Why Change the Guard?
It seems that the issue everyone is interested in is why move the National Guard to Homeland Security? So I am going to do a series of essays on my experience and why I believe it would improve the defense structure of the United States.
I have served in all three components of the defense structure, four years active duty in the Marine Corps, one year in the federal Army Reserve and 6 years in National Guard, Massachusetts and Vermont. All of them were in the same capacity, in armor or cavalry, I have a baseline to draw from in my observations on all of them.
First let me clarify that many functions that were formally handled by the reserve components have been handed over to civilian contractors during the course of the Global War on Terror. This has turned out to be far more effective system than was previously thought it would be. So much of my arguments will take that into account, because it really has changed so much of how the military functions today.
I hope that this will help people make informed decisions in regard to our national defense and the budget spending associated with it.
