Guardsmen to conduct urban training at Arcadia in April

Guardsmen to conduct urban training at Arcadia in April

www.carrollspaper.com

The Carroll National Guard unit will train on urban military operations by holding a four-day exercise at Arcadia.

"We have a lot of extended drills this coming year," he added.
"We really want to get as much information out there as possible, because this operation could be pretty intrusive to the people of Arcadia."

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.prisonplanet.com
www.dailypaul.com

Well.....

Is this just an honest training exercise, giving the National Guard the ability to practice their skills for real life situations?

Or is there a more sinister purpose behind this? It seems it COULD be an opportunity for the Government to desensitize the populace to military operations. Also COULD be a chance to get the local National Guardsmen used to controlling towns and their residents for future martial law.

The link to the dailypaul is an article worth reading. I know it has been discussed here on ATS before, but this seems a little different angle on it. I cant find the link to the ATS disscussion, so if you can pls post it.

This is an interesting development, any thoughts?


www.carrollspaper.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by treemanx
Is this just an honest training exercise, giving the National Guard the ability to practice their skills for real life situations?

Short answer, yes. People here fail to realize that the National Guard are the ones who get called in for a state emergency. If they don't train, they can't do their jobs. If they can't do their jobs, people can get hurt. If another Katrina hits, or some other disaster, I would much rather they have all the training they need than just wing it because people are so paranoid they mistake a training exercise for a military take-over.

Hey,

I got my thread closed, sorry about that, I had searched and didn't see yours.

It is not right they are doing this, they could train on military houses on bases and go through those people's cupboards and cars.

This is plain wrong, but another poster will keep saying it is just fine, and no problems.

Well, there are problems to it, they should not be training like this in regular neighborhoods!

This disgusts me because people will feel like they have to cooperate or else look like thay have something to hide. This is wrong. The line keeps getting closer to us all. We are about to get inspired to go to war with Iran and North Korea. Pay attention folks! This is NOT a drill!!

Long live the Constitution!
Long live the Bill of Rights!
Long live the Declaration of Independence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[edit on 2/20/09 by stikkinikki]

reply to post by questioningall


You can refer to me by name, it won't bother me I promise.

They could train on base, but that would defeat the purpose since disasters typically don't happen on a base and they are attempting to let the public see what they do and how they do it. Based solely on the article it would seem that they are doing this to try and dispel some of the paranoia that so many people seem to have any time they plan training, transport vehicles, or even just drive through a town on their way somewhere else. Kinda like the posts we see here any time they do any of that. All the paranoia can't be good for anyone.

Originally posted by Jenna
reply to post by questioningall

 

Based solely on the article it would seem that they are doing this to try and dispel some of the paranoia that so many people seem to have any time they plan training, transport vehicles, or even just drive through a town on their way somewhere else. Kinda like the posts we see here any time they do any of that. All the paranoia can't be good for anyone.

If they just kept driving there would be a lot less paranoia. When they stop, and ask to search your home, which is what they are doing, We the People don't like it.

[edit on 2/20/09 by stikkinikki]

reply to post by stikkinikki


So when did this happen? I have yet to hear of a single report of the military driving through an area and just arbitrarily deciding to stop and search someone's home. Could it be that I haven't heard about it because it hasn't happened? I would say so.

They are planning this in advance, are holding a town meeting, and are asking for volunteers. I'm sure you know what a volunteer is. If people don't volunteer, they won't be knocking on their doors.

As for the paranoia, someone in the military could sneeze when their picture was being taken and there would be a thread on here analyzing how they were holding their hand when they sneezed and theorizing what evil society that hand signal represents. I have never seen so many paranoid people when it comes to the military outside of this website.

Originally posted by questioningall
Hey,

I got my thread closed, sorry about that, I had searched and didn't see yours.

It is not right they are doing this, they could train on military houses on bases and go through those people's cupboards and cars.

This is plain wrong, but another poster will keep saying it is just fine, and no problems.

Well, there are problems to it, they should not be training like this in regular neighborhoods!

I starred ya! Thanks, I didnt mean to sound angry. Just a little dissappointed!

Anyways, Jenna, I think you have a valid point here. Theres alot of paranoia running rampant on this site, and your opinion is a good balance to that. I agree with what your saying, but also think that even though this incident may be innocent, it may also show a deeper problem. With so much Government secrecy and mis-use of power, the real problem may be that the Nations people just plain dont trust the PTB anymore. And for good reason, people shouldnt trust a government that is doing the things our is. It all reeks of pre-WWII Germany.

Originally posted by stikkinikki
This disgusts me because people will feel like they have to cooperate or else look like thay have something to hide. This is wrong. The line keeps getting closer to us all. We are about to get inspired to go to war with Iran and North Korea. Pay attention folks! This is NOT a drill!!

Long live the Constitution!
Long live the Bill of Rights!
Long live the Declaration of Independence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[edit on 2/20/09 by stikkinikki]

Great post! I love the last three sentences! Amen Brother!

I also can agree with what your saying about people feeling as though they 'have to' do this or be looked at as if they have something to hide.

This kind of thing can look innocent on the outside, and be hiding true purposes easily. The leveling words of the poster Jenna, are awesome but dont account for some of the actual deserved fear that is out there.

Our country is in real crisis right now. And if anyone thinks that the Government isnt prepairing for contingencies, they are wrong. The question is, what are their plans? They definately wont tell us. So that leaves us to speculate about these kinds of incidents.

Originally posted by treemanx
With so much Government secrecy and mis-use of power, the real problem may be that the Nations people just plain dont trust the PTB anymore. And for good reason, people shouldnt trust a government that is doing the things our is. It all reeks of pre-WWII Germany.

And therein lies the problem. The government has been so secretive about so many things that some people find it completely impossible that anything is exactly what it looks like. This makes it extremely difficult for anything to actually be accomplished. Soldiers can't train because people freak out. If they don't train, they aren't prepared when they get sent overseas. If they aren't prepared, they may die. Then people complain that soldiers are dieing. That's what happens when they don't get the training they need. But people are so freaked out that the military is going to lock them up and eat their children that they turn into Chicken Little any time there's an article about the military doing training somewhere.

Agreed, Jenna.

But as a devils advocate here, why does ANY branch of the US military need to operate within the city limits of a town to train? I have a background in Law Enforcement, and my brother is stationed overseas and is a Green Beret. I have a little bit of knowledge here, literally a little. Enough to make this statement:

Military and Law Enforcement officals do ALOT of training. They have to in order to hone their skills and keep their knowledge fresh. BUT, the majority of that training is done IN HOUSE. On Government property, with servicemen playing the roles of the civilians. This gives them their "realistic feel" and they can do different scenerios.

They can do it this way to minimize complications, and keep from interfering with the population of a community.

There was a recent story of training exercises in Louisiana, with black heli's, explosions, and NO public town hall meetings to gain the approval of the town. This is what we dont want to see happening.

reply to post by treemanx


Ah but you are slightly off the mark there. There were not any bombs being dropped, despite the title of the thread here, and there were announcements made prior to the start of that particular training session over the news in the area. It was also a joint training session with local law enforcement, and they sent out a press release ahead of time to inform the public so I would assume it was in their local paper, though I would have to run a search to say for certain if that was the case. From what I have read it was over an abandoned part of the city at any rate and no civilians were in danger at any time.

This particular instance is strictly military as far as I am aware, but they are having a town meeting about it, they are informing the public ahead of time (just like in New Orleans), and they are not going to anyone's house that doesn't volunteer.

As for why they need to train within city limits, I don't plan or organize the training so anything I say is merely a guess but I would say it is likely because they need people to role-play and they recently cut/froze funding for military jobs from what I've heard and are sending more people to Afghanistan so they may be running short on people who can role-play. Not to mention it provides an opportunity to discuss what it is they actually do with the people of Arcadia and provides an opportunity for the residents to see for themselves what the military does.

When operating overseas, the military does not go to abandoned areas. They go to areas that are fully populated. Doing some training within city limits here enables them to train in a similar situation to what they will be facing overseas, aside from not having to worry about road-side bombs, suicide bombers or being shot at. (At least I hope they don't have to worry about that while they are training here.)

Very good post, Jenna!

I appreciate your stance on this.

I would be interested to hear your opinion on the current crisis in the US, and how it relates to this topic.

What do you see happening with martial law, and the states that are declairing sovereignty? How do you think this will all go down??

Do you think there is any truth to peoples fears of the Military operating on US Soil????

Originally posted by treemanx
Very good post, Jenna!

I appreciate your stance on this.

Thank you.

What do you see happening with martial law, and the states that are declairing sovereignty? How do you think this will all go down??

I don't see martial law happening any time in the foreseeable future barring a major disaster that destroys a large portion of the country and severely disrupts our emergency response capabilities. The people in general are passive as it is, there is no reason to think that will change unless disaster strikes so there will be no need for martial law. Now in a situation similar to or worse than Katrina or 9/11, it would be possible that the people would panic to the point where martial law would be the only option to prevent people from killing each other.

When people panic they put not only themselves but others at risk and a complete crack down could be the only way to stop needless violence from happening while the country recovers from whatever disaster has befallen us. I would hope that in a disaster situation people would be rational enough to realize that killing or injuring someone else will do nothing to improve the situation, but once mob-mentality takes over people lose their ability to think rationally.

Given adequate training, I believe that the military, police, and other emergency services would be capable of handling any disaster that may occur without martial law being declared. However, they must be able to train or they won't be prepared. When Katrina hit the country was horrified at the aftermath. We simply weren't prepared for a hurricane that caused as much damage as Katrina did. I think that realizing that we must be better prepared is one of the few good things that came of that disaster.

Do you think there is any truth to peoples fears of the Military operating on US Soil????

No I don't. What some people seem to forget is that members of the military are our friends, neighbors, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters. They have friends and family here that they will protect, not harm. They are sworn to uphold the Constitution and defend the country from all enemies foreign and domestic. Any officer, or president, that ordered them to turn on their own country would be giving them an unlawful order that they are bound to refuse.

If they were for some reason given an order to turn on the American people, few if any would comply. The grand majority, I'd be willing to say at least 95% if I'm being pessimistic, would go AWOL to make sure their own families were safe on the chance that someone didn't refuse to obey the order. They would be right there fighting beside the rest of us, not fighting against us. Our soldiers are people first and foremost. They all have people they care about and in the event they were ordered to harm the people they love they would tell whoever gave them the order that they could shove it somewhere extremely uncomfortable and dark.

The mistake many people make is confusing training with a military operation. They are not one and the same. They train so they are prepared when they are sent to war, not so they can turn on civilians. They train so when the crud hits the proverbial fan, they are ready to face it head on. Preventing them from training increases the risk that they won't be prepared and increases the chance that they will die.

Edit: Removed extra word and again to insert missing words. My brain must be working faster than my fingers tonight.

[edit on 20-2-2009 by Jenna]

Well, in any case, it seems as though the Federal Government is constantly overstepping the bounds. Pure and simple.

Unfortunately, the military is the puppet of the stuffed shirt politicians in Washington, and even if they believe they are operating a routine training excersise, doesnt mean it is.

There could be a multitude of motives that are unknown to the commanding officers behind something like this, driven by orders from the top.

reply to post by treemanx


It's a possibility. But when it comes down to it, the soldiers won't turn on their families just because someone with shiny rank says to.

Just got your reply, Jenna.

I agree that the PTB asking soldiers to turn on their brothers and sisters would result in non compliance. But the IS a grey area to that.

If a state like New Hampshire was to develop a militia, made up of ordinary citizens with guns, controlled by citizens, as per our rights in the Constitution, you think the US Gov wouldnt have their military might squash it? I think so. Even if they only held training exercises and meetings, if it grew large enough, they would find a reason to pick a fight with it, and make accusations against it to evil it up for the eyes of the general public. Then theyd go in and fight, and there you have your grey area.

reply to post by Jenna


government agent paid to write misleading statements. Agent!!

I think I was still typing that novel of a post when you were typing your last one. I ramble a bit sometimes.

There are currently militias in several states that haven't been squashed by the government. I don't think they really see them as much of a threat honestly. And as you pointed out, we have the right to form them if we choose to as outlined in the Constitution. Perhaps if they decided to go pick a fight with the government then there might be talk of squashing them, but I think they would have them arrested before they would try to use the military against them.

I honestly haven't thought about this angle much, so I'll have to get back to you on it. My initial thought is that the military wouldn't see it any differently than being told to turn on anyone else, though.