Posted on 06/25/2012 2:37:32 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Late last week and through the weekend, citizens of St. Louis, Mo., were told not to be alarmed should they see military tanks roll by their home. Even with this warning, though, some wondered why the U.S. Army was taking the vehicles off the base and to the streets in the first place.
According to KSDK-TV, Army specialists from Fort Meade came into town for a training exercise for members of the 354 NP company. As the reporter states, this drivers ed. for tanks will take place on city streets and the highway.
Watch the KSDK report:
As noted in the video, the military is warning onlookers to steer clear of the tanks should they be seen on the road. Still, this caused Brandon Smith from Alt-Market in a guest post for Zero Hedge to wonder why the military is really conducting this training in public at all, saying it makes very little sense to me. He poses these questions:
U.S. Army troops all the way from Maryland running open exercises in armored personnel carriers on the busy streets of St. Louis? I know Maryland is a small state, but is there really not enough room at Ft. Detrick to accommodate a tank column and some troops? Are there not entire fake neighborhood and town complexes built with taxpayer dollars on military bases across the country meant to facilitate a realistic urban environment for troops to train in? And why travel hundreds of miles to Missouri?
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
Send them to Detroit to clear some old houses while they are at it. ;-)
I see huge potholes in the future.
That was my thought also. I thought they couldn't take tanks onto residential streets because they would tear up the roadway. There are dedicated bases/facilities for this type of training - why aren't they being used instead?
Depends on the definition of "policing capacity"... There hasn't been such a major need for military tanks to manuver through suburbia in the past. Other than a muzzy usurper in the WH, what has happened to change that?
Getting ready for the election in November? Maybe BHO is planning on announcing there will be no election (national security reasons) and he’s getting the Army ready for the ensuing riots. Just a thought.
It would be real interesting if someone could post their observations on just what the armor and associated troops are doing:
Are they going in and out of buildings or aiming cannon at them?
Are there discernable fire zones?
Do those zones point generally outward(a) from a core facility or (b) toward outskirts of the city?, or inward (c) toward a salient facility or area or (d) from outskirts to city core?
Are they setting up check points/outposts, or decontamination centers...or compounds?
Are they running around in bizarre suits and/or gas masks?
Or are they just buying souvenirs and trying to meet girls?
My bet is that other police outfits will be getting some of the ol' M117's used in Iraq. It usually works that way.
hunnerd bucks says somebody gets hammered, watches kelly’s heroes and flips a molotov down a hatch for kicks and grins. The more often this kind of crap goes on in close proximity to residential areas instead of manuever training areas, the greater the likelihood there’s an incident. be kind of interesting to see what kind of rules of engagement they’ve got for the homeland, versus the restrictive crap in afghan t.o., etc.
I always wanted to be an NP when I was a little kid.
There is no such unit listed at Ft Meade, MD, however there is a reserve unit listed from St Louis, MO that is the 354th MP Company.
I guess I'm just too used to armor going all over hell and creation in Germany. Tiny back roads, autobahns, wherever. Just can't get worked up over this.
The drumbeat of Obamanation rolls on: regulate -— control -— destroy -— Regulate -— control -— destroy -— REgulate -— control -— destroy -— REGulate -— control -— destroy -— REGU
There are extensive expensive large fake cities for training purposes. Fort Knox is one of them.
There is no good reason for this display of force.
Not that much TEA Party presence in St. Louis, is there?
This is just something cops don't need.
A St Louis cop called into Alex Jones Sunday show and then today another ST Louis cop and a firefighter called in. What they had to say was not reassuring.
The cops are being told that in Oct some horrendous thing is going to happen and they will be fighting the militias etc. and protecting the upper class neighborhoods. Its pretty bizarre.
Think about that statement for a moment........
They have huge blind spots.
Military service should be zero defence against a manslaughter charge.
I'm sure that the MP's would prefer to go and train 354 NP's (just not how to drive).
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