To Governor Lee and Tennessee legislators who might not have had the opportunity to serve in Active Military Service or the National Guard, I would suggest a “ride along” in the back of of an M-35 Truck or Humvee for at least a couple of weeks as our Tennessee National Guard deploy to Washington, DC.
I know it might be inconvenient to leave your job and other duties, but that is part of the learning experience of serving.
You might also want to take along a pocket version of the Constitution to read in your down time.
Both the experience and the reading of the Constitution will be highly informative should you aspire to higher office.
The current POTUS did not avail himself of either of those opportunities, and it shows.
When I got out of the Army, I went back to the University of Alabama to complete a degree. We lived in the dilapidated married student housing, along with a lot of returning vets. Don Loftis, who later became superintendent of Hamilton County Schools, was our neighbor. He was an Army helicopter pilot who was coming back to work on his PhD.
The Sheriff of Tuscaloosa County was also the commander of an armored brigade in the Alabama National Guard. One weekend he came out to our complex and put on a steak dinner for the vets and other residents. Steak dinners were pretty unusual and highly prized in the married student ghetto, so we all enthusiastically showed up.
At an opportune time the sheriff spoke, thanked us for our service and then made a good pitch for joining the National Guard. Our service obligations were complete so we could serve at our own pleasure and pick up some extra money for one weekend a month. It sounded good to me and a lot of others. National Guard pay, plus the G.I.
Bill, plus my old job back working the third shift at the refineries around Tuscaloosa for the Highway Department. We were in high cotton.
Two weeks after I joined the Guard, an F-5 tornado removed the town of Brent, Al. from the map and we were activated. That’s how it goes in the Guard. It’s never convenient or expected.
When I moved to Chattanooga with IBM, my banker, Lee Burgess, a fellow Alabama alum, convinced me to again join the Guard on the same basis. Over the course of the next four years or so, we deployed for weather events and civil disorders quite a few times.
Civil disorders were the worst duty. It was stressful interacting with crowds. It was stressful making sure we didn’t have an incident like “Kent State.” We were trained in riot control, but not in policing (except for MP units).
I went to college during the Civil Distress of the sixties. I served in the Army and the Guard during the 70s. I know those emotions that troops and citizens feel.
Using the National Guard or Active Military forces for political or capricious reasons is the act of an irresponsible, unconstitutional and authoritarian government.
If it is rolled out on some basis like party politics, or election influence or FBI statistics, we might very well find troops on Tennessee streets.
I am more than a little bit disappointed by the actions of Governor Lee and the other Republican governors who have committed National Guard troops for police duty in Washington D. C.
David Crockett