Poll: Do you take part in CERT?

[Ura-Ki]

I bring a different outlook to this. I do not normally participate with CERT, I work with my Counties (4) Sheriff's Office's and the State emergency management teams! I Own a small fire company and contract out to State and Fed. Hot Shot firefighting companies/agencies to fight high risk forest fires and high risk grass land fires! I also take part in SAR operations when not involved on a fire, having a no limits Fire Truck, I can get places faster then most during an emergency event and because of the off road capabilities, I can also go places others have trouble with!

 

[B3dlam]

My job would likely require me in the event of any major disaster (rescue helicopters are sorta important). I do volunteer with a clark county based Search and Rescue team however so in the event I wasn't needed with by my employer I would respond with them.

 

[Siglvr]

As far as I can see, the Portland NET thing is a fantastic idea which I'd like to roll with. That they don't allow firearms in no way lessons that opinion. It seems like it goes on a neighbor by neighbor basis. Your neighbor may be CC him/herself. The only reason I haven't committed my time is that I have a massive climbing project I'm selfishly committed to. Won't stop till either I'm done or it's done. I'm just damn selfish that way. I was going to be working with them this winter, but let my family, my workout plans and my new puppy take up all my time instead.

Guess that for me it's all about me. But the NET idea is brilliant. We're (Portland Citizens living in the Cascadia zone) going to need it, I don't care how prepped you are personally. I will catch up to them at some point.

 

[Sstrand]

billcoe
HOPEFULLY sooner rather than later!?!?!?!?

Sheldon

 

[Siglvr]

billcoe
HOPEFULLY sooner rather than later!?!?!?!?

Sheldon

Agreed Sheldon. Once I clear out the laziness and inertia I have have been prepping for myself and for the whole block for quite some time. It's not like I'm waking up late and going "OMG!!!!". I even bought gas masks for my family AND all of the kids on the block @ 15 years ago. I consider the goals of Portland NET as important. But I was there a long time before they were.

As an example, this was verbatim a letter to my brother dated June 03,2005: For the record, I have always been pissed about the way the Iraq war was unilaterally and arguably criminally crammed down the rest of the worlds throat, it makes the world a more unsafe place and more likely that an antagonist attacks us unilaterally without discussion or warning in the future. There is a reason for international treaties and laws.

In my family, our extended family get togethers always feature raucous, loud and contentious debates and discussions of a political nature. We rarely agree on matters, but at the end of the day, we still love and respect that person, knowing them, their attitudes, feelings and their rationals: better. The discussion will often carry over to extended long-term email debates with 4 part harmony and 27 glossy pictures with arrows and diagrams on the back. This post is not about all that. It is to show another side to the whole thing. A single thing. A thing most of us here are safe and shielded from. Black and white rarely exists in the world. Probably that is the case here as well. Sigh...anyway, my point is 2 fold here. First, we don't know what is going to occur in the future. Next, my response towards feeling a personal threat of a possible rogue gas attack from a seaborn container lit off by terrorists or Saddams minions was to go out and buy gas masks for every adult in my family and extended family, plus for all of the children on the block. See, I didn't want to live believing that I'd survive and all the kids around here would die. I later told some of the parents my decision, that is, to buy something that would help their child live but to purposely ignore them and God forbid this rare situation were to occur, they would die. Invariably they were shocked beyond words for many reasons. Full text of the letter to my brother follows, the context was his criticisms of the Bush administration, and the 2nd Iraq war in particular (I think, it's been a while after all:

"I have a personal story I want to share with you. This really happened to me personally, this isn't a slanted news report - no extra elaboration is added or needed, it is 100 percent truth, really happened.

I was down at the local park, approx mid 1990's, less than a block from my home . There was a small group of bronzed skinned dark-haired middle-eastern looking men, @10 or so, playing with a soccer ball, messing around. I did not know their country of origin, and the language was not familiar to me. I crowded closer, interested. Paying closer attention, I would have guessed they were Turks, but I knew they were not. Perhaps Armenians? I thought not, but had never been to Armenia and was not positive. I spotted a younger white American chick with the group so as is my personal custom, I went right up and asked. "Hi, I'm curious, where are these guys from?".

"They are Kurds", she replies, "from Iraq".

Hmmm, we'd just been overthere in 1991 fighting a war. "Why are they here in the US", I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"They had worked for the US government", she said, "and if they stayed there their lives would be at risk. As it is, they are afraid that their families over there may be suffering now for their choices."

"CIA?", I bluntly suggested.

"I can't say, I'm sort of a liaison to help them around over here", she reply's.

I figure CIA for sure.

I'm standing there checking them out, being ignored by the dudes, when she says: " Yeah, some of them have had it pretty tough"............

"How so" I ask.

"See that guy over there", she nods her head in the direction of an older 40 year old fella somberly standing off to the side and not participating in the game. "He was in his village when an Iraqi government plane flew over.......... dumping poisonous gas down......, almost everybody in his village was killed: .... including all of his family and friends,.......... he and a very few others in the village had gas masks ........... and they survived".

"Jesus Christ" I quietly whistled through my teeth, thinking I couldn't imagine what it would be like to see all of my loved ones gassed to death right in front of me, and to survive with that memory.

We were done talking. I watched and marveled in sadness for a few minutes, wondering what other horrors these guys had witnessed, then walked away silently, carrying that memory to this day.

So this is what I think, and no amount of articles you send will change my mind unless they start presenting hard facts and not innuendos: Cause I know some facts...personally. F*#k Saddam Hussein that evil f*#king bastard, we should kill that motherf*#ker every day for eternity may he rot in hell being sodomized daily sans Vaseline by the Devil himself that lying murdering son of a bubblegum. I think that the loved ones of those Kurds and also the Shia massacred in the south of Iraq whom are still being uncovered in mass unmarked graves would have a different opinion than you apparently do. Do you not believe Israel was next on that crazy pricks tick list of neighbors to attack? The 1/2 a million or so Jews not gassed in the next attack will hopefully live lives of quiet peace because of our countries actions. Lets see if you have the courage to widely publicize my words (which do not support your anti-war beliefs ) to your anti-war friends.



Have a nice day:


Love -"

And we later did catch up and put that asswipe down. His bubblegumhead kids too. The world is a better place now.

 

[Trapdoor45-70]

For those interested in connecting with other CERTS, NETs, NERTs here's a link that might be of interest: Home | Certusa

I've been a CERT for 11 years. The gov't side has actually been the most supportive and positive to work with. Some of the volunteer leaders have been difficult to work with and have made the experience less pleasant. However, I've been able to serve in useful roles as a CERT and have found it to also be rewarding. I understand that it's not for everyone.

CERT can fill a valuable role after a major disaster, if only to get more people trained to care for themselves. If I can, I'm happy to assist my neighborhood after a disaster. But my home and family come first, as CERT principles state.

I don't mind the "no weapons" rule, in part, because I have multiple CERT approved "weapons" as part of my gear and because, if I'm injured/rendered unconscious during an operation, I don't want a firearm to be left in the hands of someone I don't know --- or worse. I don't see a need for me to carry a firearm in my neighborhood while serving in that volunteer role. Now, when not volunteering,.....that's a different story.

Based on what I've read the first days to two weeks after a disaster [of course it depends on where you live and the severity of the disaster] the issue of violent confrontations is low and that's my assessment for my area. People tend to want to pull together and help each other. --- Until they start running out of things and there are few resources coming in. That may well be the time I have to stop volunteering and focus on my family and immediate neighbors.

But that's just my view.....