The toll on the National Guard

[SoCalDem]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4481698/


The toll on the National Guard
What happens after 'Weekend Warriors' return home?

By Fred Francis
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 3:21 p.m. ET March 09, 2004


KNOXVILLE - Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 143,000 National Guard members have been mobilized worldwide.



Tennessee’s top National Guard unit, which hasn’t been called to combat since the Korean War, is getting ready for Iraq. The weekend warriors must go, but what happens after they return home?

The war in Iraq has slammed into most of Tennessee like a tornado, crashing into the lives of over 4,000 National Guard families, jolting employers, surprising the troops.“A bit excited, but also a bit stunned,” said 19-year-old John Fogerty.Scenes like this are nationwide. Some say that’s because Pentagon planners didn’t plan so well.

The active-duty Army needs rest. The only option is sending Guard and Reserve troops to replace them, stressing weekend warriors as never before. Some 46 percent of the 110,000 troops needed in Iraq will be part-time soldiers.



snip..........

[justgamma]

1. 78% of the guard

from Iowa are deployed. One unit near here was home a year after serving at gitmo. They just got sent to Iraq for a year. The toll on the families is unbelievable.

[kichigai usagi]

2. It's pathetic...

to know how many Guard families are filing bankruptcy and losing everything because the main bread winner gets deployed for a year.

But when they come home they discover that their job has either been eliminated or outsourced and that there are no jobs available anywhere. Talk about the ultimate slap in the face. When troops came home from WWII, the govt. gave Vets Dirt cheap homes and Veterans educational assistance to help them.

Today all the Vets get is a boot in the ass and a foreclosure notice from the Banking Cartel.

[sybylla]

3. The regular army is stressed?

I've had a guard friend over there nearly a year now providing support and guarding that precious oil pipeline. He was due to retire last fall. When does he get a rest?