Just found this....War Games.....U.S.(Nationwide)....U.S.(Alaska)....NATO.
Some of these articles allude to the simulated war games being enacted all this past week. This is the first time that I have seen any of this info., I saw nothing at all earlier this week. Plus info. from previous post regarding China have all troops at the ready for chaotic uprising. Sorry, but the timing is unnerving.
#1 U.S.(Nationwide)
Three Carrier Strike Groups Engage in Nationwide Virtual Exercise
Posted on Thu, Feb. 26, 2004
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Three aircraft carriers at Navy bases on both coasts are fighting a war this week, without ever leaving port.
The Norfolk-based USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group is joining carrier groups in Bremerton, Wash., and San Diego in a virtual exercise that uses computers to simulate battle conditions at sea
.
This is the first time three strike groups are training together like this, Vice Adm. Albert H. Konetzni Jr., deputy and chief of staff of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Atlantic Fleet, said in an interview Thursday.
``This will bring war-gaming to a new level,'' Konetzni said. ``It will put the operators, the players, under great stress. They will be making decisions that are truly, truly critical to the carrying out of the operations, and it allows the operators, even down to the unit level, to really understand how they play in these scenarios.''
The Multi-Battle Group Inport Exercise, which began Monday and ends Friday, includes 72 hours of wartime planning and execution using a combination of actual ship command and control equipment and simulation systems. Sailors talk to each other in computer chat rooms and look at intelligence and surveillance reports in real time, Konetzni said.
The exercise is taking place primarily in Norfolk; San Diego, where the USS John C. Stennis is based; and Bremerton, where the USS Carl Vinson is based.
Guided missile cruisers and destroyers and fast-attack submarines also are participating from simulators. Reconnaissance aircraft crews are taking part using a mission avionics system trainer in Fallon, Nev.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/technology/8050087.htm #2 U.S. Juneau, Alaska:
Agencies Gear up for Simulated Terrorist Threat in Juneau
City will test its Emergency Operations Center inside police headquarters
By TONY CARROLL
JUNEAU EMPIRE
In case terrorists ever target Juneau, local police, state troopers and the Coast Guard are responding to a simulated threat.
For a week starting today there will be about 100 additional military personnel in the area, and Juneau residents could see more people in uniform.
There may be more sirens on the streets, more military aircraft in the skies and at the airport and more Coast Guard vessels on the water, said Rear Adm. James Underwood, commander of the Coast Guard in Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway also will participate.
There will be few troop movements and little activity will be apparent to the general public. Coast Guard Lt. Brad Wilson said most of the troop activity around Juneau will be on the water.
"There won't be any big bangs or anything like that," Underwood said. The activities will be part of an exercise labeled Unified Defense 04, which will involve hundreds of people from more than 60 federal, state and local agencies nationwide, according to information released jointly by the city and Coast Guard.
The nationwide exercise will include a series of simulated natural disasters as well as terrorist activities. In addition to maritime and port security events in Juneau and Southeast Alaska, mock scenarios will include a hurricane and radiological events in Texas and aerospace defense activities in several locations.
U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., will coordinate military support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Coast Guard.
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/021904/loc_terror.shtml #3 NATO:
Largest NATO Nation Exercise Kicks Off at NAS Sigonella
Story Number: NNS040226-08
Release Date: 2/26/2004 3:00:00 PM
By Journalist 1st Class Russ Tafuri, Naval Media Center Fleet Support Detachment, Sigonella
SICILY (NNS) -- Seventeen NATO nations will provide submarines, maritime patrol aircraft, surface ships and 2,000 personnel for NATO’s largest anti-submarine warfare exercise, “Dogfish 04," from Feb. 19 through March 3.
According to Lt. Cmdr. Harvey Burwin of the British Royal Navy, Public Information Officer for Regional Headquarters Allied Forces Southern Europe, the exercise aims to provide advanced training in air/surface/submarine cooperation, and coordinated anti-submarine warfare operations against transiting and on-station submarines.
“It also gives the participants the chance to exercise the associated NATO procedures, to include command and control, defense against submarine surveillance and other related training,” said Burwin.
Burwin also offered that the exercise is an opportunity for NATO to bring together all member nations to exercise together in a very specialized type of warfare. He also noted that it serves "to practice exactly what is taking place in the Eastern Mediterranean today with Operation Active Endeavor, NATO’s anti-terrorism operation, which is very important for this alliance right now due to the peace-keeping operations currently taking place in Kosovo, Bosnia, Macedonia and Afghanistan.”
NATO’s Exercise Dogfish takes place in the Ionian Sea off the eastern coast of Sicily and demonstrates NATO’s determination to maintain proficiency in coordinated anti-submarine, anti-surface, and coastal surveillance operations, using a multinational force of ships, submarines and aircraft.
http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=12045It sounds like all sides are gearing up for something. It does make me wonder.
You said it. The timing is unnerving.