Land of Flatwater: Protect and Survive Middle America

[MWC6707]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwQoF...ture=fvwp&NR=1



all that needs to be said I think.

[Lord Grattan]

Well written updates Chip; I can truly sense action as I read!

[Orville_third]

Uh, Chip? Are they transmitting on 121.6 MHz? If so, there is a big problem- and one a CAP member should realize. 121.5 MHz is the international civilian air distress frequency. CAP listens for Aircraft Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) on it regularly. If this were an airport or plane transmitting on that frequency it could be semi-OK. A ground base might not be so much. Alas, I'm not sure what would be a better frequency.
This has a bit more info. (You can even hear what an ELT sounds like on radio!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraf...ency_frequency

Incidentally, IOTL, the USA and USSR began launching satellites that monitored for civil ELTs in 1982. I regret not having as much information as I can on the status of ELTs in 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergen...g_Radio_Beacon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cospas-Sarsat

[Top hats daily]

Sad note, my parents possibly would have survived this up until the gas.

[NoOneFamous]

The rude kid had better watch his mouth

[Apollo 20]

Originally Posted by Orville_third

Uh, Chip? Are they transmitting on 121.6 MHz? If so, there is a big problem- and one a CAP member should realize. 121.5 MHz is the international civilian air distress frequency. CAP listens for Aircraft Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) on it regularly. If this were an airport or plane transmitting on that frequency it could be semi-OK. A ground base might not be so much. Alas, I'm not sure what would be a better frequency.
This has a bit more info. (You can even hear what an ELT sounds like on radio!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraf...ency_frequency

Incidentally, IOTL, the USA and USSR began launching satellites that monitored for civil ELTs in 1982. I regret not having as much information as I can on the status of ELTs in 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergen...g_Radio_Beacon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cospas-Sarsat

Agree. In the US, with the exception of 121.5, the 121 frequencies are typically used for ground control. 121.4 and 121.6 are not used in the US, I believe. However, a bigger issue is that this band of VHF frequencies are line of sight. You'd be mighty unlikely to be picking up Minnesota on VHF on the ground in Nebraska. In the air, at high altitude, it could be possible though. It seems more plausible for them to be using HF, which is not bound by line of sight (and why HF is used for extended overwater communications).

[thepenguin]

AM transmitter? It's claimed that 1100 WTAM can be heard in 34 states and parts of Canada. I've heard stations from Hamilton, Ontario and actually pulled in a Pirates game once....

[Chipperback]

Thanks for info on radio frequencies..I did some more research and made some changes.

One thing about the situation...It's panic to the nth power up there in Minnesota. This was a serious bolt from the blue attack at a time when its highly inconvenient. A harried national guardsman is trying every beacon he can to get help. He just happened to get lucky.

"The rude kid had better watch his mouth..

Beechcraft Bob doesn't play, and his attitude was shaped by an incident that happened to him during training back in the 50s in Texas. A future update will look at that.

Nationally -- Here's the skinny as of March 26, 1984

Columbia, Washington -- The "California War" is still in the planning stages. The emergency federal government is still somewhat paralyzed in its response at this point.

Texas -- College Station is setting up a legislature and taking a serious inventory of its oil assets. The Texans have knowledge of Columbia, Nebraska and contact with an emergency government in Louisiana..But for know they are taking care of their own.

Kansas -- Still no word from Topeka. University of Kansas is transmitting and continuing to take in refugees. A council claming to be a state governing council has taken refuge at Kansas State University Manhattan...and a second group of towns have formed a mutual defense pact centered at Centralia, Kansas, Or so the rumors say..

Nebraska -- Nebraska has a functioning emergency government but have made no contact with anyone outside of the state.

Colorado -- The Columbia government have made some contact with groups with Colorado. There are reports that a Colorado Government is reforming with Grand Junction as a base. A federal encampment is positioned at Columbine, Colorado near Denver. We have a confirmed report that President Ronald Reagan is there, but incapacitated. He was the only survivor within the governing cadre of the USA to survive the crash of NEACP E-4B "Enterprise".


Utah -- Utah is under emergency leadership of the surviving Council of Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They are headquartered at Wendover, Utah. The are reports that a number of survivors have camped at Brigham Young University and they are claiming to be the "Emergency Council of Twelve". Columbia is still pondering the options here.

Ohio -- Cleveland, Ohio is taken on a lot of refugees from the Eastern U.S. and is probably largest surviving city that we know of in the country. According to FEMA sources. Cleveland is rebuild an industrial capacity. Communications are spotty at this point due to weather and attack damage. The rest of the state was hit harder than first thought. Most cities have been attacked and with it a lot of industrial potential. Smaller towns and their factor capacity give FEMA planners hope that the Buckeye State could be a linchpin to recovery along with the surprising situation in upstate New York where a lot of economic assets surrounding Buffalo, New York have survived.
UNCONFIRMED -- Mayor of Cleveland killed in explosion at factory... Succession in turmoil.


Georgia -- We still have reports of a government claiming to be a successor national government. SecTreas Donald Regan reported to be "President".

Kentucky -- reports of a state government confirm.. UNCONFIRMED -- SecTrans Terrell Bell has survived in a FEMA installation in the state.

[Orville_third]

How is SC? Charleston almost certainly got hit. It's likely that Shaw AFB, Columbia (including Fort Jackson), Myrtle Beach and SRS in Aiken got hit. (I'm not sure how many of those were groundbursts or airbursts.) Maybe McEntire ANGB got hit too. The Governor could be in a bunker on statehouse grounds- though I'm not sure the capacity. I'm not sure if the SCEMD facility we currently have is up and running. If they're targeting urban areas, Greenville, Spartanburg and Florence would likely have been hit too. (They might have also hit Greer (home of Greenville/Spartanburg Jetport and Donaldson Center south of Greenville (ex-Donaldson AFB.).) There are quite a few nuke plants in SC, and if they hit Oconee, Clemson could be at risk.

[ivfl]

Out of curiosity what kind of emergency laws have been or will be enacted regarding punishment for various offences?In 1983/84 most states had capital punishment statutes on the books and there was a military death penalty in effect but no nationwide federal death penalty statute in real life it took until the late 80's for federal laws to again allow executions for some offences with a significant expansion in the 90's. So what has the whatever is left of the federal government done to reintroduce it?Its pretty much a given at this point that pretty much all surviving authorities even in states like Michigan have reintroduced or will reintroduce capital punishment but for what offences and what is the projected US rate of executionsfor the following years?

[Unknown]

Hey, Chip, have you read the short story Children of the Corn by Stephen King, which is set in western Nebraska.

Let's see Issac and his cult deal with nuclear explosions and fallout.

[Chipperback]

The area that Children of the Corn was set in (Hemingford, Nebraska) is surrounded by Minuteman missile silos.


Issac and his cult are very dead.

[Chipperback]

As for South Carolina? We haven't heard much...We do know they took multiple hits...Although we did a report from some of the crew on the Nimitz saying that they did run into a emergency relief team representing what was termed "Gullah Emergency Commonwealth of the Carolinas".

There were scattered reports and rumors that an emergency government has relocated in Darlington...but that's rumor. Outside of a group of Navy SEALs that made contact with the citizen's ERT, we've heard nothing from South Carolina.

(author's note -- C'mon Orville...You know you want to tell this story..Protect and Survive: Pride of the Palmettos)

[Unknown]

Originally Posted by Chipperback

The area that Children of the Corn was set in (Hemingford, Nebraska) is surrounded by Minuteman missile silos.

Issac and his cult are very dead.

Even He Who Walks Behind the Rows couldn't protect the cult from Soviet ICBM impacts and their aftermath.

OTOH, RIP Mother Abigail. You will be missed.

[Chipperback]

Mother Abigail was smart enough to leave..She's helping out at the FEMA Camp in North Platte. She's good with kids.

[John Farson]

Originally Posted by Chipperback

The area that Children of the Corn was set in (Hemingford, Nebraska) is surrounded by Minuteman missile silos.


Issac and his cult are very dead.

Originally Posted by Unknown

Even He Who Walks Behind the Rows couldn't protect the cult from Soviet ICBM impacts and their aftermath.

OTOH, RIP Mother Abigail. You will be missed.

YAAAAY!Lolololololol

I demand, I repeat, DEMAND, that someone write an episode of P&S from Isaac and his cult's POV when the missiles hit and the immediate aftermath when the few survivors (and the corn)are slowly dying of radiation poisoning.

"Only then did they realise that He Who Walks Behind the Rows wasn't all-powerful after all."

Maybe National Guard units could accidentally wander into Gatlin and come across the mystery of a town full of dead and dying children and teenagers but no adults. Of course, it depends which continuity you use, book or movie (Outlander!!!)

Originally Posted by Chipperback

Mother Abigail was smart enough to leave..She's helping out at the FEMA Camp in North Platte. She's good with kids.

Hmmm, Mother Abigail would be 101-102 here, interesting to see how she'd function in a post-nuclear holocaust. OTOH, this is a more tougher environment than the one in the Stand, though there are certainly far more people.

Although, that reminds me, what of the Walking Dude? Does Tyler Tyles look something like this:



Then again, his initials would have to be R.F. Though that's not always the case (see: Walter O'Dim, Marten Broadcloak).

And what of the other characters, bogeymen and frightening things from the King-verse? It? The vampires of Salem's Lot? The Superflu?! Might a certain Gunslinger make a cameo appearance?

[thepenguin]

Originally Posted by Chipperback

Ohio -- Cleveland, Ohio is taken on a lot of refugees from the Eastern U.S. and is probably largest surviving city that we know of in the country. According to FEMA sources. Cleveland is rebuild an industrial capacity. Communications are spotty at this point due to weather and attack damage. The rest of the state was hit harder than first thought. Most cities have been attacked and with it a lot of industrial potential. Smaller towns and their factor capacity give FEMA planners hope that the Buckeye State could be a linchpin to recovery along with the surprising situation in upstate New York where a lot of economic assets surrounding Buffalo, New York have survived.
UNCONFIRMED -- Mayor of Cleveland killed in explosion at factory... Succession in turmoil.

If they took on a lot of Eastern US refugees, then Youngstown-Warren, Conneaut, and Ashtabula are still alive (at least, because those areas are near major highways). A lot of refugees are in the part of Cuyahoga County that surrounds the city. Mansfield and Toledo alive too?

[Apollo 20]

Originally Posted by thepenguin

If they took on a lot of Eastern US refugees, then Youngstown-Warren, Conneaut, and Ashtabula are still alive (at least, because those areas are near major highways). A lot of refugees are in the part of Cuyahoga County that surrounds the city. Mansfield and Toledo alive too?

I wouldn't bet on either Mansfield or Toledo unless there was a miss. Mansfield's airport was/is a big Ohio ANG base; same for Toledo, with a lot of heavy manufacturing (Jeep, glass, auto parts/components) as well. OTOH, if Cleveland is alive and well, chances are that the Monroe, MI and Davis-Besse nuclear plants near Toledo weren't hit as Cleveland would likely be downwind of both.

[thepenguin]

Originally Posted by Apollo 20

I wouldn't bet on either Mansfield or Toledo unless there was a miss. Mansfield's airport was/is a big Ohio ANG base; same for Toledo, with a lot of heavy manufacturing (Jeep, glass, auto parts/components) as well. OTOH, if Cleveland is alive and well, chances are that the Monroe, MI and Davis-Besse nuclear plants near Toledo weren't hit as Cleveland would likely be downwind of both.

Well, Sherrod Brown is more than likely inhabiting the upper atmosphere, Mansfield was his hometown, he didn't move to Cleveland (well, Avon Lake, but...) until he married Most Equal Comrade Connie Schultz of the People's Plain Dealer. That's the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General gone...
Along with Davis Besse, we also have the coal-fired plants at Eastlake, East 72nd Street, and Avon Point.

[Canadian Dragon]

I'm assuming that Soviet ground troops would have had to invade via the Mackenzie Delta, given the reports of Soviets in the Northwest Territories and Minnesota. Could Soviet ground troops get as far as Nebraska, assuming the fallout levels from the ICBM silo fields and that nuke near Medicine Hat have dropped to safe levels?

Right now, I'm writing up a P&S story set in Alberta, and will likely take into account the invading Soviet forces. Watch for it, as it's coming soon!