Air National Guard: Difference between revisions

Air National Guard
Emblem of the United States Air National Guard
Active	1906– 1947 – present (as part of USAF)
Country	United States
Branch	Air Force
Size	106,678 active personnel
Part of	Department of Defense United States National Guard Bureau.
Headquarters	The Pentagon
Engagements	Cold War *Korean War *Vietnam War *Grenada War First Persian Gulf War Kosovo War War on Terror *Afghan War *Second Persian Gulf War
Commanders
Director, Air National Guard	Lt Gen Harry M. Wyatt III
Chief, National Guard Bureau	Gen Craig R. McKinley
Insignia
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack	A-10
Bomber	B-2
Electronic warfare	E-8, EC-130
Fighter	F-22, F-15C, F-16
Helicopter	HH-60
Reconnaissance	MQ-1
Transport	C-17, C-5, C-130, HC-130, LC-130, C-21, C-38, KC-135, C-27 Spartan

The Air National Guard (ANG), often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States.

Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, the Air National Guard is part of the state National Guard and is divided up into units stationed in each of the 50 states and U.S. territories and operates under their respective state governor or territorial government.^[1] The Air National Guard may be called up for active duty by the state governors or territorial commanding generals to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as those caused by hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes.^[1]

With the consent of state governors, members or units of the Air National Guard may be appointed, temporarily or indefinitely, to be federally recognized members of the armed forces, in the active or inactive service of the United States.^[2][3] If federally recognized, the member or unit becomes part of the Air National Guard of the United States,^[4][5][6] which is one of two reserve components of the United States Air Force,^[4] and part of the National Guard of the United States.^[4]

Air National Guard of the United States units or members may be called up for federal active duty in times of Congressionally sanctioned war or national emergency.^[1] The President may also call up members and units of state Air National Guard, with the consent of state governors, to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, or execute federal laws if the United States or any of its states or territories are invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation, or if there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the federal government, or if the President is unable to execute the laws of the United States with the regular armed forces.^[7] Because both state Air National Guard and the Air National Guard of the United States relatively go hand-in-hand, they are both usually referred to as just Air National Guard.

The United States Air National Guard has about 110,000 men and women in service. The ANG is often described as a "reserve" force of "part-time airmen," although the demands of maintaining modern aircraft mean that many ANG members work full-time, either as full-time Military Technicians or Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) personnel. Even traditional part-time air guardsmen, especially pilots, navigators/combat systems officers, air battle managers and enlisted aircrew, often serve 100 or more man-days annually. As such, the concept of Air National Guard service as representing only "one weekend a month and two weeks a year" is not necessarily valid.^{[citation needed]}

Many ANG pilots work for commercial airlines, but in the ANG they may train to fly any of the aircraft in the USAF inventory, with the current exception of the B-1B Lancer bomber and the AC-130 Gunship. The Georgia Air National Guard and the Kansas Air National Guard previously flew the B-1B Lancer prior to converting to the E-8 Joint STARS and KC-135R Stratotanker, respectively. In addition, the 131st Fighter Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard recently transitioned from flying the F-15C/D Eagle at St. Louis International Airport/Lambert Field Air National Guard Station to the B-2 Spirit.

In 2012, General Norton A. Schwartz defended cutting nearly twice as many service members from the air guard and reserve as from the active duty USAF, in order to maintain the service's surge and rotational capabilities.^[8]

As state militia units, the units in the Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the United States National Guard Bureau.

The Air National Guard Readiness Center, a field operating center of the United States Air Force at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, performs operational and technical functions to ensure combat readiness of Air Force National Guard units and is a channel of communication between the National Guard Bureau and the states on Air Force National Guard operational activities.^[9]

Air National Guard units are trained and equipped by the United States Air Force. The state ANG units, depending on their mission, are operationally gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized by order of the President of the United States. In addition, personnel and equipment are routinely deployed by the USAF as part of Air and Space Expeditionary Forces, and are currently engaged in combat operations under United States Air Forces Central as part of the Global War on Terrorism.

Air National Guard personnel are expected to adhere to the same moral and physical standards as their "full-time" active duty and "part-time" Air Force Reserve federal counterparts. The same ranks and insignia of the Air Force are used by the Air National Guard, respectovely, and Air National Guardsmen are eligible to receive all United States military awards. The Air National Guard also bestows a number of state awards for local services rendered in a service member's home state or equivalent.

See also: List of United States Army National Guard Observation Squadrons

The Air National Guard was officially established in law as a separate reserve component on 18 September 1947, however, National Guard aviation emerged before World War I with aviation units in Army National Guard organizations.^[10]

In April 1908, a group of enthusiasts organized an “aeronautical corps” at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City to learn ballooning. They were members of the 1st Company, Signal Corps, New York National Guard. Although they received instruction and assembled a balloon, it was not clear whether members of the unit had ever actually ascended in it. In 1910 the unit raised $500 to finance its first aircraft.^[10]

During the Mexican Border Crisis of 1915 Captain Raynal Cawthorne Bolling organized and took command of a unit that became the 1st Aero Company, New York National Guard. It is recognized as the ANG's oldest unit and its lineage is carried by the 102d Rescue Squadron, New York ANG. On 13 July 1916, the 1st Aero Company mobilized during the border crisis with Mexico. It trained at Mineola Field, New York. Bolling's unit was joined at Mineola by the 2nd Aero Company of Buffalo and 12 Guard officers from other states. Both air units remained at Mineola during the crisis.^[11]

The National Guard’s first genuine aviation unit was the Aviation Detachment, First Battalion, Signal Corps of the New York National Guard. Subsequently, the organization was redesignated the First Aero Company. Located at Mineola, Long Island, the unit was formed 22 June 1916, and was called into federal service on 13 July 1916, when the Mexican revolution spilled over the border into the United States. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Guard aviation units would not be mobilized. Instead the War Department disbanded them and individual Guardsmen were encouraged to volunteer for active duty. About 100 National Guard pilots joined the newly-formed United States Army Air Service.^[10]

After the armistice and the return of the American Expeditionary Force in 1919, the wartime squadrons were demobilized and inactivated. The Militia Bureau and the Army Air Service agreed on a plan for re-organizing National Guard aviation units. On 17 January 1921, the 109th Observation Squadron of the Minnesota National Guard (1921-1941) became the first post World War I air unit to receive federal recognition. During the interwar period, 29 observation squadrons were established. They were either integral elements of National Guard infantry divisions or assigned to Army corps aviation.^[10]

An aviator in the 110th Observation Squadron of the Missouri National Guard (1923–1943) became the most famous Guard pilot during the interwar period: Captain Charles A. Lindbergh. His service illustrated the close ties between military and commercial aviation. Trained to fly by the Army, he joined the 110th Observation Squadron in November 1925. The following year, he became chief pilot for an airmail venture started by fellow 110th pilots Major William Robertson and his brother Frank. After Lindbergh made his historic solo trans-Atlantic flight in May 1927, he recalled his service in the Guard fondly.^[10]

The Air National Guard as we know it today, a separate reserve component of the United States Air Force. was a product of the politics of postwar planning and inter-service rivalry during World War II. The leaders who planned and maneuvered for an independent postwar Air Force during World War II had little confidence in the army reserves, especially the state-dominated National Guard. On the contrary, those leaders expected to build the largest and most modern standing force possible. However, domestic politics and American history forced them to significantly alter their plans.^[10]

Determined to include an Air Force National Guard in the postwar U.S. military establishment during World War II, the National Guard Association of the United States flexed its considerable political muscle. It compelled the Army Air Forces (AAF) to plan for a significant Air Force National Guard once the overseas fighting ended. General George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, also pressured the AAF to revise its ambitious plans for a large postwar active duty force. When President Harry S. Truman instituted dramatic postwar military budget cuts, he split defense dollars evenly among the Army, Navy, and Air Force. That move also required the Air Force to plan for a far smaller active duty service than it had envisaged. As a result, the Air Force needed the reserve components (Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve) to help fill the gap.^[10]

As the wartime Army Air Forces demobilized in 1945 and 1946, inactivated unit designations were allotted and transferred to various State Air National Guard bureaus to provide them unit designations to re-establish them as Air National Guard units. As individual units were organized, the Army Air Forces provided them airfields, equipment and surplus aircraft. Once formed, the units began began obtaining federal recognition, and the state Air National Guard units were established. The postwar United States Air Force of the mid-to-late 1940s included the 58,000 members of what became the Air National Guard. Its primary units were 84 flying squadrons, mostly equipped with F-51 Mustang and F-47 Thunderbolt fighters with air defense of the continental United States as their main mission, it's units under the jurisdiction of the Continental Air Command of the regular Air Force. Strategic Air Command had several ANG squadrons assigned with a mission of bomber escort for its B-29 and later B-50 Superfortress bombers.^[10]

18 September 1947, however, is considered the ANG’s official birth concurrent with the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate branch of the United States military under the National Security Act.^[10]

After World War II, the ANG developed a reputation as a glorified flying club for World War II combat veterans. Not only did units and individuals lack specific wartime missions, their equipment, especially aircraft, was obsolete and their training was usually deplorable. Once mobilized, those Guardsmen proved to be almost totally unprepared for combat. Regardless of their previous training and equipment, Guard units were assigned almost at random to major air commands. It took months and months for ANG units to become combat ready; some units never succeeded.^[10]

See also: List of Korean War Air National Guard Mobilizations

During the Korean War, some 45,000 Air Guardsmen, 80 percent of the force, were mobilized. That call-up exposed the glaring weaknesses of the ANG as well as the rest of the American military. While most Air National Guard enlisted members remained with their units during the Korean War, many key officers, especially pilots, were stripped away from their units and used as fillers elsewhere in the rapidly expanding active-duty Air Force.^[12]

Two ANG Wings and six ANG fighter squadrons were deployed to Far East Air Forces (FEAF) for combat operations in Korea in October 1950. Later, numerous individual Guard pilots were deployed to reinforce active-duty units engaged in the fighting. The ANG pilots compiled excellent combat records in the conflict. They flew more than 39,000 combat sorties and destroyed 39 enemy aircraft. Four Guardsmen became aces.^[12]

With the reinforcement of FEAF, Air National Guard squadrons were deployed to Europe in late 1950, being assigned to newly-constructed bases in France as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe. These deployments helped reinforce the NATO commitment of the United States in case the combat in Korea became part of a wider conflict with the Soviet Union. Beginning in February 1951, mobilized units were assigned to Air Defense Command (ADC), Strategic Air Command (SAC) and Tactical Air Command (SAC), replacing or augmenting active-duty units. Guardsmen assigned to ADC also were assigned to various aircraft control and warning as well as radar calibration units. Their organizations either strengthened American air defenses or were converted to tactical air control units that directed Air Force fighter aircraft in the continental United States, Alaska, Newfoundland, Europe, and French Morocco.^[12]

Guardsmen began to be demobilized in July 1952, with their units being inactivated by the active-duty air force. Subsequently, the individual state Air National Guard bureaus re-activated and re-formed the units beginning in January 1953. The initial mobilization fiasco forced the Air Force to achieve an accommodation with the Air Guard and to thoroughly revamp its entire reserve system.^[12]

Although Korean War hostilities ended in July 1953, the Cold War with the Soviet Union persisted. Because of problems associated with the Korean War mobilizations, the Air Force and its reserve components pioneered new approaches like the runway alert program to reserve training and management.^[12]

The Air Division chief at the National Guard Bureau wanted to find an innovative way to provide additional training for fighter pilots after their units were demobilized. At the same time, Air Defense Command could not call upon sufficient active duty Air Force units to defend the continental United States against the Soviet air threat. It was proposed to employ ANG pilots full time from "strategically placed" Air Guard units to perform "air intercept missions" against unidentified aircraft entering United States air space. In addition they would "provide simulated fighter attacks against the Strategic Air Command’s [SAC’s] nuclear-capable bombers."^[12]

Using Air Guardsmen from the 138th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Syracuse, New York, and the 194th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, Hayward, California, the experiment, which began on 1 March 1953, proved a great success. In August and October 1954 eight and nine fighter interceptor squadrons respectively began "standing alert" using volunteer aircrews on a rotating basis for 14 hours a day. The ANG runway alert program required some planes and pilots to be available around-the-clock to become airborne within minutes of being notified to scramble. At its peak, in the mid-1950s, all 70 Air Guard fighter squadrons participated in that program, although that number was reduced to 25 by 1961 due to budget constraints. Most of the runway alert exercises involved interceptions of SAC bombers; although a few actual scrambles turned out to be interceptions of late or off-course commercial airliners. The runway alert experiment in 1953 marked the beginning of the Air Guard’s modern homeland defense role. Moreover, it was the first broad effort to integrate reserve units into a major Air Force combat mission in peacetime on a continuing basis using volunteers.^[12]

Originally the Air National Guard was designed as a combat reserve force. After World War II, its flying units consisted of 72 fighter and 12 light bomber squadrons equipped with obsolescent World War II propeller-driven aircraft while the Air Force transitioned to jet fighters. Although it had no airlift or tanker units, the Guard’s flying units were equipped with a small number of liaison, trainer, and transport planes, and the Air Guard actively sought out new missions and aircraft.^[13]

With the end of World War II the Air Force dropped "Air Commando" or special operations units from its rolls. They were revived for the Korean War. After that conflict, in April 1955, the Air Guard acquired its first special operations unit when the 129th Air Resupply Squadron was federally recognized and two C-46 Commandos were delivered to it at Hayward, California. It was allocated to the Air Resupply And Communications Service (ARCS), a predecessor organization of today's Air Force Special Operations Command^[13]

As its F-51 Mustang and F-47 Thunderbolts became more and more obsolescent in the jet age of the 1950s, the force structure gradually changed to include a significant number of airlift, tanker, and specialized combat-support units. The Air Guard aggressively worked to preserve its existing flying units by obtaining the most modern aircraft available. Some existing Air National Guard fighter units equipped with piston-driven fighters, however could not convert to jets because the runways at the local airports where they were based were too short. In addition, some local leaders simply did not want jet fighters operating in their communities. ^[13]

The Guard considered replacing the fighter squadrons in these instances with transport aircraft a viable option for overcoming runway issues or community objections and also was a way to keep experienced senior aviators in the cockpit. During the late 1950s, the Air Force allowed several Air National Guard units to trade in their aging piston-driven fighters for second-line transports. New Jersey’s newly organized 150th Aeromedical Transport Squadron (Light) became the first pure airlift unit in the Air Guard on 1 February 1956. It received Curtiss C-46D Commandos. Two other aeromedical transport squadrons followed that year, primarily because of the impracticality of converting their locations to modern jet fighter operations. In 1959, the Air Force, in order to save operating funds, planned to phase out 48 C-97 Stratofreighters before their replacements were available to the active force. The Air National Guard requested these aircraft be sent to guard units, and in January 1960, units in California, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, and Oklahoma began trading in their fighters for C-97s.^[13]

Additionally, the Air Guard also took on an air refueling mission. The Air Guard received its first KC-97 aerial tankers in July and August 1961. During that period the 108th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Illinois; 126th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Wisconsin; and 145th Air Transport Squadron, Ohio, converted to KC-97Fs and were redesignated air refueling squadrons.^[13]

World War II had left the city of Berlin 100 miles deep within East German territory, controlled by the Soviet Union, and divided into Soviet, British, French, and United States zones of occupation, administered under local agreements which did not guarantee Western access to the city. Responding to a series of Soviet actions in 1948, the three western allies consolidated their zones and formed the city of West Berlin. For fifteen years the western powers maintained a tenacious hold on West Berlin under periodic harassment of the Soviets. On 13 August 1961, Berliners woke up to find they lived in a divided city. A wall now separated East Berlin from West Berlin. With that provocative act, the Soviet Union ratcheted up the Cold War.

President Kennedy mobilized a limited number of Reserve and Guard units, dispatching 11 ANG fighter squadrons to Europe. All the Guard units were in place within a month of their respective mobilization days, although they required additional training, equipment, and personnel after being called up. In all, some 21,000 Air Guardsmen were mobilized during the 1961 Berlin Crisis.

By August 1962 the units mobilized for the Berlin Crisis returned to state control. They had hardly resumed normal operations when President Kennedy announced on October 22, 1962, that the Soviet Union had placed nuclear warheads in Cuba, only 90 miles from Florida. With the Cuban Missile Crisis, Air National Guard fighter units trained for “no notice” deployments, and volunteer ANG airlift crews and their aircraft augmented Air Force global airlift operations. Air National Guard bases hosted Air Force fighters and bombers dispersed there to avoid a possible Soviet nuclear response to the crisis. But in the end, no ANG unit was federalized.

As a result of these two Cold War incidents, from January through December 1963, for the first time Air National Guard tactical flying units began routinely deploying overseas during their annual training periods, primarily to Europe, to exercise their wartime missions. Air National Guard transport units hauled cargo for the Military Air Transport Service while training for their wartime global airlift role.

With the Regular Air Force tanker fleet being used more and more in Southeast Asia after 1965 and the demands of the Strategic Air Command, which carried nuclear bombs. Both volunteers and Guardsmen on their annual training participated in worldwide air refueling missions to supplement the active-duty force. The Texas Air Guard’s 136th Air Refueling Wing inaugurated Operation Creek Party 1 May 1967, because the Air Force did not have enough tankers available in Europe to train its fighter pilots. The operation eventually involved nine ANG air refueling groups that rotated approximately every two weeks to Rhein-Main Air Force Base in West Germany.

The Vietnam War provided the next significant test for the Air Guard. However, for largely domestic political reasons, President Lyndon B. Johnson chose not to mobilize most of the nation’s reserve forces before 1968. His reasons for not mobilizing reserve forces were many. Primarily, he did not believe that the war in Vietnam, in which the United States merely sought to stabilize the political division of North and South Vietnam as it had existed in 1962, justified the dramatic act of mobilizing reserve and National Guard forces. He accepted the need to fight the war, but he wanted to prosecute it as quietly as possible, not attracting too much attention at home and risk jeopardizing his domestic programs. He also wanted to avoid drawing the Communist Chinese into the war. Moreover, recalling reservists’ complaints of inactivity following the Berlin mobilization of 1961, he was reluctant to recall reservists without the assurance that their employment would significantly affect the course of the war, an assurance no official in his administration could provide. As a result, the Reserves and the Guard acquired reputations as havens for relatively affluent, young white men to avoid the draft.

However, after the 1968 Tet Offensive in which the Communist North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops attacked positions throughout the Republic of Vietnam, the Pentagon dispatched four ANG fighter squadrons to that nation. In addition, the Pueblo Crisis in Korea mobilized air and naval reservists. That crisis prompted the third partial Air Guard mobilization since the end of World War II and eventually two ANG fighter squadrons were dispatched to South Korea. However, the Pueblo crisis ended without a resort to combat.

Reference for above table:^[14]

In the years following the 1991 Gulf War, ANG pilots patrolled Iraq's no-fly zones. During the 9/11 terrorist attacks the first unit to provide air cover was the Happy Hooligans, a North Dakota ANG F-16 unit diverted from flight training while deployed to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Another ANG F-16 unit from Vermont, the Green Mountain Boys of the 158th Fighter Wing, later patrolled the skies over New York City.

The first fighter unit over New York after the attacks began was the 102nd Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, its F-15s being stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. On 22 May 2002 a Joint Resolution was passed by the Congress of the United States recognizing the members of the 102 FW for their actions on 11 September 2001. The resolution in part states: "Whereas on the morning of 11 September 2001, the 102nd Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard became the Nation's first airborne responder to the terrorist attacks of that day when it scrambled two F-15 fighter aircraft just six minutes after being informed of the terrorist hijackings of commercial airliners".^[15]

This is a list of the senior leaders or Generals of the Air National Guard. The title has changed over time: The Assistant Chief, National Guard Bureau for Air,; Chief, Air Force Division, National Guard Bureau; Director Air National Guard.^[16][17]

• List of U.S. Air Force bases
• Flying Squadrons of the Air National Guard

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Air National Guard.

• Official site
• Official Recuiting Site
• Official factsheet
• Air National Guard Human Factors Safety Portal