Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday said that he would support extending National Guard deployments if its needed to continue fighting the coronavirus pandemic
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About 45,000 National Guardsmen are deployed across the country to help combat the pandemic, but that mission is set to end on June 24 — just“If they have a valid mission assignment that’s verified by FEMA, my view is we should extend those tours of duty,” Esper said on anAsked specifically about whether defense leaders purposefully cut the deployments one day short of what would be required for benefits under the Post-9/11 GI bill, Esper declined to comment.
“I’m fully committed to supporting our National Guard members,” he said. “I’m not worried about the number of days. What I’m worried about is making sure we win the fight against coronavirus and we fully support the young men and women who are serving on the streets of America in the National Guard.”, a National Guardsman who previously deployed to Staten Island during the pandemic, slammed the decision to “intentionally” end the deployment before troops can receive benefits as “heartless.
“In peace time we should never balance our budget on the backs of our soldiers, so why anyone would think this is okay to do in the middle of a wartime effort is beyond human comprehension,” he said in a statement. “This decision must be reversed not only because it is deeply unpatriotic, but also economically unsound and puts our gains against Covid-19 at risk for some short-term, foolish budgetary gimmick.
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