The Journal of Civil Defense, Volume 57, 2022 Issue 1, our 60th Anniversary Issue, describes the remarkable men who founded The American Civil Defense Association. You may dowoload a copy free here.

I am so honored and grateful to be part of TACDA. They are, like St. John for Jesus, a voice in the wilderness. They have carried the civil defense torch for 65 years educating American families how to prepare for disasters.

Even if the government has failed us horribly in preparing American families to prepare for and survive nuclear war, TACDA leaders and members have carries on the his holy cause, despite the ignorance, hostility, laziness, and indiffernece of the Feds.

FEMA Abandoned Nuclear War Preparation Years Ago

The Federal Emergency Management Agency abandoned nuclear war preparation and survival decades ago. You and your family are on their own.

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to an accomplished civil defense expert:

Quin Lucie • 1stStrategic Planner, expert on national mobilization, emergency managment & federal crisis authorities

China’s updated National Mobilization Law - This is really bad.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it and do not listen to the handful of commentators (or X community notes likely driven by Chinese accounts) who attempt to say otherwise. Outside of my handful of mentors retired from our legacy national mobilization and civil defense programs, I’ve read, studied, and analyzed our legacy mobilization, civil defense laws, and programs more than anyone in or out of government.

China has essentially replicated the full set of Cold War mobilization and civil defense authorities once maintained by the U.S. and added additional authorities that we kept “off the books,” ready only in time of war.

The U.S. separated mobilization authorities (which were themselves scattered across multiple laws) from civil defense, China has consolidated them. Where the 2010 law laid a framework, the new 2026 law has filled in the gaps and added missing pieces. For instance, their new civilian requisition laws are eerily similar to civil defense post-attack requisition authorities terminated by Congress in 1993.

Their industry survey authority now comes with criminal penalties, just like our own. Their information laws mark an expansion of authority we once prepared only in case of war as part of standby legal authorities for the most dire circumstances.

Essentially, China has scraped the U.S. playbook for mobilization and civil defense that we worked so hard to develop from our experience in World War II and Korea, kept improving for the next 43 years, and made it their own.

There is only one purpose for this updated law - to provide the internal legal authority and direction to its local governments for prevailing in a protracted conflict with the United States. As George Marshall once said “A democracy has a very hard time in a war, particularly at the start of a war.

They can never get ready in advance. The conditions are such that they are susceptible to surprise action, and an arbitrary government like the Hitler government has every advantage in those respects.” For those of you who read this and are not persuaded, I urge to read both the 2010 laws and the 2026 laws side-by-side.

You can compare the new laws to those we once (and somewhat still) maintained discussed in my 2019 article How FEMA Could lose America’s Next Great War. https://lnkd.in/ec_9RWd

What China has done is what I feared seven years ago, they are bringing all instruments of national power together, civilian and military, understanding that only a full partnership of those two can prevail in a protracted conflict.

Relying only on national defense and even an expanded defense industrial base that overly relies on existing prime contractors is not enough. We once made our ability to mobilize, our ability to focus the nation’s resources on a problem while protecting the political will of the American people that is its foundation, part of our strategic deterrence.

We need to do that again.

The full story is here.

Unlike the Finnish, European, Red China, and Swiss governments, they have carried the civil defense cross for the good of the American people. I am honored to be part of their civil defense mission for 20 years.

I was so startled by the Hollywood lies in the Amazon Primer TV series Fallout, I decided to share this truthful information by these great physists who found TACDA below. Enjoy.

The History of The American Civil Defense Association

TACDA was formed in the early 1960s in response to our nation’s reliance on atomic weaponry as a centerpiece of foreign policy following World War II, up to and including the onset of the Cold War.

The organization was conceived by a group of professors at the University of Florida which included Dr. Arthur A. Broyles (President), Byron D. Spangler, Herbert Sawyer, Dr. Werner Lauter, Col. R.G. Sherrard, and Albert Edgar in response to public concern regarding The Cubin Missile Crisis and the Cold War and to provide solutions for personal and community survival in case of nuclear attack.

Dr. Arthur Broyles was the moving force behind this effort. He had previously worked on nuclear weapons at Los Alamos and had been employed by the Rand Corporation. He later encouraged renowned scientists, Dr. Edward Teller, Father of the Hydrogen Bomb, and Dr. Eugene Wigner, Nobel Prize winner, both comrades of Albert Einstein, to become active in the group.

They worked tirelessly on the project with what little time they had, with the mission of educating and preparing Americans to be able to survive nuclear attacks and emphasizing the use of fallout shelters for this purpose. They presented programs at the University, held seminars, produced a journal, and diligently campaigned the federal government for a civil defense program for the American public.

THREAT OF NUCLEAR WAR During the Cold War, many feared a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union. There was serious talk of nuclear war. Russia was shipping missiles to Cuba. People wanted badly to know what measures they could take to contend with the threatening situation. In response to the Soviet’s first atomic test explosion gene Wigner, Nobel Prize winner, both comrades of Albert Einstein, to become active in the group.

They worked tirelessly on the project with what little time they had, with the mission of educating and preparing Americans to be able to survive nuclear attacks and emphasizing the use of fallout shelters for this purpose. They presented programs at the University, held seminars, produced a journal, and diligently campaigned the federal government for a civil defense program for the American public.

During the Cold War, many feared a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union. There was serious talk of nuclear war. Russia was shipping missiles to Cuba. People wanted badly to know what measures they could take to contend with the threatening situation. In response to the Soviet’s first atomic test explosion and the Korean War, the Federal Civil Defense Administration was started in 1951.

American citizens now had to imagine a new kind of war, and it was the Federal Civil Defense Administration’s job to encourage citizens to adapt to their nuclear present and future. Some doubted that physical protection from a nuclear explosion would be effective.

The Federal Civil Defense Administration received a small budget and was involved in only limited construction of shelters and the publishing of publicity materials. In 1958, a report indicating the Soviet Union was nearing the level of the nuclear arsenal held by the U.S. forced civil defense to be a priority. Spending increased.

The Federal Civil Defense Administration became the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization under President John F. Kennedy, who believed in and advocated civil defense. In October of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis spurred a rapid, three-month program to improve civil defense. When the administration of President Kennedy abruptly ended, however, civil defense was once again regarded as unimportant and wasteful and not provided with adequate funding. TACDA

REMAINS VIGILANT When the Cuban Crisis subsided, protective measures for the general population were quickly forgotten. Interest in civil defense faded, and citizen civil defense organizations disappeared. TACDA, however, remained vigilant. It saw missile stocks steadily growing and the development of new weapons of mass destruction increasing the possibility of nuclear war. Measures to deal with the looming threat were obviously needed more than ever.

LAUNCH OF THE CIVIL DEFENSE MAGAZINE, “SURVIVE” In late 1967 and early 1968, planning meetings held at the University of Florida were attended by Teller, Wigner, Broyles, John Neiler of ORNL, Don Guier, Walter Murphey, and others to launch a civil defense magazine. Walter Murphey became involved with the group when his job as North Florida Civil Defense Director was moved to Gainsville.

Murphey was appointed editor, as he had experience publishing a newsletter, and John Neiler furnished the capital. Publication of SURVIVE began with the May/June 1968 issue consisting of 12 pages. In December of 1970, Murphey and his staff took full responsibility for publishing the magazine. The association remained as publisher. Wigner continued to play a major role in all aspects of publication.

In 1974, Murphey retired from his state position to devote full-time attention to the magazine and association where he served for 29 years as editor of the journal and executive director of TACDA. DEVELOPMENT OF METTAG In 1975, Robert F. Blodgett conceived the idea for a medical emergency triage tag known as METTAG. METTAG is a field triage tag that serves to speed the processing of casualties at accident and disaster scenes.

He donated the tag to the association with the hope that sales of the tag would support the magazine. The project was launched in 1976, and in 1977, METTAG provided much-needed financial help to the magazine. Today, worldwide METTAG sales continue to support TACDA financially. Professor Blodgett’s brilliancy and generosity in developing and donating the tag has helped TACDA stay viable and able to offer civil defense resources to Americans for little or no cost.

THE JOURNAL OF CIVIL DEFENSE In 1976, SURVIVE magazine was renamed to the Journal of Civil Defense. TACDA has continued to produce the journal since then and publishes articles on a wide variety of civil defense topics, boasting the greatest selection of survival information and tactics under one charitable organization. Articles are carefully selected and written by scholars, military professionals, emergency personnel, and experts on civil defense.

The Journal of Civil Defense has included topics such as:

• Current national security threats

• Practical survival techniques

• Home and personal defense strategies

• Nuclear weapons effects

• Protection of material assets and survival of natural disasters

• Food storage and preservation

• Underground sheltering

• Gun safety

• Mass shooting situations including prevention, analysis, and take down

• Homeopathic medicine

• Home safety equipment

• Evacuation in emergencies

• 72-hour kits

• And many more...

TACDA’S CONTINUING MISSION In the 21st century, TACDA has broadened its efforts to include information on the mitigation and survival of all man-made and natural disasters. We offer articles on wildfires, earthquakes, power outages, pandemics, terrorism, and other threats of concern. Instead of in-person seminars, we now hold live monthly webinars for our members.

This enables us to reach more members across the country on a regular basis and to assist them with their preparedness goals. The live webinars have encouraged members to meet one another, discuss similar needs, and even start civil defense groups of their own in their communities.

TACDA continues its efforts to educate the public in civil defense issues. Sadly, few people understand the basics of defense against the effects of nuclear weapons. Exercises such as “Duck and Cover” no longer exist in our public schools. Very few civil defense publications come from the federal government, and yet we continue to hear of nuclear threats from North Korea, Iran, Russia, and Red China.

We encourage our members to study past journals of civil defense to be prepared for current threats facing us as a nation. Articles written in our earliest productions in 1968 are still current and applicable to today’s threats. In this 60th anniversary issue of the Journal of Civil Defense, we have chosen to publish some older articles on nuclear threat.

These articles come from various trusted sources and, in light of our 60th anniversary, include ‘Voices from the Past’, articles from the pioneers of TACDA. This information is still relevant. It need not change because the threat has not changed.

Blast is still blast, and the effects of radiation, EMP, fire, and chemical and biological contamination are as real as they have ever been. Protection from radiation still requires the concepts of time, distance, and shielding.

The basics of blast shelter design have also not changed. We need to convince others that we can, if prepared, survive a nuclear attack.

Arthur Broyles

Arthur Broyles, Ph.D. (Founder) 34 Years of Dedicated Service Professor Arthur Broyles received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1949 and then joined the University of Florida. After three years at Los Alamos and six years with the Rand Corporation, he returned to the University of Florida, where he was a professor of physics and physical sciences. He was especially interested in quantum electrodynamics and the equation of state.

Dr. Broyles and Edward Teller were instrumental in the development of the hydrogen bomb. Dr. Broyles was Professor of Physics at the University of Florida, a member of the SURVIVE Editorial Board, and President of what was first known as the Association for Community-Wide Protection from Nuclear Attack (APNA), later, The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA).

HOW MANY CAN BE SAVED? A dedicated scientist and veteran civil defense campaigner dissects a research study on shelter costs vs survival levels and achieves for the layman a revealing picture of what kind of federal financing it could take to protect our American society from the effects of an ABM-oriented nuclear attack.

How many people can be saved - and at what cost?

These are the pointed questions asked about civil defense measures such as shelters, antimissile missiles, etc.

They are also extremely difficult questions to answer, principally because of the large number of pieces of information that must be given beforehand. For example, it is necessary to know the numbers and sizes of bombs delivered, the targets chosen, wind directions, etc.

The best that can be done is to make simplifying assumptions and to calculate specific cases. A recent study of this type has been completed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory by Dr. Richard A. Uher, amember of the Civil Defense Research Project.

His report is entitled, “Blast Shelter Systems with a Light, Area-Ballistic Missile Defense”. This study was motivated by the recent decision by the U. S. Government to deploy a light ballistic missile defense system.

Dr. Uher started out by asking, The simplifying assumptions made are that: 1. people have time to get into shelters, 2. everyone has a fallout shelter also giving fire protection, 3. the enemy makes his attack in just the right wayto create the most fatalities for a given shelter system, and 4. the only effect of the missile defense system is to force the enemy to use multiple warheads, each having a yield of three-tenths of a megaton.

The enemy will choose small multiple warheads instead of one large bomb so that the defensive missiles will be forced to fire at a large number of incoming targets at once. This technique is employed to pierce an anti-ballistic missile system, and it requires the use of significantly smaller weapons with a resultant decrease in total megatonnage.

In this way penetration of the defensive missile shield is made more likely (see “Civil Defense in the Age of Russian Superiority”, page 1). A single, large, attacking missile may be launched, but it will send out a spread of the smaller bombs a short time before it reaches the range of the defensive missiles.

The study by Dr. Uher assumes that only a negligible number of these three-tenths of a megaton bombs are destroyed by the defenses. The defensive missiles have been of value, however, because blast shelters are now more effective than they would be otherwise.

The study considers two types of shelter systems, one composed only of shelters built to stand a given pressure, the other optimized by allowing blast protection to vary with population density. Thus, in this optimized case, shelter providing greater protection may be placed where population density is highest. This distribution of shelter gives the smallest number of fatalities.

Although it is found that the optimized system is appreciably more effective, unfortunately the optimization can be made for only one attack size. At other attack sizes, such a shelter system may be relatively poor. Thus, a shelter distribution created for an attack of a given size tends to become obsolete as people move and attack sizes change.

Some of the results of Dr. Uher’s study are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2*. Increasingly, investments in blast shelters markedly reduces fatalities. Figure 1 [top right] is for an attack on the United States where the total yield of all the bombs directed against the population was taken to be 420 megatons.

This required 1,400 of the three-tenths megaton warheads. Figure 2 [bottom right] gives the same results for a larger attack of 2,160 megatons total yield or 7,200 of the three-tenths megaton warheads. Optimized systems are not illustrated in these figures.

Although these results were obtained under quite restricted assumptions, they do indicate that blast shelters can save a substantial number of lives in both small- and large-scale attacks.

Although the Russians are probably capable of larger attacks, it seems likely that a major fraction of their missiles will be directed against the military installations of the U.S. and its allies leaving a relatively smaller number for a population attack. (By Arthur Broyles, Ph.D.; previously published: July-Aug 1968, Vo1.1, No. 2)

*These calculations are based on the 1968 population of the United States of America, which was 203,000,000. The current population of the U.S. is 330,000,000, which is an increase of approximately 60%.

Eugene P. Wigner

Eugene P. Wigner, Ph.D. Eugene P. Wigner, Ph.D. was a Nobel Prize winner. He was also recipient of the Enrico Fermi, Max Planck, and Atoms for Peace awards. He was one of the scientists who, with Albert Einstein, first warned President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the possibility of nuclear weapons development.

In 1942, he was part of the University of Chicago team that first produced a nuclear chain reaction. While a member of the faculty at Princeton University, Dr. Wigner carved time out of a hectic schedule to spotlight civil defense as a basic requirement for the survival of the United States in the nuclear age for TACDA.

A renowned physicist and civil defense analyst probes behind the mask of apathy in the United States.

I have often tried to explain the need for a vigorous civil defense effort, why and how such an effort would go far in preserving peace and how it could save many millions of lives if war should come nevertheless.

“Why Civil Defense?” would be an apt title for this subject because we want the civil defense effort to be strong and vigorous.

But my subject is also the opposite: “Why No Civil Defense?” There are, it seems to me, three principal reasons for this.

The first reason is the power of the anti-civil defense establishment. What provides this strength?

What are the motives of the establishment? There are, of course, those who would like to see our country become a second- or third-rate power, the nakedness and vulnerability of its people forcing its government to accede to the demands of those governments whose people are better protected or who care less for human life.

Persons who have these desires are, however, small in number, and they contribute but very little to the undeniably very great strength of the anti-civil defense establishment.

Can this establishment muster valid arguments against civil defense? I think it can, and this is the reason for citing this cause for our lagging civil defense efforts as the first of my “principal reasons”.

If we install shelters, store food and other supplies, we make preparations against an attack on our country. Such preparations naturally set us apart from those against whose attack we protect ourselves and render it more difficult to develop a true friendship between the governments of communist countries and ourselves.

This is the theory of Festinger, often derided by social scientists, but I do think there is something to it even if not in the extreme form propounded by Festinger. It is, of course, true that the hate propaganda of the other side also interferes with the development of the true friendship, and it is sad - very sad - that this is never criticized by the anti-civil defense establishment.

The second reason why the civil defense effort is not more vigorous and why there is not more public demand for it is that it is unpleasant to think about disasters, particularly disasters as severe as nuclear war.

Let us note that insurance policies offering compensation in case of fire are called fire insurance policies, but that the policies protecting our families in case of our death are called life insurance policies.

No similarly euphemistic name has been invented for civil defense, and it would not help much if one were invented. Building shelters would remind us in any case of a great and terrible calamity that could befall us, and we all are reluctant to think about such calamities.

Why dig a hole in the ground where one may have to live for weeks if one can, instead, walk in the sunshine? We have a tradition for work, and many of us enjoy it, but we do not have a tradition of thinking about disasters which may strike us. However, whereas our reluctance to face the temporary nature of our sojourn in this world does not, as a rule, shorten our lives, our reluctance to protect ourselves may bring war nearer.

The third reason that we do not take civil defense very seriously is that we are all too conceited. Sure, other people have been stricken by disasters, other nations have been wiped out or subjugated. But this cannot happen to us, we say.

It is not even decent to think about it. I once went to see the now deceased Albert Thomas, who prevented a good deal of civil defense legislation from being enacted in the House of Representatives.

He listened to me for a few minutes and then said: “Take it easy, young man, take it easy. This country is so strong it does not need any civil defense.” Most of us would express this self-defeating doctrine less clearly and less bluntly than did Mr. Thomas.

But what he said is present in the minds of all of us. On a peaceful day like today, when we are absorbed by so many more pleasant thoughts, is it not unreasonable to think about some country attacking us with nuclear weapons?

In a very real sense, I believe, it will be a test of the democratic ideal whether our people can resist burying their heads in sand or not, whether or not they can muster the foresight and maturity to carry out the unpleasant and unpopular task of protecting themselves, their country, and their freedom against dangers which seem far away.

Nothing but illusory comfort can be gained by closing our eyes to these dangers. (By Eugene P. Wigner, Ph.D.; previously published: May-June 1968, Vol.1, No. 1) Edward Teller, Ph.D. Edward Teller, Ph.D. was the founder of the United States Atomic Energy Commission laboratory at Livermore, California.

He was one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and served on the faculties of top research institutions such as the University of Chicago and the University of California at Berkeley.

Under his guidance the United States won the race to develop the first H-Bomb, thereby making this powerful weapon first available to the free world. Dr. Teller participated in the development of nuclear weapons from their beginning.

From his vast knowledge in nuclear weaponry, he pointed out the likelihood that the Soviet Union had overtaken the United States in nuclear offensive capability and the effect this had on the need for civil defense.

Dr. Teller’s involvement with TACDA resulted in great progress with the leadership in Washington D.C. and attributed to the accelerated growth within TACDA’s membership and public interest in general.

At Los Alamos in 1945 Edward Teller probed the secrets of the H-bomb before the A-bomb was developed. Later, in order to keep American weaponry in first place, he directed the work of the team of scientists which produced it.

Here Dr. Teller looks behind the curtain of the future. What is possible in new weapons and defense against them? What is not possible? When thermonuclear explosives followed the fission bomb, increasing a thousand fold the power of the A-bomb, an obvious question was asked: What will come next?

The question remains unanswered. Nothing followed. Yet the suspicion remains that there may be no effective limit to man’s ability of wreaking havoc.

One can never evaluate what, as yet, has not been invented. But one can consider what types of developments appear to be possible.

First, we may consider a further increase of the power of an explosive. One might multiply the explosion again a thousand fold. Instead of kilotons or megatons, one may talk of gigatons.

There is, however, a simple reason why such an increase will not bring about a great change. Fissionable material was - and to a considerable extent still is - expensive. Fuel for fusion as used in the hydrogen bomb is cheap.

This low price brought about a great increase in the explosive power one could buy. At present, however, the main expense - the limiting factor - is not connected with the explosive but with the delivery system. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that larger bombs will have a greater weight and that it will cost more to deliver them unless one finds an essentially cheaper method of delivery.

No one has succeeded in this, and there are no ideas on the horizon which are likely to change the situation. Neither has any effect been discovered which would make a very big bomb appear as a desirable military item. Many modifications of nuclear explosives make them much more appropriate for use on the battlefield or make them preferable tools for missile defense.

But for the strategic attack we seem to have approached the limit. In the race between the delivery of massive explosives and the protection against blast effects, defense is in a reasonably strong position, provided we make the needed effort. The most obvious effect of a nuclear explosion is the blast.

Blast damage can be catastrophically augmented by a conflagration or a firestorm. But wellplanned shelters can save most of the people in spite of these dangers. A really good blast shelter will also withstand fire.

The most insidious effect of a nuclear explosion is connected with radioactivities generated by the explosion. The fission products from a big explosion are extremely dangerous. In a thermonuclear explosion radioactivity may play a much lesser or a much greater role.

On the one hand the radioactivity may be greatly reduced by the employment of clean explosives which are also useful for the peaceful project we call Plowshare. On the other hand substances may be placed into the explosive which, when irradiated, produce the greatest possible harmful effect.

As always, man’s knowledge and power may be used for good or for evil. In this case both good and evil are great. This is the orgin of the cobalt bomb concept, used by many to prove that the destructive power of nuclear weapons is, indeed, unlimited. Cobalt, when activated, has a half-life of five years.

It emits radiation of great penetrating power. It could produce terrible contamination. The whole question of radioactive warfare is a difficult one. In some situations cobalt may be most dangerous. Other radioactive substances can certainly not be ruled out.

Five years may not be the appropriate half-life to cause the most damage in a nuclear conflict. A shorter time with more intense radiation may be the strongest weapon. A two to three month period may turn out to be the most effective. It will not be easy, however, greatly to surpass the radiation effects produced by the weapons which are now available.

Fission, which is the main source of radioactivity even in the so-called hydrogen bombs, may not give optimal periods.

However, for each neutron absorbed to produce fission, several - six or seven - radioactive nuclei are produced. If the neutron is absorbed by cobalt, or some similar “salting” material, only one radioactive nucleus results.

The radiation of this nucleus may be more dangerous than that of any of the six or seven fission products, but in quantity it will not exceed the total of the six or seven fission products by a great margin; it is more likely to be below it. Furthermore, the contamination may be spread in a form against which it is difficult to develop countermeasures.

There is a great difference between the fallout pattern of a ground burst which gives local effects and a high-altitude burst which gives rise to a world-wide distribution of radioactivity. It might be possible by ingenious means to produce some radioactive nucleus which is difficult to eliminate by any known clean-up procedure.

The methods of cleaning up radioactivity have received some attention but certainly not sufficient financial support for development. To judge which will prevail - a poorly specified attack or an undeveloped defense - is, indeed, impossible.

What is possible is to make a few relevant statements. First, it must be recognized that the radioactive danger, great as it is, will not mean the end of the human race. To produce a contamination which might result in such a catastrophe, a Hiroshima-sized explosion would be needed on each square mile of our planet. The required effort is so stupendous that the danger can be dismissed.

The United States occupies, of course, only a very small fraction of the globe. Nevertheless, in order to contaminate this country alone with lethal radioactivity an aggregate of explosive power would be required which is of the same general magnitude as that required for a devastating attack utilizing blast.

One must recognize that radioactive warfare is not cheaper than other modes of attack. In the second place the immediate danger to life can be eliminated by a shelter program. Defense against radioactivity is less difficult than defense against blast.

What is difficult to counteract are the long-term consequences of radiation. After two weeks it will become necessary to begin leaving the shelters. The contamination may still be very severe after this period - it may remain dangerous for years.

Therefore, the problem of how to clean up radioactivity becomes decisive. It seems probable that methods can be developed to decontaminate limited areas within a short time. Defense has the advantage that a limited success suffices. The attacker has the difficulty that he must try to make the contamination high in practically all places.

Probably the only valid statement one can make is one that is not conclusive. Neither the attacker, nor the defender will attain full success. That the possibilities are grim can hardly be denied. The last and perhaps most relevant observation I want to make is connected with the purpose of the attack. Most wars are fought for military victory, not for mass murder.

Is it likely that sums of money comparable to our entire defense budget will be spent, not to win, but to kill? Radiological warfare is more frightful but is not an effective means toward military victory. We cannot forget about a “Doomsday Bomb” (a bomb to destroy the whole world).

One of my friends, after listening to all my arguments, remarked, “But you cannot prove that it is impossible.”

He is right. This brings me to the question of the arms race in the scientific age. At the beginning of the twentieth century, “arms race” meant an accumulation of familiar arms.

At the time the race was massive. Its results were not completely unpredictable. We have learned that there is something more dangerous than steel and TNT.

We have learned that the greatest danger lies in human inventiveness. Such inventiveness may, of course, take a direction other than development of ever more terrible nuclear explosives.

Chemical and biological weapons are by no means excluded. The former are probably heavier and hence harder to deliver than nuclear bombs. Furthermore, good shelters which of necessity must be air-tight will provide adequate protection. Perhaps the most ominous possibility is the production of biological agents.

What makes the situation difficult to handle is the fact that the same type of research, immunology and biochemistry, gives the highest hopes to rid us from suffering and also brings with it the most danger ous potentialities of destruction. The specific danger of biological warfare is the fact that the poison can propagate itself and is not subject to strictly calculable limitations.

It would be a mistake to stop at this point. The real danger is not inventiveness in itself but rather the uncontrolled use of inventiveness. There is no defense that will insure us against all future attacks.

There is also no weapon of aggression that can overcome all possible future defenses. Ingenuity and determination may well win the battle for survival by defense. It seems to me that there is only one relatively simple conclusion which is probably correct:

The questions connected with weapons, with survival, with new technical ideas and with human values never have simple answers. We cannot ask for a guaranteed future.

We can only seek a chance to work toward a better and perhaps a safer way of life. (By Edward Teller, Ph.D.; previously published: May-June 1969, Journal of Civil Defense/Survive, Vol.2 No.3)

Walter Murphey

Walter Murphey 29 Years of Faithful Service Walter was the Executive Director for TACDA for many years and served as the Managing Editor for the Journal of Civil Defense from 1968 until 1997.

He was a passionate advocate for programs to improve our nation’s civil defense against both manmade and natural disasters.

He wrote many inspiring, helpful articles on a broad range of Civil Defense issues, related not only to the US Civil Defense (CD) programs, but also about CD programs in many other countries. Among his many accomplishments for Civil Defense was to provide vital support to the National Civil Defense/ Emergency Management Monument, which now resides at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland (near Gettysburg) and that acts as a memorial to all who have served the cause of protecting our nation against disasters, terrorism, and war.

Why a growing number of civil defense professionals - or “emergency managers” or whatever we may choose to call them - have come to reject their defined roles as homeland defense (civil defense) officials and to limit their efforts to the smaller disasters is no big mystery. It’s the popular, political “easy way out” in the face of the world’s biggest problem-ever: nuclear war or terrorism - and the incredibly difficult defense against it.

Is it appropriate to spotlight their reluctance or refusal to face national survival issues by referring to them as cop-out commandos. FACT: • Nuclear weapons are today zeroed in on targets around the world, ready at a moment’s notice to be launched. • U.S. fatalities stand, in the present state of unpreparedness, to exceed 60% of the population (144,000,000 million). *Our current population is 330,000,000. • The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and civil defense combined could reduce this figure to around 3%.

*The reference to the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program, under President Regan, would have made ICBMs obsolete; but under threat from Russia, the program was dissolved before it became operation al.

Currently, we have replaced this program with 100 ICBM interceptors in Alaska and California designed to intercept missiles from North Korea and Iran, and they have never been tested against a combat ICBM – only against “test missiles”.

These anti-ballistic missiles are not geographically positioned against incoming missiles from Russia. • Unlike the United States, some countries alert to the threat and its consequences (e.g., the Soviet Union, China, Switzerland, Sweden, and Israel) have put in place extensive population protection measures. • Predicted nuclear terrorist incidents also demand population protection measures.

An effective civil defense program requires (1) full government acceptance of responsibility for public safety followed by (2) deliberate government planning and action.

Government in the United States is enlightened to the extent that it sees the necessity for sophisticated protection for government and military “continuity” - protected locations for this purpose dotGovernment in the United States is not enlightened to the extent that it sees the necessity for protection for its people.

In the top example-setting echelon of “cop-out commandos’’ many government leaders tend to look upon civil defense as useless, provocative, and much too costly. Parroting the propaganda line of a potential enemy appears to be an irresistible urge for many Americans who thirst for shortcuts to peace. And in America we like to say that everyone has a right to his or her opinion.

There are certain limits, of course. In wartime the right to sympathize with adversary viewpoints is (or should be) sharply curtailed. But in normal times of relative calm, we like to be more tolerant.

Today, for instance, the Soviet view that the United States should scrap its plans for SDI, continue to emasculate its civil defense program and generally weaken its overall preparedness to contend with aggression, finds many supporters in our country. *Our AEGIS destroyers use “standard” surface to air missiles.

These are intermediate range missiles designed to protect coastal areas. They were not designed to protect the interior of our country against ICBMs. They are convinced (in the face of historical evidence to the contrary) that real prospects for world peace lie in “understanding” opposing viewpoints, in concessions, in appeasement, and in supporting the objectives of opponents.

It is not difficult for Soviet propaganda to bolster this thinking with attractive (but specious) arguments. It has been crying from the housetops that SDI results in arming space and is therefore dangerous when, in fact, the sole purpose of SDI (its ONLY capability) is to disarm space.

The idea that civil defense is useless (without any logical reasons to support the view) is particularly easy to sell. So is, at the same time, the contention that civil defense is provocative. (Propaganda worries very little about contradictions.) Strangely enough, there is a strong intellectual appeal to trusting the assurances of potential enemies.

And history is rich with examples of their bloody consequences. Perhaps the most notable example is that of Neville Chamberlain, former British Prime Minister, a “nice guy” by usual standards, who with France’s Daladier in 1938 came back from Munich with the Adolph Hitler promise of “peace for our time.”

Instead of peace it brought about the bloodiest war in history the following year. The temptation today to grasp at bright-colored straws is greater than ever. Full-scale nuclear war would be by far America’s greatest tragedy - as well as that of the entire world.

Nuclear disarmament is, as Edward Teller has said, “the noble goal.” Defense against nuclear attack, although possible, is difficult.

It is easy to be tempted to believe in the Hitler-like assurances of good intentions, in appeasing the adversary and in focusing attention on more manageable problems.

Today’s run-of-the-mill politician makes points, pleases his constituents, and gets elected and reelected by supporting the welfare state, adding his weight to the “hand-out” economy and becoming active in pork-barrel bargaining. His basic national security responsibilities seem too remote to merit attention.

Money and support for them have little effect on his perceived efficiency and productiveness judged by a public interested in prosperity and the good life now. This fits in well with a pampered electorate and with those who plot our downfall.

As FEMA Director Julius W. Becton, Jr. put it in his FEMA report to Congress, civil defense is low and declining. “Government,” he warned, “cannot afford the luxury of ignoring the subject of civil defense, notwithstanding the emotion thereby engendered...The basis of the U.S. civil defense program is that government has a responsibility to protect the lives and property of citizens.” *No such FEMA warnings are currently before the Congress.

Edward Teller

At Los Alamos in 1945 Edward Teller probed the secrets of the H-bomb before the A-bomb was developed. Later, in order to keep American weaponry in first place, he directed the work of the team of scientists which produced it. Here Dr. Teller looks behind the curtain of the future. What is possible in new weapons and defense against them? What is not possible?

Edward Teller, Ph.D. Edward Teller, Ph.D. was the founder of the United States Atomic Energy Commission laboratory at Livermore, California. He was one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and served on the faculties of top research institutions such as the University of Chicago and the University of California at Berkeley.

Under his guidance the United States won the race to develop the first H-Bomb, thereby making this powerful weapon first available to the free world. Dr. Teller participated in the development of nuclear weapons from their beginning.

From his vast knowledge in nuclear weaponry, he pointed out the likelihood that the Soviet Union had overtaken the United States in nuclear offensive capability and the effect this had on the need for civil defense.

Dr. Teller’s involvement with TACDA resulted in great progress with the leadership in Washington D.C. and attributed to the accelerated growth within TACDA’s membership and public interest in general.

When thermonuclear explosives followed the fission bomb, increasing a thousand fold the power of the A-bomb, an obvious question was asked: What will come next? The question remains unanswered.

Nothing followed. Yet the suspicion remains that there may be no effective limit to man’sability of wreaking havoc. One can never evaluate what, as yet, has not been invented. But one can consider what types of developments appear to be possible.

First, we may consider a further increase of the power of an explosive. One might multiply the explosion again a thousand fold. Instead of kilotons or megatons, one may talk of gigatons.

There is, however, a simple reason why such an increase will not bring about a great change. Fissionable material was - and to a considerable extent still is - expensive. Fuel for fusion as used in the hydrogen bomb is cheap. T

his low price brought about a great increase in the explosive power one could buy. At present, however, the main expense - the limiting factor - is not connected with the explosive but with the delivery system. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that larger bombs will have a greater weight and that it will cost more to deliver them unless one finds an essentially cheaper method of delivery.

No one has succeeded in this, and there are no ideas on the horizon which are likely to change the situation.

Neither has any effect been discovered which would make a very big bomb appear as a desirable military item. Many modifications of nuclear explosives make them much more appropriate for use on the battlefield or make them preferable tools for missile defense.

But for the strategic attack we seem to have approached the limit. In the race between the delivery of massive explosives and the protection against blast effects, defense is in a reasonably strong position, provided we make the needed effort. The most obvious effect of a nuclear explosion is the blast.

Blast damage can be catastrophically augmented by a conflagration or a firestorm. But wellplanned shelters can save most of the people in spite of these dangers.

A really good blast shelter will also withstand fire. The most insidious effect of a nuclear explosion is connected with radioactivities generated by the explosion. The fission products from a big explosion are extremely dangerous.

In a thermonuclear explosion radioactivity may play a much lesser or a much greater role. On the one hand the radioactivity may be greatly reduced by the employment of clean explosives which are also useful for the peaceful project we call Plowshare.

On the other hand substances may be placed into the explosive which, when irradiated, produce the greatest possible harmful effect. As always, man’s knowledge and power may be used for good or for evil. In this case both good and evil are great.

This is the orgin of the cobalt bomb concept, used by many to prove that the destructive power of nuclearweapons is, indeed, unlimited. Cobalt, when activated, has a half-life of five years. It emits radiation of great penetrating power.

It could produce terrible contamination. The whole question of radioactive warfare is a difficult one. In some situations cobalt may be most dangerous. Other radioactive substances can certainly not be ruled out. Five years may not be the appropriate half-life to cause the most damage in a nuclear conflict. A shorter time with more intense radiation may be the strongest weapon.

A two to three month period may turn out to be the most effective. It will not be easy, however, greatly to surpass the radiation effects produced by the weapons which are now available. Fission, which is the main source of radioactivity even in the so-called hydrogen bombs, may not give optimal periods. However, for each neutron absorbed to produce fission, several - six or seven - radioactive nuclei are produced.

If the neutron is absorbed by cobalt, or some similar “salting” material, only one radioactive nucleus results. The radiation of this nucleus may be more dangerous than that of any of the six or seven fission products, but in quantity it will not exceed the total of the six or seven fission products by a great margin; it is more likely to be below it. Furthermore, the contamination may be spread in a form against which it is difficult to develop countermeasures.

There is a great difference between the fallout pattern of a ground burst which gives local effects and a high-altitude burst which gives rise to a world-wide distribution of radioactivity. It might be possible by ingenious means to produce some radioactive nucleus which is difficult to eliminate by any known clean-up procedure.

The methods of cleaning up radioactivity have received some attention but certainly not sufficient financial support for development. To judge which will prevail - a poorly specified attack or an undeveloped defense - is, indeed, impossible. What is possible is to make a few relevant statements.

First, it must be recognized that the radioactive danger, great as it is, will not mean the end of the human race. To produce a contamination which might result in such a catastrophe, a Hiroshima-sized explosion would be needed on each square mile of our planet.

The required effort is so stupendous that the danger can be dismissed. The United States occupies, of course, only a very small fraction of the globe.

Nevertheless, in order to contaminate this country alone with lethal radioactivity an aggregate of explosive power would be required which is of the same general magnitude as that required for a devastating attack utilizing blast.

One must recognize that radioactivewarfare is not cheaper than other modes of attack. In the second place the immediate danger to life can be eliminated by a shelter program. Defense against radioactivity is less difficult than defense against blast.

What is difficult to counteract are the long-term consequences of radiation. After two weeks it will become necessary to begin leaving the shelters. The contamination may still be very severe after this period - it may remain dangerous for years.

Therefore, the problem of how to clean up radioactivity becomes decisive. It seems probable that methods can be developed to decontaminate limited areas within a short time. Defense has the advantage that a limited success suffices.

The attacker has the difficulty that he must try to make the contamination high in practically all places. Probably the only valid statement one can make is one that is not conclusive.

Neither the attacker, nor the defender will attain full success. That the possibilities are grim can hardly be denied. The last and perhaps most relevant observation I want to make is connected with the purpose of the attack.

Most wars are fought for military victory, not for mass murder. Is it likely that sums of money comparable to our entire defense budget will be spent, not to win, but to kill? Radiological warfare is more frightful but is not an effective means toward military victory. We cannot forget about a “Doomsday Bomb” (a bomb to destroy the whole world).

One of my friends, after listening to all my arguments, remarked, “But you cannot prove that it is impossible.” He is right. This brings me to the question of the arms race in the scientific age. At the beginning of the twentieth century, “arms race” meant an accumulation of familiar arms. At the time the race was massive.

Its results were not completely unpredictable. We have learned that there is something more dangerous than steel and TNT. We have learned that the greatest danger lies in human inventiveness. Such inventiveness may, of course, take a direction other than development of ever more terrible nuclear explosives.

Chemical and biological weapons are by no means excluded. The former are probably heavier and hence harder to deliver than nuclear bombs. Furthermore, good shelters which of necessity must be air-tight will provide adequate protection.

Perhaps the most ominous possibility is the production of biological agents. What makes the situation difficult to handle is the fact that the same type of research, immunology and biochemistry, gives the highest hopes to rid us from suffering and also brings with it the most dangerous potentialities of destruction.

The specific danger of biological warfare is the fact that the poison can propagate itself and is not subject to strictly calculable limitations. It would be a mistake to stop at this point. The real danger is not inventiveness in itself but rather the uncontrolled use of inventiveness. There is no defense that will insure us against all future attacks.

There is also no weapon of aggression that can overcome all possible future defenses. Ingenuity and determination may well win the battle for survival by defense.

It seems to me that there is only one relatively simple conclusion which is probably correct: The questions connected with weapons, with survival, with new technical ideas and with human values never have simple answers.

We cannot ask for a guaranteed future. We can only seek a chance to work toward a better and perhaps a safer way of life. (By Edward Teller, Ph.D.; previously published: May-June 1969, Vol.2 No.3

Why a growing number of civil defense professionals - or “emergency managers” or whatever we may choose to call them - have come to reject their defined roles as homeland defense (civil defense) officials and to limit their efforts to the smaller disasters is no big mystery.

It’s the popular, political “easy way out” in the face of the world’s biggest problem-ever: nuclear war or terrorism - and the incredibly difficult defense against it. Is it appropriate to spotlight their reluctance or refusal to face national survival issues by referring to them as cop-out commandos.

• Nuclear weapons are today zeroed in on targets around the world, ready at a moment’s notice to be launched.

• U.S. fatalities stand, in the present state of unpreparedness, to exceed 60% of the population (144,000,000 million). *Our current population is 330,000,000.

• The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and civil defense combined could reduce this figure to around 3%. *The reference to the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program, under President Regan, would have made ICBMs obsolete; but under threat from Russia, the program was dissolved before it became operational.

Currently, we have replaced this program with 100 ICBM interceptors in Alaska and California designed to intercept missiles from North Korea and Iran, and they have never been tested against a combat ICBM – only against “test missiles”. These anti-ballistic missiles are not geographically positioned against incoming missiles from Russia.

• Unlike the United States, some countries alert to the threat and its consequences (e.g., the Soviet Union, China, Switzerland, Sweden, and Israel) have put in place extensive population protection measures. • Predicted nuclear terrorist incidents also demand population protection measures.

• An effective civil defense program requires (1) full government acceptance of responsibility for public safety followed by (2) deliberate government planning and action.

• Government in the United States is enlightened to the extent that it sees the necessity for sophisticated protection for government and military “continuity” - protected locations for this purpose dot

• Government in the United States is not enlightened to the extent that it sees the necessity for protection for its people. In the top example-setting echelon of “cop-out commandos’’ many government leaders tend to look upon civil defense as useless, provocative, and much too costly.

Parroting the propaganda line of a potential enemy appears to be an irresistible urge for many Americans who thirst for shortcuts to peace. And in America we like to say that everyone has a right to his or her opinion. There are certain limits, of course. In wartime the right to sympathize with adversary viewpoints is (or should be) sharply curtailed. But in normal times of relative calm, we like to be more tolerant.

Today, for instance, the Soviet view that the United States should scrap its plans for SDI, continue to emasculate its civil defense program and generally weaken its overall preparedness to contend with aggression, finds many supporters in our country.

*Our AEGIS destroyers use “standard” surface to air missiles. These are intermediate range missiles designed to protect coastal areas. They were not designed to protect the interior of our country against ICBMs.

They are convinced (in the face of historical evidence to the contrary) that real prospects for world peace lie in “understanding” opposing viewpoints, in concessions, in appeasement, and in supporting the objectives of opponents. It is not difficult for Soviet propaganda to bolster this thinking with attractive (but specious) arguments.

It has been crying from the housetops that SDI results in arming space and is therefore dangerous when, in fact, the sole purpose of SDI (its ONLY capability) is to disarm space. The idea that civil defense is useless (without any logical reasons to support the view) is particularly easy to sell. So is, at the same time, the contention that civil defense is provocative. (Propaganda worries very little about contraJOURNAL OF Civil DEFENSE dictions.)

Strangely enough, there is a strong intellectual appeal to trusting the assurances of potential enemies. And history is rich with examples of their bloody consequences. Perhaps the most notable example is that of Neville Chamberlain, former British Prime Minister, a “nice guy” by usual standards, who with France’s Daladier in 1938 came back from Munich with the Adolph Hitler promise of “peace for our time.”

Instead of peace it brought about the bloodiest war in history the following year. The temptation today to grasp at bright-colored straws is greater than ever. Full-scale nuclear war would be by far America’s greatest tragedy - as well as that of the entire world.

Nuclear disarmament is, as Edward Teller has said, “the noble goal.” Defense against nuclear attack, although possible, is difficult. It is easy to be tempted to believe in the Hitler-like assurances of good intentions, in appeasing the adversary and in focusing attention on more manageable problems.

Today’s run-of-the-mill politician makes points, pleases his constituents, and gets elected and reelected by supporting the welfare state, adding his weight to the “hand-out” economy and becoming active in pork-barrel bargaining.

His basic national security responsibilities seem too remote to merit attention. Money and support for them have little effect on his perceived efficiency and productiveness judged by a public interested in prosperity and the good life now. This fits in well with a pampered electorate and with those who plot our downfall.

As FEMA Director Julius W. Becton, Jr. put it in his FEMA report to Congress, civil defense is low and declining. “Government,” he warned, “cannot afford the luxury of ignoring the subject of civil defense, notwithstanding the emotion thereby engendered...The basis of the U.S. civil defense program is that government has a responsibility to protect the lives and property of citizens.”

*No such FEMA warnings are currently before the Congress. American civil defense, which began as a mediocre program with some promise of serving in the defense of the country, has indeed steadily deteriorated over the past 25 or 30 years.

It was long ago taken out of the Department of Defense - where it belonged, but where it also failed to get proper emphasis. State and local politicians - sometimes called the “goodole boys” - who manage the infrastructure fall under the influence of the “laissez-faire” national political leadership.

They too - with certain notable exceptions - feel no strong urge to contribute to national security. The temptation, then, of many state and local civil defense directors - or “emergency management directors” as most of them are now called - is to follow the lead of those upon whom they depend for budgets and salaries and jobs.

The overwhelming tendency is to restrict concern for public safety to the more manageable recurrent smaller disasters (which of course also need attention) such as chemical spills, storms, earthquakes, major accidents, and the like. It’s easier that way, it “plays ball” with the bosses, and it produces pleasant publicity.

In World War I and World War II we were able to pay the tragic price of unpreparedness by using the buffer of our allies and the sacrifice of legions of green servicemen while we gathered our forces, trained them, and put them into battle over a period of many months.

With nuclear weapons now poised to impact 30 minutes or less on targets, no such period of grace will accompany World War III. Were full-scale nuclear war to break out today the deterioration of our defenses and our failure to develop properly known technologies would be responsible for our defeat, for wholesale American deaths - more than half our population.

*It is our belief that with our current dependency on solid state technology, the EMP accompanying such an attack would result in the loss of close to 90% of our population within one year. Or this failure would be responsible for blackmail and TACDA PIONEERS, Continued surrender without war but with the end of America and its freedoms.

“The American Dream” would be buried for all time. There is one group in particular that is in a unique position to recognize these facts and to realize that ignoring the warnings and failing to take known steps to defend the country and its people will prove to be fatal.

That group is composed of disaster preparedness professionals whose training and responsibilities have made it crystal clear to them that homeland defense-civil defense and strategic defense - has become the most important factor in the survival of the nation. Granted that the achievement of credible preparedness is difficult - so was the winning of the West.

For some members of this group across the nation, in possession of the knowledge of what will save America, to turn their backs on national preparedness and national survival, to ridicule it and to cater exclusively to the simpler tasks of smaller more easily managed disasters is indeed to render invaluable service to our potential enemies.

An emergency manager involved in such a fiasco may claim he is only following the policy laid down by his political superiors. No matter. It is his duty to advise his political superiors of the facts of national defense, of its necessity, and of the consequences of its neglect. If he does not, then he deserves to be called a “cop-out commando.”

Perhaps that is too gentle a term. (By Walter Murphey; previously published: Journal of Civil Defense, February 1987, Vol. XX, I-1)

The President is Hostage: Payback’s a Bitch

I’ve been thinking about nuclear war for many years. Chapter 23, Nuclear Negotiations, in my novel The President is Hostage: Payback’s a Bitch, is an example.

Chapter 23

Nuclear Negotiations

“OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT” Frank screamed as he watched three suicide jihadis charge towards them loaded with explosives. Because they were so close he took them by the shoulders and spun all three of them into a side room, sprayed them with a layer of bullets, then closed the door and jumped out of the way to Spitball, Zinger and Superspace.

In a technique as old as warfare, they put the dead bodies of other jihadis on top of themselves for cover and hunkered down.

BAAAADOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!! The series of bomb explosions took down several walls by Frank and his men but fortunately did no damage to them except covering them in sheetrock dust.

But it set Frank into a rage. He gritted his molars, spit a honker, screamed, “UUUUGHGHGHG!!!” and began to fly forward with complete abandon firing, rolling from side to side, and firing again.

As he did, Zinger, Spitball, and Superspace all followed him, driving rifle butts into anyone nearby, shooting those further away, and kicking whomever they could reach.

The critical mass of their rage spread like electricity to the marines, guards, and other Americans who had followed their penetration point into the White House. It was a White House rumble and the American street fighters were murdering the jihadi’s street fighters with an energy that was like the capacitance charge of a power plant.

Everywhere inside that structure small teams of three and four American fighting men and women were attacking with Viking bezerker ferocity those who had attacked and taken over their homeland. Like the men who stormed Normandy beach, they did not have to be told by officers what to do now. They knew what they had to do…and fast.

Frank and his men fought their way back to the place they had left behind, the President’s bunker. When they found it they found American’s stacked sandbag-like by someone who wanted to make a final stand. He signaled to his three men to back off and he motioned toward the vault’s door. He drew plastic explosives out of his rucksack, placed them strategically around the door, let everyone take cover, and then let it rip.

Fortunately for all of them, as Frank was later to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session, the door imploded straight back. That was fortunate because standing behind that door were three of Adbullah’s men -- Hormoz Aghevli, MIT graduate, Azita Ansari, Princeton graduate, and Rasheed Chalou, formally Anfernee “MAC10” Darnelle Allen, graduate of the DC Public School System -- standing erect with three thermonuclear devices.

Frank had seen enough explosives to immediately recognize what was in front of him right now. One of these devices could eliminate all life for approximately thirty miles. In concert, they could eliminate life for one hundred fifty miles.

“Go ahead, American bad boys! Come a little closer and we all go to Allah, I as a martyr and you as shit! How brave are you against thermonuclear devices, eh? Said Hormoz. “Now show me what the All-American man can do!”

“Don’t do it, pal. Talk to me. What is it you want!?”

“Only what we came for. The President and a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. Oh, and no Jews in our world.” answered Azita.

Frank knew that, given the hand they were holding, the jihadis were in control. In the rush of adrenaline that impending death feeds to the brain he thought of a wife that he should have told how much he loved and of boys that would never know him. He looked across at Rasheed and realized that any plan was better than doing nothing.

“Well, now, Whitey, seems we got the big guns now. Time to make up for four hundred fifty years of slavery in one big bang! What honor I do killing all those Jew blood suckers in one blast! What a fine party this is gonna be! Allah Akbah!”

“Shut up, you fool!” Hormoz shouted. Then he turned his attention to Frank. “Surely you’re not foolish enough to think you can fight us now!? You’re only hope is to pass along our demands to your generals and capitulate, yes!?”

Frank looked over at Superspace. “Man’s got a point, Frank. He let’s that bad boy off we’re all dusted.”

“Redneck motherfuckin’ whitebread cracker makes sense, Frank!” Rasheed boasted. “Smart man for a blue-eyed devil member of the racist power structure!”

Then Frank noticed Superspace was scratching his face in an odd way. In a way that only men who have hunted together from childhood can know secret hand signals, Frank began to recognize an old hunting signal they used to exchange as children. Superspace meant to take out Rasheed.

All Frank could think of was that Superspace figured they were going to die anyway so why not go out fighting. Frank looked over at Spitball. He was scratching his beard and looking at Azita. Frank knew his mark was Hormoz. Superspace had Rasheed. But how to begin in concert?

“I’m glad you toy soldiers are not foolish enough to try anything. We will keep one of you alive to negotiate our exit from Washington. I assure you of that. What man will be stupid enough to risk detonating not only one, but three thermonuclear devices? Now you can give our fellow freedom fighter Rasheed your weapons.”

“Man, don’t tell that honky my name, man! What if...” as Rasheed bantered on Frank winked to his wing men. All three cut loose one shot, one kill through the jihadi skulls in front of them.

With the grace and liquid speed of the superior athletes all four were, they leapt toward the crumbling bodies of the jihadis and maneuvered under the dropping nuclear devices. Although all four knew that such devices would have to have been armed to go off, there was never room for second guessing when it came to such weapons.

There was a moment of complete silence as they contemplated the fact that they held nuclear weapons in their hands, weapons with enough power to take out a good portion of the eastern United States. Then Zinger broke the tension.

“Is it true they invented alcohol to keep the Irish from ruling the world, Frank? Right now, I can say even though I stopped drinking eight years ago, let’s find a liquor cabinet and toast the angels that just flew our way.”

Frank, Superspace and Spitball all began to laugh, more to release the tension than out of getting the joke.

“Anybody know what we should do with these?” Frank asked.

“Well, yeah, Frank, I do.” answered Superspace. Let’s drop them on the countries that supported all these assholes.” And thus was born the germ of a project that would involve the intelligence services of Israel, the United States, Britain and Germany, National Security Project Number 23480894UC that did exactly that one week later:

When all four devices were dropped on Mecca and Medina, a message was delivered to the financiers of al-Qaeda, and their Wahhabi family, which that family would never forget.

The President is Hostage: Payback’s a Bitch

by Bruce Curley (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

See all formats and editions

Terrorists worldwide united in their hatred of American freedom strike the United States in a coordinated attack in one day. At first, they deal out death, mayhem and destruction across America. Until, that is, Frank McKenna, National Guard 10th Mountain Brigade out of Ft. Ashby, West Virginia counterattacks and brings God’s justice down on their sorry asses.
Frank McKenna, West Virginia fruit grower and Special Forces Reservist, receives a call at 4:22 a.m. from the government.
He assembles his specialized gear and heads for a prearranged assembly point for his unit. On the way, he reads a passage from Proverbs 28: 1-2: “...When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order...” and Revelation 6:3: “...When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come out! Then another horse came out. It was fiery red. And its rider was given the power to take away all peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. He was also given a big sword.” Colonel Watson arrives at Frank’s orchard to use it as a command and operations center as so much of America’s once mighty war machine is compromised by the terrorist’s first strike.
Abdullah, the mastermind behind uniting a dozen of the most lethal terrorist groups in the world to strike at the United States in one day, gives instructions to Ferric Mohammed, the American Black Muslim who has been on his payroll for years. Ferric has hidden behind front organizations like “The Committee for a Free Palestine” and “Muslim Brotherhood Association for Economic Development and Freedom.” for two decades to raise a terrorist force of 24,000 to assist in the destruction of America. Together with sundry Muslim terrorist groups worldwide, and other groups out on the fringe, Abdullah’s years at George Washington University and working in the United States paid off, he was in control of the White House and had the President of the United States hostage. The Pentagon is almost totally inoperative. All over the United States people are quick to find that those explosions are American icons -- the World Trade Center, the Sears Tower, the TransAmerica Building, destroyed.
Abdullah confronts the President and his circle in the White House bunker. He lectures him about the foolishness of supporting 12 million Jews over two billion Muslims. He shows the President news feeds that show how destructive his coordinated attack on the United States has been. He issues his demand that the Jews leave the Middle East.
In a flashback, Adbullah goes to the mountain camps of the M-19 Shining Path. They agree to use their considerable skill at blowing up power plants to shut down America’s energy grid on the day of the first strike.
Tom Wosniac, Ph.D. in Greek philosophy and Presidential intelligence aide de camp, visits Joe McKenna, Frank’s father, at the McKenna Orchard. He grills him about his job as a trolley driver in Washington, D.C. in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Joe McKenna’s father drove a trolley line that went right under the White House, which Tom wants to use to free the President and his staff. Over a satellite phone, Joe tells Frank exactly where the tunnel runs.
Frank and his unit land at Ball’s Bluff across from White’s Ferry above Potomac, MD and begin to weave down River Road to Georgetown. They meet stiff resistance from Adbullah’s army in Georgetown and on K Street. In coordination with several other Special Forces units, they succeed at escaping through back alleys to the Dupont Circle entrance to the tunnels under Washington, D.C. Americans, a heavily armed people, take their nation back.

On the way home from a New River Gorge vacation this summer, my wife and I stopped in Sutton, West Virginia at a restaurant. They had all kinds of Fallout shirts and electric signs for sale due to the Fallout 76 festival being held nearby. I bought both the Fallout shirts and a Fallout electric sign.

Being a civil defense scholar, I had read about the Fallout game and series, but had never played the game or seen the Amazon Prime series based on the game. So, I binge watched it to see why tens of millions found it of interest to the point where it had a cult-like following.

The series follows characters including naive, and at times funny, Vault-dweller Lucy (Ella Purnell), Brotherhood of Steel squire Maximus (Aaron Moten), and irradiated Ghoul Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) as they travel across a California wasteland more than 200 years after a nuclear exchange.

It mixes pre-war flashbacks with surface-level survival featuring mutated humans (ghouls), violant pirate-style raiders, organ-harvesting robots, ultraviolence, and occasional cannibalism. Vault-Tec, the company that built massive nuclear bunkers and other corporations are portrayed, following the Amazon anti-capitalist, anti-American, and anti-Christian Playbook instructions and movie production rules, as cynical actors who engineered the apocalypse for profit and control.

It’s main themes are American exceptionalism’s failure, corrupt capitalism’s destructiveness, and endemic human greed and ultraviolence. It portrays a dystopian, irradiated wasteland two centuries after nuclear war, full of vicious raiders, bizarre mutants, evil corporate conspiracies, and ultraviolence.

This dystopian Amazon series is a hyperviolent, darkly comedic, inaccurate post-apocalyptic adaptation of the long-running Fallout video game franchise.

Austin Hamilton Explains the Difference between the Fallout Game and Movie

“The show is just awful modern garbage. Complete flanderization of the series. Bethesda is incapable of showing a world rebuild after nuclear war. There is no way that 210 years after “the world ended” that people would still be living in shanty shacks while holed up in Fenway park.

And Christianity absolutely would survive the end of the world. It’s survived it twice now already, when Rome fell in the 5th and 15th centuries respectively.

Even in a vacuum, without the Fallout brand on it, the show is garbage. The BoS Knight Character, “Maximus”, is a coward and inept, and quite honestly a pathetic character. Modern writers are incapable of sincerity or writing noble characters, and corporate DEI policies only further hinder their abilities.

The show is only successful, because to Bethesda and the Nu-Fallout fans they cater to, the series is not about how war is a destructive human tendency or a display of Americans rebuilding their world and beginning again, but an atom-punk-retro-futurism-apocalypse aesthetic painted over Mad Max, with 50’s doo-wop music playing in the background while a character holds up a prop and all but says “remember this from Fallout 4???”

The complete lack of care towards the original series and world made by the fine people at Interplay/Black Isle Studios is just astonishing. I could spend two hours talking about the retcons, character assassinations, and complete lack of logic that went into writing the show.

The nu-fallout fans don’t care about this. They are overgrown children who want to watch meaningless violence and gore for the sake of meaningless violence and gore, with tacky music in the background; all while preaching about “how evil and manipulative” capitalism is, while watching a show produced and streamed in a joint effort by Microsoft and Amazon, while wearing a 40$ Vault-Boy:tm: branded shirt and drinking Nuka-Cola:tm: branded Soda.

I have no hope for any future projects made by anyone involved. Which is fine, I’ll stick with my 15+ years old games and 30+ year old tv shows. I will not buy any of their new drivel made for people with no attention span or reading comprehension.

What the Amazon Version of Fallout Promotes

Tragically, Amazon’s version of Fallout is very popular. Season 1 scored 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, Season 2 reached 96%. It has drawn tens of millions of viewers.

It mixes black humor, gore, and pulp fiction adventure. Many viewers treat it as pure escapism. That does not make its “scientific” nuclear war portrayals harmless, especially at this scale of reach.

The series presents a series of flashbacks satire to 1950’s American consumer culture, militarism, and corporate power taken to extremes. Pre-nuclear war America is depicted as a hyper-capitalist, jingoistic society whose elites (particularly the Vault-Tec company) treat nuclear annihilation as a business opportunity. It is potrayed as a corporation willing to accelerate the apocalypse for profit and social experiments.

Look at this panel. DEI’s dream panel.

It is anti-American in that it portrays core American institutions, patriotism, and free enterprise as hypocritical or predatory.

Christianity is not in the series. It just doesn’t exist in the future according to Amazon. Instead, one episode features a vault inhabited by New Age pagans conducting a ritual with a canabalistic and blood drinking cult. What a future, eh? Meant to make the Gen Zers and Millenials think the future is hopeless perhaps?

The Brotherhood of Steel has quasi-religious aesthetics (Knights Templar-like rituals and Latin chanting), but the overall lens is cynical and humanist-survivalist rather than faith-affirming. The Knights Templar saved Western civilization from Islamic terrorism for centuries. What is shown here is a perverse mocking of their holy legacy.

The Brotherhood of steel is not the Order of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, known as the Knights Templar. Instead of upholding the ageless ideals of chivalry and christian religious commitment and protection of Christian pilgrims against centuries of Islamic terrorism, these “brothers” are spineless cowards, weak, coniving, selfish, narcassistic, and boring. They are a strange group of miltaristic assassins, or the opposite of the Knights Templar and Christianity.

Human nature is portrayed as brutal, opportunistic, and tribal once civilization collapses after the nuclear war. Examples include raiding, cannibalism, betrayal, and cultish experimentation that dominate in the script.

Cooperation and rebuilding civilization appear fragile or secondary to power struggles. This is a standard Hollywood post-apocalyptic portrayal. It leans hard into Hobbesian darkness.

Critical decades-long Hollywood nuclear war misinformation that continues in the Fallout series include:

• Radiation and Fallout Effects: The wasteland remains lethally irradiated and mutant-generating two centuries later. Ghouls (radiation-mutated, long-lived humans) and other fantastical creatures roam. In reality, most fission-product fallout decays rapidly. The “7/10 rule” is standard. Radiation intensity drops by a factor of roughly 10 for every seven-fold increase in time after detonation (~90% reduction in 7 hours, another large drop by 2 days, and ~99% within two weeks in many scenarios, for example). Acute danger is concentrated in the first hours to days. Long-term residual isotopes (cesium-137, strontium-90) raise cancer risks but do not create an uninhabitable zombie landscape for centuries as in Fallout. Mutations of the dramatic Fallout variety are fictional exaggeration and nonsense. Here are Fallout’s robots. Here are real robots.

  

• Fallout Shelters and Vaults: The show’s vaults are useless. They are luxury-dystopian bunkers that fail. Real civil-defense knowledge treats properly designed shelters as highly effective. The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA) and related sources emphasize that shielding works. Roughly 3 feet of concrete or 4 feet of dirt can provide a protection factor (PF) of ~1,000 against fallout gamma radiation; more cover is needed near ground zero or for rainout. Entrances require careful design. Expedient and permanent shelters (basement improvements, backyard designs, trench shelters) are practical and documented. Nuclear War Survival Skills (Cresson Kearny) and TACDA materials show ordinary people can construct effective protection.

• Overall Survivability and Human Response: The series implies near-total societal erasure and endless horror. Credible civil-defense analysis (TACDA, FEMA-derived guidance, Nuclear War Survival Skills) holds that a large fraction of the population outside direct blast or thermal zones can survive with preparation (distance, shielding, time, potassium iodate for thyroid protection against radioactive iodine, stored food and water, and radiation monitoring). Fallout is manageable. The bigger post-attack killers are infrastructure collapse, disease, and famine if people are unprepared. TACDA and the American Tactical Civil Defense materials stress that 90% survival is realistic with training. Hollywood myths of inevitable extinction or permanent wastelands are false. Simple actions to save your family include: get inside, stay inside, and stay tuned to media reports in the critical early period.

• Nuclear Weapons Effects and Rule of Thumb Tropes: Visuals and dialogue in Fallout recycle outdated or game-lore myths (thumb rules for flash or fallout that do not match modern physics, for example). Real effects are blast, thermal pulse, prompt radiation, and fallout. These are predictable enough for protective measures when people know them.

Correcting the Record

TACDA (tacda.org) is a non-profit family organization focused on practical civil defense since 1962. We offer free Academy courses, the Journal of Civil Defense, shelter designs, radiation guidance, and the principle that preparedness works.

Both TACDA and my American Tactical Civil Defense writing on Substack reinforces these truths:

1. Nuclear radiation fallout is a time-limited, shieldable hazard

2. Shelters with adequate mass (dirt or concrete) and proper ventilation and entrances protect families

3. Radiation meters and dosimeters enable management of nuclear fallout threats

4. And most critically, propoganda that everyone dies in a nuclear war demoralize American families rather than preparing them for nuclear war

Nuclear war will be catastrophic near ground zeros due to blast, heat, and initial radiation, but it is not an automatic sentence to universal mutation, endless cannibalism, societal collapse into pure brutality, or permanent woke dystopian tragedy for the vast majority of people.

Decades of civil-defense research show that with knowledge and modest preparation, survival rates can be dramatically higher, radiation falls off rapidly (the “7-10 rule”: intensity drops by a factor of about 10 every sevenfold increase in time), and communities can recover through practical self-reliance rather than descending into permanent horror.

Hollywood and game narratives amplify fatalism and cynicism for drama. Common sense and real engineering, physics, and historical civil-defense work emphasize that preparation works to save lives and property.

The show’s anti-corporate, anti-capitalist, and anti-American framing (Vault-Tec deliberately sparking or exploiting nuclear war to reshape society under corporate rule) is a plot device, not evidence.

American corporations invent, produce, and distribute the technologies, medicines, food systems, communications, AI, and materials that enable preparedness and recovery. Market incentives drive innovation in radiation detection, filtration, food preservation, shelters, and medical countermeasures.

Blaming “capitalism” for fictional doomsday events ignores the verifiable fact that free societies with private enterprise have produced the highest living standards, scientific progress, and disaster-response capacity in history. The alternative of centralized control has its own catastrophic track record.

Prepare medically for your families needs.

Nuclear War Reality vs. Hollywood Propaganda

Contrast Fallout with 65+ years of practical, family-centered guidance from The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA) and its Journal of Civil Defense (JCD)Founded in the early 1960s (with the Journal tracing to the Cold War. TACDA is a non-profit focused on education for nuclear, biological, chemical, and natural disasters).

The JCD has delivered articles from military professionals, emergency responders, scholars, and practitioners on nuclear weapons effects, home and personal defense, underground sheltering, food storage and preservation, water, sanitation, evacuation, 72-hour kits, radiation protection, EMP, and post-event recovery since 1962 for American families.

It stresses that preparedness saves lives, reduces suffering, and supports peace through readiness, not fatalism. Issues cover emergency planning, threat analysis, practical techniques to prepare your children and grandchildren, and the reality that thoughtful family action works even in large-scale events like nuclear war.

The TACDA Academy (and its accompanying training and lesson manual) provides structured, accessible protocols across 17 chapters, such as:

• Psychology of civil defense (building a resilient mindset)

• Nuclear weapons effects and survival strategies

• All-hazard sheltering

• Chemical/biological threats

• EMP and power outages; radiation and fallout protection; natural disasters

• Food storage; water purification; sanitation

• Cold-weather survival; evacuation and 72-hour kits; communications; alternative energy

• Medical preparedness

• Triage and first response

• Post-event survival and recovery

TACDA teaches families how to plan, shelter, purify water, store food, manage hygiene, and rebuild. These are ractical skills anyone can learn at their own pace. Complementary resources include Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearny, available via TACDA.

It offers field-tested instructions for untrained people to build high-protection expedient fallout shelters, homemade ventilation pumps, accurate fallout meters (Kearny Fallout Meter), and other life-support gear using common materials. It explicitly counters myths of inevitable mass death and shows how self-help civil defense multiplies survival odds.

In addition TACDA is the official manufacturer and copyright holder of the METTAG® Triage Tag System.

The METTAG system was developed in 1975 by Robert F. Blodgett, a TACDA official and Civil Defense Director of Jacksonville, Florida. In 1976, Blodgett gifted the design to TACDA to help support the organization’s mission and its publication, The Journal of Civil Defense.

Since then, TACDA has manufactured and distributed millions of METTAGs to customers worldwide. These tags to save lives and support civil defense efforts. METTAGs are the most trusted, and highest quality triage tags in the industry-built for reliability and real-world use. Buy METTAGs here. METTAGs save lives. Stock up today. Custom tags and international shipping are available. Email info@mettag.com for information.

What is to be Done

First, go with facts, not madeup Hollywood children’s games of let’s pretend but boosted by AI.

1. Underground Shelters, USA

If you want to be better informed: Underground Shelters USA. Read their page Survival 101: Disasters and Disaster Shelters

Disaster shelters requiring NBC (nuclear) protection require complete protection from blast, fallout, initial radiation, EMP, fire, and chemical and biological filtration. This type of emergency shelter is often called a ‘bomb shelter’.

Natural disaster shelters, providing tornado, fire, storm and earthquake protection, do not require chemical and biological filtration. They do not need small diameter entrances with 90-degree turns for radiation protection, and can have ‘walk in’ type entrances. They are, therefore, slightly less expensive than ‘bomb shelters’. This types of shelter can provide the needed protection without the requirement for deep overburdens of soil or concrete. However, if these disaster shelters were installed in areas of severe temperature variations, it would be advisable to cover them with 6 to 8 feet of soil, as the dirt cover acts like an insulating blanket.

2. The American Civil Defense Association Website Resources

Sixty-five years of TACDA’s Journal of Civil Defense material, the TACDA Academy’s protocols, and my American Tactical Civil Defense Substack’s family-oriented guidance demonstrate a far more accurate and hopeful path.

• Learn the effects, prepare shelters and supplies, practice skills

• Protect the thyroid and body from fallout (buy the effective K103 in our Survival Store, not the sawdust the CCP was selling online that so many in California bought after the Fuishima event)

• Recover through practical competence.

American families who take those steps are not doomed to the Fallout wasteland caricature. The reality is that they can survive and rebuild the American Republic. Nuclear events are survivable for the large majority of Americans if you prepare.

The purpose of the American Civil Defense Association and the American Tactical Civil Defense Substack is to deliver positive, family-friendly, actionable steps to prepare for and power through a nuclear war if and when it happens. That is a remote possibility, but history shows that every weapons system every developed is eventually used.

Every American family must prepare for disasters, include nuclear ones. Practical advice to prepare for and survive a nuclear war include:

• Most Americans will not be in the immediate lethal zone

• Nuclear allout decays quickly

• Simple measures (shelter, time, distance, shielding) protect

• Stock up on potassium iodate (KIO3) tablets to block radioactive iodine uptake by the thyroid (take only when directed or fallout is confirmed (one bottle per family member recommended)

• Prepare medically

• Understand radiation realities versus media and Hollywood myths

• Integrate civil-defense knowledge into everyday readiness for both man-made and natural threats

• Focus on skill-building, community, and American self-reliance rather than despair or ideology as shown in propoganda movies like Fallout

  

What Fallout Gets Right

The music is just outstanding. Yes, it is campy and you hear some golden oldies as a bit of the old ultraviolence is on the screen, but this is manipulation. Those beautiful old songs from the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s throughout the episodes are remarkable.

But it is the old Hollywood trick they figured out 125 years ago. Music penetrates the subconscioius. It is extremely powerful. You will accept as truth what are lies if it is paired with beautiful music that goes right to your soul.

Hollywood has mastered this truth and technique. It is used in every scene in Fallout. Beware.

Fallout’s dystopian vision of mutated cannibals, endless tragedy, and corporate-engineered doom is not destiny. Think critically and make your own path.

The Danger of Fallout Dystopia Gaming Culture

Fallout portraysa false, ultraviolent, post-apocalyptic movie scenes rooted in unhealthy dystopia gaming culture. Fallout is not a wholesome or artistic film. Those who are involved in the Fallout cult are easily misled. Critical thinking is not their world.

Fallout promotes propaganda and misinformation about nuclear war as permanent mutant hellscapes, of American institutions as uniquely corrupt engines of apocalypse, and of human nature as predominantly feral, ugly, and brutal. This is not reality.

This is so wrong. In my 45 years of experience in disasters, the best in Americans comes out during disasters. For example, some criminals may show up to loot after a hurricane, sure, but that is the exception, not the rule.

Why? Because Americans are a heavily armed people with Second Amendment, Costituionally-guaranteed rights. Many took up firearms, organized block by block, and protected their families and property immediately after Hurricane Katrina. I know because I was told so by people I know closely who experienced it.

Standard guidance from the Red Cross, historical civil-defense literature including 65 years of articles in the TACDA Journal of Civil Defense, and nuclear-effects science agree that time, distance, and shielding are decisive in preserving life and property in any disaster, to include nuclear war.

Most residual danger declines fast enough that weeks (not centuries as in Fallout) of sheltering suffice. Human nature includes cooperation, ingenuity, and rebuilding, evident after real disasters, alongside the less evident dark impulses the show dramatizes.

Real civil-defense knowledge, available from TACDA, Nuclear War Survival Skills, and related sources, provides a more accurate and truthful view. Our courses, Journal of Civil Defense, survival store, Zoom webinars, and TACDA Academy explain realistically that nuclear effects are severe but survivable with preparation.

Fallout shelters work. Just ask the Fins, Europeans, Swiss, Russians, Red Chinese, and others who take nuclear war survival seriously and dedicate resources to ensuring it is available to make it work.

Radiation decays predictably and ordinary people can take effective protective steps. Do not rely on FEMA to survive a nuclear war. That is NOT their purpose. Trust TACDA’s guidance on how to prepare for nuclear war.

Know the science of nuclear war and how to survive it. Contrary to what Fallout and all Hollywood movies potrary that only 10% of humans survive a nuclear war, the number of survivors is far greater. The good news is that by preparing for natural disasters you are also preparing for nuclear disasters.

TACDA and ATCD can help prepare your family for the historic reality that whatever weapons mankind invents are evenutally used. Nuclear weapons have been used and they will be used in the future.

Just look at the Ukraine-Russia war for proof of how rapidly war escalates.

Prepare.

Let’s blow your mind. What if…

What if…gamers spent just 1/100th of the time they stare at screens for thousands of hours playing games like Fallout instead spent just one hour a week at TACDA.ORG or American Tactical Civil Defense learning the truth about nuclear war and other disasters?

Rather than having such a high percentage of incels, they would learn the skill stack that would prepare them for all disasters so they could help themselves, their families, and their communities. They could, thereby, learn the skills that will make them valuable husbands and fathers and be able to form a family to live a full life.

A better gaming experience I would encourage is a tabletop disaster exercise or role playing in disaster exercises run by the Red Cross, hospitals, the military, fire houses, CERT, and others all the time.

Nuclear war is such a remote possibility. many disasters, natural and manmade, happen everyday.

Natural Disasters are Caused by Natural Earth Processes

• Earthquakes

• Volcanic eruptions

• Tsunamis

• Hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones

• Tornadoes

• Floods (river, flash, coastal)

• Landslides, mudslides, avalanches

• Droughts

• Wildfires

• Blizzards and severe winter storms

• Heatwaves

• Hailstorms

• Dust storms and sandstorms

• Sinkholes

• Meteor or asteroid impacts

Manmade Disasters are Caused by Human Actions, Negligence, or Technology

• Industrial accidents (chemical spills, factory explosions)

• Nuclear accidents and meltdowns (Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc.)

• Oil spills

• Mining disasters (collapses, explosions, etc.)

• Dam failures

• Transportation accidents (major plane, train, ship disasters)

• Structural collapses (buildings, bridges)

• Fires in urban or industrial settings (arson or accidental)

• Wars and armed conflicts

• Terrorism and mass attacks

• Environmental pollution disasters (toxic waste releases)

• Cyber attacks causing critical infrastructure failure

• Space debris collisions or failed rocket launches with major impact

• Engineered biological or chemical incidents

Many events can have mixed causes (e.g., a natural earthquake triggering a man-made nuclear accident, or human activity increasing wildfire risk).

Being prepared for disasters is just part of growing up.

Below is a table top exercise, gamers. It is a game. But unlike the computer games you play, it is a real world game. You can’t hide behind a keyboard when you play. During a table top exercise, you have to communicate with real humans. There is no AI simulation. Just reality. Real life. How it goes down everyday.

Try playing this game as I have many, many times. You will be amazed at how fun, intellectually stimulating, real, and good it feel to interact with other Americans on a shared mission to keep everyone, and esecially the women and children, safe.

Who knows. Some of you might rise above being an incel and convert to be a good, Christian man, husband, and father by find a beautiful, sweet, angel of a woman in the Golden Age of the American Republic. Below are table tops I’ve run with Catholic warriors, many former miltary, cops, fire fighters, etc. who know the threat. Start learning these skills to attract and keep a solid Catholic girl who will grow into a wife, mother, and grandmother.

Cave Dwellers

My baby sleeps placidly in the folds of the wicker chair’s soft cotton.

My older boy does his homework on the kitchen table and sneaks

Looks at the sports channels when he thinks I am too busy to notice.

My wife, one week from delivering the baby, goes food shopping.

Happy as all this makes me, I know it could all end today or tomorrow,

Given the right set of circumstances, the assassination fully delivered,

The bombing claiming just the right people, the currency worthless,

The criminals uniting in one army of bloodlust and attitude unfeeling.

Which is why I believe in cave dwelling, living like my ancestors.

This suburban maze of streets, houses, shopping centers and autos

Could as easily disappear as prefab houses on the South Florida coast

In the seconds it takes for a hurricane to touch land in fury

And eat the domiciles and domestic tranquility in ocean tide.

A media that practices its feeding frenzy behavior scoffs at such talk.

They point to the wonders of a civilization that nourishes and kills them

Like ancient Roman aristocrats extolling Virgil’s wisdom and learning

Drinking out of silver and lead goblets of wine eating away the brain.

So, if you keep water in the basement and seeds in the canisters in supply,

And make sure that there are medical instruments with your medical goods,

And a bug out bag packed and ready beside the guns and the bullets

In the false wall next to the unprepared neighbor’s house on the right and left,

Remember: The eyes that depend on you in the cave provide your light.

Germantown, MD

April 24, 1996

Carrying Stones

One by one

These stones must be carried

Day after day after day

Until a wall is built

Against the hordes of invaders

Beyond the deep sea

And now in the neighboring village.

Just as my ancestors carried stone

To secure a few acres to grow

Wheat, barley, vegetables, potatoes

Because everyday life continues

Even when the invasions

And mid-night massacres happen

More frequently

Than God would allow

In a just world.

But here,

There is no justice,

Only fanatical jihadist invaders.

And stones must be carried

And walls must be built.

Happy Birthday to Me

August 21st, as I write this, is my 71st birthday! Wow…how did that happen?

Glad I made it this long. I credit my wife. She’s the athletic gal in the rust shirt in the photo below.

Years ago, she kept on me to abandon my Philadelphia diet: hoagies, cheese steaks, tastykakes, Frank’s soda, scrapple, pretzels, shoefly pie…you know, all that food that tastes so good but with the additives and processing that is killing you.

It took me years, but I finally listened. She grew up on the Ruggles Orchard in Levels, WV and learned good food and good cooking from her mother. Unlike me, she reads food labels. If the ingredients are industrial dyes, additives, factory processed chemicals, etc., she will not eat it.

God has been good to us and we were able to move from the communism, crime, and corruption of Maryland to Hedgesville, WV (although our USPS address is Martinsburg, WV) and enjoy a state with the highest per capital number of U.S. Vets, 2nd Amendment compliant, Constitution obeying, just beautiful land mass known as West Virginia.

I celebrate how beautiful my sons Billy and the Curley Brothers music is to the creation of the mood to help young people fall in love, court, marry, and create beautiful American babies. Here is how to learn of future music gigs for my sons Josh and Eamon of Billy and the Curley Brothers. Young people…join them and meet other great American.s

Sadly, the wealthy on the East and West coast have also discovered West Virginia, as has international money, and they are moving into the state in droves. It is basically Montana 20 years ago when the California billionaires and millionaires invaded and almost ruined it.

But I think we can prevent them from destroying our state as they have California, Colorado, New York, etc. For example, consider Froentieras. It is an investment for your grandhildren.

In Berkeley County, we do not have to shop from foreign-owned grocery stores anymore where 85% of what they offer will kill you and cause cancer. God bless MAHA for brining this truth to light.

Spring Valley Farm Market is only one mile away. Mountain Crest Mennonite meat market is only 5 miles away. My son in Harpers Ferry-Bolivar WV raises chickens and gives us fresh eggs for helping to home school his children. We grow a garden that gives us tomatoes, string beans, cantelopes, zukinni, paw-paw fruit, and other healthy foods from God’s garden. Remember, God opens his Sacred Word with a garden, the Garden of Eden. That is for a reason.

I Almost did not Make it to 71

There is enought trauma, tragedy, and disaster in every life that, rather than making up nonsense as with Fallout, reality-based science fiction is so much better. For example, here a few tauma’s I’ve experienced.

1. At 15 years old, when an arc of electricity jumped on a 98% humidity day from the Philadelphia Electric line and pulled in a paint ladder I and two others were raising, I was electricuted. They younger guy died immediatley from the electric current going through his heart. The older guy lived and only had his feet burned into the sidewalk. By the grace of God, I was spared.

2. At 19 years old, while attending the American College in Paris in 1975 I was jumped by 4 Algerian criminals, 1 with a knife. I let one succor punch me, twice, to create the illusion I was vulnerable. Then, when one charged, I did a back stepping side kick to raise him off the ground. He split his head open on the slate sidewalk. That gave me enough time to run past the other two, one with the knife, and flee. My nice French date, whom I had pushed and told to run and stood between her and these thugs, was kind enough to have a taxi waiting for me about 100 years away.

3. And the worst, at 31 years old, I was assaulted the night before Mayor Marion Barry went on trail in Georgetown, Washington, DC by a gang of 15 with baseball bats while a crowd of 100 cheered it on with “Kill that white motherf##ker” (I was blessed by the Holy Spirit with divine strenght and able to take 14 of them down, 56 stitches in my head and face at the VA later but at least I was still alive (and yes, I want to thank President Donald Trump for converting Washington, DC from being run by criminals and returning it to American civilization…9see my poem For the American Children yet Unborn below),

4. Two others not even worth mentioning other than to note it is good to be alive.

That was then. Now is now. I am blessed with a beautiful life. God has protected me always. I have remarkable children and grandchildren. Life is good.

I would like to publicly thank President Donald J. Trump for making Washington, DC safe for American families to visit again and for giving my grandchildren a future by restoring the American Republic. I live as a Christian aware the Church grows by the blood of the martyrs as it has since Christ walked the earth.

I wrote the poem For the American Children yet Unborn in December 2016 to thank Donald J. Trump for his hard work to be elected the first time. Ten years later, it still holds, a credit to his authenticity.

For the American Children yet Unborn

When others thought it was all about the past fights,

And bickering and settling old scores and slights,

The Candidate saw past the horror of fathers without jobs,

Mothers without hope, children without laughter,

To the grandchildren and great grandchildren yet unborn

And reached down, again, deep to the interior spirit

Where truth and life and giving and sacrifice mix,

Where determination and work and success co-create,

Where the American ideal still speaks to millions

Because brave men rose in the middle of the night

And carried arms in America first and then to the world

To liberate tens of millions from oppression and slaughter

While braver women kept the food growing, the children alive,

The factories humming and the plane and ship fleets growing,

And saw there, the blinding light of the risen Word made flesh,

Took solace in the lessons learned hard and bitter

That each generation could be better off and greater

Than the one before because sacrifice has its own reward.

So, The Candidate became The Elect and now The President

Aware that The People rule, as our Founding Fathers stated

So gloriously in a Declaration of Independence

And a Constitution that gives direction and truth for all,

They based on 2,000 years of Christian faith of the martyrs,

Here, here is America and the American people,

Two ideas intertwined by birth, grit, work, truth and love

Here begins the wonder of the American children yet unborn.

December 20, 2016

The Electric Life

Mouths agape,

spittle and blood drip out,

the 24,000 volts struck hard

from the overhead line,

drew in the ladder,

sent a shock through my hands

that burned, as well,

it drove hard through the bodies

of Andy and Jimmy, Andy the elder,

had his feet burned

into the concrete pavement,

Jimmy the younger was killed

Instantly; the electricity passed

right through his heart.

Nanosecond eternity.

Now I see my 16-month old

take the plug and jam it

into the electric socket

so that his thumb becomes

a flesh water conductor

as so many years ago.

“SHIT!!!” I scream as I lunge for him.

“SHIT!!!” he repeats and then wails.

Now he knows the electric life.

It took me thirty years

to be free of the electric life

by embracing its current

and convincing myself

it is only electricity,

life giving, mostly,

but life denying sometimes.

Read this one day Eamon

and know of one of the many times

I failed you ...miserably.

I’ll take it to my grave

rather than pass it on to you

and descendants and millenniums

the father’s burden ever to bear

his wounds for future generations.

NOTE: The death spiral in Hollywood is most evident at Amazon Studioes, but it is a much larger crisis. Here is an excellent analysis called the Movie Industry is Broken by Peachy Keenan that explains it.

Unfortunately, Amazon Studies corrupted Fallout with andti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-capitalist woke ideology.

Amazon Studies adopted a cultural Marxist corporate struture several years ago and the ruination of Fallout is just one example of the uncreative, unentertaining, subversive, depressing films they and Hollywood create.

For a deep dive on the Amazon Studies cultural Marxist program, see my Substack: Amazon Studies Attack on Film, TV, the American Family, and Western Civilization.

HINT: Keep an eye on Palmer Lucky, especially his subteranean is the next nexus of war theory. Much more interesting than Fallout.

TIP: I cannot recommend North American Rescue enough for your medical needs in a nuclear war or for an everage day. Find their incredible products here.

And remember…for your good and the good of your family…turn around, don’t drown.

Life is too serious to be be taken serioiusly.

Enjoy my poetry reading at the Frederick Coffee Company 20 years ago if you are so inclined.

I have written poetry since I was in grade school. From my twenties to my forties when I thought it mattered, I published it. Much of is in the archives of my alma mater The University of Pennsylvania if you have any interest in reading it.

Bruce Curley’s poetry and archival materials are held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts under the call number Ms. Coll. 1352.

The collection, which spans 41 years from 1979 to 2012, includes literary journals featuring his poems, a manuscript titled “On What the Future of Civilization Depends [below],” and an audio recording of him reading his work, “The Electric Life [below].”

• Creator: Bruce Curley (b. 1955), an American poet and technical writer who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977.

• Content: The 1.4 linear feet of material contains journals such as The Arden, Lynx Eye, and Mad Poets Review, as well as anthologies like Under a Gull’s Wing (1996) and Poems from Farmer’s Valley (1997).

• Access: The collection is open for research use in the reading room but is not digitally available online; it was donated by Curley in 1996, 2009, and 2019.

• Copyright: The University of Pennsylvania Trustees generally do not hold copyright; researchers must seek permission from the copyright holder for reproduction.

While Curley is not listed as a featured author on PennSound (the university’s online audio archive of over 1,500 poetry recordings), his physical papers and audio recordings of his readings are preserved in the university’s special collections.

Bruce Curley, an American poet and technical writer born in 1955, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977. His literary work is preserved in the university’s Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts under the collection Ms. Coll. 1352.

Brief Poetry Biography

My has been featured in literary journals such as The Arden, Lynx Eye, and Mad Poets Review. My work also included in anthologies like Under a Gull’s Wing: poems and photographs of the Jersey Shore (1996) and Poems from Farmer’s Valley: an anthology celebrating rural life (1997).

One of his notable poems, “On What the Future of Civilization Depends,” was published by Down the Shore Press and is part of his archival collection.

He lives in Martinsburg, WV. His publications include: Screaming Like a Banshee; Feile-Festa Literary Arts Journal; With No Apologies, My Double Life, Musings on Sarah Bernhardt, He is published in multiple journals: Home Planet News, Rain Dog Review, Voices Israel, and many others.

Recent anthologized poems include: This Broken Silence in Beyond Lament: Poets of the World Bearing Witness to the Holocaust, On What the Future of Civilization Depends in Under a Gull’s Wing.

Bruce Curley poet publications

Archival Collection at Penn

The Bruce Curley papers (1979–2012) span 1.4 linear feet and consist of:

• Literary journals containing his poems

• A manuscript of “On What the Future of Civilization Depends”

• An audio recording of his reading titled “The Electric Life”

The collection, donated in 1996, 2009, and 2019, is open for research but not available digitally. Researchers must visit the Kislak Center’s reading room and may need to obtain copyright permissions for reproduction.

Bruce Curley, poet

AI Grok says this about my themes and style: A poem titled “Picture This, My Dear Girl” suggests introspective and emotional themes, exploring personal crisis, human connection, and the redemptive power of love and family.

Picture This My Dear Girl

by Bruce Curley

Picture this, My Dear Girl.
There’s a poet standing in a bookstore.
He tenderly takes a few copies
Of a poem he wrote once
And goes over them
But they do not ring true.
Suddenly, they sound hollow.
He must make a decision
To live or to die
But you, Dear Girl
Are near him.
You can help him
With his decision.
You can make him live
A full and happy
And meaningful life
Giving and loving
To so many others
Including the children you will have.

Together.

He stares at you now.

What is your decision?

Published in The Raven’s Perch

Jul 1, 2016 | Poetry

To reverse the serious decline in courting, marriage, family formation, and babies, which are what the future of American civilization depends on, maybe share the following poem with any young people you know.

On What the Future of Civilization Depends

“YO! Youse guys know where the party is tonight?”

The third of the summer blondes

Asks the street corner muscled boys.

“Right here, baby! Get outta dat car

And come over here!

We’ll show youse how ta party!”

Smiles Tenderness Tony to his friends

First, and then to the summer blondes,

Fully aware of what hangs in the balance.

“Well, we’re kinda lookin’ for real men.

Youse guys don’t look old enough

Ta drive our cars or even work on our engines!

Wheel it Angela!” laughs Marie.

They cruise around the Wildwood block,

Circle and return, compelled by a mating ceremony.

As old as any migrating naked rhizopod’s

As insistent as any remoras on a tiger shark

As powerful as any copulating American saddle horses.

At the same time Tenderness Tony and Angela circle each other warily,

Hundreds of thousands of others dance the same dance floor.

To repeat ancient and glorious tribal mating rites

Less understood than the circling rites of shark whales off Tahiti.

I know many who do not see the wonder of this.

Instead, they spend their days saying to whoever will listen,

“See! See there! This life is only abuse, death, destruction,

Hate and finally pain, pain, pain, and cruelty!”

And it is not just journalists saying this these days.

Perhaps such as these have never visited Wildwood, NJ

At the height of the mating season.

For there, on any given sultry summer night

When the air is as thick with mating pheromones

As the Brazilian rain forest, everything is possible.

“Youse guys still where the party is tonight?”

Now it is Maria talking, newly revealed as the princes in waiting.

Who throws out the challenge to all willing to chance the future.

All three boys respond by raising themselves high.

To preen their feathered haircuts like cocks

About to meet their flaring hens.

“Yeah, Baby! I’m here for youse only tonight!

He’s “VAA VAA VOOOMM Vic! I’m Tenderness Tony

Dis heres’ happiness itself,

Who’s otherwise known as Loverboy Louie.”

This night laden with romance and possibility,

Despite the miles of backed up traffic

Tens of thousands in cars, clubs, bars,

All along these dazzling street-lit courting avenues

Rhythmically step to this genetically programmed dance

Unbothered by anything but the moment of contact.

Like a novice nun fingering her rosary,

Theresa brushes her hair with tender strokes.

As Maria parks the car in one swift motion.

All three watch the boys in the car mirror,

Aware of what their charged rituals

Are producing in the awaiting Tony, Vic, and Louie.

Each reapplies her love-red glossy candy flavored lipstick,

Sprays wave after wave of perfume on her neck and breasts

And saunters over to her instant date for that night.

For those who snootily laugh at these young people,

Who dismiss their substandard English or their different ways,

I ask youse to please consider the following.

It is on the perpetual success of such everyday rituals.

Far more than on what laws Congress passes,

Or what breakthroughs our medical schools make,

Or what discount rate the Fed establishes,

Or what new worlds the Hubble discovers,

Or what programs the President proposes,

That the future of civilization depends.

“Youse guys ready to party?” Shouts Marie.

“Yooooooooo!!! Honey! The party’s just begun!”

Answers Tenderness Tony. “The party’s just begun!”

Seventeen years later,

Within a mile of where her parents met,

The oldest of Tony and Marie’s girls’

Drives by some guys on the corner of 58th and Atlantic

In “Wildwood by the Sea,”

And shouts, “YO! Youse guys know where the party is tonight?”

When she does, on the successful answer to her question,

Will the future of civilization depend.

The Electric Life

Mouths agape,

spittle and blood drip out,

the 24,000 volts struck hard

from the overhead line,

drew in the ladder,

sent a shock through my hands

that burned, as well,

it drove hard through the bodies

of Andy and Jimmy, Andy the elder,

had his feet burned

into the concrete pavement,

Jimmy the younger was killed

Instantly; the electricity passed

right through his heart.

Nanosecond eternity.

Now I see my 16-month-old

take the plug and jam it

into the electric socket

so that his thumb becomes

a flesh water conductor

as so many years ago.

“SHIT!!!” I scream as I lunge for him.

“SHIT!!!” he repeats and then wails.

Now he knows the electric life.

It took me thirty years

to be free of the electric life

by embracing its current

and convincing myself

it is only electricity,

life giving, mostly,

but life denying sometimes.

Read this one day Eamon

and know of one of the many times

I failed you ...miserably.

I’ll take it to my grave

rather than pass it on to you

and descendants and millenniums.

Why my Handle is Poetslife

So, for those who have asked why my handle is Poetslife, now you know.

And to the officer who was once Lt. Timothy Telega and was joking in the back of an AWACS Air Force training class and called “front and center” by the angry Colonel who yelled in his face, “LT. TELEGA, WHY CAN’T YOU EVER BE SERIOUS!?”

Tim didn’t skip a beat and shot back: “SIR: LIFE IS TOO SERIOUS TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, SIR!!!”

Love you Brother.

Your courage and wisdom that day have stayed with me a lifetime.

From the earlist settlers before the American revolutionary War to today, American craftsmanship has been extraordinary. And that remarkable American crastmanship is vital to American tactical civil defense, Americixan civilization, and the American Republic.

Below, I offer the Historic Round Barn and Farm Market in Biglerville, PA as an example of how our craftsmanship has been the best in the world in the past. And I encourage you to read how our historic record of remarkable American crastmanshipk as explained in A Report to the President: Science a New Golden Age by Michael Kratsios published in July 2028., will continue in the future.

Hollabaugh Brothers Fruit Growers Billy and the Curley Brothers

American craftsmanship has been and will continue to be demonstrated in endless ways. Below is an example of American musical craftsmanship.

My sons, Josh (guitar) and Eamon (fiddler), along with Billy their drummer, have a group Billy and the Curley Brothers. Many enjoy their music. Lots of moms dance with their babies and todlers when they play. Here they are at their latest gig at the Hollabaugh Brothers orchard 36th Annual Peach Festival on August 8th and 9ty in Bigglerville, PA.

The Fruit of the Orchard

In winter these trees are not dead.

Their strength lies buried,

ready to burst through when next needed,

like humans in the face of disaster

who rely on spirit to transcend

material barriers and weakness,

to make the transition

from this world,

to the spirit world,

across our artificial divide.

In spring, the earth moves below.

Nutrients flow into underground water

to be leached by root hairs

into the trunks of the apple trees

which bring them up through heartwood

to the baby-like hunger of the branches.

The sun delivers its warmth and energy

while the moon pulls the water forth.

Buds explode into flowers that bees

visit to suck sweet flowing nectar

back to their queen in the hive.

Flowers become small apples

in this season of tectonic rebirth.

In summer, the Orchard Man steps forth

more strongly. Like a general,

he summons his wife and sons

for their wise counsel,

in-gathers family and friends,

marshals tractors, machinery and tools.

Also like a general who feels the enemy’s approach

long before the dust appears on the horizon

He works to prepare for the opening skirmishes

while dreading the battles that follow.

He squints at the sky and knows it is time.

He musters his people, machines and knowledge

to fight off the most ancient enemies of man:

Drought, pestilence, disease, insects, ignorance.

The Orchard Man has seen the fury of war,

in the Pacific in World War II as a marine.

He knows this will be like all the other wars,

and, therefore, fears the expected surprise:

Too much water, too little water,

Too much sun, not enough sun,

Insects and brown rot, hailstorms and lightning,

Floods and drought -- nature’s arsenal is endless.

He looks at the sky again and curses the weather.

He stands alone and shakes his fist at the sky.

In fall, each row a cathedral of trees

gleams light: Light of pink flowing

through the rose windows

of the golden delicious apple trees,

bowed branch nave to the alter,

the trees yield their fruit

the way God gives us children,

by the unity of seed, spirit,

and organic material blending,

over myriad and passing seasons,

through storms that assault and cleanse

and animals that eat buds and branches

until the fall comes and the trees

form this cathedral of blinding light

and these trees are alive,

these trees want to be handled tenderly,

these trees demand careful, loving,

selfish love before it yields its fruit.

The hands that love these trees

know how to stroke each twig and branch

tenderly to yield all its fruit,

until the storage bins are heavy

and full and luscious with sweet fruit,

and the full harvest brings full measure.

In Harvest, the feast is set before

the Orchard family’s spare table.

The families of apples’ dance

a ballet of sweet nourishment:

apple sauce sweet rich from the goldens

and Johnnies and grannies fill the bowl.

Honey-colored apple juice is poured.

The new baby is fed diced Yorks.

Cinnamon and sugar explode on her tongue

And the fruits of labor, human and divine,

in that very feeding from father to daughter

and from mother to son, ensure again,

the continuance of the eternal plan.

Bruce Curley

NOTE: I am sad that I wrote this a year ago for the first Texas 500-year flood event, and it repeats around July 4th, 2026 in a second 500-year flood event. But that is nature.

We ignore nature’s fury at our peril. I helped upload, with the TACDA.ORG Executive Director, 45 years of the Journal of Civil Defense. All natural disasters repeat, as they have since the Old Testament.

Human nature is to ignore this pattern. I have tried to warn SpaceX and Starbase City they face the same fate. Who knows if the will listen.

Texas Kerr County Flood Lessons

Some Recommended Steps to Prepare for the Next Flood

Bruce Curley

Jul 11, 2025

Between July 4 and July 7, 2025, catastrophic flash flooding struck the Texas Hill Country, particularly devastating Kerr County. The flooding was triggered by a mesoscale convective vortex, partially fueled by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry. It dumped up to 20 inches of rain in 4 days. At least 121, including young children, are dead as a result.

The Guadalupe River surged dramatically, rising 26 feet in 45 minutes and up to 33 feet in two hours, overwhelming communities and infrastructure.

At least 121 fatalities were confirmed, with 96 in Kerr County, including 36 children, many from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls where 27 campers and staff perished. Over 173 people are reported missing, with ongoing search and rescue efforts still working to recover bodies along the Guadalupe River.

The flooding destroyed homes, businesses, and vehicles, with damages estimated at $18–22 billion. Notable victims included Camp Mystic owner Dick Eastland, who died attempting to save campers, and numerous children and families camping along the river.

Let’s take steps now to ensure heroes like Dick Eastland live to convey their wisdom to the next generation rather than going to heaven trying to rescue them from raging flood waters.

Once again, FEMA failed catastrophically. It’s flood hazard maps are incorrect, they do not update them, and they not include rain events in the their flood prediction models. Reverting disaster preparation, policy, planning, and funding to the state level where it belongs due to the principal of subsidiarity cannot come soon enough.

DHS Secretary Kristin Noem offers a beautiful description of how subsidiarity worked in the Trump Administrations response to the flood here.

Subsidiarity is the principle that decisions should be made at the most local or immediate level possible, rather than by a central authority, unless the local level lacks the capacity or competence to handle the issue effectively.

It emphasizes empowering individuals, families, or smaller communities to address matters themselves, with higher levels of authority (like governments or larger organizations) stepping in only when necessary to support or coordinate.

For natural disasters, governors are best qualified to organize disaster preparation, policy, planning and funding and, over time, they will become far better than the Byzantine federal government bureaucracy ever was at handling them. And they should train up their citizens to learn how to do so.

True, Americans cannot prevent catastrophic flooding when 20 inches of rain fall from the sky in a few days. However, there are steps we can take in advance to reduce the loss of life and damage to property due to natural disasters like the Kerr County flood. Some are listed below.

Step 1: To Reduce Loss of Life and Damage to Property, Learn How to Deal with Natural Disasters BEFORE They Happen

The mission of The American Civil Defense association (TACDA) is to provide education, products, and resources that empower American citizens to protect themselves, their families, and their communities in emergencies and disasters of all kinds, including nuclear, biological, chemical, and natural disasters.

We believe a comprehensive understanding of preparedness strategies is essential to survival and peace of mind. Our MET-TAGs maximize survival during natural disasters such as the Texas flood.

I have been the volunteer vice president of TACDA for 17 years and written 18 articles for the Journal of Civil Defense with the mission to educate American families to stay safe so they can pursue freedom and the American Dream of life, liberty, and happiness.

Natural disasters strike ALL Americans. I am blessed in that, the more serious the disaster, the more calm and clear thinking I get. It is an ability that saved our family during our house fire. Let’s exercise our best human nature by learning the science, craft, and art of civil defense to help one another survive disasters that inevitably will strike your family at some time unpredictable.

Step 2: Buy and Use a NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio

BUY and USE A NOAA All HAZARDS WEATHER RADIO NOW to know of a flood, hurricane, tornado, fire, mud slide, or other sudden natural disaster is about to strike you and your family.

A widely reported excuse for the high number of Kerr County deaths after the flood was that they were unavoidable was that there were no cell phone coverage at the Mystic Camp. Very possible. Many areas in West Virginia where I live also have dead cell phone use zones. But that does not excuse you from not knowing about the weather, approaching rains and flooding, or that you need to act immediately to protect life and property.

Why? Because for a mere $50.00 you can purchase an all hazards weather radio. The alert goes off automatically to warn you about heavy rain and any approaching flood BEFORE it happens.

Step 3: Download a Phone Weather Alert App…or Two…or Three…

Download one or multiple weather apps to your cell phone. Each one will provide you a timely alert about upcoming negative weather events so you can act quickly to save your family and property. Here are a few.

MyRadar.com

YouTube Video: What Are The Best Mobile Apps For Severe Weather Alerts? - CountyOffice.org

National Weather Service Alert Apps

WeatherBug

Red Cross Emergency App

Also, for optimal safety, enable Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on your phone for government-issued warnings: Settings > Notifications (iOS) or Settings > Safety & Emergency > Wireless Emergency Alerts (Android).

Step 4: Know Your State Department of Emergency Management

Every state has one. They vary widely in professionalism, honest use of the funding they get from the taxpayer, disaster educational offerings, staff competence, and dedication to the mission of saving American lives and property.

I say this from experience. After my stint in USAF, I worked as the vice president of an emergency management firm. I taught at the Emergency Management Institute and travelled to state emergency management offices to audit how they spent federal funds.

In this role, I met the director and staff of the Texas Department of Emergency Management back in the early 1980’s. They were, unlike many others, first-rate. When I visited it then, it was in an underground bunker below the State Police Barracks in Austin, Texas. The city of Austin back then had their Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on the 17th floor of a downtown high rise building.

There has always been a debate among civil defense planners about what is more survivable in disasters: EOC’s in underground bunkers or high rise sky scrapers. When the one in the World Trade Center on 9/11 those arguing for underground bunkers had a stronger argument.

As almost every disaster strikes Texas (oil refinery chemical spills and fires, floods, hurricanes, hail storms, riots, power outages, droughts, etc.). of necessity, they have had to be competent, professional, and bleeding edge at disaster work. And they are. For proof, check out their Individual and Family Resource webpage.

Your state also has a department of emergency management. Mine is the West Virginia Emergency Management department. As you would expect in a state with mountainous topography, cyclical flooding is the number one natural disaster. They have a floodplain management webpage with multiple resources to help handle those floods. They also have a preparedness and response webpage.

Do your research. Look up your state emergency management department resources. Generally, they do an inadequate job of getting out the word they exist and what valuable information they maintain to help you with disasters. I learned this lesson in 1983 when visiting Salt Lake City to audit the response to the 1983 flood.

I went with a hydrologist to the surrounding mountains where he showed me petrographs the American Indians maintained of cyclical area flooding every 60 years. When he tried to convey the information to the Utah politicians, those politicians eyes would glaze over. So, you are on your own. Do your homework. Learn the valuable disaster prediction, preparation, mitigation, and recovery information that is on your state’s emergency management website…FREE.

Step 5: Beware of Parasite Criminals Who Show Up After Natural Disasters

Having grown up in Philadelphia in the 1960’s, I learned early on the lofty patriotic lessons of the Founding Father’s as well as the real life measures it takes to survive and fight on the North Philadelphia street when a gang jumps you for your paper route money. Both inform my view of what is necessary to survive in urban and rural areas, especially when natural disasters strike and humans react in a variety of ways to the event.

Parasite criminals who did not want to work a paper route like I did from grade one to grade eight, or cut grass, or shovel snow, instead wanted to act as criminals and just jump me to seize my money on collection night. This type of criminal is particularly attracted to take advantage of the suffering and misery of everyday people post-disaster.

Parasite criminals, unfortunately, show up after natural disasters hoping to steal the property of those who worked for their property. After Katrina, I knew a USAF guy who organized a neighborhood protection group. They were they only ones not robbed in his area by the criminals who arrived to loot soon after the hurricane passed.

One of the thousands of great things about the United States of America is that the American Constitution’s second amendment guarantees your right to keep and bear arms to protect your family and property. It may be easier in 2nd Amendment states like West Virginia that do not require a permit to either open or conceal carry, but every law abiding American has the right, I would say duty, to protect himself and his family by owning and being proficient in weapons. Forewarned is forearmed.

Firearms protect families from looting and no doubt did so in Kerr County, Texas, following the catastrophic flash flooding that occurred on July 4, 2025. Several sources indicate that looting added to the challenges faced by residents as they work to recover from the raging flood.

• Local News Reports: Posts on X and news articles highlighted incidents of looting in Kerrville City and the surrounding areas. For instance, KTXS News reported that Kerr County flood victims have faced heartbreak due to looting, with residents dealing with the loss of homes and possessions now also contending with parasite criminals steeling their remaining goods. Click the KTXS News link above to read about Jack Holman, 75, who lost his wife 8 months ago, had his flood insurance cancelled 2 months ago, and then had parasitic criminals show up and steal all his work tools after the flood. How could he rebuild when the looters stole his tools?

• Community Response: Additional proof is that areas in Kerrville were closed off, with IDs checked to prevent unauthorized access by media and criminals to prevent looting. Residents, many armed, protected their families and property from looters and other parasite criminals.

• Regional Context: There was looting not only in Kerrville City but also in nearby San Angelo, where a curfew from 8 PM to 8 AM was imposed to address the issue. To be safe, monitor social media like X real time to know where looting is going on.

Sadly, looters target properties in areas affected by the catastrophic floods and other natural and manmade disasters. Be aware of parasitic criminals snooping around your home, with tire tracks indicating potential looters attempting to access your property. Looting is a crime of opportunity, especially when law enforcement is overwhelmed.

Step 6: Vet Everyone Who Arrives to Work on Recovery Post Disaster - Not All have Good Motives

The Volunteer Mobilization Center Floor Plan below was developed after the lessons of many hurricanes in Florida. It is an efficient way to vet people with skills (skilled construction workers like those who can cut through trees so first responders and others can get to the disaster site) and turn away the curious and the criminal. It is a good way to get those with critical skills out to the disaster site and prevent those who are not skilled or who have criminal intent from entering it.

Step 7: Learn Civil Defense Skills

The greatest lesson of preparing for any natural disaster is to do the work BEFORE they arrive. TACDA and ATCD are only two examples of the thousands of resources that exist to help you prepare, mitigate, plan for, respond to and recover from natural and manmade disasters. Here are some additional resources to help you do so.

Protect Your Home

Prepare Your Home for a Hurricane

Prepare Your Home for a Tornado

Tornado Safety and Technology

Mike Smith, Meteorologist, Scientist, Weatherman

Prepare, Power, Kids Zone

Why Meteorologist Matter

Step 6: Veteran’s: Know that Veteran’s Disaster Assistance is Available for You

Like West Virginia, Texas and Kerrville County have a high percentage of Veterans. If you are a Vet, there is disaster assistance and resources available to help you recover at the VA Disaster website. A good explanation of what is available may be found here and here.

Step 7: Hire on Merit and not DEI Standards

Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we?

The Austin Fire Chief Joel G. Baker is a DEI radical whose ideology, incompetence and selfishness led to the death of young American girls.

His incompetence is so great that the Austin Firefighters Association (AFA) has accused Baker of delaying the deployment of specialized Swiftwater rescue teams to Kerrville, Texas, during the deadly flooding. The AFA stated that the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Texas A&M Task Force 1 requested the Austin Fire Department’s (AFD’s) Swiftwater rescue teams—considered among the best in Texas—on July 2 and 3, 2025, before the floodwaters surged.

But Baker, incredibly, denied these requests, citing budget concerns and a June 6, 2025, email from an AFD division chief that imposed a moratorium on out-of-city deployments due to $800,000 in outstanding state reimbursements.

The AFA also stated that only three AFD rescue swimmers were deployed on July 4 to assist Texas Task Force 1’s helicopter search and rescue team (HSART) in San Angelo, Kerrville, and Seguin, with full deployment delayed until July 7 or later. The union says this delay likely cost lives, calling Baker’s actions an “egregious dereliction of duty.”

The AFA initiated a vote of no confidence against Baker on July 8, 2025, with online voting starting July 10, reflecting significant distrust in and disgust with his leadership and to Austin’s political leadership the firefighters’ lack of support.

Early in his tenure, Baker prioritized “diversity”, “equity”, and “inclusion” (DEI) goals, stating in 2020 that he aimed to make the department’s workforce “more representative of Austin’s diverse population”. He expressed a desire to increase recruitment of African American, Latino, Asian, and LGBTQ firefighters to inspire younger generations of these identity groups to join the AFD.

Firefighters who could carry a 250 pound man out of a burning building or quickly put out a raging and spreading house or warehouse fire were not a priority for Baker. Tragically, this bizarre, poisonous, and dangerous ideology is not just in Austin, Texas but in big cities, the military, Hollywood, academia, Wall Street Fortune 500 corporations, and other governmental and private institutions throughout the United States.

• When Baker was appointed in 2018, he emphasized increasing “diversity” within the AFD “to better reflect the community it serves”.

• Early in his tenure, Baker prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, stating in 2020 that he aimed to make the department’s workforce “more representative of Austin’s diverse population”.

This failed policy of appointing leaders like Baker who believe that skin color or sex rather than actual skills and merit must end because it is leading to the deaths of little American girls. This Marxist DEI ideology divides people into identity groups (Baker defined them as African American, Latino, Asian, and LGBTQ) is the opposite of the American values of meritocracy and equal opportunity.

Special DEI privileges result in lower of standards to meet identify group qualifications and selection goals/quotas (equity). “Equity” in DEI seeks common outcomes automatically resulting in lower standards that lower performance and degrade readiness. DEI creates victimhood mentality to justify special privileges in selection for promotion and key assignments, as with Baker.

One must ask: If DEI is so effective, why do DEI hires like Baker get offended when they are referred to as DEI hires? According to their ideology, shouldn’t they be proud of the term?

DEI is a dangerous, Marxist, poison that infects the organs of American society and attacks traditional American values and leads to dead Americans. It is toxic to protecting American lives in natural disasters. To save lives and property in future disasters, it must end.

Moving On

Ten years in a house

And it comes down to this:

A dime dropped years ago

Revealed when the house is emptied

Of all the earthly possessions

Of a family of four

Stacked into the back

Of a 24-foot rental truck

A few flowers are left

For the new owners

On the breakfast table

A full bag of birdseed

That was emptied into the back yard

Is almost gone by the time

The moving truck is fully loaded.

Cobwebs in places I forgot

Eons ago – the back of dormers,

The eves in the attic,

The bottom of the sump pump.

Josh’s room, stained ceiling

That took ten years to find the hole

That led to the ceiling being repainted

Five times until the hole near the dormer

Source of the leak, led to the brown ceiling

Above the science and math homework

And the athletic team of misfits

I coached from dysfunctional families

To the county championship…

Until Eamon came along

And he was forced to share

It all with a younger one,

The WWII models so carefully crafted

Some broken, others flown multiple missions.

And the study desk diligently attended

For years that eventually resulted

In a Northrop Grumman scholarship

Before computers took over the space…

What looked so grand a house

Ten years ago, seems smaller now,

Worn, used up even,

Though thousands of dollars

And sweat equity went into it

Over so many days and nights

Until it becomes clear to me

A saying by a “Politics of Fascism” professor

Who in 1975 in Paris sat before me in class

Pounding his fist into the desk screaming,

“This is metaphysical! Not reality!”

This is not metaphysical! Not reality!”

This is not metaphysical! Not reality!”

I let the metaphysical house become reality

When it is only sheetrock, wood, nails,

Screws, paint, caulking, Reflectix,

Glass, steel, appliances, concrete, dirt.

My family is my home.

Their very bodies are my house.

Their health and success the future.

And if bioterrorists hit hard,

Or floods claim my house,

I may have to move on again

With my family as my true home.

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EK MtnTime

EK MtnTimeJul 11, 2025

Great information. Thanks!

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2 replies by Bruce Curley and others

Lagartigo9

Lagartigo9Jul 16, 2025

Very informative article. I appreciate the tips. Just downloaded the Tornado readiness sheet you had in one of the links since I live in the Midwest on tornado Alley. I got a cheap weather radio but I will definitely spend the extra cash on the $50 one you mentioned that alerts you even when you don’t have the radio on. I got my fire arms ready just have to make it a habit to go to the range more often. Been prepared with First aid kits, fire extinguishers, and a survival go bag. Sad that a lot of lives were lost during that flood, and the d.e.i. implementations are a disgrace.

2 replies by Bruce Curley and others

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Civil Defense Criteria to Consider when Moving from Cities to Rural Areas

The Beauty of Living in a Safe Rural Area

Mar 14, 2024 • Bruce Curley

Young Americans: Court, Fall in Love, Marry, and Have Beautiful Babies

Fight Demographic Collapse, Depression, Anxiety, Loneliness, and Sadness by Experiencing the Miracle of Little Babies

Jul 28, 2024 • Bruce Curley

Underground Shelter Redux

The Feds are Updating Theirs, Maybe You Should, Too

Jun 16, 2025 • Bruce Curley

5 Most Vital Items to Survive a Winter Storm in your Car or Truck

Add these items to your Mother, Wife, Daughter, and Nieces Car or Truck, Too

Feb 4, 2025 • Bruce Curley

NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio

With AM/FM/SW/NOAA Weather, Solar, Hand Crank, and Phone Charger

Feb 26, 2025 • Bruce Curley

God’s Good Nature, Food, and Civil Defense

City Folks Depend on Rural Folks to Eat and CCP Plans for American Agriculture

Jun 30, 2024 • Bruce Curley

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As Anduril says so well, “The Factory is the Weapon.” And the factory depends on rare earth elements.

As in World War II when the field of civil defense became a widespread reality, today it depends on a a strong, innovative, robust U.S. industrial base. And as in those years, currently there are remarkable men creating that manufacturing industrial base, men like Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey.

What Elon Musk is to space exploration, Palmer Luckey is to rebuilding the American industrial base. In 2007, in the prescient Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy, Palmer Luckey identified the necessity to re-create a contemporary version of the World War II American industrial base that would be so powerful that it would deter our enemies from attacking us or our allies.

As he stated in that document: “The incumbent defense companies are unable to build the technology we need to reaffirm our technological lead. We need a new breed of defense technology companies to reboot the arsenal of democracy.”

Anduril, SpaceX, and all our military industrial base manufactures require rare earth elements to create their products. And all those technology products that will reboot the Arsenal of Democracy, need rare earth minerals to build their products. Two of those vital minerals are nickel and cobalt.

First Atlantic Nickel and Cobalt may be One Solution

For background on the nickel and cobalt Red Chinese supply chain problem, and a possible solution from their mine, see the First Atlantic Nickel and Cobalt website:

First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: FAN | OTCQB: FANCF) has discovered a rare magnetic nickel-cobalt alloy in Newfoundland containing 77% nickel that can bypass the midstream smelting bottleneck and ship directly downstream into North American EV battery refineries, stainless steel, aerospace, and defense industries.

The West cannot build its way out of the midstream bottleneck on a useful timeline. New smelters cost billions, take a decade to permit, and compete with AI data centers for power. Mining alone doesn’t solve it. Buying back Indonesian or Congolese supply doesn’t solve it. The only durable answer is a nickel-cobalt source that doesn’t need a smelter in the first place.

That source exists. It is awaruite, a naturally magnetic 77% nickel-cobalt alloy. First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: FAN | OTCQB: FANCF) has drilled the first major awaruite discovery since the USGS flagged it as a strategic solution in 2012 — a 30-kilometer district in Newfoundland, 100% Company-controlled, road-accessible, powered by hydroelectricity, and 80 km from the most recently permitted gold mine in Atlantic Canada.

What you’re looking at:

• A district-scale awaruite discovery in one of Canada’s top-ranked mining jurisdictions

• A smelter-free processing pathway — magnetic separation and flotation, no SO₂, no acid drainage, no TCs/RCs

• A concentrate of >60% nickel that ships directly into U.S. battery refineries, stainless steel mills, and defense manufacturing

• A 45X-eligible feed for U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit refineries

• Infrastructure already in place — Trans-Canada Highway access, hydroelectric power within 10 km, deep-sea Atlantic port access

The midstream bottleneck is the binding constraint on Western critical minerals. Awaruite is the only primary nickel mineral that goes around it.

Western economies are electrifying. Defense, aerospace, EVs, robotics, and advanced manufacturing all run on nickel and cobalt. China has spent the last 13 years building the supply chain to deliver them.

China produces roughly 10% of the world’s nickel, cobalt, copper, and lithium. It controls 65–90% of global processing for each.

The groundwork was laid in 2012, when Hong Kong Exchanges acquired the London Metal Exchange^, giving Beijing indirect influence over global nickel and cobalt pricing. A year later, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative and began securing critical mineral mining and processing across Asia, Africa, and South America. State-backed companies poured an estimated $65 billion into Indonesian nickel alone.

The scale has only grown. Cumulative BRI engagement has now reached $1.4 trillion across 150 countries, and in 2025, 61% of China’s record metals and mining spending flowed directly into processing facilities like smelters and refineries. Beijing isn’t just buying minerals. It’s buying the midstream.

The West doesn’t control the critical minerals supply chain behind its consumer electronics, EV batteries, or defense systems. China does, and has for over a decade.

“There is no adequate alternative supply of nickel produced outside of China. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2025

The pressure isn’t slowing. The IMF projects that real prices for nickel, cobalt, and lithium could rise by several hundred percent from 2020 levels, with accumulated production value through 2040 reaching $4.1 trillion for nickel and $1.6 trillion for cobalt.

“Even if the U.S. and EU were to dig more minerals out of the ground, many of these minerals would need to be shipped overseas for concentrating, refining, and smelting without significant increases in U.S. and European mineral refining and smelting capacity. Brookings Institution, 2022

The race to onshore is already underway. The infrastructure to win it isn’t built. The Bottleneck Isn’t Geology. It’s Midstream. North American Smelting Can’t Keep Up With Current Reserves, Let Alone Future Demand.

Conventional nickel processing is energy-intensive, capital-heavy, and environmentally destructive — and China owns or controls most of it. North America hasn’t built a new nickel smelter in decades.

The United States has zero operating nickel smelters. Its only domestic nickel mine, the Eagle Mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, accounts for less than 5% of national consumption and is approaching the end of its reserves.

Most remaining U.S. nickel and cobalt reserves sit in Michigan and Minnesota — including the Twin Metals project, which holds an estimated 95% of U.S. nickel reserves but has been tied up in courts and litigation for nearly two decades without mining a single ounce of ore.

Washington is trying to backstop the gap, but progress is slow. A proposed $7.4 billion Korea Zinc smelter in Tennessee was announced in December 2025, but less than $1.5 billion has been committed — all from the U.S. government, split between the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce. The project isn’t permitted, isn’t fully funded, and isn’t built. And on its own schedule, it would process zinc, lead, and copper. Not nickel.

“Even where the United States has domestic mining capacity, such as for cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements, the United States lacks the domestic processing capacity to avoid downstream net-import reliance.” The White House, June 2021

Building new capacity is harder than the headlines make it look. A single smelter draws power on the scale of a mid-sized city, and new U.S. smelter projects are competing for that power against AI data centers willing to pay double. Century Aluminum announced a $5 billion U.S. smelter in March 2024 and, more than a year later, still hasn’t picked a site — it can’t lock down a long-term power contract at a price that makes the project work.

“As the Eagle Mine looks at closure, the United States either will have to find new nickel to mine or import all nickel for production, which may have economic and security implications.” U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, December 2025

Investing in the U.S. Military Industrial Base

I present the First Atlantic Nickel and Cobalt information above to say that solutions to our dependence on Red Chinese rare earth metal supplies exist, but not to encourage you to invest in them. They are, after all, a Canadian company.

All of us can use our investment dollars to preserve the American Republic for another 250 years by turning back our greatest existential threat, the widespread campaign by the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to take over the U.S. by bribing our politicians, university professors, Hollywood, certain Wall Street investors, the National Basketball Association, the Democrat Socialist and Democrat Parties, etc.

That Red China has been able to purchase farm land listening outposts near our most critical U.S. Air Force bases can only be explained by this treason.

To counter this existential Red Chinese threat, I only invest in American companies like those below.

Frontieras North America - Cheap, abundant energy is vital to American Civilization and, therefore, to American Tactical Civil Defense. It is the bedrock of the American economy. It ensures our prosperity and clean, beautiful coal is essential to our energy future. All our families depend on it.

Frontieras North America is developing a major new facility in Mason County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River near Point Pleasant. Here is a video explaining the new energy forms that will be distilled from coal.

FASForm™ is the Frontieras North America patented and commercialized technology represents a breakthrough in processing solid hydrocarbons like coal, often referred to as Solid Carbon Fractionation (SCF) or a form of advanced thermal coal reformation.

This is a national security issue that has taken priority.

Lift Aircraft - No runway or pilot’s license required. “LIFT is using technologies that have matured in the drone industry to democratize human flight - a natural progression that will soon provide a clean, exciting and efficient alternative to sitting on congested roads burning fossil fuels.” Colin Guinn, 3DRobotics, DJI North America

My Radar - Maybe it was seeing how critical weather prediction is to the success of the mission when I was in the USAF or how knowing it is the difference between life and death or continuing to have a roof over your house, or even a house, but awareness of weather is everything.

My Radar is the cutting-edge of AI determined weather prediction. It features precise forecasts to redefine how you interact with the weather. It delivers dependable, accurate weather predictions for critical business decisions.

Here is just one: Dispatch and Operational Efficiency of the 24/7 flatbed and regular semi-truck traffic that operates across this nation safely due to MyRadar’s RouteCast that includes:

• Driver Safety

• Cargo Protection

• Cost Reductions

• Efficient Routing

• Historical Insights

• AI & ML Integration

• Continuous Updates

• Operational Resilience

For the truth on weather events, see the distinguished weather expert Mike Smith. Highly recommend his article, “Is the National Weather Service Beyond Repair?” and his book Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed Weather.

The Need for Saturday Poetry

There are those who write Friday night poems,

manic, frantic poems of word grenades

that are thrown in your face

fiercely and emotionally

with no thought to consequence,

restraint, or the future.

“It is here, man,

it is in your face and your mamma’s face

and dig it, I don’t give a

[choose your favorite curse word]

see, man, it is my poem,

my poem that matters,

and only I matter

in this world’s creation, man,

understan’ what I’m sayin’...”

and the poet leaves the stage and spotlight

to screams and high fives

and another shot and beer

as institutional

as the poem was not.

There are those who write Sunday afternoon poetry,

wonders of iambic pentameter and tetrarch

and word constructions so dense and thick

that the early settlers to American,

had they faced the same forest of words,

never would have made it past

the white sands of the Eastern Seaboard,

great pedantic wonders of words on page

and now on the Internet’s wall beckoning

but leaving the soul as cheated and empty

as stomachs fed on grass in a famine.

These poetry Pharisees and Seduces

leave the lectern and seminar

to the abject loneliness of the desk

of the university with no window and soldier on,

cursing their superior’s orders

while religiously obeying them.

Others write Saturday poetry,

work and art poetry,

poetry that takes

the everyday and routine

and knows that, yes,

the baby must be fed,

but the baby has always to be fed

not only the sweet

and nutritious mothers’ milk,

but the poetry and song

and gentle mental caress

of the word well turned,

so that generations hence,

poetry is still sung to the baby

whose eyes dart back and forth

in half sleep and is touched

in the deepest corners of their minds

by words that connect them again

to the peace of the womb

and the ultimate peace of Heaven:

Like Emily Dickinson,

they scrub the floors

of the Halls of Poetry

just to raise their heads

occasionally

to hear the angels, sing.

The front yard of the United States, the National Mall in Washington, DC, is currently hosting the Great American State Fair. And it is magnificent!

I went down to see it on Monday, June 26, 2026 before the July 4th rush. Below, are a few photos and videos I took that are representative.

It is a HUGE event, much more than I could capture here. And this is just the National Mall. There are thousands of events all over the U.S. with great 25th Anniversary parties. Find America’s Block parties here. And if you view the U.S. Mint website, many 1776-2026 coins are available.

Although I would love to be on the National Mall July 4th, family comes first. So, on the 4th of July, I will be with my beautiful wife and sons at Prospect Point Brewing on Carrol Farms below the Braddock Mountains outside Frederick City, MD. They are a family-owned and operated establishment with a HUGE children’s playground in the back.

My sons, in addition to being mechanical and audio engineers during the day, play music as Billy and the Curley Brothers on weekends and will be at Prospect Point Brewing on July 4th. I love seeing moms get up and dance with their wee ones when they play. It is magic.

I will get to celebrate with them and my grandchildren and could not be happier about celebrating the 250th anniversary with my children and grandchildren who will ensure this American experiment goes on another 250 years…at least.

“Family. There is nothing more important than your family!” as my dear old Da used to say. “When you’re six feet in the ground in your coffin, look up. See those people? They’re you’re family. Other people come and go. You’re family is who you can count on. Love them and take care of them always, Bruce even when its hard and you don’t want to.”

As he gave his brother’s life to the American family, I include the wider American family in his metaphor. Happy 250th Anniversary, American Family! And here’s to another 250 amazing birthdays for our children down to the 10th generation.

American Innovation

SpaceX has an innovative display at the Starbase. Due to its location, it will be subject to hurricanes…and their flooding and destruction. Although they have probably already planned for that eventuality, to be sure, I sent an Emergency Operations Plan to Starbase. You can find it at the end of this Substack.

The National Mall and the Great American State Fair

GE9X is the largest commercial jet engine ever manufactured.

The Freedom Truck 2026 is a mobile American Revolution museum.

The heat will be unreal the July 4th weekend. HYDRATE!!! Drink more water, feel better, live longer, and avoid illness.

All Gave Some. Some Gave All.

Scott Lobaido American Flag Art

The American flag art of the artist Scott LaBaido is in the arts pavilion. His patriot art well represents the American men and women who fought, suffered, and died to preserve the American Republic.

Patriot Games

If you know talented high school athletes, maybe have them consider participating in the Patriot Games from August 9th to the 11th.

The Hurricane Vulnerability of Starbase

In 1985, while doing emergency management work, I found out about Brownsville, TX, which is next to Starbase. After a hurricane, the feds paid a large neighborhood there to rebuild, until they realized it could never be made safe from hurricanes. The problem the feds identified in the 1980’s still applies to that area. A hurricane is a natural disaster threat to Starbase.

Elon Musk and Starbase are essential to the next 250 year success of the U.S. In light of this fact, I wrote an Emergency Operations Center Plan to help harden Starbase for future hurricanes.

I wrote a free Emergency Operations Plan and mailed it to the new mayor of Starbase City and followed up with Elon Musk. Who knows if it reached them. But if a major hurricane shuts down our most critical national security asset, Starbase, I have a clear conscience because I forewarned them of the danger.

DRAFT Emergency Operations Plan for Starbase, Texas

June 6, 2026

Author: Bruce V. J. Curley

Tasks to Save Lives and Property during a Natural or Manmade Disasters such as Catastrophic Flooding

Creating an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) for Starbase, Texas requires a tailored approach that considers the unique characteristics of the area, including its role as a SpaceX industrial complex and rocket launch facility, its geographic location in a coastal hurricane-prone region, and its small, unincorporated community status in Cameron County.

This white paper is a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan template designed for Starbase, Texas, based on federal and Texas-specific guidelines, such as FEMA’s Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101 and the State of Texas Emergency Management Plan. This plan is structured to address all-hazards preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, with specific considerations for Starbase’s industrial and environmental context

Emergency Operations Plan for Starbase, Texas

NOTE: Most important of all response personnel are skilled construction workers. They operate the bulldozers and other heavy equipment that arrive first to clear downed trees, telephone lines, and debris. By doing so, they enable first responders and other essential personnel to get to the impacted area to save lives and property.

1. Identify all skilled construction workers necessary for the task.

2. Contact them and obtain all their contact information.

3. Create a list with their name, responsibilities, duplicate email addresses, phone numbers, and alternate ways to reach them (wives, etc.)

4. Maintain a copy of that vital information in databases and on paper in multiple locations.

Basic Plan

1.0 Purpose

The purpose of this Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is to establish a framework for the Starbase community, including SpaceX operations, residents, and supporting agencies, to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the impacts of emergencies and disasters.

This all-hazards plan addresses natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, flooding), technological hazards (e.g., industrial accidents, rocket launch failures), and human-caused incidents (e.g., workplace violence, cybersecurity threats) to protect lives, property, and critical infrastructure.

2.0 Scope

This EOP applies to all emergencies and disasters affecting Starbase, Texas, an unincorporated community in Cameron County, and is aligned with:

• The State of Texas Emergency Management Plan.

• FEMA’s Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101.

• Local Cameron County emergency management protocols.

• SpaceX-specific operational requirements under 16 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §25.53 for electric service providers and critical infrastructure.

The plan coordinates efforts among SpaceX, Cameron County emergency services, the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), and other stakeholders to ensure a unified response.

3.0 Situation Overview

3.1 Community Profile

• Location: Starbase is in Cameron County, Texas, near Boca Chica Beach, along the Gulf Coast, approximately 20 miles east of Brownsville.

• Population: Small, unincorporated community with a mix of SpaceX employees, contractors, and a limited number of residents.

• Key Infrastructure: SpaceX Starbase, a private rocket production and launch facility, is the primary economic and operational hub. Critical infrastructure includes launch pads, production facilities, fuel storage, and electrical systems critical to the Texas energy grid.

• Hazards:

  • Natural: Hurricanes, coastal flooding, tornadoes, extreme heat, and severe storms (Starbase is in a TDEM hurricane evacuation zone).

  • Technological: Rocket launch failures, chemical spills, explosions, or power outages affecting SpaceX operations.

  • Human-Caused: Workplace violence, cybersecurity threats, or sabotage.

3.2 Assumptions

• Starbase may face simultaneous emergencies (e.g., hurricane and industrial accident).

• SpaceX, as a critical infrastructure operator, must comply with state EOP filing requirements annually by March 15.

• Cameron County and TDEM will provide support, but Starbase’s remote location may delay external response.

• SpaceX’s industrial operations require specialized response protocols for hazardous materials and launch-related incidents.

4.0 Concept of Operations

The EOP follows the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) frameworks to ensure coordinated response and recovery. Operations are divided into four phases:4.1 Preparedness

• Planning: Develop and update the EOP annually, incorporating lessons learned from drills and incidents. Submit plans to TDEM at plans@tdem.texas.gov.

• Training: Conduct regular training for SpaceX employees, contractors, and residents on emergency procedures, evacuation, and first aid. Include ICS/NIMS training for key personnel.

• Drills: Perform annual drills, including a mandatory hurricane annex drill for entities in TDEM hurricane evacuation zones, notified to drillnotice@puc.texas.gov.

• Community Engagement: Partner with Cameron County Emergency Management and TDEM Regional Coordinators to align plans and resources.

4.2 Response

• Activation: The EOP is activated when an emergency exceeds routine response capabilities (e.g., hurricane warning, launch failure, or chemical spill).

• Incident Command: Establish an Incident Command Post (ICP) at SpaceX Starbase or a designated safe location. The Incident Commander (IC), typically a SpaceX safety officer or Cameron County official, coordinates response.

• Emergency Support Functions (ESFs): Align with Texas ESFs for coordinated response:

  • ESF-5 (Emergency Management): SpaceX and Cameron County coordinate situational awareness and resource allocation.

  • ESF-8 (Public Health and Medical): Coordinate with local hospitals and EMS for medical emergencies.

  • ESF-10 (Oil and Hazardous Materials): Manage chemical spills or rocket fuel incidents with specialized hazmat teams.

• Evacuation: Implement evacuation protocols for Starbase residents and non-essential personnel, using designated routes (e.g., State Highway 4) in coordination with Cameron County.

• Communication: Use a multi-channel communication strategy (e.g., SpaceX internal systems, local radio, and TDEM alerts) to disseminate warnings and updates.

4.3 Recovery

• Damage Assessment: Conduct rapid assessments of SpaceX facilities, residential areas, and infrastructure to prioritize recovery efforts.

• Debris Management: Coordinate with Cameron County for debris removal, particularly post-hurricane, or explosion.

• Business Continuity: SpaceX to implement continuity plans to restore critical operations (e.g., rocket production, launch schedules).

• After-Action Review: Conduct an after-action report (AAR) to identify strengths and areas for improvement, shared with TDEM upon request.

4.4 Mitigation

• Infrastructure Hardening: SpaceX to weatherize facilities per 16 TAC §25.55 to mitigate weather-related disruptions.

• Risk Assessments: Conduct annual Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments (THIRA) to identify vulnerabilities.

• Community Resilience: Promote flood-resistant construction and emergency preparedness education for residents.

5.0 Organization and Assignment of Responsibilities

5.1 SpaceX

• Maintain and file an EOP with the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and ERCOT by March 15 annually.

• Designate an Emergency Response Coordinator to oversee employee safety and facility response.

• Ensure critical infrastructure (e.g., power systems, fuel storage) is operational during emergencies.

5.2 Cameron County Emergency Management

• Provide coordination with TDEM and state resources.

• Support evacuation, sheltering, and public safety operations.

• Facilitate mutual aid agreements with neighboring jurisdictions (e.g., Brownsville).

5.3 Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM)

• Provide state-level resources and coordination during disasters.

• Support Starbase with planning, training, and exercise programs.

5.4 Residents and Contractors

• Follow evacuation orders and emergency protocols.

• Participate in community preparedness programs and drills.

6.0 Direction, Control, and Coordination

• Incident Command System (ICS): The IC, supported by SpaceX and Cameron County personnel, directs operations. An Emergency Operations Center (EOC) may be activated in Brownsville or at SpaceX Starbase, using ICS/ICS-like handbook templates.

• Coordination: Align with the State of Texas Emergency Management Plan for resource requests and inter-agency support.

• External Support: Request federal assistance through TDEM if local and state resources are overwhelmed.

7.0 Information Collection, Analysis, and Dissemination

• Situational Awareness: Use SpaceX monitoring systems, National Weather Service alerts, and TDEM updates to track threats.

• Public Information: Designate a Public Information Officer (PIO) to communicate with media, residents, and stakeholders, per ESF-15.

• Documentation: Maintain records of incidents, responses, and costs for after-action reviews and FEMA reimbursement.

8.0 Communications

• Internal: SpaceX to use secure internal channels (e.g., radio, intranet) for employee communications.

• External: Coordinate with Cameron County and TDEM for public alerts via text, radio, and social media.

• Emergency Contacts: Maintain an updated list of contacts for SpaceX, Cameron

• County EMS, TDEM, and local hospitals, filed annually with the EOP.

9.0 Administration, Finance, and Logistics

• Administration: Document all emergency actions and expenditures for accountability and reimbursement.

• Finance: SpaceX and Cameron County to track costs for potential FEMA grants.

• Logistics: Pre-identify resources (e.g., generators, hazmat equipment) and mutual aid agreements for rapid deployment.

10.0 Plan Development and Maintenance

• Review and Update: Review the EOP annually by March 15, incorporating lessons from drills, incidents, and regulatory changes.

• Training and Exercises: Conduct tabletop exercises and full-scale drills annually, with a focus on hurricane preparedness.

• Submission: Submit the EOP and executive summary to TDEM (plans@tdem.texas.gov) and the PUC (Project No. 53385).

11.0 Authorities and References

• Federal: National Incident Management System (NIMS), FEMA CPG 101.

• State: Texas Government Code §418.013, 16 TAC §25.53.

• Local: Cameron County Emergency Management Plan.

• Industry: SpaceX internal safety and operational protocols.

Annexes

The following functional annexes provide detailed procedures for specific hazards and functions, aligned with Texas ESFs:

Annex A: Hurricane Preparedness and Response

• Objective: Mitigate and respond to hurricanes, a primary threat in Cameron County’s TDEM hurricane evacuation zone.

• Actions:

  • Pre-season: Harden facilities, update evacuation plans, and stockpile supplies.

  • Pre-landfall: Issue evacuation orders, secure launch facilities, and activate EOC.

  • Post-landfall: Conduct damage assessments and coordinate debris removal.

• Drill Requirement: Conduct an annual hurricane annex drill, notified to drillnotice@puc.texas.gov.

Annex B: Hazardous Materials and Launch Incidents

• Objective: Address rocket launch failures, fuel spills, or chemical incidents.

• Actions:

  • Deploy hazmat teams per ESF-10 protocols.

  • Coordinate with Cameron County Fire and EMS for containment and evacuation.

  • Notify TDEM and PUC of activation.

Annex C: Cybersecurity

• Objective: Protect SpaceX’s critical systems from cyber threats.

• Actions:

  • Implement ESF-20 (Cybersecurity) protocols.

  • Coordinate with TDEM and federal agencies for incident response.

Annex D: Mass Care and Sheltering

• Objective: Provide shelter and support for displaced residents and workers.

• Actions:

  • Coordinate with Cameron County for shelter locations in Brownsville or nearby areas.

  • Ensure ESF-6 (Mass Care) compliance.

Annex E: Emergency Contacts

1. Objective: Provide lists of leadership, preparation, response, and recovery personnel and their contact information and area of responsibility.

Actions:

• Identify all relevant emergency contacts

• Create paper and digital lists of the contacts

• Post the lists at multiple locations at Starbase and Town Hall

Appendices

1. Emergency Contact List: Include SpaceX safety officers, Cameron County EMS, TDEM coordinators, and local hospitals.

2. Evacuation Routes: Map of State Highway 4 and alternate routes.

3. Resource Inventory: List of generators, hazmat equipment, and medical supplies.

4. Glossary: Definitions of terms (e.g., ICS, ESF, THIRA).

5. After-Action Report Template: For post-incident analysis.

Notes for Implementation

• Customization: SpaceX and Cameron County should customize this template to reflect specific operational details and local resources.

• Compliance: Ensure compliance with 16 TAC §25.53 for annual EOP filings and drills.

• Community Involvement: Engage Starbase residents in preparedness activities to enhance resilience.

• Regulatory Updates: Monitor changes in federal and state regulations, including recent executive orders affecting SpaceX operations.

This EOP provides a comprehensive framework for Starbase, Texas, to manage emergencies effectively. For further assistance, contact TDEM at plans@tdem.texas.gov or the PUC at drillnotice@puc.texas.gov.

Citations:

Disclaimer: This plan is a general template and must be customized by SpaceX, Cameron County, and local stakeholders. Consult legal and emergency management professionals to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations. Texas Department of Emergency Management: State Planning

https://www.tdem.texas.gov/preparedness/state-planning

State of Texas Emergency Management Plan

https://assets-global.website-files.com/5fcfde680bd548c23d797aef/654a4a03637112ed2245ddbe_23_11_2_Basic_Plan_FINAL%20signed%20with%20Appendices%20-%202.pdf

FEMA Preparedness Toolkit: Templates and Resources

https://preptoolkit.fema.gov/web/cip-citap/templates-and-resources

Public Utility Commission of Texas: Project #53385

$25.53. Electric Service Emergency Operations Plan

https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/projects/electric/53385/

Texas Emergency Preparedness Plan: Free Template

https://www.cobrief.app/resources/business-policy-templates/emergency-preparedness-plan-texas-free-template/

Texas School Safety Center: EOP Basic Plan Toolkit

https://txssc.txstate.edu/tools/bp-toolkit/

Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans

https://preptoolkit.fema.gov/

North Central Texas Council of Governments: Emergency Operations Center Handbook Templates

https://www.nctcog.org/ep/resources/toolkits/eoc-handbook-templates

State of Texas Emergency Management Plan, Emergency Management Annex (ESF 5) March 2020

https://assets-global.website-files.com/5fcfde680bd548c23d797aef/6058fef688d61503a1e69941_2020-Emergency-Management-Annex-ESF_5_compressed.pdf

PUC: Intent of an Emergency Operations Plan

https://interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/53385_2732_1466693.PDF

North Central Texas Council of Governments EOC Handbook Templates

https://www.nctcog.org/ep/resources/toolkits/eoc-handbook-templates

TDEM: Local Planning

https://www.tdem.texas.gov/preparedness/local-planning

TDEM: Local Emergency Management Planning Guide

https://assets-global.website-files.com/5fcfde680bd548c23d797aef/6058fa781fd7260251888d64_TDEM-10-1.pdf

Texas State Texas School Safety Center, A Parent’s Guide to School Safety Toolkit, 2.3 Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)

https://txssc.txstate.edu/tools/parent-safety/2-school-safety/2-3-eop.html

RRC Online System Emergency Operations Plan FAQ

https://www.rrc.texas.gov/about-us/faqs/cid-faq/emergency-operations-plan-faq/

RRC Emergency Operations Plan FAQ

https://www.rrc.texas.gov/about-us/faqs/cid-faq/emergency-operations-plan-faq/

Texas State, Texas School Safety Center, Basic Plan Toolkit, 1.0 Plan Documents

https://txssc.txstate.edu/tools/bp-toolkit/1-plan-documents

TDEM: Preparedness

https://tdem.texas.gov/preparedness/

TDEM: Emergency Support Function 05, Primary Agency: Emergency Management

https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fcfde680bd548c23d797aef/679271999f014b7ca942bc8b_ESF%205%20Emergency%20Management%20Jan%202025.pdf

State of Texas Emergency Management Plan, Basic Plan, February 2020

https://assets-global.website-files.com/5fcfde680bd548c23d797aef/6058fdfac077d20dbee58213_2020-State-of-Texas-Basic-Plan_WEBSITE_05_07_gs.pdf

Caller Times: Trump signs order that could ease regulations on SpaceX’s Starbase operations inn Texas, Aug 14, 2025

https://www.caller.com/story/news/2025/08/14/spacex-rocket-launch-texas-trump-executive-order/85654426007/

Office of the Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, Governor Abbott Activates State of Emergency Response Resources Ahead of Sever Storm Threat

https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-activates-state-emergency-response-resources-ahead-of-severe-storm-threat

State of Texas Emergency Management Plan, Pubic Health and Medical Annex (ESF 8) March 2020

https://assets-global.website-files.com/5fcfde680bd548c23d797aef/6058fdfd378cf219eca914c2_Texas-Public-Health-and-Medical-Annex-_May-2020.pdf

June 21, 2026

Mr. Elon Musk

Space X

39046 LBJ Blvd, Unit 02

Starbase, TX 78521

Dear Elon,

I am following up to make sure Mayor Peden received my free Starbase Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) I sent him on March 3, 2026.

As for thousands of years, geography and weather dictate that Starbase City and SpaceX will be struck by catastrophic flooding. As our most critical national security asset, I wrote this plan to enable you to successfully deal with that probability.

This plan will save lives and property when you are hit by natural and manmade disasters. And it will enable Starbase to continue operating when they do happen.

Most important of all response personnel are skilled construction workers. They operate the bulldozers and other heavy equipment that arrives first to clear downed trees, telephone lines, and debris.

By doing so, they enable first responders to get to the impacted area to save lives and property. You have many working for you at Starbase. Maybe cross train them to remove downed trees, debris, and flood waters when they strike.

Sadly, they are often not included in EOP’s, yet they are vital to successful response and recovery. I put them at the top of my EOP because I have seen how vital they are to disaster recovery.

Know that you will need to write and sign Memorandum of Understanding and Memorandum of Agreement with relevant government and private sector organizations to ensure mutual assistance and supplies before and during a disaster

For 25 years I have written a civil defense blog (Poetslife.blogspot.com). Here is my American Genius SpaceX blog post about Elon and SpaceX from 2008. https://poetslife.blogspot.com/search/label/American%20Genius%20-%20SpaceX (2008)

For the past 4 years I have written the American Tactical Civil Defense Substact (https://tacda.org/about/#board). There, I have written extensively about Space X, Elon Musk, and Starbase. Here are sample weblinks for background.

For 19 years, I have been the volunteer Vice President of The American Civil Defense Association (tacda.org). My latest article is “Artificial Intelligence & Civil Defense” in the 2026 Issue 1 of our TACDA Journal of Civil Defense. I include it for your reference.

Two years ago, to thank you for your remarkable work creating SpaceX, I sent you my space collectibles in a large box via UPS to SpaceX. I worked at Lockheed Martin in the 1980’s. Hard as it is to believe, they had moved on and were discarding their original drawings, plans, etc. for Mercury, Apollo, and Mars missions. I asked if I could take them and the vice president said, “Sure. It’s trash. Take it.”

So, I did. Remarkable collection. Hope it got to Elon as I never heard back from SpaceX that anyone acknowledged receipt of this gift.

Here are two more gifts to thank you for all you do for the American people.

Ad Astra, Ad Mars

With Deep Respect,

Bruce V. J. Curley

Brief Bruce Curley Civil Defense Biography

In the early 1980’s, his first job post-U.S. Air Force, was to inspect county emergency operation centers, teach emergency managers at the FEMA Emergency Management Institute, and author articles for the emergency information magazine Hazard Monthly.

Fascinated by the planning that went into these thousands of civil defense shelters then, he has continued to explore their purpose and use.

Since 2007, Bruce Curley has been a member of the Board of Directors, now Vice President, of The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA). He has written over 20 articles for the TACDA Journal of Civil Defense

He presented a talk to the NCT CBRNe USA 2015 conference on Rolling Up ISIS Use of Social Media as a Force Multiplier.

He has written Emergency Operations Plans (EOP’s) for governments, churches, and private companies.

After 9/11 and for 14 years afterwards, Bruce wrote the EOP for the Mayor and Town of Mt. Airy, Maryland.

Bruce has authored the American Tactical Civil Defense Substack for four years.

June 6, 2026

Mayor Bobby Peden

39046 LBJ Blvd

Unit 02

Starbase, TX 78521

Dear Mayor Peden,

I am following up to make sure you received my free Starbase Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) I sent you on March 3, 2026.

As for thousands of years, geography and weather dictate that Starbase City and SpaceX will be struck by catastrophic flooding. As our most critical national security asset, I wrote this plan to enable you to successfully deal with that probability.

This plan will save lives and property when you are hit by natural and manmade disasters. And it will enable Starbase to continue operating when they do happen.

Most important of all response personnel are skilled construction workers. They operate the bulldozers and other heavy equipment that arrives first to clear downed trees, telephone lines, and debris. By doing so, they enable first responders to get to the impacted area to save lives and property.

Sadly, they are often not included in EOP’s, yet they are vital to successful response and recovery. I put them at the top of my EOP because I have seen how vital they are to disaster recovery.

Know that you will need to write and sign Memorandum of Understanding and Memorandum of Agreement with relevant government and private sector organizations to ensure mutual assistance and supplies before and during a disaster

For 25 years I have written a civil defense blog (Poetslife.blogspot.com). Here is my American Genius SpaceX blog post about Elon and SpaceX from 2008. https://poetslife.blogspot.com/search/label/American%20Genius%20-%20SpaceX (2008)

For the past 4 years I have written the American Tactical Civil Defense Substact (https://tacda.org/about/#board). There, I have written extensively about Space X, Elon Musk, and Starbase. Here are sample weblinks for background.

For 18 years, I have been the volunteer Vice President of The American Civil Defense Association (tacda.org). My latest article is “Artificial Intelligence & Civil Defense” in the 2026 Issue 1 of our TACDA Journal of Civil Defense. I include it for your reference.

Finally, two years ago, to thank Elon for his remarkable work creating SpaceX, I sent him my space collectibles in a large box via UPS to SpaceX. I worked at Lockheed Martin in the 1980’s. Hard as it is to believe, they had moved on and were discarding their original drawings, plans, etc. for Mercury, Apollo, and Mars missions.

I asked if I could take them and the vice president said, “Sure. It’s trash. Take it.” So, I did. Remarkable collection. Hope it got to Elon as I never heard back from SpaceX that anyone acknowledged receipt.

Ad Astra, Ad Mars

With Deep Respect,

Bruce V. J. Curley

God Bless you all. Enjoy yourselves with your families on the 4th of July.

Below I go into the recent positive demographic trends whereby those who believe in the holiness of the American family, the importance of the American Republic, Christ and Christianity, the necessity of paying taxes for defense and good roads but not for foreign and domestic terrorists and thieves, and leading productive and innovative lives and careers that contribute to family growth, community cohesion, and a better future, are in the ascendency because they are co-creating babies with God.

Among the Big Legacy Media Lies is the Declining American Birthrate

Among the many lies the legacy media pushes is that, due to declining birth rates, Americans are disappearing and, therefore, we need to import criminal 3rd world “migrants” to fill the gap. They use the same globohomo propaganda in Europe.

The truth is different.

Yes, the birth rate is declining substantially in Democrat hell holes, but, the birth rate is holding steady or increasing in Republican suburbs and rural areas.

With the Trump economic recovery miracle firing on all pistons now and the fact it will only get better in the short, middle, and long-term, that increase in fertility rates in the suburbs and rural areas will continue. The prosperity of 1950’s America is here again, and the birth rate will continue to reflect that fact.

As proof, here are the 10 states with the highest and lowest general fertility rates (live births per 1,000 women ages 15–44) based on the 2024 federal government CDC data here.

10 Republican States with the Highest Fertility Rates (2024)

These are the fertility rates of Republican states based on recent presidential voting patterns:

1. South Dakota — 66.7

2. Nebraska — 62.9

3. Alaska — 60.8

4. North Dakota — 60.4

5. Kentucky — 60.3

6. Utah — 59.9

7. Texas — 59.3

8. Indiana — 59.1

9. Arkansas — 58.8

10. Iowa — 58.6

10 Democrat States with the Lowest Fertility Rates (2024)

These are the fertility rates of Democrat states based on recent presidential voting patterns (2020, for example):

• Vermont — 41.7

• Rhode Island — 45.0

• New Hampshire — 45.9

• Oregon — 46.1

• Maine — 46.3

• Massachusetts — 46.8

• Connecticut — 48.9

• California — 49.8

• Illinois — 49.7

• New York — 52.1

• Massachusetts — (6.8

For the most precise current table, check the official CDC page: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/births/fertility-rate.html (data from 2024 National Vital Statistics System)

Why Fertility Rates Differ in Republican and Democrat Areas

Here are representative Christian American conservative suburban or rural families.

(A small section of the big beautiful Landrigan family. (photo: Courtesy photo / Michael Landrigan))

(Dr. Ray Guarendi, known to viewers and listeners of EWTN and his growing family.(Photo: Courtesy photo))

For more details, see: Bucking the Trend, Large Catholic Families Reflect the Beautiful Fruits of Fertility

In contrast, here is a representative Democratic Socialist Washington, DC city “family”. Note the mentally ill woman pushing a baby stroller overloaded with ideological screed but no baby in front of the Lincoln Memorial

Need I say more?

The Christian Bridge

My two-year old innocent grandson,

Named after an Irish god by his parents,

Runs furiously across a small bridge

Outside the Bolivar-Harpers Ferry Library

His mother renovated from the backwaters

To an Athenian-level learning center

That offers the downtrodden and poor

As well as the well-off patrons

What America always promised:

The opportunity to the American Life

Of prosperity, community, freedom,

But not the unfulfilled guarantee

Illusion of the communist liars.

I think these thoughts on the

250^th Anniversary of the American nation

As the 2-year old continues to run fiercely

Over the bridge, his flaxen hair flopping,

His blue eyes laughing in delight,

His alabaster cheeks flushed crimson

As he runs back and forth over the bridge

Ten, twenty, thirty times laughing

And saying, “Look Poppy!!! Look!!!

I’m running fast! I’m running fast!”

Until a bigger kid, foreign and menacing,

Pushes him several times at the other side of the bridge.

His older brother sees the push

And yells, “Push back Cormac! Push back!

I do not say anything or intervene

Because I know sometimes life is cruel

And sometimes the stronger strike

At the most unexpected times,

Like on newspaper collection night

When I was in grade school

And I had no choice but to push back,

And to fist fight back, to keep my collection money.

He does not know how to push back.

Instead, he runs from the bully laughing,

Going over the bridge to my side

And runs behind my legs.

I stroked his golden hair, smiled,

And let him know I will always be here for him,

Except I know that I won’t be.

I’ve lived long enough to know the trolls under bridges.

The demonic evil that lurks in the shadows

Eternally seeking to bully the human spirit

To accept them as overlords and rulers

Although they are never worthy of the privilege

Because morality does not exist in their world.

They laughed when they Crucified Jesus

And they laugh that anyone believes in Him still.

In what remaining years I have on this earth,

I will provide what I can of spiritual, moral, athletic,

Intellectual, sports, financial, nutrition, shelter, learning,

Woodworking, and the thousands of other sacrificial gifts

Only a grandparent can give to their grandchildren.

I have overcome the demonic trolls under the bridge.

I have pushed back the bullies who jumped me

In Philadelphia, Paris and Washington, D.C.

Tried to kill me because they had superior numbers

But I had the Holy Spirit to beat back their evil

With the courage and the valor that overcomes bad odds.

I will transmit to my grandchildren the spirit, laughter,

Song, poetry, and Christian faith of my Irish ancestors

Who, when their English enslavers kept whipping them

Could not understand how, what the oppressor

Thought was his property, knew was instead spirit

And laughed at the whip and made fun of the slaver

Knowing freedom, if delayed 800 years,

Will come to his progeny if not to him.

And was smart enough, though starving,

To flee to a land that offered freedom

And opportunity to those willing to sacrifice,

Even when that sacrifice was Christ-like.

Bruce V. J. Curley

June 5, 2026

Mountaineers Always Stand and Deliver

I am the Mountaineer, Dan Morgan,

Born of the Appalachian mountains,

Forged in the fight of the French and Indian Wars

And the crucible of the American Revolution.

Five hundred lashes from a British whip

Could not break my back or my Spirit.

I drove their wagons, then punched their pride.

An arrogant officer learned from me

A free man’s fist answers the tyrant’s sword.

At Cowpens, January 1781,

My militia riflemen and Continental regulars stood as one.

We shattered Tarleton’s murderous Redcoats,

The first British defeat in the Southern sun.

That victory rolled like thunder to Yorktown,

Helping Washington win the freedom we won.

I am every Mountaineer who ever stood tall,

Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier of fear,

Peter “Bill” Atkinson, WWII Flying Tigers pilot,

Katherine Johnson charting our journey to the stars,

Homer Hickam reaching for rockets and dreams,

John Chambers and Brad Smith building empires from code,

Robert Bird helping the poor when the world forgot them,

Hazel Dickens singing miners anthems and hard lives,

Pearl Buck opening the mysteries of Asia with her pen.

They died knowing greater Mountaineers would follow.

And one of those greater Mountaineers is you.

Study them. Claim them. Rise like they rose.

From the Battle of Cowpens to interplanetary nodes,

West Virginians have answered the call.

To build America with prayerful and calloused hands.

Now the torch is yours. Honor their grave sacrifices.

Work hard and love harder in good times and bad.

Marry well, raise strong children, and serve with honor.

In the uniquely American Way, dream bigger. Build bolder.

The mountains are in your bones.

America is in your very blood.

Jesus Christ is in your interior Spirit.

Be Americans valiant, glorious, courageous, and true.

As they did, so you will, too.

May the circle be unbroken.

Bruce V. J. Curley

June 2, 2026

Happy 4th of July

To all American patriot families, and especially the Donald Trump’s, Palmer Luckey’s, and Elon Musk’s families, thank you for all you do and Happy 4th of July, 2026.

May all your rockets reach for the moon, mars, and the stars this 4th of July! God Bless and protect all Americans!!!

Natural disasters can strike with little or no warning. Medicare is here to help you get care if an emergency is declared and you must evacuate to a safe area. Visit Medicare.gov/emergency to find resources and plan ahead.

Get Care in an Emergency

Prescription Drugs: You can transfer most prescriptions to another in-network pharmacy during an emergency, then return to your regular pharmacy afterward. If you need an out-of-network pharmacy, contact your Medicare drug plan.

Seeing a Doctor: With Original Medicare, you can see any doctor who accepts Medicare. If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan or other Medicare health plan, contact your plan about temporary options, such as using an out-of-network provider.

Critical Care & Equipment: Need access to cancer treatments, dialysis, or a replacement wheelchair or walker? Visit Medicare.gov/emergency to learn more about getting the care and equipment you need during an emergency.

Sincerely,

The Medicare Team

NOTE: I entered the black and white photo’s below into an AI platform to make them color. This brings them back to life and provides far greater detailed images than the original black and white. I provide both so you may judge for yourself. I got goosebumps seeing Frank and my family and ancestors come to life in color. It may be a worthwhile exercise for your search as well. The contrast between the color photo of Frank’s B-24 going down in color in contrast to the black and white original shows the difference.

How It All Started

In my early Twenties, I wrote a poem called “Screaming Like a Banchee” about Frank’s mother, Margaret D’Arcy’s reaction, when she received the telegram from the War Department in 1945 that her son was MIA. I read that poem for 25 years at the Memorial Day Writers Project, my “Screaming Like a Banshee” poem for my grandmother Margaret D’Arcy Curley whose first son, the one she prayed would become a Jesuit, instead became a WWII MIA in the Pacific Theatre.

Also, I have been blessed to have remarkable Veteran’s in my family. Especially on Memorial Day, that fact gets me thinking deeply about the sacrifices necessary to ensure the American Republic continues and improves generation after generation.

One is my brother-in-law SSgt. Kenny “Socrates” Ruggles, Jr., U.S. Army Special Forces who went to Heaven December 22, 2022. He was extraordinary. That he survived his 21-years of continuous Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) missions, ran an orchard, and raised four children, is a testament to his greatness. I miss him dearly and choke up as I write these lines about him.

When I asked him once if I could write a fictional novel based on his exceptional missions, he said, “Why? I didn’t do anything 15,000 other guys didn’t do. My mission now is to provide healthy peaches, apples, and cherries to poor families in West Virginia who can’t afford store prices.” I only wish he could have lived to have seen the American Republic restored under President Donald J. Trump.

Another is my uncle Lt. Col. Raymond John Curley, USAF Korea and Vietnam, DFC, 6 Oak Leaf Cluster, (1931 - 2011) and my uncle William “Bill” Curley, USAF, Vietnam, Silver Star, 1929 - 2008). That both followed my MIA Uncle Frank J. Curley into the service after his death in World War II is no mistake. It is how military families work.

Frank’s WWII Sacrifice is My Inspiration for this Substack

Why do I work so hard, for free, on American Tactical Civil Defense? Because over a million Americans have given their lives in our nation’s wars so I am a free American. It is their sacrifice that gave me the freedom to write this Substack. I believe I have a duty to honor their sacrifice by contributing strategies for how to prepare for disasters for American families and small business.

My MIA uncle 1st Lt. Frank J. Curley is forever entombed in a watery Pacific Ocean grave off Japan. I try to honor his sacrifice through American Tactical Civil Defense.

Some Background on my MIA Frank J. Curley 1st Lt Uncle

1st Lt. Frank Joseph Curley (O-707235) was a USAAF navigator (and sometimes bombardier) who served with the 7th Air Force, 11th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 26th Bombardment Squadron during World War II in the Pacific Theater. He was born on April 28, 1924, in Philadelphia, PA and went missing in action (MIA) / killed in action (KIA) on February 10, 1945, at age 20, during his 40th mission.

To honor his memory and millions of other American men and women who have sacrificed so hard over the centuries to ensure the American nation is safe, I try, in my small way, to write this civil defense mission to ensure this great nation continues in my small way.

There are millions of Americans who are members of families that have given members of their families to serve in the U.S. military. It changes your family. It changes you. And it makes you appreciate the miracle of the United States of America.

Fortunately, such families are back in control of the nation and restoring the beauty of serving God, their families, and the grandeur of the United States of America. Can we really thank Department of War Pete Hegseth, Undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force Matt Lohmeier and so many others enough for everything they have done to restore the U.S. armed forces?

NOTE: If you have an American military MIA family member, the information and web links below can help you find out about your loved one.

What a Service Member’s Death, or MIA Status, Does to a Family

The tragedy of a service members death in combat does not end that day. It reverberates down the generations. My father, Harry Leo Curley, never got over his older brother’s death in WWII. He carried the pain of that cross his entire life, even though he refused to talk about it.

My obligation is to continue his legacy of protecting American families. I write this Substack to educate American families about how to protect themselves and their loved ones from natural and manmade disasters. I have spent a lifetime learning civil defense. I want to share as much of that knowledge as a I can before God calls me home.

As part of that sacred mission, I have handed out over 7,000 of the business card above to amplify this sacred calling. I give them out one-on-one to moms, dads, grandmoms, granddads, young people, small business owners, and those who work with their hands (electricians, farmers, roofers, plumbers, truck drivers, etc.). They are the heart of America and will ensure our future.

The Mystery of Frank Joseph Curley’s Life and Death Story

I heard the name Frank Curley, older brother of my father Harry Leo Curley, only rarely and briefly as a child. Usually, there was a reference to the fact that he died in the Pacific in a plane, that he was “Missing in Action (MIA)” and that my grandmother, Margaret D’Arcy Curley never recovered from the loss.

When I tried to get more information on him from my mother and father, I got vague references to the Pacific War and that, again, he was “MIA.” That was it.

Frank J. Curley’s Family Background

There were two brothers, Harry Leo Curley and William (Billy) Curley, who left the family farm in Perkasie, PA in the 1920’s to work for the Pennsylvania Reading Railroad.

One brother, Billy settled in Landsdale, PA and had 11 children. Harry settled in Mount Airy, Philadelphia, PA and had 9 children: Frank, Harry, Bill, Ray, John, Jim, Peggy, Nancy, and Joe. Francis “Frank” Joseph Curley was Harry Leo Curley Sr’s oldest son. Two others were lost in childbirth.

His death had a HUGE impact on Frank’s parents (see my poem “Screaming Like a Banshee” below), my Dad, and his brothers (most of whom followed him into the military) and sisters, and therefore on us, the next generation.

PHOTO: This photo shows what Frank looked like as a child with his father and brothers: Harry Leo Curley, Sr. in Jeff cap with his sons counterclockwise: Frank Joseph Curley, Harry Leo Curley, Raymond (Ray) Curley, William (Billy) Curley, and John Curley. Ray and Billy followed Frank into the USAF after his death.

PHOTO: Frank is the oldest to the left, top row, in tie. His brothers Harry, Billy, Ray, John, and Jimmy are with him.

Francis (Frank) Curley, the subject of this story, was killed at 20-years old in a Pacific Ocean grave on February 10, 1945.

Yes, his death is a tragedy, but some tragedies result in more important life and beauty. Frank’s death enabled the United States of America is survive and prosper after the Imperial Japanese attack, and my father to have a family of eight, me to have a family of two sons, one of whom now also has two sons.

1st Lt. Frank Joseph Curley (0707295, MIA) served as a navigator on a B-24 in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. He was born Philadelphia, PA, in 1924 and was listed as killed in action (KIA) on February 10, 1945, in the Pacific theater, due to an air loss and crash at sea.

He served with the 11th Bombardment Group, 26th Bombardment Squadron, flying aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber named Royal Flush (serial number 44-41465). Prior to that, he flew on the B-24 called Hit Parade. On the day he was shot down, he had volunteered to go on the mission for another navigator who was sick.

Hope you enjoy this Substack post and gain insights and lessons about the wonder of the American men like Frank who have given their lives for our freedom. Please seek to understand that sacrifice. May we all be worthy of their courage.

The effect of any military service death or disability cascades through a family and generations, but especially that of an MIA because the questions never end. There is no such thing as “closure” when you have an MIA in your family.

Frank service years were from 1942 to 1945. His service awards include: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 5 Oak Leaf Clusters, and a Purple Heart.

Frank’s Unit Assignments: 1944–1945, AAF MOS 1034, 26th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, Agana Airfield, Guam, Mariana Islands; 1944–1945, AAF MOS 1034, 11th Bombardment Group, Heavy, Agana Airfield, Guam, Mariana Islands.

Combat and Non-Combat Operations: 1944–1944, WWII - Pacific Theater of Operations/Air Offensive Campaign Japan (1942-45); 1945–1945, WWII - Pacific Theater of Operations/Western Pacific Campaign (1944-45)

B-24 Liberator 1st Lt. Frank Curley, B-24L Liberator Serial Number 44-41465 and B-24J-1-CO serial no. 42-73002, 7th AF, 11th Bomber Group, 26th Bomb Squadron.

Sister Agnes 60-Year Pocket Book Photo and Obituary Article

This February 22, 1945 obituary from the Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia is courtesy of Sister Agnes Curley, Landsdale, PA.

I did not know Sister Agnes, but she’s apparently a second cousin. She was an 88-year old nun who showed up one day at my sister Sue Curley’s (Gillen’s) front door in Landsdale, PA and said: “Are you the Curley who’s brother is writing the story about Francis?” She opened a large pocket book and pulled out two things. One, was Frank’s obituary (above). The second was a photo of Frank in uniform before a lattice fence (below).

PHOTO: Frank Curley in his USAAF uniform. (Courtesy of Sister Agnes Curley. Lansdale, PA.)

“Here. These are for him. I’ve carried these around for 65 years. By the grace of God you make sure your brother gets these. Can I count on you to do that?”

“Yes. Will you please come in?”

“No. I’ve done what I came here to do. You just get those pieces about Francis to your brother.” As she turned to go, Sue asked her “Can I at least help you down the stairs?” Sue said Agnes was very old and very frail. “No. I got up them and I can get back down them. Just keep your word.” With that, Sister Agnes was gone.

Sue relayed to me that Sister Agnes was the sister of another elderly nun in Lansdale at St. Stanislaus who is a Curley. Sue does the Eucharist Adoration program there and discovered that she was a cousin of the Curley nun. They would talk, and the nun relayed the story of my earlier blog about Frank to her. With that, Sister Agnes determined to get Frank’s obituary and his photo to me. Nuns change the world.

Breakthrough: Frank’s Missing Air Crew Report

Frank’s MACR (Missing Air Crew Report): Some 28 years into my research (mostly wasted hours at the National Archives in Washington, DC) I would obtain his MARC that stated that he was a navigator/bombardier with the 7th Air Force (AF), 11th Bomber Group (BG), 26th Bomber Squadron (BS) in 1944 and 1945 in the Pacific Theatre during WWII.

By contacting and talking to the pilot Harry Gibbons who was behind Frank when his plane was hit, I got details of that mission. He was good enough to send me a handwritten six pages on yellow legal pad paper. It is below in the story.

Six years after talking to Harry Gibbons, I got up the courage to call Richard Chandler, the sole survivor of the crew with Frank that day. He provided more details and sent a photo of Frank’s crew with each crew member identified (above)(as well as Richard Chandler’s own incredible survival and rescue story).

According to the MACR, members of this crew flew combat missions over Iwo Jima, Truk, Marcus, Chi-Chi Jima, Ha Ha Jima, Wake and many other pacific island the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army had invaded and occupied.

For a quick summary of Frank J. Curley’s timeline and awards, see Together We Served.

The Fatal 10 February 1945 Ha Ha Jima Japan Mission

According to the sole survivor of the Ha Ha Jima mission, Richard Chandler, Frank and his crew were shot down bombing a Japanese airfield on HaHa Jima, Japan so the Marines and Navy would have an easier time invading Iowa Jima.

PHOTO: Braesher crew photo next to Hit Parade B-24. Note the painted bombs in the upper right signifying missions accomplished. My Uncle Frank is in the middle, upper row.

PHOTO: Life Magazine 1944. Awards ceremony for 7th Air Force aircrews on Tarawa. “Hit Parade” was a B-24J-1-CO serial no. 42-73002 from the 26th Bomb Squadron, 11th Bomb Group, 7th Air Force. Like many B-24 crews, this is one of the multiple B-24’s my Uncle Frank’s crew flew.

Breakthrough: First Eye Witness Harry Gibbon’s 1999 Letter and Diary

Harry Gibbon’s for me was a real break through that answered a number of questions about what happened. He was the pilot directly behind Frank’s plane the day he was shot down.

Harry, who was flying in the plane behind Frank’s when it was hit and exploded, was kind enough to send me a hand-written, six-page letter in March of 1999 that gave details about the mission and Frank. It follows.

You can also find it at Pacific Wrecks

“Bruce,

There is so much to be said about any war.

Historians say 60,000,000 people died in WWII, about 250,000 Americans. We were relatively lucky. But try to tell that to the parents of the deceased, including my parents who lost a Lt. navigator over Germany. As to Lt. Frank Curley, I knew him and I remember him. This part is strange because after 54 years you remember so few of your fellow flyer’s.

I was a 21 year old pilot flying in the right seat for the McCullam Crew. We were together with the Brashear and Bienwith Crew. There were older crews ahead of us and younger crews behind, but we always seemed to be together. We flew sub search out of Oahu. We moved up to Kwajalein and bombed Watje, Truk, etc.

We moved up to Guam in the 26th squadron, 11th bomb group. We flew 9, 10, 11 plane raids. Brashear was generally the lead plane. He was good.

We bombed Iwo Jima on February 8, 1945. A Jap kamikaze fighter rammed Bienwith’s plane and created an instant ball of flame. No one could have possibly gotten out.

The reason I tell you this is because Major Holland enters the picture.

He was considered a very popular officer when he flew. He was returning to Guam from his rest leave after flying 30 missions.

He did not impress the war weary young kids who had seen tougher action that he ever saw. He seemed arrogant and autocratic, i.e. “I’ll show you guys how we did it in the old days.”

He took over.

He set up a mission for the 10th, two days after Bienwith went down

Major Holland (I always felt he had been promoted to Lt. Colonel about that time) then set up what we called a milk run, an easy mission where there would be no fighters and light ack-ack, certainly not Iwo 9 days before the invasion.

Holland picked Ha-Ha Jima, a couple hundred miles north of Iwo. Therefore, we needed monstrous rubber tanks for gasoline carried in the bomb bays. If he were Laurel and Hardy he couldn’t have fouled up the mission any worse.

We flew from the West about 15,600 feet up. We had a tail wind.

We always flew at 165 MPH indicated.

However, at that altitude with a strong wind we were probably doing close to 400 MPH. Holland, flying the ship, turned off the target for reasons unknown.

He did a shallow 180 degree turn. He had to with other planes in the formation. He turned and approached the target from the other direction.

We are now flying up wind and probably doing 160 MPH.

After flying in view of the island for possibly 5 minutes the Japs had good time to figure our altitude.

It was when we released our bombs that his plane took a direct hit in the bomb bays...remember the gas-filled auxiliary tanks? It was an inferno. Brashear’s plane turned out of control and headed back into the formation.

From a distance it seemed two or three flyers got out (the tail gunner was rescued).

The others had to be the waist window gunners. No one could have gotten out of the cabin.

What a tragedy! Here was a crew that had shown enough leadership to be the lead crew and then have the ship taken over by an... “I’ll show you guys how to fly combat” kind of guy.

It’s sick.

As to Frank himself, we were a reasonably close squadron.

We lived in 16 x 16 pyramidal tents, dirt floors, outdoor latrines, 50 gallon overhead tanks for showers, indigestible food, warm beer (2 cans per day, perhaps).

We played softball together, but I don’t ever remember him drinking with us or playing poker with us.

There were about 12 crews in our squadron, some coming, some going.

We lived in a circular area, that is, the tents were in a circle.

Frank was of good height, well conditioned and extremely good looking.

I remember that he had gone to LaSalle College High School about the class of 1942. I went to North Catholic, class of 1940. Later I graduated from LaSalle College, class of 1948.

Enclosed is a map of the area to give you an idea of the war that “we” had, but it was going on all over the world.
Harry J. Gibbons

Below are notes Harry J. Gibbons co-pilot of the 11th BG3/15/1999 kept of this mission and also sent me. Against orders (in case he was shot down and captured), Harry kept a diary. He sent me the two pages concerning this mission that he wrote on the 3’ x 5” homework pad that every parochial school child keeps. Here is his introduction to me and the diary entry for this mission--Dangerous Critter.

“Another rough one. I feel a little uneasy. No appetite. Stomach upset a little. We were supposed to have an easy mission to-day, but the lead ship (A-1) picked up some ACK-ACK in the bomb bay tank and caught fire right after bombs away. It was just a flying torch. A few fellows got out but some of them didn’t have chutes on.”

“That’s two ships in two missions...not so good. Had some very good friends on it, too...a 10 plane formation hit HA HA at 15,600...bomb hits (unreadable). I sweated this mission out but bad, and then to see that plane peel off in front of us aflame sure put the finishing touches to it. I sometimes wonder if we’ll ever get home. These extra missions are sure rough. Last crew was on No. 34. We lead B flight again.”

“Bruce...From my diary that I kept and recorded on the flight back home from every target. It was against all rules to keep such a diary, just in case that you were captured by the Japs. But you know us wild Irishmen. Tell us not to do something and...” Harry 3/16/1999 HA HA JIMA No. #35 Dangerous Critter.

Harry Gibbons told me that he went to a 11th Bombardment Association reunion at the Punch Bowl in Hawaii and overheard Major Holland’s widow bragging about the Major’s accomplishments. He said it was all he could do to bite his tongue and not ask her if the major’s accomplishments included getting all those good, young flyer’s killed over Ha Ha Jima on 10 February 1945 due to his fatal incompetence.

Bill Tarczy, Second Eye Witness to Frank’s B-24 Disintegration

A second witness, Bill Tarczy, who was in a B-24 in the formation with Frank sent me a letter with the following account.

“Bruce Curley,

My name is Bill Tarczy. I was a tail gunner on the last B-24 over the target flying the Diamond on the mission over Ha-Ha Jima. Major Holland (our Group Commander) was in the lead plane with Lt. Brashear’s crew.

During briefing on weather on the mission, we were told Ha-Ha was overcast. We took off around 4:00 to 4:30 A.M. and arrived over target at about 10:00 A.M.

The trip to Ha-Ha was overcast. The trip to Ha-Ha usually took 11 to 12 hours over and back to Guam.

Due to the distance, we had to carry a 500 gallon tank of gas in the left forward bomb bay. The tank was full over the target.

Once we started the run, the clouds opened and the target was visible, we got orders from lead plane to close bomb doors to make a visual run. As we left the target flack was also around us and it was phosphorus.

They knew we carried extra gas so that was what they used instead of regular flack. We circled and made a visual run.

As soon as bombs were dropped, Brashear’s plane was hit in the bomb bay and it caught fire and started losing altitude and went down.

It was hard to tell how far we got from the target because the formation all moved away from Brashear’s plane.

Richard Chandler, who was the gunner did bail out and was picked up by a Navy B-24 (PBM) that can land on water. The B-24 that they flew that day was a B-24L.

When we arrived at Ha-Ha, it was overcast and we were making our bomb run by radar from about 26,000 feet. The plane was a new model. The waist windows and tail gun positions were encased in plexiglass.

From what we were told, Chandler wore his parachute and had his goggles on. When they got hit, he ran to the rear hatch in waist and bailed out. According to him, the waist gunners got flash burn and could not see what they were doing.

We never wore parachutes on missions. They were always on racks in the waist. The reason Chandler wore it that day was because on February 2nd a Kamikaze Jap Zero rammed into one o four B-24 destroying it in mid-air.

The tail section broke off in one piece and a couple of parachutes opened from impact. That crew was flying their 40th mission (last one) as was your uncle and rest of crew.

I personally did not know your uncle other than riding out to the airfield on our missions. I did know the enlisted crew members since our tents were next to each other. The officers slept in another area. I hope this information will enlighten you.

Yours,

Bill Tarczy”

Crew (Left to Right - Top Row): Pilot - lst. Lt. Edwin E. Brashear (0758 298), Co-Pilot - 2nd lt Theodore Robinson (0765 320), Bombardier- lst. lt. Albert C. Reynolds (0762 869), Navigator - 1st Lt. Frank Curley (SN 0-707 235) Crew (Left to Right - Bottom Row): Radio - T Sgt Vincent Foti (12 134 909), Engineer - T. Sgt William F. Caldwell (11 094 945), Gunner - S Sgt John J. Kerexki (6 996 217), Asst Engr - S Sgt James T. McGee (37 505 526). As today, crews were mixed and matched according to available members and the mission. In the photo above, Cecil K Decker and Robert M. Stites are to the right in the place of John Kerexki.

Bernard Protine, Third Eye Witness to Frank’s B-24 Disintegration

Another member of the mission in another B-24, Barnard Protine of Colusa, CA sent me a letter as well. The letter has an image of the B-24 on the top and “B-24 Liberator” at the bottom.

“Hello Bruce,

I was on this mission. This info is from the book Grey Geese Calling: A History of the 11th Bombardment Group Heavy (H) in the Pacific, 1940-1945 by W.M. Cleveland, Editor.

It is the history of the 11th Bomb Group. HaHa Jima and ChChi Jima were bombed because they had better harbors for shipping than Iow Jima. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.

Barnard Protine Ball Turret Gunner “Barney” 1400 Wescott Road, Colusa, CA 95932-3122

That was a long time ago.

Photos of Everyday Life at the Airbase in Guam in 1944 and 1945 where Frank and Thousands of USAAF Servicemen Served

PHOTO: Captain Brashear and Lt. Curley sailing off Hawaii.

Donald MacLaine Letter

On October 10, 2008 I received a letter dated from Donald MacLaine, Bombardier on the Graber Crew with the following information about his service with Frank.

“Our crew knew the members of the Brashear Crew very well as we were in an adjoining tent to them. I knew your uncle quite well as a fellow bombardier. We flew with his plane on many missions both to Truk and to Iwo Jima.

We would have likely been on the HaHa Jima mission except for the fact that we had just finished another mission. I can’t say why they were bombing HaHa Jima except we were “Snooper Missions” and we were to hit any “Targets of Opportunity.” Those would include anything land-based or shipping. We flew a similar mission to ChiChi Jima and bombed a ship in the harbor.

Our crew at last the officers enjoyed many good times together, building our officers club with lumber hijacked from the Navy by a Sea Bea trucker driver for a fifth of whiskey. Also, many good games of volley ball when stationed on Kwajalein before moving to Guar.

Sorry about the poor handwriting but I’m 88 now and not a steady as in the good ole days. I am enclosing what material might be of interest to you. Sorry it isn’t more.”

Adam Khlor Letter

On October 16, 2015 I received a letter from Adam Khlor.

“Mr. Curley, I came across your post (poetslife) about your uncle’s service in WWII. My grandfather was in the 26th from mid 1943-1944. I was wondering when your uncle was there?

My grandfather was a photographer by civilian trade and took lots of pictures. Unfortunately, he didn’t write names on most of them. I do have a few of Maj. Holland (I’m guessing it’s the same one), but most I have no idea who they are.

If their dates of service crossed, I’ll be glad to e-mail them to you to see if you can identify anyone. The only person I’ve talked with from the officer group was Robert Madonheimer.

He was the original co-pilot of GunSite (my grandfather was tail gunner) and later Mr. Masonheimer became the captain of Smokey Stover. My grandfather’s 30th and final mission was in May of 1944, but I don’t know when he was sent out of the theater.

Adam”

Grey Goose Calling: A History of the 11th Bombardment Group

The Official Record of Frank’s Last Mission from Grey Geese Calling: A History of the 11th Bombardment Group Heavy (H) in the Pacific, 1940-1945, W. M Cleveland, Editor, is found on page 111.

The loss of this crew was the most tragic for this Unit because the Commanding Officer of the 26th, Major Robert W. Holland was on this plane flying as command pilot. Every member of this organization deeply regrets this unfortunate tragedy.

The name of the crew is as follows: Command Pilot, Maj. Robert W. “Howling Mad” Holland; Pilot, 1st Lt. Edwin E. Brashear; Co-pilot, 2nd Lt. Theodor Robins; Navigator, 2nd Lt. Frank J. Curley; Bombardier, 2nd Lt. Albert C. Reynolds; Engineer, T/Sgt. William F. Caldwell; Radio Opr., T/Sgt. Vincent Foti; Radar Opr., S/Sgt. Cecil K. Decker; Asst. Engr. S/Sgt. James T. McGee; Armorer Gunner, S/Sgt. John J Kereski; Tail Gunner, S/Sgt. Richard E. Chandler.

S/Sgt. Richard E. Chandler was the only member of Lt. Brashear’s crew to survive. He parachuted into the water, but cannot recall anything of the incident in as much as he was the tail gunner and was thrown from the plane when it exploded. Sgt. Chandler was discharged from the hospital where he was treated for first and second degree burns of the face and is now on his way to the states.

The awards and decorations were distributed amidst colorful background in as much as this squadron participating with the other three squadrons for the group were celebrating the fifth anniversary of the 11th Bombardment Group (HG). The Group has been in the combat area for five years. Major General Douglass and his staff were present to distribute the awards and make speeches of congratulations to the entire Group. A legal holiday was declared for all except for the personnel essential for important daily tasks.

Air Echelon/Operations: Susaki Airfield on Chichi Jima is an undeniable threat to our forces and aircraft which in the near future will probably be based on Iwo. Therefore, when the 26th was ordered to bomb Susaki in both night harassment missions and the daylight formation raids, the job was undertake with unusual interested in intense efforts to make these raids. successful. Thus, the Jap airfield on Susaki could be neutralized and our forces on Iwo can be secured from any attempt the Jap fighters might make from Susaki Airfield.

There were the usual routine missions during the month, among them were Photo Reconnaissance, escorting Navy Photo planes over Truk, important targets on Haha Jima, and strikes on Marcus Island.”

Additional Information about the USAAF Pacific Campaign

Pacific Wrecks and the 11th Bombardment Group websites list more information on Frank’s USAAF Pacific Campaign. Brief Mission Story Here. For the history of the attack on Pearl Harbor’s 11th Bombardment Group, see Paradise Lost: The Legacy of the 11th Bombardment Group. For a quick overview, see here. To see what these Pacific Theater air crews went through in WWII, see the Story of 666 here.

PHOTO: Frank (navigator) and Edwin Brashear (pilot) on leave in Hawaii in 1944.

For the complete history of the 7th AF, 11th BG, see: Grey Geese Calling: A History of the 11th Bombardment Group Heavy (H) in the Pacific, 1940-45, W.M. Cleveland, Editor. History of the B-24, the most produced bomber ever, here.

Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Mission Men of World War II by Wil S. Hylton, highlights the mission of another B-24 that went down over Palau in 1944. The families he interviewed do a great job conveying the emptiness in their lives from not knowing what happened to their loved ones.

At the top of this Substack is a photo of how Frank looked as a newly minted Lieutenant (Frank Curley head shot photo: First Lieutenant Frank Joseph Curley, Army-Air Forces Navigation School, Selman Field, Monroe, Louisiana, graduation photo (courtesy of Tony Bartoletti “44-01”).

As I said above, this is the story of my 50-year search to find answers to the mystery of how he died. I hope it helps others who are looking for ways to find out about a loved one who has been categorized by the U.S. Government as Missing in Action (MIA).

NOTE: My thanks to the 11th Bomb Group Association for contacts that helped me to create this memoriam (Phil Gudenschwager - Secretary, 4116 N 66th Place, Scottsdale, AZ 85251, 11bga@cox.net, 480 945 9119).For quick results on an MIA search, check out the American Battle Field Monuments Commission and here.

Here is the result when I entered Frank Curley in the search engine. More information on Together We Served.

PHOTO: United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) First Lieutenant Frank Curley’s B-24L Liberator (Serial Number 44-41465) and crew sometime before the 10 February 1945 mission to Ha Ha Jima in the Pacific Theater. Dick Chandler sent me this photo of the Brashear crew, of which he and Frank were members. He also told me that Frank came running to the plane at the last minute before takeoff because he volunteered to go for another navigator who was sick. Such is war.

Major Robert W. Holland’s Fateful and Deadly Decisions

Major Robert W. Holland (0350194) joined the Brashear Crew for the 10 February 1945 Brashear’s crew as commander and is directly responsible for their deaths.

According to Harry Gibbons who was flying behind the Brashear crew, in a phone conversation with me and in his letter about the mission above, Major Holland got them all killed by making them slow down and fly back over anti-aircraft batteries - something they never did in prior missions! Doing so gave the Japanese anti-aircraft batteries time to adjust their sites, target the B-24, and blow it out of the sky.,

Harry Gibbon’s said Holland was known as “Howling Mad Holland” because Harry said Holland’s attitude was always that he knew better than the young airmen assigned to him on this fateful mission due to his longer flying experience.

Harry also said he was once at at 11th Bombardment Group reunion and Major Holland’s widow was bragging about her husband’s service. He said it took all his self control to not light her up and inform her that her husbands arrogance was responsible for the deaths of the Brashear Crew on 10 February 1945 off HaHa Jima Japan due to his horrid advice that took them over the bombing run twice and got them all killed.

History of the Grey Geese, 11th Bombardment Group

The Grey Geese refer to the 11th Bombardment Group (Heavy), a distinguished U.S. Army Air Forces unit that played a key role in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Their nickname derives from their official insignia: a shield featuring three grey geese in flight.

The group’s motto, “Progressio Sine Timore Aut Praejudicio” (Latin for “Progress without Fear or Prejudice”), reflected their resilient spirit through devastating losses and grueling long-range operations across vast ocean distances.

The unit traces its lineage to the 11th Observation Group, constituted on October 1, 1933 (but not activated then). It was redesignated the 11th Bombardment Group (Medium) on January 1, 1938, and activated on February 1, 1940, at Hickam Field, Hawaii, under the 18th Bombardment Wing (later part of the Hawaiian Air Force).

Initial equipment included Douglas B-18 Bolo medium bombers. The group transitioned toward heavy bombers, receiving its first B-17 Flying Fortresses in 1941 (though some were diverted to the Philippines). Squadrons included the 14th, 26th, 42nd, and later the 98th and 431st Bombardment Squadrons, plus reconnaissance elements.

Pre-war duties focused on training and patrols around Hawaii.Pearl Harbor and Immediate Aftermath (December 1941)The group was at the epicenter of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. Of approximately 350 assigned personnel, 245 were killed or wounded. Hickam Field was heavily damaged, with many of the group’s ~50 aircraft destroyed or rendered inoperable (only a handful remained combat-ready).

Surviving personnel and aircraft quickly shifted to defensive patrols and search missions off Hawaii as part of the newly organized Seventh Air Force. The group helped guard against further attacks and supported early counter-efforts. Their B-17s arrived in meaningful numbers during this period.

American Battle Monuments Commission

Frank J. Curley, First Lieutenant. U. S. Army Air Forces Service # 0-707235, 26th Bomber Squadron, 11th Bomber Group, Heavy Entered the Service from: Pennsylvania. Died: 10-Feb-4 Missing in Action or Buried at Sea Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.Another MIA resources is the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency DPP MIL website.

CURLEY, FRANK J.1st LtO-707235UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCES2/10/1945 12:00:00 AM26 BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON 11 BOMBARDMENT GROUP (HEAVY) PHILIPPINE SEA

Had I had these simple data points (service number, bomber group, date of death) when I began my research 50 years ago, all the false starts would not have happened. Here is Frank’s American Battle Monuments Commission citation.

He is listed on the MIA Honor Wall on the Hawaii Punch Bowl. Please add your family member or friend here. Too many MIA’s have never been listed.

I encourage you if you are looking for an MIA to use this incredible, if unknown, resource. My thanks to Michael A. Norbury, Jr, Engineering/Chief Information Officer, American Battle Monuments Commission, norburym@abmc.gov who told me about this resource. He is the husband of the woman who provided child care for my younger son, Eamon.

I met him at a picnic for the parents. Once again, serendipity...as here... is so much a part of the search for information on a MIA. Expect many blind leads...and occasional blinding light discoveries and breakthroughs when you search for an MIA loved one. Frank’s listing with the ABMC.

Mobile WWII Wood Memorial

PHOTO: My dad, his mother, and Joe and Nancy Curley, Frank’s youngest brother and sister.

This is a mobile WWII wood memorial that was created after WWII for those from Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill and Germantown, Philadelphia of those who died in WWII. It was rotated to those neighborhoods to honor those who died to defend the American Republic in WWII.

Zero Zero

During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Corps, later known as the Army Air Forces, operated a navigation training school in Monroe at Selman Field, Louisiana.

On June 15, 1942, Selman Field was activated and Colonel Norris B. Harbold, a pioneer in the navigation training program, was named commanding officer. Within three months, the field was a full-fledged military establishment consisting of the Pre-Flight School (Bombardier-Navigator) and the Advanced Navigation School. Selman Field continued to grow in size and stature and became, the nation’s largest navigation training school during World War II.

The curriculum consisted teaching selected young men how to “Get ‘em There and Get ‘em Back.”

“Zero Zero” was the navigator’s ultimate objective. It means navigating through hundreds of thousands of miles of space, cloud rack, wind, and weather and hitting a dime-sized objective “on the nose” at the precise second you said you would hit it on the nose.

The first is pilotage, or navigating by landmarks, using maps and charts. The second is dead reckoning, which consists of keeping track of how far you have gone and in what direction since you started, using instruments which measure various aspects of the plane in motion, such as speed, deviation, wind drift, and-so on.

The third method is radio navigation which consists of “riding the beam” from one station to another until you progress to where you want to go. The final way to navigate is by celestial navigation — by the stars and other celestial bodies.

These are immutable, but you must be able to identify them in their different configurations in all quarters of the heavens at all times of night and day. Armed with the best knowledge and training possible, the navigation cadets graduated and became members of combat crews. One inch off i’s not Zero Zero. It means right on the button, right on time — perfection. Selman Field met the challenge and provided 15,349 navigators during WWII

For an oral history of their deeds, see here. More information on the history of Selman Field is here. The Chennault Aviation Museum is located in the last remaining WWII building.

LaSalle College High School, Philadelphia, PA, 1942

Like all service members, Frank had a life before he joined. He attended LaSalle College High School in Philadelphia from 1938 to 1942, played football and ran track, and graduated with honors. Below is his graduation photo.

Photo: Frank Curley, LaSalle College High School, Philadelphia, PA, 1942. Photo courtesy of Christopher M. Carabello ‘82 Director of Communications and Public Relations La Salle College High School 8605 Cheltenham Avenue Wyndmoor, PA 19038 (215) 402-4810 direct (215) 836-4502 fax, carabello@lschs.org, carabello@lschs.org, www.lschs.org

PHOTO: My son Eamon Patrick Curley, 6, at the Pennsylvania Granite Pillar, World War II Memorial, National Mall, Washington, DC.

1977 - After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I took a job in Washington, D.C. Curious about Frank’s mission, I went to the National Archives and looked in the military records and talked to staff at the National Archives. I found nothing, but continued off and on for 20 years there searching on a free Saturday.

Screaming Like a Banshee

I wrote “Screaming Like a Banshee” based on what memories of my Uncle Frank my mom told me and her view the impact of his death in combat on his mother and my grandmother, Margaret D’Arcy Curley and my dad. It was published in Feile-Festa Literary Arts Journal, NY, NY, Spring 2010, p. 46.

That poem led me to the decades of research to answer the mystery of how he died and to honor his memory before he disappeared to history you are reading here. The first post I wrote on what evolved into my 25-year civil defense blog, Poetslife blog, was to honor Frank. It was called 1st Lt Frank J. Curley, MIA, USAAF, In Memoriam.

My 1st Lt. Frank J. Curley, MIA, USAAF, In Memoriam on my prior blog was my first post. In 2003, after I wrote a blog post called Civil Defense Redux, I was invited to join the board of The American Civil Defense Association. They republished the article in their Journal of Civil Defense. Then I was invited to become the volunteer vice president of TACDA.ORG.

For 19 years I have held that position and written 19 articles for our Journal of Civil Defense. I attributed that minor volunteer work to my knowledge and gratitude of Frank’s sacrifice in the Pacific Theater in WWII.

Seeing how Substack was the new platform for serious thinking about American life, I began writing my American Tactical Civil Defense Substack as a way to educate American families and small businesses about how to prepare for disasters.

So, Frank’s life and sacrifice over the Pacific Ocean is the origin story of my civil defense career and writing. And it is the reason for this Substack in his honor.

Screaming Like a Banshee

Every American MIA servicemember grows up in a family. When they die in service to their nation, that death has an impact that is deep and painful for their parents, siblings, and wider family into several generations. Here is the poem I wrote in my Twenties, Screaming Like a Banshee, that was the deep origin of this 50-year search.

Screaming Like a Banshee

My wife screams like a banshee

to cover wailing with neutral sound

when my toddler Eamon fights her

and refuses to take a nap.

I hear Grandmom Curley screamed

like a banshee when the telegram arrived

from the War Department in 1945

to tell her the oldest, Frank, the one

who was supposed to be the Jesuit,

instead had been killed in action

when the Japanese ack-ack

turned his B-24 into a fireball

on his 39th mission over Haha Jima

in an ocean grave in the South Pacific.

Grandmom Curley screamed

like a banshee for weeks

until they hooked her up

and shot electricity through her brain

to cover wailing with neutral sound.

She never screamed like a banshee again.

Instead, she wailed so deep down for 20 years

because the hole in her heart was so vast

laughter was no longer a planet in her galaxy

and the only way people would describe her was,

“She was never the same after Frank died in the Pacific.”

PHOTO: Frank’s brother, my father, Harry Leo Curley, on his wedding day with his new wife, my mother, Phyllis Mary Watson Curley. They would co-create eight children. my brothers and sisters Lynn, Hank, Bob, me, Sue, Don, Steve, and Jackie.

My father was Frank’s next younger brother of 6 brothers. All served but for my Dad (he was too young to join and Frank wrote letters home telling his parents “War is hell. Don’t sign for Harry to join” and Joe (although Joe was a recreation director for various Army, Navy and Marine bases around the world.)

My dad never got over Frank’s death. And he would never talk about that hole in his life, even to my mother. As I have worked with many former special forces members to rewrite their resumes for civilian employment, many with PTSI (it is an injury, not a disorder, and can heal like all injuries), I know how vital it is for Veterans with spiritual and mental injuries to talk about it and get it out. My father never did, and it negatively impacted his entire life.

PHOTO: Our vacation home in Cape May bought with the $7,000 check the War Department sent my grandmother. She put it in the collection basket at church each Sunday for two years, and the priest would return it on Monday. Finally, they convinced her to buy the Victorian house with five apartments to rent in Cape May for extra income.

She is top left next to my grandfather and my mother. Lynn, our oldest, and Sue, one year younger than me, are in front of them. Then it is four of what became five boys, Bruce, Hank, Bob, and Don. Steve came later. My dad is holding Don. Joe Frank Curley, named after Frank Joseph Curley, is front right.

My Dad tried to enlist in WWII, but was too young to go in without his parents, Harry Leo Curley and Margaret D’Arcy Curley, signing for him. During WWII, as Frank kept sending letters home saying, “War is hell. Don’t let Harry join up” and, due to his age, my Dad was never able to go in

PHOTO: This is my uncle, Joe (Joseph) Francis (Frank) Curley. Notice his first name is Frank’s middle name. He was conceived and born shortly after my grandparents received the telegram from the War Department saying that Frank was an MIA and presumed dead. Joe was named for Frank.

Frank J. Curley’s Inventory of Effects

After he was killed, the War Department sent my grandparents an Inventory of Effects that list everything Frank owned on this earth when he was killed. It is a remarkable document. It is almost about what a monk would own.

The War Department sent my grandparents a shoebox worth of earthly goods, $80 check Frank had as pay I guess, and some religious items (rosaries, miraculous medals, etc.), and two changes of clothes and shoes. They were all his earthly possessions as he flew all those missions in a B-24 fighting Imperial Japan’s imperial ambitions.

My Grandmother was a very religious woman and no doubt sent the Catholic religious sacramentals to him or gave them to him before he left. The Rosary and Holy Cards are of particular interest. Frank was a devout Catholic who loved Christ and was called to Heaven when God wanted is Soul back home.

Harry Gibbons states that Frank did not party but did his job. With God’s help to judge by his last few possessions.

Timeline of My Search to Solve the Mystery of Frank J. Curley’s Loss

Here is a timeline of my search for Frank’s story, who is my dad Harry Leo Curley’s oldest brother. I offer the story and all the Internet resources I used in hopes it may help another American MIA family to find out about what happened to their loved one.

There were many dead ends, false leads, and rude and lazy bureaucrats over the years, but there were also some extremely helpful veterans and veteran’s associations, along with numerous individuals who love this country and understand the sacrifice military families make for this country, who were especially helpful.

My main suggestion would be for the U.S. government to declassify these missions while living family members can discover what happened to their loved ones. In Frank’s case, they kept the mission classified far longer than it needed to be. As anyone who has an MIA in their family knows, the U.S. Government, historically, has been cooperative (although it has gotten better due to the diligence of the Vietnam-era MIA families).

I recommend private researcher to really find out the truth. The one who helped me was Matt Holly (matthollymarshalls@yahoo.com) POB 319, Majuro, MH 96962. He has done extensive research on the Marshall Island’s Campaign.

As he told me in a 11th Bomb Group (H) Association, Inc. (Progression Sine Tirmore aut Praejudicio) mailing: “Believe it or not, the US Government does not have a current listing of all USA losses in WWII.”

Do you realize how many Peal Harbor remains are not identified?” Mr. Holly once told me. Mr. Holly is right. If I ever fall into the big money, my one goal would be to dive off HaHa Jima and find Frank’s B-24 off Ha-Ha Jima. If by the grace of God I could also locate Frank’s remains, it is my great prayer that I could bring his and any others from his crew to the surface and back to the U.S. for a Christian burial.

Take Advantage of all the Internet Resources to Connect the Dots

I started researching Frank’s story back when I depended on library books and card catalogues. Then the Internet came along and made it easier to connect the dots. Early on, I researched Internet forums, as with this B-24 Web Board search below.

As the Internet came into its own, I was able to send emails after discovering B-24 veteran organizations. For example, I contacted the 11th Bomber Group Association and put a listing in their newsletter to seek more information about Frank’s mission.

Unfortunately, in writing this Substack, I have not been able to find the 11th Bomb Group Association still existing on the Internet. No official website, recent reunions, newsletters, membership information, or social media presence turns up in any of the Internet searches I conducted.

PHOTO: My father Harry Leo Curley is on the left. His brother William (Bill) Curley is to the right. Their younger sister Peggy Curley is in the front. This is just a few years after Frank’s death. I see my dad’s pain at Frank’s loss in his face in this photo. Bill kept this photo in his “shadow box” he carried all the years he served in the USAF until his death.

Some Suggestions for How to Find Information about your MIA Loved One

Here are a few suggestions for what was helpful and what was not in my 50-year search. I will do so by offering a chronology of my search.

1955- 1977 - Once in a great while in my childhood, I would hear a vague reference to Frank, that he died in the Pacific, and that he won some medals but not what those medals meant or what for.

I heard that my grandmother Margaret D’Arcy Curley was a beauty with jet-black hair that Frank also had, and that she was a happy woman before but “she was never the same after Frank died in the Pacific.”

To the day she died, she never accepted that he was an MIA and instead believed that he was captured by the Russian’s and ended up in Siberia in the Gulag.

PHOTO: My father, Harry Leo Curley with his first daughter Madeline (Lynn) in Cape May, NJ a few years after Frank’s death. Peggy Curley is on my dad’s left. As children, we vacationed in a huge Victorian five blocks from the Cape May beach. My father hated it as he had to paint it the 3 weeks we vacationed there. We loved being at the beach then, of course.