We got put in a hotel in the first place, that was over the top. “We had already planned on sleeping on the armory floor or a big warehouse or something like that. “Look, I know there’s bad blood between certain political entities. On June 4, the Utah troops were forced to leave that same hotel after the city stopped paying the nightly bill and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser sent a letter to Trump requesting all out-of-state National Guard be withdrawn. “It touched my heart to see someone who was in pain looking for a way to ease the discomfort of another person who represented-dressed in a police uniform-the very thing she had come to protest.” “I heard her say, ‘I know you’re hot and you probably don’t want to be here,’” Magnum said. On a muggy evening June 3, he saw a Black female protester walk up to a phalanx of police officers and fan them with her poster board sign. Major Brent Magnum of the Utah Guard said he was at times emotionally stirred by what he saw on the streets. The interactions weren’t all confrontational. “It seems you only see an overt military presence when it’s a marginalized group that’s demonstrating,” he said.
When Leak and his daughter attended the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence in 2018, he didn’t see any soldiers, Leak said. “It shows that they think something unruly is going to happen,” said Carl Leak, 41, a librarian from Lorton, Va., who showed up to the protests with his wife and 17 year-old daughter. No matter how nice the National Guard members may have been, their armored vehicles, helmets and flak jackets sent another message. To protesters, the very presence of the military, let alone Special Forces, was a bullying tactic. You’re not there to stare them down or anything like that, you’re there to keep the peace.” “If you say, ‘Green Beret,’ people think of Rambo. On June 4, National Guard commanders made the decision to pull the Special Forces patches off the uniform in an attempt to avoid sending the wrong message. Holmer understood why his unit’s presence was viewed critically. When photos of the troops on the street began to circulate, questions began to swirl as to why elite forces were needed, especially since the protests were mostly nonviolent.
#National guard troops ambushed Patch#
They’re easily identifiable because of an arrowhead patch and a tab that says “SPECIAL FORCES” on their left sleeves. But what makes Utah National Guard different from other states is that it includes the 19th Special Forces Group, which consists of experienced Green Berets with several combat deployments in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.Ībout a dozen Green Berets, including Holmer, were sent to the District of Columbia. Some of the members were on their first assignment out of basic training. These are men and women who, in their everyday lives, are veterinarians, dentists and construction workers. The Utah National Guard, like any other state, is made up of part-time soldiers. Armory, and took up positions with orders to prevent the protests from spilling into White House grounds. The troops had earlier stored their assault rifles and ammunition at the nearby D.C. Less than 24 hours after the Lafayette Park photo op, the Utah Guard was on the ground wearing helmets and other protective equipment in the park outside the White House. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake.” “My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. “I should not have been there,” Milley said in a pre-recorded video speech to National Defense University graduates. General Mark Milley, who serves as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, apologized Thursday for appearing in a photo-op with Trump on June 1 after protesters were forcefully dispersed by police near the White House. Kentucky state officials confirmed another Black man, David McAtee, was killed May 31 by the Kentucky National Guard at a barbecue restaurant he owned, after a shootout with troops and police.
A week later, the impact continues to reverberate. The President’s threat to use military force in the face of largely peaceful protests dredged up memories of the Kent State shooting in 1970, when Ohio National Guard troops killed four unarmed students after opening fire on a crowd of Vietnam war protesters. Dissent came f rom within the Pentagon and among retired four-star admirals, generals and former Defense Secretaries who voiced concern that Trump’s deployment undermined democratic norms by politicizing the military. troops as a political tool, a force to suppress their freedom to speak. In the eyes of many Americans, including the peaceful demonstrators protesting Floyd’s death and the continuing scourge of policy brutality in America, Trump was wielding U.S.
0 kommentar(er)
