Military History: 82nd steps up in times of civilian crisis

[Pete]

Military History: 82nd steps up in times of civilian crisis

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2012/01/22/1150965?sac=Mil

Just the weekly story by Roy Parker in the Fayetteville Observer. I throw this out for you young folks when the "active soldiers on US streets" stories gets many worked up. It's been done before and the 82nd and 101st ain't Guard units - they're Active Duty units.

"The death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the spring of 1968 triggered a defining chapter in the history of the 82nd Airborne Division as a first responder in crisis times.

"Dr. King's murder set off riots in major cities, including Washington.

And the 82nd played its historic role as a first responder in a stateside civil disturbance.

President Lyndon Johnson could see from the White House that city police and the few hundred Regulars of Army garrison units in the capital were overmatched coping with several thousand who were burning and looting in the central areas of the city, where African-American residents were 63 percent of the population.

The Army units called in that day were led by "2,500 riot-trained soldiers, a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C." They were flown in and bivouacked at Andrews Air Force Base............................"

[CloseDanger]

Similar to the 2ND Ranger BAT taking down the drug lords in Tacoma.

[full cooler]

The 3rd & 6th SF Groups were ready to deploy to major cities in late 1967 and early 1968. Many thought it would be more interesting than picking up pine cones and cigarette butts at Bragg.

[mojaveman]

Can still remember the LA riots in '92 when the USMC and the Army's 7th ID rolled some troops downtown through the streets. I think it was a good psychological effect more than more anything else.

[TOMAHAWK9521]

Similar to the 2ND Ranger BAT taking down the drug lords in Tacoma.

I remember when that happened. As much as I agreed with what the select group of individuals from HHC/2/75 did, there had been no official authorization given by the military for them to engage, and unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any coordination with local LEO.

If I recall, the word was out on the street that the Crips were going to take down SFC Faulk and his family for assisting the local LE with observing/ recording the drug deals going on in the Hilltop neighborhood. You would have thought all parties involved would have more careful to mitigate compromising the operation, and that the cops would have contingencies in place to prevent the Crips from trying to kill him if they did find out. Since I wasn't in on the operation and don't know what they planned, I'm just guessing.

All I remember was hearing that low-lifes had found out about SFC Faulk's involvement and were planning a hit. Our guys had no idea of the date, TOT or size of the force so ensuring there were uniformed cops in the area 24/7 may not have been feasible. I beleive that was why they had a hand-picked group of tabbed guys in civilian attire from HHC set up on stand-by at SFC Faulk's house to repel any assaults which were likely to happen in the near future, which is exactly what happened.

[CloseDanger]

"Our guys had no idea of the date, ..."

When I was there, they told me in great detail what happened but I have forgotten much about it from 18 years ago.

As I recall, they had to go pull the guys out of the bar as they suspected it was going down that night, I think a fight was happening there too. and some other things were happening as well that same night. They said time was of importance and had no wiggle room for coord. It was grab the arms and go.


It may have been illegal, but they were sure appreciated for it. The logic of what happened sounded kosher to me. Funny how it is such a quiet story.