NGB Chief Vows to Keep Flying Unit in Each State

The National Guard Bureau chief told the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commissioners last month that he sticks by both his pledge to the adjutants general to keep a flying unit in each state Pentagon's BRAC recommendations.

"Unless BRAC has some language in it that says, '"You're just not putting a flying unit in that state,' we'll put a flying unit in that state, because I can't recruit and retain and sustain and maintain an Air National Guard in a state without any air in it," Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum said during an Aug. 11 hearing in Washington.

"I mean, how do you have the Air Guard with no flying units in it?"

Commissioner Samuel K. Skinner of Illinois asked the general if a statement he'd made at a July 20 hearing before the House Armed Services Committee was correct, because it seemed almost contradictory.

In the statement, General Blum said he was committed to putting a flying unit in every state. However, he has repeatedly said that that does not change his support for the BRAC list or the BRAC process.

"When BRAC is all said and done, and the president and Congress, the commission and services, do their job, I will deal with the hand that I'm dealt," he said. "But I can clearly do the things that I promised to the governors I would do, whether or not this list survives or doesn't survive."

The general said he has assurances from top Air Force leadership that he will have the flexibility to do the things "that are absolutely vital for the Air Guard, including the ability to set the size and number of aircraft in the units.

General Blum said that he can see the big picture and he hopes to get to a point where 60 percent of the airplanes on the "ramp" belong to an Air Guard unit and 40 percent to an active unit and vice versa.

"Knowing that we can't put every type of airplane in every part of the nation, we will then put Air Guard units and parts of Air Force units will be members of the Air National Guard so that we are in the cockpits of most modern flying systems that the United States Air Force flies," he said. "And we'll be flying and maintaining them in proportionality, even though some of that may not be in hometown America."

This hearing was the last before final BRAC deliberations took place at the end of August. The commission wanted to give the Air Force and Guard leadership one more chance to clarify any misunderstandings or shed light on any obscure issues before the BRAC list release on Sept. 8.

"We have urged the parties to attempt to resolve these differences, because in less than two weeks the commission will be compelled to exercise its best judgment," said BRAC Commission Chairman Anthony J. Principi.

One of these differences is the controversy between Air Force and Pentagon officials and the state adjutants general BRAC recommendations that strip the aircraft from 29 Air Guard flying units.

Peter Verga, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, told the commissioners that the changes were necessary for the Air Force to transform and increase its war fighting capability and efficiency.

"It is important to understand that in making its recommendations the department focused on its ability to defend the nation as a whole, a common defense, as noted in the preamble to our Constitution, rather than on a state-by-state basis," he said.

Mr. Verga said he understands the disappointment the states have about losing some of their Guard assets, especially the concern that movements or closures will adversely impact a state's defense.

But he said, all of the states are still protected, regardless of the infrastructure changes.

"I'm not underestimating the potential impact on any given state that any of these recommendations might have," he said. "But there is mitigation. For example, state-to-state compacts of agreement that will allow for National Guard in one state to support another state in an emergency."

Both Mr. Verga and Adm. Timothy S. Keating, U.S. Northern Command commander, mentioned the Florida hurricanes and Guardsmen from Wyoming and northern California assisting fighting wildfires in Idaho as examples. States as far north as West Virginia came to Florida's aide after last year's hurricane season.

Commissioner and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Sue Ellen Turner asked the panelists how they intended to ensure and convey to the American public that if all the BRAC recommendations are approved their homeland security, borders and coastlines would be protected at least as well as they are today.

Mr. Verga said the specific means might change based on some of the recommendations, but that the recommendations, if accepted, will make the U.S. homeland more secure.

-By Erika N. Cotton

Copyright National Guard Association of the United States Sep 2005
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