09SEP2022, Moose Fire burns more than 125-thousand acres, largest fire currently in the U.S., been burning since July:
On 09SEP2022, at the request of the NIFC, two Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) equipped C-130s were deployed to Boise Airport (Gowen Field) for fire fighting duties. One is a C-130H Hercules (upgraded with the eight bladed prop) from Nevada Air National Guard, the other is a C-130J Super Hercules from California Air National Guard. The last time C-130s went to Boise Airport was in April 2022, for yearly MAFFS training. The two MAFFS equipped C-130s will remain on-station until 08OCT2022, unless another NIFC request is issued.
C-130 aircraft from three National Guard units and a U.S. Air Force Reserve unit arrive on Gowen Field (Boise Airport), Idaho, 20APR2017. California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Nieko Carzis.
Today, a warning has been issued for those using the Interstate 15 highway, around the Fort Hall Exit between Pocatello and Blackfoot, firefighting efforts could result in highway traffic being halted of diverted. The Idaho Fire Information website ranks the fire as “extreme”, an evacuation order was issued to anybody living in the 2 1/2 Mile Road/East Ross Fork area.
The fire has burned at least 7-thousand acres since the afternoon of 08SEP2022. Fast winds during the night made the fire worse, it is zero percent contained. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a burn ban for federal reservations in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a Degraded Air Quality warning, and a burn ban for Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Caribou, Franklin, Power and Oneida Counties. The air quality warnings and burn bans are blamed on the numerous fires in the Pacific Northwest.
This is not the first time a wildfire blackened the hills around 2 1/2 Mile Road; 03JUL2013:
At about 18:00, 09AUG2022, I noticed a lot of smoke northeast of where I live in Chubbuck, Idaho.
The fire grew as the sun went down.
It glowed through out the night. The wind was blowing north, northeast. During the night a strong windstorm blew in from the west (it was not forecasted). The next day, local news media reported the fire was located on the east side of the Fort Hall Reservation, homes were evacuated, burning at least 2-thousand-5-hundred acers (more than 1000 hectares). By the afternoon there were conflicting reports about the fire; TV news said it was under control and evacuations canceled, while newspapers reported it had re-ignited, was spreading and forcing more evacuations. I believe the newspapers because there was a sudden non-stop bucket brigade of water bomber flights from the Pocatello Airtanker Base.
Some video I made from my backyard, of Air Tractors and a MD87, flying over Chubbuck, on their way to bomb the Ross Fork Fire:
Some video I made of an Air Tractor and RJ85 being put to bed after a busy day of water bombing (they can only water-bomb during daylight):
As of 23:30, 10AUG2022, the Ross Fork Fire is still burning. The wind changed direction and kicked-up, this time we got teased with a little bit of rain. Thunderstorms are forecasted, but they’ve been bringing us more lightning than needed rain. There was also a wildfire in Power County, west of here, but it is supposedly extinguished.
The same area has a history of catching fire, July 2013:
“Summer is the time the program has given us to step outside our normal curriculum and experiment to try out new areas of STEM and develop new lessons we can then possibly submit to our national program for youth and other Starbase programs across the nation. Our Starbase staff were really excited about developing this new program and we hope to continue the curriculum into future summer camps and possibly the normal academic year.”-Courtney Taylor, Idaho Starbase director
During the months of June and July, 2022, fewer than 2-hundred 5th grade students in Idaho took part in an Idaho National Guard STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) Summer Camp program, called Starbase (STARBASE A Department of Defense Youth Program). It is not the first time, but this year demand for such a program was high enough that the normal one camp was expanded into eight separate camps, and three new unique/specialized programs were tried-out.
The Starbase camp is for children of members of the Idaho state militia. Military based STEM camps began in 2018, under the federal Department of Education’s (DoE) Title 1, however, according to the Idaho National Guard the federal Department of Defense (DoD) is actually providing the funding for the state militia operated STEM camps and after-school programs.
Children of migrant workers learn how to use computers to do facial reconstruction, on Idaho National Guard’s Gowen Field. Idaho Army National Guard photo by Crystal Farris, 15JUL2022.
Military based STEM camps are also for children of migrant farm workers, under the federal DoE’s Migrant Education Program. It appears that the DoD’s Starbase STEM camps are exclusively for children of National Guard personnel, and children of migrant workers!
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Crystal Farris, 28JUN2022.
For June 2022, Idaho’s Starbase introduced three new categories for its Summer camp; identifying weapons of mass destruction (WMD) under the guise of CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), Space-Force training under the guise of Mission to Mars, and survival training under the guise of search and rescue. Students were part of other programs such as the Caldwell Migrant Summer School Program, the Idaho Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, the Learning Garden Children’s Center in Meridian, and four different regions of the YMCA (Christian organization founded in the United Kingdom, based in Switzerland).
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Crystal Farris, 08JUL2022.
For July 2022, Starbase Idaho wrapped-up the season by introducing 3rd through 6th grade students to Idaho Army National Guard armored vehicles.
14 July 2022 (10:08-UTC-07 Tango 06) 23 Tir 1401/14 Dhu l-Hijja 1443/16 Ding-Wei 4720
Recently in the U.S. state of Idaho, apparently (supposedly) a City of Pocatello council person inquired about the funding for the Pocatello Arts Council. It sounded very much like she was ‘fishing’ for ways to appropriate some of that funding for local government use, not unusual for a city council that has a history of non-transparent, and even non-existent, financial record keeping. There is one major problem; the Pocatello Arts Council is not a government operation, it is a non-governmental organization (NGO) created and funded totally by donations!
On July 21st, Twelfth Night will be performed on The Quad, starting at 18:30 (6:30PM). Then King Lear makes an appearance on July 23rd, same location. Food trucks will be staged, but they are not free, bring money or bring your own food.
On this map The Quad is the area marked as #9.
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes conduct sunrise prayer on ISU’s Quad.
For those wanting more academic information about some guy named Shakespeare, on the 20th of July there is a free lecture (with live sample performances) at the Marshall Public Library, in the Old Town part of Pocatello.
The lecture is held before the theatrical plays take place so you’ll get a better understanding of the mind-set of The Bard.
In October 1991, the Pocatello Arts Council was created by a generous grant from an individual. The council members are not paid a dime, they are volunteering their own time and efforts. While Pocatello Arts Council is a non-taxpayer funded NGO, they do serve as an ‘advisory council’ to the Mayor of Pocatello.
Incomplete (tip-o-the iceberg) list of main stream news links announcing United States food supply shutdowns, emergencies, outbreaks and recalls for June 2022:
Long explanation how food crisis is second biggest factor behind price inflation (housing is number one). Food price inflation directly linked to fertilizer shortage caused by sanctions and war, yet as a result fertilizer is being stockpiled (farming ops are buying more than what they need out of fear) which will have a long term effect of fertilizer price drops, reducing food prices:
International food analysts (this leftist-liberal report loves to call them ‘experts’) say the food crisis is actually about “…access to food, that people don’t have money to pay for food, that people are jobless.” It is not about a lack of food (I’ve already posted about migrant farm workers in Idaho that say the same thing):
Indiana National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Tackora Farrington, 15JUN2022.
On 15JUN2022, Walmart conducted their yearly Feed ’em for Freedom food fest, on Camp Atterbury, for state National Guard personnel, and their families. Never mind that taxpayers already pay for the meals of military personnel, Walmart probably gets a tax write-off for providing a free BBQ for them. Is this a covert way for the Department of Defense to save money, by preparing state militia to rely on private sector donations for their meals?
NORTH CAROLINA:
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sergeant Isaiah Campbell, 29JUN2022.
On 29JUN2022, U.S. Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) volunteered to help operate the Unite Way’s Children Healthy Eating on Weekends (CHEW) Center, in Jacksonville.
VIRGINIA: On Fort Lee, the USDA kicked off its 13th annual Feds Feed Families (FFF) campaign. This means that for the past 13 years federal employees are being encouraged to donate food to silly-vilians, I mean civilians who are going hungry. Isn’t that a sign the country’s economy sucks? After all, a federal job is considered the best paying entry level job now, and I remember when being a federal employee meant you got less than private sector minimum wage (because I was one)! The FFF program will be collecting food until September 30th. This year U.S. military officials are blaming the food crisis on The Pandemic, as well as domestic and foreign political intrigues: “The annual Feds Feed Families food drive is one of the best ways for commissaries and military families to give back to the communities which host us around the nation. Unfortunately, with the pandemic and related issues of the last few years, the need is as great as it has been in a long time. The good news is that a little goes a long way.”-Sergeant Major Michael R. Saucedo, U.S. Marine Corps, Director of Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA)
Once again, the U.S. Coast Guard captured illegal drugs in the Gulf of Oman, on 31MAY2022 (not reported until 02JUN2022). This time 310 kilograms of heroin.
FLORIDA: On 17JUN2022, the USCG off-loaded 5-thousand-237 pounds of illegal drugs, onto Coast Guard Base Miami Beach. Video by Petty Officer Third Class Vincent Moreno:
Nearing the end of a 55 day patrol. USCG photo by Seaman Brad O’Brien, 30MAY2022.
On 24JUN2022, the USCG Cutter Steadfast (WMEC 623) returned to homeport in Astoria. While out patrolling the Eastern Pacific for the past 55 days, the crew of Steadfast helped Mexican law enforcement, on two occasions, to interdict drug smuggling boats, resulting in the seizure of 2-thousand-747 kilograms of cocaine.
Welcome to borderland hell under the U.S. President, highly incomplete (just the tip of the iceberg) list of videos and links to news/government agency reports for June 2022:
Between 01-07JUN2022, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) called Operation Cross Check. More than 1-hundred illegals were captured (which is nothing compared to the thousands captured during previous year’s Cross Check operations), most have convictions for crimes including, but not limited to, aggravated assault with a gun, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, hit and run, drug trafficking, and child molestation. Operation Cross Check has been conducted yearly since 2011. ICE video by Charles Reed:
The U.S. Coast Guard District 7 PADET captured 23 illegals from Cuba, they were handed over to the Bahamas on 03JUN2022:
USCG District 7 (Air Station Clearwater) video of a boat overloaded with illegals from Haiti, approximately 16 miles from Great Inagua, Bahamas, 12JUN2022:
USCG District 8 photo by Petty Officer Third Class Seth Rentz, 24JUN2022.
Somewhere in The Caribbean Sea (for an unknown reason the USCG did not want to give an exact location), the USCG surrounds a boat overloaded with illegals from Haiti, 24JUN2022.
25JUN2022, immigrant posts video of passage into Canada via the United States:
Illegals boarding the Navy of the Dominican Republic patrol boat Aldebarán. USCG District 7 PADET photo, 26JUN2022.
On 26JUN2022, the USCG handed over 11 illegals to the Navy of the Dominican Republic, near Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
On 28JUN2022, for some reason the President of Mexico felt he had to issue an apology regarding the mass-murder of illegals, by Mexican human smugglers, in a truck in Texas:
ARIZONA:
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol photo by Jerry Glaser, 07JUN2022.
U.S. taxpayers are now being raped to fund heat stress ‘Go-Bag’ kits being handed out to illegals in Arizona’s Tucson Sector! It is part of a 90 days study to make Border Patrol’s mission more ‘humanitarian’, eventually the Go-Bags will be issued across the U.S. southern land border.
Tucson Sector Border Patrol reports 2-thousand-1-hundred-and-92 ‘rescues’ in the month of May! On 09JUN2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP, aka Border Patrol) issued a warning to illegals. The warning was about Mother Nature, and a 90 day ‘scale-up’ of border patrol operations, also, new taxpayer funded heat survival kits will be used to ‘rescue’ illegals. Video was edited for time reasons:
On 10JUN2022, citizens (what the USCG calls ‘good Samaritans’) reported a homemade boat (what the USCG calls a “rustic vessel”) about 7 miles south of Key West. The USCG says the illegals onboard are from Cuba, and claims they were returned on 14JUN2022.
Between 01JUN2022 and 12JUN2022, the USCG District 7 reported capturing at least 52 illegals from Cuba, who were using various forms of rustic vessels. The USCG claims they were returned on 14JUN2022.
USCG District 7 photo, 12JUN2022.
On 12JUN2022, ‘good Samaritans’ reported an obvious illegal’s boat, 13 miles south of Marquesas Key. The USCG says the illegals are from Cuba, and claims they were returned on 17JUN2022.
USCG District 7 photo, 17JUN2022.
A good Samaritan reported a rustic vessel filled with people, on 17JUN2022. The USCG captured the boat about 22 miles south of Big Pine Key. The illegals from Cuba were sent back home on 19JUN2022, along with other captured Cubans totaling 45.
USCG District 7 PADET Jacksonville photo, 23JUN2022.
On 20JUN2022, the USCG captured yet more illegals from Cuba, about 68 miles south of Key West. The USCG photo purports to show the return of 89 illegals to Cuba, on 23JUN2022.
Photo by crew of Coast Guard Cutter Joshua Applebly, 25JUN2022.
On 25JUN2022, the USCG captured this rustic vessel about five miles south of Marquesas Key. The illegals were returned to Cuba, on 27JUN2022, as part of a larger group of 106!
Coast Guard Station Islamorada video of USCG and CBP interception of a boat overloaded with illegals from Haiti, about 40 miles southeast of Islamorada, 25JUN2022. The USCG claims 98 illegals were returned to Haiti on 29JUN2022:
MICHIGAN: 29JUN2022, Fox 2
Detroit shows you the problems of patrolling the border with Canada; weapons & human smuggling, CBP operations along Mexican border distracts from problems along Canadian border. CBP says “It’s not just a mom and a pop….trying to come across….it’s organized.”:
PUERTO RICO:
USCG District 7 PADET photo, 17JUN2022.
The USCG says this boat was filled with 56 illegals from Dominican Republic, they were captured near Mona Island, 17JUN2022, and handed over to the Navy of the Dominican Republic the next day.
Photo by the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Doyle, 27JUN2022.
58 illegals from Dominican Republic and Haiti were captured near Desecheo Island, 27JUN2022. They were returned to the Dominican Republic the next day.
TEXAS:
USCG District 8 photo, courtesy Tim Oberle, 07JUN2022.
In Houston, on 07JUN2022, Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston, Homeland Security Investigations Houston (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Houston and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Houston established a new Joint Intelligence and Operations Coordination Center to support Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana.
On 09JUN2022, USCG-Air Station Corpus Christi videoed Mexicans illegally fishing in U.S. water. A total of two illegal fishing boats, and six people, from Mexico were captured:
On 15JUN2022, El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent in Charge Gloria Chavez joined with Mexican Consul General in El Paso Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de Leon, to issue a warning to anybody trying to cross from Mexico into the United States. Video by Greg L. Davis:
Incomplete list of the latest news media links and scientific information regarding the continuing spread of rabies, as of 21JUN2022.
Rabies is caused by a type of Lyssavirus and is spread through scratches, bites and even exposure to saliva. Infected animals, including humans, can spread rabies even before symptoms occur.
TURKEY: On Incirlik Air Base, U.S. Army Veterinarian Captain Alicia Bailey explains the different symptoms of rabies. This is a result of increased cases of (“possible”) rabies during The Pandemic in 2020-21. U.S. Air Force video by Staff Sergeant Pedro Tenorio, 01DEC2021:
UNITED STATES:
70% of human rabies originated from bats in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (aka CDC). But even horses can get rabies.
Minnesota Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Mahsima Alkamooneh, 08MAY2022.
In May 2022, Minnesota Army National Guard medics administered rabies shots to people’s pets in Alaska, during operation Arctic Care 2022.
In October 2021, the Vermont Air National Guard announced they will work with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Rabies Management Program, by dropping vaccine laced food (“bait”) from aircraft in wildlife areas: “This research aims to improve Oral Rabies Vaccination strategies in urban areas to be more effective in reaching the NRMP’s goals of preventing the spread of and eliminating the raccoon rabies variant.”-Fred Pogmore, USDA’s Wildlife Service
“Families, employers, and citizens of Idaho, Montana and Oregon should be extremely proud and reassured that their Soldiers are motivated, well trained, and ready to represent their communities and the United States in a combat zone.”-Major Sam McDowell, commander of 2nd of the 116th Combined Arms Battalion, 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team
Sniper training. Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 10MAY2022.
‘Shoot house’ training. Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 13MAY2022.
In May 2022, National Guard personnel from Idaho, Montana, Ohio, Oregon and South Carolina continued their ‘extended training’ (since March) for deployment to Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in just a few months, for the ongoing Operation Spartan Shield.
Idaho’s M1064 (M113 mortar carrier). Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 17MAY2022.
Launching 120mm mortar rounds. Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 17MAY2022.
They have been assigned the official moniker of Task Force Rattler. They will be relieving Task Force Griz, another National Guard unit consisting of personnel from Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Oregon (which deployed at the end of 2021). It looks very much like the Idaho based 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team is stuck in a deployment loop.
So-called final Task Force Griz video report, by Sergeant Nicholas Ramshaw, 22MAY2022. Notice the Snake River Brigade patches:
Swedish made AT4 rocket launcher. Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 12MAY2022.
“Back-blast area clear!” Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 12MAY2022.
The 12 months deployment of Task Force Rattler (2nd of the 116th Combined Arms Battalion) will start with a short stop on Fort Bliss, Texas, for final deployment training, then on to Kuwait.
IDAHO UPDATE, 15 AUGUST
FOR FIRST TIME, IDAHO MOBILIZES MILITIA (National Guard) FOR FIRE DUTY!
WYOMING & COLORADO ACTIVATES MAFFS, NEVADA’S MAFF MISSION EXTENDED!
