I think a lot of things are possible, provided the ref can offer some halfway decent explanation. As a non-appointed champion of the highly unlikely, I find it difficult to tell another designer that something can’t happen—especially when it comes to equipment ending up in unexpected places. For instance, some of the items that seem quite unlikely to be with a randomly-generated State Defense Force (SDF) might have their likelihood of encounter or availability adjusted to one chance in 100 instead of 1 chance in 10. I’ll try to give some examples from my own work to show how this might work out (when do I ever not quote myself?).
The Vermont State Guard, which in April 2001 is almost entirely contained within the Vermont State Guard Civil Defense Brigade (VSGCDB), basically drew its equipment from everything that was left by forces moved out of Vermont in mid-1998 in response to the situation in the Pacific Northwest and the American Southwest. Under orders from First US Army, regular forces in Vermont, along with Reserve and National Guard forces, took pretty much everything that wasn’t nailed down. First US Army took all of the AFV, all of the field artillery, all of the air defense weapons, almost all of the chemical gear, almost all of the commo gear, and so on. As a result, the Green Jackets [Rifle Regiment] use a mix of M16s, M14s, M1s, hunting rifles, and shotguns as personal weapons. The table rcaf generated would have to modified accordingly.
The Granite Brigade of the State of New Hampshire, on the other hand, has some home-brewed AFV available. Like Vermont, New Hampshire got left high and dry by First US Army’s efforts to find enough troops to keep the situations in the West under control in 1998. Consequently, the mix of small arms in the Granite Brigade is rather similar to that of the Green Jackets. However, the Granite Brigade was fortunate enough to have available a group with the right skills and an acting governor willing to lie, cheat, and steal with the best of the federal types. One won’t find any proper tanks, but there are some civilian armored cars concerted into gun trucks, some home-brewed MRL, and garage shop mortars mounted in the beds of pickup trucks.
The New Mexico State Guard, based in Santa Fe, actually has a few light AFV—a handful of which are actually working. The New Mexican AFV are of USAF and Mexican Army origin. During the 1998 campaign, USAF units withdrawing from the southern part of the state ended up leaving a number of inoperable vehicles in the hands of the New Mexican State Guard. Some USAF personnel ended up staying on with the NMSG rather than withdraw to Cannon AFB or other locations. In 1999, Third Mexican Army launched a supporting offensive in New Mexico aimed at knocking out Santa Fe and the surviving US forces there and destroying US forces at Cannon AFB. Third Mexican Army lacked the forces and the logistical base to achieve both objectives sequentially, much less simultaneously. However, the senior Mexican leadership was determined to offer decisive support to Mexican forces battling the US counteroffensives in Texas and California; therefore, the operation in New Mexico went forward. One of the outcomes was that Mexican forces withdrawing from Santa Fe and Cannon AFB left behind a number of inoperable AFV and some other equipment. As a result, the NMSG has a very limited quantity of heavy equipment not generally available to SDF.
The Arizona State Guard (AZSTAG) is in possession of a relative bounty of heavy gear by 2001 standards. Under the command of Fort Huachuca, 3rd AZSTAG Brigade uses a mix of H&K G3, FN MAG, and other small arms and infantry support weapons acquired from Mexican sources since 1998. The brigade has a small number of converted civilian armored cars available so that some armor remains in SAMAD when 111th Brigade begins extended full-scale operations in other parts of Arizona. 1st AZSTAG Brigade in Flagstaff inherited assault rifles, AGL, mortars, machine guns, and light AFV from USAF, US Army, and various police forces in Metro Phoenix that withdrew to Flagstaff when Luke AFB was overrun in 1998. Few of the AFV are operable, but the presence of a Cadillac Gage armored car with a 25mm autocannon has the desired effect on marauders in northern Arizona.
The Wyoming Rangers, which includes all personnel and equipment that would belong to an SDF, has almost nothing in the way of sophisticated military gear. Milgov took pretty much everything for itself, leaving the Rangers to patrol the lonely reaches of Wyoming on horseback with bolt action rifles.
My far-from-exhaustive list leaves plenty of room for differently-equipped units in the Midwest and the South. I thought it might be useful to talk about a couple of variations on SDF and how we might find a few with some heavier gear.
Webstral
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