Cow battles part 31

[Lowdown3]

Part 31

The Group took a day off to rest. Of course that did not include normal security duties at the retreat.

It was a day for everyone to rest up, clean their weapons and spend some time with their families.

Jim would have preferred to have the debriefing immediately after they arrived back, but they were lucky that half the attackers didn't fall asleep on the way back.

The only injuries were a twisted ankle that Chad got on the walk back. He stepped in a hole in the ground and twisted his ankle pretty bad. Bill and Robert, the Group's PA's looked at it and gave him a couple days to rest on it.

As with most Group discussions, the floor was open for anyone to speak and contribute something worthwhile to the discussion.

Jim started it off with, "Folks, we trained for things like this and our training paid off the other night. That being said, we also need to recognize that the Lord gave us that victory. I doubt it was just clear luck that we caught them drunk and stoned out of their mind. Let's all thank Him now" Jim said as they stopped to say a prayer and thank the Lord for his help the other night.

After that was done, Bill blurted out "who the hell fired that first shot?"

Their was silence in the room for a minute and then Chad finally spoke up.

"I did it. It was an AD. I screwed up bad and I feel sorry about it. My first thought was oh no I just got everyone killed! Jim, Steve and even Todd way back when used to tell me I had to stop riding the trigger. The truth is I rarely picked up my rifle between training outings. That and I was dead tired. I'm gonna work on my endurance more, I started earlier today."

"Yeah I saw you outside doing sit ups." Lyle said.

"Once the docs say my ankle is better I'm gonna start on some cardio, I need it." Chad replied.

"Well obviously you realize your screw up and take responsibility for it Chad. That's all we have ever asked people to do. Everyone makes mistakes, God knows I make a pile of them. But it's what we do AFTER we make the mistake that shows our character. Hiding it, lying about it, blaming it on someone else or downplaying it shows a weak character. I'm not glad it happened but I am glad you seemed to have learned from it. I can only imagine the torment you would be feeling now if someone had got injured in the raid" Jim said. Chad eyes went downcast and he considered that.

"Are we 100% sure we got all of them?" Cindy one of the women that went on the raid asked.

"It's hard to know for 100% sure, we only had a little bit of information about them to begin with. The house burning and then collapsing didn't make it easy to verify all that. I had hoped we could have Miguel identify bodies but we blew that route with the fire ." Jim paused for a few minutes. "Guys, we went and did the best we could with the limited info we had. We left stay behinds and some goodies in case other Gomez showed up. We've kept a fairly clean trail also, so that should help."

"So are all of Hansen's cows are ours now?" Bill's wife asked.

Lyle started to answer, "Well yeah sure they are, Hansen's dead and..."

Jim cut him off. "It's not that easy guys. Everyone around here has some sort of "kin". We go and just take that whole herd for ourselves and someone's great grandma is gonna start a damn feud with us. Now I'm not saying we aren't owed a share of those cows, and we will get our share. But the whole herd is definitely not ours, at least not legally. I do think since we lost two people defending them, that the families of those two men deserve a share of their own. A cow is like a Cadillac now. That's how I see it anyways. What do ya'll think?" Jim asked.

"Their isn't any law left, why are we worrying about legalities?" Lyle asked.

"Dude, seriously, Lyle is right, we need to take all the cows and maybe his whole ranch." Bill said.

"Whoa, come on guys. Where the hell does this end? You know Mr. Johnston down the road has a helluva nice house, big enough to fit everyone that's still camping out. Why don't we whack him out and move you all in there? Hey, that family that moved here from the city down on county road 10 has a nice SUV. Anyone want to kill them for their car? Come on, you all know this is bullcrap. And while their might not be law RIGHT NOW, don't be surprised if eventually law and order isn't restored. Then what? We already have enough legitimate in our defense type kills to cover up, let alone some "we got greedy and wanted more so we whacked this guy out" kills. While I've never been a believer in the whole "it takes a community" to survive BS, if we purposely alienate the folks living in this area, we will have bigger problems then we just dealt with. Need I remind you all that most of you "ain't from roun here" as they say locally. Your outsiders. You guys will be the first to be blamed and hung out to dry. Me and my family too then, guilty by association. No the area needs to see us as a help to them, not as raiders. So the question comes up, do we get greedy and take a hundred or so cows we don't even have land or pasture for that aren't ours and alienate ourselves from the folks in this area, or do we just take the share we bargained for and do what's right? We can vote on this but honestly I'm gonna pull final say on it cause I think long term taking those cows will hurt us. It IS a security matter." Jim said.

"Bro listen, we need to eat too. Screw those a$$holes that didn't prepare and weren't willing to take the risks we did." Bill replied.

At this, Chad cut in- "Some of us here took our preps seriously and some of us here did not. If we ALL took our preps seriously, we wouldn't have to had to trade security for beef in the first place. Jim had always told us to get serious about our food storage. I half arsed it, I'll admit that. I spent too much money on trinkets and stupid stuff. I guess I never REALLY thought something would actually happen. So when it did, I had less than 3 months of food. Even at that, it was completely unbalanced. We are in this spot because of people like me that didn't take our preps seriously, and I'm not the only one, he glanced towards Bill. Men DIED because of us."

The two other families that had half arsed their preps glared over at Chad after his candid announcement. It stung. It stung but it was true. Everyone was risking their lives now and had been since the security for beef trade started because of them. Men had died, because these folks wanted to play survivalist more than they wanted to actually be survivalists. None of them lacked for money, time or the means to put up food. No one dare argued this now with men dead. Boats, SUV's, ATV's now sat at abandoned houses in the suburbs they left. Bank account ledgers- for the time being completely worthless- still showed balances adequate enough to finish their preps several times over. All these were right now was writing on a page.

Men had died because these folks did not take their preparing seriously. It was a hard pill to swallow but it was the truth.

[Hawkeye]

Jim needs to remind everyone, that just because there may not be anyone currently enforcing mans law, that doesnt mean that God still isnt enforcing his law.

[All Talk]

I agree with Hawkeye, as Jim at least and it seems most of his crew live by a strict Judeo-Christian ethic. Taking "loot" left by a maruader is hardly different from the marauders in the first place. Neighbors, cousins, what have you, would probably look at the recent events as two gangs in a turf war, both exploiting the hansen's property (I presume the contract between them and hansen wasn't filed with the county clerk or anything).

Beyond God's law, the locals aren't presumably turned into savages overnight. Just becuase there is no "government" doesn't mean there isn't a de facto sense of "law" (not necessarily actual state code, but the general sense of English common law). The degree to which common law justice can be enforced by the community on a well-armed and trained group like jim's is part of the issue, but Jim et al ignoring justice that cannot be forced on them would be a troublesome matter.

Now, what is justice? Certainly, whoever owns the herd cannot at the moment defend it, so Jim and company should continue protecting it and taking their agreed "fee." Maybe they should take a certain number for the families of the fallen as a weregild, and document that and their rationale for later discussion with questioning outsiders.

Can they make any inquiries through the ol' cig-smoking gal as to other relatives? Can they organize an occassional charity hand-out of butchered meat (somewehre well away from the retreat and the ranch)?

Who is going to care for the cows now, and what is that worth? protection is one thing, but even range cattle need some husbandry care? Perhaps a different polity., such as another farm family, agrees to those duties for a fee in kind out of the herd. Shared custodial duties with another group would add legitimacy.

[Lowdown3]

Great feedback, thank you guys.

As of this second, what's posted here is the grand total of what I have already wrote.

I have plenty of ideas where everything is going to go, but it will probably be a week at least before I get another one written and posted.

One thing I attempted to show in this particular "part" was how uneven preparations can be in a real group setting. It's lovely to think that everyone in a group is prepared to the extent they possibly can be. The reality is far from that. However I wanted it to "hit home" for "Chad" that- although it was not SAID previously, all of the Group were risking their lives because of the folks that had slacked on their preps.

You could see this very easily happening in a group setting. "Chad" had the courage to see things for what they really were and understood WHY the group had to take on this risky venture in the first place.

Even today, food is SO cheap, I can't understand why people don't take food storage more seriously. If they understood that one day they may have to RISK LIFE AND LIMB for food, they would stop putting off purchases and do what is necessary.

Whether it's a group like this having to take on a risky venture so that everyone gets fed, or the idjit with the "I'll TAKE food" plan, the results are the same, people DIE because of lack of PROPER AND ADEQUATE planning when it comes to food storage.

[Boyd]

Even today, food is SO cheap, I can't understand why people don't take food storage more seriously. If they understood that one day they may have to RISK LIFE AND LIMB for food, they would stop putting off purchases and do what is necessary.

Whether it's a group like this having to take on a risky venture so that everyone gets fed, or the idjit with the "I'll TAKE food" plan, the results are the same, people DIE because of lack of PROPER AND ADEQUATE planning when it comes to food storage.

Its funny you should have mentioned that. One of my buds from my group and I spent 4 hours on the phone the other day about this very subject. He always took to hear the keep your credit clear, owe nobody nothing, and be ready .. Except for food storage. I shared with him your posting from thesurvivalreport and how it could be done and it just plain made sense to him. He lives in the armpit of nowhere with dialup so it was actually quicker for me to read it to him rather than email. We are now going to have points to store along route to our BOL if we can't bug in.

[Abigailnumber2]

Your points were made very well. I really enjoyed this chapter. The clarity of after thought always amazes me.

[DustMusher]

Bump to get this chapter up near the rest of the story