State of the Guard

State of the Guard

May 15, 2006

President Bush will take to the airwaves tonight to talk about his plans for immigration reform. One potential idea that was leaked over the weekend is a controversial plan to deploy several thousand National Guard troops to aid in protecting the U.S.-Mexican border. Bush makes his speech at a time when conservatives are not happy with the president and only 25 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling immigration policy. Many people weighed in over the weekend over the issue of whether the National Guard is the right outfit to secure our nation’s borders. Immigration issues aside, lawmakers should take a good, hard look at the current status of the National Guard before making any commitments for them.

• High numbers of National Guard troops are currently serving long terms of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq and Afghanistan essentially changed the role of the National Guard from mainly responding to local emergencies to playing a central, front-line role in these conflicts. Currently, about 20 percent of the approximately 130,000 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq are Guard and Reserve troops. Last summer they represented 40 percent of our troops.
  
  
• The Guard is facing equipment shortages. In addition to extended tours of duty overseas, the Army National Guard "must also deal with the problem of equipment shortages; commanders have complained that the Pentagon is slow to replace trucks, weapons, and aircraft that are damaged or destroyed in combat." The GAO found that the equipment needs of those overseas “threatens the Guard’s ability to prepare forces for future missions at home and overseas.” The National Guard Bureau estimated that "nondeployed units had only about 34 percent of their essential warfighting equipment as of July 2005" and the Army National Guard "reported that it had less than 5 percent of the required amount or a quantity of fewer than 5 each of more than 220 critical items.”
  
  
• The Guard is having trouble meeting recruiting goals. As hurricane season fast approaches, the National Guard is having trouble meeting its recruiting goals. Potential recruits are resisting joining the Guard because of concerns over prolonged deployments in Iraq. In April, both the Army Reserve and Army National Guard missed their recruiting goals. And despite last month's low recruitment figures, the Army National Guard "is running out of money to pay recruiting bonuses."