I am a Christian, husband and father. I am a former 10 year active Army veteran and three year National Guardsman in Louisiana. My military background is helicopter crew chief, CID (the Army’s equivalent of the FBI) and then an Armor officer in the National Guard. After leaving the Guard I became a Louisiana State Patrol (LSP) trooper. I have since left the state police. It is my experience as a state trooper that I wish to write about. I have read on your blog about many things and appreciate them all in many ways.
Recently a writer was predicting the way the police will respond and in this area I would like to add what I know and what I predict. A retired trooper friend and I have polled both active officers at the state, city and parish (county) level. I have worked with Houston PD, Texas DPS, Baton Rouge PD and New Orleans PD. The results of the questions all reveal the same thing. Very, very few active officers even think about TEOTWAWKI. Not only is it not on their radar there are no contingency plans should it become a problem. On the retired side preparedness or awareness is at best 50/50. I think that many Americans will be surprised with the answer many serving officers gave when asked what they will do if TEOTWAWKI ever occurs: Almost to a person they respond they will go home and protect their families or G.O.O.D. As far as protecting anyone else? Forget it. There are no contingencies to bring families in to the department or is there room.
There are many levels of professionalism represented in any force, but it did not matter in my non-scientific poll. I think the word duty now is a throw-away word used by many when it is convenient or the public is present. As a soldier I knew it, I felt it and I lived it but in the LSP the politically correct/aware people have driven it out of daily operations. Many have reported their department is in the same shape. There are exceptions of course, but they have been rare in my search and are to be applauded when you meet them (think of Obama’s unthinking words about the Philly PD situation with his friend. As far as protection goes though most officers are very under-armed. They only have an issue sidearm and issue shotgun for most departments. In the LSP we rode heavier than most with most troopers loaded for bear (and a lot of ammo on hand) and then the SWAT teams officers tend to be gun lovers and were even more heavily armed. As far as hiring these officers to provide security then a town/group/community will have to at least provide ammo (budget reductions are beginning to reduce the amount of ammo available regardless of the article where homeland security bought millions of rounds). Further budget cuts are only going to make it worse.
As I see TEOTWAWKI unfolding you have two flavors: natural and man-made. As far as natural events we have the CME or various other earthquake, tornado, hurricanes (we go hit hard by Hurricane Rita-I sheltered in place which is another story). man-made events though will probably tend to be a slow slide as the government will do what all governments tend to do: survive as long as possible. I just read a great fictional work along the lines of “Patriots” that is titled: “The Illuminati
My mother is an emergency management planner for our county in Washington state and is a liberal (my Dad’s vote cancels her out). I have spoken to her at length about these types of issues and she and her ilk think the government is basically good and would never hurt anyone. Do not mention our constitutional freedoms though! The 2nd amendment is conditional to public safety! On the flip side our conversations also reveal her (and her peers/professional fire fighters/law enforcers, etc.) tendency and willingness of the government to maintain control in any situation no matter what the cost (lost freedom/liberty/eminent domain/seizure of supplies, etc.) as a significant part of maintaining order and recovering from the disaster. Only states like Louisiana that have passed emergency disaster laws protecting guns from police seizure will maintain any sort of civility or order in a disaster (from now on in Los Angeles).
I was able to prevent looting on my dead end street during Hurricane Rita solely because I had a rifle and was preparing to employ it when the looters made haste. I stood on my corner for an hour and a half before a deputy came along (no phones-cell or land line). He instructed me to shoot the next looters I saw. I need to add here that prepping for Rita was last minute and only authorized access to five neighboring homes to clean out their refrigerators made my home easily livable. I had a generator and 150 gallons of gas-it was used up in one and half weeks. I did not use it sparingly as the end was always in sight. Now that I have found this site, read “Patriots“, “One Second After” and a few others and I am moving my family in a fully prepped state. I would also remind everyone that it is the little things that kill you (army aviation experience). So make sure you have the minor things as well: paper clips, screws, Scotch Brite pads, etc. Without these the long-term will become exponentially more difficult and time consuming.
Please understand that people that are not reading this blog or similar ones (and not natural preppers) are not preparing for anything beyond a one week natural disaster event. Most not even doing that according to several homeland security studies obtained from my family. After that there will be a lot of people with no hope. I am known at work as Mr. Gloom and Doom (but not as smart as Mr. Roubini) as I try to weave questions about our fragile society into daily conversations. It is my hope that one or two at least may begin prepping.