The Island - P&S: Louisiana, Mississippi, Beaumont/Port Arthur, TX

Anyway, I'm not a particularly good writer of dialogue, so this will be written as an article for a military staff journal...so here we geaux again

From Military Journal, Joint Command and Staff College March 2014
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We're from Louisiana, we do things different...

The virtually uninterrupted control of state government in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and into the southeastern corner of Texas was due to several factors besides the good fortune of having several cities with key industrial and natural resources surviving undamaged.

Discussions over the summer of 1983 which led to activating a Joint Forces Command Headquarters built around the Naval Reserve Forces Command, Marine Reserve Forces Command and 4th Marine Division, 377th Theater Area Support Command, and the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard. By the time of the nuclear exchange, a command post had been established on Avery Island, Louisiana. Other command and control elements were set up in Hammond, Louisiana and Brookhaven, Tupelo, and Grenada in Mississippi. After the nuclear exchange and reestablishment of communication with southeast Texas, an additional command post was established in Beaumont.

The use of overlooked personnel resources such as retired military members and Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets from area universities and high schools provided cadre for a federal and state military capability when most of the Selected Reserve was mobilized and deployed.

The stories that are told of how this force was equipped and later trained will be covered as well as can be as there are very few survivors alive from a group of men where someone in their late fifties was a youngster. The knowledge of virtually forgotten stocks of weapons and equipment meant that forces were well equipped, even if with second and third line items. The supply runs to Anniston and Red River Army Depots in January, 1984 are legendary and the subject of several books and a movie now in production.




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The first offsite was an invitation for the Marine Corps to hold a General Officer's meeting at Avery Island, Louisiana. Avery Island is home to the McIlhenny family and TABASCO sauce. The president of the company in 1983 was Brigadier General Walter S. McIlhenny, UCMCR (Ret), who was very well known for his support of the Marine Military Academy and other such endeavors. As the world situation deteriorated in 1983, several other offsites were held focusing on reserve forces and started to include the Navy and Coast Guard.

The critical offsite was held in September of 1983. In order to get all the people who needed to be there, Brig Gen McIlhenny visited Russell Long, who was the senior senator from Louisiana at that time, and had the Corps present a nuclear strike scenario for Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Arkansas. As the briefing progressed, Senator Long became convinced that a contiguous area of Louisiana and Mississippi could survive and the two states needed to cooperate. He then called Trent Lott, his Mississippi counterpart and asked him to come over to his office on a matter of the utmost urgency.

After the briefing Senator Lott asked several questions, among them was what was the National Guard going to be doing? He was reminded that both Mississippi and Louisiana had enhanced brigades that would probably be gone from the states. The only National Guard elements from either state that could be available was the 159th Tactical Fighter Group out of New Orleans, which had the Gulf Coast air defense mission. At that point Brig Gen McIlhenny told the senators that the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard were working together on plans, but to make the plan effective they needed to bring in the Army and Air Force, in particular the Adjutant Generals of both states. Some political arm-twisting need to be applied through political channels to get the Adjutant Generals together to talk about joint planning.

Some other additions were rather serendipitous. While driving across the St. Claude Avenue bridge in New Orleans, one of the planners for the meeting saw a sign for the Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District. When he got to Jackson Barracks to speak with his Louisiana National Guard counterpart, he asked and learned that Corps had (and still has a large operation in New Orleans). After the September offsite, "Maybe we need to talk to them too", became the unofficial motto of the planners.
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Organization of command and control was not something that came quickly until the war began in Europe. Throughout the autumn of 1983, the best way things could be described was baby steps. Word went out through law enforcement and emergency management channels to the parish and county sheriffs and emergency managers: do you know who your counterpart is across the state line and to all the other counties/parishes you border?; do you ever talk to them?; how do you communicate with them?; if you don't, start now.

Some local governments caught on faster than others, Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana proved particularly obstinate. The parish president was called in and told in no uncertain terms that if he didn't get on board, command and control would happen through NAS New Orleans and martial law would be declared. He was also reminded that it wouldn't be the first time that the state had to send troops to make them behave, during WW2 Governor Sam Jones had to send the State Guard in.

College football turned out to be a means for the state police forces to really talk to each other. Anytime you see a college football game on television, you see that the head coach is always escorted by a state trooper or two. It just happened that during football season in 1983, whenever schools from Louisiana and Mississippi played each other, there were a few extra state troopers accompanying the football team and band. Part of the procedure that evolved was for the troopers from the other state to visit the local state police headquarters. HBCU football turned out to be just as an effective means of setting up communications as the major schools of the Southeastern Conference.
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WWL radio in New Orleans is a 50,000 watt clear channel AM station. Prewar, at night, the signal could be picked up through most of the continental United States and into Canada.

(Author note: this may be stealing some thunder, but I think it's a good integration point between the various timelines)

During the nuclear exchange, the station antenna farm had some damage that took about a month to repair. WWL went back on the air but only at 2500 watts and was told to hold off increasing power. This was more of an OPSEC measure than anything else. WWL pre-exchange was one of the base stations for Louisiana State University football and was well equipped to be the post-exchange net control station for Gulf States Emergency Radio.

The following is a transcript from the Gulf States Emergency Radio broadcast of XX May, 1984, when WWL went back to full power.

This is WWL, 870 kilohertz AM broadcasting from New Orleans, Louisiana as part of Gulf States Emergency Radio. And now, our National Anthem...

After the completion of the anthem:

WWL is now broadcasting at 50,000 watts as authorized by the Federal Communications Commission. I'm David Tyree and would like to introduce the Governor of Louisiana, Dave Treen.

Treen's remarks, he then introduces the governor of Mississippi, who then introduces the governor of Alabama. Southeast Texas is represented by the Mayor of Beaumont who all make short remarks.

Back to Tyree, who introduces General Robert Barrow, USMC, Commander in Chief, United States Gulf States Command.

"Good evening fellow Americans, I'm Robert Barrow, a United States Marine...it is my privilege to announce tonight, that we have a new President. Elizabeth Dole was sworn in as the 43d President of the United States..."

After the announcement, a panel discussion took place with the elected officials who all recognized Mrs. Dole as the lawful President.
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