The soldiers of the 891st Engineer Battalion of the Kansas Army National Guard are expected to be home for Christmas, but much of the military equipment they took with them may be on permanent assignment in the Middle East.

While families and friends in Kansas will rejoice at the unit’s return, the fact that the battalion and many others from across the nation are coming home without most of their vehicles is of concern, especially to state officials who depend on National Guard units to help deal with natural disasters and other emergency situations. It doesn’t make sense to ship the equipment, much of which now has heavy armor, back to the states, but replacing the equipment will be essential to the work National Guard units routinely perform at home.

When Gov. Kathleen Sebelius returned from a Thanksgiving trip to visit the troops, she noted that she had been monitoring tornadoes in 15 Kansas counties and a major blizzard in western Kansas. Among Sebelius’ travel group was Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. His state and others on the Gulf Coast already felt the effect of National Guard deployments that took much-needed equipment and personnel away from the effort to recover from Hurricane Katrina. According to Kansas Adjutant Gen. Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, it will take about $21 billion to rectify the situation nationwide.

Sebelius said she brought back from Iraq a detailed list of the equipment Kansas commanders said the 891st would be leaving behind. Kansans should hope that she will be keeping that list and checking it twice until federal officials can furnish some replacement vehicles and supplies.