Devan Robert Nelson: I wouldn't need a mall or regular cop if I was allowed to open carry everywhere. Wouldn't need to troops either. Civilians with More guns than most of the worlds armies? Yeah, try and invade.
By "unorganized," I'm referencing US and state law that categorizes the legal militia... the reserve state and reserve federal militias.
I've seen how certain private "civilian militia" conducted their training, and conducted themselves in a simulated combat environment. Many are hurting when it comes to basic weapon handling, muzzle awareness, weapon discipline, etc.
Many non-police/military veteran members of these "armed civilians," were a joke when it came to tactical competency.
If you think that fully arming the American civilian population would stop an invasion... without the US military providing the bulk of the effort and leadership... you're seriously high on crack.
Realistically speaking, without U.S. military experience, a fully armed civilian population would get slaughtered. It wouldn't take long before the remainder of the "civilian militia" to cut and run to cut their losses.
The sense of specie preservation, and coming face to face with their own mortality, would knock the wind out of the remainder of the militia's will to fight.
Historically, civilian militias, with no standing military background or support, engaged in rivalry and infighting. They ultimately melted away when there was nothing stronger above them holding them together... especially in response to a threat from a powerful military.
There are those among the civilian population, with no formal military or police training, who are good marksmen. But, guess what? During combat, you don't always have the time to do the four fundamentals of good shooting.
You're not always well rested, you're not surrounded by the familiar surroundings of your firing range, and you're not always still. You're not always given the convenience of having something perfect to aim and shoot from. In a lot of cases, you're shooting, moving, under stress, exhausted, sleep deprived, sweating, etc.
When you have civilian militias operating across the US to repel an invasion, one of the things you need is fire coordination. This needs tactical communication. This communication and coordination must happen when rounds are firing.
An invading military force would be a group of people that'd be working together, with different specialties, and with different types of equipment. They'd be organized from a basic rifle company to ships operating beyond the horizon.
I highly doubt that a bunch of American civilians, without a standing military at their side, could stand up to that. They wouldn't be effective against an enemy's tank or attack helicopter elements. They wouldn't be effective against an aerial bombing campaign.
The civilian militia would be useless against enemy naval gunfire support.
Also, battle field coordination isn't the same thing as Facebook, cellphone, and texting coordination. How are millions of armed citizens going to organize their efforts? You need a command structure to control multiple militia groups... across increasingly larger geographic areas.
These command structures must also be coordinated, so you have to have command structure above them. You have to have C2 from the basic fire team all the way to the commander in chief.
In order for the US population, without the police or military experienced people, to be able to take on a foreign invasion, there has to be other coordination. This includes logistic and administrative support.
This also requires field and general grade leadership. You need company grade leadership to coordinate company sized operations. You don't just create this from a vacuum. This is developed from experience and training.
The civilian militia would have experience coordinating and supporting within their own militia groups. Have they done this with all the militia groups in the United States? That's a key question, because different militia groups will have different ways of coordination and support.
There's a good chance that egos would get in the way of choosing support and leadership.
There has to be a higher ranking echelon controlling these different militia groups. The larger area that you're working with, the higher level of command that you're going to need.
The civilian population lacks battlefield coordination and battlefield command across large areas of the U.S. They'll need an organized military to bridge that.
Worse, a civilian population without military or police training lacks effective battle drill type coordination. They may have one for within their groups. But, the different militia groups will have their own standard operating procedure on how they will operate together.
Most of the constitutional and statutory militias don't even know they're members of the reserve militia.
Also, without real tactical experience/background, most civilian militia would fight as if they're re-enacting an online first shooter game, or a war movie... neither of the two reflect how one is supposed to actually engage the enemy.
The military regularly runs these administrative, logistics, fire and coordination exercises, from fire team and up. They train consistently, even between battles, and before battle as part of troop leading procedures. I doubt this is going on across all militia in the US throughout the year.
Most civilian militia, without military or police experience, will end up learning in the heat of battle. The tuition paid? Militia bodies piling up at a rapid rate... unnecessary loss of militia lives and spilled militia blood.
When you get these different militia groups together, you have room for a lot of errors and confusion. You have room for fratricide. And since your civilian militia is not trained to conduct sustained combat operations on land, you have the potential of lowered morale and mission abandonment.
Living and operating in a combat environment is different from living and operating from the comforts of civilization. It's arduous duty, one that'd earn combat troops an additional monthly stipend. It's one that'll make people question why they're there... as the side of them that misses the comforts of civilization kicks in.
Military discipline, leadership, and experience keeps that sentiment in check.
This, my gun waving gung ho "don't need the military civilian militia only" advocates, is where discipline and training come in. Going camping, or boating, are relaxing endeavors compared to the military's doing field and sea exercises.
When a civilian goes camping, that civilian has the option to bedding down all night. That civilian controls most of his/her camping or boating time.
When the military goes on a field exercise, they could continue through the night, sleep deprived, operating in complete darkness with night vision, while wet and damp, and feeling everything that most civilians would avoid... but the troops would press on, because they'll have to do this during war.
That takes some growing into.
A professional military is paid, and required, to condition themselves to operate in sustained combat environments... while dealing with the most uncomfortable living and working environments... long before the first rounds start flying.
We adapt and learn to operate in that kind of environment, in these and other conditions. We do this until they're second nature, and to keep them second nature... before we have to live and work this way in a combat environment.
Most civilians don't have this requirement, and don't exercise it on their own. Most civilians, with no military or tactical background, would succumb to doubt... they'd be driven to return to the comforts of civilization.
Bottom line, millions of armed civilians can't do the job alone. If they did, they face massive casualties and would fail to repel the invasion. History has proven that you need a standing Army to provide for the main defense.
Historically, an armed civilian militia would be the auxiliary for the standing army.
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