Pentagon: Guard units half-equipped

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Pentagon: Guard units half-equipped

By Peter Spiegel
Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published May 10, 2007


WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon, bearing the brunt of criticism for shortfalls in National Guard supplies in the wake of last week's devastating tornado in Kansas, acknowledged Wednesday that Army National Guard units currently had only 56 percent of their required equipment.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Senate hearing that equipment levels are the lowest since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said that the Bush administration's current defense budget request, which asks for $22 billion for the Army National Guard over the next five years, would take guard units up to 76 percent of their authorized equipment levels.

"There's no question that there's been a drawdown of equipment in the National Guard," Gates said, adding that even before Sept. 11, guard units normally were equipped at about 75 percent. "Clearly we need to follow through with this program to rebuild the stocks of equipment that are available to the National Guard."

Gates faced pointed questions on guard readiness at a Capitol Hill hearing from a bipartisan group of senators, who argued that repeated deployments to Iraq were causing shortages in equipment needed for security and disaster response.


more:http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0705091405may10,1,1523376.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed