For decades, the National Guard has been mistreated by a federal government deploying them into endless, undeclared wars
(Boise, Idaho) – Yesterday National Public Radio (NPR) featured Sgt. Dan McKnight, the founder of Bring Our Troops Home, a veterans advocacy organization founded by veterans of the Global War on Terror and their civilian allies. Hosts Sally Herships and Darian Woods spoke with Sgt. McKnight is about preserving the integrity of the National Guard amidst numerous, long-term deployments in wars undeclared by Congress.
“There has been a lot going on that the National Guard has been brought in for—hurricanes, floods, protests, Iraq, Afghanistan. Last year, more than a third of the National Guard was on active duty. That’s the highest utilization we’ve seen since World War II, and some service members are getting fed up,” explained Darian Woods.
“According to the U.S. Constitution, National Guard troops are not supposed to be deployed overseas unless Congress declares war. But for decades now, that has not been what’s happening, and these guard members are being deployed for long stretches—months over a year, again and again,” Herships reports.
Woods explained the origins of our organization: “A couple of years ago, after watching a friend of his struggle with substance abuse and then lose his wife after his fifth deployment, Dan got so fed up that he founded a nonprofit, Bring Our Troops Home. It’s an advocacy group which is trying to pass legislation which would require Congress to issue a formal declaration of war before National Guard members are sent into active combat.”
This legislation, called “Defend the Guard,” is set to be introduced in over 40 states in 2022.
“And if you want us to go fight in a war, we’re going to go. If it’s worth fighting for, it’s worth dying for,” McKnight continued. “And we truly believe that if you want us to fight for this country, then do it the right way. Give us a proper declaration, and then get out of the way. Let us go complete the mission and defend America. And then let us come home.”
You can listen to the whole NPR segment here.
All content herein is owned by author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VNR, authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians, or VT Network. Some content may be satirical in nature.
All images within are full responsibility of the author and NOT VNR.
POLITICAL PARTY POLICY: We intentionally remove all references to political party affiliation when highlighting elected officials. We believe in judging actions taken by politicians and NOT what party they belong to. For the same reason, we are also advocates for removing references to political party affiliation on all ballots nationwide.
Read Full Policy Notice - Comment Policy
