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National Guard in D.C. [1]
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Date: 2025-09-03
I was born in Washington, D.C. and lived in the Washington metropolitan area until I was in my twenties. I served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard from 1970 to 1976 while I lived in Pennsylvania. During that time we were called up for security or cleanup help in the aftermath of several floods and during a trucker strike. All of these calls to service were in Pennsylvania, my home state. I understood it was my duty serve my home state and to protect the nation from foreign threats. Being called up usually involved a sacrifice such as leaving home and missing time at an occupation. Employers often maintain your pay and position, but not every occupation lends itself to that support.
It has been reported that over 1000 National Guardsmen from six states have been called in to deal with a supposed crime emergency in D.C. These states included Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It seems very unfair for these Guardsmen and women to make sacrifices to their personal lives to help in D.C. In particular, it appears that the situations in cities in their home states are worse than the situation in the nation’s capital. A rough measure to compare the situation in D.C. with select cities in these states might be homicide rates. Using Census population figures from 2020 and homicide data from FBI crime reports from 2020, the homicide rates per 100,000 population were computed for these cities. The rate for D.C. was 28.7 homicides per 100,000 population in 2020. The rate in New Orleans, Louisiana, was 52.34 per 100,000, the rate for Jackson, Mississippi was 71.57 per 100,000 population, and the rate for Memphis, Tennessee was 46.28 homicides per 100,000. Population figures from 2020 are used because population figures between census years are more often estimates. Homicide numbers are variable from year to year but recent reports suggest these cities have continuing high rates.
I am sure the Guardsmen involved realize their sacrifices could be helping with crime emergencies in their home states. Perhaps they are all volunteers who are happy to participate in political theater to justify giving more power to Trump. I view this National Guard deployment as the Reichstag Fire-D.C. Edition.
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