17 February 2023 (11:57-UTC-07 Tango 06) 28 Bahman 1401/26 Rajab 1444/27 Jia-Yin 4721/17 февраля 2023 года
The Idaho National Guard revealed that over the past few years the training area known as Orchard Combat Training Center (formerly known as Orchard Training Area [OTA], back when I was a member of the Idaho Army National Guard) was greatly expanded, from approximately 143-thousand acres to more than 170-thousand acres!
Orchard Combat Training Center (OCTC) is located on federally owned BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property. In the past few years the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has spent big taxpayer dollars making the OCTC a premier combat training area, but it still doesn’t come close to the size of the U.S. Army’s Fort Irwin-National Training Center, in California.
The expansion of 2022 required more money to be spent, on upgrading the OCTC fire department. When I was in the Idaho Army National Guard there was no fire department on the OTA, but that changed in 2013, due to the massive spending by the DoD to create a new OCTC. To justify a fire department located out in the middle of BFE western Idaho, in 2014, the Idaho National Guard established mutual aid agreements between Orchard Fire & Emergency Services, the Boise Fire Department and the Oasis Volunteer Fire Department. In 2020, a deal was made with the Idaho Transportation Department. Currently, there are deals in the works with the Mountain Home Fire Department, and Mountain Home Air Force Base.
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Crystal Farris, 11JAN2023.
The result is that the OCTC Fire & Emergency Services has responded to more than 120 fires, and more than 40 emergency service calls on Interstate 84: “The Orchard Fire and Emergency Services is able to support emergency responses in local communities and during accidents on the interstate through mutual aid agreements. The agreements provide a benefit to not only those in need during emergencies, but also our firefighters who continuously hone their skills.”-Lieutenant Colonal Eric Sharp, OCTC director
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Crystal Farris, 11JAN2023.
Since 2019, the Idaho National Guard’s Orchard Fire & Emergency Services got federal taxpayer money for new vehicles, equipment, plus more than $6-million in building renovations which expanded the fire-station’s size from 10-thousand square feet to 21-thousand square feet. Also, the number employees went from 15 to 30.
11 February 2023 (11:09-UTC-07 Tango 06) 22 Bahman 1401/20 Rajab 1444/21 Jia-Yin 4721/11 февраля 2023 года
“We are building the nation’s largest research dairy in Rupert, Idaho. That doesn’t happen if we don’t have dairy processors come to the table and say, ‘We are going to support the producer community and put money toward this project.”-Rick Naerebout, CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association
The new CAFE is being funded by a combination of Idaho taxes and food industry donations. The latest donation came from an Idaho company called Redox Bio-Nutrients, a half-million dollars! The CAFE is expected to cost at least $45-million to complete (keep in mind that the cost keeps going up, in 2022 one report said $22-million), and supposedly will be the largest dairy research center in the United States!
In 1889, the University of Idaho was directly created by a federal ‘land-grant’, originally to act specifically as an agricultural research facility for the U.S., but in recent decades has become a ‘space-grant’ college as well.
10 February 2023 (13:35-UTC-07 Tango 06) 21 Bahman 1401/19 Rajab 1444/20 Jia-Yin 4721/10 февраля 2023 года
Towards the end of January 2023, the U.S. Navy’s (USN) 26th nuclear powered Virginia-class attack submarine was ‘floated’ in landlocked Idaho!
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 28JAN2023.
That is, a scale model of the submarine SSN-799 USS Idaho was paraded through downtown McCall, during the yearly Winter Carnival.
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 28JAN2023.
Most people don’t know that the birth place of the world’s first nuclear powered submarine was in landlocked Idaho (see more below under Cold War Boats: Nautilus).
Six of the future crew of USS Idaho attend an Idaho Steelheads hockey game, 25JAN2023. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur.
The visit of the miniature of the latest USS Idaho (several USN boats have been named after The Gem State) was instigated by the USS Idaho Commissioning Committee, which sent six of SSN-799’s future crew to Idaho, to learn just what-the-heck the state of Idaho is all about. They also spent some time on Idaho National Guard’s Gowen Field (which is also home to USN/USMC Reserve units); visited the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery; toured the Idaho Veterans Garden in Caldwell; spoke at school assemblies; attended the USS IDAHO Night at the Boise State University, among many other public relations events.
U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Joshua Karsten, 25JAN2023.
SSN-799 is currently being completed by General Dynamics Electric Boat, in Connecticut, and is expected to be commissioned into the USN in the Autumn of 2024. Former Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne revealed that the christening ceremony will use a bottle filled with water from Idaho lakes: “We went to the different lakes in Idaho gathering the water, which will all go into the champagne bottle, so that when Terry Stackley, our sponsor, christens the boat, the first water that will touch the bow of the USS Idaho will be the waters of Idaho.”
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.
M2A2 Bradley assigned to Charlie Company-2nd Battalion-116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team, Idaho National Guard, escorted other U.S./NATO units inside Syria, under the guise of supporting the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.
It should be noted that whenever U.S. forces enter Syria they remove all identifying unit patches from their uniforms. But what is the point of that if the U.S. Army, itself, is going to publicize the operation?
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.
The U.S. Army claims U.S./NATO forces are inside Syria only to train SDF in how to defeat the so-called Islamic State (even though the Syrian government has been kicking ass against the extremists, with the help of Russia).
Never mind that the part of Syria the SDF operates in, and the U.S./NATO forces are based in, just happens to be in the middle of Syria’s eastern oil/gas field operations.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.
The U.S. Army also admitted that in 2022, at least 108 U.S. led operations were conducted inside Syria. It is called Operation Inherent Resolve.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.
Operation Inherent Resolve also involves other NATO members, such as Norway’s Telemark Mechanized Infantry Battalion, operating under Task Force Viking.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.
I did some research to find out what was going on, and apparently there are two major problems taking place involving the USDA SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, originally known as Food Stamps): 1; many states are overwhelmed with SNAP applications, some states as much as four months behind, 2; the extra Pandemic SNAP funding is about to end in February/March (depending on the news source), and some states have already ended the Pandemic funding (like Idaho)!
For those of you who don’t know, each U.S. state handles the federal SNAP program differently, some states have very liberal programs while others are very tight fisted.
There doesn’t seem to be an explanation for the SNAP application backlog, but some states are having no problem spending tax dollars hiring security guards for their Social Services operations. The fact that the extra Pandemic funding for SNAP is coming to an end indicates the federal government thinks the Pandemic is over.
Here are links to local news reports/videos (tip-o-the-iceberg) about the SNAP shenanigans taking place across the United States:
8 News Now: Thousands of people in sparsely populated Nevada losing SNAP assistance!
9 News: More than half a million Coloradans hit by SNAP cuts!
28 January 2023 (02:17-UTC-07 Tango 06) 08 Bahman 1401/06 Rajab 1444/07 Gui-Chou 4721/28 январь 2023 года
“Sage Grouse and Idahoans have already lost so much from the unfettered expansion of phosphate mining and processing in this area.”-Hannah Connor, Center for Biological Diversity
A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it approved a phosphate mine near Soda Springs. The mine would be part of Southeast Idaho P4 Production phosphate operations already owned by NATO-Germany’s pharmaceutical/agricultural giant Bayer, operations that have a documented history of ground water contamination.
Bayer stated that the phosphate from the Caldwell Canyon Mine would be used for continued production of the herbicide glyphosate, also known as Roundup. Monsanto was the creator of the controversial Roundup, which ended up being banned by most countries around the world for causing cancer and birth defects. Monsanto suffered financially after numerous lawsuits and ended up selling-out to Germany’s Bayer in 2018, which agreed to take-on the legal liabilities of Roundup. Roundup became financially viable, again, once ‘Roundup Ready’ agricultural crops were genetically engineered.
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has yet to issue corrective action.
27 January 2023 (14:39-UTC-07 Tango 06) 07 Bahman 1401/05 Rajab 1444/06 Gui-Chou 4721/27 январь 2023 года
The Idaho Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) allows Veterans, and even current military personnel, to be waived from taking the test for Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)! But wait, not just any veteran or current military personnel, you specifically must have driven truck in the military. Whew, that’s good.
Here is the real good news for Veterans and military personnel with truck driving experience; the Idaho DMV has offered two forms for CDL testing waiver, except those forms had to be filled out by hand, that is until now. On 18JAN2023, the Idaho DMV announced two new ‘digital fillable forms’, in an attempt to streamline the process, and get more experienced truck driving Veterans on the road.
The old forms had to be printed then hand filled in, the new forms can be filled in before printing. Employees of Idaho DMV claim they were having a hard time reading the hand-filled forms, and some potential applicants gave up simply because they had to handwrite on the forms!
“Once again, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing a once-in-a-generation funding opportunity that allows EPA and our partners to improve water quality and infrastructure. We’re laying the groundwork today for future decades of clean water for the people of Idaho.”-Casey Sixkiller (great name), Administrator of EPA Region 10
On 26JAN2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had given Idaho $26-million-730-thousand to protect and improve water quality and infrastructure, back on 28DEC2022!
The money didn’t go directly to the state of Idaho, it is being divided (not evenly) between the federal government (EPA) co-sponsored Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and Clean Water State Revolving Fund. On top of that, the money isn’t free, the funding is to be issued out as low-interest loans!
Even though the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money is going to federally co-sponsored programs, and is to be used as debt financing, the Idaho DEQ was grateful: “The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality appreciates the ongoing support from EPA to protect and improve water quality and infrastructure across our state, and we welcome any assistance that helps make these services more accessible and affordable for our communities.”-Jess Byrne, Director of Idaho DEQ
U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL QUIETLY SHUT DOWN MASS-VAX SITE!
