MRAPs Needed To Combat Combat Vets?
 

Hmmm...

Do US police really need mine-resistant TANKS to protect us from our own veterans? Indiana sheriff claims soldiers back from Afghanistan have created a new kind of criminal

As American military forces return from Iraq and Afghanistan, one Indiana police station is benefiting from a mine-resistant vehicles once used to tour the war zone to combat a new breed of criminal with military training.

'When I first started we really didn’t have the violence that we see today,' Sgt. Dan Downing of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department told Fox 59. 'The weaponry is totally different now that it was in the beginning of my career, plus, you have a lot of people who are coming out of the military that have the ability and knowledge to build IEDs and to defeat law enforcement techniques.'

Roughly $4.3 billion worth of military property has been handed over to local and state agencies since 1990, according to the Law Enforcement Support Office.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz32PYLa1TX

Richard

My county has on of these and so far I've only seen it sitting in a maintenance yard.

If things ever go south, I doubt they'd be able to keep it maintained, to even use it. Defeated by budget cuts, but hey, it looks cool right?

Also, my current Sheriff, Chris Nocco, has gone up against Piers Morgan and made him to look like an idiot (which isn't hard to do). So at the moment I'm not worried about how it will be used. The future may change that.

I posted this in the militarization thread and the justification for the headline is in the video. The officer specifically states that returning veterans have IED knowledge. LINK

He should be more worried about foreign entities with agendas rather than worry about less than 1% of the population that chose to defend our American soil. Sure, there will be the occasional wacko, but an MRAP? Also to add, I've been to a lot of classes and briefings throughout my stint in the Army, and I can't recall even one class where we were taught to build IED's. SOF folks, EOD, and Engineers have that knowledge, but your run-of-the-mill conventional support troops do not. Aside from the MRE trick that is :rolleyes::D

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Militar...threat-at-home

"No Country for Old Men". In Indiana? Seems a little heavy ( delusional ) on the equipment justification. unless there is something going on up there we don't know about :rolleyes:

The problem is when your prized possession is a hammer after a while everything begins to look like a nail. I understand the rationale of securing that sort of equipment for the state police, but not for a small municipality. When IEDs become a regular occurrence I'll reconsider my position. Meanwhile they are unnecessary and IMHO are meant to intimidate the populace.

One of my biggest issues is that it may be free up front but if they use it at all, it will need regular maintenance and MRAP preventive and corrective maintenance is not cheap.
If they use it enough to train the drivers/operators to competency and then maintain those skills, they will put enough hours on it to require significant work. That will not be cheap.

It will be resigned to parade and promotional use.

'The officer specifically states that returning veterans have IED knowledge..' Streckfu

I had IED knowledge BEFORE I joined the army...

Wait til they have to fill that monster up,, Instant Budget breaker there!

I remember in the infantry we were trained to assist in shooting down enemy aircraft, even went to the range on FBNC to train on shooting them down. Lots of fun.

Then I joined Special Forces and my combat mindset was forever changed. The emphasis was not on shooting down enemy aircraft but neutralizing the pilots before they got airborne............

And as far as the average federal, state and local LEO goes, I remember the recent situation where "one" California police officer went nuts and went on a killing spree and how law enforcement responded, shooting at anything and anyone that even remotely looks like this guy.

If the Mine Resistant Vehicles (Woobies) give federal, state and local law enforcement a warm and fuzzy so be it. A false sense of security is just that.......

I'm sure this vehicle will do great chasing people on ATVs and motorcycles.
How will they deal with vandals running around cutting the hoses on all the diesel pumps?

Sure would look scary sitting there.
...where it's not needed.

Great words of wisdom from the Team Sergeant
SnT

Welll said Team Sergeant