’Paradise ruined’? Plans to train SEALs in parks rattle Washington residents
RT.com
21 Jan, 2016
Leaked plans by the US Navy to conduct SEAL training in public parks and residential areas of northwestern Washington state are making some residents uneasy. The military insists they are only in the preliminary stage, though documents imply otherwise.
In documents recently revealed by investigative website Truthout, Naval Special Warfare Group 3 of the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) requested “environmental assessment” and “necessary real estate support agreements” for training operations on the Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle.
The two presentations list 68 sites in the Pacific Northwest for combat swimmer training, simulated assaults in urban areas, insertion or extraction, launch and recovery of boats, and beach infiltration.
The Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC), headquartered in Hawaii, said that the process was “in the very early stages of development,” and that later stages would involve getting feedback from the public.
“The Navy is currently reviewing potential environmental, cultural and historic impacts of the type and frequency of training that is being requested,” said NSWC spokesman Lt. Commander Mark Walton, as quoted by the Sequim Gazette. Two of the Navy’s proposed training sites are near Sequim, a community of less than 7,000 people across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Canada’s Vancouver Island.
Training cycles mentioned in one of the documents, however, speak of “mid-January through mid-February 2016” and “mid-February through mid-April 2016.”
The Rest…HERE
