to the Index, or to the R-101 episode list

Team Members

     Background checks began late 1985, contact by the Project recruiters would have been in April of 1986, and actual induction (after the background checks) was roughly May of 1986. Thus it's very likely the team members were born between 1957 and 1964. Covering up for the new member's absence, or arranging for a fake death, took a month or so. Training began right after the 4th of July, 1986 (in cohort 51), and ended in March of 1987. 

     The team has a Patrol Boat Mk III as their team vehicle, in a large bolthole. Their equipment is detailed here.

Team Training

     After the cohort training ended, trainees were briefed individually on their team assignments -- in theory, you don't know what teams the other trainees went to. Since this happened during the final R&R session, some blabbing was inevitable.

     Unlike most teams, R-101 had another week of training, after the R&R session. They were given binders full of team equipment lists and a description of the bolthole (to read on the road) and driven on a bus to Idaho, where the Morrow Project had a boathouse on the shore of the American Falls Reservoir (on the Snake River, not far from Pocatello, Idaho), holding the first Patrol Boat Mk III. Three or four mobile home trailers were parked next to the boathouse, for the trainees (just team R-101, at that time) and the instructors and support team for the boat. A couple of butler buildings, sheds, garages, etc. completed the rather chilly scene.

     The trainees and instructors spent four days driving the boat around the lake, which included two days of actual diving in the very cold (March, after all) water. The boat was not armed, and didn't have some Project systems installed yet; this was not going to be their team's boat, either. A small gas-powered electrical generator was bolted to the deck, with a "loudener", to make the boat sound appropriately noisy and smoky.

     In fact, all of the instructors were divers, and much of the classroom time was spent going over dive gear (rather than boat features). Roy spent a lot of time reading the manuals on the radar, fathometers, and other stuff that hadn't been covered in the training cohort; not all of them would have divers aboard -- that would depend on how many divers were in training in a particular cohort or two.

     It was also clear from talking with the instructors and support staff that there would be at least six of the patrol boats in use by the Project.

     The team was frozen a few days later: personal effects boxes were filled and closed, a final briefing on your team's goals, a "secret session" for the team leader on some "more secret" information, and zoop into your cryoberths you went before the end of March, 1987.

     Note that while the team only had about a week to deal with any "team-related" personal effects purchases, the likelihood that your characters would be on a boat, or diving, or some similarly "wet" team had been pretty clear for at least a couple of months.

Team Cross Training

Simple lists of languages known.

Skills that are significantly improved over base (at least +20%). Only highest trainers are shown

Standing Orders

     You expect to be awakened a very few years after the War.  

     The goal of the Project is the continued survival of human civilization after the War. The standing orders for every team are to:

• assist the population in recovering in any way you can

• reunite with the rest of the Morrow Project

• survive!

     If they don't get any immediate specific instructions otherwise, Recon teams are expected to observe, record, evaluate and report on conditions in their assigned area -- locations of nuclear attacks, and the resulting damage, the environment (especially fallout and radioactive contamination), remaining population, power generation and industry, transportation (especially shipping), communications, government, civil rights and public safety, etc.

     The team members know that Prime Base is to be "awake" throughout the Atomic War and afterwards.

     The team members know that, around the Great Lakes (in Wisconsin and Michigan), the following 14 teams (total well over 100 people) are part of their group:

• Engineering Team E-7, in Depot Eta

• your team leader knows more about this team, which is also water-based

• Science Team S-77, with several hovercraft
  

• MARS Team M-71, land-based ... several vehicles
  

• MARS Team M-72, land-based
  

• MARS Team M-73, in three hovercraft
  

• MARS Team M-74, in an SK-5 hovercraft

• Agriculture Team A-70

• two land-based Recon Teams ... you know one is R-99 due to a security boo-boo during the final R&R
  

• two other water-based Recon Teams

• one aerial (four AirScouts) Recon Team

• Recon Team R-101 (your own team)
  

     To support these teams, there are about thirty caches. The Engineering team leader is the "top boss" of all these teams, with the MARS M-71 team leader as second-in-command. It's also possible that there are other specialist teams in the Great Lakes area known only to the Engineering team, or to Prime Base.

     All the team members know that the Project has large amounts of "reconstruction supplies" stashed in various places around the United States.

     The Team R-101 team leader has an additional instruction, and is authorized and encouraged to share it with the rest of the team immediately after wake-up:  survey bridges, canals, locks, port facilities, usable watercraft, lakeside towns.

     In essence the plan is:  Recon teams will scout around, mapping the good and bad things; MARS teams suppress some of the bad things, Science teams look into and solve the other bad things. The Engineering team will probably focus on restoring maritime transportation systems:   locks, ferries (for fallen bridges) and converting some ships to fusion power.

     Besides the usual industrial information, there is a list on your computer of all the ships in the Great Lakes as of 1986, and their suitability for conversion. Turbine-electric and diesel-electric vessels are the easiest.

     Many vessels are laid up when the Great Lakes are iced over; common ports for this are:

• Alpena, MI

• Charlevoix, MI -- there is a nuclear power plant (Big Rock) and a Crane Company cement plant at Charlevoix, however, so it's probably going to be ruined.

• Ecorse, MI

• Grand Haven, MI

• Green Bay, WI

• Indiana Harbor, IN

• Manitowoc, WI

• Port Huron, MI

• Sturgeon Bay, WI

• Superior, WI
  

Facilities

     For security purposes, you only know the location of your own bolthole and of your team's six supply caches. Keep in mind that the Project might have to change your team's location, vehicles, equipment, or even membership after you've entered cryosleep. The Team's intended bolthole is located on the north shore of West Huron Island (a.k.a. Lighthouse Island), in Lake Superior.

     Four of the caches are on the American shore of Lake Superior. Each cache is shared with at least one other Recon team -- MARS teams, Science teams, depot staff, and of course Prime Base also know some or all of the cache locations. 

• MI-16:  near Four Mile Rock, MI, on the shore of Lake Superior, 5.6 km northeast of Ontonagon, MI. Maritime cache, contains a pontoon.

• MI-17:  at the mouth of the Black River, on the shore of Lake Superior; specifically, in the cliffs 100 meters west of the river mouth, in the Black River National Forest. Nearest town:  Ironwood, MI. Maritime cache, contains a pontoon.

• WI-10:  300 meters southeast of Sand Point, on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior, in the Apostle Islands Maritime Cliffs Natural Area. Maritime cache, contains a pontoon.

• MI-18:  in the cliffs at Grand Portal Point, on the shore of Lake Superior, 19 km northeast of Munising, MI. Maritime cache, contains a pontoon.

• MI-07:  near Point au Gres, in the woods a hundred meters from the shore, about 5 km south of Au Gres, MI.

• ID-11:  in Idaho, near the upstream end of the American Falls Reservoir

     In addition, hundreds of P-type pontoons, and some of the associated equipment, were sunk in the water between the Huron Islands and the Keweenaw Peninsula -- a few kilometers offshore of the mouth of the Tobacco River, northeast of Grand Traverse Bay. They were prepared for the long immersion with rustproofing,  grease, etc., in water about 20 meters deep. Only "sturdy" components were included in the pontoons here -- connectors, bolts, etc..

Radio Frequencies

     The team is assigned ten FM voice communication frequencies:

• channel 1:  32.5 MHz - Zone 7 common tactical channel
  

• channel 2:  32.7 MHz - team primary channel
  

• channel 3:  34.2 MHz
  

• channel 4:  36.4 MHz

• channel 5:  38.1 MHz

• channel 6:  33.0 MHz - also MARS general
  

• channel 7:  40.5 MHz
  

• channel 8:  41.9 MHz

• channel 9:  44.5 MHz

• channel 10:  48.1 MHz

A couple of other important FM channels:

• 34.0 MHz - Recon common channel
  

• 31.0 MHz - Science common channel
  

     Note that changing these frequencies on their PRC-68 radios will require a successful Electronics skill roll if your skill is less than 40%; a failed roll (especially a fumbled roll) will result in channels not being usable. The PRC-70 vehicle/backpack radio is much more flexible; the HF band covers a lot of aircraft and marine channels, though it requires a long antenna to be really useful. 

     HF channels to watch:

• 2.182 MHz:  international distress and emergency

• 7.0 to 7.3 MHz:  the shortwave "long range" channels for the Project (one for each Zone, plus a couple of general purpose channels). These "40 meter band" channels were entirely used by amateur radio operators before the Atomic War. "The band is most useful for inter-continental communication for one or two hours before sunset, during the night and for one or two hours after sunrise. It is extremely useful for short to medium distance contacts from local contacts out to a range of 500–1500 km or more, depending on conditions, during the day." Channel spacing is nominally 2.5 kHz, so there are lots of channels, but a sloppy transmitter can be detected across a wider bandwidth. Priority channels for intercontinental "ham" broadcasting was 7.175 to 7.2 MHz. The general Project HF channel is 7.175 MHz; the Zone 7 channel is 7.193 MHz.
  

• 14.06 MHz:  a common amateur radio channel

• 26.617 MHz:  Civil Air Patrol common channel
  

• 26.96 to 27.41 MHz:  CB radios on 40 channels. CB channel 11 (general calls) is 27.085 MHz; channel 9 (emergencies) is 27.065 MHz
  

• 27.87, 27.92, 27.97 MHz:  US Navy-MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System)