by Joe Sunstrum

Created on: May 13, 2007

By the end of this essay I will demonstrate why there is no relevance or value in not only conventional maritime forces but military forces period, when responding to a terrorist threat. I will do this by showing different possible scenarios of likely terrorist targets and how we as a "conventional military" become less than adequate.

Does anyone in the free world honestly think that a terrorist plot would include at home military establishments? What purpose would this serve to the terrorists themselves? There is no terror actually occurred by the general public. As a member of the military I expect to be in the line of danger, I did since the day I signed on the dotted line. If anyone thought other wise it would be like becoming a firefighter and thinking you would never have to go into a burning building.

Is it sad if a member of our military family dies in action? Of course it is horrible, but the day "said" member jotted their name on the line they knew what could happen. If a terrorist decided to hit one of our homeland bases what would he gain? A couple weeks in the news would be about it. As members of the military we have come to expect we are targets. Being the most likely target makes us probably the least likely. The terrorist gets no "terror" value from such an attack.

The extra people on gates, the extra training because of the "what if" factor, to me are not worth the money spent.

Now if an attack took place, where do you think it might take place to garner the most terror possible? What do "we" as citizens cherish most in our lives? In my opinion, these would include; our families and children, our money, our recreation, our entertainment and our needed things like water, and food.

Take Victoria, British Columbia for instance, if as a terrorist you wanted to kill a city, take out a cruise ship while it is docked in the city's harbor. Not only would that cause plenty of chaos but it would literally shut down the biggest industry on the island. The downward spiral of lost jobs, revenue and life would be catastrophic as opposed to a terrorist hitting the navy base.

There are many ways for terrorists to hit us and unless our government is ready to keep armed posts at all our reservoirs, nuclear facilities, shopping malls, arenas, theaters and countless other places people gather in large groups the military will be left for only clean up I am afraid to say.

Everyday in "hot" countries like Afghanistan and Iraq "extremists" are willing to take their own

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