Keep the Guard Home! It's the Law.

"Bring the Guard Home! It's the Law" is a national movement of state campaigns like Maryland's Keep the Guard Home to end the unlawful overseas deployment of our National Guard.

State campaigns are active in Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, Virginia, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Washington D.C., Washington, Wisconsin, and new states are joining all the time.

Keep the Guard Home, formerly Bring the Guard Home
PeaceAction Montgomery Position Statement

What we want:

We Ask Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to Uphold the Constitution and Keep the Maryland Guard Home.

It is past time to insist that the Maryland National Guard be used for the purpose stated in the Constitution and no other. We ask Governor Martin O'Malley to review the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, the legal justification for sending our National Guard members to Iraq, and then to refuse to federalize any more Maryland Guard members except for legal purposes. That is, we ask Governor O'Malley to uphold the law of our land.

Background:

Over 1,300 Maryland Army National Guard and 250 Maryland Air National Guard personnel were deployed to Iraq in 2007; altogether, 5,900 Maryland National Guard members have been called up since September 2001. Their deployment caused financial and emotional suffering and disruption to their families and impaired our state's ability to respond to emergencies. Moreover, their deployment was illegal.

Get Involved:

Go here to read about the legal argument and learn about our 2009 campaign. To get involved in our campaign to Keep the Maryland Guard Home, visit this page.

Jean Athey discusses the Bring the Guard Home campaign at The National Press Club:

© Peace Action Montgomery 2009