Posted on 05/15/2007 1:11:28 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Being the good soldiers they are, few of the states' National Guards are complaining about how the Iraq mess is affecting their units.
But it's an inescapable fact that there are deep problems in many states, problems that are hampering the Guard's mission to answer state emergencies. A recent example was the Guard response to the devastating tornado that wiped out the little town of Greensburg, Kan. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius complained that the Kansas Army Guard is missing 50 percent of its trucks because they had to be left overseas when the units came home from the Mideast.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many of the Louisiana units activated to help with the cleanup reported they had trouble communicating because their radio equipment had to be left behind when they returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fortunately, the Wisconsin Guard reports that the problems aren't as severe here. The adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Al Wilkening, reported that while state units have a need for $500 million in equipment, the Wisconsin National Guard is in good shape to respond to natural disasters.
Engineer units are typically at the forefront of disaster help, and Wisconsin has 178 of its 204 authorized pieces of equipment on hand. That includes end loaders, dump trucks, bulldozers, graders, cranes, and other engineer vehicles.
The National Guard hasn't been as taxed since World War II to provide manpower and equipment to a national military endeavor. Some units and the citizen soldiers who comprise them are being called to second and third tours of duty. Yet the Bush administration and its Defense Department continue to treat Guard troops as second-class participants in the overall military picture.
According to the magazine National Guard, the proposed 2008 defense budget shortchanges the Guard in many areas. New mobilization policies announced earlier this year by the Defense Department, for example, shift a significant amount of pre-deployment training costs to the Guard, but money for that isn't included in the budget.
The many mobilizations and the uncertainty they cause both the citizen soldiers and their employers are affecting recruitment and retention, but the budget for that is $600 million short, including less money for a popular program that pays $2,000 to Guard members for each recruit they bring on board, the magazine reported.
Additionally, the budget lacks $3.5 billion for equipment, from helicopters and Humvees to tactical vehicles and dump trucks.
All of this is just one more hidden tragedy that this ill-advised war has wrought. George Bush insisted during his first campaign for president that Bill Clinton and Al Gore had allowed the military to deteriorate during their tenure.
Their stewardship of the military was exemplary compared to the damage Bush has done.
This man is SUCH an @ss.
bookmark for later.
A recent survey of the National Guard nationwide finds them all to be in good shape. Some of the figures the dingbats use are accounted by the fact that many National Guard units are upgrading their equipment from 70’s and 80’s equipment to up to date equipment.
Sounds like Dave Zweifel was copied on the Howard Dean memo. :-)
In other words, many Guard units are in a transitional period, so the numbers on paper may show a deficiency at the moment. As soon as the new, upgraded equipment comes in, the numbers change drastically.
He’s got the talking points down pat.
“Bush’s war?” Hey, I supported it too! Can we call it the “Jim and George War”? That might look pretty neat in the history books!
Their stewardship of the military was exemplary compared to the damage Bush has done.
Barbra Streisand. Back in the 1990's, we didn't have enough in the budget to buy ammo for range training. Almost all the bucks for training and equipment were used to support the active duty units.
That is a secondary mission; the primary mission is to protect the country.
“Gov. Kathleen Sebelius complained that the Kansas Army Guard is missing 50 percent of its trucks because they had to be left overseas when the units came home from the Mideast.”
This was a MOVEON.ORG ploy and the Gov, following her master’s orders, made a fool out of herself.
Nothing stops them from buying some extra trucks or jeeps for use within their state, or developing plans to use other vehicles (school buses, highway maintenance trucks) in times of emergency. Nothing stops them from organizing a small state defense force to supplement Guard personnel -- several states have done this.
This "issue" is a crock. The left is really straining if they think this issue is going to work for them.
The Govenor has been exposed on the Quin & Rose radio show and then Hannity. She has plenty of support from the National Guard. She was put up to these claims by Howard Dean.
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