Walz referred to the National Guard as "19-year-olds who are cooks"

probinson · Aug 12, 2024

In 2020 in response to sending the National Guard in to deal with fallout from the riots, Walz referred to the National Guar as "19-year olds who are cooks".

"I don't think the mayor knew what he was asking for," Walz said. "I think the mayor said, 'I request the National Guard, this is great. We're going to have massively-trained troops.' No, you're going to have 19-year-olds who are cooks!"

Gov. Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Give Differing Accounts Of Why National Guard Response To Unrest Was Delayed

With large sections of Minneapolis and St. Paul still in ruins, the charred question lingers: What took so long in those dark days to get the National Guard on the streets?

www.cbsnews.com

Vambram · Aug 12, 2024

As a Army National Guardsman, I say that is one of the dumbest things about the Guard has said. He should know better, but his arrogant mouth appears to get the best of him.

Yttrium · Aug 12, 2024

It is a dumb statement by Waltz, and I hope it comes to more light during the campaign. Since he was in the National Guard, he should know better.

Fantine · Aug 12, 2024

When Guard members are called up to go overseas, they generally spend several months full time before deploying.

When they are helping in national disasters or crises, they may have only had a few weekend drills under their belts. That is why we had the tragedy of Kent State in 1970 (if you weren't around then, I think Crosby, Stills and Nash did a song about it, "Four Dead in Ohio.'

Obviously they are not all cooks as civilians. Some are students; others are just entering the work force. Most probably don't reenlist after their initial term of service.

Some, of course, want to twist and turn everything he says (because there is so astonishingly little they can critcize.) All he said was that they may never had encountered quelling a riot, because they have other full-time jobs, study, or both, but they are worthy of our thanks and respect.

RileyG · Aug 12, 2024

Vambram said:
As a Army National Guardsman, I say that is one of the dumbest things about the Guard has said. He should know better, but his arrogant mouth appears to get the best of him.

Yeah, he sounded rather condescending. Ugh

Vambram · Aug 12, 2024

Fantine said:
When Guard members are called up to go overseas, they generally spend several months full time before deploying.

When they are helping in national disasters or crises, they may have only had a few weekend drills under their belts. That is why we had the tragedy of Kent State in 1970 (if you weren't around then, I think Crosby, Stills and Nash did a song about it, "Four Dead in Ohio.'

Obviously they are not all cooks as civilians. Some are students; others are just entering the work force. Most probably don't reenlist after their initial term of service.

Some, of course, want to twist and turn everything he says (because there is so astonishingly little they can critcize.) All he said was that they may never had encountered quelling a riot, because they have other full-time jobs, study, or both, but they are worthy of our thanks and respect.

Just like what we have in Missouri, I am very confident that the Minnesota Army National Guard has Military Police units with seasoned veterans who have been trained concerning riot control and other law enforcement topics.

chevyontheriver · Aug 12, 2024

Vambram said:
As a Army National Guardsman, I say that is one of the dumbest things about the Guard has said. He should know better, but his arrogant mouth appears to get the best of him.

He must get that from Al Franken, comedian ex senator from Minnesota.

wing2000 · Aug 12, 2024

Oh look, another selected quote that misses the main point the Governor was making: The National Guard had very few trrops trained for riots.

"I don't think the mayor knew what he was asking for," Walz said. "I think the mayor said, 'I request the National Guard, this is great. We're going to have massively-trained troops.' No, you're going to have 19-year-olds who are cooks!"

General Jon Jensen, then the Adjutant General of the National Guard, testified in Republican Senate hearings that only 700 out of 13,000 Minnesota guardsmen and women had training for riots.

"As bad as Thursday night was, I wasn't quite comfortable with going to the governor and saying, 'Hey, let's bring on less-trained soldiers,'" Jensen said.

Offline4Better. · Aug 12, 2024

RileyG said:
Yeah, he sounded rather condescending. Ugh

Agreed. All this stuff makes me wanna vote 3rd party. I am afraid of the stigma for voting 3rd party (ahh, throwing away the vote), but that is the only option.

wing2000 · Aug 12, 2024

probinson said:
In 2020 in response to sending the National Guard in to deal with fallout from the riots, Walz referred to the National Guar as "19-year olds who are cooks".

"I don't think the mayor knew what he was asking for," Walz said. "I think the mayor said, 'I request the National Guard, this is great. We're going to have massively-trained troops.' No, you're going to have 19-year-olds who are cooks!"

Gov. Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Give Differing Accounts Of Why National Guard Response To Unrest Was Delayed

With large sections of Minneapolis and St. Paul still in ruins, the charred question lingers: What took so long in those dark days to get the National Guard on the streets?

www.cbsnews.com

Or a more accurate representation would be:

"In a 2020 private phone call with the city major, Walz indicated reservations with sending in National Guard troops who were not trained in riot control. "You're going to have 19-year olds are cooks!

Vambram · Aug 12, 2024

wing2000 said:
Oh look, another selected quote that misses the main point the Governor was making: The National Guard had very few trrops trained for riots.

"I don't think the mayor knew what he was asking for," Walz said. "I think the mayor said, 'I request the National Guard, this is great. We're going to have massively-trained troops.' No, you're going to have 19-year-olds who are cooks!"

General Jon Jensen, then the Adjutant General of the National Guard, testified in Republican Senate hearings that only 700 out of 13,000 Minnesota guardsmen and women had training for riots.

"As bad as Thursday night was, I wasn't quite comfortable with going to the governor and saying, 'Hey, let's bring on less-trained soldiers,'" Jensen said.

700 trained Guardmen would have been enough to quell the riots in Minneapolis.

Fantine · Aug 12, 2024

Missouri might have had the foresight to train specialized guard units after George Floyd was murdered by the police.
Minnesota had not been unfortunate enough to have riots previously.

The IbanezerScrooge · Aug 12, 2024

Why did they need the National Guard anyway?

They had Rittenhouse.

chevyontheriver · Aug 12, 2024

The IbanezerScrooge said:
Why did they need the National Guard anyway?

They had Rittenhouse.

Rittenhouse was in Wisconsin. Minnesota needed the National guard, even if they were mostly cooks. And so Minneaoplis burned. Please keep your states straight.

RileyG · Aug 12, 2024

chevyontheriver said:
Rittenhouse was in Wisconsin. Minnesota needed the National guard, even if they were mostly cooks. And so Minneaoplis burned. Please keep your states straight.

Their bias is showing.

Servus · Aug 13, 2024

wing2000 said:
Oh look, another selected quote that misses the main point the Governor was making: The National Guard had very few trrops trained for riots.

"I don't think the mayor knew what he was asking for," Walz said. "I think the mayor said, 'I request the National Guard, this is great. We're going to have massively-trained troops.' No, you're going to have 19-year-olds who are cooks!"

General Jon Jensen, then the Adjutant General of the National Guard, testified in Republican Senate hearings that only 700 out of 13,000 Minnesota guardsmen and women had training for riots.

"As bad as Thursday night was, I wasn't quite comfortable with going to the governor and saying, 'Hey, let's bring on less-trained soldiers,'" Jensen said.

I'm sure some were very fine people.

The IbanezerScrooge · Aug 13, 2024

chevyontheriver said:
Rittenhouse was in Wisconsin. Minnesota needed the National guard, even if they were mostly cooks. And so Minneaoplis burned. Please keep your states straight.

DOH!

wing2000 · Aug 13, 2024

Vambram said:
700 trained Guardmen would have been enough to quell the riots in Minneapolis.

Following the referenced conversation with the mayor, the Governor did order a "full activation" of the Minnesota National Guard on May 28th.

"A full activation means the guard will activate all soldiers who are medically fit and not already deployed. That could include between 7,000 to10,000 Soldiers and Airmen including nearly 2,500 by Saturday night with the rest to be available in coming days."

Walz, state leaders say most riot damage not caused by Minnesotans

Gov. Walz and city leaders emphasized in a press conference that 80% of people rioting are not local.

www.kare11.com

However, that is not point being addressed in this thread:

"General Jon Jensen, then the Adjutant General of the National Guard, testified in Republican Senate hearings that only 700 out of 13,000 Minnesota guardsmen and women had training for riots."

Bradskii · Aug 13, 2024

wing2000 said:
However, that is not point being addressed in this thread:

"General Jon Jensen, then the Adjutant General of the National Guard, testified in Republican Senate hearings that only 700 out of 13,000 Minnesota guardsmen and women had training for riots."

Does it sound like a good idea to put a few thousand armed men onto the streets when there are riots when they have no riot experience? At best it's a show of force which may help. At worst...well, I don't want to imagine the worst.

We need someone with experience of the National Guard to give an unbiased opinion as to what effective use they would be and what dangers could eventuate.

Vambram · Aug 13, 2024

Bradskii said:
Does it sound like a good idea to put a few thousand armed men onto the streets when there are riots when they have no riot experience? At best it's a show of force which may help. At worst...well, I don't want to imagine the worst.

We need someone with experience of the National Guard to give an unbiased opinion as to what effective use they would be and what dangers could eventuate.

I am in the Missouri National Guard. In 2014, when the state suspected that there would be riots in November of that year in Ferguson, the governor had well over a thousand Missouri National Guardsmen deployed and ready which included myself and my unit. The governor and the local authorities held us back on the first night of those Ferguson protests and riots. However, on the second night, M.P. soldiers and infantry soldiers went out there to confront and stop the rioting. This worked very well in Missouri and it also would have worked in Minneapolis.

Walz referred to the National Guard as "19-year-olds who are cooks"

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