Long Beach sounded like a war zone last night thanks to a U.S. Army training exercise
The Long Beach Police Department was informed about the operation weeks ago but other city officials were not looped in until the day of the exercise.
Helicopters, gunfire and explosions — southeast Long Beach was turned into a mock war zone Friday morning for a military training exercise.
At least a dozen troops descended upon the Golden Sails Hotel aboard numerous aircraft, with some repelling from a helicopter as it hovered over the hotel. Quickly after arriving, the sounds of explosions and gunfire filled the area.
Residents were not informed of the training exercise until social media posts by the city around 6:30 p.m. — less than six hours before the operation started around midnight. The exercise lasted for about an hour, according to witnesses.
In response to questions from the Watchdog about the operation in Long Beach, a U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesperson responded with a prepared statement related to a similar exercise in Pasadena Thursday.
“The training was coordinated with the City of Pasadena as well as applicable law enforcement agencies to provide the most realistic training environment for U.S. Army Special Operations Forces and Aviation,” the statement reads. “Our ability to operate in various challenging environments is essential to being capable in the most challenging of missions. All safety precautions were observed. We appreciate the support of the citizens and residents in the surrounding areas who were impacted by the training.”
After being reminded that the request was for operations in Long Beach, the spokesperson sent a nearly identical response with the city name added.
The Long Beach Police Department was informed the military would conduct a training exercise in Long Beach in April, according to department spokesperson Allison Gallagher. Last week, the department was given additional information but was barred from releasing details “to maintain operation sensitivity and security,” Gallagher said.
The LBPD did not inform other city officials until social media posts began surfacing regarding the Pasadena operation, according to Gallagher, who added the collective of city government collaborated “quickly on public messaging that could be released to advise residents of the forthcoming training exercise in Long Beach.”
The department was unable to compile the number of dispatch calls related to the military exercise, but said it will provide the information once it is available.
The hotel, which shuttered in November of last year, is located at 6285 E. Pacific Coast Highway, less than one mile from the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center.
“I have Veteran spouse with PTSD. I'm sure he would have loved to have advance notice of this, and wished military thought of their own before planning these excursions,” Courtney Pettijohn wrote under the city’s Facebook post. “You can support our troops and still be pissed off, just like we are.”
The medical center did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the training, including whether it caused issues with patients or if they thought it appropriate to conduct such an exercise so close to a VA hospital.
Many other commenters voiced their opinion on the city’s social media posts, with most ranging from surprise to downright disgust that such an operation was taking place in Long Beach.
“The military needs to get out of our cities,” one commenter wrote.
“This feels incredibly fucking ominous,” said another.
Many questioned why city officials allowed the military to conduct the operation at all.
According to one commenter on a post by political activist Jolly Good Ginger, the City of Pasadena did not have a say as to whether the operation took place because it was confined to the abandoned St. Luke's Medical Center, which is private property. The commenter said Councilmember Tyron Hampton called him and said the city is “quite upset” and that the training was related to the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
Russell Ellis (aka Jolly Good Ginger), a veteran himself, speculates that conducting numerous exercises in California is not for safety, but rather to “normalize” the sounds of warfare in urban areas. He also questioned the last-minute notice considering military training operations are typically planned well in advance.
“There’s no scenario where the army needs to train in urban warfare for the World Cup,” he said. “Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, but I find the timing to be unusual.”
Ellis pointed to Truth Social posts by President Donald Trump about California elections being rigged as one potential explanation for the show of force days after Election Day. Trump has posted at least nine times over the past three days claiming Democrats are “stealing the vote.”
Many commenters on the city of Long Beach’s posts had similar speculations as Ellis, including retribution from Trump and normalizing the actions.
“This could also point to them desensitizing us to helicopters and shit blowing up,” Ellis said. “Just the way they’ve desensitized us to having National Guard on the ground, just like they’ve desensitized us to them having their private army, ICE, out violating your Constitutional rights.”
While some have accused Ellis and others of fearmongering, their speculation is supported by remarks made by Trump last year. During an address to hundreds of military leaders assembled from across the world, the president said people protesting his policies in major cities such as Minneapolis, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are the “enemy from within” and that American cities should be a “training ground” for the military.
“[Democratic-led cities are] very unsafe places and we're going to straighten them out one by one," Trump told the room, adding that the military would play a “major part” in that process.
"It's a war from within.”
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