Deployment of South Carolina units becoming campaign issue

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Photo: ALEX C. HICKS JR.
Thirty-five members of the Spartanburg-based 228th Signal Brigade, including Maj. John Rozsnyai of Moore, returned home earlier this month from a tour in Afghanistan. With 1,800 more National Guard troops about to leave for overseas, the role of the Guard and its management have become midterm election issues in state and congressional races.
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The S.C. Army National Guard is ranked fifth in the country when it comes to deploying troops since 9/11, in terms of domestic missions and the number sent overseas, according to the state Adjutant General's Office.

About 1,800 more soldiers, this time from the Newberry-based 218th Infantry Brigade, will leave for training in February. They will be deployed in Afghanistan in May.

For some of them, it's their second or third tour.

The upcoming deployment of the 218th is the "largest single deployment of South Carolina soldiers since World War II," said state National Guard Historian Scott Bell.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a potential 2008 presidential contender, mentioned during a visit to Spartanburg earlier this month that an expanded military would help relieve the strain on the National Guard here.

But the Guard, its deployment and its management have become issues in campaigns much closer to home -- and much closer to decision day.

Glenn Lindman, a Democrat challenging incumbent S.C. Adjutant General Stan Spears, has accused the sitting National Guard commander of "marketing for missions."

That is, he claims Spears has been shopping around for opportunities to deploy troops, even competing with other units.

"When you use words like 'presentation,' 'refine data,' and 'competing with the 82nd' -- Those are marketing words. That's not a case of South Carolina answering the call. That's South Carolina calling collect," said Lindman, 46, from Woodruff.

It's a practice Lindman says needs to be stopped.

Lindman believes that the 218th was in danger of being moved to another state and that Spears in part was motivated to keep that unit busy in order to protect the federal funding for it flowing through his office.

Spears, of Clover, says that the 218th will remain intact, that anything that indicated otherwise was just a rumor, and that Lindman doesn't understand the adjutant general's office.

"We have not marketed our soldiers," said Spears, 69. "We respond to the Pentagon, and to the National Guard Bureau -- to their requests. And one of the reasons we've been deployed is because of our strength, and we're very well qualified for the assignments."

Strength, in this case, refers to numbers of bodies. The South Carolina Army National Guard would currently operate at 100 percent with 9,000 troops -- and 9,111 are enlisted, according to Spears' office.

That compares, however, to the 12,125 enrolled about a decade ago, and Lindman has criticized Spears for the shrinkage.

Seeking, finding

Under the partial mobilization that was enacted following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, National Guard troops can only be required to spend two years cumulatively overseas.

Anything beyond that would have to be voluntary, said Lt. Col. Mike Milord with the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va.

Any deployment outside of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom doesn't count toward that two-year limit -- past missions to Bosnia, for instance, or shorter tours in Africa.

And, after five years, that limit resets, Bell said.

Different states have different capabilities and availabilities, and most would at least want to point that out to the National Guard Bureau, Milord said.

Anything that would provide training or exposure likely would be sought, he said.

"Any competent adjutant general would always be looking at opportunities for his people to get hands-on practice for a particular capability that they might have," Milord said.

"It sure beats the classic case of the engineer unit who goes through two weeks of annual training, builds something and then breaks it down. Real, hands-on training provides a much better opportunity to, let's say, see the conditions in other countries, what materials are available, what creative things people do there to complete a mission."

Lindman says the heavy deployment from South Carolina isn't fair to the soldiers, their families or their employers.

Spears points out that troops "keep volunteering" and that, so far, no employers have called his office to complain about temporarily losing their employees.

And the issue has been raised in other races about whether the National Guard should be used strictly on American soil -- that it should be here in case of a flood, or hurricane, or even a terrorist attack.

"We watch that very closely," Spears said. "In fact, we're very conscious of that. But even losing 1,800 soldiers out of the 218th, we're still in good shape. We would have no problem responding to a natural disaster in South Carolina."

Both candidates have extensive military records.

Spears first enlisted in the Guard in 1959 and was first elected adjutant general in 1994. He's the longest-serving adjutant general in the country, and the only elected one.

Lindman has served 24 years in the Guard. His unit left for Iraq in September 2004. He is a retired first sergeant.

Beyond overseeing the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard, the state adjutant general is in charge of the State Guard and the state Emergency Management Division.

Thirty-five members of the Spartanburg-based 228th Signal Brigade returned from a yearlong tour of Afghanistan earlier this month.

Jason Spencer can be reached at 562-7214 or jason.spencer@shj.com.