S.D. official, Obama offer views on Guard
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Dec 27, 2008 11:20:11 EST
MITCHELL, S.D. — President-elect Barack Obama has said he’d like to relieve some of the pressure on the National Guard.
But a prediction by South Dakota’s National Guard adjutant general, Steve Doohen, that the Guard’s role won’t change under the new commander in chief conflicts with Obama’s earlier statement.
During a June campaign visit to Mitchell, a reporter asked Obama what the National Guard’s role would be under his presidency.
Obama said he wants to expand the nation’s active-duty military force.
“If we expand our ground forces, then we should be able to put the National Guard back in the business of protecting our homeland and providing emergency services here,” Obama said. “We won’t be able to do that immediately, obviously, because it will take some time to build up our core structure, but that would be my intention.”
National Guard equipment has been “decimated” by the war on terror and must be restored, he said.
Earlier this month, Doohen said he doesn’t foresee any change in the Guard’s role. He said the National Guard has become more operational in nature and that he does not expect that to change.
Some South Dakota National Guard units already have been told they will be deployed next year, Doohen said.
Republican Sen. John Thune, who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, says he doesn’t believe the Guard’s role will change significantly anytime soon. Thune said the Guard’s role is crucial in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to Thune, the Constitution says the Guard’s proper role is to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.
“I believe that the effort to make the Guard more of an operational force, rather than a strategic force, is appropriate under the guidelines of the Constitution,” he said.
Megan Smith, spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, says the nation has relied heavily on National Guard and Reserve units in response to the 911 terrorist attacks and in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“This is unlikely to change in the near future, but Senator Johnson hopes we can begin to ease the pressure placed on the members of the National Guard and their families,” she said.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the South Dakota National Guard has mobilized more than 3,100 soldiers and 1,000 airmen. Currently, about 40 soldiers and airmen from the South Dakota National Guard remain on duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations in Southwest Asia and Europe.
Monday, December 29, 2008
S.D. official, Obama offer views on Guard
