AUGUSTA (AP) – The head of the Maine Army National Guard, home after a weeklong visit to Iraq, says some of his troops are frustrated at being assigned to missions that are different from the ones for which they were trained.
Adjutant Gen. John Libby said the Guard responded to a request for heavy-vehicle mechanics by sending some of the best it has, only to learn that the troops have been assigned to guard duty.
“They’re frustrated they’re not doing more maintenance work. They’re doing a lot of security work,” he said. “That frustration makes it more difficult to re-enlist those young people.”
Libby said he agreed with the troops and made his feelings known.
“It’s inexcusable to me having a maintenance company doing security instead of maintenance – and I certainly made that clear,” Libby said.
On the positive side, Libby said he was impressed with the quality of the living conditions provided to his soldiers.
“I was just overwhelmed by the quality of life we are providing our soldiers: air-conditioned quarters, Internet cafes and dining facilities that reminded me of the facilities we had at the University of Maine,” Libby said.
He visited personnel from the former Loring Air Force Base who specialize in repair of military humvees, maintenance crews around Baghdad and the Abu Ghraib prison, where Maine soldiers acted in the past as guards.
About 175 Maine Guardsmen are now in Iraq, he said, and those troops will be returning from their deployment around the time that 80 other Guardsmen head to Afghanistan in the spring.
The visit was Libby’s first to Iraq since Maine began sending National Guard troops to the war zone. He said several trips planned while the 133rd Engineer Battalion was in Iraq were cancelled for security reasons.
The trip was part of a program that gives state military leaders with National Guard soldiers in combat areas a firsthand look at the conditions and challenges their Guardsmen are facing.
“My combat experience was in Vietnam 30-plus years ago,” Libby said. “This experience is important so we can improve guidance and training.”
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