Don't have my "Into the Howling Wilderness" yet...

[WallShadow]

What about taking a page from Allegheny Uprising? Mammoth Cave is about 40-50 miles straight down I-65 from Ft. Knox. Gov't misinformation about checking the caves out as shelters but finding growing instability in the rock structure. You'd have lots of geeky-nerdy guys with headlamps and seismic sensors and technical trucks going back and forth all day for a month, finally resulting in the cave being "closed until further notice due to severe cave-in danger". Add several loud crashing rockfalls, "killing" and "injuring" several investigators (good wound moulage and lots of screaming/moaning as they are loaded into ambulances) and obscuring the entrance from within, and you have a place that people can't/won't want to get into.

[Legbreaker]

The 194th only left Ft Know in August 1999. It seems safe to say that up until this point they were jointly tasked (along with dedicated civilian and/or military personnel) with protecting the depository.

Therefore, why would it need to be moved any earlier than August 1999?

What do we know about the protective units of the depository? Sure it can't rely solely on the local military units? Sure there must be members of the treasury there? Perhaps this dedicated force was deemed sufficient to protect the depository against what was expected to be no more than local marauders and refugees? Remember that an organised threat in the form of NA didn't show up until 15 months later.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

What about taking a page from Allegheny Uprising? Mammoth Cave is about 40-50 miles straight down I-65 from Ft. Knox.

Takes a LOT of trucks to shift the gold, not to mention forklifts and the like. I like the deception plan idea, but just can't see ANYONE mustering the sort of transportation required. Barges perhaps, but you still need to get the gold across land to the river, the barges to wherever they're going, then the gold off the barges, back onto trucks, trains, whatever and into a secure storage facility(s).

Perhaps a better plan might be to deceive any observers into thinking the gold was moved - would probably require less vehicles, less people, and certainly less engineering work at the other end.

Even just spreading the rumour that the 194th loaded up their trucks when they headed out in August 99 might be enough to shift attention away.

[HorseSoldier]

Gold or no, 194th probably has access to some amount of rail rolling stock that they could use to move equipment back and forth to the port of Louisville, unless conditions in the city were completely out of control. I'd guess they work pretty hard at moving their AFVs by rail or water to save on wear and tear (and because I doubt they have a great supply of HETs available).

[Legbreaker]

Very true, where possible any unit will be using rail or water to transport their heavy equipment - tank tracks wear out and in 2000 they certainly don't grow on trees. Much more fuel economical too I believe.

There may not be a lot of diesel electric engines left laying about in working order (emp if nothing else would have fried them), but there's a handful of steam locomotives still about, or a conventional truck tractor may be converted to run on rails - once it's moving apparently it doesn't take a lot to keep a train going.