Military Involvement Of The Oklahoma City National Memorial

Lastly, although not an easily overcome controversial challenge that this community was forced to face was ultimately the trial of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Due to the psychological stress this incident rooted in a portion of the people involved, it is understandable to comprehend why the judicial process of these two individuals caused issues to some extent. Eventually with the conclusion of the legal process, the strenuous atmosphere surrounding the trial, and ultimately the completion of the Oklahoma City National Memorial to honor those lives lost that day, the last challenge this community face was overcome. With such a disaster occurring on U.S. soil, there was without question knowledge that there would be a necessity of†¦show more content†¦The Stafford act is the â€Å"backbone† to any assistance provided by the federal government in the aftermath of a disaster, specifically in this case the Military Support to Civil Authorities (MSCA). Originally amended from its predecessor, the Disaster Relief act of 1974, the Stafford act was implemented in 1988. In the case of the Oklahoma City bombing, there is an exception to the use of military resources through solely the authority provided from the Stafford Act, and that is the Immediate Response Authority based under the MSCA. This exception allows a local military commander to provide assistance through resources and personnel to civil authorities before authorization was handed down. According to the U.S. Army, â€Å"At the scene, some 100 Guardmembers immediately helped the search for survivors. They set up an emergency operations center and reported to the state s civil emergency management agency† (Smith, 2010). Hastily following these actions, assistance came from two local military bases, Fort Sill and Tinker Air Force Base, where the commanding officers authorized a variety of equipment and personnel to assist before the federal government authorized assistance. Fort Sill, an Army installation approximately an hour and a half away from Oklahoma City, â€Å"Fort Sill released two medical evacuation helicopters, explosive