National Guard

LAST EDITED ON 19-05-01 AT 01:07 PM (GMT)[p]The National Guard, the US “state-army”, is becoming more and more a real army on its own.

With new block 40 F-16C’s, B1B’s and F-15’s, they are a real match for any other airforce in the world.

Should the US congress invest more in active forces and stop giving so much money to the National Guard and Reserve? I had a discussion (i think with elpalmer) a couple of weeks ago. I think the huge force of modern equipment is only temporary because the active force wants its new jets (like JSF and F22) and so they will give the “older” ones to the ANG, hoping the new batch of 5th generation fighters will arrive earlier …

This comes from the military analyses network.

Do you agree with their recommendations? I don’t because the active force must be the main part of the defence-structure even in the 21th century. I think the National Guard and Reserve can play a big role, but not as the frontline units, but they can help defending airbases, transporting soldiers, anti-rioting, humanitarian tasks and even search and rescue-duties .

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Enhance Role and Readiness of
Guard and Reserve

Military operations around the world have required the Defense Department to increasingly rely on the National Guard. Guard units and air assets have been called to active duty by the President and deployed throughout the world with increasing frequency to serve with their active duty counterparts. Guard units are organized, trained and equipped to the same standards as active forces. These units, closely connected to a hometown and state, serve with active duty Army and Air Force units at installations in the United States and overseas.

The Federal mission of the National Guard is to maintain properly trained and equipped units available for prompt mobilization for war, national emergency or as otherwise needed. The National Guard’s State mission is to provide trained and disciplined forces for domestic emergencies or as otherwise required by State laws. The National Guard Bureau develops and administers programs for Army and Air National Guard units. It is also the primary communications channel between the states and the Departments of the Army and the Air Force.
The National Guard remains the most direct link between the American people and those forces that defend their interests. The professional military is becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of American society, and elements of the military increasingly see the armed forces as apart from and in many respects better than the society it protects. A growing portion, roughly 25 percent, of the military, both officer and civilian, comes from military families, suggesting that the professional military is increasingly becoming almost a separate caste divorced from the rest of the nation. Maintaining the strength of the National Guard is essential to avoiding a fundamental estrangement between the civil and military sectors of American society, and estrangement with potentially catastrophic consequences for both.

Since the end of the Cold War significant force structure changes in the National Guard have been implemented in response to a rapidly changing global threat and national security environment. Downsizing of the National Guard during the past several years has included reductions in the size of the Army National Guard approximately 20 percent. And the Air National Guard has realigned units to match Air Force mission requirements.

The active Army is currently structured with relatively more combat units (more than are needed for Tier One and Tier Two missions) and and fewer combat support and combat service support units than are required to support current operations and contingency requirements. The active Army is unable to respond to the full spectrum of peace keeping operations in areas like Somalia and Bosnia without significant utilization of the National Guard.

But the low priority given to the active duty component has resulted in readiness and funding shortfalls in the National Guard’s operations and maintenance (O&M), military personnel and modernization accounts. With the growing requirements for peacetime support of the active components and the need to provide combat ready forces for contingencies, these readiness shortages are becoming increasingly critical. The President’s Fiscal Year 1999 DOD budget request underfunds O&M in the Army and Air National Guard. This underfunding severely constrains the Guard’s ability to maintain readiness and operations tempo at required levels.

The Army can sustain an adequate total structure by committing most of that structure to the less costly reserve components. This policy has been repeatedly proven by the National Guard over the almost four centuries of its existence. During the Gulf War Army National Guard brigades were not deployed because the Army decided that they were not ready – thus justifying the current faulty policy. But active Army units trained in the desert for five months before they were judged ready for combat. And current strategic lift assets will allow no more than five divisions to be deployed within the first 90 days of a conflict, and Army National Guard brigades have proven that they can be ready for deployment within 90 days.

Recommendation:
To ensure the representation of the National Guard at the highest levels of DOD, in 1997 Senator Stevens proposed legislation co-sponsored by 48 other Senators that would elevate the rank, and role, of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau. To ensure adequate representation of the Guard in defense decision-making, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau should be appointed at the four-star level, and made a full participating member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Congress should fully resource National Guard readiness requirements and increase funding for National Guard O&M, military personnel by the $634 million recommended by the National Guard Association.
More of the Army’s combat power must be moved into the National Guard. The active component of the Army should be given the structure for those missions that only the Active component can perform, with the balance of the structure being placed in the Guard and Reserve components.