Historically, this country has sort of an allergic reaction, for good reason, for having the military being overly involved in policing. So what’s happening now is concerning. It’s sort of an escalatory measure with the 4,000 National Guard as well as 700 Marines. What makes this somewhat unique is that the governor doesn’t really want the National Guard there, or at least the California National Guard federalized in that capacity—in most instances, the governor is consenting, or even requesting, the president to assist in enforcing the law in that situation. Most famously, you saw that in 1992, when [Republican] California Gov. Pete Wilson, at some point during the LA riots, essentially requested President Bush to sort of come in and help him out.
There’s different terminology and just different ways to think. We talked about [rules of engagement] vs. what’s called “rules for use of force.” In LA [in 1992], there were Marines who were accompanying the Los Angeles Police Department for a domestic situation and LAPD officers knocked on the door and they asked the Marines to essentially “cover me,” which means one thing in a law enforcement context. Essentially, it means take your gun off of safety and be ready to take action if needed. And in the military context, “cover me” means, essentially, lay down covering fire to cover the advancement of troops.
So the Marines did what they thought was required, which was laying down covering fire into this person’s apartment in Los Angeles. I think 200 bullets were splayed. Thank God no one was hurt or injured, but it just kind of shows a disconnect between the combat versus law enforcement. I don’t think that was ever known until much later.
Some of them, maybe. A lot of people fail to realize that joining the armed forces provide a lot of opportunities that wouldn't be afforded to most of the kids joining. People growing up in poor families without an "out" can join and have higher education paid for and job training when they leave. Im not sticking up for any of the boot lickers out there, but I have to believe that the majority of our armed forces are good, normal people.
Opportunities that can cost life and permanent disabilities, physical and mental.
Back before I stopped partying, I was out with some women friends, pretty high on some dank dank (I wasn't driving) and we stopped at the gas station for gas, restroom, and sodas. I was the first out of the store and there was the saddest looking, really haggard old guy outside, and we exchanged hellos. It was plain to see her was in some sort of emotional distress, and I asked if I could be of any assistance. He said no and burst into tears, telling me he'd done horrible things during his service overseas and wasn't allowed to talk about them, during the first Gulf invasion. All those years later. He said he'd have taken his life, if not for his wife and adult kids.
The rest of that evening wasn't fun for me. I asked to be taken home.