I Couldn't Help but Notice

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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A quick warning, there are curse words that are un-biped in today's episode of the show. If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org.

**Ira Glass** (0:40)
Back in June, Rick Cole was sitting in a meeting of the Pasadena Municipal Services Committee in City Hall there.
That's about as dull a sentence as you could start a podcast with. But then things happen, Rick's a council member.

**Rick Cole** (0:54)
And I get a text that I glance at from the police chief to the city council that says, at 5.30, we're making a public announcement that there will be military exercises in Northeast Pasadena. They will take place at St. Luke Hospital, but do not reveal the location. This is at 5.24, six minutes before the public is to be informed.

**Ira Glass** (1:18)
So you saw that and you thought what?

**Rick Cole** (1:20)
Well, I thought, that's really strange.

**Ira Glass** (1:25)
It's not unprecedented that there will be military exercises in a residential area. That happens in America. But still, it's strange when it's your area, with no notice at all.
The meeting ends, Rick runs to another event.

**Rick Cole** (1:38)
Meanwhile, I had told my assistant to post on our Instagram account that this military exercise was happening and to actually identify the location. And she told me, you know, they told us very sternly not to say the location. And I said, the people deserve to know where this is happening.

**Ira Glass** (1:57)
And did she post the name of the hospital?

**Rick Cole** (2:00)
She did.

**Ira Glass** (2:02)
Because you just figured, what are they going to do to me?

**SPEAKER_1** (2:04)
I'm just going to do this?

**Rick Cole** (2:06)
Exactly. I mean, that's the way I've lived my life, Ira.

**Ira Glass** (2:09)
He's got stories. You ever run into Rick, get him to tell you the one about how he tried to stop Christopher Columbus's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson from becoming Grand Marshal of Pasadena's Rose Parade.
But I digress. Anyway, that night in June, he heads over to this hospital, a creepy old building with broken windows and peeling paint. It's been abandoned for years.

**Rick Cole** (2:36)
And sure enough, sometime around 8 p.m. These giant helicopters can be heard in the distance, getting closer and closer. Then they disgorge paratroopers clamoring down ropes onto the roof of the hospital. Flashbang grenades are going off. Simulated gunfire is rattling through the neighborhood.
I mean, it was jaw-dropping.

**Ira Glass** (2:56)
This is all supposed to end by 8.30. But in fact, it wasn't over until about 2 a.m. To Rick, this was outrageous. Why do this in a residential neighborhood with no warning? So people had no chance to prepare, maybe go elsewhere for the night, maybe give their pets tranquilizers so they don't freak out.
Now people were hearing all the commotion, probably going onto their phones to figure out what was happening. He thought he needed to jump in and explain.

**Rick Cole** (3:23)
Council member Rick Cole here in front of the former St. Luke's Hospital. As you can hear, he's in the dark.

**Ira Glass** (3:30)
Explosions are flashing behind him like he's some sort of suburban war correspondent.

**Rick Cole** (3:35)
Flash bangs and simulated gunfire are going on. They're going to be going on for the next half an hour, we're told.
I was focused on the fact that I should tell people what's going on, because their dogs are going to bark, their kids are going to ask questions, and they're going to wonder why are helicopters descending on Pasadena, why are they hearing gunfire in the neighborhood.

**Ira Glass** (3:57)
He'd done videos like this in the past, in the wake of the fire last year, letting people know when it was safe to drink the water, read vegetables from their gardens, that kind of thing.

**Rick Cole** (4:06)
And this is going to go on for a while. And good luck to the people that have got to get up and go to work tomorrow morning.

**Ira Glass** (4:16)
It's funny, the weird thing about this is that it seems like you all were supposed to act like this was not a weird thing to happen.