Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport.
My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front).
Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42.
Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
08 July 2021 (14:30-UTC-07 Tango 06) 17 Tir 1400/28 Dhu l-Qa’da 1442/29 Yi-Wei 4719
Children on Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, get a lesson on how to eat crickets during a survival course. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Jessica Weissman.
When I first moved to Southeastern Idaho (25 years ago), I experienced one of the cyclical swarming of grasshoppers in the region. When grasshoppers swarm and eat everything in site they are called Locust.
U.S. Forest Service personnel instruct Marine Corps & Navy personnel how to survive by eating bugs like crickets. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Matthew F. Jackson.
Not only was my garden in my yard being inundated with plant eating grasshoppers, but while hiking in the Scout Mountain area I observed tens of thousands of grasshoppers cannibalizing each other. In an open field the ground was undulating, upon closer inspection it was a carpet of grasshoppers doing battle, biting each other’s heads off and then eating the loser (and I they were bleeding red blood)!
U.S. military personnel taking a survival course on Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, get a boxed lunch of crickets. USAF photo by Airman First Class Gustavo Castillo.
U.S. Army soldier chows-down on roasted crickets during survival training on Camp Friendship, in Thailand. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant David N. Beckstrom.
Five years old girl from Guatemala found wandering alone along the Tijuana River channel, 07JUN2021.
FLORIDA:
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Third Class Ryan Estrada.
23JUN2021, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) captured 11 illegals from Cuba, in their home made corrugated boat.
USCG photo by Chief Petty Officer Charly Tautfest.
14JUN2021, USCG off-loads more than 7-thousand-5-hundred pounds of cocaine at Port Everglades, in Fort Lauderdale.
USCG photo by Petty Officer Second Class Ashley Johnson.
The USCG, and local Florida police, captured 16 illegals from Cuba, 09JUN2021.
USCG photo by Petty Officer Second Class Ashley Johnson.
05JUN2021, USCG captures 21 Haitians and one Colombian. 20 of the illegals from Haiti were sent back home on 10JUN2021.
USCG photo.
USCG chases a boat filled with a dozen illegals from Cuba, 03JUN2021. USCG reports they captured so many Cubans that week that on 08JUN2021 they sent home 82 of them.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Thomas Sjoberg.
On 19MAY2021, packages of cocaine began washing up on the beach of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The illegal drug was found by the Station’s wildlife manager while conducting a sea turtle nesting survey.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Thomas Sjoberg.
The origin of the nearly 30 kilograms of cocaine is still being investigated.
On 25JUN2021, the USCG/Caribbean Border Interagency Group sent back home 38 illegals from Dominican Republic. They built themselves a homemade boat, but were captured on 24JUN2021.
During NATO wargame Saber Guardian-21/DEFENDER-Europe 21, Hungarian Mil 24s and U.S. AH-64s conducted live fire training, together for the first time.
U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Cole can’t help but grin from ear to ear, getting a ride in the gunner’s seat of a Hungarian Hind. USA photo by Major Robert Fellingham, 03JUN2021.
USA photo by Major Robert Fellingham, 03JUN2021.
Hungarian Defense Force Brigadier General József Koller gets situated in the gunner’s seat of an AH-64D. USA photo by Major Robert Fellingham, 03JUN2021.
USA photo by Major Robert Fellingham, 09JUN2021.
It’s not the first time NATO Hinds and Apaches worked together, but apparently (according to U.S. Army, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade’s Major Robert Fellingham) it is the first time they’ve exchanged crews and taken part in ‘live fire’ wargames together.
USA photo by Major Robert Fellingham.
USA photo by Major Robert Fellingham.
USA photo by Major Robert Fellingham, 09JUN2021.
Near Szolnok, Hungary, June 2019. USA photo by Sergeant Brandon Brashere.
In 2019, U.S. Apache crews got to look over Hungarian Hinds during Saber Guardian-19, and vice versa.
Near Szolnok, Hungary, June 2019. USA photo by Sergeant Brandon Brashere.
Iraq, May 2006, USA photo.
In May 2006, a Polish Mil 24 and U.S. AH-64D Apache shared a forward refueling/arming point somewhere in Iraq.
“….plan, organize, equip, train, exercise for responding to and recovering from a catastrophic incident resulting in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, morale and/or government functions.”-Major General Bret D. Daugherty, Washington National Guard
Since a massive tsunami would render all the sea ports useless, on 05JUN 2016 they practiced using a Heavy Ground Mobility System (HGMS) truck to deploy a temporary modular roadway. This is known as a Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) operation. Washington Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Michael Tietjen.
Video of Modular Roadway deployment:
Video of JLOTS operation:
Video report explaining why JLOTS would be needed after a Cascadia Event, Washington Army National Guard’s 331st Transportation Company boasts that it is the only U.S. unit with this specific Combined Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (CJLOTS) configuration:
Navy Region North West (NRNW) Operations Center, in Washington state, will serve as a command & control after a CSZ event. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Jeffry Willadsen, 08JUN2016.
Cascadia Rising 2016 was directed from Naval Base Kitsap, Washington, in coordination with FEMA. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer Third Class Jessica Maue.
In 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well as Oregon and Washington National Guards, conducted a training event called Cascadia Rising. They are preparing for a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, resulting from an overdue jolt along the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) off the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States.
07JUN2016, U.S. Coast Guard tested their Deployable Contingency Communications System near Ellensburg, Washington. U.S. Coast Guard District 13 photo.
07JUN2016, Oregon Air National Guard practiced emergency supply operations using TACPs and C-130s. Oregon Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Emily Thompson.
Mass casualty training on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, 08JUN2016. Washington Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Michael Tietjen.
Washington Air National Guard joined with Pierce County Corrections to prevent any breakouts at the Pierce County Jail, 08JUN2016. Washington Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Paul Rider.
While Washington’s Air National Guard tried to prevent a jail break, Washington’s Army National Guard help prisoners ‘escape’ the Hoquiam Jail due to approaching tsunami, 09JUN2016. Washington National Guard photo by Captain Colette Muller.
The first Cascadia Rising event was in 2016, and was considered to be the largest ever disaster response training in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Cascadia Rising 2016 revealed to authorities that everybody, and every local government operation, needed to be self-supplied for a minimum of two weeks to survive such a catastrophe: “The Cascadia Rising 2016 exercise highlighted a number of critical areas that we, the emergency management community, should improve before this fault ruptures, which will impact large portions of our residents and infrastructure. …..The exercise highlighted a number of infrastructure interdependencies our residents have come to rely on, such as electricity, communications, fuel, water and our roads. Most of these sectors would be heavily disrupted after a CSZ event and plans are being developed and exercised that focus on the efficient recovery of these essential services.”-Sharon Loper, FEMA Region 10
Kentucky and Oregon National Guard conducted mass casualty training at Camp Rilea. Oregon Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant John Hughel.
It is also expected that the CSZ event will create toxic environments. Oregon Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant John Hughel.
To show you how seriously the DoD and FEMA are taking the overdue CSZ jolt, Cascadia Rising 2016 involved almost 20-thousand personnel from the U.S. Air Force Reserve, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Kentucky National Guard, Oregon and Washington National Guards, Tribes, and civilian emergency response agencies.
Wearing contamination protective gear, Kentucky National Guard conducted rescues of people ‘swept’ into the forest. Kentucky National Guard photo by First Lieutenant Michael Reinersman.
Video interviews, by Staff Sergeant Amy Elker, concerning the nine Tribes in Oregon, in relation to the coming CSZ event:
Wearing contamination protective gear, Kentucky National Guard approach a collapsed building on Camp Rilea, Oregon, 08JUN2016. Kentucky National Guard photo by First Lieutenant Michael Reinersman.
Searching trough collapsed buildings, 09JUN2016. Oregon Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant John Hughel.
U.S. Coast Guard Mobile Medical Ship during Cascadia Rising exercise at Naval Magazine Station Indian Island, Washington, 09JUN2016. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Third Class Andrea Anderson.
Cascadia Rising preparations also include crowd control. Oregon Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant John Hughel, 10JUN2016.
On 15JUN2016, personnel from the Japan Self Defense Forces toured Port Tacoma, Washington, and gave advice on how to respond to a tsunami. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Eliverto V Larios.
“A secure and resilient nation with the capabilities required across the whole community to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk.”–Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
During the first week of June, 2021, U.S. Army’s Northern Command (aka Army North) conducted a Rehearsal of Concept (RoC) major nation-wide disaster response discussion, at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas: “This RoC drill helps us synchronize our whole-of-government effort for an all-hazards response, whether it is a response to a natural disaster, pandemic, man-made hazard, terrorist attack or cyberattack. Having everyone here to synchronize and integrate is extremely important for us to be ready to fulfill our requirements as an integrated, interagency task force to meet the National Preparedness Goal.”-Lieutenant General Laura J. Richardson, Army North
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Jamil Birden.
The nation-wide RoC included the National Guard Bureau and U.S. Transportation Command. Hurricane scenarios focused on category 4 and 5 storms targeting Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Scenarios also discussed dealing with post-pandemic/CoViD-19 environment ‘challenges’: “These are unprecedented times.”-Damon Penn, FEMA
Recent FEMA Public Service Announcement (PSA) warning people about pandemic and natural disasters:
Panama City, Florida, October 2018. U.S. Army Corps of Engineer photo by Brennon Claus.
Back in 2018, category 5 Hurricane Michael severely damaged Building 544 on Naval Support Activity (NSA) Panama City, Florida. Building 544 is a research and development facility for Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC).
Damage assessment by Naval Facilities (NavFac) Engineering Command, October 2018. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer Third Class Devin Bowser.
Now, two and a half years later, the U.S. Navy (USN) announced it will spend $9.3-million to re-build Building 544. It is hoped the project will be completed by September 2022.
On 12JUN2021, the South Carolina National Guard conducted a Rehearsal of Concept (RoC) hurricane response discussion, on McEntire Joint National Guard Base.
South Carolina National Guard photo by Captain Jessica Donnelly.
“This is an ongoing process for us…For much of what we do, and what the Emergency Management Division does, we work year-round in preparation for hurricane season. After we complete an event, we go back in and make an assessment of it to determine our strengths, weaknesses, and how we can look to improve…Following the last season, and the previous seasons before, we’re always looking at how we can prepare and better ourselves for the future.”-Major General Van McCarty
Camp Rilea, Warrenton, Oregon. Oregon National Guard photo by Master Sergeant John Hughel.
Oregon National Guard photo by Master Sergeant John Hughel, 24JUN2021.
From 21 through 25 June, 2021, the Oregon National Guard conducted federal level Red Card (Incident Qualification Card) wildfire training for more than 110 militia personnel, apparently the last group to go through the Red Card training for 2021: “Everyone being trained this week is one of the last groups we have prepared for the season. We’ll have over 5-hundred people ready to go if we get called up, so right now is just coordinating all the moving pieces, going from the classroom stage to the final hands-on live burn exercise before we send everybody home.”-Master Sergeant Chris Ross
Oregon National Guard photo by Master Sergeant John Hughel, 24JUN2021.
Oregon National Guard photo by Master Sergeant John Hughel, 24JUN2021.
During the pandemic-panic-attack of 2020, the U.S. state of Oregon suffered devastating wildfires; more than one million acres (404686 hectares) of land burned, including homes and businesses, 11 people killed. The Oregon National Guard supplements fire fighting efforts by the Oregon Department of Forestry.
Oregon National Guard photo by Master Sergeant John Hughel, 24JUN2021.
Oregon National Guard video by Master Sergeant John Hughel:
Oregon National Guard photo by Master Sergeant John Hughel.
“Everyone should have their emergency supplies on hand already. Don’t wait until the last minute to go to the store to buy food. Purchase your supplies, get your free sandbags and you’ll be properly prepared.”-Master Sergeant Randy Golleher, U.S. Air Force, Okinawa, Japan
Kadena Air Base, Japan, 10JUN2021. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Yosselin Perla.
In the Pacific region, hurricanes are called typhoons. They can happen anytime, but the United States Forces Japan (USFJ) considers official Typhoon Season to be June 1st through November 30th.
U.S. Marines Corps graphic.
April is considered Typhoon Prep Month, they’ve even developed the Tropical Cyclone Conditions of Readiness (TCCOR) system: “When a typhoon is approaching, we stand up the virtual Emergency Operations Center with all of our island partners. We also begin to monitor the typhoon through the Defense Communications System and we make sure all military branches understand what TCCOR level we’re in.”-Master Sergeant Randy Golleher, USAF, Okinawa
On the U.S. island territory of Guam, the U.S. Air Force issued a typhoon explainer/prep video. On Guam, official Typhoon Season is May through November:
Also, the Airmen of Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, put together this ‘cheesy’ video on how to properly use a generator to supply electrical power to your home:
