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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. Army builds (another) fake city to shoot at during training for $100,000,000
in order to play 'asymmetric' war games. and this isn't the only fake city they've built for this purpose.
It's fucking obscene. this country is sick.
The US army has built a fake city designed to be used during combat training exercises.
The 300 acre 'town' includes a five story embassy, a bank, a school, an underground subway and train station, a mosque, a football stadium, and a helicopter landing zone.
Located in Virginia, the realistic subway station comes complete with subway carriages and the train station has real train carriages.
The subway carriages even carry the same logo as the carriages in Washington DC
There are also bridges and several other structures which can be transformed into different scenarios.
<snip>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10634411/US-army-builds-fake-city-to-shoot-at-during-training.html
Lost_Count
(555 posts)... bet it's a bitch to get a slot though.
Kingofalldems
(38,487 posts)Military Operations in Urban Terrain. It has been around for a long time.
During World War II, as preparation for the Allied invasion of Normandy, the population of the English village of Imber was evacuated compulsorily to provide an urban training area for United States forces. The facility has been retained, despite efforts by the displaced people to recover their homes, and was used for British Army training for counter-insurgency operations in Northern Ireland. A newer purpose-built training area has been created at Copehill Down, some 3 miles from Imber.
Such training areas can look like anything from an extremely poorly built, unfinished Hollywwod set to a small town that you can't tell from the real thing at first glance.
I spent a very enjoyable year as 'Red Force' (the bad guys) in a town. It was no where near as complete as this one. I would be interested to see what you can get for $100,000,000. I would expect this will be one of the Army's primary training facilities for that cost.
spanone
(135,886 posts)a piss in the pot.
linuxman
(2,337 posts)It's like they think they're going to be fighting people in a city somewhere!
It's called training. I can guarantee you $100M figure was part of the recently passed budget, earmarked directly for this.
We aren't fighting Russia ever again. Interstate war between great powers is going the way of the Dodo. Train like you fight.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)States that build surveillance machines also build propaganda machines.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367
linuxman
(2,337 posts)The MIC and Obama administration is paying me to troll/mislead a bunch of homebodies on a niche web forum.
I really wish the Bilderbergers would give me my damn raise already.
If you drop it, I'll tell you who really killed the Kennedys. I can't say much, but I'll give you a hint: The sonofabitch has been flurodating your drinking water.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Funny how attempts to invoke wild conspiracy theories at DU invariably come from corporatist posters trying to push the absurd suggestion that governments and corporations do not spend millions to advertise, propagandize, and shape public opinion.
How wild-eyed and conspiratorial to suggest that those imposing policy against the will of the people would attempt to use their deep pockets to shape public opinion or disrupt dissent. Certainly those with a political agenda, and especially corporatists in this country, have *never* attempted to use their deep pockets to propagandize media before.
How *much* more logical to believe that political boards across the internet experienced a radical and bizarre influx of corporatism-spouting participants all within the space of a few years for no reason whatsoever and during a time when polling data clearly show the mood of the country moving the opposite way. It's obviously just a bizarre fluke that the number of corporate mouthpieces, and their ratio to other incoming posters, keeps increasing relentlessly, weirdly, and steadily...and that they all use the very same talking points and tactics including starting threads well out of proportion to their presence in the community, *never* letting a thread critical of the administration go unanswered, and demanding the last word in nearly every exchange.
States that build surveillance machines also build propaganda machines:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367
U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023262111
The goal of the propaganda assaults across the internet is not to convince anyone of anything.*
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023359801
The government figured out sockpuppet managment but not "persona management."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023358242
The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4159454
Seventeen techniques for truth suppression.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4249741
Just do some Googling on astroturfing - big organizations have some sophisticated tools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1208351
The influx will continue
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4216987
linuxman
(2,337 posts)Seriously.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)and the last resort of personal smears. Yes, that's generally what we have come to expect from the corporate posting.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)TheMathieu
(456 posts)SO. PISSED.
cali
(114,904 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Look at WWII when the fighting was in the cities and the casualty rate in urban warfare..
cali
(114,904 posts)and secondly, I dispute that you can't train troops without this.
other countries manage.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)that is many, many times bigger than any other nation.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)Why do we need more than one f-18? Why do we need more than one base?
Please, outline your MOUT training package plan. I really want to see this. So would the .mil. Fun fact: The government has had a program in place for years which guarantees the originator of a cost saving idea a percentage of the savings for a certain period.
Maybe with your insight we can finally have military parity with Mexico!
Logical
(22,457 posts)peacebird
(14,195 posts)linuxman
(2,337 posts)I think giving soldiers the training they need in order to not get all fucked up in urban combat would fit that description.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)linuxman
(2,337 posts)Many troops are deployed without this valuable training due to the problem of getting them all to the location, and that is IF there is enough time,/room to train them.
Your point is silly. It's like asking why don't we just have one national DMV.
cali
(114,904 posts)place?
cali
(114,904 posts)NOT.
linuxman
(2,337 posts)I suppose it's easy to dismiss someone who hasn't devoted enough of their life to a website to accrue 90k+ posts, but I'm talking facts and reality here. If that doesn't jive with your view, well....I don't know what to tell you.
Asymmetric war and operations in urban settings are the current way of war and the way of wars to follow. We don't stable cavalry horses anymore. We build fake towns.
I suppose it's easier to dismiss me offhand as a "conservadem" than to try and understand the rational basis for constructing this facility.
cali
(114,904 posts)As I said, they already have such a facility.
I'm sure at one point the cavalry had one stable.
But where is this facility?? I personally know of 3.
Lancero
(3,015 posts)We might as well get rid of all but one abortion clinic. Afterall, one is plenty and no way will their ever be more people in need of one then that one can support.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Such is the new corporate propaganda state.
linuxman
(2,337 posts)We could just like, end war, ya know? Someone should tell the president. He seems hip. I never thought of that.
War is what we're in, and it's not going away overnight. 100M is a drop in the ocean if it brings more troops back alive before the ultimate pullout.
cali
(114,904 posts)cheer for rampant militarism. That hardly makes it "hippie diippy" to oppose the military industrial complex.
And President Eisenhower was hardly known for being some peacenik.
gad, the unthinking support for this shit on DU is pathetic and intellectually bereft.
Oh, and President Obama is a corporatist through and through and through.
I highly doubt Eisenhower looked at the Higgins boats, sneered, then insisted that everyone swim the channel. I mean other countries don't have them.... Like I said, war is what you got. Train accordingly.
Building a MOUT facility doesn't perpetuate war. It gives troops a better chance of coming home alive. In the grand scheme of things, the town is as high as a first aid lesson on the scale of MIC threat level.
cali
(114,904 posts)and yes, it perpetrates war and the mentality of endless war.
YOU are jumping to conclusion. I have his actual words. You do grasp the difference, I hope.
Furthermore, I don't do mindless troop adulation. This excellent article speaks for me:
No, thanks: Stop saying support the troops
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023541029
linuxman
(2,337 posts)We should just stop everything and end the war today. Anything less is a continuation of MIC and imperialism.
You are being deliberately obtuse about this. All I'm attempting to explain to you is that we are currently in a war where people fight in urban settings. To increase survivability we can train more troops more effectively with additional facilities. If you can't manage to somehow get you head around that, I might as well tell it to my cat.
This facility does nothing for the troops, aside from help keep them alive. That is the only point of this kind of thing. Troop effectiveness and survivability. That's it. You're the kind of narrow minded person who would have sent millions to their deaths while serving on a WWI general staff. I mean, why dig trenches and stay low, right? We don't need none of that fancy stuff.! War never changes! Forwards, and fix bayonets! We'll build a tank later, but just the one!
If wanting more live Americans is troop adulation, I'm guilty.
I want all our men and women to come home. Until then, I'll have to settle for some. I'd like that to be a bigger number. Take your accusations of MIC-cheering and jingoism and shove them somewhere dark and lonely.
You're welcome to continue on with this, but you'll do it alone. I've said all that a reasonable man can.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)They certainly don't need so many tanks and battle ships. Spending money to provide realistic urban combat training is about the best use of DOD money I've heard.
cali
(114,904 posts)net is being shredded, our bloated defense and national security budgets are obscene.
Cui bono.
It ain't chiefly the sainted troops.
Yeah, I despise the mindless military adulation.
Wanting troops to have higher survivability in wars they are stuck in = "military adulation".
Do you hear yourself? I'm not lobbying for a next gen fucking jet fighter.
MADem
(135,425 posts)This thing was started during the Bush era FWIW:
Personally, I'd take a section of a blighted community, buy it all up, fence it all off,and use it for that purpose. Much more realistic, and it would put some of the "construction" money in the hands of people with crappy houses that no one wants to buy. We have a lot of smaller cities and towns with shitty sections -- if the residents abutting them would be willing to put up with the odd boom and bang of training, or if they just bought up the adjacent areas to minimize the noise factor, it might be a win-win.
linuxman
(2,337 posts)The only thing is, you generally can't do this where there are ANY other people. These exercises are way more than an odd "boom and a bang". Still a good Idea though. If Detroit weren't so damn cold it would be nice. I'd be willing to bet that there is at least one completely abandoned area somewhere in the US, though.
MADem
(135,425 posts)And what with the weather going a bit nutso, it can snow anywhere--ask the folks in Georgia!
A bit of cold weather training never hurts, either--always train for the next conflict, AND the one after that!
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)of the rotting priorities of this country corrupted by blood-tinged corporate money and power.
Thank you for posting this. I had not seen it elsewhere.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)creeeepy
jsr
(7,712 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)... just what is it the defense budget is defending?
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)I trained at a SimCity at FLETC and the stuff we did would've freaked out locals had we tried it in a real city. Fed law enforcement officers do it all the time.
In the event that they'd need to storm a subway station, I'd like them to have practice.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)We do not need a military nearly the size of what we have currently. We would still be the largest military superpower at 1/2 of today's budget.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)MOUT are hard, very very hard. Training saves lives, both of service members and civilians.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)... Is because it is heavily instrumented for training. Training is most effective when you can effectively review the results.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)proper site safety, and all the other things that make us all love public sector projects also make them more expensive.
butterfly77
(17,609 posts)I wonder if they could do that for the cities in America we sure could do with some affordable housing.