AP NewsBreak: Guard Stint to Last 2 Years [View All]

AP NewsBreak: Guard Stint to Last 2 Years


Saturday May 20, 2006 12:16 AM

AP Photo AZMY108

By AARON C. DAVIS

Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - President Bush's planned deployment of National Guard troops
to the Mexican border would last at least two years with no clear end date, according
to a Pentagon memo obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The one-page "initial guidance" memo to National Guard leaders in border states does not
address the estimated cost of the mission or when soldiers would be deployed. But high-
ranking officials in the California National Guard said they were told Friday that
deployments would not begin before early June.

While the military document makes clear the troops would remain under the command of their
governors, it also indicates a high degree of federal control over operations. It states
that the National Guard Bureau's Army and Air Directories "will serve as the states' focal
points for force-planning, training, organizing and equipping their forces."

The memo sent Friday to Guard leaders went further, stating that units would remain in a
"federally funded" mission for "up to one year, with a force reduction to 3,000 during
the second year."