Eric Tyler, an American naval officer and National Security Council support staff member, became aware of the looming threat of atomic war in 1989. He resigned from his military and government position, and entered a government bunker in the Phoenix area only a few days before the war.

Pre-War

• 1987:   Tyler joins the White House Communications Agency (under the Defense Communications Agency, which has several hundred members), as support for the National Security Council (headed by Brent Scowcroft, a retired AF lieutenant general, closely associated with Henry Kissinger, and with ties to Lockheed-Martin and other defense contractors). Hardware issues, and other grimy matters, take place at Naval Support Facility Anacostia (next to Bolling AFB); security is handled by Marines. Tyler's job involves three areas:

• communication systems in the White House Situation Room and at Camp David
  

• the PROF electronic mail system used by the NSC.

• support and electronic security for computers and crypto systems in the NSC offices.

• 1988:  Tyler receives the Presidential Service Badge.

• August, 1989:  Communist governments in Europe begin to collapse.

• A shipment of cryoberths is discovered by the U.S. and Canadian governments, due to a traffic accident on the International Bridge. A factory in Windsor, Ontario is raided, and contains several hundred cryoberths labeled as Cadillac-Gage products.

• September, 1989:  Tyler is informed he has not been selected for promotion to Commander.

• the JTFSO revises PLAN BLUE SPOON to PLAN 90-2 (the plans which eventually become Operation Just Cause).  

• U.S. begins conducting joint training/freedom of movement exercises in Panama (SAND FLEAS and PURPLE STORMS).

• 12 September, 1989:  after investigations (by the Treasury Department, Justice Department and Defense Department), President Bush signed NSD19a in September of 1989, which established the NSC Policy Coordinating Committee for "Strategic Counter-Intelligence" -- specifically to advise a course of action regarding the Council of Tomorrow and the Morrow Project. Members were at the Assistant Secretary level for Defense, State, Justice; and a representative from the CIA. An NSC staff member was appointed by the National Security Advisor as executive secretary for this committee.

       The committee initially met about every two weeks, in the White House Situation Room; the NSC staff controlled the agenda and minutes for these meetings.

• 19 September, 1989: Union des Transports Aériens (UTA) flight 772 crashes over Niger after a suitcase bomb exploded aboard, killing all 169 passengers and crew, 7 of whom were American citizens -- including the wife of an American ambassador. Suspicions fall on Syrians, Palestinians, Iranians, and Libyans as possibly having instigated the bombing.
  

• October, 1989:   the U.S. government begins placing Cadillac-Gage cryoberths in various "continuity of government" bunkers. Out of about 150 American cryoberths, about 60 were placed in these bunkers; 50 were used in Project Firebird bunkers; and 40 were used for other purposes (including testing and investigation). The Canadian government retained about 150 cryoberths, used to freeze 140 members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, and 10 government officials and their staff or bodyguards, all within the existing "National Survival" bunker at CFS Carp Richardson.

• Tuesday, 3 October, 1989:  Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega defeats second coup attempt. The Panamanian Defense Force demonstrates ability to quickly move units. The Panamanian "Dignity Battalions" begin harassing political opponents and American citizens.
  

• Saturday, 14 October, 1989:  Tyler arrives in Phoenix on a two-day leave, to investigate JEEP 20. The reactor and cryoberth had only been installed a week ago.  
  

• Wednesday, 18 October, 1989:  East German leader Honecker is deposed by the Communist party.

• Thursday, 19 October, 1989:  Tyler resigns from his position with the White House Communications Agency (and effectively with the NSC), and submits his letter of intent to separate from the Navy after 17 years of service. He begins ordering supplies, and uses his knowledge of government systems to arrange for some logistical "boo-boos".

• His actual separation from military service will take about 12 weeks, but in a week his is assigned to the Reserve center at Fort Worth, and a few days after that began his 72 days of "terminal leave". 
  

• Friday, 27 October, 1989:   Tyler buys a pickup truck.
  

• Monday, 30 October, 1989:   Tyler visits the Daniels Camp mine for the first time. He's very busy for the next 7 days, filling and sealing the mine.  
  

• Wednesday, 8 November, 1989:  Tyler begins stocking the JEEP bunker on Scorpion Hill, near the corner of N. 49th Street and E. Keim Drive, Paradise Valley, Arizona.
  

• Thursday, 9 November, 1989:  a medical student at a free clinic inserts a bladder catheter, a central venous catheter, and a peripheral intravenous catheter into Tyler, in exchange for some money. Tyler begins taking the various drugs to prepare him for cryostasis.
  

• Friday, 10 November, 1989:   Tyler enters JEEP 20 for the final time before the Atomic War.

• Saturday, 11 November, 1989:  Tyler sets the timer on the cryoberth for November of 1991, and then enters cryostasis.

   

the view to the southeast from Scorpion Hill in 1989

• Saturday, 18 November, 1989:  the Atomic War begins.

The Atomic War

     Luke Air Force Base received a couple of nuclear strikes; six nuclear weapons detonated on the ground or in the skies over Phoenix, setting the city ablaze. For whatever reason, the warheads presumably aimed at the Palo Verde reactors never arrived.

     Four nuclear weapons were detonated within 20 miles of JEEP 20, including a surface burst at the Scottsdale Airport. Intense fallout from the blast at Williams AFB was the primary source of radioactive contamination at the JEEP site.

The 22nd Century

Day 1

      Tyler awakens, hungry, thirsty and cramping. He opened his berth -- a wave of hot air rolled over his body.

Conditions Inside JEEP 20

     The compartment with the cryoberth was very dry, about 115 degrees F; the concrete, doors, and everything were all equally hot. The berthing compartment was very dirty -- the steel drums of water had rusted open long ago, causing cardboard to quickly fall apart, and cans to rust -- which in turn released more wet material to cause more rust. The floor had about an inch of rotten cardboard, dust, rotten food, etc. as a crusty, gritty layer.

     Fortunately, most of the electric light bulbs still worked (a couple went 'pop' and died).

     There were two dead bodies in the bunks, long ago dried into mummification. One was an older man with thinning hair, wearing pyjamas; a pair of heavy-framed spectacles were lying near the head. The other corpse was a man in his early 30s, wearing dress pants and shirt (his coat and tie were draped over a chair); his wallet identified him as Frederick D. North, a Secret Service agent. There was a stainless-steel S&W Model 66 revolver with a 2.5" barrel, with a holster and ammo pouch, 24 rounds of .357 Magnum hollow-point ammunition, a Secret service badge and ID card, folding knife, handcuff keys, Mini-Maglight, car keys, non-working wristwatch, etc.

The Letter

     On the table, next to an empty bottle of sleeping-bills and an empty liquor bottle, is a handwritten note.

     Everything in the bunker had been affected by months or even a few years years of extreme heat and moisture -- even stainless steel items were a bit rusty; and some seals had failed -- the Evian bottles and Silva compasses were only partially full, for example. He drank some of the water anyway, despite it being hot and plastic-tasting. The water taps in the kitchen yielded warm, rusty water for a few minutes, but then ran reasonably clear (and cooler than the bunker). None of the batteries were working, so he couldn't check his gieger counter.

     The air vents were open, but no air was coming through:  the filters were solid with fine dust and grit. Tyler pulled them down, and dumped the dust into the staircase end of the vault. Very quickly, that space became his "dump", as he began shoveling and brooming up debris from the floor of the berthing and kitchen space.

     The main vault door hydraulics had leaked all the fluid out of the pistons, and the hydraulic pump was non-working; he would have to open the emergency escape shaft.

     Once he'd cleaned up the bunker, he took a shower in tepid water, and re-hydrated a LRP ration (shelf life claimed to be 33 years). The food tasted a bit "off" but didn't make him sick. He stood under the air vent, which was bringing in some cool air, despite not having a fan. He wrapped up the two bodies in blankets and their mattresses, and placed them together in the cryoberth, and closed the lid.

     He investigated his storage tubs -- they smelled of Irish Spring soap, shampoo, etc.

The CHIPP Vault

     Using his folding entrenching tool, he pried the padlock off of the CHIPP vault door, and looked inside.

CHIPP stands for Cultural Heritage Imperative Preservation Program.

      Inside he found a hundred or carefully-sealed wide, flat fiberglass cases, each about 1.5 meters long and 0.9 meters wide, and 10 cm thick (sort of like big map cases); each weighs about 5 kg. They have stickers with GSA property numbers and bar codes, storage dates (September 1989), KEEP COOL AND DRY, FRAGILE and HANDLE WITH CARE signs.

     Inside the cases are 55 historic flags:  national flags, some naval Union Jacks, boat flags, a Coast Guard flag, a couple of President's flags, Admiral's flags, military regimental colors, etc.; all of them are from before 1950 (so none have 50 stars). Each box has a piece of paper inside, with information about the flag. All of them are from notable locations, vessels or events (they're not just "example of the flag from 1882"). Only dozen or so of the flags are from before 1890, and none of them are the really famous ones on display in big museums. Probably 30 of them are 38 star national ensigns from the period 1912-1959, mostly Navy flags of various sizes from WW2. Some flags:

• the U.S. flag raised over Fort Santiago, Manila in 1898

• the U.S. battle flag, and Dewey's admiral's flag, both flown by the U.S.S. Olympia at the battle of Manila Bay in 1898

• a U.S. flag recovered from the U.S.S. Maine, after her sinking in Havana Harbor

• a number of naval flags flown by notable vessels, or in notable battles, during WW2. The largest of these is the flag flown by the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay during the Japanese surrender:  20 feet at the hoist, 38 feet along the fly. 

      These were not a lot of practical use to Tyler.

      Looking at the cryoberth to set his watch, he noticed that it displayed the date as being 2005.

      Feeling pretty weak, he spent a while looking over his supplies, filling empty soda bottles with tap water, and eventually taking a nap.

Opening the Hatch

     After a couple of hours of sleep, Tyler pulled the lever to dump all the gravel ballast from the escape trunk; it rattled down the shaft with a thunderous sound into the empty space below floor level. He opened the door into the shaft, and a bit of dust drifted in. Climbing the ladder, with a hand-operated flashlight, was a bit of a chore; at the top, he was able to pry open the square steel hatch covering the shaft.

     A few rocks, and a fair amount of dry dirt and sand, fell down on his head and shoulders. Outside, it was dark and quiet; he could see stars in the sky. No sound of cars, or civilization; no street lights or house lights ... very disturbing.

     Tyler left the escape hatch propped open, to ventilate and cool the bunker (though the concrete walls would remain warm for months, probably).

Day 2

      Tyler woke to see a bit of reflected light coming down the escape trunk.

MORE TO COME

Las Hermanas Rey

     The sisters Jane Rey and Maria Rey ...

     Their trade goods include:

• Eyeball:  an Ancient spectacle frame, with a metal rod holding a small cup. A ball is attached to the cup with a string; by jerking your head around, you attempt to put the ball in the cup! Hours of neck-flicking fun! 
  

• Pinball:  small hand-held ball game; you shoot metal BBs around obstacles to land them in scoring locations.  
  

• Profitable Greyhound Handicapping - Volume II:   hosted by Gordon Waite, editor of Racing Greyhounds magazine. This VHS tape is packed with revolutionary betting strategies that will give you an edge at the track. Included are exclusive track-specific tips we have developed to help you catch more profitable winners. We examine most North American greyhound tracks and reveal hidden racing information. This video takes you beyond the basics of handicapping to give you an advantage over the other players. Gordon Waite will show you the inside information he's discovered after twenty years of research and analysis. This video will give you techniques that you can use at your track every day.