Thousands of U.S. National Guard members and U.S. Marines now mobilized in Los Angeles have sworn a duty to serve their country, but some are finding themselves confused about the actions of their government leaders, according to a resource counselor who is part of the GI Rights Hotline.
“The GI Rights Hotline is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides information to people in the military who are having different kinds of issues involving their military service,” Steve Woolford, resource counselor for the hotline, said.
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WATCH HERESteve Woolford has been a resource counselor with the GI Rights Hotline for two decades and says the hotline has been receiving more calls than usual.
“We've been getting around 200 calls a month in normal times. I had 50 calls on Sunday,” he said.
Woolford explained that most of the calls are from service members, their family members and others following the National Guard’s mobilization in Los Angeles.
“This person never envisioned what they were signing up to do as being a situation where they might point a gun at a fellow US citizen who they might think is just exercising free speech rights or something like that. So this was someone who is very troubled about what's happening,” said Woolford, describing one of the calls.
“Some of these people are thinking of, this is my home, this is my neighborhood, or this is my town where they're sending me,” he added. “And I know people who might be targets of immigration raid or whatever you want to call it, you know, of ICE activity, and I'm not going to go deport my family members. So there's people who feel like they're in a real bind there between what I'd say, duty to country and family, and they openly talk about that.”
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Woolford says there is also confusion and contemplation for some over the orders from the federal government and Governor Gavin Newsom, who is asking the court to block President Donald Trump’s national guard and other military deployment.
“I don't feel right about this, but what kind of consequences go with this? And so there's people who are trying to sort out what might happen if they refuse to do things,” Woolford explains some questions he has received.
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SIGN UP He says there have been calls, albeit more limited, of people defending the deployment.
Woolford says the hotline provides guidance on various situations, including “reservist mobilizations,” and says that they do not tell people what to do. He says they listen to callers and try to help them figure out what is best for each person.
