# Troops sent to Los Angeles-Housing **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406 "2025-06-10T02:12:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/102 "2025-06-11T01:42:05Z")
If the Guard did a seamless joining with Marines they’ll be fine. As far as eats and sleep arrangements. They are trained military. Surely they can rough it a night or 3. The big question, for me, is will they fire on pedestrians and innocent protesters? The Marines I’ve known would question this direct order. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/103 "2025-06-11T01:45:09Z")
How long ago did you know Marines? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/104 "2025-06-11T01:46:28Z")
I was talking to one this afternoon. My Son was in the regular Marines and is now a reservist. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/105 "2025-06-11T01:52:11Z")
Enforce the laws against sleeping in parks and ticket the lot of them. The city could use the revenue. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/106 "2025-06-11T01:57:52Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > If the Guard did a seamless joining with Marines they’ll be fine. As far as eats and sleep arrangements. The military has relied heavily on outside food vendors for decades now. There are still cooks in the military but not a lot. The Marines will be rolling in with MREs not mobile kitchens. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/107 "2025-06-11T05:01:34Z")
FYI for people like me who are not in the area: Carson is just a few miles from Paramount, where the whole kerfluffle popped up. (No need to bring World Central Kitchen into the area, for now anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/108 "2025-06-11T05:15:28Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > They are trained military. Surely they can rough it a night or 3. Sleeping on a floor they can deal with for a few days. What about pooping though? And food and water? And basic hygiene (like brushing their teeth)? I doubt a McDonald’s bathroom is sufficient for 2000+ troops. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/109 "2025-06-11T05:23:43Z")
They’ll set up porta-potties. In this situation. For more info than that you have to refer to the “handbook of urban warfare” (if there is one). I bet it’s covered. (Field expediant Latrines are a thing) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/110 "2025-06-11T18:35:44Z")
I think the issue here isn’t that the military can’t competently deploy quickly. Parts of it absolutely can. But that “quickly” is usually on the order of 18-24 hours for the _very_ fastest troops, which are usually light infantry/paratroopers who would basically carry everything they’d need for some relatively short amount of time without support- maybe a week or so? And that 18 hours was historically a single battalion (~650 men), with a brigade (3-5k soldiers) taking 24 for the old “Rapid Deployment Force” of the 1980s and 1990s. And those were units that were specifically detailed to be available that quickly. IIRC they were rotated out of that alert status periodically. That’s the thing here; the National Guard isn’t typically working on time frames of hours- usually it’s days for natural disasters, and they typically deploy the closer units first, or pre-stage them in events like hurricanes. Neither the regular military nor the NG are structured or typically expected to deploy in such a short time frame as what we saw in Los Angeles. Doesn’t mean they’re incompetent, just operating outside their playbook and probably making a lot up as they go along. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/111 "2025-06-11T18:59:20Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > They’ll set up porta-potties. In this situation. Except that they can’t set up what they don’t have, and they weren’t deployed with porta-potties. Nor with any of the other logistics they should have. > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I’m sure they have been told or have realized that people will spit in their food. Militaries have a long, long history of using local services, even when deployed in areas full of people who literally want to kill them. In fact, if this deployment had been done competently, paying local food trucks to come in could even have been part of the actual plan. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/112 "2025-06-11T19:03:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Except that they can’t set up what they don’t have, and they weren’t deployed with porta-potties. Nor with any of the other logistics they should have. I could make one phone call and have a slew of rental porta potties delivered in a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/113 "2025-06-11T19:08:00Z")
Believe it or not, Federal buildings have restrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/114 "2025-06-11T19:10:11Z")
They do but the additional troops might overwhelm the systems. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/115 "2025-06-11T19:14:06Z")
I can see a scenario where the military have their own porta toilet set ups. Maybe an inflatable thing. Or, Ummm…dig a hole? Find a bush? A home depot bucket? Depends? Your skivvies? I am totally _not_ worried about them taking a dump or where. I just hope they don’t trip over dead civilians to find a spot. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/116 "2025-06-11T19:17:43Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > They do but the additional troops might overwhelm the systems. I doubt it. It’s a 22 story office building. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/117 "2025-06-11T19:19:54Z")
Is it currently an _empty_ office building? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/118 "2025-06-11T19:22:56Z")
Everybody in this thread is talking like all of these soldiers will need to take a dump all at the same time. I’m not sure what “overwhelming the system” means, LA has a robust sewer system and lots of toilets. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/119 "2025-06-11T19:45:25Z")
Is there a quarter master sat behind a desk somewhere saying ‘these are state funded supplies. You’re under federal control now so I can’t release them to you. Sorry, but rules is rules.’ ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/120 "2025-06-11T20:38:49Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I could make one phone call and have a slew of rental porta potties delivered in a few hours. How many porta-potties can you rent for [one dollar](https://www.wired.com/story/doge-government-credit-cards/)? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406/121 "2025-06-11T21:18:52Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I could make one phone call and have a slew of rental porta potties delivered in a few hours. I don’t doubt it. These are easy problems to solve. Which tells you something about the people in charge, that they are still, in fact, not solving them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troops-sent-to-los-angeles-housing/1019406.md?page=7)