Pallone Asks for Better Communication when Army Trains
Congressman reacts to last week's training at Fort Monmouth.
Last week's training by an Army unit from Fort Bragg in Long Branch and Fort Monmouth certainly did not make many area residents very happy. The mostly unannounced training, which featured low-flying helicopters, could be heard will past midnight in numerous towns, including Shrewsbury and Red Bank.
Congressman Frank Pallone (D-6) says he has heard the message from the public and has been communicating with the Army to ensure better communication during future training.
"It is critically important that our armed forces have ample opportunity to conduct training practices to help them continue to be the best prepared and most skilled military in the world," Pallone said in a statement. "While last week’s training effort by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) over much of Central New Jersey was no doubt an important exercise, my office has been in contact with SOCOM to ensure better communication for future trainings to make sure that local residents are better informed and prepared for any potential disruptions.”
Announcements were posted on the borough web sites of Tinton Falls and Eatontown and the Long Branch Police issued a code red alert through e-mail and phone to warn residents of loud noises associated with the training which included low-flying helicopters and simulated gunfire.
The training took place in Long Branch on June 4 and the Fort Monmouth area of Tinton Falls and Eatontown on June 5 and 6. The training typically began around 5 p.m. and did not stop until after midnight.
The New Jersey State Police said they were aware of the training and said that is common, but not for this area.
Sal
3:13 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
The military closed down Ft. Monmouth and moved all the jobs out-of-state.
It is time now for the military to show some decency and respect for the residents on NJ and to take their nighttime training out-of-state also.
If I made as much noise and disturbed the peace of by neighbors as much as the nighttime military training exercise did___I would have been arrested and charged with everything from disorderly conduct, to disturbing the peace to terrorist acts violations..
ExChief
8:03 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
I say let them train all they want, they are training to protect us, so we lost a few hours sleep think about the amount of sleep our brave soldiers lose while they are protecting our freedoms, stop the whining people
Ken Barber
10:38 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
Ah yes, another sincere comment from "Save The Fort" Pallone.
David Calderwood
3:43 pm on Friday, June 15, 2012
There were two helicopters with their lights off flying about 150 feet above our our house at midnight. The entire house was shaking from the down draft - they were that close. Would have been nice to be warned that they would be sitting on top of our house at midnight.
Andrew Rose
9:09 pm on Friday, June 15, 2012
Special Operations Command (SOCOM) ? Are they not supposed to be among the brightest in our military arsenal? I guess they don't teach them how to read maps? Shrewsbury had planes so low the whole house was shaking. Have some decency to warn us before you train. Some of us thought it might have been a terrorist attack.
rbresident
5:29 pm on Sunday, June 17, 2012
Wow. Let's be a little more dramatic people. Why should the military have to tell us when they train anyway. This doesn't happen every night, the people stationed over seas experience some of the worst conditions all day and night and your complaining because you got woken up ONE night. Get over it, next time you drive down the street and you run over a road side bomb then complain. The military is doing all of this for us.