RutlandHerald.com - We Are Vermont

General: Guardsmen likely to face more combat

MONTPELIER – After briefing the full House on Tuesday morning on his soldiers' upcoming mission in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie fielded questions from legislators.

Is there anything the Legislature can do, one lawmaker wanted to know, to assist the 1,500 soldiers headed for war?

Dubie said the military organization would seek an allocation for the Guard's emergency fund. Not to worry though: the request would likely be revenue neutral.

"Because so many college students are going to Afghanistan," Dubie said, "we don't believe we'll need as much for tuition assistance."

The human costs at risk in the largest deployment of the Vermont National Guard since World War II offered some momentary perspective on the financial issues lawmakers will face this year.

New information about the Vermont soldiers' mission has only exacerbated concerns about their well-being.

What was originally billed as a "training and mentoring" mission – one in which Vermont troops would spend their days helping Afghanis develop their military and police forces – has since transformed into a more traditional combat role.

"A mission that was primarily training and mentoring has changed," said Dubie in the House chamber. "… Many of our units will have a more traditional combat role."

Dubie said the guard's mission remains in "a constant state of transition." But based on the latest defense briefings, he has said, the Vermonters' duties have been broadened to include direct security operations in a counterinsurgency mission aimed at bringing stability to the region – duties that could involve armed confrontations with hostile insurgents targeting local populations.

"I'm here to tell you today, with the biggest deployment since World War II, that Vermont will do its full duty in Afghanistan," Dubie said. "But let me be clear – it's not going to be easy."

Whatever the Vermont National Guard is called upon to do, Dubie said, the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will perform its role ably.

"We have the best-led, best-equipped, best-trained force in the history of the Vermont National Guard," he said.

Dubie said guard families will need as much support as the soldiers heading overseas. A network of volunteers, contractors and guard staff, Dubie said, will provide the most comprehensive support system the guard has ever known.

That assistance will be especially important, Dubie said, when the guard returns late this year from its mission.

"There are going to be things like post-traumatic stress disorder," Dubie said. "There are going to be people coming back with traumatic-brain injuries."

In spite of those dangers, he said, the guard's mission is to return its soldiers to their families better than they took them.

Dubie tried to allay lingering concerns over the ability of the guard's war-strained forces to respond to domestic crises.

"We have to be ready to roll at the governor's request to save Vermont lives, and we still take that as job number-one," he said.

The 2,000 guard personnel that will remain in state, according to Dubie, will be able to handle any disasters.