WMD Drill Operation Four Aces Underway in SCBrandon Turbeville Described as an exercise designed to help police, fire and emergency officials be better prepared for such a disaster, the South Carolina Weapons of Mass Destruction Specialized Response Team exercise, which is called Operation Four Aces, began on Monday, July 9 and will continue until Friday, July 13. According to Leslie Yancey, spokeswoman for the Horry County Fire Rescue, officials from all over South Carolina will take part in the exercise in order to test the interoperability of specialized response teams in the event of an actual terrorist event in our state. The specialized response teams Yancey is referring to are agencies like SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal), USAR (Urban Search and Rescue), and HAZMAT (Hazardous Materials). Other departments may be taking part in the exercise as well but they were not announced in the initial reports coming from the Myrtle Beach area news sites. The organizers of the event are calling on volunteers to participate and play the roles of doctors, nurses, students, faculty, and casualties, during the course of the exercise. The organizers have put out a special call to members of churches and civic groups. All in all, Operation Four Aces will take place near the South Strand Medical Center, the Conway shooting, range or the Horry County Public Works Department. Even though the exercise will largely be taking place in plain view and with the help of citizen volunteers, Horry County Fire Rescues Chief of Training Matt Smith, who emphatically supports the program, states that he cannot reveal any further details about the event. Interestingly enough, while the military is not openly participating in this exercise, the consortium of participants have put out a call for civilians to act as volunteers apparently under the mistaken impression that because they have assumed a position of perceived power and authority, they are no longer civilians themselves. Yet, although the military is not participating in this exercise outright (Operation Four Aces is designed to train State agencies, not Federal), the military seems to be overseeing the exercise in a more indirect sense. This is because the training will be conducted by Red Tail Tactical Technology Inc., a private tactical instruction firm founded and operated by Don Hollenbaugh. The firm is based out of two locations, one being Meridian, Idaho and the other Fayetteville, North Carolina, right outside of Ft. Bragg. Don Hollenbaugh, the founder of Red Tail, spent eight years of his military career with the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta. In other words, Hollenbaugh is a former member of Delta Force who is now emerging in the private sector to provide tactical instruction to both military and law enforcement. Although Red Tail is a private firm, it should be noted that the outsourcing of military duties (legal and otherwise) has increased exponentially in the last several years. Furthermore, it is important to remember that Delta Force has been one of the more visible military detachments involved in domestic warfare training as well as actual operations. The fact that Red Tail is officially a private contractor should not deter anyone from understanding that there is a concerted effort to militarize the police and other government agencies and direct them towards the American people. Of course, Operation Four Aces is not a martial law drill, nor is it a detention exercise. For those who are unaware, this event appears to be designed as merely yet another acclimation effort in order to train the American people this time the citizens of Horry County to accept SWAT teams, HAZMAT suits, and otherwise blatant police state procedures as the new normal. Unfortunately, Horry County is only the latest in a string of acclimation exercises being conducted all over the country. Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Mullins, South Carolina. He has a Bachelors Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutionsand Dispatches From a Dissident.Turbeville has published over one hundred articles dealing with a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville is available for podcast, radio, and TV interviews. Please contact us at activistpost (at) gmail.com. 