OMNI
MILITARISM IN
ARKANSAS ANTHOLOGY #4
JULY 10, 2025
Compiled by
Dick Bennett for a CULTURE OF PEACE, JUSTICE, AND ECOLOGY.
HTTPS://omnicenter.org/donate/
Anthology
#1, October 8, 2008.
Anthology
#2, October 10, 2012.
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2018/11/omni-militarism-in-arkansas-2-oct-10.html
Anthology
#3, November 28, 2021.
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2021/11/militarismmilitary-industrial.html
What’s
at Stake: The extent of militarism and violence in the US. Here are some examples in Arkansas.
CONTENTS ARKANSAS MILITARISM #4
ARKANSAS
Friends of
Palestine NWA. “Protest War Profiteering
in Arkansas.”
“Arkansas Aerospace Companies Map” and Camden.
CAMDEN, AR’S MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Arkansas Business Staff.
“Voters Pick Lockheed Rocket System as 'Coolest Thing Made in Arkansas.'”
Lisa Hammersly. “South Arkansas
home to weapon that, generals say, is turning Ukrainian war’s tide.”
Dick. An Ad for Camden, AR’s War-making Town.
EBBING
AIR FORCE BASE, FT. SMITH
AR National Guard 188th Fighter Wing. The Warthogs, now phased out, then drones, and global pilot
training in the latest fighter jets.. The
Republic of Singapore pilot training center.
Mike Yeo. “US
approves location for Singaporean F-16, F-35 training.”
HIGHER EDUCATION
Armed
Forces Alumni Society. UAF Armed Forces Alumni Society Newsletter.
“Industrial Engineering Faculty Member Named Editor-in-Chief of Military
Operations Research Journal.”
“…Alumna's Research Helps Keep Army Aviators Safe.”
UAF’s “Schola Cantorum Partners with
Huntsville High School Choir to Record” In Remembrance of a Veteran.”
AND MORE
“Berryville's
Wilson Combat expanding.”
ROBERT
E. LEE’S BIRTHDAY
USA
“Thirty Six
Percent of Mass Shooters Were Trained by the U.S. Military, But Few Americans
Know This Because the Media Never Report It” By Jack Gilroy.
“Resisting the War Industry on Campus” by Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa.
TEXTS ARKANSAS MILITARISM #4
“July 11th [ 2025] Protest: War Profiteering in
Arkansas.”
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Tue, Jul 8, 4:04 PM (17
hours ago)
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Friends,
In both
2022 and 2023, the years’ U.S. firearms exports to Israel held steady at $18
million. Then in 2024, that number skyrocketed to $114 million, a 505%
increase. We continue to bear witness to what the increased funds mean,
directly fueling the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Many
Arkansas-based companies are profiting from war and enabling mass violence,
contributing to the ethnic cleansing in Palestine. Companies like Lockheed
Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Aerojet, and more are raking in profits by
participating in genocide.
Join us
on this Friday, July 11th from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, at the Washington
County Courthouse to demand an end to WARKANSAS exports of death.
#FreePalestine
#StopArmingIsrael #Warkansas
In
solidarity,
Friends
of Palestine NWA
One attachment • Scanned by Gmail
“Arkansas Aerospace Companies Map” and Camden
April 25, 2023. The aerospace and defense
industry is soaring in Arkansas. The state is attracting
investment and expansions, growing its workforce, and exporting essential
aerospace and defense products.
Dassault Falcon Jet’s largest
facility in the world located in Arkansas – at the Bill and Hillary Clinton
National Airport in Little Rock. Companies like Lockheed Martin and Aerojet
Rocketdyne have made recent significant investments in Arkansas.
Highland Industrial Park in East
Camden is a major center of aerospace and defense production in the
United States. This industrial park is home to a wide range of companies that
are manufacturing essential defense products, like components for the M142
HIMARS.
There are more than 4,600
employees at 31 aerospace and defense industry operations throughout Arkansas,
according to the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services. This workforce is
supported by 15 four-year universities and 22 two-year colleges in the state,
providing a wide range of certification programs and degrees related to
aerospace and defense.
The Arkansas Aerospace Companies
Map below highlights aerospace and defense companies operating in Arkansas,
demonstrating the diversity of A&D businesses in the state.
Sign up for the quarterly
Aerospace & Defense Beacon to stay up-to-date on the latest news and trends
in the aerospace and defense industry in Arkansas. Sign up here.
CAMDEN, AR’S
MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
“Voters Pick Lockheed Rocket System as
'Coolest Thing Made in Arkansas'” by Arkansas Business Staff. Friday, Oct. 7, 2022.
https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/141720/voters-pick-lockheed-rocket-system-as-coolest-thing-made-in-arkansas
Lockheed
Martin's High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (www.lockheedmartin.com)
Voters have
selected Lockheed Martin's High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS)
as the winner of the "Coolest
Thing Made in Arkansas" contest.
The rocket
system, manufactured at the defense company's facility in Camden, is
known for its "shoot and scoot" capability, which improves crew and
platform survivability in high-threat environments. It can emplace, fire,
relocate and reload in a matter of minutes, dramatically reducing an enemy’s
ability to locate and target it.
Voters
picked the rocket system as the "Coolest Thing Made in Arkansas" from
a field of 16 products made
by companies across the state.
Along with
Lockheed's product, the final four nominees included:
The rocket
system will be featured at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce Annual
Meeting in November.
The
competition is presented by the Arkansas State Chamber, Associated Industries
of Arkansas and Arkansas Business.
“South Arkansas home to weapon that, generals say, is turning Ukrainian
war’s tide” Lisa Hammersly. | September 18, 2022.
Defense contractors clustered in Camden’s
World-War-II-era Highland Industrial Park are making weapons and equipment .
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/sep/18/defense-contractors-clustered-in-camdens-world/
Airmen load Guided Multiple Launch Rocket
System munitions from Lockheed Martin’s plant outside Camden bound for
Ukraine aboard a Boeing 767 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., on Aug.
13. In late August, the company received $600 million from defense officials
for replenishing stockpiles of the multiple rocket and HIMARs systems. (Special
to the Democrat-Gazette)
CAMDEN
--As Ukraine's battlefield successes against Russia mount, this shrinking south
Arkansas river city and its sprawling neighbor, Highland Industrial Park,
are enjoying a moment of international recognition. Highland's Lockheed Martin and the other
major defense manufacturers located there are constructing weapons key to
turning around the war in Ukraine, say military generals and other experts.
And
Camden, population 10,300, is working to shore up a dwindling downtown and
other amenities to maintain the area's most important industry -- the
launchers, missiles and defense weapons built by 2,800 workers at Highland.
Lockheed's HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) made in Camden has
"been key to the turnaround in Ukraine, no doubt about it," said retired
U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark of Little Rock in an interview last week . The former NATO Supreme Allied Commander,
now strategic adviser, still has working ties to Ukraine. He had just returned
from the annual Yalta European Strategy meeting in Kyiv.
HIMARS
serves as "a substitute for the Ukrainian Air Force," Clark said. The
missiles are satellite guided with a 200-pound explosive warhead that travels
about 50 miles, he said. It's accurate within about 10 feet, military experts
say. "It's a very easy-to-use
system, usually mounted on a truck," Clark said. "It does what is
called 'Shoot and Scoot.' It's very hard for the enemy to take out in advance.
It's also able to get away after the rocket is fired." The artillery rocket system is built only at
Lockheed's installation in south Arkansas, according to Aaron Huckaby, site
director of Lockheed's Camden operations.
Military
leaders including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have
appeared in international news reports in recent weeks applauding the HIMARS
successes in Ukraine. HIMARS-launched missiles by last month had struck more
than 400 Russian targets, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Ukranian defense authorities have said the
weapon has far exceeded expectations. It's been instrumental in reclaiming
1,158 square miles of formerly Russian-occupied territory.
The
attention has spilled over to HIMARS' builders in Arkansas and Camden as its
city of origin.
A
CBS "Sunday Morning" broadcast Sept. 4 talked about the
weapon's production in rural south Arkansas. Politico, a politics and
policy news website, on Sept. 9 examined Camden and Highland Industrial Park in
a magazine-length article, "The Struggling Arkansas Town That Helped Stop
Russia in Its Tracks."
Two
top military officials -- William LaPlante, undersecretary for defense, and
Assistant Secretary of the Army Doug Bush -- visited Highland and Lockheed
Martin late last month for an announcement regarding HIMARS and Lockheed's
Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, or GMLRS.
"We
have received nearly $400 million to replenish HIMARS and GMLRS" in
defense department stockpiles, LaPlante said, according to a Camden News
newspaper report. "In addition, we are planning nearly $200 million to
expand and accelerate production…."
LaPlante
and Bush also thanked Lockheed workers for the "impact their efforts are
having on the battlefield" in Ukraine.
When
Ramona Crain, a real estate agent in Camden, read the Politico
article, she was "very pleased" at the attention for the Camden area
and its defense contractor industry.
"I
had known by hearing around town that some of the industries were producing
weapons for the fight in Ukraine," she said. "I am proud of their
contribution. Many hard-working individuals are contributing to the success of
these plants. . . ."
At
the entrance, pass a hulking orange-and-tan billboard advertising the
industrial park's 25-plus tenants. Among
the largest: Lockheed Martin -- "We never forget who we're working
for;" Aerojet Rocketdyne; General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical
Systems; Raytheon Missiles and Defense.
A white-and-blue Lockheed building sits alongside the billboard,
across from the Highland Industrial Park administrative building.
The
park also includes SAU Tech community college, which trains workers
including engineers, and Arkansas' state fire and police training academies. [For more on the Arkansas Military-Industrial-Educational
Complex see below Armed Forces Alumni Society ]. . . . MORE
High Mobility Artillery Rocket System
vehicles, known as HIMARS, fire away during maneuvers at Bemoko Piskie, Poland,
in June 2017. The system, built only at Lockheed Martin’s facilities near
Camden, has been key in Ukraine’s gains against Russia. (U.S. Army/Markus
Rauchenberger). (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Lisa
Hammersly)
EBBING AIR FORCE BASE
9-12-24 report on tv of 85th Fighter Group at Ebbing
AFB training pilots from around the world.
AR
National Guard 188th Wing. Construction
for the Warthogs, now phased out, more for the new 188th drones, and
more for global pilot training. The
Republic of Singapore has a training center there. And AR National Guard. With new buildings, all
together a major expansion for AR. Our
Senators, the Mayor of Ft. Smith, the Gov. of Arkansas (Sarah Sanders) are
promoting it. For growth for Empire!
Ebbing Air National Guard Base is an airfield
adjacent to the Fort Smith Regional Airport which it
shares runways with. Public relations
release:
It was established in 1953. Since 1953, the Arkansas Air National Guard's 188th Wing (188
WG) has been based at the airfield. Formerly a fighter wing that previously
operated F-4 Phantom II, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, the 188th
Wing currently features three primary mission sets: Remotely Piloted Aircraft
(MQ-9 Reaper); ISR (Distributed Ground Station-Arkansas); and Targeting
(Space-Focused).
Air traffic services are provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
from an air traffic control (ATC) tower and TRACON (terminal radar approach
control).
An
F-16C of 140 Sqn.
The 188th Wing is based there, currently operating drones.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force is
planning to set up its F-16 and F-35 training detachment starting with the
first aircraft to be based there in 2023.[2]
EBBING AFB, SINGAPORE, AND
OTHER GLIMPSES OF US EMPIRE
“US approves location for
Singaporean F-16, F-35 training”
By Mike Yeo. June 4, 2021.
US
approves location for Singaporean F-16, F-35 training (defensenews.com)
A Republic of Singapore Air Force
F-16D is shown at Luke Air Force Base. (Singapore's Defence Ministry)
MELBOURNE, Australia — The U.S.
and Singaporean governments have chosen Ebbing Air National Guard Base in
Fort Smith, Arkansas, to host the Southeast Asian nation’s Lockheed Martin
F-16 Fighter Falcon and future F-35B fighter jet training detachments.
The Arkansas National
Guard’s Public Affairs Office said Singapore’s fleet of 12 F-16s is expected to
begin arriving in 2023, and its first of up to 12 F-35Bs are to follow in 2026.
. . . Singapore was approved to acquire four short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing F-35
variants with an option for eight more of the “B” models. Deliveries are due to
begin in 2026. Singapore has decided to consolidate its U.S.-based F-35
training together with its F-16 detachment at one location. . . .
In addition to its
Arizona-based F-16 training detachment, the land-scarce island nation also has
an F-15 training squadron in Mountain Home, Idaho, and a Boeing AH-64D
Apache attack helicopter detachment in Marana, Arizona. Singapore also signed a
memorandum of understanding in 2019 with the United States to set up a permanent fighter training detachment in the
U.S. Pacific territory of Guam that will begin in 2029.
“Air Force
hosts meeting about proposed program at Fort Smith Ebbing Air National Guard
Base.” The
Air Force held the second of two online public scoping meetings Thursday to
discuss the proposal to place a permanent Foreign Military Sales Pilot Training
.... ADG,
Morning News Update, 2-5-22. READ MORE
12-11-22 Militarism USA manifests itself
via every niche, nook, and cranny it can grasp, including throughout our
educational system. It’s so pervasive,
it seems natural to people, invisible.
To acquire the $800 billion budget, the Pentagon doesn’t need goose-stepping
troops, concentration camps, or murder, but only the UAF Armed Forces Alumni
Society in our colleges, and a thousand other patriotic reinforcements—for the
militarization of our nation under the guise of defense. -Dick
MILITARISM ARKANSAS UAF and Public Schools
December
2022 | UAF Armed Forces Alumni Society Newsletter
Armed Forces Alumni Society afas@arkansasalumni.org via uark.edu 12-11-22
AFAS Vice-President William (Bill) Oliver
Bill served as the CEO of Spearhead
Government Services, LLC (a woman-owned small business) which provides
consulting, acquisitions planning, services and goods to federal, state and
local governments.
Bill began his enlisted
military service with the US Army (active duty) in 1989 and served until 2000.
He deployed in both Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Bill holds a
Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Management from John Brown University
and Master of Science in Operations Management, with master's certificates in
both Human Resource Management and Industrial Safety and Healthcare Management,
from the University of Arkansas.
AFAS Secretary Paul Campbell
Lieutenant Colonel Paul A.
Campbell is the Chief Pilot and an Instructor Pilot for the 327th Airlift
Squadron, 913th Airlift Group, Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. As the
Chief Pilot, Lt. Col. Campbell is responsible to the Commander for pilot
professional development and hiring. As
an instructor pilot, Lt. Col. Campbell is responsible to the Commander for
Aircrew Training, Scheduling and Operational Readiness. Paul received his commission in December
2003 as a Distinguished Graduate of the Air Force ROTC program at the
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas. . . .MORE [You’ll find fascinating the ways the UAF
AFAS works its niches.]
“Industrial Engineering Faculty Member Named
Editor-in-Chief of Military Operations Research Journal.”
Ed Pohl, professor and head of the Industrial Engineering
Department, was recently announced as the editor-in-chief of the Military
Operations Research Society Journal.
“Athletic Training Alumna's
Research Helps Keep Army Aviators Safe.”
March 16, 2022.
https://news.uark.edu/articles/59350/athletic-training-alumna-s-research-helps-keep-army-aviators-safe
….The U of A alumna
(Hillary Plummer) now helps keep Army
aviators healthy and performing well in her role as a researcher with the U.S.
Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory. She's a post-doctoral fellow with the Oak
Ridge Institute for Science and Education. . . . MORE
[Militarism reaches into nooks
and crannies of Arkansas, as part of the US Culture
of War, as in the following High School musical celebration of “In Remembrance
of a Veteran.” The UAF’s Schola Cantorum
is used by the MIEC. Perhaps it will
lead to a comparable celebration of a
teacher or nurse or fireman. To the, “Thank you for serving” you have heard
in Arkansass (my hardware store gave a discount to vets), we might reply: which service, truck driver, or caregiver, or
carpenter.? –D]
“Schola Cantorum Partners with Huntsville High School
Choir to Record Newly Commissioned Work.” May 06, 2022. Photo ofrecording
at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center.
The U of A's Schola Cantorum recently joined
forces with the Huntsville High School Choir to record a new work, "In
Remembrance of a Veteran," composed by Schola Cantorum director, Stephen
Caldwell.
The work was commissioned by U of
A alumna and Huntsville choir director, Mindy Williams, in memory of her father
who passed away at the beginning of the academic year. Williams' father
was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and a huge fan of the Razorbacks [the
influential Military-Sports Complex at UAF].
"As the choir sings, one can hear Taps played in the background to
honor his service," Caldwell said. Caldwell said Williams was a clarinet major
during her time at the U of A, so she specifically requested that instrument be
used in the composition. "Nophachai
Cholthichanta, associate professor of clarinet, generously volunteered to
record the clarinet solo with the choirs," Caldwell said. "It is an
empowering experience for all involved in a project like this. . . . “
AND MORE
Berryville-based
gun-maker Wilson Combat is expanding, adding 16,000 square feet and expecting
to increase its workforce by 20%. . . .
Guy Joubert, director of manufacturing at Wilson Combat, said demand for
firearms and parts has been high across all the products the company offers
with Wilson hustling to try to keep pace.
"Demand is overwhelming across the country," Joubert said. . .
.
ROBERT E. LEE’S
BIRTHDAY
An example of
the glorification of warriors in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette appears on
the editorial page January 19, 2009, birthday of Robert E. Lee and MLK,
Jr. The anonymous editorial (I guess by
the page’s editor, Paul Greenberg), “The Shadow of Lee,” celebrates Lee’s
superlative “wholeness.” A column
written by Paul Greenberg, “Two Southerners, One Holiday,” compares Lee and
MLK, Jr. and complains of the national primacy given to MLK’s, when the two
“had much in common.”
USA
|
US MILITARISM AND US VIOLENCE
Thirty Six Percent of Mass Shooters Were Trained by the U.S.
Military, But Few Americans Know This Because the Media Never Report It
By Jack Gilroy. CovertAction Magazine (Aug 30, 2022).
Media pundits and politicians blame lax gun laws, social
isolation and mental illness for mass shootings, but ignore the advent of a
fascist culture that venerates the U.S. military.
In the wake of a barrage of mass shootings, the media have
offered a variety of explanations centering predominantly on the social
isolation and mental illness of shooters and their easy access to
military-style weaponry due to lax gun regulations. These factors are significant but almost
all media pundits avoid the gorilla sitting in the psyche of the American
mind—that of the huge military budget and culture of military veneration,
which is reminiscent of fascist cultures.
In a July 8 column entitled “Why Shooters Do the Evil They
Do,” New York Times columnist David Brooks
characteristically cites mental illness, loneliness and the need for
recognition and power as lying at the root of recent mass shootings.
What is missing is any discussion of American-style
militarism, something Brooks has whitewashed throughout his writing career. According to David Swanson, Director
of World Beyond War, 36% of mass shooters have been
trained by the U.S. military—when only one percent of Americans
serve in the military.Many of the mass shooters also have used military-style
weapons and have worn military-style clothing.
VIOLENCE
BY OMISSION
|
Jillian Peterson and James Densley
recently published a detailed study of mass shooters sponsored by the the National
Institute of Justice entitled The Violence Project: How to
Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, which has been widely cited by the media. The book casts light on many dark corners of
American life but characteristically ignores among the darkest—the
military-industrial complex. […]
Resisting
the War Industry on Campus - Upcoming Zoom
Felice and
Jack Cohen-Joppa via googlegroups.com 7-21-22 [Jack and Felice are editors of The
Nuclear Resister.]
Hi,
Yesterday
Jack was at an online meeting of the War Industry Resisters Network and this
Zoom was publicized in the chat (see below). We’re going to attend.
Peace,
Felice
Topic
Resisting the War Industry on Campus
Description
Across the country students are coming together to oppose their universities'
connections to fossil fuel companies, corporations tied to incarceration, and
the WAR INDUSTRY.
We'll be talking to experts and activists to learn about making contact to
these groups and working in solidarity.
Lillian Mauldin is the founder of Women for Weapons Trade Transparency ,
a growing cohort of scholars, students and activists committed to producing
quality research on international weapons sales and advocating for corporate
and government divestment from war. Their main focus has been on
divestment of war company holdings of the University of Texas/Texas A&M
Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), the largest public endowment fund in
the U.S. They have been mobilizing student governance bodies at the University
of Texas, Austin (including the Graduate Student Assembly, Student Government,
and the Senate of College Councils) to develop support for University of Texas
system divestment from weapons manufacturers.
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMpfu2spzwvE91gabi2aREabaWuqd44nOuT
END MILITARISM ARKANSAS WATCH #4
