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By Adam Kinzinger
Former U.S. Representative
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For more than two decades, I wore the uniform of the United States. I served in the United States Air Force and the Wisconsin Air National Guard, deployed overseas, flew missions on our southern and northern borders and stood shoulder to shoulder with Americans from every background and political perspective. I also served in Congress, charged with civilian oversight of the very institution I was part of. Those two roles taught me something essential about the strength of our military and National Guard: they belong to the country, not to any politician.
When I reported for Guard duty while serving in Congress, I didn’t show up as “Congressman Kinzinger.” I showed up as just another member of my unit. No one cared how I voted, what cable news I watched, or what party I belonged to. I had a job to do, a mission to execute and a team depending on me. Politics stayed at the door—where it belonged.
That ethic is not accidental. It is one of the most important guardrails of American democracy. Our military and National Guard are trusted precisely because they are professional, nonpartisan and committed to service—not political agendas. But today, that norm is under strain.
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In recent years, we’ve seen the National Guard and even the broader Armed Forces increasingly pulled into partisan theater. Politicians have treated deployments as political stunts. Military imagery has been used for messaging rather than mission. And Guard units have been redirected away from their communities for reasons that have little to do with public safety and everything to do with politics.
That’s why Country First, the nonprofit I founded, is launching Reveille & Rally, a seven-figure national education campaign running throughout 2026 to warn against the political misuse of the National Guard and U.S. military.
The Guard has been there when Americans needed help most—responding to floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters. The military has protected our freedoms abroad, freedoms sometimes we take for granted. The Guard and our Armed Forces don’t ask who you voted for before rescuing you from a flooded home or clearing debris after a storm. But when politicians misuse the Guard for partisan purposes, communities are left vulnerable when disaster strikes and the Guard isn’t there to answer the call.
Politicizing the military is not just bad governance—it’s dangerous for the country. It erodes public trust, undermines civilian control, dishonors service members and weakens one of America’s most respected institutions.
And the danger doesn’t stop there.
In recent years, some public officials have floated or embraced the idea of using the National Guard or even the military to “secure” polling places. Let’s be absolutely clear: in America, we do not send troops to guard ballot boxes. We do not deploy soldiers to watch voting lines. And we do not normalize stationing armed forces at polling places on Election Day.
That is what authoritarian regimes do—not constitutional democracies.
Our elections have always been administered by civilians: local election officials, volunteer poll workers and community members. When you replace these community members with uniformed troops, you are no longer protecting democracy—you are using the uniform to intimidate. Even the presence of armed forces near polling locations can suppress turnout, especially among communities that already feel targeted or marginalized.
The role of the military is to defend democracy, not oversee it. Once that line is crossed, it is extraordinarily difficult to redraw.
The oath we swear in uniform is not to a politician. It is to the Constitution. Upholding that oath means keeping our Armed Forces above politics, preserving civilian oversight, and ensuring the National Guard is always ready to serve the communities that rely on it.
As we look toward 2026 and beyond, the risk of politicizing the military has never been higher. But we have an opportunity to stand up for what makes America different. The National Guard and U.S. military belong to the people.
Adam Kinzinger is a political commentator, former Congressman and United States Air Force and Air National Guard officer, and founder of the nonprofit Country First.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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