NATIONAL GUARDSMEN RETAIN THEIR FREE SPEECH RIGHTS
By CRAIG E. CAMPBELL
I just finished reading a very disturbing story in Must Read Alaska that said Major General William Walker, Adjutant General of the District of Columbia National Guard, stated that National Guardsmen deployed to D.C. for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden “went through an additional background check to weed out any whiff of domestic extremism.”
I verified this story with three other sources. I am totally outraged by a senior leader in the National Guard’s insinuation that some members of the National Guard may not serve our nation honorably when called to service and may actually be a threat to our national security.
National Guard members are American citizens. They do not give up their First Amendment freedoms to serve in the National Guard. They retain their individual rights of free speech and expressing their opinions through the political process when not in uniform.
We have reached a new low within the United States military by this action and it should scare the hell out of every American that a leader in the D.C. National Guard would even question the integrity and patriotism of any National Guard member assigned to the National Capital Region when serving under Federal orders of the President of the United States of America.
As a former Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard, if General Walker had told me that this requirement would be levied upon those who volunteered to serve our nation for this event, I would have flatly declined his request. No Alaska National Guard member would be volunteered.
During my tenure as Adjutant General, there were some who strongly disagreed with my leadership and disagreed with actions of the President of the United States. However, I knew that when called into federal service these American patriots would fulfill the oath they took to serve the United States, without hesitation.
The National Guard has a very diverse membership which includes Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, independents, probably even some Socialists and other fringe groups. But every single one takes an oath to uphold the laws of the State of Alaska and the United States of America when in uniform.
It has been the rare exception that I ever witnessed a National Guard member not serve this state and nation honorably, and when it happened, disciplinary action was taken, often resulting in that person being separated from the National Guard.
National Guard members are citizen-warriors. They take the same oath of office as active duty members. It reads “I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
I am incensed the FBI did additional back ground checks on all 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the inauguration. What a slap in the face to the National Guard.
Did the FBI vet every single active duty military member that is stationed in the National Capital Region and will be serving during the inauguration? Of course not, despite the fact that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has been quoted as saying there may be up to 25 active duty military members that participated in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol occupation.
That raises the serious question about security within our active duty forces. I recall that the recent acts of violence by military members were conducted mostly by active duty personnel such as the 2009 mass killings by US Army Major Nidal Hassan at Ft. Hood; or the US Navy sailor killing two at Pearl Harbor in 2019; or the Marine who tried to enter Offit AFB with firearms, a silencer, body armor and ammunition, or the airman the shot his commander before killing himself at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in 2017.
America has reached a dangerous low, starting to resemble the practices of the former Soviet Union, and the Left is using this dark period to undermine our constitutional rights as Americans, using the federal bureaucracy to “weed out” undesirables and to institute a police state where a political purity test is necessary if you are to be allowed to participate in national events.
What’s next, a national score for every American citizen, like they have already instituted in China?
If a loyalty test is required for service in the military than I would recommend the Alaska National Guard court-martial Captain Forrest Dunbar (Alaska Army National Guard) under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for insurrection to the United States of America based on his publicly stated belief that the U.S. Constitution is based on racism. If Dunbar really believes the United States Constitution is such a flawed document that he must correct it as a political figure, then he has less standing to serve in the United States military than any of the “vetted” patriots that volunteered to serve in D.C during this up-coming inauguration.
I am continually amazed how the uber-left is able to twist the truth to fit their narrative. They tell us this past summers riots were peaceful protests. They say the Jan. 6 Capitol occupation was instigated by Trump and neo-nationalists. We now see that the occupation was actually instigated by left-wing anarchists, planned days before President Trump delivered his speech.
Now honorable citizen-warriors of the United States National Guard, under Federal orders, are being subjected to background checks to “weed out” the undesirables. Unbelievable!
Wake up America, our Constitutional Democratic Republic is under siege by Leftists determined to create a Socialist/Communist regime where the greater good of government trumps your individual rights, freedom, and liberties. May God bless America.
Craig E. Campbell served on the Anchorage Assembly between 1986 and 1995 and later as Alaska’s Tenth Lieutenant Governor. He was the previous Chief Executive Officer and President for Alaska Aerospace Corporation. He retired from the Alaska National Guard as Lieutenant General (AKNG) and holds the concurrent retired Federal rank of Major General (USAF).
