Chico and the DC Group addressed the demobilization issue essentially by claiming it wouldn't happen. We've had lengthy discussions about characters' motivations for staying versus leaving. We need to bear in mind that there is no precedent for the circumstances US military personnel find when they get home. Crispy as these critters are likely to be, they aren't going to get out of the service, go home, and sit by the window and drink for a year. As the first sergeant in the v1 rules remarks, this is worse than the A Shau (sp?) because this is everywhere. Where exactly do the demobilized types think they are going to go, and how exactly do they think they are going to get there?
All that said, I could see Milgov offering transport to New Jersey (thanks for bringing that up). Tens of thousands of relatively young and fit Americans who possess a variety of skills desperately needed by the society have a value beyond calculation. Let's be honest, too: the ones who do get out can expect to be drafted into the local militia wherever they go.
Paul, I agree that the propaganda machine will be working overtime to get as many to stay as possible. These people are gold. Thomason of Fort Huachuca would love to get his hands on five hundred of them, but even I can’t imagine any way for that to happen. Deserters from Division Cuba have a better chance of reaching southern Arizona than OMEGA troops.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adm.Lee
One of my inspirations is the soldier colonies the Romans used to pay off their veterans: you get land, but promise to keep your arms clean in case we need you (or your son, as the case may be).
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Essentially, this means being “demobilized” into a reservist. This could be an okay deal. The chance to find a place in a surviving Milgov enclave, meet a woman, and worry about mundane things like getting enough to eat might be very attractive to veterans from Europe.
The idea of transporting veterans from Europe, addressed here and there in Howling Wilderness, brings up some questions. We know from Howling Wilderness that some veterans reach 78th ID in New Jersey. We know some reach the Milgov command along the middle Mississippi. This fact rather strongly implies that the Navy still has some ability to move men and supplies along the Atlantic and Gulf seaboards. I’ve always felt that the description of movement to New London, CT in The Last Submarine was overly dramatic. Fuel oil for small warships might be short, but surely the Navy would have gotten in the habit of “drafting” sailing vessels of all sizes fairly promptly after the TDM. Dropping a dozen men along the coast can’t be that hard for a sailing vessel (depending, of course, on the coast in question).
The foregoing makes me think that the Navy must be maintaining a number of its bases along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts as defended way stations, if we are to believe that traffic from Norfolk can reach Arkansas with any degree of reliability. There are some interesting implications in all of this. The Sea Lord of Jacksonville seems that much more of a problem in this light. He who can interdict sea traffic between the mid-Atlantic states and the Gulf is in a position to very seriously affect the future of the nation. Hm. Traditionally, I’ve thought of the Sea Lord as an interesting creation of no real consequence. Suddenly, I’m seeing him as a major threat in need of being dealt with. Perhaps we know what the first mission will be for those Omegamen who stay in the service.