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Nat’l Guard Sgt. Major shares views on activations
Edited for brevity.Some South Dakota Army National Guard units had only days to get their personal affairs in order before shipping out for active duty in preparation for the war with Iraq. Guard training guidelines indicated they should have had about a month. Mobilizing Army National Guard units, and individual soldiers, for Operation Iraqi Freedom didn't happen the way it was designed to, the Guard's top enlisted man said Thursday. Command Sgt. Maj. A. Frank Lever III said the war moved so fast that Guard officials "didn't have time to do it the way we trained for it." Normally, units and individuals would have 30 days between getting their alert orders until they had to report to the mobilization station where they receive some final training and equipment. "Some people had only a day or two," Lever said. In one case, members of both the 740th Transportation Co. from Milbank and Brookings and Co. B, 109th Medical Battalion, had only three days to go from being civilians with a part-time military commitment to being full-time soldiers. "Our Guard members are just like the Minutemen of old. They don't drop their plows to pick up a weapon for their country, but they may put down their computer," Lever said. Lever said U.S. military forces really do form one team in today's world. "Whoever would have thought that we would see an Army National Guard unit providing force protection (personnel and structure security) at an Air Force base," Lever said. "The soldiers enjoy doing this mission. They learn new things, and they come back better soldiers," Lever said. Lever said the Guard deployed 28,000 members to the Persian Gulf area and had another 117,000 "in some type of operation, worldwide, including Bosnia and Kosovo. That's a little less than one-third of our total members." Lever said the Guard had a variety of units on active duty, including two Special Forces, military intelligence, some infantry, water purification, mine clearing and military police. He said the Guard did not sustain any battlefield casualties but had lost people due to illness and vehicle accidents. Posted by: Dar 2003-04-25 |
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