Military tripping out on TTITD

[some seeing eye]

In, I think, 03, I was on an art car and met an unusual individual. He had been some kind of special forces officer in Afghanistan, his group sneaking around harassing the Taliban by cutting their tent ropes at night and probably doing a lot of other things. Their unit got a new upper officer who ordered them to shave their beards, wear regulation uniforms, and made other changes that motivated him to retire.

He was very excited about Burning Man and dreamed of buying some Nevada land and building a vast underground complex, storing supplies for the event, and living off the grid with other vets. I hope he did it!

It's no secret that many three letter agencies are active at the event, it's probably one of the most prized assignments.

Now we have this:
Far out field trip: What the Marine Corps can learn from Burning Man
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/y ... rning-man/

And these, one may have been posted here, searched, didn't find, but

Watch It Burn Part II - Burning Man and the Art of Expeditionary Logistics
https://www.marinecorpslogistics.org/bl ... -logistics

and fail:

Watch It Burn: Part I - Lessons Learned from the Fyre Festival
https://www.marinecorpslogistics.org/bl ... e-festival

The above were written by a retired major. Here is a related gem written by an active major: [potentially NSFW]
https://mca-marines.org/wp-content/uplo ... bayrak.pdf.

If you find these people on the playa, give them some hugs, too!

Me, I would love to see the event borrow a mobile air traffic control system.

[AntiM]

I find people who talk about being special forces in the ME are usually sand crabs blowing things out of proportion. One guy camped across from us was always talking about being a veteran and that's why his solar set up was so good (nope), this and that about his special skills. He was a fucking civilian contractor who had worked in an air conditioned office, not a combat vet, and a long way from special forces. Larry and I were both amused and annoyed and called him out on it in subtle ways (we're Navy vets). His mismatched uniform items were a dead give away.

Cutting tent lines? I think not. Motivated to retire? Uh-huh. It doesn't work that way.

It would be interesting to know if the Marines actually take a look at Burning Man, or if it is just an idea being floated around.

Yeah, the three letter agencies and the military are very different entities.

[Token]

Something odd about the articles that seem to be rehash of a rehash of an idea.


It feels like the “retired major” has an idea and he wants someone else to go out and do all the work while he goes about talking about it.

Rubs the do-ocracy ethos the wrong way.

That said, there is merit to his observation on the efficacy of BRC.

For 20+ years DPW and the various crews have built the bones of a city from nothing in 3 weeks, year after year like clockwork.

The kicker is that it scaled for 10K to 80K and in a pinch can go bigger.

That is impressive.

What the “Major” misses completely is that the power of this shindig is that there is literally no chain of command beyond the road infrastructure getting laid down, a dab of placement team, coffee n ice, and 70K people just fall in for the most part into the coloring book.

It’s a goldmine of data that can be used for migrants, refugees, disasters, etc.