The order to deploy 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to the city of Portland will cost at least $3.8 million in federal funding, a state military official told legislators this week.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced on social media last weekend that “the Secretary of Defense [sic] sent a memo to Governor Tina Kotek authorizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to perform federal functions for 60 days.”
He went on to protest the order, saying, “Oregon communities are stable, and our local officials have been clear: we have the capacity to manage public safety without federal interference,” and adding, “Sending in 200 National Guard troops to guard a single building is not normal. If you had a concern about safety at your own home, you’d make a few calls and fill the gaps — not call in an army.”
Russell Gibson, the Oregon Military Department’s director for government and legislative affairs, said while appearing before state legislators Tuesday that the cost of this deployment “is roughly $3.8 million just in pay and allowances, and then there are other logistics costs, that we are still working through, support agreements, for what those costs look like. Again, this is all federally funded.”
Gibson said that the deployment would include the 60-day mission and an additional 20 days “to get them trained, and because they’ll accrue leave, it’ll require time on the back end for us to do demobilization for them to utilize their leave on the back end.”
He added, “Pay and allowance depends on their rank and pay grade … their ZIP code and their housing allowance, etc. But we’ve done this estimate before. So when we look at 200 service members, for a total of 80 days, and that 80-day order encompasses a 60-day mission but allows us some time on the front end to get them trained, and because they’ll accrue leave, it’ll require time on the back end for us to do demobilization for them to utilize their leave on the back end.”
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