Civilian Homeland Security Force

[davidsinn]

Personally, I dont see any of this actually happening.

I bet that's what the average German said in 1933 too. "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." I'm sure Mr. Obama has nothing but good intentions. But we all know what's paved in good intentions. I for one will remain against this idea purely out of a duty to remember history and learn from it. I try to oppose tyranny in all it's forms.

[Flying Pig]

Im not talking about being ignorant to history.  I mean campaign rhetoric.  Ain't gonna happen.  You cant claim you are going to slash military spending by 25% without making people "feel" like you have an alternative to keep them safe.

[O-Rex]

I remember the "profession of arms" section of SOS, and how it defined the professional military and traced it's history to what we have today.  IMHO, such a course of action, if done on a large scale, is a step backward.

Some would argue that this is a contradiction, coming from a CAP member, but I don't think so: CAP has evolved over two-thirds of a century to stay (somewhat) relevant, and our HLS component has some VERY clearly defined boundaries (at least in my experience.) 

If such programs actually do come to fruition, I foresee them with heavy oversight and checks & balances: we (CAP) have to jump through hoops with Big Brother Blue for something as simple as what we wear, I can't imagine that some civilian mob is going to have free reign and the bucks to support it.

Keep in mind that those charged with Homeland Security (and paid for it) are probably not going to give Mr & Mrs Average American carte blanche to run around with shotguns and pitchforks to poke around their neighbors homes.

[PaulR]

I bet that's what the average German said in 1933 too. "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." I'm sure Mr. Obama has nothing but good intentions. But we all know what's paved in good intentions. I for one will remain against this idea purely out of a duty to remember history and learn from it. I try to oppose tyranny in all it's forms.

Amen!!  This reminds me of the Gestapo's formation and implementation.  They were formed for the same reasons and the public attitude was, "they never go to that extent...".   

A bit of personal history here... take it for what is it worth. 

Our family WAS well to do until National Socialism took over in 1933.   We even managed to survive the global depression in better shape than most.  As a result of the complacency and lack of leadership of the entire nation, we lost all of our wealth, many family members to the war, and even our honor that had been intact for centuries.    My Great Grandfather was a modestly decorated WW1 veteran and a Col in the Allg. SS in Berlin and my Grandfather was a Capt in the German Army fighting the Russians.  Back then, military service was honorable and something every did in order to do the "right thing".  To make a long story short, everything was desecrated by 12 years of an evil regime.   


We came to the US in the 50s to start over.  My father and I are the first US service members(and non officers) as far back as I can trace.  Now that we are getting our name back, I see what brought us down in 1945 occurring all over again and it personally scares the crap out of me! 

Many people had much much worse experiences than we, but this is not the point.

Flying Pigs rational was the type of mindset the majority of the German people had ALLOWED those things to happen.  Things did not become clear until it was too late...

It is "fun" to watch history repeat itself.  One can almost predict the next step.   

[Auxpilot]

Auxpilot;

Regarding the Congressman who was against the Obama HSD Funding and Organization, the latest lead is this:
               PLEASE READ THIS FOLLOW-UP
Democrats are calling on a Republican congressman from Georgia to apologize for referring to Barack and Michelle Obama as "uppity," but the lawmaker stood by his comments and said he meant no offense.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville, Ga., described the Obamas as members of an "elitist-class ... that thinks that they're uppity," according to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper.

Asked to clarify whether he intended to use the word, he said, "Yeah, uppity."

MEANING: We shouldn't get caught up and quoting bigots, or at least people that select their words less than carefully. We shouldn't continue to spout the contentions of the political process. AND side with Republican attacks caught up in the animosity of the recent election. We should analyze this discussion from outside the fray. We should judge with a cool eye and even hand. We should ask and find out what needs to be done. How this need can be best served. How we can serve our country best. Although I have no direct quotes... I'll bet you that CAP has been compared to the Gestapo more than once and through our history. Don't take this sucker bait. CAP should stand up and volunteer. If the job sounds like it's a set up for something onerous, tyrannical, or reprehensible then we can address it at that time. At this moment, we've been asked to do nothing but wait. Speculation to the contrary is SPECULATION.

I have no prior knowledge of this Congressman, and have no idea if he is a bigot or not. He may very well be, but we also have to be careful that every time someone disagrees with the new President that their ideas are not dismissed as being grounded in racism. People of all races can be "uppity" as far as I can tell.

After watching President Bush get called just about everything short of the devil by Democrats, something I don't believe any sitting President should be subject to, I suspect the era of political correctness is over, or was it just suspended until a Democrat was back in office?

My post was not to further the cause of bigots but rather to illustrate the can of worms that President Obama's proposal will open.

As far as CAP, you are correct, we should stand up and volunteer, as we have done for the last several decades.

[Pylon]

Watch the political comments, analogies, commentary, etc.  This thread is extremely close to being locked.

Keep all of your comments professional and related to Civil Air Patrol and not politics.

[PaulR]

I agree that this thread should be locked... the mere topic alone is political in nature and no "CAP related" good can come from it at this point. 

[Flying Pig]

Lock?  How is a civilian homeland security force not related to CAP?  Including discussions about the ramifications of it? Some of you are so scared of having an actual conversation where that answer cant be found in the uniform regs.

[Major Carrales]

The idea presented here is not really a political one (unless someone takes it down that path intentionally)

Some talk radio friends of mine we discussing this and my first thought reflected what a debate rival in another forum had said about CAP.  This fellow maintained that he would prefer the USAF to be more like CAP.  That is, he would like to see a domestic USAF that really concetrated on SAR, Cadet Programs and Space.

I would wonder what would happen if the new President actually bolstered the CAP and USCGAux budgets?

[wuzafuzz]

I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of shuffling of departments under a new umbrella organization, similar to the restructuring that largely created the Dept of Homeland Security.  Move people around without spending a lot of new money, then claim tremendous benefit to be realized by said integration and silo busting.

Whether something like that would impact CAP is anyone's guess.  My 2 cents worth is we'd stay connected to the Air Force because no one else would be quite sure what to do with us anyway.  Would we really fit anywhere else and still be CAP? 

[Johnny Yuma]

This Civilian HLS force idea of Obama's is really scary.

ARE THESE NEW RECRUITS???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSvBCBnulLs&feature=related

[MIKE]

And with that...