Hurricane response could suffer, senator says

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. —  The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have depleted the equipment inventory of the National Guard, potentially hampering its response to the predicted heavy hurricane season, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said Monday.

The Florida National Guard has only 53% of the dual-use equipment it once had for responding to a storm or domestic disturbance, a recent analysis by the Government Accountability Office found.

Texas, California and Louisiana also have about half of their dual-use equipment available to nondeployed Army National Guard forces.

“Problems from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the Florida National Guard further than ever before, leaving it without all the resources it should have for responding to a domestic crisis,” Nelson said. “Hurricane season is coming fast, and we need to make sure the Guard has what it needs.”

The hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, is predicted to be worse than recent years.

Florida has about 600 to 700 soldiers in Iraq.

Members are sent overseas with their equipment, but when they return, their gear often stays in the war zones.

The Florida Guard is down 500 Humvees, 600 trucks, 4,000 pairs of night-vision goggles and 30 wrecking trucks, spokesman Lt. Col. Ron Tittle said.

Still, Tittle said that sufficient manpower and equipment remained to respond to a major hurricane and that additional supplies could be borrowed from other states or rented if needed.

But Nelson questioned the lag time and the fact that the other state Guard units also are facing the same equipment shortages.

“I know that at the highest levels ... they are concerned about this,” Nelson said.

Nelson said a memorandum of understanding between the Army and the National Guard could allow Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to use Army Reserve trucks and generators upon the declaration of a state of emergency.

Without such a memorandum, the governor has to go through a bureaucratic process to request that the president release unused Reserve equipment that is being held in Florida.