We’ve been getting concerned e-mails from friends in Texas as to whether or not the long-ago announced and now being staged large-scale military operation, called Jade Helm and taking place in several western states, is some sort of federal testing of the ability of the Obama government to seize control of our nation and use our military forces to disarm and subjugate our citizenry.

The short answer is no, Operation Jade Helm is not some sort of scheme by Obama to seize control of those red states that reject his socialist views for the future of this nation.  For starters, just look at the name of the operation.  Rather than being the brilliant brainstorm of some radical revolutionary buried in the bowels of the White House situation room, that name, to me, a former infantry grunt, is rather prosaic.  You have a bunch of military planners sitting around a table in a conference room brainstorming this upcoming operation when the officer in charge says to his subordinates around the table, “Okay, what are we gonna call this baby?”  One operations type  whose eyes are going bleary from hours of brain strain glances over at the wall and sees a framed photo of the installation’s commanding general in full combat gear, which just happens to include his green combat helmet, and pops up his hand: “How about Green Helmet?”  Groans come from around the table until the one planning officer among them, who majored in English lit, offers, “Well, we could call it Jade Helm.  Same thing.”

So Jade Helm it is, and now, thanks to a lot of right-wing rabble-rousers, an otherwise routine military operation involving our special operations units honing their skills in urban and other populated environments takes on a menacing, threatening demeanor that becomes a source of concern to ordinary Americans who would not normally be concerned.  Yes, you may see more helicopters flying about than normal, but helicopters are the means by which our special operations warriors most frequently get to their combat objectives.  They’ll be gone soon.

Those of you concerned need to consider some simple math.  All of our special operations units combined likely do not equal the manpower strength of a single Army division.  If an evil federal administration were planning to use military forces to enslave the red states, they certainly would require far more manpower than is currently available in our special operations forces.  It is doubtful that our entire combined armed forces have the capability to subjugate this nation due to our having armed ourselves pursuant to our 2^nd Amendment rights.

Another thing to ponder: there are no dummies in special operations.  You have to be top tier mentally to even be considered.  On a per capita basis, they probably have a far higher IQ than any other military organizations other than perhaps the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and I wouldn’t bet the farm on that.  Now, if you’re going to use military forces against the people and the nation they are sworn to defend, are you really going to pick as your vanguard the very warriors who possess the intellect to realize that you are asking them to violate their oaths of service?  Of course not; you want the slugs that barely made it through basic training and will do your bidding without questioning your motives.  Intelligent, thinking warriors are those who are most likely to question the legality of politically motivated orders directing them to take action against their own citizens.

Those of you out there feeling queasy about Jade Helm?  Chill.