What should be the punishment for the National Guard Soldier?

Courts Martial. They can decide the punishment. It's not a time to joke about such things though (nor was it ever really).

Absolutely. Not something to joke around with.

Heh. This is promising...

http://www.house.ga.gov/Documents/CommitteeDocuments/2014/Code_Of_Military_Justice/FinalReport_2014-Georgia_Code_of_Military_Justice.pdf

Dishonorable discharge. We don't need him in our Army!

Wall to wall counseling in a Conex, followed by a dishonorable discharge. Not only did he disgrace the Guard and the uniform he wears, but he put a lot of needless effort in to combatting something that wasn't there to begin with.

It is clearly a crime of false reporting which caused false panic and uses up resources. If he was off duty, not subject to UCMJ as a Guard member, civil authorities will investigate and press charges accordingly, with appropriate followup administrative action by the Guard. The nature of charges and subsequent trial and punishment would depend on the circumstances, his mental state and motive. Definitely needs to be referred for mental health evaluation/treatment.

It will probably be considerd a felony because of the amount of police resources he activated. It might even cause a civil rights lawsuit. Personally, I can only guess as to why someone would do something like this. I suspect it comes from a similar psychiatric instability to those that cause people to claim to be war heroes, claim to have injuries and illnesses they don't have or to harm their children (Munchausen by proxy syndrome) so they can get attention. I feel sorry for him, he wrecked his life for a little attention.

I think they should first and foremost discover the reasoning behind his actions. He should be held accountable for his actions no doubt, but what motivated this action should be a major concern.