..our military forces are trained to kill the enemy upon command.
But, long mindful of the challenges faced by deploying armed young troops against protesters further inflamed by their very presence, there has been an established training regime that doesn't just anticipate a riot, and stresses armed conflict as a very last resort.
That's not to say that the potential isn't there for tragedy, with an expanded force that may not be from the state. But the National Guard is mostly made up of part-time troops who work alongside of many of us in our civilian professions when they're not on duty.
They're often paired with local police forces as logistical support, rather than muscle, and both agencies have come quite a long way singe the 70's.
What concerns me about their potential deployment is their support of a destabilizing and dehumanizing mission which they're not trained, equipped, or institutionally intended to perform. None of our troops are designed, trained, or equipped to effect mass deportations of workers and families in their own country who pose no threat to our citizens or our national security.
It's a ludicrous, primarily political endeavor that not only compromises their service, but puts them at odds with the very country and people they are sworn to defend. The vast majority of them have to be as concerned about that prospect as we are, as they, representative of America, also have people and family who are in the way of missions or actions that are unjust or threatening.
In many ways, it would be helpful for them to provide the logistics, but they are at high risk of being enlisted into a dirty and dangerous task that roils everything our Constitution expects as it provides for their establishment and existence.
A deadly game of chicken forced upon all of us.
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