Guard leader says Iowa National Guard ready for emergencies

DES MOINES – With anticipation of a significant deployment later this year, the Iowa National Guard has reached out to Midwestern neighbors for assistance in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.

Brig. Gen. Timothy Orr, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard, said he is comfortable the Guard can handle a situation similar in magnitude to the widespread flooding that hit the state in 2008.

Orr laid out those contingency plans in a speech Tuesday to Gov. Chet Culver and state lawmakers.

Iowa and other Midwestern states have conducted a regional assessment of available manpower and equipment.

The Iowa National Guard also is training retired members to provide expertise in key areas.

“By taking these steps now, I am confident that the Iowa National Guard will have a robust emergency response force should the state need us,” Orr told Culver and lawmakers.

About 4,000 members of the Iowa National Guard assisted with flood efforts in 2008.

The Guard is under an alert for deployment of what would be the largest single unit since World War II, or about 3,000, likely this fall.

Almost every Iowa community would be affected by the deployment of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Orr said.

Rep. Dwayne Alons, a Hull Republican and retired brigadier general with the Iowa Air National Guard, compared the regional emergency response approach to several fire departments responding to a fire. He said the coordination could also mean Iowa gets the benefit of learning how other states have responded to these emergencies, Alons said.

“That might save the day for us sometime down the road,” Alons said.

Orr emphasized the Guard's efforts to assist families left behind when loved ones are deployed.

In anticipation of the brigade deployment, the Guard has hired three new family assistance specialists that check in regularly with families of deployed service members.

In his address, Orr also outlined infrastructure improvements the Guard has made in recent years.

More than $152 million in state and federal dollars has gone to the Iowa Air and Army National Guard for construction projects since 2007. Another $11 million in federal stimulus funding will help the Guard complete more than 20 infrastructure projects this year.

Armories and field maintenance shops have been renovated in Oelwein, Charles City, Spencer, Perry, Ottumwa and Boone over the past year. Armories in Muscatine,

Burlington and Cedar Rapids are in the process of being replaced, while a new armory in Iowa City will be dedicated this spring.

“We like to have facilities that are modern and up to date, and many of our armories seven years ago were 45 years or older. Our schools were nicer than our armories,” Orr said.

The Guard has updated all of its Iowa armories with simulation capabilities and rooms for training through the Iowa Communications Network.