Hi CPT Patch, fellows,
Here's my proposed revision of Ranger's origins - based on the existing canon.
Facts:
(1) There's a Federal maximum security prison
(2) There's a company of combat engineers working near by
(3) There's survival communities dotting the country side
(4) Combat engineers moved into Federal Prison
(5) Expulsion of prisoners.
ORIGINS OF DESERT RANGERS: LEADERSHIP AND CORE OF DESERT RANGERS CONSTITUTED BY PRISON WARDENS.Here's my assumption:
- A federal maximum security prison may have a prisoner population size of 2,500 - 5,000 (using
Louisiana State Penitentiary as a reference);
- There's a staff:prisoner ratio of 1:3; If given that the prison has a population 2,500, it will need at least a staff of about 800 to run the place. That's about a battalion size. But given that this is a law enforcement unit, the federal prison complex is likely to be commanded by an officer of at least O6 or O7 in rank. There will be at least a company sized SWAT element for prison riot control etc. This unit is likely to be armed with armoured vehicles, high caliber weapons, breaching explosives, chemical agents, riot armour - enough fire power to do a counter-attack in the event when prisoners take over sections of the prison complex.
- The combat engineer company is headed by an officer no higher than a O3 or O4.
When the engineer company walk into the prison complex, the entire unit is likely to be out-ranked, out-numbered and out-gunned by the warden staff (combat engineers are likely to be un-armed or at most carrying minimal ammo since they're carrying out construction activities within a secure zone - peacetime continental USA)
There's no way the company engineer can take-over the federal prison if the wardens were still able to maintain order.
Since the Desert Rangers are based on law-enforcement Arizona or Texas Rangers, it's likely that the Desert Rangers were formed by the para-military unit of the warden staff - given their affinity to law enforcement tradition.
Perhaps, the CO of the federal prison and his principle staff have roots in either the Arizona or Texas Rangers.
Now, what does the military combat engineers bring to the table - or how could they be co-opted or absorbed into the federal prison service: access to national assets such as C4ISR systems, the ability to reconnect the federal prison to the national power/communications grid, expertise in maintaining infrastructure.
POTENTIAL RETCON PLOT-ELEMENTS: EXPULSION OF PRISONERS, LOSS OF COMMUNICATIONS WITH REST OF USAThe reasons behind expulsion of prisoners could be re-visited.
Was there a prison riot? If prisoners know that it's the eve of apocalypse, will they be motivated to make a putsch for freedom? If so, was the prison staff able to handle the riot? When the engineers came - did they manage to tilt the balance and put down the riot? Was the prison riot the basis for the exile of trouble makers?
Loss of Communications. Perhaps, the prison wardens chose to isolate themselves from the rest of the world while the riot was going on - due to the atrocities committed by both sides (wardens and prisoners) during the riot and chose to remain quiet about what happened?
