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It deserves scrutiny, certainly. But this:

“It’s like they brought people here from all across the country, just to be here [in Washington DC]...”

What about the politicians, and all of the people hired to work for the politicians? Looks like about 29% of the population were born there. Is it a bad thing that our troops have a common, shared experience of spending time in the US Capital?

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Generally, authoritarians don't send the military to oppress their own hometown.

This isn't a vacation program. Go defend something outside our borders, like your job description says.

Wrong. Although the National Guard is indeed called up for active duty, their primary purpose is an offramp for the "well regulated militia" language in the US Constitution and to defend the State from which they were called up.

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