Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds.
The Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th FW, 190th FS, decided to light up one of their home based (Gowen Field) A-10Cs with end-of-year holiday colors, starting on 20DEC2021.
The ID-ANG has been flying the A-10 since 1996. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds.
The Rheinland-Pfalz Impfbus (immunization bus) at U.S. Army Rhine Ordnance Barracks 10DEC2021. Photo by Gina Hutchins-Inman.
On 10DEC2021, the State of Rhienland-Pfalz sent their Impfbus (immunization bus) to the U.S. Army’s Rhine Ordnance Barracks, despite the fact that the Barracks has a 96% vaccination rate: “I really appreciate the German Red Cross and the 21st TSC [Theater Sustainment Command] helping us with this second iteration of the corona vaccination. The garrison has a 96% vaccination rate including service members.”-Daniel Nagel, Garrison Works Council Chairman
U.S. Army photo by Eleanor Prohaska.
On 08DEC2021, U.S. Army and Air Force medical personnel conducted a Booster Rodeo in the city of Kaiserslautern. The so called Victory Medics helped spend U.S. funding to vaccinate approximately 1-thousand-6-hundred people! On top of that, Lieutenant Colonel William Murray reports that the U.S. Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center is vaccinating as many as 1260 people per day!
U.S. Army photo by Corporal Froylan Grimaldo, 13DEC2021.
U.S. Army medics are working in Beaumont Hospital, Dearborn.
The U.S. Army’s Detroit Arsenal began Rapid CoViD-19 Testing on 10DEC2021.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Ty Baggerly, 09DEC2021.
FEMA deployed the U.S. Army’s 214th Medical Detachment (based on Fort Bliss, Texas) to Covenant Healthcare in Saginaw.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Ty Baggerly, 06DEC2021.
U.S. Army medics are working at Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids.
Minnesota:
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael H. Lehman, 07DEC2021.
U.S. Air Force medics are working at Hennepin Healthcare, in Minneapolis.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael H. Lehman, 27NOV2021.
U.S. Air Force medics (wearing non-protective surgical masks, meaning not N95 masks, see more below under New Mexico) arrive at CentraCare St. Cloud Hospital, in Saint Cloud.
Montana:
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Andre Taylor, 09DEC2021.
U.S. Air Force medics working at Benefis Health System in Great Falls.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Andre Taylor, 06DEC2021.
U.S. Navy medics are also deployed to the Billings Clinic Hospital, in Billings.
Montana National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Michael Touchette.
National Guard/U.S. Army Dual Status Commander inspects Providence Saint Patrick’s Hospital in Missoula , 02DEC2021.
New Jersey: On 09DEC2021, the new(?) Burlington County COVID-19 Vaccine Mega-Site was opened, being operated by New Jersey Army National Guard, U.S. Army and Burlington County. Interestingly the military press release states it is a “newly opened” facility, while Burlington County’s website says it is a “reopened” facility. Notice in the photo above that in the widow they’ve posted the phrase “here for good”!
New Mexico:
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nicholas Goodman, 14DEC2021.
U.S. Navy medical personnel from San Diego, California, are working at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nicholas Goodman, 09DEC2021.
An Afghan child refugee gets vaccinated at the Brooke Army Medical Center COVID-19 Vaccine Site, on 03DEC2021, three days before the site was shut down due to lack of demand! U.S. Army photo by Jason W. Edwards.
Despite government/news media ramping up fear mongering over Omicron, on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston Brooke Army Medical Center switched to vaccinations by appointment only on 06DEC2021. Hospital administrators admitted that the reason for ending the mass-vax operation was due to lack of demand by military personnel, despite being mandated to get the shot!
Also on Joint Base San Antonio, the U.S. Air Force not only ordered the return of mask wearing, but inadvertently revealed that mask wearing is now permanent by issuing guidelines on which color mask to wear with which uniform!
Utah:
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Richard Barnes, 03DEC2021.
The Utah Air National Guard has taken over monoclonal antibody infusions at a Utah Department of Health site in Saint George. Previously, the U.S. Air Force was administering the monoclonal treatments.
Virginia:
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Jessica J. Mazzamuto, 09DEC2021.
U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico continues vaccinating Afghan child refugees.
Washington:
Photo by Sergeant Yesenia Barajas.
On 21NOV2021, the U.S. Navy’s Surgeon General, and other Navy officials, inspected Confluence Health’s Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. Navy medical personnel from Florida and Virginia are working in the hospital.
Wisconsin:
U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Caitlin Wilkins.
An Afghan child refugee gets a Pandemic shot on Fort McCoy, 08DEC2021.
1-148 FA HQ in Pocatello, Idaho, got hit with a wind/snow storm, 14DEC2021, giving a new look to their armor displays.
Wind & snow storm hit Southeastern Idaho on 14DEC2021. Sustained winds hit 42mph, wind gusts hit 68mph, at the Pocatello Airport (which is actually in Power County, not Bannock County). HMMWV at the Idaho National Guard armory in Pocatello (Bannock County), 1-148 Field Artillery, 116th Cavalry Brigade.
Watching over the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck, Bannock County, Idaho.
Cold War era M60A3.
Conducting ‘bounding overwatch’ of the cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello.
U.S. Marines Corps LAV lit-up for the Camp Fuji, Japan, xmas tree lighting ceremony, 12DEC2021. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Katie Gray.
Arriving a little early, Santa rode onto Camp Fuji, Japan, on a Light Armored Vehicle, 12DEC2021. USMC photo by Katie Gray.
M1/M116 Pack Howitzer, 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Christian Carrillo.
Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Cory Reese.
2nd Cavalry Regiment decorate dozens of tactical vehicles on Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.
M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.
M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.
M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Stryker, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Stryker Snowman, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Stryker Grinch, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.
Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Markus Rauchenberger.
The M4 Sherman display, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Black Horse), Fort Irwin National Training Center, California, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.
M26 display, 11th ACR (Black Horse), Fort Irwin NTC, California, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.
M48 display, 11th ACR, Fort Irwin NTC, California, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.
Bradley Fighting Vehicle nicknamed Bob Ross, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (Quarterhorse), 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Hohenfels, Germany, 05DEC2021. USA photo by Staff Sergeant George B. Davis.
New Hampshire Army National Guard High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during the Queen City’s holiday parade in Manchester, New Hampshire, 04DEC2021. New Hampshire Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Charles Johnston.
Ādaži, Latvia, 30NOV2021. Actually, this 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment (Burt’s Knights), 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division’s M1A2 SEP Abrams isn’t trying to look like an Xmas Tree, but ’tis the season. It’s all part of the war game Winter Shield 2021. USA photo by Corporal Max Elliott.
From xmas 2019, German Tiger Tank holiday lights on Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
A spat of news media reports offer overwhelming proof that a major housing price crash is coming for The Gem State of Idaho, and this comes just as many home owners just got another big county assessed increase in their property tax/fee schedules!
Despite main stream news sources, and housing developers/speculators, blaming Idaho’s high prices on lack of housing, this Good News Reality Group video report claims Boise’s housing inventory is actually up by 300%, as well as homes for sale are sitting on the market for longer, and that property tax/fee increases are driving locals out, warns that “even dual income families are gonna have a hard time qualifying”:
KTVB news report about ‘luxury’ student apartments for Boise State University, replacing what were once affordable housing (this is called gentrification), warns it is a trend favoring out of state developers being allowed to happen by government officials:
In July 2021, Local News 8 reported that the housing situation in Pocatello is being driven by housing developers seeking high profits, the situation in Idaho is so bad that low income workers must work an impossible 76 hours per week to afford a one bedroom apartment, Idaho is 5th ranked in the country for evictions & foreclosures:
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Third Class Jimmy Ivy the Third.
After 67 years, the world’s first nuclear powered submarine is still afloat, and heading for a $36-million (estimated) refurbishment, so it can continue its job as the U.S. Submarine Force Museum’s centerpiece.
15OCT2021, USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Third Class Jimmy Ivy the Third.
Former USS Nautilus, now HS Nautilus, is the only nuclear powered submarine that silly-vilians (civilians) are allowed to visit (?unless you count the prototype Nautilus buried in the Idaho desert? see more below).
15OCT2021, USN photo by Petty Officer Second Class Abel Gonzalez.
Officials with the Submarine Force Museum claim that more than 100-thousand people tour the retired trend-setting submarine every year.
U.S. Navy video, 15OCT2021, ceremony for Nautilus as it is hauled away for preservation maintenance onboard Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut:
It is hoped the estimated $36-million refurbishment will allow SSN-571 to continue in its job as museum ship for at least 30 more years.
USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tristan B. Lotz.
On 14APR2021, HS (Historic Ship) Nautilus had a change of command, that’s correct, even retired ships have what is called an Officer in Charge of Historic Ship.
30SEP2014, the 60th Anniversary ceremonies for HS Nautilus. USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Tim Comerford.
January 2012, USN video report on the 50th anniversary of SSN 571’s maiden voyage, which incorrectly states the first nuclear powered voyage was in 1954 which it was not (it was actually 1955, it was launched in 1954):
In 2002, Nautilus underwent a $4.7-million refurbishment.
U.S. Navy poster by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Randall Ramaswamy.
Six years after decommissioning, the freshly painted anchor of Nautilus, after it began museum ship operations at its original home port of Naval Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut. Photo dated 08AUG1986, USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Third Class Joan Zopf.
On 11APR1986, Nautilus officially began its new job as museum ship.
Shoved into position at Pier 33, Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, 06JUL1985. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Third Class Joan Zopf.
Large harbor tugs Negwagon (YTB 834) and Metacom (YTB 829) work to bring 571 home, New London Naval Base, Connecticut, 06JUL1985. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Third Class Joan Zopf.
Two types of Viet Nam era gun boats lead 571 out of the Miraflores Locks, Panama, 21JUN1985. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Third Class Joan Zopf.
From the Pacific to the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, 21JUN1985. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Third Class Joan Zopf.
Nautilus in the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal, 21JUN1985. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Third Class Joan Zopf.
28MAY1985, USN photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate John Kristoffersen.
28MAY1985, HS NAUTILUS (SSN 571) being towed away from San Francisco by large harbor tugs SKENANDOA (YTB 835), foreground, and PUSHMATAHA (YTB 830). USN photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate John Kristoffersen.
On 28MAY1985, Nautilus left California for New London, Connecticut, arriving in July 1985.
27MAY1985, Mare Island, California. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Second Class Steve Miller.
27MAY1985, Mare Island, California. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Second Class Steve Miller.
14MAY1985, Mare Island, California. USN photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate John Kristoffersen.
14MAY1985, Mare Island, California. USN photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate John Kristoffersen.
Assigned new duty as National Historic Landmark-Museum Ship on 20MAY1982, and began refurbishment at Mare Island, California.
Nautilus developed a hull vibration that rendered its sonar useless, It was decommissioned and stricken from active duty records on 03MAR1980.
10NOV1966 collision with USS Essex (CV-9)! The conning tower (aka sail) of Nautilus came into contact with the hull of the carrier Essex during anti-submarine war games off the North Carolina coast.
Silent, color USN film of Vice Admiral Rickover (‘father’ of USN nuclear power) receives Distinguished Service Award aboard Nautilus, 17JAN1961:
Silent, color USN film showing that Nautilus 571 supplied electrical power for the keel laying of Lafayette 616 on 17JAN1961:
First submarine under the North Pole ice cap (yep, there used to be a year-round ice sheet on the Arctic Ocean), it should be pointed out that compasses do not work once you get into the Arctic Circle. This is silent, USN color film (which looks like there should be audio because the Captain is talking to the camera), Captain congratulating crew upon reaching ’90 degrees North’ (notice the cake), and writing his official letter to the President of the U.S., during the secret mission called Operation Sunshine, August1958:
Silent, color USN film with a ‘slate’ date of “17 JAN”, supposedly 1955, which is the day USS Nautilus went ‘nuclear’, becoming the world’s first SSN:
Silent, color USN film of taxpayers being seated for the commissioning of Nautilus as a USS (United States Ship), 30SEP1954:
Sailing the Thames River, Connecticut, January 1954.
Launching into the Thames River, Connecticut, January 1954.
The General Dynamics-Electric Boat built Nautilus was christened/launched on 21JAN1954, commissioned as a United States Ship (USS) on 30SEP1954, first sailing under nuclear power in January 1955 making it the world’s first SSN (Submersible Ship Nuclear).
The S2W nuclear powerplant for Nautilus was born in the Arco Desert of Eastern Idaho, in 1953, on a USN base then known as the National Reactor Testing Station (now known as Idaho National Laboratory).
Welcome to borderland hell under the new U.S. President, highly incomplete list of videos and links to news/government agency reports as of 23 November 2021:
U.S. Military Assistance Group photo by Captain Pawel Puczko.
On 28OCT2021, the U.S. military (taxpayers) handed the Philippine Coast Guard Special Operations Force a training/storage facility valued at $469-thousand!
The U.S. Coast Guard captured drug smugglers, and their drugs, off the island of Gonave. The smugglers and drugs were turned over to the Haitian Coast Guard, 27OCT2021.
Boundless Immigration reveals that the House passed Biden Build Back Better Bill includes more than $1-billion for immigration:
CALIFORNIA: In legalized marijuana California, illegal marijuana farmers are now stealing water from legal residents of California:
FLORIDA: WKMG reports human smuggling cases are up:
USCG District 7 photo.
Off the coastline of Jupiter, on 16NOV2021 the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) captured/found a man reported missing. The USCG suspects the man of trying to smuggle his non-citizen stepson into the U.S.
USCG District 7 photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jose Hernandez.
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton (WMSL 753) off-loaded $504-million in cocaine, marijuana at Port Everglades, on 22NOV2021. The drugs were captured as part of an international effort involving USCG, U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with allied and international partner agencies.
Video report, Deschutes County gets more federal funding to fight increasing illegal marijuana operations, local police say the illegal farms are the main draw of illegal farm workers:
PUERTO RICO:
USCG District 7 photo by Ricardo Castrodad.
On 02NOV2021, the USCG captured 77 Dominicans and six Haitian illegals, Northwest of Aguadilla. They were transferred to the Dominican Republic Navy on 03NOV2021.
USCG District 7 photo by Ricardo Castrodad.
An international multi-agency effort involving the USCG, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, the Caribbean Border Interagency Group and the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force captured three drug traffickers, north of Vega Baja, and almost $4-million worth of cocaine, 01NOV2021.
On 10NOV2021, the U.S. military gave away yet more vehicles to Peshmerga forces at Erbil, Iraq. At least 170 vehicles were given away. U.S. Army video by Corporal Isaiah Scott:
Video report by Rudaw, 08NOV2021, explaining how small groups of so called Islamic State are scaring off Kurdish villagers in the area of Kirkuk, which is home to more than 20 oil fields:
On 01NOV2021, the U.S. Army’s Task Force Spartan revealed that expansion work is being done on Erbil Air Base. For about three months now, engineers with 806th Route Clearance Company, 111th Theater Engineer Brigade, have been improving gravel ‘parking lots’ with limestone: “The limestone is a softer stone that will break up easier and in return ‘lock in’ to itself when packed down. This creates a solid surface that can still be packed down and have a smooth top layer that vehicles will not sink into and get stuck. At the same time, it allows for drainage through the limestone that does not create a muddy surface.”-Sergeant First Class Stephen Jones, NCO in command of the project
Role 3 Hospital, Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, U.S. Army photo by Major Andrew DeStefano.
On 20OCT2021, the U.S. Army’s Medical Logistics Command revealed that a FRAM (Forward Repair Activity-Medical) team from California was deployed to Iraq at the end of September, to repair and return to ‘operability’ medical equipment at a ‘Role 2 hospital’ on Erbil Air Base, as well as a ‘Role 3 hospital’ at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, for the specific purpose of “boosting overall readiness.”
U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sergeant Jose A. Torres, Junior.
During 16-29OCT2021, Exercise Phoenix Fires was conducted near Al Asad Air Base. The purpose was to ‘hone the skills’ of Iraqi Tactical Attack Controllers (ITAC), who call in airstrikes to support ground forces. The training concluded with a live-fire exercise near Mosul Dam.
U.S. Army Phoenix Fires video explainer interview by Staff Sergeant Jose A. Torres, Junior:
Al Asad Air Base. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Clara Soria-Hernandez.
On 12OCT2021, Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 135th Medical Area Support Company conducted combat life-saving skills training for Iraqi special forces medics, as well as Iraqi air force clinic medics, on Al Asad Air Base.
U.S. Army photo by First Lieutenant James Mason.
On 11OCT2021, Task Force Spartan revealed that the 1022nd Engineer Company, 111th Theater Engineer Brigade, had engineers working on ‘vertical construction projects’ on Erbil Air Base. This is because more U.S. and Coalition personnel are operating on the air base, and it was deemed that existing structures were not safe.
Also on 11OCT2021, the U.S. Air Force revealed it had deployed Joint Expeditionary Tasked/Individual Augmentees (JET/IA) to Al Asad Air Base, to support AC-130W Stinger-2 operations. The AC-130W is a USAF Special Operation Forces gunship: “We’ve been assigned to support the AC-130W and provide them with all their logistical needs…whether that be transportation, aerial port, anything like that.”-Master Sergeant Charles Willis, Special Operation Forces and Logistics
One of the JET/IA Airman (Senior Airman Autumn Rivas), deployed for the AC-10W ops, intimated that combat action had increased when he said “You know any attacks that happen here, I would say like the other day we had to stay up all night and work all day. It hasn’t been the easiest thing. We do what we need to do to get things done, work at different paces and stagger things when they need to be staggered.”
It is called Dual Status Commander (DSC), it is a relatively new position that gives a commanding officer control of both federal military forces and state National Guard! At the ‘official’ beginning of the Pandemic in the United States, March 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) had already appointed (Officially ‘at the request of state governors’.) multiple DSCs with several states. The most recent DSC appointment was in Idaho.
The DSC position combines Title 32 and Title 10 operations under one commander (What is Title 32 and Title 10?). DSCs are Brigadier Generals or Colonels, and in most cases hold the office of a National Guard adjutant general.
The DoD has been toying with the idea of a DSC for more than a couple of decades. I know from my own experience that the federales have been slowly reigning in state controlled National Guard since the 1990s.
In 2003, the retiring Judge Advocate for the Idaho Army National Guard gave his last yearly legal briefing by explaining how state governors had been ‘bribed’ with “briefcases full of money” to sign over their right of control of their National Guard to the office of the President of the United States. He stated that this ‘bribery’ began under the presidency of William Clinton. The rationalization was that the DoD planners were expecting significant events (aka “no-notice events”) to occur which would require rapid mobilization of Guard units, and the old system of having the President go through each state governor was too slow. In exchange for pre-authorizing federal mobilization of Guard personnel, the DoD would give a compliant state the latest and greatest military gear plus extra federal funding! So called ‘red conservative’ Idaho was one of the first states to sign-on.
Title 32 itself allows for a ‘cross over’ of state National Guard commanders and federal officers, with the consent of both the President and the relative state’s Governor. Until 2011 this was only for what was called National Special Security Events. The 2011 National Defense Authorization Act expanded the use of DSC to natural disasters.
During the 2017 Hurricane season, 25 DSCs were appointed, but only three employed Title 10 (federally activated) units. The military think tank Rand Corporation studied the use of DSCs during the response to Hurricane Maria. Essentially you can determine the true mission orientation of a military response by who has been made DSC, and by the size and configuration of the Headquarters unit. The Achilles Heel of DSC controlled operations was revealed in the form of massive reliance on liaisons between all units involved in the disaster response. It turned out that during the response to Hurricane Maria that “demand for liaisons…exceeded the deployed capacity of the DCO/E [Defense Coordinating Officer and Element] and JFLCC [Joint Force Land Component Commander]“. Another failing of the Hurricane Maria response is that the DSC was not given control of Title 10 units, essentially because it was believed that the DSC would not be able to adequately exercise C2 (Command and Control) over Title 10 units.
Rand Corporation pointed out that a major problem with using the DSC option during natural disasters was Command and Control (aka C2) of both Title 32 and Title 10 units. The review also discovered “potential gaps” in Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) training, contributing to “obvious gaps in providing the right information to individuals” creating a “knowledge erosion” during the Hurricane Maria response. The recommendations included increased use of smartphones for fast dissemination of information, and to make the DSCA beast larger through increased staffing and additional training events.
The Rand report also reviewed news media coverage of the Hurricane Maria response. They took reporting data from two rival national level news sources; CNN and Fox News. While CNN issued more reports than Fox, the trend lines were complimentary, both rising days before the expected Hurricane strike, peaking during landfall and a few days afterwards, but then drastically declining from then on. Rand also concluded that the best ‘bang for their buck’ that the military got for its Hurricane Maria response was with local Puerto Rican news media. I can attest to this having been a TV News Producer from 1993 to 2001, working in television markets that had large pro-military audiences, and because I was a member of the California Army National Guard and then later the Idaho Army National Guard. My 6pm and 10pm news casts, at all three stations I worked at in my short career, became number one rated precisely because I understood the military and ‘the locals’ (believe it or not that was one major reason why I got into TV news producing), and could present news regarding the military in a way the locals/taxpayers could understand (My career ended due to political differences between me and the new owner of the TV station I worked at, after Al Gore conceded the election to George W. Bush. I told the new owner that “All politicians are suspect, it doesn’t mater which political party they belong to.” It turns out he didn’t like that philosophy.). Anyway, the Rand study also pointed out that more than half of national respondents to surveys stated the government wasn’t doing enough, I noticed this coincides with the decreased reporting of the national level news broadcasters (In the minds of national level TV viewers decreased news reports of a national ongoing event means nothing is being done.). I was covering the Hurricane Maria response on BlindBatNews and it was a massive effort (You can review the reports starting with Maria:ARMY RESERVE RESPONDE AL LLAMADO DE AYUDA EN PUERTO RICO!). It was also one of the first involving the use of a DSC. The Rand review implied that the military needs to be more involved with getting, and controlling, the national level news media during DSCA events.
Think about what the Rand report concluded and how the military is now using DSCs in a nationwide response to the so called Pandemic.
21APR2020, Colorado Air National Guard medics exit a decontamination tent after testing Adams County nursing home residents for CoViD-19. Colorado Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant John Rohrer.
“…every hospital in America has been saying this. It’s been said over and over nationally, as well as locally, it’s all about staffing.”-Coleen Niemann, Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, December 2020
Since September, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has ordered the deployment of Department of Defense (DoD) medical teams to FEMA Regions 4, 6, 8 and 10 of the United States.
It was also revealed that Utah hospitals have been using the monoclonal treatment for almost a year now.
In Louisiana, Pandemic case numbers dropped low enough that the U.S. Air Force ended its deployment of medical personnel, 26OCT2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Richard Barnes.
By the middle of October, U.S. Army North medical teams deployed to Washington state (FEMA Region 10), officially at the request of Washington’s gov’na. For months the leftist-liberal gov’na has blamed Washington’s hospital crisis on rightist-conservative Idaho, however a recent local news report pointed out that Washington’s hospitals have been dealing with an increasing staffing shortage since the beginning of the Pandemic! Healthcare workers in Washington are now mandated to be vaccinated, and that has actually made the lack of staffing worse. It might be that the gov’na’s request for federal military healthcare personnel is because all DoD personnel are mandated to be vaccinated.
U.S. Army personnel working Kootenai Health Regional Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 04OCT2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Kaden D. Pitt.
23SEP2021, video interview with Idaho nurses who quit because of hospital Pandemic mandates, they warn the mandates are actually making staffing problems worse:
On 02NOV2021, just days before the Idaho based 116th Cavalry Brigade deployed for Kuwait, the Idaho Army National Guard teamed up with the City of Boise Fire Department to conduct swift water rescue training (specifically; hoisting victims out of the water), without water (Idaho has been in a long drought you know) for the first time!
UH-72 Lakota. Idaho National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez.
UH-60 Black Hawk. ING photo by Thomas Alvarez.
On one corner of Gowen Field/Boise Airport (the air assault strip), militia personnel and Boise fire fighters gathered to conduct their waterless water rescue training. They used the latest in hi-tech equipment; UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, UH-72 Lakota helicopter, and a pickup truck pulling a trailer!
Mark-1 Swift Water Simulator. ING photo by Thomas Alvarez.
UH-60 Black Hawk and hi-tech Mark-1 Swift Water Simulator. Idaho National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez.
Before pulling an actual human to ‘safety’ from a moving vehicle, they practiced with sandbags. This also helped determine a safe speed to drive the truck-trailer combo.
One by one they boarded the impromptu training device. ING photo by Thomas Alvarez.
Believe it or not, they actually referred to the fire-fighter playing the victim as the “simulated victim”! Maybe they should patent their hi-tech invention as the Mark-1 Swift Water Simulator?
Even two at a time. ING photo by Thomas Alvarez.
Several hoists were made using the UH-72. ING photo by Thomas Alvarez.
Idaho Army National Guard photo by First Lieutenant Ianhunter Thorpe.
Several hoists were made using the UH-60. ING photo by Thomas Alvarez.
Idaho Army National Guard photo by First Lieutenant Ianhunter Thorpe.
