Texas Militia
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reported on the Texas Constitutional Militia for the December 4, 1994, Sunday Telegraph ("Patriot games turn deadly"), a British newspaper. Despite the article's title, no death was involved.
The article described a strategy session of the Texas Constitutional Militia (northern region) near Dallas. The TCM held its first muster at the Alamo in San Antonio on April 19, 1994. April 19 is a significant date to militia, being the anniversary of both the start of the American Revolution and of the fire that ended the U.S. government's siege of the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas.
Reported Evans-Pritchard:
The Texas Constitutional Militia are not an underground guerrilla force. But they want to keep a low profile during the crucial organizing phase. Most of them dissapprove of the now celebrated Michigan Militia which has gone public in a spectacular way by releasing a videotape of itself training with assault rifles in the woods.
... the leaders claim that several thousand Texans are actively participating in one way or another.
... The last straw was the Waco assault, the gassing and incineration of 17 children and 64 adults at the Branch Davidian commmunity last year. Nobody has been brought to account for that abuse of power.
"We were sleep-walking through life. It was the massacre that woke us all up", said John Turner, a small businessman who commands the northern region of Texas.
... Training is done by a team of former Green Berets and Navy Seals. It includes survival techniques and urban and rural guerrilla warfare. Turner insisted that there was no plan to take offensive action. "We're 90 per-cent real Christians. We don't want to start blowing up bridges or sniping at Judges."
... The main purpose of the movement, its members claim, is deterrence. Every time the government oversteps its authority it will have to consider the possibility of armed opposition. And if it tries another Waco, it will have a minor war on its hands.
The National Guard will not be of much help, at least in Texas. A large number of police officers, sherriffs and reserve guardsmen are secret members of the militia. The army cannot be counted on either. Behind the Texas Constitutional Militia there are layers of para-military groups that tap into the US Military Complex.
For example, there are three battalions of the Texas Light Infantry. They are disgruntled former members of the Texas State Guard, a military police auxiliary under state control. "We do airborne parachuting, night ambush operations, and we simulate explosives" said Gert Ording, commander of the Third Battalion in Bryan.
Secretly, there is much else besides. The most serious force appears to be Big Star One, a Division sized network in northern Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico that includes serving officers of the U.S. military. If found out they could face a court martial.
It is made up of three military Brigades, according to a member of one outfit: The Delta, Culpepper and Orange brigades. "We're primarily training in guerrilla warfare. We learned a lot from the Viet-Cong." Among their senior commanders are officers from the US artillery base at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and Shepard Air Force Base in Texas. The clandestine division has been excercing in west Texas using mortars and grenade launchers. "There will be no Waco in this area," said the source.