Operation Jade Helm Ends with Little Fanfare

Operation Jade Helm 15 is over. Texas has prevailed.

All the hand-wringing, fearing, fretting, rumors, and dire predictions are orphaned. The long trains carrying tanks and armored personnel carriers, loaded with United Nations troops in their blue berets, and boxcars set to hold handcuffs and leg irons to the floors have vanished.

The Governor’s daily briefings have ended.

Much more was written prior to the start of operations than will be written post-op.

What started out as a plan involving eight southwestern states and thousands of troops was necked down considerably due to the budget. It appears fewer than one thousand participated at all levels, including up to 300 special operations troops. Most of those were Army Green Berets. And published information suggests that Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Florida were the prime locations for the training evolution.

Both the Washington Post and Dallas Morning News printed obituaries for Jade Helm 15 on Tuesday. They even quoted the King of liberal punditry, Jon Stewart who previously ripped Texas Governor Greg Abbott by saying he was catering to “Lone Star lunatics.”

“Oh dear Lord,” Stewart said. “Yet another waste of Texas funds that could have been spent on actual threats, like your infamous chainsaw massacres. Texas, it’s not that I don’t find it adorable that your governor thinks your State Guard could take on the United States military. It’s like a little dog growling at a big dog, or an 8-year-old picking a fight with the Predator.”

Republican presidential candidates also weighed in, with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) saying he wanted more information from the Pentagon and former Texas Governor Rick Perry telling Texas residents they should trust the military.

“Counter Jade Helm” a website developed by former military intelligence members and based in Phoenix, provided scant information from what they called “a large group of observers” mostly stationed in Texas. They provided scant to little information, and almost none of it in real time.

The dire predictions of martial law, gun confiscation, the round-up of political dissidents (those opposed to the current U.S. regime) with relocation to FEMA camps didn’t happen.

One gun store in Bastrop put it simply on their display sign “Where’s Jade Helm?” The Midland Reporter-Telegram, told Breitbart Texas that the Wal-Mart that closed suddenly in April is now scheduled to re-open in mid-October. In Livingston, in east Texas, the Wal-Mart that closed in April has plans to re-open by November, following “plumbing problems,” the announced reason for closing. Both of these locations were frequently rumored as sites for re-supply or basing of troops for Jade Helm. The Midland store was identified as “one with underground tunnels for holding detainees for FEMA.”

“JADE HELM concludes after two months of operations”, said Suzanne Nagl, a spokeswoman for Army Special Operations Command, which oversaw it. “At this time, we do not have any lessons learned to share since we have not yet conducted an after-action review of the exercise, but we do believe the exercise overall was a success,” Nagl said in an e-mail to the Washington Post.

Gawker reported last week that the Texas State Guard saw an increase in recruiting after Abbott’s decision to monitor Jade Helm. Guard officials called it a “great opportunity,” Gawker reported, citing e-mails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.