Military News, News From Iraq & Afghanistan - Military Times

Biden: Obama would include Guard in JCS

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said Monday that a Barack Obama administration would elevate the status of the National Guard within the Pentagon by giving it a seat at the table with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Speaking before the National Guard Association of the United States, Biden received a cooler reception than did Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who addressed the group Sunday. But the fact that Biden has a long record of working on Guard issues — to include receiving an award from NGAUS for his work — and the fact that his son Beau is in the Delaware National Guard helped him.

Biden said the National Guard deserves a higher profile because 52 percent of people returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are Guard or Reserve members.

An Obama administration also would attempt to reduce the burden on the Guard by increasing the size of the active Army and Marine Corps, Biden said.

“Increasing the size of the active force means they can carry a heavier burden, allowing our Guard to have fewer deployments and more predictable deployments, with more time between them,” Biden said.

An Obama administration also will try to fill equipment shortages in the Guard to “end the trend of cannibalizing soldiers and machines from units back home for missions abroad.”

Biden, who has made eight trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, said most of his flights into the combat zone have been in aircraft with Air National Guard crews, giving him high respect for their service.

“Don’t you take a back seat to anybody, anywhere, anytime for any reason,” he said.

Biden also said veterans’ programs should be better funded.

“Whatever it takes to take care of these kids, we will do,” he said, pledging that an Obama administration would put veterans’ funding ahead of all other federal programs.

Biden called for a “shift in the burden” of qualifying for veterans’ benefits for mental health issues. If a combat veteran has mental health issues, the veteran should assume it is a service-connected disability unless the federal government can prove otherwise, he said.

McCain received eight standing ovations during his Sunday address to the Guard association. Biden received just one. Part of the reason may have been the absence of Obama, which was viewed by some Guard association members as a lack of respect.

Biden tried to downplay the Illinois senator’s absence, joking that he had asked to attend in Obama’s stead. However, Guard association members said they had been told Obama was unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict.