Looking for Suggestions

[kato13]

Webstral 01-16-2004, 08:23 PM I'm looking for some input, gentlemen. There are some great minds out there, and I'm hoping a few of you might be willing to suggest some ideas.


I've been doing a little work on my southern Arizona concept. I have a new name for the area controlled by Fort Huachuca: Southern Arizona Military Administrative District, or SAMAD. By early 1998, the area under Huachuca's control includes Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz Counties. After the initial active campaigning of the Second Mexican-American War settles down in late 1998, the CG of Huachuca forms SAMAD.


Anyway, I have been thinking about the social arrangements. I have done some research on semi-arid agriculture, and I am confident that enough food can be grown in SAMAD with the right techniques. I even have figured out how the knowledge is acquired through the invention of the Contingency Detachment, which uses the 1995-1997 timeframe to conduct research and limited trials in southeastern Arizona to test the various agricultural and water-saving techniques. I have given SAMAD the time it needs to get organized by having the Pentagon's Contingency Planning Division (CPD) get cozy with Huachuca in 1996 and provide a host of equipment and supplies. Among the supplies are 100 million MREs, which can feed nearly 275,000 people one MRE for one year.


What I haven't figured out is how the social structure will work in SAMAD. Not in real detail, anyway. One of the cornerstones of the food production will be a form of agriculture called run-off agriculture. The farmer digs a very shallow pit at or near the bottom of a short slope. Rain, when it occurs, runs down the slope and into the pit. This provides the mainstay of water for the crops grown in this pit. There are several kinds of drought-tolerant grains being grown this way in Africa today. The north-south valley running from Sierra Vista (technically, from the border with Mexico) to Interstate 10 has a pretty good topography for this kind of agriculture.


The problem with which I'm wrestling is one of social structure. The land has to be cleared (of chaparral and other hardy scrub) and tilled. Who exactly is going to be doing this? I have always figured that refugees would do much of this. People will come pouring out of Phoenix, which pretty much meets its end as a metropolis in summer 1998. People will be displaced by fires in Tucson, even though the city itself will survive. But what will the social arrangement be? For the time being (in December 1997 and early 1998), it may be sufficient to divide the land up and assign people a plot of land by fiat. This may not be a viable long-term solution. Once SAMAD stabilizes in 1998 and 1999, refugees aren't necessarily going to be compliant with what amounts to a communal arrangement.


How do the people learn their new farming skills? Where do the farm implements come from? Who is assigned what plot of land? Who digs, who sows, and who reaps? Or does each new farmer do all the work on his/her own little plot of land? Where do these people sleep at night? (Or rather, where do they sleep during the day? No one should have to work under the summer sun of southern Arizona.)


There will be other food issues, too. Among the principal sources of food will be mesquite beans and wild meat. Who gathers the beans? Who hunts? How are these products redistributed? And what about the ranchers? There are cattle and horses in SAMAD. Both commodities will be of enormous value to Fort Huachuca. How is ownership of the land and the herds handled?


There's the water, too. Huachuca comes up with a scheme to shape the land and save as much water as possible. Cisterns are created everywhere. Throughout SAMAD, ditches and canals will direct the run-off water into areas where they can be saved. Some of this water will need to be redistributed to the run-off farms during the long dry season. This is an enormously labor-intensive process. How does this work?


In short, the whole social infrastructure has been torn apart in southern Arizona as elsewhere in the United States. How does Huachuca keep the peace, organize the people, get some people onto the land to farm it, others to gather wild produce, and get the stuff of life to these people? How are decisions made about who will do what work? Huachuca and Tucson become industrial centers. How do people get into here? The real saving grace is that the 111th MI Brigade, Tucson Police Dept., and 355th Wing (Davis-Monthan AFB) control the food, the fuel, and the water for the major population centers of southeastern Arizona. With the addition of the MREs at Huachuca, there's enough food to keep everybody fed for about a year. Thus MG Thomason, CG of Fort Huachuca, has the means to enforce his will throughout SAMAD--at least in the short term.


Any ideas you gentlemen may have would be most welcome.


Webstral

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Matt Wiser 01-17-2004, 03:59 AM 355th Wing would have deployed with Wing HQ and two of four A-10 squadrons. The other two have a RTU (replacement training unit) function. Same for the ANG's 162nd Fighter Wing at Tuscon IAP with F-16s: the UAE's F-16 drivers are there now learning the Viper. 162nd has two squadrons: one for RTU, the other for combat and is deployable. Add to that an AFRES CSAR unit with HH-60s, the Army's AH-64 factory acceptance pilots at Mesa (where McAir now Boeing has the AH-64 factory), and the 161st Air Refueling Wing at Sky Harbor IAP in Phoenix, if they haven't deployed or gone off to support SIOP once that comes into play.

(The AFRES guys might have deployed or stayed to provide local SAR for the A-10 training squadrons)

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Webstral 01-17-2004, 01:07 PM The aircraft and their direct support crews will be gone, but the base command, cadre, and supporting personnel will remain at DMAFB. I'm not sure how many caretakers there would be, along with whatever serviceable units that hadn't deployed as of Thanksgiving 1997. I doubt the remnants of 355th Wing at DMAFB would reach 1,000 personnel; however, I strongly doubt the base would be emptied and left as a ghost town--at least before the bombs drop.


However, everything you've said supports one of my basic theses regarding the Second Mexican-American War: there are virtually no combat aircraft operational in southern Arizona come June 1998.


Webstral

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Matt Wiser 01-17-2004, 06:42 PM You're forgetting the two A-10 RTU and one ANG F-16 RTU squadrons.

Not to mention the AH-64 acceptance drivers at the Mesa factory. There should be a few birds there that didn't get delivered. The air base personnel assigned to the base and AMARC aren't deployable, but 355th and the EC-130 squadron there would go.

The ANG KC-135 squadron at Phoenix Sky Harbor probably had either deployed overseas or stayed to support SIOP. Once that order gets issued, the KC-135s scatter to the winds supporting SAC. Base personnel, though, would stay. A few Apaches and a half-dozen flyable A-10s and F-16s might be left, plus the Hueys assigned to the Army base for base support and SAR.

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pyro 01-23-2004, 12:39 PM Webstral I've enjoyed the work that you've done. It is well thought out and logical and of course plausibly filling in gaps. Here are a few ideas that I've been kicking around.


The social structure in SAMAD I suspect would be dynamic as the different parties involved sorted themselves out. One question that I have is: "How does the civilian/military interface work?" I can see this would prove to be quite challenging since most civilians have little or no experience with the military mind set and the idea of obeying orders because an officer/NCO said so wouldn't go very well.

A possibility is using police officers and Firefighters to help bridge the gap, since they both are quasi-military organizations.


In Dec '98 and early '99 refugees would provide the bulk of the labor for the run off agriculture. However I would expect that there would be a stiff learning curve for those applying the new agricultural techniques.


During the 1995-97 time frame the CD along with the extension service personnel would have to figure out some way to train people. Somehow a cadre of trained/experienced people would have to be trained and taught how to teach. (Something that is easier said than done.) This would also apply to getting the needed tools, equipment and seed. This might be accomplished by the CD getting cozy with the Pentagon's CPD. This might also be accomplished through the Extension Service but they would have far fewer resources to bring to the table.


My experience with our local extension service is they age a great resource for knowledge and sometimes very specialized knowelge but your are on your own as far as equipment is concerned.


The local farming community would have to be convinced to "buy in" to these new techniques. They would be a group that could/would be invaluable to SAMAD. However IRL farmers are a stubborn, change resistant bunch that would have real heartburn about "giving up their land" and even more so about having to "share" their farm equipment. Another issue is farm equipment is expensive, maintenance intensive and usually requires some skill to use effectively. However the farmers that buy into the concept of SAMAD would bring their equipment, knowledge and skills which would be extremely valuable.


Another group that SAMAD would have to bring into the fold is the ranching community. If the farmers are difficult to deal with the ranchers are more so (I make this statement from personal experience with local farmers/ranchers). Their cooperation would be important from the onset but especially when motor fuels become scarce. Cattle would provide protein for the population to supplement the other food sources. The hides would be valuable for leather.


The available horses could/would be a valuable resource for SAMAD to utilize. Those with horses would be reluctant to allow just anyone access to them. Both cattle and horses are not the easiest creatures to raise. Then training horses is another problem in and of itself. I live in a rural area where having livestock is a way of life. I can count on one hand the number of "horse trainers" locally who can do it and produce a quality animal. I imagine that people with these type of skills would be highly sought after by SAMAD and courted accordingly.


Perhaps the Arizone Stockmens Association (or equivalent) would be availabe to help ease the transition.


Hopefully this helps some.

pyro out.

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