50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 650 The Mad Ammunition Depot
In the 1950s, American Army four-star general Maxwell Davenport Taylor proposed a "two-and-a-half war" theory.

This theory requires that the military be able to wage war simultaneously in Europe (against Russia) and Asia (against China), and also be able to deal with another local conflict at the same time.

This strategy directly led to America's global ammunition stockpile system.

They have pre-positioned millions of tons of munitions at forward bases in Germany, South Korea, Japan, and other locations.

Although the strategy failed during the Vietnam War, its massive annual procurement, including its ammunition stockpiling program, attracted the attention of arms dealers.

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have been lobbying Congress for years to ensure the military has sufficient budget for arms purchases each year by exaggerating the threat of enemies.

For example, in 2023, America's ammunition procurement budget reached $300 billion, a significant portion of which was not used for actual combat deployment to troops, but instead became "strategic reserves" in warehouses.

This kind of frantic stockpiling of ammunition also existed in China in previous decades, but its scale has now been brought under control.

You might say that such a large-scale stockpile of ammunition is useless, but it actually is quite useful.

Just like a few years ago when the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, America discovered that her stockpile of 155mm artillery shells (about 300 million rounds) was not enough to support the Ukrainian army.

This reality exposes the staggering ammunition consumption in modern warfare. (The Ukrainian army consumes an average of approximately 5000 rounds per day.)
America's excessive ammunition reserves, on the surface, appear to be "better safe than sorry," but in reality, they expose the underlying logic of its global military hegemony—to crush any potential adversary through absolute material superiority.

While other countries were still calculating "whether they have enough players," America's standard was already "whether they can play for ten consecutive years."

Therefore, when Sun Zhiwei thought about sourcing goods, the first place that came to mind was the Hawthorne Army Warehouse in Nevada.

So, Sun Zhiwei stayed in Pontianak for less than a day before immediately getting Ivan's crew back on the plane.

The destination this time is Bangkok, 1700 kilometers away, where there are direct flights to America.

Three days later, a weary traveler, Sun Zhiwei drove alone into the Nevada desert.

The climate here is arid year-round, and the area is sparsely populated, with an average of only 10 people per square kilometer.

Especially in desert regions that stretch for thousands of kilometers, it is common to travel hundreds of kilometers without encountering a single person.

If you're wondering what to do in Nevada, besides its unique natural scenery, Las Vegas is the only place worth visiting.

However, he didn't have time this time. Next time he has time to come, he can go and raid the casinos in Las Vegas.

Sun Zhiwei traveled hundreds of kilometers through the desert. In the beginning, he could still see some cowboys grazing, but later, once he entered the desert, he couldn't see a single person.

He also made a mistake this time, failing to prepare a powerful, high-chassis four-wheel drive vehicle.

The vehicles he stored in his space were fine for driving on city roads, but they were a real struggle in the desert.

She couldn't drive directly on the only road leading to the armory; she had to travel through the wilderness.

As a result, the wheels frequently got stuck in sand pits, and various other problems such as stalling occurred one after another, leaving him in a very difficult situation.

Fortunately, the supplies in the space were plentiful, and if you got really frustrated, you could bring out a bucket of ice cream to calm your temper.

He traveled hundreds of kilometers, changing vehicles six times, before finally arriving at the foot of a mountain. According to the map, his destination was just beyond this mountain: the Hawthorne Army Depot.

As far as the eye can see, there is a vast area enclosed by layers of fences and warning signs. From the mountain, thousands of yellowish-brown concrete structures look like a giant honeycomb.

This is in the heart of the Nevada desert, a warehouse codenamed Hawthorne, covering a total area of ​​595 square kilometers and containing more than 2400 bunker-style underground warehouses.

Beneath this group of bunkers lies America's largest ammunition depot, storing 7000 million tons of munitions.

The ammunition stored here is not just bullets, but also various artillery shells, missiles, and even nuclear bombs.

Of course, ammunition is indispensable, and corresponding weapons are also essential, but the number of weapons is relatively small compared to the huge quantity of ammunition.

It is said that arms dealers are lobbying Congress to add 1600 more warehouses here, as the warehouses are about to be filled with weapons and ammunition.

At its peak, this warehouse area was garrisoned by 600 Marines year-round, who were primarily responsible for the maintenance and disposal of the ammunition.

Maintenance is straightforward; they wipe off the dust and apply oil as needed. They also need to regularly check the expiration dates of the ammunition and promptly dispose of any ammunition that is about to expire.

In fact, the security here is not tight, and the number of personnel stationed here has been decreasing in recent years. Currently, there are about 200 people here, but less than half of them are on duty every day.

Most of them have families in the nearby town of Hawthorne, and a peaceful life is the main theme here.

Sun Zhiwei was also a bit overwhelmed by the huge warehouse complex. It stretched for dozens of kilometers in length and width, and he would have to run himself ragged to find the weapons and ammunition he needed.

He used his binoculars to search the warehouse area and found the garrison's office area, where the storage data for all the warehouses should be located.

Looking at the setting sun, he returned to the other side of the hillside, got back into his car, and began to rest, away from the intense sunlight.

As night fell, the outside temperature began to drop sharply. Although it did not reach below zero, it still made him feel cold and damp.

Feeling that it was about time, he put away his car, then walked down the mountain, climbed over several fences, and entered the reservoir area.

He inspected the military base in the reservoir area and found that there were only two people on duty today. Neither of them were patrolling seriously; they were just passing the time by watching TV in the duty room.

Sun Zhiwei bypassed the duty room and found the room responsible for ammunition storage and registration.

A floor plan of the warehouse area was hung directly on the wall of the room, covered with dense markings, each marked in a different color.

Below the floor plan are color-coded annotations, which allow Sun Zhiwei to clearly identify what kind of ammunition is stored in each warehouse.

The yellow ones are bullets, the blue ones are shells, and the green ones are missiles. The accompanying weapons and ammunition are all stored together.

Bullets were the most numerous, followed by artillery shells, and missiles were the fewest. In the very center, there were several special ionizing radiation markers, which should be where nuclear bombs were stored.

With the map as a guide, he finally knew where to find the weapons and ammunition he needed.

Sun Zhiwei carefully recorded the markings on the map, took photos with his camera, and then quietly left the office.

(End of this chapter)