In the early hours of Friday, the City of Long Beach, part of the wider Los Angeles metro area, was rocked by a full-on special operations raid. The elite commandos of an unnamed U.S. military unit flew in with Black Hawk and Little Bird helicopters before assaulting a facility, complete with gunfire and loud explosions, possibly grenades or flashbangs. Later, terrified citizens learned that this was merely a drill. Still, it might be spooky to learn that the military can even do that.
But it turns out that it can, and in fact has been doing these sorts of urban raid drills since the Obama administration. What’s happening now, though, appears to be a week-long “super drill” involving multiple simulated raids across multiple states. Starting May 26, the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, California has been running Realistic Urban Training exercises that have involved Glendale, Arizona and Blythe and Camis, California. The Riverside County Sheriff’s office (yes, that’s soon-to-be-ex-gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco) put out a quiet statement warning of “intermittent, loud noises associated with simulated tactical operations.” Translation: your neighborhood is going to become a war zone, suddenly. And we’re not trying that hard to tell you.
But these drills go wider than this, potentially involving other, more secretive units as well. The Los Angeles Times reported that the cities of Irvine and Pasadena, also close to Los Angeles, issued day-of notifications that military drills would be taking place on Wednesday. Sure enough, that night, both cities were faux raided. It turns out that Long Beach, too, issued a day-of notification, alongside the nearby City of Industry. That is quite a busy week for special operators.
The war next door
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