Published: 7/19/2020 7:18:29 PM
The question of how long hundreds of Army and Air Force National Guard personnel will continue to aid the state’s COVID-19 efforts, and who will pay them if they do, is getting more heated as New Hampshire joins 30 other states and territories asking for federal support to continue until Christmas.
In early June as many as 800 National Guard soldiers, airmen and civilian staff were running or helping with eight projects around New Hampshire. This has scaled back as the pandemic has eased in the state. On Thursday, the National Guard stopped helping the state’s Employment Security call center handling jobless benefit claims. But Guard members are still operating drive-through mobile testing sites, the Concord warehouse for distribution personal protective equipment, and mobile food pantries.
The work is being done on top of regular training and duties. About 2,700 National Guard soldiers, airmen and civilian workers are in the state, according to Lt. Col Gregory Heilshorn, spokesman for the National Guard.
Normally when the National Guard is called up under a governor’s emergency order, the state pays the bill but under what is known as Title 32, the federal government is picking up the tab through Aug. 21. Gov. Chris Sununu has previously asked that this be extended through September, and last week asked for funding to keep up to 400 personnel through Christmas to help respond to COVID-19.
Similar requests have been made by governors in 31 states and territories including Vermont, according to a story in Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper.
As of mid-July, it said, there are about 29,700 Guard troops deployed across the country for coronavirus relief. The paper said this was the largest use ever of the Guard in noncombat operations.
Master Sgt. Michael Houk, a Pentagon spokesman, told Stars and Stripes that “defense officials are continually assessing governors’ needs during the pandemic.”
State takeover of the deployment would end troops’ eligibility for benefits such as health care and access to the GI Bill or ability to seek disability through the Department of Veterans Affairs if injured on state orders, the paper wrote.