Three National Guard members with more than a decade of service each sat down with NPR, and every one of them said the same thing: this is embarrassing. Not embarrassing for them. Embarrassing for the people who sent them there.
One guardsman put it plain: “The bad taste that this mission left in my mouth, it actually embarrasses me to be involved in any way.” Another said he doesn’t even want to think about his Guard affiliation anymore because of “the abuses of the National Guard in this D.C. mission.” These aren’t malcontents. These are career soldiers who’ve deployed before and came home proud. This time they came home wondering what on earth they were doing there.
Here’s what they were doing. They were picking up trash. Bagging leaves in public parks. Trimming trees at the National Mall. A guy from West Virginia said volunteers showed up ready to serve their country and found themselves hauling garbage and setting up logistical equipment. Bless their hearts, they tried. They handed out Naloxone. They helped a bicyclist who got hit by a car. They did everything they could to be useful. But when your trained soldiers are raking leaves, something has gone sideways.
Ayan Sheikh (Public domain) via Wikimedia CommonsThe mission is called “D.C. Safe and Beautiful.” I have questions for whoever named that. Because the justification was a “crime emergency” declared in a city where violent crime was at a 30-year low. Two separate studies found the Guard presence had zero effect on violent crime. It barely dented petty theft and car break-ins. Both studies said local police could do better for less money. The White House, when asked for evidence that the Guard caused the crime drop, just repeated that D.C. is safe now. That’s not an answer. That’s a press release.
Nearly 4,700 guard members have been pulled from their civilian jobs, their families, their communities, and stationed in Washington for over a year. The cost is expected to run into the billions. Billions. For presence patrols that one soldier compared to counterinsurgency walks in Afghanistan. Another called the routine “monotonous.” The point of the mission, one of them figured out, “is presence.” That’s it. Just be seen. Stand there. Look official.
Trump deployed them in August 2025 and has now extended the mission to the end of his term. So these guardsmen, who have real jobs and real lives back home, are stuck playing lawn ornament in the nation’s capital until the president says they can leave. And he’s out there telling people there’s “almost zero crime” in D.C. If that’s true, then why are 4,700 armed troops still walking the streets? You can’t have it both ways. Either the city was dangerous and needed the military, or it’s safe now and they should go home.
Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard II, the interim commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, put out a statement calling the deployment “unique” and pointing to “significant accomplishments,” including reuniting lost children with their families. Reuniting lost children. That’s a park ranger’s job. It’s a good thing to do. It is not a reason to keep 4,700 soldiers deployed for a year and a half at a cost of billions.
The National Guard (CC BY 4.0) via Wikimedia CommonsThe Guard members told NPR they worry this is damaging the National Guard’s reputation with the American public. They’re right to worry. The Guard is the folks next door, the teacher, the plumber, the mechanic who drills one weekend a month and shows up when the hurricane hits. That trust is built over generations. You don’t spend it on a political photo op.
One guardsman said he hopes there’ll be an accounting someday, “probably after President Trump is gone,” about why they were there and whether it was worth it. He’s right about that too. But regular folks shouldn’t have to wait for an accounting. We can see with our own eyes what’s happening. Soldiers bagging leaves. Billions spent. No plan to leave. And the people who ordered it all can’t even tell you what success looks like.
If it’s safe now, send them home. If it was never that dangerous, don’t pretend it was. And either way, stop using good people as props.