General Discussion Thread

[Matt Wiser]

A new revelation from the Soviet archives: Seems the Soviets were seriously considering nuclear use against the British, and not just on Day One. The targets were to be the Oil and Gas Rigs in the North Sea, and were to be attacked with either nuclear torpedoes or nuclear-tipped ASMs, probably SS-N-3s from subs. The plan was rejected by the Defense Council, but the Navy was allowed to continue planning as a possible wartime contingency. Then they saw what happened when a Polaris SLBM and the Argentine Navy crossed paths, and it was put away for good after Raven Rock and SAC's retaliation for that.

[jemhouston]

For once, they choose wisely.

[Bernard Woolley]

We apparently knew about this planning. The Gordievsky Network is said to have passed it along.

[jemhouston]

Why would they use nukes any way? It seems to me one or two cruise missiles would wreck most platforms, a torpedo or limpet mines on one topple a platform. If the platform was floating, a torpedo exploding under it would sink it.

[Matt Wiser]

They thought it was a way to use nukes against the British without hitting the British Isles directly, and less likely to bring about a salvo of Polaris SLBMs in response.

[Poohbah]

They thought it was a way to use nukes against the British without hitting the British Isles directly, and less likely to bring about a salvo of Polaris SLBMs in response.

And then they started looking at their drawdown curves, including misfires, and they quietly noticed that the on-duty R-boat fired ONE missile and duly blew away the target...while they'd had significant numbers of failures after every last weapon had been painstakingly checked out in the weeks prior.

They decided that they didn't want any of the sauce Maggie T could cook up on a moment's notice.

[Matt Wiser]

Wouldn't surprise me if they also had a backup: namely, using Strategic Rocket Forces SS-20s fuzed for airburst. THAT would have guaranteed a Polaris salvo in response.

[Matt Wiser]

Has anyone here seen Lone Star Law on Animal Planet? And it's not just the run-of-the-mill hunters and fishermen the Game Wardens run into. Postwar, Texas made grenade fishing illegal, and yet, there are knotheads who still persist in that behavior, and that's just the start. Yes, UXO recognition and avoidance is part of the training at their Academy, along with recognizing a lot of the small arms and heavy weapons that U.S. and Allied Forces (Taiwan and South Korea), the Resistance, and the ComBloc used. Among other issues? Using your war trophy SVD to hunt deer is fine. Using your daddy's AKM is not.

(OOC: it's a good show, and I've been able to see some of the territory depicted in the various stories and other works.)

[Poohbah]

Has anyone here seen Lone Star Law on Animal Planet? And it's not just the run-of-the-mill hunters and fishermen the Game Wardens run into. Postwar, Texas made grenade fishing illegal, and yet, there are knotheads who still persist in that behavior, and that's just the start. Yes, UXO recognition and avoidance is part of the training at their Academy, along with recognizing a lot of the small arms and heavy weapons that U.S. and Allied Forces (Taiwan and South Korea), the Resistance, and the ComBloc used. Among other issues? Using your war trophy SVD to hunt deer is fine. Using your daddy's AKM is not.

(OOC: it's a good show, and I've been able to see some of the territory depicted in the various stories and other works.)

Haven't watched it, will put it on the queue.

And in other news, I am staying at Warren for the next year or so to stabilize the billet, and then it's looking like I'm headed to March in 2024.

[Wolfman]

Has anyone here seen Lone Star Law on Animal Planet? And it's not just the run-of-the-mill hunters and fishermen the Game Wardens run into. Postwar, Texas made grenade fishing illegal, and yet, there are knotheads who still persist in that behavior, and that's just the start. Yes, UXO recognition and avoidance is part of the training at their Academy, along with recognizing a lot of the small arms and heavy weapons that U.S. and Allied Forces (Taiwan and South Korea), the Resistance, and the ComBloc used. Among other issues? Using your war trophy SVD to hunt deer is fine. Using your daddy's AKM is not.

(OOC: it's a good show, and I've been able to see some of the territory depicted in the various stories and other works.)

I have. It’s a good series.

OOC: Very true!

[Bernard Woolley]

(IC/OOC): It’s a very good show. It’s not on here at the moment. Or, at least we’re not getting anything other than repeats.

[Poohbah]

Speaking of UXO...

...they found some in Cheyenne this morning. Landed in an empty field whose owners had fled the war and didn't come back until after nature had hidden the holes. Land gets bought/sold/resold several times, and finally they're going to develop the area into a new neighborhood because a few manufacturing firms and drop shippers have set up shop close by.

So they're zipping around the land with the ground-penetrating radar truck, and they find what looks like about half a dozen 500-pounders and two 1,000-pounders, roughly 20 feet down. Best guess from knowledgeable folks is the ordies may have rigged the safety wires or the fuses incorrectly.

Local entrepreneurs are already selling t-shirts with AI-generated art for Cheyenne's Big Bang...

[Wolfman]

Good grief…

[Matt Wiser]

Was the UXO Soviet or ours? Cheyenne was occupied for a while, so it could've been theirs-from an Su-24, maybe?

I saw last night's show, and one of the teams they had on was patrolling Falcon Lake, on the border of the Security Zone. One of the issues they had was a fellow using a (legal) fishing net-but he had his net snagged on an underwater obstacle. Turned out it was a Hind wreck from the BORDER FURY days. With live ordnance....

[Poohbah]

Was the UXO Soviet or ours? Cheyenne was occupied for a while, so it could've been theirs-from an Su-24, maybe?

I saw last night's show, and one of the teams they had on was patrolling Falcon Lake, on the border of the Security Zone. One of the issues they had was a fellow using a (legal) fishing net-but he had his net snagged on an underwater obstacle. Turned out it was a Hind wreck from the BORDER FURY days. With live ordnance....

They don't know who deposited it yet, they have to uncover it first.

Snagging a loaded Hind with your net--screw it, I'm done fishing there.

[Matt Wiser]

Give me a rod and reel instead.

Another warden shown was patrolling Val Verde County during deer season,and he found on several ranches with hunting leases wrecked armor. Some of it was recognizable as either American or Soviet, but others were so blasted you couldn't tell whose vehicle and what type it had been. This area saw some fighting in 1985 as the Soviets and Cubans pushed north, and a lot more in 1989 during BORDER FURY.

[Poohbah]

Give me a rod and reel instead.

Another warden shown was patrolling Val Verde County during deer season,and he found on several ranches with hunting leases wrecked armor. Some of it was recognizable as either American or Soviet, but others were so blasted you couldn't tell whose vehicle and what type it had been. This area saw some fighting in 1985 as the Soviets and Cubans pushed north, and a lot more in 1989 during BORDER FURY.

Rule One of wrecked vehicles: DO NOT GO INSIDE without supplied air. There may be depleted uranium dust, even 35 years later.

[clancyphile]

I recall an episode where the wardens came across some kids on a fishing trip who'd found an old Spetsznaz cache - mix of rifles (Krinkovs, AKs, an RPD(!), even a couple old M16s from Vietnam), grenades, two RPGs, and some Semtex. Hauling the cache back with their catch, the warden checks the catch over...

The line, "Finders keepers?" from one of the kids had everyone in the office cracking up.

[Wolfman]

IIRC, they got to keep the rifles, but had to hand over the explosives and RPGs…

[Poohbah]

IIRC, they got to keep the rifles, but had to hand over the explosives and RPGs…

I wouldn't trust 30-year-old Serious Putty. Just Sayin'.