Letter To The Editor
 | Author:
Matt Nelson
Vic Sample: MT43 News Treasurer |
My wife and I are very opposed to expanding the gunnery training in the Limestone Hills. We are not opposed to the current training by the Montana Army National Guard (MANG). Especially during the summer months, there is a lot of machine gun and heavy artillery firing by the MANG, but it is tolerable.
We live up towards the Limestone plant. If the proposed action is allowed, we can expect 2-3 hours of firing about 3 days a week, which is excessive. We realize that there needs to be a place for the military to do their training, but there are many places in Montana where this training could be done that are not close to towns.
Nobody ever seems to be concerned by the cost of military training, but it will be expensive to taxpayers to fly, 200 miles each trip, from and to Malmstrom Air Force Base with an undisclosed amount of helicopters.
My wife brought up that there are a lot of veterans that suffer from PTSD, and this excessive amount of firing may greatly disturb many of those veterans.
Additionally, pilots will not be allowed to use the airspace over the Limestone Hills when this gunnery practice is going on. As a pilot based out of Townsend, this is also disturbing.
I am not opposed to military training, and I am a proud veteran myself. I just think the Limestone Hills are not the place to do this excessive gunnery firing.
Also, Michael Korn wrote a good editorial about the effects on the wildlife in the Elkhorns.
God Bless, Matt Nelson
