Out of all of the urban legends out there, the one that makes me shake my head in wonder is, “the US military would never fire shots in anger against the American people.”
As if. The civilians who were threatened with force, or subjected to force, by American troops would like to have a word:
- 1791: The Whiskey Rebellion
- 1863: The New York City Draft Riots
- 1877: Great Railroad Strike in 1877
- 1932: The Bonus Army
- 1957: Desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
- 1962: Desegregation of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi
- 1963: Desegregation of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama
- 1967 Detroit Riots
- 1967: Newark Riots
- 1968 King assassination riots in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
- 1970 New York City Postal Strike in 1970
- 1980 Cuban Refugee Crisis
- 1989 Hurricane Hugo
- 1992: Los Angeles Riots
- 1993: Branch Davidians in Waco
This would play out with NCA finding a way to paint the targets as being insurrectionists, rebels, or some other hated class. This dehumanization reaches its peak, then the military is sent to solve the problem.
16 Comments
Bigus Macus · December 14, 2023 at 6:20 pm
I think you can add Hurricane Katrina 2005.
Bob · December 14, 2023 at 6:23 pm
Don’t forget Kent State. As they use to say, “Kent State 3, National Guard 0”
Idaho Bob
Aesop · December 15, 2023 at 2:11 am
Your scoreboard is upside down, Bob.
Steve S6 · December 14, 2023 at 7:31 pm
Don’t forget Kent State 1970.
Danny · December 14, 2023 at 8:10 pm
May 4, 1970 Kent State University – you get a pass because you’re not old enough. Four dead in Ohio.
Divemedic · December 14, 2023 at 8:39 pm
LOL. I was alive then, and I thought about it, but forgot to list it.
WallPhone · December 14, 2023 at 10:59 pm
There’s tons of these… Ludlow massacre and trying to find that revealed to me the Sand Creek massacre.
If you wish to include police as government forces, the 1985 MOVE bombing is quite the story too.
D · December 15, 2023 at 2:04 pm
You need a new section next to “Training Manuals” for “Misconceptions”.
Keep list of things like “times the US military killed US civilians”. 😉
Big Ruckus D · December 14, 2023 at 10:43 pm
Admittedly, I never served. But, it is my perception as a civilian that there is virtually never an instance where US military troops won’t follow an unlawful order. If the CO gives an order, it is followed, unless someone decides to frag his ass. And there exists plenty of precedent to support that point of view. DM listed several prime examples as it is.
And note that presently there’s all this talk of the invaders being tapped as new troops in exchange for citizenship. I maintain they don’t even need to recruit those, as there are plenty of bonafide Americans already serving who will obey an order to fire on other American civilians, and I suspect there are many who will do so with a certain amount of relish. The idea that wouldn’t happen is a pipe dream, and flies in the face of observable human nature. The only rights anyone truly has are the ones they are willing to kill a motherfucker who is infringing on them over. Everything else is mere words on paper and mental masturbation to guard against acknowledging unpleasant realities.
Aesop · December 15, 2023 at 2:36 am
All of these events required the passive acceptance of a one-way range, in nearly every case, by the objects of the exercises.
(I’m aware of one lone jackass who fired on a LAV-25 in the Rodney King Free Nikes And TVs riots. The return fire from an M2 shredded him and his apartment hiding place. The riots functionally ended a couple of hours after that information became general knowledge citywide, because unlike the Notional Guard, the Marines brought their own ammo when they arrived, and rolled in hot using Kuwait 1991 ROEs, rather than empty weapons and stern language.)
That’s to be expected if we’re talking about just one @$$hole here or there.
But the first time the range goes hot in both directions on a regular basis, the overwhelming likelihood is that the military becomes a supply point for the insurgency, in a matter of days, if not hours.
People compete for deer tags.
Wait until the trophy is an M-4, M-203, a SAW, an M240, and a sack of frags, and the sweepstakes frenzy is liable to get rather enthusiastic and lively with some rapidity.
Picture “Now I have a machinegun Ho-Ho-Ho” on a regional scale, and the Notional Guard ceases to be a solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlQoXP2XH68
While actual hoodrats would rather scatter, I think the bigger fallacy than “the military would never fire on citizens”, is that Joe Average is going to roll over and take it in the pants next time and every time.
The NG or DotMil is liable to find out firsthand what it was like to be among the Regiments of Foot retreating from Concord Bridge, or the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn. It will depend on response, but sooner or later, they’re going to get Dien Bien Phu’ed. And I don’t think it will sit well with them either immediately, or long-term.
Toastrider · December 16, 2023 at 10:49 am
And remember, all of that is predicated on them obeying the orders.
Things will get wildly entertaining the first time a unit gets told ‘suppress these suburbs’ and the response is ‘sorry, all our IFVs are down for maintenance’.
Aesop · December 16, 2023 at 1:52 pm
I think it’ll be worse than that.
The serious popcorn-eating begins when they rotate turrets 180°, take out their higher, and hoist the insurgent flag.
Imagine fragging on steroids, and you’ve got it.
Under combat conditions at NTC, one OPFOR tank took out an entire armored battalion task force, tracks, troops, logistics tail, cats and dogs, single-handed. Wiped it completely out, in about 15 minutes, machine-gunned the stragglers, even took out a supporting Cobra gunship with a main gun round.
The military’s going to fire on people all right.
In all directions.
Civil wars are neither pretty, nor neat.
That’s why I suspect to 80:20 odds the brighter commanders will opt out, RTB, stand down, and hunker down to await a winner, rather than joining a side.
That’s when entire Division C.G.’s radio back “Sorry, we’d love to help, but all our vehicles are sidelined for maintenance.”
And TPTB start a run on Depends™.
Aheinousanus · December 19, 2023 at 8:42 pm
LOL. History says otherwise. They will follow orders like they always have.
Every single military deployed since the Korean War has been unconstitutional.
How many refused to go?
They will Bonus Army your ass and do it without hesitation.
tfA-t · December 16, 2023 at 5:25 pm
ima stinking those weapons will have some type of RFID tag placed inem.. certainly a real possibility…
Wild, wild west · December 16, 2023 at 5:55 pm
Numerous civilian deaths resulted from the following operations, either directly or indirectly.
U.S. Grant foraging/stealing from civilians in Northern Mississippi during the Vicksburg siege rather than maintain his own supply lines.
Sherman foraging/stealing from civilians in Georgia and South Carolina during his march to the sea rather than maintain his own supply lines as well as burning and etc. as they went. He was, of course, with Grant at Vicksburg.
Sheridan foraging/stealing from civilians in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia during his efforts to break the South rather than maintain his own supply lines as well as burning and etc. as he went.
The whole sordid history of The Burnt District in Missouri where Federal troops under Ewing and Jennison depopulated several entire counties of civilians, burning many structures therein, and confiscating without compensation a.k.a. stealing crops and livestock from civilians to be used by the military.
Honest Abe Lincoln approved of all of the above either before or after these occurred.
Third World – Area Ocho · December 19, 2023 at 4:37 am
[…] As I have posted before, the US military will obey orders to attack Americans. The only good news here is that this is what the US Army is becoming: […]
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