Quote Originally Posted by major.rod View Post
Guard units don’t get a red cycle and having been with guard units I can tell you 25% of drills were devoted to the same kinds of BS. You can’t have different standards if you want to compare organizations. You make it sound like Guard units make the most out of the 30 days they train in a year. NOT true and I don’t think reciting a list that includes Christmas parties, classroom vs. field training etc. would be constructive.
I want to address just this comment. Guard training varies greatly from state to state and battalion to battalion, so blanket staements like this are not productive. My time in an infantry unit in the AKNG and ORNG would find this statement to be BS. We had 2-3 days not productivly training and those were christmas party and SRP and we often had additional training oppertunities outside of the drill & AT schedule. My time in an ORNG CSS unit and my current WANG infanty unit would find 25% waaaay to low a number, more like over 50%. So your lone unit experience does not make you an expert.
I do think that the "all combat units to the NG" was a poor choice and that state and inter-Army politics effects there readiness far greater then any lack of training time. Guard units that use training time effectivly and keep soldiers in, can also advance beyond the basics in training, which is harder for AC units since they have a constant turn-over in soldiers.
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