So when does 3rd ID 1st BCT head to California to "aid in the assistance for natural disasters"?

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

As far as I've heard, these soldiers have not been deployed to California to fall into the role that they were activated for...

:eyes:

I am completely serious here.

wondering why the soldiers are not helping with the fire...

Armed forces are prevented by posse comitatus to provide domestic law enforcement.

Their federal activation was trumpeted by the military in such a way that they would become first responders to events such as these; however by my best estimate, they've fallen absent.

Everything that I've read so far about their activation is that they have been training in 'domestic operations to quell civil unrest in the population.'

Someone needs to file a big far lawsuit and remind these meatheads of what the Army is for. While they're at it, they can include the Constitution, the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, and the US Military Code of Justice as well.

I mean, why would somebody have a bee up their butt about soldiers being told to lay down their arms and help the community by wielding a fire hose or whatever?

What we are discussing is their ABSENCE from assistance in the wildfires...

a "man-made emergency". OK to call the Army in? Still "BS"? :eyes:

The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on Sept. 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist "incident," if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of "public order," or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations. . . .

It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president's ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.

Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from "Insurrection Act" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act." The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only "to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy." The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition" -- and such "condition" is not defined or limited. . . .

The story of how Section 1076 became law vivifies how expanding government power is almost always the correct answer in Washington. Some people have claimed the provision was slipped into the bill in the middle of the night. In reality, the administration clearly signaled its intent and almost no one in the media or Congress tried to stop it . . . .

Section 1076 was supported by both conservatives and liberals. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, co-wrote the provision along with committee chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). Sen. Ted Kennedy openly endorsed it, and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was an avid proponent. . . .

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned on Sept. 19 that "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law," but his alarm got no response. Ten days later, he commented in the Congressional Record: "Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy." Leahy further condemned the process, declaring that it "was just slipped in the defense bill as a rider with little study. Other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/24/army/

I looked it up after reading about them being stationed here. Gone, gone, gone, woawoaaaa!

or part of it, anyway

http://www.legitgov.org/kbr_convenient_corps_contract_161108.html

$75 million was it?

But I bet that contract just starts at $75 mil.

KBR isn't settling on a closed-ended contract.

when I first heard of these soldiers, I never believed the story in the first place. Since when has the Bush administration done anything to help the people?
I suspected darker uses for these guys, but I don't know what. So I think it's a great idea to demand why the guys aren't here helping out. It'll point out the lie, and maybe people will then ask why they are really here. What is their assignment? I'd really like to know.

K&R.

Well, the part about their being assigned and trained.

Remember Hurricane Ike, the limits placed on non-military planes over Galveston and points east? It's because their predecessors in NorCom had control over the airspace, using it for surveillance and flying choppers. They also had guys on the ground helping out with rescues. It was noted, briefly, that they were military. In some cases their units were cited. Nobody cared that they were with the Northern Command, or what their additional duties were, until the deployment for 10/1/2008 was announced. Then people suddenly cared, and not knowing that the Northern Command was involved there was taken to be knowledge that the Northern Command was not involved anywhere.

I expect since they're on-call that nobody's called, or they're involved but nobody's noted the fact explicitly. They'd be near the bottom of the list: first county, then state resources; states would first pull on other states' NG units; then they'd go to the Northern Command for unmet needs.

Orange County today. People say houses are burning up in neighborhoods where there isn't any sign of fire dept presence at all.

This is a HUGE fire, and it has moved into the suburbs and is hopscotching from street to street. The fierce winds are not expected to let up for another 24 hours. Hell, Disneyland will be burned down by then if they don't get a grip on this thing.

Granted, much of this depends on the cooperation of Mother Nature, but even so.

At any rate, stay safe!

from my living room armchair this afternoon.

Some areas of Orange County are having WATER PRESSURE PROBLEMS, it seems, and that may be limiting the ability to fight this thing. If so, it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.

At this point I'm awful glad I am up here and not down there. Air still smells smoky, but is visibly clearer.

Addendum: Thomasville furniture store and a mattress store in Anaheim Hills are burning up.