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the symbol used on TP uniforms and equipment

Origin

     James Belef Rabnell (b. 1917, d. 1989) had obtained a degree in aeronautical engineering at Los Angeles City College in 1939; he married his wife Jean in 1941. He joined the Army Air Corps just after the Pearl Harbor attack, and spent the war as an engineering officer. After the war, he left the Army, and began working for the Lockheed Corporation in 1946. Much of his career was spent analyzing new inventions, and making recommendations for development and marketing.

     He and his wife had two daughter, Eleanor (b. 1942) and Amy (b. 1947). Rabnell served as a speaker and Bible teacher at various Southern California non-denominational evangelical churches from 1969 onwards. He was ordained to the ministry in 1976.

     In the 1970s he became aware of the Morrow Project. While never a member of the Project, and not cleared to know anything officially, some of the ways, means and goals gradually came to his attention. The Project was not, however, central to his beliefs about the future -- just an item of evidence.

     Rabnell retired in 1977 as a senior manufacturing engineer at the Burbank "Skunk Works" plant, and moved himself, along with his wife, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren to a ranch near Amarillo, Texas. He devoted himself to his church and to studying the coming End Times, producing radio broadcasts and cable television programs, and eventually a book:  "The End of Planet Earth" (it predicted the apocalypse would happen in 1989). He realized that many people in America were planning to survive a nuclear war before the end of the millennium.

     Unlike many charismatic preachers, Pastor Rabnell had a solid technical background, and many connections in the aerospace industry. His book had sold 6 million copies by 1982.

     He began planning for a way for his family and his view of American Christianity to survive the Tribulation Times (as he called the period after the Atomic War).

Contacts and Links

     Various individuals within corporations (including members of the Council of Tomorrow) and the American government were sympathetic to Pastor Rabnell. These included some senior military officers and a couple of NASA administrators.

     The Capsheaf movement had many links to Zionist and ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups in Israel.

Beliefs

     The Capsheaf Church is a branch of post-tribulational dispensational non-denominational evangelicals. They had a general feeling that the seven years of tribulation would start at the time of the Atomic War. In their view, the Morrow Project's plan to restore peace and stability by uniting the world's nations ("Is that a thing we do?") marks Bruce Morrow as the Antichrist, or a tool of the Antichrist. Their incomplete knowledge about the Morrow Project has led them to some interesting interpretations of Morrow symbols, goals, and organization.

     A complicated timeline of predictions sort-of matched some actual post-Atomic War events -- heavy fallout that blanketed the Middle East, low casualties in Israel from the direct attacks in the Atomic War, the Yellowstone volcanic eruption (as the "Wrath of the Lamb" earthquake), the biowarfare plagues and the nuclear winter. Other events, such as a temporary treaty between Bruce Morrow and Israel, and a symbolic pattern formed by Morrow depots, boltholes and caches, seem hard to understand for non-believers ("But of course you would deny that!"). The establishment of post-War communications networks by the Morrow Project, and any currency they might issue, can also be made to fit into the predictions. The impact of a 1 kilometer diameter comet in February of 2149 will be taken to be the Wormwood Trumpet.

... the Earth was destined to be destroyed or “purified” by nuclear war; there is nothing good Christians could (or should) do about this inevitable prophecy ...

     In general, the destruction of the Morrow Project by Israel (with the help of the Tau Project and various saints, etc.) is one of the last things that must happen before the Second Coming. The Jews are considered "God's chosen people", with an eternal covenant with the Lord; they are expected to return to a monarchy.

The Morrow Project will be asked, "Have you contacted Israel yet? Or formed an alliance with them?

There's only a decade or so left, you know, before the Wormwood Trumpet."

     For a while, their leaders believed that the current date was in the very early 21st Century (due to the Windows clock error).

     The symbology of the Tau Project is biblical:

     The tau-on-the-forehead mark also represented the hope for an end to the evil age and the restoration of Zion.

     The Capsheaf Church uses the Schofield Reference Bible as their usual text; this is the King James Bible with commentary and cross-referencing on every page.

Views of Other Groups

     The spread of godless world communism was a terrible offense against the Lord.

     Various other groups were seen as undermining Christianity and America:  the Catholic Church, the Trilateral Commission, the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, the mass media, many large philanthropic foundations, the UN, most major universities ...

     The Illuminati are an evil, satanically-inspired centuries-old conspiracy. The Jews have a sort of in-between status.

     Some forces for good:  the John Birch Society, the Moral Majority movement, and the Unification Church.

Organization

     Each of the Redoubts is led by a Pastor; the residents form a Capsheaf congregation James Rabnell was "Senior Pastor". A Redoubt has about 500 persons in twenty-five 20-person cryoberths; 400 of the persons are wives and children.

Redoubts

     The Tau Project constructed six underground bunkers to withstand the Atomic War. Five of them were in the mountainous parts of the western United States; one was in Kentucky.

• the Terminus Redoubt:   completed 1985.
  

• the Damocles Redoubt:  completed 1985.

• the Recovery Redoubt:  completed 1985.
  

• the Haven Redoubt:  completed 1984.
  

• the Sanctuary Redoubt:  completed 1984.
  

• the Stronghold Redoubt, in the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky (just south of the park boundaries, the entrance is at 37° 07' 57.0" N, 86° 07' 48.6" W). Pastor Marshall; completed 1985.
  

   

     The bunkers are 40 meters in diameter and 7 levels deep, with a central open core and five radial passages on most levels; the top level is about 50 meters below the surface.

An example of a Tau Project bunker (in this case, the Stronghold bunker).

     These were built in a hurry, beginning in 1980; they each have a fusion reactor powering their systems.

Logistics

     Huge diesel fuel tanks were built into the redoubt; but despite anti-oxidants, fuel stabilizers, and high sulfur levels, etc. the fuel went bad within 20 years.

Habitation

     Supplies for tent housing for 500 people:  porta-potties, military kitchens, cots, medical supplies, water tank on stilts, refrigerators, barbed wire, water testing kits, a bailey bridge, etc.

Military

     Personal arms and equipment: 

• 200 P-1 pistols (the post-WW2 version of the P.38)

• 12 Remington 870 pump shotguns

• 30 MP5A2 submachineguns

• 30 Galil ARM rifles in 5.56mm caliber

• 200 M16A1 rifles

• 12 MAG-58 machine guns (including 8 as vehicle mounted weapons)

• 40 black kevlar vests and helmets

• 200 adult gasmasks, 300 childrens' gasmasks
  

     Ammunition and spares:

• 150,000 rounds of 9mm ball

• 1440 rounds of 12 gauge magnum buckshot

• 1440 rounds of 12 gauge birdshot

• 20,000 rounds of 7.62mm NATO linked ball

• 230,000 rounds of 5.56mm NATO ball

• 8,000 rounds of 20x139mm ammo:  mixed 3 HEI-T and 2 APDS-T (can penetrate 34mm armor sloped 45 degrees at 1000 meters)

Vehicles

     A typical set of vehicles in a redoubt (local conditions will change this).

• two D7G armored bulldozers, length 7 meters
  

• five scout buggies, length 3.8 meters
  

• four Lockheed XM808 Twister armored patrol vehicles, length 5.65 meters
  

• twelve D350D articulated off-road trucks (for cargo, 6m ISO containers, water and fuel), length 10 meters

• two diesel-powered forklifts

• four multifuel M35 cargo trucks with Caterpillar engines, 6.7 meters long
  

• eighteen multifuel Caterpillar-engined M35 trucks fitted with bus bodies, 8 meters long
  

• an electrical-drive truck, to carry the fusion reactor

• four M345 flatbed trailers, 10 ton capacity, to be towed by military pintles 

• four M586 insulated water-carrying semi-trailers, 7500 liter capacity; includes a small heater. One axle, 4 tires + 1 spare, all 9x20.

• one M353 semi-trailer, for the generator; empty 1.2 tons, cross country load 3.2 tons, length 4.76 meters, tires 7.5x20
  

• one M447C electrical shop semi-trailer. Empty weight 7 tons, fully loaded weight 10.5 tons, length 8.4 meters, 4 wheel (8 tires + 1 spare, all 9x20), expanding sides with curtains (volume roughly doubles when expanded), air conditioned/NBC filtered.

• one M447C machine shop semi-trailer. Empty weight 7 tons, fully loaded weight 10.5 tons, length 8.4 meters, 4 wheel (8 tires + 1 spare, all 9x20), expanding sides with curtains (volume roughly doubles when expanded), air conditioned/NBC filtered.

• one water purification trailer, 2.5 tons, can purify 27 cubic meters of water per hour, includes diesel generator; along with many bags of salt and filter powder (which combine to make sodium hypochlorite). Tires 7.5x20
  

• one Laird "class 16" air-portable bridge. It can be assembled as a bridge or powered ferry, 15.2 meters long and 3.3 meters wide in either case. As a ferry, top speed is 8 kph. 7 deck boxes, 4 end ramp pieces, 4 motor-mounting turntables, float supports (when used as a ferry), jacks, etc.; can be assembled by 16 experienced men in 20 minutes (40 minutes for ferry). Weight 3.5 tons as bridge; another 1.5 tons of gear (including four 36 HP Yanmar diesel outboard motors) to assemble as ferry. The bridge can carry up to 16 tons of load. Carried on an M345 trailer.
  

• one work boat ("bridge erection boat"), aluminum hull, length 5.8 meters, weight empty 1.7 tons, length 5.9 meters, beam 2.44 meters; can carry 1360 kg of cargo, or 9 infantry soldiers. The top speed is 34 kph; inboard straight-6 diesel engine of 90 HP, with 163 liters of fuel, consumption 30 liters per hour at top power. Fitted with Kort nozzle (propeller and steering), pusher knee at the bow, searchlight, floodlight, fire extinguisher, large anchor. Includes a one-axle trailer with 9x20 tires.

• two Mk V inflatable Zodiac boats, with 70 liter fuel tank. Can carry 15 passengers or 1.5 tons of cargo, overall length 5.8 meters, width 2.4 meters, powered by a Yanmar D36 outboard diesel. Both stored on the same M345 trailer.
  

• the Yanmar D36 is an inline-3-cylinder water-cooled electric-start (with rope backup) diesel outboard, 1.1 liter displacement, 36 HP, weight 122 kg.

• the inflatable portions are very deteriorated by 2141 

• about a hundred "Darby" carts

Anachronistic Technology

• Cryogenic sleep berths. Theirs do not look the same as the Morrow berths, especially the ones that each hold 20 persons, but are built on a version of the same technology; the manufacturer is Physio-Control Corporation, in Seattle. 

• Boron fusion reactors, constructed by Varian at Palo Alto. Again, they don't look quite like the Morrow Industries versions, but are clearly the same technology. 

• The Four Particles

• The Amritam Nectar

• confers immortality

• the Tau Project only has a limited supply, which is all stored at Terminus Redoubt
  

• The Ganesh Particle

• conveys healing  -- Universal Healing Factor

• treatment for injuries (see:  Med Kit)

• The Shiva Particle

• restores that which has been destroyed

• cures many diseases, and increases healing rate from injuries (see:  Universal Antibody)

• The Vishnu Particle

• the great maintainer and preserver

• effective against most toxins and poisons (see:  Universal Antidote)

   

Current Conditions

     The redoubts were filled with very dry air. Unlike the Morrow Project boltholes, depots and bases, items stored here have deteriorated over a century and a half.

• despite anti-oxidants, fuel stabilizers, and high sulfur levels, etc. the fuel and other petrochemicals went bad within 20 years. They won't even work in multi-fuel engines now; they could be burned (smokily and messily) in a "steam" engine.

• much of their food has spoiled, either due to "natural" degradation, or failed containers

• some of their electrical and electronics have failed (partly due to rubber degradation, see below)

• the rechargeable batteries for their portable equipment isn't holding charges

• various natural rubber compounds have degraded; the vehicle tires were laid on their sides, but still show cracks and delamination. Modern car tires are still 50% natural rubber.

• other rubber products include brake pads, window seals, watertight seals, gasket seals, engine mounts, inflatable boat hulls  ...
  

• their ammunition fails to fire about half the time.

• a lot of their medicine has gone bad.