Saturday, March 24, 2007
More than half the U.S. Army consists of reservists or National Guard soldiers, the official said.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The leader of the Ohio National Guard says changes forced by the war on terrorism and hurricanes Katrina and Rita have created a permanently more active role for the Guard.
The Guard has shifted from a strategic reserve in case of emergencies to an integral part of ongoing U.S. Army operations, a move that is unlikely to change in the future, said Maj. Gen. Gregory Wayt.
"It's just a different environment we live in today," Wayt said, as the war in Iraq enters its fifth year. "The world situation has changed. Homeland defense of the United States is a priority mission of the National Guard and will remain so."
Ohio's Army National Guard is the seventh-largest in the country, and its Air National Guard is the second-largest in the country.
Ohio currently has 1,300 Guard members deployed outside Ohio, including about 100 in Kuwait and more than 400 in Iraq.
Other units are providing air defense in Washington, D.C., and patrolling the country's southwestern borders. Nine Ohio Guard members have been killed in action since Sept. 11, 2001, and 97 Purple Heart medals for Guard wounds in combat have been awarded.
New initiatives
In an interview with The Associated Press, Wayt cited a number of post-Sept. 11 initiatives the Ohio Guard has undertaken as part of its new face:
A search-and-rescue team ready to deploy in case of a terrorist attack in Ohio.
A unit to detect possible weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, biological and radioactive weapons.
A rapid-response unit that can have 125 Guard members responding to emergencies within four to six hours. An additional 325 soldiers will be in place within 12 hours.
A joint Army-Air Guard operations center open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Today, more than half the U.S. Army consists of Army reservists or Army National Guard soldiers, Wayt said.
"I don't think the National Guard is going to go back to strategic services even if the war on terror ended tomorrow," Wayt said. "We've become an integral, operational force of the Army."
Wayt has also been speaking to editorial boards around the state to emphasize that the Guard remains a strong presence in Ohio.
He says even at the peak of deployments only 30 percent of soldiers were out of state, either in other parts of the country or abroad.
Despite the duration of the war and the Guard's new role, Wayt said the Guard is setting recruitment records.
"Our readiness has never been higher," he said.
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