Chris' Deployment Journal

Your power is delivered via a well-maintained power line that was installed by a certified electrician who followed numerous codes to make sure it was installed properly. But here, you just run a line, usually nothing more than regular extension-cord sized wire (which often here has the insulation torn away and/or worn thin), from your house to the local generator.

As you saw in the photos above, these lines are often held aloft by nothing more than a few shaky wooden poles. As we patrol neighborhoods, one of our more immediate concerns are these lines. Since they're usually strung at only about eight feet high, the lines occasionally get caught on elevated machine guns or taken down by our whip antennas.