Half of New Mexico Guard may be in Iraq in 2010 - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Half of New Mexico Guard may be in Iraq in 2010

SANTA FE — Half of New Mexico’s National Guard is slated to be sent to Iraq in 2010 — well above the deployments agreed on by the Guard Adjutant Gen. Kenny Montoya and Gov. Bill Richardson.

The Department of the Army plans for New Mexico’s Guard deployments to total 1,600 members in 2010, or half the force, Montoya said.

Montoya and Richardson have said only 25 percent of the Guard should be deployed overseas because troops might be needed to deal with natural disasters in the state.

“It’s not the best situation,” Montoya said. “If the Army tells us to do it, we will follow orders and do it. ... But we are taking a risk back here at home.”

Richardson said he’s concerned the deployment level will affect the ability to respond to emergencies at home.

Nearly 2,000 members of the New Mexico National Guard have deployed since 2001, but officials said 75 percent of the Guard has always remained in the state despite that.

By this fall, about 600 members of the state Guard will be deployed or be preparing to deploy to Iraq, said Maj. Ken Nava, Guard spokesman.

Montoya said he has pledged that troops won’t have to do a second tour of duty in a war zone unless they volunteer. That promise will become more difficult to keep in 2010, but Montoya said he believes it will be possible.

New Mexico National Guard Sgt. Marshall A. Westbrook, 43, of Farmington, was killed Oct. 1, 2005, in Baghdad after being struck in the head by shrapnel. Nava said 13 state Guard members have received Purple Hearts, given to people injured in combat.

The Guard does not track how many soldiers are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or how many leave because of what they experienced while deployed.

“I think morale is still very good,” Nava said. “There is nobody who is still wearing this uniform who didn’t volunteer. Is the fact that a war is going on affecting people? Sure. I’m sure it takes its toll emotionally.”

About 450 people leave the Guard each year, said a recruiter, Maj. Tony Leal. Some 150 retire, about 130 join other services or are absent without leave and 170 do not re-enlist.

New Mexico’s Guard still is plagued by equipment shortages, Montoya said. Soldiers train on Vietnam-era M16s, while the U.S. Army uses an updated rifle, he said.

Once Guardsmen are deployed, they get the newer weapon, Montoya said.

“The truth is it’s unacceptable, but the situation is better than we have been for the last 200 years,” he said. “The Guard has always lived on the Army’s second hand and out-of-date equipment.”

The Government Accountability Office said in January that New Mexico’s Guard had the lowest level of equipment readiness among the nation’s Guard forces at 35 percent, partly because of the old rifles.

The Department of the Army pledged to restore the equipment readiness to 75 percent by 2013.

Richardson said that’s not enough.

“When we send our National Guard into combat or to defend our homeland, it is our country’s obligation to provide them with the right equipment to do the job,” he said.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said he’s made it clear that the Defense Department needs to do more to quickly resolve the issue, while Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said the Army shouldn’t wait six years before making significant improvements.