National Guard?

I'm not a member of the National Guard, but i can provide some info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_Army_National_Guard

This website lists all the National Guard Units for Nebraska.

You can read up on the National Guard on Wikipedia but yea, looking for looters during an emergency is a mission they would do.

1: I wouldn't abbreviate the ranks, you may think you are making it easier to read, but in my opinion it just makes it more difficult. Also, in the Army, Corporal is not used that often, for various reasons. The rank you are looking for is Specialist, and E-4.

2: As far as i know, a typical Army squad is made of 10 soldiers. In reality, that number can vary for a multitude of reasons.

3: By the looks of which units are on that Wiki page, I would say that most of your soldiers would have M-4 rifles and maybe (1) M240B, and your officer would have a M9 pistol in addition to his M4. No fragmentation grenades, but maybe smoke grenades. Like i said, that M240B would be a maybe, and only if they were mounted on Hummers.

4: The term you want is Soldiers, that is how they are referred to. Unless you want the leader to be "cheesy" or "gun-ho", and they you can use terms like "Warfighter" and "Warriors".

I'm fairly certain that National Guard does not allow Females in Infantry units, so they would have to be from a different type of unit.

If you want women in the squad, make 'em MPs (Military Police).

National Guard units fall under the control of the state's governor and are frequently put into service for protection/police/rescue/service use before, during and after any disturbances.

That said, the highest you'll see in the field is a Lieutenant (LT) and more likely a Sargent (SGT). Especially in a small squad, which would have one squad leader and that's really it. Arms depend on the unit type as well as the event in question, but standard military arms would be likely. That would be an AR style battle rifle and maybe a sidearm. They won't have vehicle-mounted weapons, explosives or any heavy ordinance.

There are female National Guard soldiers serving in all types of units, your unit and job is defined by where you are and what the nearest unit to serve in is, not by what your military specialty was. Combat engineers might be ambulance drivers in the guard. Supply clerks might be transport drivers.

The use of the term "men" is appropriate, though "troops" might be more PC and more used in today's military. "Soldiers" is more common, or "squad."

Jeff

It would be easy enough for the unit to have a HMMWV/MRAP mounted SAWs (light machinegun) or M-60 (medium MG).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_Army_National_Guard tells you what units are based in Lincoln. It gives you quite a bit of flexibility. There's a cavalry squadron (light infantry and scouting units), several aviation units, a medical unit, and some civil affairs troops. I suspect if you contact the state Adjutant General, you'd get quite a bit of help. They'd be able to tell you if any of the Lincoln units have seen combat in the Middle East, which will have some effect on how they handle looters, etc.

You're looking at basically a squad of troops, maybe with a 2d Lieutenant (2LT), but probably with a Sergeant First Class (SFC) or Staff Sergeant (SSG) in charge. Maybe 4-8 soldiers. Anything but the cavalry units could have female soldiers, and unless you've got a really old sergeant, they'd most likely say "troops" or "troopers."

NE NG website: http://ne.ng.mil/Pages/Default.aspx

Let me backtrack a couple questions:

Why is everyone evacuating? The reason for the evac will help determine the mission of the Guard and, to a degree, the equipment and weapons used.

If it's a natural disaster they'd likely be assisting in the evac, providing communications, possibly setting up a tent city for shelters or providing medical assistance, etc. In that case the weapons are the least important thing and they'd be lightly loaded out just for some measure of self protection/to maintain order.

In that case they'd likely have HUMVEE's for transport, but likely those vehicles wouldn't be armed with machine guns.

If the reason is some sort of terrorist attack, or large scale rioting/civil unrest, then the weapons would be more important and they would be more likely to have machine guns and armed vehicles.

As to "struggling to perform their duty" in that kind of large scale evac, everyone would be stretched thin. I don't know how much the Guard would be used "to prevent looting" though in comparision to how much they'd be needed to help with the evac, set up medical units, provide security for other organizations that are assisting, etc.

If the whole midwest is being evacuated looting is the least of the concerns. Protecting the people who are running the evacuation would be the primary mission and protecting the evacuee's would be the secondary.

National Guard soldier from Topeka, Kansas chiming in.

First off, the things you are talking about would be better served by police or SWAT teams. They also would be able to acquire an armored vehicle, especially something as common as a humvee (a HMMWV, technically). They have more training in dealing with riots, would know the area better and would be able to respond MUCH more quickly.

Keep in mind that mobilizing the Guard is expensive and takes time. Using a platoon wouldn't be practical (and is highly unlikely) when you could have SWAT teams and such to do the same thing for less hassle and do a better job.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

Crayonz said:

National Guard soldier from Topeka, Kansas chiming in.

First off, the things you are talking about would be better served by police or SWAT teams. They also would be able to acquire an armored vehicle, especially something as common as a humvee (a HMMWV, technically). They have more training in dealing with riots, would know the area better and would be able to respond MUCH more quickly.

Keep in mind that mobilizing the Guard is expensive and takes time. Using a platoon wouldn't be practical (and is highly unlikely) when you could have SWAT teams and such to do the same thing for less hassle and do a better job.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

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I have to disagree. Did you notice the OP said they were evacuating the ENTIRE "midwest." Yeah, the NG from every involved state would be activated for something like that, probably along with whatever regular military units could be deployed.

Whether they'd be as concerned with "looter control" specifically with all the problems they'd have is something else entirely.

Trebor1415 said:

I have to disagree. Did you notice the OP said they were evacuating the ENTIRE "midwest." Yeah, the NG from every involved state would be activated for something like that, probably along with whatever regular military units could be deployed.

Whether they'd be as concerned with "looter control" specifically with all the problems they'd have is something else entirely.

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Recent law changes have made it so that Active Duty military is only deployed as a last resort, when all other forces are overwhelmed. Here is the theoretical response order:

1: Local Law Enforcement
2: Local National Guard (Which can be activated by the State Governor)
3: Local Reserve Forces; Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, & Coast Guard. This is a different and separate force from the National Guard. (The State Governor has to submit a request to the DOD for reserve support. This step is new because until recently the reserves were not able to respond to Emergencies.)
4: Regular Military. (The President has to authorize deployment of Active Duty military, and this is only done now after it has been determined that the National Guard and Reserve forces can not handle the situation.)

Angry Guy said:

I'm not actually thrilled with the "looters" explanation, but I need a reason for the NG troop to be hanging around Lincoln after it's mostly deserted.

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They could be searching for any other people who didn't make the initial evacuation, they could be accompanying any scientists who stayed behind to monitor the situation, they could be patrolling the perimeter to make sure no one came into the evacuated area or they drew the short straw and are waiting until they're sure everyone else is out before they get to leave. They could be lost.

Angry Guy said:

I probably should have been less cagey with my intro. Yellowstone has gone kablooie, the jet stream runs east (I checked), and Nebraska (among others) is getting dumped on. The president has activated everyone right down to reserve dog catchers and passers-by..

I'm not actually thrilled with the "looters" explanation, but I need a reason for the NG troop to be hanging around Lincoln after it's mostly deserted.

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You can have the National Guard looting what was left behind. Someone has to save all that great stuf so it doesn't get buried in ash.

Angry Guy said:

I probably should have been less cagey with my intro. Yellowstone has gone kablooie, the jet stream runs east (I checked), and Nebraska (among others) is getting dumped on. The president has activated everyone right down to reserve dog catchers and passers-by..

I'm not actually thrilled with the "looters" explanation, but I need a reason for the NG troop to be hanging around Lincoln after it's mostly deserted.

Click to expand...

In reality, that would be a perfect mission for the National Guard.

The city has been evacuated but they send in a platoon or company of National Guardsman to "just make sure". While in the city the unit is divided up into teams of trucks and each team is given an area to check. You could have it so they are also guarding key buildings, like federal, state, and local government buildings and financial institutions. There could be several reasons why they are hanging out after everyone is gone.