Posted: Wednesday, January 3, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE (AP) - The Wyoming National Guard expects to deploy less often this year compared to last year's busy pace.
"We have been going at an incredible tempo," said Col. Tim Sheppard, chief of staff for the Wyoming Army National Guard.
About 375 Wyoming Guard soldiers are currently deployed, the highest number since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Sheppard said Wyoming soldiers are being specifically requested for deployments. The deployments have been to both the Middle East as well as to wildfires close to home.
"All units have performed that well," he said. "I don't know what was so exceptional. To us, we don't see them as uniquely great. They're doing their job. But in relation to other units, they do it exceptionally well."
Wildfires in particular have kept the Guard busy.
Col. Harold Reed, 153rd Airlift wing commander for the Wyoming Air National Guard, said Wyoming Guard members used to get called out for wildfires about once every three years for one for two weeks at a time. Now they are being called out each year for about a month at a time.
"It keeps us very, very busy," he said.
He said fewer commercial tanker planes are available to help fight wildfires. He also said forest fires have become more severe and tougher to fight.
Other highlights of the past year include the creation of the 30th Airlift Squadron. The squadron is the first active duty unit to associate itself with a reserve unit.
Reed said it is common for a reserve unit to associate itself with an active duty unit, but not the other way around.
"It's never been done before," he said. "They knew if anyone could make this thing work, we could."