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Guard ready for hurricanes

Equipment left in Iraq and Afghanistan has been replaced, the state commander says.

Associated Press
Published August 22, 2007

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TALLAHASSEE - Florida's National Guard has received more shipments of extra equipment and is ready and able to respond to a hurricane, the Guard's commander said Tuesday.

The reassurance from Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett comes after concerns raised by Sen. Bill Nelson and others that the Guard's ability to respond to a hurricane was compromised by equipment being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nelson, a Democrat, said in April that the Guard was stretched thin in Florida, based on an analysis by the Government Accountability Office.

It found that the Florida Guard had only 53 percent of the equipment available for responding to a big storm that it had before the deployments. Officials at the time confirmed that the Florida Guard was down 500 Humvees and 600 trucks, as well as short several thousand pairs of night vision goggles.

In June, the Guard said it was beginning to receive $86-million in replacement equipment for vehicles and supplies left in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Officials then said more than 100 Humvees, several off-road vehicles, trucks and medical and communications equipment were on the way to the state, although Nelson said the resupply effort, while a step in the right direction, was "a drop in the bucket."

"In the past six weeks we received 104 more high-wheeled vehicles ... and 104 more Humvees, we've got more night vision goggles," Burnett said.

Burnett also said the Guard has an agreement with the Army that will give it access to Army Reserve equipment if there is a hurricane.

[Last modified August 22, 2007, 00:00:32]

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