Official: Risk to Guardsmen Exaggerated

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/12/AR2005071200520.html

Official: Risk to Guardsmen Exaggerated

By ROBERT BURNS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 12, 2005; 10:20 AM

WASHINGTON -- The risk to National Guard soldiers of getting killed or wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan has been exaggerated, making recruiting more difficult, the general in charge of all National Guard forces said Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum told a group of defense reporters that more than 250,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen have been mobilized for active duty since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and 262 of them have been killed.

"It is dangerous, but it is _ I shouldn't say it to this group but I'm going to _ it is misrepresented, how dangerous it really is," he said.

The casualty rate for Guardsmen is "remarkably low," compared with any previous armed conflict, Blum said, adding that he recognizes that every individual loss is a tragedy for that person's family. "But I lose, unfortunately, more people through private automobile accidents and motorcycle accidents over the same period of time," he added.

<</SNIP>>

[Lerkfish]

1. bush should get them out of Iraq, if he's concerned for their safety.

[Virginian]

11. I don't think he is concerned,

IMHO this General thinks the number of National Guard deaths is within an acceptable number. He isn't looking at percentages, he is looking at actual numbers of guardsmen who have been killed in this war and comparing them with the number who were killed in WWII. I don't know, I think his numbers are a little low. He states that the press is exaggerating how dangerous it is for a guardsman in Iraq and because of this, the National Guard is not meeting its recruitment quotas.

If he compared the guardsmen who were KIA in Iraq with the number of guardsmen KIA in Viet Nam, he might come out with entirely different statistics.

It isn't just the number of deaths that is stopping people from enlisting in the National Guard, it is also the guarantee of having their lives disrupted by a tour of duty. IMHO People who have regular jobs are OK with weekend drills and being called up for a regional emergency, it is the guaranteed long absences from their jobs and families and the uncertainty of when that will occur that is keeping enlistment levels down.

People who want to go to Iraq are joining the regular armed forces instead. That way they know what to expect. The armed service is their regular job.

(End the war, bring them ALL home.)

[Coastie for Truth]

17. The long EXCONUS deployments

you are 110% right-->

IMHO People who have regular jobs are OK with weekend drills and being called up for a regional emergency, it is the guaranteed long absences from their jobs and families and the uncertainty of when that will occur that is keeping enlistment levels down.

Guardspeople join up for the patriotism and camaraderie - and the opportunity to serve (in harm's way) for temporary but serious emergencies - hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, major blizzards. But (at least in my generation) - Guardspeople had already done their 2-6 years of active duty and wanted to get on with their lives.

It is like comparing the Volunteer Fire Department or the Volunteer Ambulance Service - to going back on active duty.

[heidler1]

19. IMO The reason enlistments are down is that nobody can justify the WAR.

[Coastie for Truth]

20. You may be right

People are still joining the Volunteer Fire Departments/Ambulance Corps - just not the Guard and Reserve.

We are seeing Guard and Reserve "alumni" coming into the emergency response NGO's (Red Cross, Salvation Army, Ham Radio Emergency Response, etc.) and the VFD's in increasing numbers.

People do want to serve their community - and the camaraderie. Just not Bush's elective war of aggression.

[MrBenchley]

2. Let Jenna and Mudflap join up...

Let Jebbo's kids sign up...

[krkaufman]

5. Yes, agreed.

I keep waiting for a SendTheTwins.org website to pop-up.

[MrBenchley]

10. Somebody needs to replace Lynndie English...

now that she's in the jug...why not Jenna?

Or Jebbo's junkie daughter "Just say" Noelle?

[Sparkly]

3. Lemme guess: recruitments are down because Libruls exaggerated the danger.

It's our fault again!

[indepat]

8. Everything is the libruls' fault for conservatives are pure in thought

action.

[etherealtruth]

4. "Remarkably low,"

Members of the military getting maimed and killed in war zones is just a vast LEFT wing conspiracy to drive down recruitment to make the "almost god-like" *W* look bad!

(please tell me you recognize sarcasm)

[whatever4]

6. What a liar

If half the soldiers returning have some form of brain damage just from exposure to combat, how exaggerated can the danger be? Liar, liar to your own troops, the WORST kind of liar. Shame on you Sir. Go to hell Sir.

[Kagemusha]

7. I've heard this one before. It was used during the Vietnam conflict.

Well, in other conflicts as well...

[Coastie for Truth]

9. What Parallel Universe Is Genl Blum in

That umber includes Reservists and Guardspeople mobilized to stand in airports, sit at the end of airport runways, con patrol boats under major bridges, pull pre-positioned war reserve equipment out of dead storage, perform reconstructive surgery and prosthesis fitting, process payrolls, etc.

Let's look at the number deployed EXCONUS. Let's make the denominator of the fraction realistic.

And, let's go a step further - notwithstanding the unenforced Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and the toothless and gutless and voluntary "Employers Committee to Support The Guard and Reserve" -- Guardspeople are being ripped off by banks (including Citi, BofA-Wachovia-MBNA, Chase, BankOne, all of the VISA and MasterCard issuers), mortgage companies, auto finance companies, employers, land lords, insurance companies, etc. These folks are taking more then just a hit of the DELTA between their previous civilian salary and their present military salary -- they are taking a hit on dependent health insurance, and they are taking a hit on disappearing civilian jobs.

The unwritten, gentleman's agreement, social contract, "wink and nod" before Bush's wars of aggression--
1) At most one six month call up every six years.
2) If Reservists and Guardspeople were called up for more six months - it was a stop gap until the conscripts started coming through the system.
3) If Reservists and Guardspeople were sent EXCONUS - it was a stop gap until the conscripts started coming through the system.
4) DOD and DOJ would vigorously enforce the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
5) The civilian economy would treat the Reservists and Guardspeople in good faith - and in accordance with the guidelines accepted by the "Employers Committee to Support The Guard and Reserve"

Instead, we have am aggressive war of choice -
*with vastly uneven sacrifices,
*a war that is funded through a debt to be paid by our grand kids as the wealthiest 2% get massive tax cuts
*a war of American blood for foreign oil -- as raising CAFE and research on fuel efficient cars is postponed with pie-in-the-sky science fiction of "hydrogen powered fuel cell cars" (yeah - in 25 + years).

General Blum is living on a doppleganger planet in a parallel universe.

[Roland99]

12. Tell that to the family of the KY Guardsman killed earlier this month

[Zorra]

13. Just please don't say that around the families of the dead kids

OK? Or around the kids that had their legs blown off at 18 years old either.

It might depress them that they had such remarkably bad luck, since the "odds" against them or their loved ones getting mangled or killed in that lovenest of milk and honey over there in Iraq were so low.

[Rose Siding]

14. And the risk for loss of limbs, eyes, minds, jobs, homes and marriages...?

[daleo]

15. How many actually went to Iraq and Afghanistan

That would be the relevant number to use here. 262 out of 250,000 is about 1 per thousand, but I suspect a good percentage of those called to active duty did not go to these two countries.

Throw on the fact that there are about 10 seriously wounded for every death, and many more with less serious wounds, war zone related disease and/or post-traumatic stress, and your casualty rate is probably at least in the 5 to 10 percent range. And it will only get worse with time. Nobody really knew the extent of Gulf War Syndrome or Agent Orange related illness until years after the wars were over.

This guy sounds like he couldn't care less.

[roseBudd]

16. The number who travel in cars vastly exceeds the number of troops ...

stationed in Iraq, therefore the statement, "But I lose, unfortunately, more people through private automobile accidents and motorcycle accidents over the same period of time," is extremely disengenuous. Surely Lt. Blum realizes this.

[Az_lefty]

18. Total Bullshit...

the whold damn country is a free-fire zone, everyone's in danger. NG, Reserves, Active...it doesn't make any difference. The old concept of a "rear area" is out the window. Unless of course, your at Arifjan laying around the swimming pool.
:hide:

[sabra]

21. more: U.S. National Guard chief sees recruiting shortfall

<<SNIP>>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/12/AR2005071200970.html

U.S. National Guard chief sees recruiting shortfall

Reuters
Tuesday, July 12, 2005; 3:54 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Army National Guard, tapped heavily by the Pentagon for soldiers in Iraq, likely will miss its recruiting goal for the third straight year, the general who runs it said on Tuesday.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon, argued that the Army National Guard was not in "serious crisis mode" even as it stood about 19,000 troops below the 350,000-strong force authorized by Congress.


Blum said potential recruits and their families were wary about wartime service. He also said the media have exaggerated the peril faced by National Guard soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I shouldn't say it to this group, but I'm going to," Blum told a gathering of reporters. "It is misrepresented how dangerous it really is."

<</SNIP>>

[malachi]

22. Official(Numbnutz General): Risk to Guardsmen Exaggerated

WASHINGTON (AP) - The dangers faced by American troops in Iraq have been exaggerated, adding to the difficulty of recruiting soldiers at home, the Army general in charge of National Guard forces said Tuesday.

The casualty rate for Guardsmen is low compared with any previous armed conflict, said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum.

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20050712/D8BA2B501.html?PG=home&SEC=news

[yardwork]

23. Yeah, well then let the Republicans in Congress sign up

[geniph]

24. Never lie...

...just don't ever tell the whole truth.

The casualty rate for Guardsmen is low compared with any previous armed conflict, said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum

The most recent armed conflicts that the Guard fought in was WWII and Korea. The casualty rate for ALL UNITS in Iraq is low compared to those conflicts.

[JPace]

25. When was the last time we lost a "General" in war?

Big mouth....no risk!:spank:

[tabasco]

26. It's really overrated having all your limbs.

I bet Gen. Blum spends a lot of time down at the checkpoints.

[anotherdrew]

27. if that wasn't how he thinks he wouldn't have the job

Such a shame that we have such awful unrealistic demanding damn-reality perception is all that matters, half-witted, group thinking, clueless leadership at every level in this country. We've been driving on the road to nowhere so long now only the mad are permitted to drive.