Kentucky National Guard on the way to the Horn of Africa

No one in the Regular Army to send to the Horn of Africa or Kosovo? I thought we had a standing army. Under the impression that we have men and women committed to serve in foreign lands as a full-time profession? 

The Army:

It is the largest military branch, and in the fiscal year 2020, the projected end strength for the Regular Army (USA) was 480,893 soldiers; the Army National Guard (ARNG) had 336,129 soldiers and the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) had 188,703 soldiers; the combined-component strength of the U.S. Army was 1,005,725 soldiers.

Instead we apparently call on men and women to leave their families and possible jobs for extended periods. Are these rarified positions that there is a shortage? Here is just a start.

“The Kentucky National Guard says about 150 soldiers are deploying to eastern Africa.” Look’s like it’s Somalia according to the link. This after Trump removed the forces apparently- 

US troops now ‘commuting to work’ to help Somalia fight al-Shabab –  April 2020.

When President Donald Trump ordered roughly 700 U.S. troops to withdraw from Somalia late last year, it decreased the American footprint there, but not the mission to help that country’s military fight back against al-Shabab, al-Qaida’s largest affiliate.

Three months after the completed drawdown, senior U.S. Africa Command leaders say that they are essentially doing the same work, but “commuting” from Europe and other East African countries to get it done.

“There’s no denying that the repositioning of forces out of Somalia has introduced new layers of complexity and risk,” Army. Gen. Stephen Townsend, AFRICOM’s boss, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “… our understanding of what’s happening in Somalia is less now than it was when we were there on the ground, physically located with our partners. So we’re working to make this new mode of operation work.”

How about this one: Welcome back to school. Your new driver is wearing fatigues.

Oct 7, 2021 — Faced with a shortage of school bus drivers, Massachusetts has deployed more than 200 members of the National Guard to help nine communities …

A ceremony Saturday at the Lexington airport honored members of the Somerset-based 149th Infantry Regiment as they entered federal active duty, the National Guard said in a news release.

The unit will deploy under the command of a task force from the Virginia Army National Guard and provide security around the Horn of Africa, the statement said.

About 200 other Kentucky National Guard members are preparing for a separate mobilization to southeast Europe in early 2022. They will work with the Virginia National Guard in a NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, the statement said.

Source: WYKL

“Kentucky National Guard” by The National Guard is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Do I have this? 

Kentucky Army National Guard

There are 192 countries in the world. We give out Aid to 150 of them. This doesn’t include that we have 120 military installations world-wide with hundreds of thousands of troops in an attempt to keep the world at relative peace. This is just what finished the Roman Empire.  Are we doomed to repeat it? From a post back in 2011.

No doubt Susan Rice and Samantha Power cannot wait to have another “Africa Spring” similar to what they were instrumental in having occur in the “Arab Spring”

Perhaps Peter Doocy could ask Jen Psaki at a presser how things are going down Africa way.

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