If We Have Two Simultaneous Natural Disasters, We're Screwed

When Katrina hit, I made a quick post about the diminished ability of the National Guard to adequately mount a response. One of the comments was from a former Guardsman who disagreed with me. I maintained then (and stand by now) that it was just plain stupid that the deep-water vehicles that were owned by the Louisiana Guard were in the desert.

I think that time is on my side here, and my position has born out. The article I linked focuses on the possibility of two hurricanes hitting in a short period of time. Guard equipment has shifted from inland to the coasts and the commanders anxiously look forward to November 1, when the tropical storm/hurricane season officially ends. They are worried based on a scenario of storms hitting Texas and the Carolinas in a one to two week period.

Well, at least hurricanes have the decency to give a bit of warning. I worry about disasters that come out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, sitting right in the middle of Tornado Alley, I read this and a chill went down my spine. If we had two tornados on the scale of the Andover Tornado of 1991 and the Grand Island Tornado of 1980, or a tornado and an earthquake like the World Series Quake that hit San Francisco in 1989, the guard would be unable to respond in an adequate and timely fashion. Missouri has seen one deployment of guardsmen this year, when the St. Louis area was hit by crippling violent thunderstorms earlier in the summer. They were deployed for a couple of weeks.

I have been around military installations my entire life. I flip a coin to decide whether I will go to Leavenworth or Whiteman when I need to go to the commissary or the BX, unless the Mules are playing, and then that ices the deal, because my husband and I are both "CMSU scum" as the rich kids at MU used to call us. But I digress...

As I was saying, I have been around the military my entire life, and I have talked to a lot of Guard personnel. Literally, to a man, when I ask them why they joined the Guard the older ones say "To clean up after tornados/floods/hurricanes/earthquakes/desegregation enforcement at home" (What they insert depends on where they are from.) The young ones say the same thing and then add "but mostly for the college money."

I have suffered under the misconception that the National Guard was organized by states to respond to natural disasters and such. (And spare me the nit-picking - I know the uniforms say "U.S. Army" or "U.S. Air Force" on the breast, above the pocket.) But the unvarnished truth remains: the guard is doing a job that they didn't sign up for; and the ones at home are ill equipped and spread too thin to adequately respond to crises at home.

This is cause for concern for every last one of us, no matter where we live or how safe we perceive ourselves to be. We are all helpless in the path of disaster, and every god-damned last one of is is one wall cloud, or one blizzard, or one hurricane, or one flood or one strong temblor away from being reduced to hardscrabble existence. I implore you to think about that for a moment.

I mean really think about it. Say the words out loud.

Scared much?

Yeah, me too.

And every politician that asks for my vote will get pinned down on this issue in the coming weeks. This could be a winner for the national Democrats if they have the sense to sieze on it. The incompetence and folly of this administration, and their rubber-stamp majority in congress have trampled the constitution and your civil liberties, all in the name of keeping you safe. But what has happened? All their machinations have served to make you less safe, not more. To the point that emergency responses, which we as a nation have come to expect as our birthright, are seriously compromised.

So why aren't we rioting in the streets yet?

Where is a little ergot poisoning when you really need it?