The attack in Washington, D.C. on two West Virginia National Guard soldiers that left one dead and another critically injured is a personal tragedy for the victims and their families, as well as a broader calamity for our state.
Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom was just 20 years old with her whole life ahead of her. It is heartbreaking when you read what her father, Gary Beckstrom, posted on social media: “My baby girl has passed to Glory.” (Read more here from Brad McElhinny.)
We are all still pulling and praying for Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, who was critically wounded and remains in very serious condition.
We know that the home communities of Beckstrom and Wolfe will rally together in support of the families. As Major General James Hoyer, the former Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard who is now retired, often said, “You recruit a soldier and airman, but the family serves.” And now these families need the support of all West Virginians.
To be completely clear, the person directly responsible for this assault is the Afghan national who Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said had been “radicalized since he’s been here in this country.” There are also reports the shooter had “manic episodes for one or two weeks at a time.”
Guard leaders had worried that uniformed military members clustered in one area were a soft target for terrorism. The New York Times reported on an internal National Guard memo where commanders warned that troops were in a “heightened threat environment” and that “nefarious threat actors engaging in grievance-based violence, and those inspired by foreign terrorist organizations” might view the mission “as a target of opportunity.”
Which brings us to the mission itself. President Trump called the National Guard to Washington to address what he called a “crime emergency.” West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey was among the first to send our state’s citizen soldiers, saying, “West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital.”
So, Morrisey wholeheartedly believed in the mission and wanted to support Trump, so he used his authority as governor to order our citizen soldiers to Washington. Morrisey has continued to stress, at nearly every press availability that the Guard members volunteered for the D.C. duty. Yes, but it was Morrisey’s decision to send them out-of-state on what was an ill-defined mission.
Yes, crime is a problem in Washington, as it is in most major cities, but statistics undermine Trump’s claim of a “crime emergency.” Additionally, sending in the Guard blurred the normally distinct lines between civilian law enforcement and the military.
As is often the case, politicians and sunshine patriots like to be at the front of the parade when soldiers are marching off into the unknown. Mission creep was inevitable, as some Guard members were assigned to pick up trash and spread mulch. Were they there to enforce the law or were they put in the unenviable position of serving as political props? As Juliette Kayyem wrote in The Atlantic, “There are costs to performatively deploying members of the military–one of which is the risk of endangering them.”
Earlier, in a court fight in West Virginia over the deployment, Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Richard Lindsay ruled that Morrisey had the authority to send the troops. Legally, Morrisey is responsible for the deployment.
Thus, this fact: Had Governor Morrisey NOT sent the West Virginia National Guard to Washington, Beckstrom would be alive, and Wolfe would not be fighting for his life. That may seem harsh, but true leadership brings with it not only the accolades that accompany power and success, but also the tremendous burden of life-altering decisions.
Dwight Eisenhower said, “Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.”
Again, the shooter is the person directly responsible for the dastardly attack on West Virginia’s soldiers. But Governor Morrisey, as the commander of the West Virginia National Guard, is responsible for sending our citizen soldiers on a dubious mission.