Explosions, gunfire, helicopters: Military training exercise startles Kansas Citians
Stephen Flanery woke up late Thursday to the sound of an explosion.
The 41-year-old resident of Kansas City’s Waldo neighborhood sat up in bed. He thought perhaps a vehicle had blown up a few blocks from the residence he shares with his wife and 8-year-old daughter at 77th Street and Troost Avenue.
“It was definitely unlike any explosion I’ve ever heard in my life,” Flanery told The Star on Friday.
A quick bit of online research by his wife on the neighborhood Facebook page provided some assurance: Neighbors a few blocks away had been informed by police that there was a training exercise going on — and gunfire or helicopters heard that night were probably a part of it.
It didn’t make sense, Flanery said, how something like that could happen so suddenly and without warning. He said it was frustrating to learn that the operation was a planned one his family had no prior knowledge of.
“Because we hear gunshots. We hear stuff in our neighborhood and that stuff alarms you. But then if that was planned and intentional, and nobody tells you about it — it’s really disturbing.”
The topic was the stir of the neighborhood on Friday night. But residents of Waldo may not be the only ones surprised by the sounds of war this week.
It was the first in a series of military training exercises being conducted in the Kansas City area through Sept. 22.
Training will include air and ground mobility operations, plus close-quarter battle simulations, in urban areas meant to reflect the places troops may encounter when deployed, a spokesperson for the Army told The Star. The exercises include the use of controlled explosions for breaching doors, the spokesperson said, and simulated munitions.
The Army has coordinated with local authorities, taken necessary safety precautions and planned for the operation to “minimize the impact to the community and private property,” the spokesperson said.
Kansas City police Sgt. Jake Becchina said the department and other local agencies were prepared to help the Army with the exercises this week by providing site security and any necessary traffic closures. He said notifications were also being made ahead of time to immediate neighbors so they are hopefully not caught off guard by the noises.
As of Friday afternoon, Becchina was unaware of any 911 calls placed in reference to the training in Waldo. But he said Kansas City emergency dispatchers are ready to provide information to neighbors should they become alarmed and contact police.
The other military training exercises over the coming week are happening at undisclosed locations and times.
The Flanerys, who moved to Waldo from Brookside three years ago, do not feel unsafe in their neighborhood despite the occasional sound of real gunshots.
As others across Kansas City may be faced with the same disturbances this week, Flanery noted such noises could be harmful to people who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, for example.
He thinks authorities should prepare residents more broadly so the military is not “alarming people unnecessarily.”
“This kind of surprise is just not cool,” Flanery said, adding that neighbors know when to expect drills such as tornado warnings on the first Wednesday each month during the season.
“I think that kind of forewarning is just fair and appropriate.”
