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[Photo Source: WashingtonExaminer.com]
Our SWAT Fuel Warrior of the Week is seeking advice as to whether or not intervene in a domestic situation in public. Professor Paul has serious insight into that subject. Lastly, we address yet another public ND that was called an “accident.” We can do better, people.
SOURCES:
From www.washingtonexaminer.com:
“In the wake of the massacre in Chattanooga, Tenn., Defense Secretary Ash Carter approved a series of “immediate force-protection steps” designed to protect service members. One of those steps was to ask recruiters not to wear their uniforms in public.
Regular readers (all two of you; I’m being generous) will recognize this attempt to “protect” people by telling them what not to wear as “slut-shaming” or “victim-blaming.” At least, that’s what it’s called when the protection is meant for young women on college campuses.
In this case, soldiers are being told not to wear their uniforms because it may make them targets of another shooting. College women used to be told not to wear skimpy clothes to avoid being raped.
The obvious difference here is that a military uniform clearly identifies someone as a member of the military, whereas a short skirt doesn’t identify someone as wanting to have sex. In both instances, however, an authority figure is at least in part blaming the victim for the crime perpetrated against them.
Along with the new uniform policy, the Marine Corps closed recruiting centers within 40 miles of where the shooting, which killed four marines, occurred. The Marines and the Army both increased their official threat level, and the Navy doubled its random security checks in the southeastern U.S.
It’s always smart to take precautions to avoid potentially dangerous situations — such precautions are found in many places where crimes may occur. There’s a label on ATMs that warns users to be aware of their surroundings when withdrawing cash at night. That’s not victim-blaming; it’s common sense.
The trouble arises when things that are meant to be protections wouldn’t actually protect. For the military, not wearing a uniform at work isn’t going to stop a shooter who enters the building because it’s a known recruitment center. You’re there, you’re associated with the military and you’ve seen the shooter. For women on college campuses, wearing sweat pants probably isn’t going to make a rapist decide to forgo the crime.
Of course, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation if urging people to take simple steps to protect themselves (being aware of one’s surroundings, not getting black-out drunk, etc.) wasn’t now considered victim-blaming. Telling someone that what they are wearing will lead to their rape is a bad idea; so is suggesting that military men and women who wear their uniforms invite violence.
The Department of Defense is essentially telling marines that they were dressed too sexy.
Except, at least on college campuses, asking someone what they were wearing doesn’t occur as often as it may have in the past. Those who like to claim that sexual assault is an “epidemic” on college campuses usually combine clothing with alcohol consumption to make both seem equal as victim-blaming techniques. They’re not the same. Suggesting someone not drink so much would actually protect them from being assaulted, it will also keep them from getting into a situation in which they can’t say no. No type of clothing will do that.
Not consuming alcohol may also keep someone from consenting to something they otherwise would not. Some activists might call that victim-blaming, but I don’t agree. If you wouldn’t do something sober (like consent to sex) that you would do while drunk, not getting drunk is an obvious solution. People rarely act differently based solely on the clothes they are wearing, and said clothes don’t tend to lead someone to consent to something they otherwise would not.
In the case of the military, more security and awareness will help prevent another attack. Not wearing uniforms in an office clearly marked for military purposes most likely will not.
So if it’s not appropriate to tell women what they should and shouldn’t wear to avoid being raped, why is it appropriate to tell our military men and women what they should and shouldn’t wear to avoid being shot?“
From www.stripes.com:
“The Army has warned its recruiters to treat the gun-toting civilians gathering at centers across the country in the wake of the Chattanooga, Tenn., shooting as a security threat.
Soldiers should avoid anyone standing outside the recruiting centers attempting to offer protection and report them to local law enforcement and the command if they feel threatened, according to a U.S. Army Recruiting Command policy letter issued Monday.
Armed citizens — some associated with activist groups and militias — were standing vigil outside recruiting centers in Wisconsin, Georgia, Tennessee, Idaho and elsewhere this week, saying they want to provide protection to servicemembers barred from carrying firearms on duty. Four Marines and a sailor were killed by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old Kuwait-born resident of Tennessee, during an attack Thursday on a strip mall recruiting center and a Navy facility that is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
Abdulazeez fired into the front of the recruiting station but there were no casualties. The five servicemembers were killed during an attack on the Navy Operational Support Center. A Navy officer and a Marine reportedly fired at the gunman, although it is unclear why they were armed. It is against Defense Department policy for anyone other than military police or law enforcement to carry weapons on federal property.
“I’m sure the citizens mean well, but we cannot assume this in every case and we do not want to advocate this behavior,” according to the Army Command Operations Center-Security Division letter, which was authenticated by the service.
Recruiters were ordered not to interact or acknowledge the armed civilians, who have been greeted by a mix of concern, indifference and gratitude by the public.
“If questioned by these alleged concerned citizens, be polite, professional and terminate the conversation immediately and report the incident to local law enforcement …,” the command advised.
As the incidents crop up around the country, police could be asked to confront the civilians with guns on the Army’s behalf.
“Ensure your recruiters clearly articulate to local police the civilian may be armed and in possession of a conceal/carry permit,” it told the centers.
The command said recruiters should also immediately fill out an Army security report.
Kelli Bland, a spokeswoman for Army Recruiting Command, said the service has been increasing vigilance following the Chattanooga shooting and that local residents can help in other ways.
“Local communities can support our security by reporting suspicious activity, particularly around recruiting centers,” Bland wrote in an email to Stars and Stripes.
Concerned citizens began gathering at the centers shortly after the shooting in Tennessee, and governors in some states ordered recruiters to armories or to be armed for protection against potential terrorist attacks. Congress has also pushed for the Defense Department to lift its current policy.
The founder and president of Oath Keepers, a Constitution activist group based in Las Vegas, issued a national call Tuesday to guard centers, while members were already guarding centers in Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma, president Stewart Rhodes told the Associated Press.
Rhodes told the news service it’s “absolutely insane” that recruiters aren’t allowed to be armed.
“They’re sitting ducks,” Rhodes said Tuesday. “They’d be better off if they were walking down the streets of Baghdad, because at least in Baghdad, they could move. Here, they’re stationary.”
In Lewiston, Idaho, three men with a group known as “3 percenters” — a national alliance with members who prepare “for any situation, man-made or natural” — were standing watch outside a recruiting office this week, the TNS wire service reported.
“They supported us, and now we’re here showing them that we support them,” said Matt Dillard, of Clarkston, Wash., who was among the men.“
From news.vice.com:
“Foreign fighters from all over the world have left their home countries to join the ranks of the Islamic State, and the militant group’s lightning advance across Iraq and Syria this summer has helped to boost recruitment. VICE founder Shane Smith spoke with a man thought to be 21-year-old Somali-Canadian Abu Usamah Somali, who has been in Iraq since July and is reportedly fighting with the Islamic State.“
From www.dispatch.com:
“The armed civilians who have been guarding a military recruitment center here are gone, ordered off the property after one of them accidentally discharged his rifle on Thursday.
No one was injured.
U.S. Properties Group Portfolio Four LLC, the owner of the shopping center near the River Valley Mall that includes the multi-branch military recruitment center, ordered the armed volunteers to leave just hours after the shot was fired.
A Lancaster police officer delivered the order to several of them outside the Armed Services Career Center, saying, “God bless you,” but they had to leave.
The armed civilians have been guarding the center since Monday.
One of them has been charged with a misdemeanor after he accidentally fired his AR-15 rifle. Someone from the recruiting center at 1530 River Valley Blvd. flagged down an officer at 12:01 p.m. to report the incident, Lt. Shane Wilson said.
The shopping-center owner issued a statement saying it was decided that “for the safety of tenants, customers and construction personnel working in the immediate vicinity of the Military Recruiting Center, it would be best to request the removal of the armed individuals.”
Christopher A. Reed, 28, of Lancaster, was charged with discharging a firearm in the city limits, and was issued a summons to appear in Fairfield County Municipal Court on Tuesday, according to the police incident report.
Reed told police that he was holding his rifle outside the recruitment center when someone asked if he could take a look at it. Reed agreed, and while he was trying to clear the ammunition from the weapon, he accidentally fired one shot into the asphalt pavement.
The only damage was a hole in the pavement. The rifle was taken from Reed pending his appearance in court, the incident report says.
Conviction on the fourth-degree misdemeanor is punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail.
Reed was convicted of the same offense in 2013, and was fined $50, court records show.
Some armed civilians have been guarding military recruiting stations in Ohio and elsewhere after the fatal shootings of five service members at a military recruitment center in Tennessee.
“I’m nobody special,” Reed said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “I’m just a guy doing my job because my own government wouldn’t do it.”
Reed said he is not a military veteran. He described himself as an active gun enthusiast who makes a living working side jobs.
He downplayed what happened. “It is what it is,” he said. “Nobody got hurt.”
A Marine recruiter at the center said he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Before their eviction, armed civilians discussed why they were there. None was present when the rifle discharged.
“Government ain’t going to do it,” said Kenneth Casteel, a 67-year-old Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam and sat in a folding chair with his M-16 rifle propped against it. “They won’t give these guys any weapons to carry or keep in a safe. If we don’t do it, who is going to do it? It’s a matter of safety.”
“We are not a redneck group,” the Lancaster resident added. “We are prior military.”
Passerby Lei Ashbaugh hailed the group. “Thank you, God bless you, Semper Fi,” she said, noting Casteel’s Marines ball cap.
Ashbaugh, 48, of Lancaster, whose husband is a Marine veteran, said she was heartened to see the volunteers guarding the recruitment center.
“We have recruiters who can’t defend themselves. Thank God for these people willing to defend them,” she said.“
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