Article should say " No invasion - yet " Since when has the military done " urban training " in conjunction with the local police? Like we shouldn't be concerned that this might be part of Obama's plan to hold onto power after the election/declare martial law. Bit by bit our freedoms are getting chipped away. What's next? Ground troops practicing door to door searches in the middle of the night?

prism 2001: "Like we shouldn't be concerned that this might be part of Obama's plan to hold onto power after the election/declare martial law." If this statement is reflective of how you really think, I believe you have a lot more to worry about than martial law.

"Like we shouldn't be concerned that this might be part of Obama's plan to hold onto power after the election/declare martial law." ---- Utterly ridiculous. If you honestly think he wants to do that, why hasn't he already? Why wait until after the election? Why not do it now? According to polls there's a 50/50 chance he will lose the election, so it seems logical that if he REALLY wanted to do it that he would have done it at any time during his Presidency. Stop listening to Sean Hannity and Glen Beck.

What is going on here? What could possibly be the purpose of conducting "special operations" in the Twin Cities?!!

re: "What could possibly be the purpose of conducting "special operations" in the Twin Cities?!!" You're right - it's far better that our military and police be totally unprepared in the event of a suprise attack by unfriendlys within the borders of the United States! What were they thinking? That could never happen in the United States! --- At least it hasn't since September 11, 2001.

What's the easiest way to circumvent Constitutional prohibitions on using the US military against US citizens? Take local police, give them military equipment and training, then don't call them "soldiers." Those of you who don't think that law enforcement is getting this training to use against American citizens are truly living with your heads in the sand. Here's something you might not know; the US government has a website, www.fedbizopps.gov, that it uses to take bids from businesses to provide goods that the government is looking for. If you go to this submission, https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=bfd95987a1ad9a6dfb22bca4a19150cb&_cview=0, you'll see that the NOAA, which supposedly only watches the weather, is seeking 30,000 rounds of hollow point ammo. If you go to this submission, https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6c39a2a9f00a10187a1432388a3301e5&tab=core&_cview=0&fb_source=message, you'll find the Social Security Administration is taking bids on 174,000 rounds of hollow point ammo to be sent to 41 cities. These are only a few of the non-military, non-law enforcement government agencies seeking large numbers of ammunition. Why? Hollow point ammo, which has been banned from international warfare by the Hague Convention since 1899, isn't designed for training or target practice; it's specifically designed to expand and fragment on impact with a body to do maximum organ damage and kill people. The US government at home is arming itself. People should really be looking into why.

I don't think President Obama has a dubious plan, but there's absolutely NOTHING "routine" about this activity!

@ heretical1 -- Thanks for the post and links. Unfortunately our fellow Americans don't like to hear the facts about our blessed Uncle Sam and the many questionable things being done with our tax dollars.

Relax folks, here's some of the radio communications that are going on with regard to this training operation... "Viper 1 to Viper 6, there's a high density PED operation in progress in falcon heights", "Viper 2 to Viper 6, we've spotted numerous PEDS carrying white buckets in the vicinity of falcon heights, we're investigating two sources of these buckets", "Viper 4 to Viper 6, there's nom-nom-nom some deep fried cheese being served to PEDS in the same nom-nom-nom area". "Viper 5 to Viper 6, you can find beer on a stick in the International Bizarre. " "Viper 6 to all Vipers, converge on International Bizarre for further recon and intel gathering, ya know".

In any foreign conflict involving ground forces, US helicopter pilots will likely fly over urban areas, not just desolate desert and mountainous terrain. So the pilots should be somewhat familiar with the conditions. Spotting landmarks and using them for navigation, maintaining awareness of separation from other aircraft, and flying while also observing events on the ground -- pilots should be able to do these things before they are deployed to a combat zone.