pinkeye
12-16-2003, 03:09 PM
from the oregonian:
Equals only on the front lines
The Pentagon must recognize the Guard's new role, and provide top-notch training, equipment and benefits
12/14/03
T he U.S. Army cannot sustain a first-class military effort in Iraq if it continues to treat National Guard and Reserve troops like second-class citizens.
By next spring, 40 percent of the troops on the ground in Iraq will be members of Guard and Reserve units. It ought to be obvious that these servicemen and women must have the same opportunity as active-duty soldiers to train properly, mobilize quickly and fight effectively.
And yet, when two members of Congress from Oregon visited Fort Hood, Texas, this week to check on Oregon National Guard troops preparing for duty in Iraq, Reps. Peter DeFazio and Darlene Hooley found soldiers with hand-me-down equipment shopping for radios at G.I. Joe's and scrounging for enough toilet paper.
There are other even more powerful examples of the Pentagon's failure to consider Guard and Reserve soldiers as equals, and treat them accordingly. Only six of a fleet of 14 Chinook helicopters sent with Guard units from Illinois and Iowa had operable antimissile systems available on active-duty Army choppers. One of the Chinooks was shot down, killing 16 soldiers.
One Tennessee Guard unit has driven more than 1 million miles delivering supplies from Kuwait to Baghdad, but still lacks the modern body armor necessary to stop high-caliber bullets. Guard soldiers are showing up in Iraq without everything from armored Humvees to digital radios to alarms that detect chemical weapons. One Guard unit training in Georgia for Iraq duty has no practice grenades; its soldiers are throwing rocks.
Pressed by members of Congress, the General Accounting Office is now investigating discrepancies in pay, housing, medical care and equipment between active-duty and reserve soldiers.
It absolutely shouldn't be this way. The Guard is no longer a backup force to the active-duty military in this country. It is serving side by side with active-duty units all over the world.
In fact, the failure or success of the American effort in Iraq soon will rest substantially on the shoulders of the very Guard and Reserve units that the Pentagon has so badly neglected.
The Army keeps saying it wants to modernize as a total force. It should start by fully equipping the Guard.
Equals only on the front lines
The Pentagon must recognize the Guard's new role, and provide top-notch training, equipment and benefits
12/14/03
T he U.S. Army cannot sustain a first-class military effort in Iraq if it continues to treat National Guard and Reserve troops like second-class citizens.
By next spring, 40 percent of the troops on the ground in Iraq will be members of Guard and Reserve units. It ought to be obvious that these servicemen and women must have the same opportunity as active-duty soldiers to train properly, mobilize quickly and fight effectively.
And yet, when two members of Congress from Oregon visited Fort Hood, Texas, this week to check on Oregon National Guard troops preparing for duty in Iraq, Reps. Peter DeFazio and Darlene Hooley found soldiers with hand-me-down equipment shopping for radios at G.I. Joe's and scrounging for enough toilet paper.
There are other even more powerful examples of the Pentagon's failure to consider Guard and Reserve soldiers as equals, and treat them accordingly. Only six of a fleet of 14 Chinook helicopters sent with Guard units from Illinois and Iowa had operable antimissile systems available on active-duty Army choppers. One of the Chinooks was shot down, killing 16 soldiers.
One Tennessee Guard unit has driven more than 1 million miles delivering supplies from Kuwait to Baghdad, but still lacks the modern body armor necessary to stop high-caliber bullets. Guard soldiers are showing up in Iraq without everything from armored Humvees to digital radios to alarms that detect chemical weapons. One Guard unit training in Georgia for Iraq duty has no practice grenades; its soldiers are throwing rocks.
Pressed by members of Congress, the General Accounting Office is now investigating discrepancies in pay, housing, medical care and equipment between active-duty and reserve soldiers.
It absolutely shouldn't be this way. The Guard is no longer a backup force to the active-duty military in this country. It is serving side by side with active-duty units all over the world.
In fact, the failure or success of the American effort in Iraq soon will rest substantially on the shoulders of the very Guard and Reserve units that the Pentagon has so badly neglected.
The Army keeps saying it wants to modernize as a total force. It should start by fully equipping the Guard.