Army brigade now in US for 'crowd control'

Comment posted at Military Times: "I don't get it, the tone of this article makes this seem like a good thing. What about laws? Posse comitatus anyone? How about the fact that military policing citizens goes against the foundation that this country was built on. Are we turning into the Soviet Union? What next? Suspension of elections? Internment camps? Complete suspension of the constitution? Are we going to buy tyranny hook line and sinker so long as it is sold to us as a "patriotic" response to fear?"

Army ready to police the streets of US
Below, from Military Times:
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Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1
#1 09-08-2008, 12:37 PM
CommunityEditor
MilitaryTimes.com Community Editor

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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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.

Stop-loss will not be in effect, so soldiers will be able to leave the Army or move to new assignments during the mission, and the operational tempo will be variable.

Don’t look for any extra time off, though. The at-home mission does not take the place of scheduled combat-zone deployments and will take place during the so-called dwell time a unit gets to reset and regenerate after a deployment.

The 1st of the 3rd is still scheduled to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan in early 2010, which means the soldiers will have been home a minimum of 20 months by the time they ship out.

In the meantime, they’ll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the “jaws of life” to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

“I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered,” said Cloutier, describing the experience as “your worst muscle cramp ever — times 10 throughout your whole body.

“I’m not a small guy, I weigh 230 pounds ... it put me on my knees in seconds.”

The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced “sea-smurf”).

“I can’t think of a more noble mission than this,” said Cloutier, who took command in July. “We’ve been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you’re going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones.”

While soldiers’ combat training is applicable, he said, some nuances don’t apply.

“If we go in, we’re going in to help American citizens on American soil, to save lives, provide critical life support, help clear debris, restore normalcy and support whatever local agencies need us to do, so it’s kind of a different role,” said Cloutier, who, as the division operations officer on the last rotation, learned of the homeland mission a few months ago while they were still in Iraq.

Some brigade elements will be on call around the clock, during which time they’ll do their regular marksmanship, gunnery and other deployment training. That’s because the unit will continue to train and reset for the next deployment, even as it serves in its CCMRF mission.

Should personnel be needed at an earthquake in California, for example, all or part of the brigade could be scrambled there, depending on the extent of the need and the specialties involved.

Other branches included
The active Army’s new dwell-time mission is part of a NorthCom and DOD response package.

Active-duty soldiers will be part of a force that includes elements from other military branches and dedicated National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams.

A final mission rehearsal exercise is scheduled for mid-September at Fort Stewart and will be run by Joint Task Force Civil Support, a unit based out of Fort Monroe, Va., that will coordinate and evaluate the interservice event.

In addition to 1st BCT, other Army units will take part in the two-week training exercise, including elements of the 1st Medical Brigade out of Fort Hood, Texas, and the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Bragg, N.C.

There also will be Air Force engineer and medical units, the Marine Corps Chemical, Biological Initial Reaction Force, a Navy weather team and members of the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

One of the things Vogler said they’ll be looking at is communications capabilities between the services.

“It is a concern, and we’re trying to check that and one of the ways we do that is by having these sorts of exercises. Leading up to this, we are going to rehearse and set up some of the communications systems to make sure we have interoperability,” he said.

“I don’t know what America’s overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said. “It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.”


Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/0...eland_090708w/


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#2 09-24-2008, 12:44 PM
WeaponMit
Recruit Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 2

Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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I don't get it, the tone of this article makes this seem like a good thing. What about laws? Posse comitatus anyone? How about the fact that military policing citizens goes against the foundation that this country was built on. Are we turning into the Soviet Union? What next? Suspension of elections? Internment camps? Complete suspension of the constitution? Are we going to buy tyranny hook line and sinker so long as it is sold to us as a "patriotic" response to fear?


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#3 09-25-2008, 12:39 AM
SteveMDFP
Recruit Join Date: Sep 2008
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Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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This report is extremely disturbing. The Brigade is to act inside the US? Using Tasers on people? "Crowd control"? The contemplated role is blantantly illegal, and a potential danger to the very essence of democratic rule in the US:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

The brigade, ultimately, answers only to the President. As an example, what is to prevent an unscrupulous President from ordering all opposition members of Congress from being detained by the First Brigade as enemy combatants?


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#4 09-28-2008, 03:33 PM
raceagainstatrophy
Recruit Join Date: Sep 2008
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Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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Yeah, this one scared the hell out of me too. I found a link on my favorite left-wing conspiracy website and followed it. I couldn't believe my eyes when it brought me to Army Times.

Very important points to remember:

1. When I was in the Army I took an oath to the Constitution, not a party or its current leader. I worry about the politisization of our armed forces. If this administration or any other thinks it can hold on to power by using the military to suppress dissent then the military should overthrow them.

2. US soldiers should NOT be used for domestic disturbances for darn good reasons. I would not follow illegal orders and many in the military today won't either. I can forsee soldiers killing soldiers and civilians all for a mad power grab by the rulling class.

3. We are an armed country. Our gun rights and in the Constitution because they allow us to protect ourselves from tyrany. I am armed and will fight with all my considerable skills to protect my rights.


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#5 09-29-2008, 02:01 AM
NeWSoldiEr08
Platoon Daddy Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 46

Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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I dont like this..i dont do conspiracy theories but i think they know something we dont if they are going to pull this shit


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#6 10-03-2008, 10:29 AM
MitchellJD1969
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Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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You guys sound like the kooks over at the Daily Kos talking about the same thing.


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#7 10-03-2008, 12:08 PM
SteveMDFP
Recruit Join Date: Sep 2008
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Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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"MitchellJD1969
Wrote:
"You guys sound like the kooks over at the Daily Kos talking about the same thing."

Somebody else said: "What we learn from history is that we don't learn from history."

The Reichstag fire did happen. It was a pretext for suspension of liberties and freedoms and the birth of Nazi totalitarianism in Germany.

Is something similar *likely* to happen in the USA? Probably not. But paying attention to the small risks of horrific outcomes is called PRUDENCE. It's why we have life insurance, disability insurance, homeowner's insurance. It's also why we write wills. Shining a public spotlight on potential tools for power-hungry maniacs is like spending a few dollars to buy a life insurance policy. It's nothing at all like fashioning a tinfoil hat.

Conventional wisdom is frequently wrong. When the conventional wisdom is comfortings ("oh, that can't happern here") a wise person is more skeptical of the value of that conventional wisdom, not less.

Buy some life insurance. Make out your will. Purchase flood insurance for your home. Pay down your credit cards. And write your congressman to get the Posse Comitatus Act reinstated. It's all the same kind of prudence.

Steve Coulter


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#8 10-04-2008, 05:44 PM
SoldiersWife
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Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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My husband is apart of this "new mission" and these soldiers are not breaking any laws. If you read this article, these soldiers are training for the worst possible sernario. When there is disaster, people tend to panic. These soldiers are preparing for that. The tactics they are learning does not mean they will use them on US citizens. And if you read further, they are training for their next deployment as well. People waste too much time judging what the military does, Just stand behind them. OR Stand infront of them?!


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#9 10-06-2008, 06:55 PM
phrankle
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Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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Quote:
Originally Posted by SoldiersWife
My husband is apart of this "new mission" and these soldiers are not breaking any laws. If you read this article, these soldiers are training for the worst possible sernario. When there is disaster, people tend to panic. These soldiers are preparing for that. The tactics they are learning does not mean they will use them on US citizens. And if you read further, they are training for their next deployment as well. People waste too much time judging what the military does, Just stand behind them. OR Stand infront of them?!

Is this satire? A joke? If it isn't, it is one of the most foolish and frightening things I've ever read. I will not participate in this kind of blind, cardboard patriotism and I hope everyone reading this agrees with me. Ours is a nation based on a constitution -- based on the RULE OF LAW, not absolute submission to and worship of an arbitrary authority. Dissent is legal, diversity of belief and freedom of expression are the essence of American democracy. These are the values that have historically separated the United States from the rest of the world and made it into a country worth fighting for.

The deployment of a brigade onto the homeland for the sake of law enforcement is an illegal act -- a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act -- and a blatant disregard of the constitution and the laws the govern the United States. Your ignorant, childlike acquiescence undermines everything that was once great about our country. You're not patriotic -- you're intellectually lazy, enormously gullible, and frighteningly naive.

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Last edited by phrankle : 10-06-2008 at 07:06 PM.


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#10 10-07-2008, 05:46 PM
Doc1/69
Recruit Join Date: Oct 2008
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Re: Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

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Quote:
Originally Posted by SoldiersWife
My husband is apart of this "new mission" and these soldiers are not breaking any laws. If you read this article, these soldiers are training for the worst possible sernario. When there is disaster, people tend to panic. These soldiers are preparing for that. The tactics they are learning does not mean they will use them on US citizens. And if you read further, they are training for their next deployment as well. People waste too much time judging what the military does, Just stand behind them. OR Stand infront of them?!

SoldiersWife: I am speaking as an Iraq war vet. An infantry medic and career soldier. No one could possibly support the troops more than I have and do. I appreciate the position you are in, considering that your husband is a member of this unit, but what concerns me is you automatically assume that any of these comments were an attack on your husband or the soldiers in the 1st BCT. The reality couldn't be further from that. My concern and the concern of many others out there is that from the looks of this, the President and/or DOD are committing an illegal act. We already have a force structure in place to deal with natural and man made disasters: the National Guard and we already have a force structure in place to legally deal with civil unrest: the police.

This nation was founded at a time where the ruling executive used troops based in the States to police, coerce, and terrorize the people and politicians into submission. There are specific sections and amendments to the Constitution that ban exactly what is happening for exactly that reason. It is a slippery slope my friend. And one, that once "slid-down," requires great work and blood to correct.

Every uniformed service member takes an oath to the Constitution first, and the President second to defend this country, its citizens, and perhaps most importantly its ideals.

What you husband is doing, as with all the soldiers in the 1st BCT, is commendable from a service standpoint and he is obviously following orders with honor and integrity I'm sure. The great concern is, will he and his fellow soldiers - will all of us - have the moral courage to stand up and say: "This is not right, it is illegal, and it goes against the very fibers of our democratic society."

In all seriousness, please go read the Constitution (every word), all amendments (including the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. If you still feel that the comments on this board are out of line, then I really don't know what to tell you.

God Bless America and Support the Troops

HOOAH!