Republic of West Texas (1983: Doomsday)

The Republic of West Texas is an American survivor nation based in the old southwestern United States, out of portions of western Texas and southwestern New Mexico. Area cities, led by Midland and Odessa, Texas, established a confederation in August 1984 which became an independent nation on July 4, 1985. The nation was officially isolationalist until 2009, but allowed for unofficial contacts by civilians with civilians from other nearby survivor states. The republic now claims official sovereignty over the entire area of the former state of Texas not claimed by eastern Texas, as well as southwestern New Mexico, a claim recognized by Mexico and the League of Nations. The map to the right shows the Republic's official borders as of November, 2009 relative to the borders of the old states of Texas and New Mexico in red, and the area of eastern Texas outlined in blue. West Texas's territory effectively extends east to former Waco, and also into former South Padre Island.

Mike Conaway, a Republican from Midland, is the current President of West Texas. He won election to a second term in voting held on November 3, 2009.

History

 * See main article: 

Government and politics

 * See main article: Government and Politics of West Texas

Economy
West Texas's economy is dominated by cotton, ranching and the petroleum industry. It has benefited from the government's decision to continue the low taxation policies of the old state of Texas, as well as its abundance of oil and natural gas.

The country benefitted for years from a black market that allowed goods and parts of all types to flow into the country despite the government's official policy of isolationism. The market eventually diverted into two streams: parts, food, clothing, limited consumer goods, and one involving illegal drugs and alcohol. Midland aggressively prosecuted the latter, while ignoring the former, believing that shutting down the entire black market would lead to a population revolt that ultimately would lead West Texas into ruin.

With the reopening of West Texas in 2009, the "legal" black market all but shut down as the country's markets opened to Mexico and anyone else willing to do business.

With access only to the Rio Grande River, a high priority for the government has been to establish a port on the Gulf of Mexico. West Texas and Mexico signed an agreement on December 8, 2009 to establish a port in the former Texas city of Port Isabel, just east of South Padre Island. It is intended to be used by West Texas for trade with other nations, and will begin operations by September 2010 and be fully operational by New Years Day 2011. 10,000 people, including Mexican, West Texan, eastern Texan citizens, and citizens of other Mexican and Texan allies, are to operate the port and adjacent Port Isabel.

The petroleum industry has taken advantage of the Permian Basin oil fields having not been hit on Doomsday and government policies mandating public and private sector oil conservation. As a result, the industry considers West Texas to be in a great position to be one of the leading oil exporters in the western hemisphere over the next 10 years.

In 1987, the petroleum industry took initiative to enable continued production of vehicles for its own use, and to sell to other entities in the nation and, in so doing, nearly incurred the wrath of the West Texas government.

Industry leaders privately negotiated agreements with Mexican nationals who, after Doomsday, came into legal ownership of automotive and truck manufacturing facilities in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. They managed to get the machines over the Rio Grande into Bend National Park, with the intentions of smuggling them into Odessa in order to build a new plant. Instead, they were confiscated by the government and taken to Fort Davis. The West Texas Automotive Plant was built, under strict government supervision, and nationalized by an act of Congress. It opened for business on January 2, 1989.

The government decided the plant's existence worked much more to its benefit than its demolishment would. Festering anger over Mexico's actions in the previous few years persisted, preventing proper trade between Texas and Mexico, but government leaders decided to use plant facilities for government, military and public use; the plant had the facilities to build automobiles, trucks, and buses, but only for limited use.

Now that the country has opened up to trade, entrepreneurs and oil industry leaders are in negotiations with auto manufacturers from Mexico and South America to build newer plants in the region.

Private companies are approaching other companies in the region about doing business, particularly with companies in Mexico, Dinetah, Deseret and the North American Union.

Energy companies hope to benefit from windmill technology, using it to create power it can sell to West Texans and to neighboring nations.

Midland and Odessa's economies have also benefitted from the cultural, sports and music scenes present in the two cities.

On March 4, 2010, the Texas Superhighway was ceremonially opened in Odessa. The highway would stretch along old Interstate 20 into Midland; State roads 158 and 87 into San Angelo; old state roads 67 and 84 into Waco; and eastern Texas state roads 84, 69 and 21 through Palestine, Rusk and Nacogdoches; and eastern Texas state roads 259 and 64 into Tyler. It would initially be used for economic, military and government purposes, as well as for civilian travel.

West Texas and eastern Texas also began working on developing railroad lines between the two Texases which would be intended for heavy economic and civilian use.

Military
A militia was established in the area soon after Doomsday; when it became clear that the coalition of towns would become an independent nation, steps were taken to establish an army.

The West Texas Army (WTA) is responsible for the defense of the entire nation from threats within and without. This includes monitoring the entire border, including along the Rio Grande River. The Military also defends West Texas's oil fields, which is where a large part of their funding comes from.

In 1986, mandatory service for all males 18 and over for at least two years with reserve status until age 35 was established; women were allowed to join in non-combat positions from 1986 on, and there continues to be some sentiment for allowing them to serve in combat.

The West Texas Army headquarters are located in Midland. Its main base is in Fort Stockton, and auxiliary bases are located in Fort Davis, Hobbs, Big Spring, Sonora, Van Horn, San Angelo and Waco. The San Angelo and Waco bases were established in early 2010.

When it was commissioned, the West Texas Army took responsibility for training and performance of duties associated with both the former United States Army and the Marine Corps.

The West Texas Army, making do with weapons left over from former U.S. bases and purchased from Mexico in 1984, has had its weaponry and equipment updated in the past year with assistance from Mexico and the ANZC. The standard issue firearm of the Army is the M16 assault rifle. The Army's MBT is the M60A3, which is used alongside M113 APCs.

The West Texas Air Force (WTAF), consisting of a few planes purchased from Mexico and the ANZC, is currently based out of Big Spring. The main aircraft of the WTAF is the F-5E Tiger II, purchased from Mexico, chosen for its low cost and reliability.

The West Texas Navy (WTN) exist in name only, with plans to build a force capable of defending Port Isabel as well as performing various duties along the coast of the former state of Texas.

Law enforcement
Volunteers consisting of area Texas Rangers, state patrolmen, police officers and interested civilians, were initially activated as the state's de facto police force.

Each city and town established its own police force, led by a sheriff.

The Texas Ranger Division of the Department of Public Safety is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction that has a presence in every city and town. Over the years, the Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption. They have acted as riot police and as detectives, protected the President, tracked down fugitives, and functioned as a paramilitary force for the republic.

Midland and Odessa are the only towns in which the police primarily use automobiles, and even then, many officers either patrol their beats on foot or by bicycle or horseback. In the smaller towns, police make extensive use of horseback, with more limited use of automobiles, to get around.

Men and women serve at all levels of law enforcement.

International relations
As of October 2009, West Texas is not a member of the League of Nations. It has applied for full membership.

West Texas allowed for civilian contact with "friendly outsiders" even during its long-standing policy of official isolation, which helped to expedite the growth of the so-called black market. While law enforcement actively prosecuted illegal drug and alcohol trade, it looked the other way in regards to goods and medicines being traded on the black market.

The policy has also been credited with helping prevent relations with Dinetah from going badly. It is said that the Dinetah leaders understood the government's policy was not that of the people, especially in the last decade.

West Texas currently has formal relations with Mexico; the eastern Republic of Texas; Dinetah; Deseret; the NAU; Superior; Canada; Vermont; the Municipal States of the Pacific; the ANZC; Cuba; Puerto Rico; the East Caribbean Federation; the Dominican Republic; Lincoln; and Aroostook. Officials anticipate establishing formal relations with other European, Asian, Oceanic, North and Central American countries and the members of the South American Confederation by 2011 (a few Congressmen, backed by influential West Texas Baptist pastors, are pushing for formal ties with Israel).

West Texas has rejected two invitations to join the NAU, but influential business leaders continue to press Conaway and Senate and House leaders to reconsider. The NAU also is said to have support by several key Senators and Representatives.

Formal relations were established with the eastern Republic of Texas in November, with West Texas committing to providing aid in a variety of areas and bring the region to 21st century standards.

Talk regarding resuming diplomatic relations between West Texas and Mexico was raised within the republic and by outside observers as early as 1984, and especially in the past decade. During Conaway's brief discussion with Vermont President Jim Douglas, Douglas volunteered his country as a neutral site if needed or desired for talks between West Texas and Mexico. Reports are that such negotiations have been going on between the two countries on a variety of levels as far back as February 2009. They were formalized in a quiet ceremony Dec. 9 in Mexica. The leaders of the two countries will meet for a summit in Dinetah in early 2010.

One leader in the negotiations was said to be George W. Bush, the son of the last American President, George H.W. Bush, who lived in Midland as a child and was in the area when Doomsday occurred (George W. Bush fled the region with his family into the Mexican state of Coahuila, and from there to Mexico City).

A group of older U.S. military veterans, some of whom served in the West Texas army in the '80s and '90s, learned of the existence of the Committee to Restore the United States of America and that George H.W. Bush was alive and well and living in Australia.

In August, 2009, without consulting Conaway nor any other government official or agency, the veterans asked NAU officials during their visit to contact Bush, his son George W. Bush (who lived for a time in Midland) and the CRUSA, and ask them to visit the Republic. West Texas will only allow such a request on its own initiative.

The CRUSA continues to gently press for official relations with West Texas, which has not at this time reciprocated.

Music
Texans have long pioneered musical innovation in such genres as country, the blues, tejano music, punk rock and mariachi. West Texan musicians are considered to have capably carried on those traditions.

Realizing that the music scenes of Austin and Nashville disappeared with the destruction of those cities, area musicians realized they would have to step up and continue to create new music, inspired by the artists who had passed away before and during Doomsday. They also understood their music could play a key role in lifting people's morale during the difficult times everyone faced in the early years of West Texas. Musicians played, for free, at every public venue they could find, especially in the refugee shelters. Today, one can visit one of the numerous clubs, bars and halls in the cities and towns to hear the best local musicians perform; the more popular acts perform less frequent paid concerts at such places as Odessa Permian high school and Midland Community Theatre. Also, people can still hear live music in many public areas during the week and on weekends, including parks, restaurants and farmers' markets.

Eight types of music scenes developed over the years as the Republic stabilized, and are considered to be the most popular, with nearly everyone enjoying several of the forms:
 * Traditional country artists draw from the big-band/swing style popularized by Texan Bob Wills; the crooning, 'countrypolitan' style popular in Nashville in the 1960s and early 1970s; and the instrumental style of Chet Atkins.
 * Outlaw country artists are heavily influenced by musical legends Waylon Jennings, Wilie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver and Kris Kristofferson - artists who themselves were influenced by traditional country artists and rock artists of the '60s and '70s.
 * Rock acts look to Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Marshall Tucker Band, and to a lesser extent other groups like the Doobie Brothers, Van Halen and Kansas, for inspiration.
 * Tejano music, popularized by artists who came to west Texas from south Texas or Mexico, has gained a sizeable audience over the years.
 * Texas blues, a style influenced by Texans Johnny Winter, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughan, has a smaller, but loyal and enthuiastic, following.
 * Southern gospel continues to be the most favored form of sacred music among many Protestants.
 * Classical music has also gained in popularity, in no small part due to the efforts of the privately-run West Texas Public Radio station and a group of influential citizens (including some legislators) who thought the musical form to be too valuable of a resource to allow to be forgotten.
 * African-American soul & R&B - influenced by such 1970s and early 1980s-era American artists as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Earth, Wind & Fire and the Commodores - is the most popular form of music among the nation's African-American community.

Other types of music that have gained an audience include 'beautiful' music; banda; huapanga; ranchero; norteno; "romantic" (a combination of Mexican romantica and American adult contemporary ballards) and 'Christian' rock and country music.

Arts
Classical music has made a comeback in recent years, due initially to small but affluent and influential individuals in Midland and Odessa. Classical music grew in popularity due in large part to the efforts of West Texas Public Radio, which in 1989 became the first privately-owned station to be licensed by the government post-Doomsday. The Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale has tried to increase the profile and popularity of classical music by playing concerts in high schools and open parks around the Republic.

The Midland Community Theatre, which hosted sessions of the House of Representatives and Senate for a number of years, as well as the official state welcome for visitors from Dinetah and the North American Union, has long put on musical, comedy and dramatic productions and continues to do so on a weekly basis. Those performances are extremely popular, drawing visitors from around the Republic.

The Permian Playhouse is Odessa's counterpart to the MCT. Odessa also is the home of the Globe of the Great Southwest, a replica of William Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (and in light of Doomsday, one of the few institutions designated as a national landmark).

Museums in the area include the Heritage Museum in Big Spring and the Museum of the Southwest Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, American Airpower Heritage Museum and Midland County Historical Museum in Midland.

Odessa's University of West Texas campus is home to the Presidential Museum and Leadership Library, dedicated primarily to the office of the President of the United States of America; there are also wings dedicated to the presidents of the 19th-century Republic of Texas and the Republic of West Texas.

National landmarks
The following have been designated national landmarks by the West Texas Department of the Interior:


 * The White-Pool House in Midland
 * The Globe of the Great Southwest in Odessa
 * The Old Fort Davis National Historic Site, located one mile east of the Fort Davis military base
 * The Carlsbad Irrigation District and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in Carlsbad
 * Highway 290 from Ozona to Lancaster Hill (for its view of the Pecos River Valley)
 * Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park, south of Fort Stockton and Fort Davis
 * The Paisano Pete roadrunner sculpture at the entrance to the city of Fort Stockton
 * The Doomsday Memorial and National Memorial Cemetery, outside Fort Stockton.
 * The Midland Community Theatre, which served as the meeting hall for the Legislature in the early years of the Republic.

Doomsday memorial
The estimated 320,000 who are officially said to have died by "war-related causes" and who died in the Mexican/Anglo skirmishes of the early years are buried in the West Texas Cemetery northwest of Fort Stockton. At the entrance to the cemetery is a memorial with the names of the people who died, as well as the Texas and New Mexico areas destroyed on Doomsday. It took five years to build the memorial, which opened to the public on July 4, 1995, the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Republic.

Sports
High school sports is held in high regard, particularly American football. The annual regular-season games between Midland Lee, Midland High and Odessa Permian high schools, as well as the Republic championship game (which no school other than those three has played in since high school football resumed in 1989) is said to draw the interest of the entire region. Also held in high regard are soccer matches between the three schools, which draw crowds as large as those for the football games. Initially Anglos and African-Americans gravated towards football and baseball, while Hispanic refugees gravated towards soccer, and baseball. Now, all three ethnic groups enjoy, and participate in, all three sports.

The West Texas Interscholastic League is the sanctioning body of high school sports in the republic. All schools play in one division for all sports except for football, which is broken down into Division I (11-man) and Division II (8- and 6-man). Division I football schools, besides Lee, Permian and Midland High, are Odessa High, Fort Stockton, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Big Spring, Sonora, Monahans and Pecos.

An six-team semi-professional football league with teams named after the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Oilers and NCAA Division 1-A universities from Texas has played games in Midland and Odessa on Saturdays and Monday nights for the past several years. One of the more notable players is quarterback Colt McCoy, a former Hobbs High star who plays for the Longhorns. American football is still king in this part of old Texas. High school football on Friday nights is a near-sacred tradition in the country, and the West Texas Interscholastic League's two divisions (11-man and eight-man) are followed as closely as professional and collegiate football were pre-Doomsday.

A six-team semi-professional league that plays games on Saturdays and Monday nights is also very popular. The teams were named after two franchises in the old U.S. National Football League and four teams from universities in former Texas. Almost all games are played in Midland and Odessa, with occasional regular season and exhibition games in other towns throughout the country. The teams are:
 * Aggies
 * Cowboys
 * Longhorns
 * Mustangs
 * Oilers
 * Red Raiders

A semi-professional baseball league also garners interest during the spring and summer. Teams are located in
 * Big Spring
 * Fort Stockton
 * Midland
 * Monahans
 * Odessa
 * Sweetwater

Association football is mainly referred to in West Texas as soccer,or futbol. It is popular on both the high school and semi-pro levels and has solidified itself as the nation's second-most popular sport. Most of the 12 club teams in the nation's top flight are based in Midland and Odessa; Army FC, sponsored by the military and based out of Fort Stockton, is one of the better sides. West Texas established the West Texas Football Association, and joined FIFA in December 2009, thanks in no small part to the help of Mexico's national federation.

One interesting phenomenon is that although the Anglo majority tended to prefer American football in the early years of the country, and the Latino minority soccer (and both groups enjoying baseball), over the years both groups, along with the African-American minority, equally participate and enjoy all three sports.

Basketball is the most popular indoor sport. Golf is mainly a participatory sport, contested by more affluent residents. Track and field is limited to youth and high school competition, although with the resumption of the Summer Olympics in 2012, that is anticipated to change.

The University of West Texas, with assistance from the government and from private Mexican sources, has begun work on a new sports complex on its main campus in Odessa. The facilities are to be used for professional, intercollegiate, high school, amateur and international competition, and include:
 * A 50,000-seat stadium for American football, soccer, track and field, and other large-scale events, which will be completed by summer 2010, and dedicated with an exhibition match between the West Texas and eastern Texas national soccer teams in August
 * A 12,000-seat arena for basketball and other indoor sports, to be completed by November 2011
 * A 12,000-seat baseball stadium to be completed by spring 2012
 * Various practice and training facilities

Despite criticism from conservatives, West Texas sports federations - particularly in association football - are developing closer ties with their counterparts in Mexico.

Demographics
West Texas is a predominantly white nation, although there are substanial black and hispanic minority groups. The 2008 government census found 55 percent of residents were Caucasian; 34 percent Hispanic; nine percent African-American; and the remaining two percent of other races.

The population was estimated in February 2010 to have grown to 890,000, in part due to migration of Mexican nationals, and former American refugees and/or their children and grandchildren. The migration into Texas is a mixture of employment opportunities, business opportunities and relocation for personal reasons. As the Texas Superhighway is constructed, and as the cities of San Angelo and Waco are also rebuilt, estimates are from 200,000 to nearly a million Mexican nationals and American refugees and their descendants could relocate into West Texas and east Texas by 2020.

Religion
Pre-Doomsday, Texas was known as the "buckle" of the Bible belt. Christianity was a dominant force, socially, culturally and even politically in the state.

Post-Doomsday, Christianity remains a highly influential faith in West Texas. In the 2008 government census, sixty-two percent of residents professed to be Protestant and 25 percent Roman Catholic. Six percent declined to state a preference. Four percent professed to be atheistic or agnostic, two percent Jewish, 0.7 Buddhist and 0.3 "other".

Among Protestants, the majority profess themselves to be Baptists, associated with the West Texas Baptist Convention, a denomination considered in the Republic to be the successor to the Southern Baptist Convention. Other prominent Protestant denominations include Methodism, Lutheranism, "independent Bible" churches, Pentecostalism and Episcopalism.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of West Texas is headquartered in Midland, and headed by Archbishop Manuel Ramirez, a refugee from former Coahuila. Ramirez travelled to Brazil in January 2010 to make contact with Catholic church leaders there.

The Republic's small Jewish community is centered in Odessa.

Communications
There are nine radio stations (three government-operated, including 550 AM and 99.1 FM). Television channel 3, also government-owned, operates as West Texas Television and broadcasts on a limited schedule. All stations easily reach every city, town and village in West Texas.

550 AM, formerly known as KCRS 550 pre-Doomsday, was the first radio station restored to operation after Doomsday, in 1989. 550 AM, presently known as West Texas Public Radio, is jointly owned by the government and the citizens of West Texas. Its wattage was upgraded to 50,000 watts in 2009, allowing it to broadcast to almost the entire North American continent and most of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean at night. Its sister station, 99.1 FM, operates at 100,000 watts.

The Midland Reporter-Telegram and Odessa American are the newspapers of record. West Texas Bell provides telephone service throughout the Republic.

Radio/television
AM 
 * 550 West Texas Public Radio news, sports, discussion
 * 1070 West Texas Talk 1070

FM
 * 88.7 West Texas Baptist Seminary
 * 91.3 West Texas Public Radio classical, jazz
 * 96.1 Country Classic 96
 * 97.9 US Gold 98
 * 99.1 West Texas Public Radio regional country, rock, hispanic
 * 102.7 Lone Star Radio (country, rock, adult contemporary)
 * 107.9 Ranchera 108

TV
 * Channel 2 broadcasts from 6 p.m. to midnight each night, except for Saturdays (8 a.m.-midnight) and Sundays (noon-11 p.m.), carrying news and information, old movies, cartoons, old 1970s and 1980s syndicated programming, as well as live sports and political speeches.
 * Channels 7 and 9 are being held in reserve as either government- or privately-run channels. The West Texas Communications Commission is aiming for a late 2010 debut for both channels.

550 AM carried the network announcement of the impending Soviet attack, as did Channel 2 (then ABC affiliate KMID). Both initially suspended programming in favor of the Emergency Broadcasting System in accordance with federal regulations; however, when it became clear most (if not all) of the country - and the federal government - was being destroyed, Midland mayor Thane Atkins implored station managers to disregard the EBS directives and go back on the air.

Both stations resumed broadcasting at 7:58 pm local time, and NBC affiliate KTPX-9 at 8:01; however, an electromagnetic pulse somewhere above the United States disrupted all manner of electronics in the region, and forced all radio and television stations off the air. Reporters from KKRS AM and KMID, KTPX and KOSA-7 television stations joined reporters from the Associated Press and Midland Reporter-Telegram in informing the public in the days and months post-Doomsday. Initially reports took the form of medieval town criers, but privately owned printing presses were quickly put into use to print copies of the Reporter-Telegram (the newspaper's presses, and those of the Odessa American, were restored to full service by 1984). These reporters, not knowing how they were going to care for their families and to the fate of loved ones and friends outside the region, banded together and put aside their personal concerns for the common good; they are credited with helping calm and inform the public during the initial days, weeks and months after Doomsday.

CBS affiliate KOSA-TV and all other area radio stations, including ones in Hobbs and Carlsbad, stayed off the air.

KTPX engineers had the presence of mind to record the last known NBC network transmission, a special report in the early minutes of the missile attack, and place it in a vault before power went out. That gamble paid off several years later, when it was delivered through the black market to a television studio near Mexico City and found to have been undamaged. That NBC broadcast was shown again on West Texas Channel 2 on the 25th anniversary of Doomsday (this is not the copy that is in the possession of the Museum of Remembrance in Canberra, ANZC).

Other
Ham radios exist in every town and city and are used mainly by government, military and law enforcement agencies to communicate with one another. There is also an extensive civilian network, which for years operated under government regulation; when the policy of isolation ended, the civilian operators were basically free to operate as they liked. They have also began communicating with fellow operators throughout North America.

Telephone service is heavily used by civilians and government alike. West Texas Bell, the government telephone service, is working to establish civilian service with the rest of North America.

In the early days post-Doomsday, officials put scouts on horseback and had them travel from town to town, village to village, doing everything from delivering mail to sending official communications between towns. The Pony Express was formally reconstituted and still exists today as a courier service for both civilian and government use. The military has its own version, as do selected government agencies.

Newspapers publish once a week, except for the Midland Reporter-Telegram and the Odessa American, which operate on alternating days and publish a joint edition on Sundays.

Education
In the republic's early years post-Doomsday, priority was given to survival, and formal education was left to families. Only after it was clear that West Texas would survive as an entity was thought given to reconstituting the educational system. This was done first with elementary schools, then middle and high schools.

The University of West Texas was opened in 1993, consisting of the former University of Texas of the Permian Basin and Texas Tech School of Medicine branch in Odessa. It is the region's only university, and offers programs in such areas as medicine, journalism, sciences and leadership studies.

West Texas Baptist Seminary in Odessa was formed in 1996 after government officials declined pastors' request for a seminary department at the university.

Midland College also reopened in 1993, and serves as a training ground for the school system's teachers. Its agricultural program has become very important to the entire region.

Exploration
The government has chosen to explore the area of eastern former Texas containing the towns of Nacogdoches, College Station and Tyler, going first through the central Texas town of Waco.

Military bases have been established in old San Angelo and in Waco. The two former cities are the de facto capitals of "provisional territories", based on a bill signed into law by Conaway in April 2009. Congress is expected to vote on formalizing San Angelo and Waco's territorial status when it reconvenes in January 2010.

The following areas, in order of priority, are believed to have been targeted by West Texas:


 * the McAllen/Brownsville region, for use as a possible port and for access to the Gulf of Mexico (UPDATE: A port has been tentatively established in the Port Isabel and South Padre Island area east of Brownsville).
 * the Texas Panhandle, particularly Amarillo, Lubbock and Abilene, in spring or summer 2010
 * far western Texas, specifically El Paso, as well as nearby Juarez, Chihuahua, in spring or summer 2010
 * Del Rio, in spring or summer 2010
 * central Texas, specifically Austin and San Antonio, in fall 2010
 * south Texas, including Laredo, in spring 2011
 * north Texas, specifically Dallas, Fort Worth and Texarkana, in summer or fall 2011
 * the Houston/Corpus Christi/Galveston region along the Gulf, in summer or fall 2011
 * New Mexico (preferably in conjunction with Dinetah), including Albuquerque and Las Cruces, sometime in 2012
 * Oklahoma (preferably in conjunction with the recently discovered citystate of Broken Bow), sometime in 2012

Scouts will be instructed to examine the ruined cities for salvageable material as well as their potential for future resettlement. Parties will also be instructed to look for other survivor communities in the area, and offer on behalf of West Texas whatever aid they may need. Not knowing for sure what's out there (partly because of the government's long-time policy of isolationism), armed Texas Rangers and Army personnel will accompany scouting parties for defensive purposes only.