2 days Ago By Miami Herald
Like Tim Walz, I spent 24 years in the Army National Guard. During that time, I learned a lot about life that applies to our current election and will try to express my observations about two matters. There are lots of men and women like Walz in the National Guard and Reserves.
We come from small towns and cities across the United States. We are teachers like Walz, and also law enforcement officers, lawyers, nurses, farmers and almost every other occupation one can think of. We join for a variety of reasons.
I did because I was a young attorney who started a law practice and needed some extra income. A good friend of mine talked me into joining. Others enlisted because they wanted to serve their country and community or because their father or mother had a positive military experience.
Others joined because of the educational benefits, or they wanted to learn a skill. People also leave the service for a variety of reasons. Some finish their initial enlistment term and chose not to reenlist, while others stay 30 years or more.
Soldiers often leave the service because their spouses do not like them gone or they have small children. Some leave to take advantage of opportunities elsewhere. Service members who choose to leave the military should be congratulated for serving, not disparaged because of why they left.
Those who served sacrificed, at a minimum, weekends and annual training with their families. Many deployed for a year or more and lost jobs or income during that time. Why do we stay in the National Guard? Again, people stay in the National Guard for 20, 25, 30 or even 40 years for a variety of reasons.
For some it is the money and health insurance. For me and many others, it is because of our brother and sisters in arms. The Kansas National Guard was like an extended family to me.
Nor should anyone who served in the National Guard or Reserves be criticized for not deploying overseas. I recently saw a photo of a military dog, with the comment that the dog had deployed more times than Walz. That really torqued me.
I had several friends who served more than 30 years in the Kansas National Guard and never deployed because of a variety of reasons. Some served during a period of time when deployments were rare and they never had a chance to deploy. Some held a military specialty that was not needed in the deployment.
Some held civilian or military jobs at home that were critical. Some had medical conditions that kept them from deploying, or they had family issues. Another thing I learned is that members of the National Guard are usually courteous, down-to-earth, motivated and great problem-solvers.
We know how to get the job done. We have skills that members of the active armed forces do not. For example, teams from the National Guard regularly win the U.
S. Army marksmanship trophy. The National Guard is much better at taking care of service members and their families, because they are our neighbors and friends.
I do not know if Kamala Harris and Walz will get elected, but I am convinced Walz is capable of being vice president of the United States and could step in to serve as president, if need be. My confidence is, in large part, based upon his service in the National Guard. Hooah, Tim Walz.
Troubling echoes in Bosnian political strife In 2003, I deployed to Bosnia with the Kansas Army National Guard as a member of the 35th Infantry Division. We were a peacekeeping force. After the former Yugoslavia broke up, war and the three ethnic groups who had existed peacefully before engaged in a brutal war.
Nearly 11,000 Bosnian men and boys who were Muslim were slaughtered at Srebrenica by Slobodan Milošević and his Serbian army. In Bosnia, neighbors who had lived in peace for years suddenly turned on one another because of ethnic and political differences. When I left Bosnia, many of the schools had classes in the morning for one ethnic group and classes in the afternoon for another ethnic group, all to avoid strife.
My fear is that violence might erupt in the United States over Americans’ political differences. Much this discord has been initiated by politicians themselves. It seems like every time I hear a politician speak or watch a political ad, I hear declarations that they will fight for me and condemnations of those who have dissimilar views.
“Condemnation” is still too mild a word when it comes to some politicians. Politicians, especially those who support Donald Trump, pretty much declare that those of us who disagree with them want to destroy the country — that we are misfits and degenerates. And many of those opposed to Trump brand his followers as ignorant or redneck.
The current political divide has affected many people on a personal level. They worry that if they put certain political bumper stickers on their vehicle, it might get vandalized. Yard signs for political candidates disappear or are defaced.
The division in this country has become sad and dangerous. The National Guard has a history of preventing divides in this country and abroad. In the oath we take when we join, we pledge to uphold the Constitution, not one faction or the other.
While on duty, members of the National Guard are prohibited from engaging in political activity. On every National Guard Division staff is a civil affairs section whose duty it is to enhance the relationship between military forces and civilian authorities. In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the governor from using the Guard to block Black students from integrating a high school in Little Rock.
In Bosnia, we collected weapons from different factions and provided medical and dental care to locals. Trump has no history of reaching across aisles. And he has already said that if he wins, he would take retribution against those who wronged him.
How far would that go if he is elected? Tom Arnhold is a retired attorney, judge and a 24-year veteran of the Kansas Army National Guard, where he served as a JAG officer. He lives in the Kansas City suburb of.
