Land of Flatwater: Protect and Survive Middle America

[Archangel]

I don't think its good to end up in finnish hands.Considering that the finnish timeline in this universe has the US bombing Finland alongside the soviets any finns are unlikely to be friendly to captured americans.Of course there is the possibility that the finns don't know exactly who nuked them.Although if local authorities get a grip on the situation exactly who hit them might become obvious and any americans in their hands would most likely be shot.

They are returning from a bombing run on the USSR. A careful Finn patrol would arrest them first for interrogation and later internment or imprisonment, during the duration of the war and depending on the outcome of the investigation. I think they will be protected by the (third?) Geneva convention.
My belief is the result of said interrogation will ensure they survive the war.

 

[DrakonFin]

They are returning from a bombing run on the USSR. A careful Finn patrol would arrest them first for interrogation and later internment or imprisonment, during the duration of the war and the outcome of the investigation. I think they will be protected by the (third?) Geneva convention.

Raahe is about 50 km from Oulu, the biggest town of the region, destroyed by a nuclear weapon. The local authorities have initially no way of knowing what role, if any, this crew played in the nuclear destruction of Finland. Even provincial authorities are unreachable, so a local police chief, a mayor or a military/border guard officer is calling the shots for now depending on how the crew is captured.

While at the first the international rules of war would be respected, it is hard to say what the next few days of comparative chaos will bring along..

 

[ObssesedNuker]

he only Soviet missile capable of carrying 20MT warheads was the SS18 Mod 3 and these were all phased out by 1984, not that that therre were many of them to begin with.

Not true, there was the later R-36MUTTH/SS-18 Mod 5, which also carried a single 20 MT warhead. There were 30 of each deployed, for a total of 60. Naturally they were geared towards obliterating super-hard targets like Cheyenne Mountain.

We are still left with over 25 000 warheads and while fighter bomber planes can conceivably deliver about a thousand of these, especially in Germany to provide tactical support to the forces on the ground. We are again left with a pretty large number of warheads which can't be delivered and likely won't be delivered at all!

You forgot about the Soviet tactical ballistic missiles (FROGs, Scuds and SS-21s), nuclear artillery shells, and naval nuclear weapons. That last one in particular since the Russians quite thoroughly armed their subs and surface vessels with nuclear-tipped torpedo's and cruise missiles.

Considering the fact that the yield of SS20 warheads is 150kT,

There was a unitary-weapon variant with a single 500 KT warhead.

I would also not be surprised at all if Brussels, Paris, London and the French missile silos have actually been hit with ICBMs coming all the way from Siberia.

Not necessarily. A semi-spread pattern from a handful of SS-20's would do for the capitol cities. The missile fields would admittedly require a little more...

 

[basileus]

They are returning from a bombing run on the USSR. A careful Finn patrol would arrest them first for interrogation and later internment or imprisonment, during the duration of the war and depending on the outcome of the investigation. I think they will be protected by the (third?) Geneva convention.
My belief is the result of said interrogation will ensure they survive the war.

My belief is they will perform forced labor in a contaminated area. I don't think the Finns will show a tender mercy to outsiders, even to Americans. Pity is dead.

 

[ivfl]

Considering Geneva is gone along with most of the world I don't think anyone would really care anymore about it.

 

[Chipperback]

Considering Geneva is gone..

"This violates Geneva Convention," the pilot said. "You cannot hold us like this or threaten us in this way, Yankee. Have you heard of Geneva Convention?"

"Geneva is maybe a few clicks down that road, Ivan," Agent Clayton hissed. "That's the only Geneva these Cornhuskers give a damn about."

 

[nijntjepluis]

"Voĭna zakonchilasʹ ! To zhe samoe vy sdelali dlya nas!"

There will be a major difference in treatment of these pilots and the P&S' Typhoon crew.

 

[Dunois]

I was looking forward to your reply to my contribution Nuker, so great to see your reply!

Not true, there was the later R-36MUTTH/SS-18 Mod 5, which also carried a single 20 MT warhead. There were 30 of each deployed, for a total of 60. Naturally they were geared towards obliterating super-hard targets like Cheyenne Mountain.

According to Wikipedia these were only put in service in 1986. Information is rather scarce on these missiles anyways and some sources even says that it is the SS18 Mod 6 missiles which had 20MT warheads.
While I am therefore inclined to agree that there are indeed some 20MT missiles around, I don't think that it amounted to more than 20 missiles at best in 1984. Less being more likely.

We are still left with over 25 000 warheads and while fighter bomber planes can conceivably deliver about a thousand of these, especially in Germany to provide tactical support to the forces on the ground. We are again left with a pretty large number of warheads which can't be delivered and likely won't be delivered at all![/quote]

You forgot about the Soviet tactical ballistic missiles (FROGs, Scuds and SS-21s), nuclear artillery shells, and naval nuclear weapons. That last one in particular since the Russians quite thoroughly armed their subs and surface vessels with nuclear-tipped torpedo's and cruise missiles.

For most purposes the mobility and range of the tactical missiles and of nuclear artillery shells is limited to the European theatre of operations and Asia. Even then the number of said missiles and shells is still limited and far below 25 000.
Naval nuclear weapons are unusable again land targets in significant numbers and again I very very much doubt that there are thousands of these guys around.

There was a unitary-weapon variant with a single 500 KT warhead.

And how many of them where there?

Not necessarily. A semi-spread pattern from a handful of SS-20's would do for the capitol cities. The missile fields would admittedly require a little more...

Still, the lower the yields the better things are down the road recovery wise. It stills means Paris, London or whatever are gutted for we have written these off a long time ago. Lower yields especially airbusted, might however give survivors burrowed in the London Underground a better chance of short term survival. Long term this is another story however.

 

[Montanian]

Soviet ground forces actual quality?

I recall that post-1989 there was a chance to get deeper and more objective assessments of Soviet infantry after decades of both telling Soviet bureaucrats what they wanted to hear for vast distortion (as Gorbachev found as Ag Minister on harvest yields, grain storage, etc. cascading distortions to 200-300% less of actual grain vs. reported grain.) The piece I read looked at mechanized infantry and tank units: lack of spare parts and poor quality at time of assembly meant much of the armored personnel carriers and tanks weren't fully or reliably functional (a big hidden issue with any armored unit I've heard from tank commanders and mechanics.) The units represented draftees from all over the Soviet Republics speaking many languages making even the most basic orders and communication unreliable as well as greatly affecting unit cohesion (i.e. Kazakhistan Islamic villagers, Moscow urbanites, Yakutsk fishermen, Byelorrussians, Georgians, Ukrainian farmers...these are were unique nations, let alone cultures, up until fairly recently in many cases.)

Officers were often corrupt and diverting pay, rations, supplies and equipment funds, training funds, lodging, fuel etc. to their own lifestyles while selling one's military-issue equipment or what could be pilfered was quite often how soldiers survived economically so fully-equipped units were purely a reporting artifice.

Rampant alcoholism, as high as 30% in the units and frequently during duty hours, was reported to be another surprising issue.

In Bevin Alexander's fascinating recent book on the German-Russian war, he makes the frequently overlooked point that Russian troops didn't often have the years of experience in driving civilian vehicles prior to running a tank, truck, APC, self-propelled artillery etc...something we took for granted with American soldiers and that's a lot of muscle memory/acquired coordination that would help a lot or take years to compensate for fully.

The U.S. analysts also found that like everything in the USSR, the size and strength of military units were vastly inflated either through just their internal reporting or our analysts further magnification (as some admitted by always taking the largest/highest estimate as correct on Soviet strength, it made each year's defense budget far easier to get passed...like the fake missile gap of JFK's campaign that Nixon couldn't refute without revealing how much we did know.) Along with inflated size estimates which would be confusing to both Soviet and Allied commanders about how many troops and equipment would actually be showing up to fight or reinforce, troops' confidence and morale at seeing how few of them were really there to hold a strongpoint, assault a well-defended position, force a crossing, etc. would slow and stop many advances that looked easy back at headquarters.

American satellite imagery of the battlefields in 1984 would have been a huge advantage that the Soviets both had nothing for and was already fed to enough sources to at least survive much of the command and control center attacks, i.e. the nuclear sub fleet and carrier task forces, AWACs etc. as surviving posts. A buddy who was watching the Soviets' tactical missiles in East Germany back then in a very hardened site was very aware his facilities' life expectancy at the start of Soviet invasion was less than a half hour at best.

Really enjoying this story and the tremendous research going into it.

 

[Montanian]

Rebuilding from what's survived

While I agree materials will be a problem for the first decade or so, I'm more inclined to think economic and demographic issues will be what delays or prevents the return of the jet, not technical issues. Why?
-Enough small to middling sized aviation firms will have survived (e.g. per one of the chats in the main P&S thread Britten-Norman has probably survived) to provide a useful pool of aerospace engineering design experience.
-Most early jet airliners (Comet, Caravelle, 707, etc.) didn't require that advanced tech bases to build (no need for CNC systems or robotics).
-Per Duck and Cover at least one Boeing factory has survived largely intact... and there's a fair prospect that some equipment from factories in nuked cities will be salvageble (i.e. P&S survivors are not starting again from a early 20th century tech base).

But yeah, as I said it's going to be economic/demographic factors (Is there a market for long distance travel? Can airliners service said market competitively?) that determin if/when jets return.

He's right. In 1984 for example there were a lot more heavy repair facilities for locomotives and rolling stock still in operation around the country, all of them outside of obvious targets that I'm aware of except the Pennsylvannia ones. The one I'm familiar with in Livingston, Montana employed 1,700 then in a century old masonry complex with 20+ locomotives on site, locomotive cranes, spare parts, and the machine shops to fabricate everything they might need for steam and diesel locomotives as well as most railcars including passenger cars. Hundreds of thousands of retirees with considerable railroading experience were still alive then and scattered across the country. Even without this long of a ramp-up, you'd have a great many trains at coal mines, remote power stations, small factories and smelters...dispersed very well as complete units (roughly half of train cargo is coal, another quarter is grain-I wonder how well the steel, sealed grain cars would protect from fallout?

Out West where it's dry, cattle routinely take 20-60 acres PER COW to find enough vegetation to survive, much of it with very shallow soil and constant winds...I'd wonder whether that wouldn't mitigate fallout impacts on the West's cattle herds, here in Montana that's a million cattle over a land mass the size of Germany (unfortunately our Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls was on the Soviet Top 10 list between the several hundred Minuteman ICBM's it controlled and the B-52's pointed to fly over the top of the world into Siberia, but depending on fallout, the Great Plains are vast places with a lot of wind day and night for dispersion.

As to rebuilding aircraft, then and now aerospace uses many smaller manufacturers down to a handful of guys in small rural machine shops (like friends of mine making titanium screws for Boeing) that would survive and with electricity available, be mostly limited to what the surviving metals distribution warehouses had in stock (most of those would be in blast zones though.) A great deal of heavy industry is far from target cities and bases as a matter of where the feedstock (i.e. a mine) was located, where cheap power and water were available, and where they could get it permitted...most of it doesn't appear on maps and often isn't known by the locals which'd make it very hard to get on Soviet target lists given how much their agents relied on public information sources. Electronics we'd be considerably more "screwed" as those manufacturers were clustered in blast zones (Los Angeles, Boston, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, etc.) Aluminum would be more available than expected as the Pacific Northwest had 14 sizable smelters at that time, much of the country's capacity, based on rural locations to access cheap hydroelectric power-both them and their supplying dams are well away from targets and even fallout patterns.

Same with copper mines and smelters' location far from logical targets.

Iron ore mining and iron/steelmaking is mostly in or around the blast zones, so untapped sources (then and now) would be a big hindrance but in 1984 there were at least some folks with expertise in that who were still alive, although most of the current and retired workforce would be in death zones.

Portland cement plants would survive pretty well too given where they're located and that's a huge help for infrastructure rebuilding given the other ingredients of concrete-gravel and sand are pretty likely to survive...steel rebar and mesh would be the critical shortages.

Oil and coal are considerably more dispersed around the country than generally realized and there were a lot more small oil refineries in operation or recently shuttered back in 1984 than there are now. A friend who'd physically built a diesel refinery with several other fellows back in the 1930's in a few months said it just really wasn't that hard and they used a lot of scavenged pipes, boilers, etc....it's just if you want to extract everything possible from crude oil and at the highest efficiency that refineries get quite complex and require a lot of custom fabrication. But in 1984 there were a lot of retirees and guys in their 40's and 50's who'd built or substantially expanded oil refineries scattered around the country in places unlikely to be targeted.

When you think about "old guys" alive in 1984, you have a lot with direct experience with 1910-1940 technology which often was late 19th century built and designed, now it's rare to find guys who began working before electronics.

As to

 

[Unknown]

Waiting for the next update, Chip.

 

[sloreck]

Good points recently about industrial decentralization in the US vs USSR, the latter went for really big facilities but only a few for any given enterprise. This came from 2 "sources". One is the "bigger is better" mantra that if the Communist system could build a bigger auto factory than the Capitalist system, then it was better. The second was that it was easier to control a smaller number of bigger facilities from the "center". This top down planning system, which quashed much initiative, would be a real problem for the USSR in recovery = unlike the US with a tradition (for better or worse sometimes) of local control and action, there would be much more tendency to wait for direction from higher authority even in a post-nuke USSR - one could never be sure when party authority (and the knout) would be reinstated and going "outside the box" could result in punishment for deviationism.....

 

[ObssesedNuker]

While I am therefore inclined to agree that there are indeed some 20MT missiles around, I don't think that it amounted to more than 20 missiles at best in 1984. Less being more likely.

Fair enough. They were rather specialized weapon systems anyways... about as specialized as nuclear weapons get actually.

For most purposes the mobility and range of the tactical missiles and of nuclear artillery shells is limited to the European theatre of operations and Asia.

That's the point: it allows longer-ranged Soviet weapons to focus on targets further then 100-150 kilometers from the front. So with that in mind, you can remove all between the French border and the frontlines (minus Brussels, which would likely get an SS-20 because of its importance).

Even then the number of said missiles and shells is still limited and far below 25 000.

Well this is rather dependent on the exact breakdown of the warhead count. According to a skimming of this article, the Soviets did indeed have 30,000 warheads operationally deployed (total, of course), but does not offer a more specific structure onto the weapons breakdown. In anycase, subtracting the 10,000 strategic warheads, we are left with 20,000 tactical and theater warheads to account for.

Naval nuclear weapons are unusable again land targets in significant numbers and again I very very much doubt that there are thousands of these guys around.

I don't know, the Soviet surface fleet in the 80's outnumbered the USN in the number of total surface combat vessels and nuclear-submarines. That offers a-lot of launch platforms...

And how many of them where there?

Just a quick modification to my earlier post: the unitary warhead variant could equip up to a 1 megaton weapon. It was phased out as soon as the MIRV versions were perfected. A accidental red herring on my part, sorry.

Also, I found more theater missiles that were not the SS-20: in addition to the SS-12/SS-22 and the SS-23, the Soviets still had a number of SS-4s deployed. Respective numbers in 1984 were 160 (combined) and 112. The total number of Soviet warheads removed by the INF treaty was 1,595.

Still, the lower the yields the better things are down the road recovery wise. It stills means Paris, London or whatever are gutted for we have written these off a long time ago. Lower yields especially airbusted, might however give survivors burrowed in the London Underground a better chance of short term survival. Long term this is another story however.

Yeah, that makes sense, especially seeing how the SS-20's warheads fall short of the sweet spot.

Out West where it's dry, cattle routinely take 20-60 acres PER COW to find enough vegetation to survive, much of it with very shallow soil and constant winds...

I have to interject here and note two things:

1. Most of the cattle population is actually concentrated in a smaller area. The US agricultural industry finds it much more efficient to ship the feed (almost always made out of corn) to the cow pens rather then give the cows open-range.
2. The Great Plains, at least today, are one farming-cycle away from total drought if they can't be fertilized with artificial fertilizers because the US's habit of over-using the same land for corn year-after-year has depleted the soil nutrients. I don't know how bad that might be in the mid-80's, but its something to keep in mind.

 

[Chipperback]

This is Radio Nebraska. It is 6:00 a.m. Central Standard Time. Friday February 24, 1984...This atmospheric report is as following.......Nebraska remains under a state of Emergency. RADIATION LEVELS STATEWIDE ARE DANGEROUS IN ALL AREAS OF NEBRASKA. STAY IN PROTECTIVE SHELTER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. IF YOU MUST LEAVE YOUR SHELTER TAKE MAXIMUM PRECAUTIONS TO LIMIT EXPOSURE..."

BASE FOXTROT -- McCool Junction, NE -- Pilots Briefing Room -- same time

Colonel Milton Orr, Wing Commander. Nebraska Air National Guard. Ralston, Nebraska.

Colonel Orr got a battlefield promotion in this war. The previous Commander of the Air National Guard suffered a stroke as the missiles flew three days ago. It was the last job a lifelong lover of flight wanted. He'd rather be flying, but he was the next guy in line.

"Today gentlemen, we have two missions. Due to fuel rations. We are going to fly a western group to help in a manhunt in North Platte. A second group is going east. The executive committee wants recon photos of Omaha.

"I cannot stress this enough. TAKE YOUR KI PILLS! Those things may be the only thing that saves you from getting sick. I already have three pilots with radiation sickness. I don't need more. If you need some KI get it from the flight surgeon. Also, MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR PLANE COATED BEFORE YOU GO ON A MISSION. Its damn important. Double check that stuff, men. Please!..I need every pilot I can get, especially if the Russians try to attack us again."

"Sir, do you really think they'll be back?"

"Pilot, I don't know," the Colonel said. "BUT I'm not taking any chances."

"We have two maybe three, major missions coming up. For starters, once the fallout dies down a little more. We may have new mounts coming. Apparently, there's old ANG fighters in a hanger near Crete. How we overlooked them, I don't know. At the very least, they can be spare parts. At the most..Those things can fly. That's more planes for us, possibly to replace what we've lost."

"Then there is a matter of fugitives. The Governor wants these Klan clowns near Fremont found. We may be going hunting for them soon. And there is the situation in North Platte. We are on standby if needed.

"And the final thing on our agenda...Is a special surprise....Live from Decontamination and the infirmary....Lieutenant Trofholz...FRONT AND CENTER!!!!!!

Todd walked into the briefing room. All the pilots and support people stood up as he walked in. He looked a little weatherbeaten, but the color was back in his face. Wary pilots and mechanics smiled.

Todd walked up the front of the room, ramrod straight. "Sir! Lieutenant Trofholz reporting as ordered, SIR!"

The Colonel smiled.

The entire room broke out in applause. In a war without winners, one takes victories wherever they are found.

A new update coming soon

 

[sloreck]

An apology to the group....German measles (which is what causes birth defects) is rubella, regular measles is rubeola. Had a senior moment and switched them.......

 

[tom]

Ozone holes

Are there ozone holes from the larger mushroom clouds in the P&Sverse? This could cause crop damage and blindness from UV radiation.

 

[Dunois]

The degree of Portugal's help would depend on the level of destruction. Portugal doesn't produce enough food, but it would always try to help its allies in some way.
If the destruction was severe* in terms of urban centers, there might be more food available.

I was thinking about something regarding Portugal the other day Archangel and it has stayed in my head ever since. I think that Portugal has a huge asset it can leverage to help the recovery both its country itself and its European allies. This is the Portuguese fishing fleet.
Most of the sardines and small oily fishes consumed in Europe, are imported from Portugal. Since there are so many small fishing towns and harbour I would think it likely that a large part of the fishing fleet and the associated processing infrastructure has survived intact. We still have the problem of petroleum to contend with, but looking at things I would say that it is possible that the Sines refinery is still there.
Sardines, anchovies and herring are very easy to conserve as you only need tins and oil/brine (glass jars could work too I think). In the context of the post strike period where limited food preservation faiclities will be available, they are the ideal food almost, easy to eat, easy to conserve and easy to distribute.

In exchange for fish products, Portugal could trade/barter grain with France and possibly crude oil with Britain.

 

[Chipperback]

Land Of Flatwater: What The Hell's Going On Out There?

It has been 67 hours since the missiles flew. The radiation levels across Nebraska are still a concern. Fallout levels are starting drop off in areas that were distant from the major impact points. Still, people are hunkering down in the shelters for the most part. The only people out in the open are those wearing NBC suits, and the luckless beings who were caught outside while trying to escape.

On this morning, Nebraska's National Guard would be on the move, and in the air. In North Platte, guard units and local police will check out the site of a plane crash, and possibly a manhunt. The wreckage: A Soviet Tu-22M3 'Backfire' bomber with a payload that was destined to take out the railyards at the north edge of town. The pilot who brought the plane down reported three, possibly four of the bomber's crew ejected.

At BASE FOXTROT, two A-7 Avengers are readied for flight. They will not be carrying weapons. Instead, they will carry cameras. They are being sent to Lincoln, Nebraska to answer the question, Did Lincoln survive? There is a report from one of the patrol aircraft on the day of the attacks that the nuclear weapon meant for Lincoln overshot the city by as much as 35 miles.

At BASE BRAVO, Crete, Nebraska forward command of the National Guard and a contingent of over 400 troops are mobilized and combat-ready in their NBC gear. Once the jets have concluded their sweep of Lincoln. These troops will move in, secure the city, find survivors, and set up a base to process refugees.

At BASE HOTEL, Seward, Nebraska an aging Constellation sits on the runway. It was in the private collection of an avid flyer who lived in Omaha. Now that flyer is ready to take the controls and this plane is loaded with technical specialists and RADIAC gear.

BASE HOTEL -- Seward Airport, Nebraska -- Main hangar -- same time

"Lieutenant Lindstrom," the man said. "Jack Maitland, Civil Air Patrol."

Lindstrom looked at the shiny silver Lockheed Constellation. His eye caught by the well-done pin-up nose art..blazened in red and golds splashed with the name "Connie" across the nose."

"Now that is a beautiful symbol of a bygone age," Lindstrom said.

"Her age has come again, at least today," Jack answered. "This Connie flew in the Berlin Airlift in '48. This is a sad mission, but a needed one. We have to know how bad things are."

"There is good news," Lindstrom reported. "They tell me back at ALPHA that they believe Lincoln survived. They are going to send some Avengers over supposedly."

"That would be something if its true," Jack smiled.

A group of technicians and guardsmen shuttled in and out of the plane. each marveled at the sight of the proud old lady who take them on a trip to Omaha...on a trip to inside hell.

BASE ALPHA -- Geneva, Nebraska -- Situation Room -- 7:00 a.m. Central Standard Time. Friday February 24, 1984

HAMMER was sitting in the command area of the situation room. Looking at the makeshft map of Nebraska. In front of him were trooper manning communications stations. Another busy day in emergency conditions.

PEGLEG entered the room and as usual, brought coffee. It was a little thing, but once being a military field commander himself, the Governor understood that leading the troops means doing some grunt work as well.

"I have my doubts about this Hoss," the Governor said to the commander of the ANG, "The way the rad reports are going, we would be putting good people in the way of a lot of danger."

"Governor, we'd be in a worst situation if we don't do this," the commander said. "I would have liked to have started a survey mission immediately after the attacks, but the day was such a zoo we couldn't do it. Remember, Nebraska had three battles on one day, and we're still trying to pick of the pieces."

"Whats the word on Fremont now?"

"We'll know more over the weekend. After that, I plan on making a proposal to the Emergency Committee."

The Governor perked up, "A proposal?"

"I want to put together a small hit team to find Tyler Tyles and kill him."

"I don't want him dead commander. He must face justice."

"The man i have in mind to lead this team, would truck that idea."

"Clayton," the Governor thought.

BASE FOXTROT -- same time

Lieutenant Ralph Lassiter, Nebraska Air National Guard. Omaha, Nebraska
Lieutenant Bruce Schmadeke, Nebraska Air National Guard. Albion, Nebraska

"Lieutenants, you will be flying over Lincoln and surrounding area. Take as many pictures as you can. Notice everything, but be quick about it. Stick to the time variables as much as you can and limit your exposure," Colonel Orr said. "You'll do some decontamination when you get back."

Ralph Lassiter, when not a pilot, is an experience photographer. When they get back, he'll have a hand in developing the film. "Sir, I'm concerned about the film. The radiation may damage the film."

"I'm aware of that Lieutenant," the Colonel said. "But the science boys tell me the coating on the plane will lessen the effect. Any shots we can get can help us. If Lincoln is still upright, it's a huge help. All the refugee points are swamped right now. Plus we need to know about deaths, damage, land we can use. This mission is about survival gentleman. Plain and simple."

"Have you heard anything from Albion or Central City?" Lieutenant Schmadeke asked.

"We may doing a patrol in that area next week, Lieutenant," the Colonel answered. "You remember that attack on those Pine Ridge folks last week? The say the road gang that hit them is based an area near there.

"This is why every sortie counts," the Colonel said. "The more efficient we are, the more fuel we save. The more fuel we save the more missions we can do. GOOD LUCK MEN...Smile, you're on Candid Camera.

The Lieutenants, looking more like spacemen than flyers, headed toward the waiting A-7s. The mechanics did the final checks and the decontamination procedures one more time. Each mechanic snapped a quick salute to the pilots and the pilot returned them.

They each climbed in and did their checks. Both keenly aware of what what they hoped to see and what they feared to see.

An open field 16 miles north of Hershey, Nebraska -- 7:40 am Central Standard Time.

"CAVALRY. This is BISON CHARLIE...over.."

"BISON CHARLIE confirmed..This is CALVARY."

"Call as many units as you can to sector ECHO FOUR ONE BY CENTURY NINER..We have positive contact. I say again. We have positive contact. "

"BISON CHARLIE. Hold position and secure the area. Reinforcements to follow."

to be continued.

 

[General_Paul]

Chipperback,

I just wanted to say that you've got an amazing piece of writing here! I've spent the last two days grading freshman term papers and reading your contribution to the Protect and Survive story line to relax. You've got a great writing voice, and you really work hard to capture the everyday voices of mid-westerners in the early 1980s. Having grown up in the 1990s and the 2000s, the Cold War was never really part of my childhood. But, reading your narrative really drives home the fear of nuclear war at the time. I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it from here!

General_Paul

PS- As someone who has lurked the boards for several years, it takes a pretty great piece of writing to make me respond on a thread!

 

[Chipperback]

Thanks General!

Thanks General! I'm appreciate the feedback and I'm glad your reading this. I started reading your "Not Star Trek" Timeline. Now that really twisted things up! I can't wait to dive into it some more.

I'm enjoying writing this timeline and reading the brilliant work throughout this site...I hope a few of your students are enjoying this as well.