Why does the military seem to be preparing for urban warfare in the United States?
By Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
Officers of 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, "Ready First" 1st Armored Division, participate in an urban combat exercise at a training facility on Fort Bliss, Texas, May 11-12, 2011 (Photo credit: Staff Sgt. Joseph Wilbanks)
As I outlined in the article, this is in fact part of a broader trend of joint military-police drills (which often include other agencies, hence the “multi-agency” label) that have been occurring across the United States.
It seems hard to ignore the fact that the armed forces of the United States are training for urban warfare, not urban warfare in the Middle East, but instead here in our own nation.
This is becoming painfully clear due to the fact that the military trains for what they think they’re going to do.
If they are planning to fight in the desert, they would train in the desert and obviously if they are going to be fighting in a metropolitan setting in the United States, they would train in an American city.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what we are witnessing: increasing amount of training in urban American environments.
The Los Angeles drill is just a microcosmic example of this, and one of the more disturbing developments is the announcement of a “mock city roughly the size of downtown San Diego” which has been erected recently at the Twentynine Palms military base.
This is located northeast of San Diego and cost the taxpayer $170 million with the intention of training American military forces to wage urban warfare.
According to the Marine Corps, the facility boasts a staggering 1,560 buildings.
The Corps are quick to highlight that it “will allow troops to practice and refine skills that can be used around the world,” even though it is clearly aimed at preparing troops for warfare in the United States.
The reason this is quite obvious is that urban warfare is radically different depending on the country you are in. This is evidenced by similar mock cities being erected to mimic a city in Afghanistan, a training facility which would not help troops prepare for war in a large American city.
In fact, the article on Military.com in which this project is detailed mentions the mock Afghan villages, while failing to point out that this is radically different than the previously erected training sites.
This new mock city “is one of the largest and most elaborate” with a whopping seven separate mock city districts spanning a massive 274 acres of desert.
There are fake hotels, markets and other businesses which boast actors who create scenarios to challenge the soldiers.
These scenarios reportedly range from humanitarian relief to peacekeeping missions to police work and, of course, direct combat missions, according to the Marine Corps.
This new facility will allow over 15,000 Marines and Sailors to simultaneously engage in training missions, which can even include operating in the nearly 1,900 feet of underground tunnels in the complex.
The massive mock city also includes a manmade riverbed, dozens of courtyards and compounds which will give trainees practice searching for escape tunnels, hiding spots and weapons caches in an urban environment.
The Associated Press claims that this is merely an expansion of the Mojave Viper training program, launched in 2005, which was aimed at preparing troops for deployment in Iraq.
Just a few months ago in November, the Marine Corps showed off their expansion of the mock Afghan village at Camp Pendleton which cost $30 million and almost quadrupled the size of the facility.
While connecting this new project with the facility at Camp Pendleton is quite inaccurate in my opinion, they do paint a bit of a different picture of the older facility by writing, “In that facility, Marines scramble through a maze of mud walls leading to mosques, schools and carpet sellers, as Hollywood-style explosions go off.”
They mention that “Similar immersion training facilities are slated to open this year at Marine Corps bases in North Carolina, Hawaii and Okinawa,” however they do not make it clear which facility these new ones are similar to.
Are these to be similar to the mock Afghan village with mud walls and mosques? Or will these be similar to the newer facilities which more closely relate to the environment of a large American city?
I think it is much more likely that these new facilities will be closer to an urban environment in the United States, rather than the relatively undeveloped Afghan or Iraqi villages.
This contention is also reflected in the more frequent nature of urban military drills as shown by the exercises in Los Angeles (about which some more specific details have emerged), along with others in major urban areas.
Some other examples that come to mind are: Vibrant Response 12 conducted in August of last year at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center which involved “7,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and DOD civilians responding to a simulated 10-kiloton nuclear detonation in Cincinnati,” military exercises in and around Boston in July of last year, mock night raids in Virginia on January 17, 2012, and more.
These urban warfare exercises are not restricted to the United States. Indeed, similar exercises have occurred in the United Kingdom this year as well.
The problem here is that downtown Los Angeles is nothing like the operational situations in Iraq or Afghanistan, although it would prepare the military for operations to be conducted in Los Angeles itself or any other large American city.
Thanks to a reader, I have also become aware of something called the MUTC.
The MUTC, or Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, is located in South Central Indiana’s Jennings County, which is near Butlerville.
According to the official website, operated by the National Guard, it “is a secluded, self contained community, once home to the Muscatatuck State Developmental Center. The 1,000 acre site was turned over to the Indian National Guard in July of 2005 and since has been continually evolving into a full-immersion contemporary urban training environment.”
The MUTC seems very similar to the new facility being erected outside of San Diego, due to the fact that it boasts a 180 acre reservoir along with an urban environment which includes some 68 major buildings including: a school, hospital, dormitories, light industrial structures, single family dwellings, a dining facility and administrative buildings.
In total, there is 850,000 square feet of floor space for the military to train on along with an underground utility tunnel system and more than 9 miles of roads and streets.
MUTC does not only involve the military, indeed they say that it is a consortium which includes governmental, public and private entities who work together in order to give the personnel the most realistic training experience available.
Highlighting my grave concerns, which are shared by many of my readers, the MUTC website points out that this facility indeed provides, “Training that can be tailored to replicate both foreign and domestic scenarios and that can be utilized by various civilian and military organizations.”
It is likely quite obvious to my readers that this is focusing on domestic scenarios, as all of the recent military drills in actual urban environments have been doing.
A short list of those who use the MUTC includes: Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force and Special Operations Forces, State Emergency Management agencies, Federal Emergency Management Agencies, Federal Bureau of Investigations, State Departments of Health, National Air Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, State Counter-Terrrorism Agencies, Law Enforcement agencies and much more.
Apparently pre-existing facilities like the MUTC aren’t enough for the military establishment, leading to new facilities being erected, older facilities being expanded and even more facilities to be unveiled this year.
The burning question this leaves unanswered is: why?
Why are they preparing to wage war with American citizens on our own turf?
There has been a large push to turn the American people into the enemy and training facilities like this, drills like the one in LA along with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA) which opens us up to indefinite military detention on nothing more than suspicion.
I have previously written about the fact that all the pieces are in place which leaves me wondering: when will the hammer drop?
The question is left unanswered to this day and I continue to hope that I am totally off base here and that nothing will ever happen.
I hope beyond all hopes that all of this preparation, seemingly for warfare in the United States, is in fact totally innocuous and no such scenario will ever present itself.
Unfortunately, the military and government have shown that they usually know what they’re doing, even if they pretend they don’t when they’re put under scrutiny.
It is quite unlikely that these preparations are totally irrelevant and will not be used in any way.
If you have any information on military maneuvers, exercises and drills, especially occurring in major urban areas or other training centers that replicate a city environment, please e-mail me immediately at: [email protected] so I can craft more complete articles in the near future.
Madison Ruppert is a Los Angeles-based independent journalist and researcher as well as the founder, owner, administrator and editor of EndtheLie.com. He has no affiliations with any government agencies, political parties, non-governmental organizations, or economic schools. He is available for freelance writing assignments and appearances or interviews in any format. He can be reached by emailing
It’s simply a new kind of warfare. We’re never going to see trenches or open field battles and the like again, because we can just fly drones over open ground and drop bombs.
You can’t do that in cities; you need fighters on the ground. Those fighters need to be trained.
Also, where else are you going to train them? They’re US soldiers; they’re going to be trained in the US.
Twitter: endtheliedotcom
January 27, 2012 at 3:04 AM
Are you suggesting that the urban environment of Los Angeles is compatible with scenarios in Afghanistan?
I find that laughable. You realize that Camp Pendleton already has a mock Afghan village that they train in, right?
Madison Ruppert recently posted: End the Lie Radio with Madison Ruppert – Episode 1
who paid you to post this? or are you just the military-industrial complex apologist type?
WAKE UP AMERICA! The worst you could imagine is here.
As a service member there are a lot of changes, but come on Urban Warfare training has been taking place since WWII. Fighting house to house was a new concept and planners realized we needed to train for that contigent. Now with that said, things are changing and there are things I have heard that scare even me. One thing regardless of how I am trained I will say, at no point did I ever swear to hold a gun the the head of any innocent American citizen who is freely and legally expressing their Constitutional Rights. My job is to hold that gun to the head(s) of anyone who is trying to hurt or resrtict the rights of that Citizen. Whether I personally agree with what that citizen is saying the Constitution is what I swore to protect and defend against all enemies both foreign and DOMESTIC. Domestic does not apply to the law abiding citizen, but to those who are trying their best to wipe all rights and corrupt the constitution.
You are going to stop and ask? Once the order is given, you won’t ever get the chance to find out if the guy you just killed was really the enemy
His orders will come compartmentalized> As in his platoon will be given orders to raid or confiscate food stores at a particular home, under the guise of suspected terrorist. When in fact, that home is a family of four that has stockpiled food just to survive. He won’t ask questions, he won’t question his orders because he has been trained to do so. Or another scenerio may be to road block a particular area for suspected terrorist with firearms, when the very car he stops and fires on is a family of four fleeing the chaos, and their only defense is their exercising of their right to self defense(2nd Amendment) Either case He won’t be told the end game only the portion neeeded to accomplish his commanders mission. His commanders mission will only be a somewhat large mission, etc and etc.
Compartmentization will be his world, and the reason a good american soldier will fire on innocent American Citizens.
Do you realize that the very orders you may receive will be compartmentalized that you may unknowningly be firing on American citizens trying to protect the Constitution from usurpers that just gave you the orders to fire on Americans? I honor your commitment but I am sure German soldiers thought they were protecting Germany from the enemy as they mowed down innocent German citizens.
Please don’t place yourself on the wrong side. I would rather have you fighting for the Republic than fighting against you. My desire is for the Republic that our founders envisioned not what the PTB think it should be. I am not your enemy, your enemy resides in the Ivory towers of Washington and NY.
even the idea that our own military would be used against us makes me shiver
I dont believe our own men would go along with this after all they have families here to. I think it would be UN goons before our own.
I like my tinfoil hat as much as anyone else…but lets put it aside for a second.
the vast majority of people today, live in cities…urban cities. If, for example, the US were to go to war with China (or vice versa) over not repaying its debt…where would the battle be fought? American or Chinese cities. No longer will the battlefield be the open field or jungle…its been paved and made into a shopping mall.
Could the government be planning a war against its own citizens? Looking a 1930s germany, yes, it exists in the realm of possiblity. However, its more likely that it is preparing for a war in the middle east with Iraq, that will then lead into war with Russia and China, imho.
Twitter: endtheliedotcom
January 30, 2012 at 8:16 PM
I wouldn’t say pointing out that the military can and does build facilities to simulate the exact target environment is remotely in the realm of “tinfoil hattery,” as it were.
Madison Ruppert recently posted: Missiles, spy drones and warships: Here come the London Olympics
then why try to disarm law abiding american citizens? if we were worried about invasion. an old chinese general said to invade america would be to find a gun behind every blade of grass… if u take away the law abiding citizens guns then we dont have such a good defense anymore, but makes it much easier to take over our country whether it be by our own military or another
I think it’s possible they could be training in an American urban environment so that they would be able to adequately defend in an American urban environment should we be invaded, which could very well happen if these war suggested war scenarios play out. They wouldn’t want to say they’d be fighting a defensive war on our own turf just as much as they wouldn’t say they were preparing to war against us.
mmmmm… no
then why try to disarm law abiding american citizens? if we were worried about invasion. an old chinese general said to invade america would be to find a gun behind every blade of grass… if u take away the law abiding citizens guns then we dont have such a good defense anymore, but makes it much easier to take over our country whether it be by our own military or another
More at EndtheLie.com – http://EndtheLie.com/2012/01/27/why-does-the-military-seem-to-be-preparing-for-urban-warfare-in-the-united-states/#ixzz2JyEJIRi1
You guys keep telling yourselves the more comfortable reasons as to why the US military is training in live civilian populated areas! I love denial, because it’s the catalyst for a million nonsensical statements. If soldiers are training at a mock site familiar to that of the US, then the next battle with will either take place in the US or someplace very similar. Damn, can’t you guys feel something is about to happen. I’m not saying become “enlightened”, I’m just saying be aware. We have these idiots making laws that are inspired by the corporations that pay them. Ron Paul is like christ compared to any of the candidates. As for the US preparing to defend the US…if any country comes close to our land, they’re done!!!! We have too much firepower for any country to put themselves through that much hell…or even think about it.
You’re right about the military training for things they may encounter in the near future…I spent 21 years in uniform.
What bothers me some now-a-days is the fact that we now have high ranking military officers who proudly claim left-wing NGO’s as a part of their resume and no doubt in their performance reports. To my knowledge this was a big no-no during my career. I do remember something about Bill Clinton starting an inititive to install like-minded personnel in career positions to achieve his long range goals. At the time I assumed those positions were all civilians in other agencies but apparently they infiltrated the military. I won’t mention any names but you can probably find them on your own; they include generals and admirals.
I believe this problem is so bad that when I have one of those rare moments when I think of what I would do if I was CIC…I would publically strip them of their rank and dishonorably discharge them…and that includes the generals and admirals.
I’ve read most of the above article and scanned the remainder but did not find any connection to the so-called FEMA camps but perhaps the urban warfare training will conclude with FEMA…and that’s a scary thought!
Norm recently posted: It has a wonderful sound…it will grab your heart…when I do the final seven rings, I will cry…
You went to war for a lot less in 1776,is it not time to refresh the tree of liberty?
NEXT: Will U.S. Government Deem 1st Amendment Activities—SUPPORT Terrorism, Hostilities, Belligerents?
Where U.S. Government appears headed with the Patriot Act, The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 and recently introduced “Enemy Expatriation Act” that would allow U.S. Government to Strip Americans of Citizenship without evidence or a conviction—is getting Congress to grant U.S. Government (The Executive Branch) the Power to arbitrarily arrest, charge, Indefinitely Detain Americans that participate in 1st Amendment activities (on the premise) that 1st Amendment Activities appeared intended or were used to support or provoke hostilities, combatants, belligerents; terrorism and or threaten National Security. It is foreseeable millions of Americans would increasingly not attend political meetings or peaceful protests out of fear they might be arrested, lose their job; be put on Homeland Security’s NO Hire List, especially if they work for a government agency or contractor—that happened in Nazi Germany.
Soon Americans won’t be able to arrange or attend a 1st Amendment protected meeting or other activity e.g., a doctor or business appointment without government/police knowing about it. U.S. Government is on the threshold of having surveillance cameras and drones most everywhere. TSA is expanding its checkpoints on highways, bus and train stops and ports. U.S. Government is actively monitoring without warrants—journalists, U.S. Citizens’ social networks, emails, phone calls, Internet Activity and faxes. One can only guess how much radiation is transmitted into the bodies of Americans by U.S. Government and Police covert scanning (without warrants) private homes—Americans walking on the street; driving vehicles; especially repeated scanning of “Persons of Interests”—potentially damaging their health. Had the Nazi police or Gestapo had X-ray scanners, no doubt the Nazis would have manufactured any reason or no reason to repeatedly x-ray at checkpoints, anywhere—persons the Reich deemed politically or socially undesirable, until either a targeted person was too ill to travel or dead.
Most Americans haven’t awakened to the fact they are subject to an array of recently passed Fascist Laws including The National Defense Authorization Act and perhaps soon—the Enemy Expatriation Act that U.S. Government can unleash against the public. Congress gave U.S. Government the power to arrest and indefinitely detain Americans without probable cause or bringing charges: Detained U.S. Citizens now have no right to an attorney or trial or right to learn the charges against them—if any. If that isn’t Fascism what is?
It is foreseeable U.S. activists in the future that occupy government and other property (and) violate State or Federal laws will be charged by U.S. Government for conspiring or provoking violence; supporting hostilities; International and or Domestic Terrorism and may be incarcerated in Indefinite Detention or prosecuted under United States Code 18 Sec. 2331 (appear intended (i)“to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion…” Any Violent-Occupation or Protest even if caused by agent provocateurs, potentially can play into the hands of individuals, law enforcement and corporations that may want America turned into a Police State: Almost any criminal or physical act can be used by U.S. Government or Police to charge a person or group with advocating, supporting or committing terrorism. Considering these laws—only idiots or provocateurs would advocate violence or destruction of property.
U.S. terrorist laws are broad and vague and can be used by Government or Police against anyone, which makes it easy to set up or frame anyone for being involved in or connected to terrorism—perhaps for no other reason a Citizen or group dared challenge or question government policy.
18 U.S.C. § 2331 : US Code – Section 2331: Definitions of Terrorism
As used in this chapter -
(1) the term “international terrorism” means activities that -
(A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended -
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by
intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass
destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of
the United States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum;
(2) the term “national of the United States” has the meaning given such term in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act;
(3) the term “person” means any individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property;
(4) the term “act of war” means any act occurring in the course
of -
(A) declared war;
(B) armed conflict, whether or not war has been declared,
between two or more nations; or
(C) armed conflict between military forces of any origin; and
(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that -
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended -
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by
intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass
destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of
the United States.
That last one kind of hit the nail right on the head…
“(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass
destruction…”
Isn’t that what Obama is doing? …affecting the conduct of a government by mass destruction …he certainly has affected our Constitution and members of the left wing members of congress who are destroying our government en mass
Norm recently posted: In China prisoners with communicable diseases get ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’
While i respect your freedom of speech and do my part to allow you to continue to have it, i would prefer you did not use my photo for you story. I do not agree with what you are saying and speaking from first hand experience, this kind of training is necessary for where we fight.
SSG Joseph Wilbanks
U.S. Army Public Affairs
And what exactly are they training for? Why mock ups of US cities and not else where like they did for OIF and OEF scenarios? BTW civies’s Public Affairs guys are propaganda agents. Being from true Intel disciplines (HUMINT and SIGINT) I cant stand these bullshiters.
Better to mozambique em than trust em.
Now the US is training in US cities with the police……
Don’t tell me this is to defend against an invading nation like Russia or China. Their losses just getting here over land and air would be so great they would no longer be able to conduct an attack.
No they are training for the disarmament and to squeal any uprising for the American people as they remove our 2nd amendment followed by all the rest.
Agenda 21 U.N. 1992 Bush signed and Clinton executed into action. They were bought.
It kills off 3/4 population and removal of all rights and private property. all becomes wilderness project and only few black dots on the map of Agenda 21 is where people will live with no rights and told what to do for work. no vacations, no travel. a prison
Hijacking America and I feel sure that our military will turn against these crooks and preserve the constitution they swore to defend from domestic and foreign enemies. they are awake. could explain why some have been killing themselves in alfghan.
I can see the military being ordered to attack Americans, however, where most of you are wrong is the idea that soldiers are just brain dead robots… not true. you also post as if you seemingly know what and how units, platoons, squads, fire teams operate, you do understand how this works from the inside. soldiers are not as you seem to think these dumb robots that are given orders and do.. who do you think gives the order? orders come down to company level, with operational tasks given to platoons. those platoons are headed by a LT and a E-7 with four E-6s making up the leadership of the four squads. do you really think for one sec that these guys will be given a company order to kill citizens, and somewhere from the company commander/1sg down, those soldiers will say, wait a f*&^ minute? you will have some that will do as you say here, but the vast majority will not. they too are Americans, have friends/family here… your out of your mind. those soldiers that you trash on as if they have already started rounding up americans are going to be the ones that help you, as you will not have the balls to help yourself. very few civilians will help themselves, more likely, you all will sell each other out, never lift a gun to preserve yourself…. you will not help your neighbor that is being attacked by the ATF/police, tsa.. you will hide…. I see lots of talk on these sites, yet I no one actually stand up. that tells me, your not willing to sacrifice your place to defend that place, you will only hope it avoids you, or even help so it avoids you. this is the same in all wars, wwII, korea, Vietnam, irag… mark my words, it will be soldiers that will defend you, even when you have already decided they are the murders, but in reality, it is you cowards that are. join the military to ensure those orders are not carried out… oh wait, you wont. honor is tough to live up to, even harder to die for. those of you that have not seen war, stop spewing your garbage as it shows how truly stupid you are.
This is just the beginning I cannot believe we have let our country come to this get ready for an American revolution
We are in a recession, and suddenly not in a resession. WTF? The recession never ended and people cannot, and will not with the rich getting richer and the poor going hungry. Make no mistake. The US government is preparing for an inevitable civil war.