Expatriates Page 28

  It was becoming clear that resistance was the strongest, the best organized, and the most successful in rural areas. Unable to wipe out the elusive guerrillas, the UN administration and their quislings began to concentrate on eliminating the guerrilla food supplies.

  The ProvGov’s army was bolstered by large numbers of soldiers from the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). In areas where resistance was rampant, “temporary detainment facilities” were constructed to house anyone thought to be politically unreliable. Special emphasis was placed on rounding up suspect farmers or ranchers, or anyone remotely connected with food distribution businesses. When farmers were put into custody, their crops were confiscated, plowed under, or burned. Bulk food stocks were carefully monitored by the authorities.

  Despite the ProvGov’s efforts, the guerrillas rapidly gained in numbers. As the war continued, resistance gradually increased beyond the UN’s ability to match it. Every new detainment camp spawned the formation of new resistance cells. Every reprisal or atrocity by the UN or federal forces pushed more of the populace and even federal unit commanders into active support for the guerrillas. Increasing numbers of commanders decided to “do the right thing” and abide by the Constitution. The decision to support the document rather than the Provisional Government’s power elite at Fort Knox was becoming widespread. Units as large as brigade size were parlaying with the guerrillas and turning over their equipment. In many instances the majority of their troops joined the resistance.

  County after county, and eventually state after state, came under the control of the resistance. The remaining loyal federal and UN units gradually retreated into Kentucky, Tennessee, and Southern Illinois. Most held out there until the early summer of the war’s fourth year. Militias and their allied “realigned” federal units relentlessly closed in on the remaining federal territory from all directions.

  Fort Knox, Kentucky—Early July, the Fourth Year

  The ProvGov collapsed following a fait accompli roundup that was led by rogue officers at Fort Knox. The UN flag was lowered and the Stars and Stripes were raised in a ceremony at a Fort Knox parade field on July Fourth.

  The UNPROFOR’s prison gates were opened, releasing tens of thousands of suspected resistance fighters and those who had been deemed “politically unreliable.” Only common criminals remained incarcerated, and each of their cases was carefully reviewed.

  The defeated armies were soon disarmed and demobilized. Apart from a few soldiers who were put on trial for war crimes, the rest of the U.S.-born soldiers were allowed to return to their homes by the end of August. The new interim Restoration of the Constitution Government (RCG) made it clear that if the “bounty” reparation payments stopped, the demob flights would stop.

  Maynard Hutchings committed suicide before his extradition process was completed. Most of his staff and a few divisional and brigade commanders were eventually extradited from Europe, given trials, and shot. Hundreds of lower-ranking military officers and local quislings were arrested and similarly put on trial. Sentences included head shavings and brandings. In a few rare cases, death sentences were given. Only a few UN troops who professed fear of retribution if they were returned to their home countries were granted asylum. Each of these individuals was given separate hearings by the RCG. Most of them eventually gained citizenship.

  The first elections since before the Crunch were held throughout the United States in the November following the federal surrender at Fort Knox. The Constitution Party and Libertarian Party candidates won in a landslide. A former Wyoming governor—a Libertarian—was elected president. Based on rough population estimates, the new House of Representatives had just ninety seats.

  To the Altmillers, the RCG represented a great hope for restoration of all that had been lost, even before the Crunch. Their prayer was that the RCG would usher in an era of minimalist government, negligible taxes, and maximum individual liberty. They also prayed that commerce would flourish, that honest money would prevail, and that the nepotistic relationship among the bankers, Wall Street, and Capitol Hill would not be repeated.

  50

  O CANADA

  “Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit, it matters not who makes the nation’s laws. Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of Parliament and of democracy is idle and futile.”

  —William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950), prime minister of Canada, 1935 speech

  Tavares, Florida—March, Eleven Years After the Crunch

  The Super Osprey II eight-passenger amphibian plane touched down on Lake Dora and taxied to the City of Tavares Seaplane Base. The breezy day made the water choppy. The Altmillers were waiting excitedly for them at the dock.

  It had been nine years since the families had seen each other face-to-face. Lance Altmiller was now nineteen years old. He had found part-time work in the local thrift store, moving and sorting boxes of donated household goods. He still lived at home with his parents. Sarah Jeffords was fifteen and had recently begun arguing with her mother about whether or not she could wear eye makeup. Peter and Rhiannon Jeffords were happy to be back in America, but Sarah felt as if she had left her home—and all of her friends—in Australia.

  The first thing Rhiannon said when she saw her sister was “Uggggh. You got old.”

  “You’ve got wrinkles, too, sis,” Janelle replied.

  “Well, we can count our blessings. At least you never got fat, and I got skinny and I stayed that way. And we all have our health.”

  Janelle nodded. “Yes, God is good.”

  Unloading their luggage was tricky, even with the amphibian plane pulled up on the gently sloped ramp. The Jeffords had brought seven suitcases, two Pelican pistol cases, and four Kolpin long gun cases. The six people and luggage were a tight squeeze in the two vehicles that the Altmillers had driven to the seaplane base.

  The conversations on the short drive to the Altmillers’ home focused on the Jeffords’ lengthy trip. They had taken flights on an Airbus A380 and a Boeing 747-8 to Miami, and then the charter in the smaller amphibian to Tavares. The men were in one vehicle, and the women in the other.

  When they reached the house, the day guard ushered them in. Their housekeeper, Elena, already had lunch prepared for them. The habana sandwiches and mojito salad were served with coffee and iced tea. Over lunch, the conversation quickly turned to their family in Bella Coola, British Columbia. Janelle and Rhiannon’s parents, Alan and Claire McGregor, were in their mid-seventies and still living at the ranch there.

  “There’s talk of outright resistance in Canada. Almost everyone has wanted the UN troops out for years,” Jake said emphatically.

  “I’ve already been praying about this. I suppose we’ll have to do something about Canada,” Peter said.

  “Do you suggest that we support the resistance or join it?” Jake asked.

  Peter sighed. “If not now, then when? And if not us, then who?”

  GLOSSARY

  000: The Australian emergency service phone number, called Triple Zero. The equivalent of 911 in the United States.

  10/22: A semiautomatic .22 rimfire rifle made by Ruger.

  1911: See M1911.

  2-D: Two-Dimensional.

  3-D: Three-Dimensional.

  .303 British: The British Commonwealth’s standard rimmed .30 caliber rifle cartridge from the 1890s to the 1950s. Also known as 7.7x56mmR. Used primarily in SMLE rifles and Bren light machine guns. It was replaced by 7.62 NATO with the adoption of the L1A1 rifle.

  5.56 NATO: The current standard rifle cartridge for NATO countries. Dimensionally, it is nearly identical to the .223 Remington but not completely interchangeable.

  7.62 NATO: The former standard rifle cartridge for NATO countries
. Still used in many NATO machine guns. Dimensionally, it is nearly identical to the .308 Winchester but not completely interchangeable.

  9/11: The terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, which took three thousand American lives.

  A572: A common structural steel.

  AAA: American Automobile Association.

  ABC: Depending on context: Australian Broadcasting Corporation or American Broadcasting Corporation.

  Abu Sayyaf: One of several militant Islamist separatist groups in the Philippines. Also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya. See also ASG and ILF.

  AC: Alternating Current.

  A/C: Air-Conditioning.

  ACP: Automatic Colt Pistol.

  ACU: Army Combat Uniform. The U.S. Army’s “digital” pattern camouflage uniform that replaced the BDU.

  ADF: Australian Defence Force.

  AFB: Air Force Base.

  AHRC: U.S. Army Human Resources Command. The current personnel management command for the entire U.S. Army, both Regular Army and U.S. Army Reserve. Formerly PERSCOM (U.S. Total Army Personnel Command) and AR-PERSCOM (U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Command). Decades of incompetence and mismanagement at U.S. Army Reserve HRC at St. Louis, MO, were finally addressed during the early years of the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, thereby creating a consolidated management system, based at Ft. Knox, KY.

  AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

  Aircon: Slang for air-conditioning.

  AK: Avtomat Kalashnikova. The gas-operated weapons family invented by Mikhail Timofeyevitch Kalashnikov, a Red Army sergeant. AKs are known for their robustness and were made in huge numbers, so they are ubiquitous in much of Asia and the Third World. The best of the Kalashnikov variants are the Valmets that were made in Finland, the Galils that were made in Israel, and the R4s that are made in South Africa.

  AK-47: The early generation AK carbine with a milled receiver that shoots the intermediate 7.62 x 39 mm cartridge. See also AKM.

  AK-74: The later generation AK-family carbine that shoots the 5.45 x 39 mm cartridge.

  AKM: The later generation 7.62 x 39 mm AK with a stamped receiver (Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy).

  AKO: Army Knowledge Online.

  ALICE: All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment.

  Alpenflage: A defunct Swiss military camouflage pattern with a significant percentage of red.

  AM: Amplitude Modulation.

  AMEX: A brand of commercial explosives, primarily used in the mining industry.

  AMX: Atelier de Construction d’Issy-les-Moulineaux. A French armored vehicle manufacturer.

  Angkatan Laut: Indonesian Navy. See also TNI-AL.

  AO: Area of Operations.

  AOGC: Australian Oil & Gas Corporation.

  AP: Armor Piercing.

  APC: Armored Personnel Carrier.

  APEC: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

  AR: Automatic Rifle. This is the generic term for semiauto variants of the Armalite family of rifles designed by Eugene Stoner (AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, et cetera).

  AR-7: The .22 LR semiautomatic survival rifle designed by Eugene Stoner. It weighs just two pounds when disassembled.

  AR-10: The 7.62 mm NATO predecessor of the M16 rifle, designed by Eugene Stoner. Early AR-10s (mainly Portuguese, Sudanese, and Cuban contract, from the late 1950s and early 1960s) are not to be confused with the present-day semiauto-only AR-10 rifles that are more closely interchangeable with parts from the smaller-caliber AR-15. See also AR, AR-15, and LAR-8.

  AR-15: The semiauto civilian variants of the U.S. Army M16 rifle.

  ARM: Australian Republican Movement.

  ARRL: American Radio Relay League. National association for amateur radio.

  ASAP: As Soon As Possible.

  ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

  ASG: Abu Sayyaf Group (Grupong Abu Sayyaf). See also Abu Sayyaf and ILF.

  ASIO: Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. The Australian equivalent of the U.S. CIA. See also CIA.

  ASP: Ammunition Supply Point.

  ATC: Air Traffic Control.

  ATF: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (a U.S. federal government taxing agency).

  AUD: Australian Dollars.

  AUG: See Steyr AUG.

  Aussie: Slang for Australian.

  Austeyr: See Steyr AUG.

  AVGAS: Aviation Gasoline. The most commonly used aviation gasoline is 100 octane, low lead (100LL).

  Ball: Ammunition made with a nonexpanding full metal jacket.

  BATFE: See ATF.

  BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation.

  BDR: Short for Bandolier.

  BDU: Battle Dress Uniform. Also called camouflage utilities by the USMC. Most BDUs were made in the Woodland camouflage pattern.

  BIN: Badan Intelijen Negara. The Indonesian State Intelligence Agency.

  Bitzer: Australian slang for a mixed breed dog. (“Bits of this and bits of that.”)

  Black Rifle/Black Gun: Generic terms for a modern battle rifle—typically equipped with a black plastic stock and forend, giving these guns an all-black appearance. Functionally, however, they are little different from earlier semiauto designs.

  BLM: Bureau of Land Management (a U.S. federal government agency that administers public lands).

  BMA: Brigade Maintenance Area.

  BMG: Browning Machine Gun. Usually refers to the .50 BMG, the U.S. military’s standard heavy machine-gun cartridge since the early twentieth century. This cartridge is also now often used for long-range precision countersniper rifles. See also M2 Browning.

  Bogan: Australian slang, usually pejorative, for an individual who is from an unsophisticated background. See also CUBs.

  BP: Depending on context, British Petroleum or Blood Pressure.

  BPS: Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.

  Bravo Sierra: Military slang for lies or lying.

  BSA: Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited, a British company that originally made guns but later became best known for making bicycles, motorcycles, and taxicabs bodies.

  B.U.L.L.: Basic Utility Locking Liner. A folding pocketknife made by CRKT that was designed by Aaron Frederick. See also CRKT.

  C-4: Composition 4, a stable plastic explosive. It is ninety-one percent RDX.

  CAAAF: Civilian Auxiliary Australian Air Force.

  Camo: Slang for camouflage.

  CAR-15: See M4.

  CAS: Close Air Support.

  CASA: Depending on context, either Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (a Spanish aircraft manufacturer) or Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Australian government agency).

  C-A-T: Combat Application Tourniquet.

  CB: Citizens’ Band radio, a VHF broadcasting band. No license is required for operation in the United States. Some desirable CB transceivers are capable of SSB operation. Originally twenty-three channels, the Citizens’ Band was later expanded to forty channels during the golden age of CB, in the 1970s.

  CD-ROM: Compact Disc Read-Only Memory.

  CETME: Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales. Best known as the maker of the Spanish army’s predecessor of the HK G3 series rifles. Thousands of CETME rifle parts sets were imported into the United States in the late 1990s and rebuilt into semiauto-only sporter rifles.

  CHGR: Short for Charger.

  CIA: Central Intelligence Agency.

  Claymore mine: The M18A1 is a command-detonated antipersonnel mine in the military inventories of many NATO and ASEAN countries.

  CN: Phenacyl chloride. A military tear gas. Can cause vomiting in high concentrations. See also CS.

  CO: Commanding Officer.

  CO2: Carbon dioxide.

  COD: Collect on Delivery.

  COMINT: Communications
Intelligence.

  COMSEC: Communications Security.

  CONUS: Continental United States.

  Cordtex: See Det Cord.

  CP: Command Post.

  CPY: Ham radio shorthand for Copy.

  CR1M: Combat Ration One Man (spoken “Crim”). The Australian equivalent of the U.S. MRE field ration. See also MRE and PR1M.

  CR5M: Combat Ration Five Man.

  CRKT: Columbia River Knife & Tool.

  CROWS: Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station.

  CS: 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called o-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile). A military and civilian tear gas.

  CSSB: Combat Service Support Battalion.

  CUBs: Cashed-Up Bogans. See also Bogan.

  CUCV: Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle. The 1980s-vintage U.S. Army versions of diesel Chevy Blazers and pickups, sold off as surplus in the early 2000s.

  DC: Direct Current.

  Demob: Short for demobilization.

  Det Cord: Slang for detonating/detonation cord.

  Detonating/Detonation Cord: A small-diameter plastic tubing filled with PETN explosive and a plasticizer, often used to tie together separate explosive charges to cause them to detonate almost simultaneously. Sold under trade names like Primacord and Cordtex.

  DF: Direction Finding.

  DMV: Department of Motor Vehicles.

  DPM: Disruptive Pattern Material. A British military camouflage pattern, with colors similar to the U.S. Army’s defunct Woodland BDU pattern.

  DPMS: Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services. An American maker of AR-10 and AR-15 family rifles.

  DVD: Digital Video Disc.

  E&E: Escape and Evasion.

  ELINT: Electronic Intelligence.

  Enfield: See SMLE.