As President Trump calls for National Guard deployments across the U.S., a small contingent of Ohio guard members has been quietly expressing concern in an encrypted group chat.
The administration started sending troops into several Democratic-led cities this summer, citing the need to crack down on violent crime and protect federal immigration facilities. The Ohio guard members now say they're alarmed at the turn the country is taking. They're even questioning their potential role in it.
"I really went to a dark place when they sent the troops to [Los Angeles], and then eventually [Washington, D.C.], and now, Chicago. This is just not what any of us signed up for, and it's so out of the scope of normal operations," says J, a member of the Ohio National Guard who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity.
In the summer, Trump sent troops into Los Angeles as anti-ICE protests escalated. He then deployed guard troops into D.C., where around 2,300 still regularly patrol streets. Then a torrent of plans for deployments came — Chicago, Portland, Memphis, cities in Louisiana and Missouri. Many of them remain embroiled in legal limbo.
In Ohio, J and several other members have taken to that group chat to discuss the deployments and the accompanying anxiety they've felt. J, as well as members C and A — all part of the same unit — agreed to talk to NPR on the condition that they are only identified by their first initials, because they are not authorized to talk to the press and fear retribution for expressing their opinions.
"I have been on two humanitarian-esque missions with the guard, which were awesome, doing the things you see on the commercial, helping these communities," says J. "And then you want me to go pick up trash and dissuade homeless people in D.C. at gunpoint. Like, no dude. It's so disheartening every time I see another city — and I just wonder, 'who's going to stand up to this?'"
It's a sentiment that's building with guard members elsewhere.
In recent weeks, more than 100 active military members have reached out to About Face, a nonpartisan nonprofit made up of current service members and post-9/11 veterans to be a resource for those who might be questioning their deployments, according to the organization.
"In the military culture, it's really easy to feel like if you have questions or dissent, you're the only person who thinks that," says director Brittany Ramos DeBarros, a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan.
The group has started an information campaign, specifically targeting members of the National Guard around the country — using flyers, posters, even billboards — encouraging them to reach out if they're having doubts.
"We take very seriously making sure that people do understand what they could be facing if they follow their conscience," says DeBarros. "But the thing we also help people think through is, what is the cost of not following your conscience? Because as Iraq and Afghanistan vets in particular, many of us are living with that cost every day."
NPR reached out to both the White House and the Pentagon for this story.
"Our great National Guardsmen signed up to defend the nation and serve the American people," wrote Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson in a statement. "We are proud of the work they have accomplished this year, and we are confident in their collective ability to carry out any and all orders by President Trump, the Department of War, and state leaders."
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the deployments, saying Trump was using his "lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel." Jackson lashed out at Democratic leaders, saying they'd failed to stop violent attacks on law enforcement.
The group chat
The group chat with the Ohio National Guard members — set up on the encrypted messaging app Signal — began amid the flurry of executive orders President Trump signed as he took office. Some of them affected the military. The members say they needed a space to process it.
"It's not even necessarily expressing opinions or anything. It's just expressing questions about things that come out," says A.
They say the chat is active every day, with members sharing information and news articles they come across. In recent months, that chat has grown to a dozen members of their unit, and it's become largely focused on Trump's rhetoric around the National Guard and his deployments of troops to several cities.
Ohio's Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has agreed to send troops to support the administration's efforts; there are about 150 in DC right now.
That voluntary directive has come to this unit. None of the three took it. They say the orders themselves were uncharacteristically vague.
"What exactly are we going to be doing? Are we going to have leave? And those answers aren't very clear — but in the past, it's always been very clear," says A. "Anywhere that we go, there's crucial information that we get about the why behind it. And whenever we don't get that, especially for these city moves, members ask questions."
Growing anti-guard sentiment
A joined the guard to pay for college. J was looking for direction in life. And C felt the pull of the benefits that the guard offers and to serve her country. All three have served for years, even decades.
The three say they are grappling with whether to leave the guard, and end their military careers.
"The only reason I want to finish my current contract is just because I feel like there's weight to what I do and say right now, and I just want to use that to do some good," says J.
C says she has been proud of her military career and how she has served — noting that she's served on missions that she didn't necessarily agree with before. But she worries these deployments could change that. She says she's spent a lot of time thinking about what line she won't cross.
"I've been in therapy. Lots of therapy has taken me to the point where at least I can be okay if I have to say goodbye. That sucks. Is this tarnishing my service? Is it undoing everything I thought I was fighting for?" she says.
The three say they've felt anti-guard sentiment from some of their community and in their civilian lives.
"Everything that has been happening is so counter to doctrine, and so counter to what we've been taught," C says.
Their thoughts
The Trump administration has publicly talked about using the National Guard to help with mass deportations and immigration enforcement — something broadly illegal under US law. That bothers the three guard members.
"There is no way I would participate in that," says J. "I just think when everything is said and done, people are going to have to answer for what we're seeing now, and I don't want to be any part of it."
A also says he's been wrestling with what he'd do if made to participate.
"I think, like, establishing those boundaries with yourself: What am I willing to do? What am I willing to give up? And where do I draw those lines?" he says.
The idea of troops patrolling U.S. streets — even if they're only picking up trash — is also problematic for the Ohio guard members.
"It's kind of like fearmongering. People who don't see people in uniform every day, you send 50 of them out to walk their street, it's going to send a message," J says.
DeBarros, the director of About Face, says she knows the tactic well.
"In Afghanistan, we used to regularly carry out what are called presence patrols, where there was no purpose or mission other than to be present in the space and normalizing that we were there," she said. "Letting people know, oh, if you act up, we are here, and we're watching."
C has been thinking a lot about what she's willing to give up and the potential consequences.
"I swore an oath to the Constitution, not a person," she says. "I just really, really implore my peers and everybody outside looking in, to just think about that. Really think about that, and think about what that means. And if there are questions, ask them. Keep talking."
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