patriot majority

By Jason W. Forrester

President George Bush has just over six months left in office, but his Iraq deployment policies continue to put an incredible strain on not only our active-duty Armed Forces, but, with our military stretched so thin, the administration has continued to deploy tens of thousands of our troops from the National Guard -- at levels our country has not experienced since World War II.  As of March 31, 2008, more than 267,399 members of the National Guard have been deployed since September 11, 2001, and, as of that date, 32,871 National Guard troops were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Veterans for America just completed a study on the impact of these massive deployments of the National Guard and its impact on the National Guard members, their families and their communities.  Recently, VFA staff traveled to New Jersey and met with National Guard members, their families and state and local leaders.  VFA found that a very high percentage of Guard members are being deployed multiple times. More than 30% of members of New Jersey's National Guard who are being deployed now have served in Iraq and Afghanistan before. 

National Guard deployments affect families in numerous negative ways.  In the case of New Jersey's current National Guard mobilization, at least 13 married couples will be deployed to Iraq later this year.  In addition, 15 brothers will be deployed; eight brother-sister duos; and five father-son combinations.  Also, VFA's work has shown that National Guards often have a high percentage of single parents in their ranks.  These deployments will obviously have enormous implications - including disrupted family dynamics, as well as financial and emotional hardships - for the families affected.

The questions raised during our on-the-ground investigation led VFA to look at this under-reported story -- the over-reliance on the National Guard as frontline troops in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A few points make the case:

Our National Guard: Headed Overseas In Record Numbers

• From now until President Bush's last day in office, almost half of the Soldiers scheduled to be deployed to Iraq are members of the National Guard.
• Of those troops being deployed, over half belong to units that are on their second tour of duty.
• By this fall, over half of New Jersey's National Guard will be in Iraq.
• Other states scheduled to send National Guard members to Iraq during the final days of the Bush Administration include: Hawaii, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
• Additional large National Guard combat units from Pennsylvania and Texas are scheduled to be deployed shortly after President Bush leaves office, along with National Guard Soldiers from Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Not only do these deployments leave these communities, states and regions vulnerable, the Department of Defense recently found that members of the National Guard are 25% more likely to suffer from combat-related psychological wounds than members of active-duty Army.

Discussions of Iraq policy options must consider the strains that Guard members, their families and their communities continue to endure - and the steps that must be taken to ensure that our country is treating them fairly.  A national conversation is merited and steps to fix the damage done are long overdue.

Jason W. Forrester is the Director of Policy at Veterans for America (VFA). Forrester was the coordinator of all Kerry-Edwards national security policy teams and has worked for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Brookings Institution, The Carter Center and the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict.