Nearly 4,000 in Pa. Guard notified of duty

[unhappycamper]

Nearly 4,000 in Pa. Guard notified of duty
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Oct 18, 2007 16:23:15 EDT

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Nearly 4,000 Pennsylvania National Guard members are being notified that they could be sent to Iraq within a year. The deployment, if fulfilled, would be the state Guard’s largest to Iraq.

The soldiers are members of the 28th Division’s 56th Stryker Brigade, headquartered in Philadelphia but spread across roughly 30 armories throughout the state.

They recently received notification for training and are being told they will receive an “alert order” Friday, Guard spokesman Capt. Cory Angell said Thursday.

A deployment would also mark the first time that Guard-controlled Stryker vehicles would see combat, Angell said.

“These soldiers have received equipment and training that some regular Army units haven’t received, and I think it just shows that the National Guard is no longer a strategic reserve — it’s an operational force,” Angell said. “I think this will be historic.”

The Pennsylvania National Guard, regarded as one of the nation’s largest and most-deployed state guards, is the only state guard with a Stryker brigade.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/ap_guarddeployment_071018/



uhc comment: Now that the PA Guard is an "operational force," we should expect these guys to spend some serious time in Iraq with the regular Army.

[RC]

1. Don't forget the needed canon fodder for Iran here.

The National Guard and their equipment is supposed to be under control of the governor of the states. Not under control of the president to be sent where ever, when ever.

[Jackeen]

2. My tag says "US Army"

And my tank was paid for by the Federal Government. As was my training. Four of the first five divisions to go to Europe in WWII were Guard. My old unit was sent to the Phillipines before Pearl Harbour. Instances down to the federalisation of the AR national guard to enforce integration when the Governor wanted to use them to enforce segregation show that ultimately yes, the Guard -is- supposed to be under the control of the President and has been since 1933. http://www.arng.army.mil/constitution.aspx

It is more accurate to say that the National Guard is a military organisation which the Feds let the State Governors use if there's nothing more pressing going on. My Governor does have a state militia with "California" instead of "US" written on the uniform, and which the Federal Government cannot touch or send anywhere. It's called the State Military Reserve. http://www.calguard.ca.gov/casmr/Pages/default.aspx "The California State Military Reserve (CSMR) is the State Defense Force of California authorized by United States Code and the California Military and Veteran’s Code."

When I joined the Guard back in 2000, I fully expected to be deployed abroad at some point in my career, not least because I understood what I was legally getting myself into. Granted, I saw myself somewhere more like Bosnia than Iraq, but that's not a legal issue.

Sorry for the rant. I just get really irked when people mischaracterise the organisation.