The U.S. military has directed National Guard units in all 50 states and both U.S. territories to create specially trained and operational “quick reaction forces” (QRFs) of up to 500 troops each by Jan. 1. Smaller states like Delaware and the territories of Puerto Rico and Guam have smaller force targets, the military-oriented Task & Purpose website reported, but all 52 QRFs will need to be “trained in crowd control and civil disturbance [and] ready to deploy to U.S. cities” by year’s end .

The memos say the units should be trained in the “Interservice Nonlethal Individual Weapons Instructor Course,” Task & Purpose reported -- but also in “‘Level I’ and ‘Level II’ civil disturbance training,” which includes “de-escalation of force techniques, crowd control, handheld radio communications

See Full Page