And Do What, Exactly?

Attempting to set a new outdoor record for missing the point, Senator Bill Nelson (FL) has asked President Obama to get the DoD more involved in cleaning up the Gulf oil spill.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson formally asked President Barack Obama Wednesday to consider "more fully involving the Department of Defense" to beef up the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
Last week, Nelson told CNN that if the "top kill" operation to stem the oil leak did not work, the president must not only take more control, but use the military to do so. In the letter, Nelson urges the president to enlist the military to "augment the massive public and private response to the growing oil spill in the Gulf."
"While the Coast Guard, under the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Guard both are involved, it is my belief that the broader assets and command and control capability of the Department of Defense could better translate your directives into prompt, effective action," Nelson wrote.
"Americans need to feel that their government is taking an all hands on deck response," he added.
The senator's office has done a review of previous operations where the military was used in disaster relief missions, most recently in Haiti, an aide told CNN. Following the devastating January earthquake there, the president signed an executive order saying, "I hereby determine that it is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of operational missions."

So tell me, Senator, what specific capability are you requesting for the military to deploy? What units posses this capability? What are the tasks/conditions/standards for the employment of this capability, and what is the timeline in which you expect it to be deployed? Under whose authority?
And how are these capabilities any greater than those currently being employed by BP?

See, the idea of throwing the military at every problem is both flattering ("hey, the military can fix anything!") and misleading ("hey, the military can fix anything!" Some capabilities the military just doesn't have. Drilling holes at 5000 feet in 33 degree water ain't an MOS task for most service specialties I can think of. Neither is theoretical physics.

By: Brant