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I was wondering when these kind of stories would come out. If the Guard is always being called up I can see future enlistments dwindling. Presently people are calling for Guard to protect borders, nuclear plants, airports etc. These thing should be protected but if National Guard is always activated I can see Guardsman leaving and employers not all that thrilled to hire them. My 2 cents.

Actually, out of six people I know from either when I served or friends I've met locally, four have been called up because of 9/11, and all four are leaving, and one that wasn't called up is leaving. The other one is about to hit 30 years with active and NG duty and is going to stick it out.

I thought they'd be leaving because it is getting silly, but you know what?They are leaving because they are working side by side with civilians doing the same jobs at the airports and what-not, and getting paid less. They see no point in doing civilian jobs for less pay, and it has hurt them financially. A couple also mentioned they felt uncomfortable with some things they have had to do (I'm assuming the searches, they are quite conservative).

GW is going to gut the NG at this rate, although it's partially Clinton's fault for making so many cuts, and partially the Army for restructing their divisions around NG/Reserve units.

GW is going to gut the NG at this rate, although it's partially Clinton's fault for making so many cuts, and partially the Army for restructing their divisions around NG/Reserve units.

So, spending the Peace Dividend 10 years ago left us in a position where we could no longer repeat the successes we attained during the previous 5 decades.

People being people, I don't see how you can reasonably expect Guardsmen to put aside their NG pay to substitute for lost income in the event of a call-up. Although bean-counting budgeteers used that logic to support previous $ cuts, this has been an inevitable consequence. For those out there with short memories, the same thing happened to Guardsmen during the Gulf War.

In all honesty, the only solution at this stage has already been suggested. Sell the house and cars, move in with Mom, Dad, or someone, and try to endure the wait.