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The beauty of writing historical fiction is that you're held to a lesser standard than an historian. In a novel you can put units in places they weren't in real life and you can have them perform actions which they may or may not have performed in the historical record.
Writing a contemporary military fiction novel you don't have to adhere to any history at all, well mostly. You can't (perhaps shouldn't is a better term) field equipment earlier than it would have been fielded in reality. Of course, you can also keep older hardware around which in many cases is no longer operational, in fact, maybe the few extant examples aren't even running still! Other than that, all bets are off.
The Soviets didn't like throwing things away, they had warehouses jam-packed with WWII tanks and artillery. Why throw it away if you can still 1) use it in an emergency, 2) sell it to a political ally, or 3) outright give it to a satellite state?
Sure, you have to have folks whose job is it to keep the stuff in working order. Fire up the engines, drive 'em around the block. that sort of thing.
Perhaps this is my way of explaining why the Chinese colonel thinks he can get his hands on some A-10s.
Another thing, I have no idea where a Guard unit stores its ammunition. Is it all locked up somewhere under the control of the Feds? What Feds, where? Stuff like that has to be carefully stored and under specific conditions. An Air Force base might be a good spot, but does anyone really think word of that wouldn't get out?
Also, if a governor has to deploy his/her Guard units (yes, you heard that right, they belong to the individual states, not the Federal government), do you think he/she wants to play "mother may I?" with some Federal organization if he/she needs his Guard units rolling and loaded for bear at a moments notice? Probably not.
In my story the Federal government has gotten lax. In 2021 National Guardsmen were deployed to Washington DC, so in my book the Feds think they have a compliant organization in the Guard. The National Guard Bureau in the DC area might be in lock step with the politicians and some of the state Guards as well, but not all of them. So no matter what some might think (or know) the "normal" policies of the Guard are, I have most of the Guard units with all of their TO&E equipment and they have the ammunition they need to go into action, at the drop of a hat.
You might get the impression that I'm not a big fan of the United Nations, and you'd be right. That organization is a collection of dictators and small, poorly governed, smaller nations for the most part. Hell, a lot of the big countries are poorly governed as well.
While the UN is one of the bad guys in my story, they are really a stalking horse for the Communist Chinese. Yeah, I like them less than the UN.
Anyhoo, you'll get another chapter on Tuesday (provided Tuna doesn't want "his" day), after juvat regales you with another story from down Texas way. Stories which I really look forward to.
So, enjoy yourselves, feel free to suggest plot twists, devices, gadgets, etc., in the comments. There's no guarantee I'll use 'em, but you never know.
Ciao!
There are a lot of modern bows in the hands of American hunters. And not just bows with their wheels and cables, but also modern crossbows.
ReplyDeleteI think Beans would know if they would be practical.
In combat? No. But as part of an ambush? Absolutely.
DeleteBear in mind that the area the story takes place has lots of forest.
Very much in an ambush situation. And very much for doing bad things like setting fires and other not-nice sabotage thingies. Where wood shafts will rule over carbon fiber or metal shafts (wood will burn, as will the fletchings whether plastic or natural material, and since most woodshaft arrows are target points (either really cheap thin caps or slightly more expensive cast and turned almost bodkin pointed (medieval armor piercers, vs broadheads that do notabit against armor) and those are awfully small evidence in a war situation))
DeleteSame with bungie-catapults and those water-balloon sling shots. Basically fill the position of medieval catapults without the physical presence. A surgical-tube WBSS can fire a 6" balloon of water quite a ways, and the nice thing is the lobbing arc allows indirect fire, with such things as, well, liquids that go fwooosh when exposed to the right igniter and such. Even firing golf balls at aircraft can damage stuff, especially delicate helicopters.
Not useful in a front-line situation, but we're talking about guerilla warfare on a continental scale.
Out west, just futzing with water supplies could stop, actually stop, any advance. Burn a couple storage depots of food and you've shut down the area (even better to pilfer the place and get those supplies out, but sometimes, well, if you're gonna starve might as well make your enemy starve.)
They have a place, albeit a small one. Will an arrow pierce modern ballistic body armor?
DeleteDepends on the head style. A medieval pile or bodkin (armor piercers, like long nails) or a modern broadhead without the razors or an expensive target head should punch through, depending on bow poundage, range and such. Up to Level III or so. Not hard plates.
DeleteBallistic armor is supposed to stop high-velocity objects. Arrows and bolts are medium or low velocity, in comparison.
That's what I figured.
Delete(Don McCollor)...In a scene from the movie "The Wild Geese", sentries (no body armor) in a guard tower are taken out with a crossbow. 'the (hardwood' quarrels will shatter inside a man, and besides they are tipped with cyanide'...
DeleteMovies like to bend reality.
DeleteIf you're going to include bows in the story you may find the Ashby Reports on arrow lethality useful:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ashbybowhunting.org/ashby-reports
Might be of academic interest for those without firearms too....
Worth a look!
DeleteThe best places for modern archery is silent sniping (most useful if body armor isn't worn) and material destruction. So, well, killing turncoats and the occasional idjit who goes out of the wire (out of any compound or camp or fort) without his/her body armor.
DeleteExcept for... legs and arms. If you're good enough, shooting the enemy in the legs or arms is great. Unfortunately, only the best bow hunter can hit a target like that at a distance far enough to actually survive the counter-fire. Even the best bows make noise, and pin-point accuracy by most people is only possible at relatively short ranges (the medieval archers, shooting at long-range targets, were aiming at man or horse-sized objects, more harassment fire against a man at decent range if said man is wearing armor of any decent shape. Horse, kill or wound a horse and you've made both a ground fighter (if rider escapes injury on the way down-and they were taught to ride the horse to the ground and step or push off) and a rather large speed-bump (horses and their legs will trip other horses..)
And that's also where point selection. A bodkin or pile (both are medieval armor piercers at close to mid range) are far more effective at punching through body armor back then and now than a broadhead. Though a broadhead will do far more damage to an unarmored target. So, yeah, read the report. I will.
The guy with the bow is going to die, unless he/she is very skilled at woodcraft and also very lucky.
DeleteEarly in the 20th Century an old Indian came in from the wilds of the southwest USA. He had been subsistence hunting alone with a bow. A toxophile (archery enthusiast) took him under his wing and studied his methods.
DeleteThe bow was quite rudimentary, the arrows were where he concentrated his efforts. He made little rock cairns along the animal trails for him to hide behind. I forgot his name and the particulars but it shouldn't be hard to find.
Modern combat archers would not seek to simply replace firearms with bows and continue using firearm tactics. Ambush predators, very carefully selecting their targets, and recovering their victims' equipment. The victims could be sentries, careless wanderers, or small groups of overconfident pillagers caught in unfavourable terrain helped along with obstacles and booby traps. Time for China to have its Vietnam.
Dr Ashby recommended single-bevel broadheads and a minimum draw weight of 85#, to take water buffalo and other heavy dangerous game. He was seeing complete penetration even through heavy bone and thick hide. Modern body armour on a human would not stand up well at all.
After the most recent election the Virginia National Guard had almost all of its ammo lifted by the Federal Government. I don't know if that happened elsewhere. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, I guess - fear of unshod native footsteps on the decking overhead on the blackbirder - something like that.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that the governor of Virginia is also a leftist, his own Guard probably scares him.
DeleteNo doubt done because of proximity to DC, also Virginians have an independent streak a mile wide. At least they used to, probably not up around DC but further south?
Not West Virginians but western Virginians still act like Virginians. Eastern Virginians act like Massholes. Or so the western Virginian I talked to at Publix last year said when much the same topic came up (he was wearing an "I'm a True Virginian" t-shirt, of which the liberal flakes also standing in line didn't understand but I got it. He and and I had quite a rousing and fun time talking while waiting to get into the said Publix. The she-liberal idiots and the other sheeple? They did not enjoy the conversation.
DeleteI wouldn't argue with him.
DeleteShould of ended the post with "Wolverines!"...
ReplyDeleteSecond this thought. If the "peacekeepers" have aerial support of any kind, including drones, would make operations more difficult for the home team...er.... "terrorists".....
DeleteStephen - That was a good movie.
DeleteNylon12 - They do have helos.
DeleteAnd the FedGov no longer has any need for killer drones overseas. All the terrorists are now Deplorables stateside.
DeleteDoubt that.
DeleteDefinitely. Yelling "(Badger-type animal name)" after gacking a bad guy sounds like fun. Bad opsec, but fun.
DeleteThe Fed Gov has been using drones to track people in places like DC. It's not far from Fed Gov using armed drones against The People.
DeleteBeans #1 - Fun but a waste of breath.
DeleteBeans #2 - I keep hearing/seeing this, don't believe it for an instant. One or two persons of interest, maybe. Multiple people, the damned Feds are too inefficient. Gathering tons of data is useless unless you have the analysts to go through it. Using machines to pickup key words? That's inefficient as Hell and often tags innocent conversations as somehow threatening. We give the Feds too much credit, they've demonstrated in the recent past that they couldn't pour piss out of a boot, even if the instructions are written on the heel.
DeleteI note that Sea Power has returned to the head of the page.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love that photo.
DeleteSarge, if past history is any indication, in point of fact a lot of "things" go missing from official government stores during the sort of unrest that you are implying. Some of it is nefarious bad actors of course, but a lot of it is also smaller group - civil and military - acting on their own initiative (after all, in such positions it is often better to ask for forgiveness than permission).
ReplyDeleteThe reality of disrupted supply chains (and undoubtedly maintenance and spare parts in short supply as well as food) is something that you have hinted at but would probably play a big role - on both sides. As the scavenging of equipment ("Steal your enemies stuff rather than using your own" - Sun Tzu, probably).
I am enjoying it a great deal.
"Steal and use your enemy's stuff" probably goes back to the great Grog vs Og war days. And it's a known tool of guerilla warfare since Roman times. So, yes, steal the enemy's stuff.
DeleteLike any good Dungeons & Dragons player, loot the bodies and the room or vehicles for any treasure.
(Wife and I are watching reruns of "The Rifleman" and we both yell at the tv "LOOT THE BODIES! LOOOOOT THE BODIES!!!!" Seriously, Lucas McCain wouldn't have to do one lick of ranching if he'd just open up "McCain's 2nd Hand Boot, Saddle, Horse and Gun" store.
TB - A lot of stuff goes missing from government stocks every day, peacetime included.
DeleteBeans - Sometimes that's the only equipment a guerilla has. But without an outside support of some kind, partisans lose, every time.
DeleteIn the Guard unit I retired from it stored its ammunition in a vault next to the gun vault. It was a Air Guard Combat Comm unit and we had a couple thousand rounds for every weapon we had.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure things vary from state to state. Red states probably trust their Guard units more than blue.
DeleteSabotage? Fuel contaminated, water source disrupted, and power grids taken out? All force multipliers for insurgents. Aren't large data centers temperature controlled? Those banks of computers get too warm and, poof, all that data corrupted.
ReplyDeleteAnd kill not the commander or the NCOIC, but the mechanic that everyone turns to. Kill the cook. Kill the supply guy who does all the work. Kill the guy working the water purification plant. Be very selective of your targets, don't just randomly shoot someone.
DeleteAnd, yes, data centers are temp controlled, and also usually have 2 backup power sources and backup cooling sources. It takes a big damage event to shut one down to the point of loss of data, much harder than people think.
On the other hand, that data cable coming out? That's just lots and lots and lots of fiber optics, all which have to be veeeeery carefully spliced to the correct other end. By a guy or two guys. In the now still-smoking crater.
And, curiously, in cities, most underground cables run right next to big underground storm drains or sewers which are convenient access points to said underground cable runs. Gee, be a shame if power and data lines all went away. Hmmm. What's this pipe? Fresh water or natural gas? And this other pipe? Hmmmm....
WSF - Long term yes, attacks on infrastructure are key.
DeleteIn point of fact, taking down a data center isn't that hard. Nature does it all the time. DAMHIK.
DeleteIf a data center overheats, typically the computers will all gracefully shut down, that's what the backup power supplies are for.
But do some reading, those relying on computers in the next war will probably get their asses kicked. Hell, what good did all our effing data do for us in Afghanistan?
If we were allowed to use all the biometrics we accumulated, then things may have been different. Dammit.
DeleteNot sure what good biometrics do in chasing down a mujahedeen up in the mountains.
DeleteEven having a portable nitrate swab would have made a difference, but those weren't available to the guys on the ground. I guess TSA has dibs.
DeleteNo doubt.
Delete(Don McCollor)...Nitrate swab? Spray a suspected Quislings with nitrate, then leave him to explain his innocence to the Man...
DeleteUh, where are you guys going with this?
DeleteMy only comment on the novel thus far is I pray that you somehow didn't discover a modified DeLorean, fly it into the future and back again and are reporting on it. If you did...
ReplyDeleteI second that. Though if you could please go back and de-rig the 2020 elections, that would be nice.
Deletejuvat - Fortunately no...
DeleteBeans - Now that would be more than a one man job. Unless you went back in time far enough and eliminated the bastards who funded that grand theft.
DeleteIn which case you'd be doing a valuable service. Maybe go back to Hungary in 1945?
DeleteBoat Guy
Now that would be a service to humankind!
DeleteI visited a REDACTED facility in REDACTED Air Force Base just before it got BRAC'ed. It was interesting what the tech had to do to keep the REDATCED from having the nitro settle out. He did an ammo count every day. He made a point to explain to me that no one could cut the locks, hasps, etc. I noted some additional information that was quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteWithin 12 hours of my tour I saw some REDACTED charges being shipped at a local company, and nothing stands up to that. So, if you see any REDACTED out on a military base, or federal facility, you can be pretty sure there is some there.....
We have this just down the road from Juvat: 29.688999210953416, -98.62998107120698
Funny thing about Nitro stuff. If you don't turn it and keep it cool, it sweats. Cold nitro isn't bad. Warm nitro is wicked sensitive. Cold being "Ground is Frozen" cold if nitro is in liquid form.
DeleteAnd the true mark of an experienced explosives user? The smallest blast possible. I've seen things blown up with just a little 'poomph' that others would have 'ka-boomed.' Though if you're inexperienced with explosives, Factor P is the key. P for Plenty.
STxAR - If your coordinates are accurate, I'm guessing it's an underground facility?
DeleteAnd yes, bombs are touchy sumbitches.
Beans - Yes, in the movies they always use enough C4 to blow up a building, and yet they just use it to open a locked door.
DeleteNope, it's a fac that we've used to help out several groups of indigs over the years... I can't remember who outted it, but I think it was LBJ...Still available.
DeleteColor me confused...
Delete(Don McCollor)...Back in the early days of oil drilling, they fracked with nitro. Not the pussy stable stuff, but the oily liquid poured out of cans (and do not spill a drop or toss the can). Unpredictable and violent. One horse drawn cart load was hit by a train-nothing happened. Another load must have hit a little bump on a quiet country road. At first the insurance company refused to pay death benefits because there was no evidence of her husband's death...
DeleteNasty stuff.
DeleteSorry for the confusion OAFS. It's a facility, East of I10, north of Loop 1604. We used it to supply a lot of indigenous groups that stood for our country or our side. Cuban exiles that were abandoned on the beach received help from this dump, as did the northern alliance in 'Stan. It was called various names in unredacted documents by the three letter agency. I think LBJ let slip the name and it's on the map. Full of captured hardware, just waiting for another group the three letter guys want to help. IF it was air force, those dump lumps would indeed hold MkXX.
DeleteInteresting comments. Have a good Sunday!
ReplyDeleteYou too Rob!
DeleteGreat confessions by an author. Sarge is to be commended for his prodigious output of quality stuff, despite the inconvenience of having a "real job."
ReplyDeleteAs I have been reposting Lex's Rhythms series as weekly installments on the divert site, it dawned on me that Lex originally posted these on an irregular basis. However, he did entertain and enlighten us ["both his readers'] on a daily or sometimes multiple-daily musings on all sorts of topics, so his total output was indeed prodigious.
But, on his fictional Rhythms series, the five most recent installments originally appeared with intervals of 7, 27, 8, 14 and 23 days between them. Sarge is giving us sometimes 3 or 4 installments a week! Well done, Sarge! Methinks Lex's muse may have jumped ship and is whispering in your ear now.
John Blackshoe
Thanks JB.
DeleteLex is my constant inspiration.
All of what has been said above. Excellent job of speculation and facts. I am sure that a NatGuard unit, marked on some Penta-wonk's spreadsheet as 'Reliable' would have access to it's full load-up. Unreliable units would be stood down or emasculated one way or another.
ReplyDeleteIt's a long way from DC to some small Guard unit. The staff pukes can organize their little spreadsheets all they want. It's always up to the local Guard unit commander. Of course, he/she might be a Commie/Milley sympathizer as well.
DeleteMore fine work from Sarge!
ReplyDeleteThose of us who write poorly appreciate those who write well.
Thanks drjim!
Delete+1!
Delete😁
DeleteI commented on the "ammo load out question" not as a gotcha" but from experience with Guard and Reserve units from the 70's till the 00's. Ammo, particularly HE-sorta stuff was always stored away from the unit and had to be drawn with lead-time, bureaucracy and "Mother may I" from at least one higher echelon. Now, once you actually got the stuff, things might be a trifle looser (in the 80's a friend stored a goodly bit of 5.56 in his garage overnight) but TPTB have been an untrusting lot since the millenium. I asked a Reservist to score some empty, used cloth bandoliers for me and was told " They count them when we turn in the dunnage". This was less than a decade ago.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me I'd like to see Team Good Guy on parity with the bad people and I'm a big believer in well-delivered HE.
Boat Guy
I figured as much, I'm placing the story at some unspecified time in the future where the control of the Feds over the states has weakened to the point that they had to call in the UN. I may expand on that in future episodes.
DeleteUnderstood. The corruption, already considerable at the highest levels will likely become pervasive if not epidemic on our current trajectory.
DeleteBG
Expanding on how the UN got there would be good.
DeleteBG - Roger that.
DeleteRob - I need to explain that.
DeleteHell, on 9\11 the Marines in DC didn't have ANY 5.56.
ReplyDeleteBG
A travesty. But it is DC.
Delete(Don McCollor)...Thinking logistics in your story. I cringed each time they fired a missile or when the Abrams fired. Where are they going to get more fuel or ammo?
ReplyDeleteWhat are they saving it for?
Delete(Don McCollor)...It was necessary use. I was thinking of the story line, what happens next when the Abram's racks and fuel tank are dry? Hide, destroy, or use the last of ammo and fuel to hijack a supply column?
DeleteWhat comes next remains to be seen. A lot depends on the size of the Chicom footprint in the US. If it's small enough, resistance of this type could dissuade the Reds from getting in any deeper.
DeleteIt might come down to "all out of tanks, all out of fuel, fight on foot, throw rocks at the bastards if you have to." That has happened in history.
@Beans way up @ 9:16AM re: guerilla warfare. One quick, easy way to temp stall an armored column in its tracks is to take a bunch of dinner plates, place them randomly upside-down (and better yet booby-trap a few w.grenades.) The enemy will have to treat them all as mines and clear each one. Great way to set an armored up for an ambush on the cheap.
ReplyDeleteSounds like someone's been reading. Never heard of that, not sure of the veracity of that technique. Mines are typically buried but sometimes in a hasty defense they're not. But dinner plates?
Delete(Don McCollor)...(not sure that this was fact or fiction) [Besides you are probably getting tired enough of my comments to ban me]...It was the Brits in WW2 Africa would place a couple real mines, then bury ration cans (giving a metal signal like a mine) for a ways, then when they were getting careless, plant a couple more real ones...
DeleteMakes a lot more sense than dinner plates.
Delete(Ban you? You always make me think, which is a good thing!)
*yikes INSERT "column" after armored & before "up"
ReplyDeleteCopy that.
DeleteAs we are seeing in current day with the slowing of the supply chain, logistics are VERY important!!
ReplyDeleteOnce ya use something, how do you get it replaced...or will you even need it replaced?!?!
In a guerilla war, logistics are sketchy at best, without outside support.
DeleteNo Tuesday Tuna for me. No Muse on duty so I can't post.
ReplyDelete😁
DeleteUnderstood.
A very good improvised munition is "claymore" type. Use it to initiate an ambush. Here are a few links to assist you in the dirty tricks department.
ReplyDeletehttps://archive.org/details/Homebuilt_Claymore_Mines_Ragnar_Benson_Paladin_Press
https://archive.org/details/the-most-dangerous-game-ragnar-benson/page/34/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/BreathOfTheDragonHomebuiltFlamethrowers
Nice!
Deletehttps://archive.org/details/DavidsToolKitACitizensGuideToTakingOutBigBrothersHeavyWeaponsByRagnarBenson/mode/2up
ReplyDeleteThis one...right here....this will aid your research!
Good to know!
Delete@Coffee Man/ Saaaayyy Stranger, I like you! (Said in best Yosemite Sam voice :) )
ReplyDelete🤣
DeleteThat archive.org website has literally ANYTHING you ever wanted to know and some things you never even though of!
DeleteWow!
Delete