Hard to Stand Guard with Obsolete Equipment

The National Guard's top general says Hurricane Katrina exposed serious weaknesses in the Guard.

LT GEN Steven Blum says the Guard was poorly equipped to do the job it was supposed to do in the storm.

"We were underequipped. We don't need tanks and attack helicopters and artillery, but we must have state-of-the-art radios and communications." -- LT GEN Steven Blum

Senators Kit Bond (R-MO) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have sent a letter to President Bush warning about weaknesses in the National Guard. They say only about a third of the Guard's equipment is available for use in the US. The rest is overseas.

They warn there are steep shortages of trucks, night-vision goggles, and communications gear. The Guard needs about 37,000 new radios. They're making due with radios the regular Army used in the Vietnam War.