Contemplating Catastrophe
A Thought Exercise About War On Texas
Okay, I know these kinds of reality-based musings aren't my typical Vocal fare, but I thought you might enjoy this particular rabbit hole. I’ve been reading lately about the potential for war with Russia and, more specifically, the potential for Russia to send nuclear missiles hurtling toward the United States.
Personally, I doubt this will actually happen for a number of reasons that I’m not going to go into right now, but as a thought experiment, I was considering possible targets in Texas (where I live) if something of that nature ever did occur. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, in no particular order.
The Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas
The Pantex Plant, based in Amarillo, is directly involved in the assembly, disassembly, and maintenance of nuclear weapons. This seems like an obvious target to attack. Granted, Russia is well aware that the U.S. already has a store of nuclear weapons, so there’s the possibility that they wouldn’t waste a nuke on it. After all, keeping the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction in mind, the odds are very good that if Russia attacked the United States in this manner, the U.S. would respond in kind immediately, decimating the major cities in Russia. Therefore, targeting a plant that only produces such weapons seems like it could be a waste of resources. Ultimately, it depends on whether Russia believed that it would survive the initial response and need to be concerned about further retaliation or not.
Fort Hood, Located Between Killeen and Copperas Cove, Texas
Okay, it’s technically called Fort Cavazos, but no one actually calls it that. It’s one of the biggest military installations in the world, and it really feels like it would have to be a target, based solely on that fact, if nothing else. Between the number of soldiers stationed there and the amount of equipment located there, this one seems like a no-brainer. Also, there’s a high likelihood that this location would be immediately responsive to such an attack, making them an active threat as soon as the bombs were even detected moving toward our air space.
Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas
This one is a training base for the Air Force, located in San Antonio. The chance of this one being a target is much lower, I think, partially based on the immediate versus future threat assessment, once again. It’s a really important base, due to the kinds of training that they offer there, but it’s more of a distant-future threat to Russia rather than an in-the-next-few-days threat, dropping its priority level, I think. After all, there are a lot of good targets for Russian bombs outside of Texas too, so I’m not sure that there would actually be a strong enough argument for it to actually make the list.
Houston, Texas
Oil. Gas. Economy. Need I say more? If you want to knock America out of the running, you’ve got to take out the major hubs, and there’s no doubt that that includes Houston. Sorry, Houston, but I think we have a problem.
Austin, Texas
As the capital of the state, I feel like this is another obvious target. Just like it’s necessary to disrupt the major economic hubs, it’s also necessary to disrupt the legal hubs, starting with the Capitol itself of course, but trickling down next to each of the state capitals. Knocking out our governmental infrastructure would put us in a bad spot and make anything more than our instantaneous response to the attack, before most of the damage is done, difficult at best.
Okay, those are the places that leapt immediately to my mind as the most likely targets. If you have any thoughts you’d like to contribute to my list, or if you disagree with my assessment, I’d love to hear about it! Also, let me know if you'd like to hear my thoughts on possible targets in your state or country. Maybe I'll do more of these!
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the read, and perhaps you've had some thoughts of your own on the subject. I'd love to hear what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment, click the heart, and subscribe!
About the Creator
Laura Pruett
Laura Pruett, author of The Dwarves Of Dimmerdown and others.
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Comments (1)
Great rundown on the locations in TX. I live 15 to 20 minutes from Pantex. It's shown as a first-strike target on several maps. That said, I know alarmists are often responsible for those maps. I've always considered that being in close proximity to a high-priority target might be a blessing in disguise if the exchange ever takes place.