“It is an uphill struggle, but I wish that we could distinguish more carefully between freedom and liberty. These conditions are not the same, though they are certainly related. Freedom is the absence of restraint-a physical circumstance. Liberty, on the other hand, is a political situation denoting the lawful capability of the citizen to defend himself and his near and dear without interference from the state. Note that the Declaration of Independence forcibly and particularly establishes the blessings of liberty upon ourselves and our posterity. I like to carry a pocket copy of the Declaration, plus the Constitution, in my travels. It is a good thing to have in hand when discussions arise.”
By Doctor K.’s count only thirty-one members of the raiding party had returned to Prescott by the next evening. And of those, only three had been slightly wounded. He said bluntly, “There’s no in-between with high-velocity rifle bullets. Its usually either something minor or you bleed out, deader than disco.”
La Fuerza didn’t arrive the next day or even the day after.
The towns of Prescott Valley and Prescott were in a state of alarm following the raid. Even though the raid was deemed a success, they had clearly stirred up a hornet’s nest. Then they heard on the CB that Prescott Valley had been bypassed and that La Fuerza was heading directly toward Prescott.
Blanca paced the bedroom. She asked Ian: “What do you think will happen? I mean, you burned up most of their vehicles, but you say that you maybe killed just a few of La Fuerza.”
“They’re going to be out for blood, that’s for sure. They have to know that we came from somewhere close by. Worst case is they captured one of our missing in action and they made them talk. That would mean that they’d head straight for Conley Ranches. It will be a total freakin’ bloodbath.”
Blanca half shouted: “Then we’ve got to go! At least be 100 percent ready to go, muy pronto.”
Ian and Blanca soon assembled and fueled their planes. They packed everything aboard that they could, leaving very little room. They waited for an indication that the looter army was heading toward Prescott.
“Maybe we can get up to Idaho. Two of my old college buddies, Dan Fong and Todd Gray, are up there. They’re survivalists. You remember me talking about them, right? Dan is a total gun nut. He must have two dozen guns. Todd set up a real survival retreat up there; it’s stocked with years’ worth of stored food, gardening seeds, fuel tanks, the whole works. The Fongman is part of that retreat group. If anybody is still alive and kickin’ after the Crunch, it’s gotta be them. With our skills, they’ll probably take us in.”
“Probably? Maybe? That isn’t a lot to go on.”
“Our only other option is about to be overrun. Todd’s place in Idaho is the only place I can think of that’ll be safe.”
As they climbed, they could see below that almost half the buildings in downtown Prescott were ablaze.
Blanca keyed her microphone and said simply: “Ay, ay, ay.”
Following a sectional aviation chart, Blanca navigated the pair of Larons to Cedar City, Utah.
The airport was on the northwest side of town, just west of I-15. Upon landing there, they were surprised to find 100LL avgas was being offered for sale at the airport. The FBO operator told Ian that he’d recently taken the gas out of hiding, because word had come that they’d soon get a fresh supply coming from Oklahoma. “I might as well sell off the last 110 gallons of my old gas, since the new stuff is coming in from the Provisional Government,” he said.
“What Provisional Government?” Ian asked.
“Fort Knox. Haven’t you heard?” the airport manager answered.
“Nothing solid, just some rumors. So that’s for real?”
“Sure it is. We’re going to have some kinda UN regional administrator. But they’ve promised us local autonomy.”
Ian cocked his head and asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We don’t know yet, but hey, any government is better than no government.”
Ian gave his wife a glance and then commented, “Well, in my book, there is only one rightful form of government-a constitutional republic-or I’d rather have no government. One of my college professors was a heavy-duty Libertarian. He wore a lapel button that said, ‘There’s No Government Like No Government.’”
Blanca chimed in, “I second that motion!”
In the end, Ian traded an Olin 12-gauge flare gun kit, one hundred rounds of 9mm ball ammunition, and twenty dollars’ worth of junk silver for forty-three gallons of gasoline.
The FBO manager let them sleep in a mostly empty hangar, next to their planes.
The next day, grossly overweight, they took an extra long roll and took off. They followed I-15 and occasional GPS fixes to the long paved strip north of Brigham City, Utah. Aside from some bumpy air, the flight was uneventful.
They carried with them a brief letter of introduction from the FBO manager in Cedar City. This was handed to his cousin, who ran the airport at Brigham City.
Their reception there was friendly, but it was obvious that food was in short supply. One of the men at the airport confided that Mormons from all over the country had descended on Utah just as the Crunch set in. “They all had relatives here, so it seemed safe. The problem is that Utah consumes more food than it produces locally. So even though a fair number of families had stocked up, in accordance with the church guidelines, all that stored food is gone by now. People are gardening like crazy, but a lot of places have very limited water. So unless those big Albertson’s and Safeway grocery trucks start rolling again soon, there’s gonna be starvation here, plain and simple. That’s why everyone’s so anxious to see the Provisional Government.”
Ian and Blanca spent two days in Brigham City. In three separate transactions they bought forty-one gallons of gas. This cost Ian eleven dollars in junk silver, two hundred rounds of 9mm hollow point ammo, a hammer, a pair of snap ring pliers, and a Fluke brand volt-ohm meter. Ian was troubled by the quality of some of the gasoline, which had not been stabilized. There were paraffin streamers visible in it. So he laboriously took all the gasoline and filtered it though a chamois car polishing cloth into a large drum. He then added a bottle of Gold Eagle brand “104+” octane booster and part of a bottle of alcohol. The alcohol, as he explained to Blanca, would absorb any water in the gasoline. They let the gasoline settle overnight. The morning before they departed, Ian pumped it out of the barrel-again through a filter-and filled their various tanks, bladders, and bottles. They left the last two gallons of the gas behind in the bottom of the drum just in case it was water-contaminated.
The next day of flying brought them to Grangeville, Idaho. Seeing the patchwork of fields on the Camas Prairie reassured Ian. He toggled his mic switch and said: “Ay, mira, conchita. This is big time agricultural country. I don’t think anybody is starving up there.”
The airport sat at the north edge of town. After several inquiries, they were able to barter for just twenty-three gallons of gas. For this, Ian spent their last ten dollars in junk silver and traded another 120 of their 9mm ball cartridges. Again they spent the night in a hangar. Blanca mentioned that their breakfast brought their food supply down to just a couple of days. “You know, Ian, at the rate we are burning through our silver and ammo, we are cutting this little venture pretty close,” she warned.
“I know, I know. We just have to pray hard and trust that The Fongman and Todd are still there.”
The next day there was foggy weather, but the fog looked thin. They climbed into brilliant sunlight and continued north over the Camas Prairie and then over the Clearwater River Valley to Bovill, Idaho, on the eastern fringe of the Palouse Hills.
Approaching Bovill, they saw that the terrain was rolling and mostly wooded. Low on fuel, their planes were now considerably lighter. There was no airport at Bovill, but they were able to land on Highway 8 just west of town. The hamlet was so small that they just taxied up to the junction of Highway 3. Landing so close to town got everyone’s attention. A swarm of children and teenagers ran up to the planes, just after they shut down their engines. In answer to the Doyles’ queries a local woman said that she knew Todd and Mary Gray, said that they were safe and well, and explained how to find their ranch house. A few minutes later she brought the Doyles a road map and a Clearwater National Forest map. On the latter she pinpointed the ranch.
The flight to the ranch took only three minutes. Blanca spotted the Quonset-style barn that was opposite the Grays’ property. As they circled, they could see a woman armed with a rifle in a large fenced garden behind the house.
Ian thumbed the mic switch for his Icom transceiver and said delightedly, “There it is, Blanca! That’s definitely Todd’s house. It’s just the way the Fongman described it.”
Eyeing the trees below, Ian judged that the breeze was light. They circled and sequentially touched down on the gravel county road, with Blanca taking one extra orbit. They taxied until Ian’s Laron was opposite the Grays’ lane and mailbox. As they shut down their engines, Blanca radioed, “I sure hope we’ll be welcome here.”
Ian touched his mic switch and responded, “I trust that we’ll be. We just have to live by faith.”
Glossary
?: Ham radio shorthand for “I’mgoing to repeat what I just said.”
10/22: A semiautomatic .22 rimfirerifle made by Ruger.
1911: See M1911.
73: Ham radio shorthand for “Bestregards.” Always used singularly. (Not “73s.”)
88: Ham radio shorthand for “Hugsand kisses.”
9/11: The terrorist attacks ofSeptember 11, 2001, which took three thousand American lives.
AAA: American AutomobileAssociation.
ABT: Ham radio shorthand for“about.”
ACP: Automatic Colt pistol.
ACU: Army combat uniform. The U.S.Army’s “digital” pattern camouflage uniform that replaced the BDU.
AK: Avtomat Kalashnikov. Thegas-operated weapons family invented by Mikhail Timofeyevitch Kalashnikov, a RedArmy sergeant. AKs are known for their robustness and were made in huge numbers,so that they are ubiquitous in much of Asia and the Third World. The best of theKalashnikov variants are the Valmets, which were made in Finland; the Galils,which were made in Israel; and the R4s, which are made in South Africa.
AK-47: The early-generation AKcarbine with a milled receiver that shoots the intermediate 7.62 x 39mmcartridge. See also: AKM.
AK-74: The later-generation AKcarbine that shoots the 5.45 x 39mm cartridge.
AKM: “Avtomat KalashnikovaModernizirovanniy,” the later-generation 7.62 x 39 AK with a stampedreceiver.
AM: Amplitude modulation.
AO: Area of operations.
AP: Armor-piercing.
APC: Armored personnelcarrier.
AR: Automatic rifle. This is thegeneric term for semiauto variants of the Armalite family of rifles designed byEugene Stoner (AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, etc.).
AR-7: The .22 LR semiautomaticsurvival rifle designed by Eugene Stoner. It weighs just two pounds.
AR-10: The 7.62mm NATO predecessorof 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 tobe confused with the present-day semiauto only AR-10 rifles that are moreclosely interchangeable with parts from the smaller caliber AR-15.
AR-15: The semiauto civilianvariants of the U.S. Army M16 rifle.
ASAP: As soon as possible.
ATF: See BATFE.
AUG: See Steyr AUG.
B amp;E: Breaking andentering.
Ballistic wampum: Ammunitionstored for barter purposes. (Term coined by Colonel Jeff Cooper.)
BATFE: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms, and Explosives, a U.S. federal government taxing agency.
BBC: British BroadcastingCorporation.
BDU: Battle dress uniform. Alsocalled “camouflage utilities” by the U.S. Marine Corps.
BK: Ham radio shorthand for“Break,” this means “Back to you,” with no need to use call signs.
Black rifle/black gun: Genericterms for a modern battle rifle, typically equipped with a black plastic stockand fore-end, giving these guns an “all-black” appearance. Functionally,however, they are little different from earlier semiauto designs.
BLM: Bureau of Land Management, aU.S. federal government agency that administers public lands.
BMG: Browning machine gun. Usuallyrefers to .50 BMG, the U.S. military’s standard heavy machine-gun cartridgesince the early twentieth century. This cartridge is now often used forlong-range precision counter-sniper rifles.
BOQ: Bachelor officersquarters.
BP: Blood pressure.
BX: Base exchange.
C-4: Composition 4, a plasticexplosive.
CAR-15: See M4.
CAS: Close air support.
CAT: Combat applicationtourniquet.
CB: Citizens band radio, a VHFbroadcasting band. There is no license required for operation in the UnitedStates. Some desirable CB transceivers are capable of SSB operation. Originallytwenty-three channels, the citizens band was later expanded to forty channelsduring the golden age of CB, in the 1970s.
CHU: Containerized housing unit. ACONEX retrofitted with a door, window, top vent, power cabling, andair-conditioning unit, as used by servicemen in Iraq. Spoken “Chew.”
CLP: Cleaner, lubricant,protectant. A mil-spec lubricant, sold under the trade name “Break FreeCLP.”
CO2: Carbon dioxide.
COD: Collect on delivery; cash ondelivery.
CONEX: Continental express, theubiquitous twenty-, thirty-, and forty-foot-long steel cargo containers used inmultiple transportation modes.
COPS: Committee of PublicSafety.
CP: Command post.
CPY: Ham radio shorthand for“Copy.”
CRKT: Columbia River Knife amp;Tool.
CU: Ham radio shorthand for “Seeyou (later).”
CUCV: Commercial utility cargovehicle. The 1980s-vintage U.S. Army versions of diesel Chevy Blazers andpickups, sold off as surplus in the early 2000s.
DE: Ham radio shorthand for“from.” This is used between call signs.
DF: Direction finding.
DMV: Department of MotorVehicles.
Drip oil: The light oil orhydrocarbon liquids condensed in a natural gas piping system when the gas iscooled. Also called natural gasoline, condensation gasoline, or simply “drip.” Amixture of gasoline and drip oil can be burned in most gasoline engines withoutmodification. Pure drip oil can be burned in some gasoline engines if the timingis retarded.
E amp;E: Escape and evasion.
ES: Ham radio shorthand for“and.”
FAA: Federal AviationAdministration.
FAL: See FN/FAL.
FB: Ham radio shorthand for “Finebusiness.” Usually means “That’s great” or “That’s wonderful.”
FBO: Fixed base operator.Typically a small private airport’s refueling facility.
FEMA: Federal Emergency ManagementAgency, a U.S. federal government agency. The acronym is also jokingly definedas “Foolishly Expecting Meaningful Aid.”
FER: Ham radio shorthand for“for.”
FEUS: Farmington Electric UtilitySystem.
FFL: Federal firearms license.
FLOPS: Flight operations.
FN/FAL: A 7.62mm NATO battle rifleoriginally made by the Belgian Company Fabrique Nationale (FN), issued to morethan fifty countries in the 1960s and 1970s. Now made as semiauto-only “clones”by a variety of makers. See also L1A1.
FOB: Forward operating base.
Fobbit: Derogatory nickname forsoldiers who rarely go outside the defensive perimeter of a forward operatingbase (FOB).
FORSCOM: U.S. Army ForcesCommand.
Frag: Fragmentation.
FRS: Family Radio Service.
Galil: See AK.
GCA: The Gun Control Act of 1968.The law that first created FFLs and banned interstate transfers of post-1898firearms except “to or through” FFL holders.
Glock: The popular polymer-framedpistol design by Gaston Glock of Austria. Glocks are a favorite of gun writerBoston T. Party.
GMRS: General Mobile RadioService, a licensed UHF-FM two-way radio service. See also FRS and MURS.
GMT: Greenwich Mean Time.
Gold Cup: The target version ofColt’s M1911 pistol. It has fully adjustable target sights, a tapered barrel,and a tighter barrel bushing than a standard M1911.
GOOD: Get out of Dodge.
GPS: Global positioningsystem.
Ham: Slang for amateur radiooperator.
HF: High frequency. A radio bandused by amateur radio operators.
HI: Ham radio shorthand for“laugh.”
HK or H amp;K: Heckler und Koch,the German gun maker.
HK91: Heckler und Koch Model 91,the civilian (semiautomatic-only) variant of the 7.62mm NATO G3 rifle.
HOA: Homeowners’ association.
HR: Ham radio shorthand for“here.”
Humvee: High-mobility multipurposewheeled vehicle, spoken “Humvee.”
HW: Ham radio shorthand for“how.”
IBA: Interceptor body armor.
ID: Identification.
IFV: Infantry fightingvehicle.
IPI: Indigenous populations andinstitutions.
IV: Intravenous.
K: Ham radio shorthand for “Goahead.”
Kevlar: The material used in mostbody army and ballistic helmets. “Kevlar” is also the nickname for the standardU.S. Army helmet.
KJV: King James Version of theBible.
KL: Ham radio nickname of KayleeSchmidt.
KN: Ham radio shorthand for “Goahead” (but only the station that a ham isalready conversing with).
L1A1: The British Army version ofthe FN/FAL, made to inch measurements.
LAW: Light anti-tank weapon.
LC-1: Load-carrying, Type 1 (U.S.Army load-bearing equipment, circa 1970s to 1990s).
LDS: Latter-day Saints, commonlycalled the Mormons. (Flawed doctrine, great preparedness.)
LF: The aircraft designation foraircraft from Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.
LP: Liquid propane.
LP/OP: Listening post/observationpost.
LRRP: Long-range reconnaissancepatrol.
M1A: The civilian (semiauto only)equivalent of the M14 rifle.
M1 Abrams: The United States’current main battle tank, with a 120mm cannon (“main gun”).
M1 Carbine: The U.S. Army semiautocarbine issued during World War II. Mainly issued to officers and second-echelontroops such as artillerymen for self-defense. Uses “.30 U.S. Carbine,” anintermediate (pistol-class) .30 caliber cartridge. More than six million weremanufactured. See also M2 Carbine.
M1 Garand: The U.S. Army’s primarybattle rifle of World War II and the Korean conflict. It is semiautomatic,chambered in .30-06, and uses a top-loading, eight-round en bloc clip thatejects after the last round is fired. This rifle is commonly called the Garand,after its inventor. Not to be confused with the U.S. M1 Carbine, anothersemiauto of the same era, which shoots a much less powerful pistol-classcartridge.
M1A: The civilian (semiauto only)version of the U.S. Army M14 7.62mm NATO rifle.
M1911: The Model 1911 Coltsemiauto pistol (and clones thereof), usually chambered in .45 ACP.
M2 Carbine: The selective-fire(fully automatic) version of the U.S. Army semiauto carbine issued during WorldWar II and the Korean conflict.
M4: The U.S. Army-issue 5.56mmNATO selective-fire carbine (a shorter version of the M16, with a 14.5-inchbarrel and collapsing stock). Earlier-issue M16 carbine variants haddesignations such as XM177E2 and CAR-15. Civilian semiauto-only variants oftenhave these same designations or are called “M4geries.”
M4gery: A civilian semiauto-onlyversion of an M4 Carbine with a 16-inch barrel instead of a 14.5-inchbarrel.
M9: The U.S. Army-issue version ofthe Beretta M92 semiauto 9mm pistol.
M14: The U.S. Army-issue 7.62mmNATO selective-fire battle rifle. These rifles are still issued in smallnumbers, primarily to designated marksmen. The civilian semiauto-only equivalentof the M14 is called the M1A.
M16: The U.S. Army-issue 5.56mmNATO selective-fire battle rifle. The current standard variant is the M16A2,which has improved sight and three-shot burst control. See also M4.
M60: The semi-obsolete U.S.Army-issue 7.62mm NATO belt-fed light machine gun that utilized some designelements of the German MG-42.
MAC: Depending on context,Military airlift command or Military Armament Corporation.
Maglite: A popular American brandof sturdy flashlights with an aluminum casing.
MICH: Modular/integratedcommunications helmet.
Mini-14: A 5.56mm NATO semiautocarbine made by Ruger.
MNI: Ham radio shorthand for“many.”
MOLLE: Modular lightweightload-carrying equipment.
Molotov cocktail: A hand-thrownfirebomb made from a glass container filled with gasoline or thickened gasoline(napalm).
MRE: Meal, ready to eat.
MSG: Mission support group (U.S.Air Force).
MSS: Modular sleep system.
MURS: Multi-use radio service. AVHF two-way radio service that does not require a license. See also FRS andGMRS.
MVPA: Military VehiclePreservation Association.
MXG: Maintenance group (U.S. AirForce).
Napalm: Thickened gasoline, usedin some flame weapons.
NAPI: Navajo Agricultural ProductsIndustry.
NATO: North Atlantic TreatyOrganization.
NBC: Nuclear, biological, andchemical.
NCO: Noncommissioned officer.
NFA: The National Firearms Act of1934. The law that first imposed a transfer tax on machine guns, suppressors(commonly called “silencers”), and short-barreled rifles and shotguns.
NiCd: Nickel cadmium (rechargeablebattery).
NiMH: Nickel metal hydride(rechargeable battery) improvement of NiCad.
NM: Ham radio shorthand for“Name.”
NWO: New World Order.
OCP: Operation Enduring Freedomcamouflage pattern, commonly called “MutiCam.”
OG: Operational group (U.S. AirForce).
OM: Ham radio shorthand for “oldman.” All men are OMs in the ham world.
OP: Observation post. See alsoLP/OP.
PBO: Property book officer.
PCS: Permanent change ofstation.
PERSCOM: U.S. Army PersonnelCommand.
Pre-1899: Guns made before1899-not classified as “firearms” under federal law.
Pre-1965: U.S. silver coins with1964 or earlier mint dates with little or no numismatic value that are sold forthe bullion content. These coins have 90 percent silver content. Well-wornpre-1965 coins are sometimes derisively called “junk” silver by rare coindealers.
ProvGov: ProvisionalGovernment.
PSE: Ham radio shorthand for“please.”
PT: Physical training.
PV: Photovoltaic (solar powerconversion array). Used to convert solar power to DC electricity, typically forbattery charging.
PVC: Polyvinyl chloride (whiteplastic water pipe).
QRF: Quick-reaction force.
QRM: Ham radio shorthand for“interference from another station.”
QRN: Ham radio shorthand for“static.”
QRP: Ham radio shorthand for“low-power (less than 5-watt) transmitters.”
QRZ: Ham radio shorthand for “Whois calling me?” If used at the end of the contact, if QRZ is sent instead of SK,it means “I’m listening for more calls.”
QSB: Ham radio shorthand for a“fading signal.”
QSO: Ham radio shorthand for a“contact (conversation).”
QSY: Ham radio shorthand for“Change frequency.”
QTH: Ham radio shorthand for“location.”
R: Ham radio shorthand for “Iheard everything you said and don’t need you to repeat anything.”
ROTC: Reserve Officers’ TrainingCorps.
RPG: Rocket-propelled grenade.
SADF: South African DefenseForce.
SBI: Special backgroundinvestigation.
SCI: Sensitive compartmentedinformation.
SIG: Schweizerische IndustrieGesellschaft. The Swiss gun maker.
SK: Ham radio shorthand for“silent key.”
SOCOM: Special OperationsCommand.
SOP: Standard operatingprocedure(s).
SSB: Single sideband (an operatingmode for CB and amateur radio gear).
SSPARS: Solid-state phased-arrayradar system.
Steyr AUG: The Austrian army’s5.56-mm “bullpup” infantry carbine. Also issued by the Australian Army as theirreplacement for the L1A1.
S amp;W: Smith and Wesson.
SWAT: Special weapons and tactics.(SWAT originally stood for “special weapons assault team” until that was deemedpolitically incorrect.)
TA-1 and TA-312: U.S. militaryhardwire field telephones.
TAD: Temporary assigned duty.
TARPS: Tactical aerialreconnaissance pod system.
TDY: Temporary duty.
Thermite: A mixture of aluminumpowder and iron rust powder that, when ignited, causes a vigorous exothermicreaction. Used primarily for welding. Also used by military units as anincendiary for destroying equipment.
TK: Tom Kennedy.
TNX: Ham radio shorthand for“Thanks.”
TS: Top secret.
TU: Ham radio shorthand for “ThankYou.”
UAV: Unmanned aerial vehicle.
UR: Ham radio shorthand for “your”or “you’re,” depending on context.
USAEUR: U.S. Army, Europe. Spoken“Use-ah-Urr.”
USAFE: U.S. Air Force, Europe.Spoken “You-Safe-ee.”
VAC: Volts, alternatingcurrent.
Valmet: The Finnish conglomeratethat formerly made several types of firearms.
VDC: Volts, direct current.
Viper: The popular nickname forthe F-16 fighter. (Its official moniker is the “Fighting Falcon,” which mostF-16 pilots detest.)
VW: Volkswagen.
VY: Ham radio shorthand for“very.”
WD-1: U.S. military-issuetwo-conductor insulated field telephone wire.
YL: Ham radio shorthand for “younglady.” All females regardless of age are designated YLs in the ham world.