While regular military sinks and seizes boats, the Guard takes risks

The U.S. continued the military draft after World War II. That worked well and we had enough people in the military to fight the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Although the Guard is a six year hitch instead of the two year hitch in the regular military, the Iowa National Guard was a good fit for many Iowans especially those with a seasonal job such as schoolteachers.

During the 1960s as the protests grew and questions about the Vietnam War increased, the Iowa National Guard also functioned as a way of fulfilling one’s national duty, without worrying about being killed in Vietnam.

That changed when President Nixon got rid of the draft and went to an all voluntary military. Because the military services began having problems recruiting enough people to fully man the military, the Federal Government began federalizing state National Guards to do what previously had been done exclusively by the regular military. State National Guards became places that were no longer safe from war because they were being used in regular wars and you could be killed.

It seems illogical and stupid to have a huge regular military force, trained in warfare, in the Caribbean shooting up small boats killing people while some Iowa National Guard members are in the most dangerous part of Syria, an area that isn’t even controlled by Syria’s most recent strong man, and is an area where ISIS roams.

The Commander in Chief of state National Guards is that state’s governor. That would be Gov. Kim Reynolds in Iowa.

You might think that as the Commander in Chief, our governor would at least be looking out for the welfare of our National Guard members and be asking why our state’s National Guard is operating in one of the most dangerous areas of the Middle East, while the actual Federal military is blowing up little boats in the Caribbean.

As someone who had two different Battalion Commanders while fighting in Vietnam, it seems to me that Reynolds is not paying enough attention to how and where the Iowa National Guard is being used, and not protecting our Guard troops from unusually dangerous, ridiculous, and illogical postings.

It seems to me that Gov. Reynolds is more concerned with her culture wars now-a-days, most recently at the University of Iowa, than she is in understanding what danger the Iowa National Guard members, who are under her command, have been put in. To me, as a former combat Marine, that seems pretty close to dereliction of duty.

Bob Watson lives in Decorah.