Re: Civil Protection

Posted by Rick (Lyle's Dad) on October 15, 2011, 2:38 pm, in reply to "Re: Civil Protection"
187.146.87.86

I can tell you all that this stuff ain't easy to define and ain't easy to do and is even more difficult to appreciate unless you're the one being helped. I have been dispatched to post Loma-Prieta quake in SF in '89, post LA quake, post-Ft. Collins, CO floods, inserted with the 10th US Army Engineers in Kuwait to help with infrastructure as Saddam's boyzzz left, post Katrina which actually was WAY more scary than Kuwait City, as well as post riots in L.A. In each case I assisted with my own profession which was a structural engineer but in all cases, I was just part of a team and the first goal was to preserve life as best we could, assure that life saving facilities and shelters could do their part and be intact, clear of debris, safe from collapse. We had to make sure that evacuation routes were clear, safe, intact and would not collapse. Civil Protection is an organism with many chores and acting as one body is an art in its purest form but even when 1 thing goes awry, it seems that everyone focuses on that 1 thing. Being on a team that was counting casualties in New Orleans while I made sure the structures were safe to enter or on a team that was out to clear wrecked buses, cars, vans, etc. that had been strafed by A-10's on the road to Iraq while making sure the bridges could hold up since they had been bombed, grenaded, burned and shot to heck are sobering things for sure. Civil Protection just tries to be the logic that so many folks naturally lose in these tense situations. People panic. It is natural. When you panic, you usually lose and make wrong decisions. Civil Protection helps to bring that anxiety and panic back into the safe zone and give folks a chance to make better decisions to save their lives.

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