Guard chief: Any surge should be involuntary whole-unit call-ups/ Army Times

[TexasLawyer]

January 04, 2007

Guard chief: Any surge should be involuntary whole-unit call-ups

By Michelle Tan
Staff writer



Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, chief of the Army
National Guard, says Guard and Reserve soldiers
have been used ‘inefficiently’ in Iraq.

If the Army National Guard is called to support a troop surge in Iraq, any additional soldiers should be involuntarily mobilized as whole units, the director of the component said Thursday.

“Our recommendation will be to mobilize involuntarily everybody in those organizations,” said Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn. “If you’re going to surge, take the whole unit and we’d give you the unit with the most dwell time. “That’s not to say that’s what’s going to happen, but if it is, that’s how we’d like it to be.”

Vaughn told Army Times that he doesn’t know whether additional troops will be sent to help secure Iraq, but that the Army Guard is preparing itself for any requirement. President Bush reportedly is considering ordering as many as 30,000 additional troops to Iraq to help quell violence there, particularly in Baghdad.

As of Dec. 31, more than 137,000 soldiers had been mobilized for active duty, with more than 104,000 of them serving 12 months or longer. Current Defense Department policy calls for Guard and Reserve soldiers to serve no more than 24 cumulative months. Because nobody expected the war in Iraq to last this long, Guard and Reserve soldiers were used “inefficiently,” Vaughn said. Soldiers were spending months at mobilization stations before going overseas for 12 months, which resulted in many soldiers with up to 18 months on their mobilization clocks after just one tour.

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http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2462453.php

[Kagemusha]

1. Some heads are gonna explode over this one.

Surges are temporary. This is clearly not.

[bobthedrummer]

2. kick