National Guard chief says Iraq danger “misrepresented”
The head of the National Guard says the dangers American troops face in Iraq have been exaggerated — complicating recruitment efforts at home.
Lieutenant General Steven Blum says the casualty rate for Guardsmen is low compared to any previous armed conflict. He says he loses more people in private car and motorcycle wrecks.Blum says Iraq is dangerous — but that the degree of danger has been “misrepresented.”
Surveys of potential recruits and their parents show fear of being hurt as one of the major reasons young people don’t enlist.
Blum says more than 250-thousand National Guardsmen have been mobilized since Nine-Eleven. Only 262 of them have been killed. Pentagon figures show more than 90 percent of those were in Iraq.
Part-Time Forces on Active Duty Decline Steeply
The number of Reserve and National Guard troops on domestic and overseas missions has fallen to about 138,000, down from a peak of nearly 220,000 after the invasion of Iraq two years ago, a sharp decline that military officials say will continue in the months ahead.
The decrease comes as welcome relief to tens of thousands of formerly part-time soldiers who, with their families, employers and communities, have been badly stressed by their long call-ups for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Reserve and National Guard members from all of the armed services make up about 35 percent of the troops in Iraq, a share that is expected to drop to about 30 percent by next year; the vast majority are from the Army Reserve and Army National Guard.
Despite these pieces, a lag is to be expected before reality sinks in, if in fact the media truly ever lets the reality be well broadcast.
U.S. National Guard chief sees recruiting shortfall
The Army National Guard, tapped heavily by the Pentagon for soldiers in Iraq, likely will miss its recruiting goal for the third straight year, the general who runs it said on Tuesday.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon, argued that the Army National Guard was not in “serious crisis mode” even as it stood about 19,000 troops below the 350,000-strong force authorized by Congress.
Perhaps there’s a need for this old soldier, perhaps not. I know a dear friend has gone back in and is over there in the sandbox. That little fact lives as a daily itch.