Al Jazeera Podcasts.

Today, U.S. troops are being forced to confront protesters exercising their constitutional rights.

For a lot of veterans, they see a country that might be moving away from even being

a constitutional democracy anymore. What happens when those in uniform are ordered to confront

the very people they swore to protect? I'm Manuel Rapalo, and this is the take.

U.S. President Donald Trump has sent U.S. Marines and National Guard into Los Angeles against California Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes.

700 Marines are being sent to the battle on the streets now heading for the courts.

A furious California is suing the administration.

Newsom saying Donald Trump's violation of the U.S. Constitution is an overstep of his authority.

We will not let this stand.

Until now, these troops have faced thousands of demonstrations, protesting immigration raids,

sometimes head on.

A federal judge has already ruled the deployment of the National Guard as illegal.

But that ruling was put on pause by a federal appeals court. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeseth says troops in LA are lawful and could remain

on the ground for 60 days. But some have concerns. They've been tasked with defending the United

States, but is pointing a gun at someone practicing their constitutional

right to demonstrate on U.S. soil what they signed up to do.

There's a hotline for that, a hotline for service members with those kinds of questions,

and it's recently seen an uptick in calls.

GI rights hotline. This is Steve. Steve Wolford answers those calls.

He's a counselor for the GI Rights Hotline, a nonprofit that helps members of the military understand their rights.

And we got them on the line to talk about just that.

...