VeteransDisasterCorps

Help us to help others by donating to our general fund. Every bit helps and remember we have a 90% Aid To Mission promise. Our overhead will never exceed 10% of our total budget. 90% goes into disaster readiness and response. Donate here today👇👇 givebutter.com/2026-general-f…

We're very similar in mission, but far smaller and have an all volunteer staff. Team Rubicon has >130 paid employees and an executive staff with $200k-$330k salaries. Don't get me wrong! They're a great organization and we have some volunteers that also work with Team Rubicon. We've just chosen to do things a bit differently. We are focusing primarily on specific small team roles that we can fill which amplify and expand the capabilities of other organizations. During the TX & NM floods we encountered hundreds of able-bodied potential volunteers from nearby communities who wanted to help, but were turned away because they weren't vetted and weren't members of a response organization. We wanted to change that, so our first goal was to develop the ability to accept new volunteers during a disaster, put them through vetting / background check, provide them with their initial minimum training and issue credentials in a <6 hour timeframe. We are at about 95% of the way to meeting that goal. We are able to take applications, background check the applicants, issue ID cards and provide almost all of the initial training on-site within just a few hours. The only thing remaining is getting a few more field instructors credentialed and outfitted to provide CPR/AED & Bloodborne Pathogens on-site. We'll be there by year end. We're also handling qualifications a bit differently. Almost all disaster response organizations develop their own internal training programs and requirements for each response role which can cause issues with acceptance of those qualifications by the various jurisdictions. We've chosen to use FEMA's existing resource types and qualification taskbooks as the basis for our training so that each team member is trained in their role to the federal standards.

@Vets_Disaster Looks like you do great work! Can you tell me about how you differ from Team Rubicon? Know some vets who might be interested in getting involved!

One of the goals we have for this year is to purchase our first commercial drone and get a team of five volunteers certified as commercial remote pilots (drone pilots). Many people still think of toys or novelties when they imagine drones, but they are a force multiplier when it comes to damage assessment or search and rescue. They allow more square mileage to be covered by fewer volunteers, and faster, than any ground mission could accomplish. Drones with thermal imaging sensors are able to locate victims through smoke, fog or tree cover. The cooling of rapidly expanding gasses even allows thermal drones to detect disaster-related gas leaks before an explosion can happen. We plan to use grants to cover the bulk of the expense of starting our drone program. We already have grant applications submitted to several corporate donors to fund the drone purchase and initial training. The only category that most grants won't cover is training related travel expenses, so there's always a need for private donors. If becoming a disaster / search & rescue drone pilot is something that interests you, and you are located in FEMA regions six or nine (CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR or LA), email droneprogram@veteransrespond.org. We will launch the program in those regions first, followed by the rest of the country next year. If you want to help fund the program, please email giving@veteransrespond.org #DronesForGood #Drone #UAV #SearchAndRescue #Disaster

For now, we're working on COAD (community organization active in disaster) memberships in several locations, but don't yet qualify for state or national VOAD. VOAD requires involvement in three documented disaster responses before they will consider membership. We're also seeking out MOUs with other response partners / organizations to lay out how we can support each other and work together on joint deployments. We'll of course offer services to government agencies and emergency managers as disasters happen. We're one of very few organizations using FEMA's resource type definitions and qualification taskbooks as the basis for each response role's training so our training is recognized across jurisdictions. We've also been given access to FEMA's resource inventorying system so that the availability, assignment status and training / credentials of each of our assets can be immediately shared with emergency managers and verified. (And that data is always available to FEMA and federal response entities) We're small right now... but we're trying to lay out all of the groundwork to be as effective as we possibly can be.

@Vets_Disaster How are you integrating into disaster responses? Planning on providing DA for government? Other NGOs? Have you worked with your local VOAD yet?

BTW... If the donations to @Vets_Disaster's general fund reach $4000 by the end of the month, I'll personally pay for a special gift to be sent to a random donor. That's only $264 needed per day for the next ten days. x.com/Vets_Disaster/…

The algorithm is completely broken. Grok's interpretation of it is even more broken. I ask grok how to gain better engagement and it tells me that we post too many policy, funding and organizational updates and not enough content that draws interaction. So we interact more and post long-form disaster preparedness content... and it gets even lower engagement.

@Vets_Disaster Ive seen nothing but communists and lazy do nothings. Mostly people i don't follow. Yet here you are..... someone i follow and I dont see you in my for you feed. The incentives on here have ruined the functional social aspect.

Tell us about it... What do we have to do? Start twerking?

@DonShift3 #truth... x.com/Vets_Disaster/…

This is absolutely true. You have no idea how your awareness opens up when you can fly around and over the house to look around the neighborhood. One drone flight and you understand what a tool it is. I've been preaching this since before Ukraine.

@brockab You should be receiving an email here at some point today also

@Vets_Disaster Super cool and very interested. Email sent!

Good Morning & Happy Monday! Hope you all had a restful weekend. We greatly appreciate all your support. Fundraising update: We remain at $1360 collected last week which is 5% of our goal for the year If you feel so inclined, donate at 👇 tinyurl.com/VRespond2026

As with other response roles, we use FEMA's taskbooks and resource types as the basis for our team qualifications so that their validity can be recognized across jurisdictions. FEMA's sUAS (small unmanned aircraft system) team definition requires 2 FAA certified remote pilots and 1 sUAS technical specialist. For right now regions six and nine have the highest number of volunteers registered, followed by closely after by region four (MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, TN, KY & FL). Utah would be region eight (UT, CO, WY, MT, ND & SD), which is one of three FEMA regions we haven't developed a presence in yet. From a logistics standpoint there needs to be sufficient staffing to support, and be supported by, a drone program. We'd love to launch the program nationally but need volunteers in each of the regions before we can really do that. Until then, once we get the training and equipment purchase funded, we'll make the region six and nine teams available for national callout if they're needed. One of the considerations we're taking during selection of the drone platform is that the batteries must be legal in carry-on luggage aboard passenger aircraft.

@Vets_Disaster Not Utah?

@safer2day Thanks! We're a rather small organization right now, but that is slowly changing. I have no doubt that the more we accomplish and the more we fulfill our mission the more we'll see a significant uptick in members.

@Vets_Disaster That is outstanding!

@DaleStarkA10 Good Morning Dale!

Good morning from 7 Barrel Ranch. Remember to smile. 🇺🇸

@Patrick98109645 Appreciate the retweet. Looking at this auction lot a bit closer, it's likely it will have to be palletized and picked up by a LTL carrier, but we'd still appreciate some local help getting it shrink wrapped onto its pallet. If we win the auction that is..

Can anyone out there help a homie out?

Sundown saver is here! When you purchase the OCK Kit you get a Basic Vitals Set Free! The OCK aka the Osha Compliance Kit, doesn't just a checklist: most home kits are just "boo-boo" boxes. The OCK was built by industry pros who know that a "machining accident" and a "backyard DIY disaster" look remarkably similar. So when you think OCK, thing this works everywhere kit! #refugemedical #refugetraining

Do I have any mutuals near Lincoln Nebraska? Looking for someone that may be able to pick up and ship a small government auction lot for @Vets_Disaster. We'd pay the shipping costs of course.

@sstrattonauthor Good Morning Steve!

Good Morning from Colorado! Signed hardcovers (I have 2 left) and SWAG labeled and ready to mail. Grateful my sicko's are feeling better everyday. I'm at 61K for DWA 2 draft and it's coming together. I blessed to have a supportive family as I work to be 1% better each day. Get outside, train, and do good! Bonus: All the $$$ from signed hardcover DWAs goes to @Vets_Disaster

@LMPD Welcome back!

LMPD’s social media team has just received log in credentials to this account (again). Fair warning: We have poor impulse control. To LMPD HR - we do not fear you anymore.

@LCNM_Patriot Yummo!

Arroz con pollo! a/ka/a chimkin and rice