Posted on 12/10/2001 3:00:47 AM PST by JohnHuang2
ST. LOUIS - Like millions of Americans, Pam January came away from the attacks of Sept. 11 with a desire to help. She went to the local American Red Cross office here and promptly volunteered to deal with some of the 11,000 phone calls the office received in the 14 days following the attacks. Now she has joined the Red Cross's local disaster action team - a group that's on-call 24 hours a day for area emergencies - working an 8-hour shift per week."I just had a strong feeling I had to do something, and after I'd done something I wanted to do more," she says. "It seems to me there's a role for everyone to play."
While the federal government and individual states struggle to develop a vision and structure for homeland security, Ms. January and tens of thousands of other Americans aren't waiting on the sidelines. By filling breaches in emergency services made evident after the September 11 attacks, they're ensuring that any future civil defense force will include citizen volunteers as a vital component.
"It comes down to the definition of a 'good citizen' changing," says Randy Larsen, director of the Institute for Homeland Security, a nonprofit public-service research institute. "In the 20th century we thought a good citizen was somebody who voted, paid their taxes, gave some money to the United Way, and helped a little bit at church. In the 21st century it's going to take more than that, it's going to take active participation."New calls to enlist
The first attack on American soil since World War II led President Bush to call for the creation of a volunteer civil defense service last month.
The Bush plan envisions an expansion of the national service groups AmeriCorps and Senior Corps by 20,000 volunteers next year, most of whom would assist police and fire departments, as well as public-health agencies, during emergencies, largely freeing up professionals for essential duties. Mr. Bush also created the Presidential Task Force on Citizen Preparedness. By the end of the year it will make recommendations on how Americans can protect homes, schools, churches and businesses from possible terrorist attacks.
A bill in Congress is even more ambitious. "The Call to Service Act of 2001" would expand AmeriCorps, which now has 50,000 volunteers, to 250,000 volunteers by 2010. Approximately half of the volunteers would be dedicated to homeland security or public safety instead of helping in schools or elsewhere.
But police-assistance programs point up some of the problems associated with deploying a civil-defense force.
"When people are more alert and act as extra eyes and ears, that's helpful," says John Thull, chief of police in rural Litchfield, Ill., a department with 14 officers. "But I wouldn't know what to do with a lot of volunteers. Who would train them? They'd need to be trained to the point where my officers could trust them. And practically speaking, there'd be liability concerns, too."Image problem
Talk of civilians helping out with civil defense can also conjure up mental images of codgers in ancient doughboy helmets scanning the coastline with binoculars during World War II for German subs that never show, or ex-military men in uniform waving riding crops while serving as suburban block captains.
Civil defense has also suffered something of a credibility problem after the bomb shelter and duck-and-cover craze that symbolized 1950s civil defense, when such practices were deemed wholly inadequate in the face of nuclear war.
"There was nothing the individual citizen or small groups of them could do to protect themselves from thermonuclear war," says Larsen. "That's not true in the twenty-first century. There are many things individuals can do to protect their families and their communities from biological attacks."
Others question the value of individual volunteerism. "Civil defense in the United States has always had some structure, but ultimately it was left up to the individual to take care of themselves," says Andrew Grossman, an assistant professor and civil-defense expert at Albion College in Michigan. "There's just not a lot individuals can do. I think the government knows that, but it isn't good politics to say it."Volunteers plug gaps
Others say volunteers are needed - and not just because the strain on resources caused by recession makes unpaid workers fiscally attractive - because they play a unique role.
Indeed, the disaster action team that Pam January, the St. Louis volunteer, is a part of, will go to an accident scene to lend comfort to victims - or the site of a terrorist attack if one were to occur. "Being there and holding someone's hand, being an emotional support to someone, that's not something the government can do," she says.
Larsen believes both government and individuals have roles to play. He cites the example of a nationwide disaster exercise last year, which included a simulated release of plague in Denver. Nearly 100,000 pounds of antibiotics were shipped by the federal government to handle the fictitious outbreak, but they were left sitting at the airport with no distribution mechanism in place.
"It's a perfect example of what a voluntary service organization can do," says Larsen. "Give me six hours twice a year with maybe all the Rotary clubs or Knights of Columbus in the Denver area, and we could come up with a plan on how to do it - how to set-up distribution points at, say, all the elementary schools in the area."
Some citizens are already taking the initiative to help. Dan Dodgen, a mental health professional in Washington, volunteered his services on the morning of Sept. 12 . Subsequently, he and others are meeting with local agencies in the area to address perceived gaps in counseling services that became apparent after Sept. 11.
"It's not either/or," he says about the role of government and private citizens in civil defense. "Obviously government has a role to play, but we saw at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that existing government personnel weren't sufficient to meet the need.... Volunteers played a significant role in those situations, and I think they can and should be counted on in the future."
As an amateur radio operator, I saw first hand the attitude of public officials towards civilians' assistance. To put it mildly, they were not interested in help. There is a strong case of NIH syndrome, and a deep distrust of the civilian population, amongst virtually all government officials. The police chief is suprisingly candid when he discusses the fact that this people do not trust civilians. Of course, he waves the liability flag, which is the standard excuse used when turning down assistance.
A child was lost in mountainous terrain near Seattle recently, and dozens of locals went off to join the official search and rescue team. They were turned away. However, the next day, two "civilians" found the child alive. The parents have not sued.
During WW2, everyone considered themselves part of the defense establishment, participating in small, determined, and sometimes courageous ways in the daily business of defending the homeland. It would seem to be even more important to do so today, with the war on terrorism being conducted on our home shores.
BTW, what is NIH?
Every single community in America ought to have a way to prepare rather than leaving it all to individuals to do. Individuals - some will do so. But many will not. Those who do not will be going after those who have prepared - unless each community works together to be ready - and every citizen there KNOWS they are ready - should an attack of some kind happen.
At least during the cold war, I knew where there were places to go as CD shelters and I knew food and water were stored for use in case of an emergency. My family took no other precautions - but we had an uncle who built a bomb shelter. I heard on Fox this weekend that some Americans are doing that again - building bomb shelters. Not a bad idea if a person can do that. But of course millions cannot - either because of finances or living in an apartment or whatever.
To think that getting civilians involved - is bogus - makes the actions taken by the old USSR (still being done in Russia?) to have shelters and stocks on hand in case of a nuclear attack quite bogus. America needs to prepare and to do it NOW. I think the writer of this article would LOVE to see an America respond to an attack chaotically rather than with calm understanding that - we have prepared for this - together - as best we can.
The revisionist historians lie again.
Check any maps for the Gulf Coast or the coast off the Outer Banks of North Carolina- you'll find little marks with notations like U-85, U-362, U-701, U-869 and U-2513.
And the Civil Air Patrol actually sank one or two:
The military required an initial 90-day trial period in early 1942 to prove civilians could do the job, so Coastal Patrol began as an experiment at the three 'hot spots' of the submarine bloodbath. Civilian fliers answered the call for pilots and planes at initial bases in Atlantic City (NJ), Rehobeth Beach (DE) and Lantana (FL), and ultimately at 21 bases from Maine to Texas."These unsung heroes at first dived, unarmed, on Nazi U-boats to chase off attackers. Later allowed to struggle aloft with bombs or depth charges on their small planes, they sank one or two subs while directing military fire on a score more and found 173 enemy U-boats in all until the coastal sub threat was withdrawn in August, 1943. Flying up to 200 miles offshore (up to 40 miles out, single engine), were pilots whose previous over water experience had been crossing the wide part of the Delaware River from below Wilmington over to the South Jersey side. They wore military uniforms and 'U.S.' insignia so they would be prisoners of war if captured, not shot as guerillas."
I don't know about the writer of the articale, but many of the government agents involved in disaster response do seem to want everyone to totally rely upon them. They seem to have a savior complex. Couple that with the separation and superiority feelings of many in government, and it's a recipe for disaster after a disaster.
Really? I'm glad our humble public servants have such a high regard for the common man.
And any state that wishes to expand its sphere of influence, its size, and its power must do whatever it can to keep this idea from reestablishing itself among those who have been conditioned into dependence on the state for such things.
When the government will not trust the citizens' even in defending their own soil the experiment has failed.
Wisht I had all that neat stuff hangin offa MY truck...
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