Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Virginia Army National Guard Switches from Red to Blue

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by

Bob Rayner
in ,


by Thomas. M. Moncure Jr.

Confederate statues have come down and in some cases – to assure they will never rise again – have been melted down. Schools and roads have been purged of Confederate references. Army bases likewise are renamed in this cultural cleansing. This rewriting of history – Soviet style – would make Joseph Stalin proud. This eradication of one of the most significant events in American history – the formation of the Confederate States of America – has been done more swiftly and with greater success than even George Orwell might have envisioned.

Even symbols must be dispatched down the memory hole. The old unit patch of the Virginia Army National Guard (above left) showed a spear cutting thru the chain of tyranny in a St. Andrews Cross on a field of red. This is a subtle but somewhat obvious nod to the Confederate Battle Flag; any vague resemblance to anything Confederate must be purged.

The new National Guard patch shows Virtue over the dead body of Tyranny, imitating the Seal of Virginia on a blue field. Symbols do underlie and emphasize political realities. In addition to removing Confederate taint, the Guard has -intentionally or not – fallen in with the transition of the partisan makeup of the General Assembly. As Virginia has gone from Red to Blue, so has the Guard.

Thomas Moncure lives in Colonial Beach. He is an attorney and former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates. 

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59 responses to “Virginia Army National Guard Switches from Red to Blue”

  1. Chip Avatar
    Chip

    Well written post, Sir. Unfortunately, a continuation of the rapid decay and Marxist transformation of a Nation and Commonwealth. I can only wonder, by what authority and direction did this change occur? With the Governor of Virginia in charge of the Guard, was there some form of “vote” to rebrand? Did the Governor consent? Are we certain that the “new” patch does not portray Tyranny standing upon the dead body of Virginia? Remembering that far left democrats will always project an image of themselves which is the opposite of what they actually represent.

  2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    “This is a subtle but somewhat obvious nod to the Confederate Battle Flag; any vague resemblance to anything Confederate must be purged.”

    Sorry, we Progressives didn’t realize that obvious symbols of lost armed rebellion against our country were still part of your heritage…. alas…

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      So, are “we” progressives planning a take down of the capital block by block? Too many reminders of the 1860s? Losing sleep over it?
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51cc5a5e5047cf970e6a43a818f58b3d851a439afe729780d0c9315112dedf42.jpg

    2. Chip Gibson Avatar
      Chip Gibson

      The subtle but somewhat obvious position of progressives is that they have neither Country nor Heritage – only a self-serving hunger to destroy both, along with actual history and the history of those who made history.

      1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        Sorry but the Confederate Battle Flag is not symbolic of either Country nor Heritage of the United States of America.

        1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          Surely you are aware that the flag of the United States flew over the institution of slavery for 79 years? Flew over endless Indian Wars? Flew over the period of imperialism? Flew over the Manzanar Internment Camp? Does this trouble you? Should it be replaced with something more acceptable to your progressive sensibilities?
          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/891ea4d88f037f17834c0a7066d77dda7b29f39dd03833d772d92105a6e48ad5.jpg

        2. Chip Gibson Avatar
          Chip Gibson

          True. The Confederate Battle Flag, by its very nature and acknowledged name, was a flag carried into battle by Confederate Regiments.

    3. Marty Chapman Avatar
      Marty Chapman

      Eric, you sell yourself short. Clearly, you are a a full troll!

  3. James Kiser Avatar
    James Kiser

    Waiting for the woke who run the military to change the 29ths historic patch.

  4. Donald Smith Avatar
    Donald Smith

    You should read Part 3 of the final report of Congress’ Naming Commission. The commission scoured every unit patch and crest for any sign of possible ties to, or even hints of, the Confederacy.

    I guess some people are easily triggered by just about anything nowadays.

    1. Donald Smith Avatar
      Donald Smith

      Having said that, it is unfair to blame the Guard, or the Army, for this.

      Congress created the Naming Commission. The commission made its recommendations, including the one about unit patches like these. Congress adopted all of them and directed the Secretary of Defense to implement them.

  5. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Many years ago, when I was in the Division of Legislative Services, Tom Moncure was on at least one of the committees I staffed. He is a delightful person—funny, erudite, and charming. Alas, however, like many, he is still rooted in the romanticism of the Lost Cause.

    The new shoulder insignia was authorized by the Institute of Heraldry within the U.S. Department of Defense. https://tioh.army.mil/Catalog/Heraldry.aspx?HeraldryId=10241&CategoryId=5766&grp=2&menu=Uniformed%20Services&ps=24&p=0 The blue background is not supposed to be representative of the state’s new political leaning, but is “from the uniform of George Washington.” According to the Virginia National Guard, the state crest “has been featured on Virginia National Guard regimental unit colors since World War I.” https://va.ng.mil/News/Photo-Gallery/igphoto/2002865049/ The crest has now been moved from the colors to the shoulder patch, as well. “This new insignia is a better representation of Virginia National Guard history with colors linked to the Continental Army and
    our nation’s fight for independence during the Revolutionary War,” explained Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia. https://va.ng.mil/News/Article/2794309/ceremony-introduces-new-virginia-national-guard-hqs-shoulder-patch/

    After all, it seems that it would be better to be associated with an army that won than with one
    that lost and no longer exists.

    1. Thomas Carter Avatar
      Thomas Carter

      The “romanticism of the Lost Cause” is, in some measure, all that keeps that important chapter in our history in the public eye today.

      1. Not Today Avatar
        Not Today

        And not in a good way.

        1. Thomas Carter Avatar
          Thomas Carter

          History is history.

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      Nationwide, we are 41,000 soldiers, sailors, and airmen short for 2023. The state guard is also having trouble meeting recruitment and retention goals. The reserves are even offering a 20 grand signing bonus. What is it with Gen Z? Why won’t they serve? They have made it clear they will resist the draft. It is too bad that changing badges, pins, flags, and names will have little effect on this dilemma.

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        The CCP’s TikTok has them in its thrall…

    3. Chip Gibson Avatar
      Chip Gibson

      I have been curious these past few years of divisive destruction from within of the bold inconsistencies of progressives…those who find themselves unable to cope with the resounding defeats suffered by a Northern Army at the hands of an inferior (in all numerical and material regards…but perhaps superior in the intangible regards) Militia Army raised to defend Virginia and the Confederacy. History is history. Twisting with clever terms such as “romanticism” is a clear sign that no factual or logical foundation for argument exists.

      If this is your sole argument…”romanticism”, why then has the name of the Commonwealth remained Virginia? Virginia, a name to honor an English monarch…the monarchy of an Empire which was defeated by the 13 Colonies in a quest for freedom. Romanticism of a lost English cause at the hands of our singularly righteous American forefathers? Should not “Virginia” be purged from the historical record? What of Jamestown….Williamsburg….the many Virginia counties named for English Monarchs. Erase them all, for the English were on the side of a “romantic colonial lost cause”.

    4. kls Avatar
      kls

      Love being associated with a group that won its independence to own slaves and to subjugate all those enslaving Indian tribes.

      1. Chip Gibson Avatar
        Chip Gibson

        ….1833…now SW Oklahoma…Osage war party raids Kiowa village, a massacre of 150 women, children, and elderly…beheaded and dismembered. Several children taken as hostages. The Kiowa warriors were away raiding the Ute tribe, unable to defend their own village.

        A few years later, the Cheyenne and Arapaho arrived, attacking Kiowa and Commanche camps in the same area…many tribe members slaughtered while picking berries along the creek bed. The carnage continued throughout the remainder of the day. 3 days later, a U.S. Cavalry Detachment witnessed the scene of Kiowa and Comanche bodies strewn across the plains, while they escorted Osage Chiefs to a planned council with the Kiowa.

        More history. Or, we can erase this as well.

        1. kls Avatar
          kls

          Ahhhhhhh.. the NOBLE native Americans.. i can see why the USMIL has named its Army airframes after such great warriors.

        2. kls Avatar
          kls

          Ahhhhhhh.. the NOBLE native Americans.. i can see why the USMIL has named its Army airframes after such great warriors.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            I cannot for the life of me understand why there is no Fort Rommel.

          2. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Or Arnold or Custer for that matter.

          3. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            To be fair, Arnold’s boot statue still remains. As it is viewed as the only loyal part of him.

    5. Donald Smith Avatar
      Donald Smith

      “After all, it seems that it would be better to be associated with an army that won than with one that lost and no longer exists.”

      It appears that many progressives (and Democrats) are unconcerned that their actions and snippy comments might be perceived as an insult by a segment of American society (descendants of Confederate soldiers) that has reliably provided an outsized proportion of soldiers to the modern U.S. Army.

      Changing some base names is one thing. Scourging every unit patch and crest, ripping down street signs, taking portraits out of museums and libraries and prying up bricks from memorial walks reeks of pettiness and a mean spirit. (It also might make some of our adversaries wonder if wokeness really has overwhelmed the U.S. military).

      If today’s Democrats and progressives have decided that white rural Southerners are no longer to be respected in today’s military, then don’t be surprised if the number of white rural Southerners willing to be “bulletcatchers” or “doorkickers” (euphemisms for infantrymen) diminishes. I’m sure progressives and SJWs will step up to fill the ranks.

      Which, to be fair, is the U.S. military’s right. It has the right to make that choice. And, there are consequences to all choices.

      1. Matt Adams Avatar
        Matt Adams

        We shouldn’t take much credence to the opinions of draft dodgers.

        They were to cowardice to fight then and they surely are just as cowardice now.

      2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        So your position is that unless the US Military pays homage to the very army that fought against it in armed rebellion and killed some 300,000 of its soldiers, then the descendants of those rebels many times removed will refuse to serve going forward? Welp, if those are the terms (they are not, you know…) then I say “pass”…

        1. Donald Smith Avatar
          Donald Smith

          Go ahead and say “pass.” And, the progressives and SJW can pick up a rifle and stand a post. Also, Southerners have done a lot more for the U.S. military than progressives and SJWs.

          1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            Not every Southerner has an obsession with perpetuating the Lost Cause narrative. In fact Southern Blacks and immigrants serve disproportionately higher when compared with other ethnicities.

            Btw, a 2020 Military Times poll saw a drop from 46 percent in 2017 to 38 percent in 2020, for active-duty personnel favoring a Republican candidate. Also, Jon Soltz, who is an Army vet and founder of VoteVets—a 700,000-member progressive-leaning veterans’ political advocacy organization says that “The idea that veterans and military are heavily Republican is not true anymore.”

            So, actually Progressives are serving and I am perfectly comfortable saying goodbye to those ten soldiers who would leave the military because they are no longer honoring the Confederacy with patches.

          2. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            Rethugs gave away the game when Tubberbutt proclaimed white nationalists were fit for military service and couldn’t distinguish them from any other American.

          3. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            THEY ARE and THEY HAVE always served. PROTIP: Southerner’s aren’t all white and non-white Southerners have different values. Code Talkers, Tuskeegee Airmen, the Go for Broke regiment, Flying Tigers… Tell me again how we’d be where we are without these contributions?

    6. Marty Chapman Avatar
      Marty Chapman

      Here is a question. The “army that won”, the army and the government that it served, what did these organizations do after smashing the Confederacy? Here is an answer. To a large extent they displaced, slaughtered, and subjugated the indigenous tribes of the Great Plains and Southwest. Grant, Sherman, Crook, Sheridan, Custer, Wilson, all played a part.

  6. Rosie Avatar
    Rosie

    Soviet style purge of history? Oh dear! So the Civil War is not taught in schools anymore? History museums are removing all trace of Civil War figures? Battlefields are losing their historical sites?

    What’s that? That’s not happening? We’re just no longer honoring people who fought against the very country these uniforms and military bases serve? Poor baby.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      You beat me to it. All this lament about “erasing history” is just a red herring. No one is trying to “erase” history. The Civil War is still being taught. It is included in Virginia’s SOL. It is being taught in higher education. Here is a sample of courses in the UVa course catalog: “The Coming of the Civil War’ and “The Civil War and Reconstruction.” Libraries are replete with books about the Civil War. Books are being written about the Civil War. Here is a sample list: https://bookauthority.org/books/new-american-civil-war-books

      Choosing not to keep statutes of Confederate generals in places of public honor is not erasing history.

      1. Donald Smith Avatar
        Donald Smith

        “Choosing not to keep statutes of Confederate generals in places of public honor is not erasing history.”

        Do you think the Virginians who fought for the Confederacy are unworthy of public honor? Do you think that the politicians and elites who started the Civil War and the soldiers who fought it are one and the same?

        1. Not Today Avatar
          Not Today

          Do you think the Virginians who fought for the Confederacy are unworthy of public honor?
          YES!

          Do you think that the politicians and elites who started the Civil War and the soldiers who fought it are one and the same?
          NO.

          None are worthy of veneration.

          1. Donald Smith Avatar
            Donald Smith

            Thank you for placing yourself on record. But, I wasn’t asking you.

          2. Donald Smith Avatar
            Donald Smith

            Thank you for placing yourself on record. But, I wasn’t asking you.

          3. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            Here to oblige! ☺️

        2. Matt Adams Avatar
          Matt Adams

          All of their opinions are that if someone served for the Confederacy their deeds prior too and after that Conflict should be erased. No matter how impactful they were for the Nation.

          They all follow presentism.

      2. Thomas Carter Avatar
        Thomas Carter

        It is erasing history. Look at the background behind each of those statues.

    2. Donald Smith Avatar
      Donald Smith

      “Poor baby?” We’re not the ones who are looking at every uniform patch, every unit crest, every street sign on an Army base, every painting in a museum, and even the bricks in memorial walks, for signs of Confederate taint.

      Talk about being easily triggered…

      But hey, it’s obvious y’all really need this. So, I hope you get whatever it is you need.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        No, you just complain about those who do.

        1. Donald Smith Avatar
          Donald Smith

          “No, you just point out those who do, so they can get the derision they deserve.”

          There—fixed it for you.

    3. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Apparently not. I’m sure Nikki went to school.

  7. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    100,000 Southern men fought and many died for the Union. Three thousand from Alabama were Sherman’s personal bodyguard in his March to the Sea.

    Where is their monument?

    Want to read about being “written out of history”?

    https://www.apr.org/news/2023-12-13/new-book-reveals-more-about-alabamas-involvement-with-the-union-during-the-civil-war

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      Oh the history is there. Nobody cares about it though. The ones who did are in the grave. The Loudoun Rangers have a colorful history fighting for Uncle Abe. They are unremembered. Why? They never won a battle. Colonel Elijah White and the 35th Va. Battalion owned the Rangers every time they met.
      https://www.loudounhistory.org/history/loudoun-cw-rangers/

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        And so it should be with all of them. Time to bury the evil with the good.

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      If you flip the coin, you might find the story of Lt. Big Yankee Ames. A New Yorker cavalryman who deserted and joined Mosby’s Rangers. One of Mosby’s key men. If the Yankee’s had just promoted him like Mosby did he might have stayed on.
      https://civilwarchat.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/big-yankee-ames/

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        So… just a self interested seeker of personal promotion. Would make a good GOP presidential candidate.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          That matches up with a demented old coot on the Dem side?

      2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
        Dick Hall-Sizemore

        Then there is Gen. George Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga”, who is reputed to have never lost a battle to the Confederates. He was a Virginian, who decided to stay with the Union Army. Don’t see any statutes to him in Virginia. (Of course, you know about Thomas; you just don’t want to mention him.)

        1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          What made Thomas the “Rock” had more to do with the men he commanded. Loyal George had the most elite midwestern regiments in the Army of Cumberland. They proved it over and over at battles such as Stone’s River and Chickamauga. At Nashville in December of 1864, Thomas outnumbered the bled out half-starved army of Hood nearly 3 to 1. It took him 14 days to decide to attack. The only reason he did attack was when he found out Grant had just left Petersburg to personally relieve Thomas and finish off Hood. Thomas is more than remembered. Heck of a nice statue and circle in DC.
          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d62a4daa739fd489653325199ce328c320894b32b48fdad1f84885a67f08ddfb.jpg

      3. Matt Adams Avatar
        Matt Adams

        Interesting that he points to Sherman, I guess he’s ignoring those war crimes committed during that March to the Sea and to the Native Americans afterwards.

      4. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        You can explain to Matt that in 1865 there were no “war crimes”, especially when compared with slavery.

        Hence “War is Hell”. And well, somebody gotta be the devil.

        1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptxwWt2JeGQ

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            How Peter Max.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0JlLOmphjQ

  8. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    You guys were more fun when Ashcroft was hanging blue curtains on Lady Justice and when Cuccinelli was putting a breast plate on Virtus (an lesser androgynous god)

    The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them. In many of these States the fugitive is discharged from service or labor claimed, and in none of them has the State Government complied with the stipulation made in the Constitution. The State of New Jersey, at an early day, passed a law in conformity with her constitutional obligation; but the current of anti- slavery feeling has led her more recently to enact laws which render inoperative the remedies provided by her own law and by the laws of Congress. In the State of New York even the right of transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals; and the States of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitives charged with murder, and with inciting servile insurrection in the State of Virginia. Thus the constituted compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-
    slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation.

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