Given how much things had been heating up in regards to the Pacific theatre, and especially regarding the Philippines, Japan, Canada, and Taiwan, it doesn't at all surprise me that the military is stocking up on essentials, in particular if it's the Army Reserve (AKA National Guard).
That said, there are a few points that can explain this, that aren't necessarily related to war or threats of intentional disruption in water supply. So in the interest of tempering sensationalism with reasonable explanations, I'll list them:
Midwest and New England states tend to have the hottest temperatures in July, with the average high in Michigan being around 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Hotter weather means more consumption of water.
Trains are one of the big three methods that water is transported in the USA in vast quantities, alongside trucks and ships. Michigan isn't a coastal state, even though it does have access to the Atlantic via the St. Lawrence Seaway. It's still cheaper and faster to transport the water they may need to MI from other states by train than by boat.
In May of last year, Midland County suffered flooding due to the failure of the Edenville and Sanford Dams. Standing floodwaters are carriers of disease, parasites, toxic chemicals, fecal matter, harmful fungi, and other things that you really don't want to consume, and flood waters could contaminate reservoirs that are unprotected.
29P is where the largest Marine Corps training base is located; The Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, which is in California. Performing an exercise around bangalores is interesting, but I'm not in the armed services; I don't know if this is a common exercise or not, regardless of what the OPFOR was labeled as.
For those who don't know and are reading this thread, bangalore is short for 'Bangalore Torpedo,' which is a type of breaching charge meant to clear paths through barbed/razor wire, minefields, and dense vegetation. Also for those who may not know, the Marine Corps is responsible for expeditionary and (as the branch name implies) amphibious operations. As such, they will often be the first troops an enemy force is engaged by.
Given their role, I would generally believe it's normal for there to be exercises for breaching entrenched positions; this is because they will be the first land troops who face them in the Pacific theatre.
Something noteworthy about the Pacific theatre are three locations outside of the mainland that are likely to be strategically important to us and to China. These are the Philippines, Japan, and Taiwan. All of these feature mountainous terrain as a major feature, which makes them both defensible from ground forces, and useful for air and naval defense purposes.
There are also land locations that are strategically important, as well. Russia, who is threatened by China's influence on their economy, and is also a target of opportunity, alongside India and Bhutan, for Chinese territorial expansion. Russia was the first nation to close its border to Chinese immigration in 2020.
Also of note was that in 1969, the Soviet Union and China were fighting skirmishes that resulted in Mao Zedong being scared so shitless of a Soviet nuclear response that he fled Beijing and appealed to the USA for assistance. In fact, the only reason China and Russia aren't at war right now is because Russia isn't interested in being the aggressor, and they have the defensive technology (for now) to hold China at bay.
Now, given that the United States has more or less unparalleled dominance in offensive technology, it's not hard to see why China would have an interest in puppeteering the USA. Without a guarantee that the USA and its military tech would be on their side, the CCP cannot stage a large scale offensive into eastern Russia or into India.
Last part requires a tin-foil hat though, as it is a conspiracy theory I have.
Right now, popular support for any such guarantee here in the USA is at an all-time low. There would need to be a foreign army in our own borders in order to quell any threat of civil unrest. Thus, the massive immigration of military-aged men through our southern border.
They would likely be trained in our own collective back yard on how to wage guerilla warfare and terror against our own military and civilians, using women, children, and especially our own patriots as shields to protect themselves from retaliation and prey upon our better nature, unless all the individuals responsible for organizing the effort are arrested and sent to GITMO. Which, of course, would be part of the DIA's purview, wouldn't it?
Do the terror tactics sound familiar? Almost every battle we've ever fought with a Chinese and/or Communist proxy state has featured guerilla warfare and terror tactics from the OPFOR. That's not a coincidence. The same thing has been done to Germany and France. The CCP became a superpower through a combination of Guerilla warfare and agents placed in key positions of power within the opposing party.
Given how much things had been heating up in regards to the Pacific theatre, and especially regarding the Philippines, Japan, Canada, and Taiwan, it doesn't at all surprise me that the military is stocking up on essentials, in particular if it's the Army Reserve (AKA National Guard).
That said, there are a few points that can explain this, that aren't necessarily related to war or threats of intentional disruption in water supply. So in the interest of tempering sensationalism with reasonable explanations, I'll list them:
Midwest and New England states tend to have the hottest temperatures in July, with the average high in Michigan being around 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Hotter weather means more consumption of water.
Trains are one of the big three methods that water is transported in the USA in vast quantities, alongside trucks and ships. Michigan isn't a coastal state, even though it does have access to the Atlantic via the St. Lawrence Seaway. It's still cheaper and faster to transport the water they may need to MI from other states by train than by boat.
In May of last year, Midland County suffered flooding due to the failure of the Edenville and Sanford Dams. Standing floodwaters are carriers of disease, parasites, toxic chemicals, fecal matter, harmful fungi, and other things that you really don't want to consume, and flood waters could contaminate reservoirs that are unprotected.
The military did an exercise at Twentynine Palms on 7/23. In this heat they would need a lot of potable water.
Interestingly, part of the the exercise was breaching enemy machine gun lines using bangalores - and the enemy units were labeled "CCPs."
https://youtu.be/xDwsBGMNXxc - skip to 6:12 for reference
29P is where the largest Marine Corps training base is located; The Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, which is in California. Performing an exercise around bangalores is interesting, but I'm not in the armed services; I don't know if this is a common exercise or not, regardless of what the OPFOR was labeled as.
For those who don't know and are reading this thread, bangalore is short for 'Bangalore Torpedo,' which is a type of breaching charge meant to clear paths through barbed/razor wire, minefields, and dense vegetation. Also for those who may not know, the Marine Corps is responsible for expeditionary and (as the branch name implies) amphibious operations. As such, they will often be the first troops an enemy force is engaged by.
Given their role, I would generally believe it's normal for there to be exercises for breaching entrenched positions; this is because they will be the first land troops who face them in the Pacific theatre.
Something noteworthy about the Pacific theatre are three locations outside of the mainland that are likely to be strategically important to us and to China. These are the Philippines, Japan, and Taiwan. All of these feature mountainous terrain as a major feature, which makes them both defensible from ground forces, and useful for air and naval defense purposes.
There are also land locations that are strategically important, as well. Russia, who is threatened by China's influence on their economy, and is also a target of opportunity, alongside India and Bhutan, for Chinese territorial expansion. Russia was the first nation to close its border to Chinese immigration in 2020.
Also of note was that in 1969, the Soviet Union and China were fighting skirmishes that resulted in Mao Zedong being scared so shitless of a Soviet nuclear response that he fled Beijing and appealed to the USA for assistance. In fact, the only reason China and Russia aren't at war right now is because Russia isn't interested in being the aggressor, and they have the defensive technology (for now) to hold China at bay.
Now, given that the United States has more or less unparalleled dominance in offensive technology, it's not hard to see why China would have an interest in puppeteering the USA. Without a guarantee that the USA and its military tech would be on their side, the CCP cannot stage a large scale offensive into eastern Russia or into India.
Last part requires a tin-foil hat though, as it is a conspiracy theory I have.
Right now, popular support for any such guarantee here in the USA is at an all-time low. There would need to be a foreign army in our own borders in order to quell any threat of civil unrest. Thus, the massive immigration of military-aged men through our southern border.
They would likely be trained in our own collective back yard on how to wage guerilla warfare and terror against our own military and civilians, using women, children, and especially our own patriots as shields to protect themselves from retaliation and prey upon our better nature, unless all the individuals responsible for organizing the effort are arrested and sent to GITMO. Which, of course, would be part of the DIA's purview, wouldn't it?
Do the terror tactics sound familiar? Almost every battle we've ever fought with a Chinese and/or Communist proxy state has featured guerilla warfare and terror tactics from the OPFOR. That's not a coincidence. The same thing has been done to Germany and France. The CCP became a superpower through a combination of Guerilla warfare and agents placed in key positions of power within the opposing party.