Military Training Programs

NP: Military ‘Training’ Programs in the U.S. scares local citizens

By James W. Astrada

As reported by the by the Sun Sentinel, since August 3^rd the military in conjunction with Hollywood Florida police have been conducting bizarre exercise programs that have been keeping citizens concerned and up past midnight.  Issued as a “drill,” Hollywood citizens were told again not to worry about strange black helicopters around public buildings.  I myself living here have seen this activity that has kept me in the wee hours of the morning.  The city itself has stated that Homeland security and the Hollywood police have been doing “Master Rappelling” exercises to ease the concern of the citizens. The training itself according to sources had begun on Thursday August 2^nd until Friday afternoon using several government buildings while other locations were not given due to secrecy.  The details surrounding the whole issue were not given due to military involvement and the article itself was removed from the Sun Chronicle website.  The citizens were mostly concerned as children were being kept past their bedtime and described the military figures as “menacing as they climbed down ropes over public buildings.”  It seems that all citizens including myself were unaware of any exercise until helicopters were present over the buildings.

More and more “exercises” conducted by the military are becoming more and more frequent around the country.  The pentagon assures the public that they are mere exercises.  These exercises only seem to alarm citizens and acclimate them to the presence of “obtrusive combat technology” and “simulated warfare.” Certain cities in Massachusetts also took part in these training exercises that had local citizens distraught over the whole issue.  According to the Telegram and Gazette “the helicopters were landing around the Worcester Memorial Auditorium in Lincoln square and buzzing neighborhoods, prompting many telephone calls and emails to the Telegram & Gazette from residents curious about what was happening.”  The report also mentioned that even the local police were clueless to the ongoing training and left many citizens by themselves to conjure up many theories including movie filming, an attempt by the police to counteract prostitution or gang violence to many others.  Entire streets were shut off leaving citizens blocked until about 10:30 pm.  Although the public were convinced that these were mere exercises, leaving them unprepared or surprised might have caused other complications.  Any logical or rational outtake on the whole issue would question why the military would conduct these operations so late past midnight in the first place.  It seems that the military does not take into consideration how the public might feel about this in the late hours of the night.  Major disruption has caused many citizens to fear or become irate especially when these partial clandestine activities take place in local neighborhoods.  However even with all the complaints, it seems that sleeping children and frightened elderly citizens are not considered when engaging in these exercises.

In May, Miami was also affected by military exercise that occurred very early in the morning at around 1:45 am.  Even though the building used was abandoned, many citizens were jolted by explosions and thunderous helicopters flying low to allow soldiers access to conduct these exercises.  Although the Miami police knew about the exercise, there were told to keep quiet until the following Monday for “security reasons.”  Although the reports made it seem like a harmless exercise, many residents in Coconut Grove were startled and called police due to strange noises and helicopters flying over their residences.  They didn’t complain about the actual exercise; however were annoyed that they were not given a heads up beforehand.  Logically, this would have been the right thing to do in avoiding phone calls and irritation to local citizens.

The military has its reasons to conduct these exercises for training and other objectives. Whether or not these activities should take place in public places were lots of citizens might be affected is something to question.  I for one was not startled to see this as it has happened before; however the local governments and military PR should take citizen complaints very seriously and try to accommodate them into decision making for locations of these exercises.  The public and the local police should be prepared for these types of activities to avoid future unrest or misunderstandings.

 

References

Scott Hiaasen. “Military training in the middle of Miami jolts citizens out of bed.”  The Miami Herald. May 8^th, 2012.

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/late-night-military-training-alarms-plainville-residents

Winston W. Wiley and Jacqueline Reis.  “It’s only a drill—but urban terrain training choppers rattle part of city.”  The Telegram & Gazette. August 2^nd, 2012.

Sun Sentinel Staff. “Rappelling over Hollywood is training exercise.”  Sun Sentinel. August 2^nd, 2012.

©James Astrada 2012