Kansas National Guard Col. Vic Braden walks away from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter after it landed last year in tornado-devastated Greensburg. At the time Braden, from Lawrence, was commander of the 69th Troop Command. He now serves as operations director for the Army National Guard.

This was the view from the open door of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter as it flew over Greensburg after the May 2007 tornado. Only two Blackhawks were flyable at the time. At right, almost out of the picture, is Kansas National Guard commander Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting.

When a tornado leveled Greensburg in May 2007, the Kansas National Guard had only two flyable Blackhawk utility helicopters available to support its response to the area.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius made national headlines when she said the Guard’s lack of trucks and Humvee all-purpose vehicles hindered its ability to respond to state emergencies.

Today, the Guard’s equipment inventory has improved, but only slightly, according to Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state’s adjutant general and Guard commander.

“Fair but guarded condition,” was how he summed up the situation. “We’re better than we were.”

But the equipment problem is far from fixed, Bunting added.

The number of helicopters available increased last fall when the 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation Regiment returned from Iraq.

The battalion has 15 UH-60 Blackhawks, which boosted the Guard’s helicopter count at home to about 20. But only 25 percent of the helicopters are flyable. The remainder are undergoing maintenance and repairs.

That leaves just enough helicopters so crews can train to stay qualified to use them.

“Not only are they older helicopters, (Iraq) is a harsh environment,” Bunting said. “We’re running right on the edge of not having enough helicopters, but we’re getting by.”

Trucks, Humvees lacking

The Guard still has shortages of vehicles, including medium cargo trucks and Humvees. It has 50 percent of what it needs to move its engineering unit. The Guard also is lacking 40 palletized load system trucks. More than 200 Humvees (32 percent) are missing from what there should be.

There are several reasons the vehicles are missing.

Most of them had to be left behind when Kansas troops returned from deployments so other military units could use them.

Some of them were destroyed in combat, and others are being repaired from the rigors of war.

“In Kansas, our most critical shortage remains target acquisition radar,” Bunting said. “That’s our most deployed unit out of Great Bend.”

Kansas is supposed to have five of the target radar systems, and all five were left behind at the end of deployments.

The radar systems are used to track incoming artillery or missile fire and locate their origin so they can be attacked.

Kansas now has one radar unit borrowed from another state so Guardsmen can continue to train with it.

The Guard doesn’t mind leaving its equipment so that others can be safe in a war zone, but some replacements are necessary, Bunting said.

“The point we keep making is that you’ve got to give me enough to train on so that if you want me to come over and do another mission, I’m current on the equipment you want me to use,” he said.

Maintaining readiness

The federal government is responsible for funding Guard equipment.

There are facilities across the nation for repairing equipment, and teams try to prioritize state needs.

During major disasters, states can call on other states for assistance with equipment, but timeliness is key, Bunting said.

The Guard has never had 100 percent of its equipment requests.

Before the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, it only had 40 percent of its needs met. It should be at 70 percent, Bunting said.

The Guard sent a few troops last month to help provide security when tornadoes hit Chapman and Manhattan. So far the state has not seen disaster on the level of Greensburg.

“The biggest concern is that if you have back-to-back storms over several contiguous states,” Bunting said. “That’s when you would stretch your equipment needs.”