Up against the 2 year active ceiling, US looks to bring NG home

[HereSince1628]

Everyone is talking about bringing home 60 troops from Iraq. Why that number? Because it approximates the National Guard force serving there...it looks like Cheney/Rumsfeld have broken/exhausted the guard.

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US to pull out most of National Guard
From David Charter in Washington

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1898794,00.html
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highlights:

...follows growing evidence that the National Guard’s supply of equipment is becoming exhausted, leaving it unable to cope with domestic emergencies, such as Hurricane Katrina.

...the force is simply running out of troops for deployment and that recruitment is suffering as a result of high casualty rates and unexpectedly long tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. <[toward bottom of the article is data to reveal that in Vietnam Nat'l guard losses represented 2 tenths of one percent of the total us losses, in Iraq Nat'l guard losses are about 14 percent of total US losses (thats a 70x difference)>]

...They are permitted to serve only two of their six years abroad. However, many are already on their second tour in Iraq...

... the strain being placed on the part-timers, who make up an unprecedented 65,000 of the 159,000 troops in Iraq and have suffered 318 fatalities.

[rodeodance]

1. as many have said-this drawdown was in the stars--as our military

just did not have more troops to send--be they ng or whatever!