Marjorie Taylor Greene last month mistakenly mentioned Guam as she was listing a few foreign countries at CPAC:
“We love our country. We believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America, not for what? China, Russia, the Middle East, Guam, whatever, wherever.”
Guam, of course, is a US territory and has representation in Congress.
Fast forward to yesterday, when the Congressman who represents Guam marched himself and quite a few of Guam’s National Guard members to MTG’s office to apparently inform her that Guam is a US territory. Instead of sending a letter or even just meeting with her in a more civil fashion, this Democrat decided to use the military to make a political stunt out of it:
Guam Rep. Michael F.Q. San Nicolas and members of the Guam National Guard visited the office of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after she falsely called the U.S. territory a foreign land. pic.twitter.com/3M3L0BkJZ1
— The Hill (@thehill) March 15, 2021
MTG wasn’t there in her office when this happened.
Military.com suggests that this could be a violation of a Defense Department Directive:
Defense Department Directive 1344.10 forbids troops from participating in any partisan political activities while in uniform. Service members are allowed to engage in virtually any political activity out of uniform, but the activity cannot be perceived as being endorsed by the military.
It is unclear whether Monday’s event violated any of those rules. No soldier in the video advocated for any political action, and simply meeting with a member of Congress in uniform is not against any military policy.
Last year, the Pentagon investigated two junior enlisted troops in the Army Reserve for appearing in uniform during the state roll call at the Democratic National Convention. The soldiers, from the 9th Mission Support Command, appeared as backdrops behind two American Samoa delegates.
This is obviously a partisan political activity, as Greene herself observed:
But Greene perceived the move as overtly partisan.
“It’s time for our great men and women of the National Guard to go home and be with their families,” she said in a statement. “The Democrats need to stop using them as political theatre and drama on Capitol Hill. Shame on Democrats for disrespecting our military.”
She’s absolutely right. But regardless of this, Military.com notes that it’s doubtful any of these National Guard members will face disciplinary action because their own adjutant general approves of the activity:
..It does not appear that any of the soldiers involved will face disciplinary action. Maj. Gen. Esther J.C. Aguigui, adjutant general of the Guam National Guard, said she appreciated Nicolas’ efforts to represent Guam’s culture on Capitol Hill.
I think Aguigui’s military bosses at the Pentagon need to intervene here to make the point that this kind of activity by our military is unacceptable. I hope they do.
UPDATE: I forgot that the National Guard answers to the state or territory – in this case Guam – so my comment about the Pentagon intervening would be wrong. So if Guam’s National Guard leaders won’t discipline them, it’s unlikely that anyone else in civilian leadership would either.