Vandenberg Air Force Base authorizes 'deadly force' against trespassing protesters

Sacramento Bee ^ | 3/15/03

[areafiftyone]

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - Security forces at Vandenberg Air Force Base may use "deadly force" against protesters if they infiltrate the military complex if a war starts, officials said.

Some anti-war activists plan to trespass onto base grounds in hopes of disturbing Vandenberg's mission and to vandalize sensitive equipment they contend helps guide the war effort.

[ExSoldier]

Gee...back in let's see...1982 one of my troops put two in the head of a whacko drunk driver who was using his vehicle to ram through the security gates at my posts' Ammunition Holding Area where we kept the stuff for real deployments--you know, the "GO TO WAR" stuff.

We clapped the kid on the back and the other platoons bought me and my guys all the beer we could drink the next time we had a day off. The "OLD MAN" never questioned my request for special marksmanship training again. "Special" meaning I made them do "snapshots" off hand with both handguns and rifles. The kid said it paid off. I guess it did.

[alphadog]

"I seem to recall sometime in the late 1970s some mindless protestor was trying to stop a trainload of muitions (in northern California) and sat down on the train train tracks. The train did not stop, he lost both legs."

This guy was, and maybe still is, the President of the VFW in Santa Cruz (California) These bolshevik's will stop at nothing to control every aspect of poltical control...Know you enemy, folks...

[PatrioticAmerican]

"What would you do if she was in front of your car?"

Lay on the horn.

[Rasputin_TheMadMonk]

What would you do if she was in front of your car?

1. Shut off the ignition and step out of the car, locking car after exit.
2. Ask her calmly to move from the roadway.
3. Repeat step two twice.
4. Remove safety from can of Frontiersman bear attack deterrent pepper spray and warn her you are about to fire.
5. Fire a five second burst of pepper spray directed at targets eyes and nose.
6. If subject fails to react, repeat step 5 until method is proven effective.
7. Roll screaming woman from roadway, suggest cold water to stop the pain.
8. Return to car, unlock door, start engine and drive on.

I am an advocate of nonlethal force. Just make the fools wish they were dead.

[metesky]

This means that any AP that merely reduces a trespasser to a bloody stump can be praised for showing restraint. And that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

[Jhoffa_]

The deadly force policy will not deter protesters, said Peter Lumsdaine ..

I bet it will. Just look at Ted bundy's recidivism rate if you don't believe me. It's holding steady at a perfect 0%

"I think it does underline that people in the nonviolent resistance movement are willing to take some risks," Lumsdaine said.

This is whistling past the graveyard. I bet you that no one in that lousy little movement would risk getting their butt shot off to vandalize a piece of equipment.

He's just talking tough before he slinks away to hold his sign on the corner.

[KantianBurke]

LMAO!!

[glory]

Couldn't have said it better myself! Totally agree! And it's reason 1,000,121 that they are absolutely irrelavent.

[COBOL2Java]

What would you do if she was in front of your car?

Full ahead. If she dented my fender I'd sue her family.

[garbanzo]

They also are extrememly self centered and think the universe revolves around them personally.

Sounds like the typical liberal mindset.

[First Amendment]

I was describing the typical liberal mindset!

[Abcdefg]

He lies. I've seen video of the event and the train never varied its speed. It was moving at about 5 mph. Other protestors got out of the way when they saw the train wasn't going to stop. Idiot deserved to lose his life.

[archy]

>>Tanks are glamourous and remarkably safe vehicles, easy and inexpensive to operate, hardly requiring any maintenance effort whatsoever,

LOL - great pics, and I hope all reading realize your line quoted above was *dripping* with sarcasm.

Oh, yeah. You betcha.

I'm the son of an Armor officer, and I've seen tank crews swearing while breaking track. And those pics - whoa!

Thank you for putting up with some hard times yourself. I've known more than a few dependents of my fellow tankers, officer and enlisted, who had to withstand the absence of the old dad, often out there fixing tracks or replacing popped torsion bars with every colourful phrase imaginable tearing the air, and a tear in the corner of an eye for not being able to share an important moment with a kid they loved instead.

There'd be a whole battalion of recovery crews swearing over those. Not even multiple M88's would make those easy jobs.

Well, most of the battalion maintenance crew would be out there for a good laugh, or hoping to come up with a bright idea that saves the day. And the two engineer AVLB scissors bridges in our unit did a pretty fair job as stuck vehicle retrievers as well, once they'd dumped their spans. And of course, the M88 retreivers do a lot better job when they aren't on fire.