OK..now the National guard deployment scheme sounds like a total load of .

[w8liftinglady]

crap.
"They will be deployed during their two-week active duty deployment".."it will provide real-life experience for those deployed"
This sounds like a recipe for a clusterf*ck to me.Deployed for two weeks?What good will that do?Maybe someone wiser than me can explain the logistics of this

edit for CNN's article on this
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/17/rumsfeld.ap/
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld assured members of Congress on Wednesday that the use of thousands of National Guard troops to help secure the U.S. border with Mexico will not detract from their ability to perform other missions at home and abroad. He said it would sharpen their skills.

"The up to 6,000 Guardsmen and women proposed for this effort represent less than 2 percent of the total National Guard force of some 400,000, and for the most part they will be deployed during their two- or three-week active duty training period," he told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

"As such this will not only not adversely affect America's ability to conduct the war on terror or respond to other domestic emergencies, it will actually provide useful real-life training for the members of the National Guard," he added.

[bmcatt]

1. Normal training deployments are 2 weeks a year

That's why NG are usually referred to as "Weekend Warriors" - "1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year" is the typical active-duty cycle for NG.

What this means, though, is that instead of doing a normal training rotation with their units *to do the jobs they're supposed to do in case of a national or local emergency*, they're going to be doing something down on the southern border.

[w8liftinglady]

3. I guess what I don't understand is this..

The two week deployment will have to involve some training,correct?..hence,maybe a 1.6 week deployment.after which time-new guards will be rotated in...every 2 weeks-a new crop.it appears to be a recipe for miscommunication.How will this help the Border patrol?

[leeroysphitz]

12. It won't help the border patrol and can only serve to further

deteriorate the readiness we rely upon from our NG and reserve citizen soldiers. Active deployment for the annual two active weeks would (in my experience) leave ZERO room for training.

When our military leaders fail to provide the proper training it's a disservice to our soldiers. We see this now in Iraq. Unprepared soldiers asked to perform tasks for which they have not adequately trained are more likely to be killed/ injured and or fail their mission. It's not fair to deprive those who serve of necessary LIFE SAVING training. PERIOD.

[w8liftinglady]

17. That was my feeling-it is a recipe for disaster.

[babylonsister]

2. It's dimson trying to appease anyone who will listen but

there's no substance to his 'convictions'. Standard ops. He apparently still doesn't have the foggiest notion of how to 'fix' this while still appealing to his 'base'. Another failure for Il Dunce, and I must say, he's racking them up!

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Yep. As soon as I heard "two weeks"

I knew it was another cheap way of looking like W was doing something. Consider just how inefficient it will be for the majority of Guard members to be deployed for duties outside of their regular routines to do back up duty for the border patrol. The government has already committed the funds for summer camp and the only new cost is transport. W gets to quote BIG deployment numbers, too.

I have a sibling who was a long time Guard trainer but now is in charge of a different unit. If the unit were in one of the border states I have no doubt that they'd be camping at the border.

[w8liftinglady]

8. That's what I thought...how does this HELP the Border patrol?

..they are left cleaning up the screw-ups of an untrained unit of national Guardsmen...doing administrative and office duties for the Border patrol?..for two weeks-then a new crop comes in and has to be re-taught?I don't get it.(This is not a dis on the National Guard,BTW-I have nothing but praise for their help in our natural disasters here in texas)

[Gormy Cuss]

10. I don't think it's screw-ups so much as heightened inefficiencies

The military is very good at writing and implementing protocols to standardize procedures but they can't change the learning curve, which as you mentioned gets restarted with every new crop. There are some tasks that will go smoothly but I suspect that many will not.

[w8liftinglady]

11. That was a poor way for me to word that statement

I just meant that evryone needs to learn new layouts,cultures..any job requires SOME kind of orientation.

[tridim]

5. Everything Bush does is just a setup for a photo op

He probably has about half a dozen photo ops already booked.

[FSogol]

6. Cry "Terra" and let loose the Dogs of Public Relations!

Prepare the photo-ops
Someone hang up a banner proclaiming, "Securing our Borders."
Photograph * standing under the word "Secure"
Roll up the sleeves on *'s blue shirt. (Make sure its buttoned correctly this time).
Find a black Guardsman for * to pat on the back. (make sure he's not bald)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. It's PR to appease the KKK wing of the party.

[Vinnie From Indy]

9. Isn't it obvious?

This whole National Guard securing the border thing is just a multi-pronged program to use illegal immigrants as a ruse to build an internal security infrastructure. The other prongs include a new lucrative channel for Halliburton and other BushCo sponsored companies to raid the treasury for billions of dollars to pay for imaginary and sub-standard monitoring equipment. The initiative is also a age old bit of scapegoating and misdirection. All of the millions of blue collar jobs and manufacturing jobs that have been lost over the last decade due to corporate America's abandonment of the American middle and lower classes has to be blamed on somebody. What better group of powerless, voiceless people than immigrants.

The simple solution is to hold employers responsible for their hires.

Don't be fooled! Don't buy the biggest lie of the debate - "Illegals are doing the work Americans DON'T WANT TO DO". Total BS. The massive illegal immigration problem America faces is not an accident nor is it anything less than a way for corporate America to turn back the clock on one hundred years of gains made by working Americans and unions. BushCo also views living wages and workplace safety as "quaint" and "obsolete" 20th century notions.

[catmandu57]

13. I don't think this will ever see daylight

but, if it does then it's doomed to failure and will be swept under the rug as quickly as possible. It is, was, nothing more than a pander job to whatever is left of the chimp's* base.
Rather than addressing the real problems, like going after the people who hire illegals from joe shmoe to the corps, aiding the real border patrol, and assisting Mexico address the employment there it's just a bandaid on a cut requiring stitches.

[DS1]

14. This way you can give them their two weeks, and don't even have

to set aside buildings for them to live in. They can set up tent cities :-)

[dogday]

15. My Son is in the National Guard

but he won't be able to protect the borders cause he is fighting in an illegal war in Iraq... This is the biggest clusterf*ck of a situation I have ever seen....:mad:

[w8liftinglady]

16. Isn't that the truth...

these are the most evil c*cksucking b@stards I have ever seen,or even tried to imagine.
I pray your boy gets to come home soon,and things can begin to return to normal.I understand,Dogday-the last three years have been hell for me.

[dogday]

20. He gets his two break in June

He sounds well... His tour will be up in November, hopefully he will be home before Thanksgiving.. He is planning on getting married in March 07... I just want him home with all my heart and soul...

Thanks for your thoughts, they do help.... Light a candle for the soldiers every day, I do....:hug:

[Squatch]

18. The National Guard uses their 2-week Annual Training (AT)

to catch up on all the training they could not do over the course of the year to include weapons qualification, soldier qualification tasks, PT tests, etc. This rotation on the border would put Guard units further back in their training.

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. ** is too cheap to hire more border patrol officers.