Posted: 2/20/2009 10:43:40 AM EDT
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The Carroll National Guard unit will train on urban military operations by holding a four-day exercise at Arcadia.
The purpose of the April 2-5 drill will be to gather intelligence, then search for and apprehend a suspected weapons dealer, according to Sgt. Mike Kots, readiness NCO for Alpha Company. Citizens, law enforcement, media and other supporters will participate. Troops will spend Thursday, April 2, staging at a forward operations base at Carroll. The next day company leaders will conduct reconnaissance and begin patrolling the streets of Arcadia to identify possible locations of the weapons dealer. The primary phase will be done Saturday, April 4, when convoys will be deployed from Carroll to Arcadia. Pictures of the arms dealer will be shown in Arcadia, and soldiers will go door to door asking if residents have seen the suspect. Soldiers will knock only at households that have agreed to participate in the drill, Kots noted. “Once credible intelligence has been gathered,” said Kots, “portions of the town will be road-blocked and more in-depth searches of homes and vehicles will be conducted in accordance with the residents’ wishes. “One of the techniques we use in today’s political environment is cordon and knock,” Kots explained. “We ask for the head of the household, get permission to search, then have them open doors and cupboards. The homeowner maintains control. We peer over their shoulder, and the soldier uses the homeowner’s body language and position to protect him.” During this phase of the operation, troops will interact with residents and media while implementing crowd-control measures and possibly treating and evacuating injured persons. The unit will use a Blackhawk helicopter for overhead command and control, and to simulate medevacs. The drill will culminate in the apprehension of the suspected arms dealer. Alpha Company will conduct a review of the drill on Sunday, April 5. A meeting to give residents more information and accept volunteers will be held 7 p.m. Monday, March 2, in the Arcadia American Legion hall. Kots said the exercise will replace Alpha Company’s weekend drill for April. “We have a lot of extended drills this coming year,” he added. In addition to surveillance, searching and apprehension, the exercise will also give the troops valuable experience in stability, support, patrol, traffic control, vehicle searches and other skills needed for deployment in an urban environment. “This exercise will improve the real-life operational skills of the unit,” said Kots. “And it will hopefully improve the public’s understanding of military operations.” The pre-drill work with residents is as important at the drill itself. “It will be important for us to gain the trust and confidence of the residents of Arcadia,” said Kots. “We will need to identify individuals that are willing to assist us in training by allowing us to search their homes and vehicles and to participate in role-playing.” “We really want to get as much information out there as possible, because this operation could be pretty intrusive to the people of Arcadia.” http://www.carrollspaper.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=7451&TM=55111.9 |
| Yeah, read about that yesterday over in GD. I don't think it's anything to worry about. They are just training for what they will be doing over in Iraq. They have done training like this before too involving the towns people with scenarios and such. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. |
| I listened to an interview of the LT. Colonel in charge of the exercise today. He was asked if ordered to disarm Iowa would he? He said its never happened in the history of the state. Thats not exactly no. He & his unit was involved in Katrina. Draw your own conclusions. |
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Quoted:
I listened to an interview of the LT. Colonel in charge of the exercise today. He was asked if ordered to disarm Iowa would he? He said its never happened in the history of the state. Thats not exactly no. He & his unit was involved in Katrina. Draw your own conclusions. So the "drill" involves patrolling the streets, going door to door searching homes and vehicles while portioning the town with road-blocks and using a Blackhawk helicopter for overhead command and control with the consent of local citizens all to find one role-playing "arms dealer?" That's got to be one hell of an arms dealer! I thought a drill is used to train for a likely event? Based only off the military manpower that will be deployed for the day, I think the drill is training for something on a grander scale that isn't being alluded to. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
"Posse Comitatus" It is illegal for Federal Govt. to perform what amounts to law enforcement actions. The BATF&E is the appropriate Federal agency for the scenario described in the article. EVERY person, agency, contractor, etc. commited a felony(18 USC 242)by their actions during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. I suggest these folks "train" on their own property! |
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Quoted:
“This exercise will improve the real-life operational skills of the unit,” said Kots. “And it will hopefully improve the public’s understanding of military operations.” The pre-drill work with residents is as important at the drill itself. “It will be important for us to gain the trust and confidence of the residents of Arcadia,” said Kots. “We will need to identify individuals that are willing to assist us in training by allowing us to search their homes and vehicles and to participate in role-playing.” “We really want to get as much information out there as possible, because this operation could be pretty intrusive to the people of Arcadia.” http://www.carrollspaper.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=7451&TM=55111.9 First off, Thanks for posting this article. This is almost right in my back yard! Can you say conditioning? Not only conditioning the civilians, but also the military and the press which spreads the news. It's also labeling people as either sheep or rebels. It's going quite a bit beyond "intrusive"! I found this on the net. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUtvaGVnu4&feature=email http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1dULIivsPk&NR=1 It's not good at all, but interesting stuff. The whole town (of 440 or less, not so urban) should say "NO THANK YOU!!" |
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You patriots in the Iowa area need to pre-position (peacefully) in the two towns this will happen in. Document what and how they do what they do. If they want volunteers to role play then help them. Learn how they are being trained, and then disseminate the information to all the states.
They may try to keep people that are not residents of the area from coming as it gets close to happening. Patriots have relatives, friends and loved ones in the area and they need to appear like a normal residents so they are easily incorporated into the events. Cooperate and get eyes & ears on everything that happens. Small cameras and audio recording equipment is affordable now. Our Founding Fathers basically did the same thing with their newtork of people who kept an eye on what the "regulars" were doing. BTW, Paul Revere did NOT ride through the night yelling "the British are coming", as they all were British. He yealled "the regulars are out". In Liberty, Scharfschutz www.RWVA.org |
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a couple thoughts... first i dislike the premise of this training. but, i recognize training for the environment in which you intend to operate is a necessity. i strongly dislike the notion it involves tracking down a "gun" people. i'm wondering if i'm being a bit paranoid, but...
after the dust settles on all that, would we all react the same way if they said they were training to find and isolate a dude with a dirty bomb? this deserves a bit more thought on the front end and less instact reactivity IMO... |
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I agree, it does seem a bit suspicious that they looking for weapons/weapons dealer. This training does have it's applications to the war, however, it does seem a bit strange that they would be doing it in a small Iowa town with a population of less than 500. Hopefully we never see a situation where the Army/National Guard is going door to door looking for weapons. I guess time will tell.
By the way, does anyone know anybody that is going to participate in this, civilian or guard? Might be a good idea to see if we have any one inside that could give us more detail on what exactly they are doing. Not trying to be paranoid, but.... |
Maybe a private person who sells off some of their own personal collection? A true weapons dealer would probably not allow a military force to enter their residence. 
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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=89527
POLICE STATE, USA National Guard scraps plans to invade rural town 'This operation could be pretty intrusive to the people' –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Posted: February 20, 2009 4:24 pm Eastern By Drew Zahn © 2009 WorldNetDaily DES MOINES, Iowa – Following publicized reports that the Army National Guard was planning a military training exercise on the streets of a rural Iowa town, the commanding officers have called off the mock "invasion." The Guard had planned a four-day urban military operation in tiny Arcadia, Iowa, population 443, sending troops to take over the town and search door-to-door for a suspected weapons dealer. The exercise was designed as a mock scenario to give soldiers the skills needed for deployment in an urban environment, and military officials stressed that only households that consented to be part of the drill would be searched. "It will be important for us to gain the trust and confidence of the residents of Arcadia," Sgt. Mike Kots, readiness NCO for Alpha Company, told Carroll's Daily Times Herald. "We will need to identify individuals that are willing to assist us in training by allowing us to search their homes and vehicles and to participate in role-playing. "We really want to get as much information out there as possible," Kots continued, "because this operation could be pretty intrusive to the people of Arcadia." Military spokesman Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, however, told WND that the operation has now been "scaled back" and no longer involves an "invasion" of Arcadia. And while Hapgood confirmed the Guard had been inundated with objections from citizens concerned about soldiers patrolling the streets of an American town, he said most came from people out of state and unfamiliar with the operation. Iowans, he explained, typically cooperate with the Guard. The change in plans was based on troop evaluation, he said, not public outcry. "Higher headquarters leadership," Hapgood told WND, "given the unit's status of training proficiency, made a decision to scale back the exercise." Kots described the original operation to the Herald as set to begin on Thursday, April 2, with reconnaissance and exploratory patrols. On April 4 convoys were to be deployed from the armory in Carroll to nearby Arcadia, where soldiers would knock on doors, showing a picture of the invented "arms dealer." "Once credible intelligence has been gathered," said Kots, "portions of the town will be road-blocked and more in-depth searches of homes and vehicles will be conducted in accordance with the residents' wishes. "One of the techniques we use in today's political environment is cordon and knock," Kots explained. "We ask for the head of the household, get permission to search, then have them open doors and cupboards. The homeowner maintains control. We peer over their shoulder, and the soldier uses the homeowner's body language and position to protect him." The planned drill had also included overhead supervision from a Blackhawk helicopter, crowd-control measures and simulated extraction of "injured" people, culminating in capture of the "arms dealer." "This exercise will improve the real-life operational skills of the unit," said Kots. "And it will hopefully improve the public's understanding of military operations." "There are no active duty bases in Iowa, so there are no urban warfare training areas of any size," Hopgood said. "In order to get that larger neighborhood feel or city feel, we have to be creative and partner with our communities." Hopgood further told WND that in past cooperative exercises with the community, the people of Iowa have welcomed learning how their sons and daughters operate in action. Plans for the urban operation training, Hopgood explained, are still set to continue, but will be conducted in a smaller, platoon-by-platoon basis in the near vicinity of the Carroll armory. |
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Quoted: Posse Comitatus does not apply to the National Guard. National Guard is a State's militia and falls under the control of the Governors of each state and not the President. BTW, there was a law passed in 2006 that goes around Posse Comitatus and deals with Federal force used to put down civil unrest/ insurrection. Still looking.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act "Posse Comitatus" It is illegal for Federal Govt. to perform what amounts to law enforcement actions. The BATF&E is the appropriate Federal agency for the scenario described in the article. EVERY person, agency, contractor, etc. commited a felony(18 USC 242)by their actions during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. I suggest these folks "train" on their own property! |
