When the troops land in Texas for Operation Jade Helm next week, someone will be waiting for them.
Hundreds of people have organized a "Counter Jade Helm" surveillance operation across the Southwestern states and in an effort to keep an eye on the contentious military drill that's sparked many suspicious of Uncle Sam's intentions.
Eric Johnston, a 51-year-old retired firefighter and sheriff's deputy who lives in Kerrville, is a surveillance team leader in Texas. He'll coordinate three groups of volunteers, about 20 folks in total, who hope to monitor the SEALs, Green Berets and Air Force Special Ops in Bastrop, Big Spring and Junction when Jade Helm kicks off on July 15. With media prohibited at the drills, the volunteers could be a main source of information for the highly-anticipated seven-state exercise.
But locations more precise than the towns around which troops will drill remain unknown. For the citizens' surveillance operation, therein lies the first challenge.
"If a team member sees two Humvees full of soldiers driving through town, they're going to follow them," Johnston said. "And they're going to radio back their ultimate location."
Why do I have visions of these yahoos radioing back to command central with updates like "Army unit stopping to gas up and buy girlie magazines," and "Suspicious convoy currently located in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot?"
Here is more from the Guardian:
Johnston, a retired firefighter and police officer in Arizona who now lives in the Texas hill country, spoke in measured, calm tones and said he and his colleagues were focused on basic transparency, not outrageous conspiracy.
“We are not far-wing, ‘Oh God, arm ourselves, get in camouflage, block the streets,’” he said. “We’re doing more of a neighbourhood watch kind of thing.
“We are going to find a central location and set up an area and just cruise the streets, drive up and down the highway through Bastrop … most of us are legal concealed-carry folks, but we’re not going to be running up and down the street with automatic rifles.”
Now while this guy sounds fairly reasonable, he follows all of this up with the following statement:
If something mysterious is afoot, Johnston, said, he wants to get to the bottom of it.
“Two and two doesn’t add up,” he said.
Yeah it does. It's four. Isn't it four in Texas?
So here's my question. Do you have to prove you're a paranoid schizophrenic to move to Texas, or is that just ultimately what you become after living there for awhile?
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