Clearing Away the Rubble...with Black Hawks, Tanks, and Loads of Ammo

American Thinker ^ | Feb 23, 2013 | Robert Small

[EXCH54FE]

"We have cleared away the rubble of crisis," President Obama reported in his State of the Union address, "and we can say with renewed confidence that the State of our Union is stronger." He cited troops coming home after a decade of "grinding war," six million jobs created "after years of grueling recession," American car purchases up, foreign oil purchases down, a healing housing market, a rebounding stock market, corporate profits that "have skyrocketed to all-time highs," Republicans and Democrats working together "to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion," "tens of thousands" of American jobs created by green energy, and a boom in natural gas production that's lowering our energy bills.

If things are so peachy, I have a question for the president. What's with the Black Hawk helicopters and urban warfare drills?

The Army took over an empty high school in southeast Houston without warning last month in a Department of Defense drill. Terrified residents mistook blank fire for live rounds. At a City Council meeting the next day, Mayor Annise Parker decried "a shocking lack of sensitivity to community concerns" that caught even some in the police department by surprise. About the same time council members were meeting in Houston, "federal law enforcement" agents were rappelling down ropes from military helicopters hovering over the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Days earlier in Miami, one local news station reported that blanks fired from Black Hawks soaring low over downtown were "pinging off the high rises[,]" and another reported troops "rappelling from the military choppers onto the Metrorail station platform." The official explanation: "The training is designed to ensure that military personnel are able to operate in urban areas and to focus on preparations for overseas deployment. It also serves as a mandatory training certification."

[EXCH54FE]

Many of us who can't yet see through the "rubble of crisis" the president claims to have cleared away would like a reasonable explanation for the hubbub as well.

[patriotsblood]

I believe that the military has used civilian locations for training for decades. The trouble seems to start with inept local government failing to inform the local populace in a timely way.

[glorgau]

mandatory training certification.

There are so many ways to twist that statement I won't even start to try.

[BenLurkin]

troops coming home after a decade of "grinding war,"

Who won?

We surrendered?

[tumblindice]

“Let me be clear: The State of our Union is stronger.
And I saved a lot of money staying at a Holiday Inn Express ... Ha ha!
What’s in your wallet? Nuthin’?
Make no mistake about it—I had a great round of golf the other day! Hey hey:
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
You know what? Heads up “sovereign citizens,” especially, particularly you bitter clingers! Guns: bad!
“Gotta scoot. Eat healthy—eat more skeet!”
Your King,
Barack Hussein Obama II

We know what color the sky is in his world: commie red.

[Perseverando]

More from the article:

Is the government preparing for the possible collapse of our economy and society, and why is the Obama administration continuing policies even the General Accounting Office says are unsustainable if that’s the case?

What is the added value of blanks to these urban warfare exercises? Are they being used to desensitize members of our military to firing on their fellow citizens if there’s domestic turmoil?

Why are DHS and other federal agencies seeking so much of the more expensive and lethal hollow-point bullets, which are not typically used at the firing range and are outlawed by the Geneva Convention for battlefield use?

Are bulk ammunition purchases and LESO’s redistribution of military hardware to local governments connected to any domestic scenarios being played out?

If the purpose of these exercises includes preparing for operations overseas, then why were Black Hawks recently firing over Miami but not Benghazi?

[DPMD]

Again, hollow points are used all the time at the range. The training philosophy is: You use what you carry; you practice in the same clothing you wear on the job; you replicate reality as much as possible when training.