Military Training Exercise Jade Helm Precipitating Fallout
Jade Helm –– this summer’s U.S. military training exercise painted as a government takeover conspiracy by extremists –– appears to be causing a reaction just short of deadly at this point.
The exercise, started July 15 and spread out over seven states, is designed for what the military describes as “special operations warfare training” for elite special forces from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. But long before it began, Jade Helm was a hot-button topic spouted by antigovernment conspiracy champions, including Alex Jones, fueling concerns and rhetoric in Patriot and militia circles.
And now things have changed.
In Mississippi, gunshots have been fired for two days in a row near the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Perry County, where 4,600 National Guard and Army Reserve troops are participating in the exercise. No one has been arrested, but Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed an order arming some of the military personnel as a precaution, the Clarion-Ledger reports. An unidentified “person of interest” was detained for questioning after shots were fired on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile in North Carolina, federal agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Charlotte have arrested three suspects, including a previously convicted felon, accused of conspiracy and assorted firearms violations. Charging documents say the trio purchased assorted high-quality military gear and ammunition and were making homemade explosives in anticipation of interacting with Jade Helm troops.
Those suspects, Walter Eugene Litteral, 50, Christopher James Baker, 42, and Christopher Todd Campbell, 30, are scheduled to appear at detention hearings in U.S. District Court in Charlotte on Thursday.
Two of the suspects expressed “their disapproval of the Jade Helm military exercises,” to an FBI informant, describing the training as “a cover for the imposition of martial law in the United States,” a federal criminal complaint says.
Although North Carolina is not one of the states involved in the exercise, Litteral’s son lives in Texas where much of the training is occurring, the complaint says.
The suspects also discussed a 99-acre “base camp” near Clover, S.C., where they intended to plant booby-traps and lure government forces in and “kill them,” the documents alleges.
Jade Helm is taking place across seven states, with participants wearing special identifying armbands. Actual on-the-ground training, however, is only occurring in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
