GWOT Punji Stick

GWOT - Punji Stick

We have a perimeter. I would pay hard money for infantry radar, now that George has explained to me in small words what it does. But we don't have such toys.

We have a bit of fence, a bit more barbed wire, some network cable, some barrier tape and an array of digging tools.

I am now meeting with my shift supervisors to discuss what we can do to tighten up the perimeter.

For example not at random, I had arbitrarily started with sixteen (16) guard posts as an upper limit. We now have twenty. The four extra are identified as "A" as in "14A" which is not a good thing.

-- The guards are getting exhausted. It is not uncommon to have the same guard cover four posts in a day.
-- Exhausted guards are irritable and heavily armed.
-- Badly exhausted guards (as in woken up during full alerts, day and night) do things like spontaneously fall asleep. While being shot at.
-- Hallucinating guards open fire on anything moving. Vehicles, small mammals, supervisors, each other ...

So we are re-doing the perimeter based on my observations, pre-Firecracker terrain maps and overhead photos, a handful of newly acquired optics, and some thoughtfulness about what areas can be covered by cameras.

But Sun Tzu had the problem solved long before any of us were born.

"He who defends all, defends nothing."

I need to trim the perimeter guard posts back down to eight fixed posts and four intermittent posts. Even that is a stretch given our need for guards at H5, Security Control, the infirmary, the dormitory and the motor pool. (The CLIENT has exercised their right to provide their own internal guards for H4, the Data Center and the logistics area. We are still going back and forth over the Armory, now that Legal is struggling to comprehend that Federal law considers firearms personal property and California law considers firearms real property titled only to individuals. Depending on which state law enforcement agency you ask... it's complicated.)

I've arbitrarily decided that the intermittent posts will also provide breaks for the fixed posts. I've also arbitrarily decided that two of the posts will routinely double up - the North Gate and the South Gate to be specific.

So that's six fixed posts, really. We're keeping the numbering system to reference the points. But only some of them will be staffed. The list of which posts are really staffed 24/7/365 I plan to keep a closely held secret.

But Arturo has had an idea. His idea would help dramatically with perimeter control.

Pits with spikes. As someone who dabbled once in medieval fantasy gaming, I can't help think of 1d6 per 10' fallen plus 1d4 spike damage.

Then reflect that a normal human has 1d4 HP.

The technical term in the law, however, is a boobytrap. Building one is a felony. Hurting someone with one is assault with a deadly weapon. Killing someone with one is automatically murder.

You see, a trap can't tell who it harms. Kind of like land mines.

You _don't_ want to know what California state law thinks of explosives. Start with Murder One and a lying-in-wait enhancement, which brings us into choke to death on your own lungs at San Quentin territory. In peacetime, after years to wait and think about it. Now add more enhancements.

Arturo is explaining about how to smear the bits of bamboo with human feces to guarantee that the wounds will fester.

I interrupt and end the conversation.

"No."

He looks at me. So do the rest of my supervisors.

"Bayonets are OK. Barbed wire where a child can't get at it is OK. Concertina wire high up where you have to work at it to hurt yourself, OK. Broken glass on the tops of walls, OK.

"No punji sticks. No boobytraps. No crossbows with trip wires. No. Can't defend it, can't justify it. Might hurt one of ours."

Arturo is sad but understands. He figures it was worth a try.

"We will put these into the training program. Just because we choose not to go there, does not mean others won't use such tricks on us."

Another factor, non trivial, is that we are constantly either out of or low on antibiotics. So anyone arming such a trap who slips might become not just a casualty, but a fatality.

###

The janitorial supervisor and I are having a disagreement.

"I don't see why we have to carry the shit buckets to the perimeter."

"You don't have to hand carry them. You can use a field cart. You can use shoulder-stick carry."

"Why not dig a pit and empty them there?"

"Because we don't have time for them to biodegrade. We need the stuff to break down ASAP. Sunlight will help. That's why I want to spread it out."

"In a line. On the perimeter."

"That's right. Every day or two, another fifty yards west. That way it has time to break down."

"And make sure to splash the barbed wires."

I do my best attempt to look innocent.

"There is no gambling in this establishment," I mutter.

Plausible deniability. Don't live in Apocalypse without it.