Headscratchers / DMZ

• Was this troper the only one bothered that the Public Works arc seemed to be just For the Evulz? Trustwell is a private corporation with contracts from the US to rebuild in the DMZ. This is how they make a profit. They already have a monopoly on reconstruction projects, but they spend copious amounts of time and money recruiting their own terrorist network to carry out false flag operations and kill the UN Secretary-General, causing the peacekeepers to pull out of the DMZ and leaving Trustwell security forces unrestrained to launch attacks throughout the DMZ. All very clever, except that they don't get paid to fight, they get paid to build. They're literally losing money in equipment and overtime for all the security troops and helicopters shown in the attacks, not to mention the effort, expense, and liability of running a convoluted terrorist plot behind the backs of the US and UN. What is their motivation? I would buy that it was some shenanigans cooked up for Trustwell security to fight in the DMZ as US proxies without technically violating the ceasefire, but in the next arc (Friendly Fire), the General in the HMMWV thanks Matty for blowing the whistle on the Trustwell plot. So why would a corporation (whose only other logical motive is profit) go through all the trouble just to take a hit in the pocketbook?
  • I think the idea is that, without any other presence in Manhattan, they could basically operate without oversight, both as proxy US forces and in their original capacity of rebuilding the city. Meaning they could do whatever they want and charge whatever they want without any checks; there would be nobody to counter any claims they made. And, presumably, if they were stepping in for the UN as the only peacekeepers in the DMZ, they would be getting paid for their services; we just didn't get to see that specific negotiation.

• So who has the nuclear silos? The FSA would run into at least one of the few the US still has but could they control them in any fashion without all the things the government has for that?
  • You need launch codes and a whole lot of clearances. Just having a silo gives you a rocket that you can't use.

• It is stated that the US military is still the most sophisticated and coordinated and maintains air superiority. Given the massive logistical and financial expense of an air force and the US military in general, how does the remaining US government pay for it considering they control a small fraction of the country with the financial capital in ruins?
  • It's called "strategic reserve" and "war-time emergency". Your economy might be in total ruin after you're done with the war, but the materiel itself is stockpiled ahead of time and production of new one is done on the principle of being paid for it later, with government vouching for it.
  • This still doesn't explain how the US military is able to refuel, rearm, replace and maintain all of its advanced equipment, vehicles and munitions. The current US military-industrial complex is spread all over the country, with much of its supply chain in southern and flyover states the FSA now presumably controls. Even if we assume the military was somehow able to relocate its entire manufacturing and logistical base to New England in the midst of a civil war, it still can't move all the mines and oilfields at the start of its supply chain. Not to mention much of the military's more advanced tech is produced abroad in Asian chip fabs, which probably aren't available now due to a devauled US dollar. This isn't even getting into all the farmland and fresh water required to sustain millions of US military personnel, let alone civilians. Honestly, this entire topic seems like something Wood chose to ignore for the sake of telling a story.
    • The US is probably cashing in every international favour it has. Having staked their security on the US as the world's sole superpower, many nations will have opened up their factories for use by the US. The lines of credit will be up, but the US is thought of as good for them until it sorts itself out.