...that's not the question at hand. The question is why should military bands who are First Division, and advancing to the Military SMC (which bypasses an Area contest), *also* be counted as a qualifying band towards the number of finalists/state qualifiers at the Open Class Area contest? The military bands have no intention to attend Area...they're on the military track, and the 1 at Region takes them to MSMC.

But they are advancing on. They have their own thing. Why does area C get to have all those bands go on to State in Military and more spots in Open?

I was all for it when there was not a State Military contest for the reason that you listed. But they are going on, so your comparison with the hurricane doesn't make sense.

Hypothetical: A weather event keeping bands from attending area that were originally going to attend is an apple to an orange here. What we have is schools (military) that have no intention of attending the area contest since they have their own state competition. The rest of the bands in Area C should have the same chance of advancement as all other areas in the state.

Area C qualifiers will be at the contest. The rest qualified for the military state contest.
Should the bands in area C be able to advance to state military contest because the earned a division 1 and "qualified" for that contest? The answer will be that they have to choose open or military, which further proves the point that it needs to change.