Posted: 4/3/2008 12:17:36 AM EDT
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So, I come in on my off time to take a couple of FEMA classes that may or may not help me in my job and what a waste of damn time. The first class was supposed to be a 2 day course. It lasted 6 hours and the instructor went over the test in class and then had us mark the answers on the answer key. The next class was a 8 hour class we finished in 1hr and 45 minutes. No wonder Katrina was such a cluster fuck. |
| Personally I'd like to shake the hand of the guy who managed to con what had to be a large fee out of the DHS for such a useless product, then kick his balls into his throat because he did such a good job selling it that the asshats in charge decided we all needed to have it, never mind the fact that we were all using a fairly effective Incident Command system before DHS existed. |
Once you work with or for FEMA - or know people who have - the martial law conspiracy threads become far more entertaining. |
I can believe it. FEMA trying to administer martial law would probably be as successful as a monkey trying to fuck a football. |
I hate "check in the block" bullshit training. |
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The instructor was a 30 veteran firefighter so every answer to his practical exercises were exactly what a firefighter would do. He kept insisting that life saving was the first priority of work. I kept telling him that in the event of a terrorist attack, security is first. I even had to remind him they teach security first in First Responder training. Failure to establish security can get responders killed. Had to mention to him that in some cities and neighborhoods, firefighters will not begin to fight fires until police are on scene and the area is secure/safe. And, by the way, these guys are drawing per diem to come all the way from the US to Bahrain to teach these BS classes. Talk about fraud waste and abuse. |
There are two FEMAs, and the Emergency Response isn't the shadow of its lessor known little brother. That said, I wouldn't trust FEMA to string the concertina wire at the Patriot Reeducation Camp correctly. |
I'd be less worried about FEMA unjustly detaining people than FEMA setting loose people that ought to be detained. Something similar happened in Katrina although I think it was NOLA people who were behind that decision. |
There are two FEMAs. There are the full time FEMA employees that work out of the regional offices and the Disaster Assistance Employees. The full time guys know what they are doing and usually show up in vehicles marked "FEMA". The DAEs, reservists, are 90% retirees and only work when called up under the Stafford Act, also referred to as Stafford Act Employees (SAEs). They are the ones who have no idea what is going on and usually drive rental cars. They are the least educated (on FEMA's workings) and the least experienced. |
I never said NIMS/ICS sucks. I said the training sucked because it was condensed to the point of being a "pencil whipped" class. And the instructor sucked. Hell, the CAP process looks quite similar to the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) minus the the timeline and a few other steps. I took 100/200/700/800 online. I took G275 and G300 here. the 300 class is the one condensed from 8 hours to 1 hour and 45 minutes. The G275 was online but it was removed for updating but the test was still available. I took the class room version because I didn't want to "pencil whip" the test. So, in trying to do the right thing, I ended up substituting a "pencil whipped" online course for a "pencil whipped" classroom course. What's worse is no one else here seems to think there is anything wrong with everbody just checking the box. What happened to morals, values, and ethics? |
Not entirely correct. Many of the Stafford Act employees are far more experienced and trained than the full timers. FEMA is so fucked up that they can't maintain records of who knows what, though - and they are horribly mismanaged. Many of the truly experienced workers (often retired police or fire types) get fed up and quit. For many though, Stafford Act call-ups are just free public welfare - a chance to make fat cash from the tax payer. |
 I worked with them from 2004-2006 during the busiest hurricane seasons on record. I was not impressed. The tracked FEMA housing applicants in MS Excel spreadsheets, 3 to be exact, then merged the spread sheets to determine who was housed. I pushed for a database and the best answer I got was a shared Access database. It seemed every time we ran a housing missions it was the first time. The retiree population was resistant to new ideas and use of technology. Granted there were a few DAEs that knew what they were doing (the chiefs and department heads), the vast majority were worthless.
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