National Guard and the Eclipse, Is there more to it?

I live in Princeton, Ky. I work 40 min away in Hopkinsville, KY. If you were not aware, this area is one of the best viewing spots for the upcoming eclipse. Hopkinvsville alone is expecting roughly 200,000 people for this event.

This is the part that is strange to me. On Monday, on the way in to work, I pass a railroad. There was a train loaded down with military vehicles. Mostly Hummers, tan boxcars, and APC type vehicles. I didn't think much of it. Then on Tuesday, I watch a video of the Hopkinsville mayor talking about the upcoming events and he said there will be National Guard here, but don't be alarmed, nothing bad is expected. (Not his exact words)

Now this morning, on my way into work, the train is still there. (Note that I only take this particular route on Mondays and Thursdays)

Is this normal for a military train to sit on the tracks like this for this long? Should this be a concern? Is the government preparing for something to happen in our area.

What is ATS's opinion?

Any large gathering of people these days, should have heavy security.

My opinion?

As I live in the path of totality myself and we are expecting upwards of 1,000,000 people to descend on this state from outside just for this one day for a 3-hour event, they are preparing for that kind of influx.

Local systems and services will be overwhelmed. You hope all goes smoothly, but it just takes one thing to go wrong and you have a massive boondoggle on your hands.

My husband was called in donate platelets because he has a fairly rare blood type and unusual antigens, and the blood center was packed with donors. A normal 2-hour experience took him almost 4 yesterday. The Red Cross has declared a blood emergency already you see.

The local officials here seem pretty chill, but just to give an example, they tell people not to park on the highways, but you know they will. People will pull into the medians. The roads will be packed. People will get stuck. Then you will have tow trucks trying to get them out. We've had other threads addressing the lack of sewer along with the overloading of cell towers and cable.

When they say to plan as if you will be on your own for a few days, they potentially mean it, and that's why the national guard is being called up. They are planning as if it's a disaster because it could easily turn into one.

a reply to: ketsuko

Snag me a few of those Salsa Chicken MRE's if you can.

We have tons of people coming here too. I am in north carolina, right next to georgia border. We have been warn close to a half million people might come to our area. People are renting rooms out in there homes, ive heard people getting 500-600 plus a day! No military though, its gonna be horrible because our town has been doing tons of construction. Redoing roads and bridges, and so forth. Hopefully no one comes and bothers our home since we live directly on top of a mountain here.

a reply to: Tekaran

I love your avatar pic!

I have no opinion on the national guard in Kentucky. The commanders could be using the eclipse as an opportunity to practice mobilization. With so many people they may be called up.

a reply to: Tekaran
It is not abnormal to have military vehicles idle for days, so long as they are under supervision.
However, I would avoid said eclipse event like the plague, were I you.

a reply to: Tekaran

Yes you should move.
Because you know when the eclipse happens there's gonna be about ten minutes of dark.

Rolls eyes.

a reply to: ketsuko

No one is planning any of that for an eclipse.
Maybe for crazy crowds??
That seems more likely given current events.

It seems totally logical and normal to actually take prepatory steps for a large influx of people to a location where local resources and infrastructure might get easily overwhelmed.

I was on the Natcher Parkway yesterday coming from Owensboro to Bowling Green. I saw a lot of military vehicles headed the same way. I'm taking my kids to a place my family has to see the eclipse near Lake Malone. We are leaving early because we anticipate lots of traffic. I hate that there is a need for such precautions from law enforcement and military for something as awesome as an eclipse. How can anyone be thinking about causing problems and being up to no good when there's this amazing thing to see?

a reply to: Tekaran

It's only for crowd control if 200,000 are expected.

As an unrelated sidenote, Hopkinsville is famous for an alien encounter in the '50s.

a reply to: Sillyolme

Yes, they are.

Read what I said carefully.

They are planning for the possibility that there may be a problem. Not because there will be one, but because by the time they get that many people packed in to some of those areas, it would be impossible to bring in the resources needed to help in time unless they are already in place.

Roads are going to be parking lots with that many people. Cell services could be overwhelmed to the point they won't work. Local infrastructure could be overloaded.

Once you have all that happening and then fire or flood breaks out is not the time to realize that maybe you should have already had your extra blood and emergency services in place ahead of time.

So that's why they are planning.

originally posted by: Kentuckymama
I was on the Natcher Parkway yesterday coming from Owensboro to Bowling Green. I saw a lot of military vehicles headed the same way. I'm taking my kids to a place my family has to see the eclipse near Lake Malone. We are leaving early because we anticipate lots of traffic. I hate that there is a need for such precautions from law enforcement and military for something as awesome as an eclipse. How can anyone be thinking about causing problems and being up to no good when there's this amazing thing to see?

Yep.

Husband and I did our shopping yesterday to get us through into next week on top of the extra we always have around.

And my folks are coming up this weekend and not likely leaving until the day after. We don't plan to do much of anything except hang out around the house.

a reply to: Tekaran

Yah, how paranoid are the ruling class these days? They're afraid of everything, hand wringers behind iron gates, machine guns, guards and a whole army.

You think they militarized America's civil authority to keep us safe? The army is to protect them from, we the people.

originally posted by: Jefferton
Any large gathering of people these days, should have heavy security.

One of the marks of a Dictatorship.

my first eclipse the biggest thing i noticed was how cold it got, and dark.

a reply to: Tekaran

You don't think that the train load of military equipment has nothing to do with Hopkinsvilles next door neighbor Ft Campbell which is home to the 101st Airborne Division do you ?

Pretty sure it does and is a load of equipment headed for either reset or maintenance. Or for another deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan

National Guards have their own equipment and don't usually need to ship in anything and I would like to think that they could ask Campbell for anything they did need since they are right there and since they literally have a multitude of hummers and anything usually sitting there not doing much

We have people arranging busloads of people to travel 6 hours to see it. Right now clouds are predicted here. I'm sure it will be all over ATS.

a reply to: DJMSN

My thoughts exactly

It's Screaming Eagles gear...

Routine