Seven Texas National Guard members just got sent packing for not meeting military weight standards after social media erupted over photos of some less-than-fit troops deployed to Illinois.
This story, boiling down to a clash of military readiness and political maneuvering, centers on the Texas National Guard’s deployment to Chicago, a fiery push for stricter standards from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and legal battles over domestic troop use during President Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, as News4SA reports.
Let’s start with the spark: images of overweight Texas National Guard members in Illinois hit social media, and the backlash was swift and merciless.
Turns out, during a pre-mission check, the Texas National Guard flagged seven service members as unfit for duty due to weight issues.
Those troops were promptly replaced and returned to their home base, no questions asked, as the Guard aimed to uphold its standards.
Meanwhile, 200 Texas National Guardsmen were dispatched to Chicago—often dubbed the Windy City—to support ICE officers during a 60-day mission under U.S. Northern Command.
Another 500 troops from Texas and Illinois were stationed mostly at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, with a smaller group at an ICE facility in Broadview.
But this deployment isn’t just about boots on the ground—it’s tangled in a broader political fight over President Trump’s decision to send Guard units to Democrat-led cities, claiming crime justifies the move despite shaky stats.
Enter Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who’s been preaching a “warrior ethos” since taking office, starting with a no-nonsense stance on physical fitness.
At a meeting in Quantico, VA, with top military brass, Hegseth unveiled a 10-point plan to overhaul standards, including mandatory fitness tests for all ranks and a single, tough benchmark for combat roles—meaning women might face steeper hurdles. “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it...that is not the intent, but it could be the result,” Hegseth declared (via X).
Well, that’s a bold line in the sand, but isn’t readiness the point of a fighting force, not checking boxes for optics?
On the legal front, things got messy when Federal Judge April Perry temporarily blocked the Illinois deployment for two weeks, arguing there’s no proof of a “danger of rebellion” to warrant military involvement.
An appeals court hit pause on the case soon after, allowing federal control of the troops but barring them from patrolling or protecting federal property until further arguments. Judge Perry’s opinion leaned on history, even citing the Federalist Papers, to question the need for military intervention when, as she put it, “Resort to the military to execute the laws is not called for” (Federal Judge April Perry).
Sorry, Your Honor, but with arrests and deportations reportedly spiking, doesn’t that suggest federal agents need all the backup they can get, not less?
