What the National Guard is Really up to in the Gulf

I've seen a few threads around the last few weeks about the National Guard and the mobilisation of many of the brigades, platoons, companies and the like to the Gulf.

Terms like Martial Law and FEMA camps have been thrown about, and hey why not?

Why else would the army be down at the gulf?
All an army is good for is shooting people right?

The fear mongers will say this of course.

So, putting the fear mongering aside.

What are they really up to?

The Louisiana National Guard's 843rd Horizontal Company and 2225th Multi-Role Bridge Company, 205th Engineer Battalion, started joint operations with 1st Battalion, 244th Aviation Regiment by filling one of 16 breaches spanning more than seven miles from Pelican Island to Scofield Island near Empire, La., yesterday.

Operations consist of filling large sandbags on the ground and airlifting them with UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to repair gaps caused by coastal erosion as part of efforts to mitigate effects from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Soldiers on the ground are filling as many sandbags as possible to stay ahead of the airlifts.

"With 24-hour, on-the-ground operations, I am confident that my troops will get the job done quickly and efficiently," said 1st Lt. James T. Gabler of Metairie, La., officer in charge of sling operations.
*

National Guardsmen from Louisiana's neighboring states and beyond have joined with the bayou state's National Guard to help protect its shores from the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.

Aviators from the Florida and Mississippi National Guard flew CH-47 Chinook helicopters to assist with filling breaches in Louisiana's barrier islands with sandbags, as well as additional UH-60 Black Hawk support from Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska.

The State Aviation Officer of Louisiana sent out an email to all states asking for assistance, specifically Chinooks, since the LANG currently does not have any.

"The Chinooks have been a great help," said 1st Lt. James Gabler, officer in charge of operations for the sandbag mission in Buras, La. "When it was just Louisiana's Black Hawk helicopters, we were hauling about 150 bags a day, but with the assistance of the Chinooks and other Black Hawks...we've been hauling 700-800 bags a day."
*

Activated Louisiana National Guard Soldiers are continuing efforts to brace the state's coastline for impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The Guard's 225th Engineer Brigade is continuing to construct a sand-filled basket barrier on the beach in Port Fourchon, La. To date, the engineers have built about 2.5 miles of the Hesco-basket barrier wall.

The wall consists of about 1,000 sections, each consisting of five linked baskets that are then filled with sand. The engineers have been assembling an average of 300 sections a day.

"Our expectation for this barrier wall is for it to protect the marshlands directly behind it," said 2nd Lt. Paul D. Mounts, platoon leader with the 928th Sapper Company, 769th Engineer Battalion. "The marshlands are a home to nesting grounds for many different bird and animal species."

"We've been working very hard, filling each basket with as much sand as we can every day," said Spc. Thomas G. Webb, a heavy equipment operator with the 922nd Horizontal Engineer Company. "We've had good training, good operating, and I believe we've accomplished a lot since we began working."
*

Battle hardened troops to be sent to the Gulf?

Like Nathaniel McKean?

Chief Warrant Officer Nathaniel McKean just returned home from a nine-month Iraq deployment in January, but when the call went out for volunteers to help with the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, he stepped forward.

McKean, 31, is one of two Illinois Army National Guard pilots aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that took off Wednesday afternoon from Decatur for Hammond, La.

"We're glad to go down and help," said McKean, a Decatur native. "It's important for anyone who can to go and help."

Lt. Col. Randy Sikowski, director of aviation for the Army National Guard, said all five of the men on this mission are volunteers.

"We had a lot more people volunteering than we could send," Sikowski said.

Lt. Col. Randy Sikowski, director of aviation for the Army National Guard, said all five of the men on this mission are volunteers.

"We had a lot more people volunteering than we could send," Sikowski said.

Link

What a coincidence! I was just asking someone all about this. Thank you for taking the time to share what you have found.

It puts things in a better perspective.

S&F!


edit to say, Flags only I guess, I couldn't subscribe, lol.

[edit on 11-6-2010 by sweetliberty]

reply to post by sweetliberty


Yep, it does put things into perspective.

You're not gonna see army engineers rounding people up now are you?

reply to post by Chadwickus


My mates Dad works for the special forces. He was working on oil rigs for a "special mission" about 2 months before the oil leak...

Makes me think

reply to post by Chadwickus


I feel I need to reply to since you used my thread.
1st of all I agree & know for a fact 1st hand that our military is geared up for and does help in certain situations. I was stationed at Camp Tamez Subic Bay PI. when MT Pinatubo blew pubs.usgs.gov... as we helped to evacuate all civilians and non-essential personnel. Our team of 4 Marines had the pleasure of staying for another 4 months. I could go into more detail but I'm sure you get the picture.

That being said, this is a conspiracy site and this world is so much more different now than it was 20 yrs. ago. I have learned much on ATS some good some bad but as I said in my thread that you posted 1st line:

I just wanted to get this out here. Do we have any one in this Gulf area to confirm??

I can't stick around to babysit the thread, I hope this is nothing.

reply to post by 5 oClock


Fair enough.

As I said, just adding some perspective.

A coin has two sides you know.

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by 5 oClock

 

Fair enough.

As I said, just adding some perspective.

A coin has two sides you know.

It's all good, so I'll flip the coin & bump your thread back to the top.

so what are the .50 Cal guns on top of
the humvees gonna be used for???
Scaring the oil back out to sea ???
And what are the M16's used for???
Shooting holes in defective sandbags???
lol

u act like engineers are the ONLY
NG Troops on the gulf coast.
If you think that .....
ur wrong

I don't believe they are up to anything sinister. I do however believe BP is up to no good. I welcome the help down here, we need it. Thanks for pointing this out.



[edit on 11-6-2010 by Digital_Reality]

all true info is good
I want to see it all
some times
the coin stays in the air in awhile
or rolls under the couch

when you hear serious people calling it
an extinction level event

well, that warrants finding out for sure
like how FEMA camps were conspiracy theory
and then
suddenly
they were conspiracy fact

T^he national guard, so i have told by many people, are not tec hnically, military. Thier thier, to guard our coasts, but usualy in a last chance scenario beofre resorting to a draft in effect* they are the defenders of the population, and can be used for domestic disasters. thats what icve been told by many, non military people though.
it is odd, .50 calibers brought with them for a clean up. But yuode think IF something sinister was going on, it would have already happened. BUt then again, in todays world, being stealthy and sneak suprising the enemy is the smart way, as opposed to a direct confrontation aka hitler invading poland, russia invading afghanistan.
my guess is maybe incase thier was some kind of social breakdown thier, they would at least have some kind of protection, thats all.

I mean the one thing i have learned about military and national guard, is militray does what the governemnt tells them. The national guard, would NOT turn thier guns on the american populace..ever. theyde rather face courtmartial before doing such a thing

Now that i think of it..i think we should look back at Katrina* People were trying to cross a bridge thier to get to dry land. I sa a documentary few years ago, and some people were saying, 2 men with machine guns in military clothing told them, the people thye had to go back, they couldnt cross the bridge..they had orders to force them back if necessary. that was messed up beyond all recognition.
so, looking back at Katrina, what branch were those militray people with orders in? that might point us in a possible right direction of what could or is goin on.

reply to post by boondock-saint


This is the fear mongering I speak of.

Of course there are some that could be carrying arms, they are after all The National Guard.

It's sad to see that you are ignoring the work these people are doing to protect the average Joe Citizen, including ones like you who fear them.

Careful, this guy has a hammer!