Military terror plot uncovered
When I first read the headline on this story about four soldiers, I thought: My goodness, who in the Army has gone off the deep end this time?
Then I read it was about three privates and a sergeant and I broke out in giggles. Obviously the folks who were putting that story out with all sorts of fears of a military coup in the US have little if no knowledge of the military. You might take a sergeant and three-member work deal and get a job done like moving something or cleaning a vehicle, but overthrow the nation? Somebody needs a reality check.
So they spent $87,000 buying arms and equipment. So what? Apparently they got the money from an insurance policy on someone they killed. Like that has never happened before?
I guess what gets me is some people go into hyperdrive anytime anybody in uniform does something wacko. Now, I know it is pretty much de rigor that Americans are distrustful of a large standing Army. It has been that way since the founding of the republic. Even now, the size of our military, in proportion to our population, is approaching the smallest it has been in three-quarters of a century and probably is fixing to get even smaller. But soldiers are humans too and the country of 300 million-plus can send some pretty strange people to serve.
Still, three privates and a sergeant? A great military coup that is going to make. The blind leading the blind is more like it.
An E-5 sergeant basically is the first rung on the non-commissioned officer ladder, while E-3 privates first class are the basic cannon-fodder of any army. We are not really talking about highly trained or highly skilled and educated soldiers here. We are talking about soldiers who have mastered the basic fundamentals of the art of war, mostly from a tactical perspective and definitely not from either the strategic or logistical perspectives.
Now, if it had a O-6 or two, then it might have been a little threat, but if you want real threat, then the people involved have to be flag officers (O-7 and above). They know where all the keys are hidden.
Mounting a military overthrow of the nation, while maybe a soaring dream to some people, is an exercise that would take a lot more planning and effort to pull off than you are going to find in four snuffies.
The whole affair made me think of John Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry in 1859. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, John Brown, a raving abolitionist (against slavery person), took about 20 people and seized the arsenal (which made rifles and such) on the Maryland-Virginia border (it is now in West Virginia, but that is another story) with the hope of sparking an uprising among slaves in the area. The raid lasted long enough for a bunch of troops, under a colonel by the name of Robert E. Lee, to make the trip from Washington, D.C., to Harpers Ferry and storm the arsenal. In less than 5 minutes the raid was over.
Mister Brown was hanged and two years later, the Civil War started to decide the issue of whether, as Mister Lincoln said, to determine whether the nation could live half free and half slave.
If these snuffies really had tried to do anything, it would have taken maybe a squad (10-men) of MPs to break it up.
The sad thing is that stories like this reflect a propaganda that tarnishes the actual professionalism, honor and courage that really imbues today’s American military. These four yahoos will get what they deserve, if not in civilian court, then in military court after the civilians get through with them.
2 comments:
Reminds me of the time my buddy, the local AP correspondent, called to tell me he'd been assigned to cover the So. Oregon Militia. He called back a couple of weeks later to report we had nothing to worry about: they were all over 60, beer-drinkers, and probably couldn't walk a mile let alone run any distance. But in this case, the perps were young, political and actively accumulating arms. It is clear they intended to act on their planning. Given the current polarization and racial tension in the country, this is a matter of some concern.
Disagree ... they were going to screw up and get caught before they would be any threat to the nation (they were a threat to a few people, who unfortunately died). And they did, and they were, and now they will find out how the justice system works.
The polarization and racial tension must be somewhere else than my very racially integrated neighborhood. I am not saying there isn't any. I am just saying it is not something to start manning the barricades over.
I spent 30 years living in the Deep South ... and the hype was always overblown. Yes, there are bigots ... black, white, red, yellow, tan ... but there is far less strife than you get from the "national" media.
Someday, I should tell you the tale of the Redneck Shop in South Carolina ... interesting story.
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