If I could butt in here just a moment...<br><br>I've been around ARNG and US Army Reserve units in a variety of "situations" and IMHO the two of you are simply reporting different experiences - both of you could be right on target from what I have seen. My observations are from the perspective of an Active Duty carreer in the US Army.<br><br>I think it is fair to say that generally the USAR units are better trained and prepared to perform their wartime missions than ARNG units - and there are a ton of reasons for those circumstances. <br><br>Emergency responses to disasters are not the same thing as wartime missions (we hope). I have no first hand experience with USAR units in domestic disasters that I can recall. <br><br>I do have first hand experiences with ARNG units in domestic disasters, and from my perspective they all did OK for a short period of time (less than 2 weeks). Some did a fantastic job and did it for an extended period of time. Some did OK for a while and then... citizens asked those units to be withdrawn or replaced and TAGs complied with those requests. There was one state that had a truly sad concept of using the ARNG, but I cannot blame the soldiers from Captain on down for that - the problem was clearly and squarely in the state capitol (the governor's residence...) The other states I had opportunities to work with did OK at worst, and individual units (up to brigade size) did remarkable things.<br><br>The biggest "problem" is making intelligent decisions about exactly what the best use is of the ARNG units and the soldiers in them. Again, in my experience, the key decision-makers (who are RARELY the ones you see in the news, and BOY, could I tell some tales about THAT!) in large scale situations have zero control over those decisions and little or no influence. It is an unfortunate fact that ARNG units seem to get tossed into situations aimed as much (or more) at political objectives as at realistic assistance. That's not the soldier's fault...<br><br>I could go on at great length, but my main point is that you both are probably correct. Doc, I had the privilege of working with some truly outstanding ARNG units in some disasters, and they really did themselves proud (and I might add, so did the Governor's office in that state - too bad he chose to retire). Andy, I saw other things exactly like your experiences <shudder> - just recalling some of those still gets me mad as heck.<br><br>I'll butt out now...<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom<br><br>