the poor boys of the national guard

according to the Washington Post and 3 star general Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, possibly 2 out of every 3 national guardsmen in the united states will be called up over the next four months.

Blum also said that in a worst-case scenario, up to 50,000 additional Guardsmen per month will be needed in Louisiana or Mississippi over the next four months to continue providing relief, law enforcement and other post-hurricane services.

Those 200,000 troops, if needed, would represent nearly two-thirds of the approximately 319,000 Guard troops available nationwide.

General Steven Blum also has my respect as a patriot.

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that "arguably" a day at most of response time was lost due to the absence of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade, each with thousands of troops in Iraq.

lie to me more, rumsfeld: "Anyone who's saying that doesn't understand the situation."

thats nothing anyone without an ounce of common sense couldnt have figured out. lie but a general, a 3 star general said it! another one of them has broken ranks. does anyone remember poor general shinseki anymore? i wonder if they'll privately horse whip blum and make him swallow his pride; will he have the honor to resign when confronted by the corrupt forces, or is he just another pawn, more disinformation. shinseki resigned. powell took it all, swallowed his pride, and blatantly lied to the american public. what will general blum do?

democratic rep Gene Taylor, whose waterfront home here was washed away in the storm, told reporters that the absence of the deployed Mississippi Guard units made it harder for local officials to coordinate their initial response.:

"The best equipment went with them, for obvious reasons," especially communications equipment, he added.

is that a subtle admission that we dont have enough "best" equipment to fight, the what, 2 different theater wars and a conflict/maintain security at home? hmmmmm... bush better pray that rove can spin another thirty or fourty issues. the grand jury runs out in octobor... lets see what comes up :)

but those poor boys... here's a caption from the picture in the article

Louisiana National Guards of the 256th Brigade Combat team leave the plane at the airport in Alexandria, Louisiana upon their arrival, Friday, Sept. 9, 2005. The first contigent of about 100 National Guards left Kuwait Thursday to return to the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. Guard officials say 80 percent of the returning force lost homes, jobs and family in the storm and flooding.

coming home to deal with that?! how much more can they handle? how much ecstasy will they need?

i wanna say we've finally "turned a corner" at home, but i cant feel joy when i feel a scintilla of the pain so many others must be suffering. i lost my dad when i was 15, but i didnt lose my mom, or my house, or a job. im 22 now, and im afraid if i came home from fighting this war, to find out my family and everything that meant anything to me was gone, id snap. sure, its not that bad for all of them, but four in five lost something incredibly meaningful to them. i feel like im gonna cry, so im gonna let go of this thread of thought and find happiness somehow.