According to the Associated Press news service, the Bush Administration was about 2,000 troops shy of its goal to have 2,500 National Guardsmen on border duty by the end of June. National Guard Bureau officials told AP that there were at least 2,000 others within the Border States who were either in training or helping to plan the mission. AP reports that, so far, only 10 states had signed agreements with the Pentagon for their Guardsmen to deploy, some have been holding back because of floods and fires within their own states, while others wanted concrete assurances that the Pentagon would pay.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…