When the US military kicked in the door on the small Caribbean island nation of Grenada in 1983, it was to rescue endangered American medical students. What they found was a stockpile of weapons large enough to outfit one a communist-trained military force that would be capable of taking control of the entire region if needed. Here is a historical look at what was found.
The former British colony of Grenada had a non-violent past. That was until 1979 when a local Marxist named Maurice Bishop overthrew the government in a paramilitary coup. Bishop then got friendly with Communist led Moscow and Havana, built a giant airport capable of refueling intercontinental flights from the Soviet Union, and got to work building an army.
Called the People’s Revolutionary Army (PRA), 1500 new members were required to swear an oath of loyalty to the party and swear that Marxist socialism was the ideal form of government– both of which are a great harbinger for bad things to come. The former Grenadian government had made due with a force of 100 part-time soldiers and 300 full-time police. This was deemed just right for a country with a population of just 100,000 inhabitants whose primary export was nutmeg (the stuff used in eggnog).
Long story short, Bishop was overthrown by an even worse set of guys and in the ensuing struggle was executed. This led to a military-led government, run by the PRA. Swelling in size by the day the force was intended to grow to more than 6800 members, trained by 722 Cuban and 24 North Korean military advisers. Nearly a quarter of the island was to receive mandatory military training and the government’s goal was to include one of every five inhabitants in the civilian militia, adding that “even 8-year old children” had been trained for this purpose.
With some 800 American medical students located on the island, uniformed Cuban military types whispering in every corner, and the PRA shooting down demonstrators in the streets, the US took action. In a lightning stroke, involving 7300 US troops and 350 sent by neighboring Caribbean countries, this small and unstable country was invaded in October 1983 in Operation Urgent Fury. The fighting was over fast, with some 125 US casualties and the PRA/Cuban forces suffering some over 470. What the US troops found after the smoke cleared was amazing.
Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk.com

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