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.After the first wave of the Plague they were free-fire zones.I'd have ratherwalked down a street in Qom butt-assed naked than drive through South Detroitin a Stryker.But not only were those areas where the bulk of her voters came from, theywere where the news media was.If it bleeds it leads and it was bleeding hardin South Chicago, Detroit, Watts, East L.A., Washington, DC.The worst spots were to be the target of the most concentrated effort.There's a military term for this.It's called "slamming the wall." The basicconcept is that if you take your enemy's strongest position, it will breakhim.It's also called "suicide." Porkchop Hill, the Somme, Coldwater Harbor.Historical examples of "slamming the wall." Also historical examples ofhighest casualty assaults.And none of them did a damned bit of good in theend.Neither did pouring vital supplies into the free-fire zones.And then there were the Rules of Engagement.They went way beyond "do not fireunless fired upon." Warrick was, after all, a lawyer.Written out, they wentto five pages of flow diagrams.They were worse than the ones issued towardsthe latter part of the Iraq Campaign.Essentially they came down to "do notfire." Period.If you shot anyone, for any reason, you were probably going tojail.Soldiers were prosecuted, during that period, for firing upon people who wereactively firing at them.Guys went to Leavenworth who had bullets in theirbody-armor.Dozens of food shipments were lost to gangs that forced thesoldiers to turn them over.It was that or have a fire-fight.And they werenot permitted to fire.When it was more or less one on one, and it often was,not firing first meant heavy casualties.The leaders, and I don't blame them,were willing to give up the shipments rather than take the casualties.Units were required to "maintain a minimum presence of force." That is, theyweren't supposed to ride into the neighborhoods like an invading army.Nomatter how violent they were.Habeas corpus had been suspended but youcouldn't tell it if you were a soldier.Unless, of course, you were up forpunishment.Then you hadeus no corpus.And some very heavy weapons had gotten into the hands of these gangs.OneStryker was hit and destroyed by a Javelin while escorting a food convoy.Mostof the units doing the escorting didn't have Javelins issued.(A Javelin is ananti-tank missile.More about those, later, too.)So while the red counties, the rural counties and smaller cities that made up"fly-over country" were organizing and recovering and hoping for some help,however little, the "blue" counties, many of which had gone completelybat-shit, were having food and medical supplies and emergency suppliesshoveled into them like coal into a furnace and for about as much result.Okay, they were not all losses.Notice I didn't mention Harlem, Queens or theBronx.That's because they didn't ever get that bad.Not even close.Part ofthat was because the mayor refused to let it get that bad.Mortality had beenincredibly low.Less than 20% and that, frankly, tended to be amonggrasshoppers.Police presence was high and the local National Guard unit hadbeen turned into something closer to the New York militia.When they wereordered to displace to handle problems in New Jersey Newark was one of the warzones the orders were ignored.Food shipments got to where they were supposed to go.Bodies were collected.Order never really broke down in New York.It's possible for at least a localgovernment to maintain near normal conditions even in densely populated areas,even in a disaster as bad as the Plague.But it took strong and effectiveleadership.People have got to trust.Let's all work together said "I'mtrusting you to trust me to not screw you." Enough people got the idea that itPage 60 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlworked.The few "random associators" among New Yorkers supported the mayor.And the "King" types were willing to follow a strong man in a time of trouble.Call it a cult of personality.Like I said, if Cranslow runs for President, I'll work with him.He's even afiscal conservative.What the hell.Chapter NineRandom AssociationsThe majority of the functional distribution, therefore, happened outsidecities.Much of it was illicit.That is, food convoys were ordered toPhiladelphia and "broke down" before they got there.And set up distributionstations.And fed people that needed it and weren't going to try to steal it.And, often, turned bulk materials over to "local random associations" fordistribution.Okay, the gangs were, often, local random associations, more or less.Some ofthem, especially Hispanic and Asian, were at core familial based.(And byAsian I don't mean just Chinese.Note the Caliphate.)But they were not going to be, in turn, acting as useful distributors.Thefood was used for internal power.There was a touch of that in places with thechurches and other associations (VFW did enormous if unheralded good duringthe Time).They had the food and they made the choices who ate and who didnot.Generally, this was not race based as was often reported.It was, to anextent, based on trust issues.But mostly it was based on the same reasoningthat young lady in Blackjack used.Feed local emergency services personnelfirst.Feed kids and elderly next.Feed random associators next.Feed thegrasshoppers last.There was a degree of blending and bonding during the Time which wasunprecedented in American history.Generally, for actual biological reasons,people do differentiate on the basis of color.(Yes, babies do not.Children,by and large, do not.The trait kicks in at puberty.It can be culturallyadjusted, but it's a defined human trait.A white child raised among Chineseis going to trust Chinese over whites.True study.Another urban mythtrashed.) And there were then and are now bigots on that score.But due to societal factors, random associators had a fair slice of militarypersonnel in their midst.And military personnel deal with all kinds of colorswhen they're in.It's hard to be in the military for any time and not becometo an extent color blind
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