A Thunder Empire Snippet

[Webstral]

“Bring in as many goddamned Mexican whores as you can round up—and hope to hell our boys marry a few of them along the way! Better yet, hide the rubbers!”

Command Sergeant Major Holland, the senior NCO at Fort Huachuca in early 1998, was later criticized for what some would call a “crude, crass, misogynistic and racist epithet.” However, it is noteworthy that almost immediately after the post command sergeant major made his remark, Major General Thomas, post commander at the time, began organizing regular social events in which the single soldiers of the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade, had opportunities to mix with young and unattached civilians—many of whom were Mexican nationals. A few such events even involved young women from refugee camps in the area. 1

Holland had good reason to want his young men to marry. In the aftermath of the November nuclear exchange, morale among the soldiers of the 111th Brigade and among the garrison troops at Ft. Huachuca had plummeted. Losses to desertion and suicide topped combat losses from December through June, 1998—despite periods of heavy combat following the attack and during the remainder of the winter. The riflemen on the line had been MI soldiers going through their Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Huachuca when the exchange literally ended their world. The overwhelming majority of these soldiers were single and younger than twenty-five. Most of them would never see their families again. Holland knew his soldiers had to re-grow roots quickly.

At Holland’s urging, Thomas expedited the marriage and citizenship process. Housing rules were changed so that a soldier could move his in-laws and any other members of his wife’s nuclear family into government housing. The change in rules was clearly directed towards soldiers who wanted to marry a refugee—American or Mexican national—who was accompanied by her parents and other family members.

In short order, the new rules spawned controversy in the pre-existing on-post community. Many objected to the “Mexification” of the post. In fact, large numbers of single soldiers who survived the first few months after the exchange found themselves attractive and desperate Mexican and Mexican-American women who moved into their new quarters with their families. Certainly, many of the new brides were too young to marry under pre-exchange Arizona or federal law. Equally certainly, the post and Sierra Vista absorbed a very substantial influx of people who spoke English as a second language or not at all. Nevertheless, Thomas, who was determined to halt the steady stream of losses to desertion and suicide among his junior enlisted soldiers as well as build the long-term viability of the force, ruthlessly moved to crush dissent among the pre-war families on-post. The uniformed family members would follow orders. Non-uniformed members of the on-post community would fall in line or get out. Junior enlisted troops who were in the field risking their lives for the safety of the on-post community would not be denied their opportunity for a family life to satisfy the prejudice of those they protected. It was a clear line in the sand, and no one chose to cross it. They were, after all, still eating.

Low-level tensions of a predictable nature continued through the start of the Second Mexican-American War. Following the Mexican invasion at the beginning of June, there was a brief security flap during which many of the new families were accused of being enemy agents. For the most part, however, the new military families proved exemplary in their devotion to the post and the Huachuca community. Newly Mexican-American wives and in-laws worked tirelessly alongside their pre-war counterparts and the post’s contingent of EPWs (Enemy Prisoners of War) digging fortifications, hauling materials, delivering ammunition, tilling new fields, and tending crops. Many of the new families had superior farming knowledge compared to the pre-war families. Many new family members possessed mechanical skills that were immediately useful on-post. Virtually all were willing to work very hard indeed to help their new support network survive. By the time major operations had come to a halt in early September, 1998, the new families had become an accepted part of the military community.

CSM Holland got his way. The first children of the post-exchange marriages were born in the last quarter of 1998. Significantly, the Huachuca-Tucson cantonment area was the only location in the American Southwest where, for the next several years, children were being born at anything like the pre-war rate. Many would grow up speaking English and Spanish.

1. Although females made up nearly 20% of the MI soldiers-turned-infantry in the months leading up to the Second Mexican-American War, female soldiers did not seem to have the same difficulties in meeting available men as male soldiers did in meeting available women. The social mixers were therefore principally tailored towards putting male soldiers and female civilians together.


Webstral