DEFCON Year One

Prologue

May 14th 2024

It was May 14th 2024 somewhere in the United States, in the town of Skokie, Illinois. In a high school were a group of teenagers wearing jeans and carrying gym bags before the group sat on a bench.

Suddenly, one of them opened the bag, revealing a camouflage uniform with his name, "Harvey", embedded over the right-side chest pocket. The other teens of the group also opened their bags to inspect its content, which also happened to be sets of camouflage uniforms. And there was a good reason to it since those teenagers were actually from the US Army National Guard, meaning they had to pack their uniform at everytime. Suddenly, one of them, a bulky and muscular blonde boy, got a text and turned to the other teens in his group.

"Folks. Got a text from higher command. They want us to be present at the staging area today at 15:00." The boy said.

"Got it. I'll have to tell the principal about it. Means we could be mobilized as part of wargames or whatnot." A girl named Madison Landon told everyone as she stood up.

The teens in the school group nodded and went for the toilets to get dressed into their US Army-issued camouflage uniforms while Madison went to the principal's office. Once there, she knocked onto the door and heard the principal telling her to come in.

"Hi, Principal Duncan. Got a text from our superiors telling us to be on base at 15:00 today. National Guard duty's calling me and the others in my group." Madison revealed.

"Then do your duty to serve your country." Principal Duncan said smiling.

Madison then went to the toilet, where she switched from her shorts and t-shirt to her camouflage uniform before changing her sandals to a pair of socks and a pair of earth-brown combat boots. The teenager was then joined by the other teens who also happened to be National Guard before heading towards her van and driving to the base.

Meanwhile, at a café in Chicago, a waiter named Josh was collecting drinks when he got a text. His boss, a fifty-year old Asian-looking man, came to him to see what was wrong.

"What's the matter, Josh? You're my best..." The boss began.

"They're calling everyone back to duty. Even the National Guard and reservists. Guess I'll stop my work here for the time being." Josh replied showing the text.

"Then fill your commitment to your country." The boss told Josh, who tapped the man's shoulder.

Josh then went for his storage cupboard and opened it, revealing a camouflage uniform with his surname, "Billings", sewn above the right chest pocket. He took it and stripped to his underwear before putting his camouflage uniform on and putting his combat boots to his feet before packing up and walking through the café for his car, which he went into, before driving towards the US Marine Reserve base.

At the same time, at UC Berkeley, a young female student named Lacy Dillon was reading a book when she suddenly got a text saying she was to report for duty at 15:00. The young student then went for the fitting room, alongside of a number of other students before one of them closed the door once Lacy and the others were inside. The American gal then ditched her sneakers, shorts and t-shirt to a US Air Force uniform, since Lacy was a member of the US Air National Guard, while others changed to either US Army, US Marine, US Space Force or US Navy camouflage uniforms. The group then all went for their car before driving to their assigned duty station.

Inside a school, a teacher named Ben Forester was in the middle of a lesson when his phone vibrated. Ben checked his phone and saw it was a text ordering every reservist, National Guard personel and active duty military personel, wherever they were, whatever the command they were assigned to and whatever their branch to report for duty. And Ben was a US Navy reservist, meaning he had to follow the order.

Turning to his students, he said, "Okay kids. Lesson's over. They're calling back every military personel, regardless who they are. Means I'll be reporting for duty since, as you all know..."

"You're a reservist, Mr. Forester. My brother got the same order seconds ago." A girl told him.

With that, Ben left the classroom and went to a fitting room, where he put his US Navy camouflage uniform on before walking to his car and driving to the US Navy Reserve base where he was to report to duty, as did many other people at the school.

But the reason behind all this mobilization was at the White House. President of the United States Joe Biden was indeed sitting in the Situation Room with all of his advisors, talking about the situation in the world. Knowing there was war in Ukraine, the Middle East and knowing that China wanted to join the alliance between Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and Belarus, President Biden and the US Joint Chief of Staff both decided, alongside State Secretary Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, to mobilize every available military personel, just in case things escalated to a global conflict. And the four men knew Russia and Iran were both adamant about starting non-stop wars to dominate the whole world and decided to trigger a DEFCON 4 level readiness for all of the US Armed Forces, regardless of the branch, assignment, command or specialty. Everyone was to be ready for war.

Hence the massive mobilization of active-duty, reserve and National Guard military personel. But the reason why was that President Biden has asked the Congress to invoke the 1916 National Defense Act in response to the aggressive actions of Russia, China and Iran against civilians around the world, among whom American civilians. Needless to say, the House of Representatives and Senate alike unanimously decided to authorize the President of the United States to mobilize every able-bodied and fit-for-service civilian for potential training. This meant the US Military would benefit from new recruits, which also meant vehicle factories and the whole US industrial complex was mobilized to fulfill the needs of the US Armed Forces, meaning that nearly half of the American mining sectors, two thirds of the American factories and most of the weapons and ammunition workshops were also mobilized as part of the National Defense Act.