Guard can't deal with 2 hurricanes at a time because of war & shortages

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Guard unable to deal with 2 hurricanes

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Strapped by war and equipment shortages, the National Guard will find it difficult to deal with two or more major hurricanes if they sweep ashore in different regions around the same time, Guard leaders say.

To counter equipment shortfalls caused largely by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Guard has borrowed more than $500 million worth of equipment from the active duty military to restock its units. Thousands of trucks, Humvees and other supplies have been shifted mostly from inland states' Guard units closer to where storms are more likely to strike.

Army and Air Guard officials also are spending at least $900 million on new communications equipment and hundreds of tractors and trucks.

If a hurricane hits North Carolina and another one spins toward Texas, "we would have to make some very difficult decisions," Col. Pat Tennis, the National Guard's director of operations, told the Associated Press.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060817/ap_on_go_ot/national_guard_hurricanes

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1. whistling past the graveyard