I will be hosting a screening for the documentary “What I Want You to Know” on Thursday, December 21st at 6:30pm. This film is a series of interviews from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, telling their stores about why they enlisted, what they experienced, and how their opinions about the wars shifted over the course of their service.
I was connected with the director through the chair of NH SVAC (the State Veterans Advisory Committee) after I tried to convince them to change their position on Defend the Guard. It resonated with me, deeply, and I wrote a multi-page email to the team behind the film with a list of bullet points of how my deployment experiences related to the stories being told. I asked how I could help spread the message, and they offered me the opportunity to host a screening!
With the upcoming floor vote (and hopefully subsequent Senate hearing/vote) on Defend the Guard, this is a great opportunity for synergy between this film and legislation in New Hampshire. After the movie I’ll be explaining what we can all do to push back against the DC war machine, and protect the next generation from repeating the mistakes of the last two decades.
For those that don’t know me, I’m a Marine Corps infantry veteran with two combat deployments to Iraq. This experience has turned me into a vehement anti-war advocate as I don’t believe that United States’ foreign policy has made us safer, and all the death we’ve caused across the planet has, in fact, increased hatred towards our nation. Following from those wars, the United States fought on the same sides as Al-Qaida in various regime change operations in the middle east during the Arab Spring, trained individuals in Syria that eventually left to help form ISIS, and are assisting the Saudis in the genocide of the Houthis in Yemen. Not one of these actions has made us safer and will breed the next generation of terrorists across the globe.
The 2001 AUMF is still in effect, over a decade after bin Laden was killed, and is currently being used as justification for regime change in the African country of Niger. Senator Rand Paul tried to end or fix the AUMF in various ways twice this year, both times failing to get more than 11 votes. Waiting for the House and Senate to correct the massive mistake they made in 2001 by handing unlimited unilateral military power to the Executive Branch is a waste of time.
As such, I’ve devised as best a shield as possible to protect the next generation from being drafted and sent to these unconstitutional military conflicts, borrowing language from sanctuary state policies combined with the exception baked into Defend the Guard. This has culminated in what I like to refer to as Selective Service Sanctuary State legislation.
This simply states that New Hampshire law enforcement will not cooperate with Federal agencies in the locating, apprehension, or transportation of individuals failing to register or show for selective service call ups, unless Congress formally declares war or the homeland is invaded.
I have several Republicans co-sponsoring, and I’m reaching across the aisle to try and get this as an even R/D split. Pushing back against the ravenous military industrial complex, which is profiting off the deaths of our youth, is a nonpartisan issue.
It will leave with “no recommendation” but the first motion on the House floor will be Ought to Pass.
The entire working/executive session is available on YouTube.
As before, the amount of those speaking against was fewer than those speaking in support, and towards the end I ask the room to raise their hand if they supported the bill. The response was a sea of raised hands.
I had many, many questions for the SVAC representation, and had to call it quits before I managed to lose support from my own committee for going on too long.
This is exciting news for Defend the Guard, and I will be speaking in support from the well when it hits the floor. I want to thank all of you for your support, phone calls, emails, and coming out to testify, you moved the needle for sure.
I went to Porcfest this summer and was interviewed by Derek Proulx about HB229 – Defend the Guard. We talked about our history in service to the United States and how we both came to the same conclusion – the United States no longer wages war for the betterment of its citizens, but to advance the goals of the military industrial complex.
Starts at my testimony, rewind for entire bill hearing.
Thank you mister chair, and members of the committee. My name is Tom Mannion, I’m representing Hillsborough District 1, Pelham. I’m a Marine Corps infantry veteran that enlisted in 2004 to hunt down those responsible for 9/11. However, I didn’t even get the chance to do that. Like all service members, I went where I was told, even though I didn’t completely understand why. You’re going to hear counter arguments today, but take it from an enlisted grunt that has been knocked onto my ass into Iraqi dirt by a VBIED, there’s nothing that can convince me to continue sending our guardsmen into harm’s way without going through the correct process.
My first deployment to Iraq started in August of 2005. One of the guys in my platoon was from New Orleans and learned about Hurricane Katrina over a satellite phone call back home. He was raised by his grandmother, and she was alone during the catastrophe. We gave him our allotted sat phone time to make calls to neighbors and to make sure she got out safely. It wasn’t until years later I found out that the Louisiana National Guard was deployed to Iraq right around the same time we were. The Department of Defense sent active duty Marine Corps infantry battalions to help with Katrina, using warfighters to fulfill the mission objectives of search-and-rescue guardsmen.
The motto of the National Guard is “Always Ready, Always There,” but the operations supporting unconstitutional wars prevents them from fulfilling this. Florida national guardsmen were training Ukrainian soldiers instead of helping with hurricane disaster relief, fires in Oregon were left to spread because their guard was in Afghanistan. Kentucky guardsmen were in Syria, protecting the interests of oil companies instead of aiding their neighbors back home when tornadoes devastated communities.
This committee was briefed by the Adjutant General just last week, where he said over 300 of our New Hampshire Guardsmen were deployed to the middle east right now. Imagine if we got smashed by a Nor’easter and needed those 300 soldiers here to assist our families and neighbors. They would not be there, instead they are off supporting an unconstitutional, undeclared war.
Another terrible consequence of these unending wars is the mental and emotional toll on our servicemembers. Again, as this committee was briefed last week, New Hampshire is one of the states with the highest suicide rate among veterans. This is a serious problem that we, in this legislature, can combat by passing HB229. Force Congress to do their Constitutional duty, to risk the ire of their constituents by voting for these nonsense wars that do nothing to protect us at home, before committing the lives of our guardsmen. These men and women signed up to defend us, the least we can do is vote OTP to show we are defending them.
I’m happy to answer your questions.
Representative Tom Mannion
Hillsborough 1 – Pelham
State Representative – Hillsborough County District 01 (Pelham)
Tom Mannion for New Hampshire 