[IrishMike]

.............Some committee members echoed complaints from critics who have suggested that the border plan would overburden a National Guard that is already stretched by deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. But Blum said the border program, coupled with the approximately 71,000 Guard members deployed overseas, still leaves more than 350,000 Army and Air Guard available for other homeland defense or disaster assistance.................

[AmeriBrit]

.............Some committee members echoed complaints from critics who have suggested that the border plan would overburden a National Guard that is already stretched by deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. But Blum said the border program, coupled with the approximately 71,000 Guard members deployed overseas, still leaves more than 350,000 Army and Air Guard available for other homeland defense or disaster assistance.................

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Your ignoring the fact that the NG is made up of ordinary citizens who have civilian jobs and only spend 1 weekend a month and two weeks a year in uniform. Having to uproot them and use them in Iraq is already an upheaval to their families who are not prepared for them to be away from their homes or jobs for any length of time. You also forget about rotation in Iraq which means there are in actual fact more used, prepared and ready to deploy than the figures say.