HMAS Choules’ embarked MRH-90 Maritime Support Helicopter @ Operation Bushfire Assist..

Western govts are gonna have to get a handle on the use of their military forces to assist in domestic emergencies.

I get it.  Its frowned on in most places.  People are nervous about overreach.

But we've seen too many instances where civilian first responders are overwhelmed and well equipped forces are sitting on the sidelines instead of immediately jumping to assist.

We saw a slow reaction in the US when a couple of hurricanes almost swamped Houston/Beaumont (luckily the Coast Guard was up and moving immediately...only later did we see a reserve AAV Company moving...they all did good work but was late) and now we see the same in Australia.

The emergency is almost over and only in the last phases did we see the military finally starting to move.

It extends far and wide too.  We saw wildfires in Italy (I think it was Italy, maybe another south european nation) and other emergencies in states worldwide.  The only country that seems extremely comfortable with the civilian/military divide is France...and that's mostly to deal with violence, not natural disasters.

The curious thing?

Until recently if there was an emergency anywhere the first thing you would see is an Amphibious Ready Group with 2k Marines steaming toward the region to render assistance.

We've laid down that gauntlet and China seems to be inching toward picking it up.

The divide between civilian and military needs to be there...but common sense should prevail.  Using those well equipped forces during emergencies should be a no brainer and hesitation shouldn't be allowed.