Not enough Whisky for this Tango Foxtrot

[Maria]

Clearly someone thinks that substitute teaching takes as much training as filling sandbags in a flood. Or perhaps they just see teachers as performing crowd control.

Wow. That shows a profound misunderstanding of what soldiers are taught in basic and advanced training. I took tougher courses to become a communications officer than any class I took in college. Very mentally challenging.

[Frelga]

That's officer training, though, wouldn't it be more advanced than what the NG go through?

[narya]

Maria, I was not meaning to disrespect you. Yes, there are highly educated people in the reserves (like yourself, and like my brother and father who were both in the naval reserve, and had engineering degrees). I was thinking of the 18 year old recruits just out of high school, who might not be the best material to educate kids a year or two younger than themselves.

[Inanna]

I’m mostly of the opinion that exposure to different kinds of people is good for the kids. Especially if it’s just for a week or two.

[Maria]

That's officer training, though, wouldn't it be more advanced than what the NG go through?

When I was in the Army Reserves on active duty, the training I went through almost always had soldiers from the National Guard in the class, too. At least back then the NG officers and soldiers went through all the same training as regular active duty soldiers. I can't speak for nowadays. When I was on active duty I learned a lot from the sergeants in my unit. A lot of them were very bright and were working on degrees. Not every unit was like that, but anything technical (and there's a lot more of that now) will take intelligence and education to deal with.

The bigger problem, in my opinion, is that unless this NG activation in New Mexico is quite short, all the normal jobs these NG soldiers hold will be going unfilled. If I were to be activated to go teach classes for a few weeks, for instance, it would devastate the little company I work for. I have too many duties that no one else knows how to do when I'm gone. I know it's the trade off people make for the advantages that going part time military gives them... but it will put a strain on their regular jobs unless they work for some huge corporation with lots of redundancy.

That's a problem in my opinion.

That said, do you know of another group of people who could be ordered to do a job like that? They've probably been trying to recruit substitute teachers and failed (I know they have around here) Who else can you order to do a job like that? The schools won't even have to pay them- the state will do that.

That's the thing about the military. If they get ordered to do something, they have to do it. Maybe they'll get ordered to man day-cares next.

edit: changed AZ to NM

[narya]

Maria, the degree I earned on line from the University of Washington was a Masters of Strategic Planning for Critical Infrastructures. It was interdisciplinary, with the main intent to make all kinds of infrastructures more resilient, robust, and redundant when tested by disasters and acts of terrorism. We looked at energy, internet, transportation, utilities, finance, health systems, education, government, and other systems. One third of the students were engineers like me, one third were doctors, and one third were National Guard stationed in the Middle East. We worked on group projects together, with comradery and mutual respect, most of the time, though I distinctly remember one of the NG students calling me a cave dwelling troglodyte. Guilty as charged, when it comes to my peacenik views.

[Maria]

My husband (who was in the Missouri National Guard for a while) said it's a good thing they are doing background checks. Some of the soldiers he knew were unsavory characters (my phrase, not his) and he wouldn't want them around children.

So. There's that.
I'd forgotten the NG nickname amongst regular Army was "Nasty Guard".

And they are taking volunteers, not ordering whole units into active duty. That should limit the damage to the communities they come from.

My husband, as a judo instructor, has to go through a background check every year to stay certified with the national organization. That's why the background check was the first thing to come to his mind.

[Dave_LF]

I'm assuming the number of teachers needed is small compared to the number of troops, which means whoever makes the decisions can be very selective about who gets sent in and who doesn't.

[RoseMorninStar]

You raise many valid points Maria. Background checks should be a must. That said I know at least a half dozen people who were involved in pedophilia, mostly within their family, who were never reported (and therefore have no record) who should never have access to children.

My concerns in regards to uniforms, be they military, police, or even clerical robes, is that it bestows authority that doesn't invite questioning/gives advantage to an unsavory character. They are aware of that and use it to their advantage.

[elengil]

My concerns in regards to uniforms, be they military, police, or even clerical robes, is that it bestows authority that doesn't invite questioning/gives advantage to an unsavory character. They are aware of that and use it to their advantage.

Unfortunately that applies to un-uniformed teachers, too.

[RoseMorninStar]

My concerns in regards to uniforms, be they military, police, or even clerical robes, is that it bestows authority that doesn't invite questioning/gives advantage to an unsavory character. They are aware of that and use it to their advantage.

Unfortunately that applies to un-uniformed teachers, too.

That is true, but a uniform adds something psychologically extra. The point being, care should be taken no matter which pool is being drawn from. It shouldn't be 'get any body in there'.

[elengil]

My concerns in regards to uniforms, be they military, police, or even clerical robes, is that it bestows authority that doesn't invite questioning/gives advantage to an unsavory character. They are aware of that and use it to their advantage.

Unfortunately that applies to un-uniformed teachers, too.

That is true, but a uniform adds something psychologically extra. The point being, care should be taken no matter which pool is being drawn from. It shouldn't be 'get any body in there'.

Yes.

[N.E. Brigand]

Here is a fascinating and disturbing account of white supremacist terrorist groups in the U.S., with the perspective of a recently retired undercover FBI agent who spent his career as an undercover operative, much of it in these groups. He says he's sharing his experiences because he's worried about the future:

He Spent 25 Years Nazis, the Klan, and Biker Gangs

This passage concerns one of the last plots he helped bust up, by a cell of a domestic terrorist group called the Base:

Sitting in their flat in Newark, Delaware, Scott [the undercover FBI agent] sipped his whiskey and nodded as they sketched it out. There was a Second Amendment rally in Virginia, they said, that figured to be a powder keg. Democrats had just taken power in the state and were planning stiff gun-control measures. While tens of thousands of people milled the Capitol steps, they’d set up in a tree line a hundred yards back and start picking off cops and troopers. A circular firing squad would spark off: Cops would shoot the gun nuts, gun nuts would shoot antifa, and bystanders would be cut down in the middle. As Scott winked at a wall cam that the feds installed while the two men were off at work, Mathews [a neo-Nazi formerly in the Canadian army reserves] rambled on about his plans. After the rally, they’d slip away and become a roving death squad, posing as homeless men to stalk their targets. At night, gloved and hooded, they’d follow a reporter to his car, put a couple rounds in the back of his head, then move to the next city and lefty target.

The leader of the Base fled to Russia years ago and uses the internet to recruit new members in the U.S. from his overseas refuge.

[Alatar]

Today on "Not the Onion"

https://deadline.com/2022/02/rudy-giuli ... 234925291/

[RoseMorninStar]

I saw that in my news feed and I thought it was a joke. Well, it is a joke, but ...

[Frelga]

Good to know the genius is as stable as ever.

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[elengil]

[River]

That's...the Chinese don't...oh never mind.

The world is on notice now. You will know any false flag campaign Trump orchestrated by its utter incompetence.

[RoseMorninStar]

How pathetic is it that I'm not shocked or surprised?

In the same speech:

He espoused praise for North Korea’s brutal leader, marveling at how Kim’s generals and aides “cowered” when the dictator spoke to them. “Total control,” Trump said of how Kim ran the country, describing generals snapping to attention and standing up on command.

“His people were sitting at attention,” he added.

“I looked at my people and said I want my people to act like that,” he said to laughter.

[Túrin Turambar]

Plus there's this small point:

Screenshot 2022-03-07 171612.png (7.49 KiB) Viewed 1909 times