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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWith no end in sight, National Guard troops deployed to DC grow weary
With each phone call home, the troops describe a mission unlike any other.
One soldier from Tennessee told his father that from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. every day, his only task is to walk around Chinatown. Another service member from Mississippi told a loved one that shed been repeatedly cursed at while on patrol. During a call to his wife, a guardsman from Louisiana said there was confusion about what the military was actually doing there.
We havent gotten critically low on morale, but were falling fast, said one soldier who, like others quoted in this story, spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity because theyre not authorized to speak to the media and feared reprisal.
Of the more than 2,200 National Guard soldiers President Donald Trump deployed to Washington, DC, last month, in addition to a wave of federal law enforcement, roughly 1,300 are from out of state. Guard members on the DC mission and their relatives who spoke to CNN said they left behind civilian jobs and children to serve a sacrifice they understood when they enlisted.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/no-end-sight-national-guardsmen-090006381.html

RockRaven
(18,022 posts)What fraction joined up during Dotard 1.0, vs Biden vs Obama vs maybe even Bush?
newdeal2
(4,144 posts)DC is still pretty mild. If he is seriously threatening Chicago and NYC, morale will be at an all time low by January. Imagine missing Thanksgiving and Christmas in order to do landscaping work.
Ocelot II
(127,294 posts)Though their presence might be deterring some street crime, they can't actually make arrests. They were never trained for law enforcement and they must be bored out of their wits.
underpants
(193,105 posts)Dearest Clarissa,
Were still here in that town north of Richmond. The days long without you. Spirits are lower than our resolve. I consider myself fortunate as the have Axe body spray in this China town we are in. Dont get confused we are still in Our Lords United States.
I long to see you again.
Give my love to Rose.
Lovingly,
Jedediah Cornweller
Louisiana National Guard 773rd Military Police Battalion
Arazi
(8,382 posts)We need them to truly understand theyre being used as political pawns.
That may not be important in DC atm but having a cynical, awake National Guard questioning their orders in Chicago or New York may be the difference between whether they follow orders to shoot us or not.
After watching the Venezuelans in an ambiguously identified boat in international waters getting illegally droned without justification, were going to need troops who are open to evaluating and perhaps refusing to carry out illegal orders.
hildegaard28
(780 posts)National Guard members should sue the Trump regime for unnecessarily sending them to DC, and those from other state National Guards should sue their governors for sending them on this completely fabricated mission. The DC mayor is suing them, finally. So National Guard members, and maybe even their families, should be suing along with her.
Ocelot II
(127,294 posts)The lawsuit by the DC mayor is a completely different animal - it's one governmental entity vs. another over a question of jurisdiction. In most cases, though, governmental officers are not liable for the consequences of discretionary decisions.
LetMyPeopleVote
(169,987 posts)This is the same judge who is handling the Lisa Cook lawsuit on her supposed removal as a governor from the Federal Reserve
Link to tweet
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/04/washington-dc-national-guard-trump-lawsuit-00544008
The deployment of National Guard troops to police District streets without the Districts consent infringes on its sovereignty and right to self-governance, lawyers for D.C. wrote in the lawsuit, which was filed in federal District Court in Washington. The deployment also risks inflaming tensions and fueling distrust toward local law enforcement. And it inflicts economic injuries, depressing business activities and tourism that form the backbone of the local economy and tax base. No American jurisdiction should be involuntarily subjected to military occupation.......
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Trumps troop deployment in California violated laws against using the military for domestic purposes. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, a San Francisco-based appointee of Bill Clinton, found that troops were actively participating in local policing in ways that ran afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which limits the use of the military in enforcing civilian laws.
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee. Its the second high-profile Trump-related case randomly assigned to Cobb in the past two weeks: Cobb also is also presiding over the lawsuit from Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, who is contesting Trumps attempt to fire her.