100 Futures: Tales of Possibility

.10

2016

I didn't care why the VoltsVagon was so cheap, I would have taken a model T if it had a stereo system and good gas mileage. Just so happens that I knew the Germans made impressive machinery. My favorite subject in school was history, and more specifically WWII. A movie about tank commanders came out and of course, even though it showed pain, misery, death and destruction, all I saw was the firepower, and how the German tanks, though outnumbered, were superior in performance.  Also I wanted a car and I didn't much care that they lied about emissions.  They were cheap and I needed wheels.  I put more emissions in the air that I should have because I pushed that German engineering to the limits. Since I really couldn't get a good job and I didn't want to pay to go to school I decided to join up.  Thought I would see the world, earn a little scratch, and get the G.I. Bill.  When I went to the recruiter and told him I wanted to be a tanker, he thought I meant a fuel man.  He was all kinds of happy.  When I cleared it up he was not so helpful, but I grew up near Fort Carson and I knew there were tank jobs to be had.  He tried to convince me that being a member of a tank crew was foolish cause tanks were so rarely used anymore.  I told him it was the only job I was willing to sign up for and he let me walk.  He called me back a few days later and told me that he had somehow found me an opening.  Basic was not that bad.  I got to shoot and throw grenades.  Except for all the yelling I loved it actually.  Playing soldier was funner in real life than in the video games.  On duty as part of tank crew we got to roll around and fire shells like they were going out of style.  My dad drove my voltsvagon to me and I drove around and always put gravy on my grub.  Then the war started. 

2020

I was part of the 4th Infantry Division, 3rd Armored Brigade, or the "Iron horse", and we were deployed when the Russian's launch their full invasion of the Ukraine. I was ready, or so I thought.  The only problem was that the tank had become the cavalry of World War I.  Our vehicles were large juicy targets for the drones and missile strikes.  Our Anti-projectle Systems, APS, worked really well.  Lazers and debris scatter shields did well, but the number of drones they deployed just overwhelmed our systems and we spent most of our time trying not to get hit.  They introduced the micro drone cloud cover (MDCC) system which meant we could finally concentrate on power projection, but by then it was clear that drones were in themselves the equipment that should be fighting the war.  The Chinese were suppling most of Russia's drones, but this just prompted Japan to go into action. They reinterpreted their constitution to include protecting its allies, but really they were getting ready for China to turn their attention east toward them and they knew they did not have the population to compete, but they could put their machines to the test. This opened up the military industrial complex in Japan, and boy did they let their refined warrior culture paint their military weaponry. Their drones were so fast and sleek, and their Matsuyi Missles could take out even the best tanks. The US systems were technically more sophisticated, connected to a more complex and fuller spectrum observation system, but actively the Japanese produced the drones we wanted on our side.   The battle for Ukraine was a lot like Vietnam where neither side could really put their full might in to the fight lest they spark the nuclear fuse.  So, like so many of my friends didn't, all I was hoping to do was survive. 

2028

For a tanker, or even a cavalry man the strategy of flying these beautiful machine creatures in swarms to be decimated by anti drone ground systems, was heretical. Doing it went against all our training and instincts. A tragic waste like the human wave tactics of WWI. But the generals and production chiefs assured the president that the tactics were sound, and President Starklee still a teacher at heart, explained to the country that the drones survived and accomplished their mission in the same way mice or rabbits did, through sheer numbers. The death rate of mice is staggeringly high, but they reproduce even faster. It's a strategy for life, and as my one quarter Irish father would have said, "If its good enough for jesus, its good enough for you." So the drone makers did like the Bible suggested, multiplied and prospered.  Tanks were refitted as salvage machines for raw materials from all the destroyed drones.  Instead of blasting and storming, we were seeking and scavenging.  We drove along the battle lines where mounds of destroyed drones piled like piles of bugs under a bug zapper.  We were basically combine harvesters by the time the war turned.  With the Russians swallowing up the Ukraine, the Germans got involved and were basically allied with the Japanese once again, only this time with the backing of the United States instead of its ire. This sparked the Neo-Tripartite of Russia, Iran, and China. The alliance sent teams of people from all the countries to production facilities strategically placed all over the world. The more production points created greater transportation challenges but the drone delivery fleet and all the automated transport systems, running like ants around the world, 24 hours a day 7 days a week, 365 days a year, made it possible. Most of the death took place in the early months and then people got the idea and moved either into the war machines protected by the anti-drone systems or away to the countryside. Soon enough I was moved out of the vehicle onto the sidelines with a remote control, and then only in case of an emergency because the AI systems could operate much more effectively than I could ever hope to.  I sat around a lot.  I was sitting around waiting for the G.I. Bill to register to my account.