I was really surprised to see them carrying M-16's. What is a NG soldier going to do start shooting?? I don't think so. I'm surprised because NG rules of engagement and arming orders are so strict in a civil disturbance mission. Just a basic law enforcement support mission requires special training and briefings which tells me why it took them three days to arrive. That is only to with the soldiers are crowd controlled trained. Part of the NG training mission is law enforcement crowd control support and I emphasis the word support. With years of training for combat deployments crowd control training has taken a back seat. Usually in a crowd control support mission they are armed with a baton and crowd control uniform (helmet with face shield, vest, hand, elbow and knee pads) not M-16's.
