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This news — you know, the stuff that shows National Guard troops aren’t exactly happy to be expendable pieces in Trump revenge schemes — is unsurprising. No one signed up for this, but Donald Trump and a bunch of suck-ups scattered across a handful of red states have made Trump’s War on DC the new day-to-day operation for troops who’d probably rather be doing anything else than this.
And what exactly is “this?” Well, it’s all sorts of things. Some of “this” is standing idly by while law enforcement officers do law enforcement work. Some of “this” is sleeping on floors, defecating in Humvees, being the constant gardener you never wished to see in the world, and not knowing if you’re actually going to get your next paycheck, much less the pension you’ve been drilling for.
While previous reports of widespread discontent have been mostly hearsay contributed by anonymous troops and officers, this one comes straight from the US military. Yeah, the Department of War is just as sloppy as the guy running it — the one who decided it was okay to share war plans with family members and family members’ acquaintances.
The lede gets buried a bit in the Washington Post report by Alex Horton
See also: the final line in this WaPo paragraph.
Article at:
The bad news is that our troops are being used for political purposes, and they know and resent it. The good news is that the guys ordering this stuff are massively incompetent.
And what exactly is “this?” Well, it’s all sorts of things. Some of “this” is standing idly by while law enforcement officers do law enforcement work. Some of “this” is sleeping on floors, defecating in Humvees, being the constant gardener you never wished to see in the world, and not knowing if you’re actually going to get your next paycheck, much less the pension you’ve been drilling for.
While previous reports of widespread discontent have been mostly hearsay contributed by anonymous troops and officers, this one comes straight from the US military. Yeah, the Department of War is just as sloppy as the guy running it — the one who decided it was okay to share war plans with family members and family members’ acquaintances.
The lede gets buried a bit in the Washington Post report by Alex Horton
That’s the sort of unforced error that has been the calling card of the military under Pete Hegseth’s “leadership.” A guy who loves photo ops and fawning interviews more than he likes actually doing his job isn’t an anomaly in the Trump administration. It’s the other thing: emblematic.Not for public consumption, however, is an internal “media roll up” that analyzes the tone of news stories and social media posts about the National Guard’s presence and activities in Washington.
[…]
“Trending videos show residents reacting with alarm and indignation,” a summary from Friday said. “One segment features a local [resident]describing the Guard’s presence as leveraging fear, not security — highlighting widespread discomfort with what many perceive as a show of force.”
A National Guard official acknowledged the documents are authentic but downplayed their sensitivity, saying the assessments are intended for internal use and were inadvertently emailed to The Post last week.
See also: the final line in this WaPo paragraph.
It is unclear how many people mistakenly received the documents.
Article at:
The bad news is that our troops are being used for political purposes, and they know and resent it. The good news is that the guys ordering this stuff are massively incompetent.