Guard’s top NCO wants members to train in Europe

[unhappycamper]

Guard’s top NCO wants members to train in Europe
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, April 23, 2008

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — More U.S. citizen soldiers will train in Europe if the National Guard’s top enlisted soldier has his way.

Command Sergeant Major of the Army National Guard John D. Gipe wrapped up a tour of U.S. Army Europe with a visit to Grafenwöhr on Tuesday, encouraging more states to send National Guard troops to Europe for training.

“We can do a lot of things for the Guard here that are not taken advantage of,” the 50-year-old Floyds Knobs, Ind., native said.

National Guard engineers from several states come to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center at Hohenfels each summer to build mock towns designed to simulate battle space in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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“We are no longer a strategic reserve. We are an operational force and plan to be for the foreseeable future,” he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54255