CRAWFORD COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- There is a battle being waged at Camp Grayling, not by soldiers, but by some neighbors.
Those neighbors are opposed to a proposed expansion that would add 160,000 more acres to what is already the nation's largest National Guard base.
- The Background: Residents oppose doubling the size of Camp Grayling
For some of them, that opposition reached a boiling point this past weekend with an image that's circulating on social media.
On Sunday, eight soldiers in a raft with a belt-feed machine gun mounted on the front, drifted through some resident's backyards. Camp Grayling isn't far away, but Bear Lake trustee Jim Knight says, this isn't their training ground.
"We're still waiting to hear some type of response from Colonel Myers and maybe you folks can... get that answer," Knight says.
So we went to the base and did just that.
"We had a unit who is getting ready to go overseas in harm's way in about 60 days," Colonel Scott Myers said. "That organization made a uncoordinated or unapproved decision to do some additional training. We of course found out about it later when some of our neighbors gave us a call."
Col. Myers says this wasn't planned or approved and couldn't have come at a worse time, as the Guard is trying to gain expansion support from the very neighbors who found this upsetting.
"So, we're doing a little bit of an inquiry to figure out how that was not coordinated,' Col. Myers said. "It certainly doesn't help in my narrative, as I'm trying not to ask for additional training-use spaces. We take ownership of that."
The National Guard is asking for an additional 160,000 acres, expanding in several different directions.
"I'm just the one with my hand out saying 'Hey, our troops need this. We need to protect our lives and get after these new types of threats,'" Col. Myers said.
Opponents say they already have enough land to do things like this and the Guard doesn't necessarily disagree. They say they aren't looking for more space, but rather...
"What we're trying to do is get out to distance and for some of our electronic warfare capabilities, some of our space capabilities, some of those things we're trying to work with, we're trying to replicate greater distances," Col. Myers said.
Col. Myers said what they would be doing in the expansion areas would be low impact, smaller groups in the woods for shorter durations.
"It's different training," Col. Myers said. "But, we are obviously fighting against that narrative, because the assumption is it's more of the same. This isn't more the same. Those new threats and emerging threats that are out there pose different threats to us and trying to get after those challenges."
Opponents fear a transformation of the forests into a battle field.
"Under this new agreement, we're required to use the current existing trails, county roads, open fields, we can't go down and cut a bunch of trees or any of that other stuff," Col. Myers said. "It is DNR owned and managed resources that were just another player in those same areas with the public."
Through a series of public meetings, Col. Myers says he has heard the questions and understands the concerns.
"We're not going to win everybody over for sure and we are very transparent," Col. Myers said. "We brought the public very early in our process, specifically so we could try and get after those real concerns."
Some in attendance say these meetings were a formality with a predetermined outcome.
"I don't believe it's a done deal or probably wouldn't be continuing doing all these interviews," Col. Myers said.
Opponents say the Guard is asking for too much. Col. Myers says they are trying to find a balance.
"We understand the burdens sometimes that we ask of the locals here," Col. Myers said. "But at the same time, I have to save lives. I have to ensure those that are training to go forward into harm's way are the best equipped, best trained in those environments with those distances... to protect our freedoms."
Since the DNR currently owns the land, they would be the ones leasing the land for the expansion.
If a decision to lease the land is approved, the next step would be to review environmental impacts and negotiate the terms of the lease.
The DNR has extended public comment to run throughout the review process.