Military Presence on the Streets in Rhode Island ?

Today was an odd day.

11:30 am: Today I received a call from a co worker. He was calling me to let me know that while commuting to work he noticed several military personal located at various intersections, standing in sentry positioning, on one street in Providence (Smith St.). These personal were dressed in desert fatigues. A few were standing in the middle of said intersections, in his words.. " looking sternly, and paying close attention turning heads from the left and right." Like directing traffic, but not.

The soldiers wore bright orange vests over their fatigues and berets.

When I got the call, I was shocked. Considering the locations involved (all on one street, one being across the street from my High School, I live in Providence).

At 12:30 I felt the need to tell a few family members of what I heard.

My younger brother's friend was visiting my mothers house and stated that he had seen a few soldiers on his way to her house. It looked like the soldiers were collecting change, but weren't.... just questioning drivers (this was Manton Ave).

3pm today: I get a call from my Aunt. My mother and her went to the Dunkin Donuts across the street from my High School, and saw the soldiers. There were three of them. In desert fatigues. There were also soldiers in unmarked newer model Jeeps (One stopped and held conversation with the standing soldier and then went on there way, with other soldiers in the car), as the rest remained at the corner.

They asked the clerks at Dunkin Donuts if they knew what was going on.

One girl said they were there all day. As a nice gesture they brought them out coffee a couple of times. During which time, They let the girls know the following:

And I am paraphrasing a paraphrase here, so bear with the vagueness:

The girls said the soldiers said the following:

"There's nothing to worry about. People usually get anxious when the see us. We will be here for a few days on an off, until .... :

AND this is where its weird

"Until they fix the system"

The other girl stated that they were really vague about their presence, but were " there to help until things were fixed".

When my aunt got home, she called the local channel 10 (NBC news affiliate) and asked if they knew what was going on . They stated that they did not know anything, but would find out and put out a story....

Upon hearing this, I was shocked.

I must note that my aunt (and my mother) mentioned that it appeared that they had weapons (pistols under the orange vest). But this could not be verified, just holsters were vaguely seen...

When I received this information, I immediately called my friend who saw them earlier and let him know of what occurred. He made note, that another contact of ours, had messaged the news director for a local radio station in regards to the sitings. Here's what the news director said (taken from twitter):

"I haven't heard anything, but I saw guys in uniform at Kennedy Plaza an hour ago. I'll tweet if I find out why. "

Later....

"Did you ever find out why the troops were in NP? No one at ...... had any clue, and none of the wire services say there's an event today"

Kennedy Plaza is a main transportation hub (for Buses in Providence and Rhode Island)

Please make note that my friend (coworker) also contacted the North Providence Police in regards to his sighting. Here is part of his twitter message:

"Just a curious resident wondering what the purpose of the Military presence on Smith Street is"

No reply from the police.

When I went out at 5pm, I didn't see anything (not a soldier), but no worries I will have my camera tomorrow on my way to work. So in 3 different locations of Providence (miles apart) Soldiers were seen standing guard. Also there were soldiers seen driving in unmarked newer model non military Jeeps. Word is they pulled over a few drivers....

So my question is:

What does this mean? Any one know why this would be occurring?








[edit on 8-3-2009 by squidboy]

What buildings were they in front of?

Are you sure they were military personnel? Could they have been a private security force?

Originally posted by Chadwickus
What buildings were they in front of?

Are you sure they were military personnel? Could they have been a private security force?

They were dressed in military fatigues, with Berets, and bright orange vests. They had no markings, and were questioning citizens and watching. Are private security allowed to do this?

The main places were A mass transportation Hubb (Kennedy plaza in Providence), a private catholic high school, a church, an intersection on city lines( between Providence Rhode Island and Johnston Rhode Island. Please understand that Rhode Island is a small state, and Providence is a small city. Everything is near everything.


And these are people I've only spoke with today. During the work week, I interact with a lot of people, and see if any one else saw anything (still odd).










[edit on 8-3-2009 by squidboy]

It may be this:




-Kdial1



[edit on 8-3-2009 by kdial1]

That's very odd, but as the internet saying goes, "pics or it didn't happen".

I guess they're fixing a glitch in the matrix . Quick, now is our chance to escape while they're distracted!

[edit on 8-3-2009 by DisobedientCitizen]

reply to post by squidboy


Maybe give the National guard headquarters a call

They have a base in RI I see.

states.ng.mil...

Originally posted by kdial1
It may be this:

www.youtube.com...

-Kdial1

I don't think so. This was Military, as agreed upon by the News Director at the radio station who saw then at Kennedy Plaza, and several adult, educated sources.

Here's a pic of Kennedy Plaza:




If a group came in that was not military, then the cops would have been on it.

Why would a group playing a game, question civilians and stop traffic? And stand guard outside of a High School and main part of a city not questioned? With guns????

Originally posted by DisobedientCitizen
That's very odd, but as the internet saying goes, "pics or it didn't happen".


[edit on 8-3-2009 by DisobedientCitizen]

haha

I can always put up the links to the twitter conversation, that includes the message to the police department (from one witness) and the Radio new's directors sighting, can be viewed by anyone.

But yeah...

I know, no pics sucks..

I don't really see why they would be wearing Desert Camo uniforms in an environment like Providence. If they were military they would have to be in regulation uniform for the locality. And they certainly wouldn't/shouldn't be wearing orange traffic vests. Jeeps don't really sound like anything official, and I don't think they could really get away with using unmarked civilian types.
Could just be a bunch of wannabe crackpots, considering how unprofessional this sounds.

Originally posted by squidboy

Originally posted by kdial1
It may be this:

www.youtube.com...

-Kdial1

I don't think so. This was Military, as agreed upon by the News Director at the radio station who saw then at Kennedy Plaza, and several adult, educated sources.

Here's a pic of Kennedy Plaza:




If a group came in that was not military, then the cops would have been on it.

Why would a group playing a game, question civilians and stop traffic? And stand guard outside of a High School and main part of a city not questioned? With guns????

Apparantly they are really serious about this, they use vehicles, travel and have an all out combat for 7 days, including recon. They are using Jeeps and this was from last year....

[edit on 8-3-2009 by kdial1]

It's pretty much like that here in Memphis TN too...POLICE ARE EVERYWHERE!!!! They do sit on the side of the expressway in new model jeeps...they are out more than ever before...Its ridiculous..We ARE in a police state

[edit on 8-3-2009 by Butter Cookie]

Originally posted by spec_ops_wannabe
I don't really see why they would be wearing Desert Camo uniforms in an environment like Providence. If they were military they would have to be in regulation uniform for the locality. And they certainly wouldn't/shouldn't be wearing orange traffic vests. Jeeps don't really sound like anything official, and I don't think they could really get away with using unmarked civilian types.
Could just be a bunch of wannabe crackpots, considering how unprofessional this sounds.

I hope that's the case. I'll try and get pictures tomorrow.

Wouldn't the cops question "wannabe crackpots." Esp outside of a school and The heart of the city (Again, the basic center of downtown providence.)

Again, I have nothing to gain or lose from posting here, just thought it was weird (miles apart, different sets of soldiers seen, with weapons, questioning civilians and standing guard, stopping cars on a Sunday for no reason. News channels didn't know why, no stories on the news wires on why. Police wouldn't respond.

But they said they will be there on and off for a few days, so maybe I'll see them again.

Just a concerned citizen.

In jeeps? Since when does the military use jeeps? This is strange. The military switched to hummers in the 1980's. Gotta admit, though, good choice in jeeps. Since Chrysler took over jeep production, jeeps have been excellant vehicles. Mine is a 1998 model. Runs great. Although the heater blower has been on the fritz lately. Radio still works so I dont complain, just dress more warmly in the winter. Much cheaper to run a jeep instead of a hummer.

Well first of all, they were most likely National Guard. The National Guard can be called in by the Governor for any given number of Emergency Situations. If the Local Public Safety Agencies were suffering from a Widespread Communications Outage for instance, the Guard could step in with a Temporary Comm. Center in order to keep these Agencies propped up.

I would hardly be concerned if some kind of "Takeover" is on your mind, but it would be interesting, as it always is to the curious minded, to find out what caused the situation to begin with. Too bad you do not have a Scanner. Do you know of anyone with a Scanner?

As for the Desert Fatigues, if the Guard Unit was recently involved in OIF, or OEF, it might very well be all that they had at a moments notice.

As for the possible unit, your Location is Home to the 43rd M.P. Brigade. They have been Active in OIF.

These personal were dressed in desert fatigues

Well...They must have taken a wrong turn on their way to the middle east.

Help em out

Originally posted by Shakezoola

These personal were dressed in desert fatigues

Well...They must have taken a wrong turn on their way to the middle east.

Help em out

To clarify, they said it was light like desert colors, not dark green. I think this is what they were describing.





And in terms of Jeeps, I meant SUVs. Sorry but I have a tendency to call SUV jeeps...

I was not thinking in terms of a takeover.

I was thinking that the banks may be in worse trouble then we have thought, and something wrong may occur.

Why did they say those things to the clerks at Dunkin Donuts?

[edit on 9-3-2009 by squidboy]

reply to post by squidboy


Well, the Army ACUs are supposed to come in 2 different color variations. One light and the other darker(slightly).
(Ugh, I really do hope they give us some ACUs in Desert Camo after a while. The regular Desert Camo BDUs are incredibly Desert Storm. Yes, I am Army.)

Out of curiosity, were these soldiers/random dudes wearing the old desert camouflage or the newer modern pixilated MARPAT camouflage? And they had no markings on them at all?

A good tip when looking at a uniform... observe all patches.


Every unit has their own unique identification by the patches they wear. Its a habit for most former military to look first at rank then at identifier patches.


Just curious.. any amber alerts in your area?

Originally posted by finalcry
Out of curiosity, were these soldiers/random dudes wearing the old desert camouflage or the newer modern pixilated MARPAT camouflage? And they had no markings on them at all?

I'll get back on that. Tomorrow I'll ask my co worker what he saw exactly. Same with my family who saw it.

But trust me, 100s of people saw them yesterday in Rhode Island (probably more, the intersections where there were stationed (the ones I know about) are heavily traveled areas.

As far as I know (from three sources):

The SUVs were unmarked, the fatigues were lighter in color, the berets were black, and they wore (not sure if all of them) orange vests. They also appeared to have side arms.

If what the Dunkin Donut clerks said is true, they should be back there for the next few days, or until the "system is fixed." They were standing there for hours, and said to the girls that there was nothing to worry about...

Mind you this has been reported to a Police Department, and two news agencies (Channel 10 NBC affiliate), 95.5 WBRU (major Rhode Island radio station) and the North Providence Police department. None one has commented, other then the radio news director who saw them at Kennedy Plaza.

But for what I have no idea....

Oh and for a pic of an orange vest on a soldier, for those who say it doesn't happen.











[edit on 9-3-2009 by squidboy]