The new Homeland Army force-
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.
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.
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.
Should remember what the ruling class really thinks of them-
By 4:45 P.M. the troops were massed on Pennsylvania Ave. below the Capitol. Thousands of Civil Service employees spilled out of work and lined the streets to watch. The veterans, assuming the military display was in their honor, cheered. Suddenly Patton’s troopers turned and charged. “Shame, Shame” the spectators cried. Soldiers with fixed bayonets followed, hurling tear gas into the crowd.
By nightfall the BEF [Bonus Expeditionary Force] had retreated across the Anacostia River where Hoover ordered MacArthur to stop. Ignoring the command, the general led his infantry to the main camp. By early morning the 10,000 inhabitants were routed and the camp in flames. Two babies died and nearby hospitals overwhelmed with casualties. Eisenhower later wrote, “the whole scene was pitiful. The veterans were ragged, ill-fed, and felt themselves badly abused. To suddenly see the whole encampment going up in flames just added to the pity.”
20 September, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Not bullshit….My grandfather was one of those WW1 vets who were paid with worthless script, and returned to no jobs, no food, and evictions; and when they went to DC to picket the White House for food or work, the Army machine-gunned their families who were in the encampment around the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument. Sherman was the commanding General, and Eisenhower and MacAuthur were just lieutenant generals at the time. BTW, the officers were always paid in cash, and got bonuses for serving during the First World War, even if they were not on “active” duty or in the line of fire. Enlistees and conscripts got literally spoiled food; rotten, leftover Civil War vintage uniforms, abusive officers who did not have to share in the privations of ‘normal’ military life, and were ‘paid’ in federal government IOU’s which were supposed to be redeemable for cash at some indeterminate future date. This practice dates back to the Revolutionary War,and at best is a remnant of the elitist hereditary military officer class behavior prevalent in Europe.
20 September, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Hey J R thanks you so much for that comment it really makes this shameful bit of history live. Kudos to your grandfather, he was a courageous man. Yes officers always are the management class who with better treatment are kept more loyal to the leadership, as in WWll the whole prison camp/Geneva structure meant it was only the officers who lounged about in prison camps all the lower ranks were in work camps.
I guess implementing the assault on the veterans sealed the up and coming officers careers even among those who had reservations. I would love for this history to be better known, would make a great piece of cinema and have much resonance with how current veterans are treated and the class dynamics that still exist, although now perhaps Blackwater would do the machine gunning.
23 October, 2008 at 9:20 pm
[...] it offend the elite who legalised it, police at the RNC had insurance against brutality claims and Iraq traumatised troops are now deployed domestically for the first time [...]