Editor’s note: Numerous pseudonyms were used in this story because sources feared reprisal from the Trump administration.
A career U.S. Army National Guard officer suspects his fellow citizen-soldiers are arming themselves for a deadlier conflict in Oregon than confronting protesters in inflatable frog costumes.
Joe, a name used to protect his identity, told Street Roots he was astonished as he watched National Guard troops stockpile guns, ammunition and other military gear at Camp Withycombe in Clackamas County earlier this month.
The bullets weren’t made of rubber, Joe said.
“It was disconcerting,” he said. “I saw a lot of what they were going to have for gear. They had quite a bit of weapons and live ammunition they were going to be issued. They were going to walk into this mission like it was Afghanistan in 2009 or something.”
The troops were literally dressed to kill.
“They had full combat outfits,” Joe said. “It was very weird to see that. They were going around and talking about how much ammunition they had and how they had to distribute it.”
Street Roots contacted the Oregon and California National Guard’s media relations offices asking if the National Guard is stockpiling weapons and live ammunition in preparation for a potential deployment to Portland.
Officials for the Oregon National Guard didn’t respond. California National Guard officials anonymously referred the question to the “Office of the Secretary of War/Defense.”
That office responded with a reply from an anonymous “Pentagon official” that read: “We won’t speculate on future operations but can tell you that the department continues to work and plan with our interagency partners to protect federal functions, personnel and property.”
‘Do they want something to happen?’
Preparations for deployment raise so many questions, Joe said.
“Do they want something to happen?” Joe asked. “You give that many soldiers that much ammunition when they’re not really trained to handle civil disturbances or law enforcement, it’s like someone upstairs is really pushing this. They’re creating conditions where something is much more likely to happen.”
Heavily armed troops invite trouble, he added.
“Guns are an exacerbating condition,” Joe said. “They make the severity of what happens way worse. They’re a multiplier. You can take a fist fight on the street and turn it into a double homicide with the addition of a gun.”
‘Simply untethered to the facts’
President Donald Trump announced on social media Sept. 27 that he was sending National Guard troops to “War ravaged Portland” and authorizing them to use “full force.”
U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut barred Trump on Oct. 4 from deploying Oregon National Guard troops to confront protesters at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in southwest Portland.
Immergut pointed out Trump’s assertion that Portland is war-ravaged and requires federal intervention is “simply untethered to the facts.”
Trump attempted to deploy California troops instead, but Immergut thwarted his efforts again in an Oct. 5 ruling that prohibited him from sending troops from other states (and the District of Columbia).
Legal wranglings continue.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 20 that Trump can send National Guard troops to Portland. However, one of Immergut’s orders barring troops in Portland remains in place, as of press time. And Gov. Tina Kotek immediately called on a federal appeals court to review and overturn the 9th circuit decision.
‘I’m no longer a knee-jerk patriot’
How is all this perceived within the ranks?
“With a lot of National Guard soldiers, the term I hear a lot behind closed doors is ‘shit show,’” Joe said. “It is confusing with the judges and the multiple orders. There is some concern. It’s like, ‘What are we doing?’ It’s a surreal moment. We’re talking about our own city, our own state. It’s very abnormal.”
For Joe, the thought of American soldiers turning their weapons on their fellow citizens only deepens his personal disillusionment with the military.
“I’ve been in the military for a while now, and I’ve had my own personal journey out of many different belief systems the last 10 years or so, so this is one additional straw on a camel’s back that’s pretty overloaded,” he said.
He signed up because he thought he was fighting for liberty and justice for all.
“I still fundamentally believe in what’s stated as the values,” he said. “However, how we practically execute that on a daily, monthly, yearly basis doesn’t appear to be doing a lot of great things anymore. I’m no longer a knee-jerk patriot. I see things with open eyes.”
Deploying against peaceful protesters illustrates everything wrong with the military, especially under its current commander-in-chief, he added.
“All of this hoorah good talk doesn’t align with the actual effects and missions that we’re asked to go do,” Joe said. “Who does it actually benefit? Why are we doing this?”
‘Like truck nuts on the back of a pickup’
Russell, a Vietnam veteran, protested at the No Kings rally at the Oregon State Capitol building in Salem on Saturday, Oct. 18.
“It’s ridiculous what’s happening in terms of our immigrants and our freedoms,” he said. “Our freedom of speech is threatened. They’re putting troops in our cities.”
Despite all the controversies surrounding the Vietnam War, Russell said he still thought he was doing his duty.
“I signed up to protect our Constitution, to protect our country,” he said. “I spent two years in Southeast Asia. I know what autocracies are like. I’ve seen them. I’ve lived under martial law, and I don’t want it here in this country. I don’t want it for my grandkids. I don’t want it for my children or anybody else.”
He added he has particular contempt for America’s leaders, especially Trump (who avoided the draft in the 1960s by citing bone spurs) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Hegseth is a wannabe,” Russell said. “He’s a coward. He’s a drunk, plain and simple. Pvt. Bone Spurs wouldn’t have made it out of boot camp. They had soap parties for people like him. They’d put a bar of soap in a sock and tenderize his flank steak.”
Joe agreed about Hegseth.
“The way he talks about the warrior spirit and maximum lethality, it’s like truck nuts on the back of a pickup,” he said. “It’s all pseudo-masculine optics.”
‘I really believed in the Constitution’
Paul, a career soldier who has spent 23 years on active duty, feels the same way. He fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Now he carries his passport with him everywhere he goes. Because of his Hispanic last name and dark complexion, he knows he may have to prove his citizenship to ICE agents.
“I’m really frustrated and disappointed,” he said. “I watch the news every morning and shake my head. I really believed in this country. I really believed in the Constitution. I believed in helping your neighbors.”
Paul said he watches the situation in Portland with particular dismay.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “It’s obviously politically motivated. Some people are in denial about the things that align with Nazi Germany. There’s no uprising. There are just simple demonstrations. The whole thing boils down to the fact that we’re being sold out by one party.”
‘A Constitution being torn to shreds’
Mike, a retired Marine, said there’s nothing wrong with deploying National Guard troops domestically.
“National Guard troops and U.S. Marines have been deployed to fight wildfires, assist law enforcement to quell riots and looting and to assist with relief efforts following natural disasters,” he said.
Mike said he never automatically assumes ill intent on the part of the National Guard and federal leaders. Trump’s actions are another matter, he said.
“The Trump administration is overstepping its lawful and moral authority, issuing unlawful orders and unilaterally declaring war on Americans,” Mike said.
For lack of any real threats, troops deployed to American cities are being used to displace the homeless and pick up trash, he added.
“Local law enforcement is more than capable of handling the overwhelmingly peaceful protests against the antagonistic and observable thuggery being demonstrated by federal law-enforcement personnel,” he said.
Mike said he’s deeply concerned for his siblings in uniform who are being required to make moral and ethical decisions to obey (or disobey) orders that appear unlawful and unethical.
“It’s a scary prospect to have to decide between career and personal values by upholding an oath to protect a Constitution that is being torn to shreds by the current administration,” he said.
‘Any would-be tyrant’
State Sen. James Manning Jr. (D-Eugene) brought up the subject of illegal orders while chairing a meeting of the Senate Interim Committee on Veterans, Emergency Management, Federal and World Affairs on Sept. 30.
Manning spent 24 years on active duty in the Army before retiring in 2007.
He spoke to a group of West Point cadets two weeks prior to the meeting, he said, and reminded them they signed an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.
“It doesn’t say in there that you will worship any man or any would-be tyrant or whatever the case may be,” Manning said.
He added that he reviewed the Uniform Code of Military Justice with the cadets and what it has to say about a soldier’s duty to disobey unlawful orders.
‘There are so many layers of leaders’
Joe said the legal reality of illegal orders gets extraordinarily complicated.
“The only time that really applies is when you personally are told to do something that’s illegal,” he said.
A soldier can reject a personal order more than an overall mission.
“An unlawful order for troops at the ICE facility in Portland would be, there’s a National Guard soldier standing on the line, and they receive an order to shoot a civilian protester with live ammunition,” Joe said.
However, a soldier can’t disagree with the opinions of civilian leaders to deploy to this or that theater of operations.
“There are so many layers of leaders taking those orders above you,” Joe said. “You’re basically saying you’re going to take upon yourself the analysis of lawful orders.”
In his own case, he said he’ll wait until his role in a deployment becomes immediate and localized.
“If something like a Nazi Germany situation happened, that would obviously be a line I wouldn’t cross, but anything that’s in the realm of possibility in the next 10 years, I don’t foresee anything like that,” Joe said.
‘We don’t get to pick and choose’
Brig. Gen. Alan R. Gronewold, who commands the Oregon National Guard, sent a memo to his troops Sept. 29 that was leaked to the press.
“I know some of you may have strong feelings about this mission,” he wrote. “That’s OK. You are citizens first, but you’re also service members who took an oath to support and defend the Constitution and follow the orders of the president and the governor. That oath doesn’t come with an asterisk that says, ‘only when I agree with the mission.’ We don’t get to pick and choose.”
He acknowledged armed troops pitted against unarmed protesters is troublesome.
“I know this isn’t easy,” he said. “Some people in Oregon won’t understand or won’t support this mission. Some might even be hostile about it. But we’ve been through tough situations before. We are professionals who do our duties, regardless of how it’s received.”
‘Full force is not a doctrinal term’
When Gronewald addressed Manning’s committee Sept. 30, he avoided specific details about any possible deployment.
However, he said Trump’s use of the term “full force” is mystifying.
“‘Full force’ is not a doctrinal term that the Army uses, so I’m not sure exactly what that means,” Gronewold said. “I don’t want to speculate on what level of force they will be allowed to use.”
Any troops Trump sends to Portland will be under federal control rather than his command, he told senators, but he will nonetheless share his thoughts with his superiors.
“I will provide my advice to the Title 10 commander that Oregon National Guard men and women serve two purposes, one to defend America, two to protect Oregonians,” Gronewold said. “By serving this mission, they will be protecting any protesters at the ICE facility.”
‘Our soldiers are the home team’
State Sen. Khanh Pham (D-Portland) said the whole concept of armed troops confronting unarmed civilians — no matter what state deploys them — is disturbing.
“I’m deeply concerned that this deployment of National Guard troops in the city of Portland could actually escalate tensions where things had kind of died down in recent weeks,” Pham said. “Soldiers who are usually in Djibouti or Iraq or Kuwait to then suddenly be turned on U.S. citizens feels very alarming.”
Gronewold said he’s concerned that Oregonians won’t see a difference between his soldiers and ICE agents.
“Our soldiers are the home team, and our job is to protect and serve Oregonians,” he said. “We follow lawful orders, and that’s what we’re doing.”
‘Toward a place we don’t want to be’
Joe said there are a lot of other things to worry about.
“If you know anything about the Army, it’s that once it gets into a place — and I say this with as much respect as I can muster for my own profession — the Army is kind of like a virus,” he said. “Once it gets in somewhere, and it gets its roots in the ground, and logistical channels get to be set up, it becomes institutionalized. It’s almost impossible to get it out, no matter where it is.”
A military presence becoming ensconced poses a much greater danger than the possibility of individual illegal orders, he added.
“The bigger issue I see is that the slow political creep, the momentum, is pushing our country overall toward a place we don’t want to be,” he said.
That’s not going to be stopped by individual soldiers refusing orders, he added.
“The way the Army is dangerous, the way the Army is lethal, it’s already inherent in what we are — a global empire,” he said. “We have multiple bases in every corner of the world. We divide the entire planet into our own military zones of control.”
People can’t put their trust on the last soldier on the line refusing to shoot, Joe said.
“If that’s the case, we’ve already lost because the institution is already saying that’s OK,” Joe said. “Way too many Americans are comfortable with the concept of being a military imperial power.”
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This article appears in October 29, 2025.