As CA burns, where is the CA National Guard?
Editorial · National Security
submitted by billl on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 10:58am PST
50% of the CA nationa Guard's equipment is in Iraq, not here in CA to protect and serve the residents of this great state!!

Photo by Bryan Patrick

As CA burns, where is the CA National Guard?
10.23.2007 - 11:00 am - Billl4

As Southern CA goes up in flames, where is the CA National Guard? According to CNN, there are only 1,500 CA National Guardsmen fighting these fires. Where are the rest of our National Guardsmen, and why are they not helping to fight these fires? Are they in Iraq? If so, how many are still in California?

To the best of my knowledge, there are about 20,000 CA Army National Guardsmen. When I called their office, I couldn't get a straight answer about how many CA Air National Guardsmen there are. I'm not sure why they won't tell me. They wanted to know who I was and why I wanted to know how many there were. What are they hiding?

We all know that our guardsmen are in Iraq protecting Halliburton and the Multi-national Oil Corporations. I think it's well past time to tell our Governor to Bring Our CA National Guard Home! Please call the governor's office and tell him that we want our Guard Home Now to protect our great state!

Call Governor Schwarzenegger today!! 916-445-2841 (Press 1 for English, then 5 for "Hot topic issues", then 0 to speak to someone)
http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email (Choose "Fire - Southern CA Fires" from the drop-down menu)

I believe it is due time that we revive Loni Hancock's, AJR 36, to bring our CA National Guard home!

UPDATE (10/24): As trunnion pointed out in the comments below, the CA Nat. Guard admitted that they were stretched to the limits.

State National Guard warns it's stretched to the limit May 2007
"A dearth of equipment such as trucks and radios -- caused in part by the war in Iraq -- has state military officials worried they would be slow in providing help in the event of a major fire, earthquake or terrorist attack."

Also, Barbara Boxer had this to say last month:
“The California National Guard has lost so much equipment as a result of the war in Iraq that, according to the Secretary of the Army, the Guard may lack the capability to respond to a large scale emergency such as a catastrophic earthquake or major flood. This is unacceptable. My amendment will help Congress get a more accurate picture of the Guard’s equipment shortages and needs so we can ensure we are fully prepared to respond to domestic emergencies. We must not wait for disaster to strike before we act.”

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Letter to the Gov
submitted by billl on Tue, 10/23/2007 - 11:29pm PST
The e-mail I sent the Govenator....
In Peace,
Dede

As I sit in my home here in Bellflower....a steady rain of ash falling. I watch the constant coverage of the fires devastating Southern California. I watch a man in Santiago Canyon, who had to hide in the bushes in order to stay and protect his home. He lamented over and over again how NO ONE was fighting the fire in his neighborhood. NO ONE.....only the few residence who managed to avoid the forced evacuations.

My question to you Governor...WHERE IS THE NATIONAL GUARD???? How many are still here in California ready to do their jobs...protecting and serving the citizens of California. How many are in Iraq doing the dirty work of the Bush Cabal?? You have the power to bring them home. You have the power to take care of the people of California. What if it was your home being threatened? What if it was your family in harms way? What if we have another heavy rainy season and the levees around Sacramento give way...will you and your family be high and dry? Do the right thing. Be the man I thought I was voting for....bring our guard home.
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State National Guard warns it's stretched to the limit -
submitted by trunnion on Tue, 10/23/2007 - 7:00pm PST
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/11/MNGRIPPB2D1.DTL

May 11, 2007 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- As state forestry officials predict an unusually harsh fire season this summer, the California National Guard says equipment shortages could hinder the guard's response to a large-scale disaster. A dearth of equipment such as trucks and radios -- caused in part by the war in Iraq -- has state military officials worried they would be slow in providing help in the event of a major fire, earthquake or terrorist attack. In California, half of the equipment the National Guard needs is not in the state, either because it is deployed in Iraq or other parts of the world or because it hasn't been funded, according to Lt. Col. John Siepmann. While the Guard is in good shape to handle small-scale incidents, "our concern is a catastrophic event,'' he said. "You would see a less effective response (to a major incident),'' he said.

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Thanks
submitted by billl on Tue, 10/23/2007 - 11:27pm PST
I wonder what Arnold has done since this article was written in May to try and correct this situation?

Another quote from that article:

"A lot of equipment has gone to Iraq, and it doesn't come back when the troops come back,'' Schwarzenegger said Thursday at a news conference in Sacramento, where he was asked about the National Guard. "So this is one thing we have been talking about, how do we get this equipment back as quickly as possible in case we need it, and we also need it for training.''
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Updates from a friend in San Diego
submitted by karenb on Tue, 10/23/2007 - 3:12pm PST
I just want to post some comments from my friend Barbara in SD -- will continue to do so, or maybe she'll start posting when she can... k.


The latest response from Barbara:

In addition, no local news outlet has even mentioned that Tijuana is burning. Those poor people live in cardboard shacks on the hillsides, have very little water pressure or organized fire protection. Roger Hedgecock, ex mayor, neocon evangelical crook, radio guy has been making cracks all day about the illegals being afraid to come across in the fires.

I'll keep you posted.


k wrote:

yeah, that's weird and ominous..... I could see that being necessary for places that are evacuated, but why for the people that are obviously going there for sanctuary? It's sad that they are so indoctrinated to have a propensity for violence and think it's appropriate.

keep your eyes on this:

http://www.defenselink.mil/advisories/advisory.aspx?advisoryid=2902

k


Barbara says:

Fire is close to me now but there is a natural break at the freeway and resevoir. If the wind changes, it could get ugly here.

As for the guard..................there are a handful for show, at Qualcomm Stadium, very heavily armed. Why, I wonder, do we need heavily armed men at the stadium? Why can't the SDPD place a few cars around. I remember the guard as the helpers, not the intimidators.

I know it's not just me as even my daughter, who is a political neophyte, asked me why they were so well armed.

It is very dark and ash is raining down here.

More later.
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