WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Guard has its highest-quality, best-trained personnel force in history but continues to face a domestic equipment shortage, said LTG H Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, to defense reporters here on Wednesday.
"In order to respond to a no-notice event, whether man-made or an act of nature, it requires the National Guard to be able to respond in minutes and hours, which means units must have the equipment in their hands when the event happens so they can immediately respond," said Blum, to the Defense Writers Group that includes influential, Washington-based defense writers. "There is no time to move equipment from neighboring states and drawing it from consolidated sites."
Blum said it would cost about $13.1 billion for the Army National Guard to equip itself to 90 percent of its critical domestic equipment by 2013. Blum said 90 percent was the percentage he believes is acceptable to mitigate the risk of any diminished response by the National Guard. He stressed that National Guard Soldiers and Airmen in combat theaters have 100 percent of their necessary equipment, but the Army Guard currently has about only 50 percent of its required domestic equipment. He said the Air Guard has about 85 percent of its required equipment.
"My problem is not with the predictable events (such as hurricanes). My problem is how we get the National Guard ready for no-notice events that will happen, like an earthquake, a tornado or a terrorist event or a combination of all three at the same time," Blum said. "By having an under-equipped National Guard, we are assuming some significant risk in that area."
Blum said he is confident the Army is taking the proper steps to equip the Army National Guard to an appropriate level.
"The Army is working in earnest to try to identify exactly what the [domestic] requirements are and what the necessary funding will be to bring us up to appropriate levels of equipment," said Blum, who noted the equipping process will likely take several years.
Blum was also asked if the number of deployed National Guard Soldiers and Airmen might be affected in the wake of Gen. David Petraeus' recent statement to Congress that a drawdown of U.S. forces could occur next year if Iraqi security forces were reaching their security capabilities. According to the Army National Guard Readiness Center, 24,001 Army National Guard Soldiers are currently in Iraq and Kuwait, and they comprise about 17 percent of the total Army forces in those countries.
"It's too early to tell," Blum said. "I don't have the details on the drawdown to be able to tell. One could make the logical assumption that if forces were drawn down, then National Guard forces would be drawn down proportionally. That could happen.
"What also might happen is, as the numbers come down, because of the composition of the specialties of the (National Guard) units required to be there, the percentage of the Guard in the theater could go up. Or it could remain the same. I'm not ready to say the affect until we analyze it."
Blum had good news for the reporters when questioned about National Guard's personnel readiness status after six continuous years at war. As of August, the Army Guard has surpassed its authorized end strength by more than 2,000 members and now has 352,897 Soldiers; the Air National Guard has 99 percent of its authorized end strength with 105,892 Airmen.
"We have the most experienced, youngest, highest-quality force that this nation has ever had in its Army and Air National Guard," Blum said. "Training-wise, it's the same "“ it's never been better. It's the best trained force we've ever had in the 371 years of the Guard."
Questioned about his stance on legislation that would mandate more time at home between war-zone deployments, Blum said he sided with most military leaders -- including Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- and would not back legislation guaranteeing a minimum amount of time between rotations for Soldiers and Airmen. The same day, a dwell time bill proposed by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb failed to pass a Senate vote.
"The intent of the legislation is good, but the effect would create some other problems and issues that would be unintended and unhelpful," Blum said. "While I appreciate our elected lawmakers are sensitive to the sacrifice and hardship that our Soldiers are facing on these frequent, reoccurring deployments, I also agree that prescribing into law the dwell time really does tie the hands of our military leadership and may put us in a worse situation, frankly, than if we were not bound by law.
"There is no one in the Army or Air National Guard that I represent and speak for who would be unwilling to go do whatever this nation really needed done whenever it needed done."
When asked why the number of National Guard Soldiers and Airmen participating in Operation Jump Start, the mission to support U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, on the United States and Mexico border has decreased from 6,000 to about 3,000 National Guard members, Blum said that was the plan all along and the number will eventually approach zero.
"The plan was always to bring the number down to 3,000 in the second year and work our way down (in number)," Blum said. "What has allowed those numbers to come down has been the hiring and training of additional Border Patrol agents. That's one of the factors that has allowed the number to come down. The other factor has been the superb success we've had with infrastructure (improvements): roads, lights, fencing, vehicle barriers.
"All we are doing is executing the plan developed by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security," Blum said. "We were funded for 6,000 (Soldiers and Airmen) the first year. We are funded for 3,000 this year, and we will ultimately work ourselves out of a job by the end of next year. That is not a sign of failure but a sign of success."