MARIETTA - The Georgia State Defense Force, an all-volunteer arm of the state Department of Defense, plans to train its soldiers to assist police in missing person searches.

Many law enforcement agencies lack the time, personnel or resources to conduct intensive searches, according to the Georgia National Guard.

GSDF officials say many of its members already have the skills necessary for a missing person search and rescue operations through either civilian or military training. The military unit has reported assisting law enforcement in more than a dozen missing person searches over the past 2 years.

On Wednesday, the Cobb and Marietta police welcomed the GSDF's news.

"The Cobb County Police Department has worked with the Georgia State Defense Force in the past and we have worked well with them," said Officer Joe Hernandez, Cobb Police spokesman. "If a situation arises which would require additional assistance in a missing person case we would welcome the additional assistance the GSDF could provide us."

Officer Jennifer Murphy, Marietta police spokeswoman, said the department has usually called for additional members of the police and fire departments to assist in missing person cases.

However, "In the event that it would be a circumstance that we needed additional assistance, we would not hesitate to contact this unit," Murphy said.

In 2008, the military unit assisted Morgan County authorities in the search for Iraq War veteran Jason Roark, a Marietta native, who went missing in Gwinnett County in 2006. Roark was last seen on Nov. 9, 2006, coming out of a Gwinnett County motel on surveillance video.

As of Wednesday, there have been at least 13 Mattie's Calls alone issued this year in Cobb for missing disabled or elderly persons, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The GSDF is under the command of the governor and state adjutant general. Members are volunteer soldiers who assist the state Army National Guard and Air Guard. They also respond to emergency situations.

The skills of search and rescue are becoming mandated for all 800 members of the GSDF, said retired Lt. Col. Ken Baldowski, Georgia National Guard spokesman.

GSDF members would be used in three situations, said Brig. Gen. Jerry Bradford, GSDF commander.

The first would be to continue assisting other agencies. The second entails running the search operation then reporting to local authorities. A third situation is commanding the entire search and rescue operation.

The number of soldiers qualified in search and rescue skills is increasing, along with the number of qualified search and rescue teams available to local authorities, Baldowski said.

In the past three months, 30 GSDF soldiers have been training at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth. There they're taught field survival skills, how to rappel and the fundamentals of search and rescue operations. The soldiers are expected to graduate in September.