Illinois Army and Air Guard Unprepared for Natural Disaster?
With tornado season in full-force, the Illinois Army and Air Guard may be severly limited in its response capacity due to lack of personnel and critical equipment lost to deployment in Irag and Afghanistan. Official sources refuse comment.
Best estimates from informed personal sources within the Illinois Military Department indicate that personnel and equipment deployment to confilicts in Irag and Afghanistan has stripped the guard of critical resources to respond to seasonal natural disasters. Official sources refuse to return phone calls.
Personal sources indicate that some critical Army units have massive equipment shortages that would be required to respond to a major natural disaster as experienced in neighboring states last week. Some estimates indicate that several critical units are short 60 to 70 percent of serviceable and reliable equipment.
Will the General Assembly demand a full readiness report from the Adjutant General?
Not likely to be done timely allowing for the full-disclosure of inadequacies and critical response needs. Local first responders may be left holding the bag in the event of a natural disaster impacting populated areas in central and downstate Illinois.
3 comments:
Google "New Madrid Fault System" and you will quickly realize that one of the biggest threats is an earthquake in Southern Illinois. The last major quake eminating from this system made the Mississippi River flow backwards and rang church bells as far away as Washington, DC! Tell me again why our building codes don't require earthquake resistance.
Why not just get the legislature to outlaw earthquakes?
It certainly is nice to sit coddled in our building codes, FEMAs, Metra Police, and their Forest Preserve bretheren.
The CIA and FBI did yeoman's work in preventing a fairly obvious attack, and the billions allocated to shore up walls and levies did wonders for New Orleans.
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If there truly is a problem with equipment re: the Nat. Guard, I say take it from the Government Retiree's Pensions. Better yet, set up an involuntary citizen core made up of State retirees.
Most are under 60. They are well off and highly compensated, and have plenty of time on their hands.
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As for the legislature "demanding" things of the Adj. Gen., that's pretty funny.
The institution of shell bills, refusals to define a balanced budget, and soliciting pre-written legislation from campaign donors is going to 'demand an accounting.'
If I had materials here, I'd move them to Iraq as well - not necessarily for the war- but just to keep them relatively safe from misuse or appropriation.
Yeah, who needs the National Guard anyway?
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