Bombs, choppers during military exercises startle New Orleans residents

Katie Moore
WWLTV
February 5, 2009

	Video taken of military helicopters above the campus of the University of New Orleans on February 3, 2009.

Residents in and around New Orleans have been hearing the sounds of low-flying helicopters and what sounds like bomb blasts over the past few nights, but the sounds are part of a training exercise for some of America’s elite military troops.
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At one Lakefront home, Gigi Burk normally hears her son, 6-year-old Beau, practicing the piano, but last night she heard something much different at around 10 p.m.

“I said, oh my God! They’re bombs. That’s what I thought it was, somebody dropping bombs,” Burk said.

Burk said she panicked, not knowing why she was hearing what sounded like explosions and low-flying helicopters.

“We’re a little skittish around here with things that have happened,” Burk said.

But according to military officials, it’s a training exercise that brought about 150 U.S. troops from the U.S. Special Operations Command to train in New Orleans for urban warfare.

“They are regularly engaged in combat operations,” said U.S. Special Operations Command staffer Kimberly Tiscione. “They are the best of the best we have to offer across all the branches of the military.

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This article was posted: Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 9:02 pm

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