Federal government paying Oregon National Guard troops to deploy to Portland will cost millions

By JULIA SHUMWAY/Oregon Capital Chronicle

SALEM — Deploying Oregon National Guard troops to Portland for 60 days because of President Donald Trump’ claims that the city is “war ravaged” and “an unmitigated disaster” is likely to cost nearly $4 million in the soldiers’ pay alone.

Russell Gibson, government and legislative affairs director for the Oregon Military Department, told a legislative committee on Tuesday that it would take time to get exact numbers because pay for National Guard soldiers varies depending on their rank and pay grade.

But based on past estimates, Gibson said a 60-day deployment for 200 Guard members would cost roughly $3.8 million. That’s only pay allowance, not meals, lodging and transportation.

The Oregonian reported that the process to get all the troops ready to deploy normally takes about 96 hours, but it’s going to take longer in this case, Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar said Tuesday, because of administrative tasks. Bomar previously said troops could be in Portland as soon as Thursday, and has now said that he thinks “we bump it out a couple more days.”

Because Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the federalization of those Guard members, moving them from the command of Oregon’s adjutant general and Gov. Tina Kotek to the federal government, the federal government would be on the hook for costs.

A federal judge in Portland will hear arguments Friday and decide whether to issue a temporary restraining order, which would block the federal government from deploying troops to Portland while a larger lawsuit over the order proceeds.

In the meantime, the Oregon National Guard has identified one military police company and one infantry company to provide the roughly 200 soldiers. It will take a couple days to medically screen and validate those troops, then they’d undergo three to five days of training for crowd control and use of force before heading out on orders.

A 60-day deployment works out to about 80 days in total because of training and logistics on the front end and giving soldiers time to return home and use leave they earned at the end of a deployment, Gibson said.

Sen. Anthony Broadman, D-Bend and the committee’s chair, said Tuesday that lawmakers support Oregon’s National Guard troops even if they disagree with the orders they’re under.

“These are our brothers and sisters, our family members, our coworkers, people who work with us in this building, and we recognize the situation that the president is putting them in,” Broadman said. “I’m also mindful of the work we’ve done on budget for the department, especially when it comes to recruitment and retention bonuses, and we would be naive to think that actions like this don’t affect retention and recruitment.”

Trump has doubled down in recent days on his claims that Portland is a “war zone,” though facts on the ground don’t bear that out. Portlanders have spent the days since his order working, hiking, going to concerts and farmer’s markets and participating in largely peaceful protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Recent protests have included a group dance to the “Cha-Cha Slide” and a man dressed as a chicken, social media videos showed.

“Portland, Oregon, where it looks like a war zone, I get a call from the liberal governor, ‘Sir, please don’t come in, we don’t need you,’” Trump said during a Tuesday meeting with military leaders. “I said, ‘Well, unless they are playing false tapes, this looked like World War II. Your place is burning down. I mean, you must be kidding’.”

• Oregon Capital Chronicle is a nonprofit Salem-based news service that focuses its reporting on Oregon state government, politics and policy.