Washington State citizens upset that the SEALs are using their parks for “wargames”

| January 27, 2022

ninja and Jeff LPH 3 have sent in this bizarre story. The Left Coast strikes again. They appear to forget that they will be first part of the CONUS that China will invade. From Military.com;

Navy Seals Stop Training in State Parks as Locals Sue Over ‘War Games’

Navy SEALs have paused training operations in Washington state parks as a legal challenge from locals concerned about the environmental and psychological impacts of “war games” comes to a head.

“I do not care to catch a glimpse of apparently armed men skulking around and I DEFINITELY do not want to risk having my young grandchildren see such a sight,” one commenter wrote to state regulators.

Navy SEALs have conducted cold water training and other special operations exercises in the state’s coastal parks for more than 30 years. The mountain-ringed shorelines of the parks offer unique challenges for commandos practicing clandestine raids and surveillance training, the Navy says, with “cold water, extreme tidal changes, multi-variant currents, low visibility, complex underwater terrain, climate and rigorous land terrain.” The dispute centers primarily on parks near Washington’s Puget Sound, as well as along the state’s southwestern coastline.

The SEALs’ previous five-year agreement to conduct training in five state parks expired in 2020. When the service attempted to renew its agreement with the state and expand the number of parks at which it could train to 28, it was met with organized opposition from local residents and park users.

Hundreds of Washingtonians submitted written and oral comments on the proposal, the overwhelming majority of which were opposed. Commenters cited everything from environmental concerns to fears that SEALs would disturb the peace.

“The plan to have apparently armed people storming beaches in our state parks is an irresponsible and dangerous idea,” one resident wrote during the public comment period.

“In these days of great division in our civil society, we don’t need stealthy men in camo uniforms toting toy guns around our State and County Parks,” wrote another. “People frequent parks to escape tension, not to encounter more. Keep the Navy commando training out of our parks!”

Others were concerned about references to the use of drones, or UAVs. A comment from the Skagit Audubon Society noted that “the Navy’s plan is to use larger, gasoline-powered UAV’s as well as smaller, electric-powered types. This offers significant potential for direct and indirect injury to birds as well as auditory disruption to the experience of park visitors.”

Despite the public outcry, in January 2021 the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission voted 4-3 to approve a scaled-back version of the Navy’s original proposal, placing some sensitive areas off-limits to training and restricting the operations to nighttime hours.

But in March 2021, Whidbey Environmental Action Network (WEAN) filed a petition for judicial review against the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, arguing that the proposed training violates laws that dedicate the parks to the public for recreational and ecological purposes. It wants a judge to reverse the commission’s decision and award WEAN attorneys’ fees and other costs.

WEAN argues many members of the public may avoid state parks for fear of “encountering the proposed war games or being spied upon by Navy personnel,” lawyers for the group wrote in its opening brief, filed last month. “It is difficult to find peace in the woods when armed frogmen might be lurking behind every tree.”

A hearing in the case is scheduled for April 1 in Thurston County Superior Court. WEAN’s litigation coordinator Steve Erickson told Coffee or Die Magazine via email that he expects the judge to issue a final decision sometime after the hearing.

The Navy conducted 37 training events — each lasting two to 72 hours and including no more than eight trainees plus a small safety cadre — at Washington state parks from 2015 through 2020. The training included insertion and extraction of personnel via watercraft, reconnaissance, diving, and swimming, Navy spokesman Joe Overton told Coffee or Die in an email.

No Naval Special Warfare training was conducted at the parks in 2021, and operations are on hold again this year pending further review by the parks department, Overton wrote.

Navy officials maintain that there have never been any incidents with park visitors during past exercises, and that the training by its nature requires that trainees leave no trace. Exercises are noninvasive and do not include live-fire ammunition, explosive demolitions, off-road driving or other destructive activities, according to Overton.

More at the source. Gotta love the pearl clutching about your grandchildren seeing some of America’s most elite fighting men with scary black guns. I doubt over the five years this program ran that not a single person aside from the park rangers and administrators even knew the SEALs were there. They’re practicing clandestine operations. If grandma on a bird hunting trip sees “apparently armed men,” those SEALs have failed at being covert.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Liberals suck, Navy

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MarineDad61

IMHO,
BRAC Washington state / Seattle / Whidbey…
for coastal Maine.

Maine 1.jpg
Name withheld by request

I went to Old Orchard Beach for Memorial Day Weekend years ago (my friend’s family lived in Saco), and the water was so cold I thought an iceberg was going float by.

MarineDad61

Nwbr,
It warms up a little by August.

26Limabeans

minus 28 here this morning.

ninja

One of our Drill SGTs from Basic was from your AO. The other was from Jamaica. Try imaging doing D&C, Marches, etc. for 8 weeks with those accents. The one that was from your AO got ticked off at us because we had a hard time understanding him. We sure did alot of pushups under his watch. Years later, it all paid off. In one unit, three (3) NCOs who worked for me were from Puerto Rico, Korea and the Phillipines (Born and Raised in the Native Country before becoming US Citizens). Talk about challenges. 😉😎

M48DAT

But who’s the first one to cry “Waa waa, where’s the SEALs when they get kidnaped in a foreign country?

Name withheld by request

Doesn’t sound right. I don’t think these training exercises are happening where the general public can view. They make it seem like hikers walk right into the middle of maneuvers. They just know they use the parks and it “triggers” their sensibilities.

MarineDad61

Similar complaints for decades by Appalachian Trail hikers
(not the locals, but the long distance hikers from far away states)
in Pennsylvania, over aerial bombing and large caliber ground tank and crew weapons training in the range valley at Fort Indiantown Gap.
It’s a long hike from the local roads
with Appalachian Trail access points, to the range ridges.
Goes nowhere, ever. But makes local news every time.

Last edited 2 years ago by MarineDad61
Green Thumb

Same for the Appalachian hikers near Dahlonega, Ga.

MarineDad61

Green Thumb,
I’m sure some of them are the same turdwads
that toss their trash and beer cans in the river
at Duncannon, PA and the Delaware Water Gap.

Bones

I remember putting in an ambush on the trail when I was in Ranger school. Some hikers went by, and then some time later the B Company guys.

Green Thumb

Typical.

Years past at a University out here in the Great NW, an 18 yo drunk college kid stripped down and streaked at a football game.

It took a minuite to corral him, but he did not hurt anyone. Kid was wrong, drunk and should be punished for sure. However, some random lady and her daughter were sitting up in the cheap seat at about the 40 yardline. She stated that her daughter (4 yo) was permantly tramautized and would have to undergo therapy. She even filed sexual assault charges and wanted the kid to be registered as a sexual offender. Yeah. The school got scared.

Kicked the kid out. However, I think the legal system did its due dillehence and hammered the kid with probation and community service. Which it should. But this woman’s actions created a lot of problems for the kid on the “other side of the legal house” and he ended up leaving town and finishing school somewhere back East.

Green Thumb

Point being, the kid should have been punished but there was a serious overreaction and professional victimization by the same knee jerk fools who continually look the other way when they deem convenient and cry like hell when “offended”.

mmcm(sw)nuc

Washington State…soon to be part of northern California…where they outlaw natural gas for cooking/heating and filtered cigarettes…

jeff LPH 3 63-66

washington state/washington dc, same old shit which can’t get any better I say again.

ninja

Wonder if any of them had problems with the George Floyd Protests that took place in Washington State in 2020?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests_in_Washington_(state)

Roh-Dog

CHAZ/CHOP and the glorious Peoples’ vegetable gardens?!
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Autonomous_Zone

edit: just noticed the simple wiki is written in child-speak. Makes it morer funnier. Also added ‘peoples’ for reasons
edit2: wanted to include this story from 2020 of Daily Dot posting the Ls. Ur welcome. https://www.dailydot.com/debug/conservatives-obsessed-chaz-garden/

commiebounty.jpeg
Last edited 2 years ago by Roh-Dog
ninja

Roh-Dog:

Yep. 👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍

KoB

Naw, ninja. Those mostly peaceful protests did not result in any damage to property, no children witnessed it, and nobody was killed. I’m sure that the Good Citizens of Washington State would much prefer that the State Parks be used to add more statues of Saint George, and others like him, than have the parks used to train warmongering, male chauvinist, racists.

Wonder what these snowflakes are gonna feel when their grandchildren are made “Comfort Women” or slave laborers by the Chinese Communist Shock Troops that invade Washington from the container ships they came in on?

ninja

KoB:

Guess none of then saw the 1984 movie “Red Dawn”. 😉😎

“In an alternate 1980s, the United States is strategically isolated after NATO is disbanded. At the same time, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies aggressively expand. In addition, the Ukrainian wheat harvest fails while a socialist coup d’état occurs in Mexico.”

“In September, in the town of Calumet, Colorado, a local high school teacher pauses upon seeing Soviet troops parachuting from An-12 transport aircraft. He walks outside to question them and they open fire. Pandemonium follows as students flee amid heavy gunfire. Jed Eckert, who had dropped his brother Matt off at the high school,
returns to pick him and several of their friends..”

ninja

Or the November 1983 TV Movie “The Day After”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After

Anyone else besides the ninja family remember that movie?

🤔

David

Remember it? I took physics courses in one of those buildings.

ninja

David: Wow…We rewatched the movie courtesy of You-Tube a year ago. I know exactly what buildings you addressed. Thank You for sharing!

Anonymous

Yup, was in junior high.

Milo Mindbender

Even better but much darker was the BBC release Threads, it was very “Oh, Draft, we are all going to die a hideout death” but with science.

MarineDad61

ninja,
Deja voo doo.
I just put a Red Dawn reference on your bottom comment.
🙂

ninja

MarineDad61: How ‘Bout Great Minds Think Alike?

😉😎

Anonymous

ninja

👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍😎

Roh-Dog

“The plan to have apparently armed people storming beaches in our state parks is an irresponsible and dangerous idea” -some d-bag.

Dangerous? Naw, man. It’s more like honing to become more dangerouser. But you keep on keeping on being a little b-word.

Real talk: do they charge admission and/or accept pro bono BBQ, beers? Come assault the beaches here in CT! Clam bake and IPAs on me.

Last edited 2 years ago by Roh-Dog
ninja

Mason commented :

“They appear to forget that they will be first part of the CONUS that China will invade. ”

Russia and North Korea as well?

Guess they forgot that the Japanese during WW2 sent over Balloon Bombs to the West Coast:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb

MarineDad61

ninja,
Really.
Red Dawny Cubans running a Pearl Harbor type attack
through New Orleans and up the Mississippi River
is not the easiest nor most effective access to the USA.
Left coast leftyidiotland is by far the easiest resistance free entry point…… unless Canada is taken out first.

Red dawn 1984.jpg
Sparks

The left side of my state is so damned embarrassing. Bunch of whiny pussies. Makes me want to move to Idaho or Texas.

ninja

Sparks: Always wondered about Fort Lewis and the surrounding area. We lived there as Army Brats (a long time ago).

Thank You for sharing!

Sparks

Ninja, I live in the very conservative southeastern part of the state. Unfortunately, three counties on the west side control the voting by population. Really considering moving.

ninja

Sparks: Wow. Hope things get better for you! If not, completely understand about your consideration to move. Don’t blame you at all. Sad, isn’t it? Thank You for sharing.

bruce kendall

spokane is already fallen, so sad

Anonymous

Concur. (Girlfriend and her family from eastern WA.)
comment image

A Terminal Lance Coolie

Agreed. Western Washington needs some serious help. Thank God I live on the SE corner of the state, though my area is starting to show signs of Western Washington creeping in…

UpNorth

The old NIMBY syndrome raises it’s head. We don’t want to watch 6 or 8 American SEALs train on their beaches.

ninja

Let us not forget what is currently happening in North Carolina. We have family members who participate in this:

“Robin Sage Exercise Will Bring ‘Realistic’ Guerrilla War Training Across Rural NC Counties, Army Warns:

https://www.stripes.com/branches/army/
2022-01-10/army-training-realistic-guerrilla-war-north-carolina-robin-sage-exercise-4244611.html

“A “realistic” guerrilla war will be fought across two dozen North Carolina counties this month, with young soldiers battling seasoned “freedom fighters,” according to the U.S. Army.”

“The two-week “unconventional warfare exercise” will be staged Jan. 22-Feb. 4 on privately owned land. And it will be realistic enough to include the sounds of gunfire (blanks) and flares, the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School said in a news release.”

rgr769

Pineland forever. Rise up Pinelanders and throw off your chains. Freedom forever!

ninja

rgr769: Bet You’ve Been There And Done That!!!

😉😎

rgr769

Yes, I was fighting for the insurgency in Pineland in May, 1972. Our G’s were a rifle platoon from the 82nd It was where I first conducted successful ambushes after having directed dozens for real in the Viet of the Nam. It was one helluva FTX. Two of my teammates were captured after our successful vehicle ambush. The next day a Huey flew over our base camp broadcasting all our names. A scrawny little signal 2LT on my team had been coerced to disclose all our names in POW interrogation by a clever MI warrant.

Poetrooper

Counselor, did you ever participate in any of the multi-divisional Swift Strike maneuvers in North and South Carolina back in the 1960’s?

These snowflakes in Washington would melt into a puddle if they were invaded by 70,000 troops, two divisions of which, the 82d and the 101st parachuted into their cornfields and melon patches, where they were pitted against each other–30,000-plus paratroopers encouraged to do their very best to make the warfare as brutally realistic as possible.

Back in those days, the rivalry between the 101st and the 82d as to whose paratroopers were the toughest and the meanest was fully tested in these annual confrontations You did not want to get captured–POW’s frequently were beaten by their captors and deprived of rations, water and shelter until the umpires came along to free them.

Last edited 2 years ago by Poetrooper
Poetrooper

Swift Strike (Cont)

The destruction to the countryside throughout the two-state maneuvers area was widespread. Farmers had to be heavily compensated for crop losses which were extensive, especially to their watermelon and cantaloupe fields which suffered from both physical destruction and looting. Those melons sure took the edge off those hot August afternoons.

In spite of all the violence and damages visited upon their region, the locals mostly welcomed us, even inviting some into their homes for homecooked meals.

Here’s a link to a bunch of old 506th troopers (officers mostly) reminiscing about those long-ago memories:

Swift Strike Memories, 1st ABG, 1961-1963 (506infantry.org)

rgr769

No, I didn’t. I was in schools for the first six months of AD in late 1968 at the Benning School for Wayward Boys. Then I went to the 509th in Germany until May, 1970.

LC

A lesser-known ‘Robin Sage’ anecdote doesn’t involve the Army exercise, but rather some hackers. In brief, they made a fake profile with an attractive woman, named her ‘Robin Sage’ -which you’d think in itself would cause anyone in the military or intelligence circles to pause- and got connected with a variety of people on social media who should be a tad bit more cautious:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Sage

ninja

LC: Thank You for sharing…What a very interesting read…and scary as well!

Anonymous

Makes life living in the Ft. Bragg area interestin’…

ninja

I can hear Demi Moore having a word or two with those folks: 😉😎

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Jane

Martinjmpr

I wonder how these pearl-clutchers would feel if they knew there was a Ranger battalion and a Special Forces Group just South of their little “Eco-Topia” at Fort Lewis?

ninja

Freak Out?😉😎

RGR 4-78

Nisqually by night.

Someone should write a song.

Berliner

The entitled pearl-clutchers most recently were bitching about waking up to the sight of 4 container ships waiting within view of their overpriced waterfront view properties.

These are the same folks complaining about the F-18 Hornets doing training flights out of Whidbey Island NAS and at OLF Coupeville where they practice carrier landings before deployments.

The training of SEALs is done under cover of darkness with the goal of coming and going undetected. Just the mention in the media of training and they are reaching for the pearls.

LC

While it’s fun to mock the precious ‘coastal liberal’ sorts who are so terrified to see military professionals training, I’d like to point out the reaction many tough conservatives in the southern state of Texas had over “Jade Helm”, a SOCOM exercise. Remember that one?

You had people freaking out because apparently Obama was going to institute martial law, and Abbott even called in the Texas State Guard to ‘monitor’ the military.

Here’s Jonn’s post on it from back in the day:
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=59651

A little less hysteria is good for everyone.

ninja

Hmmmm…Now this is interesting:

“Hysteria Over Jade Helm Exercise In Texas Was Fueled By Russians”

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/03/hysteria-over-jade-helm-exercise-texas-was-fueled-russians-former-cia-/

ninja

“A former director of the CIA and NSA said Wednesday that hysteria in Texas over a 2015 U.S. military training exercise called Jade Helm was fueled by Russians wanting to dominate “the information space,” and that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to send the Texas State Guard to monitor the operation gave them proof of the power of such misinformation campaigns.”

“Michael Hayden, speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe podcast, chalked up peoples’ fear over Jade Helm 15 to “Russian bots and the American alt-right media [that] convinced many Texans [Jade Helm] was an Obama plan to round up political dissidents.”

“Abbott ordered the State Guard to monitor the federal exercise soon after news broke of the operation. Hayden said that move gave Russians the go-
ahead to continue — and possibly expand — their efforts to spread fear.”

Herbert J Messkit

Spent 20 years in the area, just moved to Arizona last year. They would also protest Blue Angels during Seafair. Ft Lewis used to do ROTC advanced camp every summer. That required Artillery fire every three days as they cycled through. Lot of complaints there. The approach for Mchord is generally parallel to I-5 and south Tacoma Way. Seeing those C17s come in low is a great sight.

SFC D

The Thunderbirds are training on Huachuca for the next two weeks. Noise complaints started immediately. Fuck ’em. We get a twice daily airshow. It’s hurt productivity because we’re all gaping instead of working.

A Proud Infidel®™

Noise complaints over the USAF T-birds? I hope they break the sound barrier during their coffee break!

ninja

Anyone remember this story?

“Virginia Woman Convicted Of Shining Strobe Light At Navy Jets”

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/09/25/virginia-woman convicted-of-shining-strobe-light-at-navy-jets/

“Moore was aiming the strobe lights at Naval Air Station Oceana aircraft and attempting to direct them as they were conducting night training operations out of Naval Auxiliary Field Fentress in Chesapeake, Virginia, in December, Virginia Beach Police and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said at the time.”

Slick Goodlin
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an` Chuck him out, the brute! "
But it's " Saviour of 'is country " when the guns begin to shoot."

Rudyard Kipling
Dennis - not chevy

Meanwhile, their snowflaky cousins to the south complain about the Blue Angels show during fleet week.

A Proud Infidel®™️

I hope each of those snowflakes burst into flames the next time they take a shit!

ninja

So….Wonder how they would feel if Biden started sending Illegal Aliens into their AO?
🤔😎

Prior Service

Grew up on Whidbey Island. Home of all west coast Intruders and Prowlers. Only reason there’s a town there is the navy, but they all hate it. Whine and cry about the noise non stop and now even the noiseless SEALs. Just solidifies my decision not to retire back there. Thanks, $&$/<#% California.