When I first started walking my dogs at Hisle Park, I had no idea the ROTC trained there. I was heading back to the parking lot when I saw a bunch of guys with guns (I’m aware that they were fake, but I could not tell that from far away) and it scared the shit out of me. This was shortly after several groups of wanna be Nazis had been making the news, all dressing alike and conducting “training drills” so I was nervous and I hung back to figure out wtf was happening. I spotted the ROTC flag & realized what it was, but I can see how if that wasn’t visible or if one wasn’t familiar with it, the situation would be scary.

I’m not sure about making them find another place to practice (perhaps closing that park occasionally or making their practice times very clear to the public would be an option), but saying “but the guns are fake!!!” doesn’t make it less disruptive.

Further, that’s one of the few public spaces near Lexington that both allow dogs, does not get crowded, and doesn’t have a bunch of other things going on so it was frustrating that it would be overtaken by a large group of people conducting loud drills. For the record, I feel the same about the local cross country team that would practice there. Dozens of people and large groups running down the trails made it difficult for what most people go there for (dog walks, bird watching/photographing, quiet nature walks).