The Republic of Texas

by on May 26, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Dyess Air Force Base was a pure Air Force Base when the Second Great Depression came upon us all. It had not been transferred to the Space Force as some bases had, and though some of its aircraft certainly did brush the edges of atmosphere at times, their mission was purely terrestrial, and as such it was still an Air Force Base at the time. Its primary duties were twofold. The first was airlifting cargo and troops all around the world with the century-old C-130 Hercules aircraft that still performed the job better than every attempted replacement. The second was bombing America’s enemies into the stone age all over the world with the newest and most expensive B-21 Raider stealth bombers. Though the half-century old B-1B Lancers had outlasted all estimates of their service life and continued to serve at Dyess AFB. Both of those ancient airframes would prove to be an important and decisive advantage for America in the months and years of the Second Great Depression and the other difficulties that surrounded it.

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The Show Must Go On

by on May 25, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

We’ve built the greatest show on Earth.

Now we’ve had our two weeks of staying at home to blunt the curve of this virus and keep our hospitals from being overloaded.

We’ve had a couple more months of rather draconian lock down orders from some of the State governors that have crippled large parts of our show. The price of meat has nearly doubled because the packers can’t get what they have to market, while the farmers are taking a loss selling their cows to the packers. Dairy farmers are dumping milk and eggs because they can’t sell them to the dairies, but milk and eggs are rationed at the store because the distribution chain is reeling. Hospitals are laying off their staff because nobody is coming for life-saving treatments.

We’ve built the greatest show on Earth, and we’ve fed billions of people on this planet with it. And right now, certain elements in the government seem determined to shut it down, while others are only worried about what they can loot out of it while they have the chance.

I get it. We have a virus flying around right now that will kill you given the right situation. The elderly. Those with other life-threatening conditions. We’ve got some anti-viral drugs that seem to help based on what doctors say, but certain people say we shouldn’t use them. Now here’s the thing. Whether or not we use those anti-virals against this virus or not, the key is to protect those who are most vulnerable to this virus. Keep it away from them. We shouldn’t be sending patients with it to hang out at old folks homes where they can pass it off to others and kill tens of thousands of our most vulnerable.

And people wonder why I don’t trust the government.

Now we’ve been harried by this virus for six months, give or take a month or two depending on which timeline you look at. We’ve learned a LOT about it since the Chinese and WHO misinformation campaign got well and truly ignored by everybody with a brain. We know what kills it. We know how to keep others from getting it. We’ll learn more as time goes on, but I trust the majority of my fellow citizens to know what to do to minimize the chances of further transfer.

Winter is coming, and if we don’t get our harvest well and truly harvested, if we don’t get our meat and our poultry and our dairy flowing again, people will starve. If we don’t get our hospitals working again, people will die of utterly preventable diseases.

We’ve built the greatest show on Earth.

Now the show must go on.

Or millions will live, or perhaps die, to regret it in the months to come.

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The Republic of Texas

by on May 24, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Fort Polk helped to forge the West Louisiana we know today. When the Second Great Depression shattered New Orleans and the drug cartels ravaged Texas, Fort Polk aided those parishes that needed help and supported the National Guard forces that helped hold law and order together during the crazy times. And considering this was Louisiana, things could get very crazy indeed. Soldiers from Fork Polk joined Texas to attack the drug cartels in Mexico, and they sent their own representatives to stand with Texas during the Convention of States that assembled after the Drug Wars came to an end. West Louisiana became a recognized State soon thereafter, and shortly joined the Republic of Texas as a full Member State. Most historians credit this relatively easy path for West Louisiana to the direct influence of Fort Polk and the thousands of soldiers that stayed with her during the Second Great Depression.

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The Republic of Texas

by on May 23, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Fort Polk was home to a joint service training center, two major infantry formations, and a major support hospital when the Second Great Depression struck. The desertions that became a daily occurrence in the federal military greatly reduced their manpower, and cost them many supplies, but United States Army bases boasted impressive amounts of material in those days. They were designed to survive Acts of God and the end of Civilization as we knew it. So when New Orleans fell into chaos, the parishes of western Louisiana looked to Fort Polk for aid. Fort Polk was quick to answer, and helped the areas around them as best they could. Which was a great deal as it happened.

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The Republic of Texas

by on May 22, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Fort Polk was one of the larger United States Army bases when the Second Great Depression began. Situated in the middle of western Louisiana, not far from the Old Texas border, it trained and sustained over ten thousand soldiers, though widespread desertions greatly reduced that number. They still had enough men to secure the area, and as Louisiana fell into more and more chaos, the western parishes looked to the neighboring Texas counties for mutual support and cooperation. Fort Polk did not initially follow their lead, but as the new President’s orders became more and more divorced from reality, they would eventually break from the chain of command and turn their support to what would in time become West Louisiana.

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