by Glen Tate
“But it couldn’t last and, of course, it didn’t,” he said. “So, back to my furniture store in Grand Forks, where the local economy was booming right up until the Collapse. Miners were working overtime. Gasoline was cheap. Taxes went down because the treasury had so much money from gas and oil revenue.”
“The Collapse changed all that, but only for a while. Canada was thoroughly intertwined with the U.S. economy and when your economy crashed, so did ours. And, even though Canadians are a practical people, we were even more dependent on modern services than Americans, at least in our cities. Vancouver, which was north of Seattle and was one of the most modern and metropolitan cities in the world before the Collapse, was devastated. Almost no one had any food stocked up or guns. They were used to doing whatever the government said their whole lives, so when the government told them to stay in the city and help would arrive, most people believed it. Vancouver is full of bodies now,” he said with sadness. He had family there.
“But,” he said, “we were just fine in the boonies out in Grand Forks, far away from Vancouver. We were much more like the rural areas of America. In the beginning of the Collapse, we merely survived. We hunted and fished just like you did.”
“The Loyalists still governed eastern Washington for the first few months after the Collapse. Well, they didn’t have control over most of your territory, but they did have strong outposts, like the customs stations run by DHS on your side of the border. Col. Fox described how nearby Spokane was initially a Loyalist stronghold.”
“In contrast to the American government that somewhat had control of your territory, there was no more Canadian government. My country’s population was extremely heavily concentrated in the cities like Vancouver. When the cities were gone, so was the government. We were essentially a free territory in rural British Columbia. Grand Forks was on its own.”
“The best conditions for smuggling,” he said, “are when one side of a border has severe restrictions, like bans on certain products, and the other side of the border is free. When the physical geography separating the two sides is remote and, say, mountainous, smuggling will pop up. That’s why I’m here today.”
“We didn’t have a lot of supplies in remote Canada, but we had some. Those people who could make it out of the cities did and those people with resources started gathering in places like Grand Forks. We had security—guns were restricted, but we still had some older models—and we had a giant market for our supplies a few miles to the south in the FUSA. Grand Forks became a boomtown.”
“I was one of the original businesses in Grand Forks and became a natural place for people to buy and sell their wares. My storage facility was the perfect warehouse for people bringing their medicine, gasoline, and gold from what was left of the Canadian cities.” Ryan didn’t mention that he was the first in Grand Forks to have his own security contractors to protect people’s valuables. He had friends on the American side who brought modern guns over the border and even served in his contractor force. That was why a simple furniture store owner could become the kingpin of Grand Forks and, as it turned out, the whole region.
“Right as we were amassing so many valuable supplies in Grand Forks, your DHS was weakening. It was getting increasingly hard for them to maintain their border outposts. But, much like the Loyalists doubled down on spending and debt, your DHS doubled down on the use of force. One of the few relatively safe places for DHS personnel and their families was remote border outposts, so they came in droves.”
“While the Canadian government was pretty much done for, remnants of it remained. Much like your DHS leaving populated areas for border outposts, the Canadian government did the same, coming out to places like Grand Forks. Or at least trying,” he said with a smile.
“We persuaded them to leave,” he said, without describing the insurgency Grand Forks and other rural Canadian towns fought to repel the former government. The Canadian military, which was never exactly robust, was decimated by the collapse of the cities and their supply lines from the population centers out to the rural areas were long and unprotected. Several hundred dedicated fighters in places like Grand Forks, with hunting rifles and revolvers, were actually a stronger force than the token units of the Canadian Defense Forces. But dozens of Col. Russell’s men died in the fighting.
“Your DHS was a different story,” he said. “They were very well-armed and trained. More importantly, they had the will to fight. They knew they and their families were dead anywhere else. They were fighting for their lives.”
“By this time, we had several healthy business relationships with Americans. We were buying and selling just about everything and using my warehouse in Grand Forks to store it. I knew where this was headed, and I needed a plan.”
“Sure enough, DHS on your side of the border realized that my warehouse and Grand Forks in general, was a great big juicy bundle of loot. They wanted it for themselves. During the Collapse, DHS was famous for going into business for itself. That was especially true in remote outposts like these, where there was no oversight over them at all.”
“DHS wasn’t like the under-supplied Canadian Defense Forces. They could take my town, with our lever-action rifles and assortment of .38 Specials. That’s when I came up with a plan.”
“From all my business dealings with Americans, I was in contact with the Patriots. In fact, my town was becoming a big supplier for the Patriots, so we had a mutual interest in neutralizing the DHS outposts.”
“But that was easier said than done,” he continued, “it would take a very large Patriot force to dislodge the DHS, and the Patriots would lose a lot of men and equipment in the process. It seemed like an unsolvable problem.”
“Then I realized that a border is more than a line on a map. A border is full of symbolism. Things are very different on one side of a border than the other. This is because we’re used to that being true; for decades, things were different on my side of the border than the American’s. It just felt different standing on one side of the imaginary line, even though it was basically the same dirt. We humans constructed two different societies on different sides of a line of latitude or the side of a river.”
“This idea that things were different on my side of the border would solve the problem of dislodging the DHS, I realized. I met with the Patriot commanders and they agreed to my plan. Reluctantly, at first, but they were willing to give it a try. Getting rid of the DHS outposts and having a wide open supply line in and out of Canada was worth the sacrifices they would have to make.”
“What sacrifices were those? Not killing the hated DHS troopers. My plan was to offer the DHS and their families asylum in Canada. My security contractors and the Patriots would allow DHS to enter Canada at Grand Forks, but they must disperse into the rest of Canada. They could not regroup in Grand Forks and then try to take over. They would be safe in Canada. The Patriots agreed not to hunt them down—this was the sacrifice the Patriots were making.”
“How could we be sure the DHS troopers wouldn’t regroup and attack us? We got to keep their weapons and ammunition. We got the two MRAPs they had and all the parts and fuel.” MRAPs were mine-resistant armored personnel carriers, which were basically urban tanks. DHS had almost 3,000 of them when the Collapse hit. They were virtually undefeatable.
“The Patriots were drooling over getting the MRAPs. I made a deal with them that they got the MRAPs and most of the weapons if they agreed to keep the Grand Forks border trading post open, which of course was in their interests to do, anyway. Besides,” Col. Russell smiled, “what good were two MRAPs to me and my furniture store security contractors? The Patriots knew how to maintain them and ended up putting them to great use in nearby Spokane a few weeks later. I’ll never forget looking at that MRAP with ‘Homeland Security’ painted over and ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ spray painted on the side.”
“The DHS troopers were glad to basically sell the weapons and MRAPs for safety. Their families were particularly in favor of the sale.
We held up our end of the bargain and made sure they were safe in Canada. Many of the DHS troopers left Grand Forks to try to make it over to the west side of the mountains to reunite with American forces over there, near Seattle.”
“One of the reasons this deal worked is that I knew I could trust the Patriots. I knew that Patriot commanders would control their men and not allow revenge killings of the DHS troopers or, even worse, their families. I couldn’t live with myself if those families were killed. By restraining their understandable impulse for revenge, the Patriots got tons of extremely valuable equipment and a wide-open highway of supplies.”
“This exemplifies the approach you are taking here in New Washington,” Col. Russell said. “It also explains why you won.”
Chapter 372
Col. James Yeager
(The Tugboat Skipper)
“We move from smugglers in the north,” Ben said as the crowd was applauding for Col. Russell, “to smugglers in the south.” Ben smiled, “I use the term ‘smuggler’ in a positive way. Smugglers have been supporting insurgencies since there have been insurgencies. People who take risks to supply our forces will be honored. That’s why we’re honoring Col. James Yeager.”
A man in beat-up overalls stood up, waved to the crowd, and then quickly sat down. “Col. Yeager said he wasn’t one for making speeches and asked me to describe what he did. Besides, he thinks his whole crew deserves the honor and didn’t feel right talking about himself, which I respect,” Ben said.
“I think Col. Russell described what smugglers do and why they are so valuable to an insurgency. So I’ll skip that part of Col. Yeager’s story. I’ll get right down to what he did and why that was so dangerous.”
“Col. Yeager is a tugboat skipper. Few people realize how much cargo goes up and down rivers and around ports on barges pushed or pulled by tugboats. Many of the things you ate today and the products you used were brought to you by a tugboat.”
“Tug skippers are a dying breed. They are some of the toughest people. They steer the tug for twelve hours in a row after throwing very heavy tie-up ropes. Then, sometimes, they operate machinery to unload the tugs. You don’t get any more blue collar than that.”
“But thank God we still have some,” Ben continued. “I asked Col. Yeager why he did all the things I’ll tell you about in a moment, why he risked his life. He shrugged. He said, ‘You know that graffiti you see everywhere about missing America? That’s why I did this. I missed America. There was no place in Loyalist America for people like me. I didn’t fit in there, so I needed to help the people who would give me back America so I had a place again.’” Ben paused.
“In all my political speeches, I don’t think there’s ever been a better explanation of why we fought.” Ben looked over at Col. Yeager on the floor of the Legislature, sitting there in his overalls and said, “For a guy who says he’s not good at speaking, you’ve done a heck of a job articulating something we’ve all felt.”
Ben smiled and said, “If this tugboat skipper thing doesn’t work out, you can be one of my speechwriters.” The audience laughed.
“Col. Yeager was based in Portland, Oregon. No wonder he felt like he didn’t belong.” Portland was like Seattle; it was one of the least friendly places in the country for independent-minded people. Government was huge there and society seemed to be dominated by hipsters. They despised men in overalls like James.
“He ran barges of various materials up the Columbia River into eastern Washington and Idaho and brought back barges of grain. Security got tighter and tighter as the Collapse approached. DHS, which included the Coast Guard, was obsessed with ‘’terrorists’—you know, Ron Paul-types—threatening the ports and waterways. America’s economy depended on cargo, most of which was from overseas, going through ports and, to an extent, up and down waterways like the Columbia River.”
“When the Collapse hit, water traffic was stopped for two weeks. The Limas were convinced that the Ron Paul-types weren’t planning on destroying ports and blocking waterways like the Columbia River. However, for those two weeks, vital supplies weren’t reaching their destinations. As the Collapse wore on, and it became apparent that eastern Washington grain would become an extremely valuable commodity, the Limas decided to open the waterways back up.”
“Like so many other aspects of the Collapse and war, the Limas simultaneously overdid it and underdid it. They overdid the security measures on tug skippers like Col. Yeager. They constantly searched his vessels and required Coast Guard escorts that took days to arrive, all the while, his cargo was sitting idle. But, the Limas also managed to underdo it, too. They only had a handful of resources like Coast Guard escorts.”
“Col. Yeager will tell you he is ‘just’ a tugboat skipper, kind of like Col. Webb was ‘just’ a personnel clerk. But James is smart. Extremely smart. He realized that the Limas needed barges moving, but couldn’t get it done with their own resources. So he volunteered his help.”
“Col. Yeager hung out in the maritime blue collar taverns in Portland. He knew all of the longshoreman, tug operators, and marine mechanics. They had a ready-made private maritime security contractor force right there in the taverns. He approached the Portland Coast Guard admiral, who was overwhelmed and desperate, and offered the services of his teams. All he asked for was fuel and ‘no hassles.’ The admiral quickly understood what ‘no hassles’ meant: no inspections. He didn’t care if some tugboat crews were smuggling cigarettes without paying taxes or alcohol or whatever it was ‘those people’ enjoyed. He just wanted to tell his superiors in Washington D.C. that he had figured out a way to get cargo moving again.”
“So Col. Yeager assembled his crews and got to work. At first, he wasn’t an active Patriot. He was, like Col. Tantori, the privateer, doing this to make some money. Not money to live a lavish lifestyle, but money to survive. And, as you’ve seen, we’re not opposed to people making money in New Washington.”
“But Col. Yeager realized how weak the Loyalists were. The fact that the admiral agreed to the ‘no hassles’ arrangement sealed it for him. He knew that there wouldn’t be a functioning Coast Guard within a few weeks or months. He knew which side would win.”
“So he talked to a couple of his crew members from the taverns who were the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ types. He asked them to find some Patriots who would like to join the crews. ‘No experience necessary,’ he told them, ‘But knowing how to use a radio and keep in contact with the good guys is a must.’ The ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ crew members knew exactly what he was talking about and, the next day, some new guys, who looked like they just recently left the military, showed up with some very fancy radio equipment and an Arab-appearing guy who spoke a language no one could understand.”
“Over the next few weeks, Col. Yeager’s crews were operating around the clock to unclog the supply backlogs. There weren’t many barges of cargo coming from Portland to eastern Washington, but there were plenty of grain barges that needed to go to Portland. Col. Yeager could see that the Limas were essentially milking eastern Washington of its grain to feed the hungry hipsters in Portland. Too bad most of the hipsters wouldn’t eat the wheat on the barges because they were proudly gluten-free.”
“Col. Yeager faced a dilemma. He knew he was helping the Limas by getting the grain to the cities, but he also knew he needed to build up credibility with them so he could do what he really wanted to do.”
“He started small. He would have ‘guest crew members’ get on his vessels in Portland and drop them off in eastern Washington. They were Patriot high-value assets who needed to escape. A gentle ride up the Columbia River in a boat that would never be searched was the perfect way to get to safety. Some of the members of the Legislature, and many others in this audience today, took a tug ride with Col. Yeager’s crews.”
“People weren’t the only valuable cargo Col. Yeager was taking out of the Lima areas and into eastern Washington, which was quickly becoming Patriot territory. He brought up supplies capt
ured by Patriot forces for use in eastern Washington. On the return trips, he brought gold from Col. Heintz that was used in Portland and elsewhere by Patriots to fund operations.”
“It wasn’t like Col. Yeager was just coasting up and down the river. They faced real dangers. The first was from pirates, which had become very active on the Columbia River, striking from land bases on the Washington and Oregon sides of the river. The pirates had no real use for a barge load of grain because they would need facilities to unload it and, besides, ammunition, alcohol, and other items were smaller to transport and much easier to sell. Col. Yeager and his crews were attacked by pirates several times. They had the weaponry to repel the small boats, though. For some unknown reason, though,” Ben said with a smile and pointed at Col. Bat-Kasha in the audience, “they never had any trouble from Patriot privateers.”
“The other danger was the remaining Lima security forces. ‘No hassle’ was the deal with the Coast Guard, but the Limas were so disorganized that some units, especially the National Guard, didn’t get the message. Or some units, who knew of the admiral’s order to leave Yeager’s crews alone, decided to make a little side income and extract bribes from them.”
“Col. Yeager knew that paying bribes was a cost of doing business, and he did so most of the time. On one occasion, though, some DHS troopers and FCorps decided to board one of his tugs and check the papers of everyone on board. Col. Yeager said a code word into the radio and fire erupted from his tug and his crew’s escort boats, literally blowing the DHS boat out of the water. A few minutes later, after some speaking in that strange Arab language, a Patriot privateer vessel appeared and allowed itself to be chased by the DHS backup boats. Col. Yeager listened to the radio traffic where DHS blamed the attack on privateers.”
