Tag Archives: idaho

In Northern Territory, the Australian military, along with U.S. Marines, trained for operation Crocodile Response, a bilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise in order to more rapidly respond to natural disasters and crises throughout the region.

CANADA: Moderate earthquake – Southern Yukon Territory- September 26

Earthquake analyst says Vancouver is full of “killer buildings”

CHILE: 6.8 quake 29 September

4.6 quake Tarapaca, 28 September

5.8 south east of Easter Island, 27 September

6.1 quake, 26 September

Rumbling volcano triggers Orange Alert

CHINA: A CCTV camera captured the unusual scene of dozens of fish leaping out of a pond moments before an earthquake hit

5.2-magnitude earthquake jolted the South China Sea

Taiwan earthquake hero dog off to world rescue championship

Taipei uses VR games to teach earthquake survival

COLOMBIA: 5.0 quake, 22 September

ECUADOR: 4.5 quake, 11 September

EL SALVADOR: 4.7 quake, 10 September

FIJI: 5.1 quake, 27 September

GUATEMALA: 5.2 quake, 15 September

INDONESIA: Death toll rises after 6.5 quake, thousands in homeless shelters

One year after deadly tsunami, tens of thousands still struggle to recover

Explosive volcano eruption powered by water, not magma

JAPAN: “If nobody died, it would be easy to explain about the history. But many died and I survived by running faster than those who did not run, or did not know how to escape. It is really hard to explain emotionally.”-tsunami survivor

Sakurajima explodes

Five years after deadly volcano eruption, half of cities near volcanoes lack escape plans

U.S. Army video report, disaster drill for Sagamihara City:

The Japanese military held Remote Island Disaster Exercise training at Yaeyama Islands, 01SEP2019.

KOREA: 2.3-magnitude ‘natural’ earthquake hits North Korea

Holy volcano attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims

South Korea Ministry of Environment’ K-water operations, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, work with NASA to develop satellite technology in the hopes of preventing future water disasters.

U.S. personnel from Osan Air Base respond to the aftermath of Typhoon Lingling, 07SEP2019.

MEXICO: Historic earthquakes suggest Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt’s quiet regions are active, home to 40% of Mexico’s residents

Popo erupts, yet again

NEW ZEALAND: 6.0 quake south of Raoul Island, 27 September

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: 5.4 quake, 25 September

Manam volcanic ash plume rose up to estimated 8000 ft (2400 m)

PERU: 4.0 quake, 28 September

4.8 quake, 27 September

4.8 quake, 03 September

5.2 quake, 02 September

Volcano Ubinas erupted three times in one day

INCA CHILD SACRIFICE VICTIMS WERE PLACED ON VOLCANOES SO THEY’D BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

PHILIPPINES: 6.3 quake hits Mindanao, 29 September

4.1 quake, Mindanao, 22 September

4.7 quake, Mindanao, 21 September

5.7 quake, Davao City, 10 September

RUSSIA: 4.4 quake, Kamchatka, 28 September

4.9 quake, south eastern Siberia, 28 September

4.3 quake, Kuril Islands, 27 September

That purple tinge you’ve been seeing in North American sunsets? Thank a Russian volcano that erupted several months ago.

TONGA: 5.3 quake, 25 September

UNITED STATES: FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) hints that its running out of money by telling people to save money to help pay for disaster expenses!

USMC video promoting 30SEP2019 deployment to Colombia, bragging about spending U.S. taxes to help the South American country prep for a major natural disaster:

Yet again, U.S. taxes going to send U.S. Marines to Central American countries for yet more natural disaster preps (in October):

Alaska; New Volcanic Eruption Forecasting Technique Unveiled

4.0 quake, Kodiak, 29 September

5.2 earthquake that shook Southcentral Alaska wasn’t an aftershock

View live earthquake data at earthquake.alaska.edu/earthquakes

California; Residents upset over California’s earthquake insurance law

36 tiny earthquakes in 6 days

MOUNT WHITNEY DEATH TRAP, becomes Search-And-Rescue MONEY PIT

RED BANK & SOUTH FIRE HELICOPTER OPS

Idaho; Idaho State University, working with Idaho National Laboratory and Center for Advanced Energy Studies, gets $1.1-million taxpayer funded grant to build first ever Disaster Response Complex. The goal is to train emergency responders in a realistic catastrophic environment with multiple scenarios such as earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, and even terrorist threats.

Hawaii; One year after eruption steam continues to appear in new places, or reappear in old places, and vegetation continues to die.

New discovery, volcanoes cause algae blooms

Why Alaskan and Hawaiian volcano observers work together

Health professionals representing 20 countries gathered for the 22nd annual Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P.) course in Honolulu, from September 9th-20th. It was hosted by Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM) in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the University of Hawai’i Office of Public Health Studies. The main goal is to create a common language, and procedures, between civilian and military emergency responders around the world.

Nevada; 4.5 quake near Austin, 09 September

Oregon; 5.9 quake off the coast

Major quake to leave Portland without clean water, city analysts predict 3-thousand water lines will break!

Lakes hold the secret to tracking the history of The Big One: “…lake records are the missing link.”

Even though Mongolia is not a Pacific Rim country, the U.S. decided to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief ‘Pacific Resilience’ training in the Central Asian country, and ordered Oregon’s Army National Guard to participate.

Utah; Quake hits northern Utah, 24 September

Panguitch hit by three small quakes within five hours

Small quake hits Zion National Park

Washington; Who’s monitoring the killer volcanoes?

In 1964, a subduction zone earthquake in Alaska triggered a tsunami that reached a height of almost 13 feet on Washington’s coast….the next one “could happen tomorrow, or it could happen 200 years from now”

To learn more about Washington’s natural disaster preps go to mil.wa.gov/preparedness (by the way, the ‘mil’ stands for military)

Wyoming; Confessions of a Yellowstone Volcano Observatory scientist

VANUATU: 4.6 quake, 26 September

5.3 quake, 20 September

5.9 quake, 06 September

5.1 quake, 05 September

PACIFIC RING OF FIRE, August 2019: TREMOR EVENT HAS BEGUN

Idaho, Technology

124th militia A-10 shootin’ & scootin’ thru Idaho Nevada California

Video September 24, 2019 Hutchins AAron

Idaho National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing has been real busy this summer.

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Mercedee Wilds, 19AUG2019.

19AUG2019, the ‘hawgs’ shot-up the Orchard Combat Training Center (back when I was ‘in’ it was called the Orchard Training Area) south of Boise.

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Mercedee Wilds, 19AUG2019.

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Ryan White, 19AUG2019.

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 19AUG2019.

Idaho’s Governor Brad Little arrived by Black Hawk and got strafed, just kidding:

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 19AUG2019.

04JUN2019 Idaho A-10Cs during Green Flag West, Nevada, take-off and bombing:

08JUN2019, Idaho A-10Cs flying through Nevada mountains:

June 2019, Idaho A-10Cs on Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, flightline prep, taxi & take-off, return sans bombs:

09JUN2019, Idaho A-10Cs landing on dirt, Fort Irwin-NTC, California:

See more: IDAHO A-10C warthogs wallowing IN THE CALIFORNIA DIRT, JUNE 2019

June 2018, funky music video, Idaho A-10s Operation Red Flag Alaska:

Operation SnowBird 2013: Idaho A-10Cs take part in bombing competition on Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.

Idaho

Idaho Black Hawks head south, down Central America way, you paid for it!

Video August 9, 2019 Hutchins AAron

“We are going to have to stop being the policemen of the world.”-Donald Trump, August 2015 interview with Hugh Hewitt

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 27APR2019.

At the end of April 2019, Idaho Army National Guard’s 1-183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion deployed to Guatemala in support of operation Beyond the Horizon.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 27APR2019.

Keep in mind this is the Central American country allegedly sending the most illegals into the U.S., forcing the U.S. President to make a deal with the leaders of Guatemala to make an effort to keep their people home (never mind that the U.S. Department of Defense spends untold tax dollars conducting massive military and natural disaster training ops in Guatemala).

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 27APR2019.

1-183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion will provide casualty evacuation support and equipment transportation for National Guard engineers and medics as they spend U.S. taxes building schools and medical clinics in Guatemala.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 27APR2019.

The 1-183rd’s mission to Guatemala ended on 27JUL2019.

Official video explainer of Idaho UH-60 Black Hawk refueling ops in Guatemala:

Interview with Idaho Black Hawk crew concerning mass casualty training in Guatemala:

Operation Beyond the Horizon was started in 2008, under the George Bush Jr regime, as a U.S. taxpayer funded “humanitarian civic assistance” program.

U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Anshu Pandeya, 20JUN2019.

National Guard personnel from Virginia and Washington build a new school in Guatemala. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Anshu Pandeya, 11JUN2019.

The Guatemalan City Fueling the Migrant Exodus to America

IDAHO WINTER WARFARE TRAINING

GREAT RENEGER: DEPLOYMENTS SO COMMON EVEN BEERS ARE NAMED AFTER THEM

Idaho

Idaho’s Bridge to Nowhere?

Image July 27, 2019 Hutchins AAron

“…already aware that our property taxes are among the highest in Idaho, I am increasingly wary of the wisdom of Northgate.”

27 July 2019 (02:51 UTC-07 Tango 06) 05 Mordad 1398/24 Dhu l-Qa’da 1440/25 Xin-Wei 4717

Bannock County-City of Chubbuck-City of Pocatello, Idaho, are home to numerous taxpayer sapping ‘white elephant’ projects, from Hoku to the latest Siphon Road-Interstate 15 connector (bridge to nowhere)/Northgate District.

Realize that Siphon Road only exists in Chubbuck, and doesn’t extend to Interstate 15, which means Chubbuck tax-fee payers are paying for the road’s extension to I-15. (Massive taxpayer funded development in Chubbuck involves construction of up to 1,200 homes)

(Chubbuck plans to create an additional three taxpayer funded parks)

The tax-fee payers of Pocatello are paying for the annexation of farmland to the north of the northeast side of the city, and will also be paying for the creation of a Northgate District, as well as a road that will connect to the Pocatello side of I-15. (Pocatello imposes Northgate Tax Incremental Financing district on cash strapped residents)

(Pocatello taxpayers extorted for $750-thousand for Northgate roads project)

(Pocatello councilman partnering with developer to build Northgate retirement community)

State tax-fee payers are funding the I-15 to Siphon Road connection bridge (to nowhere?).

(State investigators says Pocatello’s water plan for Northgate falls short)

The following pics were taken 14JUL2019:

“Hoku and now Northgate are ample evidence for the proposition that few elected local officials have any facility for investigation, professional planning or even seeing the future for what it is.”

Storm clouds forming over yet another White Elephant for taxpayers?

All that farmland going to be torn up to build homes for…nobody?

Looking south along I-15, from the Pocatello side of where the Siphon Road-I-15 connector bridge is being built.

Looking towards Chubbuck, the Sun is already setting on the Bridge to Nowhere.

Chubbuck spent tax dollars putting in an intersection where Siphon Road ended, it’s now overgrown with weeds and you can hear the pedestrian crossing signals beeping in the wind.

This is the new part of Siphon Road, in Chubbuck, which still doesn’t go anywhere. The Road Closed sign has been run-over numerous times.

“He’s as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see….

…….Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody”-The Beatles, Nowhere Man

Bannock County scams: 609 hearings later, Bannock County is left with 2,188 unheard property assessment appeals on morning of deadline

State Attorney General’s Office investigating work of former Bannock County contracted property appraiser

Local appraiser files breach of contract lawsuit against Bannock County

Water-gate, 2019: The city of Pocatello has reached a $4.5 million settlement to a class-action lawsuit for assessing illegal fees on its water, sewer and sanitation services from 2005 into Fiscal Year 2014.

Chubbuck 2017: NO MORE XMAS LIGHTS? THE TRUTH ABOUT GENTRIFICATION

Bannock County, Chubbuck & Pocatello shenanigans, June 2016: Governor declares economy has “RISEN FROM THE ASHES”

School District 25 also screws over local taxpayers: Pocatello High renovations Raises Questions About Public Input from taxpayers

yet again school district embroiled in a controversy involving a hungry student seeking food

school cafeteria worker who says she was fired for giving a hungry student a free lunch was previously convicted of theft charges in 2013.

In March of 1969 Chris Murphy was called to the office of Mr. Evans, the vice-principal of Highland High School in Pocatello, and told to get his hair cut; Murphy refused and was suspended. The district was sued.

PaveGate 2015: POCATELLO TAXPAYERS ASKED TO CLEAN UP THEIR OWN STREETS, WHILE PAYING MORE TAXES!

Promises of jobs, July 2015: Pocatello administrators have revealed their hyped up deal to bring a major employer to Pocatello Regional Airport is dead.

Main stream news reports on the never ending taxpayer sucking White Elephant called Hoku;

East Idaho News, 2018: “There was no action taken on the Hoku property. They entered into an executive session where they discussed a number of different things and unfortunately as much as I wish I could, I cannot speak about or respond to anything, disclose anything that happened in the executive session.”-Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad

Idaho State Journal, 2018: Two years later, lease with Indian company amounts to nothing for abandoned Hoku

New York Times, 2013: “So what if the company wanted breaks and concessions? The decision by the city [Pocatello] to buy the land and lease it back almost free seemed like a bargain at $1.4 million…”

Read the history of the Hoku saga starting with this report (the Blind Bat News reports go back to 2010):

IDAHO’S FAILED HOKU LEADS TO 1ST CHINESE COMPANY TO DEFAULT ON LOAN PAYMENTS

In this report, which chronicles the destruction of iconic Green T, the mayor of Chubbuck boasts it’s “…the beginning of some real good things coming in.”: POPEYES QUIETLY SHUTS DOWN FOUR IDAHO RESTAURANTS!

IDAHO’S DOCUMENTED ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION FOR 2017: “CLOSED INDEFINITELY”

Hoku-Gate, PaveGate now Amy’s-Gate! It’s been revealed that Bannock County administrators were under investigation by the Idaho Tax Commission over massive local tax breaks given to California based frozen veggie food maker Amy’s Kitchen.

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: EAST IDAHOANS OBLIVIOUS TO SHUTDOWN OF THEIR ONLY POSTAL PROCESSING CENTER!

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: IDAHO POLITICIANS GIVE AWAY MORE THAN $1-MILLION IN IDAHO TAXES, TO FRANCE!

EXCEPTIONAL FAILED STATE: IDAHO POLITICIANS GIVE AWAY TENS OF MILLIONS TO COMPANIES THAT SHUT DOWN!

Idaho, Technology

Idaho Wild Fires 2019: MD-87 water bomber, new King Air FAC

Image July 24, 2019 Hutchins AAron

23 July 2019-23:43 UTC-07 Tango 06 (02 Mordad 1398/21 Dhu l-Qa’da 1440/22 Xin-Wei 4717)

The fires keep burning in eastern Idaho. Things got so hot today that evacuations of ‘non-essential personnel’ were ordered near the Idaho National Laboratory’s nuclear jet engine and EBR-1 nuclear-disaster-reactor, due to the rapid expansion of the ‘Sheep Fire’ (about 85-thousand acres, 34398 hectares).

MD-87 (foreground) and DC-10 (background) tankers rolling in from their latest east Idaho mission. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

The Sheep Fire is just one of dozens of wild fires in Idaho right now so, once again, the little used Pocatello Airport was put to good use by water bombers from 10 Tanker Air Carrier and Erickson Aero Tanker.

Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

A little bird water bomber heads out. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

A new U.S. Forest Service King Air 250 FAC (Forward Air Controller) taking off. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

King Air ‘FAC’: Forest Service buys its first lead plane in almost 40 years

The King Air passes by the incoming DC-10. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

A familiar sight ever since the big fires of 2012. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

Home for the night. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

WILD FIRES 2019: DC-10, IDAHO’S 911

Idaho, Kit Bashing

VooDoo redeux: Pocatello Airport

Image July 16, 2019 Hutchins AAron

In April 2012, I published a series of pics of the F-101B Voodoo ‘gate guard’ at Pocatello Airport, Idaho. That was before it underwent renovation, when it was surrounded by a fence, faded and dirty.

Before you go on to look at the pics, I was allowed to see a secret room in the main airport building where a very nice 1/48 scale Monogram model diorama of the very same F-101B was gathering dust. The diorama showed tail code AF-90 PO-417 on the flightline in Germany during the Cold War. Today’s gate guard is painted to match that diorama except it doesn’t have the Native American chief in his warbonnet painted on the nose of the aircraft, near the cockpit. There was a small plaque on the diorama explaining the aircraft history, but I didn’t get much time to read it. I asked if I could get my camera and take a pic of it, but was told I shouldn’t even be in the ‘room’. So, supposedly PO-417 was an actual F-101B, yet a quick internet search revealed no such thing (apparently ‘PO’ isn’t a real USAF tail code).

To update this story, I was recently ‘gifted’ a little red book called The First Fifty Years: Michaud Flats, U.S. Army Base, Pocatello Regional Airport. It explains the Pocatello Voodoo was originally slated to be burned up as a fire trainer for the Utah Air National Guard. It was one of two such planes that were already fully dismantled, the Utah Guard decided it wasn’t worth the effort to put them back together just to set them on fire. Around 1988, Idaho Senator Jim McClure used his pull to get one of the dismembered Voodoo’s to the Pocatello Airport. Funding for the project came from several donors including the J.R. Simplot Company (which at that time had its corporate HQ in Pocatello, along the border with Chubbuck), and the actual rebuilding of the plane was done by Idaho State University (ISU) Aviation Mechanics School (still located at the airport today). It was the ISU students who decided on the paint scheme, and created the fake afterburners as the real afterburners were missing.

The 238 paged, hardcover book was published in 1993, it’s available directly from the Pocatello Airport (208) 234-6154. I was also told the Idaho Unlimited gift shop carried the book, but it didn’t show up when I searched their website.

Click the pics to make bigger:

: Check out those Fake News Cans.

: Interesting that despite no engines or hydraulics, and a recent paint job, there’s oil leakage!

: Oh no! They forgot to clear coat it.

Idaho, Technology

Wild Fires 2019: DC-10, Idaho’s 911

Image July 16, 2019 Hutchins AAron

15 July 2019-21:32 UTC-07 Tango 06 (25 Tir 1398/13 Dhu l-Qa’da 1440/14 Xin-Wei 4717)

Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

Another year, another round of wild fires, and Pocatello Airport is temporary home (once again) to DC-10 water bombers. Two were spotted, numbers 911 and 912.

Click the pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make them bigger:

: #911

: Kit bashers note that the retardant tank is not flush with the fuselage.

: AV Center fuelers are being kept busy.

: DC-10 #912 parked behind the BAe 146/Avro RJ.

SMOKE ’EM IF YOU GOT ’EM, 2017!: POCATELLO AIRPORT FIRE BOMBERS ARE BACK!

U.S. WILDFIRES 2016: DC-10 POCATELLO AIRPORT

IDAHO WILDFIRES 2015: POKEY AIRPORT DC-10 WATER BOMBER

Idaho, Technology

Vehicle I-D: 1-148 Field Artillery gate guards

Image July 15, 2019 Hutchins AAron

Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

M1 57mm Anti-Tank gun from World War-2 (clicking the pics makes them bigger:

World War-2 M4A3 Sherman:

Cold War era M109A5(?) Self Propelled Howitzer:

: Checking out the 1-148 FA’s boom-boom, Summer 1997.

: Pocatello, Idaho, 1997.

Cold Ware era M548 cargo carrier:

: My kids can’t wait to try out the 1-148 FA cargo carrier, 1997.

: Get that thing pull started! Shhh, don’t tell ’em.

: Hurry, make our get-a-way!

Cold War era M60A3:

116th Cav, 1-148th FA, Pocatello, Idaho. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

Armored Gate Guards: ARMOR MUSEUM FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI

Idaho, Technology

Idaho A-10C warthogs wallowing in the California dirt, June 2019

Video July 4, 2019 Hutchins AAron

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Mason Cutrer, 13JUN2019.

Idaho’s Air and Army National Guard, as well as a unit from Oregon’s Army National Guard, took part in U.S. Army NTC wargames from the end of May to the middle of June, 2019.

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Mercedee Wilds, 11JUN2019.

The U.S. Army’s OpFor (Opposition Force) used UH-72 Lakotas against National Guard ground troops.

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Joshua C. Allmaras, 11JUN2019.

Brazilian Air Force TACP (Tactical Air Control Party) allied themselves with the Idaho Air Guard TACPs.

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Joshua C. Allmaras, 11JUN2019.

Brazilian A-29 Super Tucanos took part in the invasion of California, as well.

Video (by Master Sergeant Joshua Allmaras), TACP calls in A-10 airstrikes, unfortunately you don’t see the A-10s, just their bombs impacting on the ground (also video of M1A2 and M2 live fire):