Why were the Ft. Irwin soilders in LA?

[Robzombie]

Kimmet said that there were about 200 out in the field, which means between 66 to 40 teams out there (assume 3 to 5 per team, or section). I think this team is like most others and are strictly gathering intel, developing maps, etc, and not on any "special mission". It's then up to Intel and the Brass to determine what to do, if anything, with that info. Micheal is now a part of that, in fact the only MI (Military Intelligence) guy that Kimmet has, so he'll be at the top with that stuff. Like Kimmet said, they continue to grow and count on enough force multipliers to take back areas that they operate out of and maintain what they have secure, keep it real simple. He's a colonel, and colonels do not carry nukes at the ready in their back pockets. There is no way any full scale invasion of any kind is going to take place on the scale required of a city like LA. That takes a lot of resources, way too much for them at this point. Also Kimmet states that they have Boulder and Fort Irwin and thats enough.

[Stuv]

Kimmet said that there were about 200 out in the field, which means between 66 to 40 teams out there (assume 3 to 5 per team, or section). I think this team is like most others and are strictly gathering intel, developing maps, etc, and not on any "special mission". It's then up to Intel and the Brass to determine what to do, if anything, with that info. Micheal is now a part of that, in fact the only MI (Military Intelligence) guy that Kimmet has, so he'll be at the top with that stuff. Like Kimmet said, they continue to grow and count on enough force multipliers to take back areas that they operate out of and maintain what they have secure, keep it real simple. He's a colonel, and colonels do not carry nukes at the ready in their back pockets. There is no way any full scale invasion of any kind is going to take place on the scale required of a city like LA. That takes a lot of resources, way too much for them at this point. Also Kimmet states that they have Boulder and Fort Irwin and thats enough.

I should have flushed out my idea a bit more in my original post. I apologize.
I agree 100% that there is no nuke or full-scale invasion involved here. I just thought it possible that Kimmet was using some type of recon teams to scout and target ground zero. I thought maybe once he destroyed that he could begin to re-claim small sections of the city at a time. I understand that he has limited personnel and resources. I just thought identifying and destroying the source of the outbreak might be on his to-do-list. I bow to the military knowledge of others. It was just a random idea I had, thought I would throw it out for fun.

[Cabbage Patch]

I should have flushed out my idea a bit more in my original post. I apologize.
I agree 100% that there is no nuke or full-scale invasion involved here. I just thought it possible that Kimmet was using some type of recon teams to scout and target ground zero. I thought maybe once he destroyed that he could begin to re-claim small sections of the city at a time. I understand that he has limited personnel and resources. I just thought identifying and destroying the source of the outbreak might be on his to-do-list. I bow to the military knowledge of others. It was just a random idea I had, thought I would throw it out for fun.

I think your idea is a lot more realistic than my "pie in the sky" invasion thoughts. We have to assume that Fort Irwin only knows parts of the story of what's going on in LA, particularly regarding Ground Zero. The recon teams could be out trying to fill in the picture, they could be out checking on key resources (there are a lot of tech industry warehouses near the pickup point), or maybe a little of both.

[Robzombie]

I think the intel gathering abilities and available sources of intel will at least match if not be far superior to Michaels (30 people compared to 150 000 people). With only a few peoples accounts of what happened to them and when, Michael was able to triangulate where ground zero must have been. They know exactly where ground zero is and would not venture in without full NBC gear.

This particular recon team just happens to be the team that Saul encounters, and the only relevance to the story is that they provide Saul with stuff like the sat phone, the basis of Fort Irwins viability(the patch), etc, and thats it. Fixing the sat phone is an extra reason to go back to the colony, etc, and an extra reason for CJ to help them. I think its irrelevant now why the recon team was there. There are 40 to 60 teams "out there" and Saul and Victor happened upon one of them. I doubt we'll hear from them again.

[Stuv]

You win Rob. I am truly sorry I ever started this thread. It was just a crazy I had that I thought would be fun to discuss. I never claimed to be an expert in military tactics or strategy. I am happy to have people disagree with me and discuss. That is what makes forums enjoyable. I don't feel it is necessary however to shred people's ideas so viciously. Having an idea that is different than yours does not make me stupid though the tone of your posts suggest that. I will avoid having any opinion on military subjects in the future as you have made it very clear that they could never be right.

[Robzombie]

You win Rob. I am truly sorry I ever started this thread. It was just a crazy I had that I thought would be fun to discuss. I never claimed to be an expert in military tactics or strategy. I am happy to have people disagree with me and discuss. That is what makes forums enjoyable. I don't feel it is necessary however to shred people's ideas so viciously. Having an idea that is different than yours does not make me stupid though the tone of your posts suggest that. I will avoid having any opinion on military subjects in the future as you have made it very clear that they could never be right.

I'm honestly truly sorry that you take offense to my post. I try to not have any tone at all in my posts for fear that things may get taken personnally or out of context, and any tone in this case is unfortunately implied. I really don't think I shredded your idea at all and it certainly lacked any vicsiousness of any kind. I'm sorry that my participation and the points I raised in your debate was taken as a personal affront and I hope it does not dissuade you from posting any thoughts or comments at all in the future.

[Stuv]

I appreciate that Rob. I am sorry for being too defensive. I have had some bad experiences with forum trolls.(not here but in other places). I was having a bad day and was being too sensitive. I apologize. Thanks for replying and being understanding.

[Leedo2502]

Needless to say, we never launched that particular operation. In fact I got pretty roundly reemed out for starting the process since there was never any plan to use the regular military to intervene in the riots.

The 7th ID was called up for the LA riots... I have a Buddy that was guarding a gas station with his full combat load (and a pick-axe handle)

[Leedo2502]

I do think that there was a reason (related to the story) that the recon team was there. I'm of the opinion that they are taking care of several missions.

1) looking for survivors
2) looking for concentrations of Zombies
3) looking for and rating various LZ's for future operaions
4) And I'm going out on a limb here... looking for places to set up FOB's or safe areas in which to conduct operations.

For setting up the FOB's you'd need an area that has an open enough area to land a bird, prefrebly near a salvagable fuel source, some place defensible and with a 360 degree vantage point for surveillance.

[Cabbage Patch]

The 7th ID was called up for the LA riots... I have a Buddy that was guarding a gas station with his full combat load (and a pick-axe handle)

I never realized that 7th ID was sent into LA. We were told that federal military forces couldn't be used and I'm pretty sure that no Army troops from Fort Irwin were sent. I knew that the Coast Guard, Marshall Service, even the Forest Service sent in personnel to help the LAPD. Guess that wasn't enough.