maneuvers in Kent Ohio

maneuvers in Kent Ohio

fiction
edward w pritchard

August 30, 2013 the US army, navy seals and the marines sealed off the City of Kent, Ohio at 9AM and didn't allow any of the citizens to move about. The military made no efforts to be civil or explain, only expediently going about their duties and goals for the day. Roads were blocked, the express way was closed and my Grand daughter and I were detained as were thousands of others. Local police and fire were not notified before hand and were in fact detained by the military, as was the city manager, counsel and numerous prominent business leaders and faculty at Kent State University.

The military personnel were not fat, polite, comical or helpful. Soldiers were well armed and came from far away from an unfamiliar part of America, perhaps Idaho. Within moments the entire city of Kent was occupied and business, commerce and everyday life was interrupted. Local radio, television and newspaper and Internet from nearby Akron, Cleveland and other places was blocked and in a matter of minutes no news or information was allowed into or out of Kent.

Over two hundred green military buses held detainees, of which I and my grand daughter were two of many and large green military helicopters patrolled the air over all of Portage County, where Kent is located. Individual soldiers wore infectious disease retarding masks and vests and randomly checked residents for various viruses.

Human soldiers were assisted by two to three hundred overhead flying drones of various sizes and various levels of technological sophistication. Although drones did not fire on any citizens of Kent they did address miscreants at times with vocal beeps and assorted warnings sounds to assist human soldiers with crowd control. 

After about an hour, once the point was properly made the military immediately disappeared, without explanation or apology and the citizens were able to resume normal movement about their homeland. Four years later in Congressional hearings on the matter it was a point of pride with the military that professional soldiers and drones were able to secure an entire town without one civilian death and comparison was made to the May 4, 1970 shootings in which a semi professional home guard [Ohio National Guard] shot and killed four unarmed students in a campus demonstration.