Jade Helm 15 Starts in One Month

Official operations for Jade Helm 15 begin on this day in exactly one month in Tom Green and several other Texas counties, as U.S. Army special operations forces and other miltary personnel flock to seven mostly southern states for a round of war games.

According to Commissioner Bill Ford, about 1,600 total military personnel will be training throughout the nation. He also said Jade Helm will be located in 17 locations in Texas and there will probably never be more than 45 or 50 personnel in one location.

“It’s a training exercise to work what they call unconventional warfare training,” Ford said. “It means they’ll be training as if they are in a country that may be occupied by a foreign hostile force. And they’ll go in and help those civilians control their country again.”

Jade Helm 15 is notorious for agitating conspiracy theorists across the nation. Theories range from a Washington-instigated takeover of the south to a sign of the apocalypse.

“I’m not up to believe these kinds of fanatical stories,” Ford said. “It takes real imagination to go where these guys go. [The conspiracy theorists] finally calmed down a little bit when some of the truth started hitting them between the eyes and they couldn’t deny it. They finally started backing off when some of the things that they’ve said is going to happen is not true.”

Both Ford and County Judge Steve Floyd stressed that those involved in Jade Helm, including Jade Helm 15's Operations Planner and retired Green Beret Thomas Mead, have been cooperative and relatively transparent with county officials.

“Let me tell you what it is because I’ve been involved with the guys who’ve been in here since they started it,” Ford said. “They came to us and they wanted our help. The sheriff and the county, we’re cooperating really well [with these guys].”

According to Floyd, nothing has changed from the plans that Jade Helm proposed to the county in the beginning. He stated that claims that discussions on the project were done in secret are a misconception that can be attributed to unrest in the public.

“These are going to be some limited exercises in mostly the rural areas of the county and in Tom Green County, primarily the southern part of it,” Floyd said. “Nothing’s expanded from there. I don’t think anything [involving Jade Helm will occur] within the city of San Angelo.”

All Jade Helm operations will take place on private property with permission from both the landowner and the county. According to Ford, such exercises will focus on training soldiers to blend into the civilians in rural areas, adapting to situations similar to those experienced in real warfare, and logistics of how to get supplies, food and transportation. Floyd said that there wouldn’t even be much to see for those attempting to witness any Jade Helm activities.

“[Mead] said other than a couple of aerial supply drops, where they fly over and drop something, a bag, there’s not really much to watch,” Floyd said. “It’s not like we’re going to have a bunch of mechanized weapons out there running across the pasture. So he said it’s pretty low key.”

Ford has interacted with military personnel that will be involved in the training for six to eight weeks. He claims that these soldiers will include Green Berets and Navy Seals.

“It’s a training exercise for the military and the better we do to help them, all it does is help some guys do a better job of what they do and they do a lot to save our butt,” Ford said. “These guys are warriors. These are trained combat veterans and they’re sworn to the Constitution of the United States. They’re something else. Really the kind of guys you’d be proud to know.”

Floyd made it clear that he is a resident of Tom Green County and that he has children and grandchildren that he does his best to protect as county judge. He also stressed the military’s importance to the community through Goodfellow Air Force Base and 8,000-9,000 military retirees in the area. Floyd even suggested that local residents may serve as role players in the operation.

“I take my duties very seriously as being a county judge, and I have absolutely no concerns about this,” Floyd said. “If I did, I thought if there was any threat to our public I would certainly ask those questions and make people aware.”