HELENA (AP) -- The Pentagon has turned a deaf ear to Gov. Brian Schweitzer's request to return more of the state's National Guard members to Montana for the heart of the wildfire season, the governor said Tuesday.
Schweitzer said the Defense Department not only ignored his March plea to reduce the number of Montana Guard soldiers deployed, but has since increased its demand on state units.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, the Army general in charge of National Guard forces, provided information this week showing that 44 percent of Montana's Guard members were mobilized as of July 12. That is the third highest rate in the country; only Hawaii at 50 percent and Idaho at 46 percent have more soldiers activated.
Schweitzer said he's aggravated that Montana's figure is that high four months after his request.
''They're saying, 'We at the Pentagon don't care what you're thinking in your state. We'll do what we want for as long as we want and you'll get used to it,''' he said. ''This is not cooperation. They don't listen to governors at all. This is zero response to governors.''
The National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va., had no immediate comment on Schweitzer's remarks.
His comments came upon his return from a meeting of the National Governors Association in Iowa, where some governors raised concerns that the federal government's heavy dependence on Guard troops for the war in Iraq will leave some states unprotected in emergencies.
The state is most at risk for wildfires in July and August, but the number of Guard troops has yet to rise, Schweitzer said. At least 500 of Montana's approximately 1,420 deployed Guard members should have returned by now, he added.
''This is stick it in your ear,'' Schweitzer said of the Pentagon's attitude. ''We made a legitimate request based on good management of personnel and they just blew it off.''
Adj. Gen. Randy Mosley, who heads the Montana National Guard, said last month that the Guard has enough soldiers for a mild fire season, but may come up short if the fires are as severe and prolonged as they were in 2000.
In an interview with military news organizations Tuesday, Blum said no state has been left with less than half of its Guard strength and that should be enough.
''There is not a state or territory that its governor doesn't have the Army or Air National Guard forces and equipment it needs to do its homeland defense or its support to homeland security missions,'' he told The Pentagon Channel and the American Forces Press Service.
Schweitzer disagreed, saying Montana has about 500 fewer Guard members for fire duty this year than it did during the fire-riddled summer of 2000.
More than 250,000 National Guard troops across the country have been mobilized for active duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to Blum. The average state and U.S. territory has 20 percent of its National Guard troops deployed.
