11B3XCIB said:
Are you sure? Out of the 1.5ish million active and 850k reserve personnel, only a very small percentage are actually warfighters. Additionally how much troop attrition would there be if they were told to fire on US Citizens? I wouldn't have.
There were 1.5 million privately owned "assault rifles" in the US in the early 90s. Id quadruple that today. Now, a good number of former .mil and LEO make up the population and can easily be used as force multipliers, training and sometimes equipping, and definitely networking the local populations. Just because we don't have jets or artillery doesn't mean we couldn't run over the military if they turned on us.
To an extent, I agree. The average Air Force Mechanic or Navy Machinist's Mate isn't an active warfighter, nor are they trained for such. I certainly wasn't and I don't make any bones about it. But even with refusers and non-combat-trained troops, if we go with the presented scenario of the US Military taking on the civilian populace we, the civilians, even with large numbers of vets, are not equipped to win that battle. Nor will we unless NVGs, RPGs, sophisticated sensing equipment, explosives, and drone or anti-drone technology becomes as commonplace as the AR. It's not about standing up and shooting back a la Revolutionary War lines of fire; it's about getting bombed out while asleep under cover because they know the resistance pockets are where and when. We also don't have huge caches of 105 rounds to make IEDs to keep them nervous. I'm not saying the US Military is omnipotent, but they give far better than they get even with pashtuns that are born and raised to fight hatfield-mccoy style their whole life.
Maybe better said, that is not in any way a realistic scenario. I honestly feel distaste for even the idea of considering our troops 'them' instead of part of the 'we'.
The larger point is, that it would not come to civil war (as that would be what that was) like that. Too many troops wouldn't fire on their neighbors; too many officers wouldn't give the order (and they have an excuse - that's not a lawful order). What you'd (you'll? speaking theoretically about the future) have is more Ruby Ridge, Waco type of events where a small group of people are labeled as 'bad people' and dealt with, with the masses' blessing.
The thing that worries me more than all of this is the increasing militarization of the non-military government forces, especially LEOs. All respect for the guys doing their job and keeping us safer, but too many military $ and toys and too many folks that get into the us v. them mentality. That's fine, and healthy, for a soldier. Not so much for a police officer, who is in theory part of the community he is policing. I see the stats on increasing SWAT/ERT usage and gear and training provided to local-level LEOs, and while I know many honorable Officers that are sincerely interested in bettering their community, I also know many who view anyone not a cop as a perp that just hasn't been caught yet. They usually have the sense not to bully us lawyers but they don't seem to care so much for people who are marginalized to begin with - and the more they get away with it, the more it becomes a norm.
