More National Guard Units Going to Iraq

The Huffington Post has an article from the Associated Press that reports that more National Guard units are headed to either Iraq or Afghanistan. According to the article, there will be a total of eight units with seven going to Iraq and one going to Afghanistan. They are being deployed to reduce the strain on the regular Army units that are assigned to either Iraq or Afghanistan. Apparently none of these units will come from Ohio. This is from the article:

Specific brigades were not identified, but they will include units from North Carolina, Oklahoma, Illinois and Hawaii, according to officials. Some of those being alerted this week have done tours in the war zone already, and others would be going for the first time.

Regula Votes Against Troops, Again

On August 2, 2007, the United States House of Representatives passed the Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability and Predictability Deployment Policy Act by a 229 to 194. This bill was summarized by the Congressional Research Service as follows:

Prohibits units and members of the regular Armed Forces from being deployed for Operations Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom (including participation in the NATO International Security Assistance Force (Afghanistan)) unless the period between deployments is equal to or longer than the period of the previous deployment. Expresses the sense of Congress that the optimal minimum period between such deployments should be equal to or longer than twice the period of the previous deployment.

Prohibits units and members of the reserves from being deployed for such Operations (including such NATO participation) if the unit or member has been deployed within three preceding years. Expresses the sense of Congress that units and members of the reserves should not be mobilized continuously for more than one year, and that the optimal minimum period between such deployments should be five years.

Authorizes the: (1) President to waive such limitations after certifying to Congress that the deployment is necessary to meet an operational emergency posing a threat to vital national security interests; or (2) chief of staff of the military department concerned (including the Coast Guard) to waive such limitations with respect to a member who has voluntarily requested mobilization.

This bill would prevent the Bush Administration from extending the tours of duty for military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bush Administration went from a policy of tours of duty for members of the American Army in Iraq being 12 months to 15 months. The administration has also been continuously calling up reserve units and redeploying them into Iraq. Both policies are causing hardship to the families of such soldiers, not to mention exposing them to more danger.

Representative Regula voted against this Act. Keep that in mind if he runs for re-election.

Strickland Takes on Bush over Guard Use

Governor Ted Strickland was interviewed today on National Public Radio about Bush's plans to call up reserve units from several states, including Ohio. Strickland pointed out that he doesn't think that Ohio's Guard units have been given proper equipment and training to do the job they are being called upon to do. He lays this problem right at the feet of the Bushies, you know, the armchair warriors who send other people's children to fight their wars. Click on the link in this entry's title to hear the interview.

Sacrifice Increases for Army Reserve & National Guard

The U.S. Army is increasing the time that a Army Reserves or National Guard may be called for service in either Iraq or Afghanistan. In the past the Army had a policy that the Reserve and Guard could not be called for duty in Afghanistan or Iraq for more than 24 cumulative months. The new policy is that they may not be called for duty for more than 24 consecutive months, but there is no limit on the total amount of time they may be called. The Pentagon spokesperson said, however, that the Pentagon wants to limit deployments to 12 consecutive months. (Click on the entry's title to read the whole article.)

Let's see: Bush won't tax the rich to pay for his war, he won't call upon his supporters to join the Army to fight the war, but he will extend the amount of time that citizen-soldiers are ordered to fight in the war. Yep, that's Bubble-Boy's idea of shared sacrifice.