Some Interesting Hearsay About OWS & Our Military

I was up front in my title; This post is based on hearsay, pure and simple.
I have no proof of what I'm about to say, but I do trust my source. It's up to you to decide the value of the "information". I give you my word that I'm being honest, and I'm not making this up to falsely create controversy for the sake of argument, or to milk any points by creating a controversial thread. ( And no, I'm not a "disinformation agent". That go-to accusation gets thrown around on here a little too loosely, IMO ).
I do feel like I'm sticking my neck out a little bit by mentioning this; This won't be a very poular idea with TPTB. However, I'm not directly involved, and passing on hearsay isn't a crime ( as far as I know-yet. ).

I know someone who told me today about a conversation they had with a direct close relative of theirs who is serving in the National Guard. My source happens to have knowledge about the commercial production of body armor for U.S. troops. This person's relative is seeking information on how to create their own armor for their private use, and says that many of their fellow soldiers are doing the same, and, that they are gathering extra weapons for self defense at home. Why?
Because these soldiers believe that the OWS movement is about to ratchet-up in November, and may continue to exponentially expand. This source says many soldiers in the U.S. Armed Forces believe that they will be called upon to protect the citizens from THE POLICE. This source in the military says that these troops have witnessed the police breaking the law when dealing with protesters, and they believe that when the OWS movement grows, that these Civil Rights abuses will grow worse.
The reason for the armor and extra weapons? They fear reprisal by the police when they are off duty, and they believe they will have to protect themselves. This source also says that many troops in fact believe that the OWS movement is legitimate, and that they philosophically support it. ( And yes, many soldiers support Sergeant Shamar Thomas, and his now-famous rant against the NYPD )
www.huffingtonpost.com...
( This link also mentions other Marines who are participating in the OWS movement )

My source says that the soldiers fear that the protesters will at some point use violence, or that an isolated incident of violence will occur, thereby giving the police the excuse to use lethal force, and simultaneously discredit the OWS movement. These soldiers do not want this to happen. It was also mentioned that videos released by Anonymous are popular in these military circles. So that's the jist of my story.

Personally, I support the OWS movement. I believe the protesters have an inherent Right to protest, which is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. I assure you though, that is not why I'm posting this. I would not lie to prop up my own personal opinion. I find this rumor fascinating on multiple levels. If indeed true, this information gives me hope. If for no other reason, perhaps this kind of critical thinking on the part of our troops will circumvent another Kent State- type of incident. It gives me hope to think that those who have sworn an oath to protect us are actually willing to do what is right, and follow-through on their oath. I find it interesting that our troops may harbor very little trust of the state and local police. That alone says a lot to me, and may be the most important point of this post.
I'm not saying all troops feel this way, of course, but if true, at least a segment of our soldiers are thinking about what is morally correct, and are willing to follow their conscience.

I know that the hard-core conspiracy cynics will jump in on this and say that the U.S. military will side with TPTB, and try to crush the OWS movement along with the police. At first, I thought that this would be the case as well. Sergeant Shamar Thomas rekindled my faith in our military with his very public display of honest passion about the principles involved in this issue. The fact that other military personnel are openly participating in the OWS movement, and philosophically supporting the protests, further strengthens my fragile trust of our military.

I'm sure that the trolls and Tea Baggers are about to pounce all over this thread, but I don't care.
I'm secure in the knowledge that I'm telling the truth, and I, for one, believe this hearsay.
Let the chips fall where they may...

You're going to have a lot of naysayers in here. You will have people ignore this thread. People will disagree. Do I? No. The reason? Because I know someone in the force as well who has been relaying stuff like this to us for a while.

What you said is true. Don't globalize with all troops and cops. Some are quitting just to join the movement and some don't think they way you think they do.

A good chunk of my military buddies have a severe distrust of police officers.

Hopefully things remain peaceful, but they've also told me if they were called upon to put down the protesters, they would tell their CO's to do it themselves.

reply to post by Absco


Thank you. This gives me some validation. rock on!

Originally posted by ArrowsNV
A good chunk of my military buddies have a severe distrust of police officers.

Hopefully things remain peaceful, but they've also told me if they were called upon to put down the protesters, they would tell their CO's to do it themselves.

Yep, this isn't your grandpa's military, and I'm glad. There are a lot of ethnic and middle-class people in our armed forces, and many of them joined the military to escape outright poverty. They know what it means to struggle. And apparantly, they have Honor as well.

Your words have the ring of truth, so without even requesting pictures, I believe you. That is to say, I believe you have a source that has relayed this information to you. I can't make any determination if the sources information is correct or not. I sure hope it is.

reply to post by moonzoo7


I believe you also..
I'm sure there are some in the military that feel this way.
Some may even have family that have been caught up in the trouble..

It would be nice to think it was the majority though.

reply to post by notquiteright


Only time will tell, my friend. I want the movement to succeed, but I sure as hell hope that this strategy doesn't have to be put to the test. If it does, things will get very ugly, and the fallout may change America again, and I fear that it won't be for the better. But, perhaps, a few eggs will have to be broken to cook an omlette....

One of my best friends is an ex-marine with many friends currently active.

Him, and all of his active friends, support some if not multiple levels of the OWS movement and are simply outraged by the events occurring in NYC.

It'll be a cold day in hell before our own troops march against our citizens, and that's from his mouth.

Best regards.

Originally posted by b3l13v3
One of my best friends is an ex-marine with many friends currently active.

Him, and all of his active friends, support some if not multiple levels of the OWS movement and are simply outraged by the events occurring in NYC.

It'll be a cold day in hell before our own troops march against our citizens, and that's from his mouth.

Best regards.

Right on. This is good news indeed. I have to admit, all of your replies are encouraging, and a picture is starting emerge here.

All I can say is,

”Good!”

I don't see how this couldn't be true.

But to get a major shift i think something would have to happen where people will know which side they're on..Like violence or even death at a protest.

If people see there family and friends hurting they will react, any person would, military or not.

It'd be a real beautiful thing to see. But i hope it doesn't have to come to that.

It's getting late here on the Left Coast, but, it's getting early on the Right Coast. I'm trying to wait it out a bit, but I hope this thread maintains some momentum back East after I go to sleep.
OK, yes, this is an off-topic, shameless ploy to keep this thread up on the list in order to give the East Coast peeps time to find this. I don't want it to get buried.....
It will be interesting to see what develops here. So far, so good.

While I'm not certain if I buy this, I will say it doesn't really raise any eyebrows.

With a few notable exceptions, whenever armed forces (usually the national Guard) have been brought to "break" protests or strikes... they've ended up siding with the people they were supposed to be kicking down. 'Cause those people are generally folks like the military's own families, or like them en themselves. Contrary to the rhetoric of certain party leaders in Washington and state capitols, protestors aren't "the enemy" in need of "destruction."

And since the men and women in uniform know they're getting screwed just as hard - what with the new talk of cuts to VA services especially! - sympathy with hte protestors isn't surprising.

Personally... while I can understand why protestors don't come to fight, I've often wondered why they don't at least have some sort of basic armor going on. Even sports padding or something, guys. A bike helmet or something. Ehn. I dunno.

I am no fan of the police state.
I am a veteran and swore a oath to protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic.

My Contract with the military has expired by my oath and hell of lot of other veterans oath still stand.

The police are not the enemy and need to be the next group that needs to be assimilated.
The police are scared and need to know who is, and who is not on their side.
The police need to protect the protesters but more important the protesters need to befriend and help the police chose the right side.

The police are part of 99% its time we all remember what side we are on.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox


I agree about the body armor for protesters. It's very logical at this point. And, by the way, I assure you, as for my part, this is absolutely true. ( It's funny, I PM'd you to tell you about the thread, and by the time I got back here, you had posted ).
Thanx for the input...

reply to post by TheWalkingFox

Personally... while I can understand why protestors don't come to fight, I've often wondered why they don't at least have some sort of basic armor going on. Even sports padding or something, guys. A bike helmet or something. Ehn. I dunno.

Because even defensive gear as you suggest would get them labeled as trouble makers by Government and MSM..

Sad but true.

I think you'll find there will be more people in the military that would not actively participate in a put down of the OWS than there are in the police. Police will just do their masters bidding, they've been encouraged to not think and just do. The armed forces do appear to have a little more 'up top' shall we say and also realise they have been screwed over by TPTB especially here in UK.

Man I sure hope this is true ( I do not doubt the OP one bit) like most of us I feared the worst, being that our military would pull a Kent State on the OWS. My reasoning is due to the fact that the head military generals top officials are in bed with the crooks that are the banksters and big oil all on this global domination game to tear the world a new one. Hearing this is refreshing, I have family members that used to be in the military, but they all our some how police(LAPD) and they say I quote "I enjoy getting a chance to use my night stick in riots" in a star wars like motion. True-fully it is the the active duty marines that I fear the most they have the most sensational taste for blood in my opinion any blood not on personal level but as a whole, they are some bad ass mf and would tears us whole holding our cardboard signs. If they are on our side the civilians we can truly stop this sick machine.

reply to post by Ubeen


I agree in principle. So far, I haven't seen any of the protesters violating any of the cops' Civil Rights, it has been the other way around. The "must win" attitude of the authorities will not prevail, and eventually, they will have to listen. I have years of psychiatric work experience in the past, and I've been trained in non-violent crisis resolution many times. In all of my training, I was taught that having a "must win" attitude does not help resolve a crisis. After much experience, I believe this to be true.