Monday 25 June 2012

SITREP

Well that was an intense week! Seriously feels more like a month has passed since last weekend in what has been a tough week, with the added stress of two professional exams. Enjoyed the experience nevertheless in a strangely masochistic kind of way. I guess in part because I have come away with increased confidence after last years neurological issues, which still leave me with some residual memory issues.

I returned home on Friday with raging 'man-flu' and have spent the weekend 'bravely' lying up and taking things easy. So, my workbench remains as I left it last week. Whilst resting up, I read more about the American Militiaman movement. What prompted this was twofold. Jon at Khurasan getting in touch, which resulted in me finding some new goodies on his webstore that would suit my Possee Comitatus project. Followed by the NatWest Bank's 'glitch' with their IT systems.  I just thought to myself, "right after UK banks have been downgraded. What a wonderful way to begin an economic apocalypse!"

This led to TIME Magazine which has a very interesting article The Secret World of 'Extreme Militias' profiling the Ohio Defence Force. I pulled several ideas from the article about potential scenarios. Including a Jihad Dawn remake of the 1984 classic, Red Dawn, using Khurasan's 15mm Neo-Arabs. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: with a twist.

Of course I also wanted to see what parallels could be drawn between the American militia movement and our Winter of '79 scenario in Britain. In fact, when you think of it, were the 'private armies' Britain's own response in terms of a militia movement, but in a more typically British way of course?

At what point would the ordinary householder in 1979-81 Britain take up arms? With inflation hitting 17.4% in November 1979, would the axiom that "society is only nine meals away from anarchy" hold true when the Fish Fingers ran out?



Cheers
Mark

7 comments:

  1. Glad the exams went well for you.

    I'll be interested to see what you do with the militia idea and borrow a few ideas for myself probably... ;)

    I've always been interested in the movement especially pre 9/11 as they were put out as the biggest terrorist threat to the US in the wake of Ruby Ridge/ Waco/ McVey. Seems such a long time ago now....

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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    1. LOL! Be my guest.

      Cheers
      Mark

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    2. Thanks- I'll be sure to blog what I get up to.

      Cheers,

      Pete.

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  2. I grew up on the Eastern Washington/ Idaho border. Lots of folks were in militias out there. Honestly it wasn't un common to see folks walking down main street with slung long arms. No one said or thought any thing bad of it. I remember one time I was riding my bike to my dads store with my 7-30 waters on my back. (hunting session)
    The cops stopped me to ask how my dad was doing and wanted me to reminded him about some social event in town hall. Didn't say any thing about my rifle but, reminded me to put my helmet on for bike safety.
    The point being some guys runing around in camo and guns in the woods was vary commen. Lots of them were Ex-military and had stock pills of guns, food, ammo and bunkers. Check ou the show dooms day prepers from NetGeo if you want to get a feel for some of the current mind sets of the folks in the US.

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    Replies
    1. Interesting personal perspective.

      Cheers
      Mark

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  3. Also check out this group. http://oathkeepers.org/oath/

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  4. Great link. I had been wondering about the attitudes of serving military and enforcement personnel. One thing to bear in mind about the militias is that we are not justing talking about armed civilians/survivalists with para-military training, many will also have recent military experience and be passing that on to their fellow militiamen.

    Cheers
    Mark

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