Not again! Fright night returns to the area shortly folks OMG. You mean to tell me that the military can’t conduct a training exercise at Picatinny Arsenal or Tobyhanna Army Depot or one of the bases in South Jersey? Why at Fort Monmouth and just about a month after the previous exercise. Something just isn’t right, I’m willing to bet that money is changing hands and sooner or later it will surface.

Monmouth County must really be in the political crapper for tthis suburban assault training to be continuing.

Maybe they will assail the East side barrracks and reduce them to rubble. That would save Oceanport the trouble & the $ it would cost to buy that land.

Lasted till midnight??!! Yeah right- till 1:30am! Wouldn't mind so much if they weren't flying RIGHT above my house! If I stood on my roof I could grab on to the helicopter!

Thomas ---Something smells fishy

Now I'm skeptical about the siren that was going off for hours the other night. Seems like BS to me.

Call your Congresscritter to let them know you're dissatisfied with the military using our backyards as their training grounds! This is not a war zone and should not be treated as such. Congressman Pallone's number in LB is (732) 571-1140

These men and women protect us from threats - both here and overseas. A few nights of helicopter noise is somethig I think we can all manage to deal with in order to maintain the high level of training and preparedness for our military. This isn't something exclusive to our towns, nor can every training event be held in the woods. Urban and suburban threats are real. You should be thankful we have people actively conducting this type of training.

Isn't Fort Dix big enough for this nonsense. To travel all the way from North carolina to bother us at sleepinf hours is totally uncalled for. G-d forbid there is an accident from one of these heicopters, and don't say it cannot happen. The fort is not theirs anylonger, so let them head south, or better yet find a base in North Carolina. Great politicians we have, no one can stand up for us taxpayers peace of mind

Lawrence-----Gee What did i do in Vietnam and Panama and Kosovo and Iraq then ????????

Fire --I agree butttttttttt At Ft Dix we have spent millions building training areas for Urban Combat --Why are they by-passing a area built and designed for that kind of use for a area at Ft Mon with no facilities ---is my question

Calm down everyone. I have no problem with them using Fort Monmouth for this training. The more training, the better prepared we will be. Instead everyone is up in arms.

Fort Monmouth has been here a lot longer than anyone reading this article (unless you happen to be 95 years old) so when you moved here, you knew what you were getting into.

I am all for supporting the military and the fine work they do and I understand the need for continued training. However the "Boy geniuses" who run the Army decided to close the base. The Generals and their minions should be forced to make a real decision. If Fort Monmouth is an important military asset then open it back up and use it for whatever. If not leave it closed and let it decay like you originally planned. No middle ground.

Maybe I can use the the former Greely field to hold my Birthday Party next month, main stage, few bands, food stands....hell, Springsteen was able to use the theater and the SP, HLS and now the boys from Bragg are using it. Is the government willing to pay fines for after curfew noise? I agree with Gerald, re-open it or leave it alone.

I think the best part about this all is that none of you can do anything about it but complain. I fully support them so it feels good to know that all the winey people won't be getting there way. Maybe you should try russia. I hear its great this time of year. Because apparently the men and woman who risk there lives for us aren't good enough to train in our area because some people may lose some sleep.

"These men and women protect us from threats - both here and overseas."

That is a growing concern for me. The military has never performed as many domestic "exercises" as they are conducting now. There is a reason why the Posse Comitatus act was passed.

It's not the men and women who serve our country that i have a problem with; they are to be commended. It's the few people that make these types of decisions that need to be questioned.

Residents are stressed; their nerves are jagged and frayed! Just recently in Colorado someone opened fire with assault weapons and killed and injured innocent people. Over the past several weeks we have been subjected to thunder storms in which lightning killed several individuals, the storms caused property damage, power outages and more. Not to mention being without drinking water until the Swimming River Road reservoir was patched up. Now we must endure helicopters hovering over our homes and simulated explosions. I honestly believe this is part of a political conspiracy, a plan to encourage residence to move out of the area. And you know something! It’s working; look at all the “For Sale” signs! Look at the record number of businesses that have closed.

Thomas you are the funniest ...I am sure you believe that the World is ending in 2012 as well as the last 10 dates...Get a Grip....

Base wasn't empty before...THAT'S WHY THIS TYPE TRAINING WASN'T DONE..

Thomas, The Government controls who lightning strikes? The government is now making thunderstorms to scare people away? You really need to get your own TV Show...

More training, more training___LOTS more training___they badly need it..
Face reality_____ We buy our military personnel the best munitions and missiles and body armor and cruise missiles and drones and tanks and helicopters and satellites that are made on this planet___ We give the Pentagon and our Generals everything they ask for____and yet they cannot even defeat a handful of cave dweller enemies in Afghanistan that they have outnumbered 10 to 1 and the enemy is fighting using only 40 year old rusty weapons and they have no tanks, no jets, no missiles no drones, no helicopters or air support etc. and our very poorly trained inept military personal cannot defeat them. Thank God our troops are not fighting a Real enemy force___with modern day weapons or the enemy forces would be slaughtering our very poorly trained troops.

Why train for urban combat in a suburban area? Which potential enemy country has communities like Tinton Falls, West Long Branch, Shrewsbury and Oceanport? I support our troops 110%; they make great sacrifices for all of us but these exercises are kinda weird !

You think they are whining now? Wait till the Earle base is attacked and then they will want to know why the army wasn't prepared. Big Babies. I just wish this country had compulsory service.

If one of our guys (or girls) should land in your backyard by mistake, hand them a beer and say Thank You!

Urban warfare training for the pending economic collapse. Domestic use of spy drones, indefinite detention of American citizens, executive orders which make it easy to declare martial law, etc.

Put the pieces together people.

Me, me, me! That is what is wrong with this country now. Everyone is so self absorbed and worried about themselves they can't see the big picture. I am sure they are using Ft. Monmouth now because it's empty and until the actual rebuilding begins it's probably a good place to conduct these exercises. Our Military has to train. Without training they may not have gotten Bin Laden! Yes, I am sure it's annoying, but you will survive! "People are stressed!" Wahh! Try being in Iraq or Afghanistan and wondering if you are gonna get blown up every day--now that's stressful! I say "Thank you" to our military and God Bless them all! We could all learn a lesson from them. They are willing to die for all of us and you are worried about losing a little sleep?! Suck it up!

the sad reality is that this is not only the only place where this is happening. It is all over america - and it is conditioning you to get used to seeing military on the streets which is illegal. These drills or exercises are not safe. What happens if someone is in real trouble while these drills are going on? who will know what is real and what is not? That was what happened on 9/11 and 7/7 and in OKC -- drills, with exactly the same scenario -air traffic controllers did not know whether the hijackings on 911 were real or a drill, it caused MASS confusion...
these drills dont need to be staged on our streets, terrorizing our children while they sleep...."dont worry sally, all that gunfire that you hear is fake - its the military playing war on ocean ave. "
see how this works? little sally will never think twice about the military patrolling her bloc-when she is older, she will never know what posse comitatus is or was .... the military industrial complex is bloated and it is just stretching out, right into our little slice of america...

I hear they are really IRS agents training to take your last dollar from your cold dead hands.

Thomas, what possible reason is their to know my full name? My comments are the same with or without my full name..I am making a comment..What purpose does it serve for YOU to know my last name? Too many paranoid people out there..You are the one that thinks the Government controls bolts of lightning and targets people...I don't want a lightning bolt to hit me,,,That's why I don't give my last name...Your saying that comments only mean something when a Last Name is used?

Again, I challenge all of you whiners to go protest our troops at Ft. Monmouth then if this is such a heart ache for you. See how well you're received by those men and women and you fellow citizens. Otherwise, pipe down, suck it up and be thankful you have men and women like those training at Ft. Monmouth who defend your right to spew the type of crap your spewing. Your attitudes are pathetic!

NJ Jarhead ----- 26 yrs ---- Retired 08-All Spec Ops -----I dont really care that they are training at Ft MOn --Just curious as to why?-- There is nothing there -------- Ft Dix has a Urban Assualt coarse there -- Building built to train in ------- Ft Knox has a Afgan village set up with a Opposing Force --- Rpg simulators that go from building to building -- a rooftop building youu can fast rope down to from a helio ----Multi story ---- Actors that walk around in Muslim gard -- goats an dogs that walkk threw the streets --Why Ft Mon that has nothing --If ya wanna give the Rangers R&R at our local beaches incorperated with some training at FT mon --ok --Understandable ---But Ft Mon wouldnt be my 1st choice for realistic training

Also, thank you for your service DP. Cheers.

A phone call to a local media outlet or NYC crew may actually spark some real reporting to occur. But in this day that might be too much to ask?

This is really no big deal the government just want us all to feel comfortable with large army presence .These type of manuvers are being held all over the country in highly populated areas .If any type of rationing (food,energy,or medical) must occur you will be happy to have these type of troops to keep law and order ..

I knew that you would be the first to respond as you must be.

Eagerly awaiting each new response....

Concerned --Well gotta get to the beach and work on my tan some more ...Do a swim ---- the ocean is warm --- Have a nice lunch at the beach bar and back to tanning lolololol

Most of us will just have to agree to disagree. A good deal of you are saying to let them do whatever they want and support our troops. There is a better time and a place for all of this. I didn't spend my time in the military so my family would have to be put through this. I do support our troops but what they did on those nights in June left a bad taste in my mouth. And unless you live in the area around fort Monmouth...just shut up unless you are inviting them to do it in your back yard.

Calm down. It's just how I feel.

Here's the deal.

This area suffered huge losses on 9/11. People watched the towers burn in person. Many lost loved ones and friends. We smelled the stench when the cloud covered this area. Not so with the people of, say, Fayetteville. Or anywhere else.

So. When the ground shook here last Sept, we didn't think "earthquake", we thought "it's happening again", and looked towards the NYC horizon. Do we leave work and get our kids? Which direction to run? Is my husband/wife OK?

This does not happen in Fayetteville.

And before someone say, "buck up and take it", look what happened when something similar, but far less worrying, happened in NYC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsQZTOT6rYQ

Major Big Deal, demands for transparency, demands for 9/11 sensitivity, demands that it never happen again.

Compare and contrast with the non-reaction in Monmouth County.

Thanks for your service, NJarhead. You know very well the kind of poor decisions made by the brass, all the time. This is simply one of them.

Rick, if not being informed ahead of time is your argument, then you have every right to be upset with those responsible and I'd support you in your complaint.

These men and women are protecting your freedom. If we were under attack i wonder if you would have somehting to say!

I really believe the military commanders know what they are doing with the training at Ft Monmouth....I don't believe they have to disclose what type of training needs to be done in this year 2012. I am sure those veterans of past wars were not privleged to have every intel info at their disposal....

What is the REASON why anyone needs to know what is going in in Ft Monmouth? How will your daily life change if you knew what type of training is going on?

I can't believe how many people are actually complaining about this! Do people complain about when police go screaming through their neighborhoods at 2 am? I don't think so. I'd say let them do their training...if they want to come out for a drink afterwards, bring your families because they deserve it too.

Has anyone complained about the Ordinance Disposal Range in Earle? I don't think so, and thats surrounded by communities in multiple towns too! That range is used multiple times a week, sometimes even daily...and not one complaint about this.

I'll sum it up with this:
"If you don't support our troops, feel free to stand in front of them"

why doesn't everyone GET OVER IT. They are training, they have to do it. You NEVER KNOW WHERE SOMETHING CAN HAPPEN. Be happy they want to be ready for something to happen because every single person complaining and whining on this comment section would be the first to FREAK out if an emergency occurred and our armed forces weren't prepared.

Ok irregardless of your position pro or con training at FT Monmouth, You have to all agree that sitting in your house and having the ability to criticize the standing government with out being thrown in jail or worse is pretty awesome. Having said that maybe you should cut the men and women who swear an oath to the piece of paper that allows you to state your ideals freely some slack.

John---The way Obama is whittling away at the Constitution -I dont know how long we will have that right --Hopefully he will be gone in Jan.

It's amazing how many whiners there are. This is our Army. Training is important. I just hope it is not about strikes against Americans. It's better to see and hear than not to know what is going on. It's not Obama whittling away at the constitution. Think about it.

Its amazing how many people Patriotically support this without having the slightest idea why its being done. Not all training is important and why are they training at a closed Fort.

By reviewing several of his postings I noticed that “Fred” (no last name) seems to have a problem with disclosure & transparency, he appears to desire a world of secrecy and confidentiality in which everybody is kept ignorant and nobody knows anything. For example in one of my postings I remarked that he “did not use his full name in his postings” thus making him unidentifiable; a persona nongrata, an unknown. His reply to me was, “What need do you have to know . . . ?” In another posting germane to the military training at Fort Monmouth, he remarked, “What is the REASON why anyone needs to know what is going in Ft Monmouth? How will your daily life change if you knew what type of training is going on.” It is obvious that he lives in the conclaves of the military world and not a democratic civilian society where transparency, disclosure and sharing of information are paramount. However, this is his choice.

Get a life people, try spending a few days in Isreal, Syria or Somalia where the missles in your yard are real. The women in the shopping center has a bomb under her coat. I spent 3 years active duty during the Vietnam era at Ft. Monmouth. I spent most of my pay at Eatontown and Shrewsberry et al. I believe the closing was a big mistake, but reusing a property for training is always a good thing.
CW2 Howard Bennis, U.S. Army retired

Howard-------I am also retired military -- and both a Iraq and Afgan vet --I also live in Eatontown ----The training in Ft Mon doesnt bother me -----I am just curious as per why???????? Ft Dix has spent millions on training areas to look like Iraq towns -- has jump areas -- repelling areas -- fast rope areas -- all built for training purposes -----I am curious as to why Ft Mon ------ -that has nothing .