Since he was hired last month as adjutant general, Robert T. Bray has been busy with emergency planning and assessing the needs of the state's National Guard.

01:05 AM EST on Tuesday, March 28, 2006

BY AMANDA MILKOVITS
Journal Staff Writer

CRANSTON -- The room at the Emergency Management Agency was crowded with state and local officials involved in emergency planning when the one who will lead them all through a crisis rose to speak.

New adjutant general Robert T. Bray, the leader of the Rhode Island National Guard, director of the state EMA, and Rhode Island's liaison to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, stood at the head of the conference table at the EMA advisory council meeting recently and said he was honored to be there.

His voice was soft, with enough of a Western twang to make his South Dakota accent stand out from the native Rhode Islanders in the room. The brigadier general's manner held confidence without brashness, and humility with a streak of steel. As he spoke, he looked around the room at the mostly unfamiliar faces and returned their gaze.

The EMA has a great number of plans in place, Bray said, and the State of Rhode Island has resources at its beck and call. He said his job will be to make sure that all the resources across the state are linked, and that they're available to any incident commander out in the field dealing with a disaster.

But, as Hurricane Katrina showed, having plans are not enough, he said.

"It's not enough to say we're working on it, we have a plan," Bray said. "We have to make sure, no kidding, they're operational. We have to make sure they're not on a shelf, not tutorial, but they're exercised. . . . I want to make surewe've got those plans on the street today, tomorrow at the latest."

He pledged to conduct tabletop exercises and field exercises in the disaster plans. He offered an "open door" policy to his office on the second floor. He also expressed being partial to "those red fire trucks" -- Bray retired as a division chief after 27 years at the Sioux Falls, S.D., Fire Department -- and said he'd take up any opportunity to ride around in a fire truck again. He joined the National Guard in 1971 and rose through the ranks.

"I am so privileged to be here," Bray said, looking around the room at the assembly of leaders.

THE OFFICIAL ceremony welcoming Bray isn't until Sunday at the State House. But the new adjutant general has been working since shortly after Governor Carcieri introduced him last month, from attending an adjutant general's conference in Washington, D.C., within days, to speaking knowledgably about the Guard's needs and direction at a House Finance Committee meeting a week after starting his new job.

"The people of Rhode Island have welcomed my wife and I graciously," Bray said. "I couldn't ask for a better staff. . . . Everyone's focused on doing the right thing for the state."

During a recent interview in his office on the second floor of the Guard headquarters, Bray praised the current operations of the Rhode Island National Guard and the state EMA, and said he believes the state has all the capabilities to handle any emergency. He was particularly impressed with the state Guard's programs supporting the soldiers and their families -- so important, as the troops are called back for redeployment.

The Rhode Island National Guard, which includes the Army and Air Force, has had 3,200 troops called to active duty since the launch of the war on terror. This is the largest mobilization and deployment of the Rhode Island National Guard since World War I, according to Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Michael McNamara.

This is a mission with no end in sight. In recent comments, President Bush said he didn't anticipate withdrawing from Iraq.

The global war on terrorism is not going away soon, Bray said. "We're not naive," he said. ". . . Nobody has expectations this is going to end tomorrow. As a strategic effort, we need to prepare for that."

Now, there are 384 Rhode Island Guard troops deployed throughout the United States and in four countries, including Iraq, where 95 troops in the 43rd Military Police Brigade are guarding Abu Ghraib and two other prisons.

Bray said he speaks daily to Brig. Gen. Kevin R. McBride, of Rehoboth, who is the brigade's commander. "Morale is high," Bray said. "They're extremely busy. . . . There's a sense of accomplishment out there."

However, nationally, these are uncertain times for the Guard, which is undergoing a restructuring.

Early this year, the fiscal 2007 budget proposed by President Bush included money for 333,000 Guard troops, although the Guard is authorized for 350,000.

The budget proposal prompted U.S. Sen. Jack Reed to send a terse letter to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld opposing plans to cut the Army National Guard and Air National Guard.

"The proposed cuts are not cost-effective and a simple cost-benefit analysis of the value of a properly equipped National Guard will show that the Guard provides more for less," Reed wrote. "The National Guard brings a higher level of capability for each dollar of investment because the force leverages the special skills and expertise that Guard personnel maintain in their civilian professions."

At the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C., last month, Governor Carcieri joined other governors in speaking with Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff about their concerns about the future of the National Guard, said Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal. The governors particularly pressed the administration to fully fund the Guard at the current level of service and not reduce troop levels, Neal said. The governors were assured at the meeting that the administration would support full funding for the National Guard, he said.

The restructuring will have to go through defense authorization process in June in Congress, where senators can voice their concerns, said a spokeswoman from Senator Reed's office.

Bray said he's paying close attention to what the Army and Air Force will design for the Guard. He said he's prepared to fight to keep Rhode Island's resources.

amilkovi@projo.com / (401) 277-7213