American Strategic Deception Bureau

　In addition, there are a large number of vehicles, weapons, aircraft, etc. that have been damaged to the point of being unusable, and they are also piled up in warehouses to collect dust.

　Even in the 21st century, there are still a lot of World War II surplus materials lying in the US military warehouses, waiting for the call of the next war.

　——From this we can understand why the British Empire naval officers and soldiers, who share the same roots, would eat century-old bacon from the Napoleonic Wars era during World War I.

　The War Assets Administration (WAA) racked its brains to sell off the various unsaleable war materials on hand.

　However, due to the linear thinking of the military, WAA's sales performance has always been mediocre, and the marketing methods it has come up with... are also hard to complain about.

　For example, some people converted surplus helmets into washbasins, turned field artillery training shells into lamp bases, dismantled the artillery, heavy machine guns and radio equipment of Sherman and Stuart tanks, and sold them to farmers for use as tractors, or used them as bulldozer and crane bases on construction sites.

　If the above routine is still normal, then there are also people who sold 32 medical vials to a shooting range to be used as targets; someone changed the snake-shaped hose on the gas mask into a toy snake and sold it to the toy manufacturer at a super low price; a large number of high-quality medical bandages were sold to the Cincinnati clothing factory as

　Filling for suit shoulder pads; tons of aluminum tape used to jam radar, turned into Christmas tree ornaments...

　Although these modified military products were indeed sold with some difficulty, it was hard to say whether the selling price could cover the cost of the modification, let alone the investment!

　What a waste of natural resources!

　What’s even more outrageous is that 6 rocket launchers have been modified into lampposts!

　—A bazooka turned into a desk lamp? What a mind-boggling operation!

　In addition, 450 million pairs of fleece-lined flight pants were transformed into gloves and slippers... This imagination is so indescribable.

　In short, when Firi arrived at WAA to start work, he found that the base of the desk lamp was a training (solid) artillery shell, the lamp post was a rocket launcher, the pen holder was a shell casing, and the fish tank was a disassembled radar part. He didn't know how to complain about these strange ideas that wasted manpower.

　But now that he has joined the WAA, he has to work hard to sell the remaining worthless military junk.

　So, for a long time afterwards, the civilian soldier Fili began his journey of deceiving people and selling goods.

　Chapter 4: The Beginning of the Nuclear Deterrence Era

　First, Fili used his father's connections in Hollywood to mobilize major film companies and costume and prop rental stores to place a large order with WAA, purchasing a large number of old military uniforms, helmets, tents, flags, and even captured Japanese and German military uniforms at a low price!

　——Even during the McCarthy era, when "all the horses were silent, it was a pity", Hollywood still produced many war films.

　From the Cold War to the 21st century, World War II has always been a blockbuster subject for movies and television, with various World War II films and TV dramas emerging in an endless stream.

　In this case, Hollywood's film studios naturally have a huge demand for military uniforms, flags, water bottles, lunch boxes, etc. from all parties in World War II.

　Considering that some military uniforms, tents, etc. are damaged during every filming, military uniforms and military supplies are actually considered consumables in Hollywood.

　—In the 21st century, at the height of the popularity of anti-Japanese dramas, the Hengdian Film and Television Base saw an average of 100,000 Japanese soldiers “die” each year! By analogy, it stands to reason that tens of thousands of Japanese, German, and American/British soldiers would also “die” each year in Hollywood, right?

　Considering the indispensable explosion and shooting scenes in war films, it is natural that tens of thousands of military uniforms are damaged in Hollywood every year.

　Therefore, if one could wholesale a large number of unwanted old military uniforms, ugly military tents, khaki mosquito nets, etc. from the WAA at a low price, store them in a warehouse in Los Angeles, and then specialize in the rental/sale business of these World War II military products, then it would be a way to make money.

　——These are all genuine WWII military items! The longer it’s been since WWII, the more valuable they become in the collector’s world!

　What’s even more interesting is that many of the unsalable old military uniforms, belts, tents, mosquito nets, blankets, etc., are unsalable because of discoloration and mildew. For ordinary Americans, new military uniforms might be okay to wear, but what’s the point of a tattered old uniform?

　But in the eyes of Hollywood directors, these tattered military uniforms and tents, and dented lunch boxes and water bottles are better quality products.

　——In order to show the authenticity of the cruelty of war, many newly made costumes and props have to be deliberately worn out and made to look old!

　If there were ready-made worn-out military uniforms, wouldn’t it be more convenient when filming the film?

　In this way, relying on the connections he had accumulated over half a century of roots in Hollywood, after making his first big deal, Fili, who was praised by his boss, continued his efforts and sold many scrapped tanks, military vehicles, tracked transporters that were only shells and could not run at all, as well as long-scrapped radios, walkie-talkies, and even airplanes that could not fly, etc. to Hollywood.

　The American West has vast expanses of land. Just find an abandoned farm in the desert near Los Angeles, dump these scrapped weapons there, and hire an old man to watch over the gate. When it's time to shoot a movie, pull out the junk, give it a fresh coat of paint, and use it to build the set for a war movie.

　Although I certainly can't expect to sell it at a high price, at least I have cleared out the inventory.

　Of course, in Fili's view, the above marketing strategies are just small-scale, and his deception skills are not used at all.

　——The Hollywood market is only this big. Even when shooting war films, they usually only use dozens or hundreds of extras (the Normandy Landing in "Saving Private Ryan". Although it was so grand, it actually only used 700 soldiers to make cameo appearances).

　Therefore, if all the crews in Hollywood are combined in a year, they can consume tens of thousands of military uniforms and hundreds of tents.

　But the Pentagon placed the order based on the standard of supplying 10 million troops and several million friendly forces!

　So, in order to sell as much goods as possible for the Pentagon, the up-and-coming Firi took on another big job in 1958.

　——Fooling the American people, claiming that a nuclear war is coming, let’s all become doomsday survivalists together!

　-

　Although when people in later generations talk about the Cold War, they immediately think of the US-Soviet rivalry.

　But in reality, in the first decade after World War II, cooperation far outweighed confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. Both the US and the USSR spoke harshly, but in practice they tacitly collaborated, taking turns striking down established colonial empires like Britain, France, and the Netherlands.

　——In the British Empire

　How dare the American cowboys and the Russian bears fight each other without restraint before the United States and the Gallic rooster are completely dead?

　Unless the British Empire is dismantled and overthrown, even if the United States builds more aircraft carrier battle groups, there will be no ocean for free navigation!

　However, ten years after the end of World War II, the overseas colonies of old Europe had collapsed. Without the support of colonies, Britain and France were only a vestige of their former selves, no longer able to compete for world dominance. Consequently, the US-Soviet rivalry, with the remaining rivals eliminated, immediately intensified.

　From the initial verbal attacks, it turned into a brutal game where everyone really gave their all.

　Especially in 1957, after the Soviets launched the world's first intercontinental missile and then the first artificial satellite into space, the entire American society was in panic, feeling that the American mainland, protected by the ocean, was no longer an absolutely safe rear base.

　Once the United States and the Soviet Union go to war and World War III breaks out, the United States will no longer be able to sit back and watch as it did in the previous two world wars.

　It is difficult for modern people to imagine how the entire American society was plunged into panic when the Soviet Union's first artificial satellite was launched into space. From capitalists to ordinary citizens, everyone was worried about when a Soviet nuclear bomb would fall from the satellite orbit above their heads!

　From then on, nuclear war and radioactive wasteland became one of the most popular science fiction themes in the entire Western world.

　The era of nuclear deterrence that lasted throughout the Cold War thus began.

　Nuclear deterrence, like the plague, is always scariest at the beginning - but then everyone gradually gets used to it.

　However, in the first two years after the emergence of nuclear deterrence, Americans' panic was still intense.

　On Capitol Hill, lawmakers accused the president of incompetence and demanded that the White House come up with a plan to intercept the Soviet "space battleship"; the wealthy began to buy villas in the countryside of inland states as a "three burrows" strategy; ordinary people were in a panic, not knowing what to do.

　Experts from all walks of life have been making outrageous statements in newspapers, on television and radio, and they never stop trying to shock people. In order to attract attention and gain traffic, they do not hesitate to exaggerate the power of various nuclear weapons, saying that tens of thousands of nuclear bombs are enough to destroy the civilized world!

　This was partly because the full destructive power of a full-scale nuclear war was still unclear at the time, and partly because many conscientious scientists feared that their rulers would disregard human life and launch a third world war. Therefore, they deliberately exaggerated the devastation of a nuclear war to prevent the emergence of further warmongers.

　Chapter 5, The first scam: Everyone is crazy about doomsday survival!

　In short, due to various rumors and exaggerations, the United States in the late 1950s soon took on an atmosphere of impending doomsday.

　Faced with unprecedented nuclear deterrence, many Americans seriously overreacted, thinking that World War III would break out at any time and that nuclear bombs would soon be dropped on their heads. It was just like when the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in the 21st century, and everyone was busy scrambling for masks and disinfectant.

　Ordinary people only feel inexplicable fear when they are in it; but those who are prepared see a huge and booming business opportunity!

　The two most difficult things in the world are to put other people's money into your own pocket and to put your own thoughts into other people's heads.

　Since the nuclear crisis has instilled fear into the minds of all Americans, isn't it only natural to take money out of their pockets?

　As a brilliant salesman rising to prominence at the WAA, the time traveler, Firi, was well prepared for this wave of nuclear war thinking. He immediately persuaded his father in Hollywood, mobilized his family's connections in the entertainment industry, and, taking advantage of the widespread panic in American society, established Black Isle Studios.

　Then he made his own outline and key points, invited ghostwriters, painters and screenwriters, and created many radiation and wasteland themed novels, comics and card games such as "Fallout" and "The Last of Us". He put forward various concepts such as shelters, two-headed bulls, death claws, deformed monsters, mutants, picking up bottle caps and bullet casings as currency, and implanted them into the minds of all Americans.

　In addition, a series of low-budget films on the theme of wasteland survival have been shot, such as "Mad Max" - the theme of the radioactive wasteland is just desert wasteland and refugees in ruins. There are many such filming locations in the Mojave Desert near Los Angeles, and it is very easy to shoot.

　A post-apocalyptic movie set in a radioactive wasteland doesn't require any computer-generated CG special effects; it could have been made even in the 1950s.

　——A time traveler who has experienced information bombardment naturally knows how to promote and build momentum better than the current seniors, not to mention that they have a real foundation.

　So after a crazy output of radiation wasteland theme culture, other literary and artistic workers also followed suit and created - there is really no threshold to making radiation wasteland movies. A few college students can act as directors, producers and actors, find a scrap yard, an abandoned military fortress, or an abandoned factory as the main story stage, and then take some scenes in the desert near Los Angeles, and you can make a low-budget wasteland doomsday movie.

　As for writing a radioactive wasteland novel, it was even easier - just change the skin of the western cowboy story that was already very popular at the time.

　Cowboys are changed into wastelanders, treasures are changed into high-tech products, and gangs are changed into mutant gangs... What's the difference between this and westerns?

　Then, as long as a post-apocalyptic novel about a radioactive wasteland becomes popular, there will definitely be countless follow-up works pouring out!

　Plus Christian society

　The ancient doomsday complex and the cults that preach the end of the world are also vigorously promoting and advocating it...

　As a result, the entire United States was caught up in a wave of horror about the wasteland apocalypse.

　As we all know, in alternate timelines, various wasteland apocalypse adventure stories are already global cultural IPs that transcend national boundaries, cultures, and races, enduring for decades and demonstrating their unique universal appeal. Now, thrown into the context of a nuclear crisis, they've become an instant hit!

　Therefore, a great discussion about the nuclear crisis that spread throughout American society and the doomsday atmosphere of the radioactive wasteland were quickly created.

　Even President Eisenhower, in a public speech on the South Lawn of the White House, recommended that every American family store at least two weeks' worth of food.

　At this point, Fili finally revealed his true intentions and began his real deception:

　Taking advantage of the nuclear crisis, people all over the country have been deceived into suffering from the hamster disease of loving to stock up!

　Look, a nuclear war could break out on Earth at any moment, threatening the destruction of modern civilization. So, besides digging a bomb shelter or doomsday bunker in your backyard, wouldn't you also want to store some durable items inside?

　Otherwise, an empty shelter will not be able to help your family survive the harsh nuclear war and doomsday in hunger and cold!

　If a nuclear apocalypse were to occur, who knows what toxic and hazardous substances would fill the air. So, you'd need to have a few gas masks at home, right?

　——The gas mask that was originally about to be removed from the hose to make a toy snake has finally opened up the market.

　In life, it's inevitable that we'll have headaches and fevers. In the apocalypse, you won't be able to see a doctor. So, why not keep some medicines and medical equipment on hand?

　——The Pentagon’s mountains of first aid kits and field medical equipment sets now have a market.

　Stocking up on food is essential for disaster preparedness. You should also store a few boxes of canned goods, biscuits, and other field rations with a shelf life of up to twenty years in your cellar or attic, right?

　——Spam luncheon meat, known as "spiritual meat", and the even more terrifying canned British corned beef now have a place to go.

　In addition to the problem of eating, the problem of drinking water in the doomsday environment is equally important. As we all know, people will die of thirst if they do not drink water for a few days. There will be no clean tap water in the doomsday, and the collected rainwater and river water cannot be drunk directly, otherwise there will be a risk of poisoning and diarrhea.

　——In this case, the military’s water purification tablets and military field water filters come in handy.

　In order to promote the military water filters that no one bought in normal times and could only be piled up in the warehouse to gather dust and rust, in 1958, Firi managed to get some investment from the Pentagon and other places, and asked his father for some money to adapt the plot of "Fallout 2" and put it on the movie screen.

　Because the concept of "chips" didn't exist at the time, Ferry transformed the protagonist, Qiu Shengwang, who originally left the shelter in search of a water purification chip, into a great futuristic Western cowboy adventurer. To save a post-apocalyptic settlement suffering from water shortage and thirst, he set out on a journey to scavenge the wasteland and collect trash with the goal of finding a working field water filter. He bid farewell to his family and embarked on a journey to scavenge the wasteland...

　Well, judging by the market response, the Fallout movie was a success, and the Field Water Filter was also a success.

　There is also "Mad Max", and Fieri also managed to reproduce this famous nuclear war wasteland IP on the screen - compared with westerns, the only difference is that the cowboy's horse is replaced by a motorcycle, the caravan is replaced by a broken pickup truck, and the Gatling revolver is replaced by an M2 machine gun and a rocket launcher.

　Then, he added some personal opinions, promoting how precious a water filter that can purify dirty water is in a doomsday wasteland environment.

　Even in a nuclear apocalypse, electricity would still be essential. So, Fili and his team of civilian officers sold off many of the dusty field generators in military warehouses. They could use fuel when they had it, and connect them to windmills on farms when they ran out.

　——Although no one wants this thing normally, it is a basic configuration for doomsday survivalists!

　Next, even at the end of the world, people will not be able to live in isolation, but will still need modern means of communication and transportation.

　Considering that telephones would have been unavailable, and roads and bridges were unmaintained, traffic was likely limited. Therefore, walkie-talkies, bicycles, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and other items were packaged as "wasteland survival essentials"—the roaring Harley-Davidson motorcycle was a perfect match for the apocalyptic wasteland!

　Of course, in a post-apocalyptic world where social order has collapsed, just like the American West of yore, violence and gunfights are inevitable. So, just like a cowboy cannot live without a revolver, firearms and ammunition are essential in this post-apocalyptic world—as the saying goes, "If my neighbor stockpiles food, I stockpile guns; my neighbor is my granary!"

　As a result, gun stores across the country experienced a buying frenzy, with some even offering "bullet-filled" packages of 14,000 rounds, delighting the American military-industrial complex. The WAA also sold off its inventory of older guns, daggers, and bayonets at a discount.

　What? Will the resulting proliferation of firearms throughout society affect public security?

　Please, our United States of America has always been known for its strong martial virtues and tough people. When will public security ever be better?

　In other words, when was there a time when guns were not rampant in American society?

　From the founding of the country to the cowboy era, Americans have long been

　Even if everyone has a gun, this country will not be in chaos!

　In other words, this country has always been a mess with bullets flying everywhere, but people are not ashamed of it, but proud of it.

　——How can Americans, who can't even dodge bullets, have the right to survive in this cruel world where the strong prey on the weak?

　In order to cope with the doomsday panic that has spread throughout society, the Americans who have been fooled have something to stock up in their cellars.

　WAA took the opportunity to pack all the surplus military supplies that were sitting in the Pentagon's inventory, including military tents, mosquito nets, gas masks, windproof lighters, engineer shovels, water filters, field generators, first aid kits, walkie-talkies, canned Spam luncheon meat that "even dogs wouldn't eat," and military chocolate that was notoriously unpalatable. They put them into packaging boxes with cartoons of nuclear mushroom clouds on them, and launched "Doomsday Survival Kits" of different grades, which were launched immediately!

　At the same time, a real version of the "Wasteland Survival Guide" was also launched, which is equivalent to the civil defense textbook during the Cold War. It guides people on how to dig underground shelters, how to waterproof and ventilate underground spaces, and what survival supplies they should purchase... thereby enticing people to buy various surplus military supplies.

　——Creating panic, selling anxiety, and then adding private goods to open up the market. All the routines are done in one go. He is truly a hero in the world of deception!

　After WAA's "Doomsday Survival Kit" was launched on the market, many European and American businesses immediately followed suit and launched various "Doomsday Survival Gift Packs" on the market...

　However, when it comes to the issue of doomsday survival after a nuclear war breaks out, which of these private companies' products looks more reliable than the WAA version of the "Doomsday Survival Kit" certified by the Pentagon and bearing the bald eagle emblem?

　More importantly, private companies are launching "Doomsday Survival Packs" to make a profit, so they can't possibly sell them too cheaply. Meanwhile, WAA is simply trying to clear out its inventory, so it can sell them at cost or even at a discount...

　Therefore, relying on its low price advantage, WAA easily occupied a large share in this newly opened market.

　Author's words: PS: In 1978, when Mel Gibson filmed "Mad Max" in Australia, he only spent $400,000 Australian dollars from start to finish.

　Back in 1958, it would have cost about $10 - the cost of this kind of wasteland road movie was very low.

　Chapter 6, Global Pandemic of Hamster Disease!

　In this way, countless war materials that were originally piled up in the hands of the military were transferred to the private bunkers or attics of the American people through the nationwide doomsday survival craze triggered by the successful launch of Soviet intercontinental missiles and satellites, and under the deception of certain people with their own purposes.