BOISE – A bipartisan group of Afghanistan and Iraq war era veterans praised State Sen. Nathan Dahm for introducing legislation requiring that Oklahoma’s National Guard units cannot be deployed for foreign combat or combat support duties unless Congress has formally adopted a declaration of war as provided by the U.S. Constitution.

“As veterans, we strongly support the U.S. taking strong military action when necessary to defend American lives and interests,” said former Idaho Army National Guard Sgt. Dan McKnight, founder of BringOurTroopsHome.US, who served eighteen months in Afghanistan. “We thank Sen. Dahm for acting to ensure that when Oklahoma’s men and women in uniform are involved, it’s done the right way, the way the Constitution provides.”

“Sen. Dahm’s bill simply says that before ordering Oklahoma’s National Guard personnel to leave their families and do their job,” McKnight said, “Congress should first accept responsibility in the comforts here at home of doing their job. We shouldn’t ask National Guard personnel to have the courage to put their boots on the ground, unless Congress at least has the courage first to put their names on the line.”

Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, represents Oklahoma’s 33rd District.

McKnight said Dahm’s legislation is based on what’s been dubbed “Defend the Guard” legislation, first introduced last year in West Virginia by state Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock County, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy who served as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan. 

Nothing in SB 1101 would prevent the governor from mobilizing the National Guard to respond to a natural disaster or maintain civil order.

 Republican Party organizations in at least two states, Idaho and Texas, have formally called on their states to adopt such a policy.

The Texas Republican Party platform adopted in 2018 states: “The Texas National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard should only be deployed to overseas combat zones under authorization of Congress through a declaration of war.”

 The Idaho Republican Party state central committee in January adopted a resolution urging GOP legislators to introduce legislation “requiring that the Idaho National Guard shall not be mobilized for deployment to foreign war zones, combat duty, or support of combat operations except under a formal declaration of war by Congress, as provided by the Constitution.”

McKnight said “the American people and our soldiers themselves know that as President Trump’s recent strike on a high-level Iranian terrorist proved, we don’t need National Guard troops on the ground to take out the bad guys, anywhere in the world.”

“After losing over 3,000 dead Americans and $8 trillion over the last eighteen years, our nation and our military will be stronger if we follow President Trump’s desire to end what he called these ridiculous endless wars, bring our troops home, and don’t send them back unless the justification and willingness of the American people is so strong that Congress declares war.”

McKnight said his group is particularly outraged over SIGAR’s findings that have resulted in a lawsuit in December by over a hundred Gold Star families who lost family members in Afghanistan upset by reports that American defense contractors, paid by the U.S. government, violated the federal Anti-Terrorism Act to protect their operations in Afghanistan by secretly making “protection” payments to enemy Taliban forces. One of the contractors defended itself by saying in a public statement that its actions “followed the directives of the U.S. government agencies that we served.”

“Congress should immediately hold hearings to uncover the truth, and until then, no more National Guard personnel from Oklahoma should be deployed to combat overseas until the people of Oklahoma are assured our federal government is not giving American tax dollars to military contractors, who funnel that money to enemy Taliban forces who use our own tax dollars to finance killing American soldiers,” McKnight said.