Army Reserve discuss NMI’s bid for Guard unit

Acting Gov. Diego T. Benavente discussed last week with U.S. Army Reserve officials in the Pacific region the Northern Marianas’ bid for its own National Guard in hopes of expediting the establishment of the unit in the Commonwealth.

Benavente met with deputy commanding head Maj. Gen. Ron Crowder Wednesday when the ranking military official paid a courtesy call to discuss the project with the National Guard Task Force, public information officer Peter Callaghan said.

Callaghan said Crowder is optimistic that a National Guard unit for the CNMI is feasible—if the Babauta administration manages to convince the U.S. military that it has a population base that can support its own unit.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta, who left for Washington D.C. to meet with U.S. officials and legislators, made a brief stopover in Hawaii on his way back to Saipan to meet with local and federal officials to discuss certain issues, including the proposed creation of a National Guard in the CNMI.

“I intend to stay there for two days to follow up on National Guard before flying back to Saipan,” he said Sunday.

While in Hawaii, the governor said he would also meet with some staff of the office of Gov. Linda Lingle.

In efforts to get the support of the U.S. Congress for the creation of the CNMI’s own National Guard, Babauta formed last month a task force that would determine the viability of the proposal.

He appointed former Supreme Court Associate Justice Edward Manibusan to chair the Task Force. Its members include Deputy Police Commissioner Franklin Babauta, Saipan JROTC head Tony Cabrera and the JROTC head from Tinian.

For its initial task, the team would be holding a series of meetings with the Guam National Guard Adjutant to discuss the militia’s composition, organization, and other pertinent matters.

The task force would also submit a study on funding needs: how it could be funded, whether the CNMI population base could support it, and how many senior and junior high school students would be participating and later move up to the U.S. military.

The governor would then submit these to the U.S. Congress in support of the CNMI’s bid for its own militia.

The administration hopes that the CNMI National Guard could be included in the U.S. FY 2005 budget under the National Defense Appropriation.

Budget deliberation in the U.S. begins about August this year.

The CNMI is one of the last members of the U.S. political family that still lacks its own National Guard. Guam receives $32 million for its National Guard.