U.S. NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - LTG H Steven Blum pressed his fingertips to his forehead while meeting with National Guard troops here in mid-November.
“We care about what’s in here,” the chief of the National Guard Bureau told the Minutemen and women serving with Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO).
Then he moved his hand to his heart. “And we care about what’s in here,” Blum said.
“This is the only organization that I know that doesn’t care about where you go to church or where you went to school or what color your eyes are or what color your skin is or what color your hair is.
“We only have two questions,” Blum added: ”Do you know what you’re doing? And can I trust you?”
National Guard members, mostly from Maryland, currently comprise about 13 percent of JTF-GTMO,according to Rear Adm. Harry Harris Jr., the task force commander. JTF-GTMO’s mission is the safe and humane care and custody of enemy combatants detained during the Global War on Terrorism.
The chief of the National Guard Bureau and the NGB’s new command sergeant major, Command Sgt. Maj. David Hudson, talked with Citizen-Soldiers during a town meeting for more than an hour. Topics included the state of the Guard, recruiting and retention, the Global War on Terrorism and issues such as equipment, family and employer support, retirement ages and education benefits.
Although the Army National Guard is nearly 347,000 strong after the most successful recruiting effort in 34 years, the chief knew many of the people in the room by name and asked about the well-being of specific Citizen-Soldiers of all ranks whose duties prevented them from being present. Blum spent most of his nearly 40-year career as a member of the Maryland Army National Guard.
He said he was talking with an audience that has changed considerably since Sept. 11, 2001; an audience with a notably improved attitude and level of professionalism; an audience justifiably proud of the Guard’s recent service at home and overseas.
When he asked for a show of hands, about 80 percent of the room indicated they had previously been deployed, many to combat zones.
“This is just another tour of duty for you; another chance to defend our nation and our way of life,” Blum said. “We really appreciate it. The National Guard today is absolutely essential. It’s the best force we’ve ever had. It’s the youngest force. We have more experience as a Guard today than we’ve ever had.”
Blum, Hudson and other National Guard leaders spent the day visiting troops in all branches of the U.S. armed services who are on deployed to JTF-GTMO at the nation’s oldest overseas naval base.
“We could not do what we do without the National Guard,” Harris said. “They’ve performed magnificently.”
Since enemy combatants from the Global War on Terrorism were first brought to Guantanamo Bay in 2002, the Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen of the National Guard have at one time or another served in virtually every position within the task force. “It’s completely seamless, the contribution of the Guard,” Harris said. “I don’t know on my staff who’s in the Guard and who’s not.”
Capt. Mark Leary, the naval base’s commanding officer, recalled conversations with National Guard members serving in the detention facilities where enemy combatants are held.
“What do you do in your other life?” Leary asks.
“Sell pharmaceuticals,” one Guard member replies. “State patrol trooper,” says another.”
“Well,” Leary tells them, “you do pretty good at this job, too.”
“They’re quality people,” Leary said. “Mission focused. Here to get things done. Quite frankly, without looking at the insignia, I can’t tell the difference.”
Back at the town hall meeting in Troopers Chapel on the edge of the blue Caribbean, Blum told troops, “You ought to stand awful proud and awful tall.”
The National Guard saved 17,500 lives during Hurricane Katrina and evacuated 200,000 people, he said.
“We did that at the same time we had 78,000 of our great sons and daughters in harm’s way in Afghanistan and Iraq, in the Balkans, in the Sinai, in the Horn of Africa and 40 other countries,” Blum related. “The same morning, we sent 50,000 people to Katrina from every state in the union.”
Some National Guard members serving at JTF-GTMO say privately that they feel guilty they are not in Iraq or Afghanistan. Their mission is important, they were assured.
“Because you’re here, that means that these people aren’t in America,” said Hudson, the Guard’s senior enlisted member. “What you’re doing here is really important, really significant, and never forget that.”
Blum said service members involved in the Global War on Terrorism may be the next “Greatest Generation,” a reference to those who served during World War II.“We are closer to the front end of this war than we are to the end,” Blum said. “People who think we’re into the third or fourth quarter of this are missing the point. We are in the early stages of something that your sons and daughters are going to be dealing with, and I don’t want them looking back and saying, ‘Boy, did they mess this up for us.