Behind the Scenes

(Source)

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!