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Be sure to read this post! Beware of scammers. https://www.indianagunowners.com/threads/classifieds-new-online-payment-guidelines-rules-paypal-venmo-zelle-etc.511734/
Together Again - Buildup to a disaster
- Thread starter longbow
- Start date
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, that was great. You've got real talent. I'll drop a line 'upstairs' tonight for the mrs.
"I take it you have never been around pigs in a transport trailer..........."
Nope. No plan to, either.
Nope. No plan to, either.
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grunt soldier
Master
good update sir. thanks
Copyright, Longbow Entertainment a Division of Upland
Moonlight during this full moon was bright, but at the moon rise, it was still an off color. The chickens were making noise as the moon came up. Stupid chickens!
“They will eat anything” laughed one of the kids up in the loft. “They even will eat dog poop. I think our garbage problems are solved.” The pigs were happy in the new pen. Scraps of stale corn bread and corn bread mush were the first leftovers tossed to them. They were happy to eat something better than the horse feed and dog food, if pigs knew what being happy was.
A dangerous night time walk to the southern neighbors was put together at the last minute with the bright full moon. Two of the squad radios were being taken to them so we could talk with them. The team was made up of two of the ladies and one of the men set out for the trek. The base FRS was used to alert them a few night time visitors were coming and they clicked back they were ready for us.
The warming and improving weather brought new hazards. Dogs and coyotes were showing up in larger numbers and it was only a matter of time before humans and hungry dogs crossed paths. Several could be heard yipping it up in the distance.
Four hours later, the three returned with baby pictures on an iphone and praise for the night time walk down the gravel and paved roads. They even had a chance to use the new night vision scope that was in the packages. With good news comes bad news, and our baby making southern neighbors had a brief video for us to watch. Several of us watched it at 6 am, and the rest had seen it by 8 am.
The iphone video started out “Morning! Hope you will share all your new goodies with us. We will even trade you some move food if you’d like.” The camera was passed around to one of the ladies after showing the space baby let out a big smile. “All of the damaged trees from the great freeze and the broken branches from the ice storm are going to be a fire hazard very soon. When the weather gets dry, it will not take much and the whole area will burn. We need to build fire breaks and remove as much of this tinder as we can. One small fire and a windy day, and everything we have worked on will be gone”
None of us even thought about forest fires!
More talk on supply status, general comments to family members up north and the conversation shifted back to fire prevention. “Our plan is cut down every tree within 300 feet of any of our buildings. That should protect us from any fast moving wild fire. Several hours each day, will remove and stack broken limbs and twigs in an expanding zone away from our place. The larger branches and fallen trees will be salvaged for firewood. The smaller twigs will be burned or left to compost for future gardens. We think it would be best if you all did the same.”.
At lunch the plan for cutting down the trees and removing the twigs and branches was ready. Any tree within 200 feet will be cut down, cut up and removed. Between 200 and 300 feet, the big trees will stay, but the lower branches will be trimmed. All the trash and smaller trees will be removed. The usable wood will be stacked and the smaller braches will be burned. Each day more will be cleared till the fire load from the west is removed. Something else was noticed as we planned the project. Our field of fire will increase and security from any raid with be enhanced with this effort.
Two chainsaws, 4 bow saws and 5 axes are all we have for the job. Picking up broken limbs and sticks can be done without tools. Even the kids can make wood piles with sticks and branches. When the safe zone is cleared, we can spend more time doing it right farther away from base. The wood pickers made short work of clearing anything that could burn close to the structures. When the wind dies down, the twig piles will be burned one at a time.. Everyone will have a fire watch duty till the combustibles are gone from the safe zone.
The chain saws were held back for the big limbs. Right now, the down and dirty clearing was the main effort. We had joked about zombies, mutant bikers or drug crazed college kids raiding us, but the threat from fire was real and building every day we did not act. Several of the ladies even had some ideas for exterior spring cleaning. By dusk, 6 piles were smoking and when the burn piles were out, firewood would be stored on these spots. Nothing would grow on the burnt earth before winter and the firewood needs a place to dry out. The days of storing firewood against the house were over.
Dinner almost didn’t happen. Our sorry groups of ash covered survivors were just too tired to cook up a proper meal. Everyone smelled bad, but no one could tell. The last few who got a bath from the hot water tub were the only ones that smelled to the newly clean. Not a soul had a problem falling asleep. Even the OP’s had short shifts for fear of falling asleep on duty. The only late night movement was a deer walking across a small stream by the bridge. Miles up, three planes in close formation headed west. The flashing lights could be seen and the sound of the engines was miles behind them. 4 hours later 2 more planes were spotted going the same way. More planes were seen in one night than we spotted in weeks.
Dayton called on the radio before sunrise. “Two helicopters are inbound and will arrive by late morning. Pop green smoke for the landing site”. They were warned not to expect too much of a welcome since we were all universally tired. “Roger” was all Dayton replied.
I went looking for the case with the smoke flares. Found the one marked green and set up a chair to waited for them to show up. 70 minutes later, I heard the two birds come in high and slow. They were grey in color this time and landed at the left and right of the smoke flare I tossed into the field. Both crews were more casual than the last crew I met. The helicopter on the left, the crew opened service doors and unloaded the boxes and crates. “More gifts from the government” was my only comment to them. They both laughed and said, “does anyone here know how to fly this”? That caught me by surprise.
The other crews had stacked the boxes far away and were drinking cokes when I walked over to them. “Hello and we are going to need to talk with all of you in about an hour. Two hours from now, four more helicopters will be arriving” said the commander. “We all need to work together to quickly unload them.”
The meeting took about 5 minutes and the commander had everyone’s attention the entire time. He thanked us for our help and said it was just a formality anyways. We knew we couldn’t hide forever.
Carrie made notes from the talk so we could be reminded of the changes. Newborns to the oldest adult, are now part of the Marine reserves. By emergency order of the President all living Americans were part of the service. We were the protectorate of the nation and not officially “drafted” but our service was needed for the defending and rebuilding. Everyone was free to live and rebuild, but in times of a national emergency, would could be called to defend the nation.
That time of the national emergency is now, and all hands are needed on deck. Every man, woman and child over the age of 13 shall be issued a rifle, pistol and combat gear to be ready at a moment’s notice to defend the nation.
The laws have not been changed, but the resources to deal with the lawbreakers do not exist. Lawbreakers will be dealt swift justice until the crisis has passed. That was all that was given on how to enforce the laws of the land.
No one asked not to be part of the group. Even the kids thought the idea of a child soldier was exciting. Several were unhappy they had a few years to wait before being issued weapons. However, they were told they would still be taught to shoot and blow stuff up, so they were not that heartbroken.
The new supplies were relocated to a safe area within 20 minutes and then we milled about. Right on time the choppers arrived and shut down the engines. When the rotors stopped moving all the new Marines helped unload. Four Chinook helicopters can carry a significant amount of gear. By dinner we were more exhausted than any of us were from clearing branches from the burn zones.
The crews set up tents or slept in the birds. The plan was to leave at 9 am in the morning and head back to Dayton. One Blackhawk and one Chinook were to be left behind. Commander Brenda Higgins, was to remain behind and start the training on how to use all the supplies and gear we have been given. She stated it was low intensity training since we had already endured much. She joked, our basic training was much more difficult and extensive than the head games the Marines used. She noted some of us have that 5 mile stare, and she was going to help fine tune the warrior in us. Not so much to make us killers, but to prevent the stress from killing us. Heads nodded at her comments and she is just what we needed. After her talk, she introduced her husband Roger who would also be staying with us during the training. Both of them are experienced helicopter pilots and he was retired from the Marines for a whole two months before the disaster.
Our guests ran the OP’s so we could all rest. Two hard days of work, knocked us all down and sleep came easy. The smell of military chow in the morning woke everyone up, and by 8 am the place was a beehive of activity .
Moonlight during this full moon was bright, but at the moon rise, it was still an off color. The chickens were making noise as the moon came up. Stupid chickens!
“They will eat anything” laughed one of the kids up in the loft. “They even will eat dog poop. I think our garbage problems are solved.” The pigs were happy in the new pen. Scraps of stale corn bread and corn bread mush were the first leftovers tossed to them. They were happy to eat something better than the horse feed and dog food, if pigs knew what being happy was.
A dangerous night time walk to the southern neighbors was put together at the last minute with the bright full moon. Two of the squad radios were being taken to them so we could talk with them. The team was made up of two of the ladies and one of the men set out for the trek. The base FRS was used to alert them a few night time visitors were coming and they clicked back they were ready for us.
The warming and improving weather brought new hazards. Dogs and coyotes were showing up in larger numbers and it was only a matter of time before humans and hungry dogs crossed paths. Several could be heard yipping it up in the distance.
Four hours later, the three returned with baby pictures on an iphone and praise for the night time walk down the gravel and paved roads. They even had a chance to use the new night vision scope that was in the packages. With good news comes bad news, and our baby making southern neighbors had a brief video for us to watch. Several of us watched it at 6 am, and the rest had seen it by 8 am.
The iphone video started out “Morning! Hope you will share all your new goodies with us. We will even trade you some move food if you’d like.” The camera was passed around to one of the ladies after showing the space baby let out a big smile. “All of the damaged trees from the great freeze and the broken branches from the ice storm are going to be a fire hazard very soon. When the weather gets dry, it will not take much and the whole area will burn. We need to build fire breaks and remove as much of this tinder as we can. One small fire and a windy day, and everything we have worked on will be gone”
None of us even thought about forest fires!
More talk on supply status, general comments to family members up north and the conversation shifted back to fire prevention. “Our plan is cut down every tree within 300 feet of any of our buildings. That should protect us from any fast moving wild fire. Several hours each day, will remove and stack broken limbs and twigs in an expanding zone away from our place. The larger branches and fallen trees will be salvaged for firewood. The smaller twigs will be burned or left to compost for future gardens. We think it would be best if you all did the same.”.
At lunch the plan for cutting down the trees and removing the twigs and branches was ready. Any tree within 200 feet will be cut down, cut up and removed. Between 200 and 300 feet, the big trees will stay, but the lower branches will be trimmed. All the trash and smaller trees will be removed. The usable wood will be stacked and the smaller braches will be burned. Each day more will be cleared till the fire load from the west is removed. Something else was noticed as we planned the project. Our field of fire will increase and security from any raid with be enhanced with this effort.
Two chainsaws, 4 bow saws and 5 axes are all we have for the job. Picking up broken limbs and sticks can be done without tools. Even the kids can make wood piles with sticks and branches. When the safe zone is cleared, we can spend more time doing it right farther away from base. The wood pickers made short work of clearing anything that could burn close to the structures. When the wind dies down, the twig piles will be burned one at a time.. Everyone will have a fire watch duty till the combustibles are gone from the safe zone.
The chain saws were held back for the big limbs. Right now, the down and dirty clearing was the main effort. We had joked about zombies, mutant bikers or drug crazed college kids raiding us, but the threat from fire was real and building every day we did not act. Several of the ladies even had some ideas for exterior spring cleaning. By dusk, 6 piles were smoking and when the burn piles were out, firewood would be stored on these spots. Nothing would grow on the burnt earth before winter and the firewood needs a place to dry out. The days of storing firewood against the house were over.
Dinner almost didn’t happen. Our sorry groups of ash covered survivors were just too tired to cook up a proper meal. Everyone smelled bad, but no one could tell. The last few who got a bath from the hot water tub were the only ones that smelled to the newly clean. Not a soul had a problem falling asleep. Even the OP’s had short shifts for fear of falling asleep on duty. The only late night movement was a deer walking across a small stream by the bridge. Miles up, three planes in close formation headed west. The flashing lights could be seen and the sound of the engines was miles behind them. 4 hours later 2 more planes were spotted going the same way. More planes were seen in one night than we spotted in weeks.
Dayton called on the radio before sunrise. “Two helicopters are inbound and will arrive by late morning. Pop green smoke for the landing site”. They were warned not to expect too much of a welcome since we were all universally tired. “Roger” was all Dayton replied.
I went looking for the case with the smoke flares. Found the one marked green and set up a chair to waited for them to show up. 70 minutes later, I heard the two birds come in high and slow. They were grey in color this time and landed at the left and right of the smoke flare I tossed into the field. Both crews were more casual than the last crew I met. The helicopter on the left, the crew opened service doors and unloaded the boxes and crates. “More gifts from the government” was my only comment to them. They both laughed and said, “does anyone here know how to fly this”? That caught me by surprise.
The other crews had stacked the boxes far away and were drinking cokes when I walked over to them. “Hello and we are going to need to talk with all of you in about an hour. Two hours from now, four more helicopters will be arriving” said the commander. “We all need to work together to quickly unload them.”
The meeting took about 5 minutes and the commander had everyone’s attention the entire time. He thanked us for our help and said it was just a formality anyways. We knew we couldn’t hide forever.
Carrie made notes from the talk so we could be reminded of the changes. Newborns to the oldest adult, are now part of the Marine reserves. By emergency order of the President all living Americans were part of the service. We were the protectorate of the nation and not officially “drafted” but our service was needed for the defending and rebuilding. Everyone was free to live and rebuild, but in times of a national emergency, would could be called to defend the nation.
That time of the national emergency is now, and all hands are needed on deck. Every man, woman and child over the age of 13 shall be issued a rifle, pistol and combat gear to be ready at a moment’s notice to defend the nation.
The laws have not been changed, but the resources to deal with the lawbreakers do not exist. Lawbreakers will be dealt swift justice until the crisis has passed. That was all that was given on how to enforce the laws of the land.
No one asked not to be part of the group. Even the kids thought the idea of a child soldier was exciting. Several were unhappy they had a few years to wait before being issued weapons. However, they were told they would still be taught to shoot and blow stuff up, so they were not that heartbroken.
The new supplies were relocated to a safe area within 20 minutes and then we milled about. Right on time the choppers arrived and shut down the engines. When the rotors stopped moving all the new Marines helped unload. Four Chinook helicopters can carry a significant amount of gear. By dinner we were more exhausted than any of us were from clearing branches from the burn zones.
The crews set up tents or slept in the birds. The plan was to leave at 9 am in the morning and head back to Dayton. One Blackhawk and one Chinook were to be left behind. Commander Brenda Higgins, was to remain behind and start the training on how to use all the supplies and gear we have been given. She stated it was low intensity training since we had already endured much. She joked, our basic training was much more difficult and extensive than the head games the Marines used. She noted some of us have that 5 mile stare, and she was going to help fine tune the warrior in us. Not so much to make us killers, but to prevent the stress from killing us. Heads nodded at her comments and she is just what we needed. After her talk, she introduced her husband Roger who would also be staying with us during the training. Both of them are experienced helicopter pilots and he was retired from the Marines for a whole two months before the disaster.
Our guests ran the OP’s so we could all rest. Two hard days of work, knocked us all down and sleep came easy. The smell of military chow in the morning woke everyone up, and by 8 am the place was a beehive of activity .
grunt soldier
Master
it's getting serious folks 
Thanks Longbow.
Still praying for the Mrs.
Still praying for the Mrs.
I'll pass them on to her, they make her smile...Sadly things are not better a few days ago she was hospitalized again. She is home and between helping her, family stuff, work, and spring chores, I am feeling overwhelmed. Just working on time management skills i guess.
grunt soldier
Master
Sorry to hear that longbow. Prayers sent
Copyright, Longbow Entertainment a Division of Upland Hills
Brenda Higgins and Roger had a low key approach to training after breakfast. It was all talk the first day. They shared stories with us about what they knew about the great die off. They both grew up in Cleveland Ohio and very few people north of the line above Ft. Wayne Indiana survived the cold. Millions of frozen bodies are now starting to finally decompose. With that will be an explosion of flies and other bugs. In some area, the population of bugs was hit just as hard and many bodies are closer to mummies that rotting corpses. They have already seen their share of entire rooms filled with these types of dead. When water or humidity increases in these rooms and the bugs finally fine them, the normal process of decay will begin. Sadly, many were nodding heads, because we also have seen the dead in that condition.
“We love science fiction stories, so if you have any of the old paperback books, that would be great at passing some of our free time.” Roger also said he was reading a book on an attack on earth where the aliens were throwing asteroids at the Earth to get it to surrender. The book was called Footfall, and he forgot it back in Dayton. He wanted to know if we had a copy so he could find out how it ended. None of us had a copy.
Brenda shared a story about the loss of her children. Both were teenagers and died in a traffic accident rushing to the base housing back in Dayton. They were one of the millions who died that day when the world figured out how bad things were going to get. They were coming from her ex-husbands condo to seek safety at the base. A semi-truck T-boned the pickup and they died instantly. Very few people at the Dayton base escaped tragedy for the disaster. However, they at least knew what happened to them. Hundreds to this day do not have a clue what happened to family and friends.
Most shared stories back with Brenda and Roger. It was not new to any of us, but it brought the new group of to speed. They were most impressed with the spray foam upgrades done to the house, trailers and the special room under the house. It was no comfort that we have seen less death in our group than most places in the nation. A few more tears were shed again for those we lost.
The talk moved towards what they brought and what we will learn. Three 50 minute classes and an MRE late lunch were covered. Today the talk covered safety and what gear they have. Thankfully, our safety rules were very similar and they smiled. We smiled more when they were done reading the gear they brought.
Most of the gear was for us to talk to each other, tell us where we are, keep us alive or keep us safe. The grenade launchers and shaped charges were for something else. That is when they told us what we would be doing.
Brenda Higgins and Roger had a low key approach to training after breakfast. It was all talk the first day. They shared stories with us about what they knew about the great die off. They both grew up in Cleveland Ohio and very few people north of the line above Ft. Wayne Indiana survived the cold. Millions of frozen bodies are now starting to finally decompose. With that will be an explosion of flies and other bugs. In some area, the population of bugs was hit just as hard and many bodies are closer to mummies that rotting corpses. They have already seen their share of entire rooms filled with these types of dead. When water or humidity increases in these rooms and the bugs finally fine them, the normal process of decay will begin. Sadly, many were nodding heads, because we also have seen the dead in that condition.
“We love science fiction stories, so if you have any of the old paperback books, that would be great at passing some of our free time.” Roger also said he was reading a book on an attack on earth where the aliens were throwing asteroids at the Earth to get it to surrender. The book was called Footfall, and he forgot it back in Dayton. He wanted to know if we had a copy so he could find out how it ended. None of us had a copy.
Brenda shared a story about the loss of her children. Both were teenagers and died in a traffic accident rushing to the base housing back in Dayton. They were one of the millions who died that day when the world figured out how bad things were going to get. They were coming from her ex-husbands condo to seek safety at the base. A semi-truck T-boned the pickup and they died instantly. Very few people at the Dayton base escaped tragedy for the disaster. However, they at least knew what happened to them. Hundreds to this day do not have a clue what happened to family and friends.
Most shared stories back with Brenda and Roger. It was not new to any of us, but it brought the new group of to speed. They were most impressed with the spray foam upgrades done to the house, trailers and the special room under the house. It was no comfort that we have seen less death in our group than most places in the nation. A few more tears were shed again for those we lost.
The talk moved towards what they brought and what we will learn. Three 50 minute classes and an MRE late lunch were covered. Today the talk covered safety and what gear they have. Thankfully, our safety rules were very similar and they smiled. We smiled more when they were done reading the gear they brought.
Most of the gear was for us to talk to each other, tell us where we are, keep us alive or keep us safe. The grenade launchers and shaped charges were for something else. That is when they told us what we would be doing.
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