Be Wary of Fake National Guard Notice [Opinion]

Late last week many Americans received email and text messages regarding the federal call-up and deployment of the National Guard.

The “fake notice” sent out and then was forwarded to many elected officials, military leaders, current and former members of the Guard, and private citizens across our nation leaving many to wonder what was going on. Some members of the media also bought into the “fake notice.”

First, the Guard remains, for the most part, under the management and control of the governors of the 50 states and four territories. The Guard consists of Army & Air National Guard officers, warrant officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted personnel.

Many of our states also have a State Guard that is pressed into state active duty service in a time of emergency.

During times of peace, the National Guard remains under control of the governors. The governors have a General Officer (usually a two-star General) in charge of the Guard and its state guard and naval forces. Many of America’s Adjutant Generals are battle-tested. A large number also came up through the enlisted ranks.

Across the nation “the fake notice” set off alarms. Phone calls, emails, text messages, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all fell victim to this hoax. At first glance “the fake notice” looks official.

If you don’t know any better you would think it resembles a “Warn Order.” These special orders come from the Pentagon.

Much of this explanation is “inside baseball” and would be telling you how to build a watch when all you asked for is the time.

The Chief of the National Guard Bureau, selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would be pushing out the order to federalize the Guard.

While the President has authorized a call-up of what is known as the Inactive Ready Reserves he has not federalized the Guard beyond the approximately 30,000 serving in harm’s way overseas. The” IRR “ is comprised of men and women who are not on active duty, aren’t members of the Guard or Reserves, they are patriots who served but haven’t completed their military service obligations and are subject to recall.

If an order were to be issued it would not be on watermarked paper with the National Guard logo upon it. Those who served  know what federal and/or state orders look like and as you can see this thing doesn’t look like anything remotely resembling that order or a “Warn Notice.”

Still with this thing making its way around, it has become a distraction. Senators and Congress members are asking their Guard leaders if this is true? State Governors are asking their Adjutant Generals what’s going on? State Legislatures are fielding calls from National Guard members and families, and all that this fake notice is doing is distracting the Guard from doing its mission.

Thousands of National Guard  and State Guard members are being called to state missions by govorners. You see them taking food to seniors  and shut-ins, working in food banks, setting up temporary hospitals, even working at the drive-thru test centers. This “fake notice” hasn’t deterred them for doing their duty. They stand tall and do their duty.

The Guard members you see are truly our hometown heroes. Sadly, one Guard member has already died from the coronavirus. More are testing positive. Hopefully, we won’t see more fatalities among their ranks.

As Americans are in the fight of their lives, we don’t need “fake notices” being made up and then blasted out around the nation. Americans are already scared and the very last thing we need is “fake notices.”

What we should be doing is being laser-focused on fighting the coronavirus and vaccine development. Maybe we should be opening a federal investigation into who perpetuated such a lie and blasted it across America.

Let’s fight the coronavirus with all our might and keep our eye on the ball. Let’s not be distracted by chasing down “fake notices.”