On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, the California National Guard is having no trouble getting new soldiers. But it’s a different story when it comes to their equipment.
Lieutenant Colonel John Siepmann says recruitment has been better than usual over the past three years.
Siepmann : It’s huge for us to have all of our positions filled. What that means in terms of a state response, if there's a fire or a flood or something like that, instead of our units being 70 percent or 80 percent full, they’re very nearly 100 percent full.
Siepmann says the benefits and incentives are part of it. But he says post 9-11 there’s been a surge in people joining for patriotic reasons. However, he says the Guard continues to be under-funded by the federal government when it comes to equipment such as Humvees and rifles.
He says they have about 50 percent of what they should. Siepmann says there are roughly 1,200 California National Guard members in Iraq right now. More than 7,000 have served there since the war began.
