Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 | 9:35 a.m.
Despite debate over the National Guard's role in the war on terror and controversy over President Bush's service 30 years ago, numerous guardsmen said they were deeply stirred and inspired by the president's speech at their national convention Tuesday.
"He really spoke to what we are as the National Guard -- the fact that we are the defenders of this country and have been for more than 200 years," said Col. Donna Nuce, a 32-year member of the Guard currently stationed full-time at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado.
Nuce said she appreciated Bush's comments on the support Guard members need from family members and employers.
"He really understands the pressures that come along with it," she said.
Bush, the 19th former Guardsman to hold the nation's highest elected office, talked about several issues of importance to Guard members, including improving education and health benefits. He said his administration was working to give Guard members at least 30 days' notification when they are mobilized, tell them more certainly how much time they can expect to spend deployed, and reduce extensions to their deployments.
Members welcomed these developments.
"We need to put the National Guard and the reservists on an equal plane with the active-duty military," said Maj. Bernard Napier of the Washington, D.C., guard, a Guardsman for 19 years.
As attendees clustered to trade stories and state pins, some could be heard discussing the recent accusations that Bush didn't fulfill his Texas Air National Guard obligations during the Vietnam War. Most had only disdain for the allegations, which are based on memos whose authenticity has been called into question.
"We're tired of it," said Col. Rick Patterson of Camp Murray, near Tacoma, Wash. "We think John Kerry served honorably, we think George W. Bush served honorably. Let's let it go, move on, talk about more important things."
Patterson described himself as an independent voter who, while he strongly supported Bush's stance on national security, would wait to hear both candidates' positions on education, the economy, and social issues -- topics he said were more important to him.
Some 225,000 Guard members have been called to active duty since Sept. 11 -- the largest deployment since World War II.
"How are we going to deal with that? We're not really sure," Patterson said.
"Reservists' families have been pretty willing to give up their soldiers and airmen for a little while every two years," he said. "But now they're going away for more than a year, and they've never done that before."
Guard members and their families are doing their best to adapt to the new realities, Patterson said, "but the key is going to be when they come home. Retention is going to be a real challenge."
Bush has been criticized for stretching thin the ranks of the "weekend warriors" whose expectations for service may have been closer to the work Guard members are now doing providing hurricane relief in Florida.
Some of the blame for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was heaped on prison wardens who, as Guard members, were said to be insufficiently trained to handle the inmates.
But the conference attendees said they were not a bit apprehensive about the task at hand. "Everybody knows we signed up for this," said Capt. Chuck Connors of Des Moines, Iowa. "It comes with wearing the uniform. That doesn't make it any easier, but we're proud to do it."
All of the Guard members interviewed predicted a less enthusiastic but still polite reception for Kerry when he addresses the convention on Thursday.
"I'm a Republican, but I think everybody respects him," Lt. Col. Terry Fornof, a Nevada Air National Guardsman stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, said of Kerry. "He served our country also, and I'm interested to hear his views on where he thinks we should go."
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