Reuters

07/16/05

Governors voiced concern about repeated National Guard deployments overseas and considered ways to improve schools on Saturday as they opened their annual meeting in Iowa, traditional host of the country's first presidential nominating contest. ... Several called for a national dialogue on the role and mission of the National Guard, expressing frustration with the heavy reliance on Guard units in Iraq and Afghanistan and repeated overseas deployments of state units. Those deployments have separated families and caused a hardship for local communities, some governors said, while raising questions about the size of the military and the future of the National Guard.... 'It is absolutely clear that we don't have enough personnel, full-time or part-time, to take care of all the needs and concerns that America is assuming now,' said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat and potential 2008 candidate...

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Informant: Thomas L. Knapp