Reply #2: Nat'l Guard Bureau chief says problem wasn't in his "crystal ball"

[rainbow4321]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NATIONAL_GUARD?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told reporters Tuesday that the Guard is 15,000 soldiers below its normal strength of 350,000, and he expects further short-term declines despite recent gains from tripling re-enlistment bonuses for Guardsmen deployed abroad.


"I did not envision being in Iraq in 2005 with 44 percent of the (total Army) combat forces," he said. "That was not in my wildest scenario on the crystal ball that I was looking at."