The Daily Illini April 14, 2003
National guard not safe from war
By Leah George-baskin
Although National Guardsmen were not commonly called overseas during the Vietnam War, University professors and military analysts say the National Guard can no longer be considered a safe haven in the conflict with Iraq.
"I don't think anybody who has half a brain thinks of the National Guard as a place to hide out," University history professor John Lynn said. "But it may be more than they ever anticipated."
Since the beginning of the war, one man died of the 2,700 called to fight from the Illinois National Guard.
According to a March 30 Illinois National Guard news release, Staff Sgt. Jacob Frazier, 24, died March 29. A member of the 169th Air Support Operations Squadron under the Airlift Wing in Peoria, Ill., Frazier was in a vehicle that was part of a four-wheel reconnaissance patrol. The vehicle was ambushed near Geresk in the Helmand province of southcentral Afghanistan.
As Frazier's case demonstrated, the National Guard members are no longer exempt from being shipped to the front lines.
"The change of the National Guard came about with the downsizing of the military, which started as early as the Carter and Reagan administrations," said Maj. Tim Franklin, Illinois National Guard public affairs officer.
The National Guard is an active power in the armed forces and makes up more than 50 percent of U.S. military forces, Franklin said.
According to University history professor Mark Leff, the National Guard being called to service creates a different mentality in the United States.
"There is a major difference in terms of the people going or the people being concerned that they might go," Leff said. "Now there is a different sense of commitment because people are no longer joining the National Guard in order to avoid the draft."
Lynn said there is a different kind of military in use because the government scaled down the military's equipment and men to shift them to the National Guard.
"In order for there to be an army that is full strength, the government needs to call out the National Guard," Lynn said.
Patrick Garrett, associate analyst at Globalsecurity.org, said the National Guard changed from protecting the continent to working at a more worldwide level since the post-Cold War environment. The size of the active military has been reduced since then and some of its money and equipment has been shifted to boost the National Guard. Garrett said that helps take the stress off the military.
He said the greater use of the National Guard affects people two ways.
"On the first level, for the people in the National Guard now, they have gotten more then they bargained for," Garrett said. "They are serving their country in a much broader sense than they may have anticipated. The other level affects the people who joined as a part-time job. They joined not expecting not to worry about being shipped overseas. (The war) changes everything for them."
Garrett said he admits that in the end, the heavier usage of the National Guard creates greater stress on its participants.
"Some of the personnel in the National Guard are retired military personnel who got out of the military but still wanted to serve their country," Garrett said. "Now those people are being dragged back in from where they left."
There is some fear that the use of the National Guard this early in the war might cause a reinstating of the draft.
Leff said he thought a draft would not be an effect of the war with Iraq.
"A draft couldn't go fast enough for it to be a realistic possibility for this war," Leff said. "The military itself isn't interested in a draft, but it is obviously going to be harder to get people to join the National Guard when there is a decent chance that their life will be disrupted."
Garrett said that there has been some talk in Congress by a very small minority of reinstating the draft, but he does not believe it is a possibility because the U.S. military has moved so far ahead in terms of technology and resources.
"If this turns into another 100-year-war and the casualties from the active military are so great, there is a possibility then that the draft may be reinstated," Garrett said. "It does not seem feasible or possible to recruit civilians."
Lynn also said the draft is not a likely possibility, but he said a greater responsibility is now placed on the government. This means the military and government should be sure they have the public support for the war, he said, because they are "going to be pulling people out of their civilian lives."
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