Smokey the Bear's rules for fire safety – keep it small, keep it in a confined area, and keep an eye on it – apply doubly so to government.
George Rebane
Here’s a 12 minute video taken by Houston’s KTRK news helicopter of a military drill involving what looks like Army H500 helicopters armed with machine guns participating in an exercise that involved some actual firing that got local people excited. KTRK reports –
SkyEye 13 HD was over the south side where at first look, it appears there's a massive SWAT scene happening. People have been calling police, as well as our newsroom, saying they're hearing gunshots in the area of Scott and Airport. It turns out, the Army says, it's a multi-agency training drill. They're doing it at the old Carnegie High School. Helicopters were also involved. The Army isn't giving any details of what the training is about. So if you see the helicopters or hear gunfire, it's only a drill.
It looks like the next kid planning to shoot up a school will have to contend with some real counter fire if he keeps at it long enough to give time for the helicopter gunships to get there. Each can also carry about four armed infantrymen. But there’s nothing to worry about, it’s only a drill against gun toting nut jobs, Islamist terrorists, or whoever else needs to feel the full force of government response in peace or war.
Now many of you may say, Houston was just a one-off, a special training exercise unique to the area or some other bullshit like that. OK, so then what are they doing over Miami at night as reported in this WSVN newscast by a very compliant 'journalist' who isn't surprised that none of this was announced beforehand?
Some paranoids might think that these helicopters actually belong to the Dept of Education SWAT teams in its newly armed capability to collect delinquent student loans – their existing riot guns for that function may not be enough. But then you know how desperate those student loan deadbeats can get.
Now consider if these unannounced 'drills' become so common place that the population at large comes to take little notice, and actually takes comfort in that the government is training to protect us all real good. Would we ever know if someone or group was really apprehended during one of these 'drills'? Would we ever take special notice after becoming sanguine about machine gun fire from low flying helicopters overhead?
In any case, practice makes perfect. And as the good folks at KTRK and WSVN tell us “it’s only a drill.” (H/T to RR reader and correspondent.)
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