‘The damage is done’: Mobile veteran draws on deployment experience after West Virginia guardsmen shot in D.C.

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Two West Virginia National Guard members were critically wounded in a shooting just blocks from the White House, prompting the Trump administration to announce plans to send another 500 National Guard troops to the nation’s capital.

The shooting occurred as chaos erupted in Washington, where National Guard troops have been deployed since August under President Trump’s emergency order as part of his crackdown on street crime and immigration enforcement.

A week ago, 160 West Virginia Guard members volunteered to extend their deployment until the end of the year.

Joseph Daniels, a retired command sergeant major who served 30 years in the National Guard, said unpredictable threats can still arise despite increased security presence.

“You know, the damage is done. It don’t matter how many troops or how many police you put in an area, all it takes is one hot head who wants to take it out on a uniform whether it’s a police officer or a national guardsman or a soldier, sailor, marine, whatever,” Daniels said.

Daniels, who is based in Mobile, recalled his own deployments to other cities, many of which were for natural disasters.

“We just went down and tried to secure the worst places that got hit, until the local law enforcement could get back on their feet and take the job back off from us and then we would be relieved and come back to home station, in my case was Fort Whiting here in Mobile,” Daniels said.

More than 300 West Virginia National Guard members were part of the deployment, which includes a joint task force made up of troops from Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio and D.C.

The soldiers have patrolled neighborhoods, train stations and other locations, even participating in trash pickup.

The shooting comes just weeks before the extended deployed soldiers were expected to return home.

The Trump administration filed an emergency motion asking a federal appeals court to block a judge’s ruling from last week that ordered an end to the National Guard’s deployment in D.C.

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