May 17, 2006


General Disorder?

I always have to wonder about flag officers who make statements like this, and wonder what they are saying privately. I do understand the need to salute and give a "cheery aye-aye"...goes with the job and uniform. But with the recent outspokeness of the retired flag officers about Mess O'Potamia, and some of the criticism they got for not resigning and speaking out about George and Dick's Excellent Adventure.

The commander of the National Guard pledged yesterday that 6,000 troops will be trained and ready to carry out President Bush's order to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border starting next month, but the narrowness of their mission and long-standing doubts about U.S. enforcement efforts shadowed Bush's call to "gain full control of the border."
...
The deployment of up to 6,000 troops is expected to begin in June and could extend into a second year with a smaller force of about 3,000, said Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense. They will be replaced as more Border Patrol officers are hired and trained.

McHale said the military force will consist mainly of National Guard troops from California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico who will rotate to the border for three-week tours in lieu of their annual 15-day field training.

So, they are going to take Guard troops from the border states affected, and ostensibly train them to do the job of the border patrol. I have my doubts that the training will be more than a "gun decking" of training records and include a chit for mileage to the border.

These men and women will be facing issues that I wonder how well they wil be prepared for. The last time we saw woefully-unprepared Guard troops put in position of authority over detainees and too-little supervision we got Abu Ghraib. Not to say that would happen again, but it seems that the 1600 Crew is setting up the situation again, all to get a photo-op and a hopeful poll-bounce.

I wonder how this will affect the Guard in the long-term, I wonder how this policy will do more than provide an opportunity for the deserting frat-boy to put on a uniform and prance around the Rio Grande on his way to another vacation on his "ranch". I wonder how the Commander of the Guard will reconcile his conscience knowing that he might have helped to undermine the organization he loves and has dedicated his life to, by not speaking up if that's the right thing to do now.
posted by Jo Fish on 05.17.06 at 11:12 AM





Comments:

Remember, the Guard is supposed to be part-time military support for the Active Duty mission, and to provide help during state emergencies/disasters. The photo from Iraq when OIF kicked off said it all: "Two Weeks My A**".

The people in the Guard and Reserve have other lives - other jobs, than the military mission. With rotations in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, nominal State missions, regular training, and now border patrol duties, I would suspect mission fatigue will only accellerate and make recruitment/retention more difficult.

Those who joined to be able to go to college while in the Guard/Reserves must be wondering why they didn't just go Active Duty - they'd be away from home about the same amount of time, and they would have better benefits.

posted by: Marcus on 05.17.06 at 12:37 PM [permalink]

oh no ...

Rove Blames Bush's Job Approval Ratings on War in Iraq

 posted by: uop on 05.18.06 at 08:47 AM [permalink]

"who will rotate to the border for three-week tours in lieu of their annual 15-day field training."

Well yes because we all know that the biggest problem Guard Units face when rotating into Iraq is all that extraneous training they get. Better to have them driving randomly around the outskirts of El Paso or listlessly watching monitors.

Between travel time to and fro, processing paperwork, and basic orientation to the task most of the 15 days will be simply burned up by operational friction. You could not run a Jack In the Box if you had total staff turnover every two weeks, the notion that you can staff a complex logistical operation under those circumstances is quite literally insane. And since I don't believe those in charge are literally insane (at least in regards to this) anyone with a thinking brain and 10 seconds of military experience is screaming "It's a PR exercise".

I can't imagine a better way to gut an understaffed and underequiped National Guard than rotating them through border towns for duty they know is pointless.

I don't know if the most fiendish American adversary in history could have devised a more comprehensive strategy for destroying the US Regular Army, the Reserves and the Guard than these guys.

"Join the Army National Guard. You don't know where you will be serving, but we can promise you it will be dusty and hot!"

 posted by: Bruce Webb on 05.19.06 at 09:32 AM [permalink]

As a disabled vet living now in Alaska I have to wonder just why anyone would agree to join the guard? As written above why not just go active duty, get it over with. But even the active force is having great difficulty meeting the recruitment needed. Any one smell a draft?

 posted by: kerryinalaska on 05.20.06 at 03:36 PM [permalink]

Posse Comitatus repealed. Bush has returned the southwest back to the days of reconstruction(tm).

Jusk ask Karl Rove how that's going for his pocketbook in NOLA.

 posted by: Mr.Murder on 05.21.06 at 02:30 AM [permalink]

Guard troops from the border states? Who do they think is in the Guard, anyway? Is Sgt. John Ramirez going to want be chasing down people who look like (and could be) his cousins?

But realistically, how likely is it that they're even going to fund this? This administration's history is to quietly cut support for border security after the photo-ops.

 posted by: Redlake on 05.23.06 at 12:09 PM [permalink]


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