Cap. Terry Hestilow: Asking For Answers Re. DHS Stockpiling Ammo

Ann-Marie Murrell April 27, 2013

473 9 minutes read

Monday, April 15, 2013 was more than just tax day. It was more than the day two crazy Muslim brothers bombed the Boston Marathon. It was also the day that my husband, Michael, and I traveled to Forth Worth, TX to meet and interview Retired Captain Terry M. Hestilow and his wife of nearly 35 years, Becky. He was the speaker at the local 912 Meeting. After reading the powerful letter he sent to Senators Cornyn and Cruz and to Congressman Michael Burgess, I wanted to meet this man who had stepped out on our nation’s stage. He did not disappoint.

In his speech, Captain Hestilow went through the numbers submitted by the Department of Homeland Security to Senator Tom Coburn. He carefully explained that even with the number of armed agents in the various agencies under the DHS jurisdiction, each one would have a high annual surplus of rounds per weapon. It was eye-opening to hear that even though the 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition reportedly contracted by the DHS may be high, they are still buying much more than they can possibly use unless they get into endless gun battles, or as Captain Hestilow says, “Running gun battles in the streets”.

Captain Terry M Hestilow originally caught America’s attention when he sent a letter to his Senators and to his Congressman. He requested answers about the stockpile of ammunition by the DHS and reports that they have bought 2,700 armored vehicles to be used within the borders of the United States. Captain Hestilow, along with many retired and active military members, are concerned about the accelerated over throw of our Constitution they have sworn to defend. This is the letter Captain Hestilow sent to the Senators and Congressman:

The Honorable Senator John Cornyn, State of Texas

United States Senate

517 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and that agencies preparation for war against citizens of the United States of America.

Dear Senator Cornyn,

It is with gravest concern that I write to you today concerning the recent appropriation of weapons by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that can only be understood as a bold threat of war by that agency, and the Obama administration, against the citizens of the United States of America. To date, DHS has been unwilling to provide to you, the elected representatives of the People, justification for recent purchases of almost 3,000 mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) armored personnel carriers, 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition (with associated weapons), and other weapons systems, when, in fact, the DHS has no war mission or war making authority within the limits of the United States of America.

Significant is the fact that at the same time the Obama administration is arming his DHS for war within the limits of the United States against the People of the United States in accordance with his 2008 campaign speech claiming,

“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve gotta (sic) have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded [as the United States military]”–Candidate Barack Obama, 2008.

The Obama administration is deliberately defunding, overextending, and hollowing the Department of Defense; the only legitimate agency of the U.S. government with a war mission.

This act of the Obama administration stands as a glaring threat of war against our nation’s citizens! This act of the Obama administration can only be understood as a tyrannical threat against the Constitution of the United States of America! If left unresolved, the peace loving citizens who have sworn to defend the United States Constitution “against all enemies, both foreign and domestic” are left no option except to prepare to defend themselves, and the U.S. Constitution, against this Administration’s “coup” against the People and the foundations of liberty fought for and defended for the past 238 years. We have no choice if we honor our oaths.

The only proper response to this threat against the American people is for the representatives of the People, the members of the U.S. House and Senate, to demand in clear terms that the Administration cannot ignore, that the Department of Homeland Security immediately surrender their newly appropriated weapons of war to the Department of Defense (DoD). Further, since the DHS has assumed a position in the Administration to enforce the tyrannical acts of this president against the People of the United States against the limits of the United States Constitution, it remains for the United States Congress to exercise its limiting power in the balancing of powers established by our founding fathers, to disestablish and dissolve the DHS as soon as possible. One needs only to look to the rise of Adolf Hitler, and his associated DHS organizations, the SA and the SS, of 1932-1934, to see the outcome of allowing an agency of government this kind of control over the free citizens of a nation. The people of Germany could not have imagined, until it was too late, the danger of allowing a tyrant this kind of power. We must not be so naïve as to think it will not happen to us as well if we remain passive toward this power grab by the Marxist Obama administration!

Finally, for more than two centuries the nation has lived in peace at home because of the protections of our legitimate military and the many appropriate state and federal law enforcement agencies, supported by Constitutional courts. We stand today at a cross-road. Will we allow this present Administration to overthrow our United States Constitution and its legal processes to amend injustices, or, will we honor our obligations to defend the Constitution against a “domestic” enemy? Our Constitution lays out the proper methods of resolving our differences; and it does not include its overthrow by a rogue agency of a Marxist leadership at home. You, sir, are our constitutionally elected agent to defend our Constitution at home. We are counting upon you. We remain aware, however, of this present threat and will not expose ourselves as an easy prey to the authors of the destruction of our nation.

I know that this letter demands much of you. We elected you because we, the citizens of the State of Texas, believe that you are up to the task at hand and will, against all threats, honor your oath and office. We are also writing to your fellow members of the House and Senate to stand in integrity with the Constitution and against this present threat by the Obama administration and his DHS.

We refuse to surrender our Constitution or our nation!

Resolved,

Captain Terry M. Hestilow

United States Army, Retired

Fort Worth, Texas

March 23, 2013

Captain Hestilow loves America and has served in the Army as both a commissioned and a noncommissioned officer. He enlisted in 1970 and served all over the world until 1993 when he left the Army. During this time he served as pastor to several churches and as deputy sheriff of St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana. He rejoined the Army in 2001 after 911 where he served until his retirement in 2011.

SS: Why do you think your letter to Senators Cornyn and Cruz and Congressman Burgess made an impact on so many Americans?

TH: I think one of the things that caused the letter to catch fire the way it did was that I made clear that the DHS does not have a war mission. The kinds of appropriations they are making could really only be understood to be appropriations preceding a war or an attack. The Department of Homeland Security’s mission is completely internal. So, for them to be planning a war meant that they would be planning a war against the people of the United States, and that is certainly not their mission. It is certainly inappropriate. The only recourse that I believe is appropriate is for the Department of Homeland Security to surrender all of that ammunition to the Department of Defense to be used by those agencies. These are the departments charged with war-making, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corp.

Congressman Burgess was only regurgitating what he had received from Senator Tom Coburn in Oklahoma. What Senator Coburn had received was information that they knew they had to confess to. But even those figures that they provided to Senator Coburn, when you put the pencil to paper, they come up with an excess of ammunition. Not in the range of 1.6 billion, but certainly for their operational demands an excess of 3,000 rounds per weapon.

SS: And you did the math on that?

TH: Yes, ma’am. When you do 3,000+ rounds per weapon, we don’t hear anything in the news about running wars along our border, or other agencies, the Secret Service having running gun battles. And, for them to be using that kind of ammunition, we’d have to be hearing something about running gun battles. So it seems apparent that they’re continuing to obscure that they’re stocking ammunition to use against the people, which means they’re planning a reverse coup. That is to overthrow the Constitution and to declare war against the people of the United states so that they can impose another system of government. The only thing that we can deduce from that, based on the things that we know about this president, this party, his administration, his agencies are that it would be a Marxist organization.

SS: Have you heard from anybody in the military, people you worked with? Any kind of response to what you’ve said?

TH: Seldom would you hear from anyone who is a member of the active duty because for them to begin to talk would put them at risk. So it’s really a matter for us to fight in their defense. This is one of those times when it’s up to us who have retired to fight the fight that they can see, but they can’t really have a voice.

SS: As you step out is there any possibility of repercussions, financially, or in any other way they can hurt you for standing up and saying the things you’re saying?

TH: Theoretically, if they could show that I was trying to overthrow the government, which is one of the things that I’ve been very careful not to do. In fact, one of the things that I have said in every statement is that what I’m trying to do is to defend the Constitution. That is my responsibility, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. And I’m observing what’s going on, and I’m prepared to fight a Marx’s takeover of our government, which is what the President seems to be headed for. So it is going to be hard for them to prove that I’m trying to overthrow the government, because what I’m really trying to do is to reinstate Constitutional government that I believe that we’re losing already.

SS: In your letter you said that Obama is deliberately defunding, over extending, and hollowing out the Department of Defense. And, of course we know that the only legitimate war-making part of the government is the military. Can you tell me what you see him doing?

TH: Well, when I say he has hollowing out, this really is very similar to what Jimmy Carter did in the 1970s, in which without the proper funding we were unable to take our equipment out for training. We were unable to commit to missions that we might have otherwise have needed to do, for training or our operations. And also it’s obvious that our missions are creeping out. Yes, we’re not in Iraq any more, as we see our missions are not really lapsing. We’re just seeing things like, for example, the Blue Angels are no longer able to fly. Other aspects of the armed forces are being put on hold because they supposedly don’t have funds to keep the Army training, or the armed forces training.

Recently, General Amos of the Marine Corp., was recorded in a discussion with his Marines and he was talking about the real need that his Marines be cautious about expending their ammunition. He said that they needed to be austere in the way that they use every round of ammunition and every gallon of gas.

I think it’s interesting that at the same time that we’re seeing such austerity imposed upon our armed forces, while we’re still fighting a war in Afghanistan, the President seems to be taking a vacation every other week. No austerity there.

SS: What can the American people, the military, and law enforcement do to prepare for what might be ahead? What can we do to make a change?

TH: I say to my brothers and sisters in arms whether it’s in the armed forces, or whether it’s with the Sheriff’s offices across the land, police departments, we have an obligation, an oath that each of us has taken. That we swear to hold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Now, we didn’t swear an oath as the German army did. They were required to swear an oath of allegiance to a man–to the Fuhrer. We’re not required to do that. And we should never do that. But instead, we have a Constitution that was written for us for all time, that is flexible, and that applies in every aspect of our lives. To protect the citizens and children for future generations, so that they have their rights protected, as well. If we don’t do that, then we failed them.

Interview with Captain Hestilow: