By next summer, the U.S. Army National Guard will make up half of all U.S. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But it's not a first.
The nation's "Citizen-Soldiers" made up 56 percent of U.S. combat forces in Iraq in 2005, explained Command Sgt. Maj. John D. Gipe, senior enlisted leader for of the Army National Guard, during an April 22 visit to the U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, Gemany.
That was no coincidence, said Gipe. "That was by design because that's when the Army was first transforming and growing brigade combat teams, so we went over there as little bit larger forces to allow them that time to do so."
The Floyds Knobs, Ind., native and eighth sergeant major of the Army National Guard said the oldest component of the U.S. military is a "whole different ballgame" from when he joined more than two decades ago.
Traditionally, members of the National Guard conducted military training one weekend a month and one month a year while maintaining their civilian jobs. Also, deployments amounted to rare, but occasional, civil emergencies and natural disasters.
"The focus has changed," said Gipe. "We're no longer a strategic reserve. We're an operational force and plan to be for the foreseeable future."
That transformation poses unique challenges for Guard families not accustomed to sending their Soldiers off to war, and Guard Soldiers who have to reintegrate into their civilian jobs after battlefield tours.
To balance that, Gipe said the Guard increased the number of family assistance centers to 400 throughout the country, "not just to help Guard families but all families of deployed servicemembers, so we've done really well regarding to that."
He said Congress has also passed legislation to help Guard families, "but the employers are the piece to me that we need to work on most because we have not done a lot to pay back employees, if you want to call it that, who support us so well."
The 50-year-old Gipe, who was activated after 9/11, has been on a military leave of absence from his civilian job for nearly seven years. He said his job fully supports him, "but I've just been very fortunate."
Gipe said it's a little easier for larger companies that are able to deal with the loss of their Soldier-employees, but smaller business with 50 or fewer employees and Guardmembers who own their own businesses need additional help.
"We've got to do some things to help them because a lot of time they lose their businesses," he said. "Doctors, lawyers, for example. We have to work certain programs for them because once you lose patients, they're hard to get back."
Despite the changing face of the Guard into a mobile fighting force, Gipe said they remain prepared for their civil mission.
"We have agreements between the states," he explained. "If it's a relatively small state, and they send 50 percent of their [Guardmembers] to a deployment, and something catastrophic happens and the Guard in that state is not large enough to overcome that, the surrounding states would send in troops. [It's] similar to what happened during [Hurricane] Katrina, when we sent 50,000 Soldiers and Airmen down there just from the Guard in about a five to six-day period. But that's something we've been doing for a long time."
Gipe's April 22 visit to Grafenowoehr wrapped up a week-long tour of military installations throughout Europe where he observed Guardmembers training and working specific jobs. Those jobs, he said, are saving the Army millions of dollars a year, and the state-of-the-art training provides realistic scenarios that will ready troops for what they'll face in forward deployed locations around the globe.
He noted the National Guard engineers from several states who are doing construction projects for the Joint Multinational Readiness Center at Hohenfels.
"Well, this is good stuff because it allows our Soldiers to train in their (military occupational specialty) and get good relevant training," he said.
While constructing mock Iraqi and Afghan villages that will be used to train U.S. Soldiers before they deploy, the engineers are placed in combat scenarios and "may be attacked while doing their mission," said Gipe. This is a real possibility if they deploy and makes the construction job and training here invaluable for Soldiers.
"But it also saves the Army millions of dollars every year by our engineers coming over here and doing construction projects (that would normally go to contractors) for the Army, so it's a win-win."
Currently, 3,500 reserve-component Soldiers augment active-duty units on Grafenwoehr, Vilseck, and Hohenfels in a fiscal year. Those Soldiers augment as follows during overseas deployment training, or ODT status:
- Engineer troop construction
- MP support to Grafenwoehr Garrison
- Infantry support to 1st-4th Infantry in Hohenfels
- Maintenance support to 5th Maintenance Battalion on Grafenwoehr and MDH in Hohenfels
- Public affairs support to 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command Office Public Affairs Office
- Medical support to Grafenwoehr medical clinic
- Legal support to the Grafenwoehr JAG office. Legal support covers the entire JMTC footprint from Garmisch to Hohenfels.
- Sniper Mobile Training Team for CATC Grafenwoehr
- PSYOPS support to Hohenfels- OC Team Mustang
- Grafenwoehr Postal CMR
Gipes said at a National Guard conference in June he will urge more states to take advantage of the first-rate training and aid the multi-million dollar savings by sending their troops overseas.
Note: For more information on the Joint Multinational Training Command (JMTC) contact the JMTC Public Affairs Office at jmtcpao@eur.army.mil.