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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (27715)	7/12/2005 3:18:18 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 361147

Attention..Yellow Elephants... Official: Risk to Guardsmen Exaggerated By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer WASHINGTON - The risk to National Guard soldiers of getting killed or wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan has been exaggerated, making recruiting more difficult, the general in charge of all National Guard forces said Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT Lt. Gen. Steven Blum told a group of defense reporters that more than 250,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen have been mobilized for active duty since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and 262 of them have been killed. "It is dangerous, but it is — I shouldn't say it to this group but I'm going to — it is misrepresented, how dangerous it really is," he said. The casualty rate for Guardsmen is "remarkably low," compared with any previous armed conflict, Blum said, adding that he recognizes that every individual loss is a tragedy for that person's family. "But I lose, unfortunately, more people through private automobile accidents and motorcycle accidents over the same period of time," he added. In all, more than 1,750 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003 — the vast majority since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations in May 2003. National Guard soldiers represent about 40 percent of the U.S. ground force in Iraq, although that is scheduled to decline substantially next year when the Army deploys two newly expanded active-duty divisions — the 101st Airborne and the 4th Infantry. Blum also said he does not expect the National Guard to achieve its recruiting goal for the budget year ending Sept. 30. It currently is running almost 25 percent behind so far this year. Blum said it is unlikely he can close the gap. "Is it likely? No," he said.