Reply #7: The militia is your primary emergency responder in disasters [View All]

[Coastie for Truth]

by definition.

I am a veteran of the United States Coast Guard - the United States Coast Guard evolved from the Revenue Cutter Service and the North Carolina Life Boat MILITIA.

I grew up in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania all of our pre-1968 laws refer to the Volunteer Fire Services and Departments as the Fire MILITIA.

Forget the Wayne LaPierre lobbying and the Charlton Heston sound bytes MILITIA means neighbors (hopefully trained and qualified) voluntarily going in harms way to help their neighbors in peril.

I live in California - between the two most active faults in the world (not just California, but the world) -the San Andreas Fault (the one the let loose 100 years ago today and in October 1989) and the Hayward fault; I live between two urban stream liquefaction zones (the Guadeloupe River Liquefaction Zone and the Coyote Creek Liquefaction Zone), I have had the full Red Cross Training (I am a checkout shelter manager), the full Citizens Corps Training (I am a checked out neighborhood captain for a condo complex of 1000 units), and I am a Licensed Ham Radio Operator (checked out as a backup 911 controller in the event of an inevitable earthquake and as a hospital radio operator). I have the 7 day supply of emergency stuff, a backup generator, etc. Plus earthquake and flood insurance. And I have been through two Florida Hurricanes and two Louisiana Hurricanes (while in the Coast Guard), several Michigan and Ohio tornadoes, and a bunch of Great Lakes blizzards. And I have consistently been a trained emergency volunteer.