Army Guard units face shortage of gear
Missing equipment hinders training exercises and impedes the Guard's ability to respond rapidly to domestic disasters, chief says.
National Guard Bureau Chief Steven Blum painted a stark picture Tuesday of the readiness of his forces, estimating that the Army Guard in particular has only 40 percent of its equipment on hand.
During testimony before the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, Blum acknowledged that a "few" Army Guard units have more equipment, but no non-deployed unit has more than 65 percent of its gear.
The dearth of equipment, due in part to gear left behind in Iraq and Afghanistan, hinders training exercises and impedes the Guard's ability to respond rapidly to domestic disasters, Blum said.
Indeed, Blum, who has been hailed for his response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said his U.S.-based forces are less ready now than they were when the Guard mobilized for relief and recovery operations in the aftermath of the devastating Gulf Coast storm.
Additionally, he said only 12 percent of Army Guard units are equipped to levels he feels are acceptable. For the Air Guard, only 40 percent of units are equipped to the chief's standards.
"We are now in a degraded state back at home," Blum said.
The Army and Air Force are investing unprecedented sums to modernize their Guard forces. The Army in particular has pledged $21 billion to upgrade and replace old or damaged Guard equipment.
"I applaud that," Blum said. "I celebrate that." But even if the Guard receives all of the funding pledged by the Army and Air Force, its equipment accounts still will be short $40 billion, Blum estimated.
Lawmakers, who held a closed-door meeting with Blum and the chiefs of the Army and Air Guard before the open hearing, expressed concern at the current state of the Guard, which has been deployed heavily for both domestic and overseas missions since 2001.
"The Guard's readiness posture is even more troubling than the active component's," said House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas. "The shortfalls in equipment and training that plague the Guard will have a direct effect on how they will respond to emergencies at home or abroad."