comment: >
  
  One of the few defense budget expenditures we can probably all get behind
context: Carolyn Eubanks, who relied on an oxygen machine, collapsed after losing electricity at her Buffalo home during a time when emergency workers were unable to respond to calls, son Antwaine Parker told The Buffalo News.
  “She’s like, ‘I can’t go no further.’ I’m begging her, ‘Mom, just stand up.’ She fell in my arms and never spoke another word,” Parker told the newspaper.
  Parker and his stepbrother knocked on nearby doors, seeking help. They found it when a stranger, David Purdy, answered and helped them carry the 63-year-old Eubanks inside and try in vain to revive her. Purdy and his fiancee sheltered her body until first responders arrived the next day.
  “I done it as respectful as I could,” Purdy told The Buffalo News
  
  Fucking hell >
  
  That is just fucking awful. >
  
  No tf they are not & even so, you're negating real pain families will go through because of this storm. I can't believe how much people lack the compassion to see this in these comments. >
  
  If you have someone in your home dependent on oxygen or other type of machine for the love of god please get another energy source. A small generator or energy bank.
  There are many out there that are affordable and can keep the life saving machines going during electrical outages. >
  
  Affordable is relative. >
  
  I've always imagined a Call of Duty style invasion of America during a huge winter storm. The storm does basically everything you'd want to have happen before you started flying in paratroopers. >
  
  Interesting creative concept here! Brainstorming as if it were a novel, game, movie, or IRL but logistically how quickly could the invaders pull together invasion plans/troops/resources after confirming a winter storm will happen. Weather predictions can go sour. 
  Could be some awesome game artwork though. >
  
  Yeah it would definitely have to be a long long planned, ready to go in about a week and ready to cancel in a day type of attack.
  Paratroopers landing on some type of super snowmobile that's armed. >
  
  Cloud seeding. Tanks with plows. Rabid penguin brigades. Polar bear berserker blitzkrieg Adderall core. Canadians. >
  
  Hahaha as an American with Canadian friends this is spot on 😂 >
  
  Actually I'm kind of surprised it's not FEMA - isn't that the usual department to check houses after emergencies? Or are the markings on the houses (after hurricanes, for example) actually made by members of the National Guard? >
  
  National Guard has done this kind of thing a lot:
  
  
  In my town, they were the guard stations at checkpoints to make sure people didn't go driving into a flood area. 
  
  
  When Parkersburg, Iowa got hit they approximately 160 Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry are provided security and aiding local officials in recovery efforts also 15 additional Soldiers and Airmen from the 67th Troop Command (Iowa City), Joint Forces Headquarters (Johnston), 734th Regional Support Group (Johnston), 133rd Test Squadron (Ft. Dodge), 132nd Fighter Wing (Des Moines), and Iowa Air National Guard Headquarters (Johnston), provided communications support, transporting water, creating emergency electrical power, and providing operational support. Additionally, the Iowa National Guard armory in Waterloo was used as an operations center for American Red Cross relief efforts.
  
  
  Having taught the Search & Rescue Merit Badge and the Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge in the Boy Scouts of America, dealt with some logistics at Scout events, been apart of a few drills of what would happen if a tornado hit my Boy Scout camp with 300+ in the camp, and with my BA in History worked on papers about logistics a lot of what the Army and by extension the National Guard does on the regular helps a lot with storm recovery from logistics to security to whole Incident Command System are really handy. >
  
  There are also quite a few jobs that require ICS training. I had to complete a few of the courses for my job. It’s a good primer on “what to do in what order” or “how to organize multiple people” in a disaster. I’d say it’s worth it to just look through ICS-100 for anyone who is remotely curious about disaster response by the government (or in my case, a large company). It’s totally free. >
  
  This is where some of the defense spending goes, like it or not.