Strains from the war on terror are causing a nationwide shortage of equipment for the National Guard’s domestic crises… and Missouri’s Adjutant General says Missouri is no different from the national trend. A report from the Government Accountability Office shows Missouri has about a 50% shortage of dual-use equipment for non-deployed forces. Major General Sidwell says shortages in hum-vees, other tactical vehicles and single channel radio systems are coming up at 70, 80, even 90 percent. General Sidwell says that means the Missouri Guard is lacking fundamental training equipment. He says the state has successfully responded to five smaller-scale crises since April of last year, but he says the state would not have the resources to handle a regional disaster such as the 1993 flood. Though he adds that even at the Guard’s most robust funding, before the war, it possessed about 65% of the authorized supply of equipment.
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