Logan already wrote this up, but CNN just did a segment on it and I wanted to follow his post up. The Iraq war comes back to bite us at home. I doubt this will be the last time our lack of resources well hamper us unfortunately. We can only hope Mother Nature is a little kinder to us in the future.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius: We need trucks. We are missing humvees. We're missing all kinds of equipment that could help us respond to this kind of emergency.
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Wolf Blitzer: In Kansas, the death toll from devastating tornado-packed storms is up to 12 today. Rescue teams are searching the rubble in communities that were largely wiped out. The Governor of Kansas says recovery efforts are limited because so many National Guard troops and resources are deployed in Iraq. Our Brian Todd is joining us now, he has more on what's going on. How strained are the National Guard units when these natural disasters strike?
Brian Todd: They are stretched thin all over the country, Wolf. And it's mostly a shortage of equipment. In Kansas, Guard officials tell us it doesn't so much affect what they can handle, but how fast. To recover in Greensburg, tons of debris will have to be cleared away. Some crucial first responders, National Guard units, are being hampered in this effort. And officials say troop strength is not the problem.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius: We need trucks. We are missing humvees. We're missing all kinds of equipment that could help us respond to this kind of emergency.Brian Todd: Kansas National Guard officials tell us they now have less than half the equipment allocated to them by the U.S. National Guard Bureau, and they've been dealing with the shortfall for years.Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting: We weren't fully equipped with all the resources we needed before the war started. So that, and the fact that we went with a bunch our forces to Iraq and Afghanistan further depleted us.