Letter: Guard members didn’t sign up for this

<p><strong>To the editor:</strong></p><p>Gov. Eric Holcomb is sending members of the Indiana National Guard into nursing homes to help overworked staff care for their residents. If I was a member of the Guard, or had a son who was, I would vigorously protest. People who volunteer for military service expect to risk their lives in combat, if necessary, but I doubt that any of them volunteered to risk their lives in a hot pot of viral disease. Not all Guard members are youngsters, and all who will serve in nursing homes risk carrying the virus back to their family and friends.</p><p>If Holcomb wants to help nursing homes he should dip into the billion-dollar rainy day fund the state is protecting and allow the nursing homes to hire more staff. That would also allow them to pay their current staff for overtime work. This is just another case of Republicans placing money over people.</p><p><p><strong>Jim Curry</strong></p><p><p><strong>Franklin</strong></p>