Reserve mobilization: Posse Comitatus, the Insurrection Act and Title 10...

[Red Shirt]

There has been some discussion here on the boards concerning the question of the activation and mobilization of Michael's reserve unit. There is some concern regarding who has the authority to do so, comparisons to the National Guard and so on. So, with my copy of the US Constitution in hand and a look at USC Title 10 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_10_of_the_United_States_Code), the Insurrection Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act) and the Posse Comitatus Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act), let me see if I can unpack this.

First, allow me to address a few things:

If it is a case of "artistic license" to get the ball rolling and get the main characters into the story, that's OK and I'm perfectly fine with that. However, if that is the case, I'd rather not know, not yet. There is potential for something deeper, darker and far more sinister if that is not the case.
It is also a possibility that the Unit Commander or even the Base Commander of Bell made the call for the purposes of guarding assets during a period of unrest. I think this might be OK, Constitutionally speaking, but we'll see.
I won't be getting into the National Guard. The 223rd, Michael's unit, was an Army Reserve unit, not National Guard.
I am also not a lawyer. If anything I mention below actually impacts you in a real way, seek the advice of a real one. Any commentary on the following is only my understanding of the matter. It may not be the correct interpretation.

Also, for the audio referenced in this analysis, (and all future analyses) I am using:

A recent fresh download of the series that was pulled via the new LybSyn feed on 12/16/2013 with:
Zune as my podcatching interface for my desktop, version 4.8.2345.0.
Sonic Visualizer (http://www.sonicvisualiser.org/), version 2.3, for playback. Yep, got it working.

First, lets go all the way back to Chapter One, part 1/3. Michael is in class when it all starts. Professor Kc is about to give the class a quiz, when at 2:23.8 we hear the first explosion. At 3:29.0, Angel calls Michael to tell him to get down to the Reserve Center. If it is in real time and it sounds like it is, it took 65.2 seconds for the Commander to call Angel, and then for him to call Michael... That's not counting the likely first calls from Brigade, Battalion and/or the installation commanders. That's fast. Like, really fast...


United States Code Title 10 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_10_of_the_United_States_Code) is the law that:

"outlines the role of armed forces in the United States Code. It provides the legal basis for the roles, missions and organization of each of the services..."
The part that concerns the reserve component (and their mobilization) is Subtitle E. I was able to find a reference over at the Cornell University Law School (http://www.law.cornell.edu/) and the specific parts I will be looking at is Title 10; Subtitle E; Part II; Chapter 1209; § 12301 (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/12301) (a-h), § 12302 (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/12302), and § 12304 (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/12304):

For a full mobilization of all reserve forces for the duration of the war/emergency (+6 months), under § 12301(a), Congressional approval is required.
A partial mobilization of one million troops for 24 months, under § 12302 only Presidential approval is required.
A Presidential Reserve Call-up (PRC), 200,000 (+30K IRR) for up to 270 days, under § 12304 also requires only Presidential approval.

Now, even if all that did manage to happen in 65.2 seconds, with the passage of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act) (USC Title 18, § 1385 (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1385)), it is unlawful to deploy federal military forces on US forces for the purposes of law enforcement. However, recent changes (Bush era) Congress amended the act to include (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act#Recent_legislative_events):

"The President may employ the armed forces... to... restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition..."
Another notable exception (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act#Exclusions_and_limitations) (among others (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enforcement_Acts)) is the Insurrection Act of 1807 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act) which was used during the LA Riots of 1992 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_Riots). However:

"The general aim is to limit Presidential power as much as possible, relying on state and local governments for initial response in the event of insurrection. Coupled with the Posse Comitatus Act, Presidential powers for law enforcement are limited and delayed."
(It must be mentioned that the Federal assistance wasn't requested until the third day of the rioting and the troops from Ft. Ord and Marines from Camp Pendleton didn't arrive until the fourth day... 24 hours later, and that was Active Duty personnel.)


So, the long of and the short of it is that something doesn't quite wash with the call up of the 223rd. Excepting for the artistic license I mentioned above, I suspect (as do others) that something is afoot.

I put forward the theory that The Families, in addition to being of the old/ancient/secret society variety, were also of the "Doomsday Cult/NWO Variety." Angel did not agree with their goals and this is the reason he was on the outs with them. When SHTF, he knew strongly that they were behind it and made moves to do something about it. He called Michael first, then the Commander and lied that battalion couldn't get in touch with him directly, they called me instead. The CO then called the other unit commanders. In the end, All Angel got got was two soldiers.

Without WoG (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WordOfGod), we may never know.

(Then again, there was Angel's journal. Tanya said she had difficulty reading/couldn't read it because "that boy's" penmanship was terrible... What might be gleaned should someone attempt to decipher his pigeon scratches?)

[Elisa]

I honestly thought the family was more crime mafia type and Angel just wanted nothing to do with that kind of life. Honestly I don't think Angel did any thing intentional. He was finally in command in a combat zone and made a lot of mistakes.

[cringebot]

I feel like Red Shirt could convince someone to brush their teeth with poop.

[Robzombie]

I didn't think that there was any activation and mobilization of Michael's reserve unit at all. All that was said was that Angel got a call from the commander and he was to get his unit to the base. It's never mentioned that "officially" anyone was activated and mobilized. Although it might sound the same, just getting a call to get your ass somewhere I think is not the same at all. Being called over to the base is neither being activated or mobilized. Getting active and mobile was a choice they made to get weapons and to survive, not becasue they were ordered by anyone to do so. In fact Michael doing so was against the order of his superior, Angel. And I don't think a Base or Unit Commander needs any order from up the chain to call his soldiers to base, especially in an emergency. Not starting a fight but that's just my take on it. I really see no problem with how it played out.

[7oddisdead]

I think that's probly the main issue I have with this theory. We don't know what the situation is, or who, or how the call came in. Was the commander and/or angel simply being proactive? Telling the guys to start heading that way before the orders came in could simply be avoiding a situation where people would be unable to make it there as the civil unrest escalated.

while I like the idea of the nwo/ doomsday cult being behind everything...i have issue plugging angel into any situation in which we need to hear from him (back story) again.

[GamerGirl]

I vote a proactive commander (get everyone together while things where fluid & the could move w/out too much hassle - cause best case he'll just send them home) & Kc condensed the amount of time Michael was standing in the commons area watching the news (cause more than a minute of that would have been boring - and could have given out too much info).

Besides - we're never told how long the "riots" where going on before the explosion that drove Michael to ditch class. It takes the media more than a minute to gear up too.

[scbubba]

Great stuff here, Red. I will echo what GamerGirl said above about the timing. Story time compression and not knowing how long it was between stuff going down initially, the explosion, and the phone call could be explained as tens of minutes instead of tens of seconds.

Anyway, mobilization in tens of minutes is still really damn fast regardless of the legal aspects.

I'm with Redshirt on not wanting to know if it's just artistic license to move the story. I can suspend my disbelief for that, no problem. But I'd rather that wait so this Family/Illuminati aspect can linger in the story for us....

I'm torn between wanting the Family to be involved in the global aspect of it and wanting it to be a more faceless aspect. If it is the family, who knew how much? Perhaps Angel knew something and was able to make the calls on his own accord. But what about Scratch? Durai?

And as I said over in the 42-2 thread, I'm convinced that Ink had foreknowledge of the coming event by, possibly, as much as a year.

Anyway, if the Family is involved, hearing Angel do a voice over because someone found his "Kalani style" other journal might be stretching things. Perhaps it would come as something told by Scratch on her death bed..... O_o

[MrRedBeard]

Red Shirt must be an alter ego of KC's or a savant.

Mick & I discussed this one a while back on the wafc wondering the same thing. My hat is in for this either being known higher up in the government ahead of time or the government was involved to some degree.

[katlero]

My question with the United States government being involved, is it just the states that were hit? Do we hear any news of international outbreak? If not, then the outbreak takes on a whole new conspiracy theory aspect. Would the government unleash something this extreme on its own people? This pushes me away from from a government based beginning (side note: I'm decently naive and gullible!); however, that does not exclude the government from having prior knowledge and no defense against it. Unless the events started at an earlier time of day in other parts of the nation leading to mobilization happening long before we meet our dear Michael.

[Grognaurd]

On the TiVo, they mention several US cities in Riot. It goes on to say International, but is cut off. SciFi is replete with inventions of man spinning out of control. I am reluctant to believe that the US government was planning destruction of the world, but I can see a poor rick assessment and experiment to make a better soldier "escape", but it is hard to see a simultaneous mistake all over the world. For that we need a Rogue Opeator.

Remember, Bill Roberts was given a plea deal. That is often a quid pro quo arrangement. Bill would have to give something to get something. With his Murder Trial being so salacious, sex, murder, horror, I think a District Attorny would want the publicity, not just a make it go away. In his plea deal, Bill might give evidence of this conspiracy and force the hand of the conspiracy to initiate Doomsday before everything was in place with every I dotted and T crossed.

[qreepii]

I like the thinking but I think the preparation for the defense of the base would be the most logical conclusion. Operations in the military can't act that fast because of all the checks and balances put into place since Vietnam. Instant force in the field is something many military and political leaders have put machinery in to prevent. Like the Abrams Doctrine. However in a major event like terrorism, natural disaster, etc local call up in preparation for defending assets and awaiting orders wouldn't be uncommon. In the navy while in port the Papa Flag signals all crew to return immediately for this reason to get the ship ready to get underway. I think the local base commander calling up his reserve forces in response to a perceived major emergency can be considered plausible. But my experience comes from being active duty.