>Hurricane Helene was the deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland United States since Katrina in 2005, devastating the American southeast with close to $80 billion in estimated damages and killing 219 people. >In Tennessee, which saw severe flooding in its most eastern counties and suffered 18 deaths, more than 580 Tennessee National Guardsmen were mobilized >Simultaneously, 700 Tennessee National Guardsmen were beginning their mobilization for a year-long deployment 7,000 miles away. >Members of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Tennessee’s largest Guard unit, left for Fort Bliss, Texas on September 28, the day after Hurricane Helene hit their home state. Weeks later, they completed their transition to the Middle East where they’re currently participating in Operation Spartan Shield. >The side-by-side headlines provoked a storm of outrage on social media. “A third of the state is currently underwater. Why are they being shipped overseas instead of being deployed to help their own people?” asked Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist. >Steve Cortes, a media commentator and former spokesman for Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns, posted “Ok, we have a MAJOR storm event in parts of Eastern Tennessee…and we are sending troops to help ultra-wealthy countries in the Persian Gulf?!” Cortes asked Governor Bill Lee to “reverse this decision, please,” but once a National Guard unit has been mobilized by the president under Title 10, it’s out of the governor’s hands. >But new legislation introduced in Tennessee and dozens of other states this year seeks to prevent future National Guard deployments of this nature and to reorient the federal government’s priorities back to the United States. . . [Archive](https://archive.today/XPTJI)