Oklahoma Has Enough Guard Troops For Disasters

Tuesday, May 8th 2007, 6:53 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Governor Brad Henry said Tuesday that Oklahoma has plenty of National Guard troops and equipment to respond to disasters, but the situation deserves monitoring because of the drain on troop strength caused by the war in Iraq.

The Democratic governor was asked to comment a day after Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius questioned whether the deployment of troops in Iraq had slowed the response of National Guard resources to Greensburg, Kansas, where nine were killed by a tornado that destroyed the town.

Henry, in the past, has said he is concerned the Bush administration is, in effect, reinstating the draft on the backs of citizen soldiers.

"Many governors around the country are concerned about their ability to handle emergencies at home when their National Guard units are serving abroad," Henry said Tuesday. "In fact, we have expressed that concern to the Defense Department and other appropriate federal authorities in recent months and have repeatedly been assured that the needs of states will not be neglected.â€

"Fortunately for Oklahoma, we believe at this time we have ample troops and equipment on hand to address the type of natural disasters and emergencies that may occur in our state. Furthermore, because of the agreements we have with other states, we can count on help from our neighbors if we need additional resources.

"As more of our Guard units are activated for overseas duty, we will closely monitor the situation to make sure we retain our capability to effectively respond to crises at home."

Sebelius, meanwhile, said she planned to talk to President Bush about her contention that National Guard deployments abroad had hampered the disaster response in Greensburg.

"I don't think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower," she said Monday. "The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace."

Sebelius said that with other states facing similar limitations, "stuff that we would have borrowed is gone."

A spokeswoman later said the Kansas governor did not mean to imply the state was not equipped to deal with the aftermath of the storm, but meant to warn that the state's ability to respond to more disasters could be impaired.

Sebelius has long contended that the war in Iraq is damaging domestic disaster readiness, because needed manpower is drained from states and the Pentagon is not replacing equipment at a fast enough rate.

Stepped-up training is scheduled this summer for 3,500 members of Oklahoma's 45th Army Infantry Brigade Combat Team after a new alert from the Defense Department last month put them a step closer to going to Iraq.

Maj. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt, Oklahoma's adjutant general, has said Oklahoma has about 7,500 Guard troops, counting Army and Air Force soldiers, and will be able to respond to most normal emergencies.