LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A West Virginia judge is allowing National Guard troops from that state to keep patrolling Washington, D.C. The ruling yesterday found West Virginia's governor had the power to deploy them. Now, for all the news about President Trump sending the National Guard to American cities this year, we haven't heard much from National Guard troops directly.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
One of the exceptions was on this program a couple of months ago, when our correspondent talked with troops on the streets of Washington, D.C., and another comes today as NPR's Kat Lonsdorf brings us a conversation with guard members in Ohio. Kat, good morning.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey, good morning.
INSKEEP: Who'd you meet?
LONSDORF: So I met with three members of the Ohio National Guard. We're not naming them because they agreed to speak to me on the condition of anonymity.
INSKEEP: Right.
LONSDORF: They fear retribution for speaking to the media. We talked for more than an hour about these deployments to U.S. cities and whether or not they'll be required to participate. Here's how the conversation started with one of them.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I really went to, like, a dark place when they sent the troops to L.A., eventually, D.C. and now, like, Chicago. Like, this is just not what any of us signed up for.
LONSDORF: Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine has agreed to send troops to support the administration's efforts. The three of these guard members did receive a voluntary directive to go to D.C., where there are more than a hundred troops from Ohio right now, but none of them took it.
INSKEEP: So voluntary directive and they declined. This is...
LONSDORF: Yeah.
INSKEEP: ...Really interesting 'cause we've heard from troops that came to D.C. who said, we're just trying to help out. These are people who felt uncomfortable. What was the conversation like?
LONSDORF: It was really thoughtful, and we touched on a lot of topics. Trump has sent troops into several Democratic-led cities, saying they're needed to crack down on violent crime and protect federal immigration facilities. Many of those deployments are tied up in court right now. All three of these guard members feel deeply uncomfortable about them. For now, we've largely seen guard members patrolling streets, but the administration has publicly talked about wanting to use troops to help with immigration enforcement, something broadly illegal under U.S. law. I asked them about that and here's what one of them said.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: There's no way I would participate in that. I just think that whenever everything is said and done, I mean, people are going to have to answer for what we're seeing right now, and I don't want any part of it.
LONSDORF: Another said he's been spending a lot of time thinking through how he would respond.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I think establishing those boundaries with yourself, like, what am I willing to do? What am I willing to give up? And where do I draw those lines?
LONSDORF: And we also talked a lot about this growing anti-guard sentiment that they've felt in their communities and on social media and how they're sometimes reluctant to even tell people they're part of the military right now. NPR did reach out to both the Pentagon and the White House for the story. The Pentagon said it's proud of the guard and is, quote, "confident in their collective ability to carry out any and all orders by President Trump." The White House said Trump is using his, quote, "lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel."
INSKEEP: You're talking to people who had an option to turn down a mission they did not like. But they don't know they'll always have the option.
LONSDORF: Exactly.
INSKEEP: Are some of them thinking about leaving?
LONSDORF: Yeah. All of them have been struggling with that. One says she's been on deployment she didn't necessarily agree with before, but she went because the military is supposed to be apolitical. These new deployments are raising a lot of questions for her, though.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Is this tarnishing my service? Is it undoing everything I thought I was fighting for? 'Cause I've spent a lot of time being really proud of my military career and my service, just to watch it possibly go up in flames.
LONSDORF: And, Steve, I mean, you can hear the emotion in her voice there. These are really hard thoughts for them to be grappling with.
INSKEEP: Do other guard members feel as they do?
LONSDORF: Yeah. These guard members know several. They told me they've started an encrypted group chat within their unit for others who want to talk about similar thoughts and feelings. And I found these three through an organization called About Face. They're a nonprofit started by post-9/11 veterans to be a resource for those who might be questioning their deployments. That group told me that they've heard from more than a hundred active military members in recent weeks, and more are reaching out almost every day.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Kat Lonsdorf. Thanks so much.
LONSDORF: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: You can hear more from her conversation with the guard members at npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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