SEATTLE – With so many National Guard troops deployed in Iraq, officials in some states are worried they could be caught short-handed if an emergency occurs at home.
More Guard members are deployed now than have been since the Korean War, and they’re playing an unprecedented role in Iraq. But they’re still needed at home. Governors rely on the Guard to serve as a last line of defense during natural disasters and civil emergencies. And as the hurricane and wildfire seasons begin, states are scrambling to make other plans.
“We just have to hope their deployments coincide with the off-season for fires in California,” said Jim Wright, deputy director of California’s Department of Forestry.
Guard leaders have assured states that remaining Guard units can handle emergency needs. Nationally, only about a quarter of the 460,000 National Guard members are deployed.
But some states are better off than others. In Texas, for example, only 12 percent of the Army National Guard is deployed, while 81 percent of the Guard is gone from Idaho.
Certain Guard specialties, such as engineers and pilots, are in high demand for military missions, so they’re scarcer at home.
States where forest and range fires are common have their own fire crews, with U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies protecting government land. Guardsmen often are called to work at base camps, and can find themselves on the fire lines when large blazes break out.
“We are concerned,” Wright said. California’s wildfire season started early this year, when a series of blazes burned 29,000 acres this month. Dry conditions are expected to create a nasty wildfire season throughout the West this year.
Wright lives with the knowledge that the California National Guard’s Blackhawk helicopters and C-130 planes that helped douse the Southern California fires could be sent to Iraq at any moment.
If necessary, Wright said, California could turn to private contractors or call on other states for firefighting help.
A recently released General Accounting Office report warns that overseas deployments could strain the National Guard’s stateside mission.
“Equipment and personnel may not be available to the states when they are needed because they have been deployed overseas,” the GAO report concludes. “Moreover, the Guard may have difficulty ensuring that each state has access to units with key specialized capabilities – such as engineering or medical assets – needed for homeland security and other domestic missions.”
When Oregon suffered its worst fire season in a century in 2002, about 1,400 Oregon Army Guard members helped fight the blazes. Oregon National Guard leaders told GAO researchers they wouldn’t be able to repeat that performance today, because forces and equipment are deployed overseas.
Washington state has already spent $200,000 to train firefighting replacements for National Guard troops now in Iraq. More than half the state’s Guard members are deployed overseas. Gov. Gary Locke said he believes the 5,000 remaining Guard members in the state will be able to handle whatever emergencies arise, but their response time could be slower.
“The role of the Guard is changing,” said Chris Reynolds, a battalion fire chief in Tampa, Fla., and a professor who teaches disaster management at American Military University.
More frequent and longer overseas guard deployments “absolutely” affect states’ emergency response, Reynolds said – not just because so many National Guard members are gone, but because so many reservists work in public safety and emergency response.
“It’s the tenure and experience that’s missing, and you can’t simply fill the hole with someone,” Reynolds said.
Guard leaders acknowledge the need to change the way the Guard operates so some states don’t have to bear the brunt of deployments.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the Pentagon’s National Guard Bureau, has a plan to ensure that every state has at least half of its National Guard troops at home and available for homeland security and other state missions.
“This model will ensure that no governor is left without sufficient capabilities in the state,” Blum told a meeting of the National Governors’ Association in February. However, he said, this “rebalancing” effort will take several years.
Meanwhile, states will continue to rely on mutual aid agreements that allow them to get help from other states’ National Guard units.
In Idaho, state officials say they’re prepared, but still concerned.
“You’re never really certain you’ll have enough manpower to deal with anything,” said Mike Journee, spokesman for Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, “even at full strength.”
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