13 MISSILES OF THE APOCALYPSE - CHAPTERS 1 and 2
CHAPTER 1
THE FASTEST WAY TO SINK AN UNSINKABLE SHIP
Imagine you’re standing on the deck of a brand new, shiny, United States Navy aircraft carrier (still has that new aircraft carrier smell). Even during wartime it feels like there’s no safer place to be on earth.
This floating city - fully loaded - has a displacement of 100,000 tons. Its 25 decks stretch 250 feet high to the flight deck. It’s powered by two nuclear reactors that have a range of - get this - not miles – but years. A range of 25 years! There’s even a grocery store serving Starbucks on your sea-going naval fortress. That’s not a joke.
The ship travels with a small armada of support ships: destroyers, cruisers, auxiliary boats and sometimes even submarines. At a total cost of around 17 billion dollars, these amazing movable airports go nowhere alone.
However, as such a valuable piece of war machinery, aircraft carriers make an enticing target for the enemy. The problem is, the “bad guys” would need a lotto-winner’s luck to land even a single shot through the protective hedge of high-tech radar arrays, sonar, air support, drone support, satellite imagery from outer space, and good old fashioned human eyeballs; five thousand pairs of eyeballs to be exact.
In order to defend itself, this “behemoth of the bounding main” carries surface to air missiles, a Close-In-Weapons-System (CIWS) which consists of a combination of radars, computers, and rapid-firing multiple-barrel rotary cannons placed on a rotating turret. It’s loaded with lasers, magnetic rail guns, chaff launchers, torpedos, fighter jets, helicopters, and attack drones.
Added to that is the group of warships surrounding it, all equipped with similar armament. They probably even carry a few slingshots in the lockers below in case of close-quarter combat. Not sure on that one… I’ll have to Google it…
However, on the other side of the ocean, knowing the devastation a carrier and its litany of deadly aircraft can bring to their neighborhood, competing countries have devised a cunning strategy of attack that may sober even the most well-armed carrier group.
That strategy is simply to launch so many missiles at the carrier, that even if 95% of them are shot down by all the high-tech gadgetry and support vessels, the 5% of missiles missed could still devastate the entire naval group along with the carrier.
In other words, if a thousand missiles are launched at the same time and “only” 50 anti-ship missiles hit their target… standing on the deck of that flat-top doesn’t sound like such a great idea anymore.
Missiles are also relatively cheap to manufacture compared to an aircraft carrier. For the price of a new carrier, you could create roughly 15,000 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Try shooting down each and every one of those deadly darts raining down on you at the same time! Not gonna happen.
Needless to say, the Chinese, Indians, and Russians are all feverishly building anti-ship missiles as you read this. I’m sure Taiwan has amassed its fair share as well!
As fascinating as all this is, what does any of it have to do with prepping for future calamity? So glad you asked!
Imagine with me, that instead of standing on the deck of a ship, you’re standing on the solid ground of the world’s #1 kickass modern country. Your homeland is ultra-rich and powerful with a myriad of safeguards against misfortune. Your nation has a commanding army, air force, and navy, police, firefighters, EMTs, state-of-the-art hospitals, a semi-functioning government, a powerful banking industry, diplomats to guard against foreign interference while building powerful alliances worldwide, strong businesses both large and small, scientific advances are being made on the daily, high tech industries creating miracles out of thin air, and natural resources are in abundant supply.
This shining city on a hill appears to be unsinkable! It’s the richest and most powerful empire in the history of the world. No single source could ever undermine our powerful, world-spanning civilization!
And wouldn’t it be great if there were only one single source to battle against? One enemy to defeat? One missile to shoot down? What a glorious and swift victory that would be!
Unfortunately, the missiles descending upon our ship of state are many.
And as disaster approaches, the captain and crew of our vessel are currently divided in their defense strategy, rendering them immobilized. Some are even drilling holes below the waterline of the ship.
Complete squadrons of once-loyal officers, bought off by the enemy or disillusioned by our own corrupted system, are feverishly attempting to dismantle the radar arrays and weapons systems, leaving us defenseless against the deadly projectiles rocketing in our direction.
“You’ve gotta sink a few carriers in order to create a future Utopian omelet”, they’re saying. “Heroes of the New World Order”, they’ll be called.
Others are stealing everything that isn’t nailed down. Concerned only with their own welfare, their current operating plan is to plunder the vessel, sell the resources off to the highest bidder, then fly their private jet to the safety of a small tropical island when the going gets rough.
How safe do you really feel on this ship today, should a “Missile of Misfortune”, say a killer virus, or an economic crash hit it broadside?
And speaking of viruses mixed with economic crashes - Covid-19 had a .2% mortality rate (two tenths of one percent). This tiny percentage completely devastated our economy. What happens when a virus 10 times more deadly, killing 2% of Americans appears out of nowhere? What will that look like for our empire?
And doesn’t it seem like every few years we’ve had some new disease attack us? Spanish flu, Asian flu, Russian flu, Hong Kong flu, SARS, MERS, Legionnaire’s, Swine flu, Hantavirus, AIDS, Bird flu, Ebola, Monkeypox, Covid…
So, let’s see, Covid kicked us all in the collective crotch in 2020… if a new round appears in 2023-24, we’ll be right on schedule...
What I’m trying to get through to you is that now may not be the best time to go about your day heedless of tomorrow, living with just the one concern that they’ve recently taken the movie “Big Trouble In Little China” off of Netflix before you could watch it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love me some JACK BURTON, and the disappearance of this classic from my viewing choices is a travesty to be sure, but…
Now may be the time to focus on the truly important things. Now may be the only time you have to make sure your personal lifeboat is operational and fully loaded with supplies should a missile of misfortune find its way through our quickly failing defenses.
In the next chapter I’ll list the 13 missiles heading our way, any one of which could ultimately wreck our once-unsinkable craft. We’ll then look at each missile in detail, and lastly, outline what you should be doing now to prepare for one or more devastating catastrophes.
To end this chapter, I simply ask you to remember this, “When the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of heaven shake… when you find yourself shoulder deep in saltwater, trapped below the 23rd deck of a quickly sinking hulk, don’t say ‘ol Doc Dan (and his good buddy Jack Burton) didn’t try to warn you. Get your lifeboat ready…”
LIGHT AT THE END…
Any attorney worth his salt will tell you that the golden rule of making an argument is, “Never make the opponent’s argument for them.” In other words, only present your side of the story as if 100% of the facts are always and only owned by you. It’s the only way to win. And in the law game, it’s not justice or truth that bring in the big bucks… it’s winning; sometimes at the cost of justice and truth.
Unfortunately, broadcast news, social media, and politicians (made up almost exclusively of attorneys) have taken up this thought and run it into the ground; daily delivering only one side of the news, exaggerating their side of any argument, and refusing to listen to dissenting opinions.
I believe it’s this manner of thinking that’s pushing our entire world into division, hatred, and eventual war against our neighbor. We’re only hearing half the news, reading half the story, choosing to listen to half the viewpoints.
We’ve come to a place where opposing ideas are not to be thoughtfully considered but instead are to be shot down, buried, deleted, or drowned out amid the rage of offended voices.
If I were financially savvy, I’d jump on the bandwagon and write this book in the same fashion. I’d paint the doom-and-gloom picture exclusively; ignoring any positive evidence that might weaken my argument. I’d appeal to the fearful, paranoid, and hopeless nature of the human mind, making it seem as if there were literally no hope for the future (other than buying my book, of course).
I say ALL THAT to tell you this. The picture I painted of the aircraft carrier under assault is valid. But it’s not the entire picture.
There are people working hard every day to repair the damage being done to our ship. There are honest, caring and decent people trying their damndest to make this world a better place to live and are finding ways to do that without burning people’s lives to the ground.
There are also new and amazing technologies on the horizon that may solve 90% of the problems we face in the future. There’s even a small possibility that our world might experience some kind of renaissance of character, a revival of caring, a reawakening of logical discussion based on a valid search for justice and truth.
It’s literally looking like a race to the finish between two competing ideologies right now. Who will win? Goodness or Selfishness? Freedom or Repression? Life or Death?
Time will tell and I believe that your efforts in supporting one side or the other can make a difference.
What the future brings, no one can say with 100% accuracy. The one thing I’m absolutely sure of, however, is that you need to be prepared to make it through the coming storm in order to see the sunny day on the other side.
CHAPTER 2
WILL THAT BE ONE MISSILE OR TWO…?
Without further ado, let’s introduce the thirteen missiles of the Apocalypse; a list of events that could quickly end our way of life as we know it.
Natural Disaster
Human Nature
Terrorism
Nuclear Holocaust
EMP
War
Economic Collapse
Disease
Famine
Pharmacology
Technology
Evolution
The Unknown
And there they are folks, in all their magnificent glory.
As I explained earlier, it may not be just one dilemma that causes a worldwide dumpster-fire but a combination of two, three, or even more of these modern mishaps hitting all at once.
In the account of America's Great Depression below, you can see multiple missiles striking the country one after another. And as the premiere food grower to the world at the time, these numerous direct hits caused a chain reaction that brought misery to the entire globe, leading directly to WW 2.
As we take this short journey through yesteryear, you may notice how any of the events described below could be ripped from tomorrow’s headlines. Just like our calendar, and the orbit of the universe, history moves in a circle.
“During World War I, the U.S. government had vigorously encouraged farmers to expand crop and livestock outputs to feed the army and U.S. allies in Europe. They guaranteed high prices and appealed to the farmers’ patriotism through slogans like "Food Will Win the War!" Farmers borrowed heavily to buy new machinery to replace the labor lost by sons and hired hands who were drafted into the military.
Then the war ended and the demand for farm goods decreased. The U.S. government with little warning announced that it was ending price supports. The farmers, however, continued to produce at near record levels creating surplus commodities that sent prices plummeting. Until then, land prices had been rising rapidly as farmers and non-farmers saw buying farms as a good investment. With the collapse of farm prices, the land bubble burst, often dropping the market value of the land well below what the investor owed on it. The post-war depression did not start with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. For the Midwest, it started in 1921, and farmers and the small towns that depended on the land were hit hard.
In the 1920s, almost half the U.S. population lived on farms. When farmers ceased making money, they couldn't buy the products that factories were making. When factories couldn’t sell their products, they laid off their workers. The newly unemployed workers couldn't buy the factory output either, meaning even more lay-offs, and thus, the entire country fell into a downward spiral.
However, not everyone saw the pattern emerging. Many thought that because the stock market had been on a sustained upswing, it was a good place to invest money. In a matter of time however, it became obvious that the price of stocks far outpaced the productive capacity of the companies being invested in. Investors soon lost confidence and began selling before prices dropped further. Panic ensued, and the market dropped sharply. With factories closing and banks failing, unemployment continued to rise.
Many families found themselves without income, losing their homes and facing poverty. The situation during the 1920s was bad; it got worse in the 1930s.
Another major problem was taxes. Families that could not pay taxes sometimes lost their homes and farms. The state and governments slashed costs wherever they could. local governments cut the salaries of their workers; teachers, fire fighters, police... Many people remember that while they had little money, they didn’t feel humiliated because everyone around them was also poor.
Added to all this was the fact that the very environment seemed hostile to the farmers during the 1930s. The winters of 1934 and 1936 were especially long and cold and the summer of 1936 saw one of the worst droughts ever recorded. Crops dried up in the fields and livestock died for lack of food and water.
On the Great Plains, lands that could no longer sustain the grasses that held the soil in place began to lose topsoil to the strong hot winds. So much dust was picked up that soon great dark clouds of dust began to drift eastward. The clouds blocked out the sun and found their way through any cracks in the house around windows or doors leaving a lasting impression on those who lived through these “Dust Bowl” storms.
Times were extremely tough through the entire decade of the 1930s. While government programs helped a little, it was only the start of World War II and the renewed demand for manufactured goods and farm products that lifted the United States out of the worst economic period in its history. It was, however, at a heartbreaking cost in American lives.”
Human Nature, War, Famine, Natural Disaster, Economic Collapse and The Unknown… as in The Unknown consequences of short term thinking. All these missiles raining down on our country at once, leading to “... a heartbreaking cost in American lives.”
The one thing that made these times bearable was the fact that almost half the population lived on farms and could supply their own food. We have no such luxury today. I also find it funny (in a demented way) that World War 2 “solved the problem”.
Let’s see, 45 million people dead, 2 atomic bombs, 157,000 tons of bombs dropped on Japanese civilians and infrastructure, 2 MILLION tons of bombs dropped on German cities, 50,000 tons of bombs dropped on England, pain, suffering and misery spread around the world; that solved our economic woes.
Sounds like a fair trade, right? But again, my mind wanders down a rabbit hole.
Let’s break each missile down in detail starting in Chapter 3, shall we? We shall!
LIGHT AT THE END…
“Underneath the misery of the Great Depression, the United States economy was quietly making enormous strides during the 1930s. Television and nylon stockings were invented. Refrigerators and washing machines turned into mass-market products. Railroads became faster and roads smoother and wider.
As the economic historian Alexander J. Field has said, the 1930s constituted “the most technologically progressive decade of the century.”
Economists often distinguish between cyclical trends and secular trends — which is to say, between short-term fluctuations and long-term changes in the basic structure of the economy. No decade points to the difference quite like the 1930s: cyclically, the worst decade of the 20th century, and yet, secularly, one of the best.”
I can easily see how our world today, set upon by natural disasters, war, human atrocities and economic collapse can struggle to stay one step ahead of complete disaster for the human race while at the same time, producing scientific miracles such as advanced robotics, 3D replication of organs, blockchain technology, gene sequencing, high output farming using skyscrapers to grow food in the middle of large cities, and green energy that actually works efficiently on a large scale.
We may yet live to see a future human Utopia where scientific advances lead us to a fair and just system of rule where no one gets left behind, paving the way to a new evolution in our species.
But we ain’t there yet. Not even close…
Until that day finally does arrive, my advice is to keep your larder full and your powder dry.
NEXT WEEK: CHAPTERS 4 and 5 - THIRTEEN MISSILES OF THE APOCALYPSE
