Wednesday, January 07, 2004

A KEY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE NATIONAL GUARD AND THE ACTIVE ARMY

They might say the Actives lack experience...
Jack Sharkey, a Chinook pilot with the Army National Guard, was ready to retire when he learned his unit was going to Iraq.

I had to get a waiver," said Sharkey, a Vietnam veteran who will be 61 next month...

At Wheeler Army Airfield yesterday, Capt. Joe Laurel, Company C commander, said veterans such as Sharkey, a retired Aloha Airlines

pilot, seem to be more commonplace in guard units than among regular Army units, and are almost guaranteed to have served longer together.

"At any particular time, I can look at the guy to my right or the guy to my left and say I've flown with him for 10 years," Laurel said.

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