Thin Black Line
Member
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/14158681.htm
But, we have the active duty federal Army staying home to do that, right?
Statistics, compiled last year by the Government Accountability Office, are startling:
Non-deployed Guard units have just 5 percent of the lightweight rifles and 14 percent of the machine guns they are authorized to have.
Units nationwide have just 8 percent of the flatbed semi-trailers they are authorized to have and 10 percent of the Humvees.
And despite the fact the Guard likely would be the first force to respond to a terrorist attack, which many experts fear could involve the use of chemical or biological weapons, its units have only 14 percent of their authorized chemical decontamination equipment and virtually none of the chemical agent monitoring equipment they are supposed to have.
"How in the world can we help ourselves or our fellow governors in a natural disaster when we have none of the equipment to do it?" Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire asked.
Gregoire is not alone in her concern. Along with every other U.S. governor, she recently signed a letter to President Bush expressing alarm at the way the National Guard is being funded.
"Attention must be paid to re-equipping National Guard units with the resources they need to carry out their homeland security and domestic disaster duties," the letter pointedly read.
But, we have the active duty federal Army staying home to do that, right?