Long Deployments Pressure National Guard

General George William Casey Jr., US Army Chief of Staff, is seen during a question and answer period after speaking to gathered officers at the annual General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007. General Casey was the commander of Multinational Force Iraq from June 2004 to February 2007. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (Brennan Linsley - AP)

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told the conference Monday that old notions about the National Guard are obsolete.

"The distinction between the Guard and active forces _ a distinction that once was so clear _ is now virtually undetectable," the Republican presidential candidate said.

Vaughn, in an interview Monday, said signing bonuses topping at $20,000 have helped recruitment.

At least for now, patriotism and a recognition that America's way of life is at stake have helped keep people in the Guard and attract recruits, Casey said. Some Guard officers attending the conference agreed.

"When you're deployed, it's tough on you. It is tough on your family," said Col. Steven Bensend of the Wisconsin National Guard. "When you get back, you want to separate yourself from military things."

"I felt it myself," he added after a pause.

When Bensend, who is an agricultural consultant, returned from a one-year tour in Kuwait to Prescott, Wis., last year, he discovered his customers were gone.

"I had to rebuild my business," he said.

But he eventually decided to remain in the Guard and said he is willing to be redeployed.

But some fellow Guard soldiers _ and their families _ feel they have done enough.

For Linda Anderson, the last straw came when she learned her husband's one-year National Guard tour of duty in Iraq had been extended indefinitely.

Outraged that many families had learned about the extended deployment from television, Anderson fired off an e-mail to Guard commanders, saying the "raw deal" handed to her husband, Sgt. Randy Hatch, and some 2,600 fellow Minnesota Guard troops in Iraq would spell doom for the state's force.

"If you think you had a retention problem before, brother, you just made a whole lot of families so angry you'll NEVER get our soldiers back once we finally get them home," Anderson wrote in January, copying in the White House on her e-mail.

"I was out of my mind. I was furious," Anderson recalled in a telephone interview from Princeton, Minn. "I was like, 'How could they?' I felt our guys were kidnapped and held hostage."

Hatch recently returned with the other Minnesotans after 16 months in Iraq. Even before Iraq, they had spent six months training in Mississippi.

One of the first things Hatch did upon returning to the United States was submit his retirement papers. He should be out of the National Guard in September, Anderson said.