Last Monday, Chairman Dan McKnight of Bring Our Troops Home formally submitted a request in both physical and digital form for public records to the Tennessee General Assembly, the Office of the Governor, and the Tennesse Military Department regarding a recent off-the-calendar meeting concerning the “Defend the Guard Act.”

The request seeks copies of communications, notes, agendas, and related documents surrounding a private August 28, 2025 meeting between members of the Tennessee legislature and representatives of the Tennessee Military Department.

The Defend the Guard Act, introduced during the 2025 legislative session as H.B. 129 and S.B. 156, would prohibit the deployment of the Tennessee National Guard into active combat unless Congress has voted to declare war.

The House version of the bill received a March 25 hearing before the Public Service Subcommittee, which voted 4-2 to send the bill into “summer study” session. You can watch the full hearing here.

Rep. Rick Eldridge (R-District 10), who had co-sponsored the bill but reversed his position during the hearing, proposed a summer study which never occurred; in its place was a private, August 28 meeting where members of the legislature in opposition—including Rep. Eldridge—appear to have conspired behind closed doors with military officials to devise talking points against the bill to use in the upcoming session.

“Their constituents deserve to know the truth,” said Dan McKnight. “When the people’s representatives vote for more study, the expectation is a public process, not a backroom meeting designed to kill a bill without accountability. Our request is about pulling back the curtain and letting in some disinfecting sunlight.”

Sgt. Dan McKnight is a thirteen-year veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, with service in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, U.S. Army, and Idaho Army National Guard, including an eighteen-month combat deployment to Afghanistan (2005-2007). 

Bring Our Troops Home intends to make all documentation it receives available to the public.

For more information about the Defend the Guard movement in Tennessee, contact Samantha Baker at samzuk209gmail.com. To interview Dan McKnight about his transparency efforts, contact Hunter DeRensis at hderensis@outlook.com.