Nat'l Guard Deployment: Units Face 2nd Tours in Iraq

Nat'l Guard Units Face 2nd Tours in Iraq

- By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, November 11, 2006

The nation's citizen soldiers, already strained by long tours in Iraq
and Afghanistan, could be tapped again under new plans being
developed by the Pentagon. National Guard combat brigades that have
already served in Iraq may be called for a second tour, likely
breaking the 24-month deployment limit initially set by the Pentagon,
the Guard's top general said. While active-duty soldiers and smaller
Guard units and members have returned to Iraq for multiple tours, the
new plans would, for the first time, send entire Guard combat
brigades back to the battlefront. Brigades generally have about
3,500 troops.

The move — which could include brigades from Arkansas, Florida,
Indiana and North Carolina — would force the Pentagon to make the
first large-scale departure from its previous decision not to deploy
reserves for more than a cumulative 24 months in Iraq.

For some units, a second tour would mean they would likely exceed
that two-year maximum. The planning was described by Lt. Gen. H.
Steven Blum, whocommands the Guard, in an Associated Press interview
this week.

In a related move, the Pentagon is preparing to release a list of
active units — and perhaps reserves as well — scheduled to go to Iraq
that would largely maintain the current level of forces there over
the next two years, another senior defense official said Thursday.
There are about 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. That official requested
anonymity because the plan has not been made public. The Pentagon
routinely notifies units to prepare for deployment, knowing it is
easier to cancel a move overseas than to suddenly make such a large
troopmovement. It was not clear whether this week's resignation of
Defense Secretary DonaldH. Rumsfeld would affect deployment plans.
President Bush has selectedformer CIA chief Robert Gates, toreplace
Rumsfeld, but he has not yet been confirmed by the Senate."We are
doing contingency planning for one or two (units), and we havE
contingency plans for more than two if necessary," Blum said
Wednesday. The North Carolina brigade, he said, is being considered
since it was one of the first to go to Iraq after the war began in 2003.

Blum also said defense officials have been discussing whether they
need to adjust their policy that limits the deployment of reserves in
the war to 24 months."When that policy was originally formulated, I
seriously doubt anyone thought we would be where we are today, at the
level of commitment that is necessary today," he said.

Just last month, defense officials said the Marines are drawing up
similar plans that would for the first time send some reserve combat
battalions back to Iraq for a second tour. nder the authority by
which Bush ordered a call-up of the Guard and Reserve Ater the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks, troops could be mobilized anunlimited
number of times as long as each mobilization is no longer than 24
onsecutive months. ntil now, Pentagon officials have interpreted that
as 24 cumulative months.While the ultimate goal for the National
Guard is to deploy one yearoverseas and spend six years at home, Blum
said current demands could force soldiers to deploy as often as one
year every three or four years.

Blum said he believes that Guard combat brigades are prepared and
willing to make a second trip to Iraq if needed. He said the first
units to deploy in the war — such as the 30th InfantryBrigade from
North Carolina, the 76th Infantry Brigade from Indiana, the 53rd
Infantry Brigade from Florida and the 39th Infantry Brigade from
Arkansas — would probably be among those first called for a second
tour."Logic would lead you to go back to the ones that went first,
and start going around again," said Blum. "But that's probably not exactly how
we'll Do it" because the decision will depend partly on what types of
units are needed. Blum also said the Pentagon will no longer break up
the brigades and send them to war in smaller units. He said Guard
brigades are more effective working as teams.