Army to recruiters: Treat armed citizens as security threat [WHAT?????]

Stars & Stripes ^ | 7/22/15 | Travis J. Tritten

[markomalley]

The Army has warned its recruiters to treat the gun-toting civilians gathering at centers across the country in the wake of the Chattanooga, Tenn., shooting as a security threat.

Soldiers should avoid anyone standing outside the recruiting centers attempting to offer protection and report them to local law enforcement and the command if they feel threatened, according to a U.S. Army Recruiting Command policy letter issued Monday.

Armed citizens — some associated with activist groups and militias — were standing vigil outside recruiting centers in Wisconsin, Georgia, Tennessee, Idaho and elsewhere this week, saying they want to provide protection to servicemembers barred from carrying firearms on duty. Four Marines and a sailor were killed by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old Kuwait-born native of Tennessee, during an attack Thursday on a strip mall recruiting center and a Navy facility that is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

Abdulazeez fired into the front of the recruiting station but there were no casualties. The five servicemembers were killed during an attack on the Navy Operational Support Center. A Navy officer and a Marine reportedly fired at the gunman, although it is unclear why they were armed. It is against Defense Department policy for anyone other than military police or law enforcement to carry weapons on federal property.

“I’m sure the citizens mean well, but we cannot assume this in every case and we do not want to advocate this behavior,” according to the Army Command Operations Center-Security Division letter, which was authenticated by the service.

Recruiters were ordered not to interact or acknowledge the armed civilians, who have been greeted by a mix of concern, indifference and gratitude by the public.

“If questioned by these alleged concerned citizens, be polite, professional and terminate the conversation immediately and report the incident to local law enforcement …,” the command advised.

As the incidents crop up around the country, police could be asked to confront the civilians with guns on the Army’s behalf.

“Ensure your recruiters clearly articulate to local police the civilian may be armed and in possession of a conceal/carry permit,” it told the centers.

The command said recruiters should also immediately fill out an Army security report.

Kelli Bland, a spokeswoman for Army Recruiting Command, said the service has been increasing vigilance following the Chattanooga shooting and that local residents can help in other ways.

“Local communities can support our security by reporting suspicious activity, particularly around recruiting centers,” Bland wrote in an email to Stars and Stripes.

Concerned citizens began gathering at the centers shortly after the shooting in Tennessee, and governors in some states ordered recruiters to armories or to be armed for protection against potential terrorist attacks. Congress has also pushed for the Defense Department to lift its current policy.

The founder and president of Oath Keepers, a Constitution activist group based in Las Vegas, issued a national call Tuesday to guard centers, while members were already guarding centers in Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma, president Stewart Rhodes told the Associated Press.

Rhodes told the news service it’s “absolutely insane” that recruiters aren’t allowed to be armed.

“They’re sitting ducks,” Rhodes said Tuesday. “They’d be better off if they were walking down the streets of Baghdad, because at least in Baghdad, they could move. Here, they’re stationary.”

In Lewiston, Idaho, three men with a group known as “3 percenters” — a national alliance with members who prepare “for any situation, man-made or natural” — were standing watch outside a recruiting office this week, the TNS wire service reported.

“They supported us, and now we’re here showing them that we support them,” said Matt Dillard, of Clarkston, Idaho, who was among the men.

[Red in Blue PA]

The downside to that is if someone sees you observing from your car with your rifle.

[Fred Hayek]

Warriors are no longer welcome in the United States military. They would rather have prancing pansies afraid of breaking a nail.
Cue up the Monty Python Precision Drill Team.

[Norm Lenhart]

This is where people need to hold rallies across America in every town demanding to know why Barry is protecting terrorists and using American military as unarmed cannon fodder.

And why only Cruz and Trump seem to care.

[BobP]

Blind and defenseless

Pentagon Refuses to Arm Military Recruiters - Tells Them to "Close the Blinds"

07/20/15 - Navy Admiral Bill Gortney, head of the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has issued a directive to all State-side commands regarding site security of the hundreds of recruiting centers, reserve centers and university ROTC facilities in the United States. Described by Nissenbaum as "modest new security measures" the Admiral specified to all hands to "increase surveillance and take basic steps such as closing blinds at the offices."

Surprised he didn't say lights out too!

[Conscience of a Conservative]

What’s to prevent a muzzie terrorist from pretending to be standing guard only to turn the weapons on the recruiters? This isn’t completely unreasonable IMHO.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Obviously the solution would be to allow the recruiters to be armed, but that's not going to happen for the next 18 months, at least.

[himno hero]

yep, America has been turned inside out by the musli-marxist alliance.
Eviscerated too!

Now, add on empowering the worlds number one terrorists, the Iranian connection and you have treason.

I’ll bet you if you were a fly on the wall, you could hear the White House chanting in unison

“Death to America”

FUBO

All by proxy

[TBP]

So if someone shows up to protect you, that’s a threat to your security?

Do we live in Bizarro World?

[TBP]

If a Muslim jihadist shows up to murder recruiters, that’s peachy keen.

But if armed Americans show up to protect them, that is to be reported pronto.

[RedHeeler]

Well, the GOP is the right wing of the Democrat Party.

[Norm Lenhart]

Lately I wouldn’t be so sure. The moderate wing maybe. Right is pushing it. They are way left of that.

[RedHeeler]

Without a doubt.

[Riley]

What’s to prevent a muzzie terrorist from pretending to be standing guard only to turn the weapons on the recruiters? This isn’t completely unreasonable IMHO.

I agree. I'd add that there is no way of vetting the volunteers. If the Army or whomever allows them to stay then they may feel that they'd bear some degree of culpability for any actions that they may take and that might end badly.

I'm a veteran myself. I had a brief stint of duty after I graduated from training on what was then known as 'recruiter assistance'. I find this a touching and patriotic gesture. I'm sure that the Army appreciates it, but I understand why they're uncomfortable with it.

I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps when the Gulf War broke out. I have mentioned this in the (now distant) past, but I've often wondered if there was some way that a workable 'veterans volunteer auxiliary' could be formed for exactly this kind of situation, where your records could be checked and there would be the sort of chain of accountability that the service likes to have in place would be in force?

[Tau Food]

You’re right. I hadn’t thought of that, but I imagine it didn’t take the recruiters long to see the potential hazard.

[Synthesist]

WTF??? Words just fail me...

Our own Army brass considers us legally armed citizens offering protection for unarmed recruiters as a security threat…

Even DETAINING and calling police to arrest people who offer help:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3315483/posts

[Synthesist]

” report them to local law enforcement and the command if they feel threatened,”

I imagine that not many of them will feel threatened.
___________________________

Well, at least one did:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3315483/posts

[VerySadAmerican]

ALLEDGED concerned citizens

Every recruiter should come down with green flu.

[azishot]

A cop on the phone or a gun in the hand? What a dilemma.

[x_plus_one]

The invisible war to islamize north america is incremental. Arabic is mandatory for New York and Tennessee grade schools. .

Gulen Charter schools rule the roost while rural districts are closed down due to poor performance on nonstandardized federal tests.

The end is closer than you think.

[GeronL]

Americans cannot be trusted with guns!

—Er, what was that job again?

[Old Sarge]

Tactically speaking, they shouldn’t be standing out in front of the recruiting station. Instead they should be a discreet distance away, with a concealed carry weapon, and immediate cover and hopefully concealment from any return fire.

That's because they're not there to be tactical.

In the case of Oathkeepers, they're there to make PR photo ops and sell memberships. Judging from the articles in social media, they've succeeded.

In the case of the three-percenters, not so much the same thing, as they don't have a national group looming over them.

I also searched for "Army Command Operations Center-Security Division" - there is no such thing. I am blaming that on lousy reporting from Stars and Stripes, which is an AP outlet and no longer independent.

IF they were referring to USAREC, they DO have a Security Division, and that is where such directives for the recruiters would come from (however misguided and PC they would be).

One note on the recruiters, having been a recruiter for the Guard myself: our orders come from the state, not the Fed. NORTHCOM and USAREC send policy directives and such for recruiting operations, but the Governor overrides everything, through his State Adjutant General (a 2-star). If the Governor tells us to carry while on duty, we carry.