[2banana]

Sounds like you want the miltary to have a choice in what duties they perform. I think combat in Irag is worthy of me but guarding my fellow citizens at O'Hare airport is not.

Maybe we should have them help out in the fall harvest too.

Airports, water supplies and other such facilities are most often public facilities run by governmental entities for the benefit of our citizens.

So is the fall harvest. Read my entire letter. Now think who the hell is going to volunteer or re-up in the future. It is nice that you can sit in your civilian job and think the people in the military should give up everything to protect private property while you give up nothing.

[Protagoras]

It is nice that you can sit in your civilian job and think the people in the military should give up everything to protect private property while you give up nothing.

Your posts get more shrill as the thread continues. Now you deride anyone who is not in the service as unworthy to expect the military to do their job.

In case you haven't noticed, this is a country of PRIVATE PROPERTY.

I'll bet you are a real popular guy in your unit. A cry baby who should never have signed up. Tell all this to the other soldiers in your unit and see if they agree with you or question your integrity as a soldier.

You signed up for reasons other than a desire to serve your country and now you have cold feet when you have to follow orders. That what it sounds like to me anyway.

Anything less than battle with the enemy is beneath you it seems. That attitude alone would preclude you from ever being any use in a real battle. You don't pick and choose what orders you will follow and end up as anything other than a problem.

Please don't re-up for any reason.

[deport]

A little more on the mission of the National Guard.....

Under the Constitutional “dual role” as both a Federal and State force, a frequent and significant role of the National Guard is to support state and local governments. When an event occurs that overwhelms the capabilities of the local authorities, the ARNG is frequently called on to assist. In FY98, local governments requested emergency support 308 times to assist victims of natural disasters such as fires, hurricanes, floods, droughts, ice storms, and tornadoes. In response the ARNG provided 374,115 soldier mandays to reduce the suffering of affected civilian populations by providing security, power, heat, water, transportation, food, shelter and emergency engineering support.

The ARNG routinely performs missions that allow ARNG units to integrate required training to support local authorities. Under the Innovative Readiness Training program, the ARNG provided in excess of 205,000 mandays to improve schools and recreation facilities, build and maintain roads, administer immunizations and provide medical care to under-served populations. For example, in California the ARNG led an effort to construct access roads to the U.S.Mexican border to assist the Border Patrol in dealing with the influx of illegal aliens and illicit narcotics. In Alaska the ARNG headed a joint 5-year project to construct a 15-mile road between two villages on Annette Island, normally accessible only by boat. In Maine, Oregon, and Alaska, medical exercises provided under-served populations with inoculations and other routine medical and dental services.

Under a program designed to assist in the “war on drugs,” ARNG soldiers provided 552,543 mandays of support to local law enforcement and Drug Enforcement Agency efforts to combat the flow of illegal narcotics into and across the United States. To assist Border Patrol and Drug Enforcement Agency officials, ARNG soldiers manned checkpoints, transported, secured, and destroyed confiscated contraband, and helped locate cultivated crops of marijuana.

And from the ANG

State Mission

When Air National Guard units are not mobilized or under Federal control, they report to the governor of their respective state, territory (Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands) or the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard. Each of the 54 National Guard organizations is supervised by the Adjutant General of the state or territory. Under State law, the Air National Guard provides protection of life, property and preserves peace, order and public safety. These missions are accomplished through emergency relief support during natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and forest fires; search and rescue operations; support to civil defense authorities; maintenance of vital public services and counterdrug operations.