VETERANS FOR AMERICA (VFA) – NATIONAL GUARD OUTREACH PROGRAM
VFA has evolved from a Veterans, troops, and military families advocacy and political aciton group into a Veterans Service Organization as it kicks off its National Guard Outreach Program to both tell the National Guard stories ignored by the mainstream media, what state governors and the Pentagon do not want American voters to hear.
As I reluctantly listen to the civilian pundants debate over the pros and cons of continuing in Iraq or worse yet escalation into Afghanistan, with the exception of VoteVets that is a PAC closely tied to the Conservative wing of the Democratic party, very few young veterans or our troops and families that carry the burden of war for the vast majority of us have a voice. They need a voice or voices to say either what they cannot or are reluctant to say. The inequitable burden sharing of the Global War on Terror is taking a toll on the very few citizen soldiers among us, and not only is that a national disgrace, it is sinful for the rest of us to exploit our National Guard this way.
ROBERT L. HANAFIN
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
VT Staff Writer
Member, Veterans for America 
National Guard Outreach Program
VFA is undertaking a state-by-state examination of the effects of deployments on National Guard citizen Soldiers, their families, their communities, their employers, and the national security of our country.
VFA now provides hands-on assistance to our Guard members and their families, as well as feedback to Guard and state leaders regarding changes that need to be implemented and programs that are working effectively.
At the end of President Bush’s last day in office, and continuing into the early stage of the Obama Administration, nearly half of the Soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan are or will be citizen Soldiers from the Army National Guard. The heavy reliance on the National Guard in OEF and OIF is unprecedented in the history of the all-volunteer force and the stresses created are considerable. Not since the Korean War has the dependence on our National Guard to fill manpower shortages of our active force in order to avoid the draft has our Army National Guard been so misused.
One need only look at the duties performed by the National Guard during Vietnam plus ban on sending National Guard Troops to foregin wars placed by a significant number of governors who needed militia troops to guard the homefront against civil rights and anti-war demonstrators. That was then, this is NOW. (Major Hanafin’s views)
President of VFA, Bobby Muller, notes that in mid-February 2009 that 3,500 members of the Wisconsin National Guard left for Iraq. It was the largest deployment of the Wisconsin National Guard since World War II. Half of those deploying are doing their second or third tours.
Despite the [Obama administrations’] promise of a withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, the toll that repeated deployments are taking on these citizen Soldiers continues. Note, this doesn’t take in consideration how thin the National Guard will be pulled when depended upon to fill troops shortages in Afghanistan or any future foreign policy exploits of a misguided civilian government composed mostly of those who refuse to serve.
In 2008, representatives from Veterans for America traveled to states hardest hit by excessive Guard deployments. No, my state of Ohio is not among those states for our National Guard troops are eager to return to Iraq and take on Afghanistan.
The effects of this policy on Guard families, local communities and first-responder capabilities in Alaska, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Arizona is palpable — and unfortunately Wisconsin will probably be the next state to bear the undue burden placed on the National Guard in Iraq. Which state militias will bear the undue burden for Afghanistan remains to be seen unless the Obama administration can come up with the additional 30,000 to 50,000 "active duty" recruits reports say are needed to sustain the GWOT.
As the strain on our National Guard continues, VFA, and any other group that’s concerned about dwell time or excessive use and abuse of our National Guard, needs your help to continue and redouble efforts to uncover the devastation that these deployments are wreaking on Guard communities, and to work with and encourage state and federal officials to reduce the strain on our National Guard.
The economic toll on National Guard families who lose additional income from civilian jobs during a deployment was bad before the economic downturn. Now, with millions of Americans’ finances thrown into turmoil, repeated loss of this income for Guard families is simply too much to handle.
Bill Moyers Journal: The New Jersey National Guard in Iraq Bill Moyers Journal on PBS examined how New Jersey National Guard members are coping with repeated deployments to Iraq, and the toll exacted on local communities and Guard families.
Click here to watch the video full screen. National Guard Outreach
To National Guard members and families that may not know this, VFA has deployed its team of Servicemember Liaisons and policy experts to National Guard headquarters and communities across the country to work with families of deployed troops and community leaders. VFA has attended musters and visited bases and Family Assistance Centers, where National Guard citizen Soldiers are preparing to deploy to OIF and OEF—or from which they have recently deployed. If you are troops in a Guard unit or family members of a citizen soldier that could benefit from VFA outreach contact Bobby Muller via his staff at VFA at
Veterans for America
1025 Vermont Ave NW, 3rd Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-483-9222
Fax: 202-521-0620
Or, fill out VFA’s email contact form HERE.
Weekend Warriors No More
In their Special Report Weekend Warrior to Frontline Soliders, VFA notes that since September 11, 2001, the mission of the Army National Guard has transformed from a force primarily dedicated to domestic missions to a de facto operational reserve for the active-duty Army. VFA has chronicled, state-by-state, the National Guard units that are serving on the frontlines. What is revealed is the severe intensity of combat they have experienced and the insufficient amount of time granted off between tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Usually referred to as Dwell Time).
National Guard Soldiers have been known for decades as “weekend warriors.” For the sake of combat readiness and acceptance by the active force, the Guard made a positive step toward better integration during the first Bush and Clinton administrations by accepting Peace Keeping missions on a limited scale in Bosnia and elsewhere augmenting regular troops prior to 9/11. This was a good thing that went along way toward destroying the image created by the place for fortunate sons to hide during Vietnam. One need only look at any Air or Army National Guard history to see just how this transition transpired.
The Guard has come a long way toward dealing with this weekend warrior stigma born of their idolness during the Vietnam War. A stereotype BTW that was ill earned, because despite their exemption from combat in Vietnam, the Guard did see riot control and urban warfare operations during the social upheavals brought on by the civil rights movement and the Guard was used in an attempt to suppress the anti-war movement. Kent state comes to mind as a black eye on our Army National Guard that intensified the lable weekend warrior among active duty combat troops who viewed ill training, lack of combat experience, and discipline under stress as leading to Kent state like shoot outs or excesses on our own people.
The 21st Century National Guard now goes far beyond leaving civilian life one weekend a month and two weeks a year to fulfill their duty to their state and country, for nearly the last seven years the Guard as essentially become an regular, active duty force without the same level of benefits or base support. In fact, in my opinion it would be best for the Guard and our ground forces in general to activate them permanently or for the duration of the Global War on Terror. It would be expensive but the right thing to do short of Selective Service in order to provide all our troops adequate dwell time, because the draft is the only logical way they are going to get sufficient R&R.
Five brigade combat teams of the National Guard have served two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and one, Indiana’s 76th Brigade Combat Team, just left for its third tour. New Jersey is deploying roughly half of its National Guard.
Overusing (Major Hanafin calls it what it is ABUSING) the National Guard and exposing them to high-intensity combat and extended tours is not sustainable, but more so it is immoral as a nation that historically has prided itself on being a nation of citizen soldiers. We cannot maintain our military strength if we continue to knowingly compound their war wounds.
(Note that the commentary on image of the Guard during Vietnam and mention of stigma associated with Weekend Warrior are Major Hanafin’s views based on reviews of Air and Army National Guard histories covering the Vietnam Era in their own words – links can be provided to these histories unless they’ve been revised today in order to glance over that era.)
Readers are more than welcome to use the articles I’ve posted on Veterans Today, I’ve had to take a break from VT as Veterans Issues and Peace Activism Editor and staff writer due to personal medical reasons in our military family that take away too much time needed to properly express future stories or respond to readers in a timely manner.
My association with VT since its founding in 2004 has been a very rewarding experience for me.
Retired from both the Air Force and Civil Service. Went in the regular Army at 17 during Vietnam (1968), stayed in the Army Reserve to complete my eight year commitment in 1976. Served in Air Defense Artillery, and a Mechanized Infantry Division (4MID) at Fort Carson, Co. Used the GI Bill to go to college, worked full time at the VA, and non-scholarship Air Force 2-Year ROTC program for prior service military. Commissioned in the Air Force in 1977. Served as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1977 to 1994. Upon retirement I entered retail drugstore management training with Safeway Drugs Stores in California. Retail Sales Management was not my cup of tea, so I applied my former U.S. Civil Service status with the VA to get my foot in the door at the Justice Department, and later Department of the Navy retiring with disability from the Civil Service in 2000.
I’ve been with Veterans Today since the site originated. I’m now on the Editorial Board. I was also on the Editorial Board of Our Troops News Ladder another progressive leaning Veterans and Military Family news clearing house.
I remain married for over 45 years. I am both a Vietnam Era and Gulf War Veteran. I served on Okinawa and Fort Carson, Colorado during Vietnam and in the Office of the Air Force Inspector General at Norton AFB, CA during Desert Storm. I retired from the Air Force in 1994 having worked on the Air Staff and Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon.
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