Marine Corps Air Station Yuma weathered the drug cartel attacks far better than those who aimed the cartels at them expected. Yuma did not know who could have managed it, but they smelled a rat. Yuma was far away from most things important, so they suspected someone had targeted them for destruction. The question was “why?” The first question, that is. There were many other questions, and it galvanized them to look for other ways to survive. The new President was not going to help them, so they began sounding out the Arizona State government. Arizona was already talking to Texas on matters of regional self-defense, and they roped Yuma into the discussion. Yuma’s commander was clear on the point that they were United States Marines, and were not interested in joining whatever Texas was cooking up. But if Texas was getting ready to shoot up the drug cartels, Yuma would deploy everything they could fly in support of that operation.