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Reserve components among units extended in Iraq

Army News Service

Release Date: 4/22/2004

By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell

ARLINGTON, Va. (Army News Service, April 22, 2004) - More than 4,100 Army National Guard Soldiers belonging to units from 14 states will remain on duty in Iraq and Kuwait for an additional three months or so to support the global war against terrorism.

The Pentagon announced April 15 that the members of the 21 units would remain in those countries longer than their anticipated one-year tours of duty to help meet the force requirements for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that 20,000 Soldiers would serve over there for about 90 additional days.

Army Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers make up about a quarter of that force, officials said.

"The period will be for up to an additional 90 days in Iraq and up to 120 days total deployment," Rumsfeld explained. "Needless to say, we regret having to extend those individuals. But the country is at war and we need to do what is necessary to succeed."

The purpose of the delayed redeployments is to provide the combatant commander with the forces required to defeat those elements threatening the security of Iraq, officials explained.

The affected Army Guard personnel are in support units - primarily military police, transportation and engineer companies and battalions. Four units are from Illinois. Nearly 900 belong to three Missouri units. Three more units come from Tennessee, and two are from South Dakota.

The others come from Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, the state of Washington, and Wisconsin.

Pentagon officials said military members will receive $1,000 for each month or part of a month they serve in Iraq beyond the date their units were due to return to their home stations.

Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the United States Central Command, asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the additional force capability, Pentagon officials explained. Rumsfeld approved the delay in redeployments to support that combatant commander. The 20,000 retained Soldiers will give Abizaid a total force of 135,000 troops in Iraq, officials explained.

"The Army - Active, Guard and Reserve - is supporting the combatant commander as a single unified team," said Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau.

"Our units have fought together, endured together and will remain together. The cohesion baptized by fire and hardened in the crucible of combat is an invaluable combat multiplier," Blum added.

"The plan is capability based. When a unit's capabilities are not required, the combatant commander will release those units," National Guard officials said. "The Iraqi military, civil defense forces and Iraqi police are taking more responsibility for their security situation with each passing day."

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged the contributions and sacrifices that the National Guard and Reserve Soldiers are making.

"Certainly to those families of those Soldiers, we thank them for their continued sacrifice and to the employers of the Guard and the Reserve for their continued contribution to this war on terrorism," Pace said. "It's not an easy sacrifice, but as [Secretary Rumsfeld] mentioned, it's a very worthy cause."

(Editor's note: Master Sgt. Bob Haskell is a journalist for the National Guard Bureau Public Affairs Office.)