Flags

Fire in the southwest part of the valley, in my least favorite spot in the state. Camp Williams always was an unpleasant drill weekend when I was in the National Guard. Cold always, except for the few hours around noon if it was summer, then it baked. Desolate in a bad way, treeless and forsaken, fit only for the military.

Well, a fire started out there, late on the third day of a Red Flag Alert statewide, on a machine gun range. Took them a couple of hours to call in the fire department, after it turned out they didn't have the equipment to handle a large fire when the winds were hitting 50 MPH. It spread to about 3,500 acres, destroyed three homes, thousands of people still evacuated as they get it under control.

The Army is a Idiot. As though more proof were needed. I have no more anger left for such foolishness, exhausted my supply while in the midst of it. Simply contempt now. At least today the commander of the base is admitting full-on error. I'm just imagining how many people out there got shouted at today. And how many Lt. Cols will be simple Lt.s tomorrow. I can just picture it, too.

"This is the only chance this year we have to qualify!"
"Sir, there is a Red Flag warning up, has been for the last two days, we're going to start a fire."
"Sergeant, this has to be done today. I've never seen a warning. Get your men out there."

Yeah, lots of people got shouted at today. And I don't feel sorry for most of them.