http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090224/NEWS10/902240390 This has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever read, people are actually outraged about an exercise that could save troops lives? It's not like they where going to actually confiscate the guns, they were simply going to go door to door and due routine searches with permission of the property owners. What happened to supporting the troops? In Iraq troops went door to door and searched for people or arms pretty regularly (in fact they might still do that), and being able to train for a situation like that would probably save a lot of lives of both troops and civilians.
If you don't recognize that this is meant to be practice for a martial law takeover and dis-arming of citizens, then you're not very perceptive.
its kind of random that they would search people's houses for weapons. if you had them, why would you consent to the search? shit, what if they had a bag of weed?
Then they'd have some new friends? I'm guessing that most people who have bags of weed lying around don't volunteer to participate. barfo
Like in the yard? It's the national guard, not the police. I don't think they have the power to do anything about weed, do they? barfo
I'd think that if they had some just cause during this "routine" exercise, they would do whatever they want. What if they saw a shifty looking arab dude with what appeared to be a weapons stack? then it doesn't become voluntary now, does it?
It was the Iowa National Guard. It's appropriate for state national guard troops to perform law enforcement duties (and practice doing same). I can understand people being concerned about US troops on the streets here in the US. US Active Duty Personnel performing law enforcement duties within the borders of the US was illegal until Bush/Cheney got The Posse Comitatas Act revoked a couple of years ago. "Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1 3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Sep 30, 2008 16:16:12 EDT The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys. Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home. Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks. It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas. But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities. After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one. “Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. “Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.” The command is at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., but the soldiers with 1st BCT, who returned in April after 15 months in Iraq, will operate out of their home post at Fort Stewart, Ga., where they’ll be able to go to school, spend time with their families and train for their new homeland mission as well as the counterinsurgency mission in the war zones...." http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/
