I am reminded of Gen. Jack D. Ripper and that is perhaps a little unfair. General Ripper was, after all, a few bricks shy of a load. And he was a fictional extreme, a delusional character with a star on his shoulder who initiates a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union in the hopes of thwarting a Communist conspiracy to “sap and impurify” the precious bodily fluids of Americans with fluoridated water.

But the general, played brilliantly by Sterling Hayden in the 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, has become a standard over the last four-plus decades. He has become a standard for the military man who forgets there are limits — sometimes called civilian restraints — on what a military man can do.

Which brings us to the gates of Camp Crisis, formerly National Guard headquarters, on the unforgiving high ground of Cranston where the word is out that the general is in and there will be no more easy access to that coiled spring of emergency readiness off New London Avenue.

Three weeks ago, the clampdown on pushy civilians left one Rhode Island lawmaker on the outside trying to get in. Sen. Frank Ciccone III tried to enter the Command Readiness Center for a meeting with Maj. Gen. Robert T. Bray, National Guard adjutant general, and other officials about proposed changes in the state’s Emergency Management Agency. Ciccone is field representative and manager for Local 808 of the laborers union.

He never made it to the meeting. A guard checked his Senate license plate, his Senate ID and then left him waiting at the gate for 10 minutes before asking Ciccone for his driver’s license. The senator left in anger. He was later told he should have waited for an escort. He questioned why an elected official, part of the body that officially oversees the National Guard, should have to have an escort. Good question. After all, civilian authority is supposed to prevail.

Then there are the emergency management directors in the cities and towns who have found General Bray’s performance as acting executive director of emergency management heavy on petty detail. The general wants daily reports on local resources. Daily reports. Seems pointless and time wasting and just a little control freaky, which is probably why many of the local officials have blown off the silly demand.

And yesterday’s Journal front page revealed yet another General leap beyond the controls. It was once called “Doin’ A Ripper” in the brief time that expression had currency following General Ripper’s darkly disturbing emergence on the big screen.

Governor Carcieri has said that the next time there is a weather emergency and he is out of state, he wants Bray to be in charge of dealing with it. The trouble is, that puts military authority above civilian authority and that, according to legal experts quoted in yesterday’s story, is a constitutionally shaky thing to do.

General Bray’s appointment as commander of the Rhode Island National Guard came as a surprise to many. He was the first commander chosen from outside the state in a long, long time. He has been here a little more than two years, and is clearly still making the adjustment to a place far different than his last duty station in Oklahoma. Turning the headquarters in Cranston into a high security compound with limited access for even those in state government seems a case of creating a sense of tension to justify more restrictions and more control over nosy reporters asking why the hell it’s all happening.

Maybe the general’s adjustment period will be over soon and everybody can start working together again.

bkerr@projo.com