March 21, 1998
Hundreds of thousands of refugees have arrived in the Pittsburgh area from across the mountains, from as far away as New York City and the communities around what is left of Washington DC. Many have come all that way on foot, travelling from refugee camp to refugee camp, alone or in bands numbering a few tens or hundreds. Others come from the west. No authority in the town of Erie has any control and the limited services that had been functioning break down as the population of nearly three million taxes the available resources. There are riots over food and shelter, but there is none to be had.
Unofficially,
The nuclear-powered cruiser USS Virginia links up with the slow-moving AFRICOM reinforcement convoy in the mid-Atlantic.
Troops of the 82nd Airborne Division's 4th Battalion, 325th Infantry surround a band of Soviet deserters and their Iranian allies that have been terrorizing traffic on the vital Kazerun-Shiraz road through the Zagros Mountains. The bandits respond with a heavy volume of fire, so the American paratroops position their forces out of small-arms range and pummel the surrounded marauders with mortar fire.
US and Kenyan authorities deploy their limited resources to relief in flood-ravaged areas and securing Kenya's borders against additional refugee pressure from disorder to its north.
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I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
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