Guam - Already suffering from a shortage in staff, it seems the Government of Guam will now have to come up with a solution to augment the anticipated shortage involving public sector workers who serve in the military and are scheduled for deployment. It's an issue some law enforcement agencies are already bracing for.

There are 2,700 National Guard and Reserve members on Guam, according to the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. 27% of those is employed with GovGuam. But with deployments scheduled from now until 2013, it has become a race for some GovGuam agencies to ensure services do not fall short. "It's in a time when our manpower is being challenged," said acting fire chief of the Guam Fire Department Joey San Nicolas.

Guam Police Department chief Fred Bordallo added, "Whenever you have a shortage of police officers from deployments, what happens is if an officer isn't there and they are short of staff then there's going to be longer hours."

Longer hours meaning more overtime is what both men are working to prevent. San Nicolas said, "Over the next two years anywhere from 15 to 25 fire fighters could be deployed either altogether or between different deployments." But he also notes there may be a solution on the horizon, saying, "Some of them are hiring temporary employees, working with our vocational institute on Guam and seeing if they are able to produce qualified fire fighters that we can hopefully pick up temporary."

The temporary hires is what GPD is also leaning towards after they take a look at their budget, according to Chief Bordallo. However, he says GPD is already asking for backup, explaining, "It could probably be shared with other law enforcement departments like the airport and Port Authority police that are helping out with operations."

The National Guard reports in the first quarter of 2012, 150 Air Guard personnel will deploy to Afghanistan for six months, in the first quarter of 2013 about 40 more are expected to deploy to Afghanistan, around the same time 800 soldiers will deploy for about nine months.