National Guard U S

National Guard and reserve forces remain inadequately equipped and unprepared to deal with a wide range of domestic disasters, particularly an attack with unconventional weapons, a congressional commission has concluded. In its final report, the panel said Thursday that congressional and Pentagon policymakers had been reluctant to acknowledge that the military remains the only institution that can respond quickly to natural and man-made disasters.

A California National Guard helicopter on an anti-drug mission was forced to make a hard landing in the Sierra Nevada foothills Thursday. All three people aboard survived. National Guard Lt. Col. Jon Siepmann said the helicopter made the emergency landing on a dirt road surrounded by hilly terrain a mile from the Georgetown airport in El Dorado County. The region is about 40 miles northeast of Sacramento. The two pilots and a U.S.

Lower wind speeds, rain and high levels of humidity helped firefighters battling blazes across the state Sunday, though officials feared that a series of mudslides and flash floods from the precipitation could hinder their progress. "We have a good marine layer pushing in," said Jason Meyer, a spokesman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection who is watching the Basin Complex fire near Big Sur. "The fire's kind of laying down a little bit; it's giving us some time to work."

A National Guard helicopter on a U.S. Border Patrol mission crashed into Otay Mountain on Tuesday, injuring five agents and four guardsmen. The cause of the crash, which occurred about 20 miles east of San Diego, has not been determined. The helicopter was ferrying agents to a remote area near the U.S.-Mexico border for an afternoon foot patrol. The National Guard has been assisting Border Patrol operations since the summer, providing transport, surveillance and other support.

The nation's top military officials, expecting President Bush to order an increase in the size of the force in Iraq, have concluded that such a buildup would require them to reverse Pentagon policy and send the Army's National Guard and Reserve units on lengthy second tours in Iraq, Defense Department officials said Monday. Under Pentagon policy, Guard and Reserve units have been limited to 24 months of mobilization for the Iraq war.

Confronted with the increasing demands of the Iraq war, the Pentagon announced plans Thursday to recall Army National Guard units that have already fought in Iraq to serve second tours, reversing a long-standing policy that allowed Guard members to return home for five years before being redeployed. No new Guard units have been included in the first wave of forces going to Iraq as part of President Bush's 21,500-troop increase announced Wednesday night, and Defense Secretary Robert M.

John Hanson, a city building inspector in Northern California, already served one tour in Iraq with his National Guard unit. If called, he said he is prepared to go back: "But I'm not going to lie and say I'm happy about it." Francis Shaw, a Long Beach medical technician, worries about the toll another deployment would take on his family, his civilian job and his 55-year-old body.

President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq and the demands of the 4-year-old war are causing concern at the Pentagon that the conflict could hamper the military's response to domestic crises. The head of the National Guard said Wednesday that his troops lacked necessary equipment, which could hurt their ability to respond to natural or man-made disasters. "I am not as comfortable as some others seem to be in accepting the low readiness levels here at home," Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum said.

Republican and Democratic governors meeting here Saturday warned that President Bush's "surge" of additional troops to Iraq would put added pressure on National Guard units already stretched to their limits. "We the governors rely on the Guard to respond to natural disasters, a pandemic or terrorist attack," said North Carolina Gov. Michael F. Easley, a Democrat. "Currently, we don't have the manpower or the equipment to perform that dual role" of responding to both state and federal needs.

In the 15 months since Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Derek West returned from a tour of Iraq, he has closely watched developments there, listening to the news and following Internet reports from fellow soldiers about conditions on the ground. On Sunday, as he prepared to return to the war-torn region with more than 600 members of the National Guard's 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment, West said he had little doubt that he faced a different, and worsening, situation.