Great Timing: Marines to Train in Downtown L.A. Starting Friday, Raids in Several “Undisclosed Locations”

Starting Friday and extending through December 16, Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Pendleton will be training in Los Angeles “in preparation for a deployment” which includes flying as many as six military helicopters over the downtown area and conducting raids at multiple “undisclosed locations” that will be “off limits to the public for safety reasons,” CBS News is reporting. But don’t worry, Capt. Brian Block told the Associated Press, “It’s not going to look like ‘Apocalypse Now’ by any stretch of the imagination.” Oh good. That wasn’t my immediate go-to mental image of Marines training in downtown L.A. streets right off the bat, but glad to know that isn’t part of the plan. Dozens of Marines will raid buildings and shoot paintballs from modified M-15s as part of the exercise, but no residents live in the spots where the pseudo-combat will take place, according to Block. The military worked closely with the Los Angeles Police Department and notified property owners so no one will be caught off guard, Block said. Commander Blake Chow with the LAPD’s counter-terrorism unit told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO the exercise was not linked to any local or regional terrorism threat. “There’s no terrorism threat out there that would be the reason that these exercises are being conducted, this is something that’s been kind of ongoing for a while,” said Chow.



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