Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Editorial: Commander in chief deploys wrong troops
President Bush's misuse of Guard and Reserve troops will lead to future problems as enlistment declines.
From the RoundTable blog
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"An Army of one" is becoming much more literal. The Bush administration's rush to war and willingness to deploy regular military and record numbers of National Guard and Reserve troops in combat have tarnished the public perception of military service.
If troop strength, particularly in the Guard and Reserve, slips too far as a result, the United States will lack the human resources to deal with future calamities.
Army enlistment, during the year ending Sept. 30, fell 8 percent short of target, some 6,600 enlistees out of 80,000 sought. Recruitment has been declining for years, getting worse after President Bush took the nation to war in Iraq on false pretenses.
The military has confronted the shortages: by asking Congress to increase the maximum enlistment bonus to $40,000; by lowering academic standards for recruits; by keeping its freely available video game called America's Army up to date with fresh releases. Whether those measures will succeed remains questionable.
Even if they do help, it is far from certain that the Guard and Reserve will benefit. Their roles have changed for the worse as Bush shifts their duties from domestic support to international warrior.
Most people who enlist in the Guard and Reserve figure they will be called upon to help out in an emergency on the home front, to respond to disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Under Bush, they find themselves shipped overseas to fill gaps in the regular Army.
Nearly half the troops in Iraq are Guard and Reserve, a higher proportion than any previous U.S. war. In a country where no location is safe from insurgent attack, those troops increasingly come under fire and represent a growing portion of U.S. casualties.
Just 10 percent of U.S. deaths in Iraq during the initial five-week invasion were Guardsmen and Reservists. More than half were in August and September.
Yet the commander in chief refuses to change course. He intends to deploy U.S. troops inside America's borders during the next natural disaster, leaving the Guard and Reserve on the hook overseas.
Bush has laid the foundation for catastrophe. With fewer people willing to enlist in the Guard, Reserve and regular Army, America will be even less well prepared to respond to the next emergency at home.
Rebuilding their morale will require returning the part-time troops to their domestic responsibilities and the Army to its overseas mission.
