Civil Defense - What To Do Now

     Do you remember since childhood having civil defense classes and drills throughout school?  I do when I lived on military installations; all of them.  I spent my last two years of high school in the civilian community during the mid-1970s.  I do not recall ever learning more about "preparedness" or civil defense.  When I moved to the civilian world, the American Red Cross was the only place I found that taught any such classes to the public.  I was already familiar with the ARC since I had been a volunteer back during the late 1960s, during the war in Vietnam. 

     When I joined the military in 1983, it was like I stepped back to a time where we did what we did and were taught whatever there is to know about what to do and/or how to handle things when shit hits the fan. I don't know about you but I've always found this life long training as some pretty important stuff to know.  I've always known the world had some mean, bad, and evil people out there who thrive on damaging others.  And I knew that there would be survivors in such events when these deranged people try to get their way.  I was going to be one of those who had an idea of what to do come time and how to help others do the same.  I was given the opportunity to learn even more about how to help and keep one's mind and bearings straight during these times.  

     Years ago after I got my military career off the ground, I realized that the civilian community where I live didn't do a lot involving their citizens in disaster preparedness.  We did at my Air Guard unit.  Having plenty of members' children to work with, working in close association with their Family Readiness Group (FRG), and the local American Red Cross (ARC), we started holding classes geared towards children like the Professional Baby Sitter course that taught them basic first aid and child wellness, to include a form of child CPR.  We held enough of those classes that we had spouses and even grandparents who would take this class to get knowledge for use at their work places or if they were out.  We held disaster preparedness classes, to include pet-preparedness.  The children loved the four to six hours of exciting topics and ways to be and stay prepared should an emergency or disaster strike.  The children even came up with ingenious ways to use tools and how to calm people down. 

     Now, the reason I worked hard to get these military children educated on such topics is because I have come to realize that BRATs "get it", and the term BRATs I am also using as the children of Guard and Reserve members because I know how much they deploy and what it does to their families back home.  I've seen it first hand.  I know how most of them raised their children and in the ways of "raising", those kids got a lot of the same values and ethics we did as BRATs.  My conclusion after all my years on earth is that a lot of military children get to learn how to keep control, how to stand up to a task when needed, and how to help others when it's time for them to panic.  Again, I have seen this first hand when I find out that one of our BRATs got to use first aid knowledge or emergency training in dire circumstances.  It makes my heart swell with pride knowing our own children know how, and can, keep their heads together in times of trouble.  I cannot say the same for hardly any civilian children (or their families) that I know.  My BRAT child (who is now grown) took all the Red Cross classes available through the FRG, to include more disaster training through networks she met.  She got to participate in a huge disaster training mock scenario that was held in the city that included the local Navy base, the local Air Guard unit, Homeland Security, the Red Cross, City Police and Fire Fighters, County Sheriffs, and lots of essential personnel to make a mock scenario of a 7.0 earthquake and pull off getting to the destruction and aid. 

     To me, military children, BRATs, have an ingrained understanding of helping maintain a household when a parent is away and understanding and effectively reacting to unusual events.  They get this understanding from their military families and those other military BRATs they are exposed to on a regular basis.  With this "civil defense" knowledge given to military children/families, I feel assured that if and when disaster strikes in a nearby civilian community, there are our military and citizen soldiers and their families who will be readily available to step in and successfully help.

     Do you miss the days of your community knowing what to do in a time of emergency or disaster?  Here's how you can help.  Give some of your time to your local American Red Cross chapter.  Become a Disaster Preparedness Educator and get communities together to give them ongoing training.  Or even just as good, help coordinate between a local ARC chapter and a local Family Readiness Group to offer this free (usually) training and knowledge to our military families so we can continue to do what we've usually done - be and stay prepared.

     I've always said, "Be alert.  The world needs more lerts."