President Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles this weekend as protests against immigration raids escalated into the third day of civil unrest. Despite this massive federal response, families across LA County are discovering a harsh reality: even when the government sends thousands of soldiers to restore order, your family's safety still depends on your own preparation.
When the System Breaks Down, Numbers Don't Matter
The images coming out of Los Angeles are sobering. Burning vehicles block major streets. Flash-bang grenades echo through downtown corridors. The 101 Freeway—a critical artery for millions of commuters—shut down as protesters and law enforcement clashed in riot gear.
According to Reuters, it took the Los Angeles Police Department two full hours to respond when over 1,000 protesters surrounded federal agents. Two hours. In one of America's largest cities, with one of the country's biggest police forces, overwhelmed officers couldn't reach their own colleagues for 120 minutes.
If LAPD can't protect federal agents in downtown Los Angeles, what does that mean for your family in Glendale? Or Paramount? Or any of the dozens of communities where cell towers go dark and roads become impassable?
The Communication Blackout Nobody Talks About
The Department of Homeland Security reports that ICE officers are facing a 413% increase in assaults, while their family members are being doxxed and targeted. But here's what the headlines aren't emphasizing: during civil unrest, the communication systems families depend on fail first.
Cell towers get overwhelmed when thousands of people try to call loved ones simultaneously. The Los Angeles Police Department had to issue dispersal orders through loudspeakers because digital communication channels couldn't handle the load. Social media platforms slow to a crawl as millions of users refresh feeds looking for updates.
NBC News documented protesters setting up barricades made of "chairs, garbage bins, and other items" throughout downtown streets. When your neighborhood becomes a maze of roadblocks and detours, how do you tell your family where to find you? When your phone shows "no service" for hours, how do you coordinate a safe meeting place?
The 2,000 Troop Reality Check
The deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops sounds massive until you consider the scale of Los Angeles County. That's one soldier for every 5,000 residents spread across 4,751 square miles. Even with this federal response, vast areas remain without immediate protection or communication support.
California Highway Patrol officers had to use flash-bang grenades to clear protesters from freeways. The sound of explosions echoed off concrete walls as families tried to navigate home through a city that had become unrecognizable. Multiple news outlets reported burning Waymo taxis, overturned vehicles, and streets filled with smoke and debris.
For families separated when the unrest began—parents at work, kids at school, relatives across town—those 2,000 troops offered little immediate help. The National Guard's mission is crowd control and infrastructure protection, not reuniting families scattered across a chaotic urban landscape.
What the News Footage Reveals
Look closely at the images emerging from Los Angeles. You'll see people holding Mexican flags, others recording everything on smartphones, protesters and counter-protesters mixing in confused crowds. But you'll also see something else: individuals desperately trying to reach family members while normal communication systems fail around them.
Al Jazeera captured footage of protesters confronting law enforcement while smoke filled the air. These aren't abstract political demonstrations—they're real people in real neighborhoods where real families live, work, and try to stay connected during crisis.
The Guardian reported that Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom are now engaged in their own public feud over the National Guard deployment, with each side blaming the other for escalating tensions. While politicians argue about jurisdiction and responsibility, families on the ground face an immediate question: when civil unrest reaches your neighborhood, do you have a plan to find each other?
Beyond the Breaking News Cycle
The Los Angeles situation will eventually stabilize. The National Guard will return to base. The protest camps will disperse. News cameras will move on to the next crisis. But the lessons for families should be permanent.
Civil unrest can erupt in any city, often with little warning. Immigration enforcement, police incidents, political demonstrations, or economic protests can quickly overwhelm local emergency services. When that happens, the gap between government response and family safety becomes a dangerous void that only personal preparation can fill.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends that families have emergency communication plans, but most people interpret this as simply programming emergency contacts into their phones. The LA protests demonstrate why that's insufficient. When cell networks fail and roads become impassable, your family needs multiple ways to reconnect that don't depend on functioning infrastructure.
Learning from Los Angeles
The families navigating this crisis right now are learning hard lessons about self-reliance. They're discovering that even massive government responses can't guarantee individual safety. They're realizing that normal communication methods become useless precisely when you need them most.
Some families undoubtedly had plans in place. They knew where to meet if separated. They had backup communication methods that didn't require cell towers. They had predetermined signals and safe routes mapped out in advance. Those families are finding each other and staying safe.
Others are improvising in real-time, trying to coordinate through platforms that barely function, attempting to navigate blocked roads without clear destinations, hoping that overwhelmed emergency services can somehow help them reconnect with loved ones.
The difference between these two groups isn't luck or location—it's preparation.
Your Family's National Guard
The deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles sends a clear message: when civil unrest overwhelms local capacity, federal forces will respond. But it also reveals a more sobering truth: even the largest government responses can't protect every family in every neighborhood during the critical first hours of a crisis.
Your family's real National Guard is your own communication plan. It's the predetermined meeting places that don't depend on functioning infrastructure. It's the backup communication methods that work when cell towers fail. It's the practiced coordination that kicks in automatically when normal systems break down.
While politicians debate jurisdiction and military commanders plan deployment strategies, your family's safety depends on decisions you make today, before the crisis hits your neighborhood.
Ready to create your family's communication plan? Rubberband makes it simple to establish meeting points, backup communication methods, and coordination strategies that work when everything else fails. Don't wait for the next crisis to test your family's preparedness—start building your plan today at https://rubberband.us