I volunteer so long as I get to play as a member of the Ohio National Guard.
Kent State....
Two little known facts.
Student Chrissie Hynde was watching the protest. Yes, later became the famous singer of the Pretenders. She thought she heard firecrackers. And the Guardsmen “looked about 19 like us.”
Also Gerald Casale who later was the bass player and singer in Devo was observing. Later came over to see exit wounds in Jeffrey Miller and Allison Krause who had been his friends.
No you don't. The Ohio NG, IIRC, was an assemblage of ill-trained weekend warriors with poor leadership. I doubt the rules of engagement were fully disseminated to the soldiers.
I wasn't an infantry officer, but one of my extra duties was titled "Augmentation Reserve Force Commander", basically a platoon leader of 40 soldiers formed to support a local Nike Hercules battery should terrorists attack. We issued live ammunition before leaving the motor pool. I was involved with six of these "ARFs", and I gave refresher training to my Air Defense Artillery soldiers.
The point I'm trying to make is I made sure my soldiers understood the rules of engagement, and what to expect. It takes on an entirely different dimension when live ammunition is issued. My soldiers were great, there were no accidents or rounds discharged during any of those exercises, which took place during Nuclear Surety Inspections, a rather tense environment.