thedrifter
03-23-07, 07:47 PM
Hunter: Let Guard in U.S. keep old war gear
By William H. McMichael and Karen Jowers - Staff writers
Posted : Friday Mar 23, 2007 16:06:21 EDT
Some National Guard units deploying to Iraq have been ordered to leave their gear behind when they come home — a common practice for units rotating through the combat theater.
But a senior lawmaker says it is having a particularly adverse effect on Guard units, which are left wanting at their home stations for long periods as active-duty units get priority for equipment restock.
That not only hurts the ability of Guard units to train and prepare for war, but prevents them from responding to emergencies at home such as hurricanes or other natural disasters, the National Governors Association said in a letter to Congress.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wants to figure out how to properly equip Guard units who either weren’t fully equipped to begin with or were forced to leave their gear behind in the Middle East before returning home.
If that gear isn’t enough to fully equip all Guard units for deployment as well as their homeland missions, Hunter said he’d like to see a supplemental spending bill to make up the difference.
“Let’s figure out where we’re short, what it’s going to take to make the Guard full-up [equipped],” Hunter said during a March 23 House Armed Services Committee hearing on the recommendations of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, “and then let’s pass a supplemental, just like we did last year with the $20 billion for the Army and Marine Corps” to replace or repair war-torn gear.
Guard units have been heavily deployed in post-Sept. 11 military operations, yet the overall equipment readiness of the National Guard “is unacceptable,” according to the commission’s March 1 report.
“You have governors whose brigades have come back [from Iraq], and they’ve been told they aren’t going to get any equipment for four years,” said Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine Corps major general and the commission chairman, who testified before the committee. “We all know that’s unacceptable.”
Hunter said he has talked to Guard unit leaders who deployed and had to leave their original equipment behind when they returned to the U.S. If there are stateside shortfalls and the gear they took with them overseas wasn’t adequate for war fighting — but would be perfectly adequate for use back home — it should be brought back, he said.
“The implication clearly being,” Hunter said, “that there’s equipment parked in places like Kuwait or in Iraq.” With more than 20,000 up-armored Humvees now with Army and Marine units in Iraq, he said, “those have displaced the non-up-armored Humvees. They should be in the inventory someplace.”
Hunter said he wants someone to determine where those Humvees are now, calculate what the Guard needs, fund the difference, “and spend it. And make the Guard healthy sometime while we’re still young.”
Hunter’s cause is backed by the National Governors Association, which has asked Congress to identify shortfalls and provide the funding to replace equipment used in military operations and left behind in Iraq for other units.
“Unless this equipment is replaced in a timely fashion [when Guard units return home], the ability of our Guard units to train for future military actions or respond to citizens’ needs in an emergency is greatly diminished,” wrote the association’s chairwoman, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, and vice chairman, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
“We urge you to work with the National Guard Bureau to identify equipment shortfalls and provide necessary budget authority to reequip our National Guard Forces,” they wrote in the March 19 letter.
Ellie
By William H. McMichael and Karen Jowers - Staff writers
Posted : Friday Mar 23, 2007 16:06:21 EDT
Some National Guard units deploying to Iraq have been ordered to leave their gear behind when they come home — a common practice for units rotating through the combat theater.
But a senior lawmaker says it is having a particularly adverse effect on Guard units, which are left wanting at their home stations for long periods as active-duty units get priority for equipment restock.
That not only hurts the ability of Guard units to train and prepare for war, but prevents them from responding to emergencies at home such as hurricanes or other natural disasters, the National Governors Association said in a letter to Congress.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wants to figure out how to properly equip Guard units who either weren’t fully equipped to begin with or were forced to leave their gear behind in the Middle East before returning home.
If that gear isn’t enough to fully equip all Guard units for deployment as well as their homeland missions, Hunter said he’d like to see a supplemental spending bill to make up the difference.
“Let’s figure out where we’re short, what it’s going to take to make the Guard full-up [equipped],” Hunter said during a March 23 House Armed Services Committee hearing on the recommendations of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, “and then let’s pass a supplemental, just like we did last year with the $20 billion for the Army and Marine Corps” to replace or repair war-torn gear.
Guard units have been heavily deployed in post-Sept. 11 military operations, yet the overall equipment readiness of the National Guard “is unacceptable,” according to the commission’s March 1 report.
“You have governors whose brigades have come back [from Iraq], and they’ve been told they aren’t going to get any equipment for four years,” said Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine Corps major general and the commission chairman, who testified before the committee. “We all know that’s unacceptable.”
Hunter said he has talked to Guard unit leaders who deployed and had to leave their original equipment behind when they returned to the U.S. If there are stateside shortfalls and the gear they took with them overseas wasn’t adequate for war fighting — but would be perfectly adequate for use back home — it should be brought back, he said.
“The implication clearly being,” Hunter said, “that there’s equipment parked in places like Kuwait or in Iraq.” With more than 20,000 up-armored Humvees now with Army and Marine units in Iraq, he said, “those have displaced the non-up-armored Humvees. They should be in the inventory someplace.”
Hunter said he wants someone to determine where those Humvees are now, calculate what the Guard needs, fund the difference, “and spend it. And make the Guard healthy sometime while we’re still young.”
Hunter’s cause is backed by the National Governors Association, which has asked Congress to identify shortfalls and provide the funding to replace equipment used in military operations and left behind in Iraq for other units.
“Unless this equipment is replaced in a timely fashion [when Guard units return home], the ability of our Guard units to train for future military actions or respond to citizens’ needs in an emergency is greatly diminished,” wrote the association’s chairwoman, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, and vice chairman, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
“We urge you to work with the National Guard Bureau to identify equipment shortfalls and provide necessary budget authority to reequip our National Guard Forces,” they wrote in the March 19 letter.
Ellie