jaredsxtn Wrote: I first thought this was RT hyping up some mundane military exercise in the states, but it looks like local media in Texas and other states are reporting on this as well.I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around why elite military units need to disguise themselves within the civilian population and then tell the citizens to report any suspicious looking activity. That seems awfully close to big brother telling its citizens to spy on each other and I can think of a million ways something like that can go terribly wrong.
lonely bird Wrote: Martial law?No.But when the tool you prefer us a hammer then everything is a nail. Urban warfare is very real possibility in various areas around the world. Instead of seeking ways to diffuse situations or remove them from our interests we seek rather how to engage in more draining of men, material, intellect and good will. Paranoia causes governing in constant fear.The health of the state isn't war but coercion to war.
“This exercise is routine training to maintain a high level of readiness for Army Special Operations Forces because they must be ready to support potential missions anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice,” Lastoria told Shadow Spear.Paul Pape, a Bastrop County judge, however fears that the training was in reality rehearsal for full-blown martial law on the streets of America.“What I see here is an opportunity for a portion of our military to be better prepared and better trained to do work that has to be done to secure America’s interests around the world and here at home,” Pape told KEYE television in Austin, Texas.A number of citizen groups and media also speculate on why the entire states of Texas and Utah, as well as a section of southern California, have been declared “hostile.” “They're having Delta Force, Navy SEALS with the Army trained to basically take over,” Info Wars' Alex Jones railed Sunday. “Texas is listed as a hostile sector, and of course, we are... here defending the republic.”
Mephistopheles Wrote: From Newswire.net:“This exercise is routine training to maintain a high level of readiness for Army Special Operations Forces because they must be ready to support potential missions anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice,” Lastoria told Shadow Spear.Paul Pape, a Bastrop County judge, however fears that the training was in reality rehearsal for full-blown martial law on the streets of America.“What I see here is an opportunity for a portion of our military to be better prepared and better trained to do work that has to be done to secure America’s interests around the world and here at home,” Pape told KEYE television in Austin, Texas.A number of citizen groups and media also speculate on why the entire states of Texas and Utah, as well as a section of southern California, have been declared “hostile.”“They're having Delta Force, Navy SEALS with the Army trained to basically take over,” Info Wars' Alex Jones railed Sunday. “Texas is listed as a hostile sector, and of course, we are... here defending the republic.”While anything Alex Jones says should be taken with a whole salt shaker, as a former Army officer, I understand the logic of what they are trying to do, somewhat. The Southwest is the best place, not because of impending drought, but because the conditions simulate those of the current hottest sector in the world, the Middle East. Any training exercise that involves brigade level or higher planning is going to pick a region of the world to 'simulate'. I've been involved in simulated invasions of Azerbaijan, Laos, Romania, Ghana, etc. all under different names. Its much easier to just pull up a map with roads and borders already on it than draw something up from scratch. For what it's worth, we 'invaded' Columbus, Georgia and Tacoma, Washington too.What the Alex Jones and Stormfront groups don't seem to understand is that the US military had a VERY difficult time suppressing an insurrection of a nation of 30 million (Iraq) with no major mountain ranges and a very low ratio of armed populace. How exactly is it possible for our army to install martial law over a nation 10 times that, covered in mountains, forests, large urban sprawl, and with ready access to firearms and ammunition?Now, as long as they have informed the locals and gotten permission, (which, if they hadn't, would [a] mean that we wouldn't have heard about this and [b] would defeat the purpose of doing the infiltration training, since most rural areas in the southwest would likely give the SF dudes a ticker-tape parade if they found one on the street and didn't know they were supposed to help) this shouldn't been more than a minor inconvenience. I will say that the SF guys are crazy to a man, and this is just the kind of thing they would think would be a great training event, without thinking how it would be perceived.
“This exercise is routine training to maintain a high level of readiness for Army Special Operations Forces because they must be ready to support potential missions anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice,” Lastoria told Shadow Spear.Paul Pape, a Bastrop County judge, however fears that the training was in reality rehearsal for full-blown martial law on the streets of America.“What I see here is an opportunity for a portion of our military to be better prepared and better trained to do work that has to be done to secure America’s interests around the world and here at home,” Pape told KEYE television in Austin, Texas.A number of citizen groups and media also speculate on why the entire states of Texas and Utah, as well as a section of southern California, have been declared “hostile.”“They're having Delta Force, Navy SEALS with the Army trained to basically take over,” Info Wars' Alex Jones railed Sunday. “Texas is listed as a hostile sector, and of course, we are... here defending the republic.”
Under a Pentagon budget that will shrink by more than $75 billion over the next two years -- with deeper cuts expected if sequestration returns in fiscal year 2016 -- Hagel and other senior defense and military officials acknowledged that some of the budget choices will create additional risks in certain areas.Some of that risk, Hagel said, is associated with a sharp drawdown in the size of the Army, which the proposed budget calls for reducing to as low as 440,000 active duty soldiers from the current size of 520,000, while ensuring the force remains well trained and equipped.
While the terrain may be good for conducting mock drills, I have a harder time understanding how our cities and towns would be comparable to any of the cities and towns where conflicts are currently underway in Iraq and other areas. Tikrit and Mosul don't look like any US cities I have seen in the southwest.
Mephistopheles Wrote: Mmmm, I'm not sure what you mean. We've reduced the Army size by another division due to the sequester, and from what I can tell on the DOD website, we're going down even further.http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121703Under a Pentagon budget that will shrink by more than $75 billion over the next two years -- with deeper cuts expected if sequestration returns in fiscal year 2016 -- Hagel and other senior defense and military officials acknowledged that some of the budget choices will create additional risks in certain areas.Some of that risk, Hagel said, is associated with a sharp drawdown in the size of the Army, which the proposed budget calls for reducing to as low as 440,000 active duty soldiers from the current size of 520,000, while ensuring the force remains well trained and equipped.Now, our total numbers on most metrics include our Navy, USMC, and Air Force personnel too. That's why we still look so large.For comparison, the total Army size of other countries (I'm assuming a minimum navy, which in the Russians' case who knows?):http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/armies.htmPakistan: 550,000Iran: 350,000Russia: 415,000Turkey: 400,000Vietnam: 410,000I don't think it is a problem reducing Army size to our current levels, or even further. A mechanized division and associated equipment can be built from the ground up within about 6-12 months, much faster if it is a light infantry division. What would be much more troublesome is a reduction in Carrier Fleets. It takes over 10 years to build a state of the art carrier fleet (1 supercarrier with 5-10 cruiser escorts, plus supply ships, smaller screens, and aircraft squadrons) and that is truly where our super power status lies. Carrier fleets are what allow us to project power to protect allies throughout the world, and without them we are a regional power in north america, at best. We currently have 11, with all of them being outdated Nimitz design from the 1970s. We have plans to update with the new Ford class, but cuts to the Navy's budget might scrap it.The great thing about Naval spending is the Navy is unlikely to be able to run a martial law over the US, and doesn't have the footprint overseas that land posts do.While the terrain may be good for conducting mock drills, I have a harder time understanding how our cities and towns would be comparable to any of the cities and towns where conflicts are currently underway in Iraq and other areas. Tikrit and Mosul don't look like any US cities I have seen in the southwest.Yes but I guess they'd be the closest to it? Not defending SOCOM's decision making here, but I don't think this is a sinister plot. It's just dumb leadership on their part.
Mephistopheles Wrote: From Newswire.net:While anything Alex Jones says should be taken with a whole salt shaker, as a former Army officer, I understand the logic of what they are trying to do, somewhat. The Southwest is the best place, not because of impending drought, but because the conditions simulate those of the current hottest sector in the world, the Middle East. Any training exercise that involves brigade level or higher planning is going to pick a region of the world to 'simulate'. I've been involved in simulated invasions of Azerbaijan, Laos, Romania, Ghana, etc. all under different names. Its much easier to just pull up a map with roads and borders already on it than draw something up from scratch. For what it's worth, we 'invaded' Columbus, Georgia and Tacoma, Washington too.What the Alex Jones and Stormfront groups don't seem to understand is that the US military had a VERY difficult time suppressing an insurrection of a nation of 30 million (Iraq) with no major mountain ranges and a very low ratio of armed populace. How exactly is it possible for our army to install martial law over a nation 10 times that, covered in mountains, forests, large urban sprawl, and with ready access to firearms and ammunition?Now, as long as they have informed the locals and gotten permission, (which, if they hadn't, would [a] mean that we wouldn't have heard about this and [b] would defeat the purpose of doing the infiltration training, since most rural areas in the southwest would likely give the SF dudes a ticker-tape parade if they found one on the street and didn't know they were supposed to help) this shouldn't been more than a minor inconvenience. I will say that the SF guys are crazy to a man, and this is just the kind of thing they would think would be a great training event, without thinking how it would be perceived.