Oklahoma City

If this doesn't embed right the link for it is : Fox News


Some background.

It was a few minutes after 10:00 am, April 19th, 1995.  I was in my EMT class at Forest Park Community College after working  all night at a Housing Authority apartment complex that was being torn down because of asbestos.  I was tired, exhausted and really just wanted to go home and go to bed since I had to be back on post at 10:00 pm.  One of the other EMT Instructors came running in yelling to turn on the TV.  I and everyone else in my class sat there, looking at the TV in horror as the news reports went on and on.

After about 10 minutes someone from the St. Louis City Fire Department came in and grabbed the instructors.  They stepped out into the hallway and closed the door.

After about 5 maybe 7 minutes, my instructor came back in.  He told us there would be no class for the rest of the week and said for us to go home.

I found out later that he and several other of the instructors and quite a few St. Louis City Firefighters went to Oklahoma City.

At work that night, instead of working the Housing Authority post, I and about 20 other Security Officers from the company I worked for, found ourselves watching parking lots at various Federal Installations, Rail Road Terminals, Reserve and National Guard Centers.  Other private security companies were doing the same.  One thing I found out, all of us who had been pulled for these details were all former military and we all worked in two man teams.  Each of us from a different security company. No two from the same company.  We used radios provided for us by an FPO who had us sign for them and who also had us enter the serial numbers of our weapons on his paperwork.

I didn't mind it as I was getting $5.00 an hour more than I normally made.  I didn't like that I had to use the ammo the FPO provided.  110 gr JSP that I would have to turn over to my relief.  I didn't like the idea of having to unload my weapon to put the ammo supplied in, and I wouldn't be allowed to keep my normal carry ammo unless I locked it in the trunk of my car.

This went on for about 5 days, when we were pulled and went back to our regular posts.

My EMT Instructor, when he came back the next week, wouldn't talk about what he had seen in Oklahoma.  I read many newspapers, watched many news reports.  And I was angry.

Angry over what I was hearing, reading and seeing.

This is going to sound conspiracy theory to many, but not even 2 days after the bombing, I was hearing rumors that this was a ATF/FBI sting that had gone bad.

Where did I hear that?

From a group of 3 Deputy US Marshals talking about 12 feet away from me as they got a prisoner transport van setup.  I was in the "Guard Shack"  a little 3'X3' square aluminum and glass booth barely big enough for the folding chair and small bench/desk with a entry/exit log, time clock and the gate control.

When they saw me with the sliding window open writing at the desk they got quiet.  In a few minutes one of them walked up and asked me what I was doing.  I showed him my EMT textbook and workbook and told him I was trying to get caught up in class.  He smiled and asked if I was interested in trying to join the Marshal's service.  I can't remember what I said, but he gave me the number to call to get an application.

A few days later I was back at my regular post at the Housing Authority.  As more and more information came out about the bombing, I had more an more questions.

I remember the search, broadcast nationwide for the "Second" suspect.  Then suddenly there was no more talk about a second suspect.  Then rumors started popping up about PATCON, a so called FBI program targeting Patriot groups and Militia's.

By this time I was working for the main company that provided Security for all the various Federal Installations in the St. Louis Metropolitan area.  I had gone through all the hoops and passed my background check and I was working at various installations in St. Louis City and County.

I was working at the FBI Building downtown during the time Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Blues.  I remember doing my outside patrol as Wayne, Brett Hull and Tony Twist came walking down the street behind the Savvis Center.  I was there when a Government sedan with 3 agents and someone in full restraints and a hood came into the parking garage underneath the building.  The agents took whoever it was through a door in the garage I wasn't authorized to go near.  I still don't know what that was about.

I was working the Federal Courthouse across from City Hall when I ran into the Deputy US Marshal who had given me the phone number.  I was doing a door check and he was pulling a transport van into the sally port.  I don't think he recognized me, but I recognized him.

More and more I kept hearing rumors about how the Oklahoma City Bombing was a Federal sting operation that went wrong.

Read the following stories.

Boston Marathon bombings reignite debate over terror stings

Only 1 percent of “terrorists” caught by the FBI are real 

Documents provide rare insight into FBI’s terrorism stings

Look at how under Democratic Administration's, they look more for "Internal" threats.  Sometimes even manufacturing them.

So you tell me.  Is it possible the FBI/ATF/Insert Federal Agency here was running a sting, and the conspirators got away with detonating a real device because of incompetence by the agents trying to catch them in the act?

H/t Sipsey Street Irregulars for the video