In one of the state's largest single deployments since World War II, about half of the New Jersey Army National Guard's 6,200 troops are expected to be mobilized for duty in Iraq or Afghanistan by early 2009, state and Guard officials said yesterday.
http://www.philly.com/...
Governor Corzine blasted the callup, which was scheduled for 2010 and has been "accelerated" to 2009:
``I think it is undermining of the basic purpose of the National Guard, which is to protect local and state elements and floods and fires and whatever problems that we can have,'' Corzine said, ``and reduces our ability and it strains us on equipment.''
"The fact that we continue to have the kind of overuse of our National Guard is just a mistake," said Corzine, who voted against the Iraq war when he was a U.S. senator.
http://www.nj.com/...
Of course, it's interesting that the callup is on schedule way after Bush leaves office. In fact, what level of ongoing mobilization will be set into motion during his waning months, making sure that his war can't be ended too soon after he leaves office?
Now here's a recent report on the readiness of the Guard units in the states. Lo and behold, at the time of writing in June, the New Jersey National Guard was able to report that 95% of its equipment was available for state emergencies, including terrorism-related events:
The New Jersey National Guard is equipped to handle all state missions and is minimally affected today by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said spokesman Lt. Col. James Garcia. "Being in the tri-state area, we have more equipment dedicated to homeland defense, especially after 9/11," Garcia said.
http://www.usatoday.com/...
By comparison, NY had only 40% of its total equipment available:
The New York National Guard still has enough equipment to deal with a growing list of missions, from storms to regional floods to homeland security at nuclear plants, airports and New York City transportation hubs, Guard spokeswoman Christine Anderson said. The state has 100% of authorized helicopters and 72% of engineering equipment, but only 35% of its trucks and other vehicles, and 19% of its chemical detectors and alarms, said Lt. Col. Paul Fanning.
Well, that clearly invited the decimation of the NJ Guard that will be the result of today's announcement. Find the states with a ready and able National Guard, and ship them overseas. That's the ticket. Then tell everyone that al-Qaeda is defeated in Iraq, but could strike here, so we need our troops over there, taking the equipment that would be relied on over here. Meanwhile, just keep shopping! - for duct tape.