Why isn't there more news about National Guard inequities?

I started posting this as a reply in another thread when I noticed it was standing on its own as a topic for discussion.

I have a lot of questions that the MSM is not addressing regarding the stress placed on National Guardsmen and their families. Can someone answer them?

It looks like the regular forces are not adequately staffed for this operation, so they called on the National Guard. As this is a prolonged engagement, are there any plans to increase recruitment into the regular forces?

Are there protections in place to protect the Guardsmen and their families from total financial ruin and the subsequent poverty caused by the loss of the regular income the guardsmen had before being called up for active duty? Can some of their bills be "frozen?" Are their homes protected from foreclosure?

Are the Guardsmen serving longer than the regular services? How long does a member of the regular services serve in the war zone as compared to a Guardsman?

If the Guardsmen are being treated like regular forces, why aren't their families taken care of like regular forces? Shouldn't federalizing the National Guard make their dependents eligible for PX, Commissary, Military Medical and Dental, and on base housing?

How are we paying for this? The states have all had budget problems due to picking up the slack from the federal government.

Once federalized, do the guardsmen get paid by the federal government or are the states paying for protection they no longer have?

Are the Widows and Orphans getting the same death benefits as the survivors of the dead from the regular services? Who's paying, the states or the federal government?

Was there ever an official Declaration of War? Shouldn't a Declaration of War be a pre-requisite to federalizing the National Guard?

Why should anyone join any branch of the service when they can go to work for Haliburton? The hazard pay is so much better.

But I think that the majority of National Guard families were from red states and very strong Bush supporters. When I have seen stories where someone in the Guard mentions the inequities, there is also a quote saying that the person is a Bush supporter.

In my opinion, the National Guard will continue to be discriminated against until its members and their families put heat on the Bush administration.

Is there a concentration of federalized National Guard units from some states more than others?

My guess would be that they would be more from blue states because of the denser population and therefore greater availability. However I have heard that a particular unit in a blue state has been thinned so much through not able to recruit-new-to-replace-retiring that there aren't enough people in the unit to federalize it. I don't know if this is true for other units or other blue states, as well.
Maybe someday we will get to the point where only those who believe in Bush's War will be fighting in it.

National Guard units because a very high percentage of the men in my hometown in Alabama were in the National Guard.

I think joining the National Guard in rural areas (which are usually Republican) is just an accepted thing to do. You are with your buddies and you earn a little extra money and it's something to do.

At least that's the way it was before Bush took over.

Oregon has a very large mobilization of Guard members to Iraq. We're not red.

Did you see all the news reports about how now most will be looking for jobs? :wtf: By law their employers can not fire them because of their deployment. And the news does not cover this angle of the story, they choose instead to make it a plea for the community to hire a vet.

good questions that haven't been answered. I did see a wife of a man in the Nat'l Guard interviewed recently. By and large, there are people out there who don't support what's going on but fear that if they voice their concerns, loved ones will suffer as this admin has a very long arm and isn't afraid to use it. Pretty sad.
There are also lots of stories out there about Nat'l Guard going AWOL. (I think I read yesterday the number is up to 6,000) www.democracynow.org has been covering many of them, but not many other supposed news sources are.

Of course, you wouldn't. If they mentioned it, there would be more.
I sure do remember hearing a lot about people moving to Canada to avoid the Viet Nam draft, but this war has no news on dissent. A handful of Terri Shaivo protesters got a lot more press than the tens of thousands throughout the world who protested Bush's war on the second anniversary of his starting it.

In the army at least, active duty soldiers cannot serve longer than one year in a combat zone by law. The Guard has no restriction. Further, there is a specified amount of time between deployments for the army, six months I think.

The war declaration question is arguable. Some maintain that only a general declaration is constitutional, while others believe a conditional resolution, such as IWR, meets constitutional muster. I'd say the conditional resolution carries the day because both the Congress and President have agreed on this in the past and the courts, I can safely say, will never intervene on this issue.

As for the protection of the Guard while they're activated, I believe this is a current issue because the prior protections had proved to be insufficient. I think this is a big issue for John Kerry. I remember hearing something recently about him drafting legislation to that effect.

Are the states still paying the Guardsmen even though they are not available to the state?

I am pretty sure the Guardsman has PX privs while on active duty, but does his family?

I always thought the federal government paid the Guard since they were formally incorporated into the active duty structure. Bear in mind, I just *think* that. I think a lot of things, sometimes I'm lucky enought to be right :P

I don't know about the family having PX and commissary privileges. My gut says no on this one.

Damn, you ask a lot of questions I should be asking. I'm overlooking my assumptions again. :P

National Gaurd units in every state and territory have been Federalized and deployed to Afghanistan/Iraq/Kuwait/Jordan...the Horn of Africa etc...Once federalized they are payed by the US Gov, not the state. Typical Guard/Reserve, at least Army, I'm clueless on the Air Guard, deploy and spend 12 months boots on the ground in theater (Afghanistan/Iraq etc...) Their mobilization may take anywhere from a few weeks to several months, prior to going into the Combat Zone. During the mobilization period, they are paid by the federal gov. Effectively the Governor has lost his disaster relief "Go To Guys"

As for their PX, Health Care, Commissary privilages or any another privilege...they are the same as any active duty soldier, along with their families. Most Guard/Reserve families and their soldiers do not live anywhere near an active duty post so the savings from on post shopping aren't as easy to get. Besides, unless I'm buying really expenive electronics or big ticket items, I get better deals at Walmart/Sams'/Costco than I do at the PX. PX is tax free so for big items I shop at the PX.

Guard/Reserve soldiers are not authorized to live on post or move their families to on-post housing, but they get the same Basic Housing Allowence that any soldier with a family receives based on their pay grade and if they have dependents. Medical and dental care is provided to Guardsmen/Reservists and their families at the same rate they are to Active Duty soldiers. Guard/Reserve soldiers and families that live near any military medical treatment facility can and are authorized to receive medical/treatment/prescription care from on post...Military sevice members and their families receive Tricare for health insurance. There are three forms of Tricare. My family is no where near a military treatment facility, henceforth we use Tricare Prime, wife and kids get to choose their provider off a list of docs in our area that agree to participte in Tricare. Fortunately our Peditrician is a member, but my wifes' docs are not typically members. Fortunately there is a teaching hospital nearby and they more often than not support/authorize Tricare some that's one less thing for me to worry about...Our dental care is great as a reservist, better than when I was teaching.

Under the Soldier and Sailor's Relief Act of 1946 (not sure of the date, has been update from '46 though) Reserve/Guard soldiers that are mobilized get their mortgage/credit card rates frozen during their deploymnet. Not suspended, they still have to pay the bill, but the interest rates are frozen and in many cases suspended until the soldier demobilizes.

Many Guardsmen/Reservists make more money as an active duty soldier than they make in their civilian jobs. That was my case as a teacher. As an officer, I made twice what I earned as a teacher, even a teacher with a Master's Degree, and I have two....So for some being mobilized, means making money not losing money. But then there are lots and lots of soldiers that loose money when they are mobilized, docs, lawyers, many salesmen, the list goes on and on...

Guard/Reserve Widows and orphans get the same death bebefits that the active duty survivors receive....

No answer for Haliburton/KBR/Blackwater etc....Hope this helps....

that many reservists have not heard about the Relief Act of 1946.

Small businesses must close, sell off their assets and lay off their employees. If their assets do not cover their debts, the families are hauled into court. They come back to an economic mess, lawyers and creditors, only to be called up again.

NPR did a story on this not too long ago. Some legislatures want to change the law to have the businesses go into a blind trust and freeze all the debts until the owner returns.

All Reservists get the mortgage briefing as part of their mobilization process. How many listen and pay attention is another matter....Tough to be a trooper these days, going in harms way and then coming home to financial ruin in many, many cases....All for Dubya....

He was in Iraq for over a year from 3/18/03 - 5/12/04. He actually made it into the Reader's Digest during the edition they did on the troops for the Dec. 03 issue.

Don't assume that all people in the National Guard are Bush supporters. We hate his guts! I speak up about it all the time, but my husband is very limited in what he can say in public because of retaliation. I have been threatened myself and one time while he was still over there, one really "patriotic" American told me he thought we were traitors and he hoped my husband was court-martialed and executed. I have been spit on by other people so when you speak out as a member of the military, it can be even worse than your average citizen. We really want him out, but he has one year left to get his 20 yr. retirement so we are trying to hold on because he has worked so hard. He is AGR and works for the National Guard.

I'll try to answer a couple of your questions if I can. The Feds pay for the National Guard soldiers when they are activated. They are put on Federal Active Duty. Even my husband was released from the State and put on Fed. It was really bad for us because the way his job works, he works for them full-time so we get benefits, etc. just like any person in the regular Army, but when he came back they basically booted him out of the system and it took us nearly a year to get our insurance back.

Families of activated guardsmen do get all base privileges from what I understand (as I said ours has always been a little different). Many have had problems actually getting them though because of the absolutely horrible admin. in the military. Usually they get to keep those benefits for 6 months after the soldier returns, I believe.

We had one guy get killed in a unit from here and 6 months after his death while his mother had been fighting to get records of the incident to see what had happened, she got a letter in the mail from the Army to her son - asking him to fill out a survey to review the care he had received while in Iraq for the incident that killed him. Think they are a little unorganized?!?!

Here's another little juicy bit of info for you on how crappy the guard folks are treated. When a bunch of units came back around the same time my husband's returned, they were to turn in all of their equipment. Well most of them had finally got some second-hand piece of crap kevlar vests about 6-8 months after they got over there and in order not to mix them up, they had written their last name on them. These vests were so horrible that they Army was actually going to ditch them and send them to the surplus. (My husband and a friend tested one out - bullet went straight through it!) When the Army saw that some of the folks had written their last name on the jackets, they docked their pay $300 to pay for the vest that they were sending to surplus!

Here's another little bit of info. When the units got over there back in 2003, they didn't have enough supplies for everyone so I had to send my husband towels, lip balm, goggles (gee, you would think with sand storms they would think of this), and sun screen just to name a few things. (Took six weeks or more to get the packages if they ever got there). Here's the real interesting thing...they didn't give you any kind of sunscreen for working out in the 140 degree desert sun all day, but if you got sunburned and were sick, you got an Article 15 and had your pay docked $1500.

I really could go on and on, but you may be really bored with reading all of this by now so I'll end it, but I can tell you a lot.

I've also seen so many break downs of who voted for who in this last election, but I have not seen one for the ENLISTED people in the Army, particularly those that have had extended duty in OIF. I wonder how the 3rd ID (reg. Army) voted..remember they were the ones that were interviewed on TV saying if they could speak directly with Donald Rumsfeld that they would ask for his resignation and had made up their own deck of "most wanted" playing cards with the Bush administration faces on them. I have pictures of guys with "Draft Dubya" signs and "2 weeks a yr. my *ss" I know that a bunch of guys that were over there at the time were scared to vote against Bush because many of them had to turn their ballots into superior officers, etc. If anyone has some info on how the voting went for this, please let me know.

Peace!

and am now AGR in the Reserves, officer side, but I too hate Dubya. Tell your spouse to vote his/her conscience next time, damn the superiors. OEF here, and it was nasty there too, with lousy equipment for the reserves/guard guys....

No, I did not find it boring.

From what I am gathering, the Guard is sent over there with insufficient everything from sunscreen to bullet proof vests. Is this the same for the regular services or is this specific to the Guard?

I have heard that Kevlar does degrade, especially in sunlight. I'll have to read up on that. Isn't there something newer than Kevlar for protective vests these days?

This certainly isn't the same Guard that our president went awol from. After WWII my dad went into the VA ARNG. He spent every Thursday night at drill and did a week (or was it two weeks) of active duty. Then they changed it to one weekend a month and the week or so of active duty. Back then the motto was, "You can sleep tonight because your National Guard is awake." These days, they probably are awake when we sleep, but they are no where near here to protect us.

Peace Baby, I hope your husband stays home with you until he can get his retirement. It is a pity that this president has stirred up this war. It would be better if only those who believed in it were sent over there to fight in it, but it would be best if Bush hadn't started the war in the first place.

I passed your post on to others just to let them know what you have said. They need to know that it is more than someone signing up for the benefits and not expecting to serve. This is severely inequitable with the Guard having to fill in for longer than the regulars have to serve. At least they are getting comparable pay. I thought they were getting shortchanged there, too, but responders to this thread have set me straight on that.

:kick:

I'm just curious if anyone ever saw the break down on how enlisted vets of OIF voted last election? This got buried last night.