ADEQUATELY PREPARED OR NOT ADEQUATELY PREPARED IS THE QUESTION
For a change, the Bush administration is on the defensive. The recent weather tragedy in Kansas has re-stirred the haunting question: is the National Guard prepared to adequately cope with anticipated crises?
The adminstration spokesmen, Tony Snow, as predictable has responded with a mean spirited attack on the Kansas Governor for even raising the issue, once again demonstrating the typical short sighted dismissal of what has been and apprently will continue to be the latest governmental scandal.
The chickens are coming home to roost. The question of national guard preparedness or lack of it dates as far back too 2006 By Thom Shanker and Michael R. Gordon The New York Times
Published: September 21, 2006"
WASHINGTON Strains on the Army from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become so severe that Army officials say they may be forced to make greater use of the National Guard to provide enough U.S. troops for overseas deployments. Senior Army officers have discussed that analysis - and described the possible need to use more members of the National Guard - with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's senior adviser on personnel, David Chu, according to Pentagon officials. While no decision has been made to mobilize more Guard forces, and may not need to be before midterm elections, the prospect presents the Bush administration with a politically vexing problem: how, without expanding the Army, to balance the pressing need for troops in the field against promises to limit overseas deployments for the Guard. The National Guard has a goal of allowing five years at home between foreign deployments so as not to disrupt the family life and careers of its citizen soldiers. But instead it has been sending units every three to four years, according to Guard officials. The question of how to sustain the high level of forces abroad became more acute this week as General John Abizaid, the senior American commander in the Middle East, said that the number of troops in Iraq, currently at more than 140,000, could not be expected to drop until next spring at the very earliest. That disclosure comes amid many signs of mounting strain on active Army units. So many are deployed or only recently returned from combat duty that only two or three combat brigades - perhaps 7,000 to 10,000 troops - are fully ready to respond in case of unexpected crises, according to a senior Army general. An internal Army document that was provided to The New York Times notes that the demand for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has greatly exceeded past projections that predicted earlier troop reductions. According to the document, the Army needs $66.1 billion to make up for all of its equipment shortfalls. Referring to the units that are to deploy next to Iraq and Afghanistan, or are in training, the document shows a large question mark to indicate their limited readiness. ...."| http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/22/america/web.0922army.php |
Besides the question of troop levels is the related question of adequate material.
National Guard shortages are concernAs President Bush tours Greensburg today, he and the Federal Emergency Management Agency deserve credit for their prompt, effective response to this devastating natural disaster.Thank you, Mr. President, for quickly authorizing disaster relief and coming to Kansas to see the recovery efforts firsthand.In the monster tornado's aftermath, emergency crews are pulling together and getting the job done. But this disaster also has underscored Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' long-standing concerns about state National Guard equipment shortfalls.She and other governors have a valid concern about readiness.Because of equipment and personnel diverted to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, "50 percent of our trucks are gone," she told NBC's "Today" show. "Our front-loaders are gone. We are missing Humvees that move people."Sebelius raised concerns as far back as December 2005, when she wrote then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking the Pentagon to replace National Guard equipment sent to Iraq.She's still waiting.The Pentagon has told Sebelius that Kansas probably will see two-thirds of its equipment and vehicles restored within six years. But 2013 seems a long time off on a weekend like the one Kansas just experienced.Sen. Sam Brownback this week dismissed the governor's comments, saying local officials and the state National Guard commander had told him that "we have the equipment we needed" in Greensburg.In one respect, he's right -- responders have found enough equipment to do the work.But it's no secret that Guard units are feeling the pinch. Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state's adjutant general, said the Kansas National Guard was equipped at about 40 percent of readiness levels, compared with 60 percent at the start of the Iraq war. "It just leaves you pretty tight," he said.Col. Eric Peck of the Kansas National Guard pointed to a shortage of big tractor-trailers to haul heavy equipment. Instead of the usual 30 trucks, the Guard has fewer than 15. Instead of the usual 170 medium tactical vehicles used to haul people and supplies, the Guard has fewer than 30.The shortage of vehicles, he said, means more trips and a longer relief effort.It's a nationwide problem.Just last month, Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, testified before Congress: "Most of the units in the Army and Air National Guard are underequipped for the jobs and the missions that they have to perform" on the home front. "Can we do the job? Yes, we can. But the lack of equipment (means it takes) longer to do that job, and lost time translates into lost lives, and those lost lives are American lives."The larger concern is that Guard units here and elsewhere are stretched thin, especially if they have to respond to multiple disasters or are needed out of state. With another dangerous hurricane season looming, that's a real possibility.To be sure, the equipment shortfall in Greensburg hasn't added up to a crisis. And Kansans are a resourceful people, even when they don't have all the tools they need or want.But as the Greensburg tragedy showed, Kansas must be prepared for the worst disasters.Sebelius is right to press for a higher level of Guard readiness on the home front.For the editorial board, Randy Scholfield - http://www.kansas.com/611/story/65119.htmlA search of google a few moments ago reveal an explosion of related stories."State officials said the problem with the National Guard's response had more to do with equipment than personnel. In Kansas, the National Guard is operating with about 40 percent of its vehicles and heavy machinery, local Guard officials said. Ordinarily, the Guard would have about 660 Humvees and more than 30 large trucks to traverse difficult terrain and transport heavy equipment. When the tornado struck, the Guard had fewer than 350 Humvees and 15 trucks. And the issue is not confined to Kansas. In Ohio, for instance, the National Guard is short of night vision goggles and M-4 rifles, according to a Guard spokesman there, Dr. Mark Wayda. The California National Guard is similarly concerned about a catastrophic event. "Our issue is that we are shortchanged when it comes to equipment," said Col. Jon Siepmann, a spokesman for the Guard in California. "We have gone from a strategic reserve to a globally deployable force, and yet our equipment resources have been largely the same levels since before the war." Last year, all 50 governors signed a letter to President Bush asking for immediate re-equipment of Guard units sent overseas. However, officials in several states, including Kentucky and Minnesota, said on Tuesday that they were not facing a shortage of equipment. National Guard units overseas are often assigned engineering missions, and those skills and equipment -- bulldozers and trucks, for example -- are exactly what might be required to deal with a natural disaster at home. Still, White House officials said that the Kansas guard had in the Midwest and the Plains states, everything it needed. Snow said that included 83,000 National Guard soldiers; 99 bulldozers; and 246 dump trucks. "There's a lot of stuff available," Snow said. "I think this is one where the equipment was available and everybody was moving as rapidly as possible."
This article appeared on page A - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/05/09/EDGKOP3DP11.DTL
We can all look foreward to predictable denials, cover ups, ad hominem arguments by Mr. Snow and his predictable snow jobs. So get ready America - this scandal is going to make Katrina seem like the Manhattan Project.
P.S. Now we have indisputable evidence that the continuing meat and metal grinder war in Iraq is resulting in a notable weakening of our own country's capacity to adequately protect itself. Is there not something critically wrong with this picture?
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Comments: 28
The suffering of the people in Kansas needs to be addressed by our national and the state government working together. Unfortunately, New Orleans is the example of how they work as a team. Blame bounces back and forth while people on American soil suffer.
It is a pitiful situation for our entire nation.
Namaste, Wayne
I'm sick of hearing about Katrina. It was NOT GW's FAULT. It was the inaction of teh Gov, Mayor and the residents.
We just went through a month of serious storms and weather here in Maine, folks were without power for more than a week, and it was near or below freezing. NO ONE blamed the government. We all worked together to get power back on, check in on neighbours (mine died) and get people to shelters. I know it is different, but it's the same.
This lack of forsight and attention to fine detail is precisely why we are bogged down in a no win war spending billions upon billions of dollars that appears more and more as if it is only profiting the usual suspects.
The expression of Nero Fiddling while Rome is burning seems apt in this present fiasco.
Note that in the flooding in the mid-west right now, neglected levees are failing, just as they did in New Orleans and just as they will in California. Most of our bridges, dams, highways (the highway system was built under Eisenhower, after all) levees, the power grid, etc. are in serious trouble, and we sit like lobsters in a pot not realizing that the water is getting hot enough to boil us. Then there are the unguarded chemical plants, nuclear plants, and, as what almost happened in NJ points out, even army bases withoug adequate security! It seems that anyone can get into Fort Dix just by waving a paper at the guards, and those arrested yesterday knew that by experience.
Along with this situation, we have been trying to conduct war on the cheap, without the draft, shipping far too much of the National Guard's equipment overseas. Since we're set up for disaster, it doesn't matter that much whether the disaster is a natural disaster or created by terrorists, does it? At this point we're our own worst enemy.
The facts of the matter are that the Republicans are splitting apart frightened that the President's polls are finding him to be near the all time low for U.S. Presidents. You can't fool all the people all the time.
What needs to happen and quickly is an objective account of the actual available guardsmen and up to date equipment state by state so we know the facts of the matter. Belief, faith, blind trust, magical thinking, must all take a back seat to an objective full and comprehensive detailed accounting of the real facts of the matter.
This is not an ideological or partisan or liberal assertion - it is 100 percent American and benefits each and everyone of us to know the facts.
And if I am proven wrong I will be the first to apologize. And if the anti liberal among us are proven wrong what say you?
gibbs williams, May 10, 2007, 12:25am ET delete
There need s to be more personal responsibility from people and quit waiting for the government to tell you to get out of the way. There seem's to be this constant finger pointing every time that something goes wrong today and somehow every time they seem to find some way to point the finger at President Bush. People need to start turning that finger back upon themselves.
My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and
told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions.
It seems he was always around in my early years but less and
less as time passed until today I read his obituary.
> >>>>Obituary - Common Sense
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense,
who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how
old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in
bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons
as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird
gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't
spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies
(adults, not children are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place.
Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a
classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after
lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student,
only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing
the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
Common Sense declined even further when schools were required to
get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a
sticky plaster to a student; but could not inform the parents
when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became
contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received
better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman
failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She
spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents,
Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter,
Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights,
Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
If you still remember him pass this on.
If not, join the majority and do nothing.
Besides being a cocaine burnout and he's not very intelligent.
donnyboy probably thinks Jack the Ripper was a honest and decent man.
What has John Edwards done that qualifies him to be President. Tell me 3 things he has done for his constituants.
"It don't matter" is NOT proper grammar and it makes one sound guache and rather uneducated.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
You didnt complain when Clinton started closing alot of military bases in the USA, to save more money, and you didnt complain when innocent lives were lost due to our do nothing tactics when Americans were killed on foreign soil due to the terrorists killing them.. with the past administration, so dont whine now,just because you dont like Bush or his policies. I would rather have Bush in office, then a sexaholic in office, Clinton lied (but oh, thats right) we dont need morals in this country and we dont give a damn that of all people an American President, does not set a good example, for our children by not being able to keep his ding a ling in his pants. Not to mention all of the other scandals the Clintons, were involved in, while he was governor as well as president. I am glad that Linda Tripp saw through his charade.
Vickey,,,You GO girl!! No Gibbs, vickey is just as sick and tired of the whining hypocritical left as I am. And she stated it quite well.
Dyslexics of America UNTIE!
What price it there for fighting a group of frantic fanatics who's Jihad, life, sole purpose to kill us freedom loving, homosexual accepting, woman loving, Americans.
I would rather have 5 Trillion spent on getting rid of fanatic terrorists then my tax dollars going to "victims" of storms caused by nature.