LePage Says National Guard Reassignment Decision Years Away

Will a Maine Engineering Battalion be sent out of state? Governor Paul LePage says the decision won't be coming anytime soon.

LePage said Tuesday that he doesn't want to reduce the number of National Guard personnel in Maine, but acknowledged that the decision is ultimately out of his hands. He went on to say that Congress is setting up a commission to study the staffing levels and reassignment of units like the Maine Army National Guard's 133rd Engineer Battalion.

The Portland Press Herald reported last month that the National Guard was nearing the final stages of a plan to send the Battalion to Pennsylvania and replace it with an infantry unit.

LePage said the Maine National Guard Brigadier General James Campbell probably "jumped the gun" in preparing for contingencies in the event of a national reduction in force because any decision is two to three years away.