The now-defunct organization known as The United States Civil Defense.
This was a non-military force, consisting at it’s peak of over 10 million members. These volunteers were trained, primarily on a local level, to respond to natural disasters, administer first aid, decontaminate after chemical weapons attacks, and a multitude of other scenarios. An associated agency’s duties consisted of border patrol and search and rescue missions.
Keep in mind, a trained civilian response team consisting of 10 million members.
To get a better idea of how critical this agency was once considered to America’s internal security, if you ever happen to attend a to attend a classic car show, and happen to spot a 40’s to early 60’s car equipped with the original radio, you will see the CD symbol on the radio dial, so people could tune in for critical announcements and updates.
But, as with all good things, government interference and the fed’s usual hair brained ideas that “we can make this work better”
led to this bastion of Americans trained to help fellow Americans faded away/was folded into the federal bureaucracy.
