Posted on 08/21/2005 3:04:29 PM PDT by neverdem
WASHINGTON — Air Force officials made a final public plea yesterday for their plan to overhaul more than 24 Air National Guard units, warning the squadrons would steadily become more ineffective and poorly equipped unless their proposal were approved.
Testifying with other Pentagon officials at the last public hearing of the nine-member commission assessing the Pentagon's base-closing plan, the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. John Jumper, warned "this round of closures and realignment represents the last opportunity we will have for a generation to reset our forces."
The Air Force wants to retire aging aircraft from many Guard units, close or consolidate some of their bases and train some squadrons for new missions, such as flying Predator drones by remote control.
But several commissioners suggested the plan had become so controversial in states that would lose their aircraft that it might not survive when the commission begins voting on whether to accept the recommendations this week.
"I've never seen so many governors united, whether Democrat or Republican, and angry about one particular item in my whole political career," said James Bilbray, one of the nine members of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) and a former congressman from Nevada.
Under the plan, five states — Connecticut, Delaware, Montana, Nevada and North Dakota — would lose all their aircraft.
Governors share authority with the president over the use of Air Guard units, which are frequently employed in fighting forest fires and responding to other natural disasters. Governors from states that would lose aircraft, along with state adjutants general who command the units, are arguing that the plan will degrade domestic security and leave them without enough aircraft nearby to respond to natural disasters.
The commission is scheduled to begin voting Wednesday on each element of the Pentagon proposal that would shut, consolidate or realign more than 800 military facilities in all 50 states. The commission, which includes retired military officers, former members of Congress and former Cabinet members, has until Sept. 8 to submit its changes to President Bush. The president and Congress have until Nov. 7 to reject or accept the entire package.
Several commissioners said they remained unconvinced by the Pentagon's claim that the plan would save nearly $50 billion over 20 years, an estimate challenged by the Government Accountability Office.
At least two states — Pennsylvania and Illinois — are suing in federal court to block the loss of some of their Air Guard planes, claiming the U.S. government doesn't have the right to take the planes without permission from the affected governor. Two of the three legal opinions the commission has solicited on the Air Guard issue back the Pentagon's plans.
I wonder what the effect of base closings is on recruiting. I'd think that after a certain point, many people would lose their association with the military just from lack of proximity.
DOD wants to remove all the aircraft from Charleston, WV to Polk AFB. The 130th in Charleston has always been one of the top performing units. Most of the members would resign rather than commute to another unit in New Martinsville. DOD said the unit didn't have space for more craft upon which the Guard flew in enough craft to double the compliment with room left for more.
The real joke is that Polk is so decrepit and it's been gigged time and time again when it was inspected. Pilots also can't get much flight time because of heavy air traffic in the area.
If I'm not near a military base/area and I get pulled over by a cop, I'll show my military ID with my license and registration. I've been let off more then once.
I tried it when near an area with military presence and was threatened with having my 1st Sgt. being called.
I think it's significant that nobody's saying what the ANG does in addition to fighting fires. They flew a lot of ground support/tank busting missions in A-10's that the AF didn't want to fly any more. I've always heard that the AF hates to have any of their planes below 30,000 feet.
If an airliner doesn't report in or a private plane strays into restricted airspace, who gets the call? Who flies skycap over the USA?
Could it be that the AF doesn't want to do these jobs, so is very interested in a viable ANG?
One more point --- the ANG flies a lot of the AF's castoffs. The AF always gave their older planes to the ANG and got brand-new replacements from Uncle Sam. With a smaller Guard, the AF might not get so many new aircraft.
The Air Force agenda is clear. They want the Air National Guard eliminated. The Air National Guard won every Gunsmoke (the Air Force Fighter Weapons Meet) for 15 years straight. It was so embarrassing the Air Force official magazine, Airman, took to covering only the Air Force units participating, referring to them as the top three Air Force squadrons; no mention of their placing 7, 9 and 12 in the competition.
The Air Force took away as many fighter units as they could from the Air National Guard, first giving them all of the Wild Weasel mission, then Reconnaisance, and finally after scrapping all those, they sent the Air National Guard the aging KC-135, most of which were produced in the late 1950s. The Air Guard re-wrote the Air Force tanker employment doctrine, has run the ""tanker war" for Desert Two, consistently delivers sortie rates 150 perrcent above Air Force units.
The Guard consistently top performs. The best of the units are having their aircraft removed. The law is clear, the Air Force cannot shut down units without Congressional approval. So two out of three "legal" sources (note, one honest lawyer) told them they could not shut the units down, but they could take their aircraft.
You will also note that they Air Force Reserve sustained NO cuts. That is because, although not nearly as proficient, the Air Force Reserve is directly controlled by, you guessed it, the Air Force.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.