Pentagon talks of slashing strength of National Guard ... SF Chronicle

[Coastie for Truth]

Pentagon officials are considering cutting as many as 34,000 soldiers -- the bulk of them from the National Guard -- at a time when U.S. ground forces are stretched in Iraq, according to defense officials.

The proposed cuts are part of a reduction in the growth of defense spending over the next five years ordered by the White House. The manpower cuts stem from a decision by Army leaders to sacrifice troop strength in order to provide more money for new weapons systems and other equipment, said defense officials, who requested anonymity.

The plan, which has not yet been approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is likely to spur criticism from members of Congress, who have pressed for a larger Army, and prompt even greater opposition from the nation's governors, who command the part-time National Guard soldiers unless they are called to federal duty. State officials rely heavily on the 334,000-soldier Army Guard for natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

The plan calls for the reduction of some 26,000 Army Guard soldiers. It would eliminate as many as six brigades -- each with about 3,500 soldiers -- as well as two division headquarters, officials said. One aviation brigade would probably be targeted, along with five ground brigades, including as many as four armored and mechanized units, officials said.

---snip---

How soon after Katrina, Rita, and Wilma we forget. The National Guard are the "heavy lifters" of disaster recovery.

As we saw in Katrina, Rita, and Wilma -- BusCop has raped and depleted the Guard and FEMA -- and left the Guard's "heavy lifting" disaster mitigation and FEMA's disaster mitigation to the NGO- volunteer sector. He has pushed the NGO- volunteer sector beyond its capacity --- and then turned around and blamed the NGO- volunteer sector for the failings of this raping of National Guard and FEMA.

[havocmom]

1. Those private security forces don't come cheap

gonna have to shake down the rest of the budget to pay for the new palace guards.

[Inland]

2. Well, the NG recruitment problem is now no problem.

They decided to have fewer of them.

[acmejack]

3. Just another step in the "Don't look to the Government for help program

If it is useful to the public, it is doomed.

[Coastie for Truth]

6. Bush is the first President since WW2

to pull the Guard off of Humanitarian Duties (Hurricane, Quake, Tornado, Flood Mitigation) for foreign combat duties.

[billybob537]

4. Don't you think

lack of re-inlistments have slashed them enough. this is just a ploy so they can say they reached thier target.

[orwell]

5. Sidebar...

...Weapons contractors rejoice...government largesse continues...record profits continue...

Whoopie we're all gonna die...

and God Bless America!

[Kolesar]

7. The military relies too much on the Guard and the Reserves

Those are programs to keep an amount of federal spending in each Congressional district to make it look like the congress member is doing something. The Army should have staffed a larger regular army instead of dumping money into this program of less trained soldiers. My two cents.

[Coastie for Truth]

8. Major Difference Between The Guard and Reserve

The Guard is the "Governor's Army" - and even if you took its "military roles" (infantry, artillery, armored) away - it still has major disaster mitigation roles -- especially for things beyond the local first responders (fire, police, medics, VFD) and the local NGO-voluntary organizations (Red Cross, Salvation Army).

I have lived in blizzard country, hurricane country, tornado country, and earthquake country.

[Kolesar]

9. Yes, that's all true

(I want to know why you never lived in forest fire country--har har)

[Coastie for Truth]

10. We call them "Wilderness Fires"

A couple of years ago we had a major Wilderness Fire along the eastern (hill side) edge of the UC Berkeley Campus (Oakland Hills -Berkeley Hills Fires) - and we regularly have Wilderness Fires in South County.