Guard Tapped Again

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
National Journal
January 26, 2008 Inside Washington

Even as the overall number of U.S. troops in Iraq declines -- from a peak of 164,000 in August to 156,000 in December -- the military is mobilizing ever-larger numbers of citizen-soldiers. After a brief post-Christmas drop, the number of National Guard and Reserve troops currently on active duty rose by 4,477 over the last three weeks, to a total of 94,729. In the Army National Guard alone, the Oklahoma-based 45th Infantry Brigade is deploying to Iraq; 3,000-member-strong brigades from Arkansas, Indiana, and Ohio have mobilized for their final training in the United States before they head overseas in March; and seven more Army Guard brigades, plus countless smaller units, will follow at undetermined dates later in the year. A report on how to reform the force so it can better sustain such levels of effort is expected from the congressionally chartered Commission on the National Guard and Reserves by January 31.
--Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
 
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