Pentagon to Alert 8 Guard Units for Duty

[babylonsister]

Pentagon to Alert 8 Guard Units for Duty


LOLITA C. BALDOR | October 17, 2007 11:11 PM EST | AP


WASHINGTON — 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.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071017/national-guard-iraq/

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Cannon fodder for a lost war. K&R

Of course, the corpses will be referred to as "heroes" who "made the ultimate sacrifice" instead of poor sods killed to save the faces of generals and politicians who are terrified of having to admit that the "war" is lost.

[Zywiec]

2. So if there are 15 brigades in country next year

and 7 are National Guard brigades, that is almost 50% of the total force. That's pretty incredible.

[babylonsister]

3. They must be plum out of people and need to rotate the

full time soldiers out. I'd like to know, if something happens in the US, who might be left to depend on?