at least until the end when they can rap up and say "hey, we had a successful test run of our plans to test out missions that we might be doing over the next ten years...
They're trying out new equipment and new tactics, much of which is classified as Secret or Top Secret, and much of what they are doing can't be adequately sanitized for public dissemination without becoming a security breach.

Did anyone stop and think that maybe the military didn't want more information leaked out into the wild than would normally happen when a bunch of money-grubbing contractors are involved?

Haele

It's an exercise. Why should "operational secrecy" apply?

You know, it's like carrying a concealed weapon. An openly-carried weapon may serve as a deterrant, but all a concealed weapon can do is shoot somebody if they do attack. (Ignoring, for the nonce, whether or not either form of carrying a weapon does anything at all)

-- Mal

as is their identity.

For example consider a number of exercises designed to practice hostage rescue tactics. Is that really something that should be in the media? Hostage rescue is hard enough as it is, giving possible hostage takers insight on how to stop a hostage rescue team isn't a good idea.

As for my overall take on this, it is just another exercise and I don't understand why the media, DU and conspiracy theorists, for different reasons, are getting all worked up about this.

When I played sports our coaches were always on the look out for opposition scouts that were attempting to gain some insight into our game plans. As a veteran, we did the same thing. For very good reasons, our military leaders do not want potential adversaries to have intimate knowledge of our tactics. Remember Geraldo drawing that map in the sand? This is why the press isn't allowed to observe. On purpose or by accident, they might reveal crucial aspects of our tactics and capabilities that we'd rather not give advanced notice of. If it was no big deal, there would be spectator seating at the NTC (National Training Center where we learn to execute tactics).

some "liberal" DUers will be by to say.

"Exactly as it should be..."

No more and no less than some "liberal" DUer would have righteously railed against the denial of press during the Exercise Tiger at Slapton Sands in 1944.

(you're right... scare quotations marks *are* fun when the point is little more than petulant and flawed)

Is it considered good form to use a truncated version of your message as the title of your post and repeat the whole thing in the body? Cuz it sucks to read.

The irrelevance of your query is almost as dramatic as its insignificance.

a C.S. Lewis quote on progressivism.

they're doing a job.
I don't approve of a lot of what the DoD is being used for (especially as a never-ending money fountain and gigantic Risk game for psychopathic oligarchs), but when it comes to the training people wearing the boots on the ground, they are entitled to learn how protect themselves as best they can when they're being ordered to do something that is dangerous.

Unless you're really big into "eye for an eye", freely giving away the playbook to a potential opposing force that might make an advantage for a marine, soldier or sailor's survival when they're somewhere they really do not want to be is just the same as painting a big target on their backs.
I can give a flying "F***" about the weapons they are playing with, or any of the new toys - those are pretty much already leaked out. It's the training on how they use those toys, and the tactics that Special Operations Warfare teams are using to establish a safe and optimal (i.e., minimizing casualties on all sides, including civilian casualties) way to complete their missions in an increasingly fluid "battlefield".
One of the many bad things Rumsfeld did during his tenure is fold Special Ops into missions that the regular military units should have been doing. But, hey...soldiers are fungible, and any patriotic meat-head gym rat can be Special Ops, right? Save some money, what do we need with the psych evaluation standards to be a Ranger or a SEAL...they don't need to think, they just need to shoot real good and move real fast with some fancy Karate moves, right?
Look, a lot of the problem with the military is the 3 and 4 star assholes who are typically too removed from the field to care about the psychology of operating in a foreign country with a foreign culture and population that can easily turn on you if you do the wrong thing. They're too busy trying to write their memoirs, one-up each other, play Viceroy with the local hierarchy, and boink their secretaries and aides.

But train the field leadership that they need to do to operate around a population without disturbing their way of life, and a lot of the Ugly American issues we have inherited from the evangelical fundy crusaders and other idiot true believers are mitigated.

Transparency for "Jade Helm" not the same as oversight of police tactics training and exercises - because we expect the police in our country not to be at war with our citizen law-breakers.
It's also not the same as looking into the NSA, because we expect our government agencies to fall in line with the Constitution.

Haele

From this Navy mom. This is a spec ops drill. There's no reason for John Q. to know strategy and tactics. No reason at all.