military tanks on flatbed trains

[shanti]

i saw these on the tracks while riding on the light rail today (sacramento). there was a long line of them flanked by tankers. anyone know what's going on?

[FreakinDJ]

1. Good question

Probably replenishment since they just passed the Defense Budget last week

[Brother Buzz]

2. Tanks or maybe armored personnel carriers?

Could be something as mundane as reserve units making their pilgrimage down to Fort Irwin for training.

:shrug:

[Angry Dragon]

3. Sending one to each town so when the new budget passes

they are ready for the riots .............

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. I would call your post a perfect example of "fear mongering"...

but that's just me.

[Angry Dragon]

5. .............

:hi:


Just throwing out an option

Fear mongering would be if I really pushed and said that
the military and the politicians have a secret plan in
place to declare martial law if and when the people
get fed up with all the terrorists and traitors in DC
and start taking to the streets and make the politicians
answer the questions.......

[Shagbark Hickory]

18. Oh they wuz just makin a funny.

:hi:

[RegieRocker]

19. I call your post blindfolding.

[11 Bravo]

22. Holy Fuck! Do you really believe that tanks are beiong dispersed to squash dissent?

Dude, pop a few Prozac, assume the fetal position, and somebody will get back to you when it's safe to come out from under your bed.

[RegieRocker]

28. WOW you're out there. The OP said no such thing.

OP asked what is going on. A typical standard question. It was you who gave it the premise of something sinister. Take the Prozac yourself.

[11 Bravo]

30. My reply was not in response to the OP, genius.

This subthread is all in regard to post #3, wherein the poster intimated that tanks are being dispersed to quell post budget deal riots.
Learn how to navigate the site, then come on back and play.

[RegieRocker]

33. The thread wasn't fear mongering. If anything it was quite

humorous.

[Poll_Blind]

32. I'm pretty sure they were just joking- that's how I read it, anyway.

With the extremely broad opinions here, it can be tough to discern what's said tongue-in-cheek and what's serious, though.

PB

[Zywiec]

7. Each town?

So how many would they need?

:crazy:

[pampango]

10. Gonna go "Syria" on us, uh? Maybe we can get some tips from Syrians on how

to keep protests going in the face of tanks and troops. ;)

[Poll_Blind]

31. Heh heh, they're gonna need 'em!

PB

[pipoman]

6. The 1st Marine Division is all back on Pendleton

I would guess that includes 1st Tank Battalion, could be their hardware returning to the base. Pendleton and Twentynine Palms is the base for 1st Tank Battalion.

[shanti]

13. sacramento

is pretty far from pendleton. i'm puzzled as to where they are COMING from. i did a DU search on this before i posted it and found some stories a few years ago that said there were tanks going around the country with du (depleted uranium) on them. i think they ended up in kansas.

[oldhippie]

8. There is a major Army Depot in Sacramento .......

... that does service, repair, rehad and refurb of major oieces of Army equipment, including tracked vehicles. Armored vehicles on flatcars coming and going are not that unusual.

[shanti]

12. if i'm not mistaken

i believe the army depot was shut down a while ago? i could be wrong...

[Brother Buzz]

21. Politics closed the Sacramento Army depot

1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission closed it. Secretary of Defense Cheney drafted the hit list. California took a big hit having two Democratic Senators, and a Democratic majority in Congress, but Cheney says politics wasn't a consideration, so stop saying that.

[Brickbat]

9. What's going on? Goods being delivered or moved.

[littlewolf]

11. several reasons .... reserve units .... tanks going or coming back

from maintenance hub .... tanks that were in the desert and brought back for repair .... etc

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. They ship from Norcal to the front lines... so what you

probably saw was FIXED tanks shipped back to units.

[Codeine]

15. Tanks need regular maintenance.

Takes a lot of work to keep them in the field, including periodic teardowns.

[Hangingon]

16. Training at Ft. Irwin?

[shanti]

17. the tanks were heading south

n/t

[Xithras]

24. That was my though too. Some armored division going to Fort Irwin for training.

Possibly reservists, but who knows. They generally send their gear by rail for that sort of thing.

[itsrobert]

20. There are a lot of reason for tanks to be moving by train

Deployments, training, maintenance, exercises, etc. You think units drive them down the I-5 and other roads to get to Ft Irwin for training?

[shanti]

23. but where would they be coming from?

that is what's puzzling me. there are no army bases in nor cal. the closest one is fort ord and it's south of here.

[Xithras]

25. Could be a National Guard unit.

Tanks aren't limited to active Army bases. National Guard armories in every state are equipped with everything from light arms to artillery, tanks, and APC's. It could be a unit going to Fort Irwin for training, or equipment coming back from an overseas deployment.

[Brother Buzz]

26. Fort Ord closed a long time ago

Another attack on California by Secretary of Defense Cheney and the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission


Camp Roberts and Hunter Liggett are still operating in Northern California, but the track vehicles could be coming from the Northwest to train in Southern California for the dry desert conditions, like Fort Irwin.

[Angleae]

29. Might be from Ft Lewis, WA going to Ft Irwin for desert training.

[backscatter712]

27. Doesn't strike me as especially unusual.

The .mil moves tanks and other military equipment by train all the time.