Happy Veteran's Day, Guardsmen. Now back to battle with you.Stretched thin by the troop requirements of fighting two wars, the Pentagon is preparing to redeploy entire brigades to combat in Iraq. This will require scrapping the regulation that National Guard troops be limited to combat tours of no more than 24 months total out of each five year period.
Smaller units and individual Guardsmen have redeployed for longer than the proscribed 24 months, but this represents a departure from established policy. The news was announced by Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum (pictured) who commands the Guard, in an Associated Press interview this week.
How did this announcement on Wednesday get short shrift? Of course the answer to that question is "There was an election, stupid" and the timing of the announcement was cynical. I've been around the military long enough to recognize manipulation of the news cycle by timing announcements, thanks.
Yes, I know the uniforms say "United States Army" but these guardsmen did not join the regular Army. They joined the National Guard. Most National Guard troops join for local reasons. To fight wildfires in the western states, clean up after hurricanes and tornados, blizzard relief... The understanding is that the National Guard will guard the nation, meaning this nation.
This president and this Department of Defense have used and abused the military in general and the Guard in specific, and that we the citizens of this nation allow it speaks very poorly of us. We owe these quintesential citizen soldiers more than they are getting from us, that is for damned sure. They do as they are asked, mostly without complaint.
We, on the other hand have not only the right to complain on their behalf, we have the responsibility to do so.
