In response to a discussion post...

Ryan B. M______ on Thursday, December 30, 2004 at 2:37 AM -0800 wrote:

"Soldiers and marines might support what the nation is doing, but what about the
National Guard? If you laughed at that question, you probably didn't realize
that the majority of people getting killed over there are the untrained National
Guard soldiers tossed into the fray."

First of all, “the majority of people getting killed over there are the untrained National Guard soldiers” does not support the claim that the National Guard does not support the nation.

I would also challenge you to find the statistics to back up your statement.

(At this point, I bring out the soapbox, so if you are only interested in the basic contents of this thread disregard the following.)

There is a great deal of ignorance demonstrated in this statement and unfortunately I feel that it may be perpetuated if I don’t address it.

First of all, National Guard Soldiers and Reservists (I am one) receive the same training as the Active duty portion at this point in time. There was a great deal of concern about troops that were going from the old Post-Gulf War I "Weekend warrior" mentality to a “combat-ready” mentality. Part of this concern stemmed from the question “Is current training up to snuff for the War on Terror?” but this notion has been rapidly addressed by the Pentagon. My unit, of which 325 members are actually deploying today, will be attending a month and a half "train-up" period prior to deployment to Germany in order to integrate current training skills to the equipment and environment that they will be moving in on. In addition, from a medical perspective, most members of my unit work in civilian hospitals and, therefore, bring BETTER medical qualifications to the unit than just the military medical training. Obviously, this is a unique situation and not one concerning combat or tactics, but it should help to dispel the notion that NG and Reserve troops are untrained or unqualified.

On the other hand, there remains an equipment issue, such as armor for HMMWV (High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) and other vehicles but that is a logistical issue that is also being dealt with, it just takes longer to manufacture armor for vehicles than it does to teach soldiers to check under bodies before rolling them over because of booby traps (a skill that was learned the hard way during the early days of Iraq and immediately added to our training curriculum during my Combat Medic School, along with a great deal of other lessons learned from dealing with enemy prisoners of war [EPW’s])

On a personal note, I resent the implication of "the untrained national guard soldiers tossed into the fray" Every soldier, Active, NG or Reserve, had to sign a contract in order to enter, regardless of preconceptions about weather or not they would be mobilized and sent to serve overseas. They knew or at least should have known what they were getting into; I did and while it is hard to communicate the complexities of the military training and education system, suffice it to say that you get what you put into it, just like any other education system. Therefore, there are very few "untrained National Guard soldiers" left in rotation and their existence is their own fault.