Jade Helm 15 training exercise start in Tom Green County

The operation will take place in five southwestern states, including Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.

As Lanteri, 44, oversees the entire surveillance operation from his home in Phoenix, Arizona, team leaders spread across the nine states will locate the sites where the Jade Helm operations are to take place and observe.

The exercise will train all branches of the military for unconventional warfare.

According to organizer Eric Johnston, a deputy sheriff from Kerrville, “team members” will monitor the military in the field by “conducting counter surveillance”.

“The maneuvers that they have to do, or are going to do, is what they have to do in order to protect us down the road”, Kesselus added.

The Texas volunteers are just one regiment of a national effort organized by 44-year-old ex- Marine Pete Lanteri, a New Yorker living in Arizona with plenty of experience on civilian border patrols. “Obviously on a military base they can do whatever they want”.

He said the volunteer force includes about 200 people, with the largest group in Arizona.

It is composed of ex- military and law enforcement personnel, along with regular concerned citizens.

Johnston said there’s a strict no-camouflage policy to avoid the appearance of a more radical group, and they’ll all be unarmed.

From shackles in railcars to a few vacant Walmart stores to be used as detention centers, rumors and conspiracy theories are running rampant about a military special operations training exercise that begins on Monday in parts of Texas and six other states.

She said she felt it was her duty as a commissioner to bring the Jade Helm topic to the public because there were some concerns coming from her constituents.

“This appears to be the latest step in the administration’s decision to use force within the United States against its citizens”, a defense official said, noting how the updated directive allows President Obama to order US commanders “to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances”. Most thought Jade Helm was a front for a federal invasion and institution of martial law.

“I support Counter Jade Helm”. However, he does think that the military is “up to something” and wishes to relay information about the drills to the public. Mayor Ken Kesselus does not believe there is any danger related to Operation Jade Helm 15, but he says rumors and conspiracy theories have run wild since the military exercise was first announced.

The U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) has long maintained there is nothing sinister about the drill’s intentions.

What do you think about the rumors surrounding Operation Jade Helm 15?

Army Special Operations didn’t address questions about the civilian surveillance operation, but said in a statement, “This training exercise will go mostly unnoticed; not interfere with private citizens and not violate their privacy and rights”.

She also said that this meeting is somewhat like a public hearing in that residents can voice their opinions on the matter. “State and local officials will receive updates as the exercise progresses and they are equally committed to ensuring the training occurs smoothly”.