Report Says National Guard ‘Not Ready,’ says N.H. Troops Continue to Serve
NATIONALGUARD
Keene Sentinel
Jessica Arriens
Boston University Washington News Service
3/8/07
WASHINGTON, March 8—Nearly four years ago, on March 20, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq.
Over two months ago, on Jan. 10, President Bush announced his troop surge—21,500 additional forces to help secure western Iraq and Baghdad.
Before, in between and after those days—and all the other important dates that have shaped this war and public discourse about it—the New Hampshire National Guard has been “always ready, always there,” just as the national force’s motto says.
But “ready” may be the wrong word to describe the Guard today. The Commission on the National Guard and Reserves issued a preliminary report on March 1 that rated nearly 90 percent of the Army National Guard and 45 percent of the Air National Guard as “not ready,” largely because of deficits in equipment and troops.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 70 percent of the state’s National Guard have been mobilized in Iraq and Afghanistan and for Hurricane Katrina, according to 1st Sgt. Mike Daigle of the New Hampshire Army National Guard.
Currently, the Concord-based 3643rd Maintenance Company, about 150 soldiers who were deployed last summer, is serving at Camp Victory in Iraq. About 40 additional soldiers and Air Guards have been mobilized individually or in small groups, which brings the state total currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan to approximately 190, according to Daigle.
A mentor team of 16 soldiers will depart for Afghanistan in the coming months—they left for Ft. Riley, Kan., in early February for several months of theater-specific training. And sometime later this year, 27 additional Guard soldiers will deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I don’t think that anybody foresaw that when we went into Afghanistan, five years later we would still be there,” said John Grady, director of communications for the Association of the U.S. Army, a private, non-profit organization that supports both active and reserve components of the Army.
And this continued U.S. presence in the Middle East has manifested itself in continued reliance on the National Guard—forging hefty problems within the force, according to the report by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, a 13-member independent review group Congress created in 2005.
Grady called the commission’s report a “pretty damming indictment of the situation.”
The report said that while the National Guard makes up more than one-third of the total U.S. military, it receives only 3 percent of equipment funds and 8 percent of the total Defense Department budget.
The commission also highlighted a practice known as cross-leveling, which Grady said has been one of the biggest problems in the National Guard today.
It involves filling a Guard unit with soldiers appropriately trained for the unique situation in Iraq by drawing troops and equipment from other units.
The practice has “degraded unit cohesion, and, therefore, overall military effectiveness,” the report said.
According to Maj. Gen. Kenneth Clark, adjutant general of New Hampshire Army National Guard, “The kind of forces we needed were not conventional forces like we had built our army around,” which is why, he said, cross-leveling was considered necessary during the Iraq War.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently outlawed cross-leveling, a decision Clark said he was “very pleased” with. Gates also established a new deployment cycle, limited to one year at a stretch and no more often than every five years, not including activations for state emergencies. Before Gates acted, “one- year” deployments actually took 18 months, including pre-deployment training and post-deployment administrative requirements.
But some troops, who may have been sliced from their original units to fulfill cross-leveling requirements and may have already been deployed for 18 months will be forced to serve longer terms if their original unit is now mobilized.
So completely eradicating cross-leveling will be a process in itself. “You can’t snap your fingers and do that,” Clark said.
According to Daigle, cross-leveling has been a common practice throughout the. National Guard, not just in New Hampshire.
“Cross-leveling impacts us,” he said. “It has a negative impact.” Daigle said the practice has not prevented the state’s forces from “meeting every tasking that is required. But yes, it has been a challenge.”
Increased troop levels in Iraq, resulting from Bush’s troop surge and subsequent accelerated unit call-ups, are likely to be another challenge to the National Guard.
For the past 50 years, the Guard has been considered a force generally held in reserve, Clark said. But that concept has now changed, and the proof is in the numbers—an increase of almost 90,000 activated Army National Guard members from 2001 to 2004, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
The National Security Advisory Group, created by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to advise Democrats on national security issues, found that about 95 percent of Army National Guard combat battalions and special operations units have been mobilized since 9/11.
“Clearly there has been more usage of the National Guard,” Clark said.
And do ordinary New Hampshire citizens know of all this changing history, which has lead to such heavy use of Granite States forces, a use unlikely to ease anytime soon?
“Depends on who you’re talking to,” Clark said. “[Some people] couldn’t tell me a thing. They don’t have a clue. But then I’m approached by people on a daily basis who do have a clue.”
He added, “I’ve got more people reaching out to be supportive than I have ever imagined.”
Ron Bushey, president of the New Hampshire chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army, said New Hampshire citizens have a “profound understanding” of what their Guard members are doing. The association runs education and family outreach programs, fundraisers and events in the state.
“Most people truly appreciate what these young men and women are sacrificing,” he said.
###
