California national guards troops and marines deployed to Los Angeles to help restore order after days of protest against the Trump administration have told friends and family members they are deeply unhappy about the assignment and worry their only meaningful role will be as pawns in a political battle they do not want to join.

Three different advocacy organisations representing military families said they had heard from dozens of affected service members who expressed discomfort about being drawn into a domestic policing operation outside their normal field of operations. The groups said they have heard no countervailing opinions.

“The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,” said Sarah Streyder of the Secure Families Initiative, which represents the interests of military spouses, children and veterans.

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  • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    “The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,”

    “I signed up to murder foreign communities, not my own!”

    Eat dirt, scum

  • robotElder2 [he/him, it/its]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    Now you feel like a pawn? What the fuck did these dumbasses think a soldier was? For that matter what did they think that the actual pawn in actual chess was meant to represent?

  • 7bicycles [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    “The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,”

    lmao get fucked

  • Des [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    i mean legit if the military is just exclusively deployed to do stuff like this in the U.S. (doubtful with the Iran war possibly coming) we might actually see a lib Carnation Revolution at some point

    no foreigners to murder, just being stuck in terrible conditions while a whole city of treats is just out of reach. it’s like being home but not. and I know there are plenty of psychos who want nothing more then to die mothafucker die a .50 cal into a packed crowd of liberal boomers but we aren’t quite the Imperium of Man yet and i can’t imagine murdering their own neighbors (only to return to a cold floor) will go over well with the majority

    either way, fragging is a thing. and more regretful, anti-imperialist former troops (that renounce their former career) with training and skills can’t hurt a nascent leftist movement

    • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      10 days ago

      doubtful with the Iran war possibly coming

      Honestly this war could potentially be used as a scotch tape measure to hold an angry country together, cause nothing sees greater bipartisan support than wars (against the global South; a war against a Western country would be treated as a grave crime because libs see Westerners as human beings)

      • Des [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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        9 days ago

        yeah i thought about this exact thing after I posted that. I can already see the gears turning on reddit and shit as the libs prepare themselves to “liberate the oppressed women” (i guess from their lives)

  • anarchoilluminati [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    Oh, well, too bad they are enslaved and can’t voluntarily leave this job and work at a school or grocery store to avoid having to oppress their own countrymen against their will. Such a shame, but at least they still get their fat checks and social benefits!

  • culpritus [any]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    Do any of these folks even know who Smedley Butler is? A military parade in DC is just such a fertile opportunity.

    • hogslayer [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      9 days ago

      This group can coach and help them so they can find a way to leave without having their life ruined by their superiors.

      what kind of stuff do they do to ruin your life if you try to get out?

      • TreadOnMe [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        They can court martial you, hit you with insubordination beforehand, delay the paperwork, all kinds of fun stuff, because despite being a volunteer army, you sign an enlistment contract and unlike at-will employment that gets pushed everywhere else to combat unions, there can even be financial consequences for trying to leave your contract early.

        It’s why I heavily discourage people from joining the military, other than all the usual reasons. At least you can quit McDonalds.

        • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          9 days ago

          Not to mention the threat of a dishonorable discharge. Any future opportunities are completely fucked. A dishonorable discharge can affect everything from housing, to job applications, to loans. It’s why there’s a lot of homeless veterans. You can get away with a lot of fucked up shit in the military, so you have to do something really fucked up to get a dishonorable discharge, or have to do something like trying to leave early.

      • Carcharodonna [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        9 days ago

        So there are different levels of discharge and some of the worse levels, “Other Than Honorable” and “Dishonorable”, will supposedly make it difficult to get hired (assuming employers know about it) and result in (I think) total loss of benefits on top of that. In addition, their superiors could find creative ways to make their life very difficult and they’ll likely face harassment, extreme punishment, and possibly physical/mental abuse. If they’re convicted of something, they could also be locked up in a military prison.

        Someone on their side with good knowledge of the military legal system can potentially help protect them from all this which would of course help them to make a decision to refuse orders and/or leave completely.

        I think I’ve mentioned it before, but convincing soldiers to find a way out and helping them do so seems like good praxis for multiple reasons and I wish there was more discussion about this.

    • Ericthescruffy [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      10 days ago

      A lot of American soldiers, just like a lot of Americans otherwise, have main character syndrome.

      There was a reddit post a while back from some troop who had regrets who really summed it up well saying: “When I enlisted I thought I was signing up to be Luke Skywalker. Instead I realized one day I was just another faceless Stormtrooper.”