by Master Sgt. Greg Rudl, National Guard Bureau
Three years after the Base Realignment and Closure rulings, the Air National Guard is finally starting to settle down, the director of the Air National Guard said Sept. 17 here.
"We're actually at a point in history where things have turned the corner," Lt. Gen. Craig R. McKinley told a crowd at the Air Force Association's 24th Annual Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition.
"Our main task right now ... is to recapitalize our force, to design a 21st century Air National Guard that makes sense, that works well with its governors and that integrates sufficiently with the U.S. Air Force," he said.
For example, General McKinley highlighted a Mississippi unit that was scheduled to close in 2011, but has found new life in a new mission.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz announced Sept. 16 that a new training mission has been designated for the Mississippi Air National Guard's 186th Air Refueling Wing at Key Field. "Project Liberty" will create a temporary mission qualification training detachment for the RC-12 aircraft there that will train about 1,000 students during the next two years.
The RC-12 is the Air Force's newest manned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform. Nearly $100 million has been obligated to bring up to seven RC-12 aircraft to the base beginning in January.
On the new mission side, General McKinley also recognized the work that the 107,000-member Air Guard is doing in the unmanned aircraft systems and singled out units in North Dakota, New York, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and, in particular, California's 196th Reconnaissance Squadron at March Air Reserve Base.
He credited members of the 196th RQS, who fly the MQ-1 Predator, for its proactive efforts in transitioning to the UAS.
"They saw an opportunity to seize upon new technology and an emerging mission," he said. He added that 33 percent of the Predator missions flown in the Air Force are flown by Air Guard officials.
Addressing the Air National Guard's domestic response role, General McKinley said that it learned its lessons from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He compared those responses to inexperienced youth soccer -- full of energy but lacking coordination.
"We were all like little soccer players rushing to the scene trying to do everything at once," he said. "Since Katrina and Rita, we've integrated and partnered with U.S. Transportation Command and Northern Command so that we can apply forces just as we do overseas here at home."
The general credited the Louisiana Air and Army Guard for evacuating 7,000 people out of New Orleans prior to Hurricane Gustav.
"These are people that could have probably not have survived in the hospital without power -- people on ventilators, people with critical needs. We put them on airplanes and moved them. That was a tremendous effort," he said.
