Military Presence on the Streets in Rhode Island ?

Originally posted by Carlthulhu
While I was still in the army my unit was on a training mission in Big Lake, TX some time in 2002. We were all camped out in their motel, and maintained our helicopters on their airfield. There were quite alot of soldiers present, I guess it could have appeared as if we had come to take over... There was a news video too, but I just can't find it.

The U.S. Military has lots of permanent- and some temporary- training areas. They will usually go where they get the lowest bids for, say, fuel.. (as was with the Big Lake FTX)
If you live in the right areas you will witness constant convoys. JRTC at Fort Polk, LA and NTC at Fort Irwing, CA come to mind.

With that in mind, might it be possible that those soldiers were only 'enjoying' a FTX at a temporary location?

only thing about this is, when we traveled to Yakima, WA,/Boise/29 Stumps for FTX we never did wear vest of this sort; it looks as if these guys are traffic cops of some sort. It's the same vests that road maintance crews wear.

and I would agree, seeing 25+ duce 1/2 with other vechicles, would certainly look like we were taking something over...

I believe it was already established that they were wearing the ACU pattern uniforms - from a distance they can indeed look like desert camouflage.

The type of desert camo you posted was known as the "chocolate chip pattern" and was worn from the mid 1980s until the late 1990s when it was replaced by this version known as the "three color desert" www.fas.org... which was replaced by the universal pattern Army Combat Uniform in 2004ish. Interesting enough, the US military was one of the last major world powers to adopt camouflage uniforms ... the WWII era olive drab uniform was worn in combat right up until the mid 1980s though we had experimented with camouflage uniforms as early as WWII but were taken out of service because they were too similar to the German smock camoflague.



What I want to know is if these troops were wearing any shoulder patches indicating unit or if they were wearing rank insignia which on the ACU is worn on the breast like here www.militaryspot.com...

[edit on 9-3-2009 by ChrisF231]

reply to post by jd140

Yeah I can not say EXACTLY. They were definitley a more understated Tan color like the ACU's you've linked to.

Breast area was covered by The orange vests otherwise I would have noticed. I didn't get a good look at any of them in profile, so their shoulders were not visible to me as I drove past.

reply to post by ChrisF231


Your right, I posted the wrong pattern (I'm an idiot). I didn't see the one squib (name right?) posted. Just trying to get some clarification. From the description of black pistol belts it sounds like it could be an MP platoon or squad.

reply to post by jd140

This is the link Squidboy posted

www.army.mil...

reply to post by Butter Cookie
You are most correct. We are in a police state.

Now the next time you are stopped at a red light look up at the (usually wooden) line poles and check out the cameras most cities / villages are putting in.

Cameras on every street corner, as well as many parking lots, stores, malls, anywhere where people gather there are cameras there to watch us.

We have become a police state - a prison planet.

People tried to warn us a decade ago this was coming but most people laughed and ridiculed them as "being paranoid".

while I was stationed in Germany, our unit would sometimes organize a detail of 'volunteers' to drive ahead of the convoy, and post up at problematic intersections wearing roadguard-vests to guide some of our more navigationally-challenged drivers into the right direction. ( ok, some of those german roads are quite confusing )

EDIT: found a related picture!

EDIT: image did not load for some reason... Here's the website instead!

[edit on 200939 by Carlthulhu]

[edit on 200939 by Carlthulhu]

Originally posted by Carlthulhu
while I was stationed in Germany, our unit would sometimes organize a detail of 'volunteers' to drive ahead of the convoy, and post up at problematic intersections wearing roadguard-vests to guide some of our more navigationally-challenged drivers into the right direction. ( ok, some of those german roads are quite confusing

)

Some are confusing? Try all of them. So many one ways and no traffic allowed. On top of that, each intersection has about 10 signs to read. I had a buddy who brought an f350 with him and there were some streets he could not possibly fit on.

Gives me a headache just remembering it.

reply to post by Carlthulhu


Minus the Mask that was essentially the look. I don't now that the vest had text on it but that pretty much nails it right there.

Originally posted by Power_Semi

Originally posted by kdial1
It may be this:

-Kdial1



[edit on 8-3-2009 by kdial1]

Yeah thats probably it. People mistook a load of fat, thick, gun happy morons who've never even been close to someone shooting back at them as your military.

Easy to see how they made the mistake.

Interesting to note how these "tough guys" are all wearing safety goggles - just in case a bit of dust blows up I expect.

Pussies.

Don't be a a$$. Many of those "fat gun happy idiots" also happen to be veterns. I know many veterns who are airsoft enthusists. I, for one, have been in several teams and yes, I've been shot at while I served in the Marine Corps. So why do we/they play? Its freakn fun!! You should try it sometime! BTW, the "safety goggles" are becasue airsoft rifles shoot BBs at thousands of FPS, you could lose your freakn eye! "tough soldiers" wear safty glasses too when they are shooting, wether they are shooting at a range or if they are training with Simunitions. So sit down and think before you post.

reply to post by gileadfalls


that nametag on the vest is up to their command. In Texas we had our unit designation spray painted front & back, and wore them for PT. In Germany we just wore reflective belts fot PT, or nondescriptive vests for details (mow grass, road guarding, etc..)

Originally posted by projectvxn

You're all still describing these guys here. They're all over the country working with law enforcement...They wear ACU uniforms with orange vests. When I walked by them they had handguns drawn, so I hurried further down the sidewalk and snapped this picture.

Again, this is downtown Reno, NV at the Mills B. Lane Justice Center.

[edit on 9-3-2009 by projectvxn]

[edit on 9-3-2009 by projectvxn]

Originally posted by guinnessford
rhody is known for corruption at its highest levels. jeez, the mayor of providence had his limo driver (a providence cop) hold a guy down while he beat him with an ashtray, cuz he thought his wife was cheating on him. so i would bet its something of the cops "not" doing

I live in the area and I personally know the cop that you are talking about. I am friends with his son. The guy is actually head of narcotics today. I am from the area and I have to go to Providence tomorrow and I will get pictures if there is a military presence.

I have read somewhere from last year,(US election time)
that regular troops were to be used in a permanent way on US streets.
Units coming home from Iraq for instance,
are to be retrained for homeland duties,
using the acronym "Smurfs",(no relation)
according to Northcom.
BTW the pics seen early in this thead show
a Mercedes G-Wagon,
so most likely German or East-European troops.

Originally posted by rcwj75


Check and see if RI has something similar! I will say this, sometimes the guys/gals who volunteer for this THINK they are real troops and act as such. Just a thought.

As long as they act and hold themselves with the same Professionalism and Respect of our Service Personnel, then I have no problem with that.

reply to post by projectvxn


I'll get a picture of it tomorrow, but the Mills b. Lane Justice Center has a HUGE tag on it saying "Revolution". They made it fade a bit but they haven't gotten rid of it.

reply to post by squidboy


Im not surprised your a concerned citizen i would be to....
Im in the UK so my thoughts are just a posibility really, these soldiers could'nt be these new martial law soldiers?....i mean if nobody is really familiar with there uniform and you mention there orange vest type clothing, is this part of there attire to be noticed so to speak, what i mean is so citizens recognize them more than the normal military/police etc

This is irrelevent what im about to quote but more of a coincidence I suppose but........
In the UK the BBC are screening a program (tuesday) evening how to survive a disaster, it just seems really weird also that they are, obviously the UK are aware of terrorism (or supposed terrorism) but its not hyped up at all over here not like it is in the US....we just don't hear about it, not even as a commercial on tv theres nothing like that here in UK.....

I just hope it nothing for you guys to have to worry about these soldiers being around nothing like scare mongering they should at least tell you guys the reasons of there presence at least.......


[edit on 9'3/2009 by surrealist1978]

Originally posted by surrealist1978
reply to post by squidboy

 

they should at least tell you guys the reasons of there presence at least.......


[edit on 9'3/2009 by surrealist1978]

This is really all I ask. If its a training of some sorts (Like the picture from Nevada), then residents should be alerted...


But if its training.... Training for what?

Originally posted by squidboy

Originally posted by surrealist1978
reply to post by squidboy

 

they should at least tell you guys the reasons of there presence at least.......


[edit on 9'3/2009 by surrealist1978]

This is really all I ask. If its a training of some sorts (Like the picture from Nevada), then residents should be alerted...


But if its training.... Training for what?

I don't think they are training for anything, I think maybe there presence could be more to do with The financial Global Meltdown and are stationed for precautionary measures........what I mean is " its the end" we are finally entering the greatest depression ever.......The US has been hit hard its a leading nation and had significant wealth yet its all gone......I think the US government are preparing themselves for riots,violence big protests.........I like Obama but he is failing miserably in terms of stablizing the economy he keeps bailing out the wrong establishments using the tax payers money and enough is enough so to speak........This is the American Governments biggest fear VIOLENCE from its citizens.....The US Government know there is know way they can rescue/recover its economy its gone .......so they keep promising its people annoucing in congress that its economy will recover but they know it won't......You folks can on put up with this nonsense for so long until you retaliate and demand answers....but the government won't be able to answer......false promises don't sit well if families are going to end up losing everything....so I think there are preparing for the posibility of great opposition from its citizens........

[edit on 9'3/2009 by surrealist1978]