National Guard insists Iraq war not hampering hurricane response

BY PHILIP DINE

St. Louis Post-Dispatch


WASHINGTON - (KRT) - The catastrophe wrought by Hurricane Katrina is sparking a vigorous debate about whether the National Guard is hampered in helping because of its large-scale deployment in Iraq.

Those who deny that there's a problem note that some 300,000 Guard troops are in the United States and available if needed.

"There are plenty," said Lt. Col. Mike Milord of the National Guard Bureau. "There are about 331,000 Army National Guard and 106,000 in the Air Guard, so nationwide about 437,000. Subtract 100,000 for all deployment operations, and you still have 337,000 National Guard available."

But those who say there is a direct impact on the ability to respond to the disaster on the Gulf Coast note that the states most affected - Louisiana and Mississippi - have their top Guard brigades in Iraq.

Of the National Guard's 45 brigades, only a handful are considered "enhanced," and those include two from Louisiana and Mississippi in Iraq, said Lawrence Korb, who handled personnel and Guard issues as assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan.

"They had their crack troops there in Iraq. They have the best equipment, the best training," Korb said. "It may be only 30 percent that's over in Iraq, but it's the best 30 percent."

As a result, he said, Mississippi and Louisiana had to wait for other states to supply additional troops. Friday, four days after the storm struck, the Guard arrived with food, water and weapons, to bring some relief and order.

Missouri sent 1,000 Guard members to New Orleans. After a series of arrivals over the weekend, only Pennsylvania, with 2,500, and Texas, 2,397, will have more in place.

In any crisis, affected states generally call in help from other states, said Heritage Foundation military expert James Carafano. Affected states seek to avoid depleting their own forces while benefiting from the skills other states possess. For example, he said, Louisiana's units lack sufficient trucks or helicopters to be helpful in hurricanes.

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., dismissed any link between Iraq and delays getting the Guard involved in New Orleans.

"I've heard that claim made, but that's complete baloney," Bond said. "Sixty-five percent of Louisiana's Guard members were available, and 60 percent of Mississippi's were available. There's still far more Guardsmen and women available than are overseas."

Asked why out-of-state Guard units didn't come to the gulf earlier, Bond said Missouri's troops were "in place and ready to move" but "they weren't requested."

But Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., like Bond a Senate defense appropriator, said the effect of Iraqi deployments on the Guard's hurricane availability is worth examining.

"There's clearly been a breakdown when it comes to responding to this disaster. I don't know if it's a lack of leadership or resources," Durbin said. "Seventy percent of the Illinois Guard either served in Iraq or is serving there, and they leave the major equipment over there for a year; and by that time it's depleted. So our units don't have the supplies and equipment they usually have on hand for a situation like this."

Durbin also said that lawmakers need to ask, "Do we have the resources, the personnel, to respond to emergencies at home when we have been stretched so thin by the war in Iraq?"

As of Friday, 15,000 Guard troops from around the country were helping in the storm zone. By Monday, that is expected to rise to 30,000 - 17,000 of them in Louisiana, Milord said.

Missouri's units include the 175th - a military police battalion from Fulton - and two field artillery battalions, the 1128th from Columbia and the 1129th out of Maryville. Two C-130 aircraft from the 139th Airlift Wing arrived late last week in Kansas City, with 31 children and their families from a New Orleans hospital. That mission was requested by Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City through Bond's office.

The size of Missouri's contingent is attributable to several factors - Missouri's general proximity to Louisiana, Missouri's large Guard force and its mix of units skilled in security, transportation, communications and medical operations.

Illinois is sending 300 Guard members to New Orleans. Illinois National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tim Franklin said they are from the 3637th Maintenance Company in Springfield and the 126th Maintenance Company in Quincy. Also sent were 50 five-ton trucks to be used in New Orleans to haul cargo and equipment.

Illinois has 9,000 Guard members, with 1,400 in Iraq, Franklin said, leaving plenty of personnel available to help.

Missouri has 1,600 Guard troops in Iraq, of a total of 10,000 Guard members. Missouri Guard officials said the state provided everything Louisiana sought. But the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency said Louisiana sought 2,000 from Missouri while the state was able to provide half that number.

Also sending Army National Guard troops to New Orleans were: Alabama, 325; Arkansas, 446; Colorado, 404; Kansas, 25; Maryland, 65; Michigan, 250; North Carolina, 300; Nebraska, 50; New Hampshire, 450; New Mexico, 694; Nevada, 89; Ohio, 320; Oklahoma, 740; Oregon, 150; Rhode Island, 150; Tennessee, 300; Vermont, 20; West Virginia, 240; Washington, D.C., 100; and Puerto Rico, 80.

Of Louisiana's total Guard force, 6,505 were in state and available to help, and 4,725 have been called up, Milord said. The state also has 2,700 Guard members in Iraq.

David Segal, an expert in military organization, at the University of Maryland, said the National Guard are being deployed in ways never intended, leading to "a tug of war between state governments and the federal government."

Their heavy use in Iraq has worried governors, particularly in states hit by forest fires, Segal said. Concerns rose during the base-closing process, with some states - including Missouri and Illinois - arguing that federal officials have no right to close Guard bases without a governor's approval. That debate will now expand, given Katrina, he said.

"I think the discussion has started," Segal said. "Originally it was a backroom discussion, but this will increasingly force a more public discussion about the role of the National Guard."

Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, said mounting strains on the military require a probe of how such crises and the Iraq war affect military readiness.

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