Newsgroups: sci.military.moderated
From: colin@ni.net (Colin Campbell)
Subject: Guard in the LA riots
Date: Sat, 13 Jul 1996 01:41:42 GMT

bgross@iadfw.net (Bill Gross) wrote:

>Ah yes, the great California National Guard.  When the Governor ask
>his Adjutant General to tell him how long it would take to get his
>forces into the streets the Adjutant General said well it would take
>us four hours except we have to wait for at least eight hours to get
>the ammunition.

Actually the biggest delay in the deployment was the selective firing
adaptors for the M16 rifles.  Allthough the law requires the use of
these devices in civil disturbance operations, the state of California
never bothered to purchase any.

Another factor in the delay in deployment was the internal politics
between the Mayor of LA and the Chief of police.  Both wanted
exclusive control of the guard units and deliberatly delayed the
deployment in an attempt to gain this control (this is the primary
reason for the 40th Division being recalled to federal active duty).

There were a host of other problems too.  The Calif. Highway Patrol,
who were concerned about the possibility of riots borrowed most of the
Guards riot gear several days before the riots.  Thus when the riots
occured, the guard had to scrounge gear for other states (the Calif.
adjunt general was fired over this).

About four months after the riots there was a purge throught the
Calif. guard.  It had become apparent that a large number of guard
leaders were peacetime soldiers who were unable to transition to
combat mode, these people found new positions in the civilian sector.


>It was at about that point that the President sent in elements of the
>7th Division (not Special Forces) and the USMC (not Special Forces).  

>What is source of your information about Special Forces going into LA?

I never said that SF were sent to LA.  The regular army and marines
were nothing more than a back-up for the guard.  And at least the
regular army types managed to avoid the embarrasing mistakes the
marines made (which provided much entertainment for the guardsmen).

Newsgroups: sci.military.moderated
From: colin@ni.net (Colin Campbell)
Subject: Re: Guard in the LA riots
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 16:09:38 GMT

omar@umbc.edu (Omar Siddique) wrote:

>In article <DuGKpI.Cxr@ranger.daytonoh.ncr.com>,
>Colin Campbell <colin@ni.net> wrote:
>>I never said that SF were sent to LA.  The regular army and marines
>>were nothing more than a back-up for the guard.  And at least the
>>regular army types managed to avoid the embarrasing mistakes the
>>marines made (which provided much entertainment for the guardsmen).

>What mistakes were these?  (just curious)

They Killed A House.

Some police officers were serving an arrest warrant.  Suspect takes a
shot at them through the door.  A squad of marines open up on the
house.  The cops (with richochets all around them) flee as they are in
more danger form the marines than the suspect.  Once the marines were
dragged off, the suspect surrendered without incident.  BTW, of the
300+ rounds fired, zero came near the suspect, and many went through
(occupied) nearby houses and apartments.


The Mortar Pit

While the 'wimpy' guardsmen were living in parking structures, the
'tough' marines felt it necessary to live in hotels in order to remain
effective.  One unit upon checking in to the hotel, began digging a
4.2" mortar firing pit in the hotels front lawn.  The hotel manager
complained to the marines, the marines didn't care.  The hotel manager
complained to some guardsmen who reported this up the chain of
command.  The guard general reported this to the govrenor, the
govrenor called the White House, the president called the Commadant of
the marine corps, the Commadant called the commander of that marine
unit in question and asked him "What the #$@* do you think you are
doing?"


Don't Put Your Tents Up There

Apparently all the hotels were booked up, so a marine unit moved into
a bivouac site that was being vacated by a guard unit.  The guard S2
went to his opposite number and attempted to give him the skinny on
the local situation - the marines blew him off.  The guard S3 NCO
likewise attempted to give some advice to his opposite number, in
particular advising him not to put the tents up in a particular
section of the park.  The marines (rather rudely) told him to leave.
Theses two guardsmen carefully note where the tents are going, and
return at a specefic time (with a videorecorder).  At the same time as
the two guardsmen turned on the videocamera, the park's automatic
sprinkler system came on - inside the marines tents.  Apparently this
videotape was used as blackmail so the guard could gain access to the
range facilities on Camp Pendelton.