387
An Anonymous DC National Guardsman Tells All - “This is not what I signed up to do.”
(washingtonian.com)
this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2026
387 points (99.0% liked)
News
35749 readers
2225 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.
Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.
7. No duplicate posts.
If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.
All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
What are the consequences if they don't?
The national guard is both state and federal, and can be subject to penalties under the Uniform Code of Military Justice at times just like active duty troops.
If you just stop showing up, your unit declares you AWOL, and this can carry criminal penalties under the UCMJ. They may ask local law enforcement to bring you in. Jail time is a possibility in aggravated cases.
You could claim certain types of mental illness, that you're experiencing gender dysphoria, or fake a disqualifing medical condotion and you may or may not be discharged or face a court martial based on wether or not they think you're lying.
Depends on the branch, but you could try gaining weight and failing your PT test, however the process of getting discharged could take months/years.
Failing a drug test would probably the be the fastest way out, but you're potentially going to get dishonorably discharged, which can be treated as equivalent to a criminal conviction in some regards.
Declaring yourself a consciencous objector could work, and is probably the closest to simply quitting, but the process of being discharged could be lengthy and involve some investigation to make sure your beliefs are "sincerely held". Again, you may be dishonorably discharged or face other penalties if someone really wants to be an asshole about it.
EDIT: After some googling. If activated under federal orders or participating in their annual training and therefore subject to the UCMJ, the consequences for a National Guardsman found guilty of desertion could be as severe as death. However, this is historically rare in the modern era.
When not activated, most states have their own code of military justice, which often mirrors the UCMJ.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/885
Some other relevant reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik