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Quick Reaction Forces Created by Guard 10/31 06:22
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Military leaders have ordered the National Guard in every
state to develop a "quick reaction force" of troops trained to deal with civil
disturbances and riots that can be ready to deploy with just hours' notice, the
latest indication of longer-term Trump administration plans to more readily
dispatch soldiers to U.S. streets.
A set of memos circulated this month directs Guard units in all 50 states
and U.S. territories, except for the District of Columbia, to train a
contingent of soldiers in a specialized course that includes the proper use of
batons, body shields, stun guns and pepper spray.
Signed by Major Gen. Ronald Burkett, operations director for the National
Guard, the memos reviewed by The Associated Press give various numbers for each
state's force -- often 500 each -- that total more than 23,000 troops in all.
The memos direct Washington, D.C., to maintain a "specialized" military police
battalion with 50 National Guard soldiers on active duty orders.
It presses forward with President Donald Trump's broader vision for a
muscular role for the U.S. military in targeting illegal immigration and crime.
He has already pushed traditional boundaries by sending the National Guard into
American cities, often over the objection of Democratic local leaders.
The memos, reported earlier by The Guardian, come after Trump signed an
executive order in August that directed the Pentagon to create quick reaction
forces that would be "available for rapid nationwide deployment." The executive
order is cited as one of the authorities for the memo, about which the Pentagon
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The National Guard has always had troops that were on standby to deploy at a
moment's notice, but they traditionally have been used to quickly react to
natural disasters and did not receive special training.
The new, specialized quick reaction forces will be able to deploy a fourth
of all their troops within eight hours and all of those assigned to the units
within a day, according to the memo.
During a roundtable at the White House last week with homeland security
officials, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked about a memo detailing
similar plans. Hegseth said he would not comment on the "particulars" but went
on to say that there were "multiple layers of National Guard response forces."
"We've got a lot of different ways that, constitutionally and legally, we
can employ" Guard troops, and "we will do so when necessary," Hegseth said.
While Trump has sent the National Guard into cities including Los Angeles
and D.C., his efforts to deploy troops in other places have faced swift legal
challenges. The Trump administration is blocked from sending troops into the
Chicago area until at least the latter half of November, following a U.S.
Supreme Court order calling on the sides to file additional legal briefs. And a
federal trial seeking to block a troop deployment in Portland, Oregon, got
underway this week.
The memos, which were sent out to the states early this month, mandate that
each state and territory have its quick reaction forces operational by Jan. 1,
2026. To help with that goal, units will be provided 100 sets of crowd control
equipment as well as two full-time trainers by the National Guard Bureau.
The units also will be allowed to use an additional five days of training
for soldiers to get through the "Interservice Nonlethal Individual Weapons
Instructor Course."
According to one of the memos, the initial portion of the course includes
topics like "crowd management techniques," "domestic civil disturbance
training," and "proper use of baton and body shields." The intermediate portion
focuses on the use of non-lethal weapons like Tasers and pepper spray.
Each National Guard unit is required to update military leaders monthly on
its progress in meeting this new mandate.
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