15 July 03

The latest on Homeland "Security" from a student who works at a military arsenal:

"Those assigned to 'security' have been instructed to carry their M9 (Beretta 92F) pistols with an empty chamber. When I expressed concern and confusion over this procedure, our colonel said that it was 'safer to have the weapons with an empty chamber, because of the (obviously poor) level of training of the security force.' When I was asked why we were not better trained, I was tol d that the Army 'doesn't have the time or resources,' (nor, obviously, the interest)! It gets better: We have been told that we are no longer going to be allowed to carry high-performance, hollowpoint ammunition in our M9s. This same idi ot colonel is recommending hardball. I, once more, asked about lack of immedia te incapacitation and the simultaneous risk of overpenentration, as our facilit y has many tanks filled with toxic chemicals. The colonel admitted that he ha d not even thought about the overpenentration issue, then insisted that hardball was still 'the best way to go.' I pointed out that no civi lian police agency carries hardball anymore. The colonel expressed surprise, but would still not be moved by facts. Finally, we have been told that our shotguns are being returned to the armory, because 'all we need here is small arms.' I reminded the co lonel that shotguns ARE 'small arms.'

So, we now have lightly-armed, marginally-trained 'security' officer s, firing ineffective, non expanding ammunition in a supposedly critical military facility with tanks full of acids and explosive gases!

Again, the difference between the high-sounding, presidential rhetoric on Homeland 'Security' and the pathetic reality down here where the rub ber meets the road it stark and frightening. In a real attack, most of us would be killed in the first minute. We are nothing but cannon fodder!"

Comment: Here is another example. We in the USA have elevated self-deceptio n to an art form! I blame politicians, of course, including our current Commander in Chief, for naively believing what he is being told by his gaggl e of atta-boy generals instead of seeing for himself. However, the real villain in this story is the colonel mentioned above, and thousands like him. He may b e a West Point pretty boy, but he is also a pathetic coward! He knows full well his 'security' is a joke and the lives of his men are at risk, but h e is so comfortable he doesn't want anything to ever change. He has a chance to be a hero, but he would rather be an atta-boy. Shame on him!

/John