logistics suck my unit

LOGISTICS SUCKS MY UNIT


I’m here on a partially sunny Sunday, toiling away in the graveyard of wisdom, not near as oblivious to your indifference as you think I am. The Mighty Orange Bomber, the Rusty Barnacle Bisonia Pimpin Ride has suffered a mechanical failure of unknown origin, magnitude or financial repercussion so I need to write the Tuesday article today as I’ll be kissing the ass of a grease monkey at lunch Monday. Please, holder of the transportation key, don’t abuse my wallet, your oil stained fingers jamming up into its orifice without lubrication or loving care, a leer smeared across your face, drool cascading down your chin, eyes unfocused in pleasure. Yes, yes, I know, buy a friggin mechanics manual ( General Motors Full-size Trucks 1999-2001: Chevrolet Silverado & GMC Sierra Pick-ups, 1999-2001 Chevrolet Suburban & Tahoe, 2000 and 2001 GMC Yukon ... (Chilton's Total Car Care Repair Manual) ) and do the work yourself since it is a pre-computer engine. Believe me, I might decide to go that route. Since my copious free time has no better task assigned it. Anyway, it was a pretty good trial run for $10 a gallon gas. And no, not the 35 cents an hour wages, twenty five cents gallon of gas pre-super inflation days but the working twenty hours a week on $8 an hour with 20% Social Security tax, 25% minimum fed income tax, 10% mandatory health care tax ( How Socialized Health Care Will Radically Change America - Why Universal Health Care Will Create a Political Hegemony as In Sweden ) days of the near future. The propane tanks might have to be replaced by kerosene ( a minion helpfully pointed out that kerosene [ Sengoku CV-2230 KeroHeat Convection 23,000-BTU Portable Kerosene Heater ] has almost 50% more BTU’s per gallon so the extra cost is usually justified, plus the non-explosive nature is good ), or I will have to lease a propane company larger tank, or I’ll still have to buy a bike trailer ( I got to thinking, what about a game cart? Much cheaper, carries more. I’m just not sure if they will hold up to daily use ). But other than heater fuel, the bike is suitable for all my other tasks ( well, it doesn’t take the wife into town. And as cheap as I am, a truck to take the wife into town, as long as I am working full time, is well worth the expense ). I got a seat post rack ( Zefal Rodeo Seat Post Mount Bike Rack ) and put a milk crate on it for hauling my water. I had been using a handlebar basket for the old bike but it rusted away. The rack will hold two and a half gallons and I’ll put another half gallon in my backpack. Three gallons a day is a smidge under what we were using, but it will work until we resume truck hauling. I have a junk refer full of stored water to supplement., although to feel safe I bring it to a boil before drinking ( it’s been in storage a year ). For laundry I put a small duffle bag on my back and peddled into town this morning.

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Saturday I finished the book “The Unit” by Terry Dehart ( The Unit ). Was it the best post-apocalypse book ever? No. Was the writing style flawless? No. Was it one of the more realistic novels I’ve read for quite some time? Yes. It compares to “One Second After”( One Second After ). Not written as well, but in being much more realistic than most of the other crap out there, Pollyanna preaching putrid pulps. It follows a families attempt at surviving lawlessness after a limited nuclear war. And follows that up with the effects of nuclear winter, a subject most don’t bother with. At first it was weird with the multiple character first person narratives, but the author made it work nicely. If you have ten bucks burning a hole in your pocket, send it to me. If you have another ten spot, buy this book. I really don’t think you will be disappointed, unless you still sport wood reading the old series, The Survivalist ( The Nightmare Begins (The Survivalist #2) ). Now, having built up this new novel for you, I have to comment on its flawed ending. Fortunately for its author, who I’m sure is reading this with baited breath ( Oh, please, oh please, oh please, may the Great And Mighty Bison love it! Please, Baby Jesus, if you are listening now, unlike that time when I got drunk and was molesting that monkey in the zoo and everyone saw it and took Polaroid’s, you’ll let him love it all to pieces, amen ), this is a common mistake and he is not the only sinner. Today, we look at the logistics of rescue relief after a major calamity.

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Five cities get nuked. We retaliate. Lawlessness spreads throughout the land as the population fears their city is next. Gangs kill for food. Towns ambushed. Soon, fallout becomes a major health crisis. Months later, the military flies in, airdrops supplies and reestablishes order. This is, roughly, the plotline behind the main characters actions in The Unit. As I said, pretty typical. Long periods of unrest, killing, famine, killer gangs. Then, the cavalry rides in. Rescue. Sure, the feds took their sweet ass time doing any rescuing after Katrina. They worried more about private rescuers having Coast Guard approved flotation devices than letting those boats get in and help people. Or about confiscating guns than bringing in water. And don’t get for tie-died panties in a bunch over the evil Republicans. Obammy and his evil circus were just as bad in the BP oil crisis ( Oil in the Gulf: The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Crisis - A Comprehensive Guide (DVD-ROM) ), if not worse. Incompetence is not political party specific, but mandatory in system wide empire collapse. But incompetence masks the lack of logistics needed to do a job. Follow me here. Let’s assume the military is perfectly run and only civilians panic. No one shows up to do all of the civilian contractor jobs, such as cooking. Or driving the trucks that bring in the civilian food supplies. In a week, everyone is down to eating MRE’s. In the dark, as the civilian electric grid workers don’t show up and the base reserve generators run out of fuel. Nor do fuel truck drivers come to work.

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Military convoys are not feasible, as every Podunk town along the way has set up road blocks, tolls, ambushes and IED’s. Ask a vet how hard all that is. Furthermore, oil refineries have shut down as have harbors that might take in tankers. Train traffic is feasible, until civilians figure out this is where the food is coming in from. How easy was it to derail the train ( Derail: Why Trains Crash ) down in Arizona a few years back? Now, ask yourself how much food, fuel and ammo a military unit has, without resupply. How many chopper trips, how many miles in a Hummer? Plenty? Okay, let’s pretend. But what about the other two? If one million and a half active duty, Guardsmen, police and deputized civilians nationally need to eat every day, are there enough MRE’s already stockpiled? For how many days? I never came across any MRE warehouses myself, but I was a peon. Anyone else? Does every domestic military unit have stockpiles of food? And how much ammo? I never had more than one or two mags worth issued to me on the yearly “shoot em up so our budget doesn’t decrease” firing range events. And that wasn’t even for all weapons. My basic question is, if civilians are NOT manning the electric grid and the ports and the oil pipelines and refineries, how quick before all government agencies become impotent? The above authors guess, they have oodles and gobs of supplies inventoried in a decentralized fashion. My guess, within days the military doesn’t run. It’s been twenty odd years since I’ve been in the military, and those were overseas units rather than domestic. I could be failing to see a totally different, current situation. Anyone care to comment? Otherwise, days away from failure.
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