Pentagon letter reveals Old Guard armed with bayonets, live ammunition during Washington protests

Members of the Old Guard – a historic United States military regiment stationed in Washington – were issued live ammunition and bayonets last week, the Pentagon has revealed in a letter.

Dated June 10, the letter, which was written by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley in response to a request from Democratic Representative Adam Smith, noted that while none of the weapons distributed were loaded or made ready, the Old Guard Commander still directed the issuance of bayonets in scabbards – as well as limited amounts of ammunition – to the soldiers.

Esper and Milley, in the letter, noted that this distribution of ammunition and weaponry was ordered in order to prepare the Old Guard for their potential deployment in the ongoing protests in the capital.

According to a report by Bloomberg, as many as 800 members of the Old Guard were put on alert, as stated in the letter to the House Armed Services Committee.

Officially known as the 3rd Infantry Regiment, the Fort Myer-based Old Guard is the Army’s oldest active-duty unit. While the regiment mostly performs ceremonial duties, such as escorting the president and providing round-the-clock security to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the unit’s mission also includes providing security for Washington, D.C., especially in times of national emergency or civil disturbances, as is the case with the ongoing protests and riots.

In addition to supplying the Old Guard with weapons and ammunition, as well as placing them on alert for possible deployment, soldiers from the U.S. Military’s 82nd Airborne Division – all of whom were armed with riot gear and fixed bayonets – were also put on standby.

Military aircraft were also ordered to fly above the nation’s capital as a “show of force” against the demonstrators and rioters, according to two Department of Defense officials.

According to the officials, the U.S. military and the National Guard are operating under “Operation Themis” – named after Themis, who, in Ancient Greek mythology, was the Titaness of divine law and order and whose symbols are the scales of justice.

Trump wanted to deploy helicopters against protesters

Aside from deploying armed soldiers, President Donald J. Trump also wants to use heavy machinery against the protesters and rioters in order to quell the violence and restore peace across the country, several Defense officials said.

An unnamed senior White House official noted that Trump wanted to make the aggressive action in Washington – in which law enforcement officers pelted protesters and rioters with pepper balls and gas as they marched toward the White House – an example for the rest of the country. (Related: Trump to U.S. governors: “Toughen up, control riots”.)

President Trump previously threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 in order to send active-duty troops into states currently marred by violent protests spurred by the death of George Floyd, a black civilian who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis.

Defense Secretary Esper, however, said he does not support using the military to contain the ongoing street protests.

Esper, in a statement, said the Insurrection Act, which would allow the President to use the country’s military for law enforcement purposes, should only be invoked during the “most urgent and dire of situations.”

“We are not in one of those situations now,” assured Esper, who authorized the transfer of some 1,600 active-duty soldiers to military bases just outside the nation’s capital earlier this month.

Uprising.news has the latest updates on the ongoing engineered riots across the United States.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.com

APNews.com

PennLive.com

DailyMail.co.uk

CBSNews.com

BusinessInsider.com