National Guard troops finally leave airports in Iowa today, standing down from active duty that began shortly after September 11th. Rhonda Chambers, manager of the Fort Dodge airport, says they were professional, looked good, handled problems quickly, and now their place will be taken by law-enforcement officers. Chambers says the city of Fort Dodge and municipal airport won’t be burdened with the cost of paying the new guards. The Transportation Security Administration’s agreed to pay guards, so this airport will be paid back with federal TSA money for the cost of permanent police security. The guard troops were held over a few extra weeks past their original service period, so there’d be enough time to train the security people to replace them.
