Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse

CHAPTER 21 Federales

A farmer five miles west of the retreat radioed to say that she had spotted a twin-engine airplane at low altitude heading toward Moscow. Early the next morning, Roger Dunlap called in to say that they had heard from Moscow that the same plane had brought a representative of the provisional Federal government, and that a speech was planned for late in the afternoon at the Pullman-Moscow airport.

Most of the militia members at Todd’s retreat wanted to go. They piled into the open back of Todd’s Power Wagon, leaving behind the Porters and Nelsons to provide security in their absence.

On the drive into Moscow, they passed dozens of people on foot or on horseback heading toward town. As they wheeled up to the side of the Pullman-Moscow Air Terminal, they could see a gray painted U.S. Army Beechcraft C-12 parked on the taxiway. Doug pointed out the fact that the white painted tip tanks on the plane did not match the rest of the airplane. He commented out the corner of his mouth, “Those tanks probably came from a Beechcraft Super King Air. It’s the commercial counterpart of the Army C-12.” By the time that the address began, more than four hundred people had gathered in front of the airport terminal. The fall air was crisp.

The speech was given by the “Undersecretary of Information,” Mr. Clarke, an overweight man with a florid face. He wore a polyester suit, and carried a chrome-plated Savage .32 automatic pistol in a hip holster. In comparison to his great bulk, the small pistol appeared almost laughable. Standing next to him was an Army warrant officer wearing a digital camouflage Nomex flight suit, and a green nylon mesh survival vest with bulging zippered pockets. He carried a standard Army-issue Beretta M9 pistol in a shoulder holster. Both men wore sky blue armbands with a white United Nations “wreathed Earth” logo. The two stood on the steps of the terminal, with the crowd forming a half-circle around them. Clarke opened a notebook and began reading a prepared speech printed on poor quality photocopy paper. He began, “This address was written by President pro-tem Hutchings of the Provisional Federal government. Here is his message:

‘My fellow Americans. The United States is slowly recovering from the greatest tragedy in its history. I have recently been provided a detailed report on the extent of the catastrophe from the administration’s chief scientist. Some of the report’s findings are as follows: In the past three years, an estimated one hundred and sixty million of our citizens have died. Most died from starvation, exposure, and disease. Of the deaths by disease, more than sixty-five million were caused by the influenza pandemic that swept the eastern seaboard. Without antibiotics available, the disease simply ran rampant until there were no more hosts left to attack in the heavily populated regions.

‘At least twenty-eight million are estimated to have been killed in lawless violence. In addition, more than five million have died of complications of pre-existing medical problems such as diabetes, heart disease, hemophilia, AIDS, and kidney disease. Hundreds of thousands more have died of complications of tonsillitis, appendicitis, and other ailments that were heretofore not life-threatening. The distribution of population losses ranged from in excess of 96 percent of the population in some northeastern metropolitan areas to less than 5 percent in a few areas in the High Plains, Rocky Mountains, the inter-mountain areas of the West, and the Inland Northwest. Order has been restored in only a few states, but we are making rapid progress.

‘As you are no doubt aware, the economy is still in complete disarray. The formerly existing transportation and communications systems have been completely disrupted. In the coming months, our biggest priority will be on revitalizing the petroleum and refining industries of Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. Next, we will strive to get electric power back on line in as many areas as possible. With bulk fuel, natural gas, and electrical power available, it is hoped that agriculture and the many industries critical to our nation’s economic health will be reestablished.

‘Here at Fort Knox, we have taken the lead in rebuilding a new United States. Already, with the help of security forces from other United Nations countries, we have pacified the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. But there is much more to be done. America must be put back on its feet again economically. Never again can we allow the economy to get so out of control. Strict economic policies will ensure that there will never be a repeat of the Crash. Wages and prices will, by necessity, be controlled by the central government. Many industries will have to be government-owned or government-controlled, at least in the foreseeable future. Reasonable limits on the press will stop the spread of unfounded rumors. Until order is completely restored, the Federal and state constitutions have been temporarily suspended, and nationwide martial law is in effect. The single legitimate seat of power is here at Fort Knox. It is only with central planning that things can be put back in order rapidly and efficiently.

‘Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama are already under the control of nine United Nations sub-regional administrators. I will soon be dispatching UN regional and sub-regional administrators to the other areas that have independently reestablished order. These include Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the southern portion of Georgia, most of Texas, part of Louisiana, most of Colorado, southwestern Oregon, all of Idaho, all of Utah, eastern Washington, all of Wyoming, and most of North and South Dakota.

‘The UN Regional Administrators will oversee the many tasks required to accomplish a complete national recovery. For example, they will be setting up regional police forces, which will be under their direct control. They will oversee the issuance of the National ID Card. They will appoint judges that they deem properly qualified. Each Regional Administrator will bring with him on his staff a regional tax collector and a regional treasurer who will handle issuance of the new national currency. Rest assured that the new currency is fully backed by the gold reserves of the national depository.

‘I hope that you, my fellow citizens, will do everything in your ability to assist your new Regional Administrators, the sub-regional Administrators, their staffs, and those that they appoint under them. Only with your cooperation will America be able to quickly restore itself to its former greatness. Given this day under my hand, Maynard L. Hutchings.’ This document carries the official seal of the Provisional Federal government.”

After looking up with a wide-faced grin, Clarke intoned, “I have some photocopies of the speech for those of you that would like them. I’ll be happy to speak with any of you individually if you have any questions about how we will be handling things.”

A gray-haired man wearing a Pendleton shirt and with a MAK-90 rifle slung across his back raised his hand and shouted, “Sir, I’d like to ask my questions now, and hear you answer them publicly.” After pausing to look at some of the anxious faces around him, the man continued, “If I understand what you are saying, that this gentleman Maynard Hutchings is now the president of the United States.”

“Actually his correct title is President pro-tem.”

“I know what pro tempore means, Mr. Clarke. Can you tell me who elected this man Hutchings?”

“He was elected by a unanimous vote of the council of the provisional government.”

“And who elected this council?”

Clarke’s eyes dodged from left to right. Putting on an officious tone, he stated, “They were not actually elected. They were self-appointed during the darkest days of the crisis. They were men of great vision who saw the need to restore order, and took the great personal risk of doing something about it.”

The gray-haired man with the assault rifle spoke up again. “Well… exactly who is on this council?”

“Fine upstanding men like yourself, sir. They come from all walks of life.

There are two bankers, three lawyers, an IRS official, two businessmen, and an Army general.”

“You mean to say that a bunch of cronies got together and decided that they were going to become the new federal government?”

“Now, as I said, President Hutchings was legally elected by a unanimous vote.”

The gray-haired man pointed a finger at Clarke and again shouted, “Yes, he was legally elected all right, under the bylaws of this ‘council,’ which you have admitted was self-appointed. The term legally is not synonymous with lawfully.”

Clarke looked nervously from side to side.

After letting his words sink in, the gray-haired man asked, “What did this Hutchings fellow do before the Crunch? Was he with the federal government or the governor or deputy governor of Kentucky, or something of that nature?”

“President Hutchings was formerly the president of the Hardin County Board of Supervisors.”

“You’ve got to be joking! Before the Crunch hit, I was the president of the University of Idaho, just ten miles from here, in Moscow. What’s to say that I can’t get together with some of my friends and declare myself the president of the United States?”

After a pause, Clarke replied indignantly, “Two things. One, you don’t have more than fifteen thousand trained and equipped U.S. and UN troops under your control. Two, you do not control the sixty billion dollars in gold in the National Depository.”

The former university president stroked his chin and asked, “When will elections be held?”

Clarke answered matter-of-factly, “None will be considered until well after the entire country is pacified and the economy has been revitalized. That may be several years. Now, if there are no further questions….”

He was again interrupted, this time by a man dressed in coveralls and wearing a baseball cap emblazoned “CAT Diesel Power” and carrying a holstered single-action revolver. He raised his hand and shouted, “You said something about a new currency. What’s that all about?”

Clarke smiled again and replied, “Sir, I’m glad that you asked me that. The old federal currency has been declared obsolete, null and void, at least the paper money. The old coins are still considered legal tender, however. Distribution and acceptance of the new currency has already started in the Quad State area. In fact, I have an example of it here.” Clarke then held up a small lime-green bill.

The man in coveralls asked, “Can I see that, mister?”

“Certainly,” Clarke answered, and passed it into the crowd. It was passed hand-to-hand back to the questioner. After examining both sides of the five-dollar bill, he asked, “Is this new currency backed by the gold at Fort Knox?”

Clarke replied instantly, “Yes, indeed sir. Backed one hundred percent. We guarantee it.”

“If it’s backed in gold, then why doesn’t it say ‘Gold Certificate’ or ‘Pay the Bearer in Gold,’ or something like that?”

Clarke looked at his pilot nervously. “Well… uhh, due to the problems of transport under the ongoing crisis, the new currency will not be redeemable in gold, but it will still be lawful tender.”

The man in coveralls shook his head vigorously. “That sounds like a bunch of horse hooey to me. In the Bible that’s called ‘diverse weights and measures.’

That’s an abomination. Either the currency is gold backed, or it isn’t. If it’s not redeemable in the gold or silver, then this might just as well be Monopoly money, far as I’m concerned.” Murmurs began to sweep through the crowd.

Waving his arm, Clarke implored, “Sir, as I’m sure you recall, the old Federal Reserve currency wasn’t redeemable in gold or silver, either. That didn’t stop people from trusting the currency, now did it?”

The man again shook his head from side to side and retorted, “Well it darn sure should have! That was an abomination, too. I don’t think this depression would have ever happened if we had real money. As far as I could tell, the thing that started the whole ball of string unraveling was when Uncle Sam fired up the printing presses round the clock.” Throughout the crowd, there were shouts of agreement.

After a pause, the man in the coveralls crumpled the bill into a wad, and tossed it to the ground.

Clarke stammered, “You’re oversimplifying a very complex chain of events.

As the president pointed out in his statement, there will be vigorous controls on the economy to prevent another economic catastrophe. It’s for the public good.”

A heavyset middle-aged woman asked, “What was that bit your Mister Hutchings wrote about a National ID Card?”

Clarke replied nonchalantly, “Oh that’s just one of the new Federal security measures. As you’ve probably heard, there were hundreds of thousands of Mexicans that crossed the border illegally following the economic collapse.

The authorities have to be able to distinguish between residents and illegal aliens. Under the latest Federal proclamation, the new National ID card must be carried by everyone ten years old, or older, at all times. The latest version has a magnetic strip on the back that will make shopping very convenient. It works like a bank debit card. In the long term, the card will have to be presented to conduct any sales transaction. For now, at least, it will be required when crossing any of the new regional or sub-regional security checkpoints.”

The murmuring in the crowd increased. Roger Dunlap raised his hand and in a firm voice asked, “What about our guns, what does your new government have to say about that issue?”

Clarke put on his saccharine smile again, and replied, “The Constitution guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms. President Hutchings is a strong believer in the Second Amendment. He has stated publicly that he believes that every resident can continue to enjoy the privilege of owning firearms for sporting purposes, even under this period of martial law. However, due to the exigencies of the current lawless situation, the president has seen fit to institute a system of national firearms registration. This is, of course, aimed at curbing the tide of lawlessness. The only way to stop the bands of vicious brigands roaming the countryside is to disarm them. As you know, there were many government weapons that disappeared in the early stages of the crisis. Dozens and dozens of National Guard armories were looted. All of those weapons must be rounded up. In addition, certain categories of weapons have been declared a threat to the public safety, under the executive order, in compliance with the United Nations Arms Control Harmonization Accord. That treaty was signed by the president last year.”

Dunlap asked, “And what exactly are those categories?”

“Sir, I’ll be happy to answer your more detailed questions later with you privately.”

Dunlap raised his voice sharply. “No, Mr. Clarke! I want to know what categories of weapons have been outlawed, and I want to hear your answer right here and now. This is a matter that concerns all of us, and we deserve an honest answer, post haste!”

Again opening his notebook and leafing through poorly photocopied pages, Clarke cleared his throat and read, “‘The categories of weapons banned by the United Nations Accord include:

All fully automatic weapons, regardless of prior registration under the National Firearms Act of 1934,

any rifle over thirty caliber,

any shotgun or weapon of any description over twelve gauge in diameter, all semiautomatic rifles and shotguns,

all rifles and shotguns capable of accepting a detachable magazine, any detachable magazine regardless of capacity, any weapon with a fixed magazine that has a capacity of more than four cartridges, all grenades and grenade launchers,

all explosives, detonating cord, and blasting caps, all explosives precursor chemicals,

all firearms regardless of type that are chambered for military cartridges such as 7.62 mm NATO, 5.56 mm NATO, .45 ACP, and nine-mm parabellum, all silencers,

all night vision equipment including infrared, light amplification, or thermal, all telescopic sights,

all laser aiming devices,

all handguns regardless of type or caliber’… And…”

Clarke turned a page and went on. “The Accord further proscribes private possession of armored vehicles, bayonets, gas masks, helmets and bulletproof vests, encryption software or devices, and all radio transmitters—other than baby monitors, cordless phones, or cell phones.

“In addition: full metal jacket, tracer, incendiary, and armor piercing ammunition, all ammunition in military calibers, chemical agents of any sort including CS and CN tear gas, OC ‘pepper spray,’ and all military-type pyrotechnics and flare launchers.”

“Now there will, of course, be exceptions for registering equipment used by properly trained law enforcement agencies that are under Federal or UN control.”

Looking back up from his notebook, he recited with finality, “‘Any firearm not meeting the new criteria and all other contraband listed herein must be turned in within the ten-day amnesty period after the UN Regional Administrator or sub-administrator, or their delegates arrive on site. Alternatively, if Federal or UN troops arrive within any state to pacify it, a thirty-day amnesty period will begin the day the first forces cross the state boundary. All other post-1898 production firearms of any description, air rifles, archery equipment, and edged weapons over six inches long must be registered during the same period. Anyone found with an unregistered weapon, or any weapon, accessory, or ammunition that has been declared contraband after the amnesty period ends will be summarily executed.’ This may sound severe, but keep in mind that the new law was enacted to ensure public safety.”

In the middle of the crowd, Dan Fong yelled, “Public safety my ass!Your so-called ‘contraband’ has saved my life several times in the past three years. Furthermore, do you think that looters are going to abide by your gun registration scheme? Only responsible and peaceable citizens would abide by it, and they are precisely the people who don’t require any control, because they police themselves. You’re nothing but a damnable fascist tyrant, that’s what you are!”

Holding his rifle above his head, he shouted, “You’ll get my gun when you pry it out of my cold dead hands!”With that, the crowd burst into continuous loud applause and cheering.

In the midst of the tumult, Todd Gray worked his way through the crowd, and bounded up to the top step to stand in front of Clarke. When the cheering finally started to die down, Todd announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Todd Gray. Most of you have met me. I started the Northwest Militia. Most of you here have no doubt heard of us, and the Troy Templar organization. We are two local groups, composed of sovereign Idaho Citizens, that have been working together to restore a local Constitutionally-based government.”

Todd turned 90 degrees so that he could see Clarke’s face, and continued. “From what you have told us today, Mister Clarke, I don’t think that there is much that your provisional government has to offer us that we cannot provide for ourselves. Restoring industry, utilities, transportation, and communications are indeed worthy goals. However, if doing so means surrendering our personal freedom, then our answer is an emphatic no. In fact, I find your concepts of ‘necessity,’ ‘public safety,’ and ‘the public good’ are completely out of line. And I believe that I speak for the vast majority of the Idaho and Washington Citizens assembled here.”

Throughout the crowd there were cries of “Hear hear!” and “You tell ’em, Todd.”

Todd looked directly at Clarke and commanded, “Without further ado, I’d like to invite you gentlemen to immediately get in your airplane and go find yourselves somebody more naive to swallow your globalist horse manure.” As Todd spoke, Clarke stood stammering, and his already pink face turned noticeably red.

Before Clarke could reply, Gray went on. “Don’t bother sending out your so-called ‘Regional Administrator.’ Whoever it is will either be sent packing or end up the recipient of a tall tree and a short rope.” There were more cheers and applause.

Clarke looked at Gray and boomed, “I’m warning you! We represent the legitimate government of the United States and United Nations. You cannot defy us. To do so would be treasonous and seditious, and would be dealt with accordingly.”

Gray lowered his right hand to rest on the butt of his .45. He cocked his head slightly to the side and shouted, “You do not represent anything legitimate, Mister Clarke. You represent a totalitarian globalist oligarchy instituted without the benefit of any semblance of democratic process, or incorporating a republican form of government.” More shouts of agreement came from throughout the audience. Todd again looked Clarke directly in the eye and said, “You have ten seconds to get on that aircraft, and head back to Maynard-land.”

Clarke stood his ground for a moment. Then, seeing his pilot make a dash for the plane, he followed close behind. Behind him, the crowd was taunting and jeering. From the door of the plane with the sound of the turbine engines winding up in the background, Clarke shook his fist and shouted in Todd’s direction, “We’ll be back!”

The crowd moved backward as the plane’s propellers began to spin. Within seconds, the C-12 began its roll. Obviously in a hurry, the pilot did not bother taxiing the distance to the runway. He took off directly from the narrow taxi strip and turned to head southeast.

Still standing on the porch of the terminal with his hands on his hips, Todd watched the plane’s progress until it was a dot on the horizon, and then disappeared. His hand still resting on the butt of his pistol, he muttered to himself, “Come back if you dare. And when you do, you’d better bring a lot of ammo, plenty of extra grub, and a good supply of body bags, because you’re going to be in for a deuce of a gunfight.”

In the months that followed the “visit” by the Provisional Federal government, a number of militias began to form spontaneously throughout the Palouse Hills region. The motivation was news of the Federals’ ruthless and often bloody consolidation of power. Numerous stories of Federal atrocities were passed across shortwave and CB radio relay networks. If even half of them were true, it was clear that the Federals and their UN “partners for peace” were unmitigated tyrants.

Most of the new militias in the inland Northwest region were small, from two-man cells to squad size. A few were near company strength. Their organization, structure, logistics, training, and even their terminology varied greatly.

Some had geographical names like the Moscow Maquis, the Weippe Wolverines, the Helmer Heilanders, and the Bovill Blue Blaze Irregulars. Others were named in memoriam, such as the Gordon Kahl Company, the 9/11 Company, and the Samuel Weaver Company. Many of the new militias were all male, some were mixed, and one—that started with a squad of former University of Idaho Sigma Epsilon sorority sisters—was all female.

As the best-known tactical organization in the area, the Northwest Militia was approached for advice by many of the leaders of these fledgling militias.

They sought technical expertise and training on a variety of topics, and Todd and his militia did their utmost to comply. A few large-scale training exercises were held. Some of the group’s excess logistics—mainly shelter half-tents and extra sets of web gear—were distributed on “long-term loan” to militias that had none.

The decision to again “give until it hurts” was based on the likely prospect of fighting a war of resistance in the near future. Unlike the resistance organizations that were formed in Europe during the Second World War, there would be no outside sources of finance or supply. Everything for the militias had to be provided from local resources. Todd reasoned that since he and his friends had been so richly blessed, it was their responsibility to help out as many others as possible in anticipation of an armed struggle that looked inevitable.

A few of the new militias asked to be directly incorporated into the Northwest Militia. In every instance, they were turned down. Todd was of the firm opinion that large militias would only make themselves lucrative targets. He advised all of the militia leaders to keep their organizations small—preferably three to twelve members. If they recruited any new members that brought them up over the twelve-man threshold, they should divide into separate and independent units.

There was a conscious decision to form what Kevin Lendel called “an organization without an organization.” Most referred to this methodology as the “phantom cell” or “leaderless resistance” approach. All of the militias in the region, they decided, should share common goals, but should have wholly independent leadership.

Without central leadership, it would be impossible to decapitate the militia. Also, through strict “need to know” security measures, it would make it almost impossible to infiltrate more than one of the local militias. Everyone was warned not to give their names when conducting joint field exercises. They constantly stressed that given the disconnected cellular organization, if any member of any of the militias was eventually captured and tortured, that individual could at most expose the names of just a handful of members in their cell.

The other proviso that was constantly stressed was that virtually nothing was to be written down, aside from perhaps a few unit SOPs. There would be no written rosters, no description of assigned areas of operation, and no lists of frequencies or call signs. Further, no maps were to be marked with any notations whatsoever. They were even warned not to leave maps folded in such a way that they emphasized a particular operational area. Everything of potential intelligence value was to be committed to memory.

Coordination between the militias was actively discouraged, again for security reasons. Each militia picked out an area of operations, which they communicated by word of mouth to their neighboring militias. A few rallying points were agreed upon for eventual tactical coordination, but beyond that, everything was kept cellular. Aside from the assigned rally points, the local resistance cells were advised to operate wholly independently, using the leaderless resistance concept. They would use generalized principles and planning, but decentralized tactics and action.

One of the few militias that the Northwest Militia regularly trained with was the Moscow Maquis. The Maquis were led by a fifty-year-old man with piercing blue eyes named Lawrence Raselhoff. Raselhoff was both a dog breeder and gun dealer before the Crunch. Much of his gun inventory was handed out to unit members in the first few months after the Maquis was formed. Even though he was confined to a wheelchair, Raselhoff was an energetic leader. He often went to the field with his unit in a dogcart, on a dog sled, or on his white snowmobile. Both Todd and Mike had long conversations with Raselhoff, making contingency plans.

Many of the Northwest Militia meetings in the late fall of the third year concerned the possible invasion of the region by the Federals or their UN counterparts. It was decided that guerrilla warfare would be the most appropriate response. The threat of armored vehicles seemed the most obvious. Both Jeff and Doug had seen tanks and armored personnel carriers in action, and they could appreciate how well they could stop most conventional attacks. It was Doug Carlton who crystallized the approach that they would take in countering the armor threat when he said, “What we will really need are some anti-tank missiles—LAWs,Vipers, Dragons, or TOWs. Unfortunately, we have none available, and they are very difficult to improvise.”

Lon asked, “What can we improvise? How about Molotov cocktails? Those are easy enough to make.”

Carlton responded, “Molotov cocktails will work, but it takes a lot of them to stop a tank or APC. You also need to thicken the gas to make it stick. Otherwise it just pours off of any vehicle that the bottle breaks on. You can thicken it with laundry detergent. Styrofoam also works great. You want to get it thickened to the point where it has the consistency of heavy maple syrup.”

He went on, “If you can get close enough to use them, what works even better than Molotov cocktails is a TH3 grenade—commonly called thermite in the civilian world. According to one of Todd’s Kurt Saxon books that I read, thermite is really easy to make. It’s a mixture of iron oxide—just rust—and powdered aluminum. It’s a very powerful oxidizer that burns at something outrageous like five thousand degrees Fahrenheit. It’s what chemists call an exothermic reaction. It will melt through two inches of steel tank iron like butter. I saw a TH3 grenade used at a firepower demonstration at Fort Knox. They laid a thick old car door sideways across a couple of sawhorses and set the TH3 grenade on top. They warned us several times not to look directly at the flames to avoid damaging our retinas, and then an NCO pulled the pin. The thing went completely through the door and dropped to the ground within a few seconds.”

Rose exclaimed, “Wow, that would really do a number on a tank.”

Doug warned, “Now keep in mind that employing either Molotovs or thermite grenades against armored vehicles or both would be very, very dangerous, particularly Bradley M2s or M3s. You’ve got to be right up close for Molotovs, and even closer for the thermite grenades.”

A day later, Mike and Lisa Nelson started mass production of Molotov cocktails. Just the week before, they had been making goat’s milk soap for the retreat, using lye that they had derived from ashes. But this week they were firebomb makers. For the Molotov project, they selected the most-untrustworthy gas stored at the retreat—that which was stored in small cans and the vehicles’ fuel tanks. The gasoline was thickened with laundry detergent powder in an open fifty-five-gallon drum that was placed seventy yards away from the house. The noxious mixture was stirred with the handle of a broken rake. It was ladled into quart canning jars and sealed tight with Mason lids and rings.

An eighteen-inch long strip of rag was made for each jar for ignition. Lisa epoxied a one-inch square of “hook side” Velcro fastener to each lid. A corresponding one-inch square of “pile side”Velcro was sewn to the center of each of the rag strips. They soaked all these strips in diesel fuel and sealed them in individual Ziploc bags which were duct taped to the sides of each jar. To use a Molotov, the rag would be removed from the plastic bag, and attached to the jar with the Velcro. Then the rag would be lit with a match and then the jar could be thrown.

By separating the main fuel component from the ignition component, Lisa Nelson explained, it made the devices “about a thousand percent safer” to use or carry than the traditional rags-stuffed-into-wine-bottles method. When they did a demonstration of one of the prototypes, Lisa mentioned that they would have preferred to have developed some sort of friction igniter, but there weren’t enough supplies of chemicals available. Instead, they opted for the method of packaging the diesel-soaked rags with each cocktail. Most of the cocktails were packed into the original cardboard cases that the canning jars came in, for ease and safety of transport. In all, they assembled two hundred and twenty of the firebombs. For safety’s sake, the cases were stored in a dry corner of the barn.

Mike, Della, and Doug were named the ad hoc committee for thermite grenade construction. After a few days of inquiries, they discovered that there was a quantity of Creslite coarse brille aluminum powder in the hands of an owner of what had been a bronzing shop in Moscow. Before the Crunch, he had run a mail-order business bronzing items like baby’s booties and judge’s gavels. He was happy to part with his remaining sixty pounds of bronzing powder in exchange for one hundred rounds of .223 ball, and twenty rounds of .30-06 AP.

The iron oxide came from the owner of the paint store in Moscow. He still had two fifty-pound sacks of natural black iron oxide pigment in stock. Before the Crunch, he had mainly sold it to contractors who used it for tinting concrete. After some confusion, when he first tried to sell them some synthetic iron oxide powder, he came back from his large storeroom with two sacks of the chemically correct, “natural” item made by Pfizer, loaded on a dolly. He agreed to trade the two sacks for one hundred rounds of Federal .308 match grade ammunition. He was happy to get the ammo. They also found a fifty-foot reel of magnesium ribbon. It was in the hands of a former University of Idaho chemistry professor. He had taken home most of the chem lab’s inventory for safekeeping. When he found out why they needed the ribbon, he refused any offer of payment. He declared, “Hey, it’s for a good cause.” The professor snipped off four feet of the ribbon from the reel to keep for himself, and handed Doug the rest.

The casings for the grenades were simply empty aluminum soda cans. The main igniting compound was road flare igniter, in conjunction with magnesium ribbon. A quiet call went out to the community, and road flares of all descriptions started arriving at the retreat in the next few days. A few had gotten wet at one time and were swollen. These were discarded. Mike was also disappointed to find that in response to the request for “flare igniter” a few neighbors were confused and sent the plastic caps and friction pads from road flares. What they needed instead was the black tar-like substance that protruded from the end of a flare. That was the actual igniter. It took some clarification before more of the correct material started to arrive. The flare igniter was moistened with alcohol to a putty-like consistency and molded around both the fuse and a two-inch long strip of magnesium ribbon. The tail end of the ribbon extended into the thermite mixture.

Mike, Della, and Doug used a hand crank concrete mixer from the Andersen’s farm to combine the aluminum powder and iron oxide powder.

They used a ratio of three parts aluminum powder to eight parts iron oxide powder. A blob of flare igniter, bisected by lengths of one-eighth-inch cannon fuse and the magnesium ribbon, was taped into the opening of each can on top of the thermite mixture.

The first of the finished products were declared “crude but effective.” Only two of them were used for tests. When the first was lit, it worked as planned.

The fuse ignited the flare igniter, which ignited the magnesium ribbon, which in turn ignited the thermite mixture. The large molten blob from the grenade burned through a piece of three-quarter-inch plate steel, then dropped a few inches and hit a half-inch plate. It went through that one too, and dropped again to hit another half-inch thick piece. It went nearly all the way through it too, before it finally burned out. Della Carlton was impressed. She shouted,

“Wow! It reminds me of that scene in the movie Alien, where the acidic blood from the face hugger kept going through deck after deck of the ship!”

The second test was on a scrap piece of one-and-one-half-inch plate steel. It was set up at a slight angle. Despite the angle, the glob of furiously burning thermite went through with ease. All of the rest of the thermite grenades were saved for “operational tests.” They had only nineteen pull-ring fuse igniters so most would have to be lit with a match or lighter.

Rose and Doug worked for part of several days, filling the soda cans with a small-mouthed kitchen funnel until they ran out of the thermite mixture. The cans were sealed shut with duct tape over the igniter plug. Then, while laying in neat rows on newspapers in the shop, the grenades were spray painted flat olive drab. There were seventy-seven of them.