maxerickson says: "It's also not clear to me how many rescues were done by the people volunteering their own time and resources vs the various government agenci

maxerickson says: "It's also not clear to me how many rescues were done by the people volunteering their own time and resources vs the various government agencies (that have a lot more equipment and plans and stuff)." Did they indeed have more equipment and plans and stuff? Is there some clear role that they played and were clearly beneficial in this emergency? Could/would not almost everything they did that was useful be done by civilians in their absence? I'm not impressed. I don't understand why the National Guard(NG) was necessary. Early on, the government agencies and NG brought trucks and helicopters; civilians wisely brought boats. [OK, to be fair, later the NG brought some amphibious vehicles and boats, but we're not taking Omaha beach here, folks]. Mostly the National Guard and FEMA guys in the field just stood around their trucks at attention or drove around. The inside people _did_ help set up shelters, food, etc. The helicopter fellows _did_ some rescuing but I question the value of that since helicopters are costly to run, dangerous (they fail frequently with disastrous consequences), cost like heck to maintain and the same thing can usually be done far more safely with a boat (or a lifesaving ring). National Guard might possibly serve in a policing function but New Orleans/Katrina pretty much showed how that can fail. NG isn't really a policing agency, it's part of an army. Armies are good at killing people and I want my Army to be strong in that manner. So let them train and deploy at that. Events like hurricane Harvey appear to be mostly minor training operations and photo ops for the National Guard. "Feel-Good" stuff, in other words. It might be best for the victims _and_ the NG if the NG didn't participate. And it would save our tax dollars. Local law enforcement agencies (the various police and sheriffs' offices in the Houston area) have plenty of law enforcement officers familiar with local terrain and culture who are eager to earn overtime pay policing flood areas. They're also less likely to bust a cap in your ass for stealing gasoline. "The Secret History of Hurricane Katrina" http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/08/secret-history-hurricane-katrina/ http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/08/secret-histor...