Changing of the Guard

he National Guard is no longer the nation's standby force. Nearly one out of every four Army soldiers in Iraq is a National Guard member. Eighty percent of Guard members will serve on active duty in the next three years. Aside from Iraq, members of the Guard now are deployed in global hot spots such as Afghanistan and the Sinai Peninsula, and make up the bulk of troops in Bosnia and Kosovo. Several thousand Guard troops are on homeland security missions in the United States, protecting military bases and flying fighter patrols over major cities. Indeed, the National Guard is playing its largest role in the nation's defense since the Revolutionary War. And that is leading to unprecedented changes in how the Guard is managed, organized and trained.

"Today's Guard is not the Guard of the past," says Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, which manages both the Army and Air National Guard. "The Guard's mission has shifted from a strategic reserve built on a Cold War deterrence construct to an operational reserve that must be capable of joint and expeditionary missions."

Heightened homeland security operations since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the reduction in active-duty military forces by about 40 percent after the Cold War, and increased military operations worldwide have put the National Guard on the go and put to rest questions about its relevance. But new ones have arisen about whether the Guard can simultaneously fulfill its dual state and federal missions; whether it has the right mix of forces and equipment; and whether its troops are trained to face the unpredictable threats of the 21st century.

Blum, who was commanding general of all U.S. forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2001 and 2002 before taking over the National Guard's top slot in April 2003, has said the Guard needs to better balance its missions and forces. He calls it "unacceptable" that some states have more than 75 percent of their Guardsmen on active duty and worries about retaining Guard personnel who are being deployed once every three years. About 25 percent of the National Guard is now on active duty, but Blum says forces are not properly distributed among states and territories.

In a February address to the National Governors Association in Washington, Blum called for a major restructuring of the National Guard to meet both state and federal missions. He wants at least 50 percent of a state's National Guard troops always available for state missions, no more than 25 percent of each state's force deployed on active-duty missions, and the remaining 25 percent training for deployments.

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who chairs the National Governors Association, says Blum's proposal is "workable," and credits him with being one of the first Guard leaders to directly address all the governors. "I appreciate his sensitivity that you do not have to take all assets from a state," Kempthorne says.

Washington Gov. Gary Locke says having about 63 percent of his state's Army National Guard deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Djibouti will lead to longer response times to state emergencies. And, Locke says, Washington State is spending an extra $200,000 this year to train 250 more wildland firefighters because Guard members who were trained to do the work have been sent to Iraq.

"Although we still have an ample number of soldiers and airmen to draw upon for state emergencies, their unit equipment is not as often relevant or compatible with state emergency needs, and they are not as widely distributed as they need," Locke says. He says having half of the state's Guard resources available would allow him to meet all essential missions.

For National Guard members, the new schedule would offer far more predictable deployment patterns. Army Guard members would face a yearlong deployment once every six years, while Air Guard members would follow the Air Force's schedule of deploying three months out of every 15. Under the six-year deployment schedule, a National Guard soldier would spend 18 to 24 months in intensive training for a deployment, 12 to 18 months deployed, and be available 36 to 48 months for homeland security missions and state emergencies, such as national disasters or riots.

Blum cautioned governors that he "cannot deliver this model today because our Guard force is not properly balanced. It is not properly balanced in the states or among the states, nor is it properly balanced among the active[-duty military], Guard and Reserve." But Blum intends to implement the model over the next decade, and will request hundreds of millions of dollars in Defense spending on new equipment for Guard units.

The change will involve creating modular units that can be swapped in and out of different missions. Many Guard members will be shifted from heavy combat or field artillery units into units where the services lack staff, such as military police, intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles and missile defense. "To varying extents, virtually all Guard units will be affected," Blum says. "Some large units will be redistributed among several states. We do not foresee a reduction in the number of people in the Guard."

SHIFTING GEARS

Many Guard units, however, will need extensive training to meet their new responsibilities. The Army National Guard's 81st Armored Brigade, based in Tacoma, Wash., is among the first units undergoing such an overhaul. Last fall, the 3,500-soldier heavy brigade with its Abrams tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles was called up and told it would go to Iraq this spring. But the brigade was directed to leave most of its equipment at home because it would be operating as an infantry force in and around Baghdad. "No one knew that we'd be asked to operate in a theater as anything other than a heavy brigade," says Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, who holds the top-ranking position, adjutant general, in the Washington National Guard.

In four months, the brigade's tank drivers and Bradley gunners had to learn how to operate in an urban environment. They practiced driving Humvees, learned how to cordon off small villages and conduct door-to-door searches for weapons and criminals, and even mastered the silent hand signals infantrymen use when conducting raids. Then, in mid-March-a month before leaving for Iraq-the 81st Armored Brigade's troops took part in large-scale live fire and simulated combat exercises at the Army's National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif.

Capt. Jonathan Funk, commander of one of the brigade's converted armor companies, had his troops step up their training in using machine guns, because these will serve as their primary weapons in Iraq. The transition was smoother than he expected, because many of his soldiers served in infantry positions during active-duty careers in the Army. About half of all National Guard members have prior active-duty service.

Also, Funk says, about 20 percent of his soldiers already have seen combat during Operation Desert Storm, in Haiti or in the Balkans. "We have a broad range of experience to draw on," says Funk, who works as an investment adviser in Seattle. He jokes that his sales skills might be useful in working with Iraqi residents, but he also hopes that the fact that several of his soldiers work as police officers in their civilian careers will pay off during patrols.

During one of the final days of the brigade's pre-deployment training, Funk worked two radios at once from a Humvee outside a simulated Iraqi village in the Mojave Desert. In the exercise, Funk's company provided security for an Iraqi government official doling out financial aid to residents. On one radio, Funk tried to contact the village's mayor. Earlier, in the day, the Iraqi paymaster's first foray into town was cut short by sniper fire and angry residents cursing and shoving U.S. troops. Funk wanted the mayor to meet with the paymaster outside of town to set up a more secure site guarded by his company's Humvees and armored personnel carriers. "I am pretty sure if we say we'll pay them, they won't refuse," he said.

The Army exercises in the California desert are designed to mirror what soldiers will encounter in Iraq. They are confronted with angry villagers when they search towns. Simulated explosive devices go off near convoys as they carry troops and supplies from base camps to training areas. Army leaders repeatedly say they want a soldier's worst day in Iraq to be at the National Training Center.

Army Col. Mike Murray, who as commander of the 3rd Brigade of the Army's 1st Calvary Division will oversee the 81st Brigade in Iraq, stood inside the village watching Funk's company go through the exercise. He said he's not concerned about whether the Guardsmen will measure up to their active-duty counterparts. After all, active-duty forces have had to undergo their own retraining in urban combat to be prepared for the mission in Iraq. The Guard troops have "picked it up real quick," he said.

FEELING THE STRAIN

Nevertheless, training sessions for the Guard units can bring painful lessons. During the 81st Brigade's recent exercise, Staff Sgt. Trevor Johnson oversaw about 20 soldiers who were providing security at a radio relay station. He had his troops spread out in a 180-degree perimeter to guard the site, with a small hill offering rear protection. Suddenly, a more senior Army NCO was in Johnson's face, peppering him with questions. What happens if the enemy comes over the hill? What about guarding the road that brought them to the site? Johnson was speechless. Finally, the instructor told him what she had been trying to get him to figure out on his own: The soldiers had to guard the site in a 360-degree circle and keep an eye on the road.

Johnson nodded, and redeployed his unit. "This is a lot different than training we've done before," said the 43-year-old Guardsman, who normally works as a Defense civilian materiel handler in a warehouse at Camp Murray, Wash. "It's new and we've just got to go with it." Asked if support soldiers have had enough time to train for service in Iraq, Johnson said, "It's kind of hard to say. But [the brigade's leaders and trainers] think we have [had] enough time."

Nearly all 81st Brigade soldiers are learning new skills, but none more so than the logisticians, like Johnson, who serve in the unit's support battalion. Typically, support troops do the behind-the-lines work of tracking and ordering supplies, monitoring deliveries to armored vehicles, and coordinating activities from a logistics support area. But without armored vehicles to supply, logisticians are being sent onto the battlefield to provide security and transportation for the brigade's soldiers.

"A lot of people are upset about [shifting to a combat role]. I am not sure how it will work out. You've just got to roll with it," says Specialist Derian Anderson, a communications logistician for the support battalion. She says the biggest change is that battalion personnel no longer simply arrange supply convoys, but actually drive the vehicles.

Army Staff Sgt. 1st Class Clarence Haubner, the support battalion's communications expert, has seen combat before. As an active-duty Marine, he served two years in Vietnam in the late 1960s and helped oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait as a Guard member in 1991. When Haubner heard his battalion would be taking on a combat role, he knew just what to tell his wife he wanted for Valentine's Day-a powerful rifle scope. "Support people aren't getting scopes. My wife said, 'I want you to have one,' " recalls Haubner.

Changing the support battalion mission means female logisticians are now more directly exposed to combat. The Army prefers to keep women away from front-line operations and limits the jobs they can hold. But with the battalion's new role, female soldiers will likely be confronted with ambushes, gunfire and homemade explosive devices as they drive convoys and pull security detail.

Sgt. Taryn Hazelwood, a communications logistician in the 81st Brigade's support battalion, says one of the implications has been "scary incidents" for females working with male infantry troops. She says female National Guard soldiers training at Fort Irwin have been told not to walk around by themselves at night after reports of male soldiers peeping in women's tents and showers. In a single week, she says, female soldiers in her battalion attended four separate meetings about what to do if they were sexually harassed. "They need to tell [the male soldiers] how not to act rather than holding meetings for us on how to be safe," Anderson adds.

Other soldiers say the toughest part of their mission is having their personal lives turned upside down. Sgt. Danial Crawford expects he'll have been on active duty for about three years by the time he returns from Iraq next spring. Before the 81st Brigade was mobilized, he was one of about 100 of the unit's military police who were on active duty guarding McCord Air Force Base, Wash. He spent 10 months at that job, but says it was easier because the assignment allowed him to go home to his wife and children every night.

Sgt. Jamie Zeeve, a brigade logistician, says her 12-year-old daughter is old enough to understand that she's not coming home soon. But, Zeeve, who was in the Army for seven years, says the deployment forced her to drop out of nursing school. "I got out of the active Army to pursue a nursing career and this came up," she says. "I've never been deployed before."

Some Guard members take a big pay cut when they are mobilized. Federal law protects Guard members' jobs when they are deployed, but it does not require their employers to pay them. Some states, counties and private companies offer all or partial pay; the federal government does not. In Washington, state workers are allowed to donate their vacation time to co-workers who have been mobilized.

Blum says the Guard is watching how such issues affect recruitment and retention, but stands behind the decision to rely more heavily on Guard troops. "I don't apologize at all for the rate we are using the National Guard today," he says. "As a matter of fact, we're quite proud of the fact that old questions of 'is the Guard relevant?' are long gone. For the last two and half years, even our critics realize the worst thing they can say about us is that we are essential."