‘Never, ever consider such an option again’
The mere possibility that U.S. Armed Forces would be ordered to turn their weapons against United States citizens is so far beyond any notion of reason, honor or necessity that it boggles the mind to even contemplate it.
In 1973, fresh out of Norwich Free Academy, I enlisted in the U.S. Army.
I am the only female veteran in our state legislature, and I swore then as today the same type of oath that American soldiers have been affirming since 1789: “I do solemnly swear 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; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
Throughout my service in the Army, during my time at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and while deployed in Japan, I took that military vow to heart.
It is a vow grounded in the rights and freedoms guaranteed by America’s founding documents, including the right of its citizens “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
So it was with the shock and horror that perhaps a soldier feels most keenly that I heard the president threaten to use the United States military to confront peaceful American protestors.
The mere possibility that U.S. Armed Forces would be ordered to turn their weapons against United States citizens is so far beyond any notion of reason, honor or necessity that it boggles the mind to even contemplate it.
Let me say this clearly, as a U.S. Army veteran, as a member of veterans’ groups, and as an American citizen: Mr. President, you were wrong to consider using United States military force against United States citizens, and you must never, ever consider such an option again.
Clearly, something is amiss in the president’s mind. Career military officers across America have noticed — including the current Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“I believe that we in America should not get used to or accept uniformed service members of any variety having to be put in a position where they are having to secure people inside the United States of America,” said Army Major General Thomas Carden, who is Adjutant General of the Georgia National Guard.
Former Defense Secretary and retired Marine Corps General James Mattis said, “This is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.
“We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.”
Retired Army General Carter Ham, who over his 38-year military career has commanded troops in Iraq and ran the U.S. Army Europe and U.S. Africa Command, said, “I think what we’re seeing play out is that long-held tradition of concern about using the military inside the U.S. The U.S. armed forces exist to protect the nation. They’re not well-suited for policing communities.”
Fortunately, the president backed down — this time. The U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that flew over the rooftops of Washington’s historic Chinatown district in a “show of force” maneuver — snapping off tree branches in the process — has left.
The several hundred active-duty members of America’s vaunted 82nd Airborne Division — who fought in the Meuse-Argonne, at Normandy, in the Battle of the Bulge, in Vietnam, Panama, the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan — have been sent home, and won’t have to fight their fellow citizens on the streets of our nation’s capital.
Peaceful protesters were attacked for a photo-op. This should not have happened.
It is time our nation upheld our Constitution and the values that define America.
We as a people, soldiers and civilians alike, must raise our voices and definitively tell the president: Do not use U.S. troops against American citizens. Stand down. Our future as a nation depends on it.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, a Democrat, represents the 19th District communities of Columbia, Franklin, Hebron, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Marlborough, Montville, Norwich and Sprague.