Local donations from businesses such as pizza shops, a staple of domestic Guard deployments, often help fill gaps, but this time, the community has largely stayed away.

One midlevel officer said their unit would receive “extremely generous” help when deployed to combat wildfires, including water, sports drinks and food, which played a significant role in morale and tightened the Guard-community relationship.

“This is a situation [where] we’re against the community,” the officer told Military.com on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.