Bogged Down
 

I’ve been struggling mightily with working on Thunder Empire. I’m at a part that is critical to the story/scenario but which doesn’t hold my interest at the moment. I really want to write about what happens after the TDM. I’m especially keen on writing about the fighting in and around Fort Huachuca in the Second Mexican-American War (2MAW). Granted, within the Southwestern theater, Arizona is a secondary front for both the United States and Mexico. Call me a sucker for the underappreciated.

Right now, though, I’m working on the dynamics of refugee movements out of US cities following nuclear scares. This leads up to the refugee problem following the Thanksgiving 1997 exchange. I can’t talk about how Huachuca as a whole and the 111th Brigade in particular become a viable combat formation without mentioning the impact of the various scares on the post and on national thinking. Sigh. Anybody else experience this problem?


Webstral

I often wonder how the various governments would deal with the inevitable pre and post-TDM refugee/evacuee problem.

I'm sure you've thought of this before, but I'd wager that many Tucsonans would flee the city due to fears that Davis-Monthan AFB and nearby Fort Huachuca are on the Soviet's target lists. Phoenix would also experience some level of "panic" due to Luke AFB. There's also a really big nuclear power plant here somewhere (I'm not sure where it is).

I'd wager that people with the wherewithawl would pull up stakes and go someplace perceived while those without the resources to do so would probably stay put and hope for the best.

Dealing with refugees from Tucson and Phoenix is one of the biggest parts of Thunder Empire. Much of the farm labor in SAMAD comes from these sources. Tucson refugees go home, for the most part. Phoenicians really never go home. Law and order begin to break down promptly in Phoenix, although the federal government tries to provide support to keep key defense industries in Metro Phoenix open. (A good example of this is the Apache plant) Most of the refugees in camps within the future boundaries of SAMAD as of January 1998 are put to work in return for their rations and shelter.

I absolutely agree that people with the means leave. However, previous refugee crises provide something of an experience base for the American public. I’ll talk more about the Alarm (July, 1997) once I finish writing my piece on pulses. Fewer people simply stream into the countryside in late 1997 than would be the case in a cold-start nuclear exchange. Many have had the chance to think things through and make some arrangements. I’m not saying the US becomes a survivalist nation—not at all. But a significant slice of the pie thinks things through and makes some preparations for themselves.

Webstral