88 Percent of Guard Units Rated 'Not Ready'

March 2, 2007
88 Percent of Guard Units Rated 'Not Ready'

Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready" --largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars' worth of equipment -- jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report yesterday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.

The report found that heavy deployments of the National Guard and reserves since 2001 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other anti-terrorism missions have deepened shortages, forced the cobbling together of units and hurt recruiting.