"Jade Helm" is over, and Texas is still standing
AUSTIN, Texas - "Jade Helm 15," the U.S. military training exercise that was met with Internet-fueled suspicions that the war simulation was really a hostile military takeover, is over -- and Texas, the state that most questioned the exercise, is still standing.
The seven-state war exercise launched in July beyond the front gates of Camp Swift near Bastrop, Texas, with no fanfare and was almost entirely out of sight to the general public.
Parts of Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Utah also hosted the three-month training exercise, which the Army acknowledged as being unique given the size and scope. Military officials said the topography in the selected areas was ideal to replicate foreign combat zones. Most of the activity was held in remote areas.
After the training exercise was announced, suspicions intensified after some conservative political websites seized on an Army map that labeled Texas and Utah as "hostile" for the purposes of the simulation. Fears spilled into public view in April when about 200 people packed a community meeting in Bastrop County, Texas and questioned an Army commander about whether martial law was imminent.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott even ordered the state's National Guard to monitor the military's movements, drawing sharp rebuke after from critics, who accused the new Republican governor of pandering to fringe theorists. No other governor greeted Jade Helm with similar actions.
A group in Texas aimed at monitoring Jade Helm was formed and garnered volunteers - some of whom were armed - who were then positioned across the state. The group was described as a neighborhood watch.