Interesting.

556, from an LEO standpoint, what do you think about a militia group in a time of crisis? Would they be a benefit or a burden to your LEO mission, would your dept make any attempt to coordinate with them, or would you let them do their own thing (as long as they obeyed the law)?

It all depends with the folks in said militia unit.

I myself have nothing with a respectable militia unit. If they are all law abiding citizens and break no laws i have no problem with it. The USA was founded on the ideals of the militia for it's defense.

In a time of crisis like a hurricane of Andrew of Katrina. it would be a iffy situtation. If the militia unit was made an attempt of working with the city government in commnity support such as citizen crime watch, made plains and offered their help during emergencies, and other such things. This unit would have to really try and show the public that they mean good. There are a couple of militia groups that do this. There is one in Colorado that they are so good in terms of public appeal that they train with the City's SWAT Team. they always play the OPFOR for them.

In my Neck of the woods we have no such group period. no militia gorup. But if there was such a group that did present themselves to both the community and the government that they have good intentions than I wouldn't see why my PD wouldn't accpect their support if a problem like what New Orleans had.

We do have support from Civil Air Patrol and local groups like our City CERT team which is all amde up of volunteers.

Originally Posted by 5.56X45mm

There is one in Colorado that they are so good in terms of public appeal that they train with the City's SWAT Team. they always play the OPFOR for them.

Sounds painful. My uncle who works at Boeing said that the guys on the unofficial paintball team there were bragging about their skill in paintball. Unfortunately for them, they had the back luck of playing at the same time and place as some LAPD SWAT team members. They came back bruised and humbled.

Say the folks in said militia were all ex military, from all varieties of eras (vietnam, gulf war, iraq, etc.). I would understand that some militia are paranoid about Big Brother over their shoulder that they would shun any LEO contact no matter how little. But for those with nothing to hide (i.e. my example), I would at least attempt to win the hearts and minds of the community in which I'm trying to protect. Sounds familiar to other missions OCONUS . There's no reason the same doesn't apply to the homeland.

I believe that most folks in the militia are like that to. Some are of the anti-government tin foil hat types. But most have nothing to hide. But you're right, if most militia groups want to be respected by the community in which they wish to serve they first must win their hearts and minds.

Also, there's a difference between the official militia groups (i.e., those that are official recognized by a state's department of military affairs and have a chain of command up through the state's adjutant general) and the unofficial ones. It's the unofficial ones that you have to keep an eye on.

It appears that the Colorado militia (or state defense force) is officially recognized, so I'm not surprised they play OPFOR for various SWAT teams. http://www.cosdf.us/

Pretty much any militia with the words "State Defense Force" in their title means they are uniformed militia, and not non-uniformed. I must admit that I do not entirely trust all of the non-uniformed militia, as they have no standards (other than NMS, which not everyone follows), and no way to officially be recognized. To me, I would have the aformentioned militia prove themselves before they performed any sort of function above and beyond the civilian masses.

So you know of the NMS too. You been to AWRM?

The militia in Colorado that I was speaking of isn't their uniform state defense force. It's a citizens militia group. They just really take part of their community. They started off by doing road side clean up, handing out flyers, going to meetings with the city council and police department, attending First Responder courses, and such.

In that case, they have a very transparent public appearence, and the community knows what they're up to, without regulation, which shows trust IMO. If it were my community, and all of a sudden a non-NMS outfit pops up in the middle of a crisis, I would not turn my back on them until they proved their worth. I'm sure you faced the same thing in Iraq with the security forces and IA (however I've heard both good and bad things about both organizations from my battle buddies).

I like the NMS because it was clearly written by ex-military folk (look at the language, it comes straight out of the FMs).