Jack of Harts

Dyess Air Force Base suffered from the same desertions that most other federal military bases did when the federal government began to fracture around the new President. His final budget slashed the funding Dyess AFB received, and without pay many of the personnel chose to simply go home and take what they could with them. That did not include large assets like aircraft, but many small arms and supplies disappeared before Dyess AFB managed to secure itself from internal dissent. Their commanding officer chose to side with Texas, and that caused more people who did not wish to betray their country to leave. A majority of the pilots remained on base, as did nearly all of the local support structure, but many of their highly-qualified technicians chose to go home for good and never come back. That would greatly reduce the number of aircraft Dyess AFB could maintain in flying condition, no matter how much money Texas sent them to recoup the lost federal funding.