WASHINGTON - More than two-thirds of the Army National Guard's 34 brigades are not combat ready, mostly because of equipment shortages that will cost up to $21 billion to correct, the top National Guard general said Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum spoke to a group defense reporters after Army officials, analysts and members of Congress disclosed that two-thirds of the active Army's brigades are not ready for war.
The budget won't allow the military to complete the personnel training and equipment repairs and replacement that must be done when units return home after deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan, they say.
Ed.: Please remind me again of how Iraq will be paying for the cost of this war once their oil pipelines come back online! Belongs right up there with “check is in the mail.” I’ve a nephew going back to Iraq in September, his second tour, days after his first child is expected to be born. I worry about him. With the increased number of insurgent attacks, drawing down the number of troops is less and less likely, and it is more likely that his tour will be extended like so many are being extended now. The $21 billion needed to equip our troops will be the least of our problems. Recruiting goals will be routinely missed; the number of hotspots for troops needed around the globe seems to increase the longer this admin is in power; and just watch that a draft will be required before long. (Damn, this sounds pessimistic. I wish we had a leader I felt we could trust to show us the way out of this mess.)
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