Pentagon officials are considering cutting as many as 34,000 soldiers -- the bulk of them from the National Guard -- at a time when U.S. ground forces are stretched in Iraq, according to defense officials.
The proposed cuts are part of a reduction in the growth of defense spending over the next five years ordered by the White House. The manpower cuts stem from a decision by Army leaders to sacrifice troop strength in order to provide more money for new weapons systems and other equipment, said defense officials, who requested anonymity.
The plan, which has not yet been approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is likely to spur criticism from members of Congress, who have pressed for a larger Army, and prompt even greater opposition from the nation's governors, who command the part-time National Guard soldiers unless they are called to federal duty. State officials rely heavily on the 334,000-soldier Army Guard for natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
The plan calls for the reduction of some 26,000 Army Guard soldiers. It would eliminate as many as six brigades -- each with about 3,500 soldiers -- as well as two division headquarters, officials said. One aviation brigade would probably be targeted, along with five ground brigades, including as many as four armored and mechanized units, officials said.
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How soon after Katrina, Rita, and Wilma we forget. The National Guard are the "heavy lifters" of disaster recovery.
As we saw in Katrina, Rita, and Wilma -- BusCop has raped and depleted the Guard and FEMA -- and left the Guard's "heavy lifting" disaster mitigation and FEMA's disaster mitigation to the NGO- volunteer sector. He has pushed the NGO- volunteer sector beyond its capacity --- and then turned around and blamed the NGO- volunteer sector for the failings of this raping of National Guard and FEMA.