© sputniknews.com
Coming to a city near you?
Nothing calms the public quite like gunfire in heavily populated areas. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army has plans to do just that starting August 30th and continuing to September 12th in 21 select counties in North Carolina.
The 21 counties include Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson, Davie, Guilford, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly, Union and Wake counties, officials said.
Efforts to calm the public ahead of time come after some past tragic incidents where at least one soldier died and mass panic ensued after a similar exercise was thought to be a real event. While exact locations are not being released, according to
The Charlotte Observer residents in the following counties should not be alarmed by gunfire, flares and helicopter activity that might be witnessed.
This latest group of drills is part of "Robin Sage" which is a series of ongoing training exercises conducted out of the Fort Bragg military base. According to
The Charlotte Observer, this year's emphasis is being placed on
unconventional warfare where "students will match wits with more seasoned soldiers, who will 'act as realistic opposing forces and guerrilla freedom fighters, 'officials said in a release."
It's not clear in the
Observer's report if this series of drills has anything to do with
a larger U.S. Army mission of preparing for close-combat warfare in megacities, but it does appear to have some of those elements.
Comment: See also: