fema occupies town for advanced 'terror training'

residents of new mexico town say they are used to the 'background noise'
from steve watson: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is spending $22 million dollars per year on a terror training program within a real town in New Mexico where helicopters buzz overhead in the middle of the night, mock nuclear explosions are drilled and "suicide bombers" are taken down by SWAT teams who pull citizens out of their homes.

The AP reports that what makes Playas, New Mexico an ideal training ground is the fact that it is a real town with real people living there.

There are a number of families in the town that are totally unconnected to the training and go about their daily lives while martial law scenarios are played out around them.

"Just a few years ago it was a ghost town abandoned after a large mining company pulled out," the AP's Rich Matthews reports. "Today, it's a training ground for the unthinkable: Nuclear attacks, invasions and suicide bombings in the United States."

"We have helicopters in the middle of the night flying overhead and explosions that can take place at all hours," resident Kim Kvame says. "It gets to be a part of the background noise that just lets you know you're home after a while."