Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
February 26, 2008 By Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sought federal help yesterday on equipment shortages affecting the California National Guard because of deployments to Iraq.
Schwarzenegger, in Washington for a meeting of the National Governors Association, also joined with other governors to press for more money to improve infrastructure.
The governor raised the Guard issue with Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Overseas deployment – mostly to Iraq – has worsened existing equipment shortages afflicting the California National Guard. The Guard has about 200 trucks, Humvees and other items overseas, representing about 5 percent of its total equipment pool. It also is about to lose all 12 of its Chinook helicopters to other states to make up for aircraft those units have sent to war zones.
“I think it is not fair to the state for the federal government to go into a war situation and then to take from us the equipment,” Schwarzenegger told reporters. “Every time our National Guards leave, they take with them equipment, but they don't bring it back. So there's only so long they can do that.”
Schwarzenegger said he did not receive a specific commitment to address the equipment shortage.
“They talked about the difficulty, that it would take a few years again to provide all this equipment,” he said. “But what we want to do is push them to speed up that process.”
February 26, 2008 By Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sought federal help yesterday on equipment shortages affecting the California National Guard because of deployments to Iraq.
Schwarzenegger, in Washington for a meeting of the National Governors Association, also joined with other governors to press for more money to improve infrastructure.
The governor raised the Guard issue with Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Overseas deployment – mostly to Iraq – has worsened existing equipment shortages afflicting the California National Guard. The Guard has about 200 trucks, Humvees and other items overseas, representing about 5 percent of its total equipment pool. It also is about to lose all 12 of its Chinook helicopters to other states to make up for aircraft those units have sent to war zones.
“I think it is not fair to the state for the federal government to go into a war situation and then to take from us the equipment,” Schwarzenegger told reporters. “Every time our National Guards leave, they take with them equipment, but they don't bring it back. So there's only so long they can do that.”
Schwarzenegger said he did not receive a specific commitment to address the equipment shortage.
“They talked about the difficulty, that it would take a few years again to provide all this equipment,” he said. “But what we want to do is push them to speed up that process.”