"if you roll out soldiers to address a civil disturbance, you need to figure out what they are going to do." One of the interesting things I learned participat

"if you roll out soldiers to address a civil disturbance, you need to figure out what they are going to do." One of the interesting things I learned participating in a number of protests in recent years surrounded by veterans is that they were shocked at the local PD's willingness to violate basic human rights in ways that they'd never have been allowed in the Army / Marines / etc.. One of the concerns I discussed with a friend this weekend regarding the current / recent situation in Ferguson is that police with military equipment are doing things that are simply not acceptable for soldiers at war, such as outright pointing their weapons into a crowd in order to get people's attention, as well as the unchecked use of teargas which I also saw in Oakland. I don't look forward to encountering any group of soldiers in a demonstration, nor do I doubt the Army has policies that are frightening, but one of the most frightening things about the militarization of police is that police are civilians who do not answer to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, nor do they require proper training on how to interact with the public as military. Many of them are vets, but not all of them had such duties while in the service. This is why you often hear the perception that these police are 'dressed up to play soldier' because as horrifying as it is that a city would send soldiers in to repress its' citizens, it's an order of magnitude worse because they aren't trained to have any restraint and the protest they are policing is _directly_ against them and their presence in the area.