Military Presence on the Streets in Rhode Island ?

My guess is that they are a private contractor, I.E mercenaries. Probably employed by the state.

US Military personnel would have identifying badges on their uniforms.

'Contractors', such as Blackwater, wear tan / desert clothes with black webbing.





I haven't known them to wear the high visibility vests before, but anything is possible.

Why they are there... I have no idea.

Originally posted by TwiTcHomatic

Just curious.. any amber alerts in your area

I'm in Massachusetts and I get Fox 64 Providence. I watched the news tonight and they didn't say anything about an Amber Alert.

Don't be suprised if its like a state sponsored group. Here in Georgia they have the Georgia State Defense Force. They dress like the military, drive all sorts of vehicles, do fund raisers, help with all sorts of stuff when the state asks. They are not armed but they do pretty much dress EXACTLY like soldiers.

Check and see if RI has something similar! I will say this, sometimes the guys/gals who volunteer for this THINK they are real troops and act as such. Just a thought.

reply to post by finalcry



Yeah, I work for FOX.. I did check to see if any were over the wire in that area after I asked the question.

Came to the same conclusion you did.

This may seem to be an odd question to the OP... but did you happen to notice their footwear?

Originally posted by squidboy

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]

We do wear reflective vests. Those pics are of British soldiers I believe, could be wrong, but they arent US soldiers.

If you couldn't see a side arm then they didn't have one. Those vests wouldn't cover a side arm unless they wore it across the chest or shoulder slung them, if that was the case, why would they cover their side arm with a vest? What would be the use of having it if it they had to fumble for it underneath a vest? Not very tactical is it?

Were they wearing a belt over their blouse? Were they wearing something other then their uniform and reflective vest?

reply to post by jd140


I suspect the photos given were for example.. he already said he did not get any photos of the "soldiers" in question.

But, you are right... vests would not conceal firearms... SUV's do.

If they WERE soldiers... their weapons were not more than 10 feet from them.

Are there any banks near the area where you saw the soldiers? Maybe there will be a bank holiday soon. A bank holiday was mentioned on Meet The Press this morning.

Originally posted by TwiTcHomatic
reply to post by jd140

 

I suspect the photos given were for example.. he already said he did not get any photos of the "soldiers" in question.

But, you are right... vests would not conceal firearms... SUV's do.

If they WERE soldiers... their weapons were not more than 10 feet from them.

10 feet is 10 feet to far. My fellow Military fellows here know what I'm talking about.

I find it hard to believe that they had weapons in the SUVs along with their ammo. It would be the same as if they were hiding them underneath their vests......pointless.

Besides that. Don't you think that they would cause a massive commotion if they were to lock and load in the middle of an intersection? Takes about 5-10 minutes to put on all the gear they would need to ward off any break down in the system.

Kevlar
Flak vest
LBE
Ammo up
Gather weapons
Then they would need to get into posistion.


Your point about the pics though are right, I typed without considering that.

the only thing I would think it might be is, if it's the bank, and the Fed's are taking it over, providing more personnel as a pre-caution *shrug*

I seriously doubt it's the NG, hell, Bush/Guili didn't even call them out for like a week after ground-zero on 9/11 Plus, it would have to be a state of emgency to call them out on the street; but, hey, who knows with the NWO?

reply to post by jd140



I am one of your "fellow military fellows".. and I can think of numerous times I was at a post with my firearm not "near" me under orders.

Even when in uniform, you can be advised to not "cause concern from civilians".. concern is another word for brandishing force (firearms).


I am interested to see some followups from the OP. The local Fox affiliate has already been contacted... hoping to hear back soon.

There was reports of Blackwater being on the ground in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Even though they were here in the US, and up to no good, they still had their 'uniform' colours on such as the tan / black / green combination.

Most likely it isn't Blackwater, though. I very much doubt any Governor would go though the controversy if it got out they deployed battle hardened mercenaries in a US city.

Especially when they are being so public.

I retract my initial suggestion, and by the looks of it, I think rcwj75 is the closest to the mark at the moment.

Regardless of who they are, I very much doubt they are connected to the guard or army. It has to be some private organization.

Originally posted by TwiTcHomatic
reply to post by jd140

 

I am one of your "fellow military fellows".. and I can think of numerous times I was at a post with my firearm not "near" me under orders.

Even when in uniform, you can be advised to not "cause concern from civilians".. concern is another word for brandishing force (firearms).


I am interested to see some followups from the OP. The local Fox affiliate has already been contacted... hoping to hear back soon.

Then you would know that at a Post and out in the field are differant situations. I havent ever been in the field (real world or excercise) where I was told to leave my weapon else where. That includes doing squad movements in Germany(with weapons) where we went outside the gates of Landsthul onto German owned roads. I guess that would be considered invading another country.

Edit to add- When did we start refering to our weapon as firearms?

[edit on 9-3-2009 by jd140]

reply to post by jd140



Look, I am not arguing with you.. I am just saying there are certain circumstances that are handled differently than your standard maneuvers.

Its easier to forget a man in uniform than it is to forget a man with a gun.

We are discussing an odd "posting" of military personnel.. how can anything be looked at in a logical and normal manner?



Hoorah.

-edit- When I started thinking for myself... to answer your question.




[edit on 9-3-2009 by TwiTcHomatic]

[edit on 9-3-2009 by TwiTcHomatic]

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


Wasn't arguing, there are many reasons they could be there. I think the real reason has gotten lost, as it often happens here. I get defensive with these type of threads as they often lead to the military being staged for martial law and whos side we are on.

When did you get authorization to think for yourself.

reply to post by jd140


Yep, thats why I have not jumped to many conclusions yet... too many unanswered questions at the moment.

It would be something like this that turns out to be a local JROTC event. Not saying that is what this was.. but just an example.

My advice in the future for the OP.. details details details... sometimes what we remember and "look" for can be better and more subtle than a picture.

Heh.. I guess I am operating against orders. Technically we were the weapon, the gun was the tool.

Originally posted by squidboy
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?
[edit on 8-3-2009 by squidboy]

Yes. As a private citizen you yourself can go around asking people questions in public. They don't have to answer, of course. You can also stand on the corner all day watching people. Hell, Google took a photo of your house from space and from street-level.

Security can and do go unmarked. At a big pop concert there will be obvious security and undercover security who blend in. So they can wear uniforms, no uniforms, or bright pink tu-tus.

So, yes, they could have been private security. Also, the orange vests is more suggestive of asking for donations. If they were "from the government" on some secret mission they certainly weren't very secret about it.

We have a National Guard here where I live and a few are regular customers where I work. They are always dressed in camo (the pixelated type). One was in the other day wearing the same and he was a recruiter.

I agree, if it were military, they would have badges, stripes and whatever on their uniforms. Were they wearing caps of some sort, like berets or were they wearing helmets? The boots they were wearing was a good question as well.

Sounds strange, but these days??? Who knows!!!

Originally posted by jd140

Originally posted by squidboy

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?

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]

We do wear reflective vests. Those pics are of British soldiers I believe, could be wrong, but they arent US soldiers.

They are not British... lol. Have you ever even seen British Camo?

At first I thought it looked a bit Eastern Block.. Russia, Ukraine etc
But then having looked at the rifle and closer at the grainy pictures I've come to the conclusion that these are Canadian Soldiers wearing CatPat.

But something more important and relative to the thread. The soldiers in the pictures above are on exercise or at a test range.
Unless there was an announced small scale emergency test going on in your city, then I have some concerns lol

Just a thought OP, were their sleeves rolled up?

Also, was anyone standing at attention? Showing any sort of respect to rank?

Any kind of hierarchy structure? Did they look professional?

Most military personnel would have some sort of structure going on that would be noticable if you just looked. People just hanging out in uniform wouldn't just be lumping around.

Personally, I would have asked them questions if they wanted to talk to me. Like, 'Who are you?' lol.

Just my two cents.

I wouldn't worry a bit too much about that. Working in the IT field here in Florida, I remember when a major fiber line was cut by road work and it severed a redundant link to a local military base. Within the hour there were jeeps with soldiers looking for the problem area. They stood by until the line was patched, aka "their system was up".