THIS IS WHAT "HONOR" SOUNDS LIKE.

Top general mulled resigning after Trump's photo op.

The Pentagon’s top general discussed resigning amid criticism over his participation in President Donald Trump’s controversial photo op at a Washington church, three

defense officials familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized over the incident Thursday, saying, "I should not have been there."

The apology came after a tumultuous 10 days for Milley that involved a flash of anger at an Oval Office meeting over the use of active duty troops to quell protests and culminated in him speaking with confidantes about whether he should resign over the staged visit at St. John’s Episcopal Church, the officials said.

The events began on the morning of June 1 following a night of violent protests and looting in Washington that left the historic St. John’s church damaged and national monuments covered in graffiti.

In an Oval Office meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Attorney General William Barr and Milley, the president said he was angry that the National Guard had not been deployed in Washington, a senior administration official said.

The president’s message was: “We have to get the capital under control. What can we do? I don’t care if you have to put 10,000 National Guard out there,” the official said.

A discussion ensued over invoking the Insurrection Act to send in active duty troops to quash the unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd, the official said, but Esper, Milley, and Barr all pushed back on the idea.

Milley became so fired up explaining why using active duty troops was dangerous that he shook his fists to emphasize his points, according to three defense officials familiar with the meeting. The officials asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about the private meeting.

After the meeting, Esper and other military leaders began a full-court press effort to encourage the nation’s governors to activate their National Guard forces on state duty. The defense officials said they hoped to get enough Guard forces working that the active duty troops would not be necessary.

At 1 p.m., the 82nd Airborne Brigade Immediate Response Force was ordered to deploy from Fort Bragg to Fort Belvoir. About 1,000 paratroopers would be ready to respond in Washington if the president invoked the Insurrection Act.

That afternoon, Milley was prepared to go to the FBI Field office, the command hub for the response to protests in the city. Thinking he would be there for several hours, he wore his combat fatigues, three defense officials said. But he was unexpectedly called to the White House for the president’s Rose Garden address, the officials said.

“It didn’t make sense to go all the way back to the Pentagon to change when he was already in the city,” a senior defense official said.