Pentagon to Alert 8 Guard Units for Duty

[Ghost in the Machine]

Pentagon to Alert 8 Guard Units for Duty
Published: 10/17/07, 8:25 PM EDT
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is preparing to alert eight National Guard units that they should be ready to go to Iraq or Afghanistan beginning late next summer, The Associated Press learned Wednesday.

The U.S. military is reaching out to more Guard units in an effort to maintain needed troop levels, ease some of the strain on the active duty Army and provide security for ports, convoys and other installations.

According to defense officials, seven of the units would deploy to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the orders had not yet been signed and the announcement is not expected until the end of this week.

Two of the units will be full combat brigades heading to Iraq - between next summer and into 2009, to serve as part of the rotation with active duty troops. There are currently 20 combat brigades in Iraq, but under plans mapped out by President Bush and his top commanders, that number will gradually drop to 15 next year, as the U.S. reduces its troop presence there.

Those two Guard brigades would include about 3,500 soldiers each - generally the size of a combat brigade. But the other five going to Iraq will be much smaller brigades that are tailored for specialized support operations, mostly security and detainee operations. Their sizes vary, but some would be about 1,000 troops.

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?bfromind=7816&eeid=5471913&_sitecat=1504&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=3&ck=&ch=ne

[Breeze54]

1. I'm trying to find out if my son got a notice....

:banghead:

Snip-->

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NATIONAL_GUARD_IRAQ?SITE=KFWB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

All together, the Guard announcement would involve about 20,000 soldiers.

Specific brigades were not identified, but

they will include units from North Carolina, Oklahoma, Illinois and Hawaii

,according to officials. Some of those being alerted this week have done tours in the war zone already, and others would be going for the first time.

A key element of the plan calls for sending the Guard brigades in fully intact units, complete with their own commanders and headquarters, rather than breaking them up and spreading them around, as has been done in Iraq in previous Guard deployments. Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard, has made that a priority, saying his brigades are more effective working as teams.

At the same time, the plan will also allow the citizen soldiers to serve just eight or nine months on the battlefield, as part of a 12-month deployment. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has committed to having Guard soldiers serve in war zones for no more than one year, including the final training time before they leave.

Previously, Guard soldiers would spend up to six months training before going overseas for 12 months - forcing them to be away from home for as long as 18 months. More recently, brigades in Iraq - including some Guard units - saw their deployments extended to up to 15 months on the battlefield.

The new plan would have them spend several months at home training, then the remainder of the year at the battlefront.

As of this summer, more than 185,000 Guard members had served in either Iraq or Afghanistan over the past six years and more than 28,000 of them had been deployed more than once.

---

On the Net:

Defense Department: http://www./defenselink.mil

I'm on pins and needles right now, waiting for a phone call. :scared:

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. That must be hell. My son is only 14, but I have other family members

serving active right now in the Army, Navy & Air Force. One cousin was in the top 10 of the first 100 women that they let in the Air Force Academy back in '77 or '78. She worked at the Pentagon in Intelligence and her husband flew Air Force 2 for Gore when he was V.P. The last I heard, she was head of some Intelligence unit in Germany and was bucking for General. She's probably made it by now, as that was about a year ago.

This is her:


NASOSNAYA AIR BASE, Azerbaijan (USAFENS) – Col Theresa Meyer, Director, USAFE Intelligence Directorate, takes a seat in an Azerbaijani Air Force MiG-25 FOXBAT at Nasosnaya Air Base, Azerbaijan 18 May. During the visit to Baku, USAFE leadership toured the former Russian airfield and met with Azerbaijani senior leaders. The MiG-25 is a second generation high-speed interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft produced by Russia's Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau and officially entered into service in 1973. It remains in limited service in Russia, Azerbaijan and several other nations.

[Breeze54]

5. It is hell ! .... and they aren't releasing the new orders until next week.

"her husband flew Air Force 2 for Gore when he was V.P."

You must be damned proud of both of them!! ;)

I hope my son did get out and won't get called, if he hasn't.

He never confirmed that with me when he got back from Iraq. :scared:

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. HUGS

I hate these bastards

[Breeze54]

7. I hate them more!!!!

Thanks for the hug! :hug: Back at ya!

My youngest son called his brother tonight at 9 PM but he hasn't called back yet... :argh:

He may not even know about this, as he's working out in the boonies somewhere.

Nothing but flat earth, a hotel and sagebrush blowing down the street, according to him. ;)

[Breeze54]

2. National Guard Struggles to Adjust to Its Changing Role in Today's Conflicts

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_CHANGING_OF_THE_GUARDS?SITE=KFWB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT">National Guard Struggles to Adjust to Its Changing Role in Today's Conflicts

By KIM CURTIS
Associated Press Writer
Oct 17, 3:23 AM EDT

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq (AP) --

Gabriel Herrera was drawn to the National Guard by the poster of an infantryman rappelling from a Blackhawk helicopter - and by the fact he was unlikely to see combat. "I was kind of lost," he said. The part-time infantry job seemed like a perfect way to stay in shape and earn money for college. Herrera, then 21, took the oath to defend his country in 2000 - but it may as well have been a generation ago considering how much has changed for the citizen-soldiers.

"I thought, 'This is the National Guard.' If there are riots or fires, fine, but I figured at least I'd never see combat."

But the Guard and Reserves currently make up more than 20 percent of the U.S. force in Iraq and account for about 18 percent of the more than 3,800 soldier deaths since 2003. Iraq has redefined - perhaps permanently - the roles for fighters and their families in what once was viewed as a force of last resort. "This is the biggest call-up since World War II, there's no question about it," said retired Brig. Gen. Stephen K. Koper, president of the Washington-based National Guard Association, which represents about 40,000 members. "The requirement was always there," he added. "It wasn't always executed, but it was always there. Joining a reserve component on the basis that no one's been called in quite a while is clearly a roll of the dice. If one is concerned about that, one shouldn't join."

Following the globe-trotting path of Herrera - a soft-spoken California native - brings into focus the Guard's expanded profile. "I said, 'What? Overseas? I thought we only dealt with state issues,'" he said, recalling his reaction to the news that he was headed for Kuwait on a peacekeeping mission. It was just a few days after the Sept. 11 attacks. His son was an infant. When he came home to San Bernardino, Calif., eight months later, he returned to school and he and his wife had a daughter. He watched the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on television.

"I was saying, 'I'm glad I'm not there fighting a real war,'" he said over dinner at Camp Victory, a compound of former Saddam Hussein palaces in western Baghdad. "I thought, 'We're National Guard. We're not going to combat.'"

At one time, he was right.

Getting called up to active duty was possible, but chances were small - perhaps once or twice in a 20-year Guard career, according to a 2006 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"But we've come a long way from hanging out around the keg of beer at the weekend drill," said Christine Wormuth, who wrote the report. "Now, whether they like it or not, the Army, in particular, is relying on the Guard."

More....

[Breeze54]

3. All together, the Guard announcement would involve about 20,000 soldiers.

20,000 soldiers, 20,000 soldiers, 20,000 soldiers,

20,000 soldiers, 20,000 soldiers, 20,000 soldiers

That's a fucking escalation!!!!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

:grr: . :nuke: . :grr: