Shanghaied - 2ACW

[gillan1220]

Poor Padley. For an old grandmother, the Feds won't be lenient to her.
Glad to see humanity is still being shown by both US and DAR Americans. After all, they are still Americans.

Also is Syria still in a civil war at this state? Because if it so, Assad (or his successor) would be laughing at the D.C. and Las Vegas.

[Brky2020]

I wonder, to the extent there are factions on both sides that want the war to end peacefully with either reunification or a permanent split, how much influence do they have? Are they powerful enough to be heard, and to wield influence?

[James G]

Jun 30, 2021 12:41:37 GMT gillan1220 said:

Poor Padley. For an old grandmother, the Feds won't be lenient to her.
Glad to see humanity is still being shown by both US and DAR Americans. After all, they are still Americans.

Also is Syria still in a civil war at this state? Because if it so, Assad (or his successor) would be laughing at the D.C. and Las Vegas.

There will be no leniency. She committed major treason while vice president then waged war against the United States.
Maybe they won't execute her, probably not considering her age, but she'll spend the rest of her life in Supermax.
Pierce handed her over to get rid of a problem and he has other captives too who he knows the US would really want as well.

Erm... thinking on it, Assad is still there in power. He will be in fits of laughter.

Jul 1, 2021 15:20:29 GMT Brky2020 said:

I wonder, to the extent there are factions on both sides that want the war to end peacefully with either reunification or a permanent split, how much influence do they have? Are they powerful enough to be heard, and to wield influence?

They will be there on both sides. How much influence? None any more out West but, as the war gets worse for the US, those there will be pushing for an end to all the killing and destruction. 

[James G]

153 – Running away

The Brave Rifles covered the withdrawal of the last disorganised pieces of what had been the US III & VII Corps when they withdrew from Arizona and back into New Mexico. It was mainly non-combat units which the 3rd Cavalry Regiment helped on their way to get out. Enemy interference was minimal. On the ground, the weakened Arizona Corps from the DAR Army didn’t properly pursue those in full retreat who ran with their tails between their legs. There wasn’t much air interference either. The DAR Air Force had a stand-down in activity. Overstretched and worn down, that air power gave the US troops making good their escape a let off from all of their previously intensive bombing runs and strafing attacks. It was only missiles which flew eastwards: Tomahawks fired at distance towards transport nodes where US activity was concentrated around when on the move. It had been the III Corps HQ to which the Brave Rifles had been assigned before the destruction of that multi-division force which was followed by the elimination of that command itself too. That left Colonel McSherry reporting direct to the US V Corps out in New Mexico during the withdrawal made, with that command post on the other side of the Rio Grande. The Brave Rifles were tasked to follow what the V Corps had done and recross that river where it ran through the middle of New Mexico. All of those troops who had returned from Eastern Europe, during ‘REFORGER in reverse’, had been held back in New Mexico west of the Rio Grande ready to go forward… until they weren’t. McSherry followed his orders and started taking those with him towards crossing points in-place to allow for the river to be gone over.

It was no easy feat. Yet it was done.

It took two days before the Arizona Corps started moving again. The 2nd & 3rd Armored Divisions, wartime-raised, were in no fit state at that time in late-March to go on the offensive even with such a weak opposition. Instead it was veteran units which moved forward to follow the retreating US Army. The 29th Infantry Brigade – Hawaiian national guardsmen from a state which had re-defected back to the United States – joined with what remained of the 25th Infantry Division (that unit had had a torrid time in Colorado early in the war losing half of its strength) in crossing the eastern reaches of Arizona and then moving into New Mexico too. They were ordered to establish contact where possible with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment but not expend themselves in a stand-up fight. Barely any real contact was made due to the head-start that those retreating had. Instead, the advancing Arizona Corps units ended up ‘policing the battlefield’. They ran into stragglers, small groups of cut-off soldiers from both sides of the conflict. There were injured service-personnel, again from both the US & DAR Armed Forces, who they came across. Abandoned weapons, equipment and even supplies were secured. Partisans were met as well. Men and women with guns but not in uniform were encountered all over the place. Some of them fought the DAR soldiers while others declared their intention to join the cause for which the Arizona Corps was fighting for. Armed criminal gangs were also met with fire-fights erupting: some of those had come up from Mexico while others from elsewhere within America’s borders. A smattering of Green Berets had been left in the wake of the retreat made out of Arizona by US forces and they caused the DAR soldiers a good number of problems with sniping ambushes, explosive devices and a good lot of activity which most people would call terrorism.

Convoys laden with prisoners and the wounded ran back westwards. There were DAR Marines around Phoenix, keeping the tense situation there under control, and through their over-watch positions went those convoys. Both EPWs and all of the many injured (DAR and US again) went through the Phoenix area due to its generally intact transport links that hadn’t seen significant war damage due to the presence of civilians all around them. Selected EPWs were flown out through the airheads around the city though the majority were moved further onwards to holding sites spread across the west of Arizona. Through March, the DAR had taken an extraordinary high number of captives and had struggled to deal with them. The ones policed up and sent backwards joined the masses of others held in facilities bulging at the seams. The critically wounded were transferred to medical care facilities ready to receive them including elements of the civilian sector. The less badly hurt, though who had been evacuated to the rear, were moved about to a good number of sites. Those in US uniform were afterwards moved onto the EPW camps while DAR service-personnel whom the doctors judged capable of returning to service were directed to do just that. The United States and the Democratic American Republic alike each treated EPWs in their custody well. There were a fair number of special cases where select prisoners were removed form the ranks of others for intelligence purposes or if they were suspected of committing war crimes, yet everyone else was treated properly. All around Phoenix, where the soldiers from two full corps of destroyed US Army and Army National Guard units were held, no one really suffered while held by the DAR. To keep those men guarded, fed, with shelter and provided for with medical care was immensely taxing for the DAR Armed Forces. They did it though because those were their fellow Americans. What was really wanted by the captors though was to see all of them sent home eventually.


General Lambert leading United States Army North, under instruction from US NORTHCOM’s General Reilly, had the Brave Rifles go to the Rio Grande then over it with the ragtag collection of service-personnel from all over the place that McSherry had gotten out of Arizona. The two generals had their own instructions on that coming from above: the Secretary of Defence at Raven Rock. The same order had come for the V Corps to cross the river beforehand. Lambert had wanted to send out ahead elements of the 1st Armored Division, tank-heavy and without little logistical tail behind them, as escort to ensure the 3rd Cavalry Regiment made it back but was denied permission. There was zero air cover available and despite the near stand-down by the DAR Air Force, the risk was judged too great. The Brave Rifles made it to the Rio Grande without needing to be rescued though would have sure been glad of an escort on the way.

On the eastern side of New Mexico, away from the abandoned western reaches of that large state, ARNORTH had on-hand the majority of its fighting strength. The US XVIII Airborne Corps was there alongside the V Corps, and there were US Marines as well though they were still engaged in low level fighting near to Santa Fe. Lambert had all of his forces spread out. There were huge gaps between component pieces down to below battalion-level of combat units from the brigades, divisions and corps. It was the same with combat-support and service-support elements too. One of his senior staff officers compared it all to a safe distancing measure taken to ensure minimal losses in a nuclear weapons scenario. It wasn’t nukes that the spacing was done to guard against though. It was instead the skies above when they were expected to fill with hostile jets again on conventional missions that the concern was over. The US Air Force was unable to fly its advanced fighters and had no ability to provide AWACS support for those older ones which could fly. Air defence missiles in US Army service, its SM-6s and Patriots, were all inoperable as well: only shoulder-mounted Stingers worked. Without air cover, bunching up would mean taking serious losses.

When McSherry when over the Rio Grande, inside the last Stryker armoured vehicle no less, as he thought that a good commander should do in such a situation, he took a second to look out a vision block at what was behind him. He told the sergeant who served as the vehicle’s gunner that the US Army had run away from the fight and that would be the last time that the army in which they both served would see the ground on the far side of the Rio Grande. It had all been given up, left to those committing treason against their country of birth, to hold and crow over their successful capture of. The shame was something that McSherry didn’t think he, let alone his country, would ever live down.

[gillan1220]

Jul 1, 2021 18:13:40 GMT James G said:

Erm... thinking on it, Assad is still there in power. He will be in fits of laughter.

Suddenly the Assad Curse is still in effect. Just got reminded of it after the passing of Donald Rumsfeld.

[gillan1220]

Jul 1, 2021 18:14:43 GMT James G said:

It took two days before the Arizona Corps started moving again. The 2nd & 3rd Armored Divisions, wartime-raised, were in no fit state at that time in late-March to go on the offensive even with such a weak opposition. Instead it was veteran units which moved forward to follow the retreating US Army. The 29th Infantry Brigade – Hawaiian national guardsmen from a state which had re-defected back to the United States – joined with what remained of the 25th Infantry Division (that unit had had a torrid time in Colorado early in the war losing half of its strength) in crossing the eastern reaches of Arizona and then moving into New Mexico too. They were ordered to establish contact where possible with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment but not expend themselves in a stand-up fight. Barely any real contact was made due to the head-start that those retreating had. Instead, the advancing Arizona Corps units ended up ‘policing the battlefield’. They ran into stragglers, small groups of cut-off soldiers from both sides of the conflict. There were injured service-personnel, again from both the US & DAR Armed Forces, who they came across. Abandoned weapons, equipment and even supplies were secured. Partisans were met as well. Men and women with guns but not in uniform were encountered all over the place. Some of them fought the DAR soldiers while others declared their intention to join the cause for which the Arizona Corps was fighting for. Armed criminal gangs were also met with fire-fights erupting: some of those had come up from Mexico while others from elsewhere within America’s borders. A smattering of Green Berets had been left in the wake of the retreat made out of Arizona by US forces and they caused the DAR soldiers a good number of problems with sniping ambushes, explosive devices and a good lot of activity which most people would call terrorism.

Jul 1, 2021 18:14:43 GMT James G said:

It took two days before the Arizona Corps started moving again. The 2nd & 3rd Armored Divisions, wartime-raised, were in no fit state at that time in late-March to go on the offensive even with such a weak opposition. Instead it was veteran units which moved forward to follow the retreating US Army. The 29th Infantry Brigade – Hawaiian national guardsmen from a state which had re-defected back to the United States – joined with what remained of the 25th Infantry Division (that unit had had a torrid time in Colorado early in the war losing half of its strength) in crossing the eastern reaches of Arizona and then moving into New Mexico too. They were ordered to establish contact where possible with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment but not expend themselves in a stand-up fight. Barely any real contact was made due to the head-start that those retreating had. Instead, the advancing Arizona Corps units ended up ‘policing the battlefield’. They ran into stragglers, small groups of cut-off soldiers from both sides of the conflict. There were injured service-personnel, again from both the US & DAR Armed Forces, who they came across. Abandoned weapons, equipment and even supplies were secured. Partisans were met as well. Men and women with guns but not in uniform were encountered all over the place. Some of them fought the DAR soldiers while others declared their intention to join the cause for which the Arizona Corps was fighting for. Armed criminal gangs were also met with fire-fights erupting: some of those had come up from Mexico while others from elsewhere within America’s borders. A smattering of Green Berets had been left in the wake of the retreat made out of Arizona by US forces and they caused the DAR soldiers a good number of problems with sniping ambushes, explosive devices and a good lot of activity which most people would call terrorism.

That's basically the Wild West in modern days. So now we have nutjobs fighting both sides and criminals running a free real estate.

Jul 1, 2021 18:14:43 GMT James G said:

Convoys laden with prisoners and the wounded ran back westwards. There were DAR Marines around Phoenix, keeping the tense situation there under control, and through their over-watch positions went those convoys. Both EPWs and all of the many injured (DAR and US again) went through the Phoenix area due to its generally intact transport links that hadn’t seen significant war damage due to the presence of civilians all around them. Selected EPWs were flown out through the airheads around the city though the majority were moved further onwards to holding sites spread across the west of Arizona. Through March, the DAR had taken an extraordinary high number of captives and had struggled to deal with them. The ones policed up and sent backwards joined the masses of others held in facilities bulging at the seams. The critically wounded were transferred to medical care facilities ready to receive them including elements of the civilian sector. The less badly hurt, though who had been evacuated to the rear, were moved about to a good number of sites. Those in US uniform were afterwards moved onto the EPW camps while DAR service-personnel whom the doctors judged capable of returning to service were directed to do just that. The United States and the Democratic American Republic alike each treated EPWs in their custody well. There were a fair number of special cases where select prisoners were removed form the ranks of others for intelligence purposes or if they were suspected of committing war crimes, yet everyone else was treated properly. All around Phoenix, where the soldiers from two full corps of destroyed US Army and Army National Guard units were held, no one really suffered while held by the DAR. To keep those men guarded, fed, with shelter and provided for with medical care was immensely taxing for the DAR Armed Forces. They did it though because those were their fellow Americans. What was really wanted by the captors though was to see all of them sent home eventually.

Glad to see humanity being shown by both sides. The notion of Americans shooting fellow Americans will always sound stupid and a senseless waste of lives.

[Brky2020]

Jul 2, 2021 11:37:00 GMT gillan1220 said:

Jul 1, 2021 18:14:43 GMT James G said:

It took two days before the Arizona Corps started moving again. The 2nd & 3rd Armored Divisions, wartime-raised, were in no fit state at that time in late-March to go on the offensive even with such a weak opposition. Instead it was veteran units which moved forward to follow the retreating US Army. The 29th Infantry Brigade – Hawaiian national guardsmen from a state which had re-defected back to the United States – joined with what remained of the 25th Infantry Division (that unit had had a torrid time in Colorado early in the war losing half of its strength) in crossing the eastern reaches of Arizona and then moving into New Mexico too. They were ordered to establish contact where possible with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment but not expend themselves in a stand-up fight. Barely any real contact was made due to the head-start that those retreating had. Instead, the advancing Arizona Corps units ended up ‘policing the battlefield’. They ran into stragglers, small groups of cut-off soldiers from both sides of the conflict. There were injured service-personnel, again from both the US & DAR Armed Forces, who they came across. Abandoned weapons, equipment and even supplies were secured. Partisans were met as well. Men and women with guns but not in uniform were encountered all over the place. Some of them fought the DAR soldiers while others declared their intention to join the cause for which the Arizona Corps was fighting for. Armed criminal gangs were also met with fire-fights erupting: some of those had come up from Mexico while others from elsewhere within America’s borders. A smattering of Green Berets had been left in the wake of the retreat made out of Arizona by US forces and they caused the DAR soldiers a good number of problems with sniping ambushes, explosive devices and a good lot of activity which most people would call terrorism.

Jul 1, 2021 18:14:43 GMT James G said:

It took two days before the Arizona Corps started moving again. The 2nd & 3rd Armored Divisions, wartime-raised, were in no fit state at that time in late-March to go on the offensive even with such a weak opposition. Instead it was veteran units which moved forward to follow the retreating US Army. The 29th Infantry Brigade – Hawaiian national guardsmen from a state which had re-defected back to the United States – joined with what remained of the 25th Infantry Division (that unit had had a torrid time in Colorado early in the war losing half of its strength) in crossing the eastern reaches of Arizona and then moving into New Mexico too. They were ordered to establish contact where possible with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment but not expend themselves in a stand-up fight. Barely any real contact was made due to the head-start that those retreating had. Instead, the advancing Arizona Corps units ended up ‘policing the battlefield’. They ran into stragglers, small groups of cut-off soldiers from both sides of the conflict. There were injured service-personnel, again from both the US & DAR Armed Forces, who they came across. Abandoned weapons, equipment and even supplies were secured. Partisans were met as well. Men and women with guns but not in uniform were encountered all over the place. Some of them fought the DAR soldiers while others declared their intention to join the cause for which the Arizona Corps was fighting for. Armed criminal gangs were also met with fire-fights erupting: some of those had come up from Mexico while others from elsewhere within America’s borders. A smattering of Green Berets had been left in the wake of the retreat made out of Arizona by US forces and they caused the DAR soldiers a good number of problems with sniping ambushes, explosive devices and a good lot of activity which most people would call terrorism.

That's basically the Wild West in modern days. So now we have nutjobs fighting both sides and criminals running a free real estate.

Jul 1, 2021 18:14:43 GMT James G said:

Convoys laden with prisoners and the wounded ran back westwards. There were DAR Marines around Phoenix, keeping the tense situation there under control, and through their over-watch positions went those convoys. Both EPWs and all of the many injured (DAR and US again) went through the Phoenix area due to its generally intact transport links that hadn’t seen significant war damage due to the presence of civilians all around them. Selected EPWs were flown out through the airheads around the city though the majority were moved further onwards to holding sites spread across the west of Arizona. Through March, the DAR had taken an extraordinary high number of captives and had struggled to deal with them. The ones policed up and sent backwards joined the masses of others held in facilities bulging at the seams. The critically wounded were transferred to medical care facilities ready to receive them including elements of the civilian sector. The less badly hurt, though who had been evacuated to the rear, were moved about to a good number of sites. Those in US uniform were afterwards moved onto the EPW camps while DAR service-personnel whom the doctors judged capable of returning to service were directed to do just that. The United States and the Democratic American Republic alike each treated EPWs in their custody well. There were a fair number of special cases where select prisoners were removed form the ranks of others for intelligence purposes or if they were suspected of committing war crimes, yet everyone else was treated properly. All around Phoenix, where the soldiers from two full corps of destroyed US Army and Army National Guard units were held, no one really suffered while held by the DAR. To keep those men guarded, fed, with shelter and provided for with medical care was immensely taxing for the DAR Armed Forces. They did it though because those were their fellow Americans. What was really wanted by the captors though was to see all of them sent home eventually.

Glad to see humanity being shown by both sides. The notion of Americans shooting fellow Americans will always sound stupid and a senseless waste of lives.

I'm also glad to see the rank and file of both sides still seeing the others as fellow Americans, despite the current situation. I can't help but think, though, that the countries' respective leaderships will seek to rectify that. 

[gillan1220]

Jul 2, 2021 11:56:06 GMT Brky2020 said:

Jul 2, 2021 11:37:00 GMT gillan1220 said:

That's basically the Wild West in modern days. So now we have nutjobs fighting both sides and criminals running a free real estate.
Glad to see humanity being shown by both sides. The notion of Americans shooting fellow Americans will always sound stupid and a senseless waste of lives.

I'm also glad to see the rank and file of both sides still seeing the others as fellow Americans, despite the current situation. I can't help but think, though, that the countries' respective leaderships will seek to rectify that. 

In OTL, I have many friends serving in the U.S. military. They are stationed in Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, California, and North Dakota. I couldn't help but think those stationed in Hawaii and California would be forced to join the DAR or shoot their fellow friends and neighbors that pledged their allegiance to the USA.

[James G]

Jul 2, 2021 11:29:30 GMT gillan1220 said:

Jul 1, 2021 18:13:40 GMT James G said:

Erm... thinking on it, Assad is still there in power. He will be in fits of laughter.

Suddenly the Assad Curse is still in effect. Just got reminded of it after the passing of Donald Rumsfeld.

Yep. There is still a world full of unfriendly regimes against America: Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Venezuela, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria and so on.
The usual suspects.

Jul 2, 2021 11:37:00 GMT gillan1220 said:

That's basically the Wild West in modern days. So now we have nutjobs fighting both sides and criminals running a free real estate.

Glad to see humanity being shown by both sides. The notion of Americans shooting fellow Americans will always sound stupid and a senseless waste of lives.

There was a vacuum but into that, the DAR will send troops to restore order.
There are going to be more and more voices saying that louder and louder.

Jul 2, 2021 11:56:06 GMT Brky2020 said:

I'm also glad to see the rank and file of both sides still seeing the others as fellow Americans, despite the current situation. I can't help but think, though, that the countries' respective leaderships will seek to rectify that. 

A couple of months, even with all of that killing, won't wipe away 250+ years of America.
There will be many people who want to mistreat POWs but the leaders on both sides won't be able to get their people to fight for them if they do that. It has been that case throughout the war where causing civilian losses also brought about harsh punishments due to the effect on wider morale alongside the fact that thsoe Americans each side claims to be wanting to liberate.

Jul 2, 2021 11:59:05 GMT gillan1220 said:

In OTL, I have many friends serving in the U.S. military. They are stationed in Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, California, and North Dakota. I couldn't help but think those stationed in Hawaii and California would be forced to join the DAR or shoot their fellow friends and neighbors that pledged their allegiance to the USA.

Desertions took place aplenty alongside defections. Canada, Mexico and Europe are full of service-personnel who refused to fight against their fellow Americans.

[James G]

154 – Culiacán

Back in 2022, Samuel Pierce had successfully primaried the sitting Democratic incumbent in California’s gubernatorial contest. Pierce had won big on the back of a strong progressive campaign and then gone on to easily defeat his (somewhat token) Republican opponent that November. Unlike others, President Walsh at the top of that list, Pierce was never regarded as having ‘sold out’ during the Twenties by his supporters with a move to the centre. He had stayed left, refusing to be a moderate or, worse, a neo-liberal. There had been no real corruption during Pierce’s first term in office nor during his renomination to go for a second term. It was only after he won re-election, right at the end of 2026, when the Governor of California had ended up doing something illegal on behalf of a friend. Felix Jesus Carrillo Morales needed a little help with a little matter. Pierce could have said no, should have said no, but he didn’t. What was done wasn’t something to end the world over but it was against the law: if exposed, Pierce would have lost his position and even ended up in jail. Carrillo turned out to be far from a friend. He blackmailed Pierce, slowly but ruthlessly, into acting more and more in his interests. What Pierce ended up doing for Carrillo over the next few years was just plain bad. There had been no way which the governor could escape the clutches of the drug lord and people smuggler who built up his empire to staggering heights off the back of Pierce’s influence from Sacramento. Many times, Pierce had convinced himself that he was an innocent party caught in a web cast by the deceiver Carrillo. However, he enjoyed the benefits that the relationship with Carrillo gave him and then indulged himself in more corruption independent of Carrillo too. Once his innocence had been lost, Pierce went right over to the illegal side of political activities and personal enrichment from his office. No trouble had come from his conscience over what he had did.

Using Pierce, Carrillo held significant responsibility for the establishment of the Democratic American Republic. Many other players were in that same game, Pierce included, but without Carrillo, the secession of the West could never have happened. The murders and terrorist attacks which took place, ones blamed on the federal US Government and left extremist groups which seemingly sprung from the ground, combined with what else went on in a perfect storm to light the bonfire which became the Second American Civil War. Carrillo did what he did to make himself rich and powerful. Pierce just wanted the power. He had put Maria Arreola Rodriguez into the role of his nation’s first president because he believed that the DAR would only work with her at the top of it. She was the one whom the 2028 US President Election had been stolen from and who had all of that popular support which had become the footsoldiers of the secession where it took place on the streets of cities in the West. Pierce had had inklings of at some point assuming control yet he had never thought that he would need to do so, be able to do so, within a couple of months. Once he had understood that it had to be done though, he had moved fast and decisively. Power came naturally to him once in his hands. He did what he thought had to be done for the sake of the country he led… and also himself. When it came to that assumption of power, where with the aid of the military and security forces he had rid the DAR of the shared leadership, Pierce did that without Carrillo. His blackmailer had moved himself down to Mexico where he was in the midst of consolidating a coast-to-coast drug empire south of the border. Carrillo had been used as an intermediary by Pierce and the Council of Twelve ahead of his seizure of power to try and bring the war with the United States to a conclusion and had believed that the DAR’s new president wished for him to continue with that. The fool. Pierce was someone no longer in Carrillo’s grasp and had only the wish to see an end to the man. With the full power of the state in his hands, one with quite the reach in the right circumstances, Pierce had Carrillo killed on March 25th.

The CIA had been trying to assassinate Carrillo and there were various Mexican plus Columbian criminal entities also seeking the man’s death. The Mexican government had been left unable to deal with him in anyway due to the chaos which Carrillo’s consolidation effort had unleashed though, if the circumstances had presented themselves right, Mexico’s embattled president would also have liked to have seen Carrillo dead. President Pierce got to Carrillo before anyone else. The assassination of that American-born criminal took place during the early hours within the Sinaloa city of Culiacán. A fleet of well-protected SUVs crossed over the Jorge Almada Bridge with Carrillo surrounded by bodyguards of quite the calibre. They could do nothing to stop the drone strike though. A wave of hellfire missiles fired from unseen aircraft high above smashed into every vehicle in the convoy. Carrillo was one of thirty-four people left dead in an attack where there was no obvious culprit. Mexico’s drug war, in its third deadly decade, about to enter its fourth, was upended in narrative and would take some terrible, unforeseen twists once Carrillo died in such a manner. The murder in Culiacán set off a firestorm.

No longer did Pierce answer to anyone after that.


The same day, Pierce made a broadcast on DAR state media – the previously private and diverse media had been thoroughly reorganised under central state control – where he declared that the war for the independence of the West was almost won. Naturally, he said nothing about what had happened that same day down in Culiacán. His focus was on the fight against the United States to ensure that the Democratic American Republic would keep what it had taken: freedom from the failed state that it had broken away from. Pierce told those listening and watching that the liberation of Arizona had been completed and the country’s armies were moving back into New Mexico. There was still fighting for that second state to be had, along with the highly-populated eastern regions of Colorado too, but the DAR’s president said that he was certain that there would be ‘liberation’ of those areas soon enough. He moved to then talk to the people and leaders of the United States.

Pierce offered an end to the war.

It was within the grasp of both countries, two different Americas so he called them, for a peace deal to be reached. There was no more need for any more of the killing to take place where the war was nearly at a finish. Pierce implored the United States to listen to the offer he had sent for a conclusion to all of the fighting to occur.

US media broadcasters didn’t air footage of Pierce and nor did the print and mainstream online media directly quote his words. To do so was something still regarded at that time as putting out enemy propaganda while Americans were dying at the hands of the illegal regime which had installed itself in Las Vegas. However, it wasn’t something ignored. There was media coverage of his Pierce’s claims that the war had been won by the DAR and also that he had sent onwards directly to President Mitchell in the White House a peace offering. What was in that proposal for an end to the war wasn’t known. The details were sought though. Both the White House Press Secretary and SecDef Darby were asked by journalists whether they agreed with what those three former Cabinet secretaries (the past two Defence Secretaries and the last Secretary of State too) had said about the war being lost in light of Pierce’s remarks. It was absolutely not the case at all, the two respondents replied, that the war had been won by the DAR. There was talk of those ‘setbacks’ and an expectation that the ‘tide would be turned’: that had all been said before though, before the US Army had ran away from the fight in western New Mexico and over the Rio Grande. Yet the war hadn’t been lost by the United States! As to what was in the peace deal presented to Mitchell, neither the president’s press secretary nor his recent appointee for the post of Secretary of Defence would even confirm that a serious one had been made.

There was one though, one being talked about by the 50th President and his top-tier people.

[panzer192]

From a military standpoint it appears the war is indeed going quite against the US. Any further rebuilding or reconstituting of various State/Federal forces doesn’t appear to be able to happen before Glowworm thoroughly destroys the ability of the US military to fight in the 21st century.

Looking forward to seeing how the President handles this peace offering and if a US victory is still truly possible. If one is it doesn’t appear it will occur from battlefield victories.

[gillan1220]

That takes care one of the evil people in this timeline. Carillo won't be missed.

Jul 2, 2021 18:36:12 GMT panzer192 said:

From a military standpoint it appears the war is indeed going quite against the US. Any further rebuilding or reconstituting of various State/Federal forces doesn’t appear to be able to happen before Glowworm thoroughly destroys the ability of the US military to fight in the 21st century.

Looking forward to seeing how the President handles this peace offering and if a US victory is still truly possible. If one is it doesn’t appear it will occur from battlefield victories.

Imagine the U.S. Armed Forces getting beaten by a computer virus that was supposed to be used against China or Russia by small and illegal regime out west. Americans in this timeline would have wished the Walsh Administration used the Glowworm against the PLA during the invasion of Taiwan.

[panzer192]

After the war, Walsh should face Federal charges as well.

His incompetent leadership from the American defeat in the Pacific to allowing the traitors in the west to establish the regime. He was often complacent to a degree that borders on illegal it would seem.

[James G]

Jul 2, 2021 18:36:12 GMT panzer192 said:

From a military standpoint it appears the war is indeed going quite against the US. Any further rebuilding or reconstituting of various State/Federal forces doesn’t appear to be able to happen before Glowworm thoroughly destroys the ability of the US military to fight in the 21st century.

Looking forward to seeing how the President handles this peace offering and if a US victory is still truly possible. If one is it doesn’t appear it will occur from battlefield victories.

They are getting more and more f*cked with no end in sight to that shutdown of military capability. The US cannot fight at home and not even overseas too with what is happening.
Well... how we go towards the eventual end is something I have yet to thoroughly think through so I too am looking forward to seeing how that plays out!

Jul 3, 2021 1:21:05 GMT gillan1220 said:

That takes care one of the evil people in this timeline. Carillo won't be missed.

Imagine the U.S. Armed Forces getting beaten by a computer virus that was supposed to be used against China or Russia by small and illegal regime out west. Americans in this timeline would have wished the Walsh Administration used the Glowworm against the PLA during the invasion of Taiwan.

No one is going to miss him.
I wanted something dramatic when I started the war and thought that that would be something I could take in unexpected directions. Its worked out well for story crafting purposes too, better than any other super-secret weapon - like an aircraft or missile etc - could have.

Jul 3, 2021 13:37:57 GMT panzer192 said:

After the war, Walsh should face Federal charges as well.

His incompetent leadership from the American defeat in the Pacific to allowing the traitors in the west to establish the regime. He was often complacent to a degree that borders on illegal it would seem.

Interesting idea there about Walsh. Something I hadn't thought of before either. I'll think on that indeed.

[James G]

155 – Breaking cover

Several senior Republicans broke cover first, ahead of any high-profile elected Democrats who were considering doing the same thing, and made public their firm opposition to continuing the war. The fight to retain the union and liberate the West had been lost, such was their message, and President Mitchell needed to find a way to end the conflict from the strongest position possible.

Louisiana Governor Jamie White was the first to take that step. White went public with his belief that there was no hope of defeating the Democratic American Republic in light of the extraordinary military defeats suffered on the battlefield. It was time to throw in the towel, he said in a live broadcast which went out nationwide, and deal with the aftermath. Hot on his heels was Charlotte Filton. She was the junior senator from South Carolina, another state in the Deep South which had lost so many of its national guardsmen fighting against the DAR. For Filton, just as it was with White, those losses mattered quite a bit. They could both see that nothing was going to work and didn’t want to see any more deaths of people out of their states occur for what was regarded as a lost cause. There was a strong backlash against Filton, worse than what White got, but she stuck to her guns just like he did in affirming that the war against the West was lost. In addition, Filton also called upon Mitchell to resign once he had negotiated a settlement with President Pierce out in Las Vegas. That remark got a lot of people hot under the collar: how dare she demand that!?

Mary Beth Shelton, that Democratic congresswoman from California who had refused to join with so many others who had defected to the DAR, and whom had been one of those in DC ‘speaking up for the West’, threw criticism at White and Filton during her appearance on the CBS programme 60 Minutes. She deplored the idea that the people of the West should be abandoned to what she called a regime of a ‘totalitarian fascist’. Shelton called the idea of doing that treason and, when asked to clarify, stated that she regarded those two Republicans as treasonous for even suggesting such a thing. No matter what the cost, Shelton demanded that the United States liberate all of those nine states out West. The United States couldn’t be left permanently split with tens of millions of Americans, the overwhelming majority of them who had no wish to be part of an illegal country, left out there to fend for themselves. When Shelton was doing that, Luis Garcia Vargas broke cover himself. That Republican had lost his senate race in Florida the previous November, upsetting all predictions there, and his actions ahead of Election Day in response to the murder of the singer Teyo – oh and also his general obnoxious behaviour too –, had seen him blamed by many for how the Democrats had managed to ‘steal’ Florida in the presidential race too. Vargas had been persona non grata within his party since then: Governor Cook had effectively banished him Florida. Fox News did an interview with him (he was in DC) where he expressed the opinion that the United States would be better off without the West. The progressive dominance which California and the others out there over national political discourse was ‘poisonous’. Without the West, so said Vargas, the United States could return to its traditional conservative values… and the Republican party would also remain dominant as well. A good few similar unwelcome comments had been made by right-wing media commentators in the days beforehand, but Vargas saying something so nakedly partisan when it came to the permanent breakaway of part of the country got more attention. Those who attacked him were furious at his suggestion that the secessionists should be allowed to win so that his party could use that for their electoral benefit.

Senator O’Shea was minutes away from doing an interview where he intended to argue that the war was lost and it was time to talk with Pierce rather than continue fighting when his fellow senator from Massachusetts, Senate Minority Leader Yorke, managed to shut him up. She wouldn’t let him open his big, useless mouth once again to do the Democrats any more harm. To keep him quiet took a lot of effort but she, aided by the party chair and a few other senators too, managed to see that done. Yorke watched as what had long been a problem associated with her party, that of public splits over what to do about the West, a problem she had spent so much effort on shutting down, had transferred itself to the Republicans. The media took the spotlight off her party where there were non-Congressional figures attending anti-war rallies in the big cities and also trying to trap those from Congress into saying something damaging on the record. O’Shea saying anything like he had intended to would have only re-focused the media attention on the Democrats when she was happy to see that all over the Republicans.

The following day, the 2024 presidential candidate, former Ohio Governor Roy Allen, joined with White and Filton in likewise declaring that he believed that the war with the secessionists led by Pierce should be brought to an end. The scale of the military defeat was irreversible and nothing could be done to change the situation. He expressed grave regret at the fate of those Americans out there in what he called ‘occupied territory’, especially in the states of Idaho & Utah where both had been Shanghaied into the DAR, yet spoke of the need for a political settlement that would see them lost to the United States for good. Allen blamed presidents Walsh and Mitchell – not even mentioning President Roberts; forgetting about him as seemingly so many were doing – for what had happened. The two of them had seen the break up of the country by the decisions they made. His denouncement of Mitchell was even more than that of Walsh: Allen regarded the 50th President as being ‘inept, foolish and stupid’. Such an attack against his fellow Republican, one whom many saw as being similar characters, came as a surprise to those who heard it. Allen blamed him for the defeat though and let everyone know it.

There was a strong pushback from other Republicans against those public positions staked out by others from their party who had dared to say such things. Senators, congressmen/women, governors and such like condemned what had been said by White, Filton, Vargas and then Allen. Vargas got the worst of it in what many outsiders deemed justifiable due to his expressed wish for a favourable political outcome to come from any acceptance of defeat imposed upon the United States by fellow Americans. All of the condemnation came in the public sphere with Republicans attacking other Republicans through the media for saying what they had about there needing to be an end to the ongoing killing taking place in the fight against the DAR. However, a lot of others didn’t have anything to say on the matter. There were numerous elected officeholders who said nothing in response. It would have been expected that some of them would have spoken up and joined in with the hate-fest going on against those who had come out and said that the war was lost due to their own previous attacks against any Democrats who even dared to suggest that that might be the only possible outcome. Yet they avoided emerging from cover and kept their mouths shut.

It was being understood among many Republicans that what those few brave, or damn foolish in the case of Vargas, people had said openly and took all of that flak for might be what would have to be done. There was a wait to see how things would go before they staked out their own positions so clearly though. The White House and the Defence Department were both keeping quiet and not talking about the presented peace offer delivered by Pierce and also latest developments out in New Mexico with the war itself. To expose themselves at such a time was thought by the majority to be too dangerous for their careers. Thus, they kept their mouths shut and let those who hadn’t take alone all of that animosity directed their way. Such was politics.