Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan) is readying a resolution to support the establishment of National Guard units in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
Demapan said he is \u201cpleased by the results of the National Guard Bureau\u2019s feasibility study indicating that it is appropriate to establish a National Guard unit in the CNMI.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a former Army National Guardsman, I know first hand how important the National Guard\u2019s unique role is to respond to natural disasters and civil defense operations within the state or territory,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now that the bureau\u2019s report is complete, Demapan said he is \u201creadying a House resolution to support the findings of the National Guard Bureau and the establishment of a National Guard unit in the CNMI.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Demapan said among the U.S. territories, only the CNMI and American Samoa do not have National Guard units.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe result of the bureau\u2019s study rises to a greater level of relevance in the wake of the devastation left behind by Typhoon Soudelor. Having a National Guard unit in the CNMI would serve as another major resource for the governor to activate upon the declaration of a state of major disaster,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added that when a state or territory\u2019s National Guard unit is not deployed on federal military orders, the National Guard provides protection of life and property, and preserves peace, order, and public safety.<\/p>\n
The missions of the National Guard include providing emergency-relief support during natural disasters, search and rescue operations, and counter-drug operations among others, he said.<\/p>\n
Demapan noted that in 2013, 16 Northern Marianas soldiers were among the more than 600 members of the Guam National Guard that deployed to Afghanistan, becoming the largest group of reserve component troops in history to be deployed from the Marianas<\/p>\n
The National Guard Bureau released the report last week, saying that establishing National Guard units for the Northern Marianas Islands is \u201cfeasible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith our population of 54,000, the bureau estimated the Northern Marianas could recruit two, company-sized National Guard elements, above and beyond the U.S. Army reservists now on Saipan,\u201d said Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) in announcing the report\u2019s release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan) is readying a resolution to support the establishment of National Guard…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,2300,2828,1566],"class_list":["post-209600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-guam-national-guard","tag-national-guard-bureau","tag-northern-marianas-islands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}