[infntryman86]

I recently got a chance to train with the Texas state militia in Houston . It has decent backbone as far as recruiting. Warning though if you have experience or are prior service I would stay away. They are basically big kids playing army. They love the Hollywood training but neglect basic infantry tasks.
During training they were loud and unorganized moving. They lack proper maps or skills to use them. And during training they had several blank training friendly fire incidents.
Weapons handling was borderline dangerous and they would just randomly Fire off thier blanks for fun.
As far as field ops it was more like glamping.
The leadership is ill prepared and lack basic patrolling and mission planning.
Overall I would say they are a danger to themselves more so than to others.

 

[AR_Razorback]

What else would you expect from a militia? Texas has many militia groups as do other states. Your description seems right at par considering that most have no experience at all except for shooting bottles or shooting down a range... and I won't even mention the gung ho, cowboys... LOL. As far as safety, most professionals don't qualify as "safe" to me.

However, militias need great leadership, so if you saw poor leadership, that is a big problem...

 

[AR_Razorback]

Next time, train with the Texas Guard... they are in all respects, a military unit.

 

[infntryman86]

Well they played themselves up pretty well to me. That being said a whole weekend doing mout room clearing when most can't even do team bounding or practice muzzle awareness. It was an amusing weekend to say the least.

 

[AR_Razorback]

I can only imagine. I'm not the trusting type nor do I think highly of the average person. I doubt that I'll ever put myself into the position of knowing first hand.

 

[broncoII]

I recently got a chance to train with the Texas state militia in Houston . It has decent backbone as far as recruiting. Warning though if you have experience or are prior service I would stay away. They are basically big kids playing army. They love the Hollywood training but neglect basic infantry tasks.
During training they were loud and unorganized moving. They lack proper maps or skills to use them. And during training they had several blank training friendly fire incidents.
Weapons handling was borderline dangerous and they would just randomly Fire off thier blanks for fun.
As far as field ops it was more like glamping.
The leadership is ill prepared and lack basic patrolling and mission planning.
Overall I would say they are a danger to themselves more so than to others.

Good info. I'd been thinking of contacting them myself. Might be better to put that off for a while.

Did you talk to the leadership about what you experienced. If so, what was their reaction? As with a lot of militias The "political" types end up in charge, and that's where the disaster comes into play. I've both good, and bad experiences with militias. In one the county Sheriff was the leader, and while he was kind of political he had some good plans for use of the militia, mainly as security, and support in emergencies. He was/is a strong constitutionalist, stressed the need, and importance of the county's militia.

The other was a totally political organization. An officer corps of mainly wealthy individuals, who looked at the rest of their members as underlings. The officers had little, or no military experience, and wouldn't listen to those who did. I attended four meetings with a group of friends. The membership was mostly middle aged males no females, with beer guts, and ARs. Training consisted of range time. No fire, and manuever, no escape, and evasion, no physically challenging stuff at all, just shooting down range. Range safety was almost non-existent, loaded weapons behind the firing line, closed breeches behind the line, weapons carried in a casual manner, etc.

The worst thing about them though was their attitude about their fellow citizens. A complete lack of respect, swaggering through the local stores, not paying attention to other people in public, and some downright rudeness. I felt like in a long term SHTF situation they were going to be going feral. Got as far away from them as I could.

 

[DocRob]

I'm part of a small group up in the far NE part of Texas and for the most part we are all vets. But we do have civilians in our group that bring in aspects that we vets don't have.

 

[infntryman86]

You hit it on the head the co is a former quarter back for the nfl turned businessman. I did talk to him and was told I just wasn't a good fit which is funny because I had already told a few members I wasn't coming back.
The command is almost all non prior service and doesnt like any sort of criticism. Or advice for that manner.
The member all looked like airsoft operators but had the skill level below freshman jrotc cadets.

 

[fisherpeak]

You hit it on the head the co is a former quarter back for the nfl turned businessman. I did talk to him and was told I just wasn't a good fit which is funny because I had already told a few members I wasn't coming back.
The command is almost all non prior service and doesnt like any sort of criticism. Or advice for that manner.
The member all looked like airsoft operators but had the skill level below freshman jrotc cadets.

Sounds to me like these guys might be the kind that the REAL military would be mopping up after SHTF.

 

[infntryman86]

That's kinda how I feel.

 

[Capt Hair]

Maybe start your own militia?:

 

[talon115]

There are two kinds of "militias" in the United States. Those started by the feds to catch idiots and those started by idiots. Join your local volunteer fire dept., search & rescue or Sheriffs posse instead.

 

[bound for glory]

i had something like this happen when i contacted a local milita in NE pa.
it was a bunch of beer gutted good 'ol boys(i LIKE good 'ol boys, mostly) who talked big and did'nt even want to do a patrol in the coal hills where we are. and the way they handled thier weapons...
when i presented my milatary experience(which they asked for, for some unknown reason) background(first sargent, 18 months in afghanistan with the 173rd ab), they seemed to be bothered by the fact that i really served in combat(there where only 2 other iraq vets in the "unit". and one of those was a air force guy(not that thats a bad thing.), and tho i did'nt "advise" them on anything over that weekend, the "commander" kept saying to me and the one iraq combat vet, i"i know you guys have combat experience, but this is how we do things".
i never went back, and the iraq vet and i still talk and LOL about the whole thing...

 

[Don H]

An officer corps of mainly wealthy individuals, who looked at the rest of their members as underlings. The officers had little, or no military experience....

This describes many of the Revolutionary and War of 1812 militia units.

 

[infntryman86]

This describes many of the Revolutionary and War of 1812 militia units.

Except my experience with this group they would get hemmed up by a fire team from a texas guard unit even with out air support.
The problem lies in thier lack of want to learn basic tasks while they want to practice the cool guy stuff.
At one point I was with them as they traveled to a mock objective trying to scroll every small cut in the woods but even failing at that. Yelling and talking not using any arm and hand signals.
Another time they did an op trainkng that a house on the property was taken by raiders. Playing Opfor I heard them through the woods hundreds of yards off and ended up helping one of thier guys make an attempt to call in from an op.
Lost most of thier team to a single person in the building then stood around yelling while they tried to figure out a medivac I dunno to where since thier medic was on scene. They were all but hurt and couldn't continue training after I pointed out they failed to follow troop leading procedures and form up a five paragraph op order. The. They spent the rest of the night cooking burgers and steak ect.

 

[infntryman86]

Just figured I would let everyone know what they are like since they are going to do a summer recruiting kick

 

[infntryman86]

At least I know that these are types i will be going against post shtf either alone or with a contract. With the experience I had I could probably mop them up pretty quick

 

[Andrew Jackson]

At least I know that these are types i will be going against post shtf either alone or with a contract. With the experience I had I could probably mop them up pretty quick

Just remember that the skills you developed in past work ups and deployments are fleeting. So is knowledge. I'm not saying you couldn't take out a bunch of fat bodies that don't know tactics but they still would outnumber you. Don't get cocky. Maintain and practice your skills skills to keep them honed if you can!

 

[JBryan314]

I don't plan on joining up with any organized militia in my region. When the time comes, the better run militias will stand out a bit and will not cease recruiting. If it becomes advantageous to me and to them that I join, then so be it.

I plan to begin by defending my owned property with my family. My group consists of family, and in that family we have two with military experience and two with law enforcement experience. We also have four RNs and one Navy corpsman. We will be our own "militia" in defense of whatever I decide to name my property.

 

[infntryman86]

I actually maintain my level of training due to my job.
I am not saying they are fat bodies. Just **** poor leadership and **** poor training.