About 75,000 citizen-soldiers and airmen this morning are deployed all around the world. |
And we're not fighting a threat-based force that we clearly understand. |
Fifty-four of the 54 National Guards sent troops to Mississippi and Louisiana post-Katrina. It was absolutely the largest and fastest military response to a domestic event in the history of this nation. |
Had that brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear. |
I am confident that within the next 24 hours we will see a dramatic improvement |
I am confident that within the next 24 hours we will see a dramatic improvement, |
I don't know why the Air Force chose to do it the way they did it. This was not an unpredictable situation. |
I think he's a national treasure. You talk about the 'greatest generation' and you usually think of World War II. I'm not so sure you're not looking at the greatest generation in Jordan Pierson. |
in a quick and efficient manner. |
It has grown, unfortunately, because the need has grown. We cannot give up on our American youth. |
It's going to require at least double that for a fully equipped, fully manned Guard. Job No. 1 for us is homeland defense. You've got to equip us for that mission. |
Last year, we provided more than 50 percent of the combat forces on the ground in Iraq. This is a different paradigm, a different National Guard than any of us in this room ever envisioned being even possible, let alone being practically employed. |
The cavalry is and will continue to arrive. |
The fact that National Guard units were deployed to Iraq at the time of Katrina did not lessen the Guard's ability to respond. |
The National Guard that I joined was strategic reserve -- deliberately under-resourced, deliberately undermanned and deliberately under-equipped. That was part of our national military strategy. |