Guard’s Iraq Fears Spark Inquiry

The chief of the National Guard said Friday that an informal inquiry at an Army base where soldiers had alleged they were being poorly trained found instead that they were being prepared “to be successful and survive their mission in Iraq.”

“Are they finely honed and ready to go today? No,” said Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, adding that he had found some problems at the Ft. Bliss Training Complex, which straddles the border between Texas and New Mexico.

“But that’s why they’ve got more training to do.”

Since soldiers at the Army’s Dona Ana Range leveled their charges in a Los Angeles Times article, however, additional Guard members had reiterated the battalion’s concerns.

“We’re not being prepared for our mission,” one sergeant said in a telephone interview Thursday night. “A lot of times we don’t even know what our mission is.”

The soldiers said the training was so poor that they feared there would be needless casualties in Iraq.

Blum, who has served in the National Guard since 1968, was appointed by President Bush last spring. He oversees the half-million people who serve in the Army and Air National Guards.

The soldiers, members of a Modesto-based battalion of the California Army National Guard, said they were under lockdown at Dona Ana and were being treated more like prisoners than soldiers.

Although supportive of the war in Iraq and eager to serve, they said that they had received very little training that was “theater-specific” -- that would prepare them for the missions they expected to face when they arrived overseas in January or February. For example, they said, they have had virtually no instruction regarding convoy protection or guarding against insurgents’ roadside bombs.

At the center of their allegations is the changing role of the National Guard and reservists, who, as the war in Iraq continues, have been moved rapidly to the front lines. About 40% of the troops in Iraq are either National Guard troops or reservists.

The Guard troops at Dona Ana have alleged that the military commanders do not trust them to go to war, and have implemented a two-tier training regimen -- one for them and one for active-duty soldiers. The Army denies that, and Blum said he found no evidence of “second-class citizen stuff” after visiting Ft. Bliss and Dona Ana on Thursday and Friday.

Blum said it had not been easy to change the role of the National Guard, but that he embraced its new mission.

“This country should never go to war for any reason without the National Guard,” he said. “When you call up the Guard, you call up America.... Does it make it politically harder? Absolutely. It should be a hard decision to send young men and women to war.”

Blum said his visit did reveal some shortcomings in Guard training, but he said he believed the issues would be addressed.

For instance, he said, commanders probably should have given the soldiers more time off; the soldiers said they received one day off prior to Thanksgiving since they were activated in August. And Blum said the training regimen had not been adequately explained to soldiers, leaving some with the impression that their training was substandard.

“Leadership has an obligation to explain it to the last guy in the last rank,” he said.