An aquaintence I know who is in the N.G. has informed me that their entire group is already scheduled to report to their base at 10.p.m. on New Year's Eve. He told me that he has been assigned to patrol 422, that's the shopping strip here. What's going on elsewhere with the Guard? So far I have seen only about 4 or 5 cities metion that having the N.G. on standby is part of their contingency plans. This has not been reported officially in the local news and I can only trust that he has no motive to lie to me. How do you all feel, do you think having the National Guard mobilized "just in case" is prudent or an oppurtunity for another "Kent State" to possibly happen?

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), November 22, 1999

Answers

Kent State????

I tell you what...people, and I don't give a rats @$$ if they WERE students who throw rocks & malatov cocktails at troops trying to keep peace (remember, those NG were students THEMSELVES in a lot of cases) DESERVE what they got.

Last time I LOOKED, both rocks & bombs are forms of *deadly force.* At least that's what the criminal law in MY state would say.

-- RJ (LtPita@aol.com), November 22, 1999.

My husband is in the National Guard and works for them full time. He is in one of the 120 cities that have been mentioned. There is nothing being said about y2k or mobilizing. There has been absolutely nothing unusual at all in their training either. Their unit flies Blackhawk helicopters. They always have at least one helicopter and crew on call every weekend just in case they are needed. That is their normal procedure. I will let you know if anything changes as the new year approaches.

-- Carly (carlyblue@aol.com), November 22, 1999.

I spoke with a friend who is in the Nat Guard trying to determine what their response would be. He said his unit is on alert for the rollover (report to base for duty New Years Eve)but they have not been given any specific orders as yet. His CO said he would let everyone know when he found out anything new.

-- ExCop (yinadral@juno.com), November 22, 1999.

Santa $$''s have to be made first. then reality will sink in.

-- ron (rrest@hotmail.com), November 22, 1999.

I have heard several times that the Guard will be ready to handle Vegas if needed. Last night after the Y2K movie here the NBC news station said that the guard has ben trained to "storm the strip" if things get out of control for any reason. There was an article in the local paper that said there is a big Y2K control center in Carson City headed up by state and local authorities, and run by the national guard. This "center" is complete with food, water, generators and tons of fuel.

Vegas city officials have also said that they have stockpiled fuel for police, fire, etc in case fuel runs short.

I suppose these are mostly "contingency plans", but it is good to know that my state/city is ready to deal with anything that might arise. Many other large cities in the US have done next to nothing, either that or they just haven't gone public with contigency plans.

-- C. Hill (pinionsmachine@hotmail.com), November 22, 1999.

I have several friends in the NG and they are not on alert for New Years but if problems do occur they can be activated. They told me they are doing nothing unusual for Y2K.

-- Village Idiot (BAMECW@aol.com), November 22, 1999.

"Storm the Strip?" Have they ever been on the Strip on NY eve? Especially this one... wall to wall people! What will they do, run people over? Run over cars?

Re: Kent State: RJ Is an ignoramous. No bombs or molotov cocktails. No stone throwers within hundreds of feet of the guardsmen. The shooters were not in a line, they were a small squad who were marching away from the action, stopped, swiveled, and fired 30.06 rounds into a crowd of kids, and kept on firing. Passersby not even involved in the action were hit. Try doing a little research.

-- Suwanna (SLT@nicrovillage.net), November 22, 1999.

I have a close personal friend who is a member of an Air Force Nat'l Guard unit out of Hayward, Ca.....Bay Area. He told me a few weeks ago that he his unit will be on active duty beginning on Dec. 30, 1999 thru Jan. 2, 2000. All member are required to be there.....just in case...

-- john (vacajohn@jccomp.com), November 22, 1999.

I know the wife of someone 'high up' n the NG. The last I heard, they were expecting a "10", and were planning, among other things, to keep the interstates open by pushing cars off of the road.

-- impala (impala@wild.com), November 22, 1999.

Yo - impala - contingency discussions/plans does NOT equal expectations.

Night train

-- jes a clarifyin ol footbaler (nighttr@in.lane), November 22, 1999.

Impala;

If someone had listened to my bride and I planning for our first aid coverages for fireworks here in Cleveland, they would have thought we "expected" either a riot or a fireworks failure which fired into the crowd. We had contingency plans as to where to land the birds, we had contingency plans as to what we would do inthe event we had people fall off the bluff into the Lake, we had drowning contingency plans, and we had communication and deployment contingency plans in case of riots. Did we use any of these?? NO. But we had 'em.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 22, 1999.

Impala, I'd be a lot more worried if there was no word of any contingency planning. At least this shows that the .gov and .mil guys think there may be a problem, and that they want to have the means to respond if things get -wierd- or go strange.

-- Billy-Boy (Rakkasan@yahoo.com), November 22, 1999.

I have a son in the N.G. He was part of the drill in Frederick,Md. (about 30mi N.W. of Washington,DC) that Mongo mentioned. He said more is mentioned about Y2K at each meeting,however they are not told to expect definate problems, but to be ready JIC. His unit will have 15 guys on duty and the rest on call. My son will be on call, and works at a hospital where he will be on call also.

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), November 22, 1999.

My husband, who was active duty Army for 11 years, still has a good friend in. He is stationed at Ft. Hood, TX. His unit has been told there will be NO leave between December 15 and January 15.

BTW, folks, do you REALLY think the little guys in the Guard and even the grunts in the Army are really TOLD exactly what they are doing all the time? What to expect all the time? The total truth ALL the time? Oh, no, they don't tell half-truths to SOLDIERS and GUARDSMEN do they? Yep, and it is considered to be ok, b/c usually it is for the "good of all". I pretty much agree. When my husband was in Desert Storm, he told me many times they would pack up to move somewhere else (he was in Saudi) and they would have no idea where they were going until they got there. They sometimes were not told what they were going to be doing until they got there, either. Lots and lots of secrecy.

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), November 22, 1999.

The Guardsman that I know said they would be on active duty prior to rollover but had no specific orders/assignments. He did say they were expecting problems though...

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), November 22, 1999.