Jade Helm 15, the military exercise that many right wingers and conspiracy pot-stirrers feared was actually a stealth invasion of Texas, ended on Monday and left the Lone Star State intact.
While the operation took place across Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida, Texas became the focus of conspiracy theories that reached such intensity that Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas State Guard to "monitor" its operations, reported the
Dallas Morning News.
The liberal media poked fun at Texas for its Jade Helm reaction and were having a field day on Tuesday feeding crow to various conservative targets now that the exercise has ended.
Counter Jade Helm, a website created to give out "counter-insurgency, organizational and intelligence gathering," provided just one field report during the exercise.
"Life is boring," Debbie Staskus, 54, a bookkeeper in Bastrop, told the
Cleburne Times-Review. "Most people just want something to be excited about."
The headquarters of the Bastrop County Republican Party was the Texas epicenter the Jade Helm 15 takeover conspiracy.
The media was invited to watch a paratrooper exercise connected with Jade Helm at the end of August as fears subsided about the training but the event was scrubbed, said
KVUE-TV.
"Abbott's office told the television station in a statement that it received "daily updates and we are in turn addressing any concerns Texans may have" about Jade Helm. Abbott, though, was mocked by critics who charged he was giving in to people's conspiracy theories, said the
Washington Post.
Gawker, though, quoted information gathered by the Freedom of Information Act that indicated the Texas State Guard was initially confused about what they should be monitoring.
"Until we better understand the operational term 'monitor' means, there is no action and nothing of concern," State Guard Col. Robert A. Woodmansee told staff in a memo obtained by Gawker.
"While the Texas State Guard waited to learn what monitoring would actually entail, their recruiters took advantage of the public relations boost," said Gawker. "In a message dated April 30th — two days after Gov. Abbott's statement — Texas State Guard recruiter David Childers described a 'substantial increase in interest apparently due to the Jade Helm announcement.'"
Suzanne Nagl, a spokeswoman for Army Special Operations Command, told the Washington Post that military officers are still evaluating the success off the operation that started in July.
"At this time, we do not have any lessons learned to share since we have not yet conducted an after-action review of the exercise, but we do believe the exercise overall was a success," said Nagl.
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