Report: U.S. May Call National Guard for Iraq Duty

[Sushi_lover]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20030717_10.html

Report: U.S. May Call National Guard for Iraq Duty

July 17

— NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pentagon could start a call-up of as many as 10,000 U.S. National Guard soldiers by this winter to bolster forces in Iraq and offset a lack of troops from allies, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the U.S. military thin, the report said, and soldiers there still face danger every day.

One senior U.S. defense official, asked by the Journal if he had ever seen the Army stretched so thin, said: "Not in my 31 years" of military service.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to sign off later this week on a plan that would set up rotations to relieve Marine and U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Iraq, the newspaper said, citing a Pentagon official.

About 146,000 U.S. troops are serving in postwar Iraq amid mounting security threats. The U.S. death toll of 147 combat deaths has now equaled the number killed in the 1991 Gulf War.

National Guard soldiers would likely not be deployed until March or April after they complete two or three months of training, the paper said. Their lengths of service could last 12 to 16 months each including training.

(more)

[trumad]

1. Weekend Warriors going up against battle hardened Guerrilla fighters!

What a fucking mess.

[kalian]

2. They're desperate....

and very much concerned that they might have to startup a draft.
I have a feeling that they're holding off until after the elections.
If dubya is elected, expect a draft to be re-instated within the first
half of 2005.

[Sushi_lover]

3. NYC in 2004. Who's the National Guard there?

O jeez. If the National Guard is in Iraq next year, who's the National Guard in New York for the Republican National Convention?

please god don't give them bullets.

[pw]

4. Retention rates are already a problem

At some point, someone is going to challenge the stop-loss order and things will get (even more) unpleasant.

[revcarol]

5. "I'm happy to report

that there will be no civil unrest, tornados, hurricanes or forest fires while the National Guard is out of the country." George Bush