...with the way they regard their service in their own country.
That's the paradigm that I think is relevant here.
It's a perfectly valid fear to believe there's a risk of one or more soldiers shooting or seriously injuring someone. There are also proven risks of militarized police forces killing someone in situations where they aren't prepared for or in situations where their very presence foments aggressive and violent resistance that they may not be trained or equipped to handle.
That concern isn't the same as fearing our nation's troops. My fear is a mission that pits these Americans against other Americans as they are armed and armored against citizens exercising their constitutional rights to free movement and dissent.
And while there have certainly been instances of tragedy, the vast majority of the Guard and other military service within this country has been to aid and assist Americans in natural disasters/ The instances where they've responded to political unrest in say, the past 40 years hasn't been as much about armed confrontation as logistical aid and mostly benign crowd control in cooperation with local forces.
And this isn't a justification for bad acts, it's an acknowlegment of the risks associated with armed troops, anywhere, recognizing that it's not these soldiers who are casting Americans as the 'enemy within,' it's their deranged commander in chief. That's what threatens us, not mostly young soldiers our families have seen off to service, and sometimes conflict abroad.
There are certainly grave consequences to a lethal force deployed against any human, and the mission in the waters outside of Venezuela is a immoral, shameful, and illegal one in which the morality and integrity of those forces has been shattered and has damaged our entire military posture and reputation around the world.
The military is a blunt instrument which relies on a command which respects the values that each individual soldier is expected to carry into service. It's obviously the command that's to be regarded with reservation and,with this regime, fear.
I do not fear the troops, no more than I fear my fellow American, no more than I fear my family members who have served.
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