COLCHESTER, Vt. (AP) – The commander of the Vermont National Guard says she’s frustrated that some soldiers are being sent into Iraq without all the equipment they need.

Maj. Gen. Martha Rainville says the military didn’t adequately plan for the war in Iraq.

“I’m frustrated with the system that couldn’t foresee the need for this and went ahead and moved in with soldiers when we had the technology. We just didn’t have the plan or have the capability,” Rainville said in an interview with Vermont Public Radio.

“And again, it goes back to the years of resourcing and resourcing priorities and not putting the priority on that type of equipment,” she said. “And that’s something that I think leaders have to live with right now and it’s going to take us a few more months to get well.”

Over the last year Rainville has presided over the largest deployment of Vermont National Guard troops since World War II.

Currently, there are more than 200 Vermont guard soldiers in Iraq. About 1,000 soldiers are currently undergoing training before being sent to the Middle East. At least some of those soldiers will end up in Iraq.

And 13 people with Vermont connections have died in Iraq. A 14th died of natural causes in Kuwait.

At deployment ceremonies and funerals, Rainville has become the public face of the Guard in the minds of many Vermonters. She says it’s difficult.

“One lady at church just hugged me, just wanting to express some emotion at what was happening,” she said. “At the same time, it sometimes catches me by surprise or there are days when you just don’t feel like talking to anybody – even your own family. And you just can’t do that because it is important that people can talk to me.”

Deployments have been marked by a moment when Rainville presents the National Guard’s battle flag to the commander of the unit. Recently the Guard held its largest deployment since World War II. More than 600 soldiers and their families attended a ceremony at Norwich University in Northfield.

Throughout the ceremony, Rainville was stoic.

“Beneath the surface is, I think, all the emotion that I see around me. I guess I’m very conscious of trying to control myself because if I ever let go, there would be no getting it back for a while,” Rainville said.

“I want to respect what they’re going through and the last thing they need to see is me being tearful, emotional or whatever. What they need to see is just the pride that I have in them,” she said. “If afterward I get in the car to come home and I’m shaking a little bit, that’s OK. But the families and the soldiers make it all worthwhile.”