Military to Civilians Standing Guard at Recruitment Center: Stand Down

The U.S. Marine Corps has asked civilians who said they would “stand guard” at a military recruiting center in Howell to stand down. (File photo by weaverphoto via Flickr)

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Members of the Michigan Open Carry gun rights group are standing guard at an Armed Forces Recruiting Center in Howell in a show of solidarity for five U.S. service members slain by a lone gunman at a naval operations center in Chattanooga, TN, last week.

“We’re here to to show the young military, who are all volunteers, we support you and we love you,” G.R. Dinius, of Deerfield Township, told The Livingston Daily Press & Argus. “Thanks a lot to you warriors. We’re proud of you.”

Dinius, a Vietnam veteran, was joined in the unofficial – and, it seems, unwanted – sentry duty by Greg O’Neill, of Webberville, and Tim Wiggle, of Hamburg Township. The military has asked the men to disperse.

“While we greatly appreciate the support of the American public during this tragedy, we ask that citizens do not stand guard at our recruiting offices,” U.S. Marine Corps. Sgt. Elyssa M. Quesada, marketing and public affairs chief for the Marine recruiting center in Detroit, said in a statement.

“Our continued public trust lies among our trained first responders for the safety of the communities where we live and work,” she said.

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In a televised news conference Wednesday, Edward W. Reinhold, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Knoxville office, said the shooter in Chattanooga, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, opened fire on a recruitment center from his vehicle, then drove to the Navy support center, where he crashed through the gate and began shooting. He unloaded dozens of rounds of ammunition at both locations.

Marines and sailors at the naval center risked their own lives to save one another and tried to divert Abdulazeez, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. They boosted people over a fence to safety on the other side, and fired on the gunman. Without their heroics, the death toll could have been much higher, a source told The New York Times.

“This could have been a lot worse,” said the official, who asked The Times to shield his identity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation. “It could have been a horrible, horrible massacre – so much worse.”

“Seriously Consider” Arming Recruiting Personnel

Since the Chattanooga shootings, armed civilians like the three men in Howell are standing guard all across the country with the goal of protecting service members inside. Though military authorities say their efforts are misguided, Dinius told The Livingston Daily that “gun-free zones are getting people killed.”

Wiggle said it’s unfair to put recruiting staff in a defenseless situation.

“That’s why people died in Chattanooga,” he said. “They had no defense when that person came in and started shooting.”

A decades-old Pentagon policy restricting weapons to stateside Defense Department personnel was re-examined in the wake of high-profile shootings like the 2009 attack on Fort Hood, TX, where 13 people were killed 30 more were injured, and the 2013 attack on a Washington Navy Yard, where 12 people were killed and three more were injured.

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, President Obama’s nominee to become the next chief of staff of the Army, said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee that it may be time to arm recruiters.

“I think under certain conditions, both on military bases and in out stations – recruiting stations, reserve centers – that we should seriously consider it, and in some cases I think it’s appropriate,” Milley said.

Governors in at least a dozen states have ordered arming of National Guard recruiters at off-base centers, according to the National Guard Bureau and news reports.

Michigan isn’t among them.

That doesn’t sit well with Jessica Grima, who said it’s a “sad” state of affairs when she can get a license to carry a concealed weapon for personal protection, but military recruiters are denied the same right.

“We’re disarming our military, and we really shouldn’t be doing that,” Grima, who works for a Howell insurance agent, told The Livingston Daily. “If anything, they’re the ones who should be able to protect themselves. ... If you’re taking guns from law-abiding citizens, then all you’re doing is allowing people who don’t abide by the law to wreak havoc.”