Staff Sergeant Keith Crawford is on maneuvers at Camp Pendleton when the Shil make their announcement and make their demands for surrender. He watches from the hills over the base as the first laser and kinetic strikes annihilate the Marine complex and all of those who weren't fast enough to escape. He later confirms that base housing was utterly destroyed and most that were attempting to flee where caught in the blasts via observation of the burned out cars. For him this meant the death of his wife, two daughters, and his son. He manages to compartmentalize the horror and sorrow, his men need him, his country needs him.

Crawford and an element of his unit that have survived the night as the area filled with alien invaders have made their way to the north, sticking to the hills. During the night they saw three flashes to south inside the city limits of San Diego. He'd find out later that a surviving Seal Team, one who'd narrowly escaped the bombardment of Coronado, managed to jerry rig a trio of Trident warheads and set them off on the main three alien landing zones in the area as their final acts. Their last act however dusted Crawford and his team with fallout as they ran north, blending in with the countless civilians also fleeing the area.

For the next several days his unit collects other survivors, the invasion is a mess across the globe with widespread and scattered military resistance and nuclear attacks being coordinated by an unknown entity. While they all know by now that the invaders can listen into their coms there is still some coordination being carried out. They are vectored toward a rally point in Santa Clarita CA and upon their arrival they're told to get into civilian clothing, take whatever can be carried and to abandon the rest. Most have figured out by now that armored vehicles draw the attention of orbital strikes and numerous such items of defense spending now lay abandoned on the side of ever choked roads. Keith notes now that everyone among his number are beginning to show the signs of acute radiation syndrome.