(Reporter's Notebook by Steven Allen Adams - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

I was very pleased last Monday to hear Gov. Patrick Morrisey say that the decision to leave behind a volunteer contingent of West Virginia National Guard members was his.

“I made the decision to have the word come down that we would ask the people if they wanted to volunteer,” Morrisey said during his first press conference with West Virginia media since the shooting on Nov. 26 of two Guard members during their Washington, D.C., deployment by an Afghan national, one of whom died.

I was pleased because the weekend after the shooting, a number of social media posts were made on the governor’s accounts that appeared to be trying to distance Morrisey from the decision-making process that led those two Guard members to volunteer to stay, as well as setting up strawman arguments.

“President Trump’s mission to clean up the nation’s capital city was good– and it worked! I’m proud we played a major role in making that happen,” Morrisey posted on X on Nov. 30. “But even more importantly, I’m proud that over 160 WV National Guardsmen VOLUNTEERED to remain on this mission when their time was up. Everyone remaining is a Volunteer and a hero for stepping up!

“If you are not all in for the WV Guardsmen who defended our nation’s capital city, who did nothing but protect DC from crime, then YOU are the problem,” Morrisey tweeted on Nov. 28. “Our Guardsmen were brave and have done everything to defend your freedoms and protect the homeland from evildoers — can we at least unite against cold blooded murder or is that too much??? Let’s stop the insanity and protect our country.”

In Morrisey’s defense, I do not think he understood how these statements sounded when read out loud or how they would be interpreted by others. It was never in doubt that the 170 remaining West Virginia National Guard members as of Nov. 17 were volunteers, with the rest of the approximately 400 guard members returning to West Virginia after first being deployed to D.C. in August on the order of Morrisey – the commander-in-chief of the West Virginia National Guard – at the request of President Donald Trump to help quell crime in the nation’s capital.

Yes, the remaining West Virginia National Guard force volunteered to remain in D.C. through Dec. 31 and possibly longer. The West Virginia National Guard confirmed as much in a Nov. 18 press release.

“Governor Patrick Morrisey has authorized WVNG members to volunteer for continued service in the nation’s capital in support of President Trump’s initiative and will re-evaluate extending the mission every quarter through the end of Fiscal Year 2026.”

It is unclear how those Guard members self-selected for volunteer duty, though WVNG Adj. Gen. James Seward said it was likely through a survey by the local commander. But there would have been no need for the late Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, currently in critical condition, to volunteer if they were not authorized by Gov. Morrisey to do so. Nor would they be in D.C. at all except for Morrisey answering Trump’s request – not order – for states to send Guard members to D.C. back in August.

Also, I think one can be very supportive and proud of our Guard members, who by all accounts have comported themselves with honor and deserve praise for stepping, while also being critical of the decision by Morrisey to send the Guard to D.C. Keep in mind, West Virginia was one of five states to send Guard units to D.C., which means many other governors – including Republican governors – decided not to.

Representatives of the Governor’s Office went on a full-court press last Monday emailing multiple reporters – including myself – to stress our Guard members were not doing random odd jobs or beautification projects; that they were on mission patrolling D.C. streets. I take them at their word until presented with other evidence, because it is clear that other Guard members, perhaps from other states, were doing such projects.

This all brought me back to the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Lebanon, which killed 241 members of the U.S. armed forces. President Ronald Reagan had sent in the Marines and other forces in 1982 as a peacekeeping force (I wonder if they conducted “static and roving presence patrols”). By 1984, those troops were removed from Lebanon.

In a statement two months after the bombing, Reagan took full responsibility for what was revealed to be lax security protocols at the Marine Corps barracks.

“If there is to be blame,” Reagan said in a United Press International story at the time, “it properly rests here in this office and with this president. And I accept responsibility for the bad as well as the good.”

Whether we’re talking about a volunteer force or not, the buck stops with Morrisey.

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We also still do not know how Morrisey and the Governor’s Office came by the information on Nov. 26 when they released a statement saying both Beckstrom and Wolfe were dead, which was walked back nearly 30 minutes later. Matthew Young and I (on behalf of the Charleston Gazette-Mail) both asked Morrisey about this and where the information came from.

“The process is that we try to get as much information as we can, accurate information from the most credible sources, a variety of sources,” Morrisey said. “In this case, that information was incorrect, and then within 20 minutes, we changed it.”

I really think it is important to know where that information came from. No doubt that in the early moments after that shooting that information was likely chaotic and accidents can happen. But the public should know where the communication breakdown was.

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December legislative interim meetings began Sunday and continue through Tuesday, and with that came several political fundraisers much to the chagrin of lobbyists who got inundated with invitations to Republicans running for re-election to the House of Delegates next year.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Sunday saw fundraisers for Del. Jimmy Willis, R-Brooke; Del. Mark Zatezalo, R-Hancock; and Del. Erica Moore, R-Roane. Del. Josh Holstein, R-Boone, is having a fundraiser Monday night (Holstein is also chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party). Also having a fundraiser Monday is Del. Mike Hornby, R-Berkeley.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.