Iraq duty stretching National Guard

The Pentagon announced Monday that 13,000 Guard troops will probably deploy to Iraq, starting next year.

from the April 10, 2007 edition

Page 2 of 2

Page 1 | 2

"The priorities of the states and their governors are not adequately considered in the Department of Defense's policy and resourcing decisions related to the National Guard, even though governors are, and likely will continue to be, the leaders of most domestic emergency response efforts involving the National Guard," the report said.

In January, General Blum testified that he had heard from governors who complained about the lack of availability of guardsmen when needed the most.

For example, Blum cited Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), who visited her National Guard troops in Iraq but returned to find that a snowstorm had left more than 60,000 Kansans without power. "And she called me, and she said, 'You know, I don't have the engineer equipment and trucks and aviation I need to really take care of my own people right now,' " Blum recalled her telling him. "And I said, 'Governor, we share that concern.' "

Blum has done much "cross-leveling" of equipment and personnel – mixing and matching both people and gear with other state Guard units to ensure they are whole. But without about $40 billion over the next several years, Blum has said he can't sustain the Guard.

"We have lost time, to be frank about it, and time translates to lives," Blum told the commission Jan. 31. "We really do need a strategy that will reequip the National Guard here at home."

Still, there is a flip side to deploying the Guard overseas: critical training, says Mark Allen, a spokesman for the Guard bureau. "They have skills that are very useful in all kinds of situations," he says.

Units who returned from Iraq and Afghanistan who were deployed to the Gulf region after hurricane Katrina could draw on their security-duty experience overseas when it came to restoring law and order after the storm.

"This training, this unit cohesion really helps you in our homeland security in critical situations, saving lives and dealing with the public," he says.

But like the active force, the Guard can become burned out, too.

"The thing that nobody knows is when guardsmen are being asked to do too much," Mr. Allen says.

1 | Page 2