Army National Guard units have run into problems responding to domestic disasters like Hurricane Katrina because much of their equipment is in Iraq, according to a report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office and Guard officials.
Guard units in the United States have, on average, only 34 percent of their authorized equipment and are especially short of trucks, helicopters, night-vision goggles, radios and other communications equipment, said the report, which was released at a hearing of the House Committee on Government Reform.
In addition to 64,000 pieces of equipment left in Iraq for other units when Guard units rotated back the United States, 101,000 pieces have been transferred to deploying units to ensure they are fully equipped for combat, the report said.
Guard officials believe the response to Hurricane Katrina "was more complicated because significant quantities of critical equipment such as satellite communications equipment, radios, trucks, helicopters and night-vision goggles were deployed to Iraq," the report said.
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