Pentagon officials, the Secdef and even some retired generals are fussing about using active-duty troops to put down rioting, burnings and looting.
Back in 1968, when the race riots after Dr. King’s murder were much worse than what the George Floyd protests have spawned, we in the active-duty Sixth Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Meade, Maryland, were training to put down riots in Baltimore and DC. We were never called.
In early 1969, we spent all day at the DC Guard armory, with rifles, pistols and bayonets, waiting to be called to protect President Nixon’s inauguration. No retired generals were fussing about it then that we ever heard. It turned out we were not needed. But we were ready to go if we were.
Of course, in those days, the National Guard was full of insubordinate draft-dodgers and pretty useless. Today’s Guard is full of combat veterans. And, in 1968, the press wasn’t as adversarial as it has been since President Trump was elected and retired generals weren’t as outspoken against the commander-in-chief. It’s unlikely the 1968 press would have given them much publicity if they were. Today, every anti-Trumper is a hero to the Leftist news media. And the Pentagon knows it has a competent Guard.
Via Breaking Defense
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 