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Why wouldn't they? I am not sure what forms of ID are normally carried in the countries folks who cross illegally come from but I suspect they bring what they normally carry with them. I know that there are many people who die each year in Texas and Arizona from the heat and snake bites. It is not uncommon for the illegal immigrants to call 911 and the Border patrol to locate them using GPS. Every year bodies of those who were not able to call for help are found, if they don't have ID then finding their families is an issue.Most Americans carry a Driver's license or state ID so if we get in an accident etc we can be identified and our families notified. Here in Texas when I had my DL renewed I was fingerprinted and was able to have an emergency contact added to the data base, I also have a set of “dogtags" that I wear when I travel that has emergency contacts and medical information in the event I am unresponsive. All of my family lives up North (Wisconsin) so if something happens to me the police coming to my house to notify someone would be useless.

These are the accounts of the Second American Civil War, also known as the Wars of Reunification and the American Warring States Period.After the breakup many wondered which states would come out in control of the power void created by the dissolution of the United States. There were many with little chance against several of the larger more powerful states. The states in possession of a large population, predisposition for military bases and a population open to the idea of warfare fared the best. In the long term, we would look to states with self-sufficiency and long term military capabilities.Here are the states that held the greatest strategic value from day one. They have the ability to be self-sufficient, economic strength, military strength, the will to fight and the population to support a powerful war machine.CaliforniaTexasNew YorkOthers that have many of the qualities that gave them an advantage are also listed.WashingtonColoradoIllinoisVirginiaFloridaGeorgiaFor all intents and purposes, Alaska and Hawaii ended well enough since they were so far removed from the center of the country that they never really suffer greatly nor benefit from the shattering.Day 12: "It's getting scary. My mom said we are going back to Oklahoma to stay with Grandma. The other day my dad was yelling at some men at the door. They seemed really upset. I held Jamie. She is still little. She's scared and doesn't understand what is going on. I am scared too. There are also some boys at school who keep picking on her and calling her an "Okie". We were both raised here, but I don't really think that matters. All the other families on my street have huge one-star flags hanging from their homes. I don't want to leave my house, but Mom says we have to go. The highways are packed with people. I wish things would just go back to how it was."The Diary of Sarah BrennanFirst came a period of massive migration back to the homelands. Facing the newly invented discrimination that will be created, many felt the need to go back to their own people. While the individual states retained all military assets, they couldn't control the individuals who fight. A Texas Marine stationed in California, would not fight for California. A soldier in New York would not fight against their home in Virginia, and a sailor in Houston would not fight against their home state of Florida. The warriors returned to their home states and the states had to reconsider that when they measured troop strength of their new nations. Ultimately, they measured troop strength by how much of the population would return home.After the migrations rough approximations left the states even, additionally, the balance of foreign nationals changed. At some point there was a migration of people back to their non-United States homeland. Over the next several months many from the North migrated to Canada and in the South to Mexico and South America. Millions of Latinos fled back South to the safety of their families and away from the looming danger of the war.Day 42: "Citizens of California are advised to stay away from the Mexican Border. In response to the recent surge of immigrants back to Mexico, authorities out of Mexico City have closed entry into the country. Agents from Tijuana are now manning armed sentries posted along the border. There have been scattered reports of refugees attempting to storm the gates being shot by soldiers on the Mexican side. It has also been communicated that the No Man's Land will be mined within the week and that Mexico will not be allowing any non-Mexican immigrants to enter the country from this point forward. Once again, we strongly advise all those wishing to leave the country to stay in their homes."Jennifer Aranda - Channel 14 NewsThe war was little more than a very tenuous peace for several months. The new nations were mostly focused on the reconsolidating of their forces and trying for quick grabs at resources that were easy to hold. Alliances were beginning to form as some of the smaller states sought to ally with known powers in the region.The first of what we would call real battles was mostly when some of the regional powers overtook mainly unmanned installations or took over now abandoned Federal assets.Day 63: "We are gathered here today as the inheritors of a lost legacy. Our nation has been lost to shattering and disarray. For that reason it is our duty to bring back our house to a structure undivided. When we arrived in the District we found it empty and abandoned. The monuments to our civilization watched silently over the broken halls of our once proud Capitol. We came to the District to bring back order. We have done this deed and now it is our charge to bring back the greatness of America and return her to her proud place of honor... We will do these things and we will do the others because we are a great people. We are Americans. We are VIRGINIANS!"Inauguration speech of President Anthony StokesThe first real occupation attempts happened when attempts were made to secure more assets.The Republic of Texas sought to gain strategic advantages in the Central United States. To do this they sought to gain two strategic assets. The first was control of Whiteman AFB, the home of the B-2 bomber program. The base was easily secured and the most coveted military bomber in the world was now in the hands of the Republic of Texas. The next was control of Colorado and her military installations of great value. Then finally was access to the Mississippi River. Two main offenses took place to do just that. The First Battle of New Orleans involved a massive force occupying the city to claim it as a port and artery for future engagements. In Colorado they met stiff resistance as many of the Texas military were unfamiliar with Mountain warfare. Colorado's major bases fell quickly since Colorado enjoys the smallest force to fight back the Texans, but they adapted an unconventional warfare stance that kept the Texans on edge for months. Still, at this point the mission behind taking Colorado was achieved--control over its military bases and strategic assets. The insurgency does however slow down the growth of Texas.New York pushed Northward. They pushed to claim all of New England and the food wealth they will need to supply their people now that resources from the Midwest are no longer available. The takeover is mostly peaceful as many of the states have large, but mostly non-military, populations. They encountered problems when large groups of refugees tried to flee to Canada and rioting ensued.Illinois was calm. The Midwest Alliance grew steadily by seeking to secure the Great Lakes. They were able to take Ohio through a few fierce, but brief encounters. They also took on Minnesota and the headwaters of the Mississippi River.The West coast was now controlled by the two main powers--California with its seat of power in San Francisco and The North West Union centered in Seattle. California gained support and took control of all the states West of the Continental Divide and South of the Union. The North West Union pushed as far as Wyoming.In the South, Georgia gained strength as Alabama and South Carolina joined. The leadership of Georgia advocated a return to confederalism as fanatics gain headway among the people. The Neo-Confederacy movement takes root and spreads throughout the Old South and rekindles a sense of unity among the states who engaged on the side of the Confederacy during the First United States Civil War. Peacefully they are able to convince Mississippi and Tennessee to also join. The growth of Confederate States puts an ever-growing pressure on Florida as it slips into isolation.Virginia took on the mantle of the Restored United States. They assumed the moral responsibility for reunification, and by taking Washington, they were able to secure much of the federal assets and infrastructure available to the country before the collapse. They then commandeered many ships and weapons housed overseas that weren't lost during the first two months of disarray. They began to gather support among the neighboring states and press their advantages-- intelligence, military strength and the symbolic leadership they held by holding D.C. One strategic advantage they wished to push was their economy. While the rest of the former United States was in complete economic disarray, Virginians' consistent use of the dollar provided a stability that others didn't have. They wished to solidify this with control of the nation's gold supply housed in a crossroads what was now a very desperate strategic region. After they peacefully brokered a treaty with Kentucky they received an attack on Fort Knox from forces located in Indiana.Day 112: "When we arrived at Knox we received heavy resistance from the defenders. Their fire was, for the most part, inaccurate and they lacked unit cohesion, so we found ourselves at an advantage. Not that we are much better off. We received intel that their units were something of a haphazard array of whatever Marines, Sailors, Soldiers or Airmen came out of the woodwork and they just threw them together and called it a unit, much like our own. Still they were professional warfighters. We were lucky they hadn't yet made it to secure the fort. Back to Knox. We were able to take the base. The fact was that the Kentucky defenders were mostly woodsmen and good-ol-boys from the South. More a militia reliving stories of the Old South than an army, but they fought like wild dogs. After a few hours their main line broke and they retreated back towards the center of the state. About halfway through the day we were able to break into the main buildings where the gold was supposed to be stored. Easily, it would be safe to say we were surprised at what we found. We arrived to find bloodstains in the main hallways and leading into the vault room. The trail faded and we see that the vaults are all completely empty. Every last bar, every last ounce is gone. All that is left are red stains all over the room and bullet holes riddling the walls that look like they could have happened months ago. Those hicks didn't even know they were guarding a giant empty building. Now the big question is...'So where is the gold?'"Log of Lt Col. Thomas Scott 2nd Raider Battalion Midwestern Alliance.At that time, the nations were coming together in larger groups. They had access to larger populations to support military strength, economic power to reach out and fund the state, food sources, and leadership.In the West, states along the coast received the most fighting. Washington began bombing San Francisco from the air to try and decapitate what became the center of California's leadership. Retaliation strikes from combined naval and air forces severally weakened Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle. California launched a two-pronged attack by sending in land forces up Interstate Highway 5 and Marines to attack from the North. Their mission was to enter Washington through the Salish Sea and secure Mt. Vernon, preventing escape of enemy forces. The Marines were by and large undetected and completed their mission successfully. The Californian army received shelling on their movement near the town of Cresswell, Oregon. They retreated back to the nearby town of Cottage Grove and secured the Airport there. A temporary air base was established and sorties began taking place, allowing for the immediate deployment of troops to the defense of Eugene. Casualties were high, but once California secured Eugene, the way was open to take Portland.Day 234: "I don't know what the Army is doing. We have been here holding the Canadian border for days and the Army still hasn't made it past Eugene. Just get it out. Burn the city to the ground. Mow them down. Just do your damn job. It's us or them. Make it happen for God's sake."Private First Class Anthony Sullivan - 1st Californian Marine RegimentIn the East, the Restored United States was crumbling. After the loss of their gold stores in Ft. Knox, the “RestoDollar” collapsed, taking with it the rest of their economy. Smugglers and bandits had moved in to provide whatever goods the people wanted, whether or not those goods were already banned within the nation. They needed to even the playing field by breaking the back of their most dangerous threat, the trade partnership between the New York City State, and the Midwest Alliance.Such a solution came through the plan brought about by one General David Meznick. The Meznick Doctrine called for the destruction of strategic economic assets in the North to weaken their ability to make war. Marches north cut railways, bombed bridges, and the greatest of these attacked on the infrastructure of the Great Lakes' shipping system. With the locks destroyed and the Erie Canal in ruins, shipping between Chicago and the outside world ceased. New York was cut from its most valuable resource, which was the hope of once again shipping America's goods to the rest of the world after the war.Deprived of many of their shipping lanes, the Midwest Alliance began to break as food and other supplies were unable to reach its people. Riots in Chicago began to erupt as the people accused the government of corruption, a fact all the more dangerous due to the overwhelming evidence to support the claim. With its end in sight, much of the Chicago legislature slipped out in the night and booked passage to places unknown on private planes. Left without leadership and provisions, the Alliance crumbled. The Texas Republic benefited most, filling the vacuum of the everything East of the Mississippi, with the Restored United States temporarily occupying the now ruined areas around the Great Lakes, before abandoning the mission to focus on policing actions within the ratified states.In the South, tensions between Florida and the Neo-Confederates reached their zenith. Troops took Tallahassee and were dug in along the Jacksonville-Gainesville Line. Florida was desperate. In a deal made in Houston, Florida agreed to join Texas if it was free to maintain its sovereignty in exchange for military support. With this, Florida and the forces staged in New Orleans attacked. The Jacksonville-Gainesville line was pushed back. Floridian forces moved with speed to besiege Atlanta as Texas occupied the city of Montgomery, Alabama. Texas and Florida forces converged on Atlanta and the siege went on for another month.No one really knows how, but a fire broke out in the city. Reports blame Texas shelling or Floridian sabotage, but most official accounts believe that it originated in an apartment complex where a family pried up floorboards to burn for heat during an remarkable cold winter. The fire spread to the rest of the neighborhood and, lacking their emergency infrastructure, parts of the city were overcome as the rest began to go into disarray. Texas forces secured the major areas of the city while Florida troops took charge of the relief effort for escaping refugees.The next hundred days were among the most peaceful of the war.The lines between the Republic of Texas and the Californian Union of Democratic States were now amassing troops and solidifying their positions. The Northwestern cities were in the processes of being rebuilt after California gained control as were the cities of Montgomery and Atlanta. Old forces of the losing states' armies were redistributed to victor nations. Texas held a tenuous peace with the Restored United States as they erected fortifications along the 36th parallel and western side of the Mississippi. California and Texas began building in unison a mass of fortifications on either side of the Continental Divide. Texas also enjoyed use of the river as shipping lanes now connected everything from the Midwest to the Carolinas. This eased the growing concerns of food shortage and redeployment of men.Most of the fighting was centered between the Restored United States (RUS) and New England Union (NEU). Control of Ohio and Pennsylvania changed hands a few times as the region sought stability. The war reached a turning point when a New York based flotilla made a decisive push to take Washington D.C. In response, a nuclear device was used on the fleet and all the ships, sailors and Marines on that mission were lost. The first active use of a nuclear weapon in more than half a century sent waves through the warring nation states. Other nations of the world grew terrified as they waited for the NEU's strategy. The worst fears came to pass when a weapon was exploded in Washington D.C. bringing down the powerbase of the Restored United States. Alarms across the world rang out as the RUS gathered itself and prepared to launch retaliatory strikes along the Eastern Seaboard. Before this came to pass a message from New York City came initiating their surrender. The device was set by a rogue general from New York. Fearing its own impending annihilation, New York City seceded from the Northeast to become its own independent city-state. The rest of New England issued their surrender and joined the Restored United States without incident. The Capitol was moved to Philadelphia.Day 647: "I can't believe Washington's gone. I mean, what are we even fighting for? There is nothing left that was the same. I swear I am starting to feel like all we are animals trying to survive, fighting over the scraps of our fathers. We all knew it was over when D.C. got smoked, but at least that didn't happen. Many of the men are still sure that NYC planned this out. Leave the rest to fight over the charred out ashes while they run from it all. I just don't know what to think. Now we are inheriting the Northeast and all its problems. They better be ready. Now Texas has us to the West and South along Carolina. Two years this has been going on and for what? I don't know how long we can keep this going."Log of Col. Thomas Scott 1st Marine Regiment Restored United States.During the next year the war reached a standstill. Maneuvers and deployments mounted the full force of all three nations. Tensions mounted as the borders grew more and more defended.Texas forces were spread thin. They held the most land, the longest borders and the least population to support their land. It was composed of the elite Texas troops, highly militant neo-confederates, thousands of independent militias and partisans as well as millions of individuals ready to fight their own private backwoods battles.The Restored United States was a broken nation. Much of it was the remains of conquered other nations. The former state of New York was now missing its greatest assets, income from the the Midwest and international access from New York City. The Capitol was lost. Their people were now disheartened and disillusioned. The nation they lived in was nowhere near what they were experiencing, yet they still had to survive. A new national identity was forming.California was doing well, relatively speaking. Though there was damage done to the major cities, they enjoyed a good deal of time to rebuild. Their troops were stationed along the divide. Border tensions began to build until a small town skirmish in Wyoming escalated the war to its peak.Wyoming was now effectively existing on two sides of the divide. Many of the services and resources were split between a small segment of the Western end of the state and the rest of Wyoming. The distance from California was too great for support from San Francisco to offer the Western segment of the state. In many ways they were fending for themselves. Near the division line were two towns, Green River and Rock Springs. Green River lay on the Western side of the state. They also held the only viable water resource between the two. Since the war began, they were able to share, but after rationing was instituted by the Republic, Rock Springs began to need more of the water. Though neither truly identified as Texan or Californian, they were now forced to abide by their laws. Rock Springs was in demand of water. Green River was forced, however, not to abide. Officers from California were sent to enforce the policy to not aid the enemy in any form. After frequently being denied, leadership of Rock Springs went to the town and make a formal request with the officers at Green River. The officers took over the mayoral office of the town. The officers denied again Rock Springs's request. One young man, Jeffery Irving, protested violently. A scuffle began in the office before the officers drew their side arms. Two of the men were shot, and Jeffery was killed in the office of the Green River courthouse. The next day citizens from Rock Springs came to the city and stormed the mayor's office. The two officers were barricaded in the office and requested for support from a nearby base. An hour later, troops arrived in the town. They discovered the office broken into and the officers murdered. The order was given to track down the perpetrators. California troops made their way to Rock Springs.While in town, they barricaded the main road where they began searching passing vehicles and taking people in for questioning. A crowd began to build. Taunts and screams let out from the crowd. The crowd became violent. A rock was thrown at the soldiers. A rifleman knocked a man to the ground with the butt of his weapon..."Crack."A gun shot sounded from one of the windows on Main Street. The soldier fell down beside the man on the ground. The crowd was silent and a moment of stillness seemed to roar throughout the valley.A soldier began firing on the window; others fired at the crowd. In a moment the entire crowd was under fire. They ran for the nearest building and anywhere for cover. As the firing stopped the lives of dozens of men, women and children lay frozen on the street. The detachment gathered themselves and left the town before a battle began between themselves and the townspeople. This was the Massacre of Rock Springs.Day 812: "When we arrived most the bodies were carried away. Some were lined along the street covered in sheets of white stained crimson. The town was in shock as our troops began filling the streets. Mothers were screaming with anguish as old men roared for action. There was talk of many of the men leaving an hour before we arrived to handle things themselves. I don't think they know what they're getting themselves into. We won't be able to assist them. I feel for these people. I am shocked with them. They are Texas citizens now and we let this happen. It won't go unavenged for long though. I haven't seen this many troops gathered like this since we took Atlanta. This is definitely going to be the big push we have all been waiting for to take California. All Hell is about to break loose. God protect us as we march on California."Journal of Sgt. Alexander McAnally 33rd Texas Infantry RegimentA massive invasion force gathered at Rock Springs. Six divisions of the Texas Army and the 1st and 3rd Marines were mobilized for the battle. In the morning B-2s from Whiteman AFB in Missouri began strategic bombing sorties against a number of Californian Union air bases. Conventional bombing missions were also launched. Suffering the greatest were bases near Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Air defense was launched from bases in San Diego, LA and Sacramento with relief forces in the North. Next came what was known as the battle over Nevada. Fighter squadrons met over the desert in many numerous engagements to gain air superiority. Texas was equipped with superior aircraft since they were the only power still investing heavily in improving their local manufacturing capabilities and advancing military technology. They also held the advantage of more experienced warfighters from the wars in the East. California was heavily invested in passive defense systems scattered throughout the desert. Their missile defenses tore heavily into the Texas planes. The air battle was by far the largest air battle in history with thousands of planes involved and hundreds lost to the skies. The fighters from Texas were able to protect bombers in raising the remaining defenses in Salt Lake and Las Vegas while severely damaging others in Los Angeles, San Diego and China Lake.The Battle of Salt Lake began the Land War. With the region softened, Texas mobilized forces invaded Northern Utah by way of the Forward Operating Base Rock Springs and following Interstate 80. They met fierce resistance in Salt Lake city. Sniper and rifle teams were thoroughly entrenched along with machine-gun nests. Five battalions of thoroughly entrenched Californian infantry were able to hold the city for three days against the overwhelming Texas forces while the air war continued over the sands of the Great American Desert. On the fourth day of courageous fighting the Californians retreated as relief troops arrived. The Texans were now dug into the hollowed-out shell of the former capital of Utah. From this point the Siege of Salt Lake lasted another three weeks.The battle continued. Texas reinforcements joined on day six. The battle intensified. Texas was the first to escalate. M.O.A.B. bombs were dropped and cleared away a great deal of California defenders. Texas movements quickly divided and overwhelmed the Californians. 6000 were lost and the Californians retreated back to Sacramento. Once Salt Lake was secured Republic forces moved on to Las Vegas. Vegas was easily secured after the battle of Salt Lake. Republic forces gathered in the desert city preparing for the push to Los Angeles. As the army moved out they destroyed the Hoover dam to prevent Las Vegas from becoming a strategic point again. This caused a surge in the Colorado river that destroyed the Davis, Parker and Imperial Dam systems as well. The region would become by modern standards a completely uninhabitable desert again.It was then that something unexpected happened. The Restored United States attacked in an unsuspected maneuver designed to strike when the Republic and Californian Union were entangled and spread thin. General Meznick again planned out a massive attack to take out the knees from under the Republic forces. His plan was to take out the port at New Orleans and land a decisive series of blows against Texas. As Republic troops moved out to Southern Nevada, covert agents blew the dikes holding back the flood waters from the Gulf. The city, its troops, its ships and resources were all flooded and in disarray. Air strikes and land forces were also made on the stations and bases along the Mississippi River, including Whiteman and the B-2's stationed there. Transport boats carried thousand to secure the bases along the river down to Baton Rouge. From there bombers cleared a path through to Beaumont, Texas, and on to Houston. Texas Defense forces scrambled to meet the invasion. With eyes to the West, few were prepared for an attack in the heart of Texas. Reserves from Dallas and Austin raced to Houston. The battle intensified. After the destruction of New Orleans, naval forces stationed in the Atlantic maneuvered to support the Texas invasion. Without the support of the New Orleans ships at port, the Republic Navy was overcome. Naval bombardment was laid down on the defenders in Houston, paving the way for the surgical team of RUS soldiers and the wave of troops following the river. The defenses were hindered by the sea of terrified citizens fleeing Houston. As shells rained down from the sea, chaos ensued. The city was going to be lost.With the loss of Houston imminent, Republic soldiers spread thin on two fronts, and the country severed down the spine of the Mississippi, Texas made a last desperate strike.It is believed the first city to fall was Chicago. Boston and Philadelphia came shortly after. At the same time, San Francisco and Seattle were lost. Retaliatory strikes claimed Austin, Houston, Atlanta and Oklahoma City. It is believed that many other cities were targeted for destruction, if not for the intervention of some unknown power.Four high-altitude nuclear devices were detonated over the former United States. These weapons showered the region with energized electrons that shorted the circuits of electrical devices in their target radius. Below is a graphic representation of what this blast did to the United States.Most of the country fell into regions of 50 to 80% damage, however considering overlap, historians assume that the damage was at least 90% to all of the continent and all its coveted luxuries were reduced to plastic and glass. This of course didn't stop at the devices themselves, but everything networked into the infrastructure was brought down as well.The four devices together were seen from various parts of the country. Their effects brought down all major computer systems, information networks, communication relays, and nearly all circuit-based technology on the continent. There is no official record of who fired the weapons. Any logs created were probably lost in the very blast they created. Many believe that it was a last ditch effort to limit the destruction of the United States in the event of Atomic Holocaust. Some believe it was due to international intervention. The world's final discipline upon them for what they were doing. Many of the religious groups who would come from this era believe it was the work of God, though they cannot agree whether it was a sign of his mercy or punishment upon a sinful nation. Whoever was responsible, the truth is that the devices probably stopped more bombs than actually went off that day, but they didn't protect anyone from the next five years. America was dark.Day 842: "I was out on the porch catching fireflies with Jamie on the night the lights went out. We caught a whole jar full when I saw a bright light come from the sky way far off in the North. Daddy screamed and jumped on us and he held me really close as we fell to the ground. The light grew really bright and then all of a sudden this wind crashed the field. The wind whooshed through like it was going to carry Daddy, me, and Jamie away. Then it went away. I looked up and the light in the sky faded away. I watched it dim until it turned to nothing. Then I looked around and realized I couldn't see anything. All the lights in the house went off. All the other houses did too. All the street lights were off and the whole town was dark. I asked Daddy what happened. "I don't know, Sweetie. We need to get back into the house before it gets too cold." I looked hard and tried to find a path back to the porch. Then I saw the light flicker on Jamie's cheek. The jar in her hand began to flicker and I could see the fireflies coming back to life. It wasn't much, but they were the only lights for miles and Jamie was all I could see."The Diary of Sarah BrennanDay 846: I don't know which is worse, the casualties we suffered at Salt Lake or the retreat back through the Sierra Nevadas. We lost the trucks and armor when all the comms and equipment went dead. We’ve been on foot since the California border. We are no longer being pursued. Perhaps they know how desperate we are. Or perhaps they are every bit as broken as we, limping back to Texas. I’ve reached the point where I no longer wish the hardship of my enemy, praying only that God will see fit to forgive us all our misgivings, and see us safely home.We have lost all contact with San Francisco. Everything’s gone silent. Even the locals we pass are in the dark. I fear all that awaits us beyond these mountains will be cities of ash. But I am trying to keep the men going. There must be some hope of a future worth getting back to if any of us hope to make it out of this pass alive. But I honestly don't know how we’re going to make it out of the mountains. The snow is thick and has reduced our pace to a crawl. There are days we make no more than a mile. Foraging is not meeting the nutritional needs of three battered divisions marching in winter. We have already lost as many men trying to get back to the base as we did in the battle.My greatest fear is that the men will begin to realize where we are. Why God would put us through all of this in the middle of the Donner Pass. Please Lord, don't let the men know what happened here, and by the mercy of the Heaven, don’t let them start getting ideas. Please Lord, just let us make it out the pass."Log of Lt. Joseph Ramirez, 3rd California Infantry RegimentAfter the collapse came the period historians remember as the American Dark Age.Five years passed. With all the infrastructural losses came a loss in leadership. The cities were deserted when the water, food, and power stopped coming in. Disease and pestilence took their place, moving in like a ravaging army. Towns like Ardmore, Oklahoma became overnight metropolises, taking in the flood of humanity escaping from cities like Dallas and the ruins of Oklahoma City. A local Indian casino from before the war, became a refugee camp for more than 60,000 people. The Oklahomans welcomed them warmly. There was no war then. There was no Texas, nor California and certainly no America. Now everyone was simply a survivor of the 2nd American Civil War.In the chaos of the collapse, micro-wars sprang up. With no government protection, towns and villages attacked one another for the scraps so civilization. Local Sheriffs declared themselves Generals of fifty-man armies. Much of the former United States fell into a feudal bid for power waging county against county and town against town, family against family. They fought battles over salt mines, cattle, clean creek water, or farmland.In the South a plague swept through the countryside. Many reputable reports indicate that it happened when the controls at the CDC in Atlanta were destroyed after the bombing or from the EMP. Others think the viralents were released on purpose. Genocides and ethnic cleansing also scarred the landscape in Chicago, Alabama, Miami, and Los Angeles.It was towns like Ardmore, Oklahoma that finally brought the people out of the dark. They rebuilt the agricultural backbone and got people back to work now that peace was assured through the destruction of the capacity to make war by the large nation-states. Veterans gathered to provide a unified defense force for the new agrarian cultures that built themselves out of the ashes. New farms were established and refugees built homes all along the landscapes.As famine no longer blighted the survivors, factories began to rise again. The infrastructure began returning as power was restored, transformers were replaced, networks were brought back online. As the towns became secure and prosperous again people moved back into the cities. Dallas, Sacramento, Columbus, and Richmond rose to become important regional powers again. The eyes of the nation looked to these cities as fears of the rekindling of the Unification Wars began to surface. Old hatreds and unresolved grievances lingered in the air.It was from Dallas that a movement started. One young girl led a peace movement from the heart of the former Republic of Texas.Day 2871: "This girl in Texas is calling for us to formally end the hostilities. I know it’s been years since anyone has fired a shot, and God only knows how much we’ve lost. I don't know if I could ever trust someone from Texas again, but she was just a girl when this whole thing started. It's not like she is to blame for anything, but it is just hard to get behind someone from down there. We are tired, there isn't anything left worth fighting for. If there is anything left it would have to be that this has to end before it all happens again."Sgt. Anthony Sullivan - California Civil Restoration AdministrationDay 2912: "Give this girl your support. What we did was criminal. As a people we destroyed what took great men hundreds of years to bring together. It took us less than two years to bring each other to the brink. We lost our greatest cities and our best people. For what? To throw away that which we were blessed with to create our own Hell on Earth? Now there is one of our own calling for repentance and recompense. Pray for her strength and success."Pastor Joseph RamirezDay 2945: "There's going to be a peace conference in New York City. They're back up and running for the most part. Hopefully we can do something good there. I will be part of the delegation from the RUS. We haven't thought of ourselves as that for years. Still, we have to go and let it be known that Columbus doesn't want any more fighting. We are more than this collection of third-world city-states that are built on the breakdown of our legacies. I hope this little girl from Dallas is more than hopes and dreams."Mayor Thomas Scott of ColumbusDay 2953: As the much talked-about New York City peace accords prepare to open, all the attention of the country is on this young woman from Oklahoma. She was one of the early people to flee with her family from Texas. She, with her father, mother and young sister, lived with family on a small farm in Southern Oklahoma. There they survived the conscription notices for service, the bombings, The Dark and the two-year winter.She took up work in an old cookie factory, now shelling pecans from local harvests for soldiers, then for survivors. After the Dark she administered relief efforts at a local Indian casino for refugees fleeing Texas. She was then given the task of finding the refugees on the local farms. She built up relief shelters to gather together aid to the refugees and give them jobs. Thousands knew her for her work and generosity. While still barely in her 20's she was instrumental in restoring Oklahoma City. When the lights came back online and grocery shelves were stocked again in Dallas, she was there. Pushed into local politics, she was a unifying force for the region.While in Dallas she championed a peace movement. Dallasites and Texans began to question if the war should continue, if their safety could be secured with the history of the war and Texas' role in it. She was the voice of reason in a sea of fears. She gained support from those she helped and her message spread across the Republic, and all the way to Columbus and Sacramento.Now leaders from across America are going to New York City and are meeting for the first time since the break-up of the United States to discuss a resolution to the failed Wars of Reunification. In her honor, the much talked about Brennan Treaty will be presented to the delegation, ratified and hopefully pass within the week. Here's to hope and to Sarah Brennan.Jennifer Aranda - New San Diego Union Tribune- EndSources:List of U.S. states and territories by populationList of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnelJohn Burgess's answer to Which states commit the most troops to the US Military?United States Armed ForcesJon Davis's answer to Hypothetical Battles: If every nation in the world allied and attempted to invade and conquer the United States, would they succeed?All the other answers on If every state of the USA declared war against each other, which would win?I was also inspired by watching some of my favorites on human nature and warfare Hotel Rwanda and Red Dawn. Just be thankful I didn't rewatch the documentary series "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State."Liked this? You might also like my YouTube Channel. You can also connect with The War Elephant on Facebook. If you want to help me make more content like this, please visit my Patreon Page to find out more.

I'll call my supervillain Mr. X. He's an American, wealthy, but not super rich. He's known to be an eccentric but is actually a sociopath. He's reclusive. He's violent and has no regard for authority or political processes. He has a pathological will to power.Mr. X doesn't live the rich playboy lifestyles of others. He's a gearhead. Perhaps he inherited his money and business in something quiet, like heavy machine tools, rocker joints, ball bearings, specialty tires. Under his leadership, the company modestly diversifies.Most rich cretins buy themselves yachts. Mr. X instead buys himself a curiosity: a submarine. He buys a large hull from a luxury retailer, US Submarines*, and tells them that he'll do some work on it. Substantially modified, his submarine is often seen going on extended cruises. His business practically runs itself; they barely know he's gone.In January 2019, a variety of shell companies collectively accumulate a large amount of leverage and buy billions of dollars worth of call options on 3-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures. Although the days are noted for heavy trading, each day's purchases are not taken to be much more than a blip in the billions of dollars of turnover these contracts see daily. No one suspects anything is afoot.Mr. X.'s submarine, heavily modified at his personal workshop at a private location in Maine, sets sail for an extended cruise. Outwardly, it still resembles a luxury submarine owned by an eccentric multimillionaire. Some modifications are apparent, mainly in the propulsion area, but it looks nothing like a military submarine, and doesn't sound like it either. He informs the Coast Guard of his plans for a tour of the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, dives, and drops out of sight. Passing by within a few miles of a Coast Guard vessel, he is detected by a the destroyer's hydrophones. Of course, Mr. X doesn't need his sub to be stealthy - by the time his plans are in action no one will be looking for him.One week later, in the dead of the night, four autonomous submarine vehicles move just under the surface towards pre-programmed GPS coordinates. They surface directly adjacent to four offshore platforms off of the coast of Louisiana. They each carry a half ton of Heavy ANFO high explosive and primers. Their targets: the heavy infrastructure of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the site of roughly 15 percent of US oil imports. All three single point mooring platforms and the main pumping station are hit, causing irreparable damage, rupturing the pipeline and destroying two tankers, causing a massive oil slick that spreads over the water.Almost simultaneously, four hired big-rig trucks turn to block all of the lanes at the entrances and exits of the Fred Hartman Bridge in Baytown, Texas. A team of heavily armed mercenaries emerges from each one, deploys four pallet-mounted, molded black boxes, and then leaves, either continuing along the road or taking off on all-terrain vehicles. The few people trapped between the trucks see the lights of emergency vehicles approaching when each of the boxes laid by the mercenaries begins hurling dark objects into the water below. The onlookers watch with the fascination of those too stunned to be truly afraid, as each box whirs and emits a series of "thunk!" sounds as the objects splash into the water of the Houston ship channel, some floating, others sinking. Then the whirring suddenly stops. The boxes explode with enormous force. The pylons collapse, and the Fred Hartman Bridge collapses into the Houston ship channel. All barge and tanker traffic halts. Emergency responders trying to rescue some of the people from the bridge are killed by floating and partially submerged antipersonnel and anti-ship mines.The next day, as the full magnitude of the disaster becomes apparent, markets are in turmoil. The LOOP is crippled, with an oil slick slowly spreading from the sinking platforms. The Houston ship channel is blocked, and national guard teams are investigating how to deal with removing the mines so that the twisted metal wreckage can be removed and bodies recovered. Most of the major refining industry in the United States is completely cut off from oil imports. West Texas Intermediate spikes to three, then four, then five, then six times its previous value as industry sources report that domestic inventories have less than three months' worth of supply. The president authorizes releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, calming markets somewhat but unable to stop the sudden onset of a sharp recession. Mr. X.'s buyers quietly take the profits from their call options on oil futures. The money is discreetly moved offshore.The next few weeks see the United States government apparatus descend into chaos. The terrorist attack is not the worst in American history in terms of loss of life, but it has certainly been the most economically damaging. International condemnations of the attacks roll in as the country is united, once again, in solidarity, and gears up for hard times ahead. A few international terror groups claim responsibility, but their pronouncements are quickly discounted. The attack displayed too much sophistication. Behind the scenes, the intelligence establishment roils with yet another failure, desperately trying to find something to connect the incidents with a cause. As explosives experts confirm that ANFO was used, national inventories of ammonium nitrates are checked and rechecked. Something isn't right.Mr. X returns to his estate in Maine. He makes a point of surfacing near Maryland and chartering a flight as soon as news of the terrorist attack occurs. He also boosts security. All of this is par for the course; many of his wealthy countrymen are doing the same, nervously looking to safeguard their assets. Mr. X in particular is known for being private and paranoid. But Mr. X., of course, is not so much looking to protect himself as he is trying to camouflage his intentions for a few more critical weeks.Intelligence officials begin tracing nationwide shipments of ammonium nitrate. This is quite easy, as there only a handful of manufacturers. No significant quantities have gone missing. The chemical signature of the explosions left some clues - but they point to a non-American origin. The terrorist group, whoever they are, knows their chemistry: they've brought calcium ammonium nitrate into the United States**. They will have to turn to Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Not all of these places have good records.Meanwhile, the terrorist attack on the United States spurs a massive global binge of spending on military hardware. As the United States reveals details of the autonomous vehicles that destroyed the LOOP, purchase orders for antiship and antisubmarine warfare missiles begin to roll in. Other nations quickly see the threat from such acts of terrorism and make their own purchases. Inevitably, the nations of the Persian Gulf and India, the world's largest arms importers, jump on the bandwagon.Some weeks later, a container vessel off the coast of Somalia, carrying construction materials destined for Ethiopia via Eritrea, goes dark. Although Somali pirate activity is suspected, having had a recent resurgence in the area, no demands for ransom are received. Instead, the ship is mysteriously taken out to sea, away from major shipping lanes, rather than being moored in any pirate harbor. Satellites search the vast, trackless wastes of the Gulf of Yemen for any sign of the ship or her crew.Two days later, an Israeli shipping company loses contact with their own cargo ship 100 miles North of where the first hijacking is believed to have occurred. It is carrying Israeli arms - including naval missile batteries*** - destined for India. Ironically, the shipment is in fulfillment of a long placed order, India's ponderous military procurement process having typically dragged out negotiations for purchases. Once again, unusually, no demands for ransom are received. Still more unusually, the ship has been taken despite the presence of an onboard private security team, and despite the presence of nearby international warship patrols. Days later, another cargo vessel is intercepted, this time carrying French missiles**** destined for the UAE, also off the coast of Somalia. Soon the cargo vessels are found with their crew gone, with significant numbers of containers and military hardware removed, adrift, a few days later. The international community scrambles to police the critical shipping area, while on the drifting ships evidence left by the attackers again suggests a high level of sophistication. They leave bloodstains but no bodies. Brass left behind on the decks point to commercially purchased, NATO-type small arms.As the drama off of the Horn of Africa plays out, a different type of drama is coming to a close in Pakistan. After much bureaucratic wrangling and construction delays, the Karachi Nuclear Power Complex (KANUPP) II's reactors are finally coming online. The projects are the culmination of 6 years' of investment and modernization from Pakistani and Chinese investors, and have been championed by successive government as a shining example of Pakistan's development. The new reactor, a Westinghouse AP1000 PWR, is mechanically complete, and is ready to be fueled. The older one, still chugging on at reduced capacity after 50 years and 10 years after its first decomissioning announcement, is an early 1970s vintage heavy water reactor, of the CANDU type. All that is required are the fuel rods - and they have finally arrived.To avoid traffic, the rods arrive under armed guard late at night. Security is tight - but no one has considered the beach next to the complex a risk. During construction, prefabricated parts were delivered there by barge, but there is nothing there now - just a half mile of sand next to the main access road. As the uranium-containing trucks arrive at the plant gates, however, a submarine surfaces in the water and beaches its flat-bottomed nose on the sand. The nose itself separates and folds upwards... and two armored infantry fighting vehicles exit in quick succession.The security for the uranium is good, but it is not prepared for two squads of heavily armed men in Soviet surplus NBC gear with two vehicle mounted autocannons for fire support. The guards quickly fall and the mysterious attackers secure the facility - but they do not stop the guards sending a distress call to the Pakistani army. Knowing exactly what an attack on that reactor means, the Pakistani army mobilizes its quick reaction force as quickly as it can, but know that they are unwilling to use any sort of indiscriminate munitions so close to a nuclear facility only 15 kilometers from metropolitan Karachi.The mercenaries have no such qualms. The attacking force quickly digs in beside the road and sets up remote anti-aircraft and anti-armor defenses, while teams of more men from the submarine first methodically secure the captured nuclear fuel and, more ominously, the nuclear waste casks in the holding pools, loading them into the submarine, which slips beneath the waves with most of the loading team, well before any of the Pakistani Coast Guard's fast patrol craft arrive.The same can not be said about the Pakistani army. Their first reconaissance overflights meet a grisly end at the hands of man-portable missiles. The mercenary assault team, still dressed in NBC gear, meet the oncoming Pakistanis from a multidirectional ambush, using their remotely controlled machine guns and rockets to create deadly overlapping fields of fire. Driving back the initial assault, a raging firefight begins as the Pakistani troops desperately try to get into the nuclear reactor.The remaining members of the loading team, however, have been hard at work. They have set charges on the inside of the CANDU reactor containment structure, and secondary explosives on the primary and secondary coolant tanks. CANDU reactors had always been designed to have a safe fail mode that prevented partial meltdowns***** - but in the 1970s, no one had designed for a terrorist attack.As the Pakistanis withdraw to wait for heavy armor, the defending mercenaries set their remote weaponry to fire autonomously, and melt into the night. The next Pakistani attack finally manages to knock out all of the remote guns, but arrives to find the complex empty. As the Pakistani commander hears the call to prayer from the nearby town of Arbian, an explosion knocks him off of his feet. When the smoke clears, the KANUPP I reactor containment structure has catastrophically collapsed, and a mixture of heavy and light water runs at his feet from the primary and secondary coolant tanks. The reactor has run into a catastrophic failure it was not designed for, and all primary safety features have methodically been destroyed by the mercenaries. It will melt down in a few hours.Meanwhile, in the village of Arbian, clumps of mercenaries remove their gear at preplanned locations and don civilian clothing. All have brown skin. Many of them quickly wash the vaseline out of their beards, and a few wrap their heads in turbans. As they leave singly and by twos to waiting vehicles, timers count down to the release of incendiaries. By the end of the day, all of the men will have left the country. And they will not be the only ones.Although the Pakistani government clamps down on the media, it knows it cannot conceal the crisis for long. A panicked evacuation of Karachi, a metropolitan area of 25 million people, ensues. The reactor loses the last of its coolant and melts down after 20 hours, sending a radioactive plume into the panicked masses feeling the city. The chaos in Islamabad is so severe that an urgent American diplomatic inquiry goes unnoticed: in an ironic twist of fate, the CAN used to attack the United States had been traced to Pakistan.As the world scrambles to aid the stricken Pakistani government and the millions of Karachi refugees, Mr. X finally makes good his plan.Three days later, in the early morning hours of what promises to be a cloudless April day, the Yemeni government begins to receive strange reports from the island of Socotra in the Gulf of Yemen. The tourist airport has stopped responding to calls and has impounded aircraft that have landed, delaying departures in favor of rolling landings from mysterious, foreign chartered aircraft. The port east of Hadibu has also stopped responding, and local officials report being turned away by armed men guarding what appears to be a bootstrapped cargo crane. Then, electricity and phone services are cut. The last reports, relayed by HAM radio operators, is that armed masked men with no insignia are capturing police officers, government officials and politicians, and searching house to house for weapons. Within 24 hours, hundreds of tourists land in mainland Yemen, crowded into flights with passengers standing in the aisles, telling tales of men herding them with foreign accents and a massive cargo ship seen approaching the island.Socotra has gone dark.Responding to a Yemeni request to investigate, one American, one Chinese, and one French ship, all on anti-piracy duty, separately approach the island. Twenty nautical miles off of the coast, each one suddenly detects a surface-to-surface missile fire control radar lock, and receives an open radio message warning them against violating the territorial waters of the Despotate of Socotra. This stunning revelation is relayed back up the respective chains of command as the captains order their vessels to withdraw to a safer distance.Over the next few days, Mr. X and his private army gears up for war. Bunker complexes, long planned, are excavated and ferroconcrete from the still offloading cargo ship is emplaced. Mr. X himself moves into a specially prepared bunker in the mountainous island while his well-paid mercenaries dig in and set up a command and control infrastructure using light signals, motorcycle couriers, and manually laid signal wires. Laid out with defeating the sophisticated systems of the US military in mind, Mr. X has chosen to focus entirely on area denial and asymmetric warfare.Here Mr. X reveals his hand - though not his identity, using a hired actor as his surrogate. In a public broadcast, the first since Socotra has gone off of the grid, Mr. X proclaims the despotate of Socotra - his private fief. The inhabitants are his to dispose of. His private army rules the island. Thousands of tons of concrete and other building materials are used in conjunction with construction machines to tear up the pristine island and fortify it with a network of tunnels and bunkers - decoys included. Key transportation routes are set up with pre-planned obstacles. Vast minefields are set up on the tourist beaches and in strategic areas. A small fleet of remotely piloted suicide boats and remotely piloted suicide UAVs are quietly based in hidden and fortified areas on the island. A much larger fleet of autonomous, solar-powered, semi-submersible naval sensors patrol a perimeter around the island, sending coded bursts of information back on the locations of potential vessels. Batteries of modern antiship, antiaircraft and antimissile weapons are placed at strategic areas and rotated frequently to avoid being pinpointed.Mr. X tells all of this to an increasingly incredulous world. He has set it up perfectly, a secret plan long in the making and flawless in execution. He has a private island, his own country, the ability to extort tolls (his double says) from all ships passing within range of his advanced antiship missiles - tolls including arms. He claims responsibility for the callous and henious attacks on the United States. He claims responsibility for hijacking the ships and summarily executing their crews.Phones are flying off of their hooks as world leaders frantically discuss contingency plans. Mr. X has indeed blindsided them. Mr. X has indeed described exactly how costly any plan to take him down would be. He has specialized in area denial with a mixture of advanced weaponry and ingenuity in a way that no one really has yet. He has a hostage population under his thumb. But no one is really deterred. Few would mourn squashing Mr. X's insane fantasy pirate state like a bug. It is enough of a unifying issue that virtually the entire world is almost guaranteed to contribute, or at least not interfere. In fact, Mr. X hasn't even gone out of his way to avoid antagonizing all of the most powerful countries in the world.But something Mr. X says gives world leaders pause. He has anticipated all of this. And he has a simple solution: mutually assured destruction. He claims responsibility for the attack in Pakistan, offering proof in the form of a Pakistani Subedar-Major's dog tags. What did they think he had done with the radioactive materials, hm? Discarded them in the sea? Or perhaps loaded them into dirty bombs, spread them throughout the sea in unmanned submarines, to spread radioactive poison unless they received a transmission from his island every week?At this, the world stops in shock. No doubt Mr. X will have a violent future ahead of him - but the world knows that he is not to be taken lightly. The military minds of the world have suddenly come face to face with a true rogue state, the likes of which they have never seen before.END(In case it isn't obvious, I think this plan is insane and in no way advocate criminal activity)* I'm not making this one up - U.S. Submarines** Calcium ammonium nitrate. It's used in Europe and Asia but not the US, which usually ships concentrated urea ammonium nitrate in liquid form as a substitute for the dangerous ammonium nitrate. CAN is supposed to be difficult to make into explosives, but any veteran of Afghanistan could probably tell you it wasn't as difficult as it was intended to be...*** I imagine Barak 8 (missile) batteries, destined for the Indian Navy**** Exocet is the well known French antiship missile, while I imagine the shipment might also carry some Mistral (missile) man-portable antiair missiles****** see Page on iaea.org