bomber forced the gate of the state legislature in Srinagar, two gunmen entered the
building and held off police for seven hours before being killed. Forty persons died in the
incident. Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed responsibility.

Anthrax Attacks, October-November 2001: On October 7 the US Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that investigators had detected evidence that
the deadly anthrax bacterium was present in the building where a Florida man who died
of anthrax on October 5 had worked. Discovery of a second anthrax case triggered a
major investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The two anthrax cases
were the first to appear in the United States in 25 years. Anthrax subsequently ap-
peared in mail received by television networks in New York and by the offices in Wash-
ington of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other members of Congress. Attor-
ney General John Ashcroft said in a briefing on October 16, "When people send anthrax
through the mail to hurt people and invoke terror, it’s a terrorist act."

Assassination of an Israeli Cabinet Minister, October 17, 2001: A Palestinian gunman

assassinated Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Zeevi in the Jerusalem hotel where

18
he was staying. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed to
have avenged the death of PFLP Mustafa Zubari.

Attack on a Church in Pakistan, October 28, 2001: Six masked gunmen shot up a
church in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, killing 15 Pakistani Christians. No group claimed re-
sponsibility, although various militant Muslim groups were suspected.

Suicide Bombings in Jerusalem, December 1, 2001: Two suicide bombers attacked a

Jerusalem shopping mall, killing 10 persons and wounding 170.

Suicide Bombing in Haifa, December 2, 2001: A suicide bomb attack aboard a bus in
Haifa, Israel, killed 15 persons and wounded 40. HAMAS claimed responsibility for both
this attack and those on December 1 to avenge the death of a HAMAS member at the
hands of Israeli forces a week earlier.

Attack on the Indian Parliament, December 13, 2001: Five gunmen attacked the Indian
Parliament in New Delhi shortly after it had adjourned. Before security forces killed
them, the attackers killed 6 security personnel and a gardener. Indian officials blamed
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and demanded that Pakistan crack down on it and on other Muslim
separatist groups in Kashmir.

Ambush on the West Bank, January 15, 2002: Palestinian militants fired on a vehicle in
Beit Sahur, killing one passenger and wounding the other. The dead passenger claimed
US and Israeli citizenship. The al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Battalion claimed responsibility.

Shooting Incident in Israel, January 17, 2002: A Palestinian gunman killed 6 persons
and wounded 25 in Hadera, Israel, before being killed by Israeli police. The al-Aqsa
Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility as revenge for Israel’s killing of a leading mem-
ber of the group.

Drive-By Shooting at a US Consulate, January 22, 2002: Armed militants on motorcy-

cles fired on the US Consulate in Calcutta, India, killing 5 Indian security personnel and
wounding 13 others. The Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami and the Asif Raza Commandoes
claimed responsibility. Indian police later killed two suspects, one of whom confessed to
belonging to Lashkar-e-Tayyiba as he died.

Bomb Explosion in Kashmir, January 22, 2002: A bomb exploded in a crowded retail
district in Jammu, Kashmir, killing one person and injuring nine. No group claimed re-
sponsibility.

Kidnapping of Daniel Pearl, January 23, 2002: Armed militants kidnapped Wall Street
Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi, Pakistan. Pakistani authorities received a vide-
otape on February 20 depicting Pearl’s murder. His grave was found near Karachi on
May 16. Pakistani authorities arrested four suspects. Ringleader Ahmad Omar Saeed
Sheikh claimed to have organized Pearl’s kidnapping to protest Pakistan’s subservience
to the United States, and had belonged to Jaish-e-Muhammad, an Islamic separatist

19
group in Kashmir. All four suspects were convicted on July 15. Saeed Sheikh was sen-
tenced to death, the others to life imprisonment.

Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem, January 27, 2002: A suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem
killed one other person and wounded 100. The incident was the first suicide bombing
made by a Palestinian woman.

Suicide Bombing in the West Bank, February 16, 2002: A suicide bombing in an outdoor
food court in Karmei Shomron killed 4 persons and wounded 27. Two of the dead and
two of the wounded were US citizens. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP) claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in the West Bank, March 7, 2002: A suicide bombing in a supermarket
in the settlement of Ariel wounded 10 persons, one of whom was a US citizen. The
PFLP claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem, March 9, 2002: A suicide bombing in a Jerusalem res-

taurant killed 11 persons and wounded 52, one of whom was a US citizen. The al-Aqsa
Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility.

Drive-By Shooting in Colombia, March 14, 2002: Gunmen on motorcycles shot and
killed two US citizens who had come to Cali, Colombia, to negotiate the release of their
father, who was a captive of the FARC. No group claimed responsibility.

Grenade Attack on a Church in Pakistan, March 17, 2002: Militants threw grenades into
the Protestant International Church in Islamabad, Pakistan, during a service attended by
diplomatic and local personnel. Five persons, two of them US citizens, were killed and
46 were wounded. The dead Americans were State Department employee Barbara
Green and her daughter Kristen Wormsley. Thirteen US citizens were among the
wounded. The Lashkar-e-Tayyiba group was suspected.

Car Bomb Explosion in Peru, March 20, 2002: A car bomb exploded at a shopping cen-
ter near the US Embassy in Lima, Peru. Nine persons were killed and 32 wounded. The
dead included two police officers and a teenager. Peruvian authorities suspected either
the Shining Path rebels or the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. The attack oc-
curred 3 days before President George W. Bush visited Peru.

Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem, March 21, 2002: A suicide bombing in Jerusalem killed
3 persons and wounded 86 more, including 2 US citizens. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, March 27, 2002: A suicide bombing in a noted restaurant in
Netanya, Israel, killed 22 persons and wounded 140. One of the dead was a US citizen.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) claimed responsibility.

Temple Bombing in Kashmir, March 30, 2002: A bomb explosion at a Hindu temple in

20
Jammu, Kashmir, killed 10 persons. The Islamic Front claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in the West Bank, March 31, 2002: A suicide bombing near an ambu-
lance station in Efrat wounded four persons, including a US citizen. The al-Aqsa Mar-
tyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility.

Armed attack on Kashmir, April 10, 2002: Armed militants attacked a residence in Gan-
do, Kashmir, killing five persons and wounding four. No group claimed responsibility.

Synagogue Bombing in Tunisia, April 11, 2002: A suicide bomber detonated a truck
loaded with propane gas outside a historic synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. The 16 dead
included 11 Germans, one French citizen, and three Tunisians. Twenty-six German
tourists were injured. The Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Sites claimed re-
sponsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem, April 12, 2002: A female suicide bomber killed 6 persons
in Jerusalem and wounded 90 others. The al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsi-
bility.

Car Bombing in Pakistan, May 8, 2002: A car bomb exploded near a Pakistani navy
shuttle bus in Karachi, killing 12 persons and wounding 19. Eleven of the dead and 11
of the wounded were French nationals. Al Qaeda was suspected of the attack.

Parade Bombing in Russia, May 9, 2002: A remotely-controlled bomb exploded near a

May Day parade in Kaspiisk, Dagestan, killing 42 persons and wounding 150. Fourteen
of the dead and 50 of the wounded were soldiers. Islamists linked to al Qaeda were
suspected.

Attack on a Bus in India, May 14, 2002: Militants fired on a passenger bus in Kaluchak,
Jammu, killing 7 persons. They then entered a military housing complex and killed 3
soldiers and 7 military dependents before they were killed. The al-Mansooran and Ja-
miat ul-Mujahedin claimed responsibility.

Bomb Attacks in Kashmir, May 17, 2002: A bomb explosion near a civil secretariat area
in Srinagar, Kashmir, wounded 6 persons. In Jammu, a bomb exploded at a fire ser-
vices headquarters, killing two and wounding 16. No group claimed responsibility for ei-
ther attack.

Hostage Rescue Attempt in the Philippines, June 7, 2002: Philippine Army troops at-
tacked Abu Sayyaf terrorists on Mindanao Island in an attempt to rescue US citizen
Martin Burnham and his wife Gracia, who had been kidnapped more than a year ago.
Burnham was killed but his wife, though wounded, was freed. A Filipino hostage was
killed, as were four of the guerrillas. Seven soldiers were wounded.

Car Bombing in Pakistan, June 14, 2002: A car bomb exploded near the US Consulate
and the Marriott Hotel in Karachi, Pakistan. Eleven persons were killed and 51 were

21
wounded, including one US and one Japanese citizen. Al Qaida and al-Qanin were
suspected.

Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem, June 19, 2002: A suicide bombing at a bus stop in Jeru-
salem killed 6 persons and wounded 43, including 2 US citizens. The al-Aqsa Martyrs’
Brigades claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Tel Aviv, July 17, 2002: Two suicide bombers attacked the old bus
station in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing 5 persons and wounding 38. The dead included one
Romanian and two Chinese; another Romanian was wounded. The Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility.

Bombing at the Hebrew University, July 31, 2002: A bomb hidden in a bag in the Frank
Sinatra International Student Center of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University killed 9 persons
and wounded 87. The dead included 5 US citizens and 4 Israelis. The wounded includ-
ed 4 US citizens, 2 Japanese, and 3 South Koreans. The Islamic Resistance Movement
(HAMAS) claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, August 4, 2002: A suicide bomb attack on a bus in Safed,
Israel, killed 9 persons and wounded 50. Two of the dead were Philippine citizens;
many of the wounded were soldiers returning from leave. HAMAS claimed responsibil-
ity.

Attack on a School in Pakistan, August 5, 2002: Gunmen attacked a Christian school

attended by children of missionaries from around the world. Six persons (two security
guards, a cook, a carpenter, a receptionist, and a private citizen) were killed and a Phil-
ippine citizen was wounded. A group called al-Intigami al-Pakistani claimed responsibil-
ity.

Attack on Pilgrims in Kashmir, August 6, 2002: Armed militants attacked a group of Hin-
du pilgrims with guns and grenades in Pahalgam, Kashmir. Nine persons were killed
and 32 were wounded. The Lashkar-e-Tayyiba claimed responsibility.

Assassination in Kashmir, September 11, 2002: Gunmen killed Kashmir’s Law Minister
Mushtaq Ahmed Lone and six security guards in Tikipora. Lashkar-e-Tayyiga, Jamiat ul-
Mujahedin, and Hizb ul-Mujahedin all claimed responsibility. Other militants attacked the
residence of the Minister of Tourism with grenades, injuring four persons. No group
claimed responsibility.

Ambush on the West Bank, September 18, 2002: Gunmen ambushed a vehicle on a
road near Yahad, killing an Israeli and wounding a Romanian worker. The al-Aqsa Mar-
tyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bomb Attack in Israel, September 19, 2002: A suicide bomb attack on a bus in
Tel Aviv killed 6 persons and wounded 52. One of the dead was a British subject. HA-
MAS claimed responsibility.

22
Attack on a French Tanker, October 6, 2002: An explosive-laden boat rammed the
French oil tanker Limburg, which was anchored about 5 miles off al-Dhabbah, Yemen.
One person was killed and 4 were wounded. Al Qaeda was suspected.

Car Bomb Explosion in Bali, October 12, 2002: A car bomb exploded outside the Sari
Club Discotheque in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 persons and wounding 300
more. Most of the casualties, including 88 of the dead, were Australian tourists. Seven
Americans were among the dead. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility. Two suspects were
later arrested and convicted. Iman Samudra, who had trained in Afghanistan with al-
Qaeda and was suspected of belonging to Jemaah Islamiya, was sentenced to death on
September 10, 2003.

Chechen Rebels Seize a Moscow Theater, October 23-26, 2002: Fifty Chechen rebels
led by Movsar Barayev seized the Palace of Culture Theater in Moscow, Russia, to de-
mand an end to the war in Chechnya. They seized more than 800 hostages from 13
countries and threatened to blow up the theater. During a three-day siege, they killed a
Russian policeman and five Russian hostages. On October 26, Russian Special Forces
pumped an anesthetic gas through the ventilation system and then stormed the theater.
All of the rebels were killed, but 94 hostages (including one American) also died, many
from the effects of the gas. A group led by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed
responsibility.

Assassination of an AID Official, October 28, 2002: Gunmen in Amman assassinated

Laurence Foley, Executive Officer of the US Agency for International Development Mis-
sion in Jordan. The Honest People of Jordan claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem, November 21, 2002: A suicide bomb attack on a bus on
Mexico Street in Jerusalem killed 11 persons and wounded 50 more. One of the dead
was a Romanian. HAMAS claimed responsibility.

Attack on Temples in Kashmir, November 24, 2002: Armed militants attacked the
Reghunath and Shiv temples in Jammu, Kashmir, killing 13 persons and wounding 50.
The Lashkare-e-Tayyiba claimed responsibility.

Attacks on Israeli Tourists in Kenya, November 28, 2002: A three-person suicide car
bomb attack on the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, killed 15 persons and wounded
40. Three of the dead and 18 of the wounded were Israeli tourists; the others were Ken-
yans. Near Mombasa’s airport, two SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles were fired as an Arkia
Airlines Boeing 757 that was carrying 261 passengers back to Israel. Both missiles
missed. Al Qaeda, the Government of Universal Palestine in Exile, and the Army of Pal-
estine claimed responsibility for both attacks. Al-Ittihad al-Islami was also suspected of
involvement.

Attack on a Bus in the Philippines, December 26, 2002: Armed militants ambushed a
bus carrying Filipino workers employed by the Canadian Toronto Ventures Inc. Pacific

23
mining company in Zamboanga del Norte. Thirteen persons were killed and 10 wound-
ed. Philippine authorities suspected the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which had
been extorting money from Toronto Ventures. The Catholic charity Caritas-Philippines
said that Toronto Ventures had harassed tribesmen who opposed mining on their an-
cestral lands.

Bombing of a Government Building in Chechnya, December 27, 2002: A suicide bomb

attack involving two explosives-laden trucks destroyed the offices of the pro-Russian
Chechen government in Grozny. The attack killed over 80 people and wounded 210.
According to a Chechen website run by the Kavkaz Center, Chechen warlord Shamil
Basayev claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombings in Tel Aviv, January 5, 2003: Two suicide bomb attacks killed 22 and
wounded at least 100 persons in Tel Aviv, Israel. Six of the victims were foreign work-
ers. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility.

Night Club Bombing in Colombia, February 7, 2003: A car bomb exploded outside a
night club in Bogota, Colombia, killing 32 persons and wounding 160. No group claimed
responsibility, but Colombian officials suspected the Colombian Revolutionary Armed
Forces (FARC) of committing the worst terrorist attack in the country in a decade.

Assassination of a Kurdish Leader, February 8, 2003: Members of Ansar al-Islam as-

sassinated Kurdish legislator Shawkat Haji Mushir and captured two other Kurdish offi-
cials in Qamash Tapa in northern Iraq.

Suicide Bombing in Haifa, March 5, 2003: A suicide bombing aboard a bus in Haifa, Is-
rael, killed 15 persons and wounded at least 40. One of the dead claimed US as well as
Israeli citizenship. The bomber’s affiliation was not immediately known.

Suicide Bombing in Netanya, March 30, 2003: A suicide bombing in a cafe in Netanya,
Israel, wounded 38 persons. Only the bomber was killed. Islamic Jihad claimed respon-
sibility and called the attack a "gift" to the people of Iraq.

Unsuccessful Hostage Rescue Attempt in Colombia, May 5, 2003: The FARC killed 10
hostages when Colombian special forces tried to rescue them from a jungle hideout
near Urrao, in Colombia’s Antioquia State. The dead included Governor Guillermo Gavi-
ra and former Defense Minister Gilberto Echeverri Mejia, who had been kidnapped in
April 2002.

Truck Bomb Attacks in Saudi Arabia, May 12, 2003: Suicide bombers attacked three
residential compounds for foreign workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 34 dead includ-
ed 9 attackers, 7 other Saudis, 9 US citizens, and one citizen each from the United
Kingdom, Ireland, and the Philippines. Another American died on June 1. It was the first
major attack on US targets in Saudi Arabia since the end of the war in Iraq. Saudi au-
thorities arrested 11 al Qaeda suspects on May 28.

24
Truck Bombing in Chechnya, May 12, 2003: A truck bomb explosion demolished a gov-
ernment compound in Znamenskoye, Chechnya, killing 54 persons. Russian authorities
blamed followers of a Saudi-born Islamist named Abu Walid. President Vladimir Putin
said that he suspected that there was an al Qaeda connection.

Attempted Assassination in Chechnya, May 12, 2003: Two female suicide bombers at-
tacked Chechen Administrator Mufti Akhmed Kadyrov during a religious festival in
Iliskhan Yurt. Kadyrov escaped injury, but 14 other persons were killed and 43 were
wounded. Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bomb Attacks in Morocco, May 16, 2003: A team of 12 suicide bombers at-
tacked five targets in Casablanca, Morocco, killing 43 persons and wounding 100. The
targets were a Spanish restaurant, a Jewish community, a Jewish cemetery, a hotel,
and the Belgian Consulate. The Moroccan Government blamed the Islamist al-Assirat
al-Moustaquim (The Righteous Path), but foreign commentators suspected an al Qaeda
connection.

Suicide Bomb Attack in Jerusalem, May 18, 2003: A suicide bomb attack on a bus in
Jerusalem’s French Hill district killed 7 persons and wounded 20. The bomber was dis-
guised as a religious Jew. HAMAS claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Afula, May 19, 2003: A suicide bomb attack by a female Palestinian
student killed 3 persons and wounded 52 at a shopping mall in Afula, Israel. Both Islam-
ic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem, June 11, 2003: A suicide bombing aboard a bus in Jeru-
salem killed 16 persons and wounded at least 70, one of whom died later. HAMAS
claimed responsibility, calling it revenge for an Israeli helicopter attack on HAMAS lead-
er Abdelaziz al-Rantisi in Gaza City the day before.

Truck Bombing in Northern Ossetia, August 1, 2003: A suicide truck bomb attack de-
stroyed a Russian military hospital in Mozdok, North Ossetia and killed 50 persons.
Russian authorities attributed the attack to followers of Chechen rebel leader Shamil
Basayev.

Hotel Bombing in Indonesia, August 5, 2003: A car bomb exploded outside the Marriott
Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 10 persons and wounding 150. One of the dead was
a Dutch citizen. The wounded included an American, a Canadian, an Australian, and
two Chinese. Indonesian authorities suspected the Jemaah Islamiah, which had carried
out the October 12, 2002 bombing in Bali.

Bombing of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, August 7, 2003: A car bomb exploded
outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 19 persons and wounding 65.
Most of the victims were apparently Iraqis, including 5 police officers. No group claimed
responsibility.

25
Suicide Bombings in Israel and the West Bank, August 12, 2003: The first suicide
bombings since the June 29 Israeli-Palestinian truce took place. The first, in a super-
market at Rosh Haayin, Israel, killed one person and wounded 14. The second, at a bus
stop near the Ariel settlement in the West Bank, killed one person and wounded 3. The
al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the first; HAMAS claimed responsi-
bility for the second.

Bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, August 19, 2003: A truck loaded with
surplus Iraqi ordnance exploded outside the United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad’s
Canal Hotel. A hospital across the street was also heavily damaged. The 23 dead in-
cluded UN Special Representative Sergio Viera de Mello. More than 100 persons were
wounded. It was not clear whether the bomber was a Baath Party loyalist or a foreign
Islamic militant. An al-Qaeda branch called the Brigades of the Martyr Abu Hafz al-Masri
later claimed responsibility.

Suicide Bombing in Jerusalem, August 19, 2003: A suicide bombing aboard a bus in Je-
rusalem killed 20 persons and injured at least 100, one of whom died later. Five of the
dead were American citizens. HAMAS and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, alt-
hough HAMAS leader al-Rantisi said that his organization remained committed to the
truce while reserving the right to respond to Israeli military actions.

Car Bomb Kills Shi’ite Leader in Najaf, August 29, 2003: A car bomb explosion outside
the Shrine of the Imam Ali in Najaf, Iraq killed at least 81 persons and wounded at least
140. The dead included the Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim, one of four leading
Shi’ite clerics in Iraq. Al-Hakim had been the leader of the Supreme Council for the Is-
lamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) since its establishment in 1982, and SCIRI had recently
agreed to work with the US-sponsored Iraqi Governing Council. It was not known
whether the perpetrators were Baath Party loyalists, rival Shi’ites, or foreign Islamists.

Suicide Bombings in Israel, September 9, 2003: Two suicide bombings took place in Is-
rael. The first, at a bus stop near the Tsrifin army base southeast of Tel Aviv, killed 7
soldiers and wounded 14 soldiers and a civilian. The second, at a café in Jerusalem’s
German Colony neighborhood, killed 6 persons and wounded 40. HAMAS did not claim
responsibility until the next day, although a spokesman called the first attack" a re-
sponse to Israeli aggression."

Assassination of an Iraqi Governing Council Member, September 20, 2003: Gunmen

shot and seriously wounded Akila Hashimi, one of three female members of the Iraqi
Governing Council, near her home in Baghdad. She died September 25.

A Second Attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, September 22, 2003: A suicide

car bomb attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad killed a security guard and
wounded 19 other persons.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, October 4, 2003: A Palestinian woman made a suicide bomb
attack on a restaurant in Haifa, killing 19 persons and wounding at least 55. Islamic Ji-

26
had claimed responsibility for the attack. The next day, Israel bombed a terrorist training
camp in Syria.

Attacks in Iraq, October 9, 2003: Gunmen assassinated a Spanish military attaché in

Baghdad. A suicide car bomb attack on an Iraqi police station killed 8 persons and
wounded 40.

Car Bombings in Baghdad, October 12, 2003: Two suicide car bombs exploded outside
the Baghdad Hotel, which housed US officials. Six persons were killed and 32 wounded.
Iraqi and US security personnel apparently kept the cars from actually reaching the ho-
tel.

Bomb Attack on US Diplomats in the Gaza Strip, October 15, 2003: A remote-controlled
bomb exploded under a car in a US diplomatic convoy passing through the northern
Gaza Strip. Three security guards, all employees of DynCorp, were killed. A fourth was
wounded. The diplomats were on their way to interview Palestinian candidates for Ful-
bright scholarships to study in the United States. Palestinian President Arafat and Prime
Minister Qurei condemned the attack, while the major Palestinian militant groups denied
responsibility. The next day, Palestinian security forces arrested several suspects, some
of whom belonged to the Popular Resistance Committees.

Rocket Attack on the al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, October 26, 2003: Iraqis using an im-
provised rocket launcher bombarded the al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, killing one US
Army officer and wounding 17 persons. The wounded included 4 US military personnel
and seven American civilians. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz, who was
staying at the hotel, was not injured. After visiting the wounded, he said, "They’re not
going to scare us away; we’re not giving up on this job."

Assassination of a Deputy Mayor in Baghdad, October 26, 2003: Two gunmen believed
to be Baath Party loyalists assassinated Faris Abdul Razaq al-Assam, one of three
deputy mayors of Baghdad. US officials did not announce al-Assam’s death until Octo-
ber 28.

Wave of Car Bombings in Baghdad, October 27, 2003: A series of suicide car bombings
in Baghdad killed at least 35 persons and wounded at least 230. Four attacks were di-
rected at Iraqi police stations, the fifth and most destructive was directed at the Interna-
tional Committee of the Red Cross headquarters, where at least 12 persons were killed.
A sixth attack failed when a car bomb failed to explode and the bomber was wounded
and captured by Iraqi police. US and Iraqi officials suspected that foreign terrorists were
involved; the unsuccessful bomber said he was a Syrian national and carried a Syrian
passport. After a meeting with Administrator L. Paul Bremer, President Bush said, "The
more successful we are on the ground, the more these killers will react."

Suicide Bombing in Riyadh, November 8, 2003: In Riyadh, a suicide car bombing took
place in the Muhaya residential compound, which was occupied mainly by nationals of
other Arab countries. Seventeen persons were killed and 122 were wounded. The latter

27
included 4 Americans. The next day, Deputy Secretary of State Armitage said al-Qaeda
was probably responsible.

Truck Bombing in Nasiriyah, November 12, 2003: A suicide truck bomb destroyed the
headquarters of the Italian military police in Nasiriyah, Iraq, killing 18 Italians and 11 Ira-
qis and wounding at least 100 persons.

Synagogue Bombings in Istanbul, November 15, 2003: Two suicide truck bombs ex-
ploded outside the Neve Shalom and Beth Israel synagogues in Istanbul, killing 25 per-
sons and wounding at least 300 more. The initial claim of responsibility came from a
Turkish militant group, the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders’ Front, but Turkish authorities
suspected an al-Qaeda connection. The next day, the London-based newspaper al-
Quds al-Arabi received an e-mail in which an al-Qaeda branch called the Brigades of
the Martyr Abu Hafz al-Masri claimed responsibility for the Istanbul synagogue bomb-
ings.

Grenade Attacks in Bogota, November 15, 2003: Grenade attacks on two bars fre-
quented by Americans in Bogota killed one person and wounded 72, including 4 Ameri-
cans. Colombian authorities suspected FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Co-
lombia). The US Embassy suspected that the attacks had targeted Americans and
warned against visiting commercial centers and places of entertainment.

More Suicide Truck Bombings in Istanbul, November 20, 2003: Two more suicide truck
bombings devastated the British HSBC Bank and the British Consulate General in Is-
tanbul, killing 27 persons and wounding at least 450. The dead included Consul General
Roger Short. US, British, and Turkish officials suspected that al-Qaeda had struck
again. The US Consulate in Istanbul was closed, and the Embassy in Ankara advised
American citizens in Istanbul to stay home.

Car Bombing in Kirkuk, November 20, 2003: A suicide car bombing in Kirkuk killed 5
persons. The target appeared to be the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
PUK officials suspected the Ansar al-Islam group, which was said to have sheltered fu-
gitive Taliban and al-Qaeda members after the US campaign in Afghanistan.

Attacks on Other Coalition Personnel in Iraq, November 29-30, 2003: Iraqi insurgents
stepped up attacks on nationals of other members of the Coalition. On November 29, an
ambush in Mahmudiyah killed 7 out of a party of 8 Spanish intelligence officers. Iraqi
insurgents also killed two Japanese diplomats near Tikrit. On November 30, another
ambush near Tikrit killed two South Korean electrical workers and wounded two more. A
Colombian employee of Kellogg Brown & Root was killed and two were wounded in an
ambush near Balad.

Train Bombing in Southern Russia, December 5, 2003: A suicide bomb attack killed 42
persons and wounded 150 aboard a Russian commuter train in the south Russian town
of Yessentuki. Russian officials suspected Chechen rebels; President Putin said the at-
tack was meant to disrupt legislative elections. Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov

28
denied any involvement.

Suicide Bombing in Moscow, December 9, 2003: A female suicide bomber killed 5 other
persons and wounded 14 outside Moscow’s National Hotel. She was said to be looking
for the State Duma.

Suicide Car Bombings in Iraq, December 15, 2003: Two days after the capture of Sad-
dam Hussein, there were two suicide car bomb attacks on Iraqi police stations. One at
Husainiyah killed 8 persons and wounded 20. The other, at Ameriyah, wounded 7 Iraqi
police. Guards repelled a second vehicle.

Office Bombing in Baghdad, December 19, 2003: A bomb destroyed the Baghdad office
of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, killing a woman and wounding
at least 7 other persons.

Suicide Car Bombing in Irbil, December 24, 2003: A suicide car bomb attack on the
Kurdish Interior Ministry in Irbil, Iraq, killed 5 persons and wounded 101.

Attempted Assassination in Rawalpindi, December 25, 2003: Two suicide truck bomb-
ers killed 14 persons as President Musharraf’s motorcade passed through Rawalpindi,
Pakistan. An earlier attempt on December 14 caused no casualties. Pakistani officials
suspected Afghan and Kashmiri militants. On January 6, 2004, Pakistani authorities an-
nounced the arrest of 6 suspects who were said to be members of Jaish-e-Muhammad.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, December 25, 2003: A Palestinian suicide bomber killed 4
persons at a bus stop near Petah Tikva, Israel. The Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack in retaliation for Israeli military operations
in Nablus that had begun two days earlier.

Restaurant Bombing in Baghdad, December 31, 2003: A car bomb explosion outside
Baghdad’s Nabil Restaurant killed 8 persons and wounded 35. The wounded included 3
Los Angeles Times reporters and 3 local employees.

So, as you can see, George didn't have a choice. Whether the Muslims are a religion
that believes in peace or not is no longer the question to me. I've confirmed to my own
satisfaction that they're out to get us, or is that US?

I was near page 290 of my story when I decided to add this prologue. Where did Hez-
bollah get the rockets? From Syria who got them from Iran who either got them from the
Chinese or the North Koreans. That, of course, overlooks where the weapons were de-
signed and built, Russia. Russia is the only country that has more nukes than we do.
The Chinese could damage us, but the Russians could kill us. I don't know whether
North Korea has nukes or not, I really don't care, their ICBMs suck.

Whether it's one nuclear weapon or several thousand, it will ruin your day. Natural dis-
asters notwithstanding, the odds seem to favor the really big next event might not be

29
created by Mother Nature but by man. All the important things I told you are summed
up, repeated, in this story. If you read it, thank you, if not, God Bless you, I'm happy to
know that you're so prepared that you don't need any advice.

My hero in this story is a class III gun dealer from Arizona and he can legally own all
those nasty things that are impossible for many of us to get. You can, for example, own
a Ma Deuce if you can afford it and live in a state that permits class III weapons. Alaska
has the most liberal guns laws, but Arizona isn't far behind. It's a perfect place to live as
far as I'm because I don't have anything against Indians.

Sorry for the long prologue, but the list of terrorist events was very long. Some of the
things that happen later may have actually been terrorist events, I don't know, 'they' did-
n't tell us. There are only 3 little events that work against our friends, and with me living
in California, you can see why the first one happened, it happened to me. Did you read
in the paper about the drought in South Dakota? Have you heard that Louisiana has a
growing problem? I'll tell you about that in a while, for the moment, think about the ter-
rorist acts from 1961-2003. It goes a long way to explaining why George is doing what
he is doing or not doing. It got mighty hot in California this year and the heat killed a lot
of people. Apparently, they aren't done counting, but the last number I heard was 132.

30
 When We Were Young – Chapter 1

2004:

February 6: A suicide bomber kills 41 people on a metro car in Moscow.

February 7: Several leaders of Abnaa el-Balad are arrested in Israel.

February 10: At least 50 people are killed in a car bomb attack on a police recruitment
center south of Baghdad.

March 11: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid kill 190 people.

March 14: Two suicide bombers kill eleven Israeli civilians in Ashdod, Israel.

March 15: The new Spanish government announces that it will withdraw Spain's 1,300
troops in Iraq.

March 17: A pogrom-like organized violence breaks out over two days in Kosovo. Nine-
teen people are killed, 139 Serbian homes are burned, schools and businesses are
vandalized, and over 30 Orthodox monasteries and churches are burned and de-
stroyed.

March 22: Palestinians protest in the streets after an Israeli helicopter gunship fires a
missile at the entourage of Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City, killing Yassin and 7 others.

March 31: Four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are
killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed in Fallujah, Iraq.

April 3: A bomb explosion in a Madrid flat kills a Spanish policeman, and five terrorists
suspected of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings on March 11.

April 4: Serious fighting breaks out in Najaf, Sadr City, and Basra in Iraq, as Shia insur-
gents supporting Muqtada alSadr rise against coalition forces.

April 8: Three Japanese citizens are taken hostage in Iraq.

April 17: Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing
the Gaza leader of Hamas, Abekl Aziz al-Rantissi.

April 20: In Iraq, 12 mortars were fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents. Twenty two
detainees were killed and 92 wounded.

April 28: Abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is revealed on the televi-
sion show 60 Minutes II.

31
May 9: Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by a landmine placed under a VIP
stage during a World War II memorial parade in Grozny.

May 12: An American civilian contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg, is shown being decapitated
by a group allegedly linked to al Qaeda on a web-distributed video.

May 16: Failed coup d'etat in Chad against the President Idriss Déby.

May 17: Ezzedine Salim, holder of the rotating leadership of the Iraqi Governing Coun-
cil, is killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad.

August 1: A bomb attack occurs in front of Prague's Casino Royal.

August 6: A United Nations report that blames the government of Sudan for crimes
against humanity in Darfur is released.

August 21: A series of blasts rocks a rally of an opposition party in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
killing at least 13 people.

August 31: Two suicide attacks on buses in Beer Sheva, Israel, kill at least 16 people
and injure at least 60. Hamas claims responsibility for the attacks. A woman commits a
suicide attack near a subway station in northern Moscow, Russia, killing at least 10
people and injuring at least 50. Authorities hold Chechen rebels responsible.

September 1: Chechen terrorists take between 1,000 and 1,500 people hostage, mostly
children, in a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. The hostage-takers demand the re-
lease of Chechen terrorists imprisoned in neighboring Inguahetia and the independence
of Chechnya from Russia.

September 2: The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 1559 calling for
the removal of all foreign troops from Lebanon. This measure is largely aimed at Syrian
troops.

September 3: Russian forces end the siege at a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. At
least 335 people (among which are 32 of the approximately 40 hostage-takers) are
killed and at least 700 people injured.

September 9: A bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, kills
eleven people and injures up to 100 people.

October 4: Two car bombs kill at least 16 people and injure dozens more in Baghdad.

October 8: Kenneth Bigley, the British hostage held by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Iraqi
insurgent, is killed after a failed escape attempt. Suicide bombers detonate two bombs
at the Red Sea resort of Taba, Egypt, killing 34 people, mainly Israeli tourists and Egyp-
tian workers.

32
October 18: Three men attack Greek journalist Philippos Syrigos in Athens and serious-
ly wound him.

October 24: The bodies of 49 Iraqi soldiers are discovered after being ambushed by in-
surgents.

October 29: A videotape of Osama Bin Laden speaking airs on Arabic TV, in which he
threatens terrorist attacks on the United States, and taunts the President, George W.
Bush, over the September 11 Terrorist attacks.

November 1: A 16 year old Palestinian Muslim blows himself up in an outdoor market in

Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis.

November 2: Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh is assassinated in Amsterdam, Nether-
lands by Mohammed Bouyeri.

November 6: In Côte d'lvoire, National Army bombings kill nine people, including French
UN soldiers. French UN forces retaliate by destroying the National Army's air force.

November 7: US forces launch a major assault on the Iraqi town of Fallujah, in an effort
to rid the area of insurgents before the Iraqi elections in January.

November 11: Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Authority, dies in a Paris hospital.

November 13: After six days of intense battles, the Iraqi town of Fallujah is fully occu-
pied by US forces.

December 6: Terrorists attack the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing several
people.

December 15: Albanian terrorists take a bus and its passengers hostage in Athens,
Greece and demand 1 million euros in ransom money.

December 21: Iraqi insurgents attack a US military base in the city of Mosul and kill 22
people.

At age 18, Robert 'Rob' Miller didn't need his mother's permission to join the Army, but
he talked to her about anyway. He'd graduated in June of 1957, had looked at all the
branches of the military and decided to enter the Army. There wasn't a war at the mo-
ment, WWII and Korea were over. She told him he might as well get it over with before
we had another war.

33
Not long after he entered Army, the US and Canada formed NORAD (1958). In '61,
about the time he was getting out, they held a ground breaking ceremony for the Chey-
enne Mountain Command Operations Center. When he finished with training he ended
up doing a tour in Korea. There for a while in '61, it looked like he might get extended,
because of the Bay of Pigs. However, President Kennedy chose not to get involved.

When he got out in '61, he had no idea what he wanted to do. He hadn't learned a trade
in the Army unless humping a Garand counted. Although the Army authorized the new
M14 rifle in 1957, the 101st Airborne was the only fully equipped unit when he got out.
He'd seen the new rifle, it was a modified Garand with a 20-round box magazine and
smaller stock. It was .30 caliber but not the 30-06. The new cartridge was called the
7.62×51mm and the same as the civilian .308 or nearly so.

Rob took his separation pay and spent a little of it on a Winchester Model 70 rifle in the
.308 Winchester caliber. The guy in the gun shop thought he was crazy and should 'just
stick with the 30-06'. Rob figured he might be able to shoot the military ammo in the rifle
when it finally became surplus. It was now the official NATO .30 caliber cartridge.

H&K started to build the G-3 rifle in the new cartridge and a civilian version the, HK91
began to be imported in 1974, the same year the M1A rifle became available from the
Springfield Armory, Inc. The rifle that started the young company on its way to becom-
ing the preeminent tactical firearms manufacturer during the latter half of the 20th centu-
ry was known as the G3. In the early 1970s, before semiautomatic copies of select fire
battle rifles or "assault weapons" became really popular, Heckler & Koch adapted the
model 91 as a semiautomatic counterpart to the G3 that was deemed importable into
the United States until 1989. The most prolific of the HK90 series to be imported, the 91
was on its way to becoming the most popular rifle import from HK, beating out the 93 in
US sales by almost 20 to 1.

Almost identical to the G3 externally, with only the select fire internals missing, the flip-
per magazine release deleted, the front pushpin area replaced with the "shelf" and the
grenade launching ring omitted from the barrel, the HK91 was considered the "Rolls
Royce" of battle rifle copies. Introduced at a staggering price of $400 or so dollars at the
time, they were unbeknown to most, a significant investment, with most genuine exam-
ples bringing now close to $2000 used. Total HK91 Imports from Germany were 48,817
through 1989.

Rob ended up in Phoenix, Arizona working for a class III gun dealer. Man, talk about
background checks, bonding and all of the stuff the guy insisted on, you'd have thought
he was working for the CIA. There weren't many class III dealers in Phoenix at the time,
maybe 3. It was a good job, however, and Rob learned the business very well. One arti-
cle he read said:

34
Any legal entity that is not an individual (i.e. not a living breathing human) does not re-
quire prints, photographs, and LE signoff when purchasing Title II items. This can be a
corporation, a LLC, a LLP, and most likely a trust if properly filed and documented. "Ink-
ing yourself" (forming your own corporation) is not a very difficult thing to do for the pur-
pose of buying machine guns. Forming a corporation properly to conduct business may
be another matter. Most states require the submission of articles of incorporation to the
division of corporations of the state, the payment of an initial filing fee, and a yearly filing
fee to keep the corporation alive.

Upon filing the articles and paying the initial filing fee, most states require that a couple
things happen before the corporation magically comes to life. Most require at a mini-
mum that an initial meeting of the shareholders take place (you may be the only share-
holder), that officers be elected (in most states a single person may hold all of the officer
positions, some states require two and possibly more), and that minutes of this meeting
be recorded and kept with the corporate documents. Generally an annual meeting of the
shareholders the minutes of which are recorded is required. As noted by a previous re-
spondent, as all officers of the corporation may legally possess the firearms owned by
the corporation, it is a good idea to be sure that none of the officers has a disabling
conviction (ATF speak for a criminal conviction barring you from owning or possessing
firearms.)

While it would be legal for the corporation to own firearms even if an officer has a disa-
bling conviction, the corporation (and its non-disabled officers and employees) would
have the legal burden of precluding the disabled person from accessing the firearm.

In most respects, the corporation functions as an individual would with the obvious ex-
ception of the exemption from prints, pictures, and the LEO signoff. If the corporation
wants to purchase a Title II (or Title I for that matter) item from a dealer or individual
within their state, they may do so via a tax paid Form 4, and receive the firearm directly.
An officer authorized to sign for the corporation (I'd recommend some sort of resolution
noted in the official minutes of the shareholders meeting that indicates that so and so
can purchase firearms and sign for the company although this probably isn't really nec-
essary) will fill out the Form 4473, and if the seller is a dealer, he'll also have you sign a
written statement that you are buying the firearm for the use of and on behalf of the cor-
poration (dealers read the back of your 4473 if you are saying "WHAT!?!?!?!"). If the
seller is an individual then no 4473.

If the corporation is buying the firearm from an out of state dealer or private person,
then the sale will have to take place through a licensed (Class III) dealer in the corpora-
tion's state of residence (state of incorporation). Most Class III dealers will charge $100
or so for this service.

If the corporation should become an FFL, then it may purchase Title II firearms on a
Form 4 tax paid from sellers intrastate or interstate. This is true even if the corporation is
just a regular Title I FFL and not a Class III. It obviously cannot purchase Title II fire-

35
arms for the purpose of resale without paying the $500 SOT and becoming a Class III
dealer.

If the corporation should become an FFL, and pay the SOT to be a Class III dealer, then
obviously the corporation could engage in the business of buying and selling all Title II
items as any other Class III dealer can. With the sole exception of being able to buy
dealer samples (by virtue of being a Class III dealer), there is not much advantage in
this for someone who intends to maintain their license for a short time, acquire a bunch
of firearms and drop their license. Unlike individual sole proprietors, CORPORATIONS
MAY NOT RETAIN POSSESSION OF ANY CLASS III ITEMS IN THEIR INVENTORY
UPON ALLOWING THEIR LICENSE TO LAPSE (10-G-1, p.96, yellow book.)

Additionally as a Class III dealer you most likely would be receiving the firearms on tax
exempt transfer forms (Form 3). Becoming a SOT for the sole purpose of enhancing
your collection is tax fraud and will land you in the slammer.

HOWEVER, if the corporation were a Class III FFL, and purchased Title II firearms in-
terstate (or intrastate for that matter), on a tax paid Form 4, checking the "SOT payer
acquiring the firearm for personal collection" box, the firearms would already be regis-
tered to the corporation and would not be considered part of the inventory, and as such
would (I believe) remain lawfully registered to the corporation after allowing the SOT to
lapse (since the ruling only disallows rolling your "inventory" to yourself, and does not
mention firearms that you had transferred to the corporation's "collection" (which I know
sounds funny.))

I think that if I was going to do the Corporation thing to avoid the LE signoff, I'd skip the
FFL and SOT business altogether unless you seriously plan to conduct business on a
regular basis. It isn't going to cost much more (machine guns are expensive) to just be a
regular old corporation, pay the $200 per gun transfer tax, pay your dealer $100 to han-
dle the transfers, and be clean and neat about it. This is perfectly legit and hundreds
(maybe thousands?) of people do it this way. If you go getting an FFL/SOT and have
less than genuine intentions, you're asking for a world of crap that you don't really want
to deal with.

I know I "wrote a book" here, but I hope the information was useful. If I can help clear
anything up for anybody, please feel free to e-mail me and I'll do my best. I've read eve-
rything I can get my hands on (James Bardwell's FAQ, the red, yellow, green, and blue
books, the Machine Gun Dealer's Bible by Dan Shea, and God knows what else; and
committed a good chunk of it to memory.)

It was an interesting article, but he decided to check and see how true it was. It turned
out to be close enough for government work, as the saying goes, and forming a corpo-
ration wasn't a big deal, it just took some money. Rob had a job and some money left
over from mustering out so it didn't take him that long to get the corporation formed,

36
maybe 6 months. He continued to work for the gun dealer and began in earnest to save
money so he could properly equip his new company.

It wasn't all that long after that that the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred and that was a re-
al wakeup call. He checked and his uniforms still fit, perhaps even better than when he'd
mustered out, he wasn't much of a cook. Moreover, Rob liked to run and in the evenings
when it was cool enough he'd try to get in 5 miles. In the cooler months, that hadn't
been a problem, but in the summer, some nights barely got down to the 90s. To round
out his physical training, Rob had found a gym and began to do a little weight training.
People who do a lot of weight training tend to grow thick necks and end up needing to
buy special clothes so they'll fit. Rob wasn't a fanatic; he just wanted very good muscle
tone. Now a person couldn't tell by looking, but Rob was very, very fit, perhaps even
better than when he'd finished boot camp.

Somehow, JFK managed to defuse the looming crisis and the US more or less went
back to normal. However, the next little thing that popped up was JFK sending advisers
to Vietnam. By the time it turned into a war in 1964, Rob had completed his military ob-
ligation and received his discharge papers. Or, don't you remember when your commit-
ment was only 6 years and not 8? By this time, JFK had been killed in Dallas, Novem-
ber 22, 1963 and LBJ was top dog.

The massive escalation of the war from 1964 to 1968 was justified on the basis of the
Gulf of Tonkin Incident on August 2-4, 1964 in which the Johnson Administration
claimed US ships were attacked by the North Vietnamese. On the basis of the attack
the Senate approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on 07Aug64, which gave broad sup-
port to President Johnson to escalate US involvement in the war "as the President shall
determine". The Cold War, which had almost gotten to be a real war in October of '62,
ratcheted up a notch or two.

In 1965, Rob applied for and received a FFL, class III. He opened his own store using
the money he'd saved and a small business loan. The store was a sporting goods store
open to the general public and the class III business was in the same building but sepa-
rate. An old Army buddy who had gone to school at Trinidad State Junior College in
Trinidad, Colorado and become a gunsmith was hired for the gunsmith work.

An armorer in the Army, Matt Johnson was a very good gunsmith. He wasn't any older
than Rob and was also single. After he'd finished Junior College, he'd worked as an ap-
prentice gunsmith in Colorado for a couple of years for a class III dealer, refining and
polishing his skills. Rob hired a woman named Susan LeBelle as his cashier. Another
individual, Frank Morgan, was hired as his counterman in the sporting goods store.
Frank was in his early 30s and married with two children.

Phoenix has its share of gun stores and without selling sporting goods, Rob felt he
couldn't make a go of the business. Very few people can make a go of a class III busi-

37
ness because of low volume and high prices, which are interdependent. The prices are
high because, among other things, the volume is rather low. However, over a period of
time the corporation built both its class III inventory and its corporate owned, non-
inventory class III weapons. Most of the profits after all wages, including Rob's, costs
were deducted and taxes paid went into retained earnings, all represented by company
owned, non-inventory firearms and ammo. The company owned class III weapons all
had the $200 tax stamp and were stored separately.

In 1967, the US military began replacing the M14 with the M16, the so called poodle
shooter or Mattel toy gun. Once the bugs were worked out of the guns, they began a
long service with the US military. Unfortunately many of the M14s were destroyed on
McNamara's orders rather than being sold, even new rifles. One of the principal prob-
lems with the M14 was the selective fire mode because in full auto, the weapon was un-
controllable. A few of the M14s did make it to the civilian market as semi-automatic
weapons. Rob began to buy these. He also bought FALs and G-3 rifles that were class
III weapons, primarily as non-inventory items for the corporation.

Rob was doing a great mail order business in non-NFA weapons until 1968, when up
popped the Devil, aka the Gun Control Act of 1968. GCA68 followed in the wake of the
King and Kennedy assassinations. In the wake of that legislation, Rob sold his class III
inventory to another dealer and turned in his class III license. However, the other dealer
who he referred his class III customers to would, in turn, take delivery of the interstate
purchased class III weapons for no charge.

Cut forward to 1972 because that's when things really started to go well. From '66 until
'71, Rob and Sue dated. Finally when he was sure in his mind that she was the woman
he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, he popped the question.

"Sue, will you marry me?"

"Gee, I don't know Rob. I mean what do I know about you? I like your mother well
enough, but you worry me. We've dated for 5 years and you never once tried to get too
familiar, are you a homo or something?"

"I was being a gentleman and besides, office romances aren't really a good idea."

"Confucius say, 'Man who lay woman on ground, get peace on earth'."

"Bull. Confucius's philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correct-

ness of social relationships, justice and sincerity."

38
"I was beginning to think you weren't attracted to me. Matt asked me out and I told him
I'd think about it."

"I'm in love with you and have been for quite some time."

"I wouldn't want you to rush into anything, what's it been, only FIVE YEARS?"

"Sue, you've seen what it's taken to get this business going. You've been here since the
start and know how hard I worked to accumulate enough to take on the responsibilities
of a wife and a family."

"What are you planning on doing, adopting?"

"No. I thought… oh, never mind."

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, silly, I'll marry you."

"You can have 4-5 years to think it over, if you're not sure."

"I don't think so, my biological clock is ticking. I'm 26 years old and in 5 more years, I'll
be getting to the point where having kids might not be as good an idea."

I hadn't really thought about it, we had fun and I hadn't been raised to think about sex
outside of marriage. Before I asked Sue or anyone else to marry me, I had wanted to be
well established. Phoenix was growing and I had talked to Matt about buying the busi-
ness so I could move to a smaller community, like Flagstaff. He knew how I felt about
Sue and I think perhaps it was his way of forcing me to get off the dime. I told him I pro-
posed and she accepted.

"How much do you want for the business?"

"Matt, I'm willing to sell the business for a fair price, but that doesn't include the corpora-
tion. Why don't you take a look at the books and make me an offer?"

"I think I'd restart the class III business, assuming I can get the license. Why don't you
want to sell the corporation; because of the firearms it owns?"

"Precisely. You can form your own corporation and do the same as I did, you know."

"Do you have any firearms that the corporation doesn't own?"

39
"Just one, my pre-'64 Winchester model 70 in .308 caliber."

"That would make a very good sniper's rifle. Do you have a scope?"

"No, but I've been thinking about buying one, probably a variable power."

"I heard that they used some pre-'64 Winchester model 70s in Nam for a while. Then
they got the M21 and finally the Remington's."

"Could be, I haven’t heard Matt. Will you be my best man at the wedding?"

"Be happy to. You're really going to do it, huh?"

"Marry Sue? Yes, I finally bit the bullet. I'll be glad when this war is over though. We've
lost over 55,000 and climbing."

"I think we came up on the short end, Rob. We will probably end up evacuating our last
people out of there."

"I just hope they start selling off the surplus M14 rifles. I wouldn't mind having some of
those."

"If they don't some company will buy the rights and start building a civilian version.
That's a good rifle with plenty of knockdown power. I heard the biggest problem was the
grunts lugging it through the jungle. Of course they had some problems with that new
rifle; they switched the powder and didn't chrome the barrels."

"I bought several of the AR-15s and some of the new Ruger Mini-14s. I suspect that the
Colt is a better firearm than the Ruger even though the Rugers action is based on the
M14."

"I heard that they're going to be importing some of the H&K civilian versions of the G-3
called the HK91."

"I'd like to get my hands on some of those, H&K builds fine weapons. I'll keep my eyes
peeled and when they do, I'm going to buy a few."

"I also heard that they have a .223 version called the HK93."

"That's the crappy .22 that's not worth a darn. Still, they could become collectors’ items;
I might buy a few of those too."

"Are you planning on opening a new store in Flagstaff if I buy you out?"

40
"I was thinking more along the lines of trying to capitalize on some of the better weap-
ons and try and turn a buck that way. I'll probably just keep my non-destructive license
and you can go with the class III stuff. Will you take over as the supplier for the corpora-
tion if I do?"

"Can't do it for free, but what would you say to $25 per item?"

"That will work. You know I think there are going to be a lot of changes over the next
few years. If a man buys cheap and sits on the weapons, he might be able to make a
large fortune."

"What are you going to do?"

"Buy all of the war surplus weapons I can lay my hands on and convert them to civilian
legal. All it takes is removing the connector rod from the M14 to make it semi auto.
There should be a lot of surplus ammo coming on the market as the war wears down.
Properly stored, it's good forever. They're still using WWII and Korean ammo in Nam."

"They're going to improve the military right out of business, mark my words. Did you
guys set a date for the wedding?"

"I think she said Saturday, June 17th (1972)."

"Fancy wedding or are you going to tone it down?"

"I have to pay for the tuxedos, relax. It will be a church wedding at the local church."

"Which church?"

"That's up to Sue, probably the Lutheran Church. Her dad is stuck with most of the cost
of the wedding."

"Where do you plan to honeymoon?"

"Acapulco, for one week. Meanwhile you get an accountant to look over the books and
figure out an offer."

"Are you sure you won't sell the corporation?"

"Positive. Figure the value of the inventory, a reasonable amount for goodwill and a fair
price for the building. I'm sure we can come to an understanding. I have a few weapons
I want to add to the corporation’s inventory so get a move on with that class III license."

41
What can you say about a wedding? The bride wore white and the groom a tux. Sue's
parents weren't all that well off and they kept the guest list for the wedding reasonably
short and the reception was held in the Church basement with even a smaller guest list
than the wedding. Rob was careful to try and keep the wedding small and even pitched
in a little to help Susan's dad, Ray, to cover some of the expenses. Rob even went so
far as to help Sue pay for part of her trousseau for their week in Acapulco.

Before they left, Matt had an initial offer for the business and Rob agree to try and find
time during their honeymoon to consider it. And since theirs had been a short engage-
ment, no doubt some of the wags were counting the days until Sue had a baby. It wasn't
the '50s any longer but neither was it the nineties.

It wasn't until the 4th day of their honeymoon that the newlyweds came up for air and
took time to consider Matt's proposal. It was well within bargaining range so they agreed
they’d make a few minor adjustments and make it a done deal. In their absence, Matt
had purchased an off the shelf corporation and made initial contact about securing fi-
nancing. It only took a few days to iron out the final details and the sale of the business
was closed.

Nixon swept the election in November of '72 but there was some backlash, something to
do with a break-in at the Watergate. Initially, it appeared that it might blow over and then
John Dean testified before the Senate Select Committee and things began to fall apart.
Vice President Agnew was forced to resign a year later and Nixon replaced him with
Gerald Ford under the provisions of the 25th Amendment. Meanwhile the War in South-
east Asia was drawing to a conclusion even as the Watergate Scandal intensified.

Sue and Rob looked for a home in Flagstaff, but nothing seemed to suit their fancy.
They ended up buying a half section about 25 miles south of Flagstaff in the rapidly
growing area of Sedona. Fortunately Rob had a reasonable amount of savings and tak-
en together with the proceeds from the sale of the business to Matt they now owned a
newly remodeled home on the half section free and clear.

Rob decided to open a store front in Sedona as opposed to Flagstaff, trading on the
now blossoming tourist trade. Once again, he financed much of the startup cost with a
SBA loan and opened a gun store catering primarily to the western crowd. In essence,
they had two business ventures, the retail gun store and a side business now complete
with the more expensive class III license, run from a separate building on their acreage.

In 1974 H&K shipped the first 50 HK91s to the US. Springfield Armory, Inc. opened their
door producing the M1A, M1911 and Garand rifles. Based in Genesco, Illinois they
reengineered the M14 rifle and began to market the M1A. They also produced the M21
tactical rifle, a National Match grade sniper's rifle. In addition they produced a survival
rifle called the M-6.

42
By this time, Sue was expecting their first child and generally speaking the world was at
peace. At peace as it ever was, anyway; there probably hadn't been a day in the last
3,000 years where there wasn't a war going on somewhere.

"Hey buddy, how business?"

"Rob, nice to hear from you. Making a living, what can I say? Bob Dylan got it right, the
times, they are a changing. How are you doing in Sedona?"

"Fair. I'd be doing a whole lot better if it weren't for GCA68. The tourists come in and
look at the Colts and Winchesters but can't buy them because they aren't residents of
Arizona. Sue's pregnant."

"Congratulations. It's about time you settled down and started a family."

"I could say the same for you Matt."

"I'm seeing someone, her name's Sarah. It might be a little early to say, but I think I hit
the jackpot. Did you see where H&K is importing the HK91 and HK93?"

"Yes, I bought one of each to check them out. Have you seen the M1A rifle that Spring-
field Armory is building?"

"I have 2 in the store, they're basically an improved M14 in semi auto. Did you get any?"

"Same as you, I got two. Bought them for the corporation though. Had a chance to pick
up some overruns from the government ammo plant, I bought a pallet load of the 7.62."

"Do you want to sell some of it?"

"I could, why don't you and Sarah come up for the weekend and bring your pickup?"

"I'll ask her, but unless you hear otherwise, see you Saturday."

"I talked to Matt today."

"How is he doing?"

"Fair; he told me he's dating a gal name Sarah and I invited them up for the weekend."

"I'd better get a move on then and get this house cleaned up."

43
"I have a better idea, Sue. I'll talk to a gal in town who cleans houses and see if she can
work ours in. Would Friday be ok?"

"That or Thursday. I'm going to run up to Flagstaff and see if I can find any new materni-
ty wear. Want to ride along?"

"Wednesdays aren't too busy, Dave can handle the store and I'd be glad to go with
you."

"Has the price of gas come down?"

"It's still 65 cents a gallon. I have a feeling that the days of 25 cent gas are long over.
OPEC embargoed oil for everyone who supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
They've gotten a taste of higher prices; I doubt they'll come down anytime soon. It's
been a boon for the import car market, though."

"I wouldn't have a Japanese car if you gave it to me."

"There is nothing wrong with your Fairlane or my F-100."

"My Fairlane is 4 years old; I think it's time to get a new car."

"How many miles does it have on it?"

"40,000."

"Honey, it's barely broken in. My 1960 only has 65,000 miles on it and I think I'll drive it
to the junkyard, in about 25 years. Besides, it has 4WD. I'd much rather put money
away for our children to go to college and us to retire."

"You'll never get rich owning a gun store."

"We make a good living, Sue. I've been putting 10% of our income in a mutual fund and
it's doing pretty good."

"Do we have any money in savings?"

"That's the other 10% I've been saving, let me get you the passbook and show you."

"Wow, you've saved that much?"

"I only leave it in the passbook until I have enough to buy another CD. The CDs are in
the safe in the basement. I bought them in both of our names as Joint Tenants with
Rights of Survivorship. How are you doing on our household budget, is it enough or do I
need to increase it?"

44
"I set up a system of envelopes. I divide up the money when you give it to me and take
it out when we need something. Several of the envelopes have more than enough for
our future needs, I was thinking about putting some of the money in savings."

"Don't; you never know when we might need some cash and the bank is closed."

Rob kept his safe in a night lock position, only turning the dial a little so it wouldn't reo-
pen but could be easily opened by setting the dial back to the correct setting. It beat try-
ing to remember the combination. He'd mentioned the CDs to Sue when he'd brought
them home and added them to the envelope in the safe, calling them 'money for our fu-
ture'. Sue was equally frugal, and had filled the fruit cellar with extra items she'd bought
when things they ate were on sale. She'd stopped smoking when she got pregnant but
hadn't changed the amount she set aside for cigarettes, thus that envelope was grow-
ing.

Rob generally bought their cigarettes on one of the Reservations; Arizona had several
Indian stores that sold nothing but cigarettes. He smoked Pall Malls and when she
smoked, she smoked L&Ms. It all added up, a few dollars at a time. Neither of them
drank very often and there were several bottles of liquor in the fruit cellar that salesmen
had given Rob over the years.

The previous year when the fuel crisis had hit Rob had installed a 500-gallon farm tank
of gasoline. There was a new preservative out called PRI-G that he added to the tank to
keep the gas from getting old. She filled her tank and got the envelope with clothing
money out for their trip to Flagstaff. She had increased the amount that went into that
envelope when she'd learned she was expecting, babies needed more clothes than
adults did and Rob had adjusted the household budget accordingly. Maybe someday, in
20 years or so, they could take another trip to Acapulco.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes, I gassed up the car last night."

"You should have said something, I could have done that."

"I'm not helpless, just pregnant. You can drive though; my tummy is getting in the way of
the steering wheel."

"How are you doing on your weight?"

"The doctor said I'd gained a little so after I have the baby, I may join you jogging just to
trim back down."

"Who will watch the baby?"

45
"Crap, I hadn't thought of that."

"You can jog in the evening after it cools down and I'll play nursemaid for a while."

"Would you? Great."

"While we're in Flagstaff, I've got to check on something."

"What?"

"I'm not totally satisfied with the security I have for our weapons, especially the class III
weapons."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Some kind of vault in the Basement."

"Do you mean like a bank vault?"

"Something on that order, but I don't know that it would need 3' thick walls of concrete."

"How many do you have?"

"All guns or class III?"

"Class III."

"I have 12 each G-3s, FALs, and 6 M14s plus 6 suppressors."

"What about the non-class III?"

"Same quantity of AR-15s, HK91s, HK93, M1As, Mini-14s, 2 shotguns and my M-70 ri-
fle."

"You forgot the handguns."

"Plus 6 M1911s and 3 Colt Commanders."

"I guess we're ready."

"Ready for what?"

"I don't know, but we're ready."

46
"I don't think so, Sue. Do you remember the bomb shelter craze of the '50s? It's the
same world but we don't have a shelter or provisions for very long."

"Do you have a plan?"

"Not at the moment, no."

I told her the truth; I hadn't even given it any thought. That led to another thought; per-
haps I could combine my need for a gun vault with our need for security. When they
built Cheyenne Mountain, they used 25 ton blast doors. It was something to think about.
I decided to do some research at the library.

The main entrance to the complex is approximately one-third of a mile (540 m) from the
North Portal via a tunnel which leads to a pair of steel Blast Doors each weighing 25
tons. Behind the 25 ton blast doors is a steel building complex built within a 4.5 acre
(18,000 m²) grid of excavated chambers and tunnels and surrounded by 2,000 feet (600
m) of granite. The main excavation consists of three chambers 45 feet (15 m) wide, 60
feet (20 m) high, and 588 feet (180 m) long, intersected by four chambers 32 feet (10 m)
wide, 56 feet (17 m) high and 335 feet (100 m) long. Fifteen buildings, freestanding
without contact with the rock walls or roofs and joined by flexible vestibule connections,
make up the inner complex. Twelve of these buildings are three stories tall; the others
are one and two stories.

The outer shell of the buildings is made of three-eighths-inch (9.5 mm) continuously
welded low carbon steel plates which are supported by structural steel frames. Metal
walls and tunnels serve to attenuate electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Metal doors at each
building entrance serve as fire doors to help contain fire and smoke. Emphasis on the
design of the structure is predicated on the effects of nuclear weapons; however, build-
ing design also makes it possible for the complex to absorb the shock of earthquakes.

Blast Valves, installed in reinforced concrete bulkheads, have been placed in the ex-
haust and air intake supply, as well as water, fuel, and sewer lines. Sensors at the North
and South Portal entrances will detect overpressure waves from a nuclear explosion,
causing the valves to close and protect the complex. All of the buildings in the complex
are mounted on 1,319 steel springs, each weighing approximately 1,000 pounds (450
kg). The springs allow the complex to move 12 inches (300 mm) in any one direction.
To make the complex self-sufficient, adequate space in the complex is devoted to sup-
port functions. A dining facility, medical facility with dental office, pharmacy and a two-
bed ward; two physical fitness centers with exercise equipment and sauna; a small base
exchange, chapel, and barber shop are all located within the complex.

Within the complex are all the utility systems necessary to make the facility functional.
The primary supply of electrical power is supplied by the City of Colorado Springs. The

47
secondary source or back-up power supply is provided by six 1,750 kilowatt (2,800hp)
diesel generators.

Water for the complex comes from an underground water supply inside Cheyenne
Mountain. Today, 30,000 to 120,000 US gallons (100 to 450 m³) of water is deposited
into four excavated reservoirs. Three of these reservoirs serve as industrial reservoirs
and the remaining reservoir serves as the complex’s primary domestic water source. All
four reservoirs have the capacity to store 1.5 million US gallons (6,000 m³) of water.
They are so large that workers sometimes cross them in rowboats.

Incoming air may be filtered through a system of chemical/biological/radiological (CBR)

filters to remove harmful germs and/or radioactive and chemical particles. The fresh air
intake is mainly from the south portal access which is 17½ feet (5.3 m) high and 15 feet
(4.6 m) wide and linked to the north portal access which is 22½ feet (7 m) high and 29
feet (9 m) wide. The entire tunnel from north to south entry portals is nine-tenths of a
mile (1.5 km) long.

"Did you find what you wanted?"

"Where did you go?"

"The library, I wanted to get some information on NORAD; you know the complex at
Cheyenne Mountain."

"I haven't noticed any mountains on our half section you could hollow out."

"I don't believe we'd have to dig down very far to hit rock, Sue. If I'm right, we could
build a very large underground room and maybe connect it to the basement where we
could put in some sort of vault door. I'll talk to Matt about it."

"You should speak to a geologist, Rob, what does Matt know about the ground around
here?"

I did as she asked and here's what he told me:

"Central Arizona lies across three geologic provinces, the Colorado Plateau, the Transi-
tion Zone, and the Basin and Range. The Sedona-Verde Valley Region encompasses
the first two. The Colorado Plateau comprises mostly flat-lying sedimentary rocks that
range in age from Cambrian through Tertiary. The southern escarpment of the Colorado
Plateau, the Mogollon Rim (muggy-owen), averages 6,500 – 7,000 feet above sea level
at the top of the rim. Elevations at its base range from 4,000-4,500 feet. The nearly flat-
lying sedimentary rocks dip gently northward, usually less than 2ƒ. Permian sedimen-

48
tary rocks and Miocene volcanic rocks form much of the Rim escarpment, although
Cambrian, Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian rocks are exposed in some of
the deeper canyons.

"Verde Valley lies south of the Mogollon Rim in the Transition Zone. The crust here was
stretched and broken slightly during Miocene extension in the Basin and Range oroge-
ny; the Basin and Range is approximately 100 miles south. Verde Valley is a structural
basin bounded by faults on its SW and NE margins. The faults dropped the bottom of
the valley down relative to the Colorado Plateau to the north and the Black Range and
Bradshaw Mountains to the south. The center of the valley is just above 3000 feet ele-
vation. Mingus Mountain, the central, prominent element of the Black Range, exposes
Precambrian, Cambrian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Tertiary rocks.
Central Verde Valley consists of Miocene and Pliocene sedimentary rocks that filled the
basin as it subsided. The graphics and photos that follow provide a general guide to
these rocks."

"So can I dig or not?"

"You can dig, but what you'll find when you do can only be guessed at."

"I appreciate your opinion, what do I owe you?"

"Call it $100."

I paid the man, but I didn't know any more than I did before I asked. There was one way
to find out, try and drive rod into the ground. The other way to find out was to ask a con-
tractor about digging a hole.

"How big of a hole do you need?"

"About the size of a house and 22' deep."

"Man, that's more than 3,000 yards, it wouldn’t be cheap. What do you want to do with
the stuff we remove from the hole?"

"Dump it in a pile; we will eventually be backfilling the hole."

"Let me get this straight, you want a 3,000-yard plus hole in the ground that you're
eventually going to back fill? Going bury something?"

"That's what I had in mind, yes."

"I can give you a better price if I do the back fill."

"Put together an estimate of doing it both ways."

49
°

"Hey Matt, good to see you. Wow, a redhead."

"Sarah Kelly meet Robert Miller; Rob, Sarah."

"Call me Rob, Sarah. Come in and I'll introduce you to Sue."

"Sue, this is Sarah Kelly, Matt's girlfriend; Sarah, my wife Susan."

"What lovely red hair and green eyes are you Irish Sarah?"

"Third generation. How far along are you?"

"I'm in my 7th month and my back is killing me."

"Hi Sue, see what happens when you don't take me up on a date?"

"What's that all about?" Sarah asked.

"Matt asked me out on a date and Rob proposed before I could accept."

"How long had you and Rob been dating?"

"Five years. How long have you known Matt?"

"About six months, I work for Greyhound in their Tower building (occupied in 1971)."

"How long have you worked for Greyhound?"

"Six years, I started with them in Chicago."

"Did they move you?"

"I wish."

Sarah had a good job with Greyhound in Chicago but the company didn't offer to move
her. If she chose to move on her own, she could keep her job, however. Originally from
New York, she didn't mind moving, she did want to see the country. She had come to
Phoenix in 1971 and had recently been promoted to a lower level supervisory position. I
finally got a chance to get Matt aside, under the excuse of dividing up the ammo, and I
told him what I had in mind.

50
"A concrete bunker? The Cuban Missile Crisis was in '62 and the war is just ending.
What are you thinking of?"

"Matt, I need a large vault to store my class III weapons. I mentioned that to Sue when
we went to Flagstaff the other day and it occurred to me that we didn't have anything
more than our basement for shelter. I talked to a geologist and didn't learn much about
the area. I have a contractor working up a bid to excavate a hole about 50'x80'x22'."

"Why don't you rent a Bobcat or something and do it yourself?"

"I just might, it depends on how much he wants for the hole. Anyway, I was going to
have a section of the basement wall cut out and install a vault door to access the bun-
ker. The previous owner put up furring strips and knotty pine paneling in the basement."

"And you're going to hide the vault door behind the panel? I think you've seen too many
movies."

"Let's move the ammo to your pickup."

Matt didn't seem to be too interested in my project and I chose not to bring it up again.
The contractor came in with a bid of $8,000 and I told him to go ahead. I drove down to
Phoenix to find an architect who might have some experience building bunkers. I went
through 3 or 4 guys before I found someone, Paul, who seemed to know what he was
talking about. He told me that at the moment, the Swiss government was requiring shel-
ters for everyone. There was a company over there that made blast doors, blast valves,
air filtration systems, and chemical biological protection for home, corporate, military
and government facilities.

I told Paul what I had done to date, the 50'x80'x22' hole in the ground and how I wanted
to connect it to the basement of my house. He had a million questions, was the hole dry,
how far from the house was it, etc. I invited him up to have a look. He got out his ap-
pointment book and said he could make it in about a week. I gave him directions to our
place and said that if he needed to stay over, my wife and I would be glad to put him up.

"Well, it's not as big as the hole they dug for the World Trade Center in New York, but
you could put a nice shelter in that hole. How much overburden were you planning on?"

"I want 9' of headroom inside the bunker, Paul. I want the bunker to be as large as we
can make it given the size of the hole."

"What is your water source?"

51
"We have a well."

"Is it a good well?"

"It's not very large, but the water is good."

"Septic system?"

"Yes, the ground slopes down to the west and the outflow goes that way."

"I can do it, but I have to order stuff from Andair AG located in Andelfingen, Switzerland.
That will be all cash, up front. We'd better plan on a water tank. I think I can do it for
$60,000."

"Dollars?"

"Mexico is a ways to the south, Rob. It's going to take a fair amount of concrete, the
Swiss equipment and a couple of storage tanks. My commission for designing it is 10%
of the cost."

"Is that on top of or included in the $60,000?"

"Included. That should be a turnkey price; I have one contractor who I've worked with
who can do the work. Do you have the money, or are you going to need to get financ-
ing?"

"If I cashed our mutual fund and CDs, I'd only have half of that, I'm going to need a bank
loan, I suppose."

"They aren't likely to be too keen on financing a bunker."

"That's my new gun vault, Paul. I'll call you as soon as I get the loan, go ahead and start
the plans."

"Just so you know, my fee will be about $5,500 whether you build it or not."

"I understand. What about the vault door in the basement wall?"

"I included that in the price, we're going to need to cut out a section of the wall because
the door frame must be cast in place."

"Would it be possible to conceal the vault door behind the knotty pine paneling?"

"I already planned on that. I sort of figured that's why you came to Phoenix instead of
getting a firm in Flagstaff to do the work. You want this done with no one being the wis-
er, am I right?"

52
"On all counts."

"Fine, I'd better get back to Phoenix, call me when you have the financing arranged."

"Is it going to be expensive Rob?"

"$60,000 for the bunker plus more for the gun shop I intend to build on top of the shel-
ter. I'll go into Flagstaff tomorrow and talk to the bank. I expect we'll have to put up both
businesses and the house as collateral."

"Is this a good time to do this?"

"I think so, we're in a recession and the loan rates are down."

What I was counting on was the stagnation in the economy brought on by the 1973 oil
crisis. I pretty much knew what the bank would want to see and got my tax returns and
the books of the corporation, the income statements from the gun shop and our portfolio
together. What I had in mind was borrowing $100,000 and using all of our sources of
collateral. On paper, our net worth was about $125,000 dollars.

I made my presentation to the bank and they told me that they'd check everything out
and get back to me. They asked about the blueprints and I told them the architect was
still working on them. About a month later I got a call, the loan was approved at a fixed
rate equal to prime plus 1%, spread over a 15 year period. If you don't believe timing is
everything, On July 5, 1974, the prime rate peaked to 12%. My loan was dated June 10,
1975, and the prime rate on that day was 7%, giving me an 8% interest rate on my loan.
Little did I know that by late December of 1980, it would reach 21.50%. Although the
prime rate went lower in the following months it started to climb soon after. Our pay-
ments were $955.65 per month. While I also didn't know it at the time, the bank would
offer incentives to get the loan paid off early. More about that later, when it happened.

53
 When We Were Young – Chapter 2

2005:

January 4: Death of the Governor of Baghdad, Ali Al-Haidri, assassinated by gunmen.

January 13: Armed militants enter into Israel from Gaza and open fire near the border,
killing 6 people and wounding 5 others. Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claim
joint responsibility for attack.

January 16: Armed militants kill 1 person and wound 8 people in the Gush Katif settle-
ment, Gaza Strip. Hamas claims responsibility.

January 30: A Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane crashes in Iraq, killing 10
British servicemen. Iraqi insurgents release a video claiming to have shot the aircraft
down using a missile.

February 9: An ETA car bomb injures 31 people at a conference center in Madrid.

February 10: North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection
against the hostility it feels from the United States.

February 14: A massive suicide bomb blast in central Beirut kills Lebanon's former
prime minister Rafik Hariri and at least 15 other people. At least 135 other people are
also hurt.

February 19: Suicide bombers kill more than 30 people in Iraq as Shia Muslims mark
Ashura, their holiest day.

February 25: Terrorists kill 5 people and wound 50 people in Tel Aviv, Israel. Islamic Ji-
had claims responsibility for attack.

March 4: The car of released Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena is fired on by US soldiers
in Iraq, causing the death of one passenger and injuring two more.

March 8: The Pakistani Army opens fire on aggressing insurgents in Baluchistan, the
first armed uprising since General Rahimuddin Khan's stabilization of the province in
1978.

March 14: The People's Republic of China ratifies an anti-secession law, aimed at pre-
venting Taiwan from declaring independence. Nearly one million people gathered for an
opposition rally in Beirut, a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri –
the largest rally in Lebanon history.

54
March 19: A suspected suicide bomber in Doha, Qatar, kills one person and injures
about 12 others. A time bomb explodes in a Muslim shrine in Quetta, southwestern Pa-
kistan, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40.

March 24: The Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan reaches its climax with the overthrow of
president Askar Akayev. The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to
demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of Mainland China.
Around 200,000 to 300,000 attend the walk.

April 7: A suicide bomber blows himself up in Cairo's Khan al Khalili market, killing two
foreign tourists and wounding seventeen others. A group called "Islamic Pride Brigades"
claims responsibility.

April 9: Tens of thousands of demonstrators, many of them supporters of Shia cleric

Moqtada Sadr, marched through Baghdad denouncing the US occupation of Iraq, two
years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and rallied in the square where his statue was
toppled in 2003.

April 18: Five people die in ethnic clashes in Iran's south-west Khuzestan province.

April 21: A gunfight on the edge of the Saudi city of Mecca kills two militants and two
members of the security forces.

April 26: Facing international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop mili-
tary garrison in Lebanon ending its twenty nine year military domination of that country.

April 30: Attacks on tourists in the Egyptian capital Cairo leave three militants dead and
at least ten people injured.

May 1: A suicide attack targets a Kurdish funeral in the northern Iraqi town of Talafar,
near Mosul, and leaves at least 25 people dead and more than 30 others injured. Earli-
er, at least five policemen and four civilians were killed in two separate attacks in Bagh-
dad.

May 2: A blast at an illegal munitions store in northern Afghanistan kills 28 people and
injures at least 13 others.

May 4: In one of the largest insurgent attacks in Iraq to date, at least 60 people have
been killed and dozens wounded in a suicide bombing at a Kurdish police recruitment
center in Irbil, northern Iraq.

May 5: Two homemade bombs explode outside the British consulate in New York City.

May 10: A hand grenade ostensibly thrown by Vladimir Arutinian lands about 100 feet
(30 m) from US President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in
Tbilisi, Georgia, but malfunctions and does not detonate.

55
May 13: Uzbek troops kill up to 700 during protests in eastern Uzbekistan over the trials
of 23 accused Islamic extremists. President Islam Karimov defends the act.

July 7: Four explosions rock the transport network in London, three on the London Un-
derground and one on a bus. 56 people died and over 700 were injured. Al-Qaeda ad-
mits to the killing of Egypt's Ambassador, Ihab al-Sherif.

July 12: Terrorists kill 5 people and wound 90 people in a crowded mall in Netanya, Is-
rael. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for attack.

July 14: A mortar fired from the Gaza strip kills Dana Galkowicz, in the Netiv Haasara
Moshav.

July 21: A terrorist attack on London, similar to the July 7 attacks, includes 4 attempted
bomb attacks on 3 Underground trains and a London bus. The bombs failed to explode
properly, and only one injury was reported, later found out to be unconnected.

July 23: A series of bomb attacks targeting the Egyptian resort city of Sham el-Sheikh,
located on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Eighty-eight people were killed and
over 150 were wounded by the blasts, making the attack the deadliest terrorist action in
the country's history. The bombing coincided with Egypt's Revolution Day, which com-
memorates Nasser's 1952 overthrow of King Farouk.

July 28: The Provisional IRA issues a statement formally ordering an end to the armed
campaign it has pursued since 1969 and ordering all its units to dump their arms.

August 23: Israel's unilateral disengagement from 25 Jewish settlements in the Gaza
Strip and West Bank ends.

August 28: Terrorist wounds 52 at bus station in Beersheba, Israel. Islamic Jihad claims
responsibility for attack.

August 31: A crowd crush on the Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad kills several hundred
civilians.

October 1: 26 people are killed and more than 100 are injured in the Bali bombings.

October 16: US helicopters and warplanes bomb two villages near Ramadi in western
Iraq, killing about 70 people.

October 26: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for Israel to be "wiped off
the map" at "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran, Iran, and condemns peace
process.

56
October 29: At least 61 people are dead and many others wounded in three powerful
blasts in the Indian capital, Delhi.

November 8: French President Jacques Chirac declares a state of emergency on the

12th day of the French civil unrest.

November 9: At least fifty people are killed and more than 120 are injured in a series of
coordinated suicide bombings in Amman, Jordan.

December 13: Mass riots in Sydney, Australia involving up to 5,000 youths.

December 23: Chad declares a State of war against Sudan following a December 18th
attack on Adre, which left about 100 people dead.

Two months after the loan was approved the shelter was in and back filled. About 6
weeks after that, my new class III gun store was open.

I was also the proud poppa of a 6 pound 2 ounce daughter Sue and I named Elizabeth
Ann. Nixon had resigned and it appeared to me that President Ford was getting the
economy turned around. I was now doing a very good business in what they were call-
ing assault weapons. I also bid on surplus ammo and occasionally managed to pick up
a large shipment of 7.62×51mm. 7.62x39mm, 5.56×45mm, 9mm and even .45 ACP.

Although Ford lost the election to Carter in 1976, I was making a lot of money and our
retirement funds were growing by leaps and bounds. In 1977, Sue was expecting again
and Matt and Sarah had finally set a date. The only people who knew about the shelter
we built were the architect and contractor from Phoenix and the Ready-mix company
who delivered the concrete. I ran my plan to build a block building over the shelter to
use as a gun store and Paul told the Contractor to compact the earth especially good
and pour the slab. I hired a masonry contractor from Flagstaff to put in the new gun
store.

Our new baby was also a girl, and we named her Sara Melanie. Then in 1978, Dave of-
fered to buy the Sedona gun store, I took the money and applied the entire amount to
the principal of the loan, paying it off. At the time no one knew that the prime interest
rate would go through the roof. I was Matt's Best Man and Sue was Sarah's Matron of
Honor. Their wedding was in Vegas, a hurried up affair.

When we built the building for the business, I divided the building into 2 sections with a
block wall, creating a large section for my assault weapons business and a small sec-
tion, maybe ¼ of the space for my class III business. I carried a lot of imported weap-
ons, FALs, HK91s, HK93s, AR-15s, M1As, Mini-14s and various models of SKS, Kal-

57
ashnikov's, just to name a few. The class III business had many of the same weapons,
but in the select fire models. I probably sold 50 semi-autos for every full-auto. I saved a
lot of money and improved security at the same time, neither of the stores had any win-
dows.

The class III store had a front door and door that opened into the other store which had
both a front and a back door. The doors looked like ordinary steel doors, but they were-
n't, they were made out of aluminum armor plate. They also had extremely good locks,
about 4 cuts above ordinary locks. The thing was we were 30 minutes away from any
law enforcement so we had to provide our own security. That's when I installed a 60kw
diesel generator in the. We had a home, two businesses and a fair amount of outside
lighting to provide for, it was just a business expense. We also buried a 40,000 gallon
double wall fiberglass Containment Solutions diesel tank and added 20,000 gallons of
diesel fuel.

In November of 1979, two things happened, Sue told me she was pregnant again and
the Iranians took our Embassy employees hostage. Little did I realize that she have the
baby in half the time it took to end the hostage crisis. In December we invited Matt, Sa-
rah and the kids up for a weekend.

"I see you've made up for lost time. Married 2 years and 3 kids?"

"I didn't know twins ran in her family. Remind me never to have 3 kids in diapers at the
same time."

"Have you been watching the hostage crisis?"

"It looks to me like Ted Koppel has a new TV show, they're calling it The Iran Crisis –
America Held Hostage: Day xxx. How's business?"

"Really good, but I'm sure something will come along and spoil it. How are you doing?"

"Only fair, Rob, too much competition in Phoenix. I have an offer on the business."

"A good offer?"

"Actually, yes. The guy's an idiot who thinks he can really improve sales with an adver-
tising campaign."

"Take it and come to work for me."

"I'm tempted. I see you filled that hole back in."

58
"Yeah, it wasn't such a hot idea building a bunker. Come to the basement and we'll
have a beer."

"Sue, Matt and I are going to the basement for a while."

"I see you haven't changed anything."

"You might be surprised. Budweiser or Coors?"

"Give me a Colorado Kool-aid. What did you mean, I might be surprised?"

"Here's your beer and here an ordinary Stanley garage opener, push the button."

"I'm pushing, but nothing is happening."

"Turn around."

The door opener activated a chain drive door opener that swung out a panel of the knot-
ty pine wall. Behind the panel was a Swiss made PT Armored Double Leaf Blast Door
that opened to a ramp leading to the shelter.

"What the heck? Did you build the shelter?"

"I did. The stores sit on top of where it's located."

"Why so far away?"

"I wanted a ramp entrance so we could easily take things in and out. It's an 8% grade,
so be careful."

"Why double doors and why so wide?"

"Access. Last year I replaced the generator with a bigger 60kw unit. I'll open one of the
doors and we can look the place over."

"How much cover over the bunker?"

"144", it has a conservative radiological protection factor of 35 trillion, 184 billion, 372
million, 88 thousand, 837. Let me tell you, it was a bitch getting the thing put in. They
put in a new well, expanded the septic system, put in storage for water, compacted the
soil and poured the slab for the store. I replaced the small diesel generator and put in a
more appropriate size and a truckstop size tank.”

"How big is it?"

59
"The inside dimensions are 44' wide by 72' long by 9' high. The lid is 12” thick. I put in a
pair of air systems we got from the Swiss with filters and 3 bar blast valves. We could
handle about 32 people without any crowding and up to 3 times that many based on the
capacity of the air system."

"Posts?"

"Do you have any idea how much the roof weighs? Then there is 12' of soil on top of it
plus the stores. On the far end, behind the kitchen are the generator room and the
storeroom. We put in two large bedrooms with private baths plus two dorms and a com-
bination living/dining/day room. I have a communications shack in that corner and have
been thinking about getting an Apple II computer. I have a ham set, CB and business
radios. The armory is part of the store room. I capitalized the bunker as a weapons
vault."

"Are you a Ham now?"

"No, but I have the equipment. It's a used Collins KWM-2A Transceiver; it's supposed to
be pretty good. I may upgrade if they ever come out with some really good solid state
radios. I also have a Hallicrafters receiver and a Washington base station. The business
radios are Motorola."

"Still driving those old Fords, huh?"

"I keep them up and there's nothing wrong with them. I may buy a diesel pickup one of
these days but Sue's car only has 50,000 on it. Mark my words, one of these days
they're going to figure out how to put digital computers in cars to control the engines and
that will be a very sad day for America."

"Why?"

"Electro Magnetic Pulse. That is given off by nuclear weapons when they explode and it
can take out all kinds of electronics. I have plenty of spare parts for the Fords and EMP
or not, we won't be on foot."

"That's over my head, what about this job you offered?"

"You can run the class III business and do the gunsmithing, I run the Assault weapons
business. It's all in our corporation now and you can buy in if you want. The shop is fully
equipped and you should be able to work on anything."

"I'd clear enough to build a very nice house, but could it be connected to your shelter or
would I need my own?"

"You realize that out in the sticks like we are, we use propane and not natural gas?"

60
"I saw your tank, what is it, 500-gallons?"

"I've been planning to replace it with a bigger tank and we could meter it if you don't
want to bother with your own."

"We could go for years on a 5,000-gallon tank. I don't know, maybe that or a 3,000-
gallon tank, it depends on what's available."

"How are you on inventory for the two stores?"

"I bought as many of the legal assault weapons as I could afford, Matt; those, maga-
zines and surplus ammo. These are crazy times, I wouldn't be surprised if one of these
days they try and outlaw assault weapons."

"Never happen, we have the 2nd Amendment."

"We had the 2nd amendment when they passed the NFA and the GCA68, but it didn't
help much."

"Do you have many of the HK91s?"

"Through the end of 1978, only 3,814 had been imported. I probably got 60 of those,
and 30 of those were this year. The HK93s aren't as popular; I've only bought 30 of
those."

"What about FALs?"

"About the same."

"I've got a lot to think about and I'll have to talk with Sarah about making the move."

"We thought the two of you got lost, touring the shelter?"

"That plus I made Matt and offer I hope he can't refuse."

"Such as?"

"Accepting the offer he got for his business and moving here to Sedona to work with
us."

"Matt, what did you say?" Sarah asked.

"That I'd talk it over with you and I'd let him know. We could build a new house Sarah
and Rob offered to let me buy into the business."

61
"Could I get a nanny to help with the kids?"

"Is that all it would take for you to say yes?"

"Possibly."

"You can have a nanny regardless, Sarah, why didn't you say something?"

"Business has been bad and I didn't want to burden you."

"Is that a yes, Matt?"

"It's a maybe Rob. Let me see what I can do in Phoenix."

Matt called a few days later; the guy was wetting his pants trying to buy the business.
He'd up the price slightly and told Matt that he could take all of his gunsmithing equip-
ment and the class III inventory. Matt accepted his offer. The housing market was soft
due to the interest rates and he didn't know if he could sell his house. However, he had
a 10% interest rate and an assumable mortgage. I told him he'd better wait to list it until
their new home in Sedona was done, or they'd be living in a motel or with us. It occurred
to me that if they built their house on the other side of the business, we'd both have the
same distance to the business and the shelter. Accordingly, I began making plans to
extend the plumbing.

The motel sized septic tank was behind the shelter anyway and there wouldn't be any
problem running lines to connect to the water tank or the septic system. Paul must have
thought I was planning on putting in a housing development when he selected that sep-
tic tank. I called the propane dealer and all he had in stock at the moment was a used
5,500-gallon tank. He could order a new 3,300-gallon tank from California, but I told him
just to get the old tank checked out and not bother. I also told him I'd fill it 500-gallons at
a time and my new neighbor Matt would do the same.

Two weeks later, they were back up and Matt bought his entire corporate class III inven-
tory to store in the armory or the store. He had, among other things, a pair of restored
Browning M2HB machineguns. The problem had been getting barrels for them until he
contacted a Canadian supplier who built the barrels. He also had a pair of Browning
1919A4s in like new condition that had been modified to accept the 7.62×51mm car-
tridge. Maybe that was why he wanted half of my pallet of ammo. Many M1919's were
rechambered for the new 7.62NATO (7.62x51mm) round and served into the 1990s, as
well as up to the present day in some countries. The US Navy also converted many to
7.62 mm, and designated them Mk 21 Mod 0; they were commonly used on river craft in
the 60s and 70s during Vietnam.

62
You may recall that in May, Mt. St. Helens erupted laterally, killing 57 people. Please
don't lose sight of the timeframe here, it was now the spring of 1980 and Jimmy Carter
was President. I was ordering 2 of the M1As for every 1 I was selling; I wanted an in-
ventory and planned to make money as the price climbed, as surely it would. One more
thing I suppose I should mention, our wives informed us that 3 children each were more
than enough and they had the belly button surgery done. The hostage crisis was in tri-
ple digits and had been for a while. Anyway, Matt and Sarah moved into their new
house in late June of 1980. I was forced to allow Sue to get a nanny, too. Business was
booming and in 1980, I purchased 120 of the HK91s but none of the HK93s.

Reagan finally won the Republican nomination for President, handily winning most of
the primaries after an early defeat in the Iowa caucuses. During the convention, Reagan
proposed a complex power-sharing arrangement with Gerald Ford as vice president, but
nothing came of it. Instead, Reagan selected his opponent in the primaries, former
Congressional Representative, UN ambassador, Envoy to China, RNC Chairman, and
CIA director George H. W. Bush; although Bush had declared that he would never be
Reagan's Vice-President.

Bush was many things Reagan was not – a lifelong Republican, a combat veteran and
an internationalist with UN, CIA and China experience. Bush's economic and political
philosophies were supposedly more moderate than Reagan's. Bush had referred to
Reagan's supply-side influenced proposal for a 30% across-the-board tax cut as "voo-
doo economics." Reagan's showing in the televised debates boosted his campaign. He
seemed more at ease, deflecting President Carter's criticisms with remarks like "There
you go again." His most influential remark was a closing question to the audience, dur-
ing a time of skyrocketing prices and high interest rates "Are you better off than you
were four years ago?"

The really strange thing was that on the day he was inaugurated for his first term on
1/20/81, Iran released the hostages. I thought we were going to war in 1980 when
Carter embargoed Russian grain shipments. I liked Carter, but not as President, he
seemed to fumble the ball a lot. I thought that Reagan was a bit too conservative, but
his talk of building a 600 ship Navy, could put pressure on the Soviets.

That same year, the CDC reported that five homosexual men in Los Angeles had a rare
form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (these were
the first recognized cases of AIDS). In July, the Prince of Wales got married to Diana.
Then, in August, PATCO went on strike and Regan fired all 11,000 of the controllers
who refused to return to work. Two of our jets shot down 2 Libyan jets over the Gulf of
Sidra. In October someone assassinated Anwar Sadat. And, of course, everyone got
one year older. 1981 was our best year ever and we purchased 300 of the HK91s and
60 of the HK93s.

63
1982 wasn't that good of a year, either from a business standpoint or from a world view.
In January that plane crashed into the Potomac River and in March the Falklands War
began. On the brighter side, they built the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. Don't
get me wrong, we made money, good money, but H&K announced they were reducing
the imports of the 2 rifles. As a result, our inventory of assault weapons began to shrink.
I tried to load up on the M1As, but they were selling them as fast as they could make
them.

All 4 of us were born in 1939 and in 1982, we all had our 43rd birthdays. We weren't
even middle aged yet and our wives were looking for grey hairs. Elizabeth was born in
'74, Sara in '77 and Julia in '80. You can tell, Liz was in 3rd grade and they're twins were
born in '77 and the third baby, Matthew, in '79. Sara and the twins had started Kinder-
garten this year. Sue didn't use the envelope system any longer, it was too much trou-
ble, but she kept close track of the checks she wrote.

There was another war in 1982, or did you forget? The Soviet Union occupied Afghani-
stan. The first Soviet troops were in Afghanistan since '79, but they got very serious
when Brezhnev died. America got a new Hero too, John Rambo kicked Will Teasle's
butt in First Blood. The movie cost $14 million to make and grossed $6.6 million opening
weekend. The Soviets didn't leave Afghanistan until we sent over Rambo in '88. We
sent him and they began to withdraw troops. They were out of there by February '89.

Wait, I'm ahead of myself, again. By '89, we'd be turning 50, let's not rush things. Be-
sides, a whole lot of bad things happened between '82 and '89, plus a few good things.
IBM brought out the PC and when they brought out the XT, I bought a computer for the
business and a second for the house. It wasn’t long before I upgraded the computers
with a pair of 30Mb drives. I'm still using that computer in the business, by the way. I've
replaced several HDDs, but it works just fine for what I use it for. Don't laugh, as of June
2006, IBM PC and XT models are still in use at the majority of US National Weather
Service upper-air observing sites. The computers are used to process data as it is re-
turned from the ascending radiosonde, attached to a weather balloon. They are being
phased out over a several year period, to be replaced by the Radiosonde Replacement
System.

'82 and '83 were recession years while the economy sorted itself out after the 21.5%
prime interest rate in the Carter Administration. I suppose the biggest event I can re-
member from '83 is the bombing of the Marine Corps Barracks in Lebanon. Oh yeah,
the movie Flashdance came out. In '84 Clara wanted to know where the beef was and
Michael Jackson set his hair on fire. I think that was the year that the Russians boycott-
ed the Olympics in LA. They had that chemical leak in India that killed about 6,000 peo-
ple before it all ended. In '85 the last two kids started Kindergarten.

64
Not bad, 3 years in a single paragraph. The idea to train volunteers from the community
to assist emergency service personnel during large natural disasters began. In February
of 1985, a group of Los Angeles City officials went to Japan to study its extensive earth-
quake preparedness plans. The group encountered an extremely homogenous society
that had taken extensive steps to train entire neighborhoods in one aspect of alleviating
the potential devastation that would follow a major earthquake. These single-function
neighborhood teams were trained in fire suppression, light search and rescue opera-
tions, first aid, or evacuation.

In September of 1985, a Los Angeles City investigation team was sent to Mexico City
following an earthquake there that registered a magnitude 8.1 on the Richter scale and
killed more than 10,000 people and injured more than 30,000. Mexico City had no train-
ing program for citizens prior to the disaster. However, large groups of volunteers orga-
nized themselves and performed light search and rescue operations. Volunteers are
credited with more than 800 successful rescues; unfortunately, more than 100 of these
untrained volunteers died during the 15-day rescue operation.

The lessons learned in Mexico City strongly indicated that a plan to train volunteers to
help themselves and others, and become an adjunct to government response, was
needed as an essential part of overall preparedness, survival, and recovery. As a result
CERT was formed in 1986.

During 1984, a new business opened up in Utah, Utah Shelter Systems and they car-
ried the Andair equipment. The survival equipment business was taking off and more
than one happy camper wanted a main battle rifle for his survival gear. By this time the
price on those H&K firearms started to slide up and I told everyone we were out of
them. We weren't, but they'd be a good hedge against inflation and I didn't figure they'd
be importing them for too many years. I should have been careful what I thought, a per-
son sometimes pays for bad thinking.

The Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA) is a US federal law that revised many stat-
utes in the GCA68. Allegations of abuse by ATF inspectors soon arose from the NRA
and certain targeted Federal firearms licensees. The gun rights movement lobbied Con-
gress to pass the FOPA to prevent the abuse of regulatory power – in particular, to ad-
dress claims that the ATF was repeatedly inspecting FFL holders for the apparent pur-
pose of harassment intended to drive the FFL holders out of business (as the FFL hold-
ers would constantly be having to tend to ATF inspections instead of to customers).

The Act mandated that ATF compliance inspections can be done only once per year
and, at a minimum, must be done once every 3 years. An exception to the "once per
year" rule exists if multiple record-keeping violations are recorded in an inspection, in
which case the ATF may do a follow-up inspection. The main reason for a follow-up in-
spection would be if guns could not be accounted for.

65
A last-minute provision that was added to the act prevents the ATF from accepting the
federal tax mandated by the National Firearms Act for the civilian registration of a fully-
automatic firearm, automatic sear, drop-in sear, or similar device which provides fully
automatic fire, the date of manufacture for which was after May 19, 1986. This effective-
ly banned their manufacture except for law enforcement, military, or export, which re-
quire different registration forms. However, fully automatic firearms and sears manufac-
tured and registered with ATF prior to May 19, 1986, can still be transferred to private
citizens after payment of the $200 transfer tax.

While the name of the act may seem contradictory at first in light of its effectively re-
stricting some firearms, the provision to protect traveling individuals, along with familiari-
ty of a common occurrence in the American legislative process, helps clarify the provi-
sions of the act. The act as introduced by its sponsors originally did not contain the lan-
guage that effectively banned the manufacture of automatic firearms for civilian owner-
ship; that portion was added later by legislators and signed into law by President
Reagan.

One of the law's provisions was that persons traveling from one state to another for a
shooting sports event or any other lawful activity cannot be arrested for a firearms of-
fense in a state that has strict gun control laws if the traveler is just passing through
(short stops for food and gas) the more restrictive state and the firearms and ammuni-
tion are securely locked, unloaded, and not immediately accessible.

An example of this would be that someone driving from Virginia to an IPSC competition
in Vermont with a locked hard case containing an unloaded handgun and a box of am-
munition in the trunk could not be prosecuted in New Jersey for illegal possession of a
handgun provided that he did not stop in New Jersey for an extended period of time.

The act also forbade the US Government or any agency of it from keeping a registry di-
rectly linking non-NFA firearms to their owners, the specific language of this law (Feder-
al Law 18 USC 926 (2) (a)) being: No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of
the enactment of the Firearms Owners Protection Act may require that records required
to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be
recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United
States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registra-
tion of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or disposition be established.
Nothing in this section expands or restricts the Secretary's authority to inquire into the
disposition of any firearm in the course of a criminal investigation.

The older GCA68 prohibits firearms ownership in the United States of America by cer-
tain broad categories of individuals thought to pose a threat to public safety. However,
this list differed between the House and the Senate versions of the bill, and led to great
confusion. This list was later augmented, modified, and clarified in the Firearm Owners
Protection Act of 1986. The 1986 list is:

66
-Anyone who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment
for a term exceeding 1 year.
-Anyone who is a fugitive from justice.
-Anyone who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.
-Anyone who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to a
mental institution.
-Any alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States or an alien admitted to the United
States under a nonimmigrant visa.
-Anyone who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable condi-
tions.
-Anyone who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his or her citi-
zenship.
-A person who is under indictment or information for a crime punishable by imprison-
ment for a term exceeding one year cannot lawfully receive a firearm. Such person may
continue to lawfully possess firearms obtained prior to the indictment or information.

These provisions are stated in the form of questions on Federal Form 4473.

Firearm Owners Protection Act is an oxymoron if there ever was one. Matt and I must
have spent a full day reading the Act and then had an attorney go over it. The American
Public had just gotten screwed by the government, again. The law set a finite quantity to
our class III inventory, eliminating anything made after May 19, 1986 except for LEOs
and military. By military, I meant the US government, not your average grunt. It was all
in one part of the sentence, manufactured and registered with ATF prior to May 19,
1986. Instead of curtailing ATF involvement in our lives, they just increased it by creat-
ing a whole new class of criminals.

As it was the AFT drug their feet almost to the point where you got tired of waiting for
the stamp for your gun. What if there was an error in their records? A legally registered
class III weapon changing hands could land you in jail if they somehow didn't have a
record of the gun. Couldn't happen? Wait and see… I kept the papers in a safe, if you
lost them you had problems before, but they wouldn't land you in jail. Now they would.

A smart man had to figure that if they did this, they had more plans. We sunk all of the
money we had into imported semi-auto rifles and magazines. I told Matt they'd probably
pass a law outlawing everything over 7 rounds. I picked 7 rounds because that was that
capacity of the M1911 magazine and there were probably millions of those magazines
bouncing around. It later turned out that I didn't miss it by far, they went to 10-round
magazines, but there I go again getting ahead of myself. If the drunk from Massachu-
setts had his way, they would have outlawed semi-automatics altogether.

We weren't through with Dutch yet, he got reelected in '84 because the Dems didn't
have anyone to run against him. The campaign of 1984 also featured one of Reagan's
most famous gaffes, My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed
legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes, spoken as
a sound check prior to a radio address. He was unaware that the joke would be heard

67
by the public. Reagan was a shoo-in with a woman as the Dems vice presidential can-
didate. Maybe she was an honest lady even though she was a politician, but her hus-
band apparently wasn't, as we'd learn later.

Ferraro was bedeviled by her inconsistency. In July '84, she said she would release
both her and her husband's tax returns. Yet a month later she backtracked and said she
would release only her returns. Then she backtracked again, saying her husband would
release "a financial – a tax statement" on August 20. But she must not have consulted
her husband, because Zaccaro initially refused. Finally he agreed to make public his tax
returns from 1979 to 1984, after Republican attacks detracted from his wife's campaign.

I liked that campaign, I figured it was a no lose proposition for the Republicans. That
didn't last long, the Iran-Contra Affair (also called the Iran-Contra Matter and Irangate)
was the biggest political scandal in the United States during the 1980s. It involved sev-
eral members of the Reagan Administration who in 1986 helped sell arms to Iran, an
avowed enemy, and used the proceeds to fund the Contras, an anti-communist guerrilla
organization in Nicaragua. After the arms sales were revealed in November 1986, Pres-
ident Reagan appeared on national television and denied that they had occurred. But a
week later, on November 13, he returned to the airwaves to affirm that weapons were
indeed transferred to Iran. He denied that they were part of an exchange for hostages.
He may have been in the first stages of Alzheimer's disease, who knows. The one really
good thing I thought he did was to make Jelly Bellies a national institution.

Life wasn't without its trials but we managed to make it to the Gulf War aka Desert
Storm. We'd all gotten through '89 by sharing the same set of black Age 50 junk and a
present from President Bush, an assault weapons import ban. The Berlin Wall, an iconic
symbol of the Cold War, was initially constructed starting on August 13, 1961 and dis-
mantled in the weeks following November 9, 1989. Part of the Iron Curtain, the Berlin
Wall was the most prominent part of the GDR border system.

However, the creation of the Wall was a propaganda disaster for East Germany and for
the communist bloc as a whole. It became a key symbol of what Western powers re-
garded as Communist tyranny, particularly after the high-profile shootings of would-be
defectors. Political liberalization in the late 1980s, associated with the decline of the So-
viet Union, led to relaxed border restrictions in East Germany, culminating in mass
demonstrations and the fall of the East German government. When a government
statement that crossing of the border would be permitted was broadcast on November
9th, masses of East Germans approached and then crossed the wall, and were joined
by crowds of West Germans in a celebratory atmosphere. The Wall was subsequently
destroyed by a euphoric public over a period of several weeks, and its fall was the first
step toward German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

As the Soviet Union was unraveling, President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gor-
bachev declared a US-Soviet strategic partnership at the summit of July 1991, decisive-

68
ly marking the end of the Cold War. President Bush declared that US-Soviet coopera-
tion during the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991 had laid the groundwork for a partnership
in resolving bilateral and world problems. And despite winning the Gulf War, Bush lost
the '92 election. Ever notice how when you get older, time seems to speed up? The lin-
gering recession caused by Reagan's cuts and one little slip of the lip cost him the elec-
tion, Read My Lips, No New Taxes.

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban, or AWB, was a provision of the Violent Crime Con-
trol and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law of the US that included a prohibi-
tion on the sale of semiautomatic assault weapons manufactured after the date of the
ban's enactment. The ten-year ban was passed by Congress on September 13, 1994
and was signed into law by President Clinton the same day. I was wrong, the magazine
limit was 10 rounds and it only applied to large capacity magazines manufactured after
the ban went into effect.

Classification of assault weapons has proven extremely difficult since there is no basic
functional difference between the types of firearms targeted for these bans and many
very common hunting and target-shooting firearms. Any semi-automatic firearm that ac-
cepts a detachable magazine can discharge as rapidly as any other based on the same
action. This led those who supported regulation to target the appearance of these
weapons rather than their function.

Cosmetic features such as bayonet mounts, flash suppressors, and barrel shrouds were
seen as military features. Once these features were banned, manufacturers simply had
to slightly alter the designs and manufacture new, now legal versions. For example, the
AB-10 is a post-ban version of the TEC-9, made legal by changing the name and re-
moving the (cosmetic) barrel shroud and barrel threading; the XM-15 is an AR-15 made
legal by changing the name and removing the flash suppressor and bayonet lug; post-
ban semi-automatic AK-47s are sold under different names with the bottom of the pistol-
grip attached to the stock, creating a "thumbhole stock." Features varied from weapon
type to weapon type, making the identification of "illegal" weapons difficult.

Muzzle brakes were ruled "legal" by the ATF a short time after the ban went into effect.
These muzzle attachments were legal to attach to a threaded barrel, so long as it was
welded in place. The sheer number of exceptions, and legal gray areas made the de-
termination of "pre-ban" and "post-ban" weapons difficult for both the consumer and law
enforcement. This in part contributed to the demise of the AWB.

Yet the gun industry easily found ways around the law and most of these weapons are
now sold in post-ban models virtually identical to the guns Congress sought to ban in
1994. Others claim that the gun manufacturers were following both the letter and the
spirit of the law by removing exactly what the law banned.

The Violence Policy Center blames technicalities. "Soon after its passage in 1994, the
gun industry made a mockery of the federal assault weapons ban, manufacturing 'post-
ban' assault weapons with only slight, cosmetic differences from their banned counter-

69
parts. The VPC estimates that more than one million assault weapons have been manu-
factured since the ban's passage in 1994." A notable argument against this is that the
VPC changed their definition of "assault weapon" after the ban was passed, so that
weapons which looked like the banned weapons were also "assault weapons".

"How does the ban affect us, Rob?"

"It doesn't, Sue. All of our magazines are pre-ban and we really loaded up. We'll proba-
bly run out before the law sunsets, but more of the pre-ban magazines will come on the
market. The guns we have that we can't sell will need to be modified to conform to the
ban, but that won't be a problem."

"Are we circumventing the law?"

"No, we're following it to the letter. It's a dumb law and poorly written. Unless a firearm is
named by name, we don't have a problem. I want to buy some suppressors for law en-
forcement and we'll hold them in inventory or find a way to legally transfer them to the
corporation, the lawyer is working on doing that."

"Are you going to add anything to the line you carry?"

"Matt and I were talking about adding Barrett rifles, principally the M82A1 civilian ver-
sion. Barrett also has a line of ammo loaded for him by IMI and we'd better get that be-
fore he sells out. We'll carry the post-ban magazines for the law enforcement customers
and sell the pre-ban magazines to our regular customer and new customers. I didn't
want to get into the LEO business, but this stupid law doesn't give us much choice."

"I need to change the subject, Liz has a date Saturday night an she's concerned you'll
object."

"Do you know the boy?"

"Yes, he seems very nice. You know his folks, the Adams."

"I know the kid you're talking about, smart, plays basketball, a guard I think. I don't see
why not, where are they going to a movie?"

"School dance."

"Even better, they'll have chaperones, but I don't think they need chaperones, she's 17
years old and a Junior, we're going to have to cut the apron strings."

"I know, but she was afraid you might be overly concerned."

70
"What meet the boy at the door with a machine gun? No, she's been raised right and
has to be able to make her own decisions. It won't be that long before she's off to col-
lege, assuming she wants to go."

71
 When We Were Young – Chapter 3

2006:

January 4: Powers are transferred from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to his depu-
ty, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, after Sharon suffers a massive hemorrhagic stroke.

January 25: Hamas wins the majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council
elections.

February 22: A blast heavily damages the Al Askari Mosque, a Shiite holy site in Samar-
ra, Iraq, causing a wave of protests and counterattacks across Iraq.

February 24: A state of emergency is declared in the Philippines after an alleged coup
d'etat against President Gloria Arroyo is foiled.

March 7: Fifteen people die and many others are injured in three blasts throughout Va-
ranasi, India.

April 11: President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran had successfully
produced a few grams of 3.5% low-enriched uranium.

April 17: A suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad in Tel Aviv kills nine people, injures doz-
ens.

April 22: Four Canadian soldiers are killed 75 kilometers north of Kandahar, Afghanistan
by a roadside bomb planted by Taliban militants, the worst one-day combat loss for the
Canadian army since the Korean War.

April 24: Three explosions in a tourist section of Dahab, Egypt kill 30 and injure over
115.

May 4: A new coalition government takes office in Israel, with four political parties,
which together hold 67 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.

May 8: Fighting between Palestinian factions leave one Fatah gunman and two Hamas
gunmen dead.

May 17: Captain Nichola Gaddard of the 1st RCHA becomes Canada's first female cas-
ualty since World War II, and Canada's first female combat arms casualty.

June 3: Seventeen men are arrested in the Greater Toronto Area for alleged ties to a
terrorist plot to blow up targets in the region.

June 7: Al-Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi and seven of his aides are killed in
Iraq during a US air raid just north of the town of Baqouba.

72
June 9: An explosion kills eight Palestinian civilians on a Gaza beach. Four days later,
after an investigation, Israel very strongly denies any responsibility for the blast.

June 23: In Miami, the FBI arrests seven men, accusing them of planning to bomb the
Sears Tower and other attacks in Miami, Florida.

June 28: Israel begins Operation Summer Rains, the series of ongoing battles between
Palestinisn militants and the Israel Ddefense Force (IDF). The flashpoint of large-scale
operations was the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit by Hamas on June 25 in response to a
double-kidnapping by Israeli operatives on June 24 of Palestinians.

July 4: North Korea test fires at least seven missiles including a long-range Taepodong-
2.

July 11: A series of coordinated bomb attacks strikes several commuter trains in Mum-
bai (Bombay), India during evening rush hour.

July 12: Israel begins Operation Just Reward (later called Operation Change of Direc-
tion) in response to Hizbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah declares open
war against Israel two days later.

July 28: Six persons were shot and one woman was killed in a shooting in the Seattle
Jewish Center.

July 31: HAMAS stormed the UN compound in Gaza City injuring 5. Israel initiated a 48
hour period suspending air strikes after an attack on Qana killed 37 children. The peo-
ple of Iran are entitled to produce their own nuclear fuel, President Mahmoud Ahmad-
inejad said on Sunday, rejecting the terms of a draft UN resolution that demands it give
up its nuclear work. "The people of Iran, in accordance with international norms and
laws, have the right to take advantage of peaceful nuclear technology," he told a news
conference in Tehran. The UN passed the resolution. The French indicated they would
lead the multinational force in southern Lebanon. Suspected rebels ambushed an army
patrol, exploded a car bomb in the capital and another bomb in Colombia's southwest
Monday, killing at least 18 people in a wave of attacks a week before the presidential
inauguration.

August 1: Soldiers from North Korea and South Korea exchanged fire along their border
late Monday, but no one was hurt, a South Korean military official said Tuesday.

"Actually, she's been trying to wrangle an appointment to one of the Military Acade-
mies."

"What? I don't see her as a soldier. Which one?"

73
"The Coast Guard Academy."

"Oh, they're only military during times of war. I won't say no, but I think we should think
about this. What's the boyfriend plan to do for college?"

"US Naval Academy. He has an appointment lined up though a Congressman his father
knows."

"Who?"

"Jon Kyl."

"I don't know him, but I've met McCain. Tell her to write to both of them and if it will help
I make some calls."

"No problem on the date, though?"

"I'd like to meet the Adams boy, but no objections."

I didn't envy Matt; He had twin daughters and a son. He had this to look forward to and
twins could spell double trouble. Besides there was trouble afoot, terrorists had tried to
blow up the World Trade Center last year. That had been the first major terrorist attack
on our country, but if it was any indication, there would probably be more.

The thing I most remember about the Bush administration was his attempt to feed the
people of Somalia. In August 1992 the US initiated Operation Provide Relief (UNOSOM
I) to provide humanitarian relief for the people. Other Western nations also contributed
to this airlift and the UN sent some troops to oversee the operation. However most of
the food was looted directly on landing of these planes. This made the operation a fail-
ure and the UN therefore asked its members for assistance.

In December 1992 as President Bush was preparing to leave office, he proposed to

help under the restriction that the US Combat troops would lead the operation. After the
UN accepted this offer 25,000 US troops were deployed to Somalia and the mission
was renamed to Operation Restore Hope and became UNOSOM II.

Following the failure of Operation Restore Hope and beginning in 1993, a two-year UN
effort (primarily in the south) was able to alleviate famine conditions. The UN contingent
included some US troops, some of whom were killed in fighting (along with hundreds of
Somalis) after crashing a helicopter in Mogadishu. President Clinton then decided to
withdraw the American forces.

74
In the spring of '95, Elizabeth and her steady both graduated from High School. She'd
gotten that appointment to the Coast Guard Academy all on her own and we were very
proud of her. Did I miss not having a son? A little, yes, but Liz more than made up for it.
She was an attractive young woman and not totally a tom boy. Liz could shoot any
weapons Matt and I had, accurately. She also went to Flagstaff and took martial arts
classes. Any young man who let her looks deceive him was in for a rude surprise.

The AWB was an indirect boon to business. Pre-ban magazines were hard to come by
and the prices jumped dramatically. Matt and I sold a few class III weapons to law en-
forcement but stopped advertising our automatic weapons. Some of them and some of
the Assault weapons skyrocketed in price. That more than made up for our declining
sales.

Our mutual fund was such that we didn't need to worry about retiring when the time
came. Sue and I kept rolling the CDs into larger denominations and longer terms, some
for up to 8 years. We could have earned more on our money, but there was risk associ-
ated with doing so.

Matt hadn't been idle in the intervening years, he built a shelter about the same size as
ours but it was dedicated to storage. We had accumulated so much stuff in the 15 plus
years since they had moved here, there wasn't room for it in the shelter Sue and I built.
It was smaller, 40' square and only had one Andair setup, the 150 with 3 bar blast
valves. It was built in the area in front of the store and connected to the large tunnel
complex.

I was very happy I'd decided to put in ramps instead of stairs, we began to store food,
munitions and extra hand tools, deep in our guts we knew something was brewing.
There was now a new means of communication called the world wide web or internet.
Matt and I bought a server from Dell and put in a T-1 line to maintain a small website
advertising some of the merchandise we carried in the assault weapons store.

The web was fun and as it grew, I noticed more and more companies with web sites ad-
vertising survival supplies. Some of those weapons we'd only paid $400-$600 for were
now worth over $2,000! We had more than enough competition on the internet and I
searched our competitors’ sites looking for bargains. I found more than a few and we
improved our inventory by buying retail in large quantities, thereby getting nearly whole-
sale prices.

The next few years were a succession of high school graduations, our kids, their kids
and sometimes both. It wasn't long before I had 2 kids in college and Matt had 3. We
sent them to state universities, who could afford the private schools?

Liz graduated from the CGA in New London in '99 and was assigned to a cutter on the
Gulf Coast. Jim Adams graduated from the US Naval Academy and was assigned to a

75
DDG as one of the junior ensigns. We half expected them to get married or at least en-
gaged, but that didn't happen. She was in one place and he another, they talked it over,
apparently, and decided to wait and see what they wanted to do when they complete
their 5-year obligations in 2004.

'98 and '99 were wild years, there was the Y2K scare, that was very good for business,
and we heard the first rumblings about the immigration problem and a new gang in LA
called Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13. I don't believe that gang was in the public eye much
at the turn of the century, but we got warnings because they used class III weapons im-
ported from El Salvador.

Sara graduated in 2001 and said she wanted to go to grad school. Her goal was to get a
PhD in Paleontology. That's right, dinosaur bones – it is the study of the fossil record of
past geological periods and of the phylogenetic relationships between ancient and con-
temporary plant and animal species. Julia was in school in Phoenix studying liberal arts,
whatever that is.

That almost brings us to the present, it's been a long journey, but wait, it's 2006 and I
still have a few things to fill you in on. I didn't mention a few things that happened along
the way because they upset me just thinking about them. Maybe I can give you a clue
and let you fill in the details yourself: Oklahoma City, Waco and Ruby Ridge.

"What are you doing?"

"Make notes, recounting how life was up to this point."

"We are beginning to get old, aren't we?"

"Sue, you're only as old as you feel. We're physically in good shape and don't have to
take pills, yet. We're in the same condition financially, better off than most, I suppose.
Two of our three kids have graduated from college, although I think Sara is going to
make college an occupation. Y2K didn't turn out to be the problem everyone thought it
would be, but it was very good for business. What do you say is it time for the trip to
Acapulco, yet?"

"That was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yes, but we were younger then, don't expect the same performance from me now."

"I'll settle for quality over quantity any day."

76
We started to make plans to go back to Acapulco for Christmas of 2001. Somebody
else had other plans in mind and the trip never got made. I'm sure you saw it all on TV,
we did. Bin Laden claimed they never thought the towers would fall; I didn't believe him.
He said a lot of things, very few were credible. Sara started grad school in the fall of
2001 and Julia decided on a real major – English; she said she thought maybe she'd
teach high school.

Sara got married, too and I offered to give them $10,000 if they would just elope. If Sue
had heard about that, she'd have killed me, but I figured I'd be money ahead. The kids
were smart; they took me up on the offer. I can tell you Sue was frustrated beyond be-
lief. She got even, however, when she gave them a check for $10,000 as a wedding
present. I didn't complain I was still $10,000 ahead. $10 grand is a lot of money, but
when you have rifles in inventory you paid $400 for and they're worth $2,500, you real-
ize that money isn't worth what it once was worth.

Since we're talking current events here, I think I'll stop with the history lesson. There is-
n't a whole lot to tell, James decided to make a career out of the Navy and Liz got out of
the Coast Guard in 2004 and came home. Apparently that romance ended too, Jim mar-
ried a woman he met in Norfolk.

It was Sunday and after church, we decided to inventory the goods we had stored in the
shelter and the store room. I printed out a list I had on my Dell E310 and we went to
work. The list was about 25 pages long and it included all of the food, guns by serial
number and the miscellaneous supplies we'd put up for a rainy day.

I'd heard the market was shelling out and had cashed out the Mutual Fund, converting
the money into gold and silver in '99. I hit the sweet spot in the market, gold was going
for $260 an ounce and silver a little over $5. I'd been in that Mutual Fund ever since
we'd gotten married and we had more than enough to retire on. With terrorism the new
game in town, my gold which was hovering in the $300s could only become more valu-
able. Sometimes, dumb luck is the best kind to have.

"How old is that stuff?"

"The date is on the pails, we put that up in '76."

"Do you think it is still good?"

"Rice preserved in nitrogen? It will probably last 100 years. We didn't start to buy sur-
vival foods until the early nineties when Nitro Pak and Walton Feed popped up on the
web."

"What's in the cooler?"

77
"MREs."

"Do we have many of those?"

"Nope, one case per person, even cooled, they won't last forever."

09/19/2002

WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States is poorly prepared for a bio-terrorism attack
on farm animals, crops and the food supply, a panel of scientists concluded Thursday. It
blamed this situation on a communications gap between intelligence agencies and
among agriculture officials, farm groups and universities. The Agriculture Department
commissioned the report by the National Academy of Sciences but – fearing that it
would be used as a manual for terrorists – fought its release until discussions of specific
threats were excised. The panel of 12 scientists which wrote the report concluded that
the nation is more prepared for an accidental outbreak of potentially catastrophic dis-
eases such as foot-and-mouth among cattle than one triggered by terrorists.

The academy's National Research Council said that while working on its analysis,
"Countering Agricultural Bioterrorism," questions arose over what scientific information
about terrorism should and shouldn't be made public. But when the National Academies
met with the department and the Office of Homeland Security, "the government did not
assert that the report contained classified information," the council wrote.

Scientists also had reservations about the report, said William E. Coalglazier, executive
officer for the National Academy of Sciences, an independent research group chartered
by Congress to guide the government on scientific matters.

"Clearly the academy does not want to provide a road map for terrorists," Coalglazier
said. Because the council used some classified documents for the assessment, the Na-
tional Academies decided to remove information from a section that described specific
case studies, Coalglazier said. Only government officials can access those excluded
details.

"The guidance that we were sort of using in our heads was if there was specific infor-
mation that could perhaps be used to harm the public, then we would exclude it,"
Coalglazier said. Although the classified information was excluded, the analysis con-
cluded that the United States has a lot of work to do to ensure farms and communities
are protected from bio-terrorism.

Scientists and farm groups became worried the United States wouldn't be able to con-
tain an outbreak when foot-and-mouth disease infected livestock herds in Britain last
year. Although the disease doesn't harm humans, an outbreak can disrupt the economy
and cost millions of dollars to control and eradicate.

78
The terrorist attacks and appearance of anthrax-laden letters in 2001 added to concerns
that diseases like mad cow disease could be used as weapons to poison food supplies,
harm people, and sink the economy. The scientists pointed out several problems, but
were particularly critical of gaps in communication between agricultural and intelligence
officials, farm groups, and universities – all of which have a role in helping farmers and
the public cope with food and farm security threats.

The council recommended that the government immediately:

• Increase its efforts to understand plant and animal diseases and how they spread.
• Establish a network of laboratories that would respond, detect and diagnose diseases.
• Form a nationwide system to manage and collect bio-terrorism information.

Although a bio-terrorist attack seems unlikely, "it's not a matter of 'if', it’s a matter of
'when'," said R. James Cook, a committee member from Washington State University.
"What's important to keep in mind, though, is that while there may be a very low proba-
bility now, what about in 20 years?"

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) – Government scientific advisers and officials painted a

grim picture Thursday of the consequences of a terror attack on the nation's power grid,
saying that any outage that lasted longer than a couple of days would reduce urban
centers to chaos and collapse the economy.

"With power out beyond a day or two, both food and water supplies would soon fail.
Transportation systems would be at a standstill ... natural gas pressure would decline
and some would lose gas altogether – not good in the winter time ... Communications
would be spotty or non-existent. ... All in all, our cities would not be very nice places to
be... Martial law would likely follow," Paul H. Gilbert of the National Research Council
told a congressional panel.

Lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee were trying to see what les-
sons about the nation's security could be drawn from the massive Aug. 14 power out-
age, which left 50 million people in the United States and Canada without electricity for
– in some cases – up to three days.

But Gilbert said that recovery from an outage caused by a deliberate attack could "take
weeks or months rather than hours or days."

Such frightening scenarios are not the product of a nightmarish imagination. Gilbert's
analysis was based on the work of a high-level brains trust within the National Acade-
mies. Nearly 200 scientists, experts and officials worked for six months on the report he
cited as the basis for his assessment.

79
Nor is such an attack beyond the realm of reality. Larry A. Mefford, counter-terror chief
of the FBI, told the panel that, "Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are known to have
considered energy facilities ... as possible targets."

While cautioning that there was "no specific, credible intelligence about threats" to the
nation's power infrastructure, he said that methods of attack could range from blowing
up pylons or power stations to sophisticated cyber-attacks on the automated computer-
run elements of the grid.

"That would depend on their infrastructure in this country and the extent of their
knowledge of the grid," he told United Press International, adding that a successful as-
sault is "a lot easier than we wish it were."

John McCarthy, director of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Project at George Ma-
son University, described how a student of his – using information in the public domain
– had created a comprehensive map of the nation's entire fiber optic cable network as
part of his Ph.D. dissertation.

The document so alarmed officials – one described it as "a road map for terrorists" –
that they wanted to classify it. His student was "very, very smart," said McCarthy, but his
work could be replicated for the power grid. "I am convinced there are equally smart
people looking at our infrastructure who don't have our best interests at heart."

Some lawmakers were impatient that – nearly two years after the terror attacks of Sept.
11, 2001, and six months after it had been established – the Department for Homeland
Security had not yet completed one of its primary tasks – a comprehensive survey of
the nation's critical infrastructure and its vulnerabilities. "We understand they're working
on that," Mefford said.

My take on this new Department of Homeland Security is that they may have gotten the
name wrong. Maybe they should call it the Department of Homeland Insecurity. Rep.
Christopher Cox, R-Calif., pointed out that without a comprehensive assessment of the
nation's weak spots it was hard to know where the country needed defending.

"In the absence of that it seems you would have a very difficult time knowing where our
priorities should be and where we should spend our limited dollars."

Gilbert said that the August outage could have lasted much longer, and pointed out that
it exposed the weakness of the "fragile" power grid, which had "little reserve within
which to handle power or load fluctuations."

This year’s world grain harvest is projected to fall short of consumption by 61 million
tons, marking the sixth time in the last seven years that production has failed to satisfy
demand. As a result of these shortfalls, world carryover stocks at the end of this crop

80
year are projected to drop to 57 days of consumption, the shortest buffer since the 56-
day-low in 1972 that triggered a doubling of grain prices.

World carryover stocks of grain, the amount in the bin when the next harvest begins, are
the most basic measure of food security. Whenever stocks drop below 60 days of con-
sumption, prices begin to rise. It thus came as no surprise when the US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) projected in its June 9 world crop report that this year’s wheat prices
will be up by 14 percent and corn prices up by 22 percent over last year’s.

This price projection assumes normal weather during the summer growing season. If
the weather this year is unusually good, then the price rises may be less than those pro-
jected, but if this year’s harvest is sharply reduced by heat or drought, they could far ex-
ceed the projected rises.

With carryover stocks of grain at the lowest level in 34 years, the world may soon be
facing high grain and oil prices at the same time. For the scores of low-income countries
that import both oil and grain, this prospect is a sobering one.

The 2006 world grain harvest of 1,984 million tons, estimated by the USDA in its June
crop report, is down 24 million tons from last year, or roughly one percent. It is down
three percent from the historical high of 2,044 million tons produced in 2004.

I can tell you that the Rice harvest will be down no less than 30% in South West Louisi-
ana. Between:

1. The Salt Water Intrusion of Hurricane Rita, all land south of US Hwy 90 was not
planted this year;

2. Add another 5-10% of that crop acreage that didn't get planted due to Farmers going
out of business by not getting their bank loans, or

3. They refused the bank loan knowing they would just go deeper in debt and couldn't
survive to harvest time with the higher fuel prices breaking their set budgets.

Sure the Arkansas crop may be great this year to supply our area with some grain, but
that will cost at least $1.00 per 100# to get it to the Mills in SW Louisiana to stay busy.
The $1.00 per 100# was the price to send by rail in 2001-2002, before the higher
fuel cost of 2006... ...so do the math. So not only will farmers go out of business, it may
force more of the Rice Mills also. It's already expected to be a tough time for the Rice
Industry in SW Louisiana come Feb/Mar 2007 time frame as this current crop of rice
that is still in the ground currently, starts to run out, and a source to get the mills to the
next harvest time is available.....not until late July-August time frame (2007). Not looking
good. Rice is about the cheapest food out there, and it's in trouble.

World grain consumption has risen in each of the last 45 years except for three-1974,
1988, and 1995-when tight supplies and sharp price hikes lowered consumption.

81
Growth in world grain demand, traditionally driven by population growth and rising in-
comes, is also now being driven by the fast growing demand for grain-based fuel etha-
nol for cars.

Roughly 60 percent of the world grain harvest is consumed as food, 36 percent as feed,
and 3 percent as fuel. While the use of grain for food and feed grows by roughly 1
percent per year, that used for fuel is growing by over 20 percent per year.

Although the rate of world population growth is projected to slow further, the number of
people to be added is expected to remain above 70 million a year until 2020.

Each year the world's farmers must try to feed an additional 70 million people, good
weather or bad. This growth is concentrated in the Indian subcontinent and sub-
Saharan Africa, which is where most of the world's hungry people live.

When incomes begin to rise, low-income consumers diversify their diets, shifting from a
diet dominated by starchy foods, such as rice, corn, wheat, and cassava, to a more
diverse diet, one that incorporates grain-intensive products such as meat, milk, and
eggs. In high-income countries like the United States and Canada, grain consumed
indirectly in the form of livestock products far exceeds that consumed directly as food.

Rising incomes worldwide are enabling some 3 or 4 billion low-income consumers to

move up the food chain, consuming more poultry, pork, beef, milk, eggs, and farmed
fish. World meat production, which climbed from 44 million tons in 1950 to 265 million
tons in 2005, moves higher each year. During this 55-year span, production per person
more than doubled, going from 17 kilograms to 41 kilograms.

The newest, potentially huge claimant on world grain supplies, the use of grain to pro-
duce fuel ethanol, is concentrated in the United States where a projected 55 million
tons, or one fifth of the projected 268-million-ton corn harvest for 2006, will be used for
this purpose. This year the climbing use of corn to produce automotive fuel will catch up
with the US export of corn, which is also estimated at 55 million tons. For perspective,
although 55 million tons is only 16 percent of the US grain harvest, it exceeds the total
grain harvest of Canada.

Farmers are facing a record growth in the demand for grain at a time when the backlog
of technology to raise grain yields is shrinking, when underground water reserves are
being depleted, and when rising temperatures threaten to shrink future harvests.

Water tables are now falling and wells are going dry in countries that contain half the
world's people, including the big three grain producers-China, India, and the United
States. In China, water shortages have helped lower the wheat harvest from its peak of
123 million tons in 1997 to below 100 million tons in recent years. Water shortages are
also making it more difficult for farmers in India to expand their grain harvest. In parts of
the United States, such as the Texas panhandle and in western Oklahoma and Kansas,
depletion of the Ogallala aquifer has forced farmers to return to lower-yield dry land

82
farming.

The world's farmers are also losing water to cities. In the United States, for example,
hardly a day goes by without another sale of irrigation water to small towns or large
cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Denver. Some of these water
sales are by individual farmers selling water rights to a local town. Others represent
sales of water rights by entire irrigation districts, as in parts of California.

The widespread over pumping of aquifers for irrigation means we are feeding ourselves
with water that belongs to the next generation. While it is widely recognized that the
world is facing a future of water shortages, not everyone has connected the dots to see
that this likely also means a future of food shortages.

Perhaps the most dangerous threat to future food security is the rise in temperature.
Among crop ecologists there is now a consensus that for each temperature rise of 1°C
above the historical average during the growing season, we can expect a 10 percent
decline in grain yields. When describing weather-reduced harvests, crop analysts often
refer to the crop prospect when weather returns to normal. They fail to realize that with
the earth's climate now in flux, there is no longer a norm to return to.

More and more in recent years, crop-withering heat waves have led to major crop loss-
es. For a recent example, the early estimate of India's wheat harvest this year of 73
million tons dropped to 68 million tons as high temperatures during the crop's critical
growth stage in January and February shrank the harvest.

The troubling constraints on grain production growth, such as spreading water shortag-
es and rising temperatures, are making it difficult for farmers to keep up with the record
growth in demand. As a result the world grain market may become a seller's market,
one where higher grain prices, like high oil prices, are an integral part of the economic
landscape.

I think we're up to date now. Some of that information came from Shane Connors web-
site and some was supplied by XORUSS. It has been suggested that I add what he and
I wrote as tips to one of these stories.

Department of Homeland Security/Payson Fire and Rescue

30 Tips for Emergency Preparedness

Preparedness Tip #1
Take a moment to imagine that there is an emergency, like a fire in your home, and you
need to leave quickly. What are the best escape routes from your home? Find at least
two ways out of each room. Now, write it down you've got the beginning of a plan.

Preparedness Tip #2

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Pick a place to meet after a disaster. Designate two meeting places. Choose one right
outside your home, in case of a sudden household emergency, such as a fire. The sec-
ond place you choose needs to be outside your neighborhood, in the event that it is not
safe to stay near or return to your home.

Preparedness Tip #3
Choose an emergency contact person outside your area because it may be easier to
call long distance than locally after a local/regional disaster. Take a minute now to call
or e-mail an out-of-town friend or family member to ask him or her to be your family's
designated contact in the event of an emergency. Be sure to share the contact's phone
number with everyone in the family. During an emergency, you can call your contact
who can share with other family members where you are; how you are doing; and how
to get in contact with you.

Preparedness Tip #4
Complete an emergency contact card and make copies for each member of your family
to carry with them. Be sure to include an out-of-town contact on your contact card. It
may be easier to reach someone out of town if local phone lines are out of service or
overloaded. You should also have at least one traditionally wired landline phone, as
cordless or cellular phones may not work in an emergency.

Preparedness Tip #5
Dogs may be man's best friend, but due to health regulations, most emergency shelters
cannot house animals. Find out in advance how to care for your pets and working ani-
mals when disaster strikes. Pets should not be left behind, but could be taken to a veter-
inary office, family member's home or animal shelter during an emergency. Also be sure
to store extra food and water for pets.

Preparedness Tip #6
Go through your calendar now, and put a reminder on it every six months to review your
plan, update numbers, and check supplies to be sure nothing has expired, spoiled, or
changed. Also remember to practice your tornado, fire escape or other disaster plans.

Preparedness Tip #7
Check your child's school Web site or call the school office to request a copy of the
school's emergency plan. Keep a copy at home and work or other places where you
spend a lot of your time and make sure the school's plan is incorporated into your fami-
ly's emergency plan. Also, learn about the disaster plans at your workplace or other
places where you and your family spend time.

Preparedness Tip #8
Teach your children how and when to call 9-1-1 or your local Emergency Medical Ser-
vices number for help. Post these and other emergency telephone numbers by tele-
phones.

Preparedness Tip #9

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Practice. Conduct fire drills and practice evacuating your home twice a year. Drive your
planned evacuation route and plot alternate routes on a map in case main roads are
blocked or gridlocked. Practice earthquake and tornado drills at home, school and work.
Commit a weekend to update telephone numbers, emergency supplies and review your
plan with everyone.

Preparedness Tip #10

A community working together during an emergency makes sense. Talk to your neigh-
bors about how you can work together during an emergency. Take CERT training avail-
able from Payson Fire Dept. to learn disaster response skills. Find out if anyone has
specialized equipment like a power generator, or expertise such as medical knowledge,
that might help in a crisis. Decide who will check on elderly or disabled neighbors. Make
back-up plans for children in case you can't get home in an
emergency. Sharing plans and communicating in advance is a good strategy.

Preparedness Tip #11

What if disaster strikes while you're at work? Do you know the emergency preparedness
plan for your workplace? While many companies have been more
alert and pro-active in preparing for disasters of all types since the September 11, 2001
attacks, a national survey indicates that many employees still don't know what their
workplace plan is for major or minor disasters. If you don't know yours, make a point to
ask. Know multiple ways to exit your building, participate in workplace evacuation drills,
and consider keeping some emergency supplies at the office.

Preparedness Tip #12

From the experience picked up during the storms that have ravaged parts of our country
we know that you should keep enough supplies in your home to meet the needs of you
and your family for at least 14 days. Build an emergency supply kit to take with you in
an evacuation. The basics to stock in your portable kit include: water, food, battery-
powered radio and flashlight with extra batteries, first aid supplies, change of clothing,
blanket or sleeping bag, wrench or pliers, whistle, dust mask, plastic sheeting and duct
tape, trash bags, map, a manual can opener for canned food and special items for in-
fants, elderly, the sick or people with disabilities. Keep these items in an easy to carry
container such as a covered trash container, a large backpack, or a duffle bag.

Preparedness Tip #13

Preparing for emergencies needn't be expensive if you're thinking ahead and buying
small quantities at a time. Make a list of some foods that: Have a long shelf-life and will
not spoil (non-perishable). You and your family like. Do not require cooking. Can be
easily stored. Have a low salt content as salty foods will make you more thirsty. Keep
the list in your purse or wallet and pick up a few items each time you're shopping and/or
see a sale until you have built up a well-stocked supply that can sustain each member
of your family for at least three days following an emergency.

Preparedness Tip #14

85
Take a minute to check your family's first aid kit, and note any depleted items then, add
them to your shopping list. Don't have a first aid kit? Add that to the list or build a kit
yourself. Just add the following items to your shopping list and assemble a first aid kit.
Consider creating a kit for each vehicle as well:

First Aid Kits - Assemble a first aid kit for your home and one for each car.
(20) adhesive bandages, various sizes
(1) 5" x 9" sterile dressing
(1) conforming roller gauze bandage
(2) triangular bandages
(2) 3 x 3 sterile gauze pads
(2) 4 x 4 sterile gauze pads
(1) roll 3" cohesive bandage
(2) germicidal hand wipes or waterless alcohol-based hand sanitizer
(6) antiseptic wipes
(2) pair large medical grade non-latex gloves
Adhesive tape, 2" width
Anti-bacterial ointment
Cold pack
Scissors (small, personal)
Tweezers
CPR breathing barrier, such as a face shield
First Aid Manual
Non-Prescription and Prescription Drugs:
Potassium Iodate(KIO3) for use in protecting the thyroid only in time of a nuclear event
Aspirin or non-aspirin pain reliever
Anti-diarrhea medication
Antacid (for stomach upset)
Activated charcoal (use if advised by the Poison Control Center)
Syrup of Ipecac (use to induce vomiting if advised by the Poison Control Center)
Laxative
Prescription drugs, as recommended by your physician, and copies of the prescriptions
in case they need to be replaced

See update on information on Ipecac and Activated Charcoal which follows tip
#30.

For more information about first aid kits, information and kits are available from Payson
Fire and Rescue.

Preparedness Tip #15

Keep at least a 14 day supply of water per person. Store a minimum of one gallon of
water per person per day (two quarts for drinking, two quarts for food preparation and
sanitation). Store water in plastic containers such as soft drink bottles. Avoid using con-
tainers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles. A normally
active person needs to drink at least two quarts of water each day. Hot

86
environments and strenuous activity can double that amount. Children, nursing mothers,
and people who are sick will also need more. Water by itself will quench your thirst but it
will not replace your electrolytes lost when you exert yourself. Include electrolyte pow-
ders to make a drink to replenish your body's salts.

Preparedness Tip #16

One of the easiest ways you can prepare for emergencies is to keep some supplies
readily available. Every kit is unique and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of
your family, but below is a general list of supplies you may want to consider:

Tools and Supplies (Essential Items are Marked with an Asterisk *)

Mess kits, or paper cups, plates, and plastic utensils
Emergency preparedness manual and a copy of your disaster plan, including your
emergency contacts list
Battery-operated radio and extra batteries*
Flashlight and extra batteries*
Cash or traveler's checks, change during a disaster or evacuation, there might not be
electricity so ATMs may not be functioning. Also stores and gas stations may not accept
checks*
Non-electric can opener, utility knife*
Fire extinguisher: small ABC type stored near where fires are likely to occur such as a
kitchen, or near a fireplace. It should not be kept in the disaster supplies kit*
Tube tent*
Duct Tape*
Compass
Matches in a waterproof container*
Aluminum foil
Plastic storage containers
Signal flare
Paper, pencil*
Needles, thread
Medicine dropper
Shut-off wrench or pliers, to turn off household gas and water*
Whistle*
Plastic sheeting*
Map of the area (for locating shelters and evacuation routes)*
(Continued in the next tip)

Preparedness Tip #17

Also include items for sanitation in your emergency supply kit. Consider the following:

Sanitation (Essential Items are Marked with an Asterisk *)

Toilet paper, towelettes*
Soap, liquid detergent*
Feminine supplies*
Personal hygiene items*

87
Plastic garbage bags, ties (for personal sanitation uses)*
Plastic bucket with tight lid
Disinfectant (Lysol Yellow)
Clorox chlorine bleach
(Continued in the next tip)

Preparedness Tip #18

Include at least one complete change of clothing and footwear per person in your emer-
gency supply kit. We suggest long pants and long sleeves for additional protection after
a disaster.
Clothing and Bedding (Essential Items are Marked with an Asterisk *)
Sturdy shoes or work boots*
Rain gear*
Blankets or sleeping bags*
Hat and gloves*
Thermal underwear
Sunglasses

Preparedness Tip #19

You should also keep a smaller version of your emergency supply kit in your vehicle, in
case you are commuting or traveling when disaster strikes.

Emergency Kit For Your Vehicle:

Bottled water and non-perishable high energy foods such as Datrex or Mainstay Coast
Guard ration bars (2400-3600 calories per bar), raisins. Remember that some foods will
not store well in the heated confines of a car trunk.
Flashlight and extra batteries
Blanket
Booster cables
Fire extinguisher (5 lb., A-B-C type)
First aid kit and manual
Maps
Shovel
Tire repair kit and pump
Flares or other emergency marking devices

Preparedness Tip #20

Teach children how to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency. Review emergency action steps with
all family members:

Check the scene and the victim

Call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number posted by the telephone
Care for the victim

Help your children learn more about emergencies. Download this preparedness coloring

88
book or visit Red Cross' "Masters of Disaster."

Preparedness Tip #21

Read the information on your city, county and/or state government Web sites as well as
the Be Prepared section of redcross dot org or Ready.gov and print emergency prepar-
edness information. Be sure to keep a copy with your disaster supplies kit. It can pro-
vide telephone numbers, addresses and other information you need when electronic
connections are not available options for obtaining the information.

Preparedness Tip #22

When water is of questionable purity, it is easiest to use bottled water for drinking and
cooking if it is available. When it's not available, it is important to know how to treat con-
taminated water. In addition to having a bad odor and taste, water from questionable
sources may be contaminated by a variety of microorganisms, including, bacteria and
parasites that cause diseases such as dysentery, cholera, typhoid, and hepatitis. All wa-
ter of uncertain purity should be treated before use. Use one or a combination of these
treatments:

Filter: Filter the water using a piece of cloth or coffee filter to remove solid particles.

Boil: Bring it to a rolling boil for about one full minute. Cool it and pour it back and forth
between two clean containers to improve its taste before drinking it.

Chlorinate: Add 16 drops (1/8 teaspoon) of liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of
water. Stir to mix. Sodium hypochlorite of the concentration of 5.25% to 6% should be
the only active ingredient in the bleach. There should not be any added soap or fra-
grances. A major bleach manufacturer has also added Sodium Hydroxide as an active
ingredient, which they state does not pose a health risk for water treatment.
Let stand 30 minutes. If it smells of chlorine. You can use it. If it does not smell of
chlorine, add 16 more drops (1/8 teaspoon) of chlorine bleach per gallon of water, let
stand 30 minutes, and smell it again. If it smells of chlorine, you can use it. If it does not
smell of chlorine, discard it and find another source of water.

Flood water can also be contaminated by toxic chemicals. Do NOT try to treat flood wa-
ter.

Preparedness Tip #23

In some emergencies you may be required to turn off your utilities. To prepare for this
type of event:

Locate the electric, gas and water shut-off valves.

Keep necessary tools near gas and water shut-off valves
Teach adult family members how to turn off utilities.
If you turn off the gas, a professional must turn it back on. Do not attempt to do this
yourself.

89
Preparedness Tip #24
Understand that during an emergency you may be asked to shelter-in-place
or evacuate. Plan for both possibilities and be prepared to listen to instructions from
your local emergency management officials. Visit sheltering-in-place.

Preparedness Tip #25

A disaster can cause significant financial loss. Your apartment or home may be severely
damaged or destroyed. You may be forced to live in temporary housing. Income may be
cut off or significantly reduced. Important financial records could be destroyed. Take the
time now to assess your situation and ask questions. To help you, consider using the
Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK), a tool developed by Operation Hope, FEMA
and Citizen Corps or contact your local Red Cross chapter for Disasters and Financial
Planning: A Guide for Preparedness.

Preparedness Tip #26

Learn if earthquakes are a risk in your area by contacting your local emergency man-
agement office, or state geological survey or department of natural resources. Infor-
mation about earthquake risk is also available from the US Geological Survey National
Seismic Hazards project.

Preparedness Tip #27

Floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters in terms of human
hardship and economic loss. As much as 90 percent of the damage related to all natural
disasters (excluding draught) is caused by floods and associated debris flow. Most
communities in the United States can experience some kind of flooding. Melting snow
can combine with rain in the winter and early spring; severe thunderstorms can bring
heavy rain in the spring or summer; or hurricanes can bring intense rainfall to coastal
and inland states in the summer and fall. Regardless of how a flood occurs, the rule for
being safe is simple: head for higher ground and stay away from floodwater. Even a
shallow depth of fast-moving floodwater produces more force than most people imag-
ine. You can protect yourself by being prepared and having time to act. Local radio or
television stations or a NOAA Weather Radio are the best sources of information in a
flood situation.

Preparedness Tip #28

When there is concern about a potential exposure to a chemical or other airborne haz-
ard, local officials may advise you to "shelter-in-place and seal the room. This is differ-
ent from taking shelter on the lowest level of your home in case of a natural disaster like
a tornado. If you believe the air may be badly contaminated or if you are instructed by
local officials, follow the instructions below to create a temporary barrier
between you and the contaminated air outside.

To shelter-in-place and seal-the-room:

Close and lock all windows and exterior doors.

90
Turn off all fans, heating and air conditioning systems.
Close the fireplace damper.
Get your disaster supplies kit and turn on your battery-powered radio.
Go to an interior room that is above ground level and without windows, if possible. In the
case of a chemical threat, an above-ground location is preferable because some chemi-
cals are heavier than air, and may seep into basements even if the windows are closed.
If directed by local authorities on the radio, use duct tape to seal all cracks around the
door and any vents into the room. Tape plastic sheeting, such as heavy-duty plastic
garbage bags, over any windows.
Listen to your radio or television for further instructions. Local officials will tell you when
you can leave the room in which you are sheltering, or they may call for evacuation in
specific areas at greatest risk in your community

Preparedness Tip #29

If There is an Explosion:

Take shelter against your desk or a sturdy table.

Exit the building immediately.
Do not use elevators.
Check for fire and other hazards.
Take your emergency supply kit if time allows.

If There is a Fire:

Exit the building immediately.

If there is smoke, crawl under the smoke to the nearest exit and use a cloth, if possible,
to cover your nose and mouth.
Use the back of your hand to feel the upper, lower, and middle parts of closed doors.
If the door is not hot, brace yourself against it and open slowly.
If the door is hot, do not open it. Look for another way out.
Do not use elevators.
If your clothes catch on fire, stop-drop-and-roll to put out the fire.
Do not run.
If you are at home, go to your previously designated outside meeting place.
Account for your family members and carefully supervise small children.
GET OUT and STAY OUT. Never go back into a burning building.
Call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number.

Preparedness Tip #30

Unlike an explosion, a biological attack may or may not be immediately obvious. Most
likely local health care workers will report a pattern of unusual illness or a wave of sick
people seeking medical attention. The best source of information will be radio or televi-
sion reports. Understand that some biological agents, such as anthrax, do not cause
contagious diseases. Others, like the smallpox virus, can result in
diseases you can catch from other people.

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In the event of a biological attack, public health officials may not immediately be able to
provide information on what you should do. It will take time to determine exactly what
the illness is, how it should be treated, and who may have been exposed. You should
watch TV, listen to the radio, or check the Internet for official news including the follow-
ing:

Are you in the group or area authorities believe may have been exposed?
What are the signs and symptoms of the disease?
Are medications or vaccines being distributed?
Where? Who should get them and how?
Where should you seek emergency medical care if you become sick?

During a declared biological emergency:

If a family member becomes sick, it is important to be suspicious.

Do not assume, however, that you should go to a hospital emergency room or that any
illness is the result of the biological attack. Symptoms of many common illnesses may
overlap.
Use common sense, practice good hygiene and cleanliness to avoid spreading germs,
and seek medical advice.
Consider if you are in the group or area authorities believe to be in danger.
If your symptoms match those described and you are in the group considered at risk,
immediately seek emergency medical attention.

If you are potentially exposed:

Follow instructions of doctors and other public health officials.

If the disease is contagious expect to receive medical evaluation and treatment. You
may be advised to stay away from others or even deliberately quarantined. For non-
contagious diseases, expect to receive medical evaluation and treatment.

If you become aware of an unusual and suspicious substance nearby:

Quickly get away.

Protect yourself. Cover your mouth and nose with layers of fabric that can filter the air
but still allow breathing. Examples include two to three layers of cotton such as a t-shirt,
handkerchief or towel. Otherwise, several layers of tissue or paper towels may help.
Wash with soap and water.
Contact authorities.
Watch TV, listen to the radio, or check the Internet for official news and information in-
cluding what the signs and symptoms of the disease are, if medications or vaccinations
are being distributed and where you should seek medical attention if you become sick.
If you become sick seek emergency medical attention.

Resources:

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Ready.gov
US Department of Homeland Security

Amended by Russ Williams

Payson Fire and Rescue/CERT

Update information on Syrup of Ipecac and Activated Charcoal from WebMD:

Nov. 3, 2003 – In a new policy, the nation's pediatricians recommend against using syr-
up of ipecac when children swallow a poisonous substance.

In a statement published in this month's issue of Pediatrics, the American Academy of

Pediatricians (AAP) recommends that syrup of ipecac no longer be used as a home
treatment strategy.

"The first action for a caregiver of a child who may have ingested a toxic substance is to
consult with the local poison control center," writes author Marilyn J. Bull, MD, chair-
woman of the AAP's Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention.

Evidence Against Syrup of Ipecac

For the past two decades, syrup of ipecac has been a staple in the family medicine cab-
inet. In fact, the AAP recommended in 1985 that pediatricians give syrup of ipecac to
parents when their baby turned 6 months old. At that time, ipecac's ability to produce
vomiting was considered key to its use as a poison treatment.

However, the evidence against ipecac's effectiveness began to mount. "The weight of
evidence firmly pointed to a lack of clinical benefit," writes Michael Shannon, MD, MPH,
a toxicologist with Children's Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School, in an ac-
companying commentary.

A recent study, also appearing in Pediatrics, examined nearly 670,000 poisoning cases
across the country to see if use of syrup of ipecac either improved outcome or de-
creased trips to the emergency room.

Syrup of ipecac was used in 2% of cases, but the researchers found no evidence that it
improved outcome or decreased visits to the to the emergency room, reports researcher
G.R. Bond, MD, an emergency medicine specialist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Medical Center.

Home use of syrup of ipecac will not improve a child's outcome; in fact, it won't likely
keep them out the ER – they will still need hospital treatment, writes Bond. More time
and energy should go toward poison prevention education, he adds.

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After reviewing the evidence, the AAP believes that ipecac should no longer be used
routinely as a home treatment strategy and that existing ipecac in the home should be
disposed of safely, Bull writes.

If a child has been exposed to a toxic substance, the caregiver should call the national
poison center number at (800) 222-1222. Calls are routed to the local poison control
center.

What About Activated Charcoal?

Recently, there has been increased interest in using activated charcoal in the home to
treat poisonings. Unlike syrup of ipecac, which causes your child to vomit up the poison,
charcoal binds to the chemicals in the stomach or intestines and keeps them out of the
bloodstream. The charcoal and toxins are then passed out of the body.

Activated charcoal is not advised for home use, Bull writes, because young children
have trouble taking it by mouth. In emergency rooms, activated charcoal is given
through a nose tube, which works best.

So What Should You Do?

•To help prevent an accidental poisoning in your child, the AAP says:
•Keep potential poisons out of sight and out of reach.
●Always check containers and cabinets to make sure they are securely shut and locked
after poisonous substances are used.
•Never transfer a substance from its original to an alternate container.
•Safely dispose of all unused and unneeded medications.
•Do not refer to medicines as candy.

To treat poisonings in young children, the AAP recommends:

•If poisons have been ingested, call the national poison center at (800) 222-1222.
●If poisons have touched the skin or eyes, run tap water over the skin or eye for 15 to
20 minutes.
•If poisons have been inhaled, remove the child from the hazardous environment.
•In all poisonings, if the victim is conscious and alert, call the local poison control center.
If the victim has collapsed or stopped breathing, call 911 for emergency transport to the
hospital.
•Caregivers should rely on the poison control center for advice regarding poisoning, Bull
states.

After a while, a person has to ask him/herself if there's a point to TOM's stories. Is the
point to give him something to do while he's sitting around with nothing to do, or is there
something in them worth the time it takes to read them? The Squirrel who wrote the
comment that every time he read a story, he recheck his preps answers the question.

94
The answer is all of the above. Have you ever sat down and figured out how many cans
of coffee you go through in a month or 90 days? If you're a coffee drinker, the answer
might surprise you. My mother had a pantry of sorts, a set of shelves under the base-
ment stairs. When she shopped, she watched for things we used that were on sale and
bought extras. In the 1950s, you didn't run to the store 3 times in one day, at least you
didn't at our house, she didn't drive.

When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, I warned you about the price of Folgers coffee.
We drink a lot of coffee, probably one of the 57 ounce cans a week. When we're down
to 6 cans of coffee, we're out. We buy the canned veggies like diced tomatoes, green
beans and corn a case at a time if when we're down to a half case, we're out. Katrina
damaged a Folgers processing plant, the result was a shortage and higher prices. But,
you can never learn anything by reading 3 wire services and 8 newspapers a day, can
you? I missed the bit about the Folgers plant, but Sharon saw it and we bought 18 cans
at the old price. We were able to wait to buy more until the price came back down.

Beans and rice may seem like a joke, but it isn't. Both keep nearly forever and half of
the world lives on rice. Another thing that keeps forever is elbow macaroni. Our version
of goulash is ground beef, onions, diced tomatoes and macaroni. It's boring, but it is a
meal in one dish. If you don't know how long to cook the beans, soak them overnight;
then, it only takes a couple of hours. If you have a freezer and backup power, a small
generator will do, watch for sales of ground beef or shop a store like Costco or Sam's
Club and buy the big packages. Ground beef stored in a plastic bags wrapped in Kraft
paper (plastic lined butcher's paper) will keep very well in your freezer. The fancy sur-
vival foods might be nice if I had the money lying around, but I don't.

FEMA says to have 3 days of food and water, but how long did it take them to rescue
the people in New Orleans? Remember, they knew the storm was coming. When I re-
placed my hot water heater when it wore out, I went to a 50-gallon heater, more emer-
gency water. Even if you wouldn't drink the water from your bathtub, you could use it to
flush the toilet.

Harbor Freight and Tractor Supply sell generators, many for under $500. But, get them
BEFORE you need them, not when you need them. A smaller generator will probably
run on gasoline. Now, if you had a 55-gallon drum of gas, purchased 5 gallons at a time
and preserved it with PRI-G, you have plenty of gas for the generator and could even fill
your vehicle tank in an emergency. An emergency might just be when you're flat broke
and must go somewhere when your tank is empty. Don't forget to replace the gas you
use. Another source for generators is Colorado Standby. Search the web using their
names for their websites.

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A natural gas fueled standby generator might be the cat's whisker, until you have an
earthquake and suddenly lose your gas supply. They're not efficient as the propane fuel
generators, either. It's an emergency generator, so you don't really have to factor in the
energy to run your air conditioner, unless you want to. Most homes have 100amp ser-
vices of 240 volts so if you're putting in a standby generator, 100 amps at 240 volts will
run everything all of the time, until you run out of fuel. That’s a 30kw generator.

Good for you if you live out in the sticks, you probably don't have natural gas service
and will have to put in propane anyway. It couldn't take them weeks to restore electric
service, could it? Hah! An Onan RS 30000 is a 1,800 rpm generator that runs on natural
gas or propane and puts out more than 100 amps. It uses 1.2 to 2.4gph of propane to
produce 125 amps.

You will find differing opinions, but opinions are like hind ends, everyone has one. Most
of the sites agree that you may need a backup generator. As far as I'm concerned, I
have smokes, lighters and coffee, so I'm set, I can make coffee on my Coleman stove
and have 5 kerosene lamps and a half dozen 2 gallon jugs of kerosene plus as many
one gallon cans of Coleman fuel.

I have been a life member of the NRA since 1964 and I think that everyone interested in
survival needs to have a few guns. You all know I favor a 7.62×51mm (.308) rifle and
the .45ACP pistol. The reason is simple, what you hit with them goes down. Plus you
can buy all kinds of surplus ammo. If I could only have a few guns, I would have the fol-
lowing in order of priority:

.22LR rifle
12-gauge pump shotgun
7.62×51mm semi-auto rifle (In California, buy CA legal M1A)
.45ACP pistol
.50BMG rifle (Not legal in California)

When it came to ammo, I'd have 20 bricks of .22LR, 4 cases of assorted 12-gauge,
5,000 rounds of 7.62×51mm, 2 cases of .45ACP and all the .50BMG I could buy up to
500 rounds. One man's opinion.

My youngest is in Iraq. He spells the name of the country differently now, Hell. He didn’t
believe my adage, never volunteer. He's gotten to see the world while in the Guard: Ko-
sovo and Iraq. He did Korea on active duty. I told him not to volunteer for the next war:
Iran. It could be Korea, read the papers lately? I'm crazy so I'd probably use a DDG and
a RIM-156 to shoot their test missile down. Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), RIM162, hasn't

96
been fully deployed yet, but I think some DDGs have it. But then, I'm not a Dove. They
can protest to the UN all they want.

Fact:

Israel’s top military and security chiefs are up in arms against Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert and defense minister Amir Peretz after discovering the far-from-token scope of
the arms delivery the ministers allowed to reach Abu Mazen’s private army. Before the
prime minister left for Europe and during his trip, he stated that 200 automatic rifles had
been transferred to Mahmoud Abbas for the use of his private army. He assured Israeli
security chiefs that “not a single extra gun” would be permitted. Now they have discov-
ered that, under the table, 1,000 guns and 3 million bullets were delivered to Abbas’
“presidential guard”, Force 17 (a veteran terrorist arm of Fatah with a long history of
hundreds of attacks against Israelis.) Sources also disclose:

1. The weapons and ammo, both state of the art, come from American military sources.
They reached Jordan 10 days ago.

2. The Jordanian army removed the US military emblems stamped on the guns.

3. At midnight, June 12, a convoy of 4 Jordanian military trucks with their markings re-
moved reached the Allenby Bridge crossing into Israel and the West Bank, which was
opened especially to let them through.

4. An IDF Special Forces escort and helicopters secured the convoy’s passage via Jeri-
cho to the West Bank Christian village of Taibe northeast of Ramallah. There, Force 17
took delivery of the consignment.

Saturday night, June 17, Hamas too discovered the real scale of the arms delivery to
Fatah and furiously demand that the “the American-Israeli plot” against it be investigat-
ed. There was no comment from Israel.

To avoid the stigma of being seen as an US-Israeli puppet, Abu Mazen Saturday, June
17, denied taking delivery of the American weapons through Israeli good will. They are
now stowed away in the Force 17 arsenal. But Abbas cannot allow them to be distribut-
ed to its members without losing face.

Something is wrong when we're arming our enemies.

Of all the things that are important, perhaps the most important thing is attitude. If you
have the attitude that you can't stand up to whatever happens, you're defeated before
you start. On the other hand, if you have the attitude that you can improvise, adapt and
overcome, you might get defeated, but not in the beginning.

97
Example: You live within 3,500 meters of a high probability target and we have WWIII.
The CEP on some of the other guys’ weapons is 3,500 meters. So, if he misses and
drops a weapon on you in your shelter, you're dead. If, on the other hand, he hits the
target and you have an underground shelter, you could survive. Then what? If you have
a Survey Meter you will know when it's safe to leave the shelter, otherwise you'll just be
guessing. Shane Conner needs the money, buy a package from him. But don't try to
buy MREs; the government bought him out for Katrina.

If you don't have a shelter, there are a couple of people in Utah who would like to talk to
you. It might just be a culvert but it could save your life. Tell them Tom and XORuss
sent you. Sharon Packer and Russ are friends. And as far as I know, we don't get com-
missions from anyone.

We finished the food and supply inventory and concluded that it didn't matter what hap-
pened, if we survived the initial whatever, we were probably good for the long-term. We
had all of the essentials mentioned by Russ and Tom and lots more besides. Do you
know what causes wars? Nations go to war because:

•They have nowhere else to go for resolving differences or grievances.

•They want what some other nation has. Quite often it is tied to land, or a kind of wealth.
•Religion can also be the cause of wars. This is because neither side can agree on what
is morally right or wrong; because of their religious readings, customs, beliefs and ways
of life prohibit such behavior. After some time tension can build up and start a bloody
and gruesome war.
•Superiority and Inferiority, has been the cause of wars. Some races believe they are
superior to another race and then wars can start. Note that these wars don’t often be-
come major international conflicts.
•A long standing hatred between nations that has built up over a number of years.
•Rivalry between nations.
•The three major needs of humans is probably the main reason for nations to go to war.
These needs are food, water and shelter. If a nation or group is deprived of these es-
sentials they resort to war to try and attempt to fix the problem.

Can you describe the world in 2006? Look out a window, or turn on TV. People are
starving all over the world and it's only getting worse. The oceans are rising as the glac-
iers melt. The warming oceans cause storms like hurricanes and typhoons to be larger
and more powerful. We have a war between the major religious groups, the
Judeo/Christians and the Muslims. Several countries have designs on territory held by
others. Several earthquake faults are locked and overdue. The next time the volcanoes
on La Palma erupts, the US could be hit by a really BIG tsunami. Yellowstone is due or
overdue. We have gangs controlling a significant portion of our society. 40 years after
the AMA said alcoholism is a disease, there is still a problem getting people treated.

98
Take your pick, If I missed anything, add it to the list. Or dream something up, like a
drunk, starving illegal alien in New Orleans with a M16 and pocket full of hand gre-
nades.

"Have you noticed the price of food. Lately?"

"No, is it getting higher?"

"I bought the usual assortment food and I believe it must have cost me ten or fifteen
percent more."

"Just since the last time?"

"Yes and that was at the Costco store in Prescott. I'm glad I never resumed smoking,
your cigarettes are nearly unaffordable and even rice has gone up."

"We have plenty of food, can we wait it out?"

"We could if I thought the price was going down anytime soon. However, I always just
pulled out a pail of food from storage and immediately replaced it; I don't believe we
should change that."

"So that's why you have all of those pails in the fruit cellar."

"It isn't a secret, yes of course. Buy what you eat and eat what you buy. I did get the last
pail of the '76 rice, I wonder how much difference in price there was between it and the
rice I bought to replace it in terms of constant dollars?"

"I suppose it was a bit more, apparently there are grain shortages. Gasoline nearly dou-
ble in price the past couple of years, which is why should food be higher, it has to be
transported? Where is Liz?"

"She drove up to Flagstaff to check on a job that was advertised in the paper. You
would think that a person who graduated from the CGA and made full Lieutenant
wouldn't have any problem finding a job."

"She can work in the store until she does, it isn't a problem. Did you realize that a per-
son can almost tell the state of the nation by gun and ammo sales?"

"What do you mean?"

"People get worried about this or that scare and they come in and load up on ammo.
And some that are new to the survival mentality start building an armory. I can't tell you
when business has been better, something has the population spooked."

99
"The price of food or gas?"

"Actually, I think it could be a bit of both. As far as gasoline goes, ethanol isn't a cure all.
Most of our ethanol comes from grain but it can be produced from cellulose. ADM says
there isn't enough corn in the US to produce all the ethanol we need. Cellulose can
come from the plant stalks or many other sources."

US ethanol prices extended a surge to all-time highs this week as fuel companies in-
creased use of the grain-based additive in gasoline.

Oil refiners and fuel blenders this year shifted to making reformulated gasoline with eth-
anol after dropping an additive known as MTBE. Ethanol prices are highest in reformu-
lated markets in the northeast and south, partly because of long distances to ship the
fuel, most of which is made in the Midwest.

"You've got a significant amount of demand [for ethanol] that has moved into the market
over the last couple of months," said Chad Martin, a broker with FCStone Group Inc. in
Des Moines. "The market looks to be tight for the next several months with this
phaseout" of MTBE.

SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) – Everywhere you look these days, tech
and business world luminaries - like Richard Branson, Paul Allen, Steve Case, Vinod
Khosla, John Doerr, and Bill Gates – are laying down big bets on ethanol, a substitute
for gasoline that's already finding its way into pumps.

The price of the stuff has shot up 65 percent since May from $2.65 a gallon to $4.50,
largely thanks to the oil companies who have started to put small quantities of it in our
gas as a clean-air additive (most cars can handle a blend of up to 10 percent ethanol in
their tanks).

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Cheap cattle feed pouring out of the state's ethanol plants could
give the state's cattle industry a competitive edge.

Experts says the high-protein feed, called distillers grain, could be used to expand cattle
production and return Iowa to a top beef-producing state. About 18 pounds of the grain
is left over from every bushel of corn used to make ethanol.

Feed costs incorporating distillers grains can range from 38-cents to 72-cents a-day for
cattle, compared with the herd average cost of around a-dollar.

DOVER, Del. – Chemical maker DuPont said Tuesday that it will begin marketing biofu-
els for the transportation sector next year through a partnership with oil company BP.

100
The companies said a collaboration they began in 2003 has advanced to the point
where they plan to introduce butanol made from sugar beets as a gasoline blending
component in the United Kingdom.

DuPont and BP are working with British Sugar, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods,
to convert the UK's first ethanol fermentation plant to produce biobutanol. They also are
looking at the feasibility of building larger plants in the United Kingdom.

"We believe the time is right for this science and we can help grow the market for biofu-
el," said DuPont chairman and chief executive officer Charles Holliday.

"Today's announcement is good news for farmers, good news for consumers, good
news for the environment and good news for shareholders," Holliday said.

Like ethanol, butanol is an alcohol compound, but with four carbon atoms instead of
two. DuPont says the different chemical structure of butanol gives it several advantages
over ethanol, including tolerance to water contamination, which makes it more suitable
for transportation via pipeline.

There might be a food shortage, but it could be unrelated to using corn to produce etha-
nol, as those stories point out. Anything that contains cellulose or sugar can be used to
produce ethanol or a similar product. The real problem might be the shortage of water to
produce the corps to produce the…

It would cost automaker's very little to make all new cars E85 capable. In the light of the
energy shortages, it might just be a very good marketing ploy. It mainly consists of
changes to the fuel systems, not to the car itself. The price of cars goes up every year
anyway, and if all of their cars were E85 capable, they would realize economies of
scale. I like the idea; it would give the ATF someone else to pick on besides we gun
dealers.

If Sue and I had shopped weekly instead of monthly, the rise in prices might not have
surprised her as much. However, how often do you need a case of coffee (12 cans) or a
50# bag of rice or 25# bag of beans? Only when you open a new case or pail of some-
thing. We bought pasta products by the case of the large bags. Things like toilet paper
were used up fast and we always got a bundle or two of that every time we went to the
store. I'm certain that when Sue and Sarah showed up at Costco in Prescott, someone
one said, 'Oh, those two again.' They must have thought we ran a boarding school for
runaway kids.

101
 When We Were Young – Chapter 4

The government had been busy trying to fight terrorists:

10 Plots:

1. The West Coast Airliner Plot: In mid-2002 the US disrupted a plot to attack targets on
the West Coast of the United States using hijacked airplanes. The plotters included at
least one major operational planner involved in planning the events of 9/11.

2. The East Coast Airliner Plot: In mid-2003 the US and a partner disrupted a plot to at-
tack targets on the East Coast of the United States using hijacked commercial air-
planes.

3. The Jose Padilla Plot: In May 2002 the US disrupted a plot that involved blowing up
apartment buildings in the United States. One of the plotters, Jose Padilla, also dis-
cussed the possibility of using a "dirty bomb" in the US.

4. The 2004 UK Urban Targets Plot: In mid-2004 the US and partners disrupted a plot
that involved urban targets in the United Kingdom. These plots involved using explo-
sives against a variety of sites.

5. The 2003 Karachi Plot: In the Spring of 2003 the US and a partner disrupted a plot to
attack Westerners at several targets in Karachi, Pakistan.

6. The Heathrow Airport Plot: In 2003 the US and several partners disrupted a plot to
attack Heathrow Airport using hijacked commercial airliners. The planning for this attack
was undertaken by a major 9/11 operational figure.

7. The 2004 UK Plot: In the Spring of 2004 the US and partners, using a combination of
law enforcement and intelligence resources, disrupted a plot to conduct large-scale
bombings in the UK.

8. The 2002 Arabian Gulf Shipping Plot: In late 2002 and 2003 the US and a partner na-
tion disrupted a plot by al Qaeda operatives to attack ships in the Arabian Gulf.

9. The 2002 Straits of Hormuz Plot: In 2002 the US and partners disrupted a plot to at-
tack ships transiting the Straits of Hormuz.

10. The 2003 Tourist Site Plot: In 2003 the US and a partner nation disrupted a plot to
attack a tourist site outside the United States.

5 Casings and Infiltrations:

102
1. The US Government & Tourist Sites Tasking: In 2003 and 2004, an individual was
tasked by al Qaeda to case important US Government and tourist targets within the
United States.

2. The Gas Station Tasking: In approximately 2003, an individual was tasked to collect
targeting information on US gas stations and their support mechanisms on behalf of a
senior al Qaeda planner.

3. Iyman Faris & the Brooklyn Bridge: In 2003, and in conjunction with a partner nation,
the US government arrested and prosecuted Iyman Faris, who was exploring the de-
struction of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Faris ultimately pleaded guilty to providing
material support to al Qaeda and is now in a federal correctional institution.

2001 Tasking: In 2001, al Qaeda sent an individual to facilitate post-September 11 at-

tacks in the US. US law enforcement authorities arrested the individual.

2003 Tasking: In 2003, an individual was tasked by an al Qaeda leader to conduct re-
connaissance on populated areas in the US.

And then we found out that, President Nixon, in his first year in office and eager to end
an unpopular war that killed tens of thousands of US troops, considered using nuclear
weapons against the North Vietnamese recently declassified documents show.

I started to recount our life story from 1957 when I was only 18. I have good news and
bad news. It isn't 1957 and I'm not 18 anymore. It's 2006 and the four of us are semi-
retired. At least, we're all 67 and try to tell ourselves we're retired. We don't have to
work to earn money for anything, but we have to have something to do and working is
probably more fun than anything else we could imagine.

Sue and I put our travel plans on hold when al Qaeda knocked down the WTC. After
that, the issue of illegal aliens began to surface and we didn't have to go to Mexico to
see Mexicans. MS-13 wasn't just an LA gang anymore, they went national. Could be a
franchise operation for all I know. We only drew enough in salaries from the business so
that we wouldn't have to give up our Social Security. That left a lot of money in the com-
pany and naturally, the company invested it. We took to investing money in whatever
Warren Buffet invested money in; he was worth $44 billion. But more than that, we were
personally liquid, and had a lot of our personal money tied up in gold and silver coins.
We were pretty rich for a while in early 2006 when the price of gold went up. We didn't
sell, though, this was a long-term investment.

As we continued into 2006, the price of gas fluctuated, sometimes up and sometimes
down, but never very far down. We started to replace the diesel fuel we were using up
with B100 and if we lived long enough, it would eventually be mostly biodiesel. We sold
off Sue's Fairlane to a collector and bought her a Flex-fuel Jeep Grand Cherokee. We

103
ran the gas tank down to empty and refilled it with the E-85 gas. If you recall, I said I
was thinking about a diesel pickup.

In the late 1980s, Dodge garnered another industry first by shoving a massive Cummins
turbo diesel – designed for tractors and big rigs – into their full size pickups, greatly in-
creasing the truck's capacity to compensate for the massive, torque-filled engine. Far
more advanced than the Navistar diesels used by Ford or the GM diesels, which had
been used for years before the mighty Cummins was planted in Dodges, it required a
greater truck infrastructure, and it could be argued that it was unable to be fully used
until the extra-heavy-duty 1994 Ram appeared in 1993.

Like all modern diesels, the Cummins was turbocharged for higher performance (coinci-
dentally helping it in high altitudes), using direct injection for greater efficiency and lower
emissions; at the time, neither Ford nor GM had diesels with those features. It also had
far higher torque, and only six cylinders, for lower build costs and easier servicing. The
end result was a truck with 16,000 pounds of very conservatively estimated gross cargo
capacity. That number would only rise as time went on; and Dodge would continue to
have the most powerful diesel engines in the industry through (at least) 2002, thanks to
Cummins. These massive engines helped Dodge by creating a niche market for its
pickups, by then over two decades old and not especially popular – Chrysler had a sev-
en percent market share, and half of those were diesels!

I waited and bought a '97 Club cab 4×4 with Cummins turbo diesel engine and most of
the options. I stuck with a manual transmission, I was used to it. I still had the Ford F-
100, it was now almost a collector’s item. Everything on it that had to be rebuilt had
been rebuilt more than once. I know I said I was going to drive it to the junkyard in 25
years, but to tell you the truth, I didn't have the heart.

Remember Dave, the fella who bought the gun shop in Sedona? He went belly up, too
many cowboy guns and too few patrons. Matt and I bought him out, lock, stock, barrel
and leather. I didn't think he could make it selling Colts and Winchesters, the Colts were
too expensive for the average man and the Winchester company finally sort of shut
down in 2006. Dave was into buying some of those collector's items too and nobody
could afford those. Nice town Sedona, I heard they have doc in town who is a flight er-
doc.

Anybody who can fly a Herc is ok in my book. I'm sure the one I flew on was an A or B
model (1963). Once was enough, they forgot to close the tailgate. And, I was the only
guy on the plane without a parachute. Sometimes I think that's why I drank. (It's a good
excuse, I'm going to hang onto it. It seems that writer slipped into the story for a couple
of sentences, sorry.)

Where was I? Sedona, Arizona with hundreds of guns, thousands of rounds of ammo,
most everything a class III dealer could own plus a 2007 Jeep Cherokee and a Dodge
pickup. And my Liz was back home… Oh yeah, the food shortage! Didn't bother me,
Sue and Sarah did the shopping. Until I happened to see the checkbook.

104
"How did you manage to spend $1,500 at Costco? Did we need a new washer and dry-
er or something?"

"Do you remember when you were a little kid and $20 worth of groceries took several
sacks?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember that how later you could get $20 worth of groceries in a single
sack?"

"I do, so?"

"I didn't buy a washer. I didn't buy a dryer. I didn't even buy you any Pall Malls. Gas is
over $4 a gallon, shipping costs are way up and there seems to be a shortage of food.
You know those 100 pound sacks of flour they sell?"

"Yes?"

"They only weigh 50 pounds now for the same price. A case of Coke is $11. A 10 pound
bag of sugar only weighs 2 pounds. Do you want me to go on?"

"You didn't tell me how you spent $1,500."

"I just glanced at the signs and saw about the same prices so I didn't read the fine print.
I assumed the signs were referring to the same size we always buy. They didn't. When
she started ringing me up I objected and she said I was right about the price but that
was for a smaller size. I got $1,500 on one of those lowboy carts they have. After we put
the stuff in the pickup I went back in and looked at the signs. She was right, things had
doubled and sometimes tripled in price."

"That can't be right; some of those things have been in the store for months."

"New policy, they do it like the gas stations."

"Oh. You know, I never did believe that was legal. A day after Katrina hit New Orleans
the price of gas in some places was $6. You can't tell me that that wasn’t price goug-
ing."

"I'm not trying to tell you anything Rob, I just explaining how I spent $1,500 at Costco."

"Matt, I don't get it, Sue spent $1,500 at Costco and I think she got gouged."

"Rob they each had a flatbed and they rang them up together and divided the cost 50-
50."

105
"Crap, I'm going down to the store and tell Liz to raise the prices on everything 10%."

"We already did that. Twice. Who is going to pay $990 for a Mini-14?"

"Anyone who wants one bad enough. Car dealers do it all of the time when they're short
on a particular model."

"Honey, I want you to put half of the guns in storage and raise the price the all guns
10%."

"What should I say when they complain about the price rise Dad?"

"Tell them we're short on that particular model and they're getting hard to get. If it's a
M1A, tell them the waiting time for a replacement is several weeks or months."

"I won't lie."

"It isn't a lie, Liz; we don't have a waiting time because of our large inventory. It does,
however, takes weeks or months to replace one when we sell it. The guy who has 8 or 9
Mini-14s on the shelf has them because his price is too high. If he only had one, he
could charge whatever the traffic would bear. Marketing 101."

"But you have firearms you don't even display."

"Oh, the H&Ks? Marketing 102, I'm out, but I might be able to get one. I can't tell you
what the price will be, how much are you willing to pay if I do find one?"

"What about the class III weapons?"

"There are a limited number of registered class III firearms. We can charge whatever we
can get. Have you looked on the internet lately? Prices are up and supplies are down.
Every time you sell a class III weapon, you're taking a chance that the feds haven't
screwed up their records. Why do you think we keep our records under lock and key?"

You may also remember that I didn't have a scope on my Winchester Model 70. I had a
chance to buy a Swarovski PV-S 6-24×50 Plex for cost. While it retailed for ~$1,800, it
cost me a lot less. I know it was double what I paid for the rifle, if not triple, BUT the rifle
was 1 in 1,000 in terms of accuracy. Between using Black Hills Match .308 168gr BTHP
and that scope, it didn't matter that I was 67 years old. I do believe I could have entered
competition with that rifle. I might not have won the match, but they'd be asking 'Who is
that old guy?'

106
We don’t sell Barrett’s; we sell McMillian Tac-50s and only carry Hornady 750gr A-MAX
Match ammo. We have the rifle packages only and the rifles all have the McCann Night
Vision Rail. We carry the parts kits and extra magazines. We get wholesale pricing from
Omni Tech Partners Group for their MilSight S135 MUNS (Magnum Universal Night
Sight™) AN/PVS-27, a high-resolution clip-on night vision weapon sight that mounts on
any MIL-STD-1913 rail interface forward of an existing scope, adding night vision capa-
bilities to daytime target acquisition platforms.

The MUNS™ utilizes a full MIL-SPEC Gen 3 (autogated pinnacle) image intensifier
tube, an extremely fast f/1.0 catadioptric lens for a brighter and sharper image in star-
light, and patented permanent boresight alignment technology. The MUNS gathers
twice as much light as the AN/PVS-22 Universal Night Sight™ and can be used against
targets at 1.5 times the range of the UNS. (The UNS™ is the ideal Night Sight for .308
caliber sniper rifles.)

The unit is installed, operated, and removed without tools and without affecting
boresight (permanent boresight alignment). The unit can be mounted on a spotting
scope for long range reconnaissance, hand-held as a Night Observation Device (NOD),
or used in other night-time operations requiring night vision capabilities. Effective on all
weapons from carbines to .50 caliber semi-automatic and bolt action sniper rifles, and
optimized for medium- & long-range sniper weapons including:

•SR-25 Enhanced Match version / MK11

•M107
•.338 Lapua
•.308 M24
•.408 Chandler Tactical
•.300 Winchester Magnum

The MUNS™ includes FLIR's proprietary Shock Mitigation System (SMS™), allowing
the unit to be used on weapons up to and including .50 caliber bolt-action rifles. It re-
tailed for as much or more than the rifle.

We didn't jog as far either, but we worked at keeping muscle tone. Something was work-
ing; the only thing we had to make our bodies better was reading glasses. Oh, we still
had 20-20 vision, but when you age your eyes become less flexible. It probably helped
that we wore caps and hadn't burned our eyes out in the bright summer sun.

Most often when a person considers a disaster, things like tornadoes, hurricanes or
earthquakes come to mind. In this country they happen the most. A farmer might disa-
gree with that and add droughts and floods. Less often, things like volcanoes or tsuna-
mis occur and every ¾ million years a large caldera may erupt. We haven't had many
famines in our country. The closest we ever came to a famine was 1816, the Year With-
out a Summer, caused by the eruption of Mt. Tambora. We weren't listed for 1816 ei-

107
ther, but growing conditions in the northeastern US weren't the best. Stop and think
where most people lived in this country in 1816…

It was 1945. The USA and her allies had been victorious in World War II. Japan was oc-
cupied by Allied forces. The world hoped for lasting, meaningful peace.

General Douglas MacArthur, heroic general of the pacific war, gave a speech designed
to bring calm assurance to our nation. In it he said, "Japan will never again become a
world power."

Never? We have lived to see Japan again become a world power and a major influence
in the life of Americans. Never?

Man likes to say "never." Things like "man will never fly," and "a human will never run a
four minute mile." Even in the realm of the spiritual we tend to say never. Such expres-
sions as "he will never change," or "she will never amount to anything," or "those people
will never be reached" are all too common. Things will never get so bad we can't afford
food… Katrina did more damage to this country than people had imagined. We had $6
gas a day later, but few people realized the long reaching effect it would have on our
food supply. I didn't, it took a wakeup call. That wakeup call had two names, Katrina and
Rita. You see, Katrina did the damage to the Gulf Coast and Rita kicked the crap out of
the oil platforms.

That was only 10 months back at the moment. No problem right, we're a technological
nation with the resources to rebuild, right? They didn't have New Orleans rebuilt and
some of those oil platforms still needed repairing. We had all lived it or seen it on TV,
but we weren't prepared for what came next. During the spring of 2006, California expe-
rienced rolling blackouts.

•The first was the Northeast Blackout of 1965 on 9Nov65.

•Next was the NY City Blackout of 13-14Jul77, resulted in looting and rioting.
•On 19Dec78, a major blackout affected 80% of France.
•The Great Storm of '87 brought down power lines throughout southern England caus-
ing extensive blackouts.
•On 13Mar89, a geomagnetic storm caused the Hydro-Quebec power failure which left
6 million people without power for 9 or more hours.
•On 11Aug96, the Western Intertie buckled under high summer heat, causing a cascad-
ing power failure affecting nine western states and parts of Mexico.
•The January '98 Ice Storm in northeastern North America caused prolonged blackouts,
particularly in Quebec where many transmission towers were destroyed by ice.
•The Esso Longford gas explosion on 25Sep98, caused a complete loss of gas supplies
to the entire state of Victoria, Australia for 2 weeks

108
•During the 12-month California electricity crisis of 2000-01, there were regular power
failures due to energy shortages and market manipulation resulting from failed deregu-
lation. Goodbye Gray, Hello Arnold.
•On 14Aug03, there was a wide-area power failure in the northeastern USA and central
Canada, affecting 50 million people.

Most were attributed to simple mechanical failures or human error. All except for the fifth
item on the list, a geomagnetic storm, totally beyond the control of any human being.
The same could be said for those that were caused by ice storms, but there is a differ-
ence, the one in '89 could have taken out communication satellites and caused a more
widespread grid failure, cascading like it did in August of 2003.

Communications depend, these days, on satellites. Fry the satellites and you lose
phones, TV and a whole lot of stuff. Blow a few major transformers with a major solar
flare and we could really be in trouble. Not only wouldn't we have much food, we would-
n't have the power to process what we had. Or even the factories to build the replace
components for our electrical system, unless someone found some way to supply those
factories with electricity. Something like that would take the help of the government, can
I stop here?

In this century, the government has shown us that they can't anticipate disasters, they
cannot adequately respond, nor can they win a war against a bunch of amateurs. It
simply wouldn't be politically correct to nuke a town where 95% of the population of the
community was terrorists. If we aren't politically correct, there are several other nuclear
nations out there who clearly prevent us from acting, or more likely nuke us in retalia-
tion. I think the rock is on the left and the hard spot is on the right, but does it matter?

I know what I forgot; the UN is meeting in July to disarm the world. Never say never!
The NRA called and wanted money. They've already sent a million letters to the UN that
nobody will ever read. They wanted $95 to include our names on the list, apiece.

We 4 seniors sat down over a rare drink just to try and figure out what it all meant.
There was bird flu out there but that might turn out to be the least of our worries. Osama
announced he was planning another terrorist attack on the US. So question number 1
was: What if he hits our power system and brings down the grid for an extended time?
Question number 2 was: What if we have another solar eruption that accomplishes the
same thing? Question number 3 became: What if the estimate of food shortages is an
underestimate? Which led to Question number 4: What if it was some combination of
the above?

Mind you, this was only one of dozens of possible scenarios; however with rolling
blackouts in California in June, the power grid was in serious trouble and what about the
rising prices of food and gas? We could prepare:

109
•Top off the fuel tanks and evaluate our fuel needs.
•Pack the storage room with all the food we can get/afford.
•Examine our electrical needs and do whatever it takes to cover them for an extended
period of time.
•Evaluate our security and determine what we should do to protect what we have.

We had 500 gallons of E85, 20,000-gallons of diesel/biodiesel mix in the 40,000 gallon
tank and 5,700-gallons of propane. We'd better add 10,000-gallons each of B100 and
diesel, treating it with PRI-D. That should cover our energy need for quite a while. We
had too many pipes buried in the ground and they weren't all marked. We decided to
add a 10,000 buried gallon tank for E-85. Finally, we decided to add a used 30,000 gal-
lon propane tank… buried and 95% full.

Food was more a matter of what we could get than what we could afford, plus we only
had so much storage space. We all went to Prescott and hit both Costco stores for 2
days straight. That covered our food needs.

Matt and I grabbed a pocketful of cash and hit the Reservations; even with the extra $4
they were cheaper than the store on cigarettes.

It hadn't been that long since we'd done the physical inventory and we compared that to
our sales records and ordered ammo to fill in what we'd sold. If we hadn't it wouldn't
have been a big deal.

One other thing although it's hardly worth mentioning, Liz and the 4 of us worked the
guns stores and as such carried. The only change there was to add a backup piece to
our .45s, something small and very concealable. That turned out to be the Walther PPK
in .380.

"Are you going to stay single your whole life and be and old maid, Liz?"

"I haven't found the right man yet Mom. If I do, I do and if I don't, so what? You waited to
have children late in life and that's not my fault. Sara and Juls can have grandchildren
for you, it's not my responsibility. What's the rush, I'm only 32?"

I caught the tail end of the argument and I knew better than to get involved. Liz had a
point and she'd been so in love with Jim. By now, she must realize that life wasn't al-
ways fair. I'd give it some thought; maybe there was something I could do for her to let
her know just how special she was to Sue and me. Then it dawned on me, Liz loved my
model 70. It was older than she was but shot as good as some of the modern sniper ri-
fles. For a man to give his daughter a rifle for a birthday present might raise a few eye-
brows in normal circles, but our kids cut their eyeteeth on guns.

110
Matt and I had been in the firearms business for 40 years and it had been good to us.
We had invested extra profits in firearms just to keep them and let them appreciate.
Most had been wise investments, but we had a few bad choices in the bunch. It was
stuff we couldn't really sell, like the SPAs-12s and 15s. Most LEOs didn't use them and
we didn't have them on display. They were probably worth about $5,000 each and still
new, in the box. They aren't a NFA firearm, BTW, you're thinking of the Street Sweeper,
which is.

In late June, there was some talk in the papers of our starting to pull out of Iraq in Sep-
tember of this year. It might be a good idea, the Iraqi government had to take over
sometime and we were losing too many troops. Plus there was a looming confrontation
with North Korea over that missile they apparently wanted to test. Perhaps if we got out
of Iraq, we wouldn't be tempted to go into Iran.

"What's up, why did the generator kicked in?"

"Power outage, Rob. Most of the country is out. The TV station said they were running
on a backup generator. Some kind of solar storm like the one they had in Canada a few
years back."

"Any idea how bad it is Matt?"

"Cell phones don't work, long distance is out, really can't say. It started on the east
coast like in 2003 but didn't stop at the Midwest."

"We're good for a while, I serviced the generator and we have 40,000-gallons of B50."

"Is your old generator wired in to cover us for when you have to shut down the 60kw unit
for service?"

"Yes, I swapped it out, but didn't eliminate it. I figured if we got stuck in the shelter, we
could run it instead of the big one. I didn't bother to buy the equipment to synchronize
them, so it's one or the other but not both. Did the TV say how long the outage would
last?"

"They didn't know. Let's grab a beer and watch for a while, maybe they'll know more by
now."

…solar flare that burned out several pieces of equipment in New York state and Cana-
da. Local utilities are trying to isolate themselves from the grid and restore power. Here
in Arizona, we expect the outage to be short lived because the plant in Holbrook wasn't
damaged and Palo Verde is still operational. Governor Janet Napolitano urged calm
while the power is being restored. With rising temperatures, residents are urged to limit

111
their movement to avoid becoming overheated. While local temperatures are in the high
70s, Phoenix is at 100°. More news after the break.

"I think it could be worse than they're saying, Rob. The phones are out and that solar
flare could be more widespread than that broadcast indicates."

"If that's the case, there is no fuel available unless the station has a backup generator. I
don't know many that do. I'll go shut down the server, it's probably time to defrag the
HDD anyway. I'll tell Liz to lock up; I doubt we'll get many customers today."

"Customers? I think we had one last week, we're too far off the beaten path."

"My car won't start."

"What do you mean Sue, it's brand new?"

"It's deader than a doornail. Try your pickup."

I tried the Ford, the Dodge might be a diesel, but it had more electronics than the old F-
100. That started right up but then it was in the shed with the galvanized roof. I tried the
Dodge and it clicked but wouldn't start. Crap. Now, a man doesn't have a huge shelter
and underground storage and not have spare parts for everything on 4 wheels, even the
new Jeep Cherokee. However, neither Matt nor I were very good mechanics. I figured
I'd better get Matt and we'd drive into town, find a mechanic and pay him to come out
and get everything running.

"I can come, but I don't have any parts."

"We have the parts, we're just short on knowing how to install them."

"There is no electricity, my equipment doesn't work."

"We have electricity from our standby generator. Get what you need and hop in; I'll pay
well to get our vehicles running."

"There isn't any fuel, mister; none of the stations have power."

"We have fuel. The only thing we're short on is experience. Are you coming or not?"

"$40 an hour."

"Fine, let's go."

Now, I'd have thought that the man would be more than willing to come since I was will-
ing to pay his going rate, had the parts and the power. Anything to get out of Sedona,
the town was a madhouse with tourists being stranded and the lights out. I had to lay 2

112
Ben Franklins in his hands before he was willing to budge. By the time we got home. Liz
had lugged all the boxes of parts out of the storage room and they were sitting there
waiting to be installed. It took the man 6 hours to get all of the vehicles running. He even
checked out my F-100. We loaded his tools back in the Ford and took him back to town.
I laid a Grant on him and told him to keep the change.

Sedona is a nice place to visit when it has power, but the power was still out and tem-
pers were rising with the temperature. The effects of a solar flare are not unlike those of
EMP, so you can imagine what town was like. We didn't stay in town any longer than
was necessary.

Like most homes in Arizona, our homes were landscaped in the so called 'desert land-
scaping', rocks instead of grass. When you're our age, you appreciate not needing to
mow a lawn. Except for the building we'd erected, the half section was the same as it
had been when we moved here. It wasn't fenced; we had 2 homes, the business build-
ing and a small well house. At least you couldn’t see the new fuel tanks. There wasn't
any reason for anyone to bother us.

People who came to the place and parked in our gravel parking lot didn't realize they
were parked on top of enough supplies to keep a single family going for many years.
Anything we had of value was hidden in plain sight, provided you knew where to look.
We didn't have any livestock, not even pets. Living, breathing animals require care and
tend to tie you to one location. (See tip #5) God help the motels in town that had electric
locks on their doors and no backup power.

The power outage continues into its second day with no relief in sight. This had led to
severe shortages of gasoline and fuel because of an inability to pump the fuel. Grocery
stores have had to resort to manual checkout and limiting food purchases due to the
lack of electricity. The Phoenix forecast is for temperatures as high as 107° today and
108° on Saturday with slight cooling in the interim. Temperatures on the 4th of July are
forecast for 104°.

The implications of this power outage are more serious than first imagined. The solar
flare was at its highest intensity on the east coast but has affected vehicles and equip-
ment as far away as Los Angeles. Rioting has broken out in several large cities because
of the temperatures and the lack of electricity. Several Governors have declared states
of emergency and called out National Guard units and/or state defense forces.

The most serious problem is for people on life support systems who didn't have a
source of backup power. Beyond that, most of the newer motor vehicles which rely on
engine computers are inoperable, greatly reducing the effectiveness of law enforce-
ment. The Governor has not yet activated Arizona's National Guard units, saying only
that it is 'under consideration'.

113
The Department of Energy issued a statement stating that due to an absence of power
and the limited number of replacement units for the transformers and other components
burned out by the solar flare, it could be weeks until power is fully restored. This prob-
lem is greatly compounded for vehicle manufacturers due to a limited supply of re-
placement parts for the stranded vehicles.

President Bush issued a statement this morning requesting that law enforcement be
given first priority on vehicle repair parts. He also announced cancellation of deployment
of troops slated for Iraq, indicating that they would be used here to assist local authori-
ties. As you may know, most military vehicles are hardened against the effects of EMP
and were protected from the solar flare. We will return after this message from our
sponsors.

"She'd better call out the Guard. If they haven't restored power by now, it's going to take
a while."

"It reminds me of a story I read once titled Lights Out."

"I read that, but that was an unexplained EMP attack wasn’t it?"

"It was explained. The way I see it, we're looking at food shortages from 2 sources. First
the inability to distribute what is in the supply chain coupled with second, a shortage of
food being produced. How's that for a doomsday scenario?"

The three major needs of humans is probably the main reason for nations to go to war.
These needs are food, water and shelter. If a nation or group is deprived of these es-
sentials they resort to war to try and attempt to fix the problem.

I'll bet you think I've been asleep at the switch because I had the Collins KWM-2A
Transceiver, right? Wrong, I bought a Yaesu FT-DX9000MP with all of the bells and
whistles. We put Yaesu FT-897s in all of the vehicles, even the kids. I added a Quadra
running off 240v, man do I have power! Our backup radio was a Kenwood TS-2000. We
finally got licenses when all you had to do was memorize some information and take a
written test. We're only Technicians, but in a TSHTF scenario, who cares? That radio
equipment cost a fortune, but I had a fortune to spend, so why not?

We upgraded the antennas and put them on a higher tower that's retractable. We're
never out of communications range because every vehicle has all kinds of radios
mounted in faraday cages, the ham radios, business radios and CB radios. It does get
to be a bit confusing at times. Thermistors protect the radios from the antennas so no
amount of EMP can hurt the radios. I also picked up some of those cheaper radios, the
FRS units and stored them in the storage room; you never know when they might come
in handy. I sold 2 of the SPAS-15s and 3 SPAS-12s to pay for it all.

114
The kids all drive old Volkswagen Type I bugs, we bought them for them because al-
most nothing will kill that engine and we have spare parts. I expect they'll show up any
minute now that we know what the situation is. Most of their cars are newer than my F-
100, but they're serviceable and economical. It’s something to consider with the price of
gas being what it is. We have 2 100-gallon drums of stabilized regular gas, just in case.
So, if you see an old Bug running on the road towards Sedona sprouting enough anten-
nas for a cop car, wave, it's probably the kids. They'll be going 55mph. stretching their
gas.

Have you ever thought of what it takes to become successful? Hard work and a little
luck is all. Or, maybe a lot of luck, but that's all relative. You start out by saving money
when you're young. It becomes a habit and later, when you're older like we are, you
have more money than you know what to do with. Ask yourself how much you would
have if you bought 100 shares of IBM stock in 1960 (~$10,000) or so and held onto it.

In 1961, your shares increased to 150; in 1964, you had 187.5; in 1966, 281.25; in
1967, 351.5625; in 1968, 703.125; in 1973, 878.90625; in 1979, 3,515.625; in 1997,
7,031.25; and, in 1999, 14,062.5. Current market value of your $10,000 investment is ~
$1,084,922. Your last dividend check was ~ $4,218.75. But, as a smart investor, you've
rolled all those dividends back into IBM stock, right? Sorry, my Cray is tied up at the
moment, but you're richer than dirt and all you did was buy 100 shares of IBM in 1960,
like I did. Not all of our money was in that Mutual Fund. If you leave your shares in the
hands of your broker, he accumulates fractional shares and reinvests your dividends,
for a fee. Who is your broker, Woulda, Coulda or Shoulda? I use Hindsight, his vision is
20/20.

Eating cheap food for a number of years paid off handsomely. I'll bet when Sue and I
are gone and the kids suddenly become millionaires, they'll get over wearing hand-me-
down clothes and learn to love to eat beans and rice, or maybe not. I didn't have to sell
the shotguns to buy the radio equipment, but I wanted to be rid of them, I had more.
Matt was nearly in the same shape I was, but probably only by half. He got into the fru-
gal business later than I did.

One more thought on the subject, have you ever heard the expression; Don't change
horses in the middle of the stream? Sue and I are beyond comfortable, but you'd never
know it look at our old motor vehicles. The corporation owns most of our guns and as
long as we don't sell them, they are unrealized profits, hence not taxed. $50 a week into
a Mutual Fund for 40 years or so tends to add up. Our $104,000 investment isn't
$104,000 anymore. I should have bought more of that IBM stock… but I was in the Ar-
my and $10,000 was a LOT of money and I had many sleepless nights. So, I guess you
could say I earned every penny of what we had now. I had been saving my money to
buy a new car, but didn't, lucky me. I wanted a Jaguar XKE, remember them? I had
heard about them and planned to buy one when them came out.

115
The Jaguar "E" type (also known as E-type or XK-E) is one of the greatest cars ever
built. It has style, performance, and pedigree: its shell was designed by an aerodynam-
ics engineer; it was propelled by a high-spec version of the famous XK engine, and was
based on the 50's Le Mans winning D type race car. Best of all, unlike other 'supercars'
of its time, it was a mass-market product: over 70.000 have been built. April 1961 Jagu-
ar introduced the "E" type in the USA. To add a touch of glamour to the event, the gold
bronze coupe was accompanied by actress Marilyn Hanold (who played in such gems
as Frankenstein meets the Space Monster, The Brain that wouldn't Die, and who was
Playboy's Playmate of the month in June 1959...) She was sometimes credited as Mari-
lyn Harold. I didn't get the car or the brunette, but it doesn't seem to matter much now.
Marilyn lives in Salt Lake City, where she is active in promoting the performing arts.
She's only a year older than us.

"Hey, have any trouble getting here?"

"Hi, Daddy. No, we had an extra can of gas in the front, no trouble. Juls was right be-
hind us, she should be here any minute. She brought her boyfriend."

"She didn't happen to bring a spare for Liz, did she?"

"She hasn't found the right man yet?"

"Apparently not."

"They broke the mold when they made you Daddy, didn't you know?"

"She could do far better than me, Sara."

"Tell her, not me."

"John, how are you doing?"

"We were working on an interesting dig over near the meteor crater. I…"

"You can tell Daddy all about it later Jack, I'm sure he'll be thrilled to know what you
found."

Not!

"What was Julia doing in Winslow?"

"I don't know, they didn't get out of the motel much, Daddy."

116
I guess I know now, and shouldn't have asked. I'm going to have to have a word with
this boyfriend of hers and, by God she'd better be wearing an engagement ring. Liberal
Arts indeed!

"Daddy, meet Peter Hayes. He was in Winslow with me."

"I heard, where's the diamond?"

"In my pocket sir, Juls said I needed your permission first."

"You got it, although you didn't seem to need it to be fooling around."

"Oh Daddy, mind your own business."

"I am minding my own business. Got a license?"

"Yes, we do."

"Fine, I'll get your mother and we'll go into town. Well, what are you waiting for Pete,
give her the ring!"

"Daddy!"

"Don't need any electricity to perform a wedding. And if you're going to be sleeping to-
gether in my house, it's going to be as man and wife, not as boyfriend and wh… oh
never mind, I'll get Sue."

"You're just too old fashioned, dear. Kids these days find out if their compatible first."

"Maybe, but I'll feel better once we get Romeo and Julia married."

"Daddy, did you start to call me a whore?"

"I didn't, that's all that matters, Julia. What I think is my business. Maybe I am too old
fashioned, but your mother and I waited until we got to Acapulco. Food is short, gas
prices are up and now we have an energy outage. Keep your eyes peeled for a likely
prospect for Liz, she not getting any younger."

"I will not."

"We'll be lucky to find a preacher with all these people in town. That lady Governor bet-
ter call out the Guard. Which Church do you belong to Pete?"

"I'm a Methodist, sir."

117
"Figures. Fine, we'll use your church. Sue, you write them a check like we did for Sara
and John."

"Twenty thousand, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, 10 from each of us."

"I balance the checkbook, honey, I saw the other check."

"I didn't say anything. Why don't you write Liz a check for $30 grand, maybe she'll get
off the dime?"

"I had a word with her."

"I overheard. I decided to give her my Winchester model 70 for her birthday. You'd bet-
ter tell her that Sara says they broke the mold and I'm already married."

Hmm, all these tourists stuck in town might prove to be good for what ails Liz. Now, if I
can find a fella who's not married… The grocery stores had more problems than a lack
of electricity, how many people kept a lot of cash on hand? Matt and I did, but we had a
safe or two, and one of them was stuffed with gold and silver. The IBM stock? I sold it
after I got the last dividend check, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
Took the check to the bank and had a word with the manager. He had to order in the
cash, they didn't usually keep that much on hand. No, not all of it, I bought gold with ⅔
of it, which served to change my basis in the gold I already had, rather remarkably.

What place does luck play in it? A lot now that you mention it, the last dividend was paid
on 6/10/06 for owners of record on 5/10/06. I sold out on 6/01/06 for market price. I paid
about $625 an ounce for the gold when I converted the ⅔ into metal. A million dollars in
new $100 bills is quite a pile of cash, but it fit in the safe ok. Took a catalog case to car-
ry it back to the house.

I'm sure that by now you're wondering how much money does this guy have? Not
enough to worry Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, that's for sure. I bought 3,200 ounces of
gold and already had quite a bit. The market went down, but I'm not worried now that
the power is out, it will go up like a skyrocket. I figure to triple my wealth in about 60
days, if the outage lasts that long. That's just on the shy side of 267 pounds, if you're
wondering. When you buy enough, the premium is far smaller. What about the Mutual
Fund? Cashed that out when we hit in ‘99. Bought Gold at $300 an ounce. Oh, that did-
n't answer your question? Sorry.

What place does luck play in it? What didn't go into gold went into the coffers of the US
Government (IRS) and the state of Arizona. We didn't need the cash at the moment and
I bought this crystal ball on E-Bay from some guy in California. It doesn't take a genius
to play the stock market if you do it for the long term, it's the short term trading that kills

118
most investors. Why didn't I dump Big Blue then? Hey, it's IBM and it's a good invest-
ment at any time, just as long as you're in it for the long term.

"I now pronounce you man and wife."

"Ok Pete, I'll shake your hand now, I was waiting to make sure you did the right thing by
Julia."

"She tells me that you're a gun dealer."

"Yes, Matt and I go back 40 years or more."

"You don't happen to know where I could find a good HK91, do you. I listened to Juls
talk about guns until I'm blue in the face and she says that the HK91 is a treasure."

"Know anything about that rifle Pete?"

"Sir, it's Peter. I've done the usual research on the internet and know that they're worth
about $2,500, if you can find one. Even without the rather generous gift from you and
your wife, I have enough money to buy one, if I could find one. I closed my bank ac-
count when we headed to Winslow and brought all the money I have, I can pay cash."

"Do you have $750 cash money?"

"I want the gun, sir, not magazines and ammo."

"Peter $750 will get you the rifle, 10 20-round magazines, a sight adjustment tool, a light
bipod, muzzle cap, cleaning kit and HK patch. I'll throw in the ammo now that you're a
member of the family. That's the MSRP from when I bought the gun. It's new, in the box
and probably worth 3 grand. Call it a wedding bonus."

"I don't know what to say."

"I believe the usual response would be Thank you."

I should tell you that my new son-in-law was a bit slow on saying thank you; he had to
get his jaw off the floor. I had intended to give him the gun, but if he paid for it, even a
small amount, he would appreciate it far more than if it was a gift. By my tally, that was
2 down and 1 to go. I was pretty sure that Liz didn't like girls, thank God, but if she were
waiting for the perfect man, she might have a long wait. Most women will be more than
happy to tell you that there is no such thing as the perfect man. If you don't believe me,
ask one.

119
For the third day, efforts to restore power to the country have met with little success.
Some local utilities, able to disconnect from the power grid have done so and have been
able to restore power locally. Officials continue to work on restoring power to Arizona,
having successfully disconnected from the national grid.

Late last night, the Governor activated the Arizona National Guard. Throughout the day,
busses have been dispatched to various locations inundated with stranded tourists. In-
dications are that vehicles will be loaded on trains and transferred to Phoenix where
most of the tourists are being brought to.

By order of the Governor, power is being restored on the basis of priority with nursing
homes, hospitals and select stores receiving the first power allocations. This has served
to make fuel available although many vehicles aren't working. Of primary interest is pre-
serving as much of the food as is possible and allowing tractor trailer rigs to make their
deliveries.

In northern Arizona, power supplied by the coal fueled generating plant in Holbrook is
being rerouted along the I-40 corridor. Early indications are that power will be fully re-
stored to Flagstaff by sometime later today. This station has managed to stay on the air
by virtue of a standby generator powered by natural gas. In the absence of power being
restored, we will go off the air at 10pm to service our equipment. We will return after a
brief break.

"Dad, can I use your Ford?"

"Going to town?"

"I thought I’ll go check things out, yes."

"I don't mean to be nosy, but any particular reason?"

"I wanted to see how Tom was."

"Tom who?"

"You don't know him. But I've been seeing him for a while."

"As in a male like Thomas and not a female like Thomasina?"

"Mom and you just have to back off, I'm not GAY! I met him last year and have been
seeing him on and off since."

"Do you actually mean to tell me that you've been dating a man for over a year and your
mother and I know nothing about it?"

120
"It was none of your business. The two of you remind me of Pinocchio just after he's told
a big fib. Your noses get about that long," she said holding her hands wide.

I was inclined to ask more questions, but she stopped me cold with her comment. I con-
cluded that I better give Sue a heads up and we should drop the matter. It nagged at
me; if she'd been seeing him for over a year and his name was Tom, I began to wonder
if I could figure out who he was.

Do you have any idea how many people there are in Sedona named Tom or listed with
a T? Too darned many, that's how many. Maybe she met him in the store; I searched
our customer list and came up with about 50 Tom's. It never occurred to me that it could
be his middle name as in J. Thomas Somebody, or even James T. Somebody. I think it
was worse knowing than not knowing. Trying to figure it out was a sure way to drive
myself crazy.

We had other fish to fry; it was time to spend some of the hard earned gold and money I
had. Maybe we'd get power back and maybe not. Didn't matter, we had it now and I had
a suitcase full of cash in the safe.

"Let's go, Matt."

"Where?"

"Flagstaff."

"What's in Flagstaff?"

"Mobile home dealers. We're bit tight on space with all 3 girls home. I have money to
burn and I think I should buy some mobile homes to put them up."

"Who sells them?"

"Action Manufactured Homes and Steve Kay Mobile Homes. Both specialize in Log
Style and Cabin Type Manufactured Homes by Champion and Redman. I figure we're
going to need 6 homes."

"Whoa, hold on there, I don't have that kind of cash."

"I do and I can't take it with me. I'll cover you, don't worry about it."

"I can see you buying 2, but why 6?"

"Liz is seeing someone and I figure your kids will show up any minute."

"You planning a shotgun wedding for her too?"

121
"Do you have any idea how many people in Sedona are named Tom?"

"Haven't the foggiest."

"Too darn many to figure out who he is. We'd better take Sarah and Sue with us, they
will have a better idea as to individual tastes."

122
 When We Were Young – Chapter 5

"Is the power back on in Flagstaff?"

"Doesn't matter, we'll track them down if we have to."

Each dealer had 3 demos and that was the extent of our choice. Can anyone explain
why they always choose the biggest, fanciest homes as displays? No, they didn't want
to sell their demos, but they could be persuaded. No, they didn't really want to deliver
them, but they could be persuaded, and no, they didn't really want to assemble them
either, but, you've got it, they could be persuaded. I figured each one of those they
could be persuaded cost me an extra grand or two, but it was only money and I brought
plenty.

When I laid down enough cash for the first home, some of those ‘could be persuaded’
started to disappear. By the time I laid out enough cash to pay for the third, delivery and
installation were included. For all the trouble we went to making sure the ladies ap-
proved, we could have left them home. Besides, how much longer would greenbacks be
good, if indeed the power outage was widespread and continued? The Drill Sergeant
said, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em." They don't give any second chances.

We went to town when we got home and found a contractor to put in the plumbing and
electric. Eight homes and 80kw between 2 generators would work out about right. We
explained we had everything they needed on hand, including electricity and fuel. He
said he'd see us tomorrow. (see tip #16 about keeping a little cash on hand) Circum-
stances dictate how much is a little cash. A million here, a million there, pretty soon
we're talking about real money. (Everett Dirksen – A billion here, a billion there, pretty
soon, you're talking real money. I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first
of which is to be flexible at all times.)

Is 80kw enough for 8 homes and 2 places of business? Not hardly, it was beginning to
get rather warm out. The solution came in the form of a pair of Kohler 150REOZJB,
which consumed between 3.4 and 10.9gph, each. Each was rated at 417amps prime,
458 amps standby. I paid cash and used the remaining cash to put in another pair of
40,000-gallon fuel tanks for diesel (B50). It was three phase so we needed an electri-
cian to install power distribution. We could go for a long time on 120,000-gallons of fuel
at max power. Maybe it wasn't my best purchase, but the electricity still wasn't on. It
didn't come on until the generator was installed and had run for about 10 hours. The
synchronizers were built into the Kohler controllers.

"Are your broke yet?"

"Not yet, but I'm down to $100 thou, in cash."

123
"You almost make me wish I was a girl and you were a drunken sailor, we have a good
time while it lasts."

"What should we call our housing development?'

"Money down the hole?"

"You just wait until the price of gold tops $1,200 an ounce, we'll be the richest people in
northern Arizona."

"What do you mean we white man? I don't have any gold."

"You will, just as soon as we start selling off those guns."

"But the power is back on."

"In some places, Matt. I think the real problem is going to be getting food. Most of the
food we eat has to be transported and processed. That takes fuel and electricity. A lot of
that food comes from California and Louisiana leads the country in the production of
rice. Unless the alcohol producing companies can bring new ethanol plants online pro-
cessing cellulose, we're going to be short on fuel. How much biodiesel is produced from
soybeans? I don't know the exact answer but, in general, not enough."

"What about fuel imports?"

"What about them? I don't know, but I'd be willing to bet the oil producing countries will
need money for food and it won't be long before the price is over $100 a barrel."

"That translates into gas that goes for what, $6 a gallon?"

"Or more. Think about it, if there are food shortages, not all of the corn and soybeans
are going to go into fuel. We're looking at quite a lead time to get the cellulose pro-
cessing plants online."

"Is that why we have 120,000-gallons of diesel fuel?"

"The DI said, 'Smoke 'em if you got 'em.' They didn't give any second chances."

"If that's the case, what about gasoline? Those VWs don't run on E-85."

"I have $100 grand left, let's put in a fuel station tank and fill it with unleaded. We can
load up on PRI-G and keep it stabilized for as long as it takes. Besides, I think we can
get the bugs modified."

"What about the guns and gold?"

124
"We'll only accept gold or silver for guns and ammo at prevailing market rates, less a
small discount. Have you ever bought gold? If you buy it you pay over market and if you
sell it, they give you under market. We can watch that and only discount it by about 50%
of what the traders usually charge. Let the other traders take the risk of Federal Re-
serve notes. If we do decide to take cash, we use it to buy food and fuel."

It was strange, we hadn't seen mushroom clouds, the ground hadn't shaken and the
wind hadn't blown. We were, nonetheless, in the middle of what was proving a full scale
disaster. I had more cash, maybe a quarter million, but that was for food and fuel. It isn't
wise to show your hole cards when you're playing poker. This wasn't Texas hold 'em, it
was more like showdown and your life was the ante. If the prognostications were right,
people would get hungry. Hungry people will do nearly anything for food; it's a matter of
life or death. The sooner you recognized that, the sooner you took steps to prevent it.

What we couldn't get anywhere else we got from Costco, Sam's Club, grocery stores or
anyone who had it. We had cash, it helped. We bought in bulk. That helped more. If we
could bite the bullet, put in a fence and purchase livestock, that would be even better.
Sometimes we paid cash, sometimes gold and silver and on occasion parted with a
weapon and ammo to get something we really needed. We were very discrete, not buy-
ing locally. We'd lie when they asked where we were from, usually saying Phoenix, Tuc-
son, Kingman or Prescott. A cow could provide us with milk, a bull kept her producing
and provided meat. We had a leg up, a storage room filled to overflowing with food.

"Mom. Dad this is Tom."

"You look familiar, what's your last name?"

"Adams. You may know my brother Jim."

Tom was Jim's older brother and Liz's original target, years before. They had been
friends for a very long time and when she returned to Sedona in 2004, they started to
renew the friendship and that blossomed into a romance. I'd seen his name and struck it
from my list, probably because of his brother. Liz was sporting a diamond and handled
me a document I immediately recognized as a marriage license. Filled in no less, a day
before.

"Tom, welcome to the family. I'll be damned, I never would have thought. Did you bring
your things, your new home is ready to occupy?"

"I've been moving his things in for a week, Daddy, you've been so busy cornering the
market on things we might need, you never noticed."

Man, strip my gears and call me shiftless, I couldn't believe it. I knew Tom and had for a
long time, I even mentioned his name to her more than once, but she'd feigned a lack of

125
interest. Brat. I didn't even ask, I went after the rifles, the model 70 for her and a HK91
for him.

"You know where the weapons are honey, help yourself. Sue do you have a ch…"

She did and it was made out for $20,000.

"Take that to the bank and cash it, quickly, everyone is here and it's time to batten down
the hatches."

"Rob, what about my parents?"

"They're welcome of course, but I bought out the available mobile homes in Flagstaff."

"They live in a singlewide trailer."

"Liz knows which contractor we use, have him extend the water, sewer and electrical
and get someone to move their home in and install it."

"Will your system handle another home?"

"I gave in and bought a pair of 150kw diesel generators; we had 360kw available if we
lose power again. Say, were you in the service?"

"Rangers."

"Then you know your weapons, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"You satisfied with the HK91 or would you prefer something different?''

"That's a good rifle, but I'm sniper trained."

"As in?"

"We used the M107."

"Ever shoot an M82A1?"

"The semi auto? Sure, we trained on it, but they issued us the M107."

"Are you any good?"

126
"31 kills."

"My boy, come with me, I have a wedding bonus for you."

"There you go, feast your eyes on that."

"What kind of scope?"

"Nightforce 12-42×56mm scope with MUNS and we have Raufoss ammo for them."

"Them?"

"We don't have one of anything. The suppressor is a Jet titanium."

"Do you have suppressor for the HK91 and Model 70?"

"Surefire ok?"

"Cripes, you know they are. Question, who are we going to shoot?"

"Anyone who attempts to take what we have without asking."

"Handguns?"

"USP Tactical ok?"

"Suppressed?"

"If you want."

"What does Liz carry?"

"Springfield Armory XD .45. It fits her hand better. I'll get you a PPK .380 for a backup
gun. Web gear is over there and the knives are in the Cold Steel section."

"Are you planning on a war or something?"

"Tom, the Cold War supposedly ended 15 years ago. By then, we had most of this in
place. However, we woke up one morning and the world had changed. Morality had
gone into the toilet and someone had flushed it. We were becoming the world's police-
man, going here and there sorting out other people problems. The government had
found a way to circumvent most parts of the Constitution that meant anything to a fella
like me. We were all worried about the next disaster but didn't have a clue when it hap-
pened on 9/11."

127
"We got into Afghanistan and then Iraq. It worked so good we ended up staying. Bush
said the war was over when the fatality count was under 200 and now it's over 2,500. If
we're staying until the Iraqis get it perfect, we’re going to be there a very long time. I
used to pay 30 cents for gas and now it costs $35 to fill the tank of a compact. Our
power grid is challenged, to say the least, and it appears there are looming food short-
ages. The three major needs of humans is probably the main reason for nations to go to
war. These needs are food, water and shelter. If a nation or group is deprived of these
essentials they resort to war in an attempt to fix the problem."

"You left out religion."

"Call that number 4. Let me give you a hand with your things."

"The kids are renting a U-Haul and going to Phoenix to pick up their things."

"When?"

"This weekend."

"I hope they have lights totally restored by then."

"Liz and Tom are going with them to help."

"That's different, they'll be ok. I can't believe Liz; she married a Ranger who was a snip-
er to boot. There is nothing wrong with her picker."

"I'd have thought you'd be concerned that he was a good man who could take care of
her."

"Liz can take care of herself if she needs to. It isn't every soldier who gets to be a
Ranger or every shooter who becomes a sniper. It shows a sense of discipline. Tom
had to be waiting for just the right woman, too. He's 2 years older than his brother and
has never been married."

"You're disciplined too, Rob. All these years of being frugal were irritating, but it appears
they've paid off."

"Sometimes I wish I had the XKE and the brunette."

"Huh?"

"I bought the 100 shares of IBM stock with money I was saving to buy a jag. When they
débuted the car in '61 in New York, they had the Playmate of the month from June of
'59 introduce it."

128
"With the money we have, I'm sure you could find one."

"I like the brunette I got and I've outgrown the car."

"And you're sure you don't want to trade me in on a newer model?"

"After 34 years? My wife would kill me."

"In a heartbeat and don't you forget it."

Call it an overabundance of caution, but I talked it over with Matt and we decided there
were some things we should do. Any member of the families who didn't have a passport
should get one, immediately. We hadn’t been immunized in many years and he and I
agreed that if conditions worsened, they might come in handy so we were going to ar-
range to have everyone vaccinated. He claimed to know a doctor in Phoenix who might
be able to get us vaccinated for the bird flu. He suggested that while we were at it, the 6
of us get complete physicals.

The twins and their husbands had left good paying jobs behind but the fellas thought
their employers would allow them to telecommuter, they were computer programmers,
and the twins thought they'd stay home and attend to their families. As far as telecom-
muting went, they could do it, once the T-1 line was up and running.

Matt, Jr. was a diesel mechanic and a good one. He was factory certified to be able to
work on just about every diesel engine there was, he wouldn't have trouble finding work
here or in Flagstaff. He was married and they had a baby on the way. The twins had
married twins; I considered the possibilities of that for a moment before I got my mind
out of the gutter.

The TV reported that Israeli tanks were poised on the Gaza border to secure the re-
lease of a kidnapped soldier. It seemed as if we were watching the digital clock on a
bomb countdown to zero and unable to do anything about it. The main news was the
power outage. California had riots in LA, San Francisco, Oakland and San Bernardino.
Chicago, Detroit, and New York weren't any better off and the President was openly
discussing suspending Posse Comitatus and Habeas Corpus. That was the good news,
the bad news was that the Department of Agriculture was now estimating a further drop
in grain yields, down as much as 5%. The price of oil was hovering just below $80 a
barrel.

"Ok, could I get you to all quiet down for a moment, please?"

Yacky-yak…

129
"Thank you. We're going to Phoenix on Friday rather than Saturday. If anyone doesn't
have a passport, get to town and get the photos taken, Matt and I have blank applica-
tions. Second, we've arranged for everyone to get their vaccinations updated and that
may possibly include the bird flu vaccine. If it does, we'll have to make a second trip to
get the second shots or bring the second shots back with us."

"Three, we 6 seniors will be getting physicals just to confirm the state of our health.
Four, Matt and I are going to drive down 24' U-Haul trucks and hit every Costco and
Sam's Club in the Phoenix area. Anyone with any special needs talk to Sue or Sarah.
And, last but not least, we need to know any medications that anyone takes so we can
arrange to stockpile them."

"What's going on, are we being invaded?"

"We have never had a famine in this country, kids. That could soon change; the USDA
announced a 5% reduction in the expected crop yields on top of the already reduced
expectations. We're in the midst of an energy crisis like nothing we've ever seen before.
It was bad before, but with the solar flare taking out the electricity, the country is starting
to fall apart. Does anybody know anything about ranching?"

Matt, Jr.'s wife Rebecca raised her hand.

"Becky?"

"We raised cattle and hogs. Mom had a flock of chickens."

"We you in 4H or anything?"

"No, but I gathered the eggs."

"Is all that money you have going to buy your way out of this one Rob?"

"Yep. We can hire somebody to put in a fence and another somebody to build a barn.
We can use the money to buy the livestock we need and hire ranch hands. We can
even pay cash for some repossessed mobile homes. We've lived clean, decent lives,
Matt. An old fable says that God helps the man who helps himself and you can't say we
haven't worked hard and lived moral lives."

"Turning religious on me?"

"I think that comes with getting older and closer to our Maker. Subconsciously we begin
to hedge our bets. Some might say that being arms dealers, we're in league with the
Devil, but a firearm is just a tool and it's the person who misuses it that in league with

130
the Devil. Three Faiths, One God: Judaism, Christianity, Islam and we can't just get
along.

"Amen, brother Rob."

We six (including Tom's parents) were poked and prodded, had chest X-rays, donated
blood to the lab and peed in a cup. Subject to the lab results, we were in good condition,
given our age. Then we went to the clinic that gave the vaccinations and it was worse
than being in boot camp. We got the first flu shot and the doctor sent the second bottle
of vaccine home with us. Under certain special circumstances, a Passport can be is-
sued on the spot, especially if you know the right politician.

Power was back on in Phoenix, for the most part, and it was very hot. We shopped from
a list while the kids got their things and by Saturday night we were totally done in. Matt
and I were tempted to get a motel, but the youngsters offered to drive home and put
things away when we got there. It was July 1, 2006.

An energy cost flow analysis for Arizona done in 2003 showed that Arizona imported
natural gas, petroleum and electricity and exported a small amount of coal. Arizona
Public Service, Salt River Project and Tucson Electric Power represent 97.6% of the
electric power sold in Arizona. Most of their revenues leave the state.

"What's next?"

"Maybe we should hire a ranch foreman and put him in charge of getting the fence put
in, raising a barn and hiring hands, unless you have a better suggestion."

"About all I know about farming is that cows moo, pigs oink and chickens cluck."

"Ever ride a horse?"

"I was on a train (iron horse) once, does that count?"

"Well, crap, I wouldn't even know who to hire."

"Ask your new son-in-law."

"Tom or Peter?"

"Tom."

"Ask my father, he worked on a ranch for a while."

131
Tom's father was named Tom and his wife was Ruth. I had a word or two with him and
he said he knew who to ask about getting a ranch foreman. I asked him if he felt up to
taking care of that for us and possibly even working with the new foreman we hired to
keep him on the straight and narrow. He said that Tom could do that but he'd help him
find the foreman. Matt had a suggestion that I took, we decided to call the place Rob's
Roost. I mentioned that to Tom and he said he'd get a couple of poles put in and a sign
painted for over the entrance to the place.

With as many people as we had here, and Independence Day on Tuesday, we laid in
several racks of baby back ribs so we could have a picnic. Our menu for the picnic
turned out to be slow cooked baby back ribs, coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad.
We had a case of beer if anyone one wanted one and our fair share of soft drinks plus
lemonade made from fresh lemons from Phoenix. We put up two of the awnings for
shade and had a very good day.

"What's that bell?"

"The generator kicked in. I'll go turn the bell off; it's on a holding circuit."

"What he means, Tom," Matt explained, "Is that the bell will ring until he breaks the cir-
cuit. Otherwise we might not know that we were on generator power. There is also a
light that only comes on when we're on the generator so when it goes out, we're back
on regular power."

"Why is that important?"

"It lets us know to check the fuel level in the tanks."

"Speaking of tanks, you've added 7 homes and are still on the same propane tank. If
you add 2 or 3 more for the ranch hands, you're going to need a much larger tank."

"It's already here, Rob bought a used 30,000 gallon tank with new pressure relief valve."

"Liz never said anything about the two of you being wealthy."

"Liz wouldn't and Rob has about double what I have, he bought 100 shares of IBM stock
in 1960 and held it until recently."

"Is that a lot?"

"Yes, that's a lot. He let his brokerage hold the shares and had them reinvest the divi-
dends, Tom. Sue and he could retire on that alone."

"I'm surprised that Liz didn't say anything."

132
"She wanted to be sure you wanted her and not her father's money, I'd expect."

"Who knew that you guys were so successful? You have an out of the way gun shop
specializing in class III weapons and assault rifles. As far as I know, you don't even ad-
vertise."

"We have a website, but it isn't a large site and we don't do online orders."

"I'm back. I wonder how long the power will be down this time."

"I'm just guessing Rob, but it will be down until it comes back on."

The man we got suggested that we didn't need ranch hands, only one. He knew his
livestock and even suggested that if we had enough water, we could grow our own
grass and buy a little feed and baled hay. His name was Miguel Ruiz, he was married to
Maria and they had 2 teenaged sons. Matt and I went to Flagstaff and picked up a really
good 16'x80' repo.

July was hot and busy and about ⅔ of the time, we were running on one or more gener-
ators. One contractor put in a fence with pig wire and 3 strands of barbed wire at the
top. A second erected a prefabricated barn he got from a manufacturer (Castlebrook) in
California. We erected shade over the corral and by August were looking for livestock.

In the livestock department, we bought two pregnant tan-colored sows (York), 4 Black
Angus cows, a bull, and 4 steers. It was the wrong time of the year to buy pullets, but
we did manage to get a small flock of setting hens and some roosters. That required
another building, a chicken coop/hen house.

Even without advertising, sales were good, almost too good. We couldn't sell any class
III weapons because the government was occupied putting down riots and generally
making a nuisance of itself. We decided to go ahead and take cash along with gold and
silver but no checks or credit cards. That may have cost us some business, but sales
were good enough that we didn't care.

We began to suspect some of these people weren't from Arizona, but technically, we
could sell rifles to people from bordering states, including California. The ATF and the
law said, "A person may only acquire a firearm within the person’s own State, except
that he or she may purchase or otherwise acquire a rifle or shotgun, in person, at a li-
censee's premises in any State, provided the sale complies with State laws applicable in
the State of sale and the State where the purchaser resides. A person may borrow or
rent a firearm in any State for temporary use for lawful sporting purposes."

Therefore we couldn't lawfully sell firearms to people who resided in California because
of the California law and the types of weapons we sold. The law said where the pur-

133
chaser resides, not where the purchaser got his identification. As long as the purchaser
gave a Arizona address as his/her residence and passed the instant background check
we sold the firearm. We tried calling a few times and one of two things happened: either
someone answered the phone and confirmed that our purchaser resided there or no
one answered the phone because the purchaser was in our store, not at home. BTW,
the Arizona Constitutional guarantee to the right to carry arms prohibited raising or
maintaining a paid private militia.

We didn't see the problem selling a purchaser a M1A rifle, the only thing wrong with it
was the flashhider. We made them promise to put a muzzle brake on it if it ever ended
up in California. We had the muzzle brakes if they wanted them and a few actually
bought them. A Mini-14 was legal in California and we carried Butler Creek folding
stocks, flashhiders and 30-round PMI magazines. Generally, he would buy the weapon
and she would buy the accessories. Not our problem, we didn't require ID to buy acces-
sories, unless it was a kid. We didn't do anything that would get the feds or Arizona an-
gry with us.

This turned out to be a learning experience, what went in the front of those animals did-
n't smell nearly as good when it came out the other end and the pigs were the worst.
How could anything that smelled that bad taste so good when it was slow cooked on a
grill with a coating of KC Masterpiece?

Matt's two girls and our 3 got together with Maria and began to talk about gardening. It
wasn't something we could do in July, but we didn't really need the food at the moment.
Now that had possibilities because the choices in the stores these days weren't what
they'd been as recently as 3 months back. This soil was sandy and we thought it would-
n't produce much. Maria said it would if we could provide enough water. I got on the
phone to Paul in Phoenix and asked him if his records showed how deep the well they
drilled was. He told me the records were in storage, call back in a week and he'd have
an answer.

I checked with each of the kids and Jack said they could continue their dig from here.
The was something about Peter that grated on me but both he and Julia had talked to
the school district and had jobs teaching this fall in Sedona plus Tom worked with Mi-
guel on the ranch. Liz was working in the store and the T-1 was back up and our pro-
grammers were telecommuting. Matt, Jr. was working for a dealer in Flagstaff. Did I
miss anyone, with all the people here, it was getting confusing.

From the time they were old enough to understand, we drilled the kids, telling them if
the crap hit the fan, head home – we're prepared. I never thought it would come to us
trying to ranch/farm this half section; it was high desert sand with more than a fair share
of rock. People tend to underestimate the fertility of that sand, we did. It was a bad time
to try and irrigate, transportation costs were climbing and many factories were shut
down due to the lack of and or an intermittent power problem.

134
They had terrible floods on the east coast, especially Pennsylvania and Maryland, fur-
ther reducing the food supply. Paul called back to say our well was in a deep aquifer
and if we didn't have water, no one would. That fence the contractor put in was expen-
sive – barbed wire is effective for cattle and horses, but not for pigs, sheep, or goats.
Where these animals are to be fenced, woven wire is used instead, often with one or
several strands of barbed wire at the top. For swine, a ground-level barbed wire strand
is used as well to prevent digging. Woven wire is costly to purchase and time-
consuming to install.

"Miguel, we bought cows, how come we aren't getting milk?"

"They haven't freshened."

"Is there any other kind of milk other than fresh milk?"

"They haven't started to produce milk yet, Rob."

"I don’t know what you're feeding those pigs, but they need a change of diet. Talk about
stink. Where are you going to get the meat cut up?"

"Casey's in Flagstaff, they're good and it's not like we have a lot of choices. Do you
have a large freezer?"

"There's a freezer under the refrigerator and we have a 17ft³ upright."

"That will never do, you'd better buy some of 25ft³ chest types. There are 10 couples
plus the children here, you'll be butchering 10-12 hogs and 2-3 beef per year."

"We'll get more pigs and calves than that won't we?"

"Yes, the first year we'll butcher the males and keep the females. That will give you a
herd of sows and you'll be a pork producer. It will be the same thing on the cattle, but it
will take several years to build a herd. There's a limit to how many cattle the land will
support, even planting grass. You really need some horses so we can round up the cat-
tle."

"Next thing I know, you'll want cowboy guns. Don't worry about that Miguel, Dave went
broke and we bought him out. We have Colts, Berettas, Ruger Vaqueros, Ruger New
Vaqueros and Ruger Blackhawk's. We also have an assortment of Winchester and Mar-
lin rifles. Mostly it's cowboy action shooters who buy those weapons."

"I could never afford one."

"Peshaw, if you need one, it's a tool of the trade and we'll furnish it, just tell Tom or Liz
what you need and you'll have it."

135
°

Resolution 1695 (2006)

Adopted by the Security Council at its 5490th meeting, on
15 July 2006

The Security Council,

Reaffirming its resolutions 825 (1993) of 11 May 1993 and 1540 (2004) of 28 April 2004,

Bearing in mind the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean penin-
sula and in north-east Asia at large,

Reaffirming that proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as

their means of delivery, constitutes a threat to international peace and security,

Expressing grave concern at the launch of ballistic missiles by the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea (DPRK), given the potential of such systems to be used as a means
to deliver nuclear, chemical or biological payloads,

Registering profound concern at the DPRK’s breaking of its pledge to maintain its mora-
torium on missile launching,

Expressing further concern that the DPRK endangered civil aviation and shipping
through its failure to provide adequate advance notice,

Expressing its grave concern about DPRK’s indication of possible additional launches of
ballistic missiles in the near future,

Expressing also its desire for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the situation and
welcoming efforts by Council members as well as other Member States to facilitate a
peaceful and comprehensive solution through dialogue,

Recalling that the DPRK launched an object propelled by a missile without prior notifica-
tion to the countries in the region which fell into the waters in the vicinity of Japan on 31
August 1998,

Deploring the DPRK’s announcement of withdrawal from the Treaty on Non-Proliferation

of Nuclear Weapons (the Treaty) and its stated pursuit of nuclear weapons in spite of its
Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and International Atomic Energy Agen-
cy (IAEA) safeguards obligations,

Stressing the importance of the implementation of the Joint Statement issued on 19

September 2005 by China, DPRK, Japan, Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation
and the United States,

136
Affirming that such launches jeopardize peace, stability and security in the region and
beyond, particularly in light of the DPRK’s claim that it has developed nuclear weapons,

Acting under its special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and
security,

1. Condemns the multiple launches by the DPRK of ballistic missiles on 5 July 2006 lo-
cal time;

2. Demands that the DPRK suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile pro-
gramme, and in this context re-establish its pre-existing commitments to a moratorium
on missile launching;

3. Requires all Member States, in accordance with their national legal authorities and
legislation and consistent with international law, to exercise vigilance and prevent mis-
sile and missile-related items, materials, goods and technology being transferred to
DPRK’s missile or WMD programmes;

4. Requires all Member States, in accordance with their national legal authorities and
legislation and consistent with international law, to exercise vigilance and prevent the
procurement of missiles or missile related-items, materials, goods and technology from
the DPRK, and the transfer of any financial resources in relation to DPRK’s missile or
WMD programmes;

5. Underlines, in particular to the DPRK, the need to show restraint and refrain from any
action that might aggravate tension, and to continue to work on the resolution of non-
proliferation concerns through political and diplomatic efforts;

6. Strongly urges the DPRK to return immediately to the Six-Party Talks without pre-
condition, to work towards the expeditious implementation of 19 September 2005 Joint
Statement, in particular to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear pro-
grammes, and to return at an early date to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards;

7. Supports the six-party talks, calls for their early resumption, and urges all the partici-
pants to intensify their efforts on the full implementation of the 19 September 2005 Joint
Statement with a view to achieving the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Penin-
sula in a peaceful manner and to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Penin-
sula and in north-east Asia;

8. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

137
Going into the fall of 2006, we had intermittent power outages, usually on warm days.
Fall is harvest time and this fall's harvest was down enough to make headline news on
TV. They'd missed it, but not by much. Good yields offset crop losses due to floods but
couldn't replace the crops not planted in first place. About the cheapest thing in the
store was coffee and it was up due to increased transportation charges. It was all about
the same, be it Folgers, Maxwell House or Hills Brothers. I suppose that's why compa-
nies like Starbucks did so well. Staples, like flour and sugar were up, as was vegetable
oil. Folgers had crept ahead of Maxwell House in market share. Folgers was a Procter
and Gambles brand, Maxwell House, was Kraft Foods and Hills Bros. was owned by
Sara Lee.

We bought 2 larger 21ft³ upright freezers for our homes and put the older 17ft³ freezers
in the storeroom along with a trio of new 25ft³ large chest type freezers we got on sale
from Sears. They wanted to put it on my Sear Charge, but I didn't have one, didn't be-
lieve in them and would never have one. When Bank Americard and Mastercharge
came along, the country went to hell in a handcart. Then Bank Americard became VISA
but it was the same old thing, just a new name. They wanted us to accept the credit
cards, but some discounted 3% and American Express 6%. No way, Jose, or whatever
your name is.

The money wasn't even real anymore, it was Federal Reserve Notes and not Silver Cer-
tificates, maybe that explained why it seemed to be worth less (not worthless, yet). The
money was backed by the full faith and credit by the US Government, and there was
that word again, credit. You borrowed money from a bank to buy a home or for operat-
ing capital and so forth; you didn't borrow money from some corporation at a 20% inter-
est rate. If you did, your purchase probably cost you triple.

"Matt, I'm about ready to retire, do you think we could just let Liz and Tom run the gun
stores?"

"I'll keep my hand in Rob, they aren't gunsmiths. Maybe the twins can help out some."

"Sarah and Rachel? I don't see why not. I'm just surprised you didn't name Matt Issac or
Lot."

"We named the first one after her mother and chose a similar name for the second. The
boy was named after me. I suppose I could have named him Moses."

"Nah, he doesn't look a thing like Heston."

"If you are going to retire, does that mean you're going to stop carrying?"

"I've worn a firearm for so long, I'd feel naked without out it. I think I still carry the pistol
and the backup, especially now."

138
"Why now, what's different?"

"Nothing, other than high gas prices, a looming famine and unrest in the big cities."

"Phoenix is a big city; Sedona is a small tourist trap. There for a while I thought that fire
was going to get us. Didn't help business any, them closing highway 89."

"It helped, Matt, made people anxious, no sooner did they open the highway than we
had a full parking lot. The fire was on the other side of the highway anyway. We aren't
old."

Fairy tales can come true

It can happen to you if you're young at heart (young at heart)
For it's hard, you will find
To be narrow of mind if you're young at heart (young at heart)

You can go to extremes with impossible schemes

You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams
And life gets more exciting with each passing day
And love is either in your heart or on the way

Don't you know that it's worth

Every treasure on earth to be young at heart (young at heart)
For as rich as you are
It's much better by far to be young at heart (young at heart)

And if you should survive to a hundred and five

Look at all you'll derive out of bein' alive
And here is the best part, you have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart

A word or two from old Blue Eyes on the subject of getting old. 105 – 67 = 38, not bad,
we're only middle aged. I don't agree on the narrow minded party, but hey, different
strokes… I wasn't sure I'd want to hang around that long, things weren't good in the
world. Didn't mean to mislead you with the title either, you're only as old as you feel. I'm
planning on a 22nd birthday party in a few years.

We began to notice that with ten adult couples and the children we were going through
food faster than we could acquire it, when they're limiting purchases it doesn't matter
how much money you have. With winter coming we were hoping that the power crisis
was over and they'd be able to get the systems restored over the winter and next sum-
mer wouldn't be a problem. I didn't consider ice storms in the northeast.

And like the problem with limited food, you couldn't buy fuel that wasn't available. We
could get B-100, but it took a trip to Kansas to get the amount we needed. We had

139
9,000-gallons plus of stabilized E-85 and 500 gallons of unleaded in the old E-85 tank,
but no ethanol to blend with it. Construction began in December or January on an etha-
nol-producing plant outside of Maricopa that would produce more than 50 million gallons
of the clean-burning fuel a year. I put in a call and was told when they came on line, the
E85 was be sold as a finished product. Matt immediately ordered a second 10,000 tank
for E85 and we began to consider making anhydrous alcohol.

"I don't know about making alcohol, wouldn’t it be easier just to sell off the gas and refill
the tank with E85?"

"Only if they'll guarantee to sell us E85, I wouldn't want to empty the tank only to learn
we couldn't refill it."

"How much E85 could we get out of the 9,000-gallons of unleaded?"

"Enough to last for a very long time; that would be enough gas to produce 60,000 gal-
lons of E85."

"How long would it take us to burn us 18,000-gallons of unleaded?"

"10 vehicles using 5-600 gallons a year each, about 3 years I suppose."

"I guess we'd better burn it then."

"I agree. Unless we can find the alcohol to blend, I don't see any other way."

"I guess we should have thought about that before we invested nearly $100 grand in un-
leaded."

"Matt a bird in hand is worth a flock in the bush."

"True. What are we going to do about our shrinking food inventory?"

"We have grinders so we can grind our own, maybe we should stock up on grain."

"Tom, talk to Miguel and find out how much corn, oats and hay we need to store. You'd
better figure on a two year supply if we have room to store it. We're going to need
wheat, but maybe we can get that from Walton Feed. I don't see that their food is any
bargain, but it keeps for a long time. The reports we read suggested food shortages for
7 or 8 years so figure out our consumption and buy enough to carry us for that long or
longer. If we have to, we can always erect another building to store it."

"How much money do we have?"

140
"Enough."

"Unless the price of fuel goes a lot higher."

"We still have several hundred firearms we can sell. I think our only problem will be
supply," Matt volunteered.

"Ok, I'll look into it and figure out something with Miguel. We can figure out how much
food we have stored; however, we're going to have another problem, security."

"Keep it as low key as you can and if you can get more get it and we'll sell some to the
folks in Sedona. Do the best you can on price, because it won't be going down until
yields are back to normal."

"Aren't we cutting off our nose to spite our face selling those guns to people who could
turn around and use them on us?"

"If we sold all we have yes, otherwise, we have a few surprises no one knows about."

"Like what?"

"We have 4 machine guns, 2 .50 caliber and 2 .30 caliber."

"And they have the Arizona National Guard."

"It won't come to that, but if it does we're not that far from an Army Depot. Now let's not
get excited and overreact. The less attention we draw to ourselves the better."

"You think people haven't noticed the new fences, the barn and the other new build-
ings?"

"You can’t see them all from Highway 89 and we can always explain that it's a horse
barn and we only have a few head of cattle. Like I said, we have to keep a low profile. I
don't want to have to shoot our neighbors. How do we stand on getting those new
freezers filled?"

"It's mostly ground beef. We scored 3 cases of pork loins and 2 cases of whole Cure 81
hams. Do you want me to see if Casey's can get us a couple of sides of beef?"

"Do that and see if you can get some bacon, I really want to get ahead of the curve if we
can. Don't buy any Starbucks coffee unless that's all you can get, that stuff's awful. Talk
to Sarah and Sue and they'll give you some ideas. Don't be afraid to go to Phoenix if
that's what it takes. Anything else?"

"Gun sales?"

141
"Better restrict those to people we know for the time being."

When the stores got turkeys in ahead of Thanksgiving we bought enough to fill one
freezer and to this point in time were well ahead of the curve. We took the website down
figuring we'd better eliminate what advertising we were doing. We were losing custom-
ers steadily; most people were spending their money on fuel and food. For want of any-
thing to do, Matt and I began to informally provide security. Most people wouldn't give 2
old geezers a second look.

Ahead of Thanksgiving, we asked around about families in need of help and put togeth-
er boxes of food for them. With tourist business falling off, there were more than a few
families who needed the help. We also asked the pastors of several of the churches in
town to put together a list for Christmas and we'd do what we could.

The day after tomorrow is generally the largest sales day of the year for retailers and
officially begins the Christmas season. Retailers have indicated that sales are expected
to be low, possibly setting records. With the price of gas averaging $4.40 a gallon na-
tionwide and soaring food prices, the amount of available money for Christmas is ex-
pected to be limited.

The government released another 30 million barrels from the strategic petroleum re-
serve an effort to check spiraling prices. Initial indications are that sufficient stocks of
ethanol exist for gasohol but there is some concern that crop shortage may limit the
overall availability of E85 fuel. Several new plants for ethanol production are nearing
completion, many using cellulose rather than corn to produce the ethanol.

Efforts continue to restore sections of the national electrical grid devastated by the solar
flare that resulted in cascading blackouts. The EPA temporarily lifted emission stand-
ards to insure adequate supplies of electrical power for this winter. The greatest con-
cern is the cost of home heating oil used extensively in the northeast. After hurricane
Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, there were similar concerns but a milder than ex-
pected winter resulted in sufficient supplies to meet homeowners’ needs.

The troop draw down in Iraq continues and force estimates are 95,000 troops by years
end. The Administration entered into negotiations with insurgent groups using the new
Iraqi government as a go between but steadfastly declines to set a timetable on troop
withdrawals.

Israel forces continue to occupy portions of the Gaza strip and have warned Syria and
other nations supporting the Palestinians and HAMAS the occupation will continue until
Israel is assured that HAMAS will not repeat it behavior of this past summer.

Russian special forces have tracked down and brought to justice all of the insurgents
involved in the kidnapping and murder of 4 Russians in Iraq. A source who asked not to

142
be named indicated that US forces assisted the Russians in identifying the insurgents
involved. President Putin thanked the White House for the assistance and stated the
cooperation opens new doors for cooperation in putting down the insurgency. While
Russia continues to oppose the US led invasion and occupation of Iraq, they, together
with China, prevented the launch of the North Korean missile this year.

143
 When We Were Young – Chapter 6

It wasn't all bad news, I guess. I like the news that Russia might help us get out of Iraq.
Unless we pressured the Iraqis to take over from us, they'd never be completely ready.
Coming from the other side of the coin, so to speak, the Russians could perhaps get
some people's attention that refused to talk to us.

"There were 11 Iraqi insurgent groups that offered a ceasefire in exchange for various
terms, most notably the guaranteed withdrawal of US and coalition forces by 2009 and
the release of all prisoners currently held for insurgent activities. I would offer to negoti-
ate with them if I were Bush, as long as the only thing not negotiable was the withdraw-
al." (He just reenlisted for 6 years and because of COTTAD won't be going overseas for
any of those 6 years.)

George might listen to that; he seems to be mellowing, what with everything that going
on here at home. He hadn't suspended Posse Comitatus or Habeas Corpus, yet. There
was precedent for suspending Habeas Corpus, Lincoln had done it and the Insurrection
Act had been invoked during the Rodney King Riots suspending Posse Comitatus by
Bush Sr. at the request of Governor Pete Wilson. That didn't happen very often and
Bush Jr. had declined to do it for New Orleans after Katrina. It was looking more like it
was going to happen now if we had another outbreak of unrest (rioting) in the larger cit-
ies over food shortages.

The average American farmer fed a lot of people with what he produced. I hadn't heard
a figure recently, but in good times, it may well have exceeded 100 people (155). The
grain reserves were back up, but that was temporary, we wouldn't be resupplied for a
full year. Between grain for livestock and grain to produce ethanol and biodiesel, I
wouldn't be surprised if next year we weren't below 55 days. The USDA had issued a
statement indicating that grain exports would be the lowest in years. For a really good
look at the US grain exporting system, North Dakota has a report that shows the entire
US system.

The problem was, you couldn't ship what you didn't grow. Worse, because of rising fuel
costs, we had turned to alternative energy sources like ethanol and biodiesel, primarily
made from corn and soybeans. It would be an interesting trade-off. The costs of fuel af-
fected grain production, but shortages raised the price. The Cray is tied up at the mo-
ment so I won't try to analyze the relationship. We had exported tons of medium grain
rice in previous years but with the problems associated with Katrina and fuel costs, we
might not export much of the 2006 crop, if any. Those survivalists who depended on
beans and rice to get them through tough times were in for a surprise unless they'd al-
ready stocked up.

However, it wasn't like they hadn't been warned. Speaking of which, the article, This is
not Fiction was now posted on a second website curevents dot com I think some people
would do anything just to get a little publicity. He didn't post it, another fella did, but he

144
asked for permission to post the article. The guy who wrote it is one of those beans and
rice types.

"How does this work, Miguel? We have 4 calves and then what?"

"What we hope for is 2 bull calves and 2 heifers. We grow the steers to market weight
and butcher them while we keep the heifers and have them inseminated or bred when
they're old enough. Based on the law of averages, we should get 2 of each gender, thus
growing your herd to 6 cows. If the hogs produce an average of 10-13 pigs per litter, we
should be able to grow the herd to a dozen sows this year and to a full herd of 30 sows
in 2 years. That will mean that we can butcher 10 pigs this year and next year we will
have meat to sell on the market."

"You said our herd size would be limited, how many cattle can the land support?"

"That depends on how much grass we plant and how well it grows. If we just went with
open range, we'd be lucky to be able to support one beef with 10 acres."

"Are you talking about growing hay or just having permanent pasture?"

"Considering the cost of farm equipment, I'd suggest permanent pasture and you buying
the hay and livestock feed you need."

"Why did you buy 8 horses, There are only 4 of you riding, Tom, you and your two
boys."

"Remounts, boss. You can't work a horse hard all day long without wearing it out."

"I don't know one horse from another, what kind of horses did you buy?"

"Quarter horses, trained as cutting horses."

"Should we have more than 8 horses?"

"Only if some of you ride. In that case, I can buy some western saddle horses for you.
We won't get full value out of the horses we have until the cattle herd gets larger, but I'd
rather keep these horses just for working cattle. Horses can be divided into colors and
breed. For example:

Paint - breed
Arabian - breed
Quarter Horse - breed
Tennessee Walker - breed

Pinto - color

145
Palomino - color
Spotted Saddle - color/gait"

"I don't ride, but maybe some of the kids do, I'll have to ask around."

I couldn't see learning to ride this late in life, especially since I had a Dodge Ram. If in-
deed we had a disaster looming, it was a slow moving disaster, not one of those 'hurry
to the shelter, the missiles are coming' type of events. Information was power and when
a person realized that food would be short, there were steps one could take, like plant-
ing a garden, raising livestock, etc. The same thing applied to a fuel shortage, the aver-
age motorist used maybe 600 gallons of gas a year. That one service station tank gave
us a 3 year supply of gas, probably more and the diesel fuel could provide both trans-
portation and electricity, as required.

The key to preparedness was the ability to do whatever it takes and to try and anticipate
problems before they became insurmountable. It wasn’t as if there weren't doomsayers
out there warning us that we'd better do this or that to be ready for 'the big one', what-
ever form 'the big one' took. Perhaps if they said it enough times, people would listen.
You see, it was never a question of 'if', it was always just a question of 'when' and
'what'. Matt and I had done our part supplying one element of what people should in-
clude in his/her preparedness supplies, a means of defense that could double as a tool
to supply food.

Since the mid '80s, a whole new group of suppliers had appeared. They supplied those
essentials that a person would need when 'the big one' happened. There were several
companies who supplied 'bomb shelters' and others who supplied long term food stor-
age supplies. There was even a guy in Texas who had cornered the market on radiation
detection equipment, rebuilt and certified the units. Considering the ease of becoming
prepared in advance, it was just a shame more people weren't. Some people didn't
have enough food in their homes to get them beyond the next paycheck, but they did
have a 40" TV.

There were those among us that had no idea what was happening beyond the local
news, when they chose to watch it. Considering the number of news channels and in-
formational channels cable TV had to offer, there was simply no excuse for that. One
could choose from liberal, CBS and CNN, to conservative, FOX, news broadcasts so
one couldn't argue that he/she didn't agree with the philosophy of the news providers.
Some of the informational channels were downright interesting, ala National Geograph-
ic, Discovery, History and The Learning Channel. Most were available with basic cable
service.

Preparedness didn't need to be elaborate, it could be as simple as having a few oil

lamps and a few jugs of kerosene in case there was a brief power outage and as elabo-
rate has having 360kw of reserve power and enough fuel to run the generator(s) for 3-4

146
months. Was it really that difficult to store a couple of drums of gas with a little PRI-G
added to keep it good? A person could nearly cross the country on a couple of drums of
gasoline. And he/she could run that little 2.8kw generator long enough that none of the
food in the refrigerator and/or freezer would spoil. Don't forget a couple of hanks of
clothesline rope to hang your clothes on to dry. You could always hand wash them in a
sink or the bathtub.

"I was visiting with Miguel about our livestock and attempting to get a little background
information. He said that if anyone rode, we ought to get some saddle horses rather
than using those fancy horses he bought. I'd like to see a show of hands of how many of
you would like to have a horse."

"Fine. Now I'd like to see a show of hands of how many of you actually know how to ride
a horse."

"Matt when did you learn to ride a horse?"

"On my cousin's farm when I was a kid."

"How long has it been since you've ridden a horse?"

"About 50 years. I hadn't thought about having saddle horses, do you think it would be a
good idea?"

"I have no idea; I don't know how to ride."

"We wouldn't need fancy purebred horses, Daddy, why don't we get some and learn to
ride?"

"Et tu Liz?"

"Well, Daddy, this IS the not so wild, wild west, so why not? Besides, we have a barn
and corral now."

"Will one horse apiece be enough, or do you all require remounts?"

"These are pleasure horses, Rob, one apiece should be enough."

"Pleasure horse? Not for me they won't be."

And that explains how we ended up with a tractor and a manure spreader. But it wasn't
all bad, that manure really made the pasture grow. It also allowed us to have gardens
the following year that produced large crops. I most certainly didn't grow any Swiss
Chard in the garden, whatever that is. But, we could grow onions, potatoes, green

147
beans, peas, sweet corn, roma and beefsteak tomatoes, hot and bell peppers, radishes,
carrots, beets (chard), turnips, iceberg lettuce, melons including cantaloupe, watermel-
ons and pumpkins, cabbage and cucumbers and hence, pickles and finally herbs.
Which begat our getting into canning so we could preserve what we grew. That meant
pressure canners (4 All American 30-quart), jars in jelly, pint, quart and half gallon size
plus regular and wide mouth lids. The shipping, we were told, would be outrageous, but
we weren't sure how many jars we'd need and planned to over buy.

Over the past years it was easier and more economical to just buy in bulk from Costco
or Sam's Club or even grocery wholesalers. Unfortunately, that presumed a supply of
what we needed. As it was, we couldn't produce all that we required and were still de-
pendent on our existing supplies and the stores for the usual suspects, toilet paper, san-
itary supplies, sugar, coffee, etc. Fortunately, it was a case of replacing what we used.

We were the lucky ones; we had a full storeroom to fall back on. We had fuel to travel to
distant locations like Phoenix to try and buy what we needed. We had money although
our supply was shrinking. That was offset in part by the rising value of gold and silver.

Sue and I hadn't really planned on some of what was happening, like becoming ranch-
ers or having a herd of horses. To put in the garden, Miguel said we'd need a plow to
turn the soil, just a small 2 bottom plow; we weren't plowing all 320 acres. Still, we fell
behind the curve in making replacements. Our supply of diesel fuel began to drop until
the new soybean crop came in. Food items became more difficult to replace so we con-
centrated on things we wouldn't replace with a garden next year.

And with business all but gone, we got the fencing contractor back and fenced the area
around the buildings with chain link fence and added a heavy duty gate under the Rob's
Roost sign. For all intents and purposes, we were now isolated from our surroundings.

The Christmas boxes we planned on putting together to help out the needy in Sedona
had plenty of food in them, but they were looking at meatloaf for Christmas, not a turkey
or ham. We couldn't put it in the boxes if we couldn't get it and the number of boxes far
exceeded our supply of turkeys and hams. It was that good 12% ground meat from
Costco, though; it would make a good meatloaf. The garden was still 5 months away
from planting and even longer until we had some food.

Canning Panty up in Hyrum, Utah had many of their canning supplies on sale because it
was off season and we went ahead and bought what we thought we needed. 4 canners,
several pallet loads of jars and enough lids for two additional years of canning. The
canners were marked down from $365 to $240, saving us 34% each on them. They
were out of stock on regular mouth canning jars and we ended up with wide mouth jars
which cost more. It was probably good that we ordered when we did.

148
While we were at it, we bought baking supplies from Canning Pantry including commer-
cial pans and dough enhancers. We were already grinding wheat and baking our own
bread. We also decided to grow strawberries in beds around the homes, they would
provide preserves and we could freeze some of them for later on. I didn't know if we'd
get a crop this year or not, nor how heat tolerant the plants would be, but it was worth a
try. I did some research and you pinched off the blossoms the first year.

Growers from all over the world claim their strawberries to be the best. In Wepion, Bel-
gium, "The World Capital of Strawberries," they even have a museum dedicated solely
to this sumptuous red berry. Folks in Plant City, Florida claim their town to be "The Win-
ter Strawberry Capital of the World." Towns such as Strawberry, Arizona and Strawber-
ry, California chose their namesake for some berry compelling reason. Strawberry
Mountain is found in Oregon and Mansikkala, Finland, literally translated means "The
Place of the Strawberry."

Strawberry, Arizona was 36 miles to the southeast of Sedona. If they can grow straw-
berries, we can, provided we could find the starts. Have you noticed how small those
seeds are? I have to put on my glasses to see them. Besides, not being gardeners,
there might be something to starting strawberry plant we knew nothing about.

Now you talk about ingrates, one guy wanted to know where the turkeys and hams
were. We just apologized and told him we couldn't get any, all the while vowing under
our breaths that this would be the last year we'd shared with them. It was a 5 pound
package of that really good ground meat from Costco, too. Maybe next year we'll feel
differently, but at the moment it was very hard to feel any charity for those people. They
weren't even customers of ours; people who could afford to buy what we sold didn't
need handouts. You've probably never had the experience, have you?

"Daddy, aren't you going riding?"

"Why would I want to do a darned fool thing like that?"

"What would you do if we ran out of fuel or your pickup broke down?"

"Walk."

"It's a long way to town."

"That's ok, Liz, they don't have hitching rails. Anyway, I'm not feeling very good about
the people in Sedona at the moment."

"Because he wanted ham or turkey?"

"Probably because he had the gall to complain. I'll get over it but I'm sulking for a while."

149
"What do you want for Christmas?"

"You wouldn't happen to have an XKE with a brunette driving it would you?"

"No."

"Whatever you decide will be just fine with me, the gift is in the giving."

"Listen to you, you're angry at the people in town over the meat and in the next breath
you say the gift is in the giving."

"I hate it when I do that."

"Do what?"

"Contradict myself. It frosts my butt is all. I've got it all figured out what I'm giving every-
one else this Christmas."

"I'll bet I know."

"Guess."

"Cowboy guns, you don't like them anyway."

"Shoot. I thought it would be a surprise."

"You're as transparent as a pane of glass. So, who is the brunette?"

"Playmate of the month, June 1959."

"Did you say 1959?"

"Yeah, she was the model they hired when they displayed the XKE in New York."

"When was that?"

"1961."

"She's probably dead."

"No she's not, she lives in Salt Lake City and supports the performing arts."

"So, did you want the car or the girl?"

"Yep."

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°

I'd still surprise her, I had it in mind to give Tom and Liz each a Marlin Model 1895 Cow-
boy rifle, we only had 2. The Model 1895 Cowboy was an ideal big game rifle for hunt-
ers who appreciated the nostalgia of 19th Century-style firearms. The authentically old
western-styled .45-70 featured a 26" tapered octagon barrel with deep-cut Ballard-type
rifling, 9-shot tubular magazine, adjustable Marble semi-buckhorn rear and Marble car-
bine front sight. The American black walnut stock had a straight-grip, a hard rubber butt
plate and a blued steel fore-end cap. To accommodate tang sight installation, the serial
number was located on the left side of the receiver. That was a hunk of gun and
weighted about 8 pounds. There was a pair of New Model 7½" Super Blackhawk's that
would go nicely with the .45-70 rifles. Neither the rifle nor the revolver was for the faint
of heart.

The .45-70 Government cartridges put out by Winchester had a ton of muzzle energy
and there was little difference between the JSP and JHP. Most of the Remington .44
magnum cartridges had 750-800ft-lb of energy, making them a good back up. It meant
carrying 2 different cartridges, but it wasn't any different than what we did with the .308
and .45 ACP. I thought I saw some gun belts set up to handle 2 sizes of cartridges but if
I hadn't both should fit in a .45 caliber gun belt. The belt I had in mind was the border
belt made by El Paso Saddlery and had loops for both rifle and pistol cartridges. I'd
have to look, we'd dumped the leather from Dave's shop into 3 or 4 boxes. I knew we
had rifle scabbards, Dave had sizes for most of the rifles he carried. That had been his
problem, he got carried away trying to anticipate customers’ needs.

We only carried a couple of hard cases for rifles and they covered most sizes of long
arms. Focused as we were on Assault weapons we didn't need many sizes and the
cases could be filled with extra magazines. The only other case we carried was a drag
bag, generally used by snipers, and some of the rifles already came with a case. I hope
you caught the reference to Cold Steel; they were one of the only two brands we car-
ried. The styles were limited to the Military Classic, UWK, Recon Scout and the Counter
Tac I boot knife. Our only other choice was the standard issue Marine Corp Ka-Bar
Knife.

We didn't have a committee vote on what we carried in the store because, "In all the
town and all the cities, there are no statues to committees." It was our store and we car-
ried what we liked, which meant we didn't carry Glocks, because we were boycotting
Mattel. We were like Wal-Mart used to be, we mostly carried firearms made in America,
our little political statement. The notable exceptions being H&K and FAL. The only
Berettas we had were the ones Dave carried in his store, the single actions. H&K didn't
make weapons for the Nazi's, they weren't formed until 1949. In fact, they started out by
making sewing machines and didn't get into rifles until 1956. Many people think that
H&K is the best of the best and are the preferred firearms of most special operators.
They have 2 factories, one in Germany and one in the US of A.

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The world is a very strange place when you think about it. In some countries, a sup-
pressor is required for hunting. Reflex is one of the major suppressor manufacturers in
the world. Unfortunately for us, Al Capone didn't live in Finland. It is the most produced
rifle suppressor in the world. Patented and manufactured in Finland by BR-Tuote. Re-
flex Suppressors are used by Finnish hunters and home guards for shooters' noise pro-
tection. Exported to all continents. Reflex Suppressors is a well-known international
trade mark introduced in magazines and literature. (T6M14 for 7.62 mm NATO
M14/M1A). Remove the flashhider and screw on the suppressor. The number in the
model, e.g., T6, reveals the number of baffles.

We've always had criminals, probably since the dawn of mankind. How we chose to
deal with criminality has never been particularly successful because nothing deters a
sociopath. A majority of crimes are committed by persons under the influence of some
drug, the most common being alcohol. When any disaster arises, they'll be there, get-
ting theirs. Looting occurs during rioting because it's an opportunistic crime. Law en-
forcement is otherwise engaged trying to stop the riot, making looting possible. Then,
one finds oneself splitting hairs, is taking a bottle of water looting? Sure it is, if you don't
pay for it, but that's not the same as stealing a TV. Some states have laws permitting
limited looting for necessities, like food and water.

Calling it strategic reallocation doesn't change what it is; it is a lame attempt to justify
the action. The simple fact is that it will occur, be it right or wrong. One will usually find
strategic reallocation in stories I pen because it's a fact of life. Is a Tac-50 a necessity?
That might depend upon the circumstances and if the National Guard isn't there, it's
open to interpretation. The basic necessities are generally defined as food, water and
shelter. I've included prescriptions drugs and a means of self-defense, assuming that
what one needs to defend oneself might be something more than a .22 rifle. I don’t ad-
vocate it; I simply accept it as a reality. Some of the first places hit in New Orleans were
gun stores, think about that. They didn't shoot rats, they shot at cops. During the Watts
and Rodney King Riots, firemen required police protection.

We weren't worried about that, we owned the gun store and now we had a chain link
fence to protect it. Christmas presents weren't limited to firearms; some of the children
got German Shepherd puppies. Unlike the folks in New Orleans, we had money and
didn't need to steal. We must have bought a couple of litters, every family ended up with
a puppy and they weren't intended to be house pets.

"Oh Daddy, you shouldn't have," Liz said when she saw her new rifle and revolver.

"Fine, give it back and I'll sell it to someone else."

"Why a .45-70?" Tom asked.

152
"It was the largest caliber lever action rifle I had. We had some Winchester 1885s, but
they're single shot. I sort of figured you want a lever action rifle for when you went rid-
ing."

"Thank you."

"You are very welcome. When am I going to hear the patter of little feet?"

"I'll put the puppy down, Daddy."

"You know what I meant."

"It should be in about 7 months, Rob."

"Glory be, you figured it out. By the way everyone, we have some dog houses so you
won't have to keep the puppies in the house. If we're ready, let's eat. Tom you can
carve. Miguel, will you say grace?"

"I usually say it in Spanish."

"That's ok, I suspect that God is bilingual."

I didn't feel a bit guilty eating turkey when all we had to pass out to the people in Sedo-
na was ground beef. I was mildly irked, but was getting over it. Liz was right the gift was
in the giving. In fact, the ground beef actually cost more than a turkey, but we'd been
unable to get enough turkeys or hams leaving us little choice in the matter. I wasn't go-
ing to let one disgruntled recipient ruin it for everyone.

So far, the principal problem had been with distribution and the lack of power for pro-
cessing, not the actual lack of food. However, those two things had worked together to
have a significant impact on the prices of what was available. Last year after Katrina hit
the Gulf Coast, some of the refineries were closed solely due to a lack of power for a
time. Bad things, or so it is said, often happen in threes. If the power outage was #1 and
food shortages were #2, did that make the shortage of fuel #3 or was that a part of #1?
Was the unrest in the cities #3 or was that related to #1 and #2? Lots to think about.

"Pass the turkey."

"White or dark?"

"You gotta ask?"

"Pass your father the white meat, he's a leg man."

"I thought he liked brunettes."

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°

All in all it had been a very nice day. We had a little snow on the ground, a couple of
inches, and temperature was in the high 40s or low 50s. We didn't usually get enough
snow that you would use a sleigh. Overnight lows were down around freezing, not so
cold that the dogs’ houses wouldn't provide enough warmth for the new puppies. I don't
doubt that some of them ended up spending the night in the house; you know how kids
are when they get a new pet. I put a folded up blanket in our dog's new home, I as-
sumed she'd be able to burrow in and stay warm. We planned on having the dogs neu-
tered; there was no sense into turning the Roost into a dog ranch.

One had to realize that 6 freezers divided among 10 families didn't amount to a whole
lot of storage space. Even with the freezer compartments in the refrigerators, it might
not be a bad idea to watch for another sale at Sears. The average person eats 60
pounds of beef, 50 pounds of pork, 60 pounds of chicken, 15 pounds of turkey and 15
pounds of fish a year. That translated into 1,800 pounds of beef, 1,500 pounds of pork,
1,800 pounds of chicken and 750 pounds of fish. That was easily 5 sides of beef, a
dozen hogs, 600 chickens and a whole lot of fish filets. We weren't really into fishing,
although there was Mormon Lake over on state route 209. And, that didn't count the
food we passed out at Thanksgiving and again at Christmas. Anyone know where we
can get 600 fryers a year?

Even raising our own cattle, we could come up short in the future. That's one of the rea-
sons we bought 4 steers, to get a bit of a jump on things. Having turned our 2 home
ranch into a small development with a total of 10 families instead of 2, Matt and I felt we
had a responsibility to make certain we didn't run low on anything. In 1929, the first year
data of this type were recorded, 23.9 percent of disposable income was spent for food.
This percentage has since tapered off fractionally almost every year. By 1970, the per-
centage had dropped to 13.8 percent. During the 1970s, the percentage held fairly con-
stant because of high food-price inflation. By 1980, food spending was still 13.4 percent
of disposable income, but has since declined steadily to reach a low of 10.7
percent in 1997.

That was for the United States. Elsewhere, food could be as much as half or more of a
family’s income. Food insecurity can be defined by a scale according to information I
found on the web. Let me share the Howe-Devereaux framework with you:

Level 0 – Food Secure – Crude Mortality Rate (CMR) < 0.2/10,000/day and/or Wasting
< 2.3% – Cohesive social system; food prices stable; Coping strategies not utilized.

Level 1 – Food insecure – 0.2 <= CMR <0.5/10,000/day and/or 2.3% <= Wasting < 10%
– Cohesive social system; Food prices unstable; Seasonal shortages; Reversible cop-
ing strategies taken.

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Level 2 – Food crisis – 0.5 <= CMR < 1/10,000/day, 10% <= Wasting < 20%, and/or
prevalence of edema – Social system stressed but largely cohesive; Dramatic rise in
food and basic items prices; Adaptive mechanisms begin to fail; Increase in irreversible
coping strategies.

Level 3 – Famine – 1 <= CMR < 5/10,000/day, 20% <= Wasting < 40%, and/or preva-
lence of edema – Clear signs of social breakdown; markets begin to collapse; coping
strategies exhausted and survival strategies (migration in search of help, abandonment
of weaker members of the community) adopted; affected population identifies food
scarcity as the major societal problem.

Level 4 – Severe famine – 5 <= CMR <15/10,000/day, Wasting >= 40%, and/or preva-
lence of edema – Widespread social breakdown; markets close; survival strategies
widespread; affected population identifies food scarcity as the major societal problem.

Level 5 – Extreme famine – CMR >= 15/10,000/day – Complete social breakdown;

widespread mortality; affected population identifies food scarcity as the major societal
problem.

Various nutrition benchmarks have been proposed as the cut-off points for food insecu-
rity levels. The UN Refugee Nutrition Information System lists a number of such indica-
tor cutoff points:

A. Wasting - defined as less than -2 std dev in body weight, usually for children between
six and 59 months:

1. 5-10% = normal in African populations in non-drought conditions

2. Greater than 20% = "serious situation"
3. Greater than 40% = "severe crisis"

B. Edema due to kwashiorkor (swollen belly) is always a "cause for concern". Kwashior-
kor is a type of childhood malnutrition caused by inadequate protein intake in the pres-
ence of fairly good total calorie intake. British pediatrician Cicely D. Williams introduced
the name into international scientific circles in her 1935 Lancet article. The name is de-
rived from one of the Kwa languages of coastal Ghana and means "the one who is dis-
placed" reflecting the development of the condition in the older child who has been
weaned from the breast once a new sibling is born.

C. Crude mortality rate (CMR), number of deaths per ten thousand people in a time
span:

1. 1/10,000/day = "serious situation"

2. Greater than 2/10,000/day = "emergency out of control"
3. Under-five mortality rate (U5MR), i.e. number of deaths of children under five years of
age within a time span
4. 2/10,000/day = "serious situation"

155
5. 4/10,000/day = "emergency out of control"

The use of these cut-offs is contentious. Some argue that a crude mortality rate of one
death per ten thousand people per day is already a full-scale emergency. Others note
that while most indicators are focused on children, parents will often reduce their own
food consumption in favor of their children. Child malnutrition may thus be a trailing indi-
cator, indicating non-emergency levels even after adult malnutrition has reached crisis
levels. It has also been noted that malnutrition is often not directly related to food avail-
ability; malnutrition is often the result of disease or poor child-care practices, even with
adequate food availability.

As our country's production fell, so did our exports. The true measure of shortages in
this country would be when our grain exports hit zero and a need to import arose. That
excludes things that we normal import, like coffee, bananas, etc. Even before this food
situation arose, we already imported beef from Argentina and Canada together with
some seafood products. We imported coffee from all over the world and some countries’
economies depended on our imports of things like vanilla, as was demonstrated by the
New Coke vanilla crisis.

One thing that many fail to consider is what that negative balance of trade represents. It
means we import more than we export, ergo, many countries’ economies are dependent
on us buying from them. One of our larger export categories is food grains. If we cut im-
ports due to a lack of demand and reduce our exports due to a lack of availability where
does that leave them?

Worse yet, where did that leave us? Short of gas and diesel fuel for one thing, thus rais-
ing transportation costs. The supply of food was tightening due to unavailability and
processing delays. At this late date, some components of the electrical grid occasionally
failed. People were alert, preventing further cascading shutdowns. As food became
more available in large cities, the anger remained but the rioting stopped. Not in recent
memory had food consumed such a large part of disposable income, at times approach-
ing 25%. Tempers flared when the USDA suggested that the outlook for the coming
year was even worse than this year.

I seemed to recall reading that there was a possibility of reduced crops for a period of
up to 7 years, oh Dear Lord. Shortly after that news came out, gun sales slipped up, but
we were having trouble getting replacement M1As. Liz told Matt and me that Springfield
Armory was running as much as 90 days behind in deliveries. We suggested that she
place a large order and request 120 M1As and 60 XD .45s. We were hoping an order
that size might get some attention. There was always Fulton Armory, but they custom
built their M14s one at a time and we weren't one of their regular dealers.

156
We considered contacting Armalite. Their AR-10A2 could compete with M1A in price
and probably accuracy plus their 20 round mags were cheaper. We figured any port in a
storm and ordered 120 ea. AR-10A2s and M-15A2s and a few cases of magazines.
Their AR-50 made for an affordable .50 caliber rifle although it was only a single shot
and we went for 4 of those.

The only way to come out on ammo was to buy it by the pallet load. We called and or-
der 2 pallets each of 5.56 and 7.62 and while we were at it one pallet of Talon .50 cali-
ber reloads, ball, incendiary and tracer.

There wasn't any pill I could take to regain my youth, but I had the next best thing, my
new son-in-law, Tom. Liz had kept him a secret and I believe one of the reasons she did
that was to keep me from monopolizing his time. Julia had hidden Peter too, but not
long enough. I wonder if he really wanted the HK91 or just did that to humor me and
make a good impression. I'm glad now I made him pay for it. I had the impression that
he wore his wedding ring in his nose when I wasn't looking. Bottom line, I didn't like him,
but if he knew his history, I might be able live with it. That was a combination, an Eng-
lish teacher and a history teacher.

John and Sara used words that were a foreign language to me when they started talking
about their work. They'd get engrossed in a conversation about kingdom, phylum, class,
order and suborders and they were using Latin, but it was all Greek to me. I did learn
that the real Raptor from Jurassic Park, was a smaller feathered creature from Mongolia
and the Raptors in the movie were based on an American dinosaur much larger in size
and though dangerous, not particularly smart. I believed John would use the HK91, if
pressed to protect Sara. More likely she'd be protecting him; she could shoot with the
best of them. Tom and John passed muster in varying degrees, but Peter made me
nervous.

It took a while for the orders to come in. We got the ammo, in a month and the Arma-
lite's, in 2 months and finally the Springfield's, in 3 months and only half of what we or-
dered. By April Fool's Day 2007 we had everything we were going to get and put the
website back up and ran a sale. We marked everything up 25% and advertised it at
20% discounts. Example: a $1,000 rifle was marked $1,250 and discounted $250 to
$1,000. Sales were outstanding and we cleared out most of the new inventory and half
of the old inventory.

We shut the website down as soon as the sale ended and from that point on we had
ammo and magazines but no weapons for sale. We went through what we had and put
in a call to Ammoman who was advertising some South African belted .50BMG in 100
round belts. He had about one and a half pallets left and we bought him out. In our
spare time we belted much of the 7.62 for the M1919s.

157
Around mid-April a fella walked in and from his haircut, I guess he was active duty,
probably Army. He wanted to talk to us about some destructive devices he had come
upon.

"Know what an M72 is?"

"LAW rocket."

"How about M67"

"Fragmentation grenade."

"Five cases of the first item and 10 of the second."

"How hot are they?"

"Smoking."

"Where are they?"

"Back of my pickup."

"Mind if we run a scanner over you?"

"Help yourself, I'm not wired."

"You from up the road?"

"Yep."

"How much?"

"5 grand. Cash"

"Mind if we check it out?"

"Help yourself."

He had five cartons not cases of M72s, five to the carton, three cartons to the case in
sealed cartons. They had been manufactured in 2006. The M67s were packed 30 cans
to the sealed case and dated the same year.

"What's the deal?"

"I'm getting out and am short on cash."

158
"How soon?"

"A month."

"How about belted 7.62 and another 25 of the 72s?"

"The belted isn't a problem but I don't know about the rockets."

"Have any barrels for a H2HB?"

"How many?"

"6"

"Can do, say $400 each."

"How soon?"

"Next weekend."

"Twenty-five cases of the 7.62 and 6 barrels, we'll go 5 grand."

"Same time, same place in 7 days."

"Done. Want to count it?"

"I counted with you."

"See you next week."

"You're into hot military stuff?"

"Yeah, as soon as he leaves, let's move it to the armory in the storage room."

"What's that come out to?"

“Don’t know. It’s 25 LAWs and 300 hand grenades for five grand.”

"I hope we don't get caught."

"Let's not push it, the stuff we bought will be hard to trace."

"I'd have asked for more of the 7.62 barrels but I doubted he'd have them."

"They're easy enough to get, want me to order some?"

159
"Sure, get a half dozen."

"Ok."

"What did you just do, Rob?"

"Bought some military hardware from a guy from Navajo Depot."

"If you get caught with stolen military property, you'll die in prison."

"They have to catch us first."

"I've never known you to resort to situational ethics before."

"We've never been in a situation like this before."

"You sound like some cheap lawyer."

"Sue, we took the stuff off the market. It's better having it than having someone use it
against us."

"Why would that happen? The lights are back on, most of the time anyway. Some food
is getting to the stores and we can still buy fuel."

"Why? I'm tempted to ask why not. Listen to yourself, partial power, some food and fuel,
if you can afford it. There are a lot of people in this country that live from paycheck to
paycheck. How are they getting along? Their incomes are down and the prices are up.
We've sold more guns since the first of the year than we did in the two previous years.
People are getting ready for something and Matt and I agree that it won't be good."

"What?"

"We have no idea, but we're becoming a country with two classes, the haves and the
have-nots."

"We're more politically divided than we've been since the Civil War," she suggested.

"You noticed it too?"

"Well yes, people are moving to communities where people are more like minded,
changing into political enclaves where the thinking becomes more extreme as people
feed each other's thoughts."

160
"Personally, I like the idea of the kids moving back home. Spread out like they were, if
something really, really bad happened they wouldn't have much support and would
have been on the road trying to get here. I sure wish Julia had been more careful who
she picked to marry, Peter makes me nervous."

"He seems to belong more in the other political camp."

"Yeah, he wanted a HK91 of all things, but I'm not sure I've seen him shoot it."

"I'll talk to Julia and tell her we're concerned."

"Don't drive her away, not with the way things are now."

"You neatly changed the subject, what about the military hardware?"

"We have more coming, barrels and ammo."

I'll visit you down at the prison west of Phoenix."

"They might put me in the one at Winslow."

I wasn't particularly worried, as long as we didn't make it a habit to buy stuff from this
guy. He didn't offer a name and we didn't ask, I was hoping for plausible deniability. It
would be better if no one beyond Matt and I, Sue and Sarah knew about this. We might
include Liz and Tom, but only if they agreed not to mention it to the others. We didn't
have any practice grenades so there was no use trying to train anyone. At least 4 of us
knew how to use grenades so we'd just need to get by.

He was back the following week and had a bit of a surprise. Not only did he have what
we asked for, he had 5 more cartons of LAW rockets. He wanted 9,000 grand for the
whole shooting match and wasn't in a mood to negotiate. Better we should have them,
than have them used against us, I counted out 10 Ben Franklins from a full pack and
handed him the bundle. He didn't count it; he just nodded and began unloading the
pickup.

"Need some help?"

"Thanks, Tom, put it all in the underground storage armory."

"You could fight quite a war with this stuff."

"I was going to tell Liz and you anyway, you don't know the half of it; this makes 10 car-
tons of LAWs, 10 cases of grenades and 50 cans of 7.62 plus the spare barrels for the

161
Ma Deuce. We ordered spare barrels for the air cooled Browning 30's while we were at
it. Don't say anything about this except to Liz, I don't want it getting around."

"What was that you got from Ammoman?"

"South African belted .50BMG. It has the right links for the M2HB. We have some of the
Talon reloads, so we have most of the bases covered on .50 cal."

"Most?"

"Don't have any AP."

"Is the Talon belted or loose?"

"Loose."

"Have a linker?"

"Yes, one of those USGI M12 hand linkers."

"Links?"

"A couple of boxes full."

"Want me to link some 4 to 1 mix?"

"You could, use ball plus tracer or ball plus incendiary, we can tell by the tip color what it
is. Tracers are brown/maroon, incendiary is blue and AP is black or oh, never mind, you
know this don't you?"

"Sure do. I have a chart somewhere. Why don't you buy AP bullets and load your own
AP?"

"Why do that when it has already been done for us? I know where we can buy loaded
cartridges, ready to link."

"Get some and I'll link them. Can you get AP, API and APIT?"

"All of them, what do you think."

"Maybe some special belts with a rotation of AP, B, API, B and APIT. That would give
us 60% AP, 40% incendiary and the normal single tracer round." (B=ball)

"That would handle anything that standard AP/APIT is used against, but I doubt we'll
need many belts. I'll get 200 rounds each of API and APIT and 400 rounds of AP. We
can make up 10 100-round belts. We'll have to check the South African, I think it's all

162
ball and we can convert it to 4 to 1. With as much of that as we have, we have enough
for some practice sessions."

"Where did you find the 7.62 barrels for the 1919?"

"Northridge International in Northridge, California, $80 each. They had barrel bags too.
Back before California and Los Angeles County got nasty, that was one of three places
that sold assault rifles by the truckload. They must have been burned by someone,
they're pretty hard to deal with these days. Another good store for assault weapons was
B & B Guns in North Hollywood, but they're gone too. LA County put most of them out of
business. Surefire Suppressors are made in Fountain Valley, that's Orange County.
They're hard to sell due to the price."

163
 When We Were Young – Chapter 7

"Who makes the can for the USP?"

"Knight Armaments, I think it's a piece of junk, but Surefire only makes cans for rifles, so
far. If Knight used the metal Surefire uses their can would be a lot better."

"That's the last of it Rob, I'd better get back to the store."

"Thanks for the help; like I said don't tell anyone other than Liz."

I would have been more than happy if we never fired the machine guns in anger, but
this situation was deteriorating. We rented a U-Haul and headed to Phoenix to fill in
what we used and came back with less than half a truckload. They simply didn't have
the food and rationing was beginning to be employed. Thank God we'd have a garden in
next month. The application of manure had turned the soil into a sandy loam loaded
with organic matter, which would eventually become humus. Once establish, humus
would last for years, with the additional manure composting and enriching the soil.
Dumb farmer indeed. But I wasn't sure I was ready to learn to ride a horse, no matter
how tame Miguel claimed it was.

Our future seemed secure for now, regardless of what came down the pike; I hoped I
wasn't being over confident. I don't believe we were breaking any laws because our pri-
vate militia wasn't a paid militia and it was small enough to escape attention. Matt said
we'd received an announcement from ATF stating that for the interim, NFA weapon
sales were banned except to law enforcement and military. We filed the necessary re-
port listing our inventory and closed up the class III shop, for the interim.

For as long as I could remember, I imagined us hunkered down in the shelter, waiting
for the radiation to decay; if there were an all-out attack, Flagstaff could get hit. I never
imagined the property fenced in and having livestock. Six-hundred chickens? They
come about 50 to the case, packed in ice, when you could find them. If we could grow
600 chickens, it would take a week just to pluck them and word was it was a nasty
chore. I calculated the amount of chicken based on 60lb per person and 30 people
equaling 1,800 pounds and an average weight of 3lb, thus 600 chickens.

Our country was the land of abundance, we exported food. To find ourselves on the
other side of the coin was uncomfortable. The announcer on the TV said electricity was
less of a problem, thus processing was available again. In response to food shortages,
farmers have traditionally increased herds and flocks and gotten caught when the mar-
ket became glutted. Most of that livestock eats grain and if the grain crop were down or
diverted to ethanol and biodiesel, we could find ourselves caught in Catch-22.

164
"They're hurting in Sedona; the tourist business is way down."

"It probably won't pick up again until the price of gas comes down; oil is pushing $90 a
barrel."

"That much?''

"I'm 90% right, I predicted $100 a barrel."

"We're looking at $5 gas."

"Or, close to it. Why doesn't Bush just mandate that all cars and trucks are Flexible Fuel
Vehicles? Those can run on gas, gasohol and all the way up to E85."

"He's mostly a lame duck President at this point; I don't believe he'll do that. Besides,
we don't have enough grain and will have to produce ethanol from something else. If
we're short of food, they'll be diverting that grain to growing livestock."

"Do we have enough feed on hand?"

"I told them to get a 2 year supply."

"Will that be enough?"

"I don't know, but, it's a start."

"We're going to need another building to protect the feed."

"What did you have in mind, Miguel?"

"A pole building, covered with galvanized metal. I found a place on the internet that sells
kits."

"Are you suggesting we build it ourselves?"

"Either that or hire some folks from town, unemployment is up."

"How much?"

"Five thousand plus shipping."

"Dirt floor?"

"Sure, we can use pallets."

165
"How big is it?"

"30'x40'x8' walls."

"They make 'em higher?"

"Didn't give a price, but yes, they do."

"How high?"

"14'."

"Order a 30'x40'x14', Miguel, we might as well get the use of the roof. Either hire some
folks to assemble it or get a contractor. I'm not going to climb any damned ladders."

I had to think about that, a pallet wasn't stacked all that high. Maybe we could stack the
pallets on top of pallets, but that meant we'd need a forklift. Why the hell not, we had 10
families instead of 2, livestock, fences and a perpetual supply of manure to enrich the
soil. Plus with prices rising, the value of our gold holdings was going up. At Christmas
time, we'd filled our little compound with German Shepherd puppies and one of these
days, no one would dare come in without an invitation. Which reminded me, I'd better
load up on Dog Chow.

School was out for the summer and the garden was planted. Miguel had turned the soil
earlier and we'd walked behind a tiller until we had a smooth seed bed. It was a big gar-
den set up to use the tiller to weed between the rows. We didn't plant much iceberg let-
tuce; we weren't sure how to store it. Maybe vacuum packed in the fruit cellar, but I
couldn't find anything on the net to suggest how to preserve it. It said it couldn't be
canned or frozen. Traditional methods of storing foods often included a root cellar, sand
boxes and canning, freezing and dehydration.

One way to freeze large quantities of foods was to build an ice house and during the
middle of winter, harvest ice from frozen lakes. Which was fine if you lived up north, but
the coldest month of the year was January in Sedona and most of the time the tempera-
ture was above freezing. Here, we'd need a walk in freezer; it was the equivalent of an
ice house. We didn't need one at the moment, but it was something to think about.

Matt's underground storage was nothing more than a very large root cellar with
12,800ft³ of storage. I occasionally wondered if he had planned it that way. He must
have, the door was thick and insulated, just not a blast door. On paper, at least, we
could have stored 387 one year supplies of food from Walton Feed, enough food for 30
people for 13 years.

166
We had, however, begun to store food before we knew about them, using the same
methods they used to store wheat, beans and rice – pickle pails with oxygen absorbers.
We had experimented with flour, but it didn't keep that well. Salt and sugar was ok as
long as you added something to keep it dehydrated. Yeast would keep frozen forever if
blended with 25% water and 25% glycerin.

A 30-quart American canner would hold 19 pints or 14 quarts, essentially a double

batch when compared to the regular pressure canner most people had. We had 4 and
could do 56 quarts or 76 pints at a time and we had the Ball Book for a canning guide.

We had holes in our supplies, mostly food items that had become scare. We could grow
most of these and over planted the garden, forcing us to find more jars. We called Can-
ning Pantry and inquired about more of the jars. They had them in stock, but shipping
costs would be prohibitive. Hyrum, Utah is north of Salt Lake City and we rented a 24'
U-Haul plus a 12' open trailer. It was a perfect task for 2 68-year-old men. It turned out
to be 536 miles, one-way. We took 89 up to Utah route 20 and that to I-15. The guy who
used to sell the popcorn in Beaver wasn't there anymore and nobody had heard of him.
We saw the sign for Draper east on the road we exited on but we didn't go see USS,
they didn't have what we wanted. We packed all the jars we could haul inside the truck
and 6' high on the trailer. They didn't seemed to be impressed that we paid cash.

On the way back home, we noticed the exit for Payson. We were running late and didn't
stop. We wanted to make it a one-day round-trip and get home before anything hap-
pened. What could happen? We didn't really know, but didn't like being that far from
home. We now had enough jars to finish our canning. You realize that 56 quarts at a
time was nearly 5 cases, don't you? We had been stretching our supply of jars by
blanching and freezing the peas, canned peas aren't nearly as good as fresh frozen
peas. We could have dried them too.

Freezing Beans: Blanch clean prepared beans in boiling water for three minutes per
pound of beans. Cool immediately in cold water. Drain. Pack into containers or freezer
bags leaving some room at the top. Seal and freeze.

Storing Tomatoes: Stewed tomatoes, put up fresh from the garden, are the very best
way to get flavorful cooking tomatoes throughout the winter. And, while you can freeze
whole or peeled tomatoes for cooking during the winter, the taste and texture are not as
good as canned tomatoes. Of course, tomato sauce freezes beautifully.

Freezing Peas: Peas should be picked and preserved within as short a period of time as
possible. Shell and wash peas. Blanch in boiling water for 1½ minutes. Submerge in
ice-cold water immediately and drain. Pack peas into freezer containers. Seal and
freeze.

167
The Declaration of Independence was approved on a Thursday, in case you've won-
dered. On July 2, 1776 the Congress voted to declare independence from England. Af-
ter two days of debate and some changes to the document, on July 4th, the Congress
voted to accept the Declaration of Independence. This is why we celebrate July 4th as
Independence Day. The Declaration of Independence was approved by the Second
Continental Congress on July 4th 1776, but it was not signed until almost a month later.
The Congress did not have the approval of all 13 colonies until July 9 th. On July 19th
Congress ordered that an official copy of the document be created. The order called for
hand written ornamental script to be used on parchment paper with the title "The unan-
imous declaration of the thirteen United States of America". Using a quill pen, this took
some time to finish. Therefore the actual signing finally took place on August 2 nd. POP,
went my balloon. After you spend an hour figuring something out, it's disappointing to
learn you were wrong. The actual signing occurred on a Friday 4 weeks and 1 day later.

After that, we had to win the Revolutionary War. The Treaty of Paris of 1783, signed on
September 3, 1783, and ratified by the US Congress on January 14, 1784, formally
ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the
Thirteen Colonies in North America that had rebelled against British rule in 1776. Con-
gress on September 28, 1787, after some debate, decided to submit the Constitution to
the States for action. It made no recommendation for or against adoption. Eleven States
having thus ratified the Constitution, North Carolina added her ratification on November
21, 1789. Rhode Island did not ratify until May 29, 1790; the Continental Congress –
which still functioned at irregular intervals – passed a resolution on September 13,
1788, to put the new Constitution into operation.

The Constitution has been amended 27 times since 1789, and it is likely to be further
revised in the future. The most sweeping changes occurred within two years of its adop-
tion. In that period, ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, were add-
ed. Congress approved these amendments as a block in September 1789 and eleven
states had ratified them by the end of 1791.

The colonists, for example, claimed the right "to life, liberty, and property", "the rights,
liberties, and immunities of free and natural-born subjects within the realm of England";
the right to participate in legislative councils; "the great and inestimable privilege of be-
ing tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of [the common law of
England]"; "the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by royal char-
ters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws"; "a right peaceably to assem-
ble, consider of their grievances, and petition the king." They further declared that the
keeping of a standing army in the colonies in time of peace without the consent of the
colony in which the army was kept was "against law"; that it was "indispensably neces-
sary to good government, and rendered essential by the English constitution, that the
constituent branches of the legislature be independent of each other"; that certain acts
of Parliament in contravention of the foregoing principles were "infringement and viola-
tions of the rights of the colonists."

168
The United States is the most famous Constitutional Republican Democracy, although,
depending on which party has the most control, it fluctuates from leaning to slightly
more democratic (people or state run) to being slightly more republican (central gov-
ernment run) which is why each of the 2 main parties refer to themselves in such a way.
Though it may be sometimes slightly less centrally led, it remains a Constitutional Re-
publican Democracy.

The reason I mentioned that was it was Independence Day, 2007, a Wednesday. We
only had one case of beer, more than enough for this crowd. I think the coffee on this
particular day was Hills Bros. I would have thought Sue would have opened a can of
Folgers to celebrate the holiday, but the Hills Bros. was already open. That was a sign
of the times; not being able to choose the brand of coffee you drank. Cigarettes were
easier, the tobacco was grown in the US. They were only $40 a carton on the Res.

Sin tax is a euphemism for a tax specifically levied on certain generally socially –
proscribed goods – usually alcohol and tobacco. Sin taxes are often enacted for special
projects – American cities and counties have used them to pay for stadiums – when in-
creasing income or property taxes would be politically unviable.

Some jurisdictions have also levied taxes on illegal drugs. Whether this actually quali-
fies as a sin tax is rather questionable, since such taxes are generally intended to cre-
ate an additional punishment for trading, possession or consumption of illegal drugs ra-
ther than to raise revenue.

Such taxes have historically triggered rampant smuggling and flourishing black markets,
especially if they create large differences in the price of popular products in neighboring
jurisdictions.

A Pigovian tax is a tax levied to correct the negative externalities of a market activity.
For instance, a Pigovian tax may be levied on producers who pollute the environment to
encourage them to reduce pollution, and to provide revenue which may be used to
counteract the negative effects of the pollution. Certain types of Pigovian taxes are
sometimes referred to as sin taxes, for example taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.

If that was the case, what was the $200 tax on NFA weapons? A crying shame, if you
ask me. You couldn't sell a NFA weapon until the government issued the stamp and
they hadn't done so for the better part of a year. This was still the interim. All they had
done was neatly sidestepped the trade in NFA weapons. That had started 21 years be-
fore with the FOPA. It was about time to get out of the business, permanently. We were
going to do that just as soon as we could figure out how to do that and keep all of our
NFA weapons. Unfortunately, we couldn't transfer them to the corporation without the
stamps and were, therefore, caught between the rock and the hard spot. The corpora-

169
tion didn't qualify as either law enforcement or military. Fortunately, the machineguns
were in the name of the corporation and the weapons we bought from the GI weren't in
anyone's name. We could, of course, test fire the NFA weapons, if the need arose.

Is it an issue? It is if you're going out of your way to obey the law so nobody finds
$14,000 worth of indiscretions. It wasn't bad enough that we bought the stuff off the guy
when he walked in the door, we'd placed an order. If he were caught and decided to
give us up in a plea bargain, we'd attract too much attention, even though they wouldn't
find anything he supposedly sold us. We'd moved them and only Matt and I knew where
the things were. Furthermore, in recent months we'd spent a ton of money and no kind
of audit would be sufficiently revealing, as in the case of a net worth audit, the IRS was
famous for. Commingling personal and corporate funds sometimes happens when
you're a subchapter S corporation and your partner is a silent partner.

In some countries they keep 2 sets of books, the real ones and the set for the govern-
ment. South Korea, for example, descends on a business and locks it up tight. No one
can enter or leave without being searched. The real books are never kept on the prem-
ises; rather they're in someone's garage or whatever. I know about these things…

"No ribs this year?"

"We thought hamburgers and hot dogs might be a treat. It's been a while since we've
had any."

"Want a beer?"

"Why not, it's pretty warm out. We screwed up, Matt, we went right by Utah Shelter Sys-
tems and didn't buy any spare filters for our LUWA systems."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"We were almost to Beaver by the time it occurred to me."

"We can always call them and order some."

"No we can't."

Why not?"

"That makes too much sense. Besides, we haven't used the ones we have."

"That doesn't mean we shouldn’t have spares. We need 2 filters for a PA-300 and one
for a PA-150, right?"

170
"Right, how much do you figure?"

"Shouldn't be over $1,200, I say we get them and store them."

"Aren't you taking this preparedness business to extremes?"

"How is it possible to be over prepared?"

"By buying things you can't possibly need, Rob."

"And you believe that having spare gas filters for the Andair units go over the line?"

"I don't know, but if you're buying those, buy spare carbon dioxide filters too."

"What about carbon monoxide?"

"That's why we have the scrubbers. Are we going to be good neighbors and let other
people into the shelters if we need to use them?"

"Republicans or Democrats?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Most Dems are liberals and liberals seem to have the attitude that whoever is in charge
owes them something."

"Rob, the older you become the more cantankerous you become."

"I suppose we could make room for in-laws, but that's about as far as I'm willing to go."

"Want another beer?"

"Isn't the food ready?"

"Not for a while, they're waiting for the salads to finish chilling."

"They should have made those yesterday."

"They were busy canning."

"Canning what?"

"Strawberry preserves."

"Ok, one more, but I have to do the cooking; I don't want to get loaded."

171
°

The one thing we hadn't counted on was an epidemic. We had all of our vaccinations
updated and all had the two required flu shots for the H5N1. In addition, we had a sup-
ply of Tamiflu and multiple antibiotics. There was more information stored on the com-
puter than we could ever use. Tom was CLS trained and that was the limit of our medi-
cal training. At this very moment, an engineered virus was being introduced in several
large cities simultaneously. That night, we caught the first hint on the evening news.

CDC had announced an outbreak of an unidentified illness in several metropolitan are-

as. Early indications are that the illness is some sort of virus. The first cases were
traced back to a food distribution center in Detroit. Initial recommendations are to avoid
contract with anyone who many have recently gotten food from one of the federal distri-
bution centers. The centers which have been established throughout the country may in
fact have been subject to a terrorist attack, but until the exact virus is identified, the
CDC has order the center closed. Centers in Arizona are in Tucson, Phoenix, Mesa,
Prescott, Flagstaff, Show Low and on the reservations. As of this time, no cases have
been reported in Arizona.

"And baby makes 3."

"What?"

"Food shortages, high fuel prices and now this, I'd say that this is our third disaster."

"What do you want to do Rob?"

"Lock it down, nobody in or out. If it's a virus and not a bacterial infection, antibiotics
won't do us any good. Our only recourse is isolation, perhaps for as long as 30 days. A
virus can't live outside of a host for an extended period of time."

"What about the livestock?"

"Keep them close to the barn; airborne viruses can't travel very far. Damn, I wish those
dogs were a year older. We also need to get that building finished and the feed for the
livestock stored."

"It's nearly done, if we all pitch in, we can finish it less than a week."

"Good. Tom would Liz and you make sure the arms are passed out. I'll have to show
you where we moved our recent purchases."

"Do you want us to pass out everything?"

"Matt, what do you think?"

172
"We might as well, we're only going to get one chance if trouble comes looking."

Tom set up 4 fighting positions for the machine guns, making sure they had ammo and
a spare barrel for the gun. He wasn't familiar with the old M19191A4, but assumed it
might need to be head spaced and timed after the new barrel went in, just like the Ma
Deuce. He'd have to ask Matt about that. Maybe Matt had an old Field Manual they
could read concerning the weapon. If it did, not doubt there was some tool they needed
to do that. Guns with preset headspace were a more recent development.

By pre-positioning the weapons and ammo, they could cut the crew on each gun to a
gunner and one assistant instead of a gunner and 2 assistants. Being assistant gunners
on the 1919A4s would be a good job for Miguel's two boys. At the moment, Tom had
them filling sandbags for the fighting positions.

"Matt do you have the gages for the M1919A4?"

"Those and combo tools. I have the FM on the guns, but I'll have to look for it. They
aren't much different from their big sister, the Ma Deuce, you swap the barrels between
cans of ammo. Did you set up interlocking field of fire?"

"It will be a reach with only 4 guns, but there is some overlap."

"I think we ought to put in extra foxholes where we can store more rockets, grenades
and ammo. Did you have any trouble finding the stuff?"

"It was right where you said it would be, in the hole under the plywood. I didn’t know you
had put in that storage place."

"Rob and I decided to move the stuff we got from that GI in case he got caught and de-
cided to give us up. There's no way to trace the money and without the stuff, it's just his
word against ours."

"Any word on the virus?"

"TV guy said it appears to be related to SARS, it's the same unidentified coronavirus.
Incubation period runs from 2-7 days, but can reach 2 weeks so we'll lockdown until Au-
gust. We have some of the disposable N-100 masks in the storage room. If I recall cor-
rectly, SARS is spread by close contact."

"When was that outbreak?"

"2002-2003; there were a few cases reported in China in 2004. We're remote enough
we'll be ok if we take a few common sense precautions. There's no vaccine as far as I
know since the virus is unidentified. Oh, here's that Field Manual. Make sure whoever

173
you put on those guns reads it carefully and does some practice sessions on changing
barrels in those guns."

"You think we'll need them?"

"Probably not. Never know, so it's better safe than sorry. Be sure to cover them with a
tarp in case it rains. 'Sides, there's no need to advertise we have them set up."

"Liz, let's go spend some time on the range."

"I'll get my rifle, be right with you… Ok let's go. What have you been doing?"

"Setting up the fighting positions for the machine guns."

"Tom, we only have 10 families and 2 teenagers who can fight, should it come to that.
That's 11 teams of 2. With us on the sniper rifles and 4 teams on the machine guns,
doesn't that leave us shorthanded?"

"Not if everyone pulls his weigh. Did you talk to Juls about Peter?"

"She say when the chips are down, he'll pull his own weight."

"What do you think?"

"I think he bought that HK91 from Daddy to just get on his good side."

"Does your father know?"

"I think he suspects as much."

"Would you mind terribly if I asked him to team with me as my observer and your sister
team with you as your observer?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"A little training exercise, I'll explain it to your father."

"….so you see, it's an adaptation of SERE (Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape) training.
Don't make it too far, 30 miles or so should do. We'll take 2 canteens of water and 3
MREs, which under normal circumstances would be more than enough to get us back
home."

174
"Live ammo?"

"It has to be realistic if it's to work. Liz and Julia can provide harassing fire from a safe
distance."

"It's just a shame we don't have a couple of belts of blanks for one of the machineguns.
I like it, either you'll make a man of him or Julia will see him for what he really is. It's go-
ing to be hot out in that desert, are you sure you'll be ok?"

The DOD teaches the SERE Level-C training course to soldiers who are in a high- risk-
of-capture category, which includes Special Forces, Rangers and aviators. The course
is designed to give students the skill to survive and evade capture or, if captured, to re-
sist interrogation or exploitation and plan their escape. The course includes a classroom
phase, a field phase and a resistance training laboratory which simulates the environ-
ment of a prisoner-of-war compound. I passed the class."

"Peter, we're going to team you up with Tom as your observer. Julia will team with Liz
as her observer. To get you familiar with the tasks involved, we're going to run a training
scenario. We'll drop the 2 of you a few miles from home in the desert and it will be your
responsibility to get back home, taking out any enemy combatants you find along the
way."

"But we'll have food and water, right?"

"Enough so you can get home safely. We're giving you live ammo because we've just
heard that there might be some escaped prisoners from the prison at Winslow out there
somewhere. Your mission will be to figure out where you are and get back home as
soon as possible."

"What escaped prisoners from Winslow?"

"That will be Liz and Julia. Peter will probably assume we dropped them off east of here
because of the escaped prisoner comment."

"Where are you dropping them off?"

"In the Prescott National Forest, just east of Perkinsville to the west of here."

"I have some blanks for the M19191A4."

"You do? I didn't know that, Matt. Good, this is going to be better than I thought. They're
going to have forest and desert between here and there, this ought to be interesting."

175
"Will they be ok?"

"Tom has a radio in his fanny pack; he can call Liz if they have a real problem."

"It seems like a dirty trick to me, Rob."

"Matt, we only have 22 people to defend the ranch; we need to be able to count on eve-
ryone."

"Ok, grab your gear and get out. See you back at home."

"Tom, do you have any idea where we are?"

"About 30 miles from home."

"Which direction?"

"We won't know that until the sun comes up and we can match landmarks to the map."

"I think the ranch is west of here."

"Why do you think that?"

"Something they said about escaped prisoners."

"Rob could have said that just to throw us off. Is your weapon loaded? I could be wrong
about those escaped prisoners. We'll wait for sunrise, which will give us our directions."

"What kind of map do you have?"

"A topographical map."

"Ok. The sun is up and east is in that direction. Do you see a lake, Pete?"

"Peter. No, I don't see a lake, why?"

"Pete, if we were east of Sedona, you could see a lake named Mormon Lake near us.
I'd say we're west of Sedona, right about here."

"Peter. Yes, the location fits."

"Let's go, Petey, to the east and take it easy on the water."

176
"Peter. I'm thirsty."

"You only have 2 canteens and I don't see any water, Petey."

"Ok, Pete."

About two hours later and 4 miles to the east…

"Ok, Pete, take 5 and let's have a snack."

"It's getting warm, Tom. I may be a little out of shape."

Crack…ping

"Get your head down. I guess I was wrong about those prisoners, but I'm right on our
location, lock and load."

"Were they shooting at us?"

"Do you see anyone else? You're the observer; you'd better get to observing."

I got Liz's model 70 out of the drag case and had a look around. It didn't take me that
long to spot the girls or that big model Tac-50 rifle. Liz was waving at me and Julia was
watching us through the spotting scope and giving me a thumbs down. Pete didn't have
a clue and the girls were only about 500 meters out. They should have had a red flag to
help Pete.

"See anyone, Tom?"

"No, did you?"

"Un-un."

"Keep your head down and let's keep moving. This is really going to slow us down."

We moved another couple of miles to the east and one of the M19191A4s opened up. I
didn't hear any pings, so they were using blanks. I assumed it was Rob and Matt.

"Pete, they after us and have a machine gun, see if you can spot them."

"I can't see anybody."

"Well look, for crying out loud, whoever it is can't be that far away if they can see us to
shoot at us."

"I don't see anybody."

177
"Ok, it's about noon, get up under those rocks and let's have lunch."

"Don't you want to keep moving?"

"Not if you can't spot them, no."

"Do you eat these cold?"

"I guess so, I don't see any warming pouches."

"Chicken Tetrazzini, yuck."

"That's what I have too, it's not bad."

"Is this all the TP they put in the package?"

"What did you expect, a roll?"

"Excuse me."

"Don't let a snake bite you on the butt."

It was slow going, we made 12 miles that first day. According to my calculations, that
was ½ way. We hadn't had any more surprises, but I was sure the girls were planning
something. I was eating light because it was fairly warm out. I also nursed my water
supply; it wouldn’t look good if I ran out. The country simply wasn't all that rough and we
could have made it most of the way home if Pete had been in better shape. I decided
that the benefits of moving at night were outweighed by Pete's inexperience; I didn't
want to have to deal with a broken leg.

"We'll run guard shifts tonight, Pete; you can go first and wake me up at midnight."

"What do I do?"

"Observe. See if you can find those guys who were after us earlier."

I'd seen the girls; they were about 600 meters ahead of us. I pretty much expected that
Liz would periodically pop off a round in our general direction just to get our attention.
There was a large rock about 10 meters away that I would use if I were in her position. If
she hit it with a frangible round Rob had gotten from Watson's Weapons, the round
would just shatter.

Crack… ping.

178
"Take cover, we're under fire, Tom."

"They can't see us Pete, that's just harassing fire."

"What if they have night vision?"

"Maybe they do, don't move around. Wake me at midnight."

Crack… ping.

Crack… ping.

Crack… ping.

"You can wake up now and go to sleep Pete, I'll take over for now."

The way Pete handled that weapon was enough to make anyone nervous. He had no
sense of the direction his muzzle was pointing and I had to show him the safety. Once I
took over, I waited for the next harassing round and then blinked my flashlight so Liz
could get some sleep. I planned to spend the remainder of the way home teaching Pete
the finer points of that weapon he was carrying and the day after we got home, he was
going on the range until he could actually shoot it.

He was developing limited situational awareness, at least he presumed we were under

attack by those supposedly escaped convicts and they apparently had it in for us. When
this lesson was over, I was getting Liz back and Julia could finish polishing him up or
shine him off. I had Liz's model 70, because there was no reason for me to carry that
heavy Tac-50 for nearly 30 miles across the desert when the girls were driving. I could
see why she liked the rifle; it was relatively light, accurate and had a darned good
scope.

Crack… ping.

That was our wake up call. I got out a heat tab and heated some water for a cup of in-
stant coffee. Then I broke into the 2nd MRE and ate the cookies. I lit a second heat tab
and heated water for Pete, who wanted to know which was the breakfast MRE. He was
referring to a cheese omelet, 2005 production. We had those entrees back at the ranch
which was about 12 miles from where we were.

"You don't really know how to use that rifle, do you Pete?"

"Not really, no."

179
"Did Julia speak to you about it?"

"Yes, but I'm not really into guns."

"And yet you bought a $2,500 rifle from Rob for what, $750?"

"That's right."

"I believe that he's not pleased with you. Tomorrow, we're going to the range and you're
going to learn to use that firearm."

"Do I have to?"

"Only if you intend to stay married to Julia. All 3 of the sisters can shoot and shoot well.
John's a Paleontologist and he's learned proficiency with a weapon. Rob gave him one
and offered me one. I went for the Tac-50 rifle instead."

"That cannon?"

"I can reach out over a mile with that rifle and touch someone. While the rifle is rated as
effective out to 1,800 meters, I've made shots at 2,000 meters or about 1.25 miles. We
generally use the Norwegian Raufoss Mk 211 rounds."

"Is there a silencer on the rifle?"

"Jet titanium suppressor. They sell for $2,500. Time to move out."

The girls must have gotten tired of playing; we made it back to the ranch in 5 hours. I
was tired and Pete was exhausted. He said he'd see me on the range tomorrow. I told
him to be sure and tell Julia. He didn't say anything but his limp suggested he must
have developed blisters from ill-fitting boots or wearing the wrong socks. Being aware of
what makes a good fit in your shoes, the best socks to wear, and how to avoid and treat
common foot problems can help you enjoy walking more. Each walker needs to find
what combination of shoes, socks, insoles, and foot care works for them. Everything
you put on or around your foot becomes related to how well your foot functions.

When I turned out at 8 the next morning, Pete was already on the range, waiting. To
make it easier for him, I brought a HK91 too. We started out with disassembly, cleaning
and reassembly. Then I put up some silhouettes at 100 meters and we started. Routine
protocol would have been to start with a 6" bull to allow sighting the rifle. Instead, I had
Pete call his shots and noted the impact. This rifle had already been sighted in and only
required a minor adjustment. When we thought it was correctly sighted, I tried it calling
my shots with Pete observing. It was right on. The rifle I brought was sighted in so we
moved the target back to 200 meters and continued the practice. He wasn't doing badly

180
and we called it a day. I told him to take a day off to rest his shoulder and we'd resume
in two or three days.

Having never shot a rifle before, Pete was easy to teach, he didn't have any bad habits
to unlearn although the second time we went out, he was flinching from a very sore
shoulder. I gave him a padded shooting jacket and it helped but we quit early. I told him
we'd resume Monday and to wear the shooting jacket for a while.

Tom kept you filled in on their little adventure but he didn't tell you everything. They had
heaters for their MREs, but Pete tore his rendering it unusable. Rather than say any-
thing, Tom decided they'd just eat cold MREs. I'm sure Julia set Pete straight and if they
found themselves in the boonies living on MREs again, they'd be eating hot food. Once
we cracked his shell, he wasn't a half bad fella and we called him Peter as he preferred
because he'd finally shown some backbone. Proof positive had been him not complain-
ing about his feet which took about 2 weeks to heal up and the fact he hadn't tried to
mooch water when he ran out early on the second day.

My fellow Americans,

I come to you tonight with a message of importance concerning our food and fuel sup-
plies. Despite near record yields of some crops, others had lower yields either due to
drought or an inability to plant. While we have enough food to feed our nation, problems
in the supply chain may cause regional shortages.

We overcame our electrical woes of this past year and have the power to process the
crop as it is harvested. However, we may experience transportation difficulties due to
two things, First, Venezuela had declared a cap on shipment of fuels to this country;
second several fields throughout the world have passed peak production meaning pro-
duction is slowly being reduced.

On the 24th of May, last year, I announced my energy initiative. To date virtually nothing
has been done to implement that plan. As long as environmentalists block production of
our existing reserves, as long as environmentalists block nuclear energy initiatives and
as long as the automotive industry ignores calls for more fuel efficient and alternative
fueled vehicles, the problem will remain.

Corn and soybeans are a limited source of renewable energy as there is insufficient ar-
able land in this country to produce enough grain to meet our food and fuel needs. Ef-
forts to produce substitutes for ethanol have only recently gotten underway in the United
Kingdom and more recently, Canada. I therefore call on the auto industry to increase
the production of Flexible Fuel Vehicles, the fuel industry to accelerate the development
of alternative sources of alcohol for fuel and consideration of conversion of coal to die-
sel fuel, as they do in South Africa.

181
We can expect an increase in food prices primarily associated with the increasing costs
of transportation for the foreseeable future. Given the necessary lead time to expand
our production of alternative fuels, analysts within my administration suggest it could
take as long as 7 years to stabilize the current situation.

At the moment, the large cities are calm, electrical power has been restored and food is
flowing in the supply chain. We are balanced on the razor's edge, and I call on all Amer-
icans to work to maintain the current stability. As we will do what we can, so must you.

God Bless America.

"I don't think we'll take down that chain link fence just yet, Matt, I didn't like the tone of
his address."

"Yeah right, you've had a bomb shelter for what, 30 years? We have enough food
stored for how long? With the amount of fuel we have stored one bomb could turn this
compound into a hole in the ground. We'd better put those machine guns away before it
rains and they get rusted."

"We can store them, set up, but I don't want to dismantle them other than lifting the gun
off the tripods. Did you hear what he said; we're sitting on a razor's edge."

"We've been sitting on a razor's edge since 1945, Matt. Even if Iran and North Korean
had the bomb, which is debatable, they wouldn't have enough to do much to us. The
North Koreans threatened nuclear war if we interfered with the launch of their missile.
We could wipe 'em out with a couple of Trident D-5s. The entire Chinese Navy is small-
er than a couple of our CSGs. We're numero uno in military hardware; nobody is going
to mess with us. You heard him, we have the food and it’s just going to cost more."

"I'd hate like hell to wake up some morning and find out you're wrong Matt. I won't risk
that; we'll keep everything topped off and our powder dry. We may have the food, but
they have the fuel. If we don't export grain, people are going to starve and starvation is
one of the reasons people go to war."

"We can't be the only country that produces rice."

"In world terms, we're a small rice producer, producing 9 million metric tons out of a total
of 588.5 million metric tons, ~ 1.5%. We're the largest corn producer at 40% and 3rd
largest wheat producer at 11.6% of the crop."

"I see what you mean. With grain production and distribution tied to hydrocarbons, I can
honestly say, Houston, we have a problem."

"No chit Sherlock, what was your first clue?"

182
"So why didn't we interfere with their launch?"

"The big missile didn't go anywhere and the short range missiles were aimed at Russia
and Japan. We didn't have to embarrass ourselves by having a failed interception. From
what I read in the papers and saw on TV last year, everyone was telling them not to try
and launch the big missile. What I don't like about it is that Kim Jong Il has embarrassed
himself and North Korea. With his people starving, he took a big risk spending money to
launch the missiles."

"Which leaves North Korea with no money to buy food, right?"

183
 When We Were Young – Chapter 8

"I hadn't thought of that, you're right," I admitted. "It just goes to show you Matt, I was
right, just 30 years too early. I'd better check the batteries in the CD V-715."

"I'm sure the Navy can spare a couple of D-5s, don't bother. You just said neither the
Chinese nor North Korea could go up against our Navy."

"I said that 2 D-5s could wipe out North Korea and 2 of our Carrier Strike Groups were
bigger than the Chinese Navy. No one really knows how many nuclear weapons China
has; I've heard estimates from 400 to 1,200."

"Who leads the word in production of rice?"

"The Chinese, who else? They produce 28¼% of the world's rice supply and India pro-
duces 22½%; combined, that’s a little more than half of the world supply."

"If that's the case, why would our 9 million metric tons make a difference?"

"I don't know that our rice would make a difference, but what if we cut our exports of
corn?"

"Because we're using them to produce ethanol?"

"Or, as feed grain. Oil isn't the only thing we import from Argentina, we import beef too.
If Chavez won't let us import oil, we might refuse to import their beef."

"Oh good, McDonald's hamburgers will taste better."

"Which has what to do with the North Korean missile test?"

"Now that you ask, I don't really know."

His question caught me off guard, but that's what happens when you talk about too
many subjects in the same conversation. About the only threat that North Korea would
pose is if they exported any nuclear weapons they had to Iran. Someone was already
commenting on that so I wasn't going to worry about it. We were at the age where our
preparations were more for our kids than for ourselves. The President's speech sug-
gested we should be concerned more about energy than food. There was an ample
supply of food, it would just cost more. Moreover, we had a large garden and were
growing the things that were hard to find in the grocery stores.

Now that Julia's husband had his head out of his behind, we didn't have anyone here,
except for the grandchildren, who couldn't help with our defense, should it come to that.

184
We had a sniper team, 4 machinegun teams and 6 rifle teams. The place was dotted
with foxholes, some to fight from and some to hold extra rockets, grenades and ammo.
The thing I liked most about our grandchildren, in fact all grandchildren, was that you
could spoil them and return them to their parents. All of which would happen as soon as
we had some of our own. We were getting close to the blessed event, but it hadn't hap-
pened yet. One of the girls would probably decide to have her baby in the middle of
some darned firefight. Matt was the lucky grandfather. Sarah and Rachel had babies
about 3 weeks apart, spoiling their otherwise perfect record of doing everything togeth-
er.

Getting back to the missiles; reports were that NK launched anywhere from 3 to 6 mis-
siles and didn't hit anything but the Sea of Japan. That was good; they probably used up
their missiles and their fuel. The US government knew exactly how many launches
there were, NORAD followed them. Further analysis suggested that they were incapa-
ble of miniaturizing nuclear warheads small enough to fit on their missiles.

I was looking forward to the next day's news when NK would claim the tests had been
successful (they didn't blow up on the launch pad). Now if that missile had gone just a
little further and landed on Japan, we wouldn't be having this discussion. We be talking
about how the US ended the war that began in 1950 and how we'd accomplished it with
conventionally equipped Tomahawk cruise missiles. One had to wonder how much
longer the people of North Korea would put up with that crackpot. One also had to won-
der if Japan would continue to supply food to the North Koreans. Those 6 nation talks
were 5 people talking, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and the United States and
one party not listening, North Korea. In 1953 they somehow got the idea that they could
hold out longer than we could. Why not, it had worked for over 50 years and it appeared
that South Korea didn't want to fight with the North.

"I heard that Costco got in a supply of Folgers and Charmin in, want to go with me to
Prescott?"

"Only if we can stop at the Res on the way back, I need another case of smokes."

"That won't work Matt, the Res is one way and Prescott the other."

"Ok, you go to Prescott and I hit the Res, how many cartons do you want?"

"I've give you 2 grand, you buy all that you can get."

"Pall Mall, right?"

"Unfiltered."

For whatever reason we hadn't yet resorted to using gold and silver although we ac-
cepted it in the gun store for weapons and ammo, not that we were getting many cus-
tomers these days. It was either the locked gate or those 10 half-grown German Shep-

185
herd's that were keeping our regular customers away. We began to accept orders for
ammo over the phone and deliver it to Sedona.

Just before Labor Day, who should show up but that GI from Navajo Depot. This time
he had 2 things, 40mm grenades and a 15 M203s. He must have really need money, he
was offering the M203s for $5,000 and the grenades for $10 each. All he had was the
M433 HEDP. He claimed that the rounds were being phased out in favor of a new
NATO round that had improved safety. He went on to say this would be his last offering,
he was scheduled to get out in a few months and needed traveling money.

Sue shelled out the 10 grand he wanted and had Tom take care of storing our new ac-
quisitions. By the time Matt and I got back, the M203s were mounted, the grenades
stored and Sue was wearing a Cheshire cat-like grin. She told Matt and me of our latest
acquisition. What the hell, they couldn't put us in prison for any longer than they already
could. I almost broke out laughing when I remember what she'd said way back when
about our being prepared for anything.

The only thing we had left to sell was our class III weapons and ammo and all sales of
class III were still suspended. I wondered what it would be that got us into the survival
situation for which we were prepared, food, fuel or our weapons supply. Yes we were
ready and no, none of us knew that that day wasn't that far off.

"What's the status on that SARS outbreak?"

"It has been contained. It only affected a few hundred people and most of the ones that
died, died from pneumonia."

"Good, that's one less thing to worry about. What's our fuel situation?"

"We were topped off last week; every fuel storage tank is filled to capacity. The going
price worked out to $5.50 a gallon."

"What about other things?"

"All we have to harvest is potatoes and more tomatoes. We’re harvesting the acorn,
spaghetti and butternut squash. The girls are planning on canning spaghetti sauce. We
dug, dried and bagged the onions a while back."

"Is there anything you can think of that we’re going to need that we don't have?"

"Luck, a whole large bunch of luck."

"Is everyone equipped with a BOB?"

186
"No but we do have vehicle bags. Our only deficit is the lack of trained medical person-
nel."

"There's not much we can do about that, is there?"

"Not on short notice."

"Ok, I take our website down and run an ad in the paper indicating that we've exhausted
our supply of salable ammo."

"Have we?"

"Not exactly no, but let's wait and see what happens. We may end up supplying ammo
to some local militia or something."

"What are we going to do about people's jobs?"

"They might just as well go to work until we know something definitive. Have we re-
placed all of the parts we used to repair the vehicles after the solar storm last year?"

"All of them and extras. We have extra batteries and tires, full sets of belts and hoses
and all the ignition and electronic components we'll need stored in the storage room."

"When can we start harvesting the potatoes?"

"Anytime, we had the first frost."

"Let's do that. Are the livestock ready for butchering?"

"That might be another month or two on the cattle, the hogs are ready now. However,
we did buy 12 cases of chickens, bagged them and stored them in the freezers."

"Let's get the hogs butchered, cut and wrapped while we harvesting and storing the po-
tatoes. You better tell the girls to harvest the remainder of the tomatoes."

"Do you want to butcher all 11 hogs?"

"Yes, it might be our last chance. We'd better take in the 2 steers too, regardless of
weight."

"Gottcha."

"How long until we have the meat?"

187
"I put a rush on it, they'll kill the animals today and cut up the pork while the beef ages,
we can pick up the pork in 3 days and the beef in a week."

"I should have asked you to order a case of Pullman hams and 2 cases of Cure 81s."

"Give them a call, maybe they can have the hams in by the time the beef is cut and
wrapped."

"Tom, how lean will the ground beef be?"

"Fairly lean, Rob, Sue told me to have them add 2 boxes of boneless per steer and use
up most of the fat."

"Good we needed 2½ steers and that will make up for what we were short."

"Mind telling me what a Pullman ham is?"

"You know those square hams that they slice in the deli? They come in a can and are
called a Pullman loaf, probably from back when we all traveled by train."

"Oh, I see. It's a shame we're all in a hurry, cars and airplanes doomed the passenger
train."

"A lack of fuel might bring them back. When I was a young man, airplane tickets were
really expensive. I heard that the airlines might be forced to double prices and if they do,
you'll see more trains and busses."

"Which President was it who wanted to deregulate everything?"

"Reagan. He broke PATCO, the Soviet Union and deregulated the airlines."

"So, when do the fireworks begin?"

"Be patient, they'll come. People won't be able to afford food and we'll have riots again.
Then they'll revolt over the fuel prices and the country will go to hell in a hurry. It won't
take much to trigger them this time around, if next summer is hotter than normal, we're
done for."

"Why?"

"Our infrastructure is old and fragile, Tom. Demand for electricity outstrips the supply
and anything can cause a blackout, even a solar flare. We consume far more fuel than
we produce and the environmentalists oppose opening the new oil fields we have off the
coast of California and Alaska. We had an ethanol shortage when they eliminated
MTBE from the gasoline. That raised the price of gas 40 cents because it was short
while they changed over. I didn't see the price of gas come back down, did you?"

188
"Not really."

"I suppose I'm a zealot, the voice in the wilderness crying, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when and what."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg

"Now what? I'll get the bell. It's October for crying out loud, how could we lose power
now?"

KNAZ-2. An early winter storm in the upper Midwest took down major power lines due
to icing conditions. The storm, which is expected to spread to the northeast, dumped as
much as 12" of snow in Detroit. A second storm is looming off the Pacific coast could
move eastward before cleanup from the current storm is completed. As with the solar
flare of 2006, energy supplies are being redirected by order of the Governor and we an-
ticipate restoration of service within the next 12 hours. Stay tuned for late breaking news
from NBC.

"Julia called, they're letting school out early and Pete and she will bring Miguel's boys
home with them."

"Matt Jr. will probably be home within the hour if the power is going to be out for 12
hours. I'll go find Miguel and tell him about the boys."

"Daddy, what happened to the lights?"

"Power lines down in the Midwest, Liz. It was just on channel 2."

"I think I'll get Tom and we'll go riding."

"Remember not to try and shoot a gun from the back of your horse."

Arizona does not observe DST (however, the large Navajo Indian Reservation, which
extends from Arizona into two adjacent states, does). This is in large part due to energy
conservation since the temperature in and around Phoenix and Tucson is hotter than
any other large US metro areas during the summer, resulting in more power usage from
air conditioning units/swamp coolers in homes and businesses. An extra hour of sun-
light would cause people to run their cooling systems much longer than needed, thereby
wasting energy.

I sort of figured they'd ride the fence line and come back to the house. When they got to
the back gate they went through it and headed west to have a real ride. It was getting
dark by 5:30 and they still weren't back.

189
"Do you think I should go look for them, Sue?"

"If they had trouble, wouldn't Tom have radioed back with the radio?"

"It would depend on how far out they went. Those radios don’t have that good of a
range."

"You'd have to ride a horse; the area is too rough for any of our vehicles."

"Perhaps we should go and see if there's a problem, I'll have Miguel saddle some hors-
es."

"You don't ride."

"Then it's about time I learned. We'll take a 2-meter handie talkie and a portable CB ra-
dio, you stand by the radios."

"I hope everything is ok."

"And I hope I don't fall off that damned horse."

"There you go boss, tamest horse we have."

"Does it have a name?"

"Salina."

Do you have any idea how hard it is to track someone in the dark? We could follow hoof
prints on that sand, but there was a lot of rock and we were having one heck of a time.
We went west about 3 miles and then turned south. We meandered in that direction and
eventually turned back east, all the time not getting any reports on channel 9 on the CB
or the preset frequency on the 2-meter hand held. Eventually, around 11pm, we ended
back on highway 89 about a mile south of the ranch. We said crap and went home,
where we found Tom and Liz getting ready to go look for us.

"Where were you, I called and called?"

"So did I, on both radios, when did they get back?"

"About 7:30. Why weren't you on the emergency channel 10?"

"Because the emergency channel is channel 9. What frequency were you using on the 2
meter band?"

190
"144.275."

"Dear, the preset frequency is 144.200. 144.275 is our backup frequency. Why didn't
you turn the scanner on, it has all of our preset frequencies programmed into it?"

"I can't even figure out the TV control, that's why."

"Huh?"

The second storm moved in before power was restored making it impossible to restore
power to the upper Midwest. We had our power back as promised, within 12 hours. Be-
cause it was autumn and not summer, only the primary generator kicked in and it ran at
less than full power. It appeared we'd slipped through another period of trouble when…

KNAZ-2 joins the following program in progress. At 3:15 am, a large explosion occurred
in downtown Atlanta followed shortly thereafter by explosions that rocked Dallas and
Houston.

White House representative Tony Snow discounted the possibility that the perpetrators
had nuclear weapons, stating that, "If they had nuclear weapons, they would have used
them and inflicted more damage than they did."

"Terrorists?"

"Obviously. The real question is, was it Muslim terrorists."

"I don't think so, who is based in Dallas and Houston?"

"Oil companies?"

"Yeah, but who is based in Atlanta?"

"Several major national and international companies are headquartered in Atlanta or its
nearby suburbs, including four Fortune 100 companies: Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Bell-
South, and UPS. The headquarters of wireless giant Cingular can be found about two
miles inside the perimeter on I-75. Delta Air Lines is also headquartered in Atlanta.
Rubbermaid moved there and CNN Center is there."

"CNN? That might explain Atlanta."

"What do you have against CNN, they fired Peter Arnett?"

"Yeah but, they kept Wolf Blitzer and fired Aaron Brown."

191
"Brown is better off, he's teaching at ASU in Tempe. They had to fire him; he was the
voice of reason in their insanity. Put on CNN and they'll be blaming the bombings on the
White House. Either it’s home grown terrorists or imports; and, either way, the White
House didn't catch them when they bought the fertilizer."

"You're assuming it was ANFO?"

"Yeah, a little fertilizer, a splash of fuel oil and boom. It's not that hard to make, not if
Tim McVey could figure it out."

"Let's say ANFO. The next question is who, people angry over gas prices or eco-
terrorists?"

"Well, there's ELF and they're linked to ALF."

"Huh?"

"Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. Don't forget PETA, they're proba-
bly involved with ELF too."

"Why eco-terrorists and not people angry over gas prices?"

"People angry over gas prices wouldn't waste fuel making a bomb."

"But why ELF?"

"Because the oil companies are pushing opening the West Coast and Alaskan oil
fields?"

"What's new about that, they've been pushing for years and have Bush convinced. They
just can't get it through Congress. A new bill was introduced in the House to open Alas-
ka and the California Coast."

"Ok, let’s say I buy that, is there anything to be concerned about, assuming it was eco-
terrorists?"

"Not unless they decide to blow up a refinery. Remember what happen on the Gulf
Coast when Katrina swamped the refineries? Gas doubled in price overnight. If they
blow up a refinery in our present situation, what would that do?"

"It wasn't as simple as that, part of the problem was the loss of electricity to the pumps
along the pipelines. They couldn't get gas delivered to the east coast if I remember."

"That's right, it was only temporary, but the price of gas went through the roof for a few
days. I think perhaps we're in for a rude awakening; all they had to do is blow up one

192
refinery and destroy a couple of pumping stations. Think of the trouble that would cause
for a country already strapped for fuel and depending on those fuel supplies to distribute
what food there is."

"Chit."

"Double Chit. Pray it doesn't happen or we'll be in for trying times."

One of our countries founders who was more disliked than liked was an Englishman by
the name of Thomas Paine. Paine wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense. The first
issue began with:

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot
will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, de-
serves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily con-
quered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glori-
ous the triumph.

When he died, 6 people attended his funeral. People made much ado about his being a
Deist and his work The Age of Reason. A hundred year later, of the man, another said,
"I have always regarded Paine as one of the greatest of all Americans. Never have we
had a sounder intelligence in this republic… It was my good fortune to encounter Thom-
as Paine's works in my boyhood… it was, indeed, a revelation to me to read that great
thinker's views on political and theological subjects. Paine educated me then about
many matters of which I had never before thought. I remember very vividly the flash of
enlightenment that shone from Paine's writings and I recall thinking at that time, 'What a
pity these works are not today the schoolbooks for all children!' My interest in Paine was
not satisfied by my first reading of his works. I went back to them time and again, just as
I have done since my boyhood days."

The Age of Reason, written in parts during the 1790s and dealing in a systematic exam-
ination of organized religion, advocates a skeptical and rational examination of religion
known as Deism. Paine stresses his belief in the oneness of God, and the "Word of
God" as exemplified by nature and the exercise of reason. Thus, he rejects many of the
tenets of both the Old Testament and New Testament. As he stresses: "I sincerely de-
test it, the Bible as I detest everything that is cruel." Paine provides not only criticism of
religion, but a foundation for belief in a supreme being free of the confines of dogma.

The completed work was published in 1795. Paine became extremely unpopular at the
time due to this book and largely became a social pariah upon his return to America un-
til his death in 1809. Yet his treatise became quite influential in the history of the skepti-
cal, rationalist, and freethinking movements and remains one of the most persuasive
critiques of the Bible and every other 'revealed religion' ever written. However, it is often
ignored that central to this text is an argument in favor of the existence of a Creator, one

193
based on reason and logic as opposed to the various fundamentalist modes of both re-
ligion and atheism.

And, Virginia, that's why there aren't (m)any statues of Thomas Paine.

Most people are on the world, not in it; have no conscious sympathy or relationship to
anything about them, undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished
stone, touching but separate. – John Muir

How from their original goals these environmentalists came. They drove gas guzzlers
and cried over owls. They'd sit in a tree, defying anyone to cut it down. Why? Because it
was 200 years old; never mind that cutting the one tree down meant saving thousands
and eventually millions of gallons of gasoline. They opposed harvesting the petroleum
off California's coast because there might be an oil spill and they didn't want to harvest
oil off the coast of Alaska because the new pipeline might do something the first one
didn't.

We were already in trying times, or hadn’t you noticed? Our electrical infrastructure was
crumbling and food and fuel prices have moved the cost of food to 25% of disposable
income. People still believed it was a problem the government had to solve for them. I
can just see the President down on the Gulf Coast holding his hand up and forbidding
the wind to blow. Or, Laura walking down crop rows watering the plants. It was an insti-
tutional crisis of the worst magnitude brought on by people with opposing ideals, equally
represented in a Congress that was unwilling to bite the bullet and begin planning for
the future. The answer was perhaps to use what we had while implementing a plan that
provided for the futures of our children and grandchildren. Nah, that made too much
sense. Wind turbines were ugly and killed birds. Solar power was expensive and took
too much land mass. Plus it was simply too expensive to clean the coal. None of which
was totally true. As the demand for alternative energy sources grew, industry introduced
economies of scale, reducing the cost of alternate forms of energy.

The worst part of it had been God listening to our discussion. We weren't wishing for
anything but it happened anyway. I'd have thought the government would have immedi-
ately improved security at the refineries and the pumping stations, but they didn't. Who-
ever the terrorists were, they knew what they were doing. They used a commercial de-
livery van at the refinery and U-Haul rentals at the two pumping stations. The refinery
caught fire and the pumping stations would take months to repair. All of which hap-
pened the day after Matt's and my conversation.

That cinched it for us; this had to be the work of eco-terrorists. The major downside was
the loss of the pipeline. They were clever, too. They took down pumping stations on two
different pipelines, the one to the east and one heading north to Kansas City. Before the
echo of the TV died, we were on the phone getting everything topped off. We didn't

194
need a lot, a few hours’ worth of B100 and a few gallons of propane; that wasn't the
point; there probably wouldn't be any more deliveries for months.

This was one hell of a time to take out that pipeline, with early winter storms increasing
the demand for home heating oil in the Northeast. That's the point, isn't it, hit when the
damage will be magnified? It was a good thing I was out of the stock market, stocks
plummeted, but the price of gold increased $26 an ounce. We also had a few phone in-
quiries about guns and ammo. We didn't need enough from Costco or Sam's Club to
justify the gas we'd burn making the trip.

It was disappointing in a way, Sue and I had spent half a lifetime waiting for the shoe to
drop and we got home grown terrorists instead. Oh, I meant to tell you, the guy on TV
said no arrests had been made in any of the bombings. Not surprising when the Border
Patrol couldn't seal the border and we hadn't found bin Laden, yet. We should have
hired the Mossad to take him out. We could have had him when he was expelled from
Sudan, but we missed our chance.

In the autumn and early winter of 2007, the world and the US was a far different than
anyone had imagined. I clung to my belief; it wasn't if, just a matter of when and what.
However I began to wonder if we'd live to see that when and what, we'll all be 69 this
coming year and we were entering that phase of life where one begins to think about life
expectancy. I said think about it, not worry about it, when your time was up, it was up
and that was it. I just wanted to outlive George Burns by a couple of years, a person
couldn't ask for more than that.

…continuing shortage of home heating oil in the Northeast coupled with severe winter
storms has forced the relocation of thousands into public shelters. There have been no
additional attacks on the pipelines since the President federalized the National Guard
troops in several states and heightened security on pumping stations, pipelines and re-
fineries.

Kerr McGee, in a press release today, estimates it will take 14 months to complete re-
pairs on the refinery destroyed in the attacks of October 24th. Work continues on the
pumping stations destroyed and estimates put them back on line by early January.

The White House announced today its intent to present a bill to Congress calling for the
immediate implementation of fuel rationing. A source who asked to remain anonymous
said companion legislation would also seek to impose food rationing, which hasn't oc-
curred in the United States since the end of World War Two.

"That won't affect us much, they'll have to allow fuel for every licensed driver and we
have 22 people with licenses. It isn't like we’re exporting millions of gallons of gas to Eu-
rope and the Pacific like we did back then."

195
"How much do you figure we'll get?"

"Maybe a gallon a day per person. I wonder if they'll apply the rationing to biofuels."

"I suppose they could."

"How hard would it be for us to produce biodiesel?"

"Not hard, we can buy a home processor that will produce about 55 gallons in 3 hours,
assuming we can get the vegetable oil."

"Is anyone in Sedona doing that that you know of?"

"I never looked into it so I couldn't say. However, the places that use vegetable oil in
their businesses must have some way to dispose of it."

"I'll ask Liz and Tom to look into it. We'd better buy one of those biodiesel processors,
just in case. Can you think of anything else we could do to preserve our supply of fuel?"

"I looked into wind turbines but there are few places in Arizona with enough steady wind
to make them worthwhile. The way the sun shines, we might be able to use solar. That
works out to about $10 per watt."

"So, to replace 360kw of electricity would cost $3.6 million?"

"I could be wrong, but that's my best guess, Rob."

"It would take a fair amount of space, too. That may not be our best solution. I think we'll
go with the biodiesel setup, maybe even get a couple if they're inexpensive. If we could
distill some of our own ethanol, we have the unleaded gas to mix with the alcohol."

"We'd never get a permit for a still, so we'd have to do that on the sly."

"What's new about that? Anything that's worth doing or is fun to do is illegal anyway.
Besides, can't we recover some of the mash for livestock feed?"

"They do in Iowa."

"If they can, we can. Can we buy a still?"

"They're for sale on the internet. We could just as easy build one out of copper."

"What do you know about making E85?"

"Not much, but it takes anhydrous alcohol and I think they use benzene or some other
chemical to produce it. It has to be double or triple distilled."

196
"Do you want to buy 3 stills?"

"Might as well, that would make it easier. What about permits?"

"Applications come with the stills. We might as well open a permanent office for the
ATF."

"Ok, 2 biodiesel processors and 3 stills. Do we need anything else?"

"The company sells everything we need except the grain. You can figure about 2.6-2.7
gallons of ethanol per bushel of corn. We should try to buy bulk vegetable oil if we can't
get used oil from Sedona."

You'll have to understand, being involved in the firearms business for the better part of
40 years took the edge off of dealing with the ATF. A few of them actually knew what
they were doing and the longer you dealt with them the easier it became. They devel-
oped expectations about you and that helped when you had a large stash of stolen mili-
tary goods you didn't want anyone to know you had. Plus if you were going to get in the
business of producing your own fuel, maybe your firearms guy could put in a good word
with the alcohol guy. Anyway, once you converted the ethanol to anhydrous, you could-
n't drink it, depending on how you went about making the conversion.

We wouldn't be doing it anyway, that was something for Tom, Pete, John and the others
to do. Now, if they wanted us to test the white lightning, I suppose we could volunteer to
do that. As far as those 3 generators went, Matt Jr. was keeping them in tip top shape
and we had a large supply of filters and spare parts. If it was worth doing in the first
place, it was worth doing well.

"I've been talking to Matt; we're going to buy the equipment to produce our own fuel."

"What kind of equipment?"

"Two biodiesel processors and 3 stills."

"Where are you going to put all of this new equipment?"

"Good question, the pole building is full up with livestock feed. I guess we'll have to
erect another pole building."

"Don't Matt and you get to testing that alcohol, Sarah and I won't put up with you men
drinking."

"Where would you get an idea like that Sue?"

197
"Tell me you didn't discuss volunteering to test the output of those stills."

"Just a little taste. It would be about like vodka."

"First you go and buy a bunch of stolen military hardware and munitions and now you
plan to go into the moonshine business. If they give you more than a year in jail, it would
amount to a life sentence."

"We're going to get the necessary permits for the stills. Didn't you hear the news?
They're planning on implementing food and fuel rationing. We're just doing our civic duty
dear. We can get enough unleaded to mix with the ethanol and we'll have ample E85 for
your Jeep."

"You already have a fuel station tank of unleaded, where are you going to store the E85,
put in another tank?"

"I hadn't thought of that, you're right, we need another tank."

"You already have 500-gallon of unleaded and 10,000-gallon tanks for E-85, how much
do you plan to store?"

"Enough so we don't run out."

"I'm going to order a 55-gallon drum of red paint and have someone paint a bullseye on
this place, Rob. That's what you're accomplishing, making us a target for all of the peo-
ple who don't have food, fuel and weapons."

"If you'd rather sit in the dark or read by a kerosene lamp, that's fine with me."

"I'm sure you have enough kerosene that I could do it too, don't you?"

"Three 55-gallon drums. It's like eating peanuts, once you start, it's difficult to stop. How
prepared is too prepared?"

"Every time something happens that's just an excuse to buy more, isn't it?"

"We hadn’t planned on making trips to Costco or Sam's Club."

"You should have, we have several women here and that's a lot of feminine hygiene
supplies."

"Make up a list of what you need and Matt and I will make a trip to Prescott."

"You wouldn't feel awkward buying pads and tampons?"

198
"I might have when I was 20 years old, but not anymore. They'll be envious of two old
men with wives young enough to need them. Do you want us to buy some of those
made up pizzas?"

"Did Sue give you a hard time too?"

"Yes, but I think I shut her up when I offered to go to Costco and buy feminine hygiene
supplies. She did have a point; we're going to need a tank to store the E85 we produce
and a building to hold the equipment."

"We'll need a grain silo to hold corn and something to hold the veggie oil."

"Maybe she was right; we'll need a 55-gallon drum of red paint."

"Huh?"

"To paint the bullseye on the ranch."

"Maybe we should think about burying the fuel tanks, we do have enough here to attract
attention, now that you mention it. With us having livestock, the grain silo is easy to ex-
plain, but not all of the fuel tanks. We can explain the second pole building as additional
hay storage."

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"You were probably too busy ducking. I just blame it all on you."

"Thanks a heap."

"Don't mention it. With you being as survival oriented as you are, I've always had an
easy out. I'm just the gunsmith after all."

"It's a two way street pal; I don't know how to build things like suppressors. All I need to
do is maintain accurate records."

"Where do you have the records of our purchases from that guy from Navajo Depot?"

"Under military surplus. I didn't say that everything we have is in the records for the
feds. Those items are expendables and accounted for the same as rounds of muni-
tions."

"I'm surprised you'd have any record at all."

199
"Why, if they looked hard enough, they could find everything we have. I keep track of
everything so I can generate a list of what we're short of at a moment’s notice. In our
present situation, we have the means to protect ourselves and what we have. About the
only thing we're short on is people and I'd rather not turn the ranch into a trailer park.
Having Tom's parents and Miguel and his family here is about as far as I'm willing to go
to extend our hospitality. I suppose when those boys are old enough to get married, I'd
be willing to put in homes for them if they want to stay but that's the absolute end as far
as I'm concerned."

"Not to change the subject, but are we planning on giving out Thanksgiving and Christ-
mas packages this year?"

"That guy really pissed me off. Especially when I realized he was half drunk on beer and
his family was hungry. Has anyone thought to talk to the pastors in town and get a list of
people who are needy?"

"It probably goes for a majority of the people in Sedona, Rob. But I'll ask and we'll put
together some kind of list. Do you plan on giving out ground beef again this year?"

"Do you suppose we could get a couple of cases of chickens? We could give them a
few packages of ground beef and a couple of fryers or a baking hen. I don't believe we
can find enough turkeys, do you?"

"I doubt it. How about cutting back on the ground beef an including a beef roast and a
pork roast?"

"Let's talk to the meat department manager at Costco and Sam's Club and see what we
can work out with them."

Costco was planning on a promotion of pork loins and the manager was willing to part
with 4 cases if we'd pay the regular price. Sam's Club was long on fryers and we bought
4 cases of those. Although this was pretty much a spur of the moment decision, ration-
ing hadn't begun, yet and, we were able to assemble enough food for 50 families. We
should have brought a semi.

The packages this year would consist of:

1 pork loin
1 beef roast
1 baking hen
2 fryers
2 pounds of bacon
5 pounds of ground beef
1 6 pack of tuna

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20 pounds of home grown potatoes
1 bag of onions
1 8 pack of diced tomatoes
1 8 pack of green beans
1 8 pack of niblets
1 6 pack of mushroom soup
1 6 pack tomato soup
1 large jar of peanut butter
10 pounds of macaroni
1 can of coffee
1 box of tea
1 box of powdered milk
25 pounds of flour
10 pounds of sugar
1 box of baking soda
1 can of baking powder
2 pounds of salt
1 can of pepper
1 bundle of macaroni and cheese
1 bundle of toilet paper
1 box of Hershey bars (for the kids)

We decided to do the same packages for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were origi-
nally going for feminine hygiene supplies and loaded up on those. We had enough we
could include a package of those with the food supplies. I'm sure someone would still be
looking for the turkey or ham, but that was on them, not on us. I wasn't going to get in-
volved with passing out the boxes, I might kill that SOB. We bought all of the food and
items we intended to pass out, we weren't cutting into our food supplies except for the
potatoes and onions and what the hell, gold was up another $25 an ounce.

Tom came up with an even better idea of how to handle passing out the boxes. Rather
than delivering them ourselves, we delivered them to the individual churches and let the
pastors pass them out. It gave us anonymity and eliminated any hurt feelings. We were
able to give because for now, we were part of the haves and not the have-nots. The
pastors all promised not to reveal who the benefactors were. Remember, the gift is in
the giving. One is encouraged to remember chapter 5 of the Book of Acts, Matthew
chapter 6 and Galatians 6:7 Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Our ap-
proach this year was so much better than the previous year. It was only important that
we knew and that we did what we could.

That passage from Galatians also applied to those eco-terrorists. One of these days,
they were going to get what they had coming. It was bad enough when PETA broke into
a laboratory and let the lab animals loose. To my way of thinking a person had to be
fairly stupid to do such a thing, they had no idea of the consequences of their action.

201
What if those lab animals were infected with something a person didn't really want on
the street? How significant would the setback to medical research be without the results
from the animals they released?

Could we have done more? Perhaps, perhaps not. Being prepared is more than a phys-
ical state; it also includes a mental state and a spiritual state. If a person hasn't squared
himself with his/her creator, the CEP put the bomb on top of your bunker. Like the little
boy said in the movie, Hey mister, God didn't make no junk. Actually, the statement was
made by a 12-year-old-boy in Alabama and quoted by nearly everyone. And yes, we
checked and couldn't get enough turkeys or ham.

The trouble that you waited for finally came and was happening right now, how could we
not recognize or realize it? It crept up on us, like a thief in the night. It was a guy at the
front gate who said he was looking for work because he needed money to feed his fami-
ly. John had answered the gate and didn't see anyone around. He thought since it was
between Thanksgiving and Christmas it wouldn't hurt to provide one of those packages
to the man. He invited the man in.

While the man stood and waited, he 'cased the joint'. He couldn't have avoided seeing
the tarps over the foxholes. He didn't miss the livestock and not all of our fuel tanks had
been buried yet. We had installed a second service station fuel tank and were going to
transfer the new E-85 to it. We need to back fill the holes with the other tanks, but there
are only 24 hours in a day.

The new pole building was about half erected and the new equipment was just sitting
there in the shipping containers. For as much as he’d seen there was also a lot he didn't
see. He didn't know what was in the foxholes or see John's gun because it was cover by
a jacket. Had he waited a week, the only thing he would have seen was the covered
over foxholes and the 50-gallon farm tank holding E85. The boxes were made up ex-
cept for adding the meat from a freezer. It was actually 2 boxes, one box would have
been heavy and we’re using 2.

John brought the man the first box and return to retrieve the second box. Tom was up-
stairs in our house watching the man; you didn't think John would act stupidly, did you?
Tom noted the guy looking around, apparently taking mental notes of what he did and
didn't see. John help the man carry the boxes to his car and the man left.

"I could be wrong, but I think we have trouble, he cased the ranch closely."

"Are you sure he wasn't just curious?"

"As I said, I could be wrong, but I don't think so."

"In that case, we'd better trust your judgment. We maintain a guard tonight using 2 peo-
ple, one upstairs and one on roving patrol."

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"Liz can take 1st watch upstairs and I’ll be the rover," Tom suggested. "Who wants to
relieve us at midnight?"

"Julia and I will."

"Thanks Pete, John do you want the 4am to 8am shift?"

"Ok with you Sara?"

"Ok, we'll do it."

"Matt can you get your 3 to do the day shift?"

"Matt Jr. will be late for the 4pm shift, but I'll cover for him. Yeah, we've got the day cov-
ered. How long will we need to do this?"

"Maybe a week," Tom replied. "If I'm right they won't take that long before they try to
break in."

It happened ~36 hours later during the midnight to 4am watch. Pete was roving and
they must have not seen him. A silent shot took out the yard light, throwing the building
area into total darkness. Julia immediately moved to wake her mother and me up and
Pete slipped into his night vision goggles. His HK91 was locked and loaded and he slid
the safety off. Sue tried to phone the others but the line was dead. She stated paging
everyone on 144.200. We most definitely needed a better notification system. I got my
M1A and ALICE gear. The M1911 was in the holster and I jacked in a round and locked
the gun, returning it to the holster. I pulled on a light jacket, donned the ALICE gear and
loaded and locked the M1A. I handed Sue her ALICE gear and M-15.

"Forget it Sue, everyone will roust out when they hear the gunfire. We're going to need
night vision; I'll get it while you position yourself."

Julia didn’t know the intruders had cut the phone lines and she attached her suppressor
to her HK91. She could see several men carrying either AR-15s or M16s.

"Juls, are you ok?" Pete asked over the FRS radio.

"Pete, there are 6 men out there, you watch yourself," she replied and fired at the last
man coming through the gate. "Make that five."

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 When We Were Young – Chapter 9

I wasn't going to use a suppressor because we needed the sound of gunfire to wake the
others up. I handed Sue the 4th generation monocular and she attached it to her M-15. I
aimed at the guy leading the group and introduced him to my Super Match. He folded
up like that 175 gr. Black Hills BTHP needed to be protected. I'm not sure that my first
shot didn't wake up people in Flagstaff. I heard Pete checking the magazine capacity of
the SA XD .45. If he put all of those shots into one man, the guy had to be leaking like a
sieve. Julia took out the last man in line, putting her one up on the rest of us. Sue made
a guy pay for disturbing her beauty rest and that left one man standing. Pete nearly fin-
ished emptying his magazine into no. 6.

"How many of them are there?" Matt asked over the FRS radio.

"There were 6, Julia got 2, Pete got 2 and Sue and I only got one apiece.

"Why didn't you call?"

"They must have cut the phone wires, Matt."

"I missed all the fun. I go make sure they're all dead."

Of course by this time, we could hear a siren in the distance as a Deputy responded to
the sound of the gunfire. Thieves-0, Natives-6. It was all too evident that Pete had spent
some time on the range based on the grouping of his shots. He did the failure to stop
drill twice on each of the two guys he took out, they were barely recognizable.

"Tom, get some of those portable light stands, so we can see the damage."

We had safed our weapons and put the one we fired on the front porch. No doubt the
Sheriff would want to run ballistic tests. A deputy rolls out in the middle of the night to
the sound of gunfire and the first question out of his mouth when he got here was:

"What happened here?"

"Those 6 guys broke in and we shot them."

"Is anybody hurt?"

"Matt says their all dead."

"No, no, are any of you hurt?"

"I have a little ringing in my right ear."

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Over the course of the next few minutes 3 more deputies and 1 State Trooper pulled in
followed by Paramedics and 2 ambulances. One guy started taking pictures and 4 of
them questioned those of us who had been involved in the shooting. When they had all
the questions asked, they switched and started over. I suggested that someone put on
an urn of coffee; we'd still be answering questions at lunch time.

I realized this was a major incident when Sheriff himself pulled in. It got even more in-
teresting a short time later when ATF agents showed up because we had a class III li-
cense. After Julia, Sue, Pete and I had repeated our account 4 different times to 4 dif-
ferent questioners, and the Sheriff's Department took about 200 photos, the invaders
weapons were recovered, the bodies loaded and our weapons were seized, but we got
receipts.

Finally, Sarah announced that breakfast was ready for everyone and we should take
time out to eat before we resumed the 'third degree'. Matt had been working with those
federal boys proving to them that our class III inventory was intact. While they didn't
seem satisfied, they left. Over breakfast, we explained to the Sheriff and his Chief
Deputy how we happened to find ourselves in our present situation. We were printed
and photographed and around 11 am they finally left.

I dug out replacement weapons and asked Tom to call an electrician to replace the shot
out yard light and arrange for 2 additional poles and lights. We made the papers and
TV, however the only mention of what the thieves were after was fuel and firearms. No
reporters were allowed past the front gate to the property. However, because the at-
tempted theft, we were allowed to transfer the unsold firearms to the corporation and
return our class III license. They ran that story on page 6.

"Why don't we transfer the other weapons to the corporation and totally close up shop?"

"Up to you Matt. That would allow us to set up the biodiesel and alcohol operations in
the office building and use the new pole building for additional livestock feed. We need
to hurry up and get all of those tanks buried too."

"I sure never thought things would turn out this way."

"Me either. I can tell you one thing we need to do, reinforce that front gate. Maybe we
can add some razor wire or something."

"We might be able to top it with razor wire, but only if it's high enough. I don't expect
building codes allow a person to put razor wire down to ground level, which would be
too much of a hazard."

"Let's get these firearms transferred and shut the business down. Did the Sheriff say
how long they'd be keeping the weapons we used?"

"He didn't say anything to me, why don't you call and find out?"

205
°

"What did he say?"

"That they will hold the weapons until the County Attorney makes his determination.
Once he concludes the shootings were justified, we can pick the weapons up. We need
to get some media coverage that due to the circumstances, we're selling our remaining
inventory and going out of business. We might want to let them in to do a before and
after series of photos. That would also be a good way to announce that we starting up
an operation to produce our own biodiesel and emphasize that we'll only be doing very
small scale production."

"How are we going to set it up?"

"We'll put the ethanol operation in the big store and the biodiesel converters in the old
class III store. What are you doing to do with your gunsmithing equipment?"

"I moved it down to the armory in the underground storage building."

Over the course of the next 3 weeks, the tanks were finished up and back filled, the
gate extend to 7' high, the new outdoor lighting added and the media was invited in for
the before and after photos. The pole building was completed and filled with feed and
hay, and a small silo for corn finished off and filled. We delivered the Christmas pack-
ages to the pastors in Sedona and recovered our weapons from the Sheriff's office. We
submitted all of our records to the ATF as required by law and that was the end of that.
For all intents and purposes, Rob's Roost was now nothing more than a small scale
livestock ranch that produced its own fuels and food. Only the area in and around the
buildings was maintained as a high security area. A gate not unlike the front gate al-
lowed the animals out into the pasture area.

"Is the Sheriff going to let us keep our CCWs now that we're out of the gun business?"

"I shouldn't see why not. We'll know when they come up or renewal."

"What we should do is open our range to the Deputy stationed in Sedona."

"Get on the Sheriff's good side you mean?"

"Couldn't hurt."

Coconino County Sheriff's Department is divided into 3 Patrol Districts. The Flagstaff
Patrol District is responsible for providing patrol functions to the eastern and southern
portions of Coconino County. This includes the substations in: Tuba City, Sedona, Blue

206
Ridge and Forest Lakes. Each of these substations has an assigned deputy. In addition
to these community substations, there are six community policing deputies assigned to:
Kachina Village, Pinewood, Doney Park West, Doney Park East, Timberline/Fernwood,
and Mormon Lake/Ranch Areas. Requests for law enforcement officers for special du-
ties / assignments also are managed by Flagstaff Patrol.

Flagstaff Patrol is staffed by: (1) Lieutenant, (5) Sergeants - three Patrol Sergeants, one
Administrative Sergeant, and one Search & Rescue Sergeant, (4) Corporals, (17) Depu-
ties, (1) Civil Deputy, (5) Substation Deputies and (3) Administrative Specialists.

Coconino County is the largest County in Arizona and the second largest in the contigu-
ous US, San Bernardino being the largest. Approximately 46% of the land in the County
is on Reservations. The other Patrol Districts are Page and Williams. Despite the large
area, like San Bernardino (33/km²), Coconino County is sparsely populated (2/km²) thus
being more like Inyo County (1/km²). 30% of the population is Native American, being
mostly Navajo with smaller numbers of Havasupai, Hopi, and others.

Our ranch, at 320 acres, covered ~1.3km². One section, 640 acres, is equal to
~2.59km². I was happy we moved the biodiesel and ethanol operations to the business
building; it might have been too cold out in that pole building. It had been a pretty dirty
trick teaching me to ride horses at night, the upside being they didn't run the horses.
Because of the biodiesel operation, we did have one large above ground tank holding
vegetable oil. The tank was new and lined, permitting the ladies to refill their vegetable
oil containers when they wanted. On Christmas Day, those eco-terrorists struck again,
this time in the Quad Cities area where several different pipeline systems were collocat-
ed.

We didn't lose power and were generally unaware of what had happened until someone
turned on a TV and inadvertently ended up on CNN. The explosions cut off natural gas
and petroleum products to a large area of the Midwest, and they were in the midst of
another winter storm. The majority of homes, in Iowa at least, are heated by natural gas.
I began to suspect that this wasn't the work of eco-terrorists, they most certainly would-
n't want to pollute the land with oil spills. If not them, then who? It occurred to me that in
mid-2006, Osama bin Laden had threatened that more strikes were planned for the US
on an audio taped message. Later in the day, in an audio taped statement, a spokes-
person for ELF denied involvement in any of the terrorist attacks that had happened
over the past few months.

"If ELF didn't do it, who did?"

"How about Muslim extremists?"

"Do they have a history of using ANFO?"

207
"ANFO has occasionally been used in terrorist bombings. It has seen use by groups
such as the FARC, Provisional IRA, ETA, and various Palestinian extremists. A more
sophisticated variant of the standard ANFO reaction was used in the Oklahoma City.
The thing is, we have quite a few radical Muslims in the US and they might be more in-
clined to use ANFO."

"So it's Katie bar the door, here come the Muslims?"

"I don't have the slightest idea. For sure it's Katie bar the door, here comes someone."

"But we're ok with Mexico, right? They elected a conservative President?"

"Unlike like the remainder of Central and South America, yes."

"This crap has been going on since that damned solar flare took out the lights 18
months ago, when is it going to end?"

"Good question and when you figure out the answer let us all know."

It was like a mystery novel that was 800 pages long that didn't reveal the culprit until
page 799. If the government knew who was behind all of this crap, they weren't saying.
So you didn't really know if they knew and were being quiet or were more likely clueless.
If they did say something, it would generally run in the vein of, 'We have several parties
of interest'. In turn, that led to the media speculating that it could be anyone from Osa-
ma bin Laden to Bradgelina (Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt).

"Are we good on food?"

"We are unless you manage to outlive George Burns."

"Ammunition?"

"WW III, WW IV and WW V."

"Fuel?"

"40,000-gallons of B-50 and 20,000-gallons of vegetable oil. Plus 15,500-gallons of E85

and 8,000-gallons of unleaded."

"I'm sure we forgot something."

"Probably, but at the moment, I don't know what it could be."

"Are we ok on medications?"

208
"Nobody here takes pills. But, we do have some CLS bags, plenty of bandages and a
large supply of QuikClot. In addition, we have large supplies of over-the-counter medi-
cations."

"What about an oxygen machine and a defibrillator?"

"Do you really want us to bring you back if you go?"

"Why not?”

“I'm gonna live forever

I'm gonna learn how to fly
I feel it comin' together
People will see me and cry
I'm gonna make it to heaven
Light up the sky like a flame
I'm gonna live forever
Baby remember my name."

"Rob, are you good at anything?"

"Probably, why?"

"Great, then I won't have to worry about you making your living as a singer."

The conversation didn't end there. By New Year's we had ourselves convinced that the
people behind the bombings were probably home grown Muslim terrorists. Like those
people in Lodi or down in Florida. Except to the extent it would interrupt our power sup-
plies it wouldn't really affect us. However, this was 2008 and you know what that means,
right? Beijing. Olympics. Taiwan. Independence Movement. WW III?

And just who would that depend upon? China had made itself perfectly clear on the sub-
ject. The US and Japan had been equally clear. Conclusion, it would depend on the
Taiwanese. While North Korea had proven itself incapable of building an ICBM, they
had No-dongs that could reach Japan. The only question remaining in that equation
was, 'had they managed to fit a nuclear warhead to the Scud?' A more extensive rede-
sign of the Scud technology may have begun in the same 1988 time-frame as the modi-
fication program that resulted in the Scud-C. The new missile [variously called No-dong-
1, Ro-dong 1, and Scud-D has a potential range/payload capacity of 1,000-1,300
km/700-1,000 kg. The higher range would cover a wide swath of cities from Tokyo to
Taipei. At the extremity of the higher range, authoritative analysts estimates the CEP of
the No-dong to be 2,000-4,000 m. Who says close doesn't count?

209
Even if someone targeted Flagstaff, they'd probably be aiming for the airport and that
was a long way from Sedona. Moreover, the wind was generally out of the west so any
fallout from a ground burst shouldn't really affect us down here. We didn't have a lot of
livestock and the entire mixed herd would fit into the barn which we could protect with
the extra hay in the second pole building. Maybe I'd better order a couple of semi loads
of hay, just in case. I’d wait until mid-year, the Olympics weren't until August. All the
stock tanks had floats with valves to keep them full. I'd better get some tarps to cover
that hay.

We had plenty of parts for all of the vehicles, but if we removed the more sensitive parts
and stored the vehicles in the pole building after we removed the hay, that might serve
as a faraday cage and protect anything we'd overlooked. Been there, done that, got the
Solar Flare of 2006 T-shirt. Everyone's vaccinations were current, no worry there. About
the only thing I could think of to load up on was Kellogg's Special K vanilla almond fla-
vored cereal. I ate about a box a week of that, so maybe I'd better get a few cases, just
in case. And, maybe 4-5 50# bags of Act II popcorn from Sam's Club at $10.95 a bag.
I'm sure that our 20 cases of 57oz cans Folgers coffee would get us over the hump at
least. We had a lifetime supply of Yuban, one can. We had some Maxwell House and
Hills Bros, too.

I am a man of simple tastes, boiled potatoes, green beans and round steak or ham-
burger steak would keep me going for a very long time. I could do pinto beans and rice
for nearly forever. Goulash? Keep it simple and I could do that for a very long time. I just
needed my cereal, popcorn and coffee plus a few cases of Pall Malls and I was good to
go until I ran out of smokes or died of lung cancer, whichever came first.

I had a back way mapped out that would get us into Navajo Depot wherein a set of bolt
cutters could unlock most of those igloos they had. We'd just have to count on luck to
find the right igloos if it ever came to that. In California, the place to hit in the southland
was Barstow/Yermo but here in the Flagstaff area, it was Navajo Depot. They had some
of about everything we'd need. About the only things we didn't have weapons wise was
an Mk 19 or a Bushmaster cannon, with appropriate ammo. We didn't really have what
one would call fixed fortifications, unless one considered our fighting holes. Maybe we
should get a few mules to haul some of our stuff and make ourselves mobile. Nah,
mules bray and give away a person's position.

The things a person wanted to stock up on that were prescription only were Hydroco-
done 7.5mg at $20 a hundred and Alprazolam 0.5mg at $15 a hundred. They were pain
pills and chill pills. We could get 100 count bottles of Benadryl over-the-counter for
about $5 a bottle in either 25mg or 50mg strength. They were itch pills. We had several
cards of Tamiflu, just in case our vaccinations didn't work.

A Simplified Guide to Antibiotics and Their Uses

210
Penicillins

The original penicillin-G (Pen G), along with more the common penicillin-V (Pen V), are
used to fight gram-positive bacteria, such as anthrax. Pentids, the brand name for peni-
cillin-G, come in 400 and 800mg pills. Brand names for penicillin-V include V-Cillin-K
and Pen Vee K. The basic Pen G may be purchased from farm and veterinary stores for
far less expense than through pharmacies though make sure you only buy the refriger-
ated brand. The active ingredients in the unrefrigerated variety are far lower and poten-
tially inadequate.

Pen G must be taken on an empty stomach. This is not as critical for Pen V. A dose of
250mg (i.e., 400,000 units), for people weighing 50 pounds or more, is taken four times
daily. A rule of thumb for children weighing less than 50 pounds, the dosage should be
reduced by 20% for every 10 pounds of less body weight.

These penicillins are more likely to cause allergic reactions, and fatalities, than synthetic
penicillins such as ampicillin. Some of the allergic reactions are caused by procaine
(Novocain) that is added in some Pen G formulas.

Ampicillin

Brand names of this synthetic penicillin include Principen, Omnipen, Polycillin and Tota-
cillin. These are also affective against gram-positive microbes such as anthrax.
Dosages of ampicillin are the same prescribed for penicillin. This antibiotic should be
taken, ideally, on an empty stomach.

Strains of anthrax that resist penicillin may be more susceptible to destruction by ampi-
cillin. Also, ampicillin may be more helpful than penicillin for killing a broader spectrum
of infections.

Cephalosporins

These are also effective against anthrax. One gram of Cephalexin taken every six hours
is recommended. Brand names for this are Keflex, Keflet and Keftab. One gram of the
related Cefadroxil, brand named Duricef, should be taken every twelve hours.

Erythromycin (Macrolide family of antibiotics)

Erythromycin and its relatives provide a broader spectrum of coverage than penicillin’s.
Brand names of Erythromycin, Pediamycin, Erythrocin, Eryc, EES, Ery-Tab, PCE,
Ilosone, and E-Mycin. Other related antibiotics, such as clarithromycin (Biaxin) and
azithromycin (Z-pak or Zithromax) may also be effective. A liquid form of erythromycin,
called Gallimycin, is available for injection. The oral dose of this injectable product is the
same.

211
Taken on an empty stomach, this may be used to treat more difficult cases of anthrax. If
upset stomach occurs, it should be consumed with a bit of food. Avoid eating citrus
fruits or products, which deactivate these antibiotics during digestion. Note: Fatal heart
attacks may result from taking these antibiotics in combination with Seldane (terfena-
dine), Hismanal, or Seldane-D.

For individuals weighing 150 pounds or more, a 500mg dose is recommended. People
weighing less should reduce their dosage proportionately.

Aminoglycosides

These antibiotics that are effective against anthrax, tularemia, and the Bubonic plague,
include: Streptomycin, Gentamycin, and Neomycin. They can all be extremely toxic.
Primary organs at risk for destruction by the aminoglycosides include the kidneys and
inner ears.

Each of the aminoglycosides must be injected, and cannot be taken orally. The oral
dosage forms of these antibiotics are effective only against gastrointestinal (GI) tract in-
fections of the stomach and intestines.

Gentamycin (Garacin) powder can be purchased in bulk. It cannot be absorbed when

taken orally, but it can be effective against certain biologicals striking the GI tract such
as botulism.

Streptomycin, taken two to four times daily, in one to four gram doses, equally spaced
throughout the day. It can be used in combination with tetracycline until the person's fe-
ver breaks. Then the tetracycline can be continued alone. Otherwise, streptomycin
should be used consistently for a week to ten days.

Gentamycin, is effective against tularemia and the plague. It should be injected intra-
muscularly or intravenously every eight hours in emergency measures of 1.7mg per kil-
ogram body weight. As soon as symptoms of disease disappear, the dose should be
reduced to 1.0mg per kilogram of body weight for the remaining 7-10 day period.
This antibiotic is available in bulk through veterinary stores. It is likely that this less ex-
pensive product may be successfully used orally to defend against the plague or tula-
remia germs infecting the gut.

Neomycin, when given in doses of 500mg, four times daily, may be helpful against an-
thrax, plague, and tularemia, though it has not been traditionally prescribed for these.
Use this only if the other aminoglycoside antibiotics are unavailable.

Fluoroquinolones

In daily doses of 300mg per kg of body weight (i.e., 65mg per pound), Ciproflavoxin
(Cipro) is effective against tularemia and anthrax. The daily dose should be divided into
four doses taken every six hours for two weeks. Following the terrorist attacks on Sep-

212
tember 11, 2001 on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, this extremely expensive
drug has been in high demand as the FDA's antibiotic of choice against anthrax.

Chloramphenicol

Effective against anthrax, tularemia and plague, Chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin) has a

relatively high rate of lethal side effects. Thus, persons allergic to safer antibiotics
should only use it, or in the event other medications are unavailable. More expensive
than other antibiotics, this injectable product can also be consumed orally and absorbed
effectively into the bloodstream. Ideally, taken on an empty stomach, it may be con-
sumed with food to reduce stomach upsets.

Chloramphenicol has the same spectrum of activity as erythromycin. Thus, it should

never be given with erythromycin unless under emergency conditions at the first sign of
biowarfare-induced illness. It may, however, be taken with Tetracycline for a broader
spectrum of effectiveness. This combination may be wise if it is unclear which biological
weapon is causing illness, and if rationing is not in effect.

The injectable form of chloramphenicol tastes awful! For people weighing 200 pounds or
more, 2,500mg doses recommended.

Tetracyclines

Tetracyclines (brand named Sumycin and Achromycin-V) are broad-spectrum antibiot-

ics available from farm supply shops and veterinary stores in the form of oxytetracy-
cline. These can be used effectively against all most strains of anthrax, plague, and tu-
laremia.

Oxytetracycline comes in bulk powder form under the brand name Terramycin-343. It
also comes in combination with livestock feed (Advance Calf Medic). This could be used
in a pinch if other antibiotics were unavailable. There are 3 grams of active antibiotic in
each pound of feed. A low dose could be provided by consuming almost 1.5 ounces; a
high dose twice that could be measured and eaten.

Two newer classes of tetracycline are Doxycycline and Minocycline . Brand names for
these tetracyclines include the Doxycyclines-Vibramycin, Vibra-tabs, Monodox and Do-
ryx; and the Minocyclines called Minocin.

Tetracycline is typically taken four times a day, doxycyclines once per day or twice per
day when taken with Minocycline. The two newer cyclines can be taken with food, not
the older tetracycline. They, thus, tend to cause fewer stomach upsets. Doxycycline is
typically less costly than traditional tetracycline, and Doxycycline and Minocycline pro-
vide a broader spectrum of antibiotic effectiveness than the old standard. Stains of bio-
logical weapons that may have been manufactured to resist tetracycline might be more
susceptible to the newer cyclones.

213
As a rule of thumb, four 250mg doses of tetracycline are prescribed daily, that is, one
dose every six hours for your typical 100-pound person. For persons weighing less than
100 pounds, reduce this dose accordingly. For instance, if a 100-pound person receives
1,000mg per day, then a 50-pound person would receive 500mg per day, or four 125mg
doses q. 6 hours. The Doxycycline dosage is typically 200mg the first day, and 100mg
doses following for up to ten days. The oxytetracycline (Terramycin) dose is the same
as standard tetracycline. Another alternative tetracycline, called demeclocycline
(Declomycin), may be substituted for standard tetracycline employing the same dose
schedule as well.

Preserving and Administering Your Antibiotics

Most antibiotics and drugs can be preserved by refrigeration, so long as they are kept
dry. If traveling through extreme temperatures, antibiotics should be encased in
Styrofoam containers, at best, and efforts should be made to avoid heat or freezing
cold.

Warning: No drug should be consumed beyond its expiration date, especially Tetracy-
cline antibiotics. Severe reactions may result from this expired antibiotic. However,
when faced with a life-or-death situation, as might be presented with biological warfare
or bioterrorism, such chances might have to be taken.

Antibiotics are typically administered orally or by injection. However, if the patient is co-
matose, the oral route may be circumvented rectally by using a plastic oral syringe
available in most drugstores. This should be inserted as deeply into the rectum as pos-
sible. Use of a few drops of water, then larger amounts of cocoa butter, for dissolving
the antibiotic. Cocoa butter is available in most drugstores in sticks that are melted in a
jar placed in hot water. The butter is commonly used for suppositories and will hold the
antibiotic for absorption better than water. Water may run out of the rectum and thereby
precious antibiotic may be lost. So if water is all you have, use as little as possible to
dissolve and inject the measured amount of powdered antibiotic.

Antibiotic tablets can be crushed and powdered by placing them between two napkins
on a hard surface and pounding them with another flat hard object or instrument.
The absorption of active antibiotic is less, given the rectal route of administration. For
this reason, the dosages should be increased to compensate.

We had managed to combine nearly everyone's advice into a single story. And the full
impact of it was that about the worst thing that happened had been a solar flare and a
few ANFO explosions. One thing was especially clear; preparedness takes thought and
some money. I thought about reorganizing the tale, but decided against, it tells you how
it happened, when it happened.

Media speculation was rampant, running from another Tim McVey to eco-terrorists to
Muslim extremists. One thing was clear, the government wasn’t talking, either because
they didn’t have a clue or was moments away from arrests and didn't want to tip their

214
hand. Here in Sedona, all of that chain link fence and sturdy gates were giving us a
closed in feeling. We'd even gone so far as to set up home schooling for Miguel's boys
rather than have them off the farm for several hours a day.

When did being prepared become being paranoid? We'd moved from Phoenix to get out
into the open air, away from the traffic and crush of people. We'd started off on the right
foot, building a shelter and putting up a little food. Our little generator and what we had
were more than enough to weather an attack on the country by the Soviet Union.

Did we overreact when food became scarce? Or was it that chain link fence we put in?
It might or might not keep the 'bad guys' out, but it made us feel like prisoners. We'd
been lucky when those 6 fellas tried to break in, Tom gave us heads up on that and we
got them before they got us. With them all dead, we didn't really know what they'd been
after. People don't usually do a home invasion without having some kind of goal in mind.

As long as I remember to order that hay to protect the barn in case China attacks, we
should be ok. Stephen Hawking had posed a question on Yahoo a couple of years be-
fore. Hawking's question: "In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environ-
mentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?" The correct answer
probably came from the guy who said, "We can't". I think we gave up most of our op-
tions when they split that atom. In the beginning, only we had 'the bomb'. I suppose we
shared it with our allies, England and France. It didn't take the Russians long to steal
the secrets and they probably shared them with China. The Israelis 'didn't have the
bomb' but there was India and Pakistan. North Korea claimed to have them and Iran
was working on them.

Apparently Saudi Arabia purchased them from Pakistan. In 2003 members of the gov-
ernment stated that due to the worsening relations with the US, Saudi Arabia was being
forced to consider the development of nuclear weapons. However, so far they have de-
nied that they are making any attempt to produce them. It has been rumored that Paki-
stan has transferred several nuclear weapons to Saudi Arabia, but this is unconfirmed.
In March 2006 the German magazine Cicero reported that Saudi Arabia had since 2003
received assistance from Pakistan to acquire nuclear missiles and warheads. Satellite
photos allegedly reveal an underground city and nuclear silos with Ghauri rockets south
of the capital Riyadh. Pakistan had denied aiding Saudi Arabia in any nuclear ambitions.

For certain, there were 7 nuclear nations and that ranged upward to 10, not counting
Iran. The ultimate was who was lying and who was telling the truth. Read about Japan
and their copy of our Peacekeeper missile. Japan has the third largest nuclear energy
production after the US and France, and plans to produce over 40% of its electricity us-
ing nuclear power by 2010. Significant amounts of plutonium are created as a by-
product of the energy production, and Japan had 4.7 tons of plutonium in December
1995. Many things occur than happen to be unconstitutional. Why would countries ac-
cumulate 5 tons of plutonium? Perhaps so they could deliver it to the North Koreans,
they have a proven delivery system?

215
°

"I wonder how many Hydrogen bombs Japan has built."

"Japan isn't a nuclear power, Rob, it's against their Constitution, MacArthur saw to that."

"I was reading on the internet that Japan had several tons of plutonium. It wouldn't take
much for them to build a few bombs. They have that M-5 missile that's a knockoff of the
Peacekeeper."

"We retired the peacekeepers."

"Right, but what did we do with the missiles themselves?"

"I heard that the rockets are being converted to a satellite launcher role by Orbital Sci-
ences, as the OSP-2 Minotaur IV SLV, while their warheads will be deployed on the ex-
isting Minuteman III missiles."

"How many of those did we build?"

"114."

"We only deployed 50, what did they do with the remainder?"

"Uhh… I have no idea. They made a bunch of test flights to test the missile."

"12 or 13, but that leaves 50 missiles unaccounted for, Matt."

Author’s Note: They fired 50 during testing and built an additional 114. The other infor-
mation is correct as stated.

Not that I favored nuclear weapons, but I wondered why we were reducing the number
we had when the number of nuclear nations was increasing. Even if we eliminated all of
our Minuteman III missiles, we'd still have 14 boomers each carrying 192 warheads.
How did that square the President's intent to reduce the number of warheads to 1,700
or so? 14 x 192 = 2,688. Moreover, how did that square with the actual number of tar-
gets out there? I also wondered if we had reloads for the Ohio class boomers. Probably
not, there wouldn't be any port left to put into and restock the subs.

If we had major catastrophes, I could see where the rule of 3s is in, but we really hadn't
had anything like that. Not that we hadn't had problems, we had, but none were of the
magnitude of a Yellowstone or WW III. During the Cold War we'd come so close so
many times and we never told. I understood that the last event saw Boris Yeltsin with
the nuclear suitcase on his desk, due to some missile test.

216
Shortly before 9 am on November 9, 1979, the computers at North American Aerospace
Defense Command's Cheyenne Mountain site, the Pentagon's National Military Com-
mand Center, and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie,
Maryland, all showed what the United States feared most – a massive Soviet nuclear
strike aimed at destroying the US command system and nuclear forces. A threat as-
sessment conference, involving senior officers’ at all three command posts, was con-
vened immediately. Launch control centers for Minuteman missiles, buried deep below
the prairie grass in the American West, received preliminary warning that the United
States was under a massive nuclear attack.

The alert did not stop with the US ICBM force. The entire continental air defense inter-
ceptor force was put on alert, and at least 10 fighters took off. Furthermore, the National
Emergency Airborne Command Post, the president's "doomsday plane," was also
launched, but without the president on board. It was later determined that a realistic
training tape had been inadvertently inserted into the computer running the nation's ear-
ly-warning programs.

However, within minutes of the original alert, the officers had reviewed the raw data
from the DSP satellites and checked with the early-warning radars ringing the country.
The radars were capable of spotting missiles launched from submarines close to the US
shores and ICBM warheads that had traveled far enough along their trajectories to rise
above the curvature of the Earth. The DSP satellites were capable of detecting the
launches of Soviet missiles almost anywhere on the Earth's surface. Neither system
showed any signs that the country was under attack, so the alert was canceled.

Then:

On June 3, 1980, less than a year after the incident involving the training tape, US
command posts received another warning that the Soviet Union had launched a nuclear
strike. As in the earlier episode, launch crews for Minuteman missiles were given pre-
liminary launch warnings, and bomber crews manned their aircraft. This time, however,
the displays did not present a recognizable or even a consistent attack pattern as they
had during the training tape episode. Instead, the displays showed a seemingly random
number of attacking missiles. The displays would show that two missiles had been
launched, then zero missiles, and then 200 missiles. Furthermore, the numbers of at-
tacking missiles displayed in the different command posts did not always agree.

Although many officers did not take this event as seriously as the incident of the previ-
ous November, the threat assessment conference still convened to evaluate the possi-
bility that the attack was real. Again the committee reviewed the raw data from the ear-
ly-warning systems and found that no missiles had been launched. Later investigations
showed that a single computer chip failure had caused random numbers of attacking
missiles to be displayed.

Next:

217
On September 26, 1983, the newly inaugurated Soviet early-warning satellite system
caused a nuclear false alarm. Like the United States, the Soviet Union realized the im-
portance of monitoring the actual launch of ICBMs. However, the Soviets chose a dif-
ferent method of spotting missile launches. Instead of looking down on the entire Earth's
surface the way US DSP satellites do, Soviet satellites looked at the edge of the Earth –
thus reducing the chance that naturally occurring phenomena would look like missile
launches. Missiles, when they had risen five or ten miles, would appear silhouetted
against the black background of space. Furthermore, when the edge of the Earth is
viewed, light reflected from clouds or snow banks has to pass through a considerable
amount of the atmosphere. That view reduces the chances that clouds and snow may
cause false alarms.

A satellite has to be in a unique position to view a recently launched missile silhouetted

against the black of space. To get that view, the Soviet Union picked a special type of
orbit that it had used for its communications satellites. Those orbits, known as Molnyia
orbits, come very close to the Earth in the Southern Hemisphere but extend nearly a
tenth of the distance to the moon as the satellite passes over the Northern Hemisphere.
From that position high above northern Europe, the Soviet Union's Oko ("Eye") early-
warning satellites spend a large fraction of their time viewing the continental US missile
fields at just the right glancing angle. However, shortly after midnight Moscow time on
September 26, 1983, the sun, the satellite and US missile fields all lined up in such a
way as to maximize the sunlight reflected from high-altitude clouds.

Whether that effect was a totally unexpected phenomenon is hard to know. That may
have been the first time this rare alignment had occurred since the system became op-
erational the previous year. Press interviews with Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, the officer in
charge of Serpukhov-15, the secret bunker from which the Soviet Union monitored its
early-warning satellites, indicated that the new system reported the launch of several
missiles from the US continental missile fields. Petrov had been told repeatedly that the
United States would launch a massive nuclear strike designed to overwhelm Soviet
forces in a single strike.

Why did that false alarm fail to trigger a nuclear war? Perhaps the Russian command
did not want to start a war on the basis of data from a new and unique system. On the
other hand, if the sun glint had caused the system to report hundreds of missile launch-
es, then the Soviet Union might have mistakenly launched its missiles. Petrov said that
he refused to pass the alert to his superiors because "when people start a war, they
don't start it with only five missiles. You can do little damage with just five missiles."

And finally:

Early on the morning of January 25, 1995, Norwegian scientists and their American col-
leagues launched the largest sounding rocket ever from Andoya Island off the coast of
Norway. [Sounding rockets collect data on atmospheric conditions from various alti-
tudes.] Designed to study the northern lights, the rocket followed a trajectory to nearly

218
930 miles altitude but away from the Russian Federation. To Russian radar technicians,
the flight appeared similar to one that a US Trident missile would take to blind Russian
radars by detonating a nuclear warhead high in the atmosphere.

That scientific rocket caused a dangerous moment in the nuclear age. Russia was
poised, for a few moments at least, to launch a full-scale nuclear attack on the United
States. In fact, President Boris Yeltsin stated the next day that he had activated his "nu-
clear football" – a device that allows the Russian president to communicate with his top
military advisers and review the situation online – for the first time.

However, we can be fairly confident that Yeltsin's football showed that Russia was not
under attack and that the Russian early-warning system was functioning perfectly. In
addition to the string of radars surrounding the border of the former Soviet Union, Rus-
sia had inherited a complete fleet of early-warning satellites that, even by 1995, still
maintained continuous 24-hour coverage of the US continental missile fields. In the ear-
ly 1990s Russia had still managed to launch replacement satellites for its early-warning
system as the previous ones died out – thereby retaining continuous coverage. Be-
cause of those satellites, Yeltsin's display must have shown that no massive attack was
lurking just below the horizon.

Counting the Cuban Missile Crisis, that made 5 times we'd come very close to wiping
ourselves out. There were dozens of possible scenarios, ranging from a war between
India and Pakistan to a confrontation between China and the US over Taiwan. There
was always the possibility that Israel would use nuclear weapons they didn't have to
eliminate the Iranian facilities which were enriching uranium for 'peaceful' purposes.
That became more realistic for a while when Israel found it necessary to enter the Gaza
Strip in 2006. It had even been rumored that George W. Bush consulted his nuclear
football aboard Air Force One on 9/11.

Sooner or later someone was going to start something that someone else would finish
for them. My money was on that crazy guy running North Korea. He lost a lot of face in
2006 when he couldn't get the US to shoot down his missiles.

President Bush noted today in a speech for the Veterans of Foreign Wars that the US
was prepared to deal with Taiwan should they push for independence during the 2008
Olympics in Beijing. The US has maintained extra ships in Yokosuka following the
launch of several short range and one long range missile on July 4, 2006. In 2005, Ja-
pan and the US jointly pledged to protect Taiwan if attacked by China. Subsequent
statements indicated that the protection might not be forthcoming in the event Taiwan
unilaterally declared independence. At the moment, the US has 3 carrier strike groups
in the western Pacific area, including the Indian Ocean.

219
Concerns were raised last week when the Legislative Yuan heard renewed calls for in-
dependence from the DPP representatives. The Anti-Secession Law passed by the third
conference of the 10th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China
ratified on March 14, 2005, formalized the long-standing policy of the People's Republic
of China to use "non-peaceful means" against the "Taiwan independence movement" in
the event of a declaration of Taiwanese Independence.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Taiwanese representatives late in the
day but declined comment. It has long been anticipated that Taiwan might take ad-
vantage of the Olympic Games in Beijing during August to declare independence.

"I knew it; it's going to be China."

"That's bull; we can take out all of their forces in less than a day. They simply wouldn't
dare."

"Including their missile launch sites?"

"Those too, most of them anyway."

Dropping 2 atom bombs on Japan had ended WW II. Even if we could take out most of
the Chinese missile sites, they still had 2 SSBN submarines with 12 and 16 warheads.
The only way the Chinese could be sure we wouldn't take out those missile sites was if
the missiles weren't there. Perhaps, if Taiwan declared independence, they'd find them-
selves in a position where they had no choice other than to launch a first strike.

The Air Force carefully trains the people manning our missile silos. The Captains of the
boomers know that someday they may be called upon to launch their deadly cargo.
Both groups are trained not to think of the people those warheads might be aimed at.
The US national plan is to never make a first strike and only launch on warning. That
became clear in the early '50s when Truman fired MacArthur.

We built them smaller and more powerful. Eventually, we decided not to build the really
big bombs ala 20mT and focus on smaller, adjustable bombs and warheads. Strangely,
we did that years before Arnold made Collateral Damage. We focused on precision,
having the luxury of having the bomb first. The CEP of some of our missiles wasn't
worth mentioning, so they made it a point not to. Close counts.

We of the senior generation didn't have a lot to do except sit around and try to not get
fat. Our hired hand Miguel was sort in between generations and then came our kids, 6
of them and 6 spouses. Don't forget our grandchildren, we had them but they were all
the same, poopy diapers, wanting to be fed, burped or something. They'd be more fun
in a few years. We could tell them great tales of how we saved the country from the Cu-

220
bans back in '62. Or how we voted for Reagan to free the hostages and put an end to
the Cold War. We'd start off with, "Well, I remember when…"

We had years of learning stored between our ears and even more stored on our com-
puters. That safe full of gold wasn't so full any more, but what we had was worth more,
and it evened out. We could tell them how we used to buy gasoline for 18¢ a gallon, not
that they would believe us. We could tell them about 1¢ candy and 5¢ Snicker bars, but
wouldn't tell them we were lucky to make $100 a week or that the new car only cost
$2,500. Sue's Jeep Cherokee cost maybe 20 times as much.

Eventually, we'd get ourselves to a point, as a world, where there actually would be a
War to End All Wars. We'd wipe out 80% of our population, either in the attacks, the af-
termath or the starvation that followed. If we only regressed 100 years, we'd be lucky.
Even if we could produce the fuel for our machines, they'd eventually wear out or parts
would become unavailable. We'd run out of primers and power and our guns would be-
come awkward clubs.

The Republic of China today declared independence from the People's Republic of Chi-
na. The US has 4 CSGs in the western Pacific in anticipation of such a move. With the
2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the PRC has been uncharacteristically silent. They
have issued an alert to their naval forces and we understand that their missile batteries
across the Formosa Straits are on high alert status. While there has been no word from
the White House, we assume that US Forces have been moved to a higher alert status.

The hay that we bought in July was all stacked against the barn. We began to move ve-
hicles into the second pole building and Matt Jr. began to remove the sensitive parts.
The livestock was moved from the pasture to the feedlot, just in case. We'd been ready
since the '70s, when we were in our 30s. We had all turned 69 this year, life just wasn't
fair. Thirty some years ago, we could have dealt with this, but now…

"Sue is monitoring the TV."

"Sarah is with her, Rob. How much time do you think we will have?"

"Half an hour, give or take. We can detect on launch and I'm sure they have the EAS
standing by."

"Maybe the Chinese won't react."

"They don't have a choice, Matt, they passed that law. Did the TV say where we posi-
tioned our CSGs?"

"Three are well off the east coast of Taiwan. The other is in the Sea of Japan."

221
"Any word on the boomers?"

"They sailed shortly after the announcement came out. They only waited long enough to
take on stores. That included the SSBNs and the SSGNs."

"What status would you guess we're at?"

"Don't know, maybe DEFCON 3."

"Where's the government?"

"Cheney is wherever he goes to hide out and they didn't say where Bush was going.
The House and Senate adjourned."

"Supreme Court?"

"Didn't say."

"I'll bet they're wishing now they hadn't revealed the location of the bunker at the
Greenbrier."

"Didn't they close that for remodeling?"

"It reopened."

"As a shelter or for tours?"

"Don't know. They give tours, but it's fully equipped."

"Do you want to put the livestock in the barn?"

"Not yet, let's wait and see what happens."

"Sue, what were you planning on for supper?"

"Beans."

"Let's hope we don't get attacked for a day, huh?"

…Ticonderoga class cruiser intercepted several No-Dong IRBM aimed for Japan. Pac
III batteries intercepted the remainder as they approached Japan. A White House
spokesman said the launch constituted an act of war by North Korea. UN representa-
tives are unavailable for discussions as most have departed New York within the past
24 hours.

"How much warning would we get if China used their type 94 SSBN?"

222
"A few minutes at most. If I were a betting man, I say they'd put it off our east coast."

"I don't think so. The type 094 SSBN mounts 16 JL-2 SLBM with a maximum range of
8,000kms. When deployed, this missile allows Chinese SSBNs to target portions of the
United States for the first time from operating areas located near the Chinese coast.
Equipped with the JL-2 missiles, the Type 094 SSBN would only have to patrol just to
the northeast of the Kuril Islands to hold about three-fourths of the United States within
its missile's range. That type 92 they have is almost too noisy to use."

"Someone is going to have to stay up tonight to keep an eye on the TV."

"Are you volunteering?"

"Not me, I need my beauty rest."

Over beans and homemade bread, we decided that one couple from each family should
each take a shift, putting 2 couples on watch for 4 hours at a time. We'd take the day
watch, a privilege of having managed to live for so long. There was no last minute rush
to buy things from Costco or Sam's Club. We didn't need a whole lot, disposable dia-
pers and maybe some extra baby food. None of the girls cared to use regular diapers,
of which, we had many.

The closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games were held today in Beijing
and Chinese authorities gave team representatives 24 hours to leave China, signaling
perhaps the beginning of the Chinese response to the declaration of independence by
the Republic of China.

A Pentagon spokesman indicated that the US had raised its defense condition one level
in response, declining to state the actual Defense Condition. Capitol Hill and indeed all
of Washington have been quiet during the past 7 days since the Republic of China de-
clared independence. Over the course of the past week, all American Naval forces have
put to sea in what is seen by many as a move to preserve the fleets in the event of a
war.

The Air Force has redeployed the 20 B-2s stationed Whiteman Air Force Base plus the
B-52Hs and B-1Bs to undisclosed locations. All military installations have been on full
lockdown since last week when the Pentagon cancelled all leaves and ordered troops to
return to their posts. Historically, this is the highest state of alert the military has been at
since October of 1962.

223
 When We Were Young – Chapter 10

"If we have to go on full lockdown ourselves, what's the plan?"

"I only want to run the small generator so people will need to clean out their refrigerators
and freezers and put everything in the shelter or the storeroom. If we do have to use the
shelter, we don't want to come out to rotting food or whatever. Moreover, when we do
exit the shelter don't expect to use anything larger than the 60kw generator. It should be
winter by then so air conditioning won't be a problem. Tell everyone to set their furnaces
on heat and the temperature at 55°. And, tell them to turn off their hot water heaters."

"How are we going to care for the livestock?"

"I have a pair of the radiation suits. Besides, we shouldn't get much radiation here."

"You said how, but you didn't say who."

"Why you and me, of course; we wouldn't want to endanger any of the youngsters,
would we?"

"I can still…"

"Yes, but Sue and Sarah can't have kids, so it won't make any difference if you and I get
a small dose of radiation."

"Gosh, I hope not."

"Well, Matt, I hope we don't have a war, but it doesn't appear to be up to you or me."

"How long will we be in the shelter?"

"I figure 2-3 weeks tops. It's going to depend on a lot of things we don't have any control
over, like the wind direction, where they hit us and the type of explosion as in ground
burst or air burst."

"Daddy, wake up, it's time."

"End of the world time?"

"I'm afraid so. Get what you need and head to the shelter; we've been waking everyone
up since word came."

"How much time do we have?"

224
"About 15 minutes."

"I'm just going to throw on a robe; I need a shower before I get dressed."

"Whatever, hurry."

I put on a robe and grabbed the duffel bag of clothes we had prepared to take to the
shelter. Sue was in the kitchen putting most of the contents of the refrigerator into the
trash and only putting a small portion in a box. I told her I come back and take the trash
out and she said Tom would do it. I should go down and make sure the radios were all
switched to ground because of a possible EMP.

I kept the radios unplugged and always left the antenna connector in the ground posi-
tion, but I didn't bother to explain again. I turned off the hot water heater on my way to
the shelter. Once there, I took a quick shower and dressed. I didn't bother to shave, I
didn't want a razor in my hand when the ground shook.

We had practiced this drill so many times over the past 30 years; it was downright bor-
ing, just like 100 times, or more, before. We kicked in the 60kw generator and cut the
outside power. The only clue we'd have when the end came would be the TV. Some
talking head was explaining what people should be doing at this very moment. I oc-
curred to me if he didn't shut up and do it himself, this could be his final appearance.
Then, I realized it was a recorded message. About that time, the TV died for want of a
signal. I reached up and started the elapsed time timer I put in years before.

"Well, that tears it; welcome to life people, Part II is just about to begin."

"Darn, I liked Ppart I just fine Rob."

"How high does that timer go?"

"9,999 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds. After that, it starts over."

"Why so long?"

"Just in case we had to go to 2,401 hours, 7 to the 4th power. I made up a table on my
computer that measures 7 to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th powers in 0.1 increments."

"Why not higher?"

"That's 700 days. If the radiation isn't down by then, it might not matter; the next incre-
ment would be 4,902 days or approximately 13.42 years."

"I have another question."

"What?"

225
"We were already in the middle of a food crisis as it was, what will this do to us?"

"Decrease the demand for exported grain?"

"Will there be any grain to export?"

"Probably, after the nuclear winter."

"When will that happen?"

"I believe that it has already started, but it probably hasn't started to snow, yet."

In 1982 a special issue of the journal Ambio was devoted to the possible environmental
consequences of nuclear war; it included an article by Paul Crutzen and J. Birks on at-
mospheric effects. They re-assessed and re-affirmed the consequences for the ozone
layer noted in the 1975 National Academies of Science report (up to 70% of the ozone
layer might be destroyed); and drew attention for the first time to the likely large
amounts of smoke that would be released.

In 1983 the "TTAPS" study (from the initials of the last names of its authors, R.P. Turco,
O.B. Toon, T.P. Ackerman, J.B. Pollack, and Carl Sagan) undertook a systematic study
of the atmospheric consequences; partly inspired to write the paper both by the sugges-
tions of one Dr. A.M. Salzberg (who, unlike the TTAPS authors, believed that the initial
dust thrown into the air would be primarily responsible for the climate changes) and by
cooling effects due to dust storms on Mars. To carry out a calculation of the effect they
used a simplified two dimensional model of the Earth's atmosphere that assumed that
conditions at a given latitude were constant.

In 1984 the WMO commissioned G. S. Golitsyn and N. A. Phillips to review the state of
the science. They found that studies generally assumed a scenario that half of the
world’s nuclear weapons would be used, about 5-6,000 Mt, destroying approximately
1,000 cities, and creating large quantities of black carbonaceous smoke – 1-
2 × 1014 grams being mostly likely, with a range of 0.2 - 6.4 × 1014 grams (NAS; TTAPS
assumed 2.25 × 1014). The smoke resulting would be largely opaque to solar radiation
but transparent to infra-red, thus cooling by blocking sunshine but not causing warming
from enhancing the greenhouse effect. The optical depth of the smoke would be four or
more. Forest fires resulting from non-urban targets could enhance these numbers. Dust
from near-surface explosions against hardened targets could also contribute; each Mt of
explosion could release up to 5 Mt of dust, but most would quickly fall out; high altitude
dust is estimated at 0.1-1 Mt per Mt of explosion. The theory of large-scale fires was
recognized as a weak point; with data from Hamburg and Hiroshima cited as examples.
Burning of crude oil could also contribute substantially.

The 1-D radiative-convective models used in these studies produced a range of results,
with cooling's of 15-42 °C between 14 and 35 days after the war, with a "baseline" of

226
about 20 °C. Somewhat more sophisticated calculations using 3-D GCMs (Alexandrov
and Stenchikov (1983); Covey, Schneider and Thompson (1984); which would be con-
sidered primitive by today standards) produced similar results: temperature drops of be-
tween 20° and 40°C, though with regional variations.

All calculations show large heating (up to 80 °C) at the top of the smoke layer at about
10 km; this implies a substantial modification of the circulation there and the possibility
of advection of the cloud into low latitudes and the southern hemisphere. The report
made no attempt to compare the likely human impacts of the post-war cooling to the di-
rect deaths from explosions.

"So, it's going to get cold?"

"Yes, and after that, hot with a lot of ultra violet radiation."

"And the bottom line is?"

"Video at 11."

"Seriously."

"We have a lot of sun block, wide brimmed hats and enough food until we can grow
some kind of crops."

"When do we go take care of the animals?"

"After 49 hours when the radiation level is 1% of the peak level."

"But you started the countdown clock immediately."

"For a time frame, I record the radiation levels every 15 minutes from now on or have
someone else do it. From the beginning time to the peak time will be the number of
hours we'll have to add to the elapsed timer."

"It's just a shame you don't have a second clock and we could start it when the radiation
peaks."

"We won't know that it has peaked until after the fact. But, I do have a second clock."

"Fine, restart it every 15 minutes until the radiation falls off."

I dug out the second clock and set it up. I wouldn't start doing what Matt suggested until
I had a reason to believe the radiation level was leveling off a little. At 10mph, it would
take radiation about 38 hours to reach us from Los Angeles. I, or someone, would rec-
ord the wind speed and direction and make a best guess when the radiation from there

227
would hit us. It was probably the largest target that would produce fallout for us. The dis-
tance was ~380 miles.

We started doing the clock thing at 25 hours because the wind speed was bit higher
than I estimated. At 31 hours and 45 minutes the clock wasn't reset, indicating that the
radiation had peaked around 31.5 hours. It peaked at ~315R/hr. Our maximum allowa-
ble exposure level was 104mR/hr or 0.00033 of the peak level. That point would occur,
according to my calculations, around 63 days after the peak. It was a surprise, but it
would take 9 weeks to reach a minimum level for 24/7 time above ground and we were
only getting fallout. We could feed the livestock at 80.5 hours, if we decided to wait for
the radiation level to hit 3.15R/hr.

The suits I bought provided limited protection although they were the best thing I could
find. They provided a protection factor of 3 against Beta radiation and 10 against gam-
ma radiation.

A nuclear explosion vaporizes any material within the fireball, including the ground if it is
nearby and this is combined with residual ionizing radiation to produce fallout. The
sources of this residual ionizing radiation are:

•Fission products. These are intermediate weight isotopes which are formed when a
heavy uranium or plutonium nucleus is split in a fission reaction. There are over 300 dif-
ferent fission products that may result from a fission reaction. Many of these are radio-
active with widely differing half-lives. Some are very short, that is, fractions of a second,
while a few are long enough that the materials can be a hazard for months or years.
Their principal mode of decay is by the emission of beta radiation, usually accompanied
with gamma radiation. Approximately 60 g of fission products are formed per kiloton of
yield. The estimated activity of this quantity of fission products 1 minute after detonation
is 1.1 ZBq, equal to that of 30 Gg of radium, in equilibrium with its decay products.

•Unfissioned nuclear material. Nuclear weapons are relatively inefficient in their use of
fissionable material, usually only 2%-40% of the fissionable material undergoes fission
and much of the uranium and plutonium is dispersed by the explosion without undergo-
ing fission. Such unfissioned nuclear material decays by the emission of alpha particles
and is of relatively minor importance. Although, one should realize that a fission-fusion-
fission bomb used most of the fissionable nuclear material.

•Neutron-induced activity. If atomic nuclei capture neutrons when exposed to a flux of

neutron radiation, they will, as a rule, become radioactive (neutron-induced activity) and
then decay by emission of beta and gamma radiation over an extended period of time.
Neutrons emitted as part of the initial nuclear radiation will cause activation of the
weapon residues. In addition, atoms of environmental material, such as soil, air, and

228
water, may be activated, depending on their composition and distance from the burst.
For example, a small area around ground zero may become hazardous as a result of
exposure of the minerals in the soil to initial neutron radiation. This is due principally to
neutron capture by sodium (Na), manganese, aluminum, and silicon in the soil. This is a
relatively negligible hazard because of the limited area involved.

•Higher actinides are formed during a nuclear detonation. The neutron flux is very high
so too little time exists between each neutron capture for beta decay. Hence a different
group of isotopes is formed to those which are formed in a normal low flux power reac-
tor (S-Process). This is an example of the R-Process which is also seen in exploding
stars. These higher actinides are known as minor actinides in the context of used power
reactor fuel. Some of the higher actinides were first found in the fall out from bomb
tests, for instance einsteinium (element 99) was first found in the fallout from a hydro-
gen bomb test

There are many types of fallout, ranging from the global type to the more area-restricted
types.

Worldwide fallout:

After an air burst the fission products, unfissioned nuclear material, and weapon resi-
dues which have been vaporized by the heat of the fireball will condense into a fine
suspension of very small particles 10 nm to 20 µm in diameter. These particles may be
quickly drawn up into the stratosphere, particularly if the explosive yield exceeds 10 kT.
They will then be dispersed by atmospheric winds and will gradually settle to the earth's
surface after weeks, months, and even years as worldwide fallout.

The radiobiological hazard of worldwide fallout is essentially a long-term one due to the
potential accumulation of long-lived radioisotopes, such as strontium-90 and caesium-
137, in the body as a result of ingestion of foods incorporating these radioactive materi-
als. This hazard is much less serious than those which are associated with local fallout
and, therefore, is not discussed at length here. Local fallout is of much greater immedi-
ate operational concern.

This type of fallout is featured in the novels On the Beach by British author Nevil Shute
and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep? by Philip K. Dick.

Local fallout:

In a land or water surface burst, large amounts of earth or water will be vaporized by the
heat of the fireball and drawn up into the radioactive cloud. This material will become
radioactive when it condenses, with fission products and other radio contaminants that
have become neutron-activated.

There will be large amounts of particles of less than 100 nm to several millimeters in di-
ameter generated in a surface burst in addition to the very fine particles which contrib-

229
ute to worldwide fallout. The larger particles spill out of the stem and cascade down the
outside of the fireball in a downdraft even while the cloud rises, so fallout begins to ar-
rive near ground zero within an hour and more than half the total bomb debris is depos-
ited on the ground within about 24 hours as local fallout.

Severe local fallout contamination can extend far beyond the blast and thermal effects,
particularly in the case of high yield surface detonations. The ground track of fallout
from an explosion depends on the weather situation from the time of detonation on-
wards. In stronger winds, fallout travels faster but takes the same time to descend, so
although it covers a larger path, it is more spread out or diluted. So the width of the fall-
out pattern for any given dose rate is reduced, where the downwind distance is in-
creased by higher winds. The total amount of activity deposited up to any given time is
the same irrespective of the wind pattern, so the overall casualty figures from fallout will
generally be independent of the winds. But thunderstorms can bring down activity as
rain more rapidly than dry fallout, particularly if the mushroom cloud is low enough to be
below, or mixed with, the thunderstorm.

Whenever individuals remain in a radiologically contaminated area, such contamination

will lead to an immediate external radiation exposure as well as a possible later internal
hazard due to inhalation and ingestion of radio contaminants, such as the rather short-
lived iodine-131, which is accumulated in the thyroid.

Factors affecting fallout:

Location

There are two main considerations for the location of an explosion: height and surface
composition. A nuclear weapon detonated in the air, called an air burst, will produce
less fallout than a comparable explosion near the ground. This is due to the fact that
less particulate matter will be contaminated and kicked up by the explosion. Detonations
at the surface, surface bursts, will tend to produce more fallout material.

In case of water surface bursts, the particles tend to be rather lighter and smaller and so
produce less local fallout but will extend over a greater area. The particles contain most-
ly sea salts with some water; these can have a cloud seeding effect causing local rain-
out and areas of high local fallout. Fallout from a seawater burst is unusually difficult to
remove once it has soaked into porous surfaces, because the fission products are pre-
sent as metallic ions which become chemically bonded to many surfaces. Water and
detergent will not remove more than about 50% of this activity from concrete or steel,
which will require sandblasting or acidic treatment. After the Crossroads underwater test
it was found that wet fallout needs to be immediately removed from ships by continuous
water wash down (such as from the fire sprinkler system on the decks).

For subsurface bursts, there is an additional phenomenon present called "base surge".
The base surge is a cloud that rolls outward from the bottom of the subsiding column,
due to an excessive density of dust or water droplets in the air. For underwater bursts

230
the visible surge is, in effect, a cloud of liquid (usually water) droplets with the property
of flowing almost as if it were a homogeneous fluid. After the water evaporates, an invis-
ible base surge of small radioactive particles may persist.

For subsurface land bursts, the surge is made up of small solid particles, but it still be-
haves like a fluid. A soil earth medium favors base surge formation in an underground
burst. Although the base surge typically contains only about 10% of the total bomb de-
bris in a subsurface burst, it can create larger radiation doses than fallout near the deto-
nation, because it arrives sooner than fallout, before so much radioactive decay has oc-
curred.

Meteorological

Meteorological conditions will greatly influence fallout, particularly local fallout. Atmos-
pheric winds are able to bring fallout over large areas. For example, as a result of a
Castle Bravo surface burst of a 15 mT thermonuclear device at Bikini Atoll on March 1,
1954, a roughly cigar-shaped area of the Pacific extending over 500 km downwind and
varying in width to a maximum of 100 km was severely contaminated. There are three
very different versions of the fallout pattern from this test, because the fallout was only
measured on a small number of widely spaced Pacific Atolls. The two alternative ver-
sions both ascribe the high radiation levels at north Rongelap to a downwind hotspot
caused by the large amount of radioactivity carried on fallout particles of about 50-100
micrometers size.

After Bravo it was discovered that fallout landing on the ocean disperses in the top wa-
ter layer (above the thermocline at 100 m depth), and the land equivalent dose rate can
be calculated by multiplying the ocean dose rate at two days after burst by a factor of
about 530. In other 1954 tests, including Yankee and Nectar, hotspots were mapped out
by ships with submersible probes, and similar hotspots occurred in 1956 tests such as
Zuni and Tewa. However, the major US 'DELFIC' (Defense Land Fallout Interpretive
Code) computer calculations use the natural size distributions of particles in soil instead
of the afterwind sweep-up spectrum, and this results in more straightforward fallout pat-
terns lacking the downwind hotspot. For civil defense purposes it is simpler.

Snow and rain, especially if they come from considerable heights, will accelerate local
fallout. Under special meteorological conditions, such as a local rain shower that origi-
nates above the radio-active cloud, limited areas of heavy contamination just downwind
of a nuclear blast may be formed.

Effects of fallout:

A wide range of biological changes may follow the irradiation of animals. These vary
from rapid death following high doses of penetrating whole-body radiation, to essentially
normal lives for a variable period of time until the development of delayed radiation ef-
fects, in a portion of the exposed population, following low dose exposures.

231
The unit of actual exposure is the Röentgen which is defined in ionizations per unit vol-
ume of air, and all ionization based instruments (including Geiger counters and ioniza-
tion chambers) measure exposure. However, effects depend on the energy per unit
mass not the exposure measured in air. A deposit of 1 joule per kilogram has the unit of
1 Gray. For 1 MeV energy gamma rays, an exposure of 1 Röentgen in air will produce a
dose of about 0.01 Gray, i.e., 1 centigray (cGy) in water or surface tissue. Because of
shielding by the tissue surrounding the bones, the bone marrow will only receive about
0.67 cGy when the air exposure is 1 Röentgen and the surface skin dose is 1 cGy.
Some of the lower values reported for the amount of radiation which would kill 50% of
personnel (the 'LD50') refer to bone marrow dose, which is only 67% of the air dose.

Short term

Median lethal dose (LD50): When comparing the effects of various types or circum-
stances, that dose which is lethal to 50% of a given population is a very useful parame-
ter. The term is usually defined for a specific time, being limited, generally, to studies of
acute lethality. The common time periods used are 30 days or less for most small labor-
atory animals and to 60 days for large animals and humans. It should be understood
that the LD50 figure assumes that the individuals did not receive other injuries or medi-
cal treatment.

It was estimated some years ago that with the best possible medical care, the LD50 for
gamma rays is 3.5 Gy, while under more dire conditions of war (a bad diet, little medical
care, poor nursing) that the LD50 will be 2.5 Gy (250 Rad).

At 1 hour after burst the radiation from fallout in the crater region is 30 Grays per hour
(Gy/hr) for a surface burst. A cumulative dose of 3.5 Gy is fatal to half of a population of
humans (it has been estimated that the LD50 dose under the conditions of nuclear war
– poor diet, poor medical care etc. – would be 2.5 Gy). There have been few document-
ed cases of survival beyond 6 Gy. One person at Chernobyl survived a dose of more
than 10 Gy, but many of the persons exposed there were not uniformly exposed over
their entire body. If a person is exposed in a non-homogeneous manner then a given
dose (averaged over the entire body) is less likely to be of a lethal dose. For instance if
a person gets a hand/low arm dose of 100 Gy which gives them an overall dose of 4 Gy
then they are more likely to survive than a person who gets a 4 Gy dose uniformly over
their entire body. A hand dose of 10 Gy or more will likely result in loss of the hand; a
British industrial radiographer who got a lifetime hand dose of 100 Gy lost his hand be-
cause of radiation dermatitis. Most people become ill after an exposure to 1 Gy or more.
The fetuses of pregnant women are often more vulnerable than the host body and may
miscarry, especially in the first trimester. Though the human biology resists mutation
from large radiation exposure; grossly mutated fetuses usually miscarry, and this often
causes gene-faults. Civilian dose rates in peacetime range from 30 to 100 µGy/a.

Fallout radiation falls off exponentially relatively quickly with time. Most areas become
fairly safe for travel and decontamination after three to five weeks.

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The most dangerously known emissions from fallout are gamma rays, which travel in
straight lines, like ordinary light. The fallout particles emit gamma rays in the same way
that a light bulb emits light. Gamma rays cannot be seen, smelled, or felt. Special
equipment is required to detect and measure gamma rays (Such as Geiger counters,
dosimeters).

For yields of up to 10kT of TNT, prompt radiation is the dominant producer of casualties
on the battlefield. Humans receiving an acute incapacitating dose (30 Gy) will have their
performance degraded almost immediately and become ineffective within several hours.
However, they will not die until 5 to 6 days after exposure assuming they do not receive
any other injuries.

Individuals receiving less than a total of 1.5 Gy will not be incapacitated. Between those
two extremes, people receiving doses greater than 1.5 Gy will become disabled; some
will eventually die.

A dose of 5.3 Gy to 8.3 Gy is considered lethal but not immediately incapacitating. Per-
sonnel exposed to this amount of radiation will have their performance degraded within
2 to 3 hours, depending on how physically demanding the tasks they must perform are,
and will remain in this disabled state at least 2 days. However, at that point they will ex-
perience a recovery period and be effective at performing non-demanding tasks for
about 6 days, after which they will relapse for about 4 weeks. At this time they will begin
exhibiting symptoms of radiation poisoning of sufficient severity to render them totally
ineffective. Death follows at approximately 6 weeks after exposure, although results
may vary.

Long term

Late or delayed effects of radiation occur following a wide range of doses and dose
rates. Delayed effects may appear months to years after irradiation and include a wide
variety of effects involving almost all tissues or organs. Some of the possible delayed
consequences of radiation injury are life shortening, carcinogenesis, cataract formation,
chronic radio dermatitis, decreased fertility, and genetic mutations.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Sorry, I was just reading this bit I copied off Wiki. I understand Rads and Rems, but
now they don't use those terms and I'm lost."

"Do you know why it doesn't matter?"

"Why?"

"Because the survey meters we bought from Radmeters4U are calibrated in Rads and
all the information that I have is based on Rads and Rems. The Röentgen Equivalent in
Man or REM is a unit of radiation dose. It is the product of the absorbed dose in

233
Röentgens (R) and the biological efficiency of the radiation. More precisely, assuming a
radiation weighing factor rW=1, 1 rem equals 1.07185 Röentgen. The conversion factor
has been readjusted from 1 to 1.07185 so that 100REM equals 1 Sievert; the Sievert is
the recommended SI derived unit, and in many cases is the legally prescribed unit. The
more recent SI unit is the Gray, which is defined as 1 joule of deposited energy per kilo-
gram of tissue. Thus one Gray is equal to 100 rad."

"So 1 Sievert is 100 Rems and 1 Gray is 100 Rads?"

"Sort of."

"I know how it works, if I don't die, I'll probably live."

"Close enough."

"What kind of suit is this?"

"They call it Demron. It provides shielding against low to moderate gamma radiation, X-
Ray radiation, high and low energy beta particles and alpha particles."

"What next?"

"Put on the mask and then the hood. We'll have to use duct tape to seal any open
seams. After we've fed the animals, we can use the basement shower to wash our-
selves off. Make sure you don't snag the suit."

We fed the animals twice a week from then on. At 2 weeks, the radiation level was
~315mR/hr. That was when we began to carry weapons when we went topside. It sure
seemed to take a long time to fall to 100mR/hr, another 7 weeks. We were carrying a
couple of those Mossberg shotguns, it wouldn't matter if they got lethal dose of radia-
tion. I wouldn't call the guns junk, but they sure weren't Remington's or Winchester's
even though they pretty much look the same.

In the interim, we watched the radiation level fall, watched movies, tried new recipes us-
ing the food we bought from various suppliers and even popped popcorn. Have you ev-
er watched the Ridley Scott movie, Gladiator with Russell Crowe? I've seen it maybe a
half dozen times and it always chokes me up at the end.

In the beginning, we didn't stay out too long trying to keep our dosage of radiation low.
However, as the radiation went lower, the manure went higher, leaving us little choice
except to shovel some chit. The suit's protection factor didn't come close to that of the
shelter. The shelter had 12' of soil and a concrete lid, giving a protection factor of about
10 to the 45th power. We weren't getting much additional radiation showing up on our
dosimeters so we spent a little more time outside every time we went.

234
The scanner began picking up ham calls once we raised the antenna and switched the
unit to the Diamond D-130 J Discone. We just listened, none of the hams were from our
immediate area and nobody seemed to be running a poll to see who had survived. We
began to write the name of major cities and military installations hit in the attack and
when the total went over 1,000, began to suspect that it had involved more than China.

It was dark every time we went out, regardless of the time. Was it the TTAPS study or
the one that followed that talked about extensive cloud cover? I think maybe it was both,
but I could always check again. One other thing we noticed was the temperature, it had
fallen steadily ever since the day of the attack. This was far more than fall cooling, by
the time we were ready to exit full time; it had snowed and appeared it could snow any
moment.

In addition to Flagstaff, one of the cities on our list was Phoenix and a second location
was the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant 50 miles west of Phoenix. The only other loca-
tions they hit in Arizona was Holbrook, apparently aimed at their coal fueled power
plant, and Tucson. That meant a double whammy for the people in Phoenix, triple if you
counted the fallout from LA. On our last trip out, we set the thermostats to 65° but didn't
turn on the hot water heaters, who knew when we'd get more propane?

"It doesn't look a whole lot different, now does it?"

"What did you expect; all the houses brown off their foundations? We'd have seen that
the first time out of the shelter. Did you get a reading on the wind generated by the
bomb or whatever they dropped on Flagstaff?"

"I must have been occupied, sure didn't."

"You weren't occupied, it was my job and I didn't get it either."

"Did you tell me everything?"

"I didn't tell you about fallout. The effects of a 1mT surface burst assuming a wind speed
of 15mph, a wind direction of due east and a time frame of 7 days are:

3,000 Rem
Distance: 30 miles
Much more than a lethal dose of radiation. Death can occur within hours of exposure.
About 10 years will need to pass before levels of radioactivity in this area drop low
enough to be considered safe, by US peacetime standards.

900 Rem
Distance: 90 miles

235
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.

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

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Residences are moderately damaged. Commercial buildings have sustained minimal
damage. Twenty-five percent of the population between the 2 and 1-psi rings are in-
jured, mainly by flying glass and debris. Many others have been injured from thermal
radiation – the heat generated by the blast. The remaining seventy-five percent are un-
hurt.”

"What are peacetime levels?"

"The individual dose rate of natural radiation the average inhabitant of Earth receives is
about 2.2 mSv per year. That would be about 22µRem. If, for the sake of simplicity, we
assume 1mRem equals 1mR, the safe level of 104mR per hour is (4.7x8766) or
~41,400 times the peacetime level. However, since pregnant women and children are
more susceptible to radiation, we'll limit their expose to 12 hours a day for the foreseea-
ble future."

"We're all going to die aren't we?"

"Only if we starve to death or someone else kills us."

"How do you figure?"

"In the first place, the radiation level will continue to fall. In the second place there isn't
anyone better armed than we are in the entire state of Arizona except for the military. In
the third place, we can almost walk to Navajo Depot."

"Yeah right, we'll just walk up to the front gate and say, 'Let us in'."

"My map only shows the way to the back of the Depot."

"Are we going to do Thanksgiving and Christmas packages this year?"

"I don't think so. On the other hand, we should consider taking in any survivors who
show up, assuming they're good people."

How badly I wanted to say that it was a dumb question, it might be a couple of years be-
fore we could get a garden to grow; such was the uncertainty of the aftermath of a nu-
clear war. It was like a dark, cloudy day at noon on the good days and worse on the bad
days. Supposedly, that would clear and we'd get more sunshine than we wanted. If it
got hot enough, we'd be running the air conditioners hence the big generators and pos-
sibly all 3. We could crank out enough biodiesel to replace what the big generators
burned; I figured we'd better get started refilling what had been used during the 9 weeks
we were down in the hole.

237
If one unit produced 55 gallons in 3 hours, we could produce 8 batches in 24 hours, 440
gallons times 2 machines or 880 gallons a day. That was just about what we'd burn up
running all three of the generators for 24 hours. It was good to start it now, during the
winter when fuel consumption was down, because it gave us time to learn to use the
equipment. Other than propane, the next item we'd need would be vegetable oil and
more corn to make ethanol. I assumed that AmeriGas would have plenty of propane if
we used up our 35,000 gallons of propane and I was more interested in where we'd get
more vegetable oil, or diesel fuel. Could Chevron still supply us?

About the last thing I was worried about was food. We had enough food for 30 people
for 10 years although we didn’t have 30 people. I know it sounds like a lot, but there are
365.25 days per year or 3,652.5 days in 10 years and times 30 people means 109,575
people days of food, enough for the population of Sedona for 10 days. Oh, you say,
that's different. You bet your bippy it's different. Even with all the food in town taken into
account, we maybe had enough for everyone for 30 days. Hey buddy, can you spare a
dime? No habla.

"Matt, would you get the parts and get all of the vehicles running please?"

"Are we going somewhere?"

"We need to be ready to. Plus we need to know that all of the vehicles work."

"It's cold out."

"Put a heater in the shed."

"Will a kerosene heater run on diesel fuel?"

"Yes. They may smell a little worse, and you may need to tweak the air screw a tad to
keep 'em from smoking, other than that, no problem." (Our diesel was B-100, it worked
fine.)

"Astronaut Jimenez, what is the first thing you're going to do once you reach orbit?"
"I'm going to cry a lot."
"Did NASA give you something to break your fall, Jose?"
"Yes ... de state of Nebada."
"Is that your crash helmet?"
"Oh! I hope not!"
Jose would say that the best part about the mission was blastoff: "I always take a blast
before I take off ... otherwise I wouldn't get in that thing."

238
(The Mercury Seven called him the "eighth astronaut" and, Virginia, Jose was Puerto
Rican, not Mexican. What did your author have in common with Jose? The blastoff, I
hated to fly in airplanes.)

It took Matt Jr. longer to get the vehicles running than it did to tear them down, but even-
tually, we had wheels. The ground was frozen hard and we discussed the possibility of
filling a few holes in our supplies of defense material. Anything we could find, but an Mk
19 would be nice. A mounted Bushmaster cannon would be even nicer, especially if we
could find ammo for both of them. The only difference between men and boys is the
price of their toys.

The radiation would continue to fall and at the end of 700 days, reach 31.5mR. None of
the younger women or children were being allowed to sleep above ground until the sur-
vey meter read 50mR, ~ 20,000 times average peacetime level. We'd reach that level
around 475 days, nearly 1 year & 4 months after the peak. We used the material out of
the suits to make over-garments for the younger men. Discrimination on the basis of
age and gender? You're darned right! This is my place and if they don't like it, I guess
they don't like it; I'm not in a popularity poll.

"Who won?"

"Nobody, we all lost."

"Did everywhere get blasted?"

"I don't know, there's some guy on 80 meters who keeps saying, "2LO Calling, London
Calling."

London calling to the faraway towns

Now that war is declared-and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls
London calling, now don't look at us
All that phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing

[Chorus]
The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
London is drowning-and I live by the river

London calling to the imitation zone

239
Forget it, brother, an' go it alone
London calling upon the zombies of death
Quit holding out-and draw another breath
London calling-and I don't wanna shout
But when we were talking-I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain't got no highs
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes
The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
London is drowning-and I live by the river
I live by the river

"That's the original call sign for BBC. Do you suppose someone got one of their com-
mercial radios to work and can call but not receive?"

"Not on 80 meters, no. It's probably some kid who found a radio and doesn't know how
to switch between transmit and receive."

"Any idea where he is?"

"Nope, the antenna is omni-directional."

"Well, he'll probably quit."

"Yes, either when his battery runs out or he starves."

What Rob said was cold. It was also true, either the battery would be dead or the per-
son on the other end of the radio would be dead and we wouldn't know which. Hams are
rather innovative and if there was any way they could stay on the air, they would, even if
it mean using a solar panel to recharge a battery and transmitting on a 12 (13.8) volt ra-
dio. If Rob had put up beam antennas for every band, can you imagine what his anten-
na would look like?

When we were young we got ready for what just happened to us. After that we sat
around and wondered why we had spent the money and if it would ever happen. Rob
always said it was a question of when and what, not if. They have a mad man in North
Korea and that guy in charge of Iran wasn't any better, just much richer. He had oil
money and bought things from just about anyone who would sell to him. Not him, the
real guy in charge, the Ayatollah. He had billions of oil dollars in the bank and could buy
whatever he wanted, he just needed a seller.

Apparently that nuclear program of theirs was just a careful disguise for their real intent,
buy completed weapons from the Russian Mafia. The weapons would be mounted on
completed No-Dong Scud Cs they were buying from North Korea. The Russians built a
substantial quantity of the 5-80kT warheads for the Scud-B. Russia’s TBM inventory

240
was limited to thousands of SS-1c/Scud B and SS-21/Scarab SRBMs as a result of the
Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty, which required the elimination of the FSU’s
extensive stocks of MRBMs.

In the 1970s, Leonid I. Brezhnev claimed that whoever started a nuclear war would be
committing suicide, and he asserted that the Soviet Union would never be the first to
use nuclear weapons. In the 1980s, Soviet civilian and military leaders adopted a similar
stance, repeatedly declaring that no victor could emerge in a general nuclear war and
that it would lead to the destruction of humanity. These statements seemed to modify
Lenin's dictum that war is the continuation of politics.

Never be the first? But maybe the last, huh? Kim Jong-Il started it when he attacked Ja-
pan. Or, did the Republic of China start it when they declared independence? Does it
matter? China fired conventional missiles at Taiwan; Kim fired nuclear tipped Scud's at
Japan, part of his payment for the missiles North Korea provided Iran. Commentators
had been right when they speculated that North Korea couldn't build a nuclear weapon
small enough for a Scud missile. Nobody considered the possibility that Iran bought
several Russian nukes for their missiles and North Korea's. Our CSG in the Sea of Ja-
pan got most of the Scuds and the PAC IIIs we provided Japan got the rest. At this
point, it was no-harm, no-foul.

Then Iran launched on Israel and the Israel's launched their ready fighters equipped
with those nuclear weapons they didn't have. In a nearly simultaneous move the Jericho
missiles were fired from their silos. They weren't armed with conventional warheads.
Fortunately for Israel, they also had several batteries of the PAC III missiles and were
able to intercept the Iranian missiles with those and their own Barak and Arrow missiles.
Don't believe me?

Israel Missile Update – 2005

The Risk Report

Volume 11 Number 6 (November-December 2005)

Israel continues to maintain a powerful arsenal of "Jericho" ballistic missiles, capable of

delivering a nuclear warhead to any point in the Middle East. Israel is also pursuing a
military satellite program and has deployed several batteries of the Arrow missile de-
fense system to shield against the missiles of its neighbors. Israel is not a member of
the Missile Technology Control Regime and has been identified by the US Department
of Commerce as a possible supplier of missile technology.

Ballistic Missiles

Israel maintains a sizeable arsenal of ballistic missiles that would enable it to deliver an
offensive or retaliatory nuclear strike against any potential regional target. The core of
Israel's arsenal is its fleet of two-stage "Jericho" missiles. Israel's Jericho-I missile is es-
timated to be capable of carrying a 450 to 650-kilogram payload up to 500 kilometers,

241
and the Jericho-II of carrying a 750 to 1,000-kilogram payload considerably more than
1,500 kilometers. The three-stage Jericho-III missile, reportedly under development, is
believed to have a range of 4,800 kilometers. Israel's NEXT space launch vehicle, also
under development, may consist of a bipropellant fourth stage (consisting of liquid fuel
plus a liquid oxidizer) added to the three solid fuel stages of the Jericho-III missile. (The
actual range of the Jericho-III is 4,800 to 11,500 km, 2,982 to 7,180 miles.)

Israel is also reportedly developing a new Long-Range Artillery (LORA) missile-which is

said to be a precision-guided missile to strike stationary or semi-fixed targets. Defense
News has described the IAI-produced LORA as capable of delivering a 570-kilogram
warhead within a 200-kilometer range. According to Defense News, the LORA flew 120
kilometers in its March 2003 maiden developmental test flight before hitting its target in
the Mediterranean Sea. Defense News also reported that the missile failed in a test in
November 2003, but then succeeded in March 2005 when it hit a target some 200 kilo-
meters from the launch site.

Israel also possesses the US-supplied Lance missile. The Lance is a liquid-fueled,
short-range, mobile, nuclear-capable missile with a range of 130 kilometers and a pay-
load capacity of at least 210 kilograms.

According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, Israel had deployed, by

the year 2000, fifty Jericho-I missiles on mobile launchers and one hundred Jericho-II
missiles on underground wheeled transporter-erector-launchers or railroad flat cars.
In October 2003, the Los Angeles Times, citing Israeli and US officials, reported that Is-
rael had modified the American-supplied submarine-based Harpoon anti-ship missile to
carry nuclear warheads. However, some defense experts dismissed this report, claiming
that it is impossible to make a Harpoon nuclear-capable without limiting its range and
accuracy.

Arrow Anti-ballistic Missile Defense System

Israel continues to dedicate substantial effort to improving its ability to defend against
foreign missile attacks. The core of Israel's missile defense, the Arrow program, is a
joint US-Israel effort begun in 1988 to develop a system for destroying ballistic missiles
launched from other countries by intercepting them before they enter Israeli airspace.
During the past several years, Israel and the United States have been implementing the
Arrow System Improvement Program (ASIP) in order to enhance the Arrow's ability to
defeat longer-range ballistic missile threats emerging in the Middle East.

As part of ASIP, Israel conducted the tenth test of the Arrow missile in January 2003 by
firing four interceptor missiles at four simulated incoming rockets. The test, described as
a success by Israel Defense Forces, was the fifth for the integrated Arrow Weapon Sys-
tem, which includes the "Green Pine" fire control radar, the "Yellow Citron" fire man-
agement system, the "Brown Nut" launch control center, and the Arrow launchers and
missiles.

242
Israel conducted another successful test of the Arrow missile in December 2003 by in-
tercepting a "Black Sparrow" missile. The test was the sixth of the complete Arrow
Weapon System. In July 2004, the Arrow intercepted a live Scud missile in flight; the
previous tests had been with simulated Scud missiles.

After this string of successful tests, the Arrow System Improvement Program suffered
an apparent setback in August 2004. During a test in California, an Arrow missile identi-
fied but failed to intercept its target, which was characterized as an "unreal threat" rep-
resenting "an extreme condition." The target missile reportedly simulated an Iranian
Shahab-3 or a Scud-D. Despite this failure, an Israeli defense official reportedly claimed
that the Arrow was capable of intercepting a Shahab-3 missile.

In addition to the testing and development done under the Arrow System Improvement
Program, Israel has also sought US cooperation in producing the Arrow. Israel Aircraft
Industries (IAI) and Boeing signed an agreement in February 2003 to manufacture part
of the Arrow missile in the United States. Boeing will be responsible for producing at
least 35 percent of Arrow missile components, while IAI will be responsible for integra-
tion and final assembly of the Arrow missile in Israel. In March 2004, IAI awarded Boe-
ing a $78 million contract under which Boeing will assemble several sections of the Ar-
row II interceptor and will produce the canister that holds the interceptor in the launcher.

If you managed to follow that, Iran and Israel were going at it hot and heavy when either
India or Pakistan decided it wanted to join the 'fun'. Each country has ~ 100 nuclear
weapons, give or take. Apparently Pakistan aimed a missile at the Kashmir and it went
too far, ending up in – you guessed it, China. When the US saw the hit in China, our
forces were moved to DEFCON 1 and fingers were very near the triggers. China took
less than 2 hours to react and when they did, they struck out in anger at everyone, In-
dia, Pakistan, Russia, Taiwan and lucky US. When the Russian defense system saw
incoming missiles, they launched on China and lucky US. We fired all 450 Minuteman III
missiles, successfully, and the missiles on 4 of the SSBNs, successfully. That gave us a
second wave if we needed it.

243
 When We Were Young – Chapter 11

While the US may have 10,000 weapons, about half of them are reserves. As it was, we
didn't use all we had. Neither did Russia, though no one has explained why. I guess one
could say the Israel and Japan won WW III; they didn't take any nuclear hits. Which was
strange because WW III occurred when Iran attacked Israel. All around the world in the
northern latitudes, the wind blows from the west to the east. From 30°N to 60°N was this
cloud of radioactive waste (fallout) circling the globe over and over and over. The cloud
rose to high altitude and spilled over into the southern hemisphere. Good Luck and
Good Night!

At least that's what we believe happened. We might be wrong, maybe it was that
speech the Bush gave at the end of Iraqi Freedom.

My Fellow Americans,

As you all know, the defeat of Iraq regime has been completed.

Since Congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in
Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq.
This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now time to begin the reckoning.

Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood
by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short. The United Kingdom, Spain, Bul-
garia, Australia and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains everyone not on the first list. Most of the world's nations are on
that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2
ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will
pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world hellholes and
watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.

Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France.

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving
the vexing social problems we still have at home. On that note, a word to terrorist
organizations. Screw with us, and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your
friends from the face of the earth.

244
Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France or maybe China.

I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany and
Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon
chance, mes amis.

I have instructed the mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic
vehicles, located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parking tickets, to sites where
those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don't care about whatever trea-
ty pertains to this. You creeps have tens of thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tick-
ets tomorrow, or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers and limos be turned over to
some of the finest chop shops in the world. I love New York.

A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2. Since we are likely to be seeing a
lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not upsetting us for a change.

Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire corrupt government really need an
attitude adjustment. I will have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around.
Guess where I am going to put 'em? Yep, border security.

Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty – starting now.

We are tired of the one-way highway. Immediately, we'll be drilling for oil in Alaska –
which will take care of this country's oil needs for decades to come. If you're an envi-
ronmentalist who opposes this decision, I refer you to List 2 above: pick a country and
move there. They care.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens. Some will accuse
us of isolationism. I answer them by saying, "darn tootin."

Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only
earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet. It is time to eliminate
hunger in America. It is time to eliminate homelessness in America. To the nations on
List 1, a final thought: Thank you guys. We owe you, and we won't forget.

To the nations on List 2, a final thought: You might want to learn to speak Arabic.

God bless America. Thank you, and good night.

Such a speech should be made, but earlier I was talking about holding your breath. One
word to the wise: Don't.

Where was I? Oh yeah, we were ready for a second wave but didn’t need it for 2 rea-
sons. There wasn't anything left to destroy and more importantly, there wasn't anything
left to protect. It took 200 pages to lead you to the trough and only 20 pages to dunk

245
your head. For a change, maybe I'll describe what it was really like, in the aftermath.
Summary: Life's a Bitch and then you die.

The Naval vessels returned to the US and laid off the coast waiting for the radiation to
decay and trying to find a port that hadn't been destroyed in the attacks. Somebody
screwed up; they forgot to hit Port Hueneme. NAVSEA Port Hueneme Surface Warfare
Center Division is part of a larger Navy organization called the Naval Sea Systems
Command, which is comprised of approximately 50,000 professional men and women.
NAVSEA Port Hueneme employs approximately 2,000 dedicated military and civilian
personnel who focus on the successful operation of surface combat and weapons sys-
tems.

We provide engineering and logistics services to the US naval fleet. Our responsibility is
to provide safe, effective, and affordable operation of combat and weapon systems
used on US Navy ships, as well as ships of friendly nations.

We have been supporting the US Navy since 1963 and we fully embrace the motto:
Fleet Support is Our Heritage. The scope of the command's fleet support keeps our ci-
vilian and military workforce of scientists, engineers, logisticians, computer specialists,
and administrative personnel challenged and committed to the needs of Sailors at sea.
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, 4363 Missile Way, Port
Hueneme, CA 93043-4307. Been there, done that, sorry no T-shirt. Port Hueneme
doesn't have that much dock space, but they didn't have a lot at Pearl Harbor in 1941,
either. And, right down the road was the Pacific Missile Test Center, Point Mugu.

There's more:

By Journalist 1st Class (SW) Scott Sutherland, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5
Public Affairs

SAN NICOLAS ISLAND (NNS) – Construction is under way on the world's first open-
ocean, roll-on roll-off pier off the California coast.

The $12 million construction project on Naval Outlying Landing Field San Nicolas Island
will enable the Navy to safely offload equipment and supplies for use by the island's Na-
vy and civilian population.

Until the pier is finished, supplies will continue to be brought aboard the island the way
they've been in the past – offloaded right on the beach.

"We've been using an old pontoon system where we have to beach the barge on the
shore," said Cmdr. Raymond Schenk, the officer in charge of Navy personnel on San
Nicolas Island. "The problem is we have a very small window to safely onload and of-
fload trucks and equipment from the barge. If we don't make the time window, then we
have to wait a long period until the tide is right again."

246
The pier will ease the process. Barges will be able to pull up to a horizontal, mechanical
ramp that will lower from deck elevation to water level for roll-on roll-off cargo transfer.

"It's a momentous accomplishment," said Schenk. "It's going to increase safety of what
we do on the island."

The contractor for the project, Nova Group of Napa, Calif., was awarded the construc-
tion contract in fall of 2002. Nova pre-cast more than 80 percent of the concrete for the
pier and dolphin structures, including pile caps, planks, piles, and pile caps for dolphins.

The pier and dolphin structures are approximately 640 feet long, with a deck elevation
that varies from 10 feet to 29 feet.

"We're very proud of how the pier project has come together," added Schenk, "and
we're very proud of the teamwork with Nova Group that we've achieved."

San Nicolas Island [aka San Nick and SNI], is the most northwesterly of the four south-
ern Channel Islands. Like its eastern neighbor San Clemente Island, San Nicolas is a
US Navy owned and operated island. Located 65 NM southwest of the Point Mugu
complex, San Nicolas Island is the cornerstone in the Sea Range capabilities. Because
of its instrumentation, isolated environment, shoreline characteristics, San Nicolas Is-
land is ideal for conducting test and training exercises. Because of its isolated environ-
ment and shoreline characteristics, SNI is ideal for providing littoral warfare training, in-
cluding tri-service and theater warfare exercises. It is also an excellent environment for
conducting classified operations.

SNI is a Navy owned and operated facility used as an instrumentation site. SNI is the
cornerstone in the Sea Range capabilities because of its land mass and depth of sur-
rounding waters. The main support facilities include a 10,000 foot runway, an air termi-
nal, housing, a power plant, a fuel farm and other necessary base support functions.
The main San Nicolas Island complex provides complete housing, dining, recreation,
transportation, and public works support. Project billeting and logistic support is also
available on the island.

San Nicolas Island Navy Outlying Field is capable of supporting C-5's, the 10,000ft run-
way, 2 hangers, and associated airfield support facilities are located near the southwest
edge of a 500ft mesa. The runway is lighted and equipped with arresting gear and has a
ground control approach systems (ILS). The Barge Landing Area beach landing area is
used to barge cargo to large or bulky for aircraft. Cargo can be off-loaded and trucked to
the main compound or one of the many project areas.

There was nothing cast in granite that said a carrier had to pull up to a dock, especially
a 640' dock.

247
When you get 3 CSGs together in a group, I suppose that constitutes a Task Group and
a Task Group needs a Commander, probably a Rear Admiral at the minimum. Admiral
Spruance relieved Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz of command of the Pacific Fleet in late
1945 and early 1946. His promotion to Fleet Admiral was blocked multiple times by
Congressman Carl Vinson (a staunch partisan of Admiral William Halsey, Jr.). Congress
eventually responded by passing an unprecedented Act which specified that Spruance
would remain on a full Admiral's pay once retired until death. On February 1, 1946 he
began service as President of the Naval War College until retiring from the Navy in July
1948. The destroyer USS Spruance (DD-963) lead ship of the Spruance-class destroy-
ers was named in his honor. Halsey got the star; Spruance got a whole destroyer class.
Two ships have been named after Halsey, a decommissioned guided missile frigate
(later cruiser) USS Halsey (CG-23) and a modern destroyer USS Halsey (DDG-97, the
47th Arleigh Burke class destroyer). In a way, Spruance had 31 ships named after him.

The last Spruance class Destroyer was decommissioned in 2005. At 9,036 tons, they
were the largest Destroyers in the fleet. Four of them were converted to Kidd class, a
DDG, and weighed in at 9,919 tons. Many of the ships would end up in the Ready Re-
serves and perhaps fight another day. Glenn Ford played Admiral Spruance in Midway
and Robert Mitchell played Halsey. The Spruance class was the last of the real De-
stroyers. The Arleigh Burke class is a scaled down guided missile cruisers. Sad, but we
don't have any Battleships anymore either. The Burke class has one gun and 6 torpedo
tubes.

Some country could build one hell of a Navy out of our retired equipment. Some have,
those 4 Kidd class DDGs ended up in Taiwan. They're probably as good as or better
than anything China had. The G. H. W. Bush? It could float and was probably rushed to
sea just to save the hull. Whether or not anyone was left alive to complete it isn't known
here in Sedona.

A contingent of the Arizona NG showed up in Sedona, taking names and doing what
they could to meet the needs of the towns’ folk. When they came by the ranch, we as-
sured them we had enough of everything and the only thing we really lacked was medi-
cal treatment. We were advised that we could get that in Sedona. We fed them some
hot coffee and sent them on their way; the plans we had for the coming week didn't in-
clude having Guardsmen here at the ranch.

"Navajo Depot? You can't really be serious. The ANG is probably staging out of there."

"We don't need much and it shouldn’t take too long to find it. I'll settle for an Mk 19 and
several cases of belted 40mm rounds. All we really need is a few things to fill in. I wish
now I had ordered more things from the Sergeant."

"Like what?"

248
"LAWs, grenades, 40mm grenades and some of that belted .50 BMG belted AP/APIT. I
believe that we can probably trade for the remainder of the things we need."

"Such as?"

"More primitive weapons, additional parts for our generators and vegetable oil."

"What about propane?"

"I'm certain a few Gold Eagles will cover what we need."

"Your head is making decisions that I'm not certain your body can cash."

"Do you disagree with my assessment?"

"Not entirely, Rob, but how do you propose to pull it off? There have to be several hun-
dred bunkers at that Deport."

"I was thinking of having Liz and Tom don their uniforms and make a call on the folks at
the Deport. They could indicate some of our needs, among others, and request visual
confirmation of available stocks of the items they might require."

"You think that might work?"

"Maybe. Anyway, I open to suggestions. It has to be fairly hectic at the Deport given its
proximity to Flagstaff and the needs of the Arizona communities."

"If they're game, it's worth a try."

"They also make a general inquiry as to the security of the available supplies. Nothing
outlandish, that might violate OpSec, but enough to get some idea. After they get back,
we can do some scouting and decide on a final plan."

"I don't suppose there's any other way is there?"

"Not without knowing the status of their communications and a lot of data we don't
have."

"What are you looking for specifically?"

"As I said earlier, anything with a mounted 25mm cannon and a Hummer with an Mk 19,
plus munitions. Fortunately both of them still have their reserve IDs."

"In the event that you or any of your IM staff is compromised, the Secretary will disavow
any knowledge of your actions."

249
°

"How did it go?"

"They were leery at first but it wasn't the first time they had unexpected military show up
making inquiries about supplies. They were very specific on the necessary paperwork
and assign a Spec 4 to give us a brief overview of their security. Liz managed to get the
locations of most of we need out of him with her feminine charms."

"What's the best approach, requisitions or moonlight salvage operations?"

"Unfortunately much of the communications system is intact, so I think we may have to

do it after dark and limit ourselves to a single trip."

"Anything we can't get?"

"I think the Bushmaster is out of the question but the rest of the things you want should-
n't be too much trouble. The only problem is the weight of that quantity of munitions.
Most of the items are stored in separate bunkers to prevent mix-ups."

"Close together?"

"Close enough. We'll start inside and work our way out. It would help if we had replace-
ment padlocks."

"Check that out in Sedona tomorrow. Scout tomorrow night and hit them the night after
ok with you?"

"Better to get it over with and then stay out of sight."

"What kind of padlocks are they using?"

"Plain brass body with a case hardened hasp."

"What do we need for transportation?"

"A 5 ton truck or something equivalent."

One can of .50BMG belted contains 100 rounds and weighs ~50 pounds. One can of
7.62 contains 200 rounds and weighs half of that. LAWs are packed 5 to the carton, 3
cartons to the case. Hand grenades are in individual round containers, generally 25
cans to the case. 40mm rounds for M203 are packed in case containing up to 72 rounds
depending on which round the cases contains. Rounds for the Mk 19 are packed 48

250
belted rounds to the can and various rounds are available. I had a table with all of the
data in it somewhere on my computer but couldn't locate it.

The only other item on the list was the M18 Claymore mine and I couldn't remember
how they were packed put I was pretty sure it was a kit or standard package of some
kind. Most of the items we were looking for were defensive in nature and would permit
us to protect what we had. Our rules of engagement were to fire only if fired upon. If it
came to that our mission would be a failure from any perspective. In this instance, we
weren't the 'good guys'.

On the first night we determined that they used a standard patrol routine allowing us
ample time to hit one igloo at a time. On the second night we confirmed the times and
moved in to strategically reallocate some of the government's hardware and munitions.
Due to our otherwise careful approach the mission went off without a hitch and it was
only the next day when their keys wouldn't fit the padlocks that the Depot became
aware of the theft.

Our tire tracks only led them to route 89 and after that they had no idea where to begin
looking. Their response was a house-to-house search of the area. They found nothing
at our place being unaware of our underground storage facilities. The old M19191A4s
drew a chuckle and the M2HBs were closely examined including our paperwork. While
they may well have suspected us, they had no proof and we didn't have a large truck
like the thieves had used. We were all wearing cowboy guns and carrying Winchester
rifles. Having large pots of hot coffee and freshly baked cinnamon rolls couldn't have
hurt.

"You have quite the setup here."

"Thanks Captain, we've been working for the better part of 30 years. The folks in town
will probably all tell you we're crazy. We ran a gun shop and a class III shop until recent-
ly, but at our age it became too much."

"How many families are there here?"

"Ten and all but one are either our kids, or our hired hand. One family is the patents of
my son-in law."

"What is that equipment, I thought I saw a still."

"You saw 3 stills and 2 biodiesel processing machines. We produce anhydrous alcohol
for the biodiesel processing and as a main ingredient in E85 fuel. I have the permits if
you'd like to see them."

"No doubt. Any former military here?"

251
"Both Matt and I were in the Army in the late fifties. My daughter is a graduate of the
Coast Guard Academy and her husband was in the Army."

"Was he a Ranger?"

"Infantry, I think, you can ask him."

"And you were in what?"

"Infantry. Say I don't suppose there is any way we could get our hands on a 25mm can-
non is there?"

"Sorry."

"I had to ask, I wouldn't mind having one. Come by anytime, the coffee pot is always
on."

"Where did you shelter after the attacks."

"Basements, we all have one. Our radiation level peaked around 315R/hr. Plus after
those power problems back in '06 we put in standby power, so we got by pretty good."

"Thanks for your hospitality, we really have to go, we have several more places to check
for the missing equipment and munitions."

"Gee Captain, we got everything on our list but a 25mm cannon; can we have one of
those too?"

"I only told him one half truth."

"What was that?"

"That I thought Tom was infantry."

"Do you think they'll be back?"

"I'd say you could count on that. For the moment, we'll limit ourselves to weapons and
munitions that we have the paperwork on."

"It seems like we went to a lot of trouble for nothing."

"I said for now. The Guard is going to get very busy trying to clean up the mess and
helping the survivors. They won't spend very long looking for the missing munitions and

252
an Mk 19. You know, Matt, I've heard it said that only the cockroaches would survive a
nuclear war. That may well include the dregs of society, the human cockroaches. A man
with a starving family might do anything to feed them."

"I don't want to be too negative, but aren't we waiving a bright red flag having power?"

"Perhaps. I think we'd better kill the yard lights and use our kerosene lamps. People
might not realize we have electricity if we do that."

At this point we were doing some off-the-cuff thinking; we'd never been in exactly this
situation before. The power outages had been good training and had gathered the fami-
ly. We all had only one job now, to survive. There wouldn't be any state government to
rescue the stranded tourists this time, but I doubted many people were far from home
as the war built to a head. It had come rather sooner than we expected, so who could
really say? There had to be one group of people who were convinced such a thing could
never happen.

It would be ironic if, after preparing for most of our lives, someone came in and took
what we had. The only thing they would find would be the storage pails in the fruit cel-
lars from which we refilled the Tupperware containers. Tom's parents probably refilled
theirs from Tom and Liz's basement and Miguel and his family probably had a bedroom
filled with pails because those two families didn't have basements. The business of hav-
ing the women and children sleeping in the shelter didn't last long. Certainly not the 16
months I'd envisioned.

"It appears that the air is clearing."

"In that case, we'd better dig out the sun block."

"When do you want to go to town and talk to AmeriGas about refilling the propane
tanks?"

"Most any time, I suppose. I think we'd better ride horses, there's no sense in letting
them know our vehicles work. How are we doing on making biodiesel, Tom?"

"We've figured out the process and are actually getting good at it. The same goes for
the ethanol production. I pulled off a couple of quarts of 190 proof if anyone wants a
taste."

"You can add that to the medical stores and label it as 95% ethanol. If you want to make
something to drink, you could figure out how to make a batch of beer."

"How many in the party to Sedona?"

253
"Six. I'll have to take gold coin with me; I doubt that anyone will take paper dollars."

"Who will be going?"

"Me, you, Liz, Pete, and Miguel's two boys."

"Weapons?"

"Give the boys those Mossberg's, and an Armalite M-15. Make sure each horse has a
scabbard and saddles bags for extra ammo."

"What do you figure propane costs?"

"The last time we bought, it went for $2.29 a gallon. I'd guess about $4. I figure gold
probably doubled in value and is around $1,200-$1,300 an ounce. Silver will be around
$24-$26 an ounce. Matt and I put most of our money in gold and silver Eagles."

"When do you want to go?"

"Right after lunch."

It was about an hour's ride into Sedona, there wasn't any sense in pushing the horses.
They had a greeting committee, road guards, if you prefer. Most of the men there knew
me, they were former customers and most were holding their purchases.

"How'd everything go here in town?"

"Not well, how did you make out?"

"Most of us had basements so we had a place to sit it out."

"Can we help you Rob?"

"Came in to see about buying some propane."

"We have that, but don't go looking for any food, we pretty short."

"Once my sows farrow and the pigs get to market weight, I might be able to provide you
with a little meat. Don't think we'll have any beef to sell for another year."

"Don't suppose you have any guns to sell?"

"Been out of business for a while now. I might have some ammo, for the right price. We
disposed of the remainder of our inventory."

254
"You hear any news over your radio?"

"A little. They hit Tucson, Palo Verde, Phoenix, Flagstaff and Holbrook. The Guard is
operating out of Navajo Depot. They came by a while back, looking for stolen weapons
and munitions."

"They've been all over us."

"I know what you mean; I think they searched every nook and canny out at the ranch."

"What were they looking for? I can't recall anyone ever said."

"One of those Mk 19 40mm grenade machineguns. At least, that's all they mentioned.
Anyway, we brought a peace offering, one of the pack animals is carrying 200# of flour
and the other 100# of beans and 100# of rice. We don't really have a lot of food we can
spare."

"You know where AmeriGas is. He's only taking gold or silver; paper dollar ain't worth
much without a government to back it up."

"You have any idea how much he's getting for propane?"

"$4.50 a gallon."

"What's gold going for?"

"When the market last closed, it was going for $625 an ounce. We've been trading it at
$1,250 an ounce. Silver is going for $25 an ounce."

"How many people left here in Sedona?"

"Maybe 1,000 give or take."

"Where did the rest go?"

"Some lit out, some died from radiation poisoning and a few got themselves shot trying
to loot the grocery stores."

"If you can get someone out to the ranch, we can provide the same amount of beans,
rice and flour plus a few cans of heirloom seeds from Walton Feed. You know about nu-
clear summer don't you?"

"We heard. Lots of ultra violet radiation, right?"

255
"So the theory goes. It's been right on so far, cold as hell, more snow than we've seen in
years and a gradual clearing. Say, is that gal who sold Serapes still in business?"

"Store is still there, she's gone."

"Anyone running the business?"

"Pick out what you want, double the price and pay for it in gold and silver on your way
out of town. How about we trade what you want for some 7.62×51mm and 5.56×45mm
ammo?"

"Suits me. I'll order the propane, pick out the things we need and some of you can come
back to the ranch and get the extra food, seeds and ammo."

"Don't suppose we might be able to buy a little extra food?"

"We can give you wheat and corn to grind. We can maybe spare 500 pounds of rice and
750 pounds of beans, will that help?"

"For a while. We should have stocked up on more beans and rice when we could still
get them from Costco and Sam's Club. What do you need besides serapes?"

"Baby clothes. We have some but you can never have enough. We could also use more
wide brimmed hats to deal with the nuclear summer."

"We have a diesel pickup running, we can haul it for you and bring back the things you
can supply us."

"Beats trying to pack the stuff on those pack horses. What's the fuel situation here in
Sedona?"

"Actually, we're in good shape. We don't have more than a dozen vehicles running, so
far and most of the stations' tanks were at least half full. Why, do you need fuel?"

"We could use some diesel."

"How much?"

"All we can get."

"16,000 gallons too much?"

"How much do you have?"

"One Chevron delivery truck with 2 full tanks of #2 diesel. We'll throw in the trailers to
store it in. That would run you 60 ounces of gold."

256
"You won't need it?"

"We want the trailers back when they're empty. We know where we can go to refill
them."

I hadn't expected to find diesel fuel. A delivery truck had arrived in Sedona to refill the
tanks at some of the stations in town. He hadn't made his first delivery when TSHTF.
Apparently the survivors had commandeered everything in Sedona that had an absent
owner for the good of the community. None of the people at the roadblock looked ema-
ciated, they were getting food somewhere. As we rode through town, I checked and the
grocery stores all had backup generators. Of course, the power outages of 2006 had
probably forced them to put in backup power.

I radioed home and told Sue to put out 750 pounds of beans, 500 pounds of rice, and
100 bushels each of corn and wheat. She should have Matt select 2 cases each of
7.62×51mm and 5.56×45mm, preferably the oldest ammo. It was well preserved and
should shoot just fine. Liz and she discussed what to get in the way of children's cloth-
ing. The serapes came in 2 sizes, large and huge. I grabbed 3 dozen of the large size in
assorted colors. In round numbers, they were priced at $30 each.

It only took 1½ ounces of gold to top off the propane tanks. We called it an even trade
between the food, ammo and clothing and the diesel fuel came to 60 ounces of gold.
Having seen what we'd seen in Sedona, I was reluctant to part with too much ammo in
one fell swoop. I also directed Tom to dig out the Mk 19 and get it and the 4 ma-
chineguns set up. I preferred to err on the side of caution. It would take some doing, but
I wanted to run the 60kw generator directly off the fuel in the diesel tanker rather than
mixing it with our biodiesel.

"If we're going to put livestock in the pasture, I want us to have riders out. You know,
Matt, they seemed more interested in getting the ammo than the food."

"I don't see why, most of them bought one or two cases of ammo when they bought
their rifles."

"I know, that's what's bothering me. I told Tom to set all 5 machineguns up. If we had 3
M1114 up-armored HMMWVs, we’d be far better off. We could mount the Ma Deuces
and the Mk 19 and have mobile gun platforms."

"Captain, sir, never mind the 25mm Bushmaster, we'll take 3 up-armored Hummers in-
stead."

"Oh, I'd still like to have the Bushmaster, Matt."

257
"Excuse me, 3 Hummers and one Stryker."

"Not. Three Hummers and either a LAV-25 or a Bradley. I'd prefer the LAV-25 because
it's wheeled. The Stryker armor won't protect against much."

"Yeah, where are you going to find a LAV-25?"

"MCLB, Barstow."

"How far is that?"

"380 miles."

"I thought the LAV-25s were wearing out."

"They had that Service Life Extension Program they carried out. I'm more interested in
the M242 than the vehicle that carries it, but the Bradley is a tracked vehicle while the
LAV-25 is a wheeled vehicle."

"And you only want the vehicles and not a lot of munitions or anything?"

"We'll need the 25mm ammo, but that's all. If we don't have enough weapons and sup-
plies for the Hummer's already, we could go to Navajo Depot."

"You already have the Arizona Guard angry with us, are you sure you want to take on
the US Marine Corps?"

"If we can't get what we want without contacting the Marines, we'll simply walk away. I
don't want to confront anyone except people who might choose to attack the ranch."

"I have your word then that it's defensive only?"

"So help me."

"How many people are we taking?"

"Five. One to drive our vehicle back and 4 more to drive back the military vehicles."

"Ok, Tom, Sr., Tom, Jr. plus Liz to drive our vehicle and you and me. We'll load the
Hummer's and the LAV up with all of the 25mm ammo we can carry. We should pick up
one spare SINCGARS radio since all the vehicles have those and we'll need a base sta-
tion radio."

258
Under ordinary circumstances, I'd never consider stealing from the military. These
weren't ordinary circumstances and as I said, if we couldn't just help ourselves and walk
away, I was more than willing to turn on our heel and come home. Navajo Depot had so
much stuff stored they never would have missed what we took, except for the fact we
took that one weapon, the Mk 19, Mod 3.

We left early the next morning, as much to get it over with as anything else. When we
arrived at the MCLB, we didn't realize that the Marines had already arrived from Port
Hueneme. We found what we were looking for in vehicles and were looking for 25mm
ammo when a voice said, "Can I help you?"

"Do you know where the 25mm ammo is stored?"

"You'll want M791, M792 and M793, right?"

"Whatever you recommend. Sergeant, is it?"

"Mastery Gunnery Sergeant Arthur Kurt. Did you find everything else you wanted?"

"Thank you, yes. We found 3 M1114s and one LAV-25. With the exception of the LAV-
25, we have our own weapons and ammo."

"That will be $900,000 for the LAV-25, call it $100,000 for the ammo and another quar-
ter million for the 3 HMMWVs."

"Sergeant, we were stealing it, we didn't intend to pay for it."

"I figured as much. Can you give me one good reason we shouldn't shoot you right
where you stand?"

"No."

"I sort figured that too. What the hell, I'll show you where the ammo is."

"And then you'll shoot us?"

"What's the point, at least you were honest about being dishonest."

"We were mainly interested the M242 cannon, Master Guns, is it?"

"I don't suppose you could use 6 retired Marines could you?"

"Oh, I forgot, we needed a SINCGARS radio for a base station."

"Do you have Spearheads?"

259
"Nope, we don't even have any spears."

"The Spearhead is a hand held radio that transmits and receives on the same frequen-
cies as the SINCGARS."

"We're from Arizona and we don’t have a place for you to stay, but we could probably
find something, like a used trailer or two. We have a fair number of weapons and a large
store of ammo. My name is Rob, and the lady is my daughter Liz. That fellow over there
is her husband Tom and the man with him is his father, Tom. Over there are my partner,
Matt, and my other son-in-law, Pete."

"Well, let's get loaded up and out of here."

"You're not going to shoot us?"

"We came here to do the same thing as you're doing, loot a few weapons and some
ammo. We're only about an hour or two in front of a group of Marines who aren't retired.
The sooner we clear out, the happier I'll be."

Yes, it is improbable. Nevertheless, God sometimes protects fools. And, what story is
complete without someone named Gunny? Besides, I sort took to the idea of having 6
highly trained killers at the ranch. We loaded the ammo, their duffel bags and weapons
and headed home, about one hour in front of the Marines who were coming in from Port
Hueneme to take charge of the MCLB, Barstow. (Derek says that the USMC assembled
all the dorks into a single Company and assigned them to his unit in Iraq. These Ma-
rines should have never been let out of their cages.)

Gunny provided a team to handle the LAV-25 and he rode back to Sedona with Liz and
me. During the trip home, he gave me some of information I told you earlier. His family
had been in Los Angeles when the attacks came. The other 5 Marines had lost their
families too and their plan had been to loot Barstow for the things they would need to
survive and then find a secure place to hole up. We had plenty of extra bedrooms they
could use until we found homes for them. We wouldn't have to look any further than Se-
dona.

We stopped just south of Kingman, AZ and refueled the vehicles from the two drums of
fuel on the back of my Dodge pickup. From there, we went to Williams and turned south
on NF-110. We departed the road eventually and came into the ranch the back way,
cross-country. I radioed ahead and told Sue to plan on 6 extra mouths for supper and
that we'd be coming in the back way. She wanted to know how it went and I told her
she'd never believe me, but that she could see it with her own eyes. She asked who the
extra mouths belonged to and I told her the USMC. We were greeted by John who was
manning the Mk 19.

260
"Where did you get the Mk 19?"

"Stole it from the Army. Navajo Depot is only a few miles from here and we passed by
the southwest corner coming here."

"That's what those igloos were, I wondered. So if you have that depot here, why did you
go to Barstow?"

"I told you Gunny, we wanted a M242 Bushmaster and I didn't want a tracked vehicle.
They have Bradley M2s and M3s plus Stryker LAVs."

"Don't really care for the Stryker myself, their armor is too light."

"Not much lighter than the LAV-25, but it was either a 105mm gun or a Ma Deuce."

"Did you steal the M2HBs too?"

"No, we own them. Up until recently, we were class III dealers. If you want something,
the odds are we have it."

"What else do you have for machineguns?"

"Two M1919A4s in 7.62×51mm. We also have M72s, M67s, a few M18 Claymores and
a wide assortment of ammo."

"How big is your ranch?"

"Just what you see, a half section. We're only 4-5 miles north of Sedona, you know it?"

"Heard of it, never been there. What made you accept our offer to come here?"

"There are about 1,000 survivors in Sedona and they made me very uneasy. A fair
number of them are former customers and we have a pretty good idea how they're
equipped. They indicated that they're short of food and we have livestock and a whole
lot of food. We went to California to get the Bushmaster; I figure it for our heavy weap-
on. My wife probably has supper ready, let's have a bite to eat and Matt and I will fill you
in."

"…and that about covers it."

"I don't believe I caught your last name."

"Sorry, it's Miller and Matt's is Johnson. Anyway, we can produce up to 880 gallons of
biodiesel daily provided we can get vegetable oil. We have 3 stills for producing ethanol

261
and about 18,000 gallons of unleaded. Mixed with ethanol, that will produce around
120,000 gallons of E85. The silo has about 50,000 bushels of shelled corn for the etha-
nol. You saw the Chevron tanker, that’s 16,000 gallons on #2 diesel and we have un-
derground tanks holding up to 120,000 gallons of B100."

"I didn't see any other vehicles."

"They're in one of the pole buildings. They all run and either use E85 or diesel. As far as
food goes, we have a substantial amount in storage plus a garden where we can grow
more when the weather permits."

"We brought M14s, M1911s, a couple of M79s and about 4 cases of LAW rockets. Do
you have ammo or will we need to raid Navajo?"

"That depends on how much we use. There are 4 pallets each of Lake City overruns in
5.56 and 7.62. We have spare barrels for the machineguns and a large assortment of
belted ammo. If you need something I haven't mentioned that we don't have, Matt may
be able to build it. He's a gunsmith with 40 years of experience."

"How many warriors?"

"Counting the women, 22. The only ones with actual military experience are Matt, me,
Tom and Liz."

"Army?"

"Matt and I were Army infantry, Tom was a Ranger and Liz a Lieutenant in the Coast
Guard."

"Ranger?"

"Yes. Liz and he are our sniper team. We have a Tac-50 equipped with the Night Force
12-42×56mm scope, a MUNS and Jet Suppressor and a Winchester model 70 in .308
equipped with a Swarovski scope, UNS and Surefire suppressor."

"Accommodations?"

"Singlewide mobile home be ok?"

"How much?"

"They won't cost anything, we'll salvage them from the trailer parks. We can pick up an-
other half dozen horses for you fellas and equip you with cowboy guns for daily wear."

"What's available?"

262
"Colt SAAs, Beretta Stampedes, Ruger Vaqueros and some Blackhawk's. We have
Winchester and Marlin lever action rifles in matching calibers."

"You have any civies in our sizes?"

"If we don't, we can pick them up in Sedona. Look Gunny, we're trying to maintain a fair-
ly low profile and for most occasions the old western style guns help to carry the im-
pression. We have FALs, HK91s, HK93s, M1As and a good selection of military weap-
ons. They people in town don't really know what we have out here and we'd prefer to
keep it that way. Although we have electrical power, we're not advertising it. What they
don't know won't hurt us."

"Mrs. Miller that was an excellent meal thank you; Rob what about temporary accom-
modations?"

"We'll put you 3 of you here and 3 of you can stay with Matt and Sarah until we get the
mobile homes. You might want to grow your hair out a bit; you look too much like sol-
diers with the haircuts."

"Where do you want the SINCGARS base station?"

"Let me give you the tour, there's much more to this place than meets the eye."

After we complete a tour of the underground facilities, one of the men asked where our
infirmary was. I explained that while we had an assortment of medical supplies, Tom
was the only one of us with any medical training, and that was as a Combat Lifesaver.
He laughed and said we had a medic now; he was actually a sailor, a hospital corpsman
with many years of experience.

"Can you get a list of supplies you might need together? We'll get whatever you need in
Sedona."

"Don't bother, Master Guns and I will go to Navajo Deport tomorrow and requisition eve-
rything I need. What do you have for durable medical equipment?"

"Not much, a 10-liter oxygen machine and a defibrillator. The rest of our stuff is the usu-
al mix of over the counter bandages and the like. We have some CLS bags, but little in
the way of lifesaving equipment. We had planned on using the hospital in Sedona."

"Do you have any M9s?" Gunny asked. "I didn't bring one and I should look the part."

263
 When We Were Young – Chapter 12

"I can dig one out; I don't much care for those."

"We'll be back in time for breakfast if you can get me the pistol now."

"You want a M4 to complete the illusion?"

"Sure, if you have one."

"I do."

"I'll get started on the requisition. By the way, my name is Vern Hughes, and I was an E-
6 and most people call me Doc."

"My friends call me Art, Rob. Vern, we'll plan on leaving at 0600."

"Explain just one thing to me, Art. I've always held Marines in very high regard, yet we
ran into you fellas at Barstow, helping yourselves. What was that all about?"

"Rob, there isn't much of the country left. There won't be any pension after I put in 24
years and we figured if we were going to help anybody we'd need equipment. When we
saw you people selectively looting, we talked it over briefly and decided to find out what
the story was. I liked what little I heard and you were honest about what you were doing.
We moved what we wanted to a storage locker in Barstow so if we can get back, we
have the better part of a semi load of things you/we can use. I decided on my own we'd
tag along and find out what your story was. You've been open and trusting, perhaps a
little too trusting, but we won't take advantage of that. This looks like as good a base of
operations as any. Does that answer your question?"

"Yep. Do you really think you can pull it off tomorrow?"

"It's worth a shot. If we can't, you know the back way into the Depot, I assume."

I guess you'd better make that 5 killers and a hospital corpsman. Some of those guys
are trained to the point where they're just short of being doctors. Even if we'd blundered
our way into this situation, it had turned out better than I could have hoped. If they
couldn't get what Doc thought he needed from the depot, we might be able to trade for it
in Sedona. We'd take all the breaks we could get, the situation wasn't good.

"Sgt. Jack Adams, late of the USMC, do you need help mounting the weapons on the
Hummers?"

264
"We'll take all the help we can get Jack. We have assorted parts in storage so if you
don't see what you need, let Matt know. He either has it or can fabricate it."

"You have an Mk 19 and 2 50s?"

"That's right."

"I'll get with Matt tomorrow and we get them mounted one way or another."

The following day, Tom and I drove into Sedona. We arranged to get 3 of the large sin-
glewide homes towed out to the ranch. They must have been feeling generous; all they
ask for was one ounce of gold each, just to cover the delivery. Once they showed up
with the trailers, it was a different story; they wanted 2 cases of ammo each to unhook
them. We gave them 6 cases of 5.56 practice ammo. I had a feeling this wouldn't be the
last time they asked for ammo, but it was the last time they were going to get any.

"How did it go at the Depot?"

"Not as well as we hoped, but we got enough supplies for a good start. Is there a hospi-
tal in Sedona?"

"Twenty-four hour medical center. I have no idea what they'd have for supplies. What
are you short of?"

"Mostly IV solutions. They had everything Doc wanted, but it was on allocation. It's
enough for a start, but we could always use more."

"We got 3 trailers. We'll have to get them leveled and hooked into the utilities. I suppose
we're going to have to use the big generator now."

"How big is it?"

"A pair of 150kw. We have a 60kw and the big ones. They're synchronized and we've
been running the 60kw up until now."

"You could just run one 150kw unit, we won't use much power."

"Jack got the weapons mounted on the Hummers. We managed to keep them and the
LAV out of sight when they towed in the trailers. They wanted more ammo before they'd
unhook them. That make 2 cases of 7.62 and 8 cases of 5.56 we've given them."

"Did you cut into your supply?"

"Barely. We won't miss it, but I'm concerned that it might get used against us."

265
"Do they know how much food you have stored underground?"

"I doubt it. What we have either came from Sam's Club, Costco, Nitro Pak, Emergency
Essentials or Walton Feed in Idaho. It was purchased over a period of years and slowly
built to the level it is now. We've been concerned since the lights went out about possi-
ble food shortages and began to stock in earnest. Up to this point, our main problems
have been the lack of a medical person and concerns over food and fuel."

"What are your main concerns now?"

"That someone will try and take our livestock."

"With 10 German Shepherd's running around the place? How did you come to have so
many dogs?"

"Christmas 2006, every family got a puppy."

"Then they're a little over 2 years old and full grown?"

"Right and they've had some training but aren't fully trained guard dogs. We give them
the run of the housing complex which is the area enclosed by the chain link fence."

"Why the chain link fence?"

"We had a break in. We put up the fence and got the dogs for Christmas."

"What happened to the intruders?"

"We killed them, all 6 of them."

"What did they want?"

"We never figured that out. Would you like to be in charge of security Art?"

"I thought Tom was in charge."

"He has been, but when it warms up, he'll be busy working with Miguel to see if we can
grow any kind of crops."

"Why wouldn't you be able to?"

"Nuclear summer. Once the clouds are all gone, the depleted ozone layer won't block
as much ultra violet and the crops might get too much sun and or heat."

"Can't you shade them?"

266
"I suppose we could try. I see if we can get some kind of netting."

"How hot does it get here?"

"Normally not that bad, about 95° in July, but when we get nuclear summer, you'll think
you're in Phoenix in the middle of summer."

"120°?"

"Could be."

In fact, the record high for Phoenix was 122°, set on July 26, 1990. If anyone survived
the bombing and all of the fallout, when summer came, they'd have to leave Phoenix, it
would be hotter than the Sonoran Desert. I didn't want to think about what the actual
Sonoran Desert would be like, probably uninhabitable. We had to go to town and get the
fellas those civilian clothes they wanted, jeans and western shirts seemed to be the or-
der of the day. They got the western shirts for dress up and blue work shirts with long
sleeves for everyday wear. We treated them to serapes; it was a good way to disguise
whatever weapons they chose to wear ala the man with no name. They would probably
identify with Eastwood as Gunny Highway although he wasn't the best example of a Ma-
rine.

They also needed 2 wide brimmed hats, one straw and one felt, to be worn depending
on the weather. Once we got them half looking like cowhands, Matt and I completed the
image by giving them their choice of the single action revolvers and lever action rifles.
The most popular caliber among them was the .45 Colt. The energy of the cartridges
ran in foot pounds: .357 mag – 535, .45 Colt – 423, .44 Mag – 740. The .45 Colt com-
pared favorably with the .45 Auto.

Now all we needed was another dozen horses, mounts and remounts for our new hired
guns. Saddle horses were available, complete with tack, for about 2 ounces of gold
each. Matt and I had a long discussion about this and we decided that decking the Ma-
rines out as cowhands made the most sense. People were bound to notice our new ad-
ditions and we didn't want them to know that our principal interest in them was in help-
ing to guard our pitifully small ranch.

"Art, why did we need practice rounds for the Bushmaster?"

"At close range against structural targets, the training round (TP-T) is significantly more
effective. The M793 are ideal in those situations. Otherwise we use a mix of M791 and
M792. What are we going to be up against, pickups? We have more of it in the storage
locker in Barstow, when can we go after that stuff?"

267
"Anytime you want to. What do you need, a tractor trailer rig?"

"Nah, we can get that in Barstow, but it might be nice to borrow one of the M1114s with
a Ma Deuce mounted."

"Are you going to need fuel?"

"Just a pump and some hose. We'll need Jerry cans so we have enough fuel to get to
Barstow, though."

"We don't really have any kind of fuel trailer you could tow with you."

"Do you want one? We can pick one up."

"If it's no problem, sure."

I am here to tell you that if you give a Marine a whole Logistics Base to choose from and
free rein, he'll come up with the darnedest assortment of supplies you ever saw. They
had portable generators, weapons, ammo, medical supplies, a fuel trailer and even
several pallets worth of MREs. Do you need C-4 and detonators? How much and how
many? They even had one of those XM109s and an early model XM107, built on the
M82A1 design rather than the M95 design. Apparently they intended to lend aid and
comfort to the survivors and aerate the bad guys. All of the things they had, with a few
exceptions, were man-portable. They even brought back desert camouflage netting so
we could protect our crops from the UV radiation.

By the time they got back from Barstow, we had the 3 trailers leveled and plumbed in.
They each took a generator for their trailer as backup power and some of the weapons.
We didn’t really have room to store all the contents of the trailer, so they draped it in
netting after they moved the MREs to our storage. Sarah and Sue had been discussing
the situation and concluded it was better for them to take turns cooking for 10 people
than have the Marines eating their own cooking, or so they claimed. Matt and I went
along with the suggestion because it meant cooking a single meal 3 times a day and
might serve to stretch the food.

Our livestock herd had increased to 12 sows and 6 cows plus one boar and one bull.
That indicated that this coming spring we'd had 3 calves we could feed for butchering
and we'd end up with 9 cows. Twelve sows should give us about 10 dozen pigs and al-
low us to sell meat to the residents of Sedona. We didn't want more than a total of 30
sows and it would take another couple of years before we could market a respectable
amount of beef. It probably meant appropriating land but it was just sitting there growing
mesquite.

268
That case of #10 cans containing seed we'd given them should help ease their plight
and we could spare more corn, wheat, beans and rice if they had the brains to ask in-
stead of trying to take it by force. While they might not know where our food was stored,
if they overran us, they could find it easily enough.

"Just what exactly did you have in mind for us to do?" Art asked.

"First and foremost, security, Gunny. If we can get our hands on enough wire, we'll
fence in another 320 acres for the cattle herd that will be coming. We're going to need to
locate irrigation pipe, the desert can't bloom unless we can provide the water. Now let
me ask you a question, what do the 6 of you require in terms of amenities and compen-
sation?"

"First off, were going to need the basic necessities, food, shelter and clothing and for
the moment, you've covered that. A man likes to feel like he's earning a living, so some
kind of salary would seem to be in order. We discussed it and quite frankly, in light of
the situation, don't know quite what to ask for. It's not like we can go to town on the
weekend and belly up to a bar if we were so inclined. I'd expect it would be up to us to
provide our own companionship, but that would mean we'd need another 3 trailers."

"We could move the biodiesel operation from the small shop into the big shop and open
up a recreation center. Tom is working on figuring out how to make some homebrewed
beer. We could go salvaging for whatever equipment you need. Maybe a pool table, a
little liquor, things like that. We could go to town tomorrow and get 3 more trailers easy
enough and I don't know what to say when it comes to paying you a wage."

"Hell, if it's all included, it wouldn't take much, could you handle $300 a month?"

"I suppose. I can pay you in silver and redeem it for gold when you have enough. The
going rate on silver is $25 an ounce and gold is $1,250 an ounce. Would that be ok with
you?"

"It will work. Where do we start?"

"Let's start with the housing. After that, we look for equipment for your recreation center
and some barbed wire and posts. You fellas can keep your eye peeled for anything you
think we can use here. As for companionship, you're on your own. They told us the
population of Sedona was down to about 1,000 people, but I don't know how many of
them are women."

"That's on us; let's go see about the housing."

269
"Three more trailers? Sure. We're going to need 3 ounces and 6 cases of .308 this
time."

"I have the gold, but we're all but out of 7.62×51mm. We have 9mm and 5.56×45mm."

"Half and half?"

"Sure, but you realize there's only 250 rounds in a case of 9mm."

"We'll take it; do you know which 3 homes you want?"

"Art will show you."

"We'll bring them by this afternoon."

After we pointed out the homes we went back to the ranch.

"What do you mean you're out of 7.62×51mm, you have at least 4 pallets of it?"

"These could be the people we end up fighting Gunny."

"Oh. It's a real shame you're low on 7.62×51mm."

"Matt and I sold most of them the assault rifles they have and they favored 7.62×51mm.
I suppose the 5.56×45mm will kill you just as dead as 7.62×51mm but I don't want them
to have our good ammo. They can loot the Depot the same as we did."

"How did you do that?"

"We went in through the back fence once we had their patrol routine figured out. Cut the
locks off the igloos and replaced them with identical locks after we had what we wanted.
We cut the chain link fence right at a post and wired it back together so without close
inspection, they might miss it. I'm sure they discovered the theft when they went to open
the bunkers, but by then we were long gone."

"And you haven't been back?"

"No. Matt and I figured they'd increase security for a while."

"We'd better limit our shopping to Barstow. The Guard was pretty po'd about that theft."

"We thought as much, they spent hours here looking."

"Speaking of Barstow, we can get everything we want for the canteen there. We can al-
so pick up 7.62 if you want more."

270
"I have bolt cutters."

"We have keys."

"We could probably stand to have some non-lethal stuff like gas grenades and flash
bangs."

"We'll get you some M42 masks."

"If you want to go to Barstow, we'll work on getting the trailers installed. Can you get
barbed wire in 80 rod spools?"

"How many?"

"9."

"How many posts will you need?"

"400."

"Ok, we'll look."

"We'll also need 16 corner posts if you can find them."

"I'd better make a list:

Canteen equipment
Assorted grenades
40 M42A2 masks with spare filters
9 80-rod spools barbed wire
400 steel posts
20 8' cedar posts

Anything else?"

"One pallet of 7.62×51mm, either M80 ball or M993AP on stripper clips."

"Gotcha. We'll take the semi-tractor."

"This quite the little community you're putting together."

"Our new hired hands wanted individual trailers; I suppose they're thinking of starting
families."

271
"What are they, soldiers?"

"Ex-military, yes; all recently released from active duty."

"Got the ammo?"

"It's sitting right over there, are you doing a lot of practicing?"

"Why?"

"Just curious, you've gotten quite a bit of ammo from us recently."

"We need it to protect the town."

"Had any trouble?"

"Well, no, but you never know."

"If there are any single women in town looking for husbands, you might mention our new
hands to them. We have a pretty nice place here that's secure and we'll be putting in a
garden as soon as it warms up."

"What's in the trailer under the camo netting?"

"Oh, that's the personal possessions of the 3 men who don't have homes yet."

"When are you going to get more of the 7.62×51mm?"

"I don't know that we are, what with the war. You might try asking the National Guard for
some. They should have tons of the stuff up at their Depot."

"We did. They don't have any to spare."

"Like I told you, we disposed of most of our stuff when we closed the business."

"Tell your hired hands that we're a mite short on women in town."

"Thanks, I'll let them know."

"Do you have any more food you can spare?"

"Sure don’t; we gave you all we had the last time. Maybe when the garden comes in."

"You lie quite convincingly."

272
"He was lying too, Matt. I'll tell Gunny that there are plenty of unattached women in Se-
dona. We have to find out if there are any restaurants open and all go to town some
night for supper."

"That should be interesting."

"Tom, let's get the 3 new trailers leveled, I have a feeling they won't be in Barstow very
long. Pete, could you run the trencher and John, will you lay out the pipes for the water
and sewage plus the conduit?"

We have left over building supplies from setting up the first 3 trailers. If any of us had
been thinking, we would have run all of the pipe and conduit and just sealed it off until
we needed it. We'd gone to town and helped ourselves to the trencher when they were-
n't looking. I'm sure it would have cost us plenty. We hadn't come up with irrigation pipe,
but that was a few weeks away. We'd be lucky to get grass to grow the first year, even
with the water we could spare. Now I wished I had a bigger well.

When they got back, they had everything on the list and a couple of things we hadn't
thought like a hydraulic post hole driver that mounted on any tractor with a 3 point hitch.
We had two houses leveled and were just finishing the third. We had yet to connect the
plumbing and that wouldn't get done until the next day. We were anxious to hear about
their trip to Barstow.

"Have any trouble Gunny?"

"A little, but we handled it. We found that post driver and were loading it when someone
objected."

"Was it his?"

"No, he was being a busy body. I laid a line of chit on him about requisitioning it for the
good of the nation. The Marines had cleared out of Barstow, but took a fair amount of
stuff with them. I also picked up an electric posthole digger to put the posts in with and 3
generators for our trailers. There are people out and about now and they wanted to
know why we weren't helping them."

"What did you tell them?"

"That we were on a mission, but I didn't tell them for whom."

"I have good news and bad news, take your pick."

"Give me the good news."

"There are single ladies in town."

273
"And the bad news is the assholes in charge of Sedona said we weren't welcome?"

"More or less. We’re going to check and see if any restaurants are open. If so, I thought
we'd all go to town for dinner. Did you get what you wanted for your canteen?"

"Pool table, portable bar and the contents on one liquor store and one tobacco store.
Doc knocked over a drug store so we have plenty of meds. He just cleared the shelves
into some cardboard boxes, we'll have to sort it out later."

"Sarah is cooking tonight, pizza okay?"

"Sounds good. I picked up spare tires for the Hummers and LAV. We got the pallet of
7.62 but it's all M80. I took concussion, flash bang, white smoke, CS and M67 grenades.
I also took some M1029 crowd dispersal, M1060 thermobaric and some M1001 canister
rounds. The M1029 are for the M203 and the others for the Mk 19. That M1060 is the
ultimate in crowd control, they don't get back up."

"They were asking for more food and 7.62×51mm."

"What did you tell them?"

"No más"

There weren't any restaurants open in Sedona due to a general lack of food. However,
they were holding a dance in a couple of weeks to try and raise the spirits of the survi-
vors. We figured that was even better. The ladies cut up tortillas for corn chips and
made a big batch of bean dip as our contribution to the dance. They had 2 large black
trash bags full of chips and at least a gallon of bean dip.

We showed up all decked out in our best western wear and, dance or not, we were
wearing our six-guns. We had to check those at the door, that's the law. However, they
didn't see the PPKs. Our Marine friends were a big hit and they escorted ladies back to
their trailers for a 'night cap'. The people who claimed there weren't any available ladies
couldn't say anything, their wives were there. When we sat down to a big breakfast the
next morning, the gals from town indicated if we had enough food, they might stay. Sue
and Sarah must have scrambled about 4 dozen eggs and fried about 4 pounds of ba-
con. They also had cottage fries, toast and orange juice. They were putting on quite the
show for the benefit of our new hired hands and the ladies. Later that day, we went into
town to get the gals' things and TSHTF.

"I told you we didn't have any spare single women here in Sedona."

"They seem to think differently."

274
"It don't matter what they think."

"Tom, bring up the vehicles," I radioed. The 3 Hummers and LAV-25 pulled in all in a
row with the weapons manned.

"You were saying?"

"Where did you get that stuff, the Depot?"

"Nope; we imported it from California. Any other questions?"

"You wouldn't shoot at us!"

"Liz, could you demonstrate the Ma Deuce for them?"

Brattttttt, Brattttttt, Brattttttt.

"Thank you Liz. Do you need a demonstration of the Mk 19?"

"You aren't going to get away with this!"

"Really? We just did."

No, I never read Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and influence People. Con-
versely, the Ma Deuce does leave a lasting impression. We did some shopping while
we were in town and nobody thought to ask us to pay. It was more than evident that the
women didn't intend to return to town, one even brought her cat.

That also took care of the spare mounts we had for the Marines. I donated a box of CDs
and a player for their new canteen, courtesy of the City of Sedona. Maybe this fall when
we showed up with a truckload of hogs, they'd get over it. What do you think pork is
worth, maybe $1.50 a pound? Do they have any idea how much JP-8 we found stored,
free for the taking? Or how much propane was stored in California? There were 3 sup-
pliers in Barstow alone, one with a contract with MCLB, Barstow. Sedona wasn't the on-
ly AmeriGas location in Arizona, either, just the closest. Of course once the fellas had it
set up, we all got invited for a dance they were holding.

Using the post driver and the full crew, we made short work of fencing in the additional
320 acres. I sent Tom scouting around for irrigation pipe and he found that and grass
seed. It was beginning to warm up finally, so we stopped and hung the camo netting
over the garden area. We kept the cows on the stored hay and grain and let the other
animals out to graze. We ended up with 4 heifers and 3 bulls (one set of fraternal twins)
and 129 pigs.

275
We rototilled some of the manure into the garden and used the remainder on the new
field. We planted all we could in the garden, hoping to provide some food to the resi-
dents of Sedona and easing their hurt feelings, planting the same crops as the previous
year, just in greater volume. We did have 6 pairs of willing hands to help this year that
we didn't the previous. Because of our trip to Hyrum we had enough jars for our own
use for this year and possibly next. We could sell fresh produce to the folks in Sedona
but they have to can it themselves.

The residents must have been out salvaging, they didn't show up like we expected. I'm
sure that had nothing to do with our moving the LAV and the 3 Hummer's in a position
where they protected the front of the property, who knows? Using a rule of thumb of one
hog per 2 people, excluding the small children, we needed to butcher 17 hogs for our
own use and all 3 of the steers. We agreed to stop at 30 breeding sows, giving us am-
ple hogs to sell to the people in town. The good news in all of that was the following
season; we'd have lots of hogs to sell. We’d be up to 10 cows and it really depended on
whether they produced heifers or bulls.

Sixty-seven of the pigs were male and 62 female. One-hundred twenty-nine minus 18
got us to 30 sows. One-hundred eleven minus 17 left us with 94 marketable hogs. If the
people in town were smart, they'd keep some of the female hogs and find a boar to
breed them, allowing them to produce plenty of meat in the future. If they asked, we’d
be more than willing not to castrate one on the pigs or one of the steers. We could
probably spare a heifer for them to start their own herd. The question then became
would their bellies or brains rule their decisions? We started with 2 sows and 4 cows
and were up to 30 and 10, respectively. We had one stallion and were breeding horses,
but it takes about 4 years to produce a riding horse. Moreover, you couldn't use a bred
mare for work, forcing us to limit the breeding program.

In all my life, I never believed that I end up being a farmer/rancher. We would all be-
come farmers in the end until enough food could be produced to allow people to pursue
other occupations. How many of those occupations depended on a supply of fuel and/or
electricity, think about it. We undoubtedly weren’t importing any fuel and unless we pro-
duced it ourselves, there wouldn't be any. Which led us to wonder where would we find
vegetable oil to convert to fuel unless we produced it ourselves? That supply of JP-8
might seem inexhaustible to us, but others were most likely using it too.

Because military vehicles will run on nearly every fuel, we could probably use jet fuel A
if we could find it. If we produced 300 acres of canola, we could perhaps produce
~38,000 gallons of oil and feed the meal to the livestock. An 80 acre field of corn would
produce as much as 8,000 bushels or more of corn which could be converted to over
20,000 gallons of alcohol. The stabilized unleaded gas would allow us to blend 102,000
gallons of that alcohol into 120,000 gallons of E-85. That left 260 acres of our desert for
our buildings and grass crops.

276
That right, desert, you've been to Sedona, haven't you? You see a lot of pretty red rock
formations and miles and miles of desert interspersed with mountains and canyons. It
wasn't farming country. Worse, we weren't farmers and an old Ford 8N wasn't much of a
tractor. We were pressed to find 10 flat acres for the garden, never mind the canola or
corn. All we could do was try to grow grass for now on the extra acreage.

How could we have not seen this coming? Oh, you think because we were prepared,
we knew the 'when' and 'what', right? Wrong, we only knew that 'if' wasn't a question
and 'what' and 'when' were wide open. It took a while to get there and now the fun was
about to begin. We didn't think anyone would come south from Flagstaff, they'd have to
go through the radiation; however, Phoenix was always possible.

As for the war, what the hell did they think would happen when Israel got tired of Hamas
and Hezbollah? Did they really think that North Korea would take the UN Resolution ly-
ing down? Then, they signed a contract to sell 8 old diesel subs to China. Hey, get real,
just because we worked out our problems with Russia and eventually let them into the
WTO, didn't make them our best friends.

It was early to be as warm as it was, late March. Did that mean the sky was clear
enough to create the nuclear summer? Given the temperature, we assumed it did. It
was time to get the irrigation pipes into place to get enough water on the 2nd half section
to get the grass started. Because Strontium-90 could get into the grass, we kept the
cows on baled hay. If we hadn't had Miguel to keep it all straight for us, we'd been up
that creek without the paddle.

The netting provided just enough shade for the garden and we kept it well wetted down.
Talk about sweat, all you had to do was get under the netting canopy and the humidity
seemed to go to 200%. Our garden was 400' x 1,000', 400,000ft² or about 9.2 acres.
We planted an acre of potatoes, an acre of sweet corn, an acre of various melons, an
acre of onions, 2 acres of tomatoes – 1¾ each of Roma and ¼ Beefsteak – and an acre
of dry beans. The remainder was taken up by all the other vegetables we planted,
you've seen the list.

Green bean plants will produce until they get tired, or so it seemed. What do you get
when you plant 2 rows 400' long? Tired; and, lots of green beans. I sometime wonder
why we planted 4 rows. Probably to give the new ladies something to do beside cook for
our Marines. Well, maybe they didn't limit themselves to cooking, but that was none of
our business. They'd have to use the cloth diapers, we used up the disposable ones,
they hadn't been our highest priority at the time.

You know what they said, right? Ninety-four pigs for 1,000 people weren’t enough. We
were asking $1.50/pound, live weight, for the hogs, payable in gold or silver. Gold was
trading it at $1,250 an ounce; Silver is trading for $25 an ounce. Ninety-four hogs at an

277
average live weight of 250 pounds selling for $1.50 per pound live weight was $35,250.
In gold that was 28.2 ounces. No beef was available this year. We knew they had the
.gold; they got 60 ounces from us. They took hogs and the garden produce, though and
paid for it in gold and silver. What was worrisome was the fact that they didn't ask for
any ammunition. Neither did they offer to trade anything they had in Sedona. Tom said
he thought he saw some new faces; I didn't notice them. Were we up to page 799, yet?

Apparently the folks in Sedona had found another source of food; they didn't buy every-
thing we offered to sell. Which would have been ok had we not run out of canning jars. It
wasn't practical to drive to Salt Lake for more jars so we began searching nearby towns
for what we needed. We have gladly paid a buck a jar just to get them but we didn't
have to, the radiation level had fallen enough in Flagstaff we went scrounging there.

It had apparently been a smaller weapon and a ground burst intended to take out the
runway. It got the runway, terminal, hangers and fuel supplies. It also took out the over-
pass forcing us to stay on 89 and given the residual radiation, that was probably ok. I
assume you’re familiar with Flagstaff's Pulliam Airport (FLG) with the single runway 3/21
with a length of ~7,000'.

It was clear that they hadn't been to Flagstaff because the sporting goods and gun
stores will still nearly fully stocked. We sent one of the boys back for the semi-tractor
and trailer to load up everything we could carry. We did it on the basis of priority, going
for toilet paper and feminine hygiene supplies followed by staples that time couldn't hurt.
Things like rice, pasta and beans. Because we would have to use the trailer for storage,
we looked around and found two more. Flagstaff was a community of ~50,000 and it
would take us a couple of weeks and several trailers to remove everything we could
use. Casey's was abandoned and that gave us a source for meat cutting tools.

The next last thing we removed and hauled back to the ranch was grain from the local
elevator. The last item was fuel pumped out of the tanks at several service stations.
We'd save the biodiesel processing equipment for when we could no longer locate fuel
and restore it with either PRI-G or PRI-D. The only trouble we had was with feral dogs
and everyone carried a 12-gauge fulltime.

We had enough jars and lids for several seasons even if those folks in Sedona pulled
their heads out and wanted to trade for food. You counted our people, right? Exclusive
of children, we had 8 adults, Matt's family had 10 adults and Miguel family 4 adults, or
close to, have you seen how much a teenager eats? Add to that Gunny and his 5 and
their 6 women, giving us a total of 34 adults and several children.

Anything requiring refrigeration was a total loss, although the freezers weren't. We
pulled an entire row of the glass-fronted upright freezers and set them up in the office
section with the stills and biodiesel processors, figuring it would be a while before we'd
have to use the processing equipment. In fact, it might make a good place to process
the meat this fall when we were going to have to learn how to do it ourselves. Sue went
to the library and located several books we need for that purpose.

278
Just because there weren't any people in Flagstaff didn't mean the entire population had
been killed in the attack. Our best guess they moved north up to the general area of the
Grand Canyon. There were also clear signs the Guard had been in Flagstaff, perhaps to
relocate them. Although we located supplies of vegetable oil, we left if for later because
we didn't have anywhere to store it. Even if the oil turned rancid, it was probably still
good for biodiesel.

Once we were back at the ranch and had all we thought we could use, our next step
was to sort it and store it in the trailers for easier access. We'd mostly left the ladies to
guard the ranch because the garden couldn't wait while we were salvaging. Miguel's
boys were getting old enough that one day soon they be thinking about wives of their
own and we located trailers we could haul in when the time came. Each trailer and
home now sported its own 3,000-gallon propane tank plus the 4,950 gallons we previ-
ous had and were able to refill.

It wasn't just good luck either, luck is something that you occasionally make for yourself.
The only 2 targets in northern Arizona were Flagstaff and Holbrook. By waiting until it
was relatively safe, we'd done well in Flagstaff. Several weeks after the attack, we be-
gan to do our 'shopping' and it had paid handsomely. Now, the only problem would to
be to hold on to what we had.

Our show of force in Sedona may have impressed them, but only until they ran low on
food. When that happened, they’d be back and wouldn't be asking. Flagstaff and the ar-
ea around here had thousands of acres of trees, even after the fire of 2006. If it became
necessary, we could try and locate wood stoves and start cutting firewood. All of our
fuel tanks were full and we had 48,000-gallons of diesel fuel stored in 3 double-
bottomed tankers.

With fall approaching we made one late trip into town, offering to trade some of the
things we'd recovered from Flagstaff even including 7.62×51mm ammo. We had plenty
of takers for that and sold out all we had recovered for $500 per 1,000-round case. We
recovered a fair number of our gold Eagles in so doing.

Once we finished with the harvest, Doc wanted to return to Flagstaff and get a portable
classroom we could set up as a medical clinic. He done a little scouting in Flagstaff and
had located medical supplies and equipment. We got 3 classrooms, one to use as a
hospital, a second as a clinic and a third to store the drugs and medical supplies. We
were using up our free ground area in and around the buildings. Once we had the 2
trailers for Miguel's boys, we'd either have to stop expanding or move some fences. The
supply of food was greater than it had been at any time in recent memory. We were at,
for all practical purposes, the end of the beginning, or perhaps more correctly in phase II
of human habitation.

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°

"We're there.

"Where?"

"We made transition from the old world into what Aldous Huxley called The Brave New
World."

"Huh?"

"At its core, Brave New World was a novel of ideas. The characters were often ill-
defined, serving mainly to advance the themes Huxley wished to explore. The novel
was roughly split into three sections.

"The first section introduces the reader to the World State and the characters that inhab-
it it. Bernard Marx begins the novel as the apparent main protagonist, portrayed as one
of the few dissatisfied individuals in a world of conformity.

"In the second section Huxley defies traditional utopian novel structure as he introduces
a separate and contradictory version of the future, the Malpais Savage Reservation.
This ‘uncivilized’ nation is a vision of the present. Both of them are presented in an
equally convincing fashion, allowing Huxley and the reader to contrast his futuristic uto-
pian vision with contemporary society. This contrast is made even more evident by his
introduction of the character John the Savage. Here again, Huxley defies convention by
introducing the novel's real main protagonist nearly halfway through the novel. An out-
cast in both the Savage Reservation and the World State, John replaces Bernard Marx,
becoming a heroic (albeit flawed) figure. With John's arrival in the World State, a place
already somewhat familiar to the reader, Huxley is able to provide a new perspective for
the reader to consider.

The third section deals almost entirely with John's reaction to, and inevitable destruction
by, The World State. The World State is a unified government which administers the en-
tire planet, with a few isolated exceptions."

"Is that the same as the New World Order?"

"The term New World Order has been used to refer to a new period of history evidenc-
ing a dramatic change in world political thought and the balance of power. The first us-
ages of the term surrounded Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and call for a League
of Nations following the devastation of WW I. The phrase was used sparingly at the end
of the WW II when describing the plans for the United Nations and Bretton Woods sys-
tem, in part because of the negative association the phrase would bring to the failed
League of Nations. In retrospect however, many commentators have applied the term
retroactively to the order put in place by the WWII victors as a New World Order.

280
"The most recent, and most widely discussed, application of the phrase came at the end
of the Cold War. Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush used the term to
try and define the nature of the post-Cold War era, and the spirit of great power cooper-
ation that they hoped might materialize. Gorbachev's initial formulation was wide rang-
ing and idealistic, but his ability to press for it was severely limited by the internal crisis
of the Soviet system. Bush's vision was, in comparison, much more circumscribed and
pragmatic, perhaps even instrumental at times and closely linked to the First Gulf War.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the perception of what the new world order entailed in the
press and in the public imagination far outstripped what either Gorbachev or Bush had
outlined, and was characterized by nearly comprehensive optimism."

"I'm not so sure I like what you just said."

"Plans for far-reaching changes in the character of international society are an intellec-
tual by-product of all great wars, Matt."

"How long did this war last, an hour?"

"I didn't say that, it's a quote from Nicholas J. Spykman in, America's Strategy in World
Politics."

"What politics? Don't you need a government before politics enters the picture?"

"Politics are the art or science of government or governing, especially the governing of a
political entity, such as a nation, and the administration and control of its internal and
external affairs. What would you call Rob's Roost if not a small political entity?"

"Smaller than Monaco."

"Wrong, Monaco is only 1.95km², and that's only 482 acres, we're bigger. That only
proves my point, Matt, we're bigger than some countries."

"So if you're the King, does that make me the Prime Minister?"

"I'm not the King, this is a Constitutional Republican Democracy. Just because we've
been blown to chit doesn't change that. Former President Bush is out there somewhere
in seclusion (hiding) and waiting for this to all blow over. Our Navy was at sea, so we
must have a military for the Commander-in-Chief to command."

"It would be ok with me if he got off his duff and did that."

"What month is it? What year is it? You haven't been paying attention if you don't realize
that Dubya is out of office. As of noon on January 20, 2009, his 2nd term expired. He's
probably sitting down in Crawford wondering why Congress hasn't taken charge."

"Was that his plan the whole time?"

281
"How should I know? I'm not so sure he knew."

"Ah, I get it, nobody is in charge."

"Right. You and I are in charge here and the survivors are in charge in Sedona. As long
as they're there and we're here, all is well. It's when they come here with mischief in
mind that we have a real problem."

"Which you attempted to preclude by parking the vehicles up front."

"Right Kemo Sabe."

"Hey, we all know, or at least those of us over 30 know, that Tonto called the Lone
Ranger Kemo Sabe. Did you know that during the early radio shows the Lone Ranger
also called Tonto Kemo Sabe? (It was originally spelled Kemo Sabay) I have assumed
that it was a friendly expression from one of the Native American languages, and I have
found nothing to dispute this, but very little to support it. Like all good theories, one must
try just as hard to disprove them as to prove them. I have asked several Native Ameri-
cans about Kemo Sabe and they have all looked at me like I was asking them about the
unified theory of the universe.

"Recently my friend Fran sent me a newspaper clipping that sheds some additional light
on the matter. This information came from Dave Barry's column in the New York Daily
News, Saturday, June 10, 2000. Dave Barry swears that he has researched the matter
and his facts are correct. According to Barry, 'The original 'Lone Ranger' show was cre-
ated at Detroit radio station WXYZ in 1933. This explains why Tonto called the Lone
Ranger Kemo Sabe, a phrase that is derived from the name of a boys' summer camp in
Michigan owned by the director's uncle." Now the question remains as to where the
boys' camp got their name. I have read that Kemosabe in the Navajo language means
"soggy bush," or "soggy shrub." I don't believe they would have named their camp "sog-
gy bush". There are a lot of things I could say at this point, but none of them are tasteful,
so I'll move along.

"A search of the Internet using Kemo Sabe got me 80 links, and many of those had oth-
er links. Several links led me to a miniature donkey named Kemo Sabe. There are a
number of commercial ventures using the name Kemo or Kemo Sabe, including one
design firm. I wonder if they know about the Navajo translation. I did find out that the
first use of the name Kemo Sabe was in a very early film clip where a group of six Tex-
as rangers were ambushed and all killed but one. The surviving ranger, which is where
the "lone" comes from in Lone Ranger, is found and nursed back to health by an Indian
named Tonto. Tonto recognizes a ring that he gave the ranger when they were youth
many years ago and calls him Kemo Sabe, as in recognition of a long lost friend. At this
juncture, we can only speculate to its meaning. 'Trusted friend' or 'long lost friend' are
plausible guesses.

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"I don't trust anything that Dave Berry writes, so I did some further research. In the
1930's, when the Lone Ranger show got its start, there was indeed a camp in the north-
ern part of Michigan called 'Ke Mo Sah Bee' and the name is reported to have stood for
'trusty friend' or 'trusty scout.' Since the show got its start in Michigan, it seems logical
that the name could have come from there. Could Dave Berry be right? But wait! A re-
spected researcher at the Smithsonian Institute claims that Kemo Sabe comes from the
Tewa Indian dialect where 'Kema' means 'friend' and 'Sabe' means 'Apache.' Another
scholar claims that in the Yavapai Indian language the word 'kinmasaba' means 'one
who is white.'

"Personally, I think Tonto was a Navajo, and he was insulting the lone ranger for being
ambushed (no pun intended) like an amateur. After all, The Lone Ranger was a mem-
ber of the famed Texas Rangers. If Gabby Hayes had found him instead of Tonto, the
phrase 'Lilly Livered,' or 'Dag nab it' might have become famous instead of Kemo Sabe."

"Are you done?"

"No, but I'm finished, Rob."

"Is that supposed to mean you think you got me?"

"Yep."

"I'm glad we got that straight."

"Yer durned tootin."

"So you think this is Part II?"

"Oh! I hope not!"

"Why not?"

"We haven't finished Part I."

"But you agree the war is over?"

"WW III? Yeah, we lost. Japan and Israel won WW III."

"Where is the Republic of China in all this?"

"Taiwan? The same place it's always been."

"What got into you?"

283
 When We Were Young – Chapter 13

"I'm getting old, the same as you are. This isn't 1961 when we were fresh out of the Ar-
my, you know. If we had a lick of sense, we'd get rid of the heavy rifles and switch to
one of those Mattel toy guns. Or, are you lifting weights when I'm not looking?"

"I wish, Matt. It's tough dragging my behind out of a chair these days. The thing about it
is, we have a lifetime of knowledge to share with the youngsters. You know how schools
have gotten; about all it takes to graduate these days is the ability to sign your name.
Someone said if you don't remember history, you're condemned to repeat it. The way I
see it, we're starting over here and no matter what kind of society we build depends on
the lessons we instill in our children and grandchildren."

"Where do we start?"

"We've already done the hard part, we taught them the 10 Commandments. Most of our
laws are built on those, directly or indirectly. Now we have to make sure they under-
stand the difference between kill and murder."

"Are you talking about the people in Sedona?"

"Them… and others. We can start right here and secure this section of land. Next year
we'll have enough pork to supply the townsfolk with almost the average annual con-
sumption of pork. In 2 or 3 years, we'll be able to do the same with beef. Don't underes-
timate those people, they aren't all bad. You noticed how when we couldn't meet their
needs, they were out salvaging and came close to meeting their own needs without our
help. We could stand to encourage those efforts and even share things we've salvaged
but don't need."

"There's a name for people with your attitude. What is it? Altruistic?"

"I suppose. Altruism is an unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness. In
zoology, it refers to an instinctive cooperative behavior that is detrimental to the individ-
ual but contributes to the survival of the species."

"Does that go for everyone?"

"Everyone who isn't pointing a gun at me, yes."

"Where do we start?"

"We could resume the Thanksgiving and Christmas package program. Want to give it a
try?"

"I'm almost afraid the list will include everyone in Sedona."

284
"We could give the food to the pastors and leave it to their discretion as to how the food
is divided."

"Let's go see them and explain what we have in mind."

I assume you know how ministers are, they refused to include anything that was stolen
and anything associated with violence. Otherwise, they came together to form a Com-
munity Food Bank. They told us they would need about a month to get it set up and
thereafter, we could deliver whatever we had for them to distribute. With everything on
the trailers presorted, that was the easy part. The diet this year would be primarily vege-
tarian. In mid-October, we pulled in the first trailer load of food. Once it was unloaded,
we went back to Flagstaff for a second load and before we were done, we provided 3
trailer loads of food and essentials. Nothing was stolen, it was simply reallocated.

How many times have we seen commercials on TV telling us courtesy is contagious?

That was our underlying theme. When we sat down to a Thanksgiving Dinner, we didn't
have any remorse over having food on the table. The dinner consisted of a home cured
ham with all of the trimmings. We couldn't raise everything and turkeys weren't high on
our list.

The dinner was most likely reminiscent of what our pioneering fathers ate. We had the
last of the fresh garden vegetables which had been carefully preserved just for this oc-
casion. We wouldn’t see lettuce again until spring. We held the dinner in one of the
classrooms that hadn't yet been set up as a medical storehouse.

"Are there any more classrooms in Flagstaff?"

"Do you have something in mind?"

"A Community Center. The fellas have a bar setup over in the office building but we
don't really have any place where we can get together for events like this."

"That's a great idea Matt, Tom and I will make a run up to Flagstaff and see what we
can find that would be suitable for the purpose. Do we want kitchen facilities?"

"About what you see in most church basements might be a good idea. Do you think we
could salvage a jukebox and a popcorn popper?"

"I doubt the jukebox would be operating but we might be able to get a popper from a
theatre, CDs from a music store and maybe some kitchen equipment. If we can't find a
working TV, we'll take one of ours from the house and use it to play DVDs. I can't see
where it makes a lot of sense duplicating what they have in the bar; we could try and
make it more family oriented."

285
"Have any of our Marine friends said anything about wedding plans?"

"News like that generally comes from Gunny and he hasn't said anything. Want me to
ask?"

"Not for now. If they plan to stay together we might drop a hint or two."

"I do have one question on the kitchen, is it just for special events or should we turn it
into a cafeteria?"

"A coffee shop might make more sense than a fulltime cafeteria. If the wives want to do
a communal lunch on the order of soup and sandwiches, stew or chili, that might be ok.
I'll talk to Sarah and you run it by Sue."

"Let's keep the booze out of this place, that way we could hold a nondenominational
service on Sundays."

"Ok. What do you think of the ham?"

"Is there something special about it? It's ham and it's good, what kind of compliment are
you fishing for?"

"Miguel worked hard on getting it just right; you might want to compliment him."

"Who is on guard today?"

"The dogs. If you hear them setting up a clamor, you'd best respond gun in hand."

"Do we need to look for anything more than what we discussed yesterday?"

"If you have time, check on the homes for Miguel's boys."

"Why don't Tom and I take them with us? It couldn't hurt to take extra firepower, just in
case."

"They can check out those homes. We don't really need much so we'll just use a Hum-
mer to pull a trailer. "

"You'll guard the home front?"

"Yeah, that will be easy, nothing ever happens here. Besides, who would be stupid
enough to go up against a Bushmaster, an Mk 19 and a Ma Deuce?"

"Anyone who didn't know that we have them."

286
"Guess that lets the folks in Sedona out of the equation."

"Unless they've been doing some shopping of their own, it does."

Timecheck: We're in the fall of 2009, harvest is finished and we have no idea who is
running the country. We've given some thought to resuming the Thanksgiving and
Christmas gift program for the 1,000 or so surviving residents in Sedona. Our group has
increased by 12 adults, 6 Marines and 6 ladies from Sedona who like Marines more
than they like being hungry. Miguel's boys are growing up and will soon want women
companions, thus Rob is going to locate a couple of singlewides in Flagstaff. We've
been lucky to get grass from most of the land, which has increased from 320 to 640
acres. Our garden was huge, ~ 9 acres, and we ended up turning to the destroyed shell
of Flagstaff to find more jars and lids. We ended up emptying out much of the salvagea-
ble goods we found in Flagstaff.

"I'm tired of referring to the two of you as Miguel's boys, tell me your names again and
I'll write them down."

"Rob, you're getting old, the boys’ names are Juan and Miguel," Tom laughed.

"Who is who?"

"The older is Miguel, Jr. and the younger is Juan."

"What kind of rifles did we give them, I forget?"

"FAL rifles."

"Can they shoot them?"

"Probably better than you can shoot a M1A."

"That's not saying much, the eyes are going."

"They can shoot every weapon we have and man a M1919A4 most of the time."

"They why are they carrying battle rifles instead of something like the M-15's we got
from Armalite?"

287
"They only carry the little guns when their manning the machinegun. Those 2 boys are
very proficient with their FAL rifles. What kind of weapon are you going to carry, if I may
ask?"

"HK91, a M1911, a dozen M-67 grenades and 5 LAW rockets."

"What would you take if you were expecting trouble?"

"More ammo. Since we're all carrying 7.62×51mms, I only put in one spare case."

"How many cans for the Ma Deuce?"

"Ten."

If I had been expecting trouble, I'd have put in a couple more cases of 7.62×51mm and
a couple more cases of LAW rockets. As it was, we had around 1,000 rounds of
7.62×51mm in mags and one full reload. I didn't mention the M-79 thumper or the gre-
nades I had for it, this was only supposed to be a shopping trip to get:

1 popcorn popper
Assorted CD's
Assorted DVD's
Big screen TV
CD player
DVD player
Locate Kitchen equipment
Select 2 singlewide homes for Miguel and Juan
Look for propane tanks and generators for the 2 new homes

I didn't take my Super Match because I had it all setup as an M21 rifle with a Nightforce
NXS 8-32×56mm riflescope. The only difference between the Super Match and the M21
was a different stock. Tom didn't take his Tac-50, either, and was also carrying a HK91
and a USP Tactical. Each of us had an extra bandoleer full of loaded 20 round maga-
zines. Those were homemade for us by Sue and Liz. The boys had 8 mags apiece plus
a gym bag that I presumed held more loaded magazines. They didn't mention that they
also had 12 M67s. I figured an hour to get there, 4-6 hours of shopping and an hour to
get home. I dug out a case of MREs in case anyone got hungry.

If you're going to set up a kitchen like what you'd find in a church basement, where
would you look for equipment? We looked in a church basement, but didn't like what we
found. I wanted a 6 burner Viking stove and we found one in a restaurant. We also lo-
cated 2 of the 3-door, glass-door refrigerators and preparation tables. There were plenty

288
of plates and silverware there too. The theatre provided the popcorn popper, several
bags of popcorn and pails of oil. We fired up a portable generator and tested until we
found a big screen TV and DVD player that worked.

We did the same for the CD player and went for a pretty good set of speakers. We hit a
couple of Video rental places and got a copy of every DVD they had, new if possible.
They boys picked out a pair of relatively new singlewides for us to tow back to the
ranch. We'd have to send a semi up to Flagstaff to haul the new items, the two trailers
and the new portable classrooms. We found several new 3,300-gallon propane tanks
and decided that we should haul them all home and that every house should have at
least one tank, a reversal of our previous policy. We also concluded that every home
should have a propane fueled standby generator, probably because there were several
available. At $4.50 a gallon, there was no way we could afford to pay for propane to fill
all of the new tanks. However, we located an AmeriGas storage depot and a delivery
truck.

"How did you make out?"

"Matt, we found everything on the list plus a few extras. We can put in a large propane
tank for every home, a standby propane fueled generator and fill the tanks for free, all
we have to do is transport the propane."

"Trying to make us a more inviting target?"

"Trying to provide for the future. You can run a home on the contents of a 3,300-gallon
propane tank for years. If we put in automatic transfer switches, we'll never have a pow-
er outage. It also would give us more than enough time to locate more supplies. We
found a restaurant with the six burner Viking stove I wanted and the large refrigerators.
Did you have any visitors?"

"Nope. The people in Sedona know better and anyone else would have to go through
Sedona to get here."

"We're going to have to get those 2 trailers in for the boys, muy pronto. There were 3
classrooms, we could take all 3 and use one for storage, one for recreation and one for
a dining room."

"That means moving a fence."

"I know, but there are ample supplies of chain link fencing and poles available in Flag-
staff. I thought if we could move the back fence about 100 meters and fill in the sides,
we have room to grow."

"Why don't we move it far enough back to enclose the garden?"

"If you want, sure, why not? It will also give us a larger feed lot inside the fence."

289
"Have you thought about how much pig manure we're going to have this coming year?"

"No, what about it?"

"If we spread all of that manure on the rest of the ranch, and rototill it in, we ought to be
able to grow anything."

"We don't have enough water."

"Could we drill another well?"

"We could if we could find someone to do it. I don't believe we'd want to go over 6", the
aquifer wouldn't refresh anything larger adequately."

"Do you want to put in a tank to hold the water from the second well?"

"I would if we could find one."

"I'll talk to Gunny about that, he'll find one for us. He and those Marines haven't done
much to earn their keep."

"Sure they have, they've been here and helped out quite a bit. Plus we have their new
wives to help with the garden."

"I don't remember any weddings."

"That's because there isn't any government to issue licenses. When a man and woman
live together as man and wife, I aim to treat them as married, regardless."

"What if they claim they aren't married?"

"Then, they won't have to get a divorce if one of them moves out. Apply the KISS princi-
ple."

"I would except if one of the women were to leave, they could tell the folks in Sedona
what we have. That would compromise our security."

"Do you have a solution?"

"I do. Do you remember the song by the Eagles, Hotel California?"

"I remember the song, what about it?"

We are programmed to receive, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never
leave.

290
"You explain that to them, I'm not getting involved."

Hotel California was the title song from Eagles' album of the same name, and was re-
leased as a single at the end of 1976. It is one of the best-known songs of the Album
Oriented Rock era.

The lyrics of the song describe the title establishment, a hotel where "you can check out
anytime you like, but you can never leave". On the surface, the song is a tale of a weary
traveler who becomes trapped in a nightmarish hotel that at first appeared tempting; as
a metaphor the song may be commenting on drug addiction or simply the decadent life-
style the hugely successful band had been caught up in.

The original version of the song is performed in a blend of slow rock/reggae stylings,
opening with a long, repeated 12-string guitar motif. During the verses, guitar and bass
provide melodic counterpoint to the vocal. The end section of the song consists of a se-
ries of guitar solos building to a multi-layered variation on the opening theme with multi-
ple guitars in chorus. The song is also well known for its guitar solos, which are per-
formed by both Joe Walsh and Don Felder.

Writing credits for the song are shared by the group's three main songwriters: Don Hen-
ley, Glenn Frey and Don Felder. On the original album it states "copyright in dispute".
The Copyright Office has verified that a compulsory license was used and there is un-
derlying music used, this means that the song cannot be played on jukeboxes, in
marching bands, in karaoke, in stage productions. The amount of underlying music
used and original source remain a mystery of rock with great speculation.

Hotel California won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1978. It is rated by
many polls to be one of the greatest songs of all time: Rolling Stone magazine states it
is the forty-ninth greatest song of all time.

If your song didn't make the list, discuss it with Rolling Stone, some of my favorites did-
n't, either. However, there were included in the Albums that made Rolling Stone's Top
500 Albums list. The beauty of those lists was that they gave us a shopping list and
highlighted music for young and old alike. Some of them were out of print, but we found
the songs in Album Collections. Roy Orbison was hot while I was in the Army and I liked
his music. So was Patsy Cline, this was before the plane crash. I regret to tell you that
not all of that old Country Western music had made it to DVDs.

We brought in all of the things we needed and started by installing the trailers for Miguel
and Juan. The next task was to extend the chain link fence so we had room to assem-
ble the classrooms that were to be the dining room/kitchen, recreation room and meet-
ing room. There was more than enough work to do, installing and filling the 3,300-gallon
propane tanks with 3,000 gallons of propane, installing the propane fueled generators

291
and transfer switches. Putting in utilities for the 3 classrooms and 2 trailers. Rob mar-
veled at foresight of Paul the architect.

The subject of a new 6" well came up and we located the man who put in the first well
way back when. He suggested we put the second well in the adjoining 320 acres and a
large enough water tank that we could store water for the fields. That 8N ford tractor
was getting a workout spreading the manure. While the tractor wasn't really heavy
enough for a rototiller, we found one and mounted it using the 3-point hitch. It took 2
passes to get the manure blended in and then a third pass to reseed the grass blend. It
was far warmer the winter of 2009-2010 and the grass came up enough to give us
hope.

We put in the posts for the new chain link fence without removing the old fence. There
weren't any gates through the new fence allowing access to the 9+ acre garden. We
even added stand offs and razor wire at the top. The stuff will cut the chit out of your
hands if you're not careful. Doc was kept busy tending to minor and a few more serious
cuts.

Miguel spread and rototilled the garden, preparing it for spring planting. We started sets
and nearly every window of every home looked like a small garden. We really needed a
greenhouse; those in Flagstaff didn't have enough intact glass to make it a worthwhile
endeavor. This coming year, the garden would be close to the same size, perhaps a few
square feet larger. Those Thanksgiving and Christmas boxes had been good sized, lim-
ited only in the amount of meat we could include.

We found a large tractor in Flagstaff and a baler it could pull to bale the hay. We also
transferred grain for livestock feed, a pig wasn't 100% efficient and it took more than a
pound of grain to produce a pound of meat. We had an average littler of 11 pigs, giving
us 330 pigs, which translated into 300 marketable hogs come early fall. Our 10 cows
produced 6 heifers and 4 bulls giving us one beef to include with the 300 hogs. Because
we had no means to extract canola oil, we didn't try. We nevertheless replaced most of
the hay we used and had it stacked 4 layers deep all around the barn.

Livestock feed was created using grain and bags of supplements all run through a
standard hammer mill driven by the Ford's PTO. If we could get that soil rich enough to
grow canola, we could produce 38,000 gallons of canola oil we could convert into bio-
diesel. The principal aim, however, was to produce the canola meal to feed the live-
stock. This coming winter, we'd need to start using up our vegetable oil so we'd have a
tank to store it in. To do that, we needed to convert some of the corn to anhydrous alco-
hol, a 3 stage process.

The first distillation is called low wine, the second is high wine (drinking liquor) and the
third pure anhydrous alcohol. We saved a few jugs of the high wine, in hopes of finding
a new white oak barrel we could char to produce bourbon. In that form the alcohol
would yield up to $30-$40 a gallon if we got a good batch. Anhydrous wasn't drinkable,

292
it used benzene to eliminate the last 5% of the water. If that computer's HDD drive ever
crashed, we'd be in big trouble.

"How much longer on the new fence?"

"However long it takes to install the razor wire Rob, the fence is in."

"What about Miguel and Juan trailer's?"

"They're installed and the propane tanks and utilities are connected. Once we grade a
space for the classrooms, we begin on that project."

"Are we going to get it done by harvest time?"

"Well ahead of that, no problem. I think we should butcher the hogs ourselves and sell
them carcasses. That would give us leather to tan all winter long."

"How long to butcher the hogs?"

"Two weeks and that will include the beef. Once we've sold all the meat to the people in
Sedona, we'll go ahead and butcher ours. I figure about 10 people per beef and if we
butcher the other 3 for us plus 18 hogs, we'll have meat for a year."

"Did you agree on a price? I really think we should get $1.50 a pound for the pork and
about $2 a pound for the beef."

"Fine, that's the price. We have lots of garden produce, and many of them have gar-
dens, I doubt we do as well on the vegetables as we did last year."

What did you plant the extra garden land in?"

"Potatoes. We'll have about 2½ tons of extra spuds to sell. We have extra jars but it
doesn't make sense to can more than we eat. Those folks are buying up all of it anyway.
They have some electricity available now, principally from gas fueled generators. Near
as I can figure, they've been to Flagstaff too or the Guard provided them some."

"How well are they armed?"

"95% of their weapons are small arms. I saw some ARs with M203's but I don't know
whether they have grenades or not."

"We'd better assume they do. Anything else?"

293
"Not that I could see. Miguel's boys hooked up with a couple of real beauties in Sedona.
I don't think it will be too long before the girls move to the ranch. All properly married of
course."

"I told Matt I'd talk to the Marines and their ladies about the same thing, but I've been
busy."

"Gunny, are all of you satisfied with you choice of partners?"

"I guess so, how is that your business, Rob?"

"I'm thinking about the children and the example having 6 unmarried families sets. You
can't get legally married without licenses, but you could hold ceremonies. Matt and I
would feel better about it if you did."

"You're the Captain of this ship; couldn't you perform some sort of ceremony?"

"That only applies when the ship is on the high seas. We could get one of the ministers
from Sedona to perform the ceremony. I'll even go the price of some plain wedding
bands."

"I'll give you a tentative yes, but I'll have to talk to the guys."

"Ok, I try to arrange for a mass ceremony. I'll send Tom to Sedona and get a jeweler to
bring out an assortment of wedding bands. We can plan on Saturday, unless I hear dif-
ferent."

It seemed like a good idea since all 6 of the women were pregnant and this way the kids
could take the Marine's last names. Plus there wasn't any legal authority to say it wasn't
legal. That and the fact that Rob's Roost was Hotel California once you'd been shown
all of our secrets. Most of the time, I just paid the Marines with a quarter ounce Gold
Eagle because there weren't enough silver coins to go around. They didn't have any-
thing to spend money on anyway, if they needed or wanted something, there was al-
ways Flagstaff if we didn't already have it.

It had been ~2 years since the end of civilization as we knew it and we hadn't been at-
tacked, not even threatened, unless you count those 6 men who never stood a chance.
They had to be gathering somewhere, prepared to sweep the country and take whatev-
er there was to get. Gunny had sent 2 scouts to Barstow to check on the situation there
and the place had been cleanout out and even the fuel was missing. Maybe it was time
to think about planting canola and corn.

When I was a kid, most of the farmers used a 2 row mounted corn picker, there weren't
many self-propelled combines in the early 50s. We'd either need a self-propelled com-
bine with the additional corn head or two implements, a combine and a corn picker. On
top of that, we'd need a couple of wagons to haul the grain in from the field. We only

294
had one silo, it was for storing corn, but maybe we should find something else for corn
and store the canola beans in the silo. I'd tell Tom and he could get Miguel on solving
that problem, we had plenty of time.

I had been thinking around $1.50 a pound live weight. (250×1.5) ÷ 125 = $2.70 a pound
or ~$340 per hog. We gave them a break and only charged them $300 per hog and we
got the leather. The beef carcass went closer to 900 pounds and we let them have it for
1½ ounces of gold. 312 hogs at $300 each rounds off to about 75 ounces of gold, which
strangely, they had. Altogether, we took in 96 ounces for a summer of work. We still had
to butcher our hogs and beef, but it wouldn't take long to cut and package 18 hogs and
3 steers.

That also ended our Thanksgiving and Christmas basket program. We weren't the only
people at the farmer's market they were running and they had some of about everything
from homemade jams and jellies to home baked bread. Anyway, we got a preacher to
perform the mass wedding and I popped for a dozen wedding bands. I thought it over
and bought 4 more; there was Miguel and Juan to consider. They'd been sneaking off to
Sedona lately; we expected them to show up with a bride one of these days.

"You interested in selling the leather you got from the cattle and hogs?"

"Might be, did you have an offer in mind?"

"I'll give you $30 a hide. Plus, I'll tan your beef leather for no charge and return it to
you."

"What's that in gold?"

"I'll give you 7½ ounces."

"And you tan our pig skins and cattle skins?"

"That's the deal. I can't pay more and that's a fair pile of hides to tan."

"If you'll do our hides first, you have a deal."

"Do you want them split or full thickness?"

"What's the difference?"

295
"You use full grain for saddles and the like; split leather is used to make clothing, shoes
and most everything else. However, if you make clothing out of full grain leather, it will
last forever."

"We take the full grain. What do we use the pigskin for?"

"Gloves, briefcases, etc. It's fairly thin. If you'd rather, we can do some trading. I have
saddles and tack that I rather trade for the hides. I also have leather work gloves and
pigskin dress gloves."

"Do you have any rifle scabbards?"

"One per saddle. I'll tell you what, I'll give you 6 saddles with all the tack, 2 scabbards
and a pair of saddle bags per saddle plus you get 3 tanned full grain leather skins in ex-
change for the entire lot of pig skins."

"Is that a fair deal?"

"Close to fair, do you know how to make saddles?"

"Nope."

"Then I'd say it's more than fair."

I took the deal for several reasons, the hides were using up much needed storage
space and the guy had a reputation for building quality saddles. I wanted 2 scabbards
for every horse, one to carry a shotgun and the other to carry a rifle. I sort of figured we
could get a sewing machine for leather from one of the shoe shops in Flagstaff. We
needed to make sets of chaps. The saddles were for later delivery, you have to fit the
saddle to the horse and ours weren't old enough for the saddles, just yet. By the time it
was all said and done, I'd given him a gold Eagle to get saddle bags and more scab-
bards.

The leather maker used a vegetable tanning process and told us it would take a while to
get our hides back to us. A few years back, I'd seen a TV show on the History Channel
about leather tanning, thus knew what he was talking about. It would probably be a
couple of months.

We'd burned through our share of ammo, on the range. The only time we'd had to de-
fend ourselves was earlier, against those 6 'desperados'. Matt had several thousand
primers and powder equivalent to what the military used in its ammo. He bought it by
the 8# barrel and kept the ammo reloaded, just in case. I ended up making the ethanol
through the second wine. I figured it was about 60%, good stuff. All I needed to make

296
bourbon was the barrel, meanwhile, we had some potent Vodka, for medicinal purposes
of course.

I also believe that there isn't any difference between a farmer and a rancher; it depends
on what part of the country you're from what you get called. If you raise grain and hay,
you're a farmer and if you raise livestock, you're a rancher. What do they call you when
circumstances force you to raise both? A Rarmer or a Fancher? I just went by Rob.

We located a screw auger that was used to separate the oil from the beans and deter-
mined that it was the halfway solution, more efficient than simple pressing the canola
and less efficient than removing the oil with a solvent. Since it was all we could find, it
would do admirably. Oft hand, I'd say we were lucky to find that. We wanted the oil to be
a pure as possible so it was filtered several times.

"Thank you for providing trailers for Miguel and Juan. How much do you intend to pay
them?"

"What's fair?"

"They're worth at least as much as the Marines to you, possibly more."

"Matt and I pay the Marines $300 a month plus food and shelter."

"You pay me much more than that."

"We pay you more because of what you know. We'd be in trouble without you."

"Well, I don't want you to feel like you're being blackmailed, but the boys are worth eve-
ry penny of $450 a month. They should also own their horses free and clear."

"Anything else?"

"Weapons. You've given them FAL rifles and USP Tactical pistols, but they'd like to
have lever action rifles and shotguns."

"You know where the weapons are, help yourself. I'm willing to pay Miguel and Juan up
to $625 a month, eventually, however I don't really want to go over $450 a month to
start. I bought them rings, assuming they'd eventually marry. What do they want for
weapons?"

"Marlin rifles in .45-70 caliber and SAA revolvers, either Ruger or Berettas."

"We picked up Marlin rifles in Flagstaff, so we now have the Marlin rifles and I think
some of those may be .45-70s. The only difference between the big bore models and
the cowboy models is the magazine capacity."

297
"Right, they want the 9 round models."

"What length barrels on their Single actions?"

"I have no idea."

"Single gun or doubles?"

"They like the rig you have."

"Ok, the Kirkpatrick Laredoan crossdraw rigs with 7½" and a 4⅝" Ruger original
Vaqueros in .45 Colt? Sorry, all I have is plain black, no Conchos."

"That will be fine with them."

"How much back pay are they looking for?"

"One year."

"Do you think they'll settle for the guns, a pair of horses and 4 ounces of gold?"

"Four horses each, they'll need something for their wives. Otherwise, you have a deal."

"Would two work horses and 2 saddle horses be ok?"

"I think so. Thank you very much."

"There's a condition."

"What would that be?"

"They can't tell the Marines how much I'm paying them. If they do, I'll have to cut their
pay to the same as I'm paying the Marines."

"Ok, deal."

"Miguel all but held me up."

"Yeah, he came to me but I told him to talk to you. What did you end up giving?"

"4 horses apiece, 2 Laredoan crossdraw rigs with 7½" and a 4⅝" Ruger original
Vaqueros, 2 Marlin Cowboy 45-70s and $450 a month plus one year's back pay."

"Now you need to give the Marines a pay raise."

298
"Oh alright. I suppose since they're married, I should do something."

"If you don't, you could be sorry. Besides, considering what you held the people in Se-
dona up for when you sold the meat, the corporation can afford it."

"Next time remind me not to be nice."

"One other thing, you're paying Gunny the same as the rest of the troops. I'd suggest
you give him the same as you give Miguel. You wouldn't want the head of our security
force feeling he wasn't appreciated."

Maybe I should pay Gunny more, the area around the buildings was well fortified and
the only time we had to leave the compound was to work in the fields. This coming
spring, we'd try the canola and corn. We'd accumulated a large pile of manure and had
enough to spread on the entire ranch. The second well had gone in easily enough and it
went into the same deep aquifer. There was enough distance between the 2 wells to
ensure neither would reduce the water available to the other. We didn't have a large wa-
ter tank, it only held 25,000-gallons; it was the largest tank we could find. If we kept it
full, we might have enough water to put out a fire.

"Gunny, I've been visiting with Matt and we've decided to give your Marines a pay raise
to $450 a month. Because you're in charge of security, your pay will be raised to $625 a
month."

"We haven't earned the money you've paid us so far."

"Sure you have. The compound is as secure as we can make it. The garden and dry lot
are inside rather than outside of the compound. Frankly, I've been uneasy about the
people in Sedona since we came out of the shelter. For the present, we've sold them all
of the food we can spare and many of them have grown gardens. I wouldn't be a bit
surprised if they raided us and tried to get our breeding stock."

"I'll tell you one thing; it's easier talking about living through WW III than it is doing it. Be-
fore the war, you don't really know what to expect. You could, for example, be in a place
where a weapon vaporizes you in an instant. If you survive that, the next step becomes
surviving the fallout. That was easy for us, we were at sea. Then comes the surviving
part and we were lucky that we ran into you folks. We were just 6 ex-Marines who put
together a little equipment but couldn't do much good. You provided us an operating
base and we done good both for you and the folks in Sedona. I wouldn't get too excited
about those folks; they're just doing what it takes to get by. There is no way that they
would go up against what you/we have."

"What if they got a few tanks?"

299
"Don’t start that, what if we had 155mm artillery or a bunch of anti-tank mines? Where
would they go from there? It's like paper, scissors, stone – there really isn't a winner;
paper wraps stone, stone breaks scissors and scissors cut paper."

"What would you be worried about?"

"There are less than 1,100 people in the Sedona area. I'd be worried about an outside
group that was both larger and better armed. I'm not sure how we would deal with that
situation."

"What could we do to anticipate such an attack?"

"You can't anticipate it, it happens when it happens. What we could do is put together a
plan to deal with a force like that arriving in the area."

"What would it take?"

"A Brigade sized force. Yeah, yeah, I know it's an Army concept. The largest Marine unit
is a MEF, then a Division, then a Regiment, then a Company and finally a Platoon. The
advantage of a Brigade is that the commander has all elements under one command.
After that we play the game like insurgents, totally unconventional. We've been up
against unconventional armies twice, Vietnam and Iraq, need I say more?"

"You left out the Taliban."

"We kicked ass and took names in Afghanistan."

"Stay on subject."

"You might think in terms of several Militia Units, each operating independently but ac-
countable to a central authority. Each unit is task oriented and the tasks may not seem
related. Only a few men at the top know the relationships between the units. It's not un-
like the cell structure that terrorists use. The organizational structure of covert cells is
intended to limit the harm that can be done if members are captured and interrogated.
Most members will only know the identities of other people in their own cell; only the
leader of a cell will know the identities of leaders of other cells and communicate with
them. By keeping cell size small, captives or double agents will have a very limited
knowledge of the organization as a whole. This approach, also known as compartmen-
talization, seeks to protect the larger organization from being compromised. By dividing
the organization into many smaller groups, each of which is compartmentalized and on-
ly knows what it needs to know for its individual tasks, the damage that can be caused
by outside penetration can be greatly reduced. Other cells can continue to operate in-
dependently."

"It sounds like it might work."

300
"A cellular model of organization was used by many covert organizations in the 20 th cen-
tury, ranging from the French Resistance in WW II, to the Vietcong, the Provisional IRA,
Al Qaeda and the Iraqi Insurgency. Organized crime groups, such as drug smuggling
networks, also use similar methods."

"So instead of taking them head on, we take a bite here and there?"

"Precisely. It has to be organized well in advance and some training provided. After that,
each unit is on its own, taking orders from a central source."

"Let's get together with Matt, Tom and the others and discuss this further."

"Anytime, and thanks for the raise."

Two nights later we got together and hashed it out. We'd form one Militia unit and the
folks in town could organize several. The key to making this work would be who we put
in command. Rome, at one time, was ruled by a Triumvirate, the first being an alliance
among Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.
The second was among Gaius Julius Ceaser Octaviaus ("Octavian", later "Caesar Au-
gustus"), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony. The First Triumvirate had no offi-
cial status whatsoever – it’s overwhelming power in the Roman state was strictly unoffi-
cial influence – and was in fact kept secret for some time as part of the political machi-
nations of the Triumviri themselves. the Second Triumvirate was an official (if extra con-
stitutional) organization , whose overwhelming power in the Roman state was given full
legal sanction and whose imperium maius outranked that of all other magistrates, in-
cluding the consuls.

Logic dictated that the managing group had to be an odd number to eliminate tie deci-
sions, Gunny for our side and someone from town. That left a third position to be filled
and it had to be someone with no particular allegiance to either group. We concluded
that the next step was to meet with the townsfolk and propose the idea. The real issue,
that we overlooked, was that the 6 Marines could be one unit, we the second and the
third through the umpteenth could be from town. In that case, Tom could represent us,
Gunny the Marines and someone in town the local militia units. The old saying, once a
Marine always a Marine is what made that work, Marine Corps veterans wanted to join
Gunny's group.

We had 2 old vets, a foreman, 12 'children' and the 2 Ruiz boys. We were an oversized
Squad. Nothing prevented the members of the Leadership from participating in individu-
al operations. For sake of simplicity, each unit had about 20 members. Sue, Sarah and
Maria would remain behind to maintain communications, etc.

It turned out there were various kinds of covert cells:

301
A sleeper cell is a cell of sleeper agents that belongs to a large terrorist organization.
The cell "sleeps" (lies dormant) inside a population until it decides to act. Sleeper cells
have risk assessment levels ranging from Low to Urgent and may or may not act on its
own, collectively as a hive mind, or under instruction and when directed, can be directed
at a local, regional, national or international level.

Low Risk cells would be disorganized, untrained, unsupported, disaffected individuals

with no special skills, no special knowledge, no access and no training but some open
source information collection and discussion interests that might lead to collective ac-
tion. Appropriate surveillance might include data mining and filters.

Medium Risk cells would be semi-organized, paramilitary or military trained, peer sup-
ported, disaffected or criminal groups or gangs with some special skills, some special
knowledge, some ability to gain access, some training and some covert source collec-
tion abilities plus a history of protesting or demonstrating against presumed grievances
and or, vandalism and or petty crime which may result in some prison gang contact with
radical or extremist ideologies. Appropriate surveillance might include data mining and
behavioral analysis.

High Risk cells would be organized, military trained, funded and supported, ideological
groups with special skills, special knowledge, opportunistic access, training, covert
source collection abilities plus no history of protesting or demonstrating against pre-
sumed grievances. Appropriate surveillance might include total information awareness,
communications and control surveillance and disruption, covert observation and
preemptive strike preparedness.

Urgent Risk cells would be self-actualizing, covert military, well-funded and supported,
non-ideological groups with a wide range of special skills, special knowledge, virtually
unlimited inside access, elite training, sophisticated covert source collection abilities in-
cluding counter surveillance skills, plus no history, or record of presence. An appropriate
level of surveillance is impossible.

The Marine unit would be an example of an urgent risk cell, our group and a few in town
would be high risk cells and the less better trained townspeople the medium risk cells.
The other people would all be considered as low risk cells or information gatherers.

Each group would be responsible for their own training beyond things like communica-
tion protocols, etc. All were welcome to use our range. Putting it together had gone bet-
ter than I thought it would, it seems the townspeople had the same worries as we did.
They'd heard rumors of roving gangs, probably started by someone there in Sedona.
They didn't form several small militia units but one large unit that was divided along the
lines of Army units.

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The Sedona Militia was roughly a Battalion, consisting of 3 Companies. They'd been to
Navajo Depot several times and were equipped as one might expect, Infantry with
weapons Platoons consisting either of Mortars or Machineguns. Their head man was a
graduate of West Point who had gotten out after he'd served his 5 years. That had been
a while back, in the '70s, and he'd gone on to do well in business and retired early to
Sedona.

Most people in Sedona had never heard of Captain Ray Johnson, but he had money
and the power that went with it. He had only stepped forward when the community had
seemed to lack leadership entirely. I'd met his wife before; she was one of our regular
customers, in both shops. I pulled a copy of our records, just to check, and that family
had 4 M16A4s with M4-FAs, 4 HK91s with FA762S, 1 Browning Hi-Power and 3 Spring-
field Armory XD 45s. I know for a fact we'd sold them about 5,000-rounds of ammo for
every rifle and 1,000-rounds for each handgun, in a single purchase. They must have
spent time on the range; they'd occasionally buy another case of something. At least
they had until we'd closed up shop. Matt had adapted the FA flashhiders to work on the
HK91s.

It turned out that our prominent citizen had a few things that couldn't be purchased in
any gun store I knew of, like the SOPMOD kits on the A4s. They didn't have the shorty
M-203, but standard issue. He'd replaced the barrels on those 4 handguns and the bar-
rel was longer and threaded. They must have bought the suppressors from another
dealer.

"You have quite the arsenal Ray; we sold you quite a few guns."

"Rob, you don't know the half of it, I spread my purchases around. Marylou bought
weapons from you and I bought weapons in Phoenix."

"What kind of business did you have that was so successful you could retire in your ear-
ly 50s; if I may so bold to ask?"

"I can't give you the details, but I'm a nuclear engineer. We only had one customer; you
should be able to put it together from that, right?"

"Weapons?"

"One patented component."

"Something you figured out while you were in the Army?"

"That's where I got the idea, but it took a while to perfect. I waited until I got out lest the
government assert it was a work for hire."

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 When We Were Young – Chapter 14

"And you got rich building them for the government, right?"

"Not exactly. I got rich selling the patent to a major armament company. After, I piddled
around looking for my next great invention and when we were getting close, sold the
company to General Dynamics. I played the gold and silver markets for quite a while; I
seemed to have a 6th sense when it came to buying and selling. I understand you have
quite a bit of gold and silver."

"We have a little. Frankly, Sue and I were more into preparedness and it ate up a fair
share of our funds."

"What kind of shelter do you have? We bought ours from Utah Shelter Systems."

"Our shelter went in before they were in business. We had to get the Andair equipment
directly from the Swiss. I hired an architect to design it and the auxiliary systems. It ran
around $60 grand when $60 grand was a huge sum of money. We kept adding on, Matt
put in a storage shelter and we added a barn. We have fuel tanks buried all over the
housing area."

"I understand you have a LAV and 3 Hummer's."

"Yes, they're M1114s and 2 have a .50 caliber and the 3 rd has an Mk 19. The LAV is a
Marine Corps LAV-25."

"Marylou and I each have a 2006 H1 Hummer Alpha and the boys both have H2s.
They're strictly civilian vehicles but they have every option available."

"How large is your shelter?"

"It has 2 10'x50' sections connected by a third 10'x50' section, in a U pattern. I had
planned on adding the fourth section, but the war came. It has a 30kw generator pow-
ered by propane, regular toilets instead of the chemical toilets and is actually quite com-
fortable. Both Marylou and I got Technician class licenses and we have a complete ra-
dio shack. We have a 4" deep well, water and fuel tanks and a 10-year supply of food
for 4 from Walton Feed. None of the folks in Sedona know what we have and I'd really
appreciate it if you didn't mention it to anyone."

"Would you like a tour of what we have? Once you see, we'll have each other over the
barrel so to speak."

"Thank you, I would like to see what you have set up."

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"How long did you shelter in place?"

"Nine weeks. I tried to make the younger people sleep in the shelter at night, but that
didn't last long."

"I thought you got out of the firearms business."

"We did, the corporation was one of our best customers, especially in the end. We have
a fair number of people here these days and between what we got when Matt and I
bought Dave out and what we salvaged from Flagstaff, we'll never run out of weapons."

"What do you favor?"

"My Springfield Armory Super Match and the HK91. We have an assortment of hand-
guns, XD .45s, USP Tactical's and even a few Kimber Custom II Tactical's. I don't much
care for the 5.56 to be totally honest."

"It has advantages."

"I know, but you almost need the extra ammo to make up for the lack of power."

"I suppose. This is quite the underground facility you have."

"As I told you, it predated USS getting into business. We don't have much free space
with all of the food, weapons and necessities we have stored."

"The only thing I see wrong with your security is your chain link fence."

"What's wrong with that? We topped it with razor wire and we nearly bled to death put-
ting it in."

"As far as it goes, there's nothing wrong with it. However, it you had enough posts and
fencing, I'd advise two layers of fence about 20' apart with an electrified fence in be-
tween. You've surely seen them; they’re what most prisons use these days."

"Hmm, that's an interesting idea, but how would we generate the necessary voltage for
the electric fence?"

"Step up transformers. You'd probably need to run a separate 150kw generator so you
had enough current at 10,000 volts. The equipment wouldn't be hard to find, use a step
down transformer in reverse."

"This place already feels like a prison as it is. As you know, keeping others out is about
the same as keeping yourself in."

"It was just a thought, you do what you want."

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"Ray seems to think that we should put in another chain link fence and add an electric
fence in between."

"San Rob's Roost?"

"Oh, San Quentin? I told him it already seemed like a prison. He said we could use step
down transformers to step up the voltage to electrify the fence. What troubles me is
what an opponent might use against us. If they had large weapons, an electric fence
wouldn't keep them out," I suggested.

"What kind of large weapons?"

"Tanks or even artillery. If an opponent had either, they could easily take out an electric
fence. If it came to that, I'd rather bug out then stay here. No one should be able to find
the entrances to the shelters without the garage door openers."

"We can't fit everyone into 3 Hummers and 1 LAV-25."

"I didn't plan on trying to do that. We'd take our weapons systems, of course, but we'd
need fuel and food. I was thinking of perhaps herding the horses into a remuda and tak-
ing them along. Let's face it, there are places we can go on horseback that the vehicles
could never handle."

"Rob, you're determined to play cowboy and Indians aren't you?" Matt chuckled.

"Not necessarily, but there are a lot of Indians in Arizona. We're not that far from the
Navajo Reservation and with the proper inducement, we might be able to persuade
them to let us stay there."

"What? Weapons and ammo or food?"

"We seem to have plenty of both, so whatever they want."

"Who are you going to get to go to the Res?"

"Tom and Liz, or maybe even Pete and Julia. Does it matter who we send?"

"Not as long as you don't send the twins."

"Why not them?"

"They don't like Indians. Sarah and Rachel both dated the same Navajo at different
times. Apparently there were cultural differences that caused problems. According to
the girls, he treated them like Squaws. That was bad, apparently, because Native Amer-

306
icans object to the term Squaw. Even Oprah had a campaign to take the word Squaw
out of the names of places."

"Wait, I'll write that down, it could be a Trivial Pursuit question," I grinned. "Never mind, I
won't send them."

"Are you sure we're not biting off a bigger chaw than we can chew? We aren't SEAL
Team 6 or Special Forces Operational Team Delta."

"What do you mean?"

"Excluding Gunny's group, we only number 17, including Tom. We have 4 vehicles and
all require a crew of 3. If we put 4 people in each Hummer, that leaves 5 for the LAV
and herding the remuda. Either we get some help or we're screwed."

"How many people do you think we need?"

"At least 6 more, preferably veterans who don't require training. We can equip them with
anything they need, but I can't see pulling it off with less than 6 more people."

"Would 3 couples do?"

"That would depend upon the couple. If both are capable like our kids are, 3 couples
might be enough. You could talk to Ray and see if he could recommend someone."

It was a very good suggestion, if anyone in Sedona knew who might be the type of cou-
ples we wanted, Ray or Marylou Johnson should know who they were. Ray had assem-
bled a personal staff to coordinate the needs of his 500-some people. He had: person-
nel S-1, intelligence S-2, operations S-3, logistics S-4, civil affairs S-5 and C³ S-6. There
was no need to duplicate staffs; one was enough to handle all 3 units since our opera-
tions were more or less coordinated.

"Three couples?"

"Matt and I discussed it and we're about 6 people short if we have to bug out. Sue, Sa-
rah and Maria would be tied up with the small children and unavailable. If we put 4 peo-
ple in each Hummer, that only leaves 5 to staff the LAV and move the things we need to
take with us."

"Why couples?"

"That was my idea, if you have couples; it cuts the number of dwellings and creates 3 2-
person teams."

"What age group?"

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"Our kids are in their late 20's and early 30's. If we could get people in the same age
group, it would help."

"Did you count Tom's parents into the equation?"

"They're our age so I thought Tom could work with Matt and I and Ruth can help our
wives with the kids."

"But you didn't count on them for anything in particular?"

"Tom could maybe drive a Hummer, that's about all the three of us are good for. Any-
way, that's the best use of our resources."

"I'll check with my staff, but I have some people in mind, let me talk to them first. You're
offering housing and food, anything else?"

"Weapons as a starter. We have almost anything they could want. We have plenty of
food, we feed ourselves before we feed the town. We can get singlewide or doublewide
homes from Flagstaff. They'd be used, but good used and all utilities are included. Eve-
ry home has a standby generator, everything runs on propane or electricity and we have
2 wells. We have horses for everyone to ride. I can't think of anything else."

"Well, there's your shelter."

"You can probably think of the things I can't Ray, you've seen our entire operation."

"Ok, I call you when I have some names and you can talk to them to see if you think
they will fit in."

"Thanks, we appreciate that."

"Matt. We'd better start running utilities. Ray has his staff finding us 3 couples."

"Do you know what they want for homes?"

"I have no idea, plan on doublewides and if they go with singlewides, they'll have more
desert to rake. He said he might know some people, so I suppose we'd better hurry."

"You realize that if we hadn't expanded the compound we'd be stacking the houses,
don't you?"

"Just be happy I didn't want to go with the electric fence."

"We can run, BUT, can we hide?"

308
"I can't even run anymore, however, I know what you mean. Running assumes we
aren't surrounded. If that happens, we always have the shelter. This new arrangement
is looking good; Gunny's unit is about Platoon strength and Ray has about 3 Compa-
nies. There aren't that many roads into this area and we're only the front line if they
come in from Flagstaff."

After 30+ years of preparations, we were still preparing only this time we were preparing
to Bug Out if the going got tough. That night I dreamed and in the dream, saw the writ-
ing on the wall: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. It was from the Old Testament,
the Book of Daniel chapter 5 verse 25. The last 6 chapters were considered Apocryphal.
Some portions of the Book were omitted from Protestant and Jewish Bibles. To get the
whole story, you need the Catholic Bible. Careful as I was about things like this, I had
one of everything, Christian Bible, Catholic Bible and even the Book of Mormon, just in
case. However, I didn't have a Quran.

Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons

packed up and ready to go
Heard of some gravesites, out by the highway
a place where nobody knows
The sound of gunfire, off in the distance
I'm getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, lived in the ghetto
I've lived all over this town

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco

this ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain't got time for that now

Transmit the message, to the receiver

hope for an answer someday
I got three passports, couple of visas
don't even know my real name
High on a hillside, trucks are loading
everything's ready to roll
I sleep in the daytime, I work in the nighttime
I might not ever get home

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco

this ain't no fooling around
This ain't no mudd club, or C. B. G. B.
I ain't got time for that now

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Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock
we blended in with the crowd
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines
I know that ain't allowed
We dress like students, we dress like housewives
or in a suit and a tie
I changed my hairstyle so many times now
don't know what I look like!

You make me shiver, I feel so tender

we make a pretty good team
Don't get exhausted, I'll do some driving
you ought to get you some sleep

Get you instructions, follow directions

then you should change your address
Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day
whatever you think is best
Burned all my notebooks, what good are notebooks?
They won't help me survive
My chest is aching, burns like a furnace
the burning keeps me alive
Life During Wartime – Talking Heads

And remember kids, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." –
Leon Trotsky

The eastern world it tis explodin',

violence flarin', bullets loadin',
you're old enough to kill but not for votin',
you don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin',
and even the Jordan river has bodies floatin',
but you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?

And Can't you feel the fear that I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave,
take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy,
but you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin',

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I'm sittin' here, just contemplatin',
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation,
handful of Senators don't pass legislation,
and marches alone can't bring integration,
when human respect is disintegratin',
this whole crazy world is just too frustratin',
and you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Think of all the hate there is in Red China!

Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
but when your return, it's the same old place,
the poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace,
you can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace,
hate your next-door-neighbor, but don't forget to say grace,
and you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Eve of Destruction – Barry McGuire

The song McGuire sang was written in 1965, my how times haven't changed. Humanity
was its own worst enemy, if we weren't fighting over the price of gas; it was a shortage
of food. It was because we were civilized:

•Having a highly developed society and culture.

•Showing evidence of moral and intellectual advancement; humane, ethical, and rea-
sonable: terrorist acts that shocked the civilized world.
•Marked by refinement in taste and manners; cultured; polished.

The only difference between a civilized man and an uncivilized man was the cost of his
weapon. Wiki – End_of_Civilization

Apocalyptic science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the
end of civilization, through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster.

Post-apocalyptic science fiction is set in a world or civilization after such a disaster. The
time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psy-
chology of survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence
of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten or mythologized. Post-apocalyptic sto-
ries often take place in an agrarian, non-technological future world, or a world where on-
ly scattered elements of technology remain.

We hadn't gotten there, yet… We were at the stage where scattered elements of tech-
nology remained, e.g., we had electricity, motor vehicles and fuel. We also had relative-

311
ly modern weapons and the munitions that went with them. It wasn't what I'd expected
in a post-WW III scenario, but you took what you got. We didn't know that the Navy had
put in on the west coast in places like San Nicholas Island and Point Mugu. I should
have paid more attention to MGS Arthur Kurt, but he and his 5 friends left before the
military was sure what it was going to do.

In order for the military to do anything, they needed a chain of command and they didn't
have that. The Rear Admiral in charge of the Task Group was at the top of the heap and
he was unable to communicate with anyone, that EMP weapon had neutralized satellite
communications. You thought I forgot about the Navy? Who could forget them, they
were what we had defending this here country even though it was broken up pretty
good.

Sedona, by contrast had a Light Battalion in town and 2 units at Rob's Roost. Ray came
up with 3 young couples in their early 30s, all survivalists to the core. After Matt and I
had interviewed them and concluded they'd fit in rather well, we discussed the housing
situation and they wanted doublewides. We agreed to find 3 'good used' doublewides in
Flagstaff, dismantle, transport and reassemble them. In order to give up what they had
in town, each family had a shopping list and they weren't one bit bashful.

"We'll come close, but you won't have anything more than what the others have. For
example, the best we can do is a 15kw, propane fueled genset, which should run every-
thing in your homes in case we have a power outage. Remember, we have 360kw total
as a central electrical supply and it will run as long as we don't run out of fuel."

"And, you agree to equip each home with enough propane to keep the lights on?"

"You'll get a 3,300-gallon tank, the same as everyone else. Are you ok on weapons, or
do you want something you don't have?"

"Do you have enough 7.62x39mm?"

"Russkie stuff? We have a little and you're welcome to all of it. We favor NATO cali-
bers."

"Do you have extra weapons in NATO calibers?"

"What would you like?"

"What are the small arms calibers?"

"5.56×45mm, 7.62×51mm, 9×19mm and 12.7×99mm. Anything under 20mm is defined

as a small arms caliber. We also have some non-NATO calibers, .45 ACP, .45 Colt,
.357 magnum, .44 magnum and .45-70."

"What, no 8.60x70mm?"

312
"I don't think so, no."

"It's the .338 Lapua."

"Sorry, no."

The .338 is fairly new to the sniper community, but it does bear the distinction as being
the first and only caliber designed specifically for sniping. While this round was actually
developed back in 1983, it wasn't until the last few years that it has gained in popularity.
The caliber was designed to arrive at 1000 meters with enough energy to penetrate 5
layers of military body armor and still make the kill. The effective range of this caliber is
about 1 mile (1600meters) and in the right shooting conditions, it could come very close
to the 2000 meter mark, provided you have the right rifle/ammo/optics/shooter/spotter
combination. Realistically, 1200 meters is well within the average sniper range.

This caliber is designed primarily as a military extreme range anti-personnel round;

there really are no Law Enforcement applications, unless you need a super penetrating
round for either armored vehicles, or for barricaded suspects. There are not a lot of ri-
fles chambered for the .338 Lapua, but the list is growing with the likes of Sako, AI, and
even Remington (With the SR8) producing .338 sniping rifles. Ammo is another prob-
lem, until a readily available match load is developed, the use of the .338 will be limited.
We all know the legal liability of using hand loads, so that is out of the question. Another
concern is the recoil of this caliber, even with a good muzzle brake, it’s brisk. So don't
try a rifle without one. Be sure to practice the fundamentals of shooting to try and pre-
vent a flinch from developing. The longest recorded sniper kill was made using .338
Lapua in an Arctic Warfare Super Magnum, L115A1 rifle – 2,475 meters, 2,707 yards.

"You have a Barrett rifle?"

"No, only one Tac-50 and Tom uses it. Gunny has the M107."

"That would work, what do you have for my wife?"

"My daughter Liz uses a .308 model 70 and the other two prefer 5.56×45mm. We have
both. As far as handguns go, most of the women go with 9mm or a .45 Colt."

"Cowboys guns?"

"They're easier to get into a scabbard on a horse, so we use Winchesters and Marlins
plus an assortment of single action style handguns. Most people have a second scab-

313
bard for a shotgun. You'll have to remember, you never, ever, shoot a gun from the
back of a horse, unless your name is Roy Rogers or Gene Autry."

"M16A2? M9?"

"No problem. Suppressed or not?"

"Suppressed, if they're available."

"They are. If the 6 of you want to come to the armory, you can pick out your weapons."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah, the corporation owns the weapons and you won't have to bother with 4473s."

"What about our kids?"

"When they're old enough, we can start them out on .22s and work up."

"Who has the say about when they're old enough?"

"You, their parents, do. We have rules, but you enforce them, we don't. It's all just com-
mon sense. Give us 2 weeks to locate 3 trailers and get them moved and set up."

"If you need us here now, we could sleep in your shelter."

"That would mean moving your household goods twice, but you're welcome to spend
your days here and get up to speed on the weapons you chose."

"Kids too?"

"That's up to you."

"You're convinced you're going to get attacked aren't you?"

"It's not a question of if; it's a question of …"

"What and when. We know. The only thing we're unsure of is why it hasn't happened
sooner."

"We don't know either, but why fight for things when they're free for the taking? That's
pretty much ended, so the next stage is to steal what other people have."

"That makes sense, but I have another question, why didn't you provide more food for
Sedona?"

314
"We were building the herds, we started out very small and that takes time. We only
butchered steers until this last time when we had too many female hogs. The people in
town should have taken some of them live and saved them for breeding. As supplies of
feed begin to run short our livestock harvest will be limited."

"Is the way you're distributing food fair?"

"What does fair have to do with anything? We grew it and we had first pick. Anything
extra was sold to the people in town. They didn't seem to be overly excited to get the
vegetables, only the meat. And then they complained because it was mostly pork. Yeah,
it was fair; we sold them all we could spare. If they had taken some live female pigs,
they would have had hams for everyone next year."

She dropped her questions just before I changed my mind about the two of them. Opin-
ions are like… well you know that one. Ray had said I'd find Sandy challenging, I now
knew what he meant. However, she could shoot an M16 like she was born with one in
her hands. I asked her husband, Bob, if she could do the same thing if the target were
shooting back. He assured me that she'd just get po'd and they wouldn't have a chance;
unlike most people, her aim improved when she was angry.

The 3 couples were: Bob and Sandy O'Reilly with 2 sons, Ham (Hamilton) and Jeff (Jef-
ferson) aged 12 and 11; Don and Ashley Crosby with 3 daughters, Ashley 13, Barbara
12, and Cynthia 11; and, John and Karen Gibson with their kids, Harry 13, Dean 12, and
Margaret 11. They all deemed their children old enough to use .22 rifles and some of
the older children had their own. Although 11 might be a little young, these weren't nor-
mal times and we provided all of the kids with Armalite M-15s and ALICE gear. It added
14 more mouths to feed, but with the kids able to at least help defend the home place, it
was a bargain. All the couples were in their mid- to late-30s.

That was the good news; the bad news was we were running out of places to locate
trailers inside the chain link fence. We now had enough people to allow us to take off
should the need arise. Manufactured housing had its good points and bad points, the
best part being the ability to move the home, even if it was in sections and the worst
part being the inability of the home to resist severe storms. No houses were bulletproof
or even bullet resistant. A bullet from a .308 rifle would go all the way though a home
depending upon what it did and didn't hit on its way through. Neither was the chain link
fence bullet resistant, it wouldn't even keep out a determined opponent. Our greatest
fear was of being overrun before reinforcements could arrive from Sedona.

It was the end of winter, early 2010 when people outside of our area must have run out
of food or whatever. They came up from the south along I-17, probably from one or
more of the National Forests. Under the circumstances, they were well armed having a
plethora of small arms. It was a large group, 500 or more. They weren't asking for any-

315
thing, it was clear that they intended to take want they wanted or thought they needed.
Our first hint of trouble came when they hit Oak Creek late one night.

Oak Creek Village is in Yavapai County, maybe halfway between Sedona and I-17
south. The few survivors down in Oak Creek had moved into Sedona and the invaders
found an empty Village. There was nothing In Oak Creek for them to take, Ray had
seen to it that anything worth taking had been moved the 7 miles north to Sedona. He
hadn't stinted on keeping an eye on the community; however, and we were rousted out
of bed late on the night of Tuesday, February 15th. We now staffed the radio room
around the clock as did Ray. His suggestion was to roust out our Marines and have
them form up with the rest of their unit in town, he needed HumInt on the threat the
people in Oak Creek presented.

"We aren't Force Recon, what do you need, a Greenside or a Blackside operation?"

"Greenside, avoid contact, Gunny."

"Can we use vehicles or do you want us to move in on foot?"

"You shouldn't get vehicles any closer to them than 3 miles, Gunny. How big of a force
do you want to use?"

"A full squad, 12 people. We'll split into 2 groups and scope out the location from 2 di-
rections."

"Communications?"

"Spearheads for everyone and one man pack SINCGARS radio. I'll take the M107 and
we'll equip half of the squad with M4s and the remainder with M14s. That will give us 6
grenadiers. I figure we'll need 3 LAWs per, just in case we're spotted. We'll be traveling
fairly light, fanny packs only and no body armor. I think we'll pass on carrying cruisers,
we won't be doing any breeching operations."

"How many grenades?"

"36 40mm per M203 and 6 M67s per person. I can't promise we won't make contact, so
you'd better have a force ready to come to our rescue, just in case. Standard ammo
load out and an equal amount in strippers."

"Would you rather carry loaded mags in bandoleers or just the spare ammo?"

"The load is heavy enough as it is so spare ammo; we shouldn't need it anyway, if it

goes right. We'd better move out now before it begins to get light."

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"Lucky Strike, team one."

"Copy team one, sitrep?"

"Estimate more than 500 in target. Small arms only, civilian vehicles."

"Copy 500 plus, small arms, civilian vehicles."

"Rog. Negative contact, we're pulling out."

"Copy, will meet you at vehicles."

"Rog."

"Were they all men?"

"It looked like wives and children too, they made up probably 300 of the force."

"Recommendations?"

"We could set up a roadblock on 179 just south of Indian Cliffs Road. It might not be the
best site, but its south of Sedona. We have them out gunned and with women and chil-
dren along, I don't believe they'll push it."

"Rob, perhaps if we give them a small quantity of food supplies, they'd be willing to
move on and try some other location."

"I'm not sure about that Ray, it would make it clear to them that we have food. If it was
in exchange for an agreement to return to I-17 and move on to Flagstaff, I could go
along with it. Say enough food for 500 people for a week?"

"Beans and rice?"

"Flour, yeast, oil and other supplies. Not a lot, but enough to get them out of the imme-
diate area. They'll have a hint of what they'd be up against if they came back."

"Enough to get them to Navajo Depot where they can arm up with weapons better than
what we have?"

"Not necessarily better, but equal. Our force is larger with 500 plus armed fighters. The
easy part would be if they refused the offer, we could take them out. Unfortunately, that
would still leave us with the women and children. The bottom line was it isn't up to us, all
we can do is to react to whatever they choose to do."

317
"Are you sure we cleaned all of the food out of Oak Creek?"

"They didn't bother with partial containers of anything, but there can't be more than a
day or two food supply left."

"What are our rules of engagement?"

"Don't fire unless we're fired upon."

"Is that wise or even practical? That could get some of our people killed!"

"Would you open fire on a Bushmaster, an Mk 19, 2 .50 calibers and 2 .30 caliber ma-
chineguns?"

"No, I suppose not. At least I wouldn't if I knew I was that badly outgunned."

"And Gunny didn't see anything other than small arms?"

"That's what he reported, but some of those could be select fire."

"Regardless, if all they have is small arms we'll go with those ROE. We know nothing
about these people, only that they're probably short on supplies. They could be friendly
if given half a chance. If they're not we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Enough
people have died already, Rob, I don't want to add to the total unless we have to."

"We put you in charge Ray so if Tom and Gunny agree, it's you call."

"Gunny said he didn't want to kill Americans if it was avoidable. Tom suggested we try
and find out what they want before we make our final decision. This ambush is well set-
up and we have scouts out in case they try to flank us, let's see what happens."

It wasn't long coming the following morning the caravan of vehicles came north on 179
and stopped about 600 yards back when they saw the roadblock. We had spotting
scopes and could observe them talking. Eventually they loaded about a dozen men in a
pickup and moved to the roadblock, a white handkerchief attached to the CB antenna
acting, as it were, as a white flag. The pickup stopped about 50 yards from the vehicles
we were using to block 179 and the men dismounted. They didn't disarm, but ap-
proached slowly. More in a defensive posture than as an attacking force.

"Hello the roadblock may we approach?"

"For what purpose?"

"Discussion."

318
"Keep you weapons pointed in a safe direction, any attempt to attack will bring you un-
der immense fire."

With that, they paused and looked around and our force revealed their presence.

"Scouts, roadblock, is there any indication that they're trying to flank us?"

One by one the scouts reported in, all in the negative. We moved to meet them under
the watchful eye of our forces. The group included Ray, Gunny, Tom, Matt and myself.
Matt and I were there more to observe than anything, Ray could talk for our group.

"Who's in charge?"

"I suppose I am… my name is Ray Johnson, from Sedona. Could you state your in-
tent?"

"My name is Brian Young and I've been elected to speak for our group. We have about
500 people including our families. We'd spent the time since the war in the National
Forest to the south. We're out of food, medicine and just about everything else. We
don't want trouble if we can avoid it. Is there anything you can do to help us?"

"Possibly, how large is your force?"

"I told you about 500."

"That includes women and children, how large is your fighting force?"

"Why should I tell you that?"

"Near as we can tell you have about 200 fighting men and 300 women and children. Our
fighting force exceeds 500 and as you can plainly see, we have several heavy weap-
ons. We don't want trouble either, but believe me when I say that our resources are lim-
ited. What can you offer us?"

"Not a hell of a lot, we have meat we hunted, but little in the way of staples. Our supply
of fuel is nearly exhausted and some of the gas is so old the vehicles barely run. We
heard there was a group in Sedona and came this way in hopes you might be able to
help."

"What's your health situation? Medical supplies are extremely limited."

"We lost about half of our original group, some due to a lack of medication, some from
radioactivity poisoning and a few to unexplained causes. We have a doctor but he
doesn't have much to work with."

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"And if we allow you to continue to Sedona, what then?"

"We can help you defend the town and will share what we have."

"And if we say no?"

"You have us out numbered; we won't have much choice but to leave. Let me warn you
though, we left about 2 days ahead of a much larger group and they have armaments
equal to yours or slightly superior."

"Any idea where they got them?"

"We suspect they raided some armories along the way. They have a pair of 105mm
howitzers and some Bradley fighting vehicles. With or without our help, you're in for a
fight."

"What do you have for weapons?"

"Hunting rifles, a few military style arms and explosives. We have an average of 500
rounds per weapon. What else do you need to know?"

"Would you be willing to surrender your arms temporarily in exchange for food and a
place to stay?"

"That's a fair amount of food and I'd really hate to surrender all of our weapons."

"Would you be willing to surrender your long arms and explosives?"

"We'd have to talk it over."

"We not going anywhere, return to your group and have your discussion. We can pro-
vide a small amount of food right now if you have any special needs."

"Do you have any infant formula or milk?"

"Come forward and we'll give you some, for the children. If the remainder of you will set-
tle for MREs, we'll give you 50 cases of those."

"Is it alright if we back the truck up?"

"Sure. We'll need your decision within 2 hours. Rob, can we get the MREs and a can or
2 of coffee for these people? You heard what he said, they need infant formula."

"Have them turn the truck around Ray, we'll get it."

320
They loaded the food on the pickup along with the other things and returned to their
group. Two hours wasn't a lot of time for them to make the decision, but we couldn't
stand here all day deciding on the next move. Eventually, Brian came forward and
handed us his Remington model 700 rifle. They accepted our offer subject to getting
adequate living conditions and food. Not every battle is resolved by bullets; diplomacy
occasionally works. We hoped we'd passed our first test. If this worked out, they could
provide us with a Company of troops to help defend Sedona. If it didn't, we'd give them
a little food and fuel and send them on their way.

There wasn't any shortage of living quarters in Sedona so we took them to the High
School and began to gather information about the group. We recorded the names, for-
mer addresses, occupations and so forth. Next, each family was assigned to an empty
home large enough to meet their needs. I sent Tom out to the ranch to bring in a truck
load of food and over the next 2 days, we got all of them settled in.

The other item we recorded about the families was what they had in the way of equip-
ment and weapons. There were too many calibers to supply ammo for all of the different
weapons so we decided we need to make a trip to the Depot and get them properly
equipped. The most prevalent weapon at the Depot was M16A2s and M9s. The Arizona
National Guard is primarily an artillery outfit and there were M109A6 Paladins plus
M119A1 towed 105mm Light Howitzers and M198 155mm towed Howitzers. If the larger
group following this group had artillery, we needed it too. We got what we thought we
needed and took it to the ranch.

The greatest single asset they had was the doctor, adding him to our population out-
weighed some of the risks. We learned he was a surgeon and there were nurses both
within Sedona and the new group. Layer by layer, we continued to improve our situa-
tion. After this encounter, permanent roadblocks were established on 89 north of our
ranch, on 89 west and 179 south. Our security took on a new urgency, we had no idea
what the next group was up to, but Brian suggested they were up to no good.

We resolved to keep 30 of the female hogs to give the people in town for breeding stock
after the sows farrowed yet again. We also concluded that beef would remain mostly
unavailable until our herd was large enough to supply enough beef for as many as
2,000 people. One steer would feed about a dozen people, meaning we needed of herd
of 140 cows. That was down the road a ways, depending of the ratio of male to female
calves. This year we'd increase to 15, the year after 22 or 23, the next year 33-35, and a
year after that perhaps 50-52. Fifty-two would increase to maybe 78-80 and the year
after, we'd have 120. Thus we were looking at 2017, 6 years down the road, before we
had an adequate supply of beef, unless we could find additional breeding stock. Con-
versely, we shouldn't have a shortage of pork or poultry, their numbers increased much
faster. It is difficult, to say the least, to project that far ahead, in 6 years we could all be
dead.

321
"Are we going to have to feed everyone from now on?"

"Not if I can help it, Matt. We'll give them 30 live hogs and let them raise their own. I did
the math on the beef and it will take us about 6 years before we can raise enough for
everyone. As far as I'm concerned, it's going to be us first and everyone else second."

"Are we sure about those new people?"

"How can a person ever be sure? They seem to be ok. Anyway, they did give up their
rifles. Maybe it will boil down to how fast on the draw we are."

"I don't have a Hollywood holster like you do; I'm likely to be slower."

"That was a metaphor, don't take me literally. Fast is good, accurate is better. As far as
those people go, time will tell. I'd have put them up in Oak Creek if it had been my deci-
sion."

"Why don't you suggest that to Tom or Ray?"

"I don't want to get involved."

"We are already involved; we're feeding them, if only for a while."

"Will you go with me? Maybe if we both raise the issue, they'll listen to us."

"You bet I'll go, we have the weapons from Navajo Deport and I need a comfort zone
before we pass them out. If we give them 155mm artillery, we'll be in their range, even
from Oak Creek."

"What's the range on that gun?"

"M119A1 – 11,500 m w/Chg 7, 14,000 m w/Chg 8 and 19,000 m w/M913 RAP; M198 –
conventional: 22,400 meters; rocket-assisted projectile: 30,000 meters; and Copper-
head: 16,100 meters; M109A6 – about the same as the M198. That's between 14 and
18½ miles."

"Crap, it doesn't matter what they have, does it?"

"No, I thought maybe we'd find a place to park a couple of the M109A6 Paladins."

"So far, none of them have been to the ranch, have they?"

"No, why?"

322
"It would be damned foolish to show them exactly where we live."

"No chit, we agree completely, I don't want them here."

"Tom, Matt and I want to have a meeting with you, Gunny and Ray."

"What about?"

"For starters, the food situation. Second we want to discuss Brian and his group of
people."

"You want me to get them all out here?"

"NO! We'll go to town. I don't want Brian or any of his people knowing exactly where we
live."

"Why not?"

"Matt and I agree that they should be moved down to Oak Creek. We're not going to try
and feed everybody, but we can give them 30 sows and they can grow their own pork.
The beef situation is different; it will take about 6 years to have enough beef for every-
one. Even if we move them to Oak Creek, if we give them artillery, they can reach this
ranch. Therefore we don't want them to know where we live."

"Ok, I'll get Liz and Gunny and we'll go into town. Do you want to deliver the weapons or
hold onto them?"

"They can wait a day or two."

"While he's gone, Matt, something has occurred to me. We're potentially going to con-
vert oil to biodiesel and alcohol to E85, right? We ought to be thinking about locating
spare parts for the vehicles we have, I doubt they build them again."

"We could find parts, but I really doubt that would cover all of our needs. What we really
need is a bone yard like they have at Davis-Monthan ABF, Aerospace Maintenance &
Regeneration Center (AMARC). I saw a program once that said they had airplanes
there that were sort of on ready standby and could be flying in a few weeks. Anyway,
there are some things you can probably only find at a junkyard and a few spare vehicles
would keep the kids in wheels for years."

"We're not really going to farm the whole ranch, are we?"

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 When We Were Young – Chapter 15

"We might get by with gardens and growing a few crops, but I suspect not, only Miguel
is a rancher and I don't know how much he actually knows about growing crops."

Tom came back with Liz and Gunny, and asked, "Are you guys ready to go?"

"I think so, let me check. M1A, M1911, 11 mags and 5 mags plus 12 M67s. Yeah, I'm
ready, let's go."

"Are you sure you didn't forget something Daddy?"

"Uh, oh, that's right, 3 LAWs. Now I'm ready."

"What do you have Matt?"

"The same as your father, Liz, we're concerned about those new people."

"I don't think you have enough ammo to kill them all fellas," Gunny laughed.

"What are you braying at jackass? They came at us and when they saw they were out-
numbered, surrendered. Do you really want to give them weapons and artillery unless
you're sure of them? The only thing they had that we needed was a doctor. We're
providing them food, fuel and arms and welcoming them in our midst like long lost
brothers. I won't have them on the ranch or even knowing where it's located."

"Let's go. Matt do you agree with that?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Gunny."

"Why would you want to move them to Oak Creek?"

"Would you rather have an enemy living among you or 7 miles down the road?"

"And what if they're not an enemy?"

"In that case, they're our southern guard Company, protecting Sedona in case someone
comes in from the south."

"What about the north?"

"That's us, we can slow whoever down for long enough for the cavalry to arrive. We're
going to give the town about 30 sows so they can grow their own pork. What's more,
everyone has to understand that unless we find more cattle, it will take about 6 years to
build a herd large enough to feed everyone."

324
"Why don't we go look for more?"

"Suits me, one cow will produce enough beef for about 12 people so Sedona will need
about 84 cows. The new people will need about 42 more. I wouldn't mind have a couple
more for the Roost either. We can't supply them with many saddle horses either, so
when they out looking, they can find some of those."

"Is there anything else you want to tell us before this meeting?"

"Well, it would be nice if somebody could find some vegetable oil we could convert to
biodiesel or the canola to extract it from. I suggested that we get more vehicle parts and
even some spare vehicles so we have parts for our vehicles. Unless you think the coun-
try is in the middle of a major recovery."

"That will probably mean putting up another building just to hold vehicle parts."

"So be it. Add a new pole building to your shopping list and measure to see how much
we'll have to move the fencing, it's not like we're short of space here."

"Do you think maybe Ray told them where the ranch is?"

"I hope not, he doesn't seem like a man who would share information like that to new-
comers. Are we in agreement here?"

"It's you place Rob, if that's the way you want it, that's how it's going to be."

"Good. Gunny, we're going to keep 2 of the M109A6s, can you figure out how to run
them?"

"We'll figure them out, but we'd just as well off with the M198, and that's a Marine Corps
item I'm slightly familiar with already."

"What do we tow them with?"

"We'll get a couple of 5-ton trucks and we can carry the ammo and charges too."

"Does that mean we'll need more people?"

"You mentioned moving the fence; why not make room for all the soldiers I've assem-
bled for my Platoon?"

"Will you be responsible for finding trailers, installing them and arming them as neces-
sary?"

"They don't need arms; most of them are your former customers."

325
"Good, that means we have plenty of ammo. By the way, I told Bob O'Reilly you weren't
using the M109 and he could have it to use."

"I already assigned that to someone, would he settle for a M82A1?"

"That's what he wanted in the first place. Get that at the Depot?"

"Yeah and several more boxes of Mk 211."

"We're here, folks. Rob do you want to explain this to Ray?"

"Sure."

"Ray, the bottom line is Matt and I are uncomfortable with those new people living in
Sedona."

"Why?"

"We don’t know enough about them. We'd like to suggest that they move into Oak
Creek. They can guard our southern flank in exchange for food and better weapons."

"Are you going to produce enough food for another 500 people?"

"We don't plan to try to. We reducing the number of hogs we butcher next fall and giving
you 30 sows. At our current rate of expansion, it will take about 6 years to provide
enough beef. In that regard; we like to suggest we attempt to recover about 130 cows. If
we find any steers, you can butcher them now."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, we're going to start collecting parts and used vehicles to keep our growing fleet
running. We'll also look for oil or soybeans and corn both for livestock feed and alcohol.
We have stills to produce ethanol and biodiesel processors. For every 18,000 gallons of
unleaded we can find, we can produce 120,000 gallons of E85."

"Did you find weapons for Brian's group?"

"M16s, M9s and some artillery pieces. We also picked up some medium and heavy ma-
chineguns. We didn't bring them until we can resolve this issue. By the way, has anyone
told them where we live?"

"All they know is that you live north of Sedona on 89."

"Can we keep it that way?"

"You really don't trust them, do you?"

326
"We don't know them, why should we?"

"Anything else?"

"We're going to put in housing for Gunny's military force and move them to the ranch.
We're the northern guard force and need the extra bodies."

"What if they don't want to move?"

"Gunny? Can you answer that?"

"Ray, they can transfer to one of your divisions. I only want people who are willing to
move to the ranch."

"I'll take it all under consideration. Should I assume they won't get the weapons if they
decide not to move?"

"They won't get the artillery. We'll see about the other weapons. We will provide as
much food as we can spare, but it may not be enough. Tell their doctor we do have
some medical supplies, he should talk to Doc, via radio and we bring in as much as we
can spare."

"I'll let you know Rob."

"He didn't seem too happy about that."

"No, he didn't, did he. Tough. The word will get out and I suppose we be hated by Bri-
an's group, but I don't care. I don't believe Christian charity extends to giving them the
nails and the hammer."

"If we give them 30 sows and they find some cattle, what will that do to our selling
meat?"

"Probably nothing, if they don't want it Arizona is a big state. I'm sure the folks in Pres-
cott or Winslow would buy it if we offered it."

"Rob, how big a herd of cattle to you propose to have?"

"In addition to the ones that will be born this spring? About 15 more. It couldn't hurt to
find a new bull either and strengthen the blood line. In terms of moving the fences,
make room for all of Gunny's people, 2 storage buildings. I don't want to turn the Roost
into an industrial area, but we'd better look for more storage tanks both for vegetable oil

327
and the various fuels. We'll push the fence back about 1,000', that should give us the
room we need."

"Do you want to increase the size of the garden?"

"If Gunny's people come aboard, we won't have much choice. We can increase it from
400'x1,000' to 500'x 1250' without moving any fence, let's do that. I think that will in-
crease it to ~15 acres."

One thing we hadn't considered is that you don't have to be Albert Einstein to figure out
where we were located. If you knew we lived on 89 north, all you needed to do was get
in a vehicle and drive north, looking for signs of life. We shouldn’t have been surprised
when Brian and 3 of his men showed up at our front gate.

"We need to talk," Brian told me.

"Let me get the gate open and you can come in."

"I understand you want us out of Sedona and down in Oak Creek."

"That's right, Brian. I proposed that and giving you some sows so you could raise your
own pork. We also suggest several salvage operations designed to provide more food
for your folks."

"Let me tell you about myself. I'm an architect formerly of Phoenix. I worked for Paul,
does that name ring a bell?"

"The Paul I used to design parts of my ranch?"

"The same. We used the plans for your shelter as the basis for several other shelters
we built. Unless you've made significant changes, I know all about your underground
shelter system and how it's accessed."

"What happened to Paul?"

"Sorry, he's dead."

"He didn't have a shelter?"

"He did, but one of those warheads ground burst just about where it was located."

"So you knew where the ranch was located?"

"We were more headed here than Sedona. I figured that if anyone made it out alive,
your group would be one that did."

328
"Why do you say group?"

"That was a shelter large enough for at least 30 people. I reasoned that when the lights
went out you might have gathered together your families and kept them here. I see by
the various weapons sitting around that you've been to Navajo Deport. Were some of
those for us?"

"Let's say that I let the fact that you worked for Paul vouch for you, can you vouch for all
the people in your party?"

"Anyone who didn't fit in with good Christian folks is long gone. They were either exiled
or, if necessary, killed."

"How do you feel about our suggesting you move to Oak Creek?"

"And cover the southern approach while you cover the northern approach? We don't
have a problem with that. We're obliged for the food and what you've done for us so
far."

"Why didn't you approach me sooner with what you just told me?"

"Paul said you were a little odd. He described you as a rock hard survivalist and gun
nut."

"Survival oriented and a gun dealer would be a better description."

What had started out to be an awkward situation laced with distrust ultimately resolved
itself into Brian and his group moving to Oak Creek, getting the weapons and our mov-
ing fences to make room for Gunny's people, etc. We moved the fence about 500 yards
creating more than enough room. Over the course of the next few months, we did major
salvaging, getting enough free range livestock for everyone to raise beef, storage tanks
and even supplies of vegetable oil. We cleaned out several auto parts firms and a cou-
ple of dealer's places until we had enough spares to keep everything running for years.

The tanks became important because we needed to relocate the fuel that we found to
the ranch, Sedona and Oak Creek. We hadn't done that with the JP-8 and the military
must have grabbed it. The ANG had been at Navajo Depot early on, but the last time we
went, they were all gone and we had no idea where. We didn't clean the place out, but
we put a dent in their supplies and equipment. We had a pair of M198s pointed to the
north and the remainder of the artillery was divided between Sedona and Oak Creek.
Sedona was responsible for 89 west and Oak Creek 179 south.

We found a train and included in the string of cars were tankers carrying vegetable oil
from ADM to who knows where. It might not have been a lifetime supply, but Matt and I

329
would be long gone before we came close to running out. The stills and biodiesel pro-
cessors were moved to town to get them closer to the oil supply. We pumped out our
vegetable oil tank and refilled it with B-100.

The USA had become a hand to mouth country in the days before the war, with an av-
erage of a 3 day supply of essentials. That all changed with the war, there weren't many
people left alive in Arizona and we had little or no news from anywhere else. If you elim-
inate 90% of the population, the 3 day supply becomes a 30 day supply and we’re talk-
ing about deliveries here, not usage. We all stockpiled as a result of the salvaging oper-
ations.

When spring came, we provided seed to Brian and his people so they could raise much
of their own food and expanded our garden because our population had more than
doubled. Counting children, we now had close to 120 people on the ranch, most of them
living in mobile homes. We took down the 'Rob's Roost' sign and replaced it with a sign
that said 'The Ranch'. We needed quart mason jars and lids and managed to salvage
some of those plus several more pressure canners. We converted the shelter to a stor-
age space because we concluded there wouldn't be another war. The guns came out of
the shelter and went back into the store. We didn't have licenses, but there appeared to
be no ATF.

To enhance our security, we used median dividers placed across the roads in a zigzag
pattern that forced a person to maneuver through them slowly. The checkpoints were
manned 24/7, just in case. We concluded there were at least 2 distinct phases to the
aftermath of a global thermonuclear war. In phase I, you adjusted to the situation, gath-
ered survivors and supplies. This was also the phase where one made plans for the fu-
ture and acted accordingly. We hadn't had bad guys like they describe in most survival-
ist stories, but we were ready for them if they came.

Phase 2 begins when technology wears out and when you lack the capacity to make it
work for you any longer. It can be delayed but can't be avoided. We added a second of
150kw generators and while we were at it, got all the supplies we could find, including
repair parts for the engines and consumables. These were one of our critical items and
Matt Jr. worked full time on keeping them carefully maintained. Every home had a
standby generator powered by propane and they ranged in size from 12kw up to 20kw,
we took what we could find. It was a question of either the generators wore out or we
could no longer get fuel.

With no TV or radio, the kids must have resorted to older forms of entertainment, Sue
and I now had a pile of grandchildren and more on the way. Matt and Sarah did too, so
we starting accumulating guns for the kids, accepting .22 rifles in trade against the guns
we were now selling. In Sedona and Oak Creek, the town councils did away with most
gun laws, the only place you couldn't open carry was in a bar or a church.

330
When Miguel broke a leg, his two boys, Miguel and Juan took over for him and I let
Tom, Pete and John take over for me. The twin's husbands and Matt Jr. basically took
over for Matt. I didn't have a whole lot to do, an occasional gun sale or trade but Matt
was keeping busy repairing weapons and training a replacement, Pete.

People who were dependent on medicine to survive eventually died off, but the survi-
vors were generally a healthy lot, they worked hard and ate right. Booze was still avail-
able but those coffin nails disappeared. Matt and I were stocked up and we weren't
about to share. The general absence of meat early on changed some people's eating
habits and we ended up with more beef and pork than we consumed. We ended up
trading it for things we could use to people who didn't have meat.

Twenty-two ammo comes 10 bricks to the case and we had maybe 100 cases or 1,000
bricks before we went salvaging. After, we had about tripled our supply of ammo and
that didn't count what was available at the Depot. We took it all, primers, powder and
bullets, when it was gone, we'd be back to bows and arrows or at least homemade
black powder and lead bullets until the primers ran out. Liz set up her own business, re-
loading ammo. You supplied the brass and she cleaned, trimmed and reloaded it for
about ½ the pre-war price of factory ammo.

Why did she need to reload? Easy question, everyone needed to practice and many
preferred to use their hunting rifles, ergo .30-06 and other calibers we couldn't replace
by going to the Depot. There were a fair number of old Garand rifles around and she
reloaded the cartridges and the clips. She used equipment that we originally had in the
shop and moved to storage when we went out of business. Every yank of the lever pro-
duced another round and she had plates set up for nearly every caliber. She had sever-
al cans of WC750 and WC844 plus a large supply of the correct primers. The powder
was for the 7.62 and the 5.56 ammo, but she adjusted the loads and made do.
Hunter opinion on the best bullet weights for the .30-06 differ, but the 150 grain for deer
size game and the 180 grain for everything else still makes a lot of sense. When all is
said and done, the hand loader with IMR-4350, IMR-4064, H4350, H414, and W-760
sitting on his powder shelf needs to look no farther, I preferred IMR-4064.

The principal rifle cartridges we found were .30-06, .308 (7.62×51mm) and .223
(5.56×45mm) Ammo reloaded to mil spec would work in most rifles. There was the oc-
casional .300 Winchester or whatever, but she had a hand loading table and could ad-
just as required. Don't get me wrong, there nothing wrong with the Garand rifle but the
.30-06 ammo was hard to come by. Thus Matt would either rebarrel or install a press-in
chamber insert.

Military ball ammo wasn't the best choice for hunting but it was plentiful. Liz loaded
some of the reloads with soft pointed hunting bullets, the Sierra was very popular. A
.308 was big enough in certain circumstances to take down an Elk using a 180 gr. bul-
let. While they were waiting for more livestock to grow to market weight, some men took
to hunting and anything remotely related to a deer was fair game. One of the grocery
stores reopened with mostly empty shelves. They had pork, beef and venison in the

331
meat section, corn meal, stone ground flour and small amount of sugar in the baking
aisle along with baking powder and soda.

In the cleaning section there were large boxes of some kind of detergent soap for wash-
ing clothes and Ivory soap. The shelves were well stocked with home canned every-
thing ranging from meat and spaghetti sauce to various vegetables. In dry goods, they
had white beans, pinto beans and rice. There was both flour and wheat kernels.

The oily oil products available were one gallon jugs of corn or canola oil. The dairy sec-
tion had eggs, home churned butter, raw milk and homemade cheese. It was a substan-
tial improvement over the time since the war. It was also the only grocery store in the
area. The only other things they had were paper products, toilet paper and feminine hy-
giene supplies. Absent any other measure of currency, we paid for everything in silver
with a valuation of $25 an ounce.

The Sheriff's office, or what was left of it, was under no obligation to protect people. The
substation that remained open switched over to local law enforcement, not unlike the
town Sheriff or Marshals of old. Ray Johnson provided one or two platoons on a revolv-
ing basis to assist the one Sedona Deputy, now Town Marshal.

The Marshall didn't bother with traffic tickets, people drove the remaining vehicles in a
fashion intended to preserve them. That didn't mean he didn't have to break up the oc-
casional bar fight or a dispute or disagreement. Tourist traps like Tombstone and Sedo-
na generally had a member of the historical group dressed up as an old fashion marshal
to impress tourists. These days he was carrying a .40 S&W but did dump the uniform for
western dress.

Because the airport was intact, local pilots were used to maintain an overlook, generally
flying something like a Cessna 172 or a Piper Cherokee. Our designated AOR ran from
the junction on 179 and I-17 north to the junction of 89. From there, west to Prescott
then north to I-40 and from there, east to Leupp Corner and southwest on 87 to Long
Valley. Av gas was limited and we usually only made one flight a day, Ray's idea being
to spot trouble long before it got to us. Before the war, the population of Arizona was
about 5.3 million and our best guess was that after, it was 3-500,000 and most of them
were Indians.

Anyway, I decided to call a family meeting, I was getting long in the tooth and didn't
have the energy I had before. Sue and I had a long talk and I ran our thoughts by Matt.
He said he'd talk to Sarah and have the same discussion with her. Over the years,
Matt's share of ownership of the corporation had increased to 25%.

"Quiet down, please. Everything Sue and I own is actually in the name of the corpora-
tion except for personal possessions. We own 75% of the company and Matt has 25%.
It probably doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot, but as of today, Sue and I are dividing up

332
the stock among you 3 girls and your husbands. Tom, I want you to take over in my
place; Peter, you can take Tom's place as manager of the ranch; and, John, you're an
educator, you should do what you do best.

"Liz, I expect you to take over the gun store, you practically run it now anyway. Sara,
you should work with John educating the youngsters. Julia, you'll be in charge of the
garden and canning operation. Matt and Sarah plan to have a similar discussion with
their children and we older folks are turning the whole thing over to your generation, we
just can't keep up any more. One final thing; Tom, I've kept sort of a journal that goes
back to the time I got out of the Army. You're to take that over and keep track of things
from now on."

I hadn't planned on a shock and awe campaign, but you could have heard a pin drop.

"You're quitting?"

"They used to call it retirement. I think it's time; the Doctor put me on a high blood pres-
sure med, Verapamil. It's an old drug but it was what he had the most of. We're getting
close to our life expectancies, you know. Better to hand over the reins in an orderly
fashion."

"Rob, I don't know much about farming."

"Peter, Tom didn't either, but he learned. You have Miguel, Miguel Jr. and Juan to teach
you what you need to know. Tom should be able to tell you the things he had to learn,
so don't worry about."

"Daddy, what about a school building?"

"Sara, drag in one of those portable classrooms, considering the number of children, it
will be more than enough for now. You can scrounge around for textbooks and develop
your own lesson plans. If you want technology classes, get the twin's husbands to teach
that. However, it should be a basic school teaching reading, writing and arithmetic.
You'll need a class on civics and one on history, they are both very important. Other
than that, teach the kids life skills. I think that should include a class on firearms when
they're old enough."

"What about Gunny and his group?"

"I filled him in on my plans. His group will take care of security. Now that Ray is running
daily flights, we shouldn't have many surprises."

"He's running daily flights, weather permitting; we could always be surprised."

"That's why Gunny has zigzag barricades on 89 made out of those concrete medians. If
anyone comes, it would most likely be on foot."

333
"They could have horses or maybe motor bikes."

"We'd hear motor bikes and the dogs would react to anything they weren't familiar with."

"So you don't believe we have anything to worry about?"

"I didn't say that, Tom. I'm suggesting that our layered defense should give us enough
time to react."

"What actually caused the war?"

“What actually caused the war? That has been a very good question and I don't really
have an answer. In part, I suppose, it had been over religious ideology, in part over land
and in part over political philosophy. It happened because we hadn't listened to Rodney
King. It happened because food and oil were in short supply. It happened because
many people believed that even though they believed in the same God, you had to talk
to Him their way. It happened because it had to happen; since WW II, the world had
slowly pushed itself into a corner from which there was no plausible escape.

“We were just as bad as Russia, they exported Communism and we exported Democ-
racy. They exported AK-47s, RPG-7s, and all manner of military hardware, but then, so
did we, to the opponents of the countries the Russians exported weapons to. If we
thought that a country needed help, we sent them rifles, grenades, etc. only to eventual-
ly see them end up on the streets of LA in the hands of a criminal organization, MS-13.

“We exported Democracy to Palestine and they elected HAMAS. We exported Democ-
racy to Lebanon and they elected Hezbollah. We exported Democracy to Venezuela
and they elected Hugo Chávez. Does the name Manuel Noriega ring a bell? How about
the name Marcos or the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi? Saddam Hussein was
our friend when he opposed the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It seems to me that
sometimes the government's picker was broke when it came to choosing friends. We've
saved France enough times that they're paid in full for helping with our Revolution. We
should send them soap, but they're allergic and probably as afraid of it as they are of
everyone else. I've concluded that the water in France is so bad you can neither drink it
or wash in it, unless you work for Euro Disney. The park failed to plan for certain cultural
issues such as initially not offering wine in its restaurants and trying to offer more
French food on its menus to visitors who were more interested in distinctly American
cuisine, and such as the French not liking soap.

“Knowledge of perfumery came to Europe as early as the 14th century due partially to
Muslim influences as well as knowledge from the Ancient Romans. During the Renais-
sance period, perfumes were used primarily by royalty and the wealthy to mask bodily
odors resulting from the sanitary practices of the day. Partly due to this patronage, the

334
western perfumery industry was created. By the 18th century, aromatic plants were be-
ing grown in the Grasse region of France to provide the growing perfume industry with
raw materials. I couldn't bring up France without recalling some of its shortcomings, sor-
ry.

“What causes wars? A person could have looked up WWI or WWII on Wiki and gotten
something of an answer, but never a root cause. It may be fair to say clause 231 of the
Treaty of Versailles caused WWII in Europe and that the Japanese were imperialists,
looking to expand their resources through territorial expansion. The Italians were oppor-
tunists, and not very good at war. The French surrendered because they were good at
it. The assassination or Arch Duke Ferdinand is sometimes given as the cause of WWI,
but it was an excuse. Serbia, backed by Russia acceded to all but one request by Aus-
tria and Austria, having German backing, still took 3 weeks to start the war. We all know
what was behind WWIII, nuclear weapons, religious fanaticism, hunger and oil. If you
want to know the exact cause, pick one, they're interchangeable.”

"Do we have any 50 round drum magazines for the Thompson's?"

"I think we do somewhere, why do you plan on changing guns?"

"I thought maybe I'd go with the M1921 Thompson. It weighs too much with the 100
round drum."

"If you're going to do that, I might dig out a M2 carbine. A common misconception is that
the M2 Carbine is insufficiently powerful for general military use. A standard issue bullet
weighs 110 grains (7.1 grams) and has a muzzle velocity of 1,900 ft/s, (580 m/s) giving
it 880 ft-lbs of energy. In comparison, a .357 Magnum revolver fires the same weight
bullet at about 1,300 ft/s (396 m/s) for about 410 foot-pounds of energy. The inadequa-
cy myth likely stems from erroneous, exaggerated, or misinterpreted battle reports or a
simple visual comparison of the size of the cartridge compared to the issue 30 caliber
rifle round."

"If you say so."

"I say so, we have Corbon ammo for a carbine. It's rated at: 100gr DPX 2025fps &
911ftlbs out of an 18" barrel. That's more than a .44 Magnum. Besides which, it's a JHP
bullet. What are you going to use in the Thompson?"

"Well, I could use 230 gr. ball, but not to be out done, I'll use Corbon JHP, 165 gr SD
1250fps and 573ftlbs out of a 5" barrel. It will do better than that due to the Thompson's
12" barrel including the Cutts Compensator."

"I think you're wrong, Rob. Take a carbine, it more powerful and the ammo doesn't
weigh any more. Come on, we have a couple of the M2 carbines."

335
"But, Ben Raines…"

"His favorite guns are the M14 'Thunder Lizard' and the venerable 'Chicago Typewriter'
Thompson SMG. He favors the .45 Colt 1911A1. It was only later that he switched to
the M4 carbine."

"You aren't going to give in, are you?"

"No way, Jose."

"Ok, give me one too, but I want a lot of those 30-round magazines. I guess the ad-
vantage is the light weight of the rifle."

"They built 6¼ million carbines during WWII, more than any other rifle. Auto Ordinance
was building them again, up to the war.”

"So were these M1s or M2s?"

"Before or after I worked them over?"

"Oh, say no more. They don't have flashhiders, do they?"

"Not originally, but I have the clamp on kind. You just have to be careful not to over
tighten them, you can break the bolt."

"Canvas sling?"

"It's not a M1A National Match rifle, Rob. On the other hand, it weighs ~⅓ as much."

I had to admit, the Thompson might be nice, but it was very heavy. The select fire M2
carbine was probably the better choice for older men, like Matt and I were becoming.
We'd emptied out our supplies of 7.62×39mm and any rifles that fired it when Brian
showed up. We had to carry the ammo when we were in business; lots of folks liked
those Russian weapons, probably because they were inexpensive. They put a 123gr
bullet out of the barrel at 2355fps & 1515ftlbs. For comparison, the 7.62×51mm 147gr
ammo ran 2800fps & 2562ftlbs.

I mentioned Ben Raines, a fictional character created by William W. Johnstone. In the

books, Raines started out with the Tri-State Coalition and later they moved and form
SUSA. Raines' Manifesto was simple:

"For some time I have had this theory that we should start from scratch. Gather up a
group of people who are colorblind and as free of hate and prejudices as possible and

336
say, All right, folks, here it is:

-We are going to wash everything clean and begin anew.

-We will create a simple, easily understood system of laws.
-We will live by the letter of these laws.
-We will enforce these laws equally, to the letter!

Those of you who feel you can live in a society that eradicates prejudices, hatred, hun-
ger, bad housing, bad laws, and will not tolerate crime, please stay. Those of you who
don't feel you could live under such a system – get the hell out!"

He backed that up with a statement of his philosophy:

"A TSer takes responsibility for himself or herself and for their own family. A TSer does
not expect the government or anyone else to do for them what they can do for them-
selves.

A TSer takes responsibility for the security of their community and does not expect the
government to do anything that cannot be accomplished by the Citizens of that commu-
nity working together.

A TSer insists upon his rights being respected and respects the rights of others.

A TSer is willing to defend himself and others to maintain the principles outlined above.

Tri States philosophy calls for a government whose laws are based on COMMON
SENSE. It demands that the individual take responsibility for his or her own destiny. Tri
States is about a society built on self-determination, simple laws and tough justice,
where skin color, religious affiliation, economic status or social standing, ethnic origin, or
other prejudicial characteristics are not issues.

As advocates and supporters of the Tri States philosophy, we believe that freedom, like
respect, is earned and must be constantly nurtured and protected, from those who
would take it away. We believe in the right of every law-abiding citizen to protect his or
her life, without fear of arrest, criminal prosecution, or lawsuit. The right to bear arms is
essential to maintaining true personal freedom.

George Washington said that government's power to tax is the power to destroy. Feder-
al taxation should not be greater than 10% of our incomes, however the tax is struc-
tured. If a 10% tithe is good enough for God's church, it should be good enough for the
federal government. If the size of the federal bureaucracy is unsupportable by a 10%
income tax, the bureaucracy should be reduced, rather than taxes raised.

Education is the key to solving problems in any society, and the lack of it is the root
cause of a country's decline. Effective public education has been denied our children,
hijacked by elite class of education mandarins. Until we wrestle control of our local

337
schools back from these politically correct dictators, the future of our children and our
country remains in doubt.

There are only two types of people on earth; decent and indecent. Those who are de-
cent will flourish by their own efforts and those who are not will perish by theirs. No laws
laid down by a body of government can make one person like another and any effort by
government to make or favor one class over another will backfire. The duty of those
who live in a free society is clear, to the maintenance of that society, and personal free-
dom is not negotiable, but with freedom comes the responsibility to secure it.

In conclusion: We who support the Tri States philosophy and live by its code and its
laws pledge to defend it by any means necessary. We pledge to work fairly and justly to
build and maintain a society in which all citizens who subscribe to the Tri States Philos-
ophy are truly free and are able to pursue productive lives without fear and without in-
tervention."

SUSA was in a different location, but had the same basic rules. SUSA was the Southern
United States of America.

The Ashes series is fiction, with the events and stories primarily occurring after a Nucle-
ar/Biological war between America, Russia and China. The main character is General
Ben Raines, a writer before the war, and the reluctant leader of Raines' Rebels after the
war. The Rebels are a collection of like-minded individuals who believe in responsibility,
honesty and self-defense. The Rebels set up an autonomous society (The Tri-states
Collation) after the war, booting out all of the bleeding heart liberals, welfare cases and
criminals, while the remaining residents become citizen-soldiers. The remnants of the
federal government are infuriated, and end up invading and destroying the Tri-States,
after which the federal government totally collapsed and anarchy reigned.

Ben Raines and a select group of Rebels begin again, settling in the Southeast US to
establish the Southern United States of America (SUSA), meanwhile scavenging and
stockpiling weapons, tanks, planes, and all manner of supplies. Law-abiding, decent
Americans flock to the area, swelling the ranks of the Rebels. This is followed by years
of fighting gangs, criminals and Night People (Cannibalistic people who mainly congre-
gate in cities, and raise and eat humans). The Rebels end up demolishing many of the
great cities of America, but finally finish off most of the Night People and gang activity.

Meanwhile, the former United States is established based on an ultra-liberal model, and
various confrontations take place between the US and the SUSA. The ultra-liberal set in
the US keep urging the attack and annihilation of the SUSA, but since the Rebels have
almost all of the former equipment of the USA, the existence of the SUSA is assured.
Eventually a peace of sorts is reached.

338
I guess maybe we could call ourselves AANA – Allied Area of Northern Arizona. It was a
coalition of the Ranch, Sedona and Oak Creek. Altogether we had a heavy Battalion,
something resembling a Platoon of Force Recon and a small Platoon of people from the
Ranch. We had artillery and an Air Force, consisting of a Cessna and a Piper.

The Sedona airport had 100LL (100 low lead) and Jet Fuel A available. The pilots said
that if push came to shove, we could run the aircraft on mogas, ergo, 87 octane unlead-
ed car gas. The fuel was harder on the engines and you ran the risk of vapor lock, but it
could be used. There was a helicopter sitting there, provided we could find a pilot. It was
a Bell 412EP, corporate chopper, seating 15 with a cruise speed of 122kn and a range
of 356km using twin jet turbines. We called the chopper 'Big Huey'.

"Did Ray find a pilot for Big Huey yet?"

"One of the people in Oak Creek had time in UH-1s, and he said he'd give it a try."

"We'll need door guns."

"We'll look around Navajo Depot for a pair of M134s."

"What's that?"

"The GE mini-gun."

"How many do you figure we can haul at once?"

"1 pilot and 15 passengers translates into 2 pilots, 2 door gunners and 12 troops, about
a squad."

"Sounds good, but first, we have to get it off the ground."

"The guy was a combat pilot in the Huey during the '70s. It's the same basic airframe
and once he figures out all of the working parts he should be ok."

"What about a co-pilot?"

"I don't know, train one of the general aviation pilots in the chopper."

"Oh, that ought to be fun."

"He just needs to learn to chew gum and rub his tummy at the same time. A chopper
has cyclic, rudders and a collective."

339
For rotation about the vertical axis (yaw) the anti-torque system is used. Varying the
pitch of the tail rotor alters the sideways thrust produced. Dual-rotor helicopters have a
differential between the two rotor transmissions that can be adjusted by an electric or
hydraulic motor to transmit differential torque and thus turn the helicopter. Yaw controls
are usually operated with anti-torque pedals, on the floor in the same place as a fixed-
wing aircraft's rudder pedals.

For pitch (tilting forward and back) or roll (tilting sideways) the angle of attack of the
main rotor blades is altered or cycled during the rotation creating a differential of lift at
different points of the rotary wing. More lift at the rear of the rotary wing will cause the
aircraft to pitch forward, an increase on the left will cause a roll to the right and so on.
Helicopters maneuver with three flight controls besides the pedals. The collective pitch
control lever controls the collective pitch, or angle of attack, of the helicopter blades al-
together, that is, equally throughout the 360 degree plane-of-rotation of the main rotor
system. When the angle of attack is increased, the blade produces more lift. The collec-
tive control is usually a lever at the pilot's left side. Simultaneously increasing the collec-
tive and adding power with the throttle causes a helicopter to rise.

The throttle controls the absolute power produced by the engine that is connected to the
rotor by a transmission. The throttle control is a twist grip on the collective control. RPM
control is critical to proper operation for several reasons. Helicopter rotors are designed
to operate at a specific RPM. However, for each weight and speed there would be an
ideal RPM (design-rpm). In practice, a single (higher) RPM is used in order to minimize
resonance design requirements and add a safety margin to rotor stall RPM. Usually only
in autorotation are different RPMs used to increase rotor efficiency, which can be crucial
in the case of an emergency without engine power.

If the RPM becomes too low, the rotor blades stall. This suddenly increases drag and
slows the rotor down further. The centrifugal forces are then not able to straighten the
rotor blades any more, excessive coning ("tuliping") develops and a catastrophic acci-
dent is certain.

If the RPM is too high, damage to the main rotor hub, power transmission and engine
from excessive forces could result. In general, RPM must be maintained within a tight
tolerance, usually a few percent. In many piston-powered helicopters, the pilot must
manage the engine and rotor RPM. The pilot manipulates the throttle to maintain rotor
RPM and therefore regulates the effect of drag on the rotor system. Turbine engine hel-
icopters, and some piston helicopters, use a servo-feedback loop, otherwise known as a
governor, in their engine controls to maintain rotor RPM and relieves the pilot of routine
responsibility for that task.

The cyclic changes the pitch of the blades cyclically, that is, during the rotation of the
blades around each complete circle (2 pi radians). This causes the lift to vary across the
plane of the rotor disk. This variation in lift causes the rotor disk to tilt and the helicopter
to move during hover flight or change attitude in forward flight. The cyclic is similar to a
joystick and is usually positioned in front of the pilot. The cyclic controls the angle of the

340
stationary section of the swashplate, which in turn controls the angle of the rotating sec-
tion of the swashplate. The rotating section rotates with the rotor and is connected to
blade pitch horns through pitch links, one link for each blade. When the swashplate is
not tilted, the blades are all at the collective angle. When it is tilted, the links give a
pitch-up at some azimuthal angle and a pitch-down at the opposite angle, hence creat-
ing a sinusoidal variation in blade angle of attack. This causes the helicopter to tilt in the
same direction as the cyclic. If the pilot pushes the cyclic forward, then the rotor disc tilts
forward, and the rotor produces a thrust in the forward direction.

As a helicopter moves forward, the rotor blades on one side move at rotor tip speed
plus the aircraft speed and is called the advancing blade. As the blade swings to the
other side of the helicopter, it moves at rotor tip speed minus aircraft speed and is called
the retreating blade. To compensate for the added lift on the advancing blade and the
decreased lift on the retreating blade, the angle of attack of the blades is regulated as
the blade spins around the helicopter. The angle of attack is increased on the retreating
blade to produce more lift, compensating for the slower airspeed over the blade. And
the angle of attack is decreased on the advancing blade to produce less lift, compensat-
ing for the faster airspeed over the blade. If the angle of attack of any wing, including
rotor blades, is too high, the airflow above the wing separates causing instant loss of lift
and increase in drag. This condition is called aerodynamic stall. On a helicopter, this
can happen in any of four ways.

1. As helicopter speed increases, airflow over the advancing blades approaches the
speed of sound and generates shock waves that disrupt the airflow over the blade caus-
ing loss of lift.

2. As helicopter speeds increase, the retreating blade experiences lower relative air-
speeds and the controls compensate with higher angle of attack. With a low enough rel-
ative airspeed and a high enough angle of attack, aerodynamic stall is inevitable. This is
called retreating blade stall.

3. Any low rotor RPM flight condition accompanied by increasing collective pitch appli-
cation will cause aerodynamic stall.

4. Unique to helicopters is the vortex ring state (also known as settling with power)
which is when a helicopter in a hover or descent comes into contact with its own down
wash causing immense turbulence and loss of lift.

Fixed wing aircraft are usually inherently stable. If a gust of wind or a nudge to one of
the controls causes a fixed wing aircraft to pitch, roll, or yaw, the aerodynamic design of
the aircraft will tend to correct the motion, and the aircraft will return to its original atti-
tude. Many small, fixed wing aircraft are stable enough that a pilot can let go of the con-
trols while looking at a map or dealing with a radio, and the plane will generally stay on
course.

341
In contrast, helicopters are very unstable. Simply hovering requires continuous, active
corrections from the pilot. When a hovering helicopter is nudged in one direction by a
gust of wind, it will tend to continue in that direction, and the pilot must adjust the cyclic
to correct the motion. Hovering a helicopter has been compared to balancing yourself
while standing on a large beach ball.

Adjusting one flight control on a helicopter almost always has an effect that requires an
adjustment of the other controls. Moving the cyclic forward causes the helicopter to
move forward, but will also cause a reduction in lift, which will require extra collective for
more lift. Increasing collective will reduce rotor RPM, requiring an increase in throttle to
maintain constant rotor RPM. Changing collective will also cause a change in torque,
which will require the pilot to adjust the foot pedals.

Small helicopters can be so unstable that it may be impossible for the pilot to ever let go
of the cyclic while in flight. While fixed-wing aircraft are generally designed so pilots sit
on the left side of the aircraft, freeing up their right hand for dealing with radios, engine
controls, and the like, helicopters are generally designed so pilots sit on the right side of
the aircraft so they can keep their right hand (usually the strong hand) on the cyclic at all
times, leaving the radios and engine controls for their left hand (usually the weaker
hand).

"It sounds to me like he has a chaw in his left cheek, gum in his right cheek, is smoking
a cigar and driving 2 cars at the same time. What kind of helicopter was Airwolf?"

"The flying Airwolf helicopter was in actuality a Bell 222 (serial number 47085, making it
the fifth to last built before the 222B was released), registration number N3176S.

Airwolf was painted Phantom Gray Metallic (DuPont Imron 5031X) on top, and a custom
pearl-gray (almost white) on the bottom, in a killer whale-like pattern. The craft was also
fitted with various prop modifications, such as "turbo jet" engines and intakes, retracta-
ble chain guns at the wingtips, and a retractable rocket launcher, known as the "ADF
Pod" (ADF standing for All Directional Firing, as the pod could rotate 180 degrees to fire
at targets at the side of the copter) on its belly.

The look of the modifications was designed by Andrew Probert, who had pictures of the
construction on his website, and they were first applied to the non-flying mock-up. (built
from the body of the very first Bell 222, serial number 47001) From this mock-up molds
were made so that parts could be made to FAA specifications before they were added
to the flying helicopter.

After the first season, the producers were advised that "chain guns" is a registered
trademark of McDonald Douglas, and they were not referred to as such again. Other
modifications were implied with foley and sets; the interior sets were of a fantastical
high-tech nature, and there were implied "stealth" noise-reducing capabilities with crea-

342
tive use of sound effects. Airwolf is sometimes referred to in-show as "The Lady" by
Santini and Hawke.

After the show was cancelled the modifications were removed. The aircraft was repaint-
ed and eventually sold to the German helicopter charter company, Hubschrauber-
Sonder-Dienst (aka HSD Luftrettung and Blue Helicopter Alliance), and given the regis-
tration number D-HHSD. Airwolf, as a plain Bell 222 air ambulance, crashed in a thun-
derstorm on 06/09/91 killing her three passengers. That was before Jan Michael Vincent
crashed.

"Did Airwolf have any of those GE mini-guns?"

"I don't believe it did."

"The M134 minigun was used on the M21, M27, XM50, and Emerson MINI-TAT on the
UH-1 "Huey", OH-6A Cayuse, and OH-58A Kiowa, XM18E1, M28 series, and XM64 on
the AH-1G and MOD AH-1S 'Huey' Cobra, XM53 on the AH-56A Cheyenne, and on a
wide variety of US Army and US Air Force light fixed-wing aircraft. The M134 is also
used on a number US Army special operations aircraft. It weighs 35 pounds without
ammo and is 29.5" long. The gun rate is selectable for either a Low 2,000spm or High
4,000spm (shots per minute) setting. Also available to users is a flash suppressor and a
bullet trap."

"That guy in Predator carried one!"

"The weapon that Blain (Jesse Ventura) was using was a minigun. This was a weapon
most commonly mounted on the side of a helicopter (or an aircraft carrier) and many,
many modifications had to be made to make it usable in the film. It was powered via an
electrical cable hidden down the front of Blain's trousers. Despite firing blanks, the actor
had to wear a bulletproof vest to protect him from the violently ejecting cartridges. Had
he been using live ammunition, the recoil would have been approximately 110 kg side-
ways force - about the same as lying on your back and trying to push an American foot-
ball player into the air. Ammo for the 20-second firing sequence would have been 2,000
rounds x 12.5 grams per bullet = 25kg, all of which had to be carried in Ventura's back-
pack. Since the movie was made, a model of this weapon has been designed, changing
the caliber and exchanging the electric motor for a 2 cycle gas engine, similar to that of
a weed-eater. It has never entered service in any armed forces, since the weapon is ex-
cessively heavy and impractical in an infantry role. Not mounted on aircraft carriers, that
is the Phalanx (CIWZ). The GE XM-214 minigun fires the same round as the M16
(5.56mm), plus it weighs a great deal more (15 Kgs) so it couldn't produce the recoil
mentioned in the earlier post."

"Are you sure?"

343
 When We Were Young – Chapter 16

"While the weapon appeared to be an XM-214 Six-Pac in 5.56 NATO (.223), it was not.
It was actually an M-134 GE Minigun in 7.62 NATO (.308 Winchester). As previously
noted, the battery packs were not carried by the actor, nor were they in the cinematic
shots (This is also true for T2). One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between
the XM-214 (Which never made it into military production due to the dismal weight-vs-
firepower ratio, also already mentioned here) and the M-134 (Which IS a current US Mil-
itary special-purpose vehicle-mounted weapon) is the plate(s) that hold(s) the six bar-
rels together near the muzzles. The XM-214 has one plate; The M-134 has three, a
couple of inches apart. That, and even for a Schwarzenegger film, I don't see the budg-
et acquiring a still-experimental piece of equipment for a relatively limited series of
shots.”

"Here take this; the bag has 20 loaded 30-round mags."

"It sure is flimsy compared to the Thompson."

"Yeah, it is, every GI wanted one though. Almost nobody wore body armor during WWII
except for aircrews who wore flak jackets. It won't punch through something like Inter-
ceptor, but do you really think we'll run into folks weighed down with that?"

"Maybe not, but I'm going to carry the Super Match in the pickup rifle rack, just in case."

"What else do you have in that pickup?"

"A couple of dozen M67s, an M-79 and 3 dozen 40mm grenades. Even if the carbine is
more powerful than my USP Tactical, I'm going to tote it too. I'd rather be over armed
than under armed."

"You've always been that way. Hell, for as long as I've known you and that's been about
50 years, you always been over prepared."

"NO I HAVEN'T, I just planned for the worst and hoped for the best. Would you rather
have more than you need or need more than you have?"

"Can't argue with that. On the other hand, we've been expecting an attack at any mo-
ment from some mythical band of marauders and the closest we've come is those 6
who tried to break in when we were burying the fuel tanks. What's more we killed all six
of them and don't really know what they wanted."

"They came in the middle of the night; an honest man would have come by during broad
daylight and asked us for what he needed."

"And then there was Brian and his group, we sure had them wrong."

344
"No harm, no foul. Look Matt, we've discussed this. Until we knew for sure about the
people in Sedona, I didn't even trust them. It's worked out though; we have enough food
and fuel plus our aircraft. With good luck, we won't be surprised and that's really the key
isn't it? You've read as much post-Apocalyptic fiction to know what everyone expects
will happen. I happen to believe those authors are pretty close in their predictions, it's
just a question of 'when' and 'what', not 'if'. If we have actually lost 90% of the popula-
tion, sooner or later, the scavengers will run out of things to scavenge and form into
group with enough firepower to take over most communities."

"If it's so inevitable, why hasn't it happened yet?"

"Apparently, there're still things they need available. It won't last and every day that
passes puts us one day closer to fighting them to keep what we have."

"Why are we loading up the truck, are we going somewhere?"

"Flagstaff. I'd like to make one more pass through the town to see if we've forgotten
anything. We'll stay in touch with the ranch with the SINCGARS. I want to make sure we
didn't miss any fuel supplies."

I told Tom and Gunny where we were headed and the reason for the trip, prospecting.
Gunny offered to send some men with us; I declined explaining we hadn't had any re-
ports from the aircraft of any outsiders in our AO. When he insisted, I told him to send a
Hummer with a Ma Deuce, we'd run rather than fight. We ate a big breakfast and took
some snacks to tide us over, I wasn't about to eat MREs on a day trip. Sue gave us a ½
gallon thermos of coffee and, as always, told us to be careful.

When we arrived in Flagstaff, we started moving from station to station, sticking the
tanks. It appeared we hadn't missed any but there are more than a few service stations
in Flagstaff and I wanted to check them all, even if it took all day, one tank of gasoline
would mean another 120,000 gallons of E85. Eventually we found a station we'd missed
and its tank was more than half full. Matt radioed the ranch with the location. Sarah was
on the radio and the Cherokee had spotted a large group of vehicles about half way be-
tween Williams and Flagstaff. She recommended we return immediately.

"How much time do we have before they get here?"

"Maybe 45 minutes."

"Good, there are only 2 locations left to check, let's check them and return home."

"She seemed rather insistent; maybe we'd better check them on the next trip."

"Fine, tell the Hummer we're heading home."

345
There isn't much point to having an air patrol if you don't heed the warning you're given.
I wanted to stick the remaining tanks, but Matt had a tone in his voice that told me to get
my head out of my butt and listen for a change. We pointed the pickup and Hummer
south and moved out. Meanwhile, Ray had the second plane up and both planes were
shadowing the convoy of vehicles on west I-40.

Scott Heddens was the pilot of the Bell 412 and he proved to be rather good with the
chopper once he was accustomed to it. One of the advantages of that particular bird
was because of the fancy autopilot, you could get by with one pilot instead of two. How-
ever, one of the men with Brian's group, Gordon Meyer, had a private pilot's license and
had attended ground school in preparation of becoming helicopter qualified. While Matt
and I had been talking about it, they were doing something to get the Bell airborne. Un-
known to us, they had picked up a pair of M134s and installed them as door guns. A
third gun was mounted on the right skid pointing straight forward and there was a small
pod of Zuni rockets mounted to the left skid. It was the small pod with 7 rockets because
they couldn't find a larger pod.

In addition, they had a squad of ten men who were armored and well equipped. The
chopper was sitting at Sedona airport, fueled and read to go if the order was given. I
suppose that it's a good thing we didn't go to Navajo Deport looking for mini-guns; the
three they found were already in Sedona. As we passed through the zigzag barrier as-
sembled out of median dividers, we saw the 2 M198's set up and ready to fire on the
road out of Flagstaff.

The real secret to accurate artillery fire rests with the skill of the forward observer. Often
called FISTERS, or members of a FIST (Fire Support Team). Their missions are always
critical as mental errors under stress can bring the massive firepower and ordinance
they control down on friendly forces as well as enemy. FIST team members are espe-
cially self-reliant and independent. Their mission requires quick thinking under pressure,
effectively integrating with many types of units and command structures as well as the
ability to operate independently.

In the United States Army, the military occupation specialty for Forward Observers is
13F, therefore all enlisted personal schooled in this duty will carry this designation. Offi-
cially, FO’s are actually designated “Fire Support Specialists”. While they are commonly
referred to as Forward Observers or FO’s, this is more precisely the designation of a
Fire Support Specialist in a particular position.

The oft-overlooked position is considered one of the most dangerous positions on the
battlefield. FO’s are highly skilled and usually exceptionally intelligent, with the average
FO scoring much higher on his Army entrance tests than normal recruits. He is also
able to work silently for long periods of time, as some missions may range from hours to
several days, even weeks, long. He can operate with minimal support located both on or
behind the enemy lines, at a tactical and professional level, and also can serve in mis-
sion planning, strategy, and advisory positions with his command elements.

346
Forward Observers, due to their intelligence, adaptability, and broad range of combat
skills are often superb candidates for many special operations units and training. FIST
and COLT teams will often take on mission profiles normally shunned by most regular
units. Occasionally, FOs will be trained for additional mission profile expansions, such
as training for long-range reconnaissance, specific climate/locale (i.e. jungle, arctic,
mountain, or urban environments), and training in other specializations, such as Rang-
er, Airborne, Pathfinder, and Air Assault are rather common among FOs. 13F is the only
artillery MOS for enlisted soldiers which, due to the missions they may encounter, are
authorized to attend Ranger School. FOs are often very highly sought-after by high-
profile combat units like the 101st Infantry, 10th Mountain Division, and the 75th Ranger
Regiment.

Both Matt and I were totally unaware that in addition to the mini-guns, Brian's group had
brought back 3 units of MLRS. The M270 MLRS, or SPLL (Self-Propelled, Load-
er/Launcher), is made up of two major units and an electronic fire control system (FCS).
The SPLL is a mobile, self-propelled, self- loading, multiple launch rocket firing unit. It
provides mobile long range artillery rocket support for ground forces. The M993 Carrier
Vehicle and the M269 LLM are the two major units that make up the MLRS. The FCS is
a computer control system, with a built-in computer and memory system. The SPLL has
a cruising range of 300 miles at speeds up to 40 miles per hour. The total MLRS
weights approximately 52,990 pounds. There were 3 reloads for each of the 3 launch-
ers, giving Brian's group 48 rockets for each launcher, a total of 144 rockets, each dis-
pensing 644 M-77 Shaped Charges. The range of the rockets was about 31.8 klicks or
19.75 miles. Do the math, 644 × 144 = 92,736 reasons for them to change their minds.

When we arrived back at the ranch, we learned that the convoy had stopped in Flag-
staff, apparently for the night. The MLRS and the Paladins were moved up to just south
of the roadblock on 89 during the night. At first light, the aircraft were airborne and a
trailer load of Jet fuel A and weapons reloads was brought to the ranch to permit rapid
cycling of the Bell 412. The only problem with the MLRS is that the EMP had taken out
several of the GPS satellites, degrading some of the MLRS subsystems. Maybe it's a
good thing that the Army gives the National Guard units it's older equipment, the
M270A1 used a GPS guidance system and Microsoft Windows. As long as they weren't
connected to the Internet, that would be ok.

Matt and I went to the shelter with the other non-combatants; we weren't too old to man
the radios, once they filled us in. The new group chose not to vacate Flagstaff and the
artillery was all moved forward putting the city in range of every shell and rocket. It took
nearly a day to assemble and deploy the 750 people in the Battalion and two Platoons.
The following day there was no indication that the people were planning on leaving
Flagstaff. Ray suggested we take the 3 Hummers and the LAV and contact them. It

347
would let them know we were in the area and give them a little taste of our firepower. To
that end, they'd take a circuitous route to Flagstaff and come in on I-40 from the east.

Matt and I kept our mouths shut, this was their show. With the artillery in place, that
group wouldn't stand much of a chance and if any did manage to escape, we more or
less had them surrounded. Ray's vehicle had a SINCGARS repeater allowing us to lis-
ten to the open mike on his spearhead.

"Hello the camp."

"That's far enough. Who the hell are you and what do you want?"

"We're from the area and notice you taking up residence here in Flagstaff. We came to
learn your intentions."

"Where are you from, Winslow?"

"We came in from the east, yes."

"Were you responsible for cleaning out the town?"

"Clean out? Who did that?"

"It sure wasn't us. What kind of vehicle is that oddball over there?"

"LAV-25, it's a Marine Corps vehicle. It's equipped with a 25mm chain gun and other
guns."

"We could use something like that, care to sell it?"

"What are you offering?"

"Your lives. We have a force of over 400, all armed with the finest small arms the Ma-
rine could provide."

"Been to Barstow, huh?"

"We cleaned the place out."

"That was you?"

"Why, have you been there too?"

"A few times, yes. Look here's the deal; you can move on or be buried in Flagstaff, your
choice."

348
"Mighty big talk for a man with 4 machine guns. I'll give you a chance, leave now and
we won't kill you."

"So you won't leave?"

"You'd better go before I change my mind."

"Ok, if that's the way you want it, we'll leave. Try and remember you had your chance to
move on. In five minutes you'll wish like hell you'd take me up on the offer."

That was our clue, Ray's instructions were to begin the artillery barrage in 5 minutes. It
would have been better if the guns were registered, but we have to settle for the FOs to
adjust the fire. They were operating on separate frequencies, each connected to a sep-
arate artillery group. We planned to open up with the MLRS and get off a fast 24 rockets
before the arty began to lob their shells. Maybe a single volley of 24 rockets would be
enough to take most of them out.

"Fire."

Without leaving the cab, the crew of three (driver, gunner and section chief) could fire
up to twelve MLRS rockets in less than 60 seconds. That put 36 rockets or 23,184
shaped charges on target. After the rockets fired, the M198s, M119A1s and M109A6s
got ready to fire. All of the artillery cannons were firing air-bursting projectiles.

After the rocket barrage, the FOs reported the infantry could move in and mop up, no
further artillery was needed, which disappointed more than one artillery crew. No doubt
mopping up was very correct, few of the group avoided the MLRS barrage and those
that did were cut down as our people moved into Flagstaff. It wasn't much of a firefight,
our people began to move in as soon as the FOs gave the all clear and most of the sur-
vivors walked right into heavy rifle fire as they began to exit building shells and places
where they had taken shelter.

I understand that it was a short battle, most of the bad guys were killed or injured in the
initial barrage of 36 rockets and more got caught trying to find cover. Much of the city
was in ruins before the artillery and there weren't many good places to hide. Ray called
me at the ranch and asked if we wanted all of the weapons or just those that were in-
tact. Matt grabbed the mike and told him bring them all, we could use some of them for
spare parts.

They mostly had M16A4s but there were a couple of M40s and an assortment of other
weapons including several M240Bs and a few of the M249s. They called for a semi to
pick the stuff up, so that group must have had more than I expected. I still wanted to get
back and check the remaining stations for fuel, but it wouldn't happen soon, they just left
the bodies lay where they fell. Was that, perhaps, a warning to the next group that came
into Flagstaff and wanted to set up camp?

349
°

"We'll strip and clean to good weapons and store them in Sedona," Ray commented.
"Do you want the damaged stuff to see what you can do with it?"

"Unload them into a shed and I'll look them over," Matt replied. "No survivors?"

"One, they're going to take him into town and get the story on these guys. For all we
know, they could be an advance party for a larger group."

"Can you get more rockets for the MLRS?"

"There were more at the Depot, why?"

"I was thinking just in case they were an advance group, maybe we'd better load up on
rockets. I take it they were very effective?"

"Yes indeed, Rob, but be careful moving around Flagstaff, not all of the M-77s detonat-
ed. I'm not going to waste our only EOD guy on cleaning up the mess."

"How long before we can go get the fuel Matt and I found?"

"You can go now, provided you wear gas masks. The place was already beginning to
take on the stench of death."

"Bad?"

"It will be, at least until the bodies finish decaying. Did you check all of the stations?"

"All but two. I figure there's somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 gallons of fuel
available, not counting the propane. How much fuel is available at the Sedona airport?"

"The tanks were nearly full, enough for a while. It will just be a matter of finding other
airports that survived the attack and getting their fuel or using those locations as refuel-
ing points."

"We have 2 empty tankers allowing you to transfer up to 32,000 gallons at a time."

"We have scads of the B-100 in town, do you have room in your tanks for a load?"

"Bring it out, we have room."

"Are you ready to go?"

350
"We have a generator and a pump, Matt. There are 2 empty tankers and I dug out our
M42s. Gunny assigned 2 guys to drive the tractors and he is going to man the gun on
the Hummer."

"Do we have enough PRI-G?"

"If we don't, we can make a trip up to Lake Mead and find some, it isn't that far."

"Do you think they hit Vegas?"

"I don't think I want to know. If they did, it's a mess and if they didn't, there are hundreds
if not thousands of very well-armed people there."

"Why don't we get Gunny to scout it out?"

"I'll ask Matt, but I'm not so sure he'll say yes. Nellis AFB is on the north side of town
and it's the starting point to get to Groom Lake. A person has to figure that if there's
much Air Force around, they're probably all parked on the lake. Besides, what could we
get in Vegas that we don't already have?"

"It was just a thought."

"I can tell you what we do need, an alternative source of electricity. Those generators
have thousands of hours on them and they won't last forever. Either we come up with
some new generators or we need an alternative source of electricity. We don't have
enough wind for turbines, so that leaves solar panels. If we go that route, we'll need
hundreds of panels and hundreds of batteries."

"We could check around Flagstaff and see if we can find an operable standby genera-
tor."

"It would be our luck that they'd all run on natural gas."

"Anything that runs on natural gas will run on propane."

"I really don't want to burn up what propane we have available generating electricity. But
who knows, maybe we can find a big diesel generator or two."

Given our relatively unlimited supply of B-100, a diesel generator made the most sense.
We could probably duplicate the biodiesel converters until we had enough to produce
more than we used. We'd taken to buying those long-life industrial light bulbs and had
used them for years. They lasted almost forever. On top of that, the underground light-
ing was all florescent and we had a few dozen boxes of the 4' natural light bulbs. It was
good we had them; the company was located in Texas. How many survivors of a nucle-
ar war does it take to screw in a light bulb? "None. People who glow in the dark don't

351
need light bulbs." How many Vulcans does it take to screw in a light bulb? "Approxi-
mately 1.00000000000000000000000000000000."

Why was our supply of B-100 relatively unlimited? Do you have any idea how many mil-
lions of gallons of vegetable oil there were around the state of Arizona? I don't but it was
probably in the 10s of thousands, you found it in every donut shop, the plant every pro-
ducer of corn and potato chips, etc. It was there, all we had to do was find it and
transport it back to Sedona. Unfortunately, that meant sending out a force equipped with
our mobile armaments and tankers. If the oil was rancid, a good bet, we'd also need gas
masks.

At the time, no one realized that looking for vegetable oil would be our undoing. There
were survivors in the Phoenix area, only God know how they made it through the attack
and the fallout from Palo Verde and later, LA. Nevertheless, a few thousand out of the
million and a half people survived and even thrived. If you checked the Arizona National
Guard website, we couldn't because the web was down, you'd learn that a significant
number of the armories were in the greater Phoenix area.

If there was enough food for 1½ million people for anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks,
there was more than enough for a few thousand for a very, very long time. These peo-
ple had gotten less than a lethal dose of radiation, but they couldn't produce children,
the human body has a built in mechanism to abort mutated fetuses. Eventually, they
figured it out and it made them angry. They didn't realize that people in places where
the radiation was less didn’t have the problem. Perhaps the high non-lethal dose of ra-
diation affected their minds, as far as I know we never found out.

"Do you want to go to Phoenix?"

"Do you think the radiation is down enough to make it safe?"

"Gee, I hope so. We can take a survey meter and check. We can also recharge our do-
simeters and keep track of our overall dosage. I still have the log somewhere."

"Do you think there will be any survivors?"

"I can't tell you that, Matt, we'll go armed, just in case. We can pull one Ma Deuce and
replace it with one of those M240Bs. That way, we'll have one medium and one heavy
machinegun."

"And why would you want to go to Phoenix?"

352
"Oil. There isn't much, if any, left in Flagstaff and we'll have to get it somewhere. Maybe
we'll find a few railroad tank cars full, or maybe we'll have to recover it from food pro-
cessors. Either way, Phoenix is a huge city; we should find some kind of vegetable oil."

"How many people do you plan to take?"

"You and I make 2. We'll need drivers for 2 tankers and 8 of Gunny's people to guard
our little convoy. We'd better wear our body armor, just in case. Besides, even if Phoe-
nix was hit by 2 or 3 warheads, some of the city must have come through intact. I think
our best bet would be to check either Tempe or Mesa, they might have gotten massive
amounts of fallout, but I doubt any weapons were targeted further east than Sky Harbor
Airport."

"We’re going to pull a trailer with the pickup? I think that we might find a large diesel
fueled generator."

"Sure, why not. Say, on second thought why don't we just take a 24' U-Haul truck?"

"If we do that, there's no way we can take the wives."

"Yeah, I know ain't it wonderful."

"I'll load some extra 30-round mags for the M2s."

"Go ahead, but I'm going to take my Super Match and back it up with a 12-gauge. Why
don't you load up 30 extra mags for me?"

"Do you have a suitcase with wheels and a handle?"

"I do, maybe you better make it all the spare magazines you can get into the suitcase.
Throw in a dozen M67s and I'll put a case of LAWs in each vehicle. If someone did
manage to survive, I wouldn't want to get caught up short."

"If you think someone might have survived, why don't we take a bigger force?"

"I figure they'd be in pretty bad shape, that's why. No, a dozen of us should be enough;
we can always run if we get in over our heads."

"When do you want to go?"

"Tomorrow, I've already discussed this with Gunny."

"Is he going along?"

"No, he's going to send Doc, just in case."

353
"What time do you want to leave?"

"Sunup, it shouldn't take us more than 2½ hours tops to get to Phoenix, it's under 120
miles."

"And you want to start on the east side and work our way into downtown?"

"I figured we go out to Apache Junction and work our way back. I know for a fact that
there are some companies that way that sell generators. If we travel west on Supersti-
tion Boulevard, it will take us all the way west to downtown Phoenix."

"Fine, but I'm going to dig out that Thompson and load all the 50-round and 100-round
drums we have. The carbine is a fine weapon, but the Thompson you adore so much
might make a good backup gun."

"That's why I'm taking a shotgun, you bored it out to 3½" and I have a couple hundred
rounds of 18-pellet 00 buck."

We had enough extra magazines that the suitcase contained 50 magazines, a full case
of ammo and a dozen hand grenades. I immediately saw why Matt wanted me to use a
suitcase with wheels and a handle. We went into Sedona that afternoon and picked up
the U-Haul truck. It was gasoline powered and didn't run on E-85 so not only did I fill the
tank, I put a drum of unleaded in the back and 2 drums of B-100. We wouldn't want to
get there and run out of fuel for the 2 Hummers. The semis had large saddle tanks and
could probably make the trip twice on one fill-up.

"What are you looking for in Phoenix?"

"Vegetable oil. Ray."

"You'd better take a large contingent of guard; you have no idea what you might find."

"Did you see any people when you bugged out of there?"

"No, we didn't, but that doesn't mean there aren't people there."

"I don't think it will be a problem, if it just the 12 of us and 5 vehicles, we shouldn’t be
threatening to anyone if there is someone there."

"I'd feel better if we could scout the place out first."

"Go ahead, send one of the planes down there and see if there's anyone around."

"I'll do that, Rob. I might send the chopper down to the junction of I-17 and state route
74. If you run into trouble, they could get to most anywhere in Phoenix is 30 minutes or
under."

354
"If it would make you feel better, go ahead. You'd better send a vehicle with a trailer
down there with Jet Fuel A, just in case. Look, Ray, we'll be ok, we're armed to the teeth
and if you have the chopper on call, we'll be able to get out of any trouble that turns up."

"Stop in town on your way back, I'd like very much to know what you find."

"No problem. We'll try to be home before dark."

The next morning we left the ranch around 6am. I had it in mind to pick up our road in
Phoenix and take it through Tempe and Mesa all the way to Apache Junction. I had a 3
year old Phoenix yellow pages and Matt could peruse it on the way down. I intended to
take I-17 to 202 and that down to the bridge that crossed the Salt River opposite Tem-
pe.

We made good time and arrived in Phoenix around 7:55am. It was another 45 minutes
or so out to the Junction. Arizona reported 204 establishments in 1992 that produced
meat products, dairy products, preserved fruits and vegetables, grain mill products,
dairy products, beverages, potato chips and similar snacks, ice cream, and other related
goods. Most of the food processing activities are in or near the Phoenix metropolitan
area. This area provided over 72 percent of the food and kindred product jobs for the
state in 1992. The majority of processed food sales are made from large and well-
known brand companies (e.g., Kelloggs, Pillsbury, Frito Lay, and PepsiCo). If that didn't
work out, we could always try Sonora.

The food processing industry of Sonora includes meat processing, dairy products, cere-
al processing, bakery products, tortilla processing, cooking oils, cocoa and chocolate
processing, animal food, and beverages. Sonora is located between Apache Junction
and Globe on US 60, sort of. Actually, you go to Superior and turn south on state route
177. We discussed that on the way down and decided that the two tankers and one of
the Hummers could go to Sonora while we checked out the east side. When they got
back, we join up with them and look around Phoenix before we headed home.

"Doc, this is Rob. You stay with us and I'm going to send the tankers and Ma Deuce
down to Sonora."

"We should stay together Rob."

"We should be ok; neither of us saw anybody on our way, did you?"

"Negative."

"Fine why don't you start looking for a medical supply while we locate a generator?"

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°

If you were to poll the squirrels about how much ammo you should have in case of
TSHTF, most will tell you that you'll probably never live to fire 1,000 rounds. The con-
sensus in the main forum where there was a poll in the Survival Weapons section, sug-
gested that you'd never survive using 500 rounds. Why do I recommend 5,000 rounds
per rifle? Practice makes perfect. For a .30 caliber rifle, the standard combat load is 140
rounds, 7 magazines. I know that because there are 140 rounds in a standard military
bandoleer for .30 caliber ammo. The largest battle packs only contains 200 rounds or 1
load out and 60 spare rounds. We probably had 10 times that amount of ammo alto-
gether. The one thing neither of us thought to bring was a M79 and a bag of 40mm gre-
nades.

"What's the rating on that generator?"

"400kw and it's a diesel."

"How are we going to get it on the truck?"

"We could try to lift it up but if you don't mind, I'd rather use that forklift."

"Think it will run?"

"I don't know, but it's brand new, it should. Matt should be able to get it going without
much trouble. I'll call Doc and see how he is doing and then we'll load it."

"Doc, the is Rob, sitrep?"

"I'm at the Scottsdale Mayo Clinic. I have one hell of a load of supplies, what is your
sitrep?"

"We located a 400kw generator and a forklift to load it. We’ll get it and all the supplies
we can find and meet you. Give us an hour."

"Roger, that will give me time to box the stuff up."

"Have you had any contact with anyone?"

"Negative."

"Same here, see you in about an hour. Rob clear."

"Click, click."

"What do you figure that sucker weighs?"

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"The brochure says 8,800 pounds, 4.4 tons."

"Did you see any supplies?"

"Like what?"

"Oil, filters and any spare parts we can identify."

"I'll look."

"Wait until we get it loaded, Matt, then we can both look. Did you get the model num-
ber?"

"450REOZD-4."

"Let's get it loaded and then we check the manual and see what we might need for
parts."

Fifteen minutes later, it was sitting in the back of the U-Hall and we nailed blocks to hold
it in place. Next we went looking and found a parts book for that model and began to
select the available parts, mainly filters and the recommend oil. When we finished, I
gave Doc another call to tell him we were on the way.

"Doc, are you there?"

"Roger, but I'm not alone. There are people out in the parking lot checking out the
Hummer. So far they haven't approached it, probably because the machinegun is
manned, but I'd suggest you get your butts in gear, we could have trouble."

"It will be 30 minutes."

"10-4, hurry."

"Look and load time?"

"Yeah, use the Thompson, and dig out some magazines and grenades from my suit-
case. Do you have the M-79?"

"Uh, I didn't bring it."

"Contact that chopper and tell them we may have trouble at the Mayo Clinic in Scotts-
dale. What's the address?"

"13400 East Shea Boulevard."

"What's the best way to get there?"

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"Go east to North Gilbert Road and turn northeast when you get to 87. Take that north-
east to Shea Blvd and turn west. It's about 4 miles west of there on Shea."

"Notify the chopper where it is, it's a good thing we don't have any traffic, but with the
load we're carrying, It won't be fast going."

"Air 1, this is Matt. Doc is at the Mayo Clinic is Scottsdale and he has a problem."

"Roger, we're airborne, do you have an address?

"Roger, 13400 East Shea Boulevard. It's going to take us at least 30 minutes to get
there. We sent the other Hummer and two tankers down to Sonora, so we're all that Doc
has in the way of backup."

"Actually, Gunny is here with his entire contingent, but they probably 45 mikes out."

"Did he bring the other Hummer?"

"Rog, plus the LAV."

"This is Doc, the Hummer is taking fire, get the lead out."

"Rog, Air 1 is inbound and we're 25 mikes out. The Marines are on the way, but they're
45 mikes out."

"We'll be damned lucky to get out of this one alive. Are you ready for that Rob?"

"Matt, I've been dying since the day I was born. However, it would suit me just fine to
make it back home."

"Rob, this is air 1. We contacted the tankers and they loading oil; the Hummer is in-
bound, but it about 90 mikes out."

"10-4 air 1. This should be over before they get here."

"Did you see what Doc is carrying for a weapon?"

"He has a G-3 and 280 rounds."

"Handgun?"

"USP with 5 mags."

"That Hummer has the cupola doesn't it?"

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"Yes, but it won't stop .50 caliber rounds if they have a heavy rifle."

"Air 1, Rob. Can you reach Sedona?"

"10-4."

"Give Ray a sitrep and ask if he can respond with a company or two."

"Rog, already did. They're probably 2 to 3 hours out."

"Doc, this is Rob, we're about 10 mikes out."

"Click, click."

I didn't miss it by far, it took us 31 minutes to get to the Mayo Clinic. Remember, we
were driving the U-Haul truck. There must have been 3-400 'bad guys'. Just then the
chopper arrived and made a pass, Scott was firing the forward mounted mini-gun. Matt
went for his chopper and I grabbed my Super Match. We didn't have much cover so we
crawled under the truck and opened up firing in the general direction of the bad guys.
We couldn’t really see to fire so we rolled and crawled until our cover was the front tires
of the truck. I should have brought the suit case of mags. It really doesn't matter how
accurate your rifle is, if you're in a firefight with people moving around and shooting
back.

The 412 turned and brought the left door gun to bear. It wasn't like the movies show, but
there were falling bodies everywhere. Just about then, another 3-400 bad guys showed
up and the right door gun opened up. Moments later, it settled into a hover about 5' off
the ground and dropped the 10 soldiers inside. I took the opportunity of the distraction to
go for my suitcase and the LAWs rockets.

The armor saved my ass, that's for sure. Guy shot me center mass with a .45 auto and I
was knocked on my thinly padded butt. It knocked my breath out and by the time I re-
covered and staggered to my feet, half of our new troops were down, dead or dying. I
got the suitcase and the LAWs and we took out 5 vehicles holding more bad guys. If we
got out of this, I expect I'd have to rebarrel the Super Match, I was burning through the
magazines. A ricochet got me in the left arm and if I wasn't wearing shooting glasses, I'd
have had an eye full of concrete. I can't tell you if I was pissed or terrified, probably
some of both. And then the lights went out.

I didn't recognize where I was when I came to, I had a headache that went from the flat
of my feet to 2' over the top of my head. I couldn't move and had double vision. I tried to
say something and all that came out was a croak. I squinted and finally recognized
where I was, at home in the clinic Doc had set up for us. My chest hurt almost as bad as
my head hurt.

"Water," I croaked.

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In pops one of the nurses from town, all smiles and says, "How are we today?"

"Water." I don't know how she was, I'd never slept with her, but I can tell you, I felt like
chit. None of which made it out of my mouth.

"What?"

"The Doc will be in and explain."

Like she had no idea what was wrong with me. I didn't have health insurance but I
wasn't worried, I owned the hospital.

Doc came in and ask, "How are you feeling?"

"Crap. Water."

"You took a glancing shot to the head and have been out for 4 days. There for a while I
figured we were all dead, there were over 1,000 of them and about 20 of us. Things be-
gan to change when the Ma Deuce showed up from Sonora. The chopper used up all of
its ammo and went back to reload. Matt went down, he's not dead, and our Hummer
started to run low on ammo. The second Hummer arrived and opened up and that
turned the tide. Then the chopper came back and it was pretty much over. On a scale of
10 with 10 being worst, how bad is you headache?"

"50. How bad?"

"You have a deep crease in your thick head and a concussion. You probably have dou-
ble vision as well. Your chest hurts because you have cracked ribs, you must have been
shot. Matt got hit in both arms and his left leg. He looks worse than you do."

"How many?"

"How many men did we lose? 11 dead and 5 wounded. Ray didn't have to come the en-
tire way from Sedona, he had Brian's group standing by the chopper refueling point.
They ran into a second group on the way in to help and that slowed them down. You'll
be here about a week, that was a bad concussion and you aren't a high school kid."

Matt and I ended up in motorized wheelchairs. I never did get rid of the double vision
entirely. I also had balance problems and it was all I could do to get out of the chair to
sit on the stool or climb into bed. Ray said nobody was going back to Phoenix and if
there was more vegetable oil to be had, we'd look elsewhere. There was a railcar full of
oil in Sedona and we'd avoid Phoenix to get there.

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So, here we sit, basically waiting for our time to run out. The only time we were in a real
firefight, we both got shot to chit. I never liked to play checkers and I have to close one
eye to read so I don't bother. Who knows, one of these days, the country might straight-
en itself out, but I'd call that a long shot.

That evening, Sue and I were sitting in the living room and I put on a CD:

Remember when
I was young and so were you
And time stood still and
love was all we knew
You were the first, so was I
We made love and
then you cried
Remember when

Remember when
we vowed the vows
and walked the walk
Gave our hearts,
made the start, it was hard
We lived and learned,
life threw curves
There was joy, there was hurt
Remember when

Remember when
old ones died and new were born
And life was changed,
disassembled, rearranged
We came together, fell apart
And broke each other's hearts
Remember when

Remember when
the sound of little feet
was the music
We danced to week to week
Brought back the love,
we found trust
Vowed we'd never give it up
Remember when

Remember when

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thirty something seemed old
Now lookin' back,
it's just a steppin' stone
To where we are,
where we've been
Said we'd do it all again
Remember when

Remember when
we said when we turned gray
When the children grow up
and move away
We won't be sad, we'll be glad
For all the life we've had
And we'll remember when
Remember when
Remember when

"Remember When" by Alan Jackson

© 2001, Gary D. Ott

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