You can see this already happening in The Last Submarine Trilogy - i.e. the movement of personnel to get the reactor going in the Colorado Springs area was accomplished by MilGov and then they sent some of those personnel to help get the Corpus Christi back to operational status
One thing that the GDW designers ignored in many ways to get this country back on its feet was how much coal is available in the US - i.e. where is a big effort to get steam engines back up and running for transport or the use of coal to generate electricity? A lot of the Northeast still runs on coal powered stations as does West Virgina and other areas. And there are enough steam locomotives left in this country at various tourist railroads (almost none of which are near nuclear targets) to get transport going again.
And many engines at museums could be made operational again - when we did Allegheny Uprising we were transported to our start point by a steam engine that had been brought back into operation from the PA Railroad Museum, that had several 50 cals and two 105mm cannons installed on two armored gondola cars to defend it. (and did so when we ran into marauders near York)
They concentrate too much on alcohol and nuclear and sort of forget natural gas and coal which the US has in abundance. I.e. where is the effort to convert ships back to burning coal instead of oil? Alcohol is a terrible way to propel a ship but coal will work just fine.
|