Thousands of Soldiers Now Roam Washington's Streets at $1.6M per Day

Thousands of Soldiers Now Roam Washington's Streets at $1.6M per Day(militarytimes.com)

30 points by nphardon 43 days ago | 12 comments

m3047 43 days ago |

It deserves scrutiny, certainly. But this:

“It’s like they brought people here from all across the country, just to be here [in Washington DC]...”

What about the politicians, and all of the people hired to work for the politicians? Looks like about 29% of the population were born there. Is it a bad thing that our troops have a common, shared experience of spending time in the US Capital?

tencentshill 43 days ago | |

Generally, authoritarians don't send the military to oppress their own hometown.

snypher 43 days ago | |

This isn't a vacation program. Go defend something outside our borders, like your job description says.

m3047 43 days ago | | |

Wrong. Although the National Guard is indeed called up for active duty, their primary purpose is an offramp for the "well regulated militia" language in the US Constitution and to defend the State from which they were called up.

gamblor956 43 days ago |

It's not about stopping crime. It's about normalizing the sight of armed troops in cities.

Trump has already stated many times, not jokingly that he wants a third term. He acknowledges that he can't be elected for a third term. However a number of legal "experts", including noted crackpot Alan Dershowitz, have noted that election is not the only route to a third term.

exceptione 43 days ago | |

Crime is indeed not the reason (you need the police for that). It looks ominous when considering this in the light of the purges in the military leadership and MAGA's repeatedly demonstrated demand for officials and civil servants to bend their knees in absolute submission. This doesn't look reassuring when their slogan is "might makes right".

ohyoutravel 43 days ago | |

Well it’s true it’s not stopping crime. But I think you’re giving them too much credit with this long game strategic thinking of normalizing troops in cities.

lazyeye 43 days ago | |

https://theconversation.com/us-violent-crime-is-at-its-lowes...

I guess more violent crime would have been a small price to pay if it had made Trump look bad.

gamblor956 43 days ago | | |

Violent crime is down everywhere, not just in cities with soldiers.

nphardon 43 days ago | |

...the sight of armed troops in *democratic* or *non-MAGA* cities

m3047 43 days ago | |

I moved to $Satellite_Urban_Area from $Urban_Area to take a cybersecurity job. In $Urban_Area we would almost certainly have had metal detectors and other measures. Due to the military presence here in $Satellite_Urban_Area this place has a reputation for being armed to the teeth. Although there was no open carry in the office, I know for a fact that a number of mostly ex-military brought sidearms to the office. A part of this area was at one time "the murder capital of the country" and is infamous for a shootout between residents of that part, gangs vs military. The place has a rep.

Is that a bad thing?

I don't view metal detectors and huge cast concrete reception desks as a good thing, I view them as indicators that earlier interdiction has failed; I try not to hang around places like that, unless I know that there are also actually people with guns who are trained to use them.

snowwrestler 43 days ago |

I mostly feel sorry for the soldiers since they are under orders to wear full camo and plates walking around DC in the summer when 90 degrees and 70% humidity are common conditions.

The local news has detailed how some of them have themselves become victims of crime while here. Including of course the famous and horrible shooting when they were specifically targeted.

The legality is a big question mark. The District is essentially a federal base where a bunch of people live and work. That said, there is a broad federal prohibition against using military as law enforcement. But the National Guard is not quite the active duty military either. And they’re not really doing law enforcement.

I guess a future administration could decide to court martial an NG officer for executing unlawful orders, but that seems like it would be political suicide. Seems pretty unlikely.

Mostly they are for show, like so many other things this administration does. Just another aspect of the overall “for show” era of the U.S.