An informed member of the United States military writes to point out some serious flaws with the way the Bush administration has constructed its plan to use the National Guard to assist with border control efforts:

During the Presidents address on immigration, we learned of the Administrations plan to use the National Guard with "up to 6,000 Guard members deployed to our southern border."

It was not until the release of the earlier White House Press Briefing where we would learn significant details of this plan. This is not simply 6,000 soldiers going to the border and doing a mission for a year. Rather it is 156,000 total soldiers rotating through the border at two week intervals over a twelve month time period.

Q: On the National Guard, did I hear right, they're going to -- each Guardsman is going to be there for three or four weeks, by training?

MS. TOWNSEND: Their annual training requirement is two to three weeks. And so what you will do is you will, at any one time -- 6,000 represents about 2 percent of the overall strength of the National Guard. It won't be the same 6,000 people there for 12 months, it -- as I said, it will depend on mission assignments. But what you will do is, during -- that 6,000, at any one time, will be comprised of individual Guardsmen doing their annual training requirement.

This plan has two significant problems that lead me to believe that while it was very likely first mentioned by a uniformed member of the military, it was in reality a "shot from the hip" that did not have a thorough military staffing performed. Last week while I was attempting to envision what the Administration would ultimately do, this same idea came into my mind however, it was quickly discarded.

The first significant problem is by the very nature of National Guard/Reserve Annual Training. There are 15 days to get to the duty station, unpack your equipment, learn what you need to do, gain proficiency at what you need to do, repack your equipment, then travel home. By the time that each soldier is able to make a contribution to border security they will be ready to leave. Instead of these soldiers being an asset to the Department of Homeland Security they will become an unwelcome burden consuming more than they are returning.

The second significant problem strikes close to home for those of us involved in training the Guard/Reserve. Civilians are familiar with the concept of serving "one weekend a month" (Inactive Duty Training (IDT)) and "two weeks of summer camp" (Annual Training (AT)). Weekend training focuses on performing administrative tasks along with individual soldier skills (Individual Training). The primary purpose of Annual Training is to provide unit readiness training (Collective Training) and evaluation of the unit performing its combat mission according to its "Mission Essential Task List." (METL).. While there may be some METL tasks that can be performed at the border, the major combat tasks will be neglected.

The National Guard Bureau, the Department of the Army and the United States Army Reserve Command have always ensured that Annual Training was devoted to performing wartime collective training. The 156,000 soldiers performing their Annual Training at the border will be deprived this badly needed unit training that they need to succeed in the Global War on Terror.

I sincerely believe that in twelve months when Congress evaluates this plan they will determine the combat readiness of a significant portion of the Army National Guard has deteriorated while border security has gained very little from that sacrifice. Ultimately, they will determine that funding for annual training has been spent inappropriately.