Political Quotes

“one of the amendments that have been pending is the Leahy-Graham National Guard empowerment amendment, which is amendment No. 1072. I was just discussing with the distinguished leaders of the Armed Services Committee, Senators Levin and McCain, the possibility of a time to bring that amendment up for a vote. While we are in quorum calls anyway, let me talk a little bit about what the amendment is. Over the past decade, as we all know, the National Guard has undergone a profound change--actually, a historic change. Once, it was a hollow force, considered only a strategic reserve for nightmare contingencies, but the National Guard has become an operational reserve that deploys in regular rotation with the Active-Duty Force. As a matter of policy and reality, Army and Air National Guard troops from States around the country shoulder their load overseas, but they also carry a disproportionate share of the domestic response in disaster relief missions at home, including responding to terrorist events. Institutional support for the National Guard still lags behind its operational role. When I have been on battlefields, whether Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere, and I have talked to the commanders there, they do not know the difference between, when looking at soldiers about to deploy, which one is Guard and which one is regular force because they are deploying together and expected to do the same job.…”