The state’s highest officials told the Tennessee National Guard Association over the weekend they’d work to reequip units that are freshly back from Iraq.
Governor Phil Bredesen says these aren’t just tanks and humvees but earth moving machines that could be necessary for responding to local disasters.
“When they deployed, particularly the 278th to Iraq, they took a lot of equipment with them which basically had been used up and not brought back. It is several hundred million dollars worth. We need to get that replaced because if we had a disaster here – a major earthquake for example – it’s precisely the kind of equipment we would have to have in Tennessee.”
Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker seconded the push for reequipping.
10-thousand Tennessee guardsmen have been deployed to the Middle East since Governor Bredesen took office. He says it’s still unknown whether the troop surge in Iraq will mean more deployments for the Tennessee guard.
Bredesen will visit the Arizona/Mexico border this week to get a better idea of what 800 guardsmen have accomplished there since July. They’ve been working in short-term deployments as part of President Bush’s push to shore-up the southern border of the U-S.
WEB EXTRA
100% Federal funds.
Equipment shortages:
— Today – $619,780,820
— Received in past 2 years – $140,400,210
According to TN Guard Spokesman Randy Harris
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