Bastrop (United States) (AFP) – The conspiracy theories grew wilder as the massive military exercise grew closer: food riots and martial law were coming to the United States, some said.
Dissidents would be assassinated, Wal-Marts turned into prison camps, foreign troops brought in to help.
Then the governor of Texas lent credence to the paranoia by ordering the state’s National Guard to monitor a weekslong special operations training exercise called Jade Helm 15 involving 1,200 troops and seven states.
Some people reportedly buried their guns so government troops couldn’t take them away. Others stockpiled ammunition and supplies.
A group called “Counter Jade Helm” helped organize quasi-militias to keep track of troop movements.
Jade Helm began last week not with a bang, but a whimper.
Bastrop, Texas — the scene of a rowdy public meeting where people held up signs declaring “no Gestapo in Bastropo” and wore t-shirts with the words “come and take it” under a drawing of an automatic rifle — was eerily calm on the third day of the exercise.
Nobody seemed to have seen any of the troops, or the out-of-town conspiracy theorists who vowed to watch their every move.
“We haven’t gotten a single call,” said Steve Adcock, chief of police in the town of about 7,000.
“We thought that there might be something, but nothing’s occurred.”
Local officials and some residents resent the attention the protests have drawn.
Bastrop is just a few miles from Camp Swift, a National Guard storage and training facility.
People who live here are strong supporters of the military, Adcock said. He didn’t recognize any of the people who angrily challenged an Army colonel at April’s rowdy public meeting.
“A lot of the conspiracy stuff is not local people,” Adcock told AFP.
“It’s making us look really bad.”
Kay Rogers, a Bastrop lawyer, said a small minority of local citizens supported the protests.
“If you talk to 10 people about it, only one of them will even raise an eyebrow,” she said. “We have a bunch of fringe elements in the county and they squawk pretty loud.”
– ‘Re-education camps’ –
But while the wildest theories like how the government is building re-education camps for Christians, libertarians and other “enemies of the state” may seem outlandish, the underlying fear is widespread.
Some 60 percent of Americans see the government as a “threat to individual liberty,” according to a poll conducted by Rasmussen in May.
Two thirds of respondents said they were concerned the government will use military training operations “to impose greater control over the states” yet, oddly, only 16 percent opposed having these exercises in their state.
The Army spent months trying to reassure people that the public would experience “little disruption” to their normal lives aside from “a slight increase in vehicle traffic and the limited use of military aircraft and its associated noise.”
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Lastoria got visibly flustered after the lengthy Bastrop meeting erupted in applause when he was called a liar.
“It is not a preparation for martial law,” he said with a sigh audible on a video of the meeting.
“Some people really, truly want to make this something it’s not. All we want to do is make sure our guys are trained for combat overseas.”
Efforts to create a realistic exercise by having some troops “conduct suspicious activity” while dressed as civilians — and a map that labeled Texas and Utah as “hostile territory” — played into the fears of people convinced the government is out to get them.
“This is by far the greatest public conditioning exercise in American history,” Gary Franchi of the online Next News Network ominously warned his viewers.
“US military coordinating with local law enforcement and elements of the willing public will be conducting clandestine activities carrying weapons under aircraft cover at night wearing arm bands with a special insignia.”
Martial law may not happen this summer, Franchi intoned. But when the times comes: “Troops will be ready and trained to take over your town.”
Four military helicopters cruised my river yesterday. They were so low I could see the pilot and crew. I thought WI National Guard but there were no letters or numbers for identification on any of the four helicopters. Unmarked helicopters? Black Ops? These were close, no more than 500 ft. from the water. No ID markings suggest they were on there way to get the letters and ID numbers installed, right? It makes me nervous and suspicious this close to home.
About 10 months ago I had 3 helicopters each make multiple passes over my house within 30 minutes, at or just below the minimum 500 ft. ceiling. First blue nose / white tail, second orange nose / white tail, neither had any markings and both had nose cameras and another unit on the belly. 3rd was an OD green military helicopter also with a nose camera and belly unit ( X-ray ? ). Only marking on the third was a white circle with a ” 1 ” inside the circle near the tail rotor. After circling over my house each moved off about 1/4 mile and did a slow parallel pass past the front of my house then left the area. All 3 crews saw that I was watching them as I had my binoculars on them. Crew of the third was in cammo BDU’s . . .
I live close to an airport built by Wally world to supply their CEO’s easy access to meetings. There are military jets, cargo planes, helicopters, and what I can only assume are chemtrail planes practicing take offs and landings going over my house all the time. It reeks to have them almost touching distance over my place. Nobody but my hubby and I seem to see anything wrong in this picture. SHEEP galore!
Talk about a hit piece.
“But while the wildest theories like how the government is building re-education camps for Christians, libertarians and other “enemies of the state” may seem outlandish, the underlying fear is widespread.”
Wildest theories? Outlandish?
Only to totally brain-dead ‘programmed’ vidiots.
“Some 60 percent of Americans see the government as a “threat to individual liberty,” according to a poll conducted by Rasmussen in May.”
Is that JUST Americans, or does it include all the illegals as well.
When I come to sites like this and then go to sites like Yahoo it’s like going to two completely different dimensions of reality. Anybody else feel that way?
There’s only one reality. Everything else is a matrix construct.
Henry’s ‘ball of spaghetti’.
Yep. That’s Yahoo for ya. They’re in their own little cuckoo world.
See? nothing to worry about. Go back to sleep and if by some some chance jade helm comes to your house its apologizes.
As for the conspiracy nuts who still wont shut up about it… Your crazy because we said so. lol
good one Millard. on their way to get the numbers installed… lol
Did you catch them lying to you again? From the article, “exercise called Jade Helm 15 involving 1,200 troops and seven states.”
Just 1,200 troops?
From the Department of Defense:
“Over 1,200 service members will participate in JADE HELM
15 throughout Texas to include the training unit, operational
support personnel, and opposing force personnel.”
More than 1,200 troops in Texas alone.
I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t seen a chemtrail in almost two weeks. No lie. It’s been either clear blue skies here in Dallas or just a few clouds. I don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing or if it has anything to do with Jade Helm, but I find it highly suspicious that there are no chemtrails for that long. Anyone else notice that in their areas lately or is it just me?
yes, NC, I have noticed that here as well. More blue skies and puffy, normal clouds than “usual.”
http://www.chemtrailforecastnetwork.com/
looks clear on the forecast. I noticed this a few days ago.
“Bastrop (United States) (AFP) – The conspiracy theories grew wilder as the massive military exercise grew closer: food riots and martial law were coming to the United States, some said.”
Yahoo, once again, jumping at every chance in order to do all it can to discredit truthers by making them sound crazy. I hope they burn in Hell.
Millard, strange you say that because a little over two weeks ago at dusk I saw, I counted, twelve choppers in a line coming from the east going south east. It was to dark and they were to far away to see what type they were. I wonder if Wade saw them also.
2 yesterday here. VERY ODD for here.
These looked skinny like Apaches. Flying north along the cascades.