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The following article is reposted from Huffington Post with permission of the author Bobby Muller, President of Veterans for America (VFA). Bobby Hanafin SP/5, U.S. Army (69-76) Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired (77-94) Military Families Speak Out - OHIO Veterans for America, Editorial Board Member, Our Troops Newsladder

SEE COMMENTS SECTION FOR LINKS TO OUR TROOPS NEWSLADDER AND HUFFINGTON POST ARTICLE BY BOBBY MULLER.  

 

Who's Paying The Biggest Price Now For Our War In Iraq? Our National Guard.

July 10, 2008

Between now and the end of President George Bush's term in office on January 20, 2009, almost half of the Soldiers scheduled to deploy to Iraq are members of our National Guard. Never before in the history of our all-volunteer military have we relied so heavily on the National Guard for such a long period of time to serve overseas.

Never!

Note: The last time our National Guard was used in significant numbers to participate in a foreign war was during the Korean War

Over the past six plus years, we have sent over 260,000 members of our National Guard to Iraq and Afghanistan and while the focus and heated debate in Washington may have turned away from Iraq, every day, we are sending more and more members of the National Guard overseas.

So what does this mean? Well, even if you believe that recently we have seen signs of success in Iraq, the cost of maintaining current troops levels is simply too high -- we can not continue to use our National Guard in this manner without devastating consequences for our first-responder [to Natural and Man-Made disasters] ability and for members of the National Guard, their families and their communities.

Recently, [an investigative] team of staff members from Veterans for America spent days crisscrossing New Jersey, speaking to members of the National Guard and their families. The stories and statistics [they] heard prompted VFA to take a deeper look at what is happening across the country with the National Guard, and it truly is shocking.

Veterans for America created an entire report on the upcoming deployment of National Guard troops and it is right on the front page of their web site, www.veteransforamerica.org [see LINK in the comments section of this post] -- here are some of the most important things Bobby Muller wants you to know.

- Almost half of the troops headed to Iraq from now to January 20, 2009 are members of the National Guard.

- More than half of these units will be on their second tour of Iraq.

- At least 35 states [including Ohio] have deployed more National Guard to Iraq and Afghanistan than to any war since World War II.

- Over the next few months, Hawaii, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington will deploy a combined total of almost 20,000 National Guard troops.

- Beginning next spring, Pennsylvania and Texas are scheduled to deploy more members of their National Guard and Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin will deploy large portions of their National Guards.

From coast to coast, literally in every part of our country, our National Guard will be heading over to Iraq in staggering numbers.

What should be of especially concern to all American voters, if you have a loved one in your state's National Guard, or not, is that the Department Of Defense found that members of the National Guard are 25% more likely to suffer from combat-related psychological wounds [such as PTSD, depression, and mental exhaustion] than members of active-duty Army.

Note: this is not to say that our Regular troops are better prepared or more mentally or physically fit to endure endless deployments anymore than our state militias are. The point is that regular troops train , replenish equip, and are prepared to be ready on a daily basis. Our National Guard troops in comparison do not train on a daily basis, must focus on satisfying a civilian employer, [if they are fortunate enough to still have one], have families that in most part reside far from regular base support, and according to most governors there is a concern that not only is the equipment of National Guard units not replenished - it still pretty much remains hand me downs from the Regular Army, Air Force, etc...

Clearly, our Guard members are not getting the support they need. The first step our country should take to limit the damage already done is to stop deploying them in such high numbers.

Our over reliance on our National Guard is another wake-up call to our elected officials, and one we should not let them sleep through. The sacrifices we are demanding from our Guard, and their families, are simply too much. We can't maintain this level of Guard deployments -- it is another cost of the war, and another cost that is too great for our country to bear.

Note: In all fairness, to my knowledge the only state governor to try questioning and challenging the Bush administration on National Guard readiness issues was Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio. However, Strickland evidently decided to back off when President Bush made a campaign stop in Republican dominated S.W. Ohio (the Miami Valley). That combined with partisan political statements to the media by National Guard officers and NCOs undermined the Governors authority over our state militia. Governor Strickland has not questioned the use of our Guard units ever since. Voters in Ohio must assume that the concerns expressed to the President by Governor Strickland were unwarranted. In other words, this report applies to the National Guard Units of every state mentioned, except Ohio. Our Ohio National Guard Units remain ready, willing, and able to sustain this momentum for an indefinite period of time. Major Hanafin.

What Major Hanafin really believes:

As I stated in my previous post related to this article, I'm not certain if this national level report on the Army National Guard applies to any of our units in Ohio, there is only one way to confirm that, and it is for Governor Strickland and his Adjutant General [not some Field Grade officer or NCO in the Guard making political statements to the press] to make it publicly clear without a doubt to the voters of Ohio, that our state militia is and will remain in the highest state of readiness to handle both simultaneous natural or man-made disasters, and deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, or other out of state locations the federal government decides to invade or occupy.

Robert L. Hanafin
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
The Mustang Major

Blog catagories: Iraq National Guard, Iraq Surge, Iraq Troops, Iraq War, National Guard, Success Of The Surge, Tour Of Duty, US Iraq Troop Levels, Politics, News