Here, read this article:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/a ... d_090708w/
At first glance it seems a very noble duty, and I applaud aspects of their mission:
Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.
This is great news, especially in the wake of Katrina when the department of defence had pulled too much of the National Guard to Iraq and when their services, their specific noble duty, was in need, they couldn't help.
However, read along further. The first disturbing thing is this:
Don’t look for any extra time off, though. The at-home mission does not take the place of scheduled combat-zone deployments and will take place during the so-called dwell time a unit gets to reset and regenerate after a deployment.
I do not know what it's like in the millitary, I'm sure that between tours you still have duties, but is seems like they will now be worked at both ends. They may not have extra time off, but it seems to me they will have even less? I don't really know...maybe someone here is a soldier, or the family of one, and can help enlighten me as to what dwell time is etc.
But what I really wanted to talk about is this:
They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control
This is only one sentence from one article but it is disturbing. This is expressly illegal under the Posse Comitatis Act of 1878.
Soldiers patrolling the streets, breaking up crowds...illegal, immoral, and the start of a slippery slope. Obviously this wouldn't be a day to day thing, they are talking about insurrection, rebellion, or...demonstrations? Protests? That is a terrifying thought, that the government will be free to use a specifically trained battallion against protestors.
Of course their primary mission is to prepare for possible disasters, but there are aspects to this whcih are horrifying.
