National Guard

WASHINGTON -- More than 10,000 National Guard troops in 13 states have been mobilized to assist in the response to Hurricane Sandy, including more than 2,200 who are assisting with recovery efforts in New York, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Eric Durr, a spokesman for New York's Division of Military and Naval Affairs, said that 650 National Guard soldiers and air personnel are deployed on Long Island, while another 400 are in New York City, with another 400 on the way. The Guard is using Humvees and trucks to clear debris, rescue stranded people, and to help transport local officials in flooded areas.

The jobs of the nation's citizen soldiers are supposed to be safe while they are serving their country: Federal law does not allow employers to penalize service members because of their military duties. Yet every year, thousands of National Guard and Reserve troops coming home from Afghanistan and elsewhere find they have been replaced, demoted, denied benefits or seniority. Government agencies are among the most frequent offenders, accounting for about a third of the more than 15,000 complaints filed with federal authorities since the end of September 2001, records show.

WASHINGTON - Federal funds would be made available to deploy National Guard troops at schools under legislation introduced Wednesday by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in response to last week's mass slaying at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. The Save Our Schools Act would leave it to governors to decide whether to call out the National Guard and how to use troops around schools. "Is it not part of the national defense to make sure that your children are safe?" Boxer said at Capitol Hill press conference.  Boxer also introduced the School Safety Enhancement Act, which would increase funding for a federal grants program, from $30 million to $50 million, to help fund school security measures, such as installation of metal detectors and surveillance cameras.

WASHINGTON - Federal funds would be made available to deploy National Guard troops at schools under legislation introduced Wednesday by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in response to last week's mass slaying at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. The Save Our Schools Act would leave it to governors to decide whether to call out the National Guard and how to use troops around schools. "Is it not part of the national defense to make sure that your children are safe?" Boxer said at Capitol Hill press conference.  Boxer also introduced the School Safety Enhancement Act, which would increase funding for a federal grants program, from $30 million to $50 million, to help fund school security measures, such as installation of metal detectors and surveillance cameras.

The Obama administration has extended the deployment of National Guard troops along the southwest border for an additional three months, said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler Friday. The 1,200 National Guardsmen sent to assist the Border Patrol in August 2010 were scheduled to stand down at the end of June, but have been ordered to remain in place until Sept. 30. The move is intended keep pressure on illegal border crossings while DHS rolls out more personnel, fences and sensors.

The 1,200 National Guard troops deployed along the Southwest border could be going home on Sept. 30 unless the Department of Defense agrees to cover the cost. The military pays $10 million a month to keep the troops on the border to assist the Border Patrol in spotting illegal crossings and smugglers. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that her department offered to cover the tab, but Congress said no. “It comes down to whether [the Department of Defense]

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon began flying military helicopters and surveillance planes over the U.S. border with Mexico last month as part of an effort to withdraw all but 300 of the National Guard ground troops who have helped patrol the rugged border since mid-2010. The 19-month deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops on the southwest border has hurt recruiting efforts and threatened to strain diplomatic relations with Mexico, Brian J. Lepore, a director at the U.S. Government and Accountability Office, told a House homeland security subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

Mayor Tom Bradley deserves the governorship of California just for opposing the sending of our National Guard to Honduras. It should be obvious to everyone that our boys are being sent there to run interference for the terrorist contras. It is high time we halted the dishonorable practice of mugging innocent people in the name of "anti-communism." By sending our National Guard to assist thugs whose methods are reminiscent of those other "anti-Communists," the Nazis SS, Gov. George Deukmejian is betraying our highest democratic principles.

For 1st Lt. Ernest Rodriguez, weekly chats with his young daughter via phone or Skype are the highlight of duty in Afghanistan. The father from Sacramento desperately wants to come home to 7-year-old Samantha. But instead, he has signed up for another year in the war zone. He needs the money and he knows that returning National Guard troops face high unemployment. More than half of those in his unit had no work when they got back to California in August. Across the country, an estimated 20% of returning National Guard soldiers and airmen are without jobs, former National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Craig R. McKinley told Congress earlier this year.

Airports in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland are preparing for changes, now that federal officials have announced that National Guard troops are pulling out. Soldiers will be replaced with police officers by the end of May. About 650 troops remain stationed at airports in California.

For 1st Lt. Ernest Rodriguez, weekly chats with his young daughter via phone or Skype are the highlight of duty in Afghanistan. The father from Sacramento desperately wants to come home to 7-year-old Samantha. But instead, he has signed up for another year in the war zone. He needs the money and he knows that returning National Guard troops face high unemployment. More than half of those in his unit had no work when they got back to California in August. Across the country, an estimated 20% of returning National Guard soldiers and airmen are without jobs, former National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Craig R. McKinley told Congress earlier this year.

In the corner of a drab Culver City business park, nestled inside a gray two-story building, treasures from the Cold War lie waiting for the historically curious: Hungarian oil paintings, a full run of East Germany's official party newspaper and a Vladimir Lenin bust, vandalized with pink and turquoise paint to resemble a clown. Outside, 2.6 tons of the Berlin Wall greets those who enter. It's all there, if you can find it. "I think the Wende Museum is one of Culver City's best kept secrets," Councilman Jim Clarke said.

WASHINGTON -- More than 10,000 National Guard troops in 13 states have been mobilized to assist in the response to Hurricane Sandy, including more than 2,200 who are assisting with recovery efforts in New York, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Eric Durr, a spokesman for New York's Division of Military and Naval Affairs, said that 650 National Guard soldiers and air personnel are deployed on Long Island, while another 400 are in New York City, with another 400 on the way. The Guard is using Humvees and trucks to clear debris, rescue stranded people, and to help transport local officials in flooded areas.

President Obama was aboard his Marine One helicopter flying to a celebrity-studded fundraiser in Holmby Hills last February when a single-engine plane, flying radio silent, breached a no-fly zone over Los Angeles. An ear-piercing horn rocketed Capt. Luke Campagne to his feet 50 miles away. His G-suit already strapped on, Campagne sprinted out of a windowless, cinder block barracks at Riverside's March Air Reserve Base to an F-16 fighter jet waiting in a hangar. Within minutes, two Fighting Falcons screamed over Hemet, then banked west toward Long Beach, crossing the Santa Ana Mountains at a hair below supersonic speeds - guns and missiles "hot.

WESTWEGO, La. -- Thousands of people brought their cars to the Alario Center in this Jefferson Parish town Friday to pick up post-hurricane necessities being handed out by the Louisiana National Guard. Keith White brought his wagon. “They didn't want to let me in -- said only people in vehicles. I told 'em, 'This is my truck,'” White said as he held onto the hand-drawn wooden cart, which was loaded with enough to keep him, his wife, Sharon,  and their niece, Tina Penner, satisfied for another 24 hours.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Strapped into the cockpit of an F-16 jet fighter, Air Force Col. Scott Brenton has dropped bombs over Bosnia, screamed over the desert in Iraq and strafed Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. But on a recent morning, Brenton flew his combat mission from a leather easy chair in a low-slung cinder block building on the edge of Syracuse. Brenton's unit, the 174th Fighter Wing of the New York Air National Guard, traded in its fleet of F-16s for unmanned Reaper drones two years ago. Since then, the reserve pilots have been flying nearly around-the-clock combat operations over Afghanistan from a base about five miles from this city's nearest Wal-Mart.

Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed legislation that provided $10 million for her plan to send National Guard troops to the Arizona-Mexico border to help federal authorities confront illegal immigration. Napolitano objected to the bill's requirement that she send troops to the border, a mandate that she said was an unconstitutional infringement of her powers to command the National Guard.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon began flying military helicopters and surveillance planes over the U.S. border with Mexico last month as part of an effort to withdraw all but 300 of the National Guard ground troops who have helped patrol the rugged border since mid-2010. The 19-month deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops on the southwest border has hurt recruiting efforts and threatened to strain diplomatic relations with Mexico, Brian J. Lepore, a director at the U.S. Government and Accountability Office, told a House homeland security subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

In the new film "Return," Linda Cardellini plays Kelli, a National Guard soldier just returned to her small hometown from deployment overseas. As she struggles to fit into the routines her husband and two young daughters have established during her absence, she soon falls into a tailspin, bonding with a Vietnam vet she meets in an alcohol education program, then being called back to active duty. The first feature from writer-director Liza Johnson, "Return" isn't a documentary, but it was inspired by real-life events.