Yeah, a lot of things are certainly easier in the military. As for what civilian leaders might do to achieve better results, they might start by telling the truth. I know, that's absolute heresy in the political arena and often an almost certain ticket to an early retirement. Of course the people who worry the most about that sort of thing are career politicians, the absolutely worst excuses for leaders ever evolved in human history, since the best way to maintain your career is to lead from the rear, telling everybody to do whatever it is that they already want to do.
EOD personnel don't always seem to need a lot of command authority to get people to evacuate, just the jacket with the message saying "If you see me running, try to keep up." In this case, since they knew with almost certainty 48 hours ahead that it was going to be a real E-ticket ride, somebody might have gone on TV/radio and told people to secure things the best they could and to get the hell inland, that he and his family were doing exactly that, and that anybody who stayed behind should expect to be on their own for food, water, medical care and everything else for several weeks. Start running every city bus north carrying as many people as could fit at no charge. If nothing happens, you'd probably get laughed out of office. However you know there's a very good chance that you're right, so you do the right thing. Unfortunately, we have to plod along with politicians rather than leaders. (Sometines that gets to be a problem even in the military. [cry] )
Ken
