The TRUTH about Sarah Palin as Commander of the Alaska National Guard

When pressed on her preparedness as a Commander-in-Chief, Sarah Palin loves to tell us all that she is the Commander of the Alaska National Guard. Governor Palin has provided anything but leadership in the Alaska National Guard. It is a guard that is dangerously unprepared and ranks in the bottom 20% of all states on manpower concerns and is also low in equipment, training, and resources. Here are a few facts to consider:

• The Alaska Air National Guard is 370 members short of its authorized end strength. Alaska’s Air Guard fills only 84% of its positions, the lowest fill rate in the country. Only 8 other states are below 90% fill rate. (Richard Lardner, “Alaska National Guard Faces Personnel Crisis,” Associated Press, 9/4/08.
• Lieutenant General Craig Campbell, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard, sent an internal memo to his deputy stating that “missions are at risk” due to the Air Guard’s shortfalls. According to Lt. Gen. Campbell, the lack of qualified airmen “has reached a critical level.” (AP, 9/4/08.)
• Consistent with other National Guard bureaus, Alaska has access to approximately one-half of its authorized equipment at any given time. This puts great stress on the Alaska Army and Air National Guard efforts in rural communities, including rescuing lost travelers and providing assistance during natural disasters. (AP, 2/12/08; AP, 3/8/07)
• The State of Alaska’s own readiness ratings clearly show that Alaska’s Guard is not prepared and ready for a domestic contingency or combat mobilization. Each Alaska Army National Guard unit is assigned a “T-Rating” – ranging from T-1, for trained and ready, to T-4, not trained and not ready. For every quarter since FY 2005, the T-Rating for the Alaska Army National Guard as a whole has been T-4 – the lowest level in the system. (State of Alaska, FY2009 Governor’s Operating Budget, December 2007, p. 7.)
• The State of Alaska gives its own employees who serve in the Guard minimal benefits, especially when compared with other states like California and New York. Alaska provides only 15 days of paid leave during deployment, instead of any differential pay during deployments. This, despite a manpower crisis in the Guard, and pleas from Guard officers for additional benefits to assist with recruiting.
• According to a recent study by the non-partisan Veterans for America, Alaska’s Guard personnel lack adequate access to health care during or after deployments. (Veterans for America, 10/1/08.)
• Many Guard families live in remote areas with no access to TRICARE providers during deployments. According to the VFA study, the state of Alaska does too little to assist these Guardsmen and their families with accessing the medical care they need. (Veterans for America, 10/1/08.)

If this is the type of attention Sarah Palin gives to members of the Armed Services, military families like mine can't afford to take a risk that she may have to assume the role of Commander-In-Chief.