Creating a ‘Crisis’ – Domestic Terrorism Drills in Salina Kansas
Todd Begnoche, Firefighter/EMT with the Salina Fire Department works Wedndesday morning on an actor portraying a victim of a mock disaster at Crisis City. (photo by Tom Dorsey / Salina Journal) | Buy Journal Photos
Salina Journal
By Chris Hunter
Three hours after a train was struck by explosives, victims of the domestic terrorist attack were lying on the ground awaiting transport to Salina Regional Health Center, even as blood and ash covered different parts of the injured.
The “victims” and “explosion” were part of a multi-agency training exercise being conducted Tuesday at Crisis City, southwest of Salina.
“This is an exercise for first responders in the area,” said Lt. Col. Greg Platt, operations officer at Crisis City. “This is the first step in a national validation being conducted between Kansas and Nebraska.”
Involved in the weeklong operation were regional and local law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency management agencies. Also involved were members of the Kansas and Nebraska national guards, Kansas and federal bureaus of investigations, Secret Service and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Creating a ‘disaster’
Brigadier Gen. Norm Steen, commander of the Great Plains Joint Training Center, said 160 role-players, 60 local responders and possibly as many as 200 more members of groups from outside the state were involved in the training, which ends Sunday. The drill had been in the works for eight months.
Platt said one of the scenarios being conducted at Crisis City dealt with a proposed visit from President Barack Obama.
“The president of the United States was going to visit this site,” Platt said. “But, we have some ne’er-do-wells that don’t like the government, don’t like health care, don’t like what we are doing with financial regulation and immigration, decided to do something about the president’s visit.”
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Platt said a member of the group of “ne’er-do-wells” took explosives from an army base in Missouri and blew up a train at 7 a.m., injuring people and setting off secondary explosions.
Amazing. Once again, conservative disapproval of what Washington is doing is used as the backdrop for a military exercise. It was just two months ago that FT. Knox had an exercise based on an attack by the drunken Tea Party patriots. The story line was that the Tea Party stole weapons from an armory and were shooting them off in the air around a bonfire before attacking the gold depository.
The mindset of some of our senior military officers who come up with these training scenarios is becoming a cause for concern.
Ne’er-do-well’s huh?
Is that what the regieme is currently calling those who believe in Constitutional government? IS that the term that is in vogue now?
Well, fellow “ne’er-do-well’s”, we are considered terrorists by our own government, all for demanding they respect the Bill of Rights.–Not exstremist muslim fanatics who publically call for Jihad against us!
Lt. Col. Platt………..If you actually made that statement then you are a traitor to those you are sworn to protect and have no business in the uniform of the United States Army.
It is no wonder LtCol Lakin had to take a Stand.