Washington, D.C. -- Military experts agree that the Army National Guard and Reserves have been misused and overused in the war in Iraq, and now they have to be rebuilt — re-equipped and rearmed — so they can be ready for next time. That’s why the $800 million that Rep. Neil Abercrombie included in the 2009 Defense Authorization Bill for the Guard and Reserves is so critical.  The Defense Bill was given final approval by the House today.

“The Army National Guard and Reserves were designed to be strategic reserve components — emergency back-up forces for active duty units,” said Abercrombie, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces. “But, for the last five years, because our active duty Army is too small for everything they’ve had to do, Guard and Reserve forces have been used almost interchangeably with active duty units. One of the major problems has been that they were never equipped for such a role. In fact, our Hawaii National Guard, which is training right now for another combat deployment, has been scrambling to replace basic equipment since its last deployment.”

After more than five years of nearly continuous combat under unbelievably harsh conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan, military readiness across the board has dropped to the lowest levels in 30 years. Army National Guard units have been forced to leave much of their equipment behind in Iraq for use by the next Guard unit rotating in.  As a result, National Guard units at home have only about 63 percent of their required equipment, and many would not be considered ready if called upon to redeploy to Iraq or respond to natural disasters, such as forest fires and hurricanes. 

The 2009 Defense Authorization Bill also increases the size of the military by 7,000 soldiers, 5,000 Marines, 1,023 sailors, and by 450 airmen and provides a much-needed 3.9 percent pay increase. 

Abercrombie was successful in including funding in the bill for important defense projects in Hawaii:

• $30 million for continued construction on Saddle Road near the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island;
• $2.4 million for continued development of airborne detection systems to alert Navy ships to the presence of marine mammals;
• $1.6 million for continued research at the University of Hawaii into the impact of the Navy’s submarine detection equipment on whales and dolphins;
• $4 million for the next phase of mapping the clean-up of military munitions dumped into the ocean off Oahu at the end of WWII; and
• $8.1 million for a range of high tech military research projects by Hawaii companies.

At Abercrombie’s request, the legislation also requires the U.S. Navy to allow the U.S.S. Missouri Memorial Association to keep the legendary battleship moored to Pier Foxtrot-5 on Ford Island rent free for two years.  The “Mighty Mo” is preparing for a shipyard overhaul for needed maintenance and repair and will not generate any revenue while she’s under repair.

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