Got up at about 5:30 to go in for this emergency exercise. Had to to get here by 7 am.
Police command post RV, flashing signs say exercise... looks like the right place, but I don't see our contact yet. He's no doubt part of an elite, highly-trained, can-kill-you-27-ways-with-their-bare-hands, emergency, anti-terrorism strike force at the ... let's see... DC Dept of Transportation. Hmm... Maybe no M16s this time, but I might get to use one of those stop/go traffic direction signs. Watch out bin Laden; no going 30 in a 20 mph zone while I'm here!
9:30 a.m.
Two of us volunteers showed up, but the other one bailed, because we weren't going to get to do traffic control; we're being assigned to the Police Dept. instead. Yeah, that really sux; traffic control sounds so much more exciting.
OK, now they've got us (another volunteer finally showed up) doing "crowd control" -- i.e., standing at the police "Do Not Cross" line, making sure people don't cross it. (They say some people do.) Also, telling passerby it's a just a training exercise. At least one was disappointed it wasn't "something exciting."
What is with people these days? It's like they want a disaster or other bad thing to happen. Some of them are such disaster junkies, they can't wait to go get close or even be involved. I don't understand that kind of person. :-)
10:00 a.m.
Some Secret Service-looking black SUVs with tinted windows and flashing lights pulled up too, looking like a typical Washington motorcade -- except they were followed by a military armored car, out of which jumped soldiers in camo with M16s. Then they jumped back in and drove off. Meanwhile, a chopper hovered overhead. Throw in the huge Police and Fire Dept. command RVs, and it looked like something exciting was happening.
I heard a cop talking to a cadet, saying, "if there was really something going on, this street would be empty. You wouldn't want to get hit by that one stray bullet. If you see the command vehicles here, it means the bad guy already got away."
11:00 a.m.
They've got some cadet manning the tape now, so we're redundant -- except he let a couple through, and got a dressing down for it.
But they keep changing the criteria on this poor guy. A woman said her car was in the underground parking lot on that block. They let her in. Then another guy. Then a woman rushing to the cleaners to pick up a bridesmaid's dress. (Apparently, they were open, despite being unreachable.)
So, wait... Who do we not let in? And why did these people want to venture onto a block with more flashing lights than Times Square, and more people in uniforms than... I dunno, a really big McDonalds, before they knew it was just a practice drill? (Though I realize that, for a wedding, a bride or her mother would dodge sniper bullets. Whereas the groom, by being a groom, has already shown he can't dodge a bullet. :-) )
11:30 a.m.
Now they're taking down the tape and it's over. We were told we'd be here all day, but I'm not complaining.
Man, I don't think I'd do this sh*t if they weren't paying me for it. Oh, wait... (D'oh!)
