Alabama, Arizona National Guard MP units tapped for rapid response to civil unrest

Civil unrest should. be planned for, for as well as interruption of gas, food, medical.

Thanks for sharing.

I hope they are as well trained as we were. I was stationed at Fort Hood in 1980 when the Mariel boatlift and mass exodus of criminals from the prisons of Cuba made it to the United States.

We were first sent in as a company and it was surreal as we arrived at Fort McCoy Wisconsin. It was 1 a.m. and the compound that looked more like a prison was fully illuminated and one could smell diesel fuel burning. It was on!

In fact, well on a three-man roving Patrol we saw an individual running as fast as I could towards the 15 ft tall fence covered top and bottom with concertina wire. He had a large group behind him and we feared it was a attempted break out. The subject got over the fence as if the concertina wasn't even there. I grabbed them in mid-flight and slammed him down on the hood of the jeep and it was only when I was applying the handcuffs that I noted he had an ice pick in his hand. A rookie mistake on my part. The only reason he didn't run me through was because he thought of us as his savior. Apparently he was a Castro spy and they caught on to him and they were going to kill him.

We were there for six months.

When we returned my platoon was attached to the I believe it was a 545th MP Company of the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood Texas. Now it was their turn. They had not previously been in the shit. There were regular fights at the bar with us nightly. But then the balloon went up.

We were working nine on and three off. We got our first day off and wearing civvies at the mess hall, which was a rather long walk. All of a sudden we saw the base commander elite out of the mess hall rolling code 3. We knew the shit hit the fan. And boy did it! This was different than Fort McCoy now that we were at Fort Chaffee Arkansas. This was straight on face-to-face stick time.

Military Intelligence put the armory inside the conflicts so that when the Cubanos decided to riot. A Federal Protective Service officer shot a Cubano that had a homemade machete that he was trying to run through another Cubano. This kicked off three days. They were overturning patrol cars and lighting them on fire. They were throwing projectiles that consisted of anything they could get their hands on. This was the real deal.

The untested Rapid Response Team from 2nd Armored, and no disrespect to them at all, caused them to be quickly overtaken. We went in the back gate popping CS and fighting inch by inch to get a perimeter set up around the armory with a separate contingent that went to the aid of the Rapid Response Team. I can tell you that after that joint experience, there were no more fights at the bar as we were now Brothers in Arms.

We were full-time active Army and we trained extensively prior to deployment. My only hope is that these National Guardsmen have the training that we got and the wherewithal to go head-on.

Personally I see no difference between a Cubano and a civilian rioter. To defend our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.