MostGloriousLeader

The Vigil OTH Network detected the unusually high and noticeable activity occurring around Bermuda and that was more than enough to make the American Commonwealth's military high command uneasy. The movement of ships and aircraft were also confirmed by RORSAT and surveillance trawler assets in the Atlantic finally identifying the nationality and nature of the incoming fleet. This was a threat that could not be ignored and the Commonwealth military was ordered to high alert status. The air force readied its aircraft for air to air and anti-ship combat maintaining a constant CAP over major cities and military installations. The new Commonwealth navy was ordered to remain close to home being outnumbered and outgunned by the Vostokslavian fleet. Shore based maritime patrol aircraft began surface and anti-submarine patrols to sanitize the Commonwealth's territorial waters and its EEZ. Army units and anti-ship and anti-missile batteries were mobilized and alerted for possible action. The Commonwealth's military was as prepared as it could be, ready to respond to any hostile actions.

[u][b]Social Security System Implemented![/b][/u] Today the American Commonwealth Social Security Act, a bill establishing a unified and centralized social security system in the American Commonwealth, passed a congressional vote by a fair margin and was signed into law by President Bronson shortly after. Hailed as a triumph by the Democrats and other left leaning politicians, it received considerable moderate and independent support allowing it to push through Republican opposition. Prior to the Social Security Act such programs were run at the state level and did very little to alleviate poverty due to a lack of direction and funding. The new system will replace the state run programs and provide the same benefits for all Commonwealth citizens. The social security system will be funded with the creation of a small payroll tax as well as the creation of a small capital gains tax. The new Social Security Administration will be headquartered in Woodlawn, Maryland. Republican leader and tanning enthusiast John Boehner has stated that his party remains opposed to the law and will make an effort to see it repealed. While the act initially contained a provision for Universal Healthcare it was shelved due to Republican opposition but many left leaning politicians have given optimistic outlooks on passing such an act if they were to gain a majority in the upcoming congressional elections.

On receiving notice of this summit President Bronson decided to fly down himself to attend it. Many in Congress had been pushing him to leave the organization as it had been completely ineffective in achieving its goals but Bronson felt the NADU still held some promise. It was a short flight down to Raleigh from D.C. and he arrived at the meeting pretty quickly after landing and took his seat where he awaited his turn to speak. After the last speaker finished President Bronson stood up and spoke. "I'd like to thank you for allowing me to speak here today. As everyone ahead of me has said the NADU as an organization needs to rethink its goals and its policies. I definitely believe that member nations need to improve their relations with each other for this organization to be effective. We saw with the West Virginia debacle a nation that was part of the NADU suspended its membership and attacked another member nation without cause. We are more than willing to engage other member nations in cultural and diplomatic exchanges. I understand that nations disagree on many policies and actions but I feel that for the collective good of our nations such things need to be put aside. I do understand that recent events have put many nations off on the mutual defense clause of the NADU. I respectfully disagree on that. Collective defense is just that, an effort from all parties to defend each other when the time comes which was something that fell apart in the West Virginia-Carolina conflict due to apathy by NADU member states". "I feel that the organization right now needs to focus on building not only inter-member relations but relations with other nations outside of the NADU as well as coming together on the issue of mutual defense. If we are able to demonstrate that we are willing to act in the defense of member nations then future conflicts are very likely to be averted. While it is my feeling that retention of the mutual defense clause is desirable and more beneficial for the NADU it is not conditional for our continued membership and we are supportive of any other measures proposed to improve the organization". "We do vote in favor of membership for Cascadia and we will abstain on the vote to relocate the NADU headquarters to Washington D.C. If that is the decision we will be more than happy to accommodate it but it is my opinion that the location of NADU headquarters is a minor issue compared to what we have on our plates at the moment. Thank you for your time". With that Bronson finished and sat down.

After numerous delays and budget overruns the American Commonwealth's naval construction program has finally begun to produce results. Three Cumberland class corvettes (ACNS Cumberland, ACNS Erie, ACNS York) and two Ticonderoga class cruisers (ACNS Ticonderoga, ACNS Yorktown) were completed and commissioned in an elaborate ceremony at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard marking the true birth of the Commonwealth's navy. All ships will be conducting shakedown cruises in the Atlantic over the next two weeks. In addition to this one squadron of six Pegasus II class Hydrofoil attack boats was constructed and transferred to the Erie Naval Station in Erie, Pennsylvania.

[quote][u][b]DIPLOMATIC RESPONSE[/b][/u] The American Commonwealth has considered the offer given by the new government of the Iron Coast and must politely decline. We appreciate your concerns over our lack of naval assets but we feel that it is not in our nation's best interests to outsource our nation's defense to a nation that has just recently established itself. Rest assured our naval defense capabilities are adequate for existing threats and we are capable of using non-naval assets to defend our coasts. We would however, like to initiate further diplomatic discussions with the Iron Coast, being our new New England neighbors, about the possibility of further cooperation between our nations. We extend an offer to discuss things either in your nation or ours about matters of mutual interest. We look forward to your response. [i]American Commonwealth Department of State [/i][/quote] The true meaning of the message received from the Iron Coast was not lost on Commonwealth analysts or the military. Monitoring of the naval and air activities of New England was stepped up and enhanced with the deployment of several AWACS and JSTARs aircraft to bolster monitoring by the Vigil OTH Radar network. Aircraft were alerted for possible activity and the navy's missile patrol craft were ready to sortie. OOC: My internet's been pretty jacked up for a bit and it seems to have gotten worse today. I got a tech guy coming tomorrow but my internet usage window is more or less random at this point. Also, what does this mean for your Pittsburgh city state thing seeing as you now have a new nation? Hopefully I can start getting to be more active when I get this junk fixed tomorrow.

Commonwealth Air Force One was designed and built just like the renowned Air Force when from the days of the United States and was used for the exact purpose. The heavily modified 747 had one purpose, to transport the President of the American Commonwealth to any necessary destination safely and in comfort. President Bronson was in his suite near the front of the aircraft going over some paperwork as he was returning from a quick trip from Pennsylvania visiting a senator to secure support for an important bill. The rear of the aircraft contained the passenger deck which had restricted access to the rest of the plane. Below this was the cargo deck which contained the luggage of the passengers as well as numerous miscellaneous items. In addition to the luggage there were several large steel crates which were unmarked last minute additions. Secret Service Agent Frank Dobson was the newest, and youngest at 26, agent assigned to the presidential detail. As the newbie his patrol rounds on the aircraft were in the most boring and least desirable areas, the cargo hold being one of them. Not like there's gonna be much to patrol for he thought to himself. As he rounded the corner he stopped as he heard a rustling noise coming from one of the crates. He slowly approached it thinking this might be a prank by the other agents on the new guy. Suddenly the box began to jerk around and it seemed like something was inside the container. Agent Dobson raised his mike about to report this in when he heard footsteps behind him. That was the last thing he heard as the round of a silenced 9mm pistol entered the back of his head and he slumped forward dead on the floor. "Sorry kid, nothing personal" said Secret Service Agent Walter Peters as he put away his weapon and approached the crate. Too bad, he liked the guy too, but his gambling debts weren't gonna pay themselves, nor would his ex who took pretty much everything else with her. He entered an access code in a hidden panel on the container and one of the sides opened. Four men in full tactical gear and weapons stumbled out of the container. "Goddammit you idiots you could have blown the whole op" Peters said angrily as the men collected themselves. Suddenly he heard his earpiece start talking "Agent Dobson check in, repeat Dobson check in. You keyed your mike but didn't follow up. What's your status over?" "Ok you guys get this started in five minutes, I'm headed back up to run interference on this". As Peters left the four men went to the other containers and opened them as well. A total of 16 heavily armed mercenaries was assembled in the cargo bay ready to begin their mission. Upstairs Agent Peters was in the security control station explaining that Dobson's mike broke and that he'd take a replacement down to him. As the tech guy left to grab a new mike set Peters reached into a nearby cupboard and opened a small briefcase. It contained a small bomb and he was supposed to plant it in the security station to kill as many agents as possible in preparation for the upcoming assault. He hesitated, he felt a little bad about killing Dobson and there were men here he had known for years. Dobson may have been easier since Peters didn't really know him that well, these men were his friends. He knew their families. No, if those idiots down there were as macho as they always bragged they were they wouldn't need this. He deactivated it and put it back planning to collect it later. He'd just tell them it failed to work or something. Down below the 16 assassins had been waiting for 5 minutes. "Maybe he ratted us out?" one suggested. "If he'd have done that we'd be swarmed by security. He may not have been able to accomplish the task. Either way we move now. Let's Go" said the leader of the group.

The American Commonwealth officially recognizes the Republic of Chicago and wishes your new nation well in its endeavors. Commonwealth troops serving as peacekeepers in Republic of Chicago territory will be withdrawn to the Commonwealth protectorates in Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio.

The American Commonwealth was considering withdrawing from this organization but we feel it is perhaps more prudent to try salvage something out of the blatant failures of the NADU. We are willing to attend this meeting before making a final decision on the matter. The withdrawal of some of the larger nations does not put us off from staying but we do want to see nations that are stable and willing to be a part of something greater than quarreling over petty differences. We offer the use of Washington D.C. as a location for this meeting although it is not overly important to us.

I voted yes since I never really liked how you have more or less a 1:1 ratio for every ship, I've never seen a navy with five carriers and five destroyers. Obviously most navies have more screens than capital ships and I enjoy the realism more even though I don't have a navy and probably won't get one for a while. I also feel that the major powers with large navies always get together and roll smaller nations so adding more ships doesn't really do anything other than add to more overkill, kind of like shooting a guy in the head five times after you've already shot him dead once. At the very least I hope with more ships I'll see more naval casualties as most of the naval battles I've seen are beyond idiotic involving hundreds of anti-ship missiles and only losing a couple lower tier ships since most people don't want to lose their precious carriers and battleships which is honestly the biggest target out there. In all honesty I don't care either way if this passes or not but whatever.

[u][b]Diplomatic Message to West Virginian Government[/b][/u] We are glad that the conflict between West Virginia and the the RUC has been settled but we ourselves have issues with your actions during this conflict. Mainly the extreme violation of sovereign American Commonwealth air space in order to launch these attacks on the RUC in violation of the Friendship and Cooperation Act in place between our nations. Initially we held off on interception due to it's obvious course away from the heart of the Commonwealth and the fact that there may have been urgent circumstances on your end. We now see absolutely no reason for violating our airspace in such a flagrant manner and we demand an explanation for the actions of West Virginia as they are not the actions of a friendly or even neutral nation. Under normal circumstances such actions would constitute an act of war but we feel it would be best to allow your government to explain its actions. We expect a response on this matter and if a face to face talk is desired on your part we would be willing to facilitate this. [i]-American Commonwealth Department of State[/i]

Ah $%&@. I'm really sorry about the inactivity. I know I said I was going to be posting around Friday night or so but I had to go to the emergency room for what appears to be a stomach flu. Then when I finally got home and start feeling better I'm conscripted to go help my cousin move out from college since family = free labor. I just got back late last night. Every time I leave it seems something happens or something. Again, sorry about this and any problems my absence might have caused.

[quote name='Kevin Kingswell' timestamp='1339027509' post='2978479'] As I mentioned above give us specifications for these prototypes and I would be fine with people using them. However, one thing I want to point out is that the armaments that go with these prototypes would have to match up. For example Aiden is using the Blackbird as a fighter by detailing that it has three air to aair missiles in an internal launch bay. Maybe this is possible maybe it isn't and that is what sometimes bothers me though not in a way that would make me demand he change it. After all as long as something isn't a gamebreaker then a few concessions can be allowed I feel. [/quote] This is one thing I kind of had a question on. I can accept Aiden using the Blackbird fighter that he has because it was actually attempted (bearing prototypes and resulting in an active duty aircraft based on the design, the SR-71). The same with him using his XB-70 Valkyrie. I feel the gray area is stuff that hasn't been really developed for whatever reason. An example is Aiden is using the F-108 fighter as an aircraft. While the aircraft has stats available for it there was never a working prototype created that I've heard of and I doubt many aircraft have performed exactly as their initial stated abilities. I honestly have no real problems with him using it but I do want to know how stuff like this factors into what you can and can't have. I also have a question as to the particular variants of equipment. Are we supposed to use certain versions of equipment when they specifically came online or would having the base equipment suffice for having everyhing? Example: The M1 Abrams was introduced around 1980, the M1A2 variant came about mid 90s I think. Would you be able to use the M1A2 only when you get to the mid 90's tech level or would you have it at the 1980s tech level?

Granite said that he'd be landing in waves so I don't feel that's really the issue, especially seeing as he doesn't have to worry about an Normandy style static defense system. The largest troop ships that I've ever seen are some WWII era converted cruise liners with the ability to carry about 10,000 troops apiece. The problem is that those troop ships had no amphibious capabilities of their own, being used for ferrying troops across the Atlantic plus I don't know too many nations with an excess of 50 large ocean liners ready to be converted. Not too many modern ships are capable of supporting landing craft other than purpose made amphibious assault ships and those usually have a capacity of less than 2000 troops. Granted you could use Normandy style amphibious ships which would be capable of transporting troops to shore with landing craft (I'm assuming with a modernized vessel and LC) but even those were still under 2000 troops for the largest. Now one could use LST style ships to directly beach onto shore and offload troops and equipment but they had an even smaller capacity. Most modern cargo ships are designed to be offloaded quickly (Roll on/Roll off) in port but lack the means to conduct offloading out from sea. During the Normandy invasion they landed over 100,000 troops in one day using 4000 landing ships. The problem is that includes the smaller landing craft as well. I don't think anyone's going to want to be in a LCU or LCAC traveling all the way from New England through the open sea to the Carolinas. D-Day took place cross channel which meant that all of their troops and supplies had to move a considerably shorter distance as well which made the process quicker. I'm not arguing that granite can't mount an invasion because he certainly has the ability to. The main issues are that his troops (I'm going off the 500,000 figure including support stuff as well) are probably going to take longer than a week to fully get all of his troops ashore. There is also going to be the issue of his transports having to go back and forth between home and NC for more troops because I don't think there's ever been an amphibious force of 500,000 troops at sea before. This lengthens the process of invasion and makes subsequent reinforcements vulnerable as his navy needs to be able to cover both the beach head and the incoming ships with troops and supplies. On the other hand granite can take the appropriate actions to speed up the process. He won't have to worry about landing craft having to shuttle troops to the beach. Instead he can move his transport ships directly into harbor to offload quickly, go home and come back again. If he can use his initial assault force to secure a good port the process can be done quicker. He probably doesn't have to contend with an Atlantic wall style defense but he will have to worry about Isaac's troops being mobilized to push him back into the sea along with air attacks against both his troops and his ships. Sorry for the giant wall of text and I must say that this is just my opinion on the matter and that I am not attacking granite personally in anyway and I apologize if it seems that way. This is something I feel should be considered for all the massive teleport invasions that have occurred. I don't want to seem like the !@#$% who overly complicates things but this process doesn't have to be too complicated. You can have a reasonable amount of transports for your force but understand it will take time to make this stuff happen. Again, I don't think you should be expected to rp out how every little crate of supplies and every soldier gets ashore but at least provide a reasonable rp on how it generally falls together. I know the tech and organization of your military is probably the more fun and entertaining part but you can't just throw out logistics with lol transporting (which is quite possibly more important than the others).

Honestly I feel that every nation should be able to rp stuff that exists in RL regardless of their tech level and any extra tech they have could count towards future junk. But since we're stuck on the tech scale here I voted for the higher option just to simplify things. I feel that iKrolm has the most realistic suggestion but honestly that leads to messes in verifying what existed when and it just gets complicated.

Remember that at Normandy the allies prefabricated two artificial harbors to sustain allied forces until they captured a port city (which was a high priority). Honestly, the whole instant invasion is something that's idiotic in my opinion. An amphibious invasion is among the most difficult, and risky military actions that exist. To dumb it down to instant transportation is insulting in my mind. I don't expect someone to offload every single bullet, tank and soldier. I do expect at least an initial explanation on how and where the supplies and equipment are coming ashore in adequate amounts. Beyond that the link is established and I could care less about further rp on that unless your opponent purposely begins attacking your supply lines. That's just my opinion though.

The only problem with the movement of such a large amount of troops is that granite's going to need good port facilities to get those troops and supplies offloaded in a timely manner, they can't just teleport from the ships to shore. He could use his amphibs to try shuttle his whole force onto the beach but that's going to take a long time, especially since the generic transports aren't designed to accommodate helicopters or smaller amphibious craft for that purpose.

We'll see after the war.

For whatever reason that's always kind of appealed to me.

Ok, I didn't realize that west virginia wanted pretty much all of the former Midwest Republic (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota). If that's the case I'm contesting it as I wasn't really informed as to this request and the fact that my troops are more or less the only ones administrating that area other than jed that I know of (I'm pretty sure texas left). It may be labeled the American Protectorate but since my guys are on the ground I'm pretty sure I have to clear off on claims.

Lol, I suppose explosions are awesome. Also, Aiden. To clarify on the matter of your infiltrator I just want to speed that along for a concrete reason for war. Honestly the overt declaration of war on Isaac, violation of my airspace and general suspicion of the incident that sparked this whole thing should suffice. However, seeing as I'm RP'ing a democracy a solid and concrete piece of evidence is always a plus and I kind of want to speed up something that happened at the beginning and wrap it up. Maybe after this war I'll try out a dictatorship or something.

[quote name='graniteknight' timestamp='1338954958' post='2978083'] As I said when I DoW'd y'all are using modern stuff and according to Cent who was GM when I DoE'd as Nutmeg he said I had to use modern stuff if I had to go to war which for me right now holds true- I am using modern equipment. [/quote] Lol, ok just checking. I'd kind of feel a bit wasteful using a anti-ship missile on a WWI destroyer . I didn't even know you could be forced to upgrade your tech seeing as the opposite is usually the problem but whatever. Might have made for a very interesting conflict. Would you mind just outlining your equipment being used then so we can have a reference of what we're dealing with?

Hey granite, I was trying to find what types of equipment you're using and found it in your newspaper thing. I'm kind of confused as to what you're currently fighting with because I saw the strangest amalgamation of WWII and inter-war equipment, most of it seeming to be inter-war. You rp'ed your aircraft as being inter-war fighters, a dreadnaught based navy and an army using WWII equipment. Are you using that stuff or modern stuff cause you don't list any modern equipment anywhere until this war started. Also, on the F-22 issue I feel that Isaac should probably draw back on his claims there. Personally I've felt that the date of operational introduction should be the mark for what equipment you can use since that is the complete and final product and you'll avoid the mess with nitpicking particular parts of technology which, lets face it, is just a hassle to verify some components and systems.

Ok, kind of up to date with what's going on. Hey Ford, would you mind if I just RP the capture and interrogation of your sleeper agent or do you want me to use spyrolls for that? Sorry about the tardiness but give me a bit to try manage this from my end.

OOC: Oh jesus, wtf happened in the short time I've been off? Please wait up a bit until I can have a bit of time to respond tomorrow.

I'm going to be contesting Ford's claims to ohio, illinois and indiana due to the fact that I feel he's at the limit for his in-game land and due to the current conflict. Honestly its more for the first but obviously with the conflict going on I'm not going to be willing (IC) to hand over land to an enemy.