This has been the fabric of our lives in New Orleans post Katrina. The National Guard patrols the streets and the empty neighborhood to prevent looting (there's nothing left to loot). Some of them who have recently returned from a tour in Iraq tell me there is not much difference between the devastation in Iraq's war zone and the devastation in the flooded zones of New Orleans, even some 20+ months later.
It's 94 degrees F in the shade and I imagine this fabric is not the coolest garb.