The recent wind storm in Lawrence was a reminder of how quickly Mother Nature can wreak havoc on an area.

Although there was considerable property damage, including at least $6 million at Kansas University, the community was able to regain electrical power and restore essential functions relatively rapidly. But what if the damage had been worse?

The normal response to devastating situations in Kansas and other states is to call out the National Guard to help restore an area to normalcy. Unfortunately, the ability of National Guard units to respond to disasters – either natural or manmade – has been severely hampered by the fact that much of their equipment has been left behind after deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The equipment followed National Guard units that were called to active duty in the Middle East. Once there, it was “up-armored” to make it suitable for the hostile conditions troops were facing. Once it has been shipped and refitted, it made more sense to keep it in the Middle East for other troops to use than to ship it back to the states with its original unit.

The only problem is that units like the 891st Engineers of the Kansas National Guard arrived home without the equipment they usually would use for training and to respond to emergency situations here at home.

Although Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has been working to draw attention to this problem, it is not just a Kansas issue. As she told a group of journalists last week, if a disaster hits Kansas, it would do no good to try to borrow equipment from neighboring states, because their equipment also is overseas. “It’s a nationwide problem,” she said.

Lawrence residents and city crews did an admirable job of cleaning up after our storm last weekend, but if the damage had been more severe or widespread, who would have helped? And, unfortunately, given the current rise of terrorism worldwide, natural disasters aren’t the only potential danger.

Sebelius’ office has been told that the federal government plans to commit $20 billion over the next six years to replace National Guard equipment. However, nationwide, state adjutant generals estimate National Guard units have left $35 billion in equipment in Iraq.

Not only will the federal plan leave states about $15 billion short on equipment, funding for this year indicates the shortfall could be substantially larger. This year’s budget includes only $1.5 billion to replace equipment; six years of funding at that rate will fall significantly short of even the $20 billion goal.

Whether it’s a tornado, a flood, a hurricane or a terrorist attack, the ability for Americans to respond and restore order to an area is a huge national security issue. National Guard units traditionally have been the nation’s first line of defense in this area, and its current compromised ability to respond to emergency situations should be of concern to everyone.