More Oregon Guard troops activated

[Judi Lynn]

Page Updated: Monday, July 19, 2004 12:12 PM PDT
More Oregon Guard troops activated


By The Associated Press

LEBANON - About 100 more Oregon National Guard troops have gotten orders to mobilize in preparation for duty in Iraq.

The Lebanon-based F Troop of the 82nd Infantry will join Hawaiian troops for training at Fort Bliss in Texas before going to Iraq.

The orders mobilize the soldiers for a period of not longer than 18 months beginning Aug. 19.

About 40 members of the Lebanon troop had already been called up to fill gaps in other units. They left Lebanon on June 28 for training in Fort Bliss, and they, too, are headed for Iraq. Only about 10 members of the unit are still in Lebanon, according to the Guard.
(snip/...)

http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2004/07/19/news/news08.txt

[papau]

1. Guard mobilized to Iraq - 1 in 4 chance in NY, 1 in 35 chance in Texas

Any questions?

(ratio of total Guard in State to those sent to Iraq was as of July 1 2004)

[BrotherBuzz]

6. Interesting...

Are there other examples of blue state - red state inequities?

[papau]

7. I saw the NY numbers in New York media - I haven't seen similar

analysis elsewhere.

The ratio was described as number of different persons in that State's Guard that have seen Iraq duty divided by the total size of the Guard in that State.

The "number of different persons in that State's Guard that have seen Iraq duty" is a number I do not have access to - but folks at the NY Times seem able to obtain it!

:-)

[classof56]

2. I hate this!

An Oregon Marine is one of the latest fatalities in this stupid, misbegotten war. We've already lost far too many, both from our state and everywhere else, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop or slow down anytime soon.

Again...I hate this! Bush MUST GO!!

Tired Old Cynic

[gratuitous]

3. Larry Storch, reporting for duty, sir!

"F Troop." I know this news is not funny, but I had to giggle, if only a little bit.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Vermont, too. New, short article

More Vermont Troops Head To Iraq

POSTED: 3:34 pm EDT July 19, 2004

More soldiers from Vermont began preparations Monday to go to Iraq.

Eleven members of the Vermont National Guard took part in a deployment ceremony Monday morning at Camp Johnson in Colchester.

The soldiers from the 1st Battalion 86th Field Artillery will go to Fort Dix, N.J., before leaving to support the troops that are already serving in Iraq.

They will be gone for nine months.
(snip/)

http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/news/3547414/detail.html

[dw]

5. This article ran in The Oregonian on Friday...

Oregon losing Guard to Iraq
Friday, July 16, 2004 by BRYAN DENSON

With the wildfire season under way at home and conflict simmering in Iraq, Gov. Ted Kulongoski said he is increasingly worried the Oregon National Guard's present mission is putting its future at risk.

In an interview about the ongoing hostilities in Iraq, Kulongoski this week lamented the fact that four of 10 U.S. troops now serving there are reservists or guardsmen. He questioned the wisdom of placing 700 Oregon National Guard soldiers on some of Baghdad's most dangerous streets to fill a void left by the stretched full-time U.S. military.

The number of Oregon National Guard troops in Iraq will grow to nearly 1,300 by this fall.

"This idea of using the Guard both on the frontlines -- as 40 percent of these (troops in Iraq) -- and then having my Guard units rotated . . . into this theater for the second and third time isn't the way to do this," said Kulongoski, whose job description includes being commander in chief of the Oregon Guard.

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