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Para-military groups help strengthen forces
garnernews.net ^ | 26 January, 2011 | Fred Bonner

Posted on 01/29/2011 7:45:38 AM PST by marktwain

Several years ago I was taking part in a bass tournament in southern Florida and we were surprised to see two well-equipped bass boats approaching us at high speed. Pulling a quick maneuver they shot by our boat and threw a sheet of water over us. I sat there dumbfounded at what had just sped by us. The bass fishing machines were not colored in the usual gaudy colors and no fishing rods were to be seen in the boats. They were painted in a dull camouflage pattern and mounted on the bow of each boat was a 30-caliber machine gun manned by a gunner who was also dressed in camo.

“What in the H—- was that,” I asked my companion who hailed from a local bass club. “That’s just some of our local friends showing off their toys, he replied. Their mounted machine gun is a legal, semi-automatic version of the old familiar Browning gun and these guys are part of a para-military group that fancies themselves as being a Red Neck Navy. Their group of ground troops is probably hidden back there in the swamp laughing at us right now.”

I’d never thought of it before but a bass boat could really be transformed very easily into a formidable fighting machine somewhat smaller but reminiscent of the swift boats that were used in the war in Vietnam. If a bass boat could be outfitted with modern weaponry that could drop a deadly barrage of .30 caliber ammo from one of those “mini-guns” along with a few well placed grenades fired from a compact launcher, these boats would indeed be a force to be reckoned with. It would only need a pilot to drive the boat and one gunner to man the weaponry. If fired upon, the foam filled fiberglass hull of the boat would absorb a lot of enemy fire and still keep going as long as nothing crippled the outboard motor and the sailors manning the controls and guns were not disabled.

No wonder our U.S. Coast Guard favors requiring that all U.S. Registered watercraft be equipped with transponders (like the airplanes have) to keep them aware of the whereabouts of all our boats at all times. I can’t imagine how many bass boats are here in America these days and there are other boats that are even more suited to being converted to defensive weapons if our country needed them. If you think that a bass boat is fast and maneuverable think what one of those heavy aluminum jet drive boats such as guides use up in Alaska could do. Those boats can operate in inches of boulder-strewn water and are capable of carrying some pretty heavy loads.

If fishermen could become a civilian navy, how effective do you think an “army” of American hunters would be?

During the earlier days of WWII, Japan’s highest-ranked naval officer, Isoruku Yamamoto, when questioned about the possibility of Japan’s invading the United States was quoted as saying,” You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” Admiral Yamomoto was educated at Harvard University and was well aware of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. He was also aware of how many experienced outdoorsmen and hunters there were in this country and what kind of a guerrilla force these Americans could become if called upon to defend our nation against a potential invader.

Think about this for a minute. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission reports that during the 2009-2010 hunting year North Carolina has 245,650 licensed hunters in the state. Figures aren’t available as to how many unlicensed recreational shooters there are in our state, That in itself constitutes a huge number of citizens who obviously are armed, well trained in the safe and efficient use of guns and very adept at stealth in the woods.

Read more of Fred Bonner’s Outdoor Column online at www.fuquay-varinaindependent.com. The number of hunters in North Carolina is small when compared to some other states. Our numbers pale in comparison to the 750,000 who are in the woods of Pennsylvania. Michigan is reported to have 700,000 hunters in the fields every year and a 250,000 hunters (close to the number here in North Carolina) are in West Virginia. A somewhat conservative estimate of the total number of hunters in America today is 23 million.

If you should even cut that estimated total number of licensed hunters in the United States by half, and that number of hunters should become a volunteer guerilla army of volunteers to fight off some invader, we would still be looking a the largest army in the world. This isn’t even considering the numbers of our standing military and National Guard (The Army and Air National Guard combined is approximately 12,000 personnel in N.C. ).

Americans fought the British by similar means during the Revolutionary War. The Redcoats were bewildered by these “uncivilized” colonist who fought from behind trees refusing to even form-up in the battle lines with which the British troops were familiar. The Colonial Army of General Washington was composed of farmers, woodsmen, fishermen and workers who fought for a common cause under the leadership of the future President of the United States. Seldom wearing even a common uniform, these early Americans were familiar with the land and waters and fought a guerrilla war against the oppressor. We won! They lost.

This imaginary so-called local volunteer military composed of hunters and fishermen is not some outlaw para-military group. It would be composed of expert woodsmen who’d be fighting a common enemy after all other military forces have failed.

With the Second Amendment to our Constitution guaranteeing our citizen’s right to individually keep and bear arms, America is one of the few countries in the world with the capability to defend our borders if the occasion should ever arise. Let’s hope that this never happens.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: banglist; constitution; gun; militia
This should be a consideration for policy makers.
1 posted on 01/29/2011 7:45:43 AM PST by marktwain
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To: marktwain
I recently had a conversation with someone at my job, who was railing against "those idiots who go on and on about the Constitutional right to guns, what about Tucson, what about Columbine"...

I very nearly told them that guns were the only thing keeping them out of the Salt Mine or the Gulag, but instead quoted Yamamoto, and then Jefferson's "the tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots" and explained that guns are like nukes: they are most effective when present but NOT used.

Didn't change the person's mind, but it slowed down their thoughtless, emotion-based rant.

Cheers!

2 posted on 01/29/2011 7:49:25 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: marktwain

—we aren’t going to get “invaded”—we are going to be destroyed from within—the process is already well along—


3 posted on 01/29/2011 7:50:16 AM PST by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the media or government says about firearms or explosives--)
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To: grey_whiskers

For those of us who havent had coffee yet, please remind us what the Yamamoto quote is...I have only a hazy fragment of it right now! Thanks!


4 posted on 01/29/2011 7:52:54 AM PST by TEXOKIE (Anarchy IS the strategy of the forces of darkness!)
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To: TEXOKIE

A rifle behind every blade of grass...


5 posted on 01/29/2011 7:56:04 AM PST by MileHi ( "It's coming down to patriots vs the politicians." - ovrtaxt)
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To: marktwain
“If a bass boat could be outfitted with modern weaponry that could drop a deadly barrage of .30 caliber ammo from one of those “mini-guns” along with a few well placed grenades fired from a compact launcher, these boats would indeed be a force to be reckoned with.”

I don't want to throw water on or accuse the writer of a fictional account, but I'm pretty sure it's illegal anywhere in the us to “mount” firearms to civilian watercraft.

6 posted on 01/29/2011 7:56:53 AM PST by bitterohiogunclinger (Proudly casting a heavy carbon footprint as I clean my guns ---)
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To: rellimpank
—we aren’t going to get “invaded”—we are going to be destroyed from within—the process is already well along—

Guerrilla forces can be easily organized, trained, prepared, equipped, and directed to defend all enemies both foreign and domestic.

7 posted on 01/29/2011 8:08:36 AM PST by mosaicwolf (Strength and Honor)
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To: marktwain

Yamamoto’s quote reminds me of the story grandpa told when he was a kid. Great-grandpa would give him X number of bullets, and he was expected to come back with the same number of rabbits, or he’d get his butt whooped.

He didn’t miss much. Yamamoto knew that’s what he’d face if he ever tried to invade the U.S.


8 posted on 01/29/2011 8:11:39 AM PST by Free Vulcan (Vote conservative! You can vote Democrat when you're dead.)
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To: TEXOKIE

Isoruku Yamamoto was the head admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and one of the planners of the Pearl Harbor attack. Before WWII he was a naval attache in Washington, and became quite familiar with the United States. Not a bad poker player either.

He is also known for the line after receiving news of the results of the Pearl Harbor attack: “We have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with great resolve.”


9 posted on 01/29/2011 8:23:15 AM PST by Fred Hayek (FUBO! I salute you with the soles of my shoes.)
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To: Free Vulcan

I read a book many years ago on the origins of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese officers who served under the Imperial Army had dozens of Ivy League-educated officers who stated the obvious but it was Yamamoto who is on record of actually saying it.

One of the Japanese Air Force officers even became an avid hunter during his university years in Wisconsin. Same sentiment was also recorded amongst German officers who tried to convince Hitler of dropping the invasion plan of United States, especially when the maps were published within the last year.


10 posted on 01/29/2011 8:23:49 AM PST by max americana
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To: marktwain
The bit abut the revolution is fantasy though. Washington found the militia largely undisciplined and unreliable. The Continental Army, forged with the help of various foreign officer/advisors, became a conventional fighting army which met the British Army line to line and sometimes kicked their ass.
11 posted on 01/29/2011 8:24:35 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: rellimpank

I’m with you there. I have a healthy respect and fear of several external enemies. (China, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Muslim extremists primarily) However these fears for our future pale in comparison to those generated by the likes of obama/Reid/Pelosi. These socialists and their ilk are attempting to destroy the very fabric of what makes us America.


12 posted on 01/29/2011 8:27:30 AM PST by ThunderSleeps (Stop obama now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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To: TEXOKIE
Sorry, it was right in the article at the top of the page:

During the earlier days of WWII, Japan’s highest-ranked naval officer, Isoruku Yamamoto, when questioned about the possibility of Japan’s invading the United States was quoted as saying,” You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

Cheers!

13 posted on 01/29/2011 8:58:20 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: TEXOKIE
Sorry, it was right in the article at the top of the page:

During the earlier days of WWII, Japan’s highest-ranked naval officer, Isoruku Yamamoto, when questioned about the possibility of Japan’s invading the United States was quoted as saying,” You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

Cheers!

14 posted on 01/29/2011 8:58:27 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: marktwain
Americans fought the British by similar means during the Revolutionary War. The Redcoats were bewildered by these “uncivilized” colonist who fought from behind trees refusing to even form-up in the battle lines with which the British troops were familiar.

Ughh...not this myth again.

The Continental Army fought exactly the same way the British did.

15 posted on 01/29/2011 9:57:32 AM PST by Strategerist
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To: hinckley buzzard

Whatever Washington’s opinion of the militia, without their stand at the start (to protect the arsenal) there would have been no revolution (or General George Washington). He disliked them because he knew they were a threat to any tyranny, even his own (see Whiskey Rebellion). They foresaw the danger in losing their weapons more clearly than people did almost 200 years later, when countries behind the Iron Curtain required gun registration, then gun storage, and finally gun seizure. Militias have always represented a threat to those who oppose states’ rights, because militias give the states a chance to protect their rights (see Civil War). On a smaller scale, those opposed to individual rights know that is how people protect them as well (see Tiannamen Square).


16 posted on 01/29/2011 10:35:34 AM PST by kearnyirish2
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To: Strategerist
“The Continental Army fought exactly the same way the British did.”

For the most part, you are correct. However, the militia did not always fight the same way. And, as has happened in many guerrilla wars since, the organized and unorganized militias essentially constrained the British army and denied them the countryside. No British foraging party could ever be sure of returning intact, if they returned at all.

A strong part of the war effort was the hostile countyside that the British forces faced.

17 posted on 01/29/2011 2:38:06 PM PST by marktwain
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To: grey_whiskers
I very nearly told them that guns were the only thing keeping them out of the Salt Mine or the Gulag

No. Guns are the only thing keeping them from something a good deal less pleasant.

During the four-month long Finnish Civil War of 1918 in which the Finnish Loyalists tharted the Plans of Finland's *Reds* [a coalition of Social Democrats, Communists and Labor Unionists] It was common for traitors to be taken to the nearest convenient wall and shot.

But after a few weeks, it was realized that this was a waste of a valuable resource and training aid. Instead, young rookies who had not yet tasted blood were given the opportunity to bayonet their captured enemies as a way to introduce them to the realities of their new profession.

During the four months of the Suomen sisällissota, the Finns managed to kill of around 1% of their national population; buring our own Civil War of 1861-1865, we paid a butcher's bill of around 2%, but, of course, over a much longer period.

We now have a population base of around three hundred fifty million warm bodies, give or take between twenty-five and fifty million Mexicans. One percent of 350,000,000 would work out to around...well, you and your co-worker can work thar little detail out over the next water cooler session .


18 posted on 01/29/2011 3:41:39 PM PST by archy (I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!)
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To: marktwain

WOLVERINES!


19 posted on 01/31/2011 12:20:29 PM PST by Nathaniel (- A Man Without A Cross -)
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