D 12.2:H 62/3
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' >U' «’,'«, TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
i
Building a Total Force 1
Volunteers 17
America Attackeds September 11, 2001 33
Wars Without End A5
Support to Civil Authorities 57
Epilogue; Toward the Future 67
r
COVER: A Vermont Air National Guard F-16from the 134th Fighter Squadron, 158th Fighter Wing, conducts combat air
patrol over the still burning World Trade Center site, September •» 12, 200i. (Photographer: Lt Col T^ry B.^ i|^troup. 1^4th 9 ^ * Fighter Squadron, 158th Fighter ^ing, Vermont Air ^ National courtesy Air National Guard.) : Guard. Photo ofVermont ;
. www.ang.af.mil/history l40th Logistics StaffSergeant Leslie Wuerflein, from the Squadrons vehicle maintenance section, Colorado Air National Guard, loads bales ofhay onto a WyomingAir National Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft at Pueblo Memorial Airport, Colorado, mission that will be January 3, 2007, for an emergencyfeeding conducted thefollowing morning. The hay will be dropped near by a La Junta, to help feed livestock that have been stranded snowstorm that has impacted the area. (Photographer: MSgt John Rohrer. U.S. Air Force Photo.) Lieutenant General Craig R. McKinley Director, Air National Guard
he Air National Guard has played significant
roles in all of America’s wars and most of its T major contingencies since the beginning of the 20th century. Governors and citizens alike have looked to
the Air Guard for relief and rescue during community and
state emergencies. Today’s Gitizen Airmen epitomize the
enthusiasm, adaptability, and innovative spirit of America.
Every day they are called upon to defend the freedoms and operated. Air National Guard members rescued 1,443 of our nation and help their fellow citizens in times of crisis. people—heroically saving people stranded by the flood. At eight
Performing according to the highest professional standards of sites along the Gulf Coast, Air National Guard medical units the Air Force, Air Guard members embody our militia heritage treated more than 15,000 patients, combining expert medical and its volunteer tradition. care with compassion. Air Guard members, in 2006, joined
For the past 60 years the Air National Guard has served as their Army counterparts in Operation Jump Start, supporting an invaluable resource for the Air Force and the governors, the Border Patrol in strengthening efforts to help stem the flow transitioning seamlessly between federal and state roles. Air of illegal immigrants into this nation across its southwestern
National Guard members have served around the world and their border with Mexico into the United States. For many years Air military experience and civilian skills have proven invaluable as Guard members have fought wildfires, combated the influx of our nation prosecuted conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian prohibited drugs into the United States, and saved countless
Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. They also served during lives through the daily operations of its search and rescue units. several major contingencies including the Cuban Missile Crisis In addition to their primary federal warfighting responsibilities. and the Berlin Crisis of 1961 to 1962. In addition. Air Guard National Guard aviation units have been performing such members made major contributions in a host of other operations missions for civil authorities at least since 1927. That year the in Panama, the Balkans, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, and the Iraq governor of Arkansas called out his entire 154th Observation no-fly zones instituted after Operation Desert Storm. Squadron to use their aircraft to locate stranded survivors and
In the United States, the Hurricane Katrina relief effort breaks in levees during the great Mississippi River flood. brought into sharp focus the Air Guard’s well established role The Air National Guard’s role within the Air Force has as America’s hometown Air Force. The Air National Guard matured and changed enormously since its establishment as a flew over 3,000 sorties, moved over 30,000 passengers, and separate reserve component September 18, 1947. Originally, hauled over 11,000 tons of desperately needed supplies into the Air Guard was a poorly resourced Mobilization Day fighter
Gulf Coast airfields, some of which Guard personnel opened force requiring weeks of preparation for its major mission: a
i AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY possible war with the Soviet Union. Since then the Air National everything from blizzards and hurricanes to the possibilities of a
Guard has evolved into a highly capable organization held in pandemic flu or another terrorist incident.
a high state of readiness augmenting the active duty Air Force The following history, written by Dr. Susan Rosenfeld and
in a broad spectrum of operational missions around the globe Dr. GharlesJ. Gross ofthe Air National Guard’s history program,
on a daily basis. Beginning with the air defense runway alert documents key facets of the ANG’s evolution and brings them
experiment in March 1953, the Air Guard assumed what up to date as the Air National Guard transforms to meet the
has become known in recent years as an “Operational” role. space and information age and confronts the multiple challenges
Simultaneously, the Air National Guard maintained the of terrorism, insurgency, illegal narcotics, humanitarian and
capability to serve as a “Reserve” force for wars and major peacekeeping operations, conventional warfare, and supports
contingencies. The defense of the United States is the Air civil authorities. Ghief Master Sergeant David P. Anderson’s
National Guard’s primary responsibility as part of the Total Air chapters on Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom
Force and the National Military Strategy. At the same time, in the 2001 to 2004 Air National Guard periodic history
the governors rely on their Air Guard units to help handle contributed invaluable information to this publication.
New Orleans Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (Alvin Callender Field), Belle Chasse. Louisiana, September 1, 2005. (Gil Cohen, In Katrina’s Wake, National Guard Heritage Painting.)
II An F-106A Delta Dartfrom the Golden Bears of California Air National Guard’s I44th Fighter Interceptor Wing launched an AIM-2 Genie air
to air missile in the 1980 William Tell aerial weapons competition. The Wing won overall top honors. (Photographer: TSgt Frank Garzenick. Air National Guard Collection.)
urricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. “This
was, by and large, the worst sight of devastation I’ve ever seen in H my career,” Chief Master Sergeant Pat Malone of the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, Kentucky Air National Guard (ANG) recalled of his
deployment to flooded New Orleans, Louisiana. Chief Malone was among some
40,000 National Guardsmen* who responded. “The sheer magnitude of it and
the conditions we had the guys working in were the most devastating.” As a
1 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY These guys were selfless jumped in there and saved seven straight days.”
veteran of the first Gulf War and the continuing conflicts in Afghanistan
and Iraq, Chief Malone had plenty of
experience to compare with his Louisiana assignment. Working with the 125th Special Tactics Squadron (Oregon), the
212th Rescue Squadron (Alaska), 131st Rescue Squadron (California), and the 103rd Rescue Squadron (New York),
all ANG, the 123td used Zodiac boats to rescue over 1,200 people. They also saved 86 people found wading through the waters or trapped in vehicles. “Once
you really get the guys in there, they’re in
a giant cesspool ofcontaminated water with
anything you can imagine. Anything in
anybody’s garage, any chemical under Kentucky Air National Guardsmen, 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, setting out with Zodiac boats to
anybody’s sink, the oil industties, the rescue survivors ofHurricane Katrina in New Orleans, 2005. (Air Force Photo.) BELOW: A US Air Force C-5 Galaxy, 105th Airlift Wing, New York Air National Guard, Stewart International ahport. deceased, animals, sewage, everything New York, sits on a ramp at the Gtdjport Combat Readiness Training Center, Mississippi, as airmen together,” said. mixed Chief Malone The with the 137th Airlift Squadron unload the cargo bay fidl ofsupport vehicles and eqtdpmentfor Hur- pararescuemen with Malone were trained ricane Katrina reliefoperations. (Photographer: TSgt Micheal O’Halloran. Air Force Photo.)
“to get into confined, collapsed spaces;
conduct search and rescue missions; cut Air National Guatd C-130,” noted one children who needed hospitalization
through roofs; cut down doors; and Guardsman looking back on the ANG’s on two C-130s into Kansas City for
get into places other rescue workers can’t hurticane missions. During Katrina, treatment. The Delaware Air National
. . . These guys were selfless . . . and they Air Guard C-130s ferried in rescuers, Guard’s 1 66th Airlift Wing C-130 crews
jumped in there and saved people for medics, and support workers, and carried brought Army National Guard members
seven straight days.” out the rescued. On September 1, 2005, into Jackson, Mississippi, while Nevada’s
“The shottest distance between a the 139th Airlift Wing of the Missouti 152nd Airlift Wing flew Guard medical
disaster and humanitarian assistance is an Air National Guard flew 3 1 New Orleans teams into Baton Rouge. Pave Hawk
*Both men and women in the Air National Guard are referred to as Guardsmen. rescue helicopters dropped in rescue their localities and Air Force media. Yet, in insight in the early 1960s that took on
teams like Chief Malone’s. Louisiana the United States, the ANG has primary even more significance as the Air Guard
Air National Guard’s 1 22nd Air Support responsibility for the aerial defense of accepted increased responsibilities in the
Operations Squadron had trained to call the United States as well as assisting civil post-Gold War military. Because Guard
in air strikes; alter Katrina, they used authorities to deal with natural disasters. personnel often had previous active those same skills to direct rescuers. In addition, the Air Guard provides duty training and held civilian jobs
First responder-type search and almost half of the Air Force’s tactical comparable to their military duties, and
rescue is only one of the many roles airlift support, combat communications, because of their longevity in individual
played by the men and women of the aeromedical evacuations, and aerial re- units, the ANG could maintain high
fueling. In August 2007 levels of military proficiency with far
it consisted of 13,158 less training time than their active
full time Guardsmen duty counterparts. and 69,901 traditional The National Guard Bureau had
Guardsmen who take on responsibility for administrative matters
that role one weekend a pertaining to the Army National Guard
month plus two weeks a and the Air National Guard, their year. Technicians occupy operation under unified command, and
a special category. They their integration into combat-ready teams
are considered traditional of land and air forces with the Army
Guardsmen serving drill and Air Force respectively. Unlike their
weekends and their annual active duty counterparts in the Air Force,
training, but the rest of most Air National Guard members were
the time they have civil long-time residents of the communities
service status doing the they served, with traditional Guardsmen
same work as their Guard holding a variety of positions including
responsibilities. In August teachers, firefighters, police, dentists, 2007 theANG had 22,833 accountants, and small business owners.
technicians. Guardsmen Because of its strong community ties, the
could serve in one of three Air National Guard was able to command
capacities when involved influential congressional support.
in operations. Normally, Moreover, for most of its responsibilities,
they reported to the state the Guard reported to the governor of its
governors, and the state state or territory.* Those ties gave the
paid for the operation Guard substantial political clout.
(State Active Duty). They Historically, the Air National Guard
could also report to the sought to insure that it remained a Major General Winston P. “Wimpy” Wilson (left) being sworn in as Chief, National Guard Bureau, by Secretary of the Air Force Eugene governor, and the federal viable organization relevant to Air Force M. Zuckert during cei emonies held at Air Force Headcjuarters, Septem- government financed the requirements by acquiring the most ber 4, 1963. (Air Force Photo.) operation under Title 32 advanced aircraft and ground equipment
Air National Guard. Today they carry of the United States Gode (USG), or they available and integrating them into a more responsibilities in the military could be federalized by the president or broad spectrum of missions that the ANG
than at any time in the Air Guard’s Gongress under Title 10 of the USG. shared with the active force. Although the
60-year history. And like the rescues it MajorGeneral Winston P. “Wimpy” Air Guard seldom acquired brand new
conducted in Katrina, its heroic actions Wilson, one of the most important aircraft straight from the factory, it usually
as well as in its less spectacular but officers in Air National Guard history, had been able to maintain the operational
essential support roles, the Air Guard’s and the first from the ANG to head the capabilities of its planes and helicopters
achievements were rarely touted outside National Guard Bureau, contributed an through superior maintenance, high levels
* Tlie exception is the District of Columbia, where the
president of the United States is its head.
3 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY of aircrew experience, rigorous training and realistic exercises, and innovative modernization programs.
The Early Days of National Guard Aviation
The late afternoon shadows lengthened as the sun dropped toward the western horizon over the shell—scarred French landscape. A flight of Royal Air Force
(RAF) SE-5s patrolling at 16,000 feet turned south toward their home base at Bruay. Reed G. Landis, the lone
American in the formation, “hunched A Galludet Tractor biplane which the New York Natioyial Guard aviators retited in 1915- (Air National Guard Photo Collection.) forward in the tiny cockpit and searched the scattered puffs of clouds ahead ... World War I. Larly Guard aviation was began. Captain Raynal Cawthorne suddenly Landis saw the flight leader a product of grassroots efforts. In August Bolling, a prominent New York attorney, rock his wings vigorously and roll into a 1908 the Army formally accepted the organized the Aviation Detachment, steep dive ... Approximately 1,000 feet world’s first military airplane from the First Battalion, Signal Corps of the New below, a half-dozen Pfalz [L.A.] scouts Wright brothers. Meanwhile, that April, York National Guard. That marked were cruising east.” According to Landis’s a group of enthusiasts organized an the Guatd’s first genuine aviation unit. combat report, he “followed the flight “aeronautical corps” at the Park Avenue Subsequently, the organization was down on F.A. scouts, majority of which Armory in New York City to learn tedesignated the First Aero Company. spun. Continued to dive after the F.A. ballooning. They were members of the Located at Mineola, Long Island, the and engaged one as it came out of a spin. 1st Company, Signal Corps, New York unit was formed June 22, 1916, and
Fired short bursts from both guns into National Guard. Although they received was called into federal service on July
F.A., which did several turns of a spin and instruction and assembled a balloon, it 13, 1916, when the Mexican revolution then fell into a dive.” Landis, a former was not clear whether members of the spilled over the border into the United
Illinois Guardsman who volunteered for unit had ever actually ascended in it. States. However, instead of active service aviation duty, scored his first official kill. In 1910 the unit raised $500 to in the southwest, it remained at Mineola
He went on to become one of America’s finance its first aircraft. The investment for training and was demobilized on leading aces in World War I with ten crashed along with the plane on its initial November 2, 1916. aerial victories. (An ace had to have at takeoff during maneuvers that same year. The failed call-up convinced Captain least five confirmed aerial victories.) He However, the following year, the Curtiss Bolling that National Guard aviation was one of four former Guardsmen to Aeroplane Company loaned the New units could never be effective military achieve the coveted status of ace in that York Guardsmen an aircraft and pilot organizations. Aside from the difficulty of conflict. Their spectacular individual Beckwith Havens. When Havens later obtaining funds and spare parts, Bolling achievements underscored that, despite joined the unit as a private, he became the saw the main problem as the inability to little interest from either the states or National Guard’s first aviator. In August recruit expert mechanics into the National federal government, the Guard had been 1912 he flew with the Army in joint Guard. Instead his unit had to rely entirely a hotbed of interest in American military maneuvers; on paid civilians to maintain its aircraft. aviation during its early days. Prior to World War I civilian flyers, Both Bolling and the acting chief of the
Although the ANG was not officially businessmen, and National Guardsmen Militia Bureau, a regular Army officer, established in law as a sepatate reserve attempted to form Guard aero units in were convinced that military aviation component until September 18, 1947, various states. On Novembet 1, 1915, could only be developed under the auspices
National Guard aviation emerged before more than a year after the war in Europe of the active force. Consequently, the
4 War Department decided Guatd aviation units would not be mobilized during
World War I (April 1917 to November
1918 for the United States). Instead the War Department disbanded them and individual Guardsmen were encouraged to volunteer lor active duty.
N evertheless, when President Woodrow
Wilson asked Congress lor a declaration of war in April 1917, Guardsmen provided a major pool of aviators for the Army.
Approximately 100 of them had either qualified as pilots or were in training to become military aviators. Under War
Department policy they had to leave the Guard and volunteer for the Signal
Corps Reserve if they wished to remain in aviation during the war. Captain Charles A. Lindbergh, Missouri National Guard, and members of his National Guard unit, 110th Observation Squadron, solo Although no reliable comprehensive after he flew aeross the Atlantic Ocean, 1927. (Courtesy of 131st Fighter Wing, Missouri Air National Guard.) figures exist on how many Guardsmen actually served in the U.S. aviation ground fire to drop supplies to the “lost veterans and other talented fliers joined program during World War I, they made battalion.” But flying at an altitude postwar Guard aviation units. During significant contributions as individual of 200 feet, their aircraft was downed the interwar period, 29 observation volunteers. ThemostlamousoftheGuard’s by enemy rifle and machine gun fire. squadrons were established. They were lour aces was Major Reed Chambers who Both Bleckley and Goettler received the either integral elements of National was credited with six aerial victories. He Medal of Honor posthumously for their Guard infantry divisions or assigned to joined the Tennessee Guard in 1914 and heroism. Bleckley was the first of three Army corps aviation. served on the Mexican border in 1916 National Guard aviators to be awarded The National Guard’s observation before becoming an original member the nation’s highest military decoration. responsibilities directly supported ground of the famed 94th Pursuit Squadron in Initially, the War Department and troops by looking for the enemy and
France. On April 14, 1918, Chambers the Army Air Service had no intention helping direct artillery fire. An aviator
Hew with Captain Eddie Rickenbacker on of organizing aviation units in the in the 110th Observation Squadron of the first combat mission ever ordered by postwar National Guard. However, the Missouri National Guard became an American commander of a U.S. Army some Guardsmen and their political allies the most famous Guard pilot during squadron of American pilots. such as congressmen and governors had the interwar period: Captain Charles A.
Second Lieutenant Erwin R. Bleckley, developed an intense interest in flying. Lindbergh. His service illustrated the close a field artilleryman from the Kansas Responding to political ptessure and ties between military and commercial
National Guard, volunteered for the availability of surplus wartime aviation. Trained to fly by the Army, he aviation duty after he reached France. aitcraft, the War Department changed joined the 1 10th Observation Squadron
On October 5, 1918, members of its position. Early in 1920 the Militia in November 1925. The following year, the squadron attempted to locate and Bureau and the Air Service agreed on he became chief pilot for an airmail resupply an American infantry battalion a plan for organizing National Guard venture started by fellow 1 1 0th pilots that had been cut oil by the Germans in aviation units. On January 17, 1921, Major William Robertson and his the Argonne Forest. The following day, the 109th Observation Squadron ol brother Frank. After Lindbergh made
Bleckley and his pilot, First Lieutenant the Minnesota National Guard became his historic solo trans-Atlantic flight in
Harold E. Goettler (a non-Guardsman), the first postwar air unit to receive May 1927, he recalled his service in the braved very poor weather and intense federal recognition. Many World War I Guard fondly. He wrote that his fellow
5 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY pilots “joined the Guard for two reasons them up. Once the storm arrived they during the ill-fated raid against enemy
that still hold up: first, the opportunity flew their single-engine biplane Curtiss oil tefineries at Ploiesti, Romania, on
it offered to keep in flying training, and Jennies low in driving rain to airdrop August 1, 1943. He received the Medal
second, they considered it a patriotic supplies to families marooned in trees and of Honor posthumously for his courage
duty to keep fit for immediate service in on rooftops, and guided rescue boats to and leadership that day.
the case of a wartime emergency.” stranded people.
However, in the pre-World War By the late 1920s the Guard’s The Air National Guard II period. Guard aviators also honored the observation mission in direct support
citizen soldier tradition by assisting civil of ground troops became increasingly is Born
authorities in domestic emergencies, most marginalized in the opinion of Air The Air National Guard as we know it
notably during the devastating Mississippi Corps officers. Changing doctrine and today—a separate reserve component River flood of April and May 1927. revolutionary advances in aeronautical of the Air Force—was a product of Arkansas Governor John Martineati called technology drove the Army’s air arm the politics of postwar planning and
up the 154th Observation Squadron, to concentrate increasingly more of its inter-service rivalry during World War
Arkansas National Guard, which flew resources on the strategic bombardment II (December 1941 to August 1945 over 20,000 miles across their state saving mission. As a consequence of that shift, for the United States). The leaders
during the 1930s, the Air Corps turned who planned and maneuvered for an
over almost all of its responsibility for independent postwar Air Force during
observation aviation to the Guard. That World War II had little confidence in the
pattern of shifting all or major portions of reserves, especially the state-dominated
less important missions from the regulars National Guard. On the contrary,
to the Guard (and later the Reserves) those leaders expected to build the
persisted through the remainder of the largest and most modern standing force
20th century. possible. However, domestic politics
and American history forced them to
significantly alter their plans.
Guard Aviation Determined to include the National
in World War II Guard in the postwar U.S. military
In 1940 National Guard observation establishment during World War II, squadrons were mobilized as non- the National Guard Association of the
divisional formations and absorbed into United States flexed its considerable
the Army Air Forces. Approximately political muscle. It compelled the
4,800 National Guard aviation personnel Army Air Forces (AAF) to plan for a
were called up. While the majority of significant dual-component reserve force
their units retained their numerical including an Air National Guard once Reth'ed Colorado Air Guard Tedmical Sergeant Harry Ejnily, 90. He joined the National Guard designations, most lost their character the overseas fighting ended. General in 1938 and was discharged after World War 11. as Guard organizations. The rapidly George C. Marshall, Army Chief of He recalled that there were 17 members in 1946 expanding Army Air Forces used a Staff, also pressured the AAF to revise when they reorganized the 120th Aero Observa- tion Squadron into the 120th Tactical Fighter majority of the key Guard members to its ambitious plans for a large postwar
Squadron which flew P-51 Mustang fighters, help organize and train the multitude active duty force. When President 2007. (Photographer: Spc Jessica Stone, Colo- of volunteers that flooded into the Harry S. Truman instituted dramatic rado National Guard. Air Force Photo.) wartime service. Some like Lieutenant postwar military budget cuts, he split thousands of lives. Even before the floods Colonel Addison Baker of the Ohio defense dollars evenly among the Army, reached their state, 60 members of the National Guard achieved important Navy, and Air Force. That move also
1 54th pointed out potential breaks in the combat leadership positions during the required the Air Force to plan for a far levees and airdropped food, medicine, war. Baker died while commanding smaller active duty service than it had and supplies to the workers shoring the 93rd Heavy Bombardment Group envisaged. As a result, the Air Force
e needed the reserve components to help date, the same day the Air Force became establishment. After World War II, fill the gap. a separate service under the National the Guard developed a reputation as
Against die best professional judgment Security Act of that year. a glorified Hying club for World War of the Air Force leadership, the Air Force II combat veterans. Not only did units of the mid-to-late 1940s included the and individuals lack specific wartime 58,000 members of what became the Air The Korean War and After missions, their equipment, especially
National Guard. Its primary units were The Korean War (June 1950 to July aircraft, was obsolete and their training, 84 Hying squadrons, mostly fighters with 1953) was a turning point for the U.S. usually deplorable. Once mobilized, those air defense of the continental United military establishment including the Guardsmen proved to be almost totally
States as their main mission. In 1946, as Air National Guard. Some 45,000 Air unprepared for combat. Regardless of individual units began obtaining federal Guardsmen, 80 percent of the force, their previous training and equipment. recognition, a separate Air Guard began were mobilized. That call-up exposed Guard units were assigned almost at to emerge. September 18, 1947, however, the glaring weaknesses of the ANG as random to major air commands. It took is considered the ANG’s official birth well as the rest of the American military months and months for ANG units
7 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY to become combat ready; some units In fact six ANG fighter squadrons Guardsmen belonged to the organization’s never succeeded. and numerous individual Guard pilots aircraft control and warning as well as its
While most Air National Guard serving in Air Force units compiled radar calibration units. Their organizations enlisted members remained with their excellent combat records in Korea. They either strengthened American air defenses units during the Korean War, many key flew more than 39,000 combat sorties or were converted to tactical air control officers, especially pilots, were stripped and destroyed 39 enemy aircraft. Four units that directed Air Force fighter away from their units and used as fillers Guardsmen became aces. Flowever, the aircraft in the continental United States, elsewhere in the rapidly expanding initial mobilization fiasco forced the Air Alaska, Newfoundland, Europe, and Air Force. Eventually, the mess was Force to achieve an accommodation French Morocco. sorted out. The recalled Guardsmen with the Air Guard and to thoroughly During and after the conflict in contributed substantially to the air revamp its entire reserve system. Korea, Congress played a key role in war in Korea and to the Air Force’s Although flying units garnered most placing reserve programs on a sound global buildup for an expected military of the attention during the Korean War, footing. Congress was much more willing confrontation with the Soviet Union. 11,000 of the 45,000 mobilized Air than either the Department of Defense or
Beginning on March 1, 1953, two Air National Guard units—the 138th Fighter^fnterceptor’Wl^mtdron from Syracuse, New York, pictured here, and the 194th Fighter Bomber Squadron Hayward, California-each placed fi-om two Fr5ID fighters andfive pilots on air drfense “runway alert"fi one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. The runway alertprogram Was thefirst broad effort to integrate reserveforces intTa ^kjor Air Force operational mission on a volunteer basis duringpeacetime. (Gil Cohen, Runway Alert, National Guard Heritage Painting.)
8 their civilian employers but not being
able to tell them why. “But with Cold War tensions remaining high, employers
were eager to help.”
In August and October 1954 eight
and nine fighter interceptor squadrons
respectively began “standing alert” using
* volunteer aircrews on a rotating ^ basis fot 14 hours a day. The ANG runway alert program required some planes and
pilots to be available around-the-clock to become airbotne 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 numbet was reduced to
25 by 1961. Most of the runway alert exercises involved SAC bombers; the few
actual scrambles turned out to be late
or off-course commercial airliners. The
runway alert expetiment 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 Captain John McMahn and Sergeant White, ofthe 182nd Fighter Bomb Squadron, Texas Air National
Guard, close out flight records at Taegu, South Korea, following their F-84T becoming the first such mission in peacetime on a continuing aircraft to complete 1 flying hours, 1952. (Air Force Photo.) ,000 basis using volunteers.
Because of problems associated the military services to fund the teserves Finch proposed to employ pilots full with the Korean War mobilizations, the properly. Moreover, beginning with the time from “strategically placed” Air Air Force and its reserve components passage of the Armed Forces Reserve Act Guard units to perform “air intercept pioneered new approaches like the ot 1952, a series of key laws fostered the missions” against unidentified aircraft runway alert program to reserve training development of more effective reserve entering U.S. air space. In addition they and management. The Air Guard received components. would “provide simulated fighter attacks support for its innovations from its strong
Although Korean War hostilities against the Strategic Air Command’s political base in the states and Congress. ended in July 1953, the Cold War [SAC’s] nuclear-capable bombers.” More significantly, key Air Force and persisted. Georgia Air Guard Major Using Air Guardsmen from the Air National Guard leaders agreed to
General George G. Finch, former Air 138th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, put their past differences behind them
Division chief at the National Guard Syracuse, New York, and the 194th to build on increasingly effective reserve Bureau, wanted to find an innovative Fighter Bomber Squadron, Hayward, programs. The Air National Guard had way to provide additional training California, the experiment, which a creative and politically savvy leader in for fighter pilots after their units were began on March 1, 1953, proved a great General Wilson, then head of the ANG demobilized. At the same time, the Air success—except that it had to remain organization in the National Guard
Defense Command could not call upon a secret at least for the time being. Bureau. Mobilized from Arkansas in sufficient active duty Air Force units to Brigadier General Curtis J. Irwin, the 1950 for the Korean War, he expected to defend the continental United States 138th commander, later recalled trying serve in Washington, DG, for 2 1 months. against the Soviet air threat. General to obtain the services of his pilots from Instead he remained for 21 years. Wilson
3 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY —
served as head of the Air National Guard first time. The ANG now began to to be prepared to respond within a few from 1954 to 1962. In 1963, he became train against those requirements and days once they were recalled to active the first Air Guardsman to serve as Chief plans. Guard leaders proposed the air duty. To support flexible response and of the National Guard Bureau, staying in defense runway alert program as a way to improve readiness, Secretary McNamara that position until 1971. Under Wilson’s combine realistic training with support of proposed shrinking America’s large leadership, the ANG transformed from a a significant combat mission in peacetime. reserve establishment and merging the flying club to a valued reserve component As the first broad effort to integrate reserve National Guard with the purely federal of the Air Force. units into the regular peacetime operating reserve components. Such efforts had
General Wilson and others recognized structure of the American armed forces been tried several times since World that the Air Guard faced a dim future on a continuing basis, that program was War II, always failing. It failed again unless it acquired definite wartime the precursor to the Air Force’s total force in the early 1960s. The secretary then missions and integrated with Air Force approach to reserve components’ training created a selected reserve force in each operations on a regular basis while meeting and utilization. of the military services. Those units the same tough training standards as the Another significant innovation had priority access to equipment, could active duty force. To be ready for combat the gaining command concept of recruit to full wartime strength, and were the moment it was called into fedetal reserve forces management— meant allowed to conduct additional training service, the Air Guard also needed more that the major air command responsible each year. They would provide most of full-time manning and additional training for using a Guard or Reserve unit in the nation’s strategic military reserve in periods for its aviators. Finally, General wartime would actually train it during the United States while a growing share
Wilson and others fought hard to acquire peacetime. Air National Guard leaders of the active force was engaged in the modern aircraft and facilities. General had pressed for that arrangement for Vietnam War.
Wilson emphasized the high experience years. In 1960 budget cuts and criticism level found among Air Guard individuals of the air reserve programs forced the and units and convinced the Air National active duty Air Force to adopt the Reshaping the Air National
Guard, the Air Force, Congress, and the concept. It improved the effectiveness Guard Force Structure states to accept those concepts. of ANG units by giving Air Force Originally the Air National Guard was
Pushed by its Air Guard and Reserve commanders direct personal incentives designed as a combat reserve force. After and their political supporters, the Air for improving the performance of those World War II, its flying units consisted
Force adopted several management and organizations. In addition, it established of 72 fighter and 12 light bomber training innovations after the Korean War firm precedents for the total force policy squadrons equipped with obsolescent
ANG transformed from a flying club fo a valued reserve componenf of the Air Force.
that promoted the evolution of combat- by integrating the Air Guard into the World War II propeller-driven aircraft ready reserve forces. The most significant daily operations of the active force. while the Air Force transitioned to jet policy innovations included placing those The selected reserve force program fighters. Although it had no airlift or air reserve forces in war plans, the ANG’s another major policy innovation—reflected tanker units, the Guard’s flying units participation in the air defense runway then Secretary of Defense Robert S. were equipped with a small number alert program, the “gaining command McNamara’s determination to build of liaison, trainer, and transport concept” of reserve forces management, an elite force of highly capable reserve planes. To preserve its flying units the and the selected reserve force program. units to support the John F. Kennedy Air Guard actively sought out new
In 1951 the Air Force established administration’s flexible response policy. missions and aircraft for them including specific mobilization requirements for That policy expected America’s military transports and tankers, a practice that the Air Guard in its war plans for the forces, including its reserve components, still persists.
10 After the Korean War, the Air infiltrate into hostile territory through Squadron (Light) became the first pure
National Guard’s force structure grad- land, sea, or air to conduct a variety of airlift unit in the Air Guard on February ually changed to include a significant operations, many of them classified. The 1, 1956. It received Curtiss C-46D number of airlift, tanker, and specialized personnel undergo rigorous selection Commandos. Two other aeromedical combat-support units. The Air Guard and lengthy, specialized training.” They transport squadrons followed that year, aggressively worked to preserve its were revived for the Korean War. After primarily because of the impracticality of existing flying units by obtaining the that conflict, in 1954, the Air Force, converting their locations to modern jet most modern aircraft available. Those preoccupied with its high technology fighter operations. included growing numbers of large buildup for a possible global nuclear war Three years later. General Wilson aircraft used in special operations, with the Soviet Union, planned to phase learned that the Air Force, in order to aeromedical transport, strategic and out its remaining special operations save operating funds, planned to phase tactical airlift, and aerial refueling units. General Wilson and governors in out 48 C-97 Stratofreighters before missions. Although those planes were four states agreed to establish new units their replacements were available to the usually older models no longer needed the Air Force was no longer interested active force. Wilson proposed sending by the active force, they were gradually in assisting. Consequently, in April those planes to ANG fighter-interceptor integrated into the service’s daily 1955, the Air Guard acquired its first squadrons and Air Force Secretary operations by the Air National Guard as either a by-product of training needs or in response to specific emergencies. The Air Guard found prop-driven transports important at that time for several reasons. Some existing Air
National Guard fighter units equipped with piston-driven F-51s 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. Guardsmen and the affected communities, however, were determined not to lose those units.
Korean War operations suggested that experience and maturity were the keys to victory in jet combat. Nevertheless, the Air
Air Natior^al GiMrd, is loaded aboard Guard believed that only relatively young F-104Afrom the 157th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, South Carolina a C-124for shipment to Europe during the Bej'lin crisis, 1961. (Office of Air Force History, USAF.) men were capable of performing well in modern fighters. The Guard considered airlift a viable option for keeping senior special operations unit when the 129th James H. Douglas, an airlift officer in aviators in the cockpit. Finally, with the Air Resupply Squadron was federally World War II, approved the proposal. advent of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), recognized and two C-46s were delivered In January 1960, units in California, some observers concluded that the days to it at Hayward, California. Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, of fighter units were numbered. Encouraged by Guardsmen and their and Oklahoma began trading in their
With the end of World War II the political allies, during the late 1950s, the Air fighters for C-97s.
Air Force dropped special operations Force allowed several other Air National Air National Guard leaders were units from its rolls. “Special Operations Guard units to trade in their aging fighters determined to further expand the ANG’s
Forces are small, elite military units with for old transports. New Jersey’s newly role in key Air Force missions. In 1960 special training and equipment that can organized 150th Aeromedical Transport they convinced the National Guard
11 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY Association of the United States that “Broadening the Air National Guard missions is essential.” To limit Guard missions to a small number of defense requirements made units vulnerable to program changes. “A well-balanced Air
National Guard with missions in all areas of the defense requirements, is a sound goal.” As a result, the Air Guard also took on an air refueling mission.
The Air Guard received its first KG-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. Ground crew prepares an F-lOO of Colorado’s 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron for combat mission at Phan Rang Air Base, South Vietnam. (Air National Guard Collection.) The Guard’s desire to preserve all of its existing Hying units with the most modern aircraft available encouraged revealed during that mobilization, in hosted Air Force fighters and bombers a significant numbet of conversions to February 1963, the Air Force formally dispersed there to avoid a possible Soviet tanker and strategic airlift aircraft during proclaimed the policy goal of having nuclear response to the crisis. But in the the remainder of the 1960s. the air reserve components immediately end, no ANG unit was federalized.
available to augment the active force Gradually, the Guard’s airlift and
to a spectrum of conflicts including tanker units became involved in the daily
Cold Warriors guerrilla and limited conventional operations of the active force as part of
On August 13, 1961, Berliners woke up warfare. Both the ANG and the Air their training. From January through to find they lived in a divided city. A wall Force Reserve also received increased December 1963, for the first time for now separated East Berlin from West resources. Nevertheless, not until the an air reserve component Air National
Berlin. With that provocative act, the 1980s did theit units secure adequate Guard tactical flying units began
Soviet Union ratcheted up the Gold War. equipment and training to become routinely deploying overseas during
President Kennedy mobilized a limited deployable quickly for global wartime their annual training periods, primarily number of Reserve and Guard units, tasking on an across-the-board basis. to Europe, to exercise their wartime dispatching 1 1 ANG fighter squadrons By August 1962 the units mobilized missions. Air National Guard transport to Europe. All the Guard units were in for the Berlin Crisis returned to state units hauled cargo for the Military Air place within a month of their respective control. They had hardly resumed Transport Service while training for their mobilization days, although they required normal operations when President wartime global airlift role. additional training, equipment, and Kennedy announced on October 22, The 1960s also saw the inaugura- personnel after being called up. In all, 1962, that the Soviet Union had placed tion of a major refueling operation. some 21,000 Air Guardsmen were nuclear warheads in Cuba, only 90 miles Creek Party, which flourished almost mobilized during the 1961 Berlin Crisis. from Florida. With the Cuban Missile daily from 1967 to 1977. The Texas
Reliance on second-rate equipment Crisis, Air National Guard fighter units Air Guard’s 136th Air Refueling Wing and primitive living conditions during trained for “no notice” deployments, and inaugurated Operation Creek Party the Berlin call-ups continued to plague volunteer ANG airlift crews and their May 1, 1967, because the Air Force the Air Guard units deployed to western aircraft augmented Air Force global airlift did not have enough tankers available
Europe. To ameliorate the problems operations. Air National Guard bases in Europe to train its fighter pilots.
12 The operation eventually involved nine approximately 10,600 Air Guardsmen active duty force. In practical terms, the
ANG air refueling groups that rotated were called into federal service. total force policy sought to insure that all approximately every two weeks to Rhein- Just prior to Tet, the North Koreans policymaking, planning, programming,
Main Air Force Base in Germany. During seized the electronics surveillance ship and budgetary activities within Defense those years, the Air Force tankers in Pueblo as it cruised near the Korean considered active and reserve forces Europe primarily supported the Vietnam coast. President Johnson, contending concurrently and determined the most
War and the demands of the Strategic Air with Vietnam, sought a diplomatic efficient mix of those forces in terms of
Gommand, which carried nuclear bombs. resolution to that crisis. However, he costs versus contributions to national
Both volunteers and Guardsmen on their sent Air Force tactical aircraft to South security. The policy also insured that annual training participated. A permanent commander and a small detachment of “All four Guard squadrons In South enlisted personnel stayed there full time to serve as liaison with the active duty Air
Force and provide continuity. Operation Vietnam had convinoed everyone—
Greek Parry demonstrated that the Air
Guard could sustain an overseas rotation partlouiarly the Vietoong— that they without necessitating a mobilization by the president or Congress. In addition, it were highly qualified professionals established a pattern for future overseas operational rotations using volunteers on with a zest and enthusiasm equal short tours. The Vietnam War provided the next to any in Vietnam. significant test for the Air Guard. Fiowever, lor largely domestic political reasons. Korea and mobilized air and naval Reservists and Guardsmen, not draftees or
President Lyndon B. Johnson chose not reservists. That crisis prompted the third volunteers, would be the first and primary to mobilize most of the nation’s reserve partial Air Guard mobilization since the source of manpower to augment the active forces. The senior leadership of both the end ofWorld War II and eventually two duty forces in any future crisis. active duty military establishment and the ANG fighter squadrons were dispatched During the early 1970s necessity reserve forces tried in vain to reverse the to South Korea. However, the Pueblo forced Air Guardsmen to scramble for president’s decision to avoid a major reserve crisis ended without a resort to combat. other aircraft and more viable missions mobilization. As a result, the Reserves and while managing, with congressional the Guard acquired reputations as havens help, to scuttle the proposed deactiv- for relatively affluent, young white men to The Total Force ations of several ANG units. Because of avoid the draft. Based largely on the Air Force’s experience force structure reductions, a significant
Following the 1968 Tet offensive in with its own reserve components, the number of older C- 1 30 Hercules tactical which the Communist North Vietnamese Pentagon adopted the total force concept airlifters became available for the Guard and Vietcong troops attacked positions in 1970. Dr. Theodore Marrs, an and Reserve. In April 1970 Galifornia’s throughout the Republic of Vietnam, the enthusiastic former Air Guardsman who 115th Tactical Airlift Squadron
Pentagon dispatched four ANG fighter served as a high ranking civilian official acquired C-130As, becoming the first squadrons to that nation. According in the Air Force and the Department of ANG unit to be equipped with that to the Chief of the National Guard’s Defense in the early 1 970s, received much aircraft. Nevertheless, Guard leaders annual report lor that year, “All four of the credit for developing it. Reserve fought hard but failed to retain the
Guard squadrons in South Vietnam had forces planning and policymaking were strategic airlift mission. That situation convinced everyone— particularly the influenced by total force ever since. The caused members of the National Guard Vietcong—that they were highly qualified concept sought to strengthen and rebuild Association Executive Gouncil to professionals with a zest and enthusiasm public confidence in the reserves while publicly question whether or not the ec|Lial to any in Vietnam.” That year saving money by reducing the size of the active force really accepted it as a full
13 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY .
partner under the auspices of the total force concept.
Congress eventually came to the aid of the Guard’s hard-pressed airlift community. In June 1979 the 137th Tactical Airlift Wing, Oklahoma, marked the first time an ANG airlift unit was equipped with brand new transport aircraft: it received four factory- fresh C-130Hs. Several years later
Congress institutionalized the practice of purchasing limited amounts of new weapons and equipment for the reserve components. Under the auspices of a separate appropriation for Guard and
Reserve equipment established in 1982, 69 brand new C-130s entered the ANG’s inventory from 1984 to 1991.
Air Force opposition to giving the
Guard and Reserve jet tankers changed in the early 1970s because of technological progress and post-Vietnam defense budget U.S. Air Force Airman Paula Toay (left) thefirstfemale unit member assigned to the North Dakota Air cuts, transforming the Guard’s role in air National Guard, gets help with her 5-56 mm M16A1 i-ifile,from Air National Guard instructors during a marksmanship course at Hector Field, North Dakota. (U.S. Air Force Photo.) refueling. In July 1972 Air Guard units began supporting Air Force tanker task additional sources of manpower became membership to 12,856 personnel (13.8 forces overseas with planes and volunteer apparent. That produced two major social percent) by September 30, 1979. crews when needed. Triggered by a 1974 transformations in the National Guard: it The Air Guard experienced its decision by Secretary of Defense James became a racially integrated organization second major social transformation
R. Schlesinger to save money, Ohio’s and women joined in significantly greater regarding women. Less than one percent l45th Air Refueling Squadron acquired numbers. As late as June 30, 1971, of the Air Guard consisted of women the ANG’s first jet tanker in April 1975 the Air Guard had only 888 African when the draft ended. Moreover, women when it began converting from KC-97Ls Americans (1.01 percent) and 1,456 other had been excluded completely from to KC-135As. Altogether, the Air Force minorities (1.66 percent) in its ranks. It the Air National Guard until 1956 transferred 128 older KG- 135s to the air faced a daunting challenge augmenting when President Eisenhower authorized reserve components. Lieutenant General minorities first, because of the Guard’s the appointment of female nurses. In
Richard L. Lawson, the Eighth Air established emphasis on obtaining trained October 1956 Gaptain Norma Parsons
Force commander and one of the former prior service veterans. Second with Erb became the first female to join the opponents of giving the Guard tankers, pressure to produce diversity throughout National Guard. That month she entered observed in 1 977: “There is no such a thing the American workforce, the Guard the New York ANG as a nurse and rose
as a ‘weekend warrior’ in my judgment . . competed with other military services and to the rank of colonel before retiring in aircrews from Guard units ... are standing the private sector for minority recruits 1986. However, women could not enter
... shoulder-to-shoulder, same facilities, who possessed high levels of education the Air Guard in non-nursing fields until same ground rules, same requirements as and advanced technical skills. As a result November 1967 when Gongress removed their active duty counterparts.” ANG experienced a comparative dearth a two percent personnel strength and
In 1973 President Richard M. Nixon of qualified applicants. However, the rank ceiling limitations imposed by the instituted the all-volunteer military. new emphasis on recruiting underserved Women’s Armed Services Act of 1948.
Without the draft, the need to secure populations brought total ANG minority Gonsequently, on July 1, 1968, the
14 nonfiying, missionsupportunits. However,
grassroots efforts by the states to increase
the number of ANG dying units were rejected by the National Guard Bureau.
Instead many units were allowed to
increase the number of aircraft assigned
to them when the Air Force made those
planes available. The expiration of the
Soviet Union, beginning with the fall of
the Berlin Wall and Glasnost in 1989 and
culminating in the USSR’s breakup into
its republics in 1991, constituted a major
upheaval that continued to influence
global politics into the 21st century. Under President George H. W. Bush
the United States once again engaged
in combat with the support of the Air National Guard. In December 1989 and January 1990, ANG volunteers
participated in Operation Just Cause, the
invasion of Panama, to secure the arrest
of Panamanian dictator and accused drug lord Manuel Noriega. The ANG had been
conducting operations in Latin America
since the late 1970s to defend the Panama
Canal and to provide training support,
embassy resupply, search and rescue, and
Tl)e pilot ofa I57th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-16A Fighting Falcon aircraft of the South Carolina counterdrug operations. In addition the Air National Guard prepares for a mission with the help of two ground creivmen. The 157th is one of ANG airlifted supplies and hardware to several sqttadrons combined to form the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing (Provisional) during Operation Des- remote radar sites and performed aerial ert Storm. (Air Force Collection.) mapping operations. Crews already in
National Guard Bureau authorized the 1 980s, women were dying every type of Panama also participated in Just Cause. states to enlist and appoint women to Air Force aircraft. By spring 1986, the Air National Guard volunteer C-130 nonmedical positions. Air Guard had 12,551 women (11.4 crews completed 1 8 1 sorties moving 3, 1 07
The Air Force finally admitted percent) and minority representation passengers and 551.3 tons of cargo for women to Bight training in 1976. In had increased to 16,130 (14.6 percent). Just Cause. Mississippi’s C- 14 1 -equipped
January 1978 the Air Guard claimed its During the 1980s changes in the Air 172nd and C-5-equipped 105th Airlift first female pilot when Second Lieutenant Guard’s force structure and readiness Wing from New York also contributed.
Marilyn Koon pinned on her silver were primarily driven by President In addition. Air Guard A-7 Corsair II wings and joined Arizona’s l6lst Aerial Ronald Reagan’s military buildup and fighters from South Dakota’s 11 4th
Rekieling Group. In April 1992 Colonel the need to prepare for a possible war Tactical Fighter Group and Ohio’s 180th Roberta V. Mills of the Tennessee ANG between the North Atlantic Treaty Tactical Fighter Group flew 34 combat became the first Air Guard assistant to Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw missions in support of the invasion. the head of the Air Force Nurse Corps. Pact in Centtal Europe. The ANG Belying Air Force doubts about Air
On April 8, 1992, she became the first focused on modernization, more realistic Guard performance, and applying the woman ever promoted to general olficer combat training, increased readiness, same standards as active duty units. Air rank in the National Guard. In the mid- and personnel growth, primarily in Guard units succeeded during operational
15 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY readiness inspections. In Air Force-wide and aerial refueling sorties, and manning war with the remnants of the Soviet
competitions, Guard units and individuals aerial ports. Guardsmen also flew attack, Union. To do that it was prepared to
frequently placed high or won. For aerial reconnaissance, special operations, tailor its responses to fit the situation
example, the South Carolina Air Guard’s and tactical airlift missions. and serve the needs of the active duty
1 69th Tactical Fighter Group garnered top Relatively few ANG outfits were Air Force. Mobilizing entire flying units
team honors in the Air Force’s worldwide mobilized as units. Instead, the Air Force and maintaining their integrity while
gunnery contest, Gunsmoke ’89. The Air called up packages of equipment and in federal service, although desirable,
Guard and the total force concept would personnel that were developed after the would no longer be the only acceptable
be tested again in the major operations crisis began. While that created some approach to supporting the Air Force
of the 1990s: Desert Shield and the first problems when units found they needed in a crisis. Instead the Air Guard would
Gulf War, Desert Storm. the reassigned individuals, the Air Guard be flexible in its response in order to
validated its approach to the total force fit the situation. That could involve
policy during the Persian Gulf crisis. The individual volunteers, tailored packages
Desert Shield resources and hard work of the 1980s paid of volunteers, or mobilized Guardsmen
and Desert Storm off Compared to previous mobilizations, developed in response to specific
Following the seizure of Kuwait by Iraqi ANG units and individuals were much contingencies (“situations requiring
forces in August 1990, the Air Force better prepared to perform their missions military operations ... to protect US turned to its reserve components for help upon entry into federal service. Units interests”). On the other hand entire and was swamped with volunteers. Before were well equipped and well trained. units up to wing level could mobilize
President Bush mobilized Reservists and As planned, they were able to respond and operate as stand-alone units on
Guardsmen on August 22, 1990, nearly much more rapidly and effectively than austere bases.
1,300 Air Guardsmen actually entered in previous call-ups. They were integrated By validating the total force policy, active duty as volunteers. Initially, most into operations with their active duty the Air Guard strengthened its ability to of them concentrated on aerial refueling and Air Force Reserve counterparts with play a major role in the post-Cold War and airlifting American forces to the a minimum of disruption and delay. U.S. military establishment. In the eyes
Persian Gulf region. The first two ANG Once in federal service, they performed of its senior leadership, the Air Guard’s units to volunteer before the president’s ably by any standard across a broad military capability was no longer a mobilization order were the 105th Military spectrum of missions. In contrast to early significant question. The real concern,
Airlift Group, New York ANG, and the mobilizations, in most areas. Air Force however, was the accessibility of Air
172nd Military Airlift Group, Mississippi leaders showed no reluctance to call on Guard assets for repeated and extended
ANG. Respectively, they flew the C-5A the Air Guard. While the availability of federal callups in the new world order. and the C-141. KC-135 Tankers also adequate active duty fighter resources Senior Air Force officials were concerned participated in those early deployments. limited the ANG’s patticipation in the that volunteers would not always be
Those early volunteers helped the Air Force first Gulf War, in at least two areas, airlift available from the Guard when needed. meet its operational commitments with- and aerial refueling, the contributions of As a result, the officials were often more out forcing President Bush to announce a the Air Guard and the Air Force Reserve comfortable with the idea ofmobilization. premature reserve mobilization. were essential to the speed and the scope Air National Guard leaders, on the
Altogether, 12,456 Air Guardsmen of the American military intervention in other hand, feared that repeated callups, participated in Ait Force operations the Persian Gulf voluntary or mobilization, and long tours during the Persian Gulfcrisis. When called The roles played by the Air Guard in of active duty would drive airmen out of upon, Air Guardsmen were immediately the Persian Gulf crisis defined it for a new their units. Nevertheless by reinventing prepared to perform their missions era. Despite some misgivings because of itself during the Persian Gulf conflict, alongside their active force counterparts. the potential impact on unit morale and the Air National Guard and its leadership
They did not need additional training or cohesion, the ANG had to be capable sought to demonstrate to the Air Force new equipment to do their jobs. They of responding to a broad spectrum of that ANG assets would be available to were integrated into most of the Air missions ranging from counterterrorism augment the active duty force as a valued
Force’s operational missions, flying airlift to regional conflicts and even a major partner whenever needed.
ie enior Master Sergeant Bob Myco crawled under the A- 10 Thunderbolt
at the end of the foreign runway, carefully performing a last-minute S inspection. Also known as the Warthog, the Flying Gun, and the
Tankbuster, the A- 10 had as its mission ground attacks against tanks, armored
vehicles and installations, and close air support of ground forces. Sergeant Myco
looked for cuts in the tires, gas or oil leaks, and exterior panels that had not been
properly secured. Weapons personnel removed safety devices from the aircraft’s
missiles and the pilot was ready to launch. As the A- 10 taxied to the runway.
/^AirlWteA-fOA ThnhUii'r^oltil aircraftfrom the 104th Fight^ Group, Massachusetts Air National Guard, taxis on the runway at A^idno Air Base, Pordenone, Italy, to take offfor NATO airstrikes
against the Bosnian Serbs, September 6, 1995- (Photographer: TSgt Bruce Sherwood. Air' Force Photo.) f ^ : :
17 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY Myco signaled thumbs up and saluted. A other contingency operations during of a new era. Instead of preparing only for very long day later and 6,000 miles to the the 1990s also marked another major conventional warfare—a World War III west, he wandered through the familiar stage in the gradual transformation of or a major regional conflict—the ANG base hangar where he had worked for the ANG to an organization capable of recast itself as a major partner in the
40 years. Glancing at his watch— it was both short notice mobilizations and long daily global operations of the Air Force. 3:30 a.m. local time—Myco realized term voluntary augmentations of global It modernized its weapons systems and that he only had a few hours before he Air Force operations while operating added new missions to its portfolio. had to be ready for work. The Westfield, a broad range of modern weapons Relying primarily on volunteers. Air
Massachusetts, school system was intro- systems. Through 1999, despite some Guardsmen participated in actual, “real ducing its new superintendent. As a significant exceptions to the general world” military operations on a daily high school guidance counselor, Myco pattern, most of that augmentation basis to relieve the growing deployment could not afford to be late. Like other capability came from aviation packages burdens carried by active force personnel. members of the 104th Fighter Wing of of individuals from several Air Guard Following the first Gulf War, the the Massachusetts Air National Guard flying units. For Air Guardsmen, the Air Guard’s senior leadership in the
(ANG), Sergeant Myco had just spent growing pace of overseas operations National Guard Bureau began to adapt part of his summer vacation launching intensified the competing demands of their organization for the post-Gold War aircraft from Aviano Air Base, Italy, on their families, civilian jobs, and military era in a series of far-reaching discussions For Air Guardsmen, the growing pace of overseas operations intensified the competing demands of their families, civilian jobs, and military duties. peacekeeping and combat missions over duties. Generally, those conflicting with top echelon Air Force personnel,
Bosnia. Idis unit had deployed to Italy pressures were kept within acceptable state officials, unit leaders, and members between August and October 1995. bounds because the Guard stressed of Congress. Essentially, the Air Force
Myco’s experience had become short— 15 to 30 day—voluntary tours of agreed it would attempt to retain all increasingly common for Air Guardsmen active duty by traditional (i.e., part-time) ANG and Air Force Reserve flying units as the United States struggled to cope Guard members and an increased reliance while reducing its own as a cost-effective with growing instability in the Balkans, on the ANG’s growing complement of way to maintain a post-Cold War force
Middle East, and Africa. The availability full-time support personnel. structure. The Air Guard experienced a of significant numbers of well-trained, modest decline in assigned personnel from combat-ready units and individuals in 117,786 in September 1991 to 108,487 the Air National Guard and the Air Adapting the Force for the by September 2001 while the number of Force Reserve enabled a shrinking Post-Cold War Era uniformed active duty Air Force personnel active duty Air Force to expand reserve The breakup of the Soviet Union signaled shrank dramatically from 510,432 to participation in contingencies during the end of the Cold War. Looking toward 353,751 during that same period. Driven most of the 1990s without involuntary a more peacefiil future and eager to by its growing involvement in real world recalls to active duty. Because of repeated balance the budget, post-Gulf War U.S. operations, the acquisition of more activations during that decade and the defense policies produced major changes sophisticated weapons systems, and the high level of personnel stability in ANG for the Air National Guard. Between the acceptance ofnew missions, the proportion flying units, a majority ofthem contained reduction of America’s active duty armed of full time Air Guard personnel grew from large numbers of personnel familiar with forces and the interventionist foreign 28 percent in October 1991 to nearly 31 the Balkans and the unique operational policies of U.S. presidents, the ANG percent 1 0 years later. requirements in that volatile part of adapted its force structure, organization, To preserve its flying units in the the world. The growing involvement equipment, and operating procedures to face of increasingly tight budgets, the Air of Air Guardsmen in the Balkans and remain relevant to the military requirements Guard’s senior leadership in the National
18 Guard Bureau decided that they would
modetnize their reserve component’s
aircraft inventory. It would achieve that
in several ways. As limited amounts
of newer equipment became available
Itom a smaller Air Force, and budgets tightened, the ANG would reduce the
numbers of aircraft assigned to each unit.
11 necessary, it would combine units at
the same locations. Some organizations
would close down, but only as a last
resort. Furthermore, the Air Guard
leaders vowed to seek new missions.
They emphasized that their organization
must accomplish needed changes in a
cooperative manner with the Air Force.
The Guard depended on a healthy, active
Air Force and it could not afford a bitter
fight with that service over increasingly
tight resources.
Aided by the newer aircraft Irom
the shrinking Air Force inventory, the Air Guard modernized and reshaped
its Heet after the Cold War. The size
and composition ol the ANG’s aircraft Ah' National Guardpersonnel useforklifts to unloadpallets ofcargo from a C-130 Hercules aircraft in inventory changed significantly after Split, Croatia, December 1, 1994. (Air Force Photo.)
1991. In September of that year it
possessed 1,551 mission and support had not adequately supported ANG’s The first Air Guard F-I6s equipped
aircraft. That figure diminished to 1,180 requirements for that critical equipment. with LITENING II pods and night
by December 2001. Accelerating a trend The Air National Guard consequently vision goggles deployed to Incirlik Air
that had begun following the Korea War, initiated an acquisition program with Base, Turkey, in September 2000 to
the Air Guard continued to shift from the Air Force Reserve Command to participate in Operation Northern Watch,
a predominantly fighter force to one develop a new precision ground attack which enforced a no-fiy zone over Iraq.
that incorporated units responsible for capability. As its goal ANG sought In addition, the Air Guard pursued
a broad spectrum of Hying and combat to acquire for F-16 Block 25/30/32 relatively new or “sunrise” technologies support missions. Fewer and fewer aircraft, around-the-clock, all-weather, and missions such as space operations.
combat aircraft were in that mix. From precision strike capabilities against Air National Guard senior leaders and
1991 to 2001 the ANG experienced sutface targets. Northrop Grumman’s planners began evaluating ways to involve
an enormous growth in large aircraft advanced technology LITENING II their organization in space missions as
including C-130s, KC-135s and B-ls at targeting pod met the specifications. early as 1988. Because ol hesitation by
the expense of smaller fighter planes. The Air Guard’s participation in real Air Force Space Command to accept
One ofthe most critical modernization world Air Force operations was a such ANG initiatives. Air Guard
challenges facing the ANG involved crucial factor in securing the support leaders launched a “full court press” to
its extensive Heet of older model F-I6s, needed to obtain adequate numbers educate Space Command leadership
especially the requirement to conduct of targeting pods. In addition, ANG on the ANG’s space potential. Success
precision attacks of ground targets initiated programs to equip its fighters came when the 137th Space Warning
around-the-clock in poor weather with computer data links, night vision Squadron of the Colorado Air National
conditions. Historically, the Air Force goggles, and nighttime cockpit lighting. Guard was activated at Greeley on
19 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY January 21, 1996. By the end of 2000 the Air National Guard by focusing on yet still meet the civilian employment
the Air Guard boasted three more units workforce diversity and assuring fair and family needs of its traditional with space-related missions. and equitable participation for all. The members while avoiding the politically
Another major change involved goal is to recruit, tetain and promote sensitive and bureaucratically complex organizational formats. The ANG men and women from every heritage, mobilization process. had long held that it should consist racial, and ethnic group.” By the end of Together Reserve and Guard troops of self-contained units that operated 1999, the Air National Guard was 8.7 contributed some 1 3 million days of duty and maintained their own equipment. percent African-American, 3.3 percent to real world operations each year from
Historically, most of those units had Asian/Pacific Islander, and 5.3 percent 1991 through 2000. Within the total Air been located at municipal airports, Hispanic, in every case representing Force, significant percentages of some not Air Force bases. After General tiny increases from the beginning of the of its most critical mission capabilities
Lloyd Newton, commander of the Air decade. Women, however, increased resided in its reserve components: e.g.,
Education and Training Gommand, from 13.1 to 16.4 percent of the force. 64 percent of its tactical airlift, 55 requested assistance to help the Air percent of its aerial refueling, 38 percent
Force train F-15 pilots, ANG established of tactical air support, and 27 percent its first fighter training associate unit Real World Operations of its strategic airlift in 2001. It seemed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, on Following Operation Desert Storm, Air unlikely that the Air Force would ever
October 1, 1999. Guard personnel became increasingly take on even a small real world operation
Establishing diversity within the Air engaged in helping the active duty without calling upon the Air Guard and
Guard continued as a goal throughout armed services conduct operations Air Force Reserve. the 1990s. However, its definition and around the globe. The 15-day active Air National Guard units had methods changed depending on the duty tour to support real world significant incentives to participate in real
ANG director. Major General Paul operations was popular with traditional world operations. Especially for tankers
and transports, such operations provided Air National Guard senior good training for Guardsmen. Their airlift and air refueling operations mirrored most
of their war plan training requirements.
leaders and planners began Fighter units benefited from deploying
and flying in hostile areas where they evaluating ways to involve were occasionally threatened by ground fire from surface-to-air (SAM) missiles their organization in space and antiaircraft artillery. However, like their active duty counterparts. Air Guard
fighter pilots had to catch up on critical missions as early as 1 aspects of their combat training after they
returned from overseas deployments.
Weaver Jr., a transport and fighter (i.e., part-time) Air Guardsmen because Such deployments also reminded senior pilot who led the Air National Guard it coincided with their required period American political and military officials of from January 1998 to February 2002, of annual active duty for training and how important the Air Guard had become put a particularly strong emphasis on could be substituted for the latter. To to the nation’s total military capacity in diversity. He strengthened the Human prevent the Air Guard from becoming an era of diminished defense resources.
Resources Quality Board and the role of merely a manpower pool of individual Although limited in scope, the
Human Resources Advisers in the field replacements for active duty Air Force practice ofdeploying Air Guard volunteers in an effort to promote a more diverse members, most Guard volunteers served overseas on short active duty tours to
Air Guard culture. Under General in tailored “packages” of manpower and support real world operations was already
Weaver, the Diversity Office in the equipment provided by their units. That well established before the Gold War
Personnel Division proclaimed as its practice enabled ANG units to augment ended. For example. Air National Guard goal: “to increase mission readiness in the increasingly hard-pressed Air Force units equipped with KG-97L tankers
20 had refueled Air Force fighters in Europe Eorce, in 1989. As the 1999 transfer of the Iraqi no-fly zones and were active in from 1967 to 1977 with volunteers on the Canal to Panama approached, the Air the Balkans. short tours of active duty in Germany. Guard began turning the operation over Other overseas operations during
During the 1970s ANG and Air Force to contractors. The last Air Guardsmen the 1990s took Air Guardsmen to
Reserve flying units began serving short completed their deployments to those Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Haiti, tours in Latin America. South American sites in 1999. and Rwanda to augment the Air
In August 1990 ANG F-15 and The fighters assigned to South Force in a series of contingencies and
F-16 fighter units initiated similar America were an exception. Although humanitarian relief operations. As in rotational seiwice for Operation Coronet Air Guard airlift and tanker units were Latin America, units usually deployed
Nighthawk, the successor to Volant already routinely engaged in real world volunteers overseas on short tours of Oak, out of Howard Air Force Base, operations during the early 1990s, active duty. Air National Guard and
Panama. Those units monitored such was not the case with most of Air Force Reserve units would generally suspected airborne drug traffickers its large fighter force. Only 22 of 800 assume responsibility for an operation transiting Central America as well ANG fighter aircraft were deployed for 30 to 90 days, and then rotate their as the adjacent oceans. The ANG outside the western hemisphere in 1993 personnel on 1 5 to 30 day tours to a given continued to play a significant role in and 26 in 1994 to participate in real location until the commitment ended. counterdrug operations as the active world operations. To lower potential Despite the high level of personnel duty Air Force concentrated its resources barriers to greater ANG participation turnover, the training and the relatively elsewhere. Beginning in 1989 the Air in such operations, especially by fighter high experience levels of those volunteers
Guard deployed mobile ground-based units, the Air Guard worked around enabled them to function effectively in a radar assets to the Caribbean to help the existing Cold War era system of wide variety of missions. strengthen existing U.S. and host nation accessing its units. The ANG developed Testifying before a congressional capabilities in the region. Eventually, provisional or “rainbow” units of committee in March 1996, Air Guard the Air Guardsmen operated two radar personnel and equipment from several Director Major General Donald W. sites in Colombia as well as one each organizations that came together for Shepperd explained how the ANG’s in Ecuador and Peru. Each site could specific short-term deployments. In growing involvement in global military operate around-the-clock throughout addition the Guard expanded the use of operations had changed the lives of its the year. Although active duty Air Eorce the mandatory 1 5-day annual training members. He stressed, “We used to stay officers commanded, the rest of the periods to involve Guardsmen in real home and train. We still do but we have personnel were Air Guard volunteers. world operations and promoted greater taken on new roles.... In the old days,
The radar sites were part of an Andean reliance on full-time ANG personnel in five overseas training deployments was air interception strategy for illegal drugs operational deployments. Most of the a heavy year. This year we did twenty.” developed by Headquarters, U.S. Air fighters overseas in the 1990s ptotected Shepperd added, “In the old days, the
F-16ADFs fimn the I44th Fighter Wing, California Air National Guard, and the 1 19th Fighter Wing, North Dakota Air National Guard, at Howard Air Base, Panama, for Operation Nighthawk, June 1996. (Photo courtesy of Lt Col Steve Couchman, National Guard Bureau.)
21 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY Air Force was large enough to handle order and a secure environment that as needed. Volunteers from four Air
all but the largest contingencies. Now, would lead to a political reconciliation. Guard hospital units also served at Cairo
we are called upon to supply major Those operations continued to run West. In addition. Air National Guard
portions of our strategic transports simultaneously and eventually came to Security Police from three squadrons and tankers immediately even for small be considered as one effort. participated in the Somalia effort. contingencies. Our average aircrew Air National Guard participation The American attempt to build
participates 110-120 days per year in Restore Hope began in August 1992. an effective civilian government in
with the Guard, our average support Originally an air refueling operation. Somalia fell apart after the famed personnel 60-80.” Shepperd added Air Guard and Reserve tankers and “Black Hawk Down” incident that
that Guardsmen walked “a fine line of crews based at Moron, Spain, helped ended with 18 American soldiers killed
cooperation” between their families and maintain an air bridge that accelerated and 84 wounded during a gun battle in
their employers, on the one hand, and the movement of troops, supplies, and Mogadishu in October 1993. As a result
their willingness to participate in the equipment from the United States to President Bill Clinton’s administration’s
ANG, on the other. He concluded, “Our
job is to work carefully this balance.” One important measure of the growing demands placed upon Air
Guardsmen was the sharp increase in the average number of workdays they
performed above their minimum 39-day
annual military obligation (i.e., 15 days of annual training and 12 weekends).
That average participation figure grew
from five additional workdays per
Air Guardsman during Fiscal Year
1990 to 27 in Fiscal Year 2001, a 540
percent increase. Moreover, the Air
National Guard’s percentage of total
Air Force aircraft deployments for real world operations increased from 10 Major General Donald W Shepperd, Director, Air National Guard, visits with Air Guardsmen in the Bal- to 50 percent. Despite its enormously kans. (Air Force Photo.) increased level of activity, the Air
Guard’s overall personnel retention rate Somalia. Air Guard and Reserve C- support for that nation-building effort
remained steady at about 90 percent. 14 Is and C-130s flying from a base at evaporated. In March 1994 the last
Somalia, in Africa, provided the Mombassa, Kenya, also delivered food American troops left Somalia and chaos
first major post-Gold War test of Air and medicine to Somalia. Because of the returned to that nation. On the basis
Guard volunteerism for real world state of anarchy on the ground, aircraft of the Somalia fiasco, many American
operations. In it, the United States led flew in and out of the country as quickly military planners and senior officers
an international coalition, approved as possible, unloading cargo with engines concluded that force protection and few
by the United Nations (UN) Security running, to avoid any threats to aircraft or no American casualties would be the
Gouncil, which intervened militarily and crews. Altogether, the Air Guard principal criteria for gauging the success
to protect humanitarian relief efforts. contributed elements of eight airlift of future operations.
Operation Provide Relief began in the and 18 air refueling units to Somalia African relief efforts, however, con-
summer of 1992 as an effort to alleviate relief operations. Volunteer medical tinued. On July 22, 1994, President
famine in that country ravaged by a technicians from nine ANG aeromedical Clinton committed U.S. military forces
war between Somali tribal factions. In evacuation squadrons supported the to help provide relief to refugees from
December, a new effort. Operation operations from Cairo West, Egypt, a civil war in Rwanda who had fled to
Restore Hope supplemented it to bring and rotated into Mogadishu, Somalia, neighboring countries. Between April
22 Technical Sergeant Bill Feenstra arms an AIM 9 Sidewinder missile on an A-lOA Thunderboltfrom the 172nd Fighter Group, Michigan Air National Guard, prior to take offfrom Aviano Air Base, Pordenone, Italy. He is one ofmany Guardsmen who volunteeredfor Operation Deny Flight to enforce the United Na- tions no-fly zone over war-toryi Bosnia-Herzegovina, December 14, 1994. (Photographer: Sgt Mike Reinhardt. Air Force Photo.)
6, 1994, when the war began, and cargo and carrying 4,021 passengers. and 824 passengers, while accumulating
July 16, 1994, when it ended, Rwanda While U.S. military personnel were 464.3 flight hours.
was engulfed in a genocidal killing participating in humanitarian relief
spree that claimed up to 800,000 efforts in Rwanda and neighboring
lives, forced two million people to flee states, a long running political crisis Balkan Blowback
the country, and displaced another in Haiti finally came to a head. That In the early to mid 1990s most of the
million individuals within its own impoverished Caribbean island nation former communist nations in Eastern
borders. The United States and other had its democratically elected president Europe pursued peaceful means to establish
nations initially refused to intervene ousted by a military coup in September democratic forms of government, develop
militarily to stop the killing. However, 1991. Three years later the military capitalist economic systems, and cultivate
by the end of July, American military leaders were pressured to leave power. closer ties with NATO member states. But
personnel deployed to Africa to set up United States forces landed on the island in a bloody blow back from the Gold War,
the inlrastructtire needed to provide to restore order and help reestablish civil Yugoslavia followed a radically different
U.S. support that would complement institutions. The Air Guard responded path. Marshall Josip Broz Tito had
international humanitarian relief efforts. within a few hours to Air Force requests maintained Yugoslavia as a multiethnic
That mission focused on providing food, for assistance to Haiti in Operation communist state independent of the
water, shelter, and health care to the Uphold Democracy (later renamed Kremlin’s control following World War
refugees. Air Guardsmen participated Operation Maintain Democracy). The II. After Tito’s death in 1980 that Balkan
in the Rwanda relief operations in ANG provided volunteer aircrews and nation unraveled with the major conflict
two rotations from July 30, 1994, to C-130 transports from 14 units to between the ethnic Serbian Ghristians and
November 15, 1994. Their C-130s flew support the U.S. military intervention. the Muslims of Bosnia. Following U.S.
915 sorties while logging 1,598.2 flying Those Air Guardsmen completed 149 military intervention in the early 1990s
hours and delivering 4,515.8 tons of sorties, carrying 324.3 tons of cargo to deal with the growing crisis, increasing
23 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY numbers of Air Guardsmen became
involved in Operation Provide Promise in
that turbulent corner of Europe.
In July 1992 crews and C-130s
from West Virginia’s l67th Airlift Group inaugurated ANG involvement in Operation Provide Promise by flying
food and relief supplies from Rhein-
Main Air Base in Germany to Sarajevo,
Bosnia’s capital, which had a population of 380,000. That operation expanded
significantly the following February
to included airdrops of food and
medicine to Muslim enclaves in eastern Bosnia blockaded by Bosnian Serbs. Altogether, personnel and G-130s from
12 ANG units participated in Provide Promise. During the operation. Air Force, ANG, and Reserve transports
flew 4,533 sorties and delivered 62,802 metric tons of cargo. They performed
airlift, airdrop, and medical evacuation
missions. The Americans made a major
contribution to the overall allied effort, which involved airmen from 21 nations. Forma- Yugoslavia, 1996. (Central Intelligence Agency.) The humanitarian airlift operation accounted for about 95 percent of the joined the contingent from Connecticut. restrictions. Although the next month aid delivered during the three-and one- Along with unit personnel the six Air former U.S. President Jimmy Carter half-year siege of Sarajevo. National Guard and six Air Force negotiated an uneasy cease-fire for the
On April 2, 1993, NATO troops from Reserve A- 10s returned to their home troubled region, it was broken in May
Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, stations in mid-January 1994 after 1995 when other former Yugoslavians, the
Spain, Turkey, Germany, and Italy flying 520 sorties and accumulating over Croatians, recaptured western Slovenia
as well as the United States launched 1,400 hours of Deny Flight flying time. from the Serbs. After that offensive chaos
Operation Deny Flight, a no-fly Air National Guard tanker support of returned to the tegion. NATO initiated zone for Serbian aircraft over Bosnia- Deny Flight began in June 1994 with a bombing campaign. Operation
Flerzegovina. It enforced a March the dispatch of 10 KG- 13 5s and 18 Deliberate Force, in August 1995 after
1993 UN Security Council Resolution aircrews from six units to Istres, France, the Serbs shelled a Sarajevo marketplace
passed to help prevent the war from and Pisa, Italy. By the time Deny Flight killing 38 civilians and wounding 85
spreading. The operation also provided ended on December 20, 1995, elements more. A contingent from the 104th
close air support to UN ground forces of seven Air Guard fighter and 1 1 air Fighter Wing participated in Operation
serving as peacekeepers, and air strikes refueling units had participated in it. Deliberate Force. The intensity of the against Serb weapons threatening UN- Ground fighting in 'Bosnia- bombing stunned the Serbs. Coupled
designated safe areas in Bosnia. The F3erzegovina escalated in the fall of 1994. with victories of an American-trained
first ANG fighter unit involved was Fearing the situation was spiraling Croatian-Muslim army in western Bosnia, Connecticut’s A-lO-equipped 103rd completely out of control, the UN asked that operation fotced the Serbs to sue
Fighter Group. Aircraft and personnel for NATO air strikes on Serbian forces. for peace. NATO halted the bombing
from Maryland’s 175th Fighter Group Those attacks began on November 21, on September 14, 1995, and ended
and Michigan’s 110th Fighter Group 1994, but were hobbled by UN targeting Deliberate Force six days later. Air
24 power helped bring all sides to the peace Guard during 1997. The unit’s one-of- The situation in Kosovo, Serbia,
table, but establishing a formal cessation a-kind Commando Solo aircraft could home to ethnic Albanians, in the late
of hostilities proved very difficult. An conduct various kinds of information 1990s was perhaps the worst of the
effective cease fire was finally instituted warfare including electronic attack and Balkan conflicts. Operation Allied Force, as
in October. The following month the intelligence collection missions. For Bosnia- NATO’s response was called, began that
presidents ol Bosnia, Croatia, and Herzegovina, however, it beamed in year following the failure of diplomatic
Serbia negotiated a peace agreement at radio and television broadcasts. Air Guard negotiations with Serbian President
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near combat communications and air traffic Slobodan Milosevic. During the 1 980s he
Dayton, Ohio (the Dayton Accord). On control organizations also contributed had stripped Kosovo of its autonomy and
December 14, 1995, the formal signing to NATO peacekeeping operations in instituted repressive policies. A Kosovo ceremony took place in Paris. the Balkans during the mid-1990s. Liberation Army (KLA) developed,
The Air Guard returned to the Ultimately, not enough reserve air traffic which fought for independence. In
Balkans in the mid-1990s as part of the controllers filled the void left by Air Force March 1998 Serbian discrimination
NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia, reductions for operations around the against Albanians turned into systematic
Operation Joint Guard, and its successor.
Operation Joint Forge. Volunteers from
13 Air Guard airlift units provided 71 C- 130s to Joint Forge. On average, ANG airlift deployment packages consisted ol approximately 75 personnel and
two C-130 aircraft. They were based at
Ranastein Air Base, Germany, to provide
the necessary airlift support for U.S.
military forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina and other locations across Europe.
Rather than lock in commitments,
tour lengths varied from several weeks
to several months depending primarily
upon the availability of volunteer Air
Guardsmen. Air National Guard aircraft and personnel continued to serve in an operational pool of total force airlift StajfSergeants Steven Schreiner (left) and Shari Marsh, Refueling Squadroti, 155th Air Refiielmg Wing, assets assigned to the 38th Airlift Nebraska Air National Guard, ensure a KC-135R Stratotanker is ready to relieve heavily tasked active
duty units during Bosnia peacekeeping efforts, December 1, 1997. (Photographer: MSgt Rose S. Reyn- Squadron (Provisional) at Ramstein Air olds, USAF. Air Force Photo.) Base. Although more expensive than
longer deployments, the shorter tours globe. The Air Force then used a form of government-sponsored violence against
held several advantages for the Air Guard limited mobilization called a Presidential the insurgent KLA. Milosevic coined the
C-130 units. They spread the burden Reserve Gall-Up (PRG) for ANG units term “ethnic cleansing” for his efforts
giving a larger number of these units the serving at Tazar, Hungary. The PRGs to rid his country of all Albanians by
operational expertise gained by European enabled the president, without obtaining promoting massacres of civilians and
deployments while enabling them to congressional authority, to recall as many other acts of terrorism.
maintain vigorous training programs in as 200,000 Guardsmen and Reservists Once President Glinton decided
the United States that were critical to to active duty for as long as 270 days to upon military action, the Air Guard
sustaining operational readiness. conduct operational military missions in responded quickly. With only seven
Volunteers and EC-130E Commando a specific geographic area. Eventually, days elapsing between their call-up and
Solo aircraft from the Pennsylvania 264 Air Guardsmen were called to active deployment,AirGuardA-l 0 pilots began
Air Guard’s 193rd Special Operations duty under PRG to support U.S. military flying combat missions in Kosovo May
Group also supported Operation Joint operations in the Balkans. 21, 1999. A senior Pentagon military
25 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY official told media representatives that Air Guardsmen made an impressive combat debut. “The first night into the fight the Guard A- 10s destroyed almost a dozen [Serbian] tanks and the same number of artillery pieces.
It was a great show right off the bat.”
Those 18 A- 10s deployed to Europe as the 104th Expeditionary Operations
Group, a “rainbow” unit of personnel and equipment from the 104th Fighter Wing, Massachusetts, 110th Fighter Wing, Michigan, and the 124th Wing, Idaho. The “rainbow” configuration was employed because no single ANG A- 10 unit possessed enough fighter aircraft to meet the United States European
Command’s wartime requirements for An A-lOA from the Air National Guard’s 104th Expeditionary Operations Group is armed for a combat mission at Trapani Air Base, Sicily, Italy, during Operation Allied Force, 1999. (Air National Operation Allied Force. Guard Collection.) Allied Force was a relatively one- sided military contest. The Serbs were President Clinton authorized an power system, and bridges across major isolated diplomatically and militarily and involuntary call-up on April 27, 1999, rivers as well as military installations and the tiny Serb air force could not challenge that included 25,000 Air Guard and the economic resources of Belgrade’s
NATO. Moreover, allied airmen quickly Reserve personnel. In addition to ruling elite. destroyed or disabled the Serbian’s small the A- 10 fighters. Air Guardsmen As in Bosnia the 193rd Operations inventory of MiG-29 fighters. From the helped maintain the tanker air bridge Squadron from Pennsylvania provided outset of hostilities the alliance rejected over the Atlantic Ocean using KG- 135 two EC- 130 Commando Solo aircraft using ground forces and went to great aircraft and volunteer personnel to to send broadcasts to the population lengths to avoid casualties among its refuel U.S. military aircraft deploying below. Those Air Guardsmen participated
“The first night into the fight the Guard A- 10s destroyed almost a dozen [Serbian] tanks and the same number of artillery pieoes. It was a great show right off the bat,” own aircrews and minimize enemy to Europe. Air Guardsmen and Air in missions lasting about seven or civilian deaths. American military leaders Force Reservists also provided essential eight hours and their ground support throughout the chain of command logistics, communications, and other personnel worked 12 to 14 hours every expected that two or three days of ground-based support services and flew day with no time off. By the time they bombing would destroy Milosevic’s airlift aircraft during Operation Allied redeployed to their home station on determination to resist NATO and the Force. While Serbian forces continued July 2, 1999, they compiled 735.7 international community. Instead, the rampaging through Kosovo, NATO mission flight hours while logging war lasted 78 days before ending on focused its escalating air attacks on 1,338.7 broadcast hours. Altogether
June 20, 1999. Serbian industries, oil refineries, electrical 4,064 Air Guard personnel, including
26 volunteers, and 83 fighter, tanker, communications personnel and air weather conditions using the Adverse airlift, and special operations aircraft traffic controllers also deployed to Weather Aerial Delivery System and were called into federal service for Allied various locations. night vision goggles. The I67th Airlift
Force serving both in Europe and in the The establishment of a fragile peace Squadron crews successfully delivered
United States. in Kosovo did not end the political troops via parachute and airdropped
Meanwhile in 1999 five ANG instability in the Balkans. American cargo over obscured targets at night. units deployed eight C-130s, crews, and forces, including elements of the Air support personnel to Bosnia-Herzegovina National Guard, continued to engage for Operation Joint Forge, a peacekeeping in peacekeeping operations along with Operation Southern Watch mission. Known as Delta Squadron, their NATO allies and the Russians. After the first Gulf War ended in 1991, and operating out ol Ramstein Air The Air National Guard, bolstered air power played a significant role in
Base, Germany, 1,084 Air Guardsmen by upgraded equipment, continued containing Saddam Fiussein’s regime rotated through short active duty tours. to serve in the Balkans into the 21st in Iraq, as did a naval blockade and
Personnel from a large number of century. When the 167th Airlift Wing, United Nations economic sanctions. units in the ANG battle management West Virginia ANG, deployed for Together those forces also crippled the community also participated either their three-week rotation to Ramstein economic and military foundations in Europe or remained at their home Air Base in November 2001, aircrews of Fiussein’s power. The Air National stations and trained personnel who did successfully demonstrated their ability Guard participated widely in that long deploy. Air National Guard combat to conduct airdrops under adverse campaign, which featured U.S. and
Four F-16C Block 40 Fighting Falcon aircraft assigned to the 188th Fighter Squadron, 150th Fighter Wing, New Mexico Air National Guard, carrying LANFIRN targetingpods, start engines prior to missions, at AhmedAlJaber Airbase, Kuwait, during Operation Southern Watch, April 21, 1998. (Photog- rapher: AlC Greg L. Davis, USAF. Air Force Photo.)
27 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY coalition aircraft maintaining two no-fly 1999 through September 11, 2001, was Air National Guard members while zones over portions of Iraq: Operation 16 percent. meeting a critical Air Force tasking, Southern Watch and Operation As Operation Southern Watch almost three quarters of the personnel Northern Watch. In addition, ANG continued, U.S. Gentral Gommand who participated in that deployment, provided humanitarian aid to the requested assistance from the Air Guard including almost half of the pilots, were
Kurdish population in northern Iraq. and Air Force Reserve for areas in which full-time Air Guardsmen. Members
Encouraged by American calls for the Air Force lacked the manpower to of the 124th Fighter Group, at the regime change in Baghdad after Iraq’s meet the growing demands placed upon request of the Air Force, volunteered for crushing military defeat during Operation them. The first Air Guard Southern additional tours in Southwest Asia that
Desert Storm, Muslims in the southern Watch contingent included volunteers lasted until July 1994. part of Iraq rebelled against Saddam and G- 1 30s from North Garolina’s 1 45th After two years of relative quiet
Hussein. The Iraqi military and police Airlift Group, and Georgia’s l65th due at least in part to the presence of forces savagely repressed the uprising, Airlift Group. Most of those deployed American fighter aircraft, in October killing tens of thousands of Shiites. When Air Guardsmen were volunteers on 1994, Baghdad began moving ground those armed assaults continued despite short tours (15 to 30 days) of active troops toward its border with Kuwait. diplomatic protests. President George duty. In addition, personnel and HH- Additional coalition forces moved into
H. W. Bush announced on August 26, 60 Pave Hawk combat search and rescue the area and stepped up their surveillance
1 992, that a coalition of UN forces would helicopters from Alaska’s 210th Rescue operations. The total number of U.S. launch air surveillance operations below Squadron, Galifornia’s 129th Rescue military personnel in theater rose to
Iraq’s 32nd parallel south to ensure that Squadron, and New York’s 106th over 25,000 and the Air Force increased no Iraqi fixed wing aircraft or helicopters Rescue Squadron joined them, usually its aircraft in the area to more than 270 flew over that area. Air Guardsmen, on 100 day tours. to deal with the growing threat. Some serving as volunteers, played significant Air National Guard fighters also 265 ANG and Air Reserve volunteers, roles in enforcing the southern no- began to deploy to southern Iraq in including 22 aircrews and 15 KG-135E fly zone. From January 1993 through 1993. The Idaho ANG’s 124th Fighter Stratotankers quickly provided an air
September 1999, the ANG provided five Group deployed six F-4G Phantom bridge to the Azores, in the Atlantic percent of the average monthly total Air II Wild Weasel aircraft to the Persian Ocean off the coast of Europe, to speed
Force aircraft deployed to the Persian Gulf. One of only two such units the movement of U.S. military aircraft
Gulf for Operation Southern Watch. remaining in the total Air Force, it to the Persian Gulf region. Giant G-5A
The corresponding Air Guard deployed for six months to perform Galaxies from the 105th Airlift Group,
data from October against enemy air defense missions. To New York ANG, flew sorties in support minimize the impact on the of those operations. The United States
124th traditional declared the area a no-fly, no-drive zone
after Iraq assembled troops on
its border with Kuwait. To
implement that policy,
a Joint Task
28 A il.S. Air Force F-16C Block 42 Fighting Falcon aircraft assigned to the 138th Fighter Wing, Oklahoma Air National Guard, takes offfor a mission at Incirlik Air Base, Furkey, during Combined Fask Force/Operation Northern Watch, November 17, 2002. (Photographer: SSgt Jason W. Gamble, USAF. Air Force Photo.)
Force Southwest Asia was established by deployed during 1994 to A1 Jaber Air of Columbia ANG’s 121st Fighter the United States Central Command. Base, Kuwait, for three months with Squadron, 1 13th Wing became the first
Units from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. 12 of their OA-10 aircraft, the first ANG F-16 unit to deploy to the Persian
Navy, and U.S. Army as well as ANG Warthogs to be based in that Gulf region for that operation. About
Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, and later part of the world. The unit’s pilots 90 volunteers, including 10 pilots,
Kuwait enforced the southern no-fly pioneered two key innovations on went to the Middle East with six F-16C zone. Coalition members contributed their aircraft to deal with challenges of Block 30 aircraft. Before returning to fighter patrols against potential targets, navigating southern Iraq’s vast barren their home station in April, pilots from reconnaissance, suppression of enemy landscape and rules of engagement the 121st accumulated 400 flight hours air defenses, air refueling, and special that required high altitude flying. First, and over 100 combat sorties. operations missions. they used portable Global Positioning Air Force and Navy aircraft attacked
Portions of Air National Guard A- 10 System (GPS) satellite navigation units targets in southern Iraq on September units from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and mounted in their cockpits. Second, they 3, 1996, in response to Iraqi military
Connecticut deployed to Kuwait to form employed powerful video-stabilized moves against the nation’s Kurdish a “rainbow” unit primarily to conduct binoculars that they had tested on their population in the north. In retaliation combat search and rescue support for any own initiative to identify targets. With for attacks on the Kurds, President downed airmen and to attack Iraqi tanks such a strong display of force by U.S. Clinton also expanded the southern no- if needed. Most ended up participating combat aircraft and the dispatch of an fly zone placing it just south of Baghdad. in what were essentially training missions additional 12,000 ground troops to the Combined with the northern no-fly outside of Iraq. However, Maryland’s area, Hussein withdrew his forces from zone enforced to protect the Kurds, the
104th Fighter Squadron flew 283 sorties Iraq’s southern border. expanded Operation Southern Watch over enemy territory and employed air-to- Reacting to growing operational ensured that little airspace remained for surface Maverick missiles successfully to demands placed on Air Force F- 1 6 units, the Iraqis to use without confronting destroy an Iraqi surface-to-air missile and the Air Combat Command approved a U.S. and coalition aircraft. a radio station during the operation. plan in October 1995 to dispatch ANG During 1996 and 1997, volunteers
After qualifying to employ AGM- Fighting Falcon units to Operation from Guard airlift and fighter units
65 Maverick missiles, elements of Southern Watch on 30-day rotations. continued to deploy to Iraq for short
Pennsylvania’s 1 1 1 th Fighter Wing The following March the District tours of duty. Saddam Hussein in
29 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY late 1997 refused to allow UN arms died. The UN Security Council authorized was adopted because Guardsmen were
inspectors to have unrestricted access a relief effort to save the Iraqi Kurds, and convinced that none of their individual
to sites in Iraq suspected to be involved the U.S. Air Force played a significant tole. general purpose F-16 units had enough
with the production of weapons of A coalition led by the United States then aircraft and personnel available at that
mass destruction. As a result, the United deployed military forces on the ground in time to sustain the deployment on a
States increased its air and naval northern Iraq, built resettlement areas for volunteer basis without undermining
forces in the region to deal with that the Kurds, and established a security zone their operational training and retention
crisis, code named Desert Thunder. that excluded Saddam Hussein’s forces. programs in the United States.
Air National Guard tanker task forces Coalition fighter aircraft and supporting Once in theater, the Air Guardsmen
operated in Alaska, Washington State, planes enforced that no-fly zone for the flew daylight defensive counter air, escort,
New Hampshire, and Maine as well as Iraqis above the 36th patallel and covered and reconnaissance missions enforcing in Southwest Asia to support it. That friendly ground forces. the no-fly zone over northern Iraq during operation was terminated in early 1998 On November 12, 1993, Chairman daylight hours. Usually, the aircraft were when diplomacy temporarily resolved of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General configured with electronic counter the crisis. During that year, five tanker, John M. Shalikashvili, U.S. Army, measure pods, external fuel tanks, cluster four airlift, and five fighter units from requested that the Air National Guard bombs, and antiaircraft missiles. Missions the Air Guard furnished personnel and Air Force Reserve participate in typically lasted about three hours and and aircraft to the Joint Task Force
Southwest Asia. Operation Desert Fox took place in mid-December 1 998 when Their senior leadership Saddam Hussein declared the no-fly zones as violations of Iraq’s sovereignty, saw the success of those expelled the UN weapons inspectors, and instructed his air defense batteries “rainbow” deployments to more aggressively attack coalition as a aircraft. The Air National Guard helped maintain an air bridge to the Persian further validation of the ANG Gulf region as they had throughout the mid-1990s. fighter force’s accessibility,
Operation Northern Watch readiness, willingness, and
Similar to the situation faced by Iraq’s Shiites in the south, that nation’s repressed capability to accomplish Kurdish population in the north was encouraged to rise up against the brutal reai-world taskings, regime of Saddam Hussein by American radio broadcasts after Operation Desert
Storm. When the Kurds rebelled in March Operation Provide Comfort II, the included a minimum of one in-flight
1991 the United States refused to provide predecessor of Operation Northern refueling per sortie. The volunteer rate in direct military assistance and their uprising Watch, to help alleviate the growing the deploying fighter units was extremely was crushed by Iraqi forces. Over one operational burden placed on active high. The 184 Guard volunteers and million Kurds fled Iraq, but thousands duty Air Force personnel. The resulting their 1 1 warplanes started returning to more were trapped in the cold, barren “rainbow” unit of four ANG fighter their stateside bases on January 15, 1994. mountains of the northern region of that squadrons trained together and in Their senior leadership saw the success of nation when neighboring countries closed December 1993, equipped with F-16C those “rainbow” deployments as a further their borders. Deprived of adequate food, Block 30 aircraft, arrived at Incirlik Air validation of the ANG fighter force’s water, and shelter, untold numbers ofthem Base, Turkey. The “rainbow” concept accessibility, readiness, willingness.
30 and capability to accomplish real- discouraged Iraq from mounting another at high levels of operational readiness world taskings. invasion of Kuwait, saved thousands of would require heavy involvement in
On January 1, 1997, Operation Kurdish lives, reduced hostile ethnic those forces. The well established practice
Northern Watch replaced Provide pressure on Turkey, and reminded of relying on short, voluntary tours of
Comfort II. Aircraft from the United Saddam Hussein how vulnerable his traditional Guardsmen and Reservists
States, Britain, and Turkey participated regime was to air attacks. overseas inspired the key ideas under
in the new operation that was focused the leadership of the Director of the Air strictly on enforcing the no-fly zone National Guard, Major General Paul The Expeditionary Force above the 36th parallel in Iraq as A. Weaver, Jr. From experience the Air mandated by the UN and did not include Concept Directorate of the National Guard Bureau
humanitarian relief for the Kurds. In August 1 998 the Air Force inaugurated preferred to allow the reserve components
The Turkish government continued to a new concept. It organized more than to develop their own force packages, approve six-month extensions for coalition 2,000 aircraft including those of reserve including “rainbow” deployments, to meet operations from its territory, but insisted units into 10 Air Expeditionary Forces operational requirements. Those practices
that it would not allow Northern Watch (AEFs), also known as the Aerospace were also consistent with the established
to become a permanent mission. Expeditionary Forces and in 2007, the two-week annual training requirements of
During the late 1990s, the dangers Air and Space Expeditionary Forces. the air reserve components. Mobilizations associated with air operations over They would rotate in order to ease and long overseas tours were generally
northern Iraq increased because Hussein’s the strain of increased post-Cold War ruled out at that point, except for major
forces adopted a more aggressive strategy operations overseas. Volunteer members theater conflicts. against coalition aircraft. Exploding of Ohio’s 179th Airlift Wing and For the Air Guard, the AEF promised surface-to-air missiles and antiaircraft Kentucky’s 1 23rd Airlift Wing deployed to spread the burden of deployments more artillery fire had become a commonplace in 1999 to Oman as the first members widely among flying units. Moreover, challenge for coalition pilots. Despite of the Air Guard C-130 community to the timing of rotations became more
the increased aggression and potential deploy for Operation Southern Watch predictable. Greater predictability would
threats pilots faced, U.S. policy makers under AEF auspices. enable their members to better manage
the competing demands of families,
civilian careers, and military service. The Coalition forces returned biggest change came regarding support
units, which would be included in fire more than 200 times volunteer overseas rotations on a regular basis. Air Guard aviation units would be between early 1 999 and expected to deploy overseas once every 15 months while support units would May 2001, do so at 30 month intervals. Driven by those requirements. Air Guard planners
did not alter the level of air activity The Air Directorate in the National in the National Guard Bureau began
over the two no-fly zones. Coalition Guard Bureau (NGB) , convinced that their to “reengineer” ANG units to better
forces returned fire more than 200 times reserve component’s continued viability participate in their expeditionary roles.
between early 1999 and May 2001. By depended upon its active participation Secretary ol Defense William S. Gohen
the summer of 2001, Saddam Hussein in the AEF, played a significant role bolstered the initiative in September
had instituted a standing bounty on in developing the ground rules for the 1997 by requiring the armed forces to
American and British pilots whose use of air reserve components. For the remove barriers to fully integrating their
planes were destroyed. Air Guard’s senior leadership, adequate reserve components in the full range of
The northern and southern no-fly funding, modern weapons, training military operations.
zones over I raq were generally considered slots in Air Force schools, and all the other Exemplifying the new policy, in 2000,
effective in advancing U.S. foreign policy resources needed to sustain a modern three F-1 5, six F-16, and three A- 10 units
interests in that part of the world. They expeditionary air combat organization participated in four different multiunit
31 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY 169th Fighter Wing Aircraft Generations Squadron, McEntire Air National Guard Station, South Carolina, personnel loading an AIM- 120 Advanced Me- dium Range Air-to-Air Missile and other equipment onto an F-16CJ aircraft deployed at Incirlik Air Base, Furkey. Tire I69th Fighter Wing was deployed in
Aerospace Expeditionary Force #4 during Operation Northern Watch. It was thefirst ANG F-16 unit equipped with Suppression ofEnemy Air and Defenses (SEAD) technology, January 19, 2000. (Photographer: SSgt Richard Hodges. Air Force Photo.)
ANG “rainbow” deployments to the ANGs. The Texas Air Guard unit sent 10 of an operational total force. Its airlift
Persian Gulf region that lasted about new pilots every two weeks to expose as capabilities, tankers, and flghters not only three months each. The experience of many of their aircrews as possible to the fllled in gaps in the active duty Air Force, the Texas I47th Fighter Wing illustrated challenges of combat flying. but comprised an essential component those rotations. It split a 90-day Air Guard Despite some administrative glitches of overseas operations in Africa, the commitment with two other ANG F-16 and lingering pockets of skepticism in Balkans, and Southwest Asia. Similarly, its units, New Jersey’s 177th Fighter Wing the active force and some state National combat search and rescue personnel and and Vermont’s 158th Fighter Wing. The Guard organizations, the consensus of its psychological operations Commando
Texas unit sent about 150 personnel and the Air Guard’s senior leadership was Solo aircraft proved their worth. With the two F-l6Gs to Prince Sultan Air Base in that the ANG’s participation in the AEF implementation of the AEF after 1998,
Saudi Arabia. Most American troops in was very successlul. In particular, the Air growing numbers of support units joined
Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, relocated Guard considered routine participation operational organizations in regular, to that isolated base following a terrorist in AEF deployments critical to the relatively short voluntary rotations. As a bombing of U.S. Air Force barracks at a survival and flourishing of its units as result, the Air National Guard integrated more urban Saudi Arabian base on June highly capable military organizations seamlessly with the active duty Air Force
15, 1996, that killed 19 airmen and relevant to the evolving American while preserving its militia culture, unit wounded 547 others. Responsible for national security requirements. integrity, and high level of operational the middle portion of that deployment, Therefore, by the eve of a new readiness. Fiowever, it was about to face those units relied primarily on F-I6s presidential administration in 2001, the new and unexpected set of challenges as provided by the New Jersey and Vermont Air National Guard proved itself as part the new century dawned.
32 ,
he defining events for the Air National Guard (ANG) as well as for
the United States occurred with the al Qaeda attacks ofSeptember 1 1 T 2001. When President George W. Bush took office in January, 2001, however, the nation seemed quite secure. The Bush administration’s Secretary of
Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, also held that position under President Gerald Ford.
A former Navy pilot and four-term congressman. Secretary Rumsfeld returned
33 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY to the U.S. government after 23 years
as the successful head of several major corporations. His corporate career convinced the new secretary that he
knew how to make a large organization
like the Department of Defense move and
adapt to changing circumstances including
dramatic developments in science and
high technology.
Secondly, the new secretary was put off
by what he perceived as the cautious, risk
adverse approach of military leaders who
had cut their professional teeth during the
Vietnam War. He believed their mindset
focused on winning large, conventional
armed conflicts against other nations. With the disappearance of the Soviet
military machine and the emergence
of the United States as the world’s only
superpower. Secretary Rumsfeld doubted
that any such convenient enemies would
ever present themselves as sacrificial
lambs to be easily destroyed by the awesome conventional and nuclear
firepower of the U.S. armed forces.
Assuming the nation had entered an era of deep peace with no peer competitors
An F-15 Eagle, from the 125th Fighter Wing, Florida Air National Guard, sits on alert armed with AIM- likely to challenge its military power 120 AdvancedMedium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, andAIM-9 Sidewitiders afier the tenwist attacks on the for decades. Secretary Rumsfeld pro- World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (Photographer; TSgt Shaun Withers, USAF. Air Force Photo.) claimed his department would undergo
a military transformation. The nation’s
armed forces would reshape into the homeland was not a major explicit In 1991 the Air Force inactivated its last
smaller but more lethal and flexible priority of the administration. active duty fighter interceptor squadron,
formations that could deal with a broad The notion that the United States leaving that entire mission for fewer and
spectrum of threats through increased did not require a strong homeland defense fewer Air Guard fighter units to perform.
mobility and greater reliance on stealthy, capability actually began in the late 1 960s With no post-Cold War threat to
high technology, long-range stand-off with the growing realization that Soviet the continental United States considered
weapons. Furthermore, fewer ground missiles, not bombers, posed the greatest likely, the Department of Defense
After the demise of the Soviet Union, remnants
of Amerioa’s oontinentai air defense system had been turned over to the Air National Guard,
troops would be needed and some Cold threat to America. After the demise of the focused on conducting contingency
War weapons systems would become Soviet Union, remnants of America’s and peacekeeping operations overseas.
obsolete. Aside from developing an continental air defense system had been Regional unified U.S. commands had
antiballistic missile system, defending turned over to the Air National Guard. been established to conduct military 34 1
operations in every other section of the Fugitives list. Officials also testified that a and as directed, headed for New York world, but no counterpart American major attack could occur. For example, City, 153 miles away. Unknown to organization held responsibility for the the Defense Intelligence Agency predicted the pilots, American Airlines Flight 1 coordinated land, sea, and air defense there would be “a major terrorist attack, crashed into the North Tower of the of the continental United States. The either in the United States or abroad, over World Trade Center in New York City
North American Aerospace Defense tbe next 1 2 to 24 months ‘with a weapon just as Colonel Marr was delivering his
Command (NORAD) provideci an designed to produce mass casualties.’” order. Meanwhile, at 8:43 a.m., the
integrated system for defending Canada The coordinated attacks on the World FAA reported another possible hijacking and the United States against attacks T rade Center and the Pentagon occurred to the Northeast Air Defense Sector. by aircraft anci cruise missiles while between 8:46 and 9:37 a.m. Eastern That was Boston to Los Angeles United maintaining the air sovereignty of those Daylight Time; United Airlines Flight Airlines Flight 175. At 9:02 a.m., with nations, but it had no responsibilities 93 hit the ground in Pennsylvania at the F-15s still 71 miles away, that plane for land and naval operations. First approximately 10:02 a.m. The only crashed into the World Trade Center’s
Air Force, which had responsibility fighter units stationed within the entire South Tower. for ensuring the air sovereignty and air northeastern United States belonged to Aircraft hijackings were rare events defense of the continental United States, the Air National Guard. At 8:38 a.m., in the United States. As long as no lives supported NORAD.* the Federal Aviation Administration were endangered, airline crews and FAA
(FAA) in Boston, Massachusetts, reported air traffic controllers had been trained to
a possible hijacking and called the Otis cooperate with the hijackers. Fiijackings
America Attacked Air National Guard Base tower on were treated as civilian law enforcement
America’s post-Cold War sense of Cape Cod, home to the Massachusetts matters, although the FAA could request invulnerability evaporated on September fl, 2001, when the al Qaeda terrorist A terrorist act of that magnitude network struck. The terrorists hijacked foLircrosS'Continental commercial airline in the United States had not flights laden with jet fuel and turned them into manned cruise missiles that been totally unforeseen, but killed over 3,000 people in New York City, Washington, DC, and a remote the military considered such area of rural western Pennsylvania. It was the bloodiest single day in American an operation highly unlikely, history since the Civil War battle of Antietam that claimed over 24,000 ANG’s 102nd Fighter Wing, to request that the military provide jet fighters and casualties. In the celebrated traditions military assistance. At that time. Major weapons controllers to monitor these of America’s colonial minutemen, tbe Dan Nash and Lieutenant Colonel Tim situations. Normally, military assistance
ANG played an immediate and critical Duffy had air defense alert duty for required a cumbersome process that
role in the nation’s military responses to the 102nd At 8:40 a.m. Colonel Bob involved the FAA forwarding the request al Qaeda’s terrorism. Mart, a Massachusetts Air Guardsman through the national military command
A terrorist act of that magnitude serving as NORAD’s Northeast Air center and NORAD to the president or
in the United States had not been totally Defense Sector commander, learned from the secretary of defense. After approval a
unforeseen, but the military considered the FAA that American Airlines Flight fighter would locate and follow a hijacked such an operation highly unlikely. After 1 1 might have been hijacked. The airliner from about five miles behind
the coordinated bombing of two American two pilots immediately suited up and but not attempt to engage it.
embassies in Africa in 1998, the Federal headed for their F-15s. Marr ordered Air National Guard weapons controllers
Bureau of Investigation put al Qaeda head Nash and Duffy into the air; their F- at tbe Northeast Sector desperately searched
Osama bin Laden on its Fen Most Wanted 15s were airborne within six minutes for the first missing airliner but could
only get momentary hits on a track that ‘First Air Force and its NORAD counterpart, the Continental NORAD Region [CONR], were headquartered at
Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, In 1 997 the ANG assumed control of those two organizations from the Air Force. they thought might be it. Hampering
CONR was subdivided into three operational sectors at the time of the 9/1 1 attacks: the Southeast (Tyndall), the Northeast (Rome, NY), and the Western (McChord Air Force Base, Washington). 35 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY An F-15A Eagle from 102nd Fighter Wing, Massachusetts Air National Guard, flies a Combat Air Patrol over New York City as part of Operation Noble
Eagle. F-15sfi'om the 102nd were thefirst to arrive on scene over the World Frade Centerfollowing the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (Photo courtesy of 102nd Fighter Wing, Massachusetts vVir National Guard.) their search, air traffic in the skies over The Northeast Air Defense Sector (i.e., part-time) Guardsman and civilian the United States was congested with over happened to be participating in a commercial airline pilot, and Major
4,000 airplanes at any given moment, semiannual exercise known as Vigilant Nash established a combat air patrol over most in the northeast. Moreover, the Guardian, which according to ABC New York City and forced all nonmilitary hijackers turned off the electronic News, was designed to prepare for a aircraft to steer clear of the area. Someone transponders that helped FAA controllers Cold War-style Russian bomber attack. they could not later recall directed them identify commercial airliners. Weapons Therefore participants required emphatic to shoot down any planes that failed to controllers throughout First Air Force, in commands that the hijackings were not comply with their instructions to leave any case, had limited access to the FAA’s part of the exercise. The defense sector, that airspace. Reffieled by KC-135 radar data from the nation’s interior. Their as a result, had a fully staffed command Stratotankers from Maine’s 101st Air entire system focused on detecting and post including key officers and enlisted Refueling Wing, the initial 102nd Fighter tracking aircraft entering North America’s supervisors. Confronted by incomplete and Wing’s F-15s were later joined by others airspace from overseas. It was virtually often conflicting information, personnel from their unit, plus Air Guard F-I6s blind to flight activity within the continent at the Northeast Air Defense Sector and from Vermont’s 158th Fighter Wing leaving First Air Force unprepared to the rest of First Air Force relied on their and New Jersey’s 177th Fighter Wing. defend against attacks launched within professional skills while improvising According to Colonel Duffy, the F-15s the United States. responses to a nightmare scenario that escorted about 100 aircraft out of the area
That morning’s events unfolded few had predicted and no government before returning to Otis after more than rapidly and were extremely confusing. organization, including the military, flve grueling hours on patrol over New
As unconfirmed reports about hijacked had prepared for. York City. aircraft and other terrorist threats flooded Throughout that morning the FAA At 9:09 a.m. the pilots of North into military command centers and the ordered civilian aircraft to land. Even Dakota Air Guard F-I6s of the 119th civilian media, tension and fear grew. before that. Colonel Duffy, a traditional Fighter Wing were standing by, ready
36 An Air National Guard F-16 on a combat air patrol over the burning Pentagon on September 11, 2001, after the hijacked Flight 77 crashed into it. (Gil Cohen, 9111, National Guard Heritage Painting.)
to launch, at Langley Air Force Base, DC. In six minutes the Langley F-l6s the 119th Fighter Wing were directed
Virginia, located about 130 miles southeast were airborne. to fly at maximum subsonic speed,
of Washington, DC. They were at their In accordance with established 660 miles per hour. At about 40 miles
battle stations because of a growing NORAD procedures, the F-I6s were away, they saw the billowing smoke
general concern about the situation that initially directed to head northeast to of American Airlines Flight 77, which
morning. Seven minutes later the FAA reported that United Airlines Flight 93, “Ready to go. We can adapt outbound from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, might also to any situation that oomes up have been hijacked. The FAA notified
the Northeast Air Delense Sector eight minutes later that American Flight 77, and can respond to protect a Hight from Dulles International Airport, Virginia, near Washington, DC, to Los this nation,” Angeles, California, also appeared to be the
victim of hijackers. At 9:24 a.m. Colonel avoid some of the most heavily traveled had crashed into the Pentagon at 9:43
Mart ordered three F- 1 6s (two alert aircraft commercial airline routes rather than to a.m. As the North Dakota Air Guardsmen
and a spare) scrambled from Langley to Hy directly to the Washington, DC, area. neared Washington, DC, Major Eckmann,
check out an unidentified intermittent Major Dean Eckmann and Major Brad the flight lead, set up a patrol over the
aircraft track heading toward Washington, Derrig, plus Captain Craig Borgstrom of nation’s capital with the help of air traffic
37 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY controllers at the Northeast Air Defense escalating crisis whose real extent was situation ftom watching live television
Sector. They were warned that a foutth unknown at the time. Later, Colonel coverage of the burning World Trade
aitliner, United Airlines Flight 93, was Marr emphasized that Flight 93 would Center towers. Among his concerns. Air
off course in the Cleveland, Ohio, area have been shot down if it had tried to Force One was based at Andtews. Major
and not responding to FAA controllets. penetrate the Washington, DC, area. Caine then called a Secret Service agent
During those first tension-filled With the exception of the 102nd he knew who could not give him useful
minutes and hours after the terror Fighter Wing on Cape Cod and the information. Shortly after, someone from
attacks in 2001, two pilots in the Ohio 119th Fighter Wing’s alert detachment the Secret Service telephoned Majot
Air National Guard’s 180th Fighter at Langley Air Force Base, none of the Caine and asked if the DC Air Guard
Wing based at Toledo Express Airport ANG units had been tasked to conduct could launch armed fighter aircraft. He
received the order to fly and make sure
every unauthorized aircraft complied with the order to land. “Generally, our mission is dropping bombs, laser- guided bombs, precision guided,” said one of the pilots. Lieutenant Colonel
Scott Reed. He had flown military jets fot more than 20 years. Both he and Lieutenant Colonel Keith Newell, who also received the ordet, had their F-I6s loaded with 500 rounds of 20-caliber ammunition for the M-6 1 cannon called
The Vulcan, which fires about 100 rounds per second. If they encountered a plane that temained aloft, according to Reed, “We detach outselves as much as we can and look at it as a technical problem to be solved.” Fortunately, they did not have to shoot anything that day. During the mission, “I felt pretty good about what we were doing simply Members of the 121st Fighter Squadron, 113th Wing, District of Columbia Air National Guard, because it was the first time in my whole September 11, 2001, prepare to load a missile on an F-16 at Andrews AFB, Maryland, in response to the life that I was going to get to do what I terrorist attacks on the United States that took place earlier that day. (Courtesy of the 1 13th Wing.) thought was protect the homeland,” said air defense operations on the morning checked with his boss, Btigadier General Newell. “Ready to go. We can adapt to any
of 1 1th. 1 situation that comes up and can respond September David Wherle, commander of the 1 3th That morning. Major Dan Caine was Wing. Next he directed personnel at the to protect this nation.” New York Air serving as the supervisor offlying operations unit’s munitions the other side Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing at Syracuse dump on for the 121st Fighter the the begin uncrating also received an order to arm F-I6s and Squadron of of base to bullets Disttict of Columbia‘s Ait located missiles so get them airborne as soon as possible. Guard and they could be moved Neither unit was part of NORAD. at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, to the flight line. Caine then received Howevet, Golonel Mart from the just east of the beltway that encircles a call from an unidentified individual Northeast Air Defense Sector and Major Washington, DC. Although a general at the White House requesting that his General Larry Arnold, who commanded purpose fighter unit whose pilots were unit place armed fighter aircraft over trained in defensive counter air tactics Lirst Air Force and Continental NORAD Washington, DC. Thatotder, confirmed as part of their mission responsibilities, Region, realized that they needed as by the Secret Service, represented the
the 121st was not part of the nation’s air unit’s first many armed fighter aircraft airborne as official tasking to defend defense alert force. soon as possible to deal with the rapidly Caine knew of the the nation’s capital. During the call, he
38 many as 12 fighter aircraft airborne
over the nation’s capital. Working with AWACS, the Northeast Air Defense
Sector, and FAA air traffic controllers,
the pilots maintained a coordinated
system of defensive patrols over the
nation’s capital on that terrible day.
The air crew of a Minnesota ANG
G-130 from the 133rd Airlift Wing had been diverted from Andrews Air
Force Base to check out reports of an
unidentified aircraft heading south toward
Washington, DC, above the Potomac
River. To the crew’s horror, they saw
American Airlines Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon. They then turned back toward
the west. As they flew over southwestern
Pennsylvania, the pilots witnessed the
fourth hijacked airliner. United Flight 93,
Stajf Sergeant John K. Miller, (left), Technical Sergeant Yusuf S. Abullah, and Staff Sergeant Lorenzo crashing after its passengers apparently
Partiell, (right), 1 13th Security Forces Squadron, District Columbia Air National Guard, double of overwhelmed the terrorists controlling check the weapons inventory as they preparefor deployment to Bolling AFB, Washington DC. Tire 1 13th the aircraft. General Arnold was not will augment the active duty securityforces. The activation ofthe 1 13th was part ofthe heightened secu- rity after September 11, 2001. (Photographer: MSgt Sean M. Brennan. Air Force Photo.) informed of the presidential authority
to shoot Flight 93 down until about five heard Vice President Dick Cheney talking Air Defense Sector. Fortunately, the minutes after it crashed. in the background. North Dakotans patrolled at a higher While communications failures,
President Bush was in Florida, and altitude than the 121st fighters, and over among other problems, prevented the
Vice President Cheney gave the military a different part of the Washington area. military from deflecting the actual authority to shoot down any other hijacked Several minutes after Sasseville and hijackings, the armed forces reacted civilian aircraft that terrorists attempted Penney took off, Caine and Captain quickly once they realized that the to use as manned guided missiles. The Brandon Rasmussen launched their United States was under attack. First
121st sent up a series ofF- 1 6s. Two, flown fighters from Andrews Air Force Base Air Force and the Air Guard adapted by Lieutenant Colonel Marc Sasseville with hot guns and AIM-9 Sidewinder rapidly on September 11, 2001. The and Captain FFeather Penney, had no missiles. They established radio contact ANG Director, Major General Paul A. time to arm before launching, and only with both the FAA controllers and the Weaver Jr. activated the Air Guard’s carried training bullets. Later the DC North Dakota Air Guardsmen. Later Crisis Action Team at Andrews Air Air Guard pilots reluctantly admitted that day ANG F-l6s from the 192nd Force Base that morning. Along with that if their training ammunition had Fighter Wing at Richmond, Virginia, the Continental NORAD Region and been unable to bring down a hijacked and the 177th Fighter Wing at Atlantic its three sector operations centers, aircraft, they were ready to ram it. Gity, New Jersey, joined them. The the Crisis Action Team contacted
They established a low level combat air ANG KG- 135s from the 108th Air ANG fighter, tanker, and airlift units patrol over Washington unaware of the Refueling Wing, New Jersey ANG; and across the country to prepare as many presence in the area of the North Dakota the 121st Air Refueling Wing, Ohio aircraft as they could as quickly as
Air Guardsmen. The DC Guardsmen ANG, serviced them as well as Air possible to defend the nation. The Air communicated with FAA controllers, Force, Marine Gorps, and Navy fighters, National Guard’s Grisis Action Team using different radio frequencies than KG- 10s, and Airborne Warning and formed the central point of contact the North Dakota Guardsmen, who Gontrol System (AWAGS) aircraft. assisting the mobilization, coordination, received direction from the Northeast At one point that day, there were as and monitoring of ANG resources
33 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY worldwide for emergency missions phone calls from installation commanders other responsible military organizations concerning natural and manmade disasters demanding protection, as well as contend and civilian governmental agencies. In including terrorism. with confusing information regarding addition, it maintained positive command
Across the United States scores of 21 commercial aircraft that acted and control of an expanded air defense traditional Air Guard members either suspiciously. system that now included the interior contacted their units to see if they Protection for President Bush was of the continental United States. The could help or just showed up. Within an unquestioned priority. When the First Air Force air operations center an hour after the World Trade Center terrorists struck New York City and also grew from 38 to 160 people, and attacks, for example, Scotia, New York’s Washington, DC, he was in Sarasota, its personnel, primarily Air Guardsmen, 2nd Weapons of Mass Destruction- Florida, reading a story to elementary worked long days, seven days a week, Civil Support Team (WMD-CST or school children. First Air Force until help arrived from active duty
CST) assembled with its equipment repositioned an Air Force E-3 AWACS Air Force organizations. By December at Stratton ANG Base. By 8:30 p.m. aircraft on a training mission off the 2001 more than 350 military personnel that same day, this team of specially Florida coast so that it could cover Air staffed the center. trained Air and Army Guardsmen had Force One and then the Secret Service To further expand the reach of First flown to Manhattan, approximately put General Arnold’s command in charge Air Force throughout the continental
170 miles away, and set up operations of protecting the president. With the United States, it established data near what became known as Ground decision to send the president aloft, the links with FAA radars and sent air
Zero. The CSTs began in the 1990s to Southeast Air Defense Sector scrambled controllers from the Air Force, ANG, assist localities during natural disasters four armed F-I6s from the Texas Air and other branches of the atmed forces and terrorist attacks. The 2nd Civil National Guard’s l47th Fighter Wing to 21 civilian air traffic control centers.
Support Team became the first of to escort Air Force One as it flew to In addition, mobile radar units were those teams to deploy in a real crisis. Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, dispatched to fill critical coverage gaps in
The unit, augmented by two members its first stop. Next the president flew to the nation’s heartland. Federal Aviation of a Minnesota National Guard CST, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Once Administration centers installed voice continued operations in Manhattan General Arnold confirmed that the last communications links that could alert through mid-September, 2001. of the 21 suspicious airline flights was First Air Force quickly to new emerging
Because no preexisting priority list safely on the ground. President Bush threats over the United States. This also existed of cities, military installations, returned to Washington. Air National enabled the FAA to talk to almost any nuclear power plants, and other key Guard aircraft from Louisiana’s 122nd plane flying in the nation’s airspace. Air National Guard and Air Force
aircraft were joined by Navy fighter and During the first 24 hours of E-2 surveillance aircraft to help protect New York City and Washington, DC. the crisis, 34 Air Guard fighter U.S. Customs Service P-3s as well as five Navy Aegis cruisers and two destroyers units flew 1 79 missions. augmented the air surveillance network. Their task had been greatly eased because places to defend, initially General Arnold Fighter Squadron, Iowa’s 174th the government officially prohibited all and his stafif at First Air Force nominated Fighter Squadron, and the District civilian air traffic within the U.S. borders. the areas. They gave priority to protecting of Golumbia’s 121st Fighter Squadron Ail military flying, except air defense
major U.S. population centers, and joined the . Texans at various times missions, was likewise terminated.
General Ralph E. Eberhart, NORAD’s protecting Air Force One until its return During the first 24 hours of the commander in chief, quickly approved to Andrews Air Force Base. crisis, 34 Air Guard fighter units flew those suggestions. While improvising Meanwhile, acting under General 179 missions. Eighteen tanker units a defense of the airspace within the Eberhart’s authority. First Air Force generated 78 aircraft in the same time continental U.S. on September 11th, built and published air tasking orders period. Through September 28, for
First Air Force also had to field irate and established communications with example, Alabama’s 117th Air Refueling
40 prepared to operate three sites and 70
aeromedical crews were placed on alert. According to Golonel William Scott
U.S. Air Force (Ret) and special assistant
to General Arnold:
“For about nine days we held on
by our fingernails, never missed an
air tasking push order, never missed
an air space control order push. The
issue was not our capability, it was our sustainability Our kids had
been literally getting no sleep. They were working 18 hours per day or
more because of the level of effort
that we were putting into defending
the air spaces, and many of them
were at the limit of exhaustion.”
On September 20, 2001, President
Bush told a televised joint session of
Senior Airmen Emery Blaitchard, 151st Security Forces Squadron, Utah Air National Guard, guards the Congress and the American people that
Salt Lake City International Ah-port. Tide unit was called up and stationed at the airport as part of the Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda increased vigilance attd readiness encompassed in Operation Noble Eagle, September 2001. (Photo- 30, network were responsible for the grapher: MSgt Mark Savage, USAF. Air Force Photo.) recent terrorist attacks on the United
Wing kept aircraft: aloft on a continuous attacks and First Air Force maintained States. Accusing Afghanistan’s Taliban basis. Air National Guard units also 16 separate continuous fighter orbits for regime of sheltering bin Laden and his contributed 111 C-130 aircraft, and three days. organization, the president demanded more than 3,000 ANG security forces In addition to fighters and tankers the that they immediately turn him over personnel supported the mission. Air Guard’s airlift, security forces, civil to American authorities and dismantle
At General Weaver’s direction, 88 engineering, combat communications, every terrorist camp in their country or
ANG flying units established 24-hour aeromedical, and rescue units were also face a military onslaught by the United command posts during that period. heavily involved in America’s initial States. The president summoned the
Physical security was increased at all military responses to the terrorist nation to launch a protracted “global war
Air Guard units to protect them against attacks. Within hours of the hijack against terrorism.” Using broad rhetorical potential terrorist attacks. All of that was notifications. Air Guard airlift C-5s, strokes. President Bush described a accomplished initially not only by full- C-130s, and G-I4ls were transporting titanic struggle between civilization time ANG support personnel, but by Federal Emergency Management Agency and radical Islam. He went beyond that traditional Air Guardsmen on a volunteer (FEMA) personnel. Federal Bureau theme emphasizing that, “Our war on basis without their units being mobilized of Investigation (FBI) agents, human terror will not end until every terrorist for federal service by the president or organ and blood supplies, and National group of global reach has been found,
Gongress. Senior Guard leaders assumed Guard Givil Support Teams to various stopped, and defeated.” that the necessary paperwork and funding communities across the country. Some for such emergency actions would catch 70 ANG security forces units were up with their organizations later. Overall, activated and hundreds of civil engineers Operation Noble Eagle the U.S. air defense network expanded were called up. ANG rescue personnel As a result of the September 11, 2001 to nearly 300 aircraft on alert at 26 also became involved. Moreover, at (9/1 1), attacks, homeland defense became locations within 18 hours of the terrorist least six combat communications units the top national defense priority. The
41 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY enhanced defense of North America and The Air Guard security forces also required training. Some ofthe participating
military support to civilian government protected Air Force bases in the United Air Guard fighter units burned up about agencies, known as Operation Noble States and overseas. Ffowever, the Air Force 1,000 flying hours during the first 30
Eagle, began early the next day when did not agree for several months that ANG days of Noble Eagle, whereas, during
General Eberhart, NORAD commander installations contributed critical assets in ordinary peacetime training, those units in chief, issued the execution order. On the war against terrorism and required typically would fly around 3,000 hours
September 14, President Bush declared a stronger protection. Air National Guard per year. Furthermore, the increased flight national emergency and made members officials pointed out that the American time created huge increases in aircraft of the nation’s Ready Reserve subject to people and their elected representatives maintenance requirements. federal service for as long as two years. would be appalled by televised images of Anticipating that the constant alerts
Although part of a total force effort burning aircraft destroyed by terrorists on would continue into the winter, the ANG that included elements of other services poorly defended ANG bases. Eventually civil engineers in the National Guard and even NATO AWACS aircraft, those bases received greater security and Bureau used emergency procedures, to the Air National Guard provided the in December 2002, approximately 9,000 conduct environmental impact studies, largest portion of the vastly strengthened Army Guardsmen were mobilized to obtain funding, and award contracts continental air defense system under strengthen security at 163 Air Force for $35 million to build 42 temporary
Operation Noble Eagle. installations in the United States. and permanent aircraft shelters and
A week after the attacks. Secretary of Operation Noble Eagle took a heavy support facilities on bases in Maryland,
Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the toll on the Air Guard. In mid-October New Jersey, Colorado, Vermont, Texas, call up of over more than 5,000 members 2001, General Arnold told a reporter California, North Dakota, Louisiana, of the Air National Guard and Air Eorce
Reserve to support the nation’s increased security requirements. On September 22, the president mobilized about
5,100 more members of the air reserve components, including approximately
3,000 air refueling and about 130 security specialists. Guardsmen gained national visibility starting September
27, when President Bush asked the governors for their temporary help at commercial airports, which had reopened a few days after 9/11 with new security restrictions. In the airports they would
“Temporarily augment the civilian airport security function of the nation’s commercial airports with a trained, armed, and highly visible military presence.” For more than seven months, several thousand Guardsmen performed those security duties, with additional F-16s of the 119th Fighter Wing, North Dakota Air National Guard, fly a combat air patrol over Washington, DC, and the Pentagon in Operation Noble Eagle. November 2001. (Air National Guardsmen called into service during Guard Photo.) the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New
Year holiday period. Although the Army the combination of combat air patrols Massachusetts, Oregon, and Virginia.
Guard provided the vast majority of the and the 24/7 “alerts”* at 26 bases placed Among their challenges the civil engineers enhanced airport security force, several a great deal of stress on the fighter forces had to overcome bureaucratic hurdles hundred Air National Guard personnel assigned to the operation. Fighter pilots, like gaining waivers of certain fire also participated. for example, could not maintain their protection standards for hangars. Such
' See Chapter 1 42 NORAD missions compared to only 150
during 2000. As early as January 2002
senior Air Force officials began searching
for a politically acceptable way to end
the constant airborne patrols over key
American cities. That proved politically
dicey given repeated Bush administration
warnings about the continuing threats
posed by terrorists. Nevertheless, General John Jumper, the Air Force Chief of
Staff, warned about the heavy burdens
those patrols were placing on the service’s
personnel, their readiness for other missions,
the availability of training hands, and the
projected life spans of participating aircraft.
In late February 2002 Secretary of the Air
Force James Roche noted that the air patrols
Master Sergeant Franklin Buzby (left), Technical Sergeant Wendell Htmte (center) and Senior Airman tied down approximately 265 aircraft and Tina Ghaffins (7-igbt) fi-otn the Aircraft Generation Sqiiadi-on, 177th Fighter Wing, New Jersey Air Na- 12,000 airmen. With some 14,000 airmen tio7ial Gtta7'd, use a U7iive7sal A77t77itmitio7i Loader to load lOtmti 7-oimds used hi the F-16C Block 25. involved in the war in Afghanistan, the The Wing ivas flying co77ibat air pat7'ol missions during Ope7-ation Noble Fagle. (Photographer: MSgt Tom Louis. Courtesy of 177th Fighter Wing.) burden was especially heavy. Secretary Roche suggested eliminating continuous
Strict enforcement at that time suggested attacks on September 11th. Shortly patrols over Washington, DC, and New that not everyone in the Department of before that date the Air Force anticipated York City plus the daily patrols over other
Defense and the Air Force had quickly a significant cutback because of Secretary cities to alleviate those stresses. Instead, adjusted their thinking to meet emergency Rumsfeld’s transformation policy, and he encouraged putting more fighters on wartime requirements. Nevertheless, alert because he did not foresee any significant “ground alert” for emergencies. shelters were completed in northern tier threat to the United States. However, the Because estimates of the nation’s states by January 2002 while they finished redrafted Quadrennial Defense Review security situation became more optimistic those in milder climates by April. released by the Pentagon on October 1, that spring 2002, the Air Force eliminated
The Air Guard’s civil engineers 2001, designated homeland defense as the continuous patrols and substituted had been heavily involved in Operation the nation’s new top military mission. random ones. In addition. Secretary
Noble Eagle from the start. To assist Consequently, in January 2002, NORAD Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recovery operations at the World increased the number of air defense alert decided to implement Secretary Roche’s
Trade Center, more than 150 of their sites. The Air Guard ran continuous suggestion with a flexible, tiered alert number from New York were activated. round-the-clock combat air patrols over program. First Air Force also added the They operated heavy equipment and New York City and Washington, DC, responsibility for policing and defending supported the fire fighters. In addition, until spring 2002. In addition, when the airspace within the United States to its
805 Air Guard civil engineer personnel key events occurred such as the Winter established role of protecting the nation maintained critical infrasttucture and Olympics in Utah, space shuttle launches, from external aircraft threats. Although provided emergency services around- baseball’s World Series and football’s the active duty Air Force also played a the-clock for the air sovereignty alert Super Bowl, similar air patrols helped significant role, the primar}^ burden of mission at 20 installations. provide security. The Air Guard also flew increased domestic air defense fell on the
The enhanced continental air random patrols over various urban areas, AirNational Guard. The ANG, concerned defense operation reptesented a major nuclear power plants, weapons storage it might be reduced to a strictly homeland portion of the significant strengthening facilities and laboratories. defense force, wanted to insure the Guard of the military defenses of the continental By mid-April 2002, ANG and Air remained an integral component of a
United States as a result of the terrorist Force pilots had flown more than 20,000 full specttum expeditionary air force
43 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY deeply into Washington’s no-ffy zone that
the Capitol building, where a large crowd
awaited the arrival of President Reagan’s
coffin, was evacuated. According to news
accounts. General Eberhart came close to
ordering it shot down. The aircraft landed
at Reagan National Airport before it could
be identified by intercepting Air Guard F-
l6s from Andrews Air Force Base. The
aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air turboprop,
turned out to be carrying Governor Ernie
Fletcher of Kentucky to the funeral.
Although the aircraft’s transponder had
only been working intermittently, the pilot
convinced FAA to let it fty from Kentucky
and land at National Airport, which
had been closed to private aircraft since
September 1 1 , 200 1 . Air traffic controllers
responsible for the National Airport area,
not knowing the situation, reported the
unknown aircraft in restricted space.
Although tragedy was narrowly averted,
the episode highlighted continuing flaws
A Florida Air National Guard F-15A Eagle aircraft assigned to the 125th Fighter Wingflies a Combat in the enhanced air defense system. Air Patrol mission over Cape Kennedy, Florida, for Operation Noble Eagle. The Space Shuttle Endeavor Pentagon officials acknowledged that is positioned on the launch pad, November 29, 2001. (Photographer: TSgt Shaun Withers, USAF. Air Force Photo.) the Air Guard had carried the major share
of the increased air defense responsibilities including having its fighter units become the nation’s interior. Augmenting that under Noble Eagle. They considered the more heavily engaged in ongoing offensive coverage were radar data from AWAGS ANG the right organization to carry those operations overseas. and tethered aerostat balloons along the burdens because of the wide geographic
By late 2003 America’s continental air nation’s southern border. Several times dispersal of its units and its long-standing defense posture had changed dramatically every week, NORAD conducted exercises participation in the homeland defense from September 11, 2001. Heavily armed on dealing with hijacked airliners that mission. But they emphasized that fighters capable of launching within included simulated shoot downs. While homeland defense would not become an minutes sat alert around the United no other hijackings occurred, between exclusive ANG mission; active force flying
States. Prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, September 11, 2001, and June 26, 2004, units would also participate in surge air the Air Force’s domestic emergency jet fighters were scrambled or diverted patrols and alert requirements. However defense consisted of only 14 ANG fighter over 1,500 times to intercept planes that in March 2003, the United States, aircraft with no dedicated support from raised security alarms in the United States. which had been engaged in Afghanistan either tankers or AWACS planes. After Many of those incidents involved small, (Operation Enduring Freedom) since
September 11th, at least 35 fighters private aircraft whose pilots inadvertently October 2001, went to war in a second
(mostly ANG), two E-3 AWAGS aircraft, violated airspace restrictions. theater, Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom). and eight tankers stood available to defend In June 2004 an incident occurred Those conflicts and ANG’s continued the nation at any moment. First Air Force prior to former President Ronald presence supporting expeditionary expanded its surveillance system to include Reagan’s funeral in Washington, DG, that forces around the globe, plus continued data from Federal Aviation Administration underscored lingering concerns about the homeland defense, would challenge the radar that covered some three million adequacy of the nation’s air defense. That Air National Guard as it rounded out its square miles of U.S. airspace including day an unidentified aircraft penetrated so first sixty years. ^
44 WITHOUT END
n June 8, 2004, the Air National Guard (ANG) Senior Scout crew
of Combined Joint Task Force—76 Operations set out from Karshi- O Khanaba Air Base, Uzbekistan. The Senior Scout surveillance system monitored radio signals and was carried by a C-130. The crew headed for Zabul
and Oruzgun provinces in south-central Afghanistan. That nation’s elections were
scheduled to take place in September and Afghanistan’s former leaders, the Taliban,
were instigating violence in order to undermine that nation’s fledgling democracy.
45 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY To threaten the stability and security of the provinces, Taliban leader Mullah
Dadullah called upon 500 to 800 fighters to demoralize the United States Marines, other coalition members, and United
Nations election workers, and counter any efforts to disarm and contain the antigovernment forces.
The task force consisted of members of the 169th Intelligence Squadron (Utah), the 197th Intelligence Squadron (Nevada), both ANG, and the 97th Intelligence
Squadron, U.S. Air Force. Previously, a
Senior Scout mission helped thwart a plan to poison the water supply at Kandahar
Air Base, Afghanistan. On that day, as on most of its missions, the crew supported the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. The
Senior Scout established contact with the
Marines only to find them surrounded by more than 120 anticoalition militia. From Personnel assigned to the 321st Air Expeditionary Squadron offload supplies from a C-130EI Eler-cides aircraft assigned to the 187th Airlift Wing, Wyoming Air National Guard, at Kandahar, Afghanistan, the time reinforcements were on their way during Operation Enduring Freedotn. (Photographer: TSgt Marvin Preston, USAF.) LEFT: A-10fight- for several thereafter, and hours the crew er pilot MajorJim Ewald, 1 72nd Fighter Squadron, 1 1 0th Fighter Wing, Michigan Air National Guard pinpointed the enemies’ locations for the was shot down and recovered during Operation Iraqi Freedom, April 8, 2003. (Air Force Photo.)
Marines and their rescuers. At the end of the mission, more than 80 enemy combatants The June 8, 2004, rescue illustrated of the Air Force indicative of the 21st lay dead and an additional number had been the kind of support the Air National century total force. captured. Three Afghan coalition fighters Guatd provided for wars in Afghanistan died and five Marines received non-life- (Operation Enduring Freedom) and Iraq Operation threatening injuries. According to Brigadier (Operation Iraqi Freedom). In addition Enduring Freedom At the end of the mission, more On March 4, 2003, pararescueman Tech Sergeant Keary Miller of the 123rd Special
Tactics Squadron, Kentucky ANG, than 80 enemy oombatants lay patticipated in one of the bloodiest small-
unit battles in the “global war on terrorism.” dead and an additional number It was part of Operation Anaconda, the
latgest offensive since the beginning of had been oaptured. Operation Enduring Freedom. Congress authorized sending U.S. military forces to
General Norman Sipe, Deputy Combined to the heavy demands placed on the ANG the Afghan region September 14, 2001,
Forces Air Component Commander, “Your by those conflicts and Opetation Noble because reconnaissance missions over support ditecdy contributed to our ability Eagle ptotecting the United States, Air Afghanistan had found al Qaeda training to identify, close with, and destroy our Guardsmen continued supporting other camps within that country. enemies.” The 22nd Marines were more Air and Space Expeditionary Force (AEF)* Historically, Afghanistan was regarded emphatic. When asked if the Senior Scout commitments around the globe. The by many as the wotst place on Earth to crew provided essential support, the Marines Senior Scout mission also illustrated the fight a war. The country, roughly the size responded, “Idell, yes!” cooperation between different components of Texas, had an inhospitable climate and
* See Chapter II regarding the AEF concept. 46 an area located roughly 65 nautical miles UZBEKISTAN south of the Afghan capital, Kabul. One reconnaissance team in two helicopters TAJIKISTAN landed on Takur Ghar. One helicopter carried a Navy SEAL team and an Air TURKMENISTAN Force combat controller. Tech Sergeant John Chapman. As the SEAL team disem- A^Snir Kh^n barked, automatic weapons fire laced the Maza^e* Kondoz helicopter’s side while a rocket propelled Sharrf .^.ou grenade ripped into it. The crew chief
yelled, “We’re taking fire! Go! Go! Go!”
Bagram and the SEAL team rushed back inside. Towraghondi As JallUabad the pilots added power to evade the heavy Herat KABUL ground fire, the damaged helicopter bucked violently, causing Navy SEAL Petty Officer Ghazni Neil Roberts, who was standing on the Shindand LiftwOl Ccobnl ramp, to fall about 12 feet to the ground below. The helicopter escaped the ambush Kandahar and crash-landed abour seven kilometers
north of where Petty Officer Roberts fell.
The second helicopter rescued the PAKISTAN other SEALs and Sergeant Chapman but after returning to their base, they decided
to try and rescue Petty Officer Roberts.
Regardless of the danger they knew the al
Qaeda would treat Roberts badly and time
was running out for him. Despite intense
ground fire, the six men successfully
returned to Takur Ghar. Nevertheless, the Map ofAfghanistan (Central Intelligence Agency). battle continued and Sergeant Chapman a rugged topography. The tribes that lived from previous invaders of that land such as was killed along with several enemy fighters. there were known not to run from a good Genghis Khan, Great Britain under Queen Surrounded by gunfire, the men on the fight. In the southern third of the country, Victoria, and the Russians under Leonid ground called upon a Quick Reaction Eorce the landscape contained a desert-like plateau Brezhnev. Taking place on Takur Ghar, a (QRF), designed for such emergencies. where nomads and others scampered snowcapped, 10,200-foot mountain where Those forces consisted of 23 men and two freely across the Afghan-Pakistan border temperatures at the top reached 40 degrees helicopters. The team included Sergeant in both directions. The central two-thirds Fahrenheit during the day and dropped to Miller. “We were notified that we would ol the country contained the Hindu Kush a negative five at night, the harsh combat be launching in 45 minutes,” he recalled,
Mountains, a chain almost 1,000 miles conditions of that battle reminded men like “and were going into [an al Qaeda and long and 200 miles wide. The mountains Sergeant Miller of the value of his realistic Taliban] infested area.” Also on the team ran from the northeast out of northern training over the years. Miller’s lifesaving were Army Rangers. During Operation
Pakistan to the southwest into Iran. The skills were put to the ultimate test during Enduring Ereedom, Rangers and special ranges contained more than 20 peaks that fierce battle. operations formed the focal point of the higher than 23,000 feet above sea level with For Operation Anaconda, its com- U.S. ground campaign. Sourced from deep valleys in between. Afghanistan had mander, Army Major General Franklin L. special operations forces throughout the only 16 miles of railroad and its roads were Hagenbeck, directed co;ilition forces, U.S. U.S. military and from the Special Air in less-than-desirable condition. The land soldiers and Afghan forces, to destroy Services of Great Britain and Australia, was hard, and so were the lessons learned remaining al Qaeda and Taliban forces in those forces organized the Afghan resistance
47 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY and directed punishing air strikes against to keep the patients from succumbing Airman Cunningham. At that point the
the Taliban and al Qaeda. to hypothermia. They put them in the Quick Reaction Force had 1 1 wounded
Because of communications failures, helicopter and removed its insulation and and seven dead. After 17 hours on the
the Quick Reaction Force landed in the wrapped it around the wounded Rangers. mountaintop, a nighttime rescue took same spot as the previous helicopters and, In addition, they used the majority of place and the ordeal was over. Operation like them, was greeted with gunfire. Miller’s the fluids available in the medical kits Anaconda continued for another 19 days. helicopter managed to land, and the QRF and anything else, including the heaters Although the exploits of one Air called in close air support. For the next packed in their food rations. With the Guardsman in Takur Char may hold five and a half hours, they battled with help of the additional Rangers and more limited significance in the overall history the enemy. Three Rangers died and others air strikes, they took the hill, killing many of Operation Enduring Freedom, that were wounded. al Qaeda combatants. They also recovered battle illustrated the ability of Air
According to Sergeant Miller, “We the bodies of Petty Officer Roberts and Guardsmen to actively contribute to a continued to treat the patients, continued Sergeant Chapman. vital U.S. military operation. Moreover, moving ammunition and grenades to Approximately 10 minutes after the the battle on Takur Char demonstrated where they were needed. I grabbed a radio Rangers took control of the hill, they began that members of the Air National Guard
... and set up satellite communication to receive more frequent enemy mortar and could perform tasks equally as well as and then returned to the rear.” Sergeant automatic weapons fire. Although combat active duty airmen. On November 1,
Miller and Airman Jason Cunningham, air support prevailed, the enemy wounded 2003, Secretary of the Air Force James like Miller, a pararescueman, worked hard an Army medic and fatally wounded G. Roche awarded Sergeant Miller the
Paktia Province, Afghanistan, March 4, 2002, Technical Sergeant Keary Miller of the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, Kentucky National Guard, not only managed to drag a wounded helicopter pilot to safety at Taka Ghur, but also orchestrated the establishment ofnndtiple casualty collection points, hi between treating the wounded. Miller set up the distribution of ammunition for the Army Rangers who were taking the fight to the enemy. For his extraordinary life-saving ejforts while putting himselfin extreme danger under enemy fire. Sergeant Miller was awarded the Silver Star. (Keith Rocco, Tlte Battle of Takur Ghar, National Guard Heritage Painting.)
48 A US Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon, 174th Fighter Wing, New York Air Natiotial Guard, Syracuse, New York, inflight over Afghanistan during Opera- tion Enduring Freedom. TJje aircraft is artned with AIM- 120A Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles on each wing tip, a pair ofGBU-12 500-pound bombs (left), a 370-gallon tank. It also has an AN/AA(f28(V) LITENING II targeting pod under the intake, November 29, 2003. (Photographer: SSgi Suzanne M. Jenkins, USAF. Air Force Photo.)
Silver Star for his bravery under fire. of the most extensive operations in Air received orders by September 20, 2001, to
The battle of Takur Ghar exemplified Force history. Furthermore, the Air Force be in their deployed locations before the only one small instance of Air National met the logistical needs of that operation start of their air bridge operations. Some
Guard participation in the war in despite the severe shortage of strategic ANG tanker units also flew humanitarian
Afghanistan. However, the Guard's role in airlift and troublesome maintenance needs support missions. By using European bases,
the Air Force could transfer cargo from Air National Guar(j cargo planes also the larger aircraft to smaller planes, refuel aircraft on the ground, exchange flight worked close to combat operations. crews, give crews rest opportunities, and repair broken aircraft. By March 2002 ANG C-130 units had Strategic airlift planes such as the Lockheed C-141B Starlifter, the flown 55 percent of the missions for Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, and civilian wide-body the Afghanistan war, airliners were the workhorses for carrying America’s war machine overseas. The
Operation Enduring Freedom expanded of the older planes. Air Guard contributed two Starlifter continuously from 200 1 to 2004 in terms of Shortly after the terrorist attacks on units, the 155th Airlift Squadron, 164th
the of personnel the capabilities 1 weeks Airlift Wing, Tennessee ANG, and the number and September 1 , 200 1 (9/11) and deployed. The ANG was involved even before the hrst U.S. bomb was dropped 183rd Airlift Squadron, 172nd Airlift
before the fighting in Afghanistan began. over Afghanistan, the Air Force established Wing, Mississippi ANG, to the strategic
With the war imminent, the Air Force air bridges to help funnel material and airlift mission. The Air Guard’s sole G-5 quickly established an airlift operations personnel overseas to support multiple unit, the 137th Airlift Squadron, 105th
plan that included active duty. Guard, operations in conjunction with Enduring Airlift Wing, Newburgh, New York, also
and Reserve components. It became one Freedom. Air Natioiiiil Guard tanker units contributed to the operation. Through
49 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY the ANG’s airlift participation in Europe, carried out their lengthy missions. flown 55 percent of the missions for the rhe Air Force’s C-17s could support According to one historian of air warfare, Afghanistan war. Typically, ANG C-130
Enduring Freedom directly. aerial refueling formed the core of any crews flying into dangerous environments
When the war began, only Air modern air combat operation. The Air executed an “Engine Running Offload” or
Guard units assigned to Air Force Force had two weapons systems dedicated combat offload. That meant the pilots kept
Special Operations Gommand deployed to aerial refueling: the McDonnell Douglas the engines on while the crews swiftly rolled directly to Afghanistan to support combat KG- 10 Extender and the venerable Boeing supplies out the back ofthe airplanes. Using operations. Typically, ANG Special Forces KG- 135 Stratotanker, the primary enabler rhat method, the planes spent the least units in 1 3-man teams first went to active for Air Force air combat operations. amount of time on the ground, thereby, duty bases in the United States, and later Usually, the KG- 135 performed air bridge reducing their vulnerability to ground fire to overseas locations. operations supporting strategic airlift, and providing the highest chance to escape
The l69th Fighter Wing, South bombers, and fighter aircraft deploying into successfully if any trouble occurred.
Garolina ANG, was the first ANG fighter a theater of operations. They also provided The 193rd Special Operations unit to deploy to Southwest Asia in direct air refueling support for attack aircraft Wing, Pennsylvania, using the EC-130E support of the air war over Afghanistan. It like the I69th’s F-I6s, and other support aircraft, performed an unusual mission sent over 200 personnel and six F-l6CJs in
J anuary 2002 to A1 Udeid Air Base in Doha,
Qatar, to assist air combat operations over
Afghanistan. In particular, they provided
Joint Direct Attack Munitions against
Taliban and al Qaeda positions, the only
Air Force fighter unit in the theater to do so. F-I6s sometimes were also configured for Gluster Bomb Units. In addition, F-
16 pilots sometimes fired their 20mm gun against ground targets. Missions could last up to 10 hours with 10 to 1 5 air refuelings.
After so many hours strapped in their seats, pilots generally received one to three days of crew rest. The unit returned to South
Carolina April 3, 2002. Pennsylvania ANG’s 103rd Fighter Squadron, 111th Fighter Wing, became
KC-135R assigned to the 195th Air Squadron, Air Wing, Air the first A- 10 ANG unit to deploy directly A Refueling l63rd Refiieling California National Guard, is refiieling a US Navy F-14A Tomcat over northern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Free- to Afghanistan. From December 2002 to dom, April 11, 2003. (Photographer: Paul Farley, Civilian, U.S. Navy. U.S. Navy Photo.) January 2003, the 111th Fighter Wing deployed personnel and sent its aircraft to aircraft flying missions in the combat zone. in Afghanistan: psychological operations.
Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. KC-10 or KG- 135 air refueling tankers Since 1968, the 193rd had been handling
In March 2003 the Air National Guard dragged the I69th F-I6s throughout their airborne psychological missions. The deployed all six ofits A- 1 0 units overseas for flights over Afghanistan, except over actual EC-130E acquired the mission name combat operations in Iraq and Afghanisran. combat areas. Without the fighters’ ability Commando Solo during the 1990s, when
Five units went to Iraq; only the 104th to stay aloft for hours, and without the air the aircraft was modified to handle color
Fighter Squadron in Maryland’s 175th bridge support provided by those tankers, television operations. One of the first
Wing deployed to Afghanistan. While the war in Afghanistan would not have ANG flying units deployed to the area, there, it flew all the A- 10 combat missions been possible to execute. the 193rd began transmitting by the end for Operation Enduring Freedom. Air National Guard cargo planes of October 2001. For almost six months
Without the support of air refueling also worked close to combat operations. the unit relayed broadcasts of Voice of tankers, fighter planes could not have By March 2002 ANG C-130 units had America in the Dari and Pashtu languages
50 and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in • Urfa kZakhu AlQ^mishll# Persian. ®Dahuk Uzbek, Tajik, and According to a • Mahabad
AlHasakah* lliU 'Afar Rayat White House spokesman, the Commando Mosul Qal’atOtah Solo missions gave the Afghan people ®w>n '«"V
“full knowledge about what is happening AsSulagnaolyah Klrtcuk in Afghanistan from a source other than
a repressive Taliban regime.” The 193rd Ba'HI m
remained in the region until ground gl^TIkrit
psychological warfare operations stations • Khanaqin ®Samarra were safely established. '» ' ‘ o— u.1.^ M«KlaU Pilots are the Air Force and Air Guard’s • LUm
elite, but personnel on the ground also AlFaltSi^ aO|“8*'**‘* performed functions essential to combat. 0 Karbala Among the most significant on the ground ® ®AlHIIUh were the civil engineers assigned to the AnMaW AdDIwaniyah •AlHayy Rapid Engineer Deployable—Heavy ® ® Operational Repair Squadron Engineer X (RED HORSE) teams. Originating in the ®. AsSainawah ®AnNasirlyah Vietnam conflict, their arsenal consisted 0 O Katknal Capitol Al of weapons, vehicles, equipment, vehicle ® Province Capitol 0 As Salman 0 • City maintenance, food service, supplies, and 0 Airfield ilUiiiJ/! Ataldrranat* Primary Road Busayyah medical equipment. As their primary 0 SO 10O Rafha* ' mission, RED HORSE teams assessed, AlJahrah^ Kuwait'^ planned, and established facilities
and infrastructures to support both Iraq map. (Central Intelligence Agency.)
domestic and overseas operations. They
deployed quickly into remote, high threat projects included an aircraft hangar, fire even more skilled and more experienced
environments to provide rapid damage and station, taxiway repairs, site work, support than their active duty counterparts. v\ir
requirements assessments, heavy damage facilities, and a vehicle search area at three National Guard civil engineers provided
repair, build base camps, and conduct other Southwest Asia air bases. Notwithstanding 40 percent of the total Air Force Givil
engineering and construction projects such the large influx of civilian construction Engineer forces in Afghanistan by 2004.
as aircraft parking ramps and munitions contractors working in Southwest Asia, Members of another ground-based
pads. Those units provided the Air Force RED HORSE remained the primary ANG unit proved essential in Afghanistan: with a highly mobile civil engineer response enabler in the largest military construction tactical air controllers embedded with
force to support operations worldwide. effort since the Vietnam War. In one the Army ground forces. The application
The ANG had six RED HORSE instance the security situation at an Afghan of air power to support the ground war
units assigned while the active duty had base was so precarious, that runway repairs could not have been accomplished without
four, and the Air Force Reserve had two. had to take place at night. Air National their skills. All but one of the Air Support
Air Force RED HORSE support for Guard RED HORSE personnel wearing Operations Squadrons assigned to the
Operation Enduring Freedom consisted night vision goggles successfully poured Air National Guard were deployed for
of constructing new airfields for future concrete in complete darkness. The Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003.
air operations and repairing facilities that experience in Operation Enduring Freedom According to their After Action Report
had deteriorated. Beginning in mid-April reminded senior Air Force planners that they supported 100 percent of the 2002 ANG RED HORSE units deployed the Air Guard’s RED HORSE units were Gombined Joint Special Operations Task
to various overseas bases to support the equally as capable as their active duty Force—^Afghanistan requests for forces Afghanistan War. The Air Force tasked an equivalents. Because many ANG and Air and supported Special Forces units with
estimated $100 million worth of projects Reserve personnel performed the same jobs conventional tactical air controllers.
to RED HORSE units that year. Those in their civilian careers, perhaps, they were Operation Iraqi Freedom benefited
51 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY from Enduring Freedom’s experience. multilevel dam complex was a critical source was responsible for providing combat
However, once the Iraq conflict began, in of water for irrigation and electrical power search and rescue capability for western and
March 2003, the military began to reduce in western Iraq. If the Iraqis succeeded in central Iraq. During the month-long air
its resources in Afghanistan. Yet the heavy blowing up the dam, the releasing waters campaign over the western Iraqi desert, the
reliance on using the Guard and Reserve would flood the down-river areas, causing A- 10 and F-16 Air Guard pilots assigned
there continued. a humanitarian and environmental disaster to the AEW were involved in countless
and a strategic delay en route to Baghdad. missions supporting Special Forces teams
Seizing the dam complex would protect in need of close air support. The highly
Operation Iraqi Freedom the water supply and retain the ability to experienced Air Guard pilots assigned to
On March 19, 2003, the United States provide electricity, both of which were the AEW, especially the A- 1 0 pilots, helped and coalition forces launched the invasion critical resources during the approaching insure the successftil employment of close
of Iraq in order to remove Saddam summer months of 2003. air support for friendly forces fighting to
Hussein’s regime from power. Coalition The Rangers expected the dam to be retain the Haditha Dam.
air forces battered Baghdad from the air well defended. In preparation for the assault Special Operations AH-6s and F-l6s
after which conventional American and on the dam, fighters assigned to the 4 1 0th from the 4 10th provided air cover as the
coalition ground forces began rolling into Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW) conducted Rangers took their convoy to Haditha.
Iraq. As the following month began. Army preparatory air strikes against Iraqi forces During the night, with support from
Rangers embarked on a mission to protect in the dam’s vicinity. Air support for the 410th, the Rangers seized the dam,
the Haditha Dam from being destroyed Special Forces in the battle came from a power station, and a transformer yard
by Iraqi forces. The Rangers expected the various coalition aircraft including U.S. while facing light to moderate enemy
operation to last approximately 24 hours. Army Special Operations Aviation units. resistance. Several Iraqis were killed and
Instead it took them more than 12 days. However, that battle became one of the wounded; others, including 25 civilian
Sitting on the Euphrates River about more unique operations for the AEW, and workers, were taken prisoner.
100 miles northwest of Baghdad, the in particular. Air Guard pilots. The 4 10th As daylight broke over the dam, the
Munitionspersonnelfrom the l60tb Fighter Squadron, 187th Fighter Wing, Alabama Air National Guard, assigned to the 410th Air Expeditionary Wing at aforward deployed location work oil guided munitions on the pylon ofone oftheir F-16C FightingFalcons. The Falcon has an AIM-120A Advanced Medium Air-to-Air Missilefixed to the wing tip. The 4l 0th Air Expeditionary Wingprepares the aircraftfor take offfor sorties on A-Day, the commencement ofthe air
warfor Operation Iraqi Freedom, March 19, 2003. (Photographer: SSgt Bennie J. Davis III, USAF. Air Force Photo.)
52 Tlje 1 l4th Fighter Wing, South Dakota Air National Guard, Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force (Prime BEEF), at Tallil Air Base, Iraq. The photo was taken near Tallil Air Base, in the ruins of Ur, considered one ofthe oldest cities in the ivorld, 2003. (Air National Guard Photo.)
Rangers began taking increasing enemy Many of the Air Guard pilots flying efforts of an FAC-qualified pilot, a CSAR
fire from the south as well as coordinated close air support were not only highly pilot, and observation posts manned by
attacks at both ends of the dam. Although experienced pilots, but they possessed additional Rangers and Air Force enlisted
the Rangers repelled the initial assault, other critical skills as well. Most two-ship terminal attack controllers (who cleared
Iraqi counterattacks continued with heavy A- 10 flights consisted of a pilot who had airborne weapons for release) ensured the
mortar and artillery shells that rained down qualified as a Forward Air Controller Rangers on the dam would not be overrun.
on the Rangers. Fortunately, the Rangers (FAC) to guide other fighter aircraft to That operation reflected the typical attitude
had ample air support from the 4 10th, send their bombs to specific enemy targets. held by Air Guard aviators, especially A- Rangers shared their experiences with the pilots basically explaining, “if it were
not for you guys, I would not be here,”
which attacked several mortar positions. After delivering their own firepower, 10 pilots, who believed that when ground
Even without the protection of darkness, the flight leader and his wingman would troops needed help, the pilots would remain
the Air Guard A- 10s attacked numerous remain over the battlefield to help the as long as possible to “lay it on the line more
enemy positions. At nightfall the Iraqis other aircraft to accurately employ their and expose themselves more over the target
resumed their attacks against the Rangers, munitions. The wingman was a qualified area.” Even when the Rangers were not
but once again close air supported the combat search and rescue (CSAR) pilot taking enemy fire, the A- 1 Os provided cover
U.S. forces. A single bomb obliterated the who would coordinate with other rescue so the Rangers could catch a few hours of
attackers and shattered every window in assets if needed. sleep. The 4 10th fighters also supplied air
the dam complex. Nevertheless, the siege The Rangers on the dam were grearly cover during medical evacuation missions
continued for ten more days. outnumbered. Nevertheless, the combined for killed and wounded Rangers.
53 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY During the twelfth day of the siege, the operating in several other countries. 60 percent of the targets destroyed. outnumbered Rangers continued to face Besides providing personnel ANG As in Afghanistan, the Air Guard repeated attacks by the enemy force. The contributed aircraft and equipment to contributed significant transportation
Air Guard A- 10 and F-16 pilots realized the war effort while continuing its efforts capability to Operation Iraqi Freedom. early in the battle that the close air support in Operation Enduring Freedom in Thirteen of ANG’s 25 airlift units they provided was the vital element that Afghanistan and exercising a primary role participated, including 72 of 124 Air kept the Iraqi forces at bay, a matter of life in Operation Noble Eagle in the United Force C-130s. Among their missions. Air and death for the Rangers. In the end the coalition forces prevailed. Military experts believed that without the air support, especially the A- 10s, the Rangers would not have won the battle. Not only did the coalition forces secure the Haditha Dam complex, but they seriously reduced the fighting effectiveness of the Iraqi Armored
Task Force in the Haditha area. Weeks later, back at Fort Benning, Georgia, some ofthe Air Guard pilots had the opportunity to meet the Rangers they looked after. The meeting became emotional at times because
Rangers shared their experiences with the pilots basically explaining, “if it were not for you guys, I would not be here.”
The Air Guard experience at Haditha
Dam dramatically illustrated its essential role in Operation Iraqi Freedom air support. In addition to its air power the
ANG provided a robust force of over 3,530 personnel for the expeditionary combat support functions and many Air
Guard senior officers held command A South Carolina Air National Guard F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft from the 157th Fxpeditionary positions during the war. Air National Fighter Squadron, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, is recoveredfolloiving a nighttime mission at a fin'-
ward deployed location during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Fite aircraft is armed with AIM-120B Advanced Guard intelligence personnel deployed Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, AlM-9 Sideivinder missiles, and AGM-88 High-Speed Antiradiation overseas and supported the war effort in Missiles, March 23, 2003. (Photographer; SMSgt Edward E. Snyder. Air Force Photo.) signals intelligence by flying Senior Scout missions and augmented Rivet Joint States. For example, the ANG deployed Guard C-130 crews airlifted elements of crews to “monitor the electronic activity 40 percent of the mobile radars, mobile the 82nd Airborne Division and the 3rd of adversaries.” Although their pilots navigation aids, and 40 percent of the Marine Expeditionary Force. Those crews sat at controls in the United States, Air mobile control towers in Iraq. During the also flew one of the first day/night airlift
Guardsmen also “flew” Global Hawk opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom missions into an Iraq air base and delivered and Predator unmanned aerial vehicle in 2003, 48 of the 60 A- 10s engaged in the the first humanitarian supplies into intelligence missions in Southwest Asia. Iraq war belonged to the Air Guard. Five Baghdad International Airport. In Iraqi
The Air Guard also deployed air traffic Air Guard A- 1 0 units and one active duty Freedom’s first six months. Air Guard C- control personnel, maintainers, and A- 10 unit flew in this operation that year. 130 crews airlifted 22,000 tons of cargo, airspace managers. Over 27 percent of the Although the A- 1 0 aircraft represented only 47,000 passengers, and flew 8,600 sorties total Air Force civil engineer force in Iraq eight percent of the total Air Force fighters in 21,000 hours. came from the ANG; other Air Guard used in that war, they flew 44 percent of Operation Iraqi Freedom’s intelligence engineers supported Iraqi Freedom while the fighter sorties, and were responsible for collection efforts were enhanced by the
54 of PSYOPS support to coalition agencies
in Iraq. Flying from March to June 2003,
its missions apparently fulfilled their goals.
According to an Iraqi prisoner of war and
former mid-level intelligence officer, the
population in southern Iraq considered the
coalition radio broadcasts more truthfial
than state-owned media. The leaflets also
had a significant impact on the morale of
Iraqi military and prompted considerations
to surrender. The Iraqis concluded that
U.S. planes could as easily target them with
bombs as leaflets if their intent was lethal.
As essential to the war effort as were
C-130s, A- 10s, and piloted reconnaissance
and surveillance aircraft, they could not
have completed their missions efficiently
without aerial refueling. During the war
in Iraq, the Air Force deployed 200 tanker
aircraft based at 1 5 locations. Air National Guard tankers provided one-third of Commando Solo EC-130E from the 193rd Special Operations Wing, Pennsylvania Air National the Guard, sits on the ramp at undisclosed location during Operations Enduring Ereedom and Iraqi Air Force refueling aircraft deployed Ereedom in late 2005. (Official Photo by: Capt David Earhart, 193rd Special Operations Wing. Air for Iraqi Freedom, and an additional 35 National Guard Photo.) ANG tanker aircraft conducted air bridge initial combat employment of the Air reach its target populations. According operations. Meanwhile, in the United Force’s first (and as of 2007 only) blended to Rick Fiofmann, president of the States, the Air Guard had 21 remaining wing: the newly formed 116th Air U.S. Psychological Operations Veterans tanker aircraft tasked to support Operation Control Wing, composed of ANG and Association, with leaflet drops and radio Noble Eagle (ONE), 70 percent of the active duty Air Force personnel based propaganda broadcasts as the chiefweapons, tanker alerts and aerial refueling missions in Warner-Robins, Georgia. The wing its main purposes included persuading the for ONE. The most widely used resource in deployed nine of its 1 1 assigned JSTARS enemy to surrender and convincing local the ANG, however, stayed on the ground:
air traffic controllers. With Operation Iraqi Air National Guarcj tankers Freedom, the ANG’s Air Traffic Gontrol Squadrons now supported three major provided one-third of the operations including Operation Noble Eagle and Operation Enduring Ereedom.
Wltile the Air Guard participated in Air refueling aircraft Force Iraqi Freedom in its traditional roles such as
airlift, air refueling, airborne reconnaissance, deployed for Iraqi Freedom.,, and psychological operations, it also engaged in new roles that involved historically aircraft: to the Iraqi Freedom theater as civilians that the attackers were not the real significant combat capabilities, especially well as over 600 unit personnel including enemy. “The objective is always to shorten systems that allowed precision attacks that one-tenth of the aircrews. Air Guardsmen the conflict by demoralizing the enemy would not only destroy the intended target composed about one-fourth of the Wing’s and to keep civilians out of harm’s way.” but reduce or eliminate collateral damage. deployed personnel. For example, the 193rd Special Operations Perhaps the most important was the day,
Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) Wing of the Pennsylvania ANG deployed night, and all-weather EITENING II used more old-fashioned methods to its Commando Solo aircraft for a variety targeting pod fitted to ANG fighter aircraft.
55 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY An F-16C Block 30, 107th Fighter Squadron, 127th Wing, Michigan Ad^G, carrying LIFENING IIpods in Kirkuk, Iraq. The 107th was thefirst F- 16 unit in the Total Air Force to be based in Iraq. (Photographer: MSgt Glenn Wilkiwitz, Air National Guard. Air National Guard Photo.)
LITENING II targeting pods allowed a targeting pods along with manned and Freedom. Air National Guard crews also
precise fix of the location of enemy vehicles. unmanned aerial surveillance also proved supported 75 percent of the tanker sorties
The Air Force Reserve and Air National their utility to the safety of coalition troops and over 60 percent of the airlift sorties to
Guard developed that pod in conjunction on the ground. other theaters. In addition. Air National with the Air Force and defense contractors Although President George W. Bush Guard expeditionary combat support units
because the active force could not provide famously proclaimed an end to major participated in operations and exercises
the equipment needed by the Air Reserve hostilities in Operation Iraqi Freedom on around the world. More than two-thirds
Gomponents to equip their fighter units May 1, 2003, and Saddam Hussein was of the Air National Guard personnel have
for precision attacks under any conditions. captured on December 13 of that year engaged in worldwide operations since
In 2004 the 107th Fighter Squadron, and executed December 30, 2006, the September 11, 2001. The Air Guard
127th Wing, Michigan ANG, became Iraqi conflict continued through 2007 also deployed approximately one-third
the first unit to use the Theater Air and the Air National Guard continued of the force dedicated to support the war
Reconnaissance System pod in combat in its involvement. Overall, ANG’s contri- in Iraq. By 2004 nearly 40 percent of
conjunction with a second F-16C carrying bution to the “global war on terrorism” the total Air Force aircraft deployed for
a LITENING targeting pod. Both also was unlike any previous combat operation overseas operations were assigned to the
carried precision guided munitions. While in its history. During Fiscal Year 2006, Air National Guard. That illustrated the
in Iraq the 107th flew combat missions Air National'Guard crews flew more than continued reliance on Air Guard aircraft
over some of the fiercest battles waged in 50 percent of the fighter, tanker, and in the total Air Force aircraft deployments
the Fallujah and Najaf areas, known for airlift sorties for Operation Noble Eagle; since the end of the Gold War. With
their anti-American activities. With the provided almost one-third of the fighter no end in sight to the “global war on
escalation of the Iraqi insurgency that year, sorties in Operation Enduring Freedom; terrorism,” the long term impact of such
characterized by roadside detonations of and provided over one-third of the fighter heavy demands on the ANG’s citizen improvised explosive devises, the use of and tanker sorties for Operation Iraqi airmen was impossible to gauge. ^
56 TO CIVIL AUTHORITIES
hile Guardsmen pursued the “global war on terrorism” overseas,
at home, Air National Guard (ANG) citizen airmen engaged W in real world missions supporting civil authorities. They fought forest fires, fed cattle during blizzards, conducted hurricane and flood relief
operations, assisted the Customs and Border Patrol in the American southwest,
and even protected Santa Claus as he made his rounds on Christmas Eve! Whether
only a few airmen might participate in these operations, the significance of their
57 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY contributions lay not in sheet numbers of personnel, but rather the specialized
technical capabilities they provided.
Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams
The Department of Defense fitst auth-
orized the formation of Weapons of Mass Destmction-Civil Support Teams (WMD-
CSTs or CSTs) in the 1 990s to assist civilian
first responders with technical advice,
communications, and other support during
potential major disasters within the United
States. Twenty-two ANG and Army National assisting state civil authorities in since at least the great Mis- National Guard specialists composed Guard Airmen have been floods sissippi flood of 1927. Here members of the India7ia Air National Guard participate in a>i emergency each WMD-CST. On September 11, operation after recent flooding in Fort Wayne, Indiana, March 1, 1982. (Photographer: TSgt David 2001, Scotia, New York’s 2nd Givil Craft. Air Force Photo.) LEFT: C-130E Herades cargo aircraftfrom the 1 46th Airlift Wing, Califor-
Support Team became the first of those nia, rigged with a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) rtiakes a Phoschek fli'e retardant drop on the Simi Fire in Southern California, October 28, 2003. (Camera Operator: Sgt Alex Koenig, teams to deploy in a real crisis. After USAF. Air Force Photo.) the tragedy that day, Congress wanted
each state and territory to have one of the team called in the 5th Civil Support to respond to natural disasters are the
those units with California meriting Team of Illinois to monitor its side of same skills and capabilities that enable
two teams making the final total 55. As the river and the 45th Civil Support us to successfully respond to potential
of August 2007 52 of those teams had Team of Tennessee joined it to monitor terrorist threats.”
been certified. Kentucky. Although the Coast Guard Airborne wildfire fighting could be
Exemplifying the kind of work hand- contained the spill, the CSTs continued extremely dangerous. While Air Force
led by Civil Support Teams, on February their monitoring another two days C-130s normally conducted low-level
28, 2007, a barge containing 220,000 until the chemicals were transferred to flight training at 300 feet above ground
gallons of an irritating chemical hit a another harge. level, fire fighting missions flew at 120
lock on the Ohio River between Illinois to 150 feet in heat and smoke often
and Kentucky sending approximately in remote, mountainous areas. Major
10,000 gallons into the water. The spill Natural Disasters Iver Osborn, an instructor pilot with
gave ofiF a foul smell and “caused quite Members of Weapons of Mass the 153rd Airlift Wing, Wyoming Air
a scare,” observed the Heartland News. Destruction-Civil Support Teams were Guard, stressed that he found airborne
The chemical could “cause dizziness and not the only Air Guardsmen to respond fire fightinghis most challenging mission.
irritate the eyes, nose, and throat” as to disasters. Traditionally, governors Making sure the fire retardant found its well as “be damaging to animals directly called out National Guard units when target, “cut to the heart of true piloting
” exposed to it.” Released as a liquid, it faced with natural but localized disasters skills The Air Guard found that fire
evaporated into a gas that threatened such as blizzards, earthquakes, floods, fighting helped its aircrews hone their
residents of Metropolis, Illinois. The spill and forest fires. The ptesident could also wartime low-level airdrop, formation-
caused that portion of the Ohio River to federalize them in major disasters that flying skills. In addition to the 153rd,
close. Kentucky’s 41 GST, including threatened to overwhelm the resources California ANG’s l46th Tactical Airlift
four specially trained Air Guardsmen, of individual states or communities. Wing and North Carolina ANG’s l45th
responded immediately and began to According to the National Guard Airlift Wing flew firefighting missions.
monitor the air quality. Working in Bureau, “The indigenous skills and The Air National Guard’s main
conjunction with the U.S. Coast Guard, capabilities National Guardsmen used tool for fighting fires was the Modular
58 —
Following a devastating blizzard in 1949, Colorado Air Guard C-47s dropped hay to stranded and starving livestock throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Altogether the Colorado Air Guardsmenflew 17 such missions dropping tons ofhay that saved thousands ofcattle and wildlife. Colorado Air Guard F-51s and A-26s also flew 10 reconnaissance missions du7'ing that etneigency, January 29, 1949. (Air National Guard Photo.)
Airborne Fire FightingSystem(MAFFS), very, very busy,” he said, adding that Relief operations such as those that which underwent several updates since forest fires have become more severe occurred after a 6.7 earthquake on the its first use in September 1971 by the and tougher to fight. Big Island of Hawaii in October 2006
l46th. Housed in C-130s, a MAFFS Blizzards also created the need for and after floods in Washington State could disperse up to 27,000 pounds National Guard support. As with the the following month, also typified almost 3,000 gallons—ol commercial Civil Support Teams, olten both Army ANG disaster and relief operations. fire retardants or an equivalent amount Guard and Air Guard units assisted with In Washington Army and Air of water. Newer aircraft like the C-130J health and welfare matters, conducted Guardsmen provided transportation held the MAFFS II, which carried even debris removal and power generation, for sandbagging, resupply, evacuation, more fire retardant, could disperse it and provided supply and transportation high wheel vehicle operations, and traffic more rapidly over a wider area, and was support in connection with snowstorms. control points. Guardsmen in Hawaii easier to recharge after a mission than For example, a Christmas-time 2006 also assisted with aerial surveillance and
its predecessor. The growing number ol blizzard at the airport hub ol Denver transportation. significant forest fires in the 21st centuty International Airport closed that facility On August 29, 2005, the largest challenged U.S. firefighting resources. down for two days. Army and Air natural disaster the Air Guard faced in
Looking back on 2006, Colonel Harold Guardsmen took food and water to its 60 year history began when Hurricane
Reed, 153rd Airlift Wing commander, thousands of travelers trapped there. In Katrina hit the United States Gulf Coast. explained that Wyoming Air Guard the same storm, western Kansas received The most severe damage came from
members used to get called out for between 1 5 and 36 inches of snow a 30-plus-foot storm surge along the wildfires about once every three years with drifts as high as 1 3 feet. The Air Mississippi coast and the north shore
for one or two weeks at a time. Now National Guard not only assisted people, of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana and
they were being called out each year lor but also dropped bales of hay to feed breaks in the levies along a canal in New
about a month at a time. “It keeps us stranded cattle. Orleans. Several weeks later Hurricane
59 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY Rita devastated portions of western ability of ANG to respond in wartime to Gilbert was one of the first to enter the
Louisiana and eastern Texas, and then a major disaster within the United States. area. Seventy-three engineers from his
the less severe Hurricane Wilma damaged Senior Master Sergeant Doug Gilbert unit worked in hard-hit Hancock
Florida. With much of the Guard’s arrived on the Gulf Goast August 29, County, Mississippi. First, his civil
personnel and equipment overseas in 2005, within hours of the storm’s arrival. engineering unit established a base camp
Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi From Florida’s 202nd RED HORSE for infantrymen of the 3rd Battalion,
Freedom, those hurricanes tested the Squadron, 125th Eighter Wing, Sergeant 1 24th Infantry Regiment, from the Florida
Army National Guard. In addition, his
unit began repaits in Hancock County
communities working nearly around-the-
clock on multiple consttuction projects to
restore power, clean and repair schools,
and refurbish electrical supplies. “Most of
the schools had four to eight feet of water
in them.” While conducting a survey of
the area, the school superintendent spotted
Gilbert and began asking him questions.
According to an American Forces Press
Service interview, Gilbert “told her that
the 202nd could help rebuild the schools
and the community, [and she] cried and
hugged him.” By mid-September, the
schools could be occupied. As a Florida unit, the 202nd had worked many other hurricanes. However, Katrina’s
Mississippi Air National Guard (MSANG) personnel assist these displaced civilians as they disembark devastation sutpassed anything in their from MSANG C-17A Globeyjmster III cargo aircraft. Tljese people were evacuated fi-om Keesler Air previous experience. Force Base, Mississippi, due to floodmgfiwn Hurricane Katrina andflown to Kelly City Base, Texas, August 30, 2005- (Photographer: SRA Heather Norris, Air Force Photo.) Hurricane Katrina made its first U.S. landfall in Florida on August 25, 2005. At that time, the Air National Guard had mobilized 840 personnel
in that state, Mississippi, Louisiana,
and Texas. Although the Air National
Guard had a domestic mission to
support local authorities in rescue and
relief operations following a natural
disaster, its utilization for such missions
had been limited primarily to a select
group of career fields such as civil
engineers like Sergeant Gilbert, medical
personnel, and services. In response to
Hurricane Katrina, ANG units in all
54 states and territories responded to
the recovery efforts in the Gulf States.
The ANG flew 73 percent of the airlift Mississippi Air National Guard Staff Sergeant Joseph L. Smith, with the 172nd Civil Engineering for the relief operations including its Squadron headquartered in Jackson, is a flreflghter in his civilian life as well as one in the Guard. He is brand new and aircraft. clearing debris in Gtdfport, Mississippi, during the Hurricane Katrina reliefeffort, September 9, 2003. G-130J C-17 (Photographer: 2Lt Murray B. Shugars, Mississippi Army National Guard. National Guard Photo.) In addition, ANG Combat Search and
60 Rescue pararescuemen and Combat EMEDS personnel could perform sur- Gulf Region took ANG G-130 units
Controllers saved over 1 ,300 victims. gery, dental services, laboratory services, two days. Nevertheless, ANG EMEDS
To support rescue and relief oper- pharmacy services, and inpatient care. personnel arrived as early as August 29, ations in New Orleans, the Air National Although EMEDS usually had a specific 2005. This group came from the 190th
Guard used the Naval Air Station, Joint bed limit such as 25 beds, medical Air Refueling Wing, Kansas ANG, and
Reserve Base, in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, personnel could still provide outpatient the Gombat Readiness Training Gen ter on the Mississippi River’s West Bank. care for many victims. in Alpena, Michigan, where EMEDS
Within five hours of its orders, the 136th Because of the large amount of training was conducted. They set up
Airlift Wing, Texas ANG, deployed 4l equipment an EMEDS team used, operations in Gulfport, Mississippi, and
Guardsmen to Belle Chasse. Less than airlifting the 22 pallets bound for the at Louis Armstrong Airport in suburban
Within five hours of its orders, the 1 36th Airlift Wing, Texas ANG, deployed 41 Guardsmen to Belle Chasse.
24 hours later, a C-130H landed at the air base with members of Louisiana’s
1 59th Fighter Wing. Soon more aircraft arrived, delivering troops and supplies for New Orleans; offloaded pallets were stacked 1 0 deep on the aircraft parking ramp. Instead of heading into the flooded city, the 136th team remained at Belle Chasse and, within 36 hours of arriving, it established a fully functioning Air Terminal Operations Center and was keeping pace with the demanding mission schedule. That Aerial Port team, augmented by U.S. Navy cargo handlers and members of the 133rd Aerial
Port Squadron, 133rd Airlift Wing, Minnesota, handled over 124 missions with 1.5 million pounds of cargo and
974 passengers in one day. As one of its most crucial tasks, the Texas squadron downloaded the German pump system used to drain the city of New Orleans because its own pumps were inundated, ft also uploaded two KC-135s with 140 kennels filled with rescued dogs bound for adoption in Arizona.
Katrina also provided the first real- time opportunity for the Air National Guard’s Expeditionary Medical Support
(EMEDS) teams to deploy in response to U.S. Air Force and civilian medical personnel offload patients from a C-130H Hercules aircrafi fi-om the 130th Airlift Wing, West Virginia, Air National Guard, shortly after arriving at Houston, Texas. a domestic natural disaster. EMEDS was a Department ofDefense units were niobilizing as part ofJoint Task Force Katrina to support the Federal collection of small, modular medical units Emergency Management Agency’s disaster-relief efforts in the Coast areas devastated by Hurricane Ka- that replaced larger theater hospitals. The trina. (Air Force Photo.)
61 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY New Orleans. In addition, the ANG
also established a temporary facility
in Hancock County, Mississippi, as a
stop-gap until the severely damaged Hancock Medical Center, the county’s
only medical facility, was back in
operation. As a result, ANG EMEDS provided an essential service. These EMEDS consisted of medical personnel from Mississippi, Alabama, Kansas, and
Delaware Air National Guard units. During the Katrina emergency EMEDS exemplified a total force operation where active duty, Air Guard, and Air Force Reserve personnel worked with Federal Emergency Management Administration
(FEMA) medical teams to care for and transport thousands of Katrina victims. The EMEDS rapid deployment capability enabled over 30,000 people to be processed through the New Orleans airport in five days.
On September 22, 2005, less than one month after Sergeant Gilbert and his 136th Aerial Port Squadron members deployed to Mississippi, they were called back to Texas. Hurricane
Rita was expected to hit the Houston area where many Katrina evacuees had settled. In the end Rita missed the large metropolitan area, but on September
24, the hurricane devastated Eouisiana’s
Vermilion Parish and sections of east
Texas. The Air Guard’s base at Ellington
Field, near Houston, reopened the next day and the 1 36th Airlift Wing, based in
Fort Worth, used it as an aerial logistics A Puerto Rico Air National Guard C-130 Hercules cargo aircraftflew patients evacuatedfrom Keesler site to fly in water, meals-ready-to-eat, Air Force Base, Mississippi, because ofHurricane Katrina. Here personnelfrom the Puerto Rico Air Na- and other supplies to first responders tional Guardprepare to load a stretcher- borne patient into a waiting ambulance to be taken to Wilford and Guardsmen supporting rescue and Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Fexas, forfrrther medical treatment, August 30, 2005. (Photogapher: SRA Heather Norris, USAF. Air Force Photo.) recovery efforts.
For his hurricane work. Master
Sergeant Lynn Bailey, of the I47th General of Texas awarded it to Sergeant capacity, he responded to “a desperate
Fighter Wing, Texas, “a reluctant hero,” Bailey for potentially saving the lives request” from the Texas Department became one of the few Air National of hundreds of “impaired and elderly” of Transportation to deliver fuel for
Guardsmen to receive an Army Guard nursing home residents from Beaumont, 30 buses stranded at the Sam Houston medal. On September 26, 2005, Major Texas. Sergeant Bailey served as a fuels Race Park. The buses required the fuel
General Charles Rodriguez, the Adjutant superintendent for the l47th. In that to assist with evacuation in anticipation
6Z of Hurricane Rita. “It brought back using its huge G-5 Galaxies to transport undocumented aliens. Because many memories of Iraq when we were helicopters and rescue supplies. Air of those illegals willingly worked long desperately trying to get fuel from Guardsmen and their aircraft also fought hours at low wages, and even became
Baghdad to Kirkuk during the initial major fires abroad as in 1997 when the home and business owners paying taxes stages of the war,” recalled Sergeant Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd and contributing to the community,
Bailey. “Our unit was the hrst one able Airlift Wing assisted the Indonesian they received significant support among to deliver luel to Baghdad.” government in fighting massive fires in certain segments of the population
Next the l47th had to rescue that nation’s tropical rain forests. and among certain businesses. As a the buses in Beaumont designated to result of that dichotomy, the federal evacuate older and infirm residents of Operation Jump Start government was unable to develop a the area. The Army National Guard Illegal immigration over the border satisfactory policy of dealing with illegal there had enough gas, but it lacked with Mexico had plagued the United immigration while the estimated number the propet nozzle to put the fuel into States for generations. Over the years of those undocumented aliens by 2006 the buses. Sergeant Bailey did not have various programs had been developed had risen to an estimated 12 million. the proper nozzle either. Instead, with to allow needed farm workers to After September 1 1, 2001, the fear that the help of Staff Sergeant Vic Taylor, come in legally and temporarily while terrorists also used the porous Mexican a refueling mechanic, he improvised the path to a green card (permanent border tipped the balance in favor of one using old refueling parts from his residency) and citizenship had become clamping down on illegals. Primary shop. “I was awake for 26 hours, but I more difficult. Border communities responsibility for that mission belonged was running on adrenaline,” Sergeant and increasingly, areas farther north, to the Border Patrol of the Immigration Bailey explained. Army Guardsmen complained of welfare and subsidized and Naturalization Service (Department conducted the actual rescue operation. medical costs, crowded schools, and of Justice), which after 2003 became
But they could not have done it without drugs and high crime associated with Gustoms and Border Patrol (GBP) in the ingenuity of Sergeant Bailey’s team.
If Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were not enough of a challenge for a National Guard already stretched thin by Operations Enduring Freedom and
Iraqi Freedom, one month after Rita, Hurricane Wilma slammed into Florida.
While not as destructive as its two predecessors, it still affected a substantial
number of Floridians. The 172nd Airlift Wing Irom Jackson Air National Guard
Base, Mississippi, for example, delivered
1 40,000 pounds of food, water, and juice
to Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, in
its G-17 Globemaster. The Air National Guard not only
perlornaed rescue and relief work in the
United States, but also overseas. For
example, in 1998, a typhoon destroyed homes and buildings on Guam. The
ANG helped rebuild them. Then in Medical Squadron, California 2005, alter a major earthquake affected Air National Guard Captain Jose R. D. Cabrera, a nursefrom the 146th Air National Guard, gets a bloodpressure reading ofa local villager in the toivn ofPunta Gorda, Belize, a mountainous, hard-to-reach area during a 15-day medical humanitarian operation called Medrete 03. During the operation over 3,600
of Pakistan, the 105th Airlift Wing, patients were treated and help was delivered to people ajfected by Hurricane Iris, February 13, 2002. New York, fiew humanitarian missions (Photographer: MSgt Rod Thornburg, USA. Air Force Photo.)
63 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY Air National Guard airmen ofthe 188th Fighter Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard, install afetice along the U. S. -Mexico border east ofSan Luis, Arizona. The Guardsmen were working in partnership with the US. Border Patrol as part of Operation Jmnp Start, October 3, 2006. (Photographer: SSgt Dan Heaton, USAF. Air Force Photo.)
the Department of Homeland Security. states deployed “to perform duties in Wing, “Our mission is to deliver general
Some National Guard units helped the support ofthis border enforcement effort.” medical care in an innovative manner CBP by building a fence along a portion Governors could decline participation in an isolated area.” Jump Start troops of the border and assisting in the effort if it conflicted with their Guard’s ability risked “dehydration, sunburn, insect to staunch the flow of illegal drugs into to respond to state emergencies. To bites and stings, snake bites, and twisted the United States. minimize disruption the plan envisioned ankles.” To respond to those and other
In response to growing criticism of the using the normal two-week training medical needs, seven West Virginia Air federal government’s efforts at preventing periods to rotate traditional (part-time) Guard members from the I67th Medical the influx of undocumented aliens, Guardsmen in and out of the border. The Group, I67th Airlift Squadron, I67th
President George W. Bush promised on memorandum of understanding signed Airlift Wing, renovated an abandoned
May 15, 2006, to bolster the Border Patrol. between the Department of Defense and clinic in Playas, New Mexico, a 1,840-
Because recmitment and training would take the governors of the four border states acre town purchased by the Department time, the president suggested that for at least explicitly removed the National Guard of Homeland Security in 2003. The team one year, up to 6,000 National Guardsmen from law enforcement duties. commanded by Flight Surgeon Colonel at any one time could be deployed to assist The Air National Guard played David Porter deployed within four days the GBP on the Southwest border. a significant role in Jump Start. As in of receiving their orders in July 2006.
Operation Jump Start, the name given other operations, its medical personnel Colonel Porter praised Operation Jump to that National Guard mission, involved used their skills for operating in hostile Start as a good training opportunity: the borders of Arizona, Galifornia, New environments. According to Captain “There’s nothing like hands-on to
Mexico, and Texas. Their governors agreed Anita Pouch, a nurse practitioner with really learn the job.” The need for to accept National Guard units from other West Virginia Air Guard’s 130th Airlift a medical staff also underscored the
64 )
LC-130Hs equipped with landing skis, operated by the 109th Airlift Squadron, New York Air National Guard, parked on the ice pack at McMurdo Station at Ross Island in Antarctica during Operation Deep Freeze 2001. Jlje unit operates six LC-130s between Christchurch, New Zealand, and a number of U.S.
Natmial Science Foundation stations located on the Antarctic ice pack, November 5, 2001. (Photographer: MSgt Joe Cupido. Air Force Photo.
dangers the Guardsmen faced near the Tohono O’Odham Indian Reservation, Guardsmen. Two days later. President border. “You see ‘coyotes’ [smugglers] approximately one mile from the U.S.- Bush visited the Texas border where with truckloads of people just speeding Mexico border. According to Master he observed Guardsmen “working long through,” explained National Guard Sergeant David Tilley, the unit’s hours ... to keep this border secure
Bureau Historian William Boehm, noncommissioned officer in charge and We saw choppers of all kinds of new who visited the border operations in a supervisor in the broadband depart- equipment on it—airplanes that can
September 2006. “It’s a nasty place.” ment lor Ghurchill Gounty Gommunica- interdict people flying in drugs, fast boats
The ANG performed other functions tions, the caravan consisted of his team, to stop the people trying to bring drugs or as well. For example, 17 Washington a Border Patrol agent who “kept watch” people up and down the coast of Texas.”
Air National Guard members with on their work, and “a car loaded with He also noted that for each Guardsman the 252nd Gombat Gommunications two archaeologists and a monitor from v/orking construction, logistics, or
Group also deployed to Arizona to set the Tohono O’Odham reservation.” The surveillance, “it means there’s one more up a radio communications network. archaeologists and Indian got involved if Border Patrol agent out on the front line.
Even traditional Guard duties such as the Guard disturbed artifacts. The tribe So we’re going to use this Guard until we road building by ANG civil engineers approved the construction of vehicle get 6,000 more people trained.” could take a surprising turn in rhe barriers to slow down the illegal aliens southwestern desert. For two weeks from crossing into the United States.
25 Nevada Air Guardsmen from rhe Including its Operation Jump Other Operations 152nd Givil Engineering Squadron Start support personnel deployed some The Air National Guard also partici- took part in an unusual caravan as they distance from the border, by August pated in noncombat support missions graded rough roads for the Border Patrol 1, 2006, the National Guard met its that sometimes took it beyond the U.S. to use. Their work took them to the benchmark of over 6,000 participating boundaries. For example, in Operation
65 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY .
Winter Freeze, from November 2004 state police, the Secret Service, and the these airplanes with wheels landed on an through January 2005, nearly 250 Army Federal Bureau of Investigation for those ice runway near the station. Fiowever, as and Air Guardsmen provided assistance missions. Congress, responding to the it got colder, the ski-equipped LG- 130s to the Customs and Border Patrol success of those arrangements, passed landed on a snow-covered skiway on along 295 miles of the United States- legislation in Octobet 2004 making it the Ross Ice Shelf a few miles from the Canadian border. That operation in- easier for the secretary of defense to use station. In 2006 the operation included cluded military personnel from U.S. National Guardsmen who Were still under 466 flights—a record—and it also Northern Command’s Joint Task Force the command of their state governors to boasted the most flights over the South North who helped the Border Patrol conduct homeland security operations. Pole, 337. In the spring and summer, to “keep potential terrorists out of the On the other side of the world Air the 109th headed towatd the North Pole country and to break up smuggling rings National Guard Lieutenant Colonel where it supported the National Science that try to get them in.” In order “to detect, Gary James of Schenectady, New York’s Foundation and several other nations in
deter, and monitor suspicious actions . . 1 09th Airlift Wing, and his crew of five, Greenland and above the Arctic Circle.
Air Guard crews flew twin-engine, C-26 piloted one of the two final LG- 130 This sampling ofhow the Air National airplanes out of Syracuse, N.Y.” cargo planes to close the 2006 Operation Guard support to civil authorities would
Operation Winter Freeze, first Deep Freeze located at McMurdo be incomplete without mentioning an conducted in 2004, represented a new Station near the South Pole. The mission additional, important duty regarding direction for the Air National Guard. By ended because the temperature dropped the North Pole. Every year the North including other military services besides to almost minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit American Aerospace Defense Command the Air Force, it truly implemented the in three days. Since 1988 the squadron along with its Canadian countetpart total force concept. Almost as significant, had provided the air supply bridge for tracked Santa Claus as he flew through the
northeast air space. Just in case Rudolph’s
nose failed or the sleigh developed a Operation Winter Freeze, problem, the Air National Guard had jet fighter aircraft ready to fly to Santa’s aid. The Christmas Eve tracking of Santa first conducted in 2004, receives national attention. Fiowever, for much of an Air National Guard unit’s represented a new direction support for civil authorities, only the local media emphasize its accomplishments.
Most Air National Guardsmen live and for the Air National Guard. hold civilian jobs within their home communities in contrast to active duty an arrangement between the president the National Science Foundation’s study airmen who live on or near air bases and and the governors permitted a Guard of Antarctica. Lieutenant Colonel Walt move every few years. When emergencies leader to command airmen under both Clark, Pacific Air Forces Director of like floods, tornados, or blizzards occur, state and federal jurisdiction. The G- Operations and Plans for JointTaskForce these Guardsmen often join their local
8 Economic Summit in Georgia, the Support Forces Antarctica Operation first responders. The Air National Guard’s
Democratic and Republican national Deep Freeze, noted that the military role in natural and man-made disasters political party conventions in Boston and considered that operation, “its most like forest fires could be as hazardous
New York City respectively, also operated difficult peacetime mission because of as if they were in combat. Similarly, using joint task forces. For the first time the extreme austerity of the environment their participation in major noncombat
“... in the nation’s history, a single and the remoteness of Antarctica . . . the missions like Operation Deep Freeze can officer stood on top of both state and temperatures are so severe that at times also pose extreme dangers. Regardless federal chains of command for a single aircraft cannot fly because the fuel gels and of the risks involved, the role of the operation.” The Guard’s joint force state the steel shrinks, causing fuel leakages.” Air National Guard in supporting civil headquarters staffs were integrated with Supplies and people were flown by C- authorities, state and federal, remains a their counterparts at USNORTFFCOM, 130s to McMurdo where, in summer. significant one.
66 The Predator is a high-altitude aerial reconnaissance plane that is usedfor surveillance. Here it serves as eyes in the sky for groundforces in Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Photographer: Staff Sgt Jeremy T. Lock. Air Force Photo.)
TOWARD THE FUTURE
hen Lieutenant General Craig R. McKinley became the director
of the Air National Guard in May 2006, he faced a “perfect W storm” of challenges. They arose from efforts to continue Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s transformation policy, which remained
largely unchanged after September 11, 2001. Involving the Base Realignment
and Closure Commission (BRAC), the Quadrennial Defense Review, and the
President’s Budget Directive (PBD) 720, they threatened the Air National
Guard’s (ANG) existing roles, missions, and personnel numbers. General
McKinley, like his predecessor. Lieutenant General Daniel James III had to deal
with these changes while preserving the Guard’s militia culture, community ties.
67 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY BELOW: Lieutenant General Daniel James III, Director, Air National
Guard, talks with Lieutenant Colonel Carole Allan, Executive Officer, 180th Eighter Wing, and Lieutenant Colonel Maryanne Jankowski, Recruiter, 180th Eighter Wing, as he arrives at the Toledo Express Airport,
located in Swanton, Ohio, August 19, 2003. (Photographer: SRA Elizabeth
Slater, USAE Air Force Photo.)
State missions, and federal warfighting list to Congress, which could only accept the KC-X tanker. The Air Force applied capabilities. Simultaneously, the result- the recommendations in their entirety BRAG recommendations aggressively ing proposed personnel and aircraft or completely reject them. Moreover, in order to achieve savings that could reductions also impacted the ANG’s help it acquire those aircraft. The other responsibilities. These included Quarterly Defense Review (QDR) and most of the expanded air sovereignty the Program Budget Decision (PBD) alert missions associated with Operation based on QDR’s conclusions took these
Noble Eagle, and the Guard’s ongoing plans into account. Because of the high support to civil authorities and Air cost and advanced capabilities of the
Force operations around the world. new aircraft, there would not be enough
The BRAG procedure was institut- new airframes purchased to replace ed as a way to depoliticize closing super- existing ones on anything like a one for fluous military bases and taking other one basis. Therefore, like BRAG, the cost-cutting steps that while stream- QDR and the PBD left the ANG with lining the services could jeopardize local significant reductions in manpower traditions and economic interests. In and aircraft over the next five to six the BRAG procedure, a nine-member years. Various ANG units consequently commission made recommendations the Air Force intended to acquire a needed to look to new mission areas that to the president based on Department new generation of highly capable and represented the future of the Air Force of Defense recommendations. If the extremely expensive weapons systems such as intelligence systems, unmanned president agreed with them, he sent the including the F-22 and F-35 fighters and aerial vehicles, space, and cyberspace.
68 —
Senior Airman Samantha Zimmerman, 192nd Fighter Wing, Virginia Air National Guard, launches her F-22A Raptor at Langley Air Force Base, Vir- ginia, February 3, 2007. (Courtesy of the 192nd Fighter Wing, Photographer: MSgt Carlos Claudio.)
Otherwise, they faced elimination. intelligence or information warfare, 1 8 months, the active duty person assumed
The creation of the Space and true proficiency may take years to a different role. The ANG member, on
Information Superiority Division in the establish. Traditional Guardsmen often the other hand, might continue working
National Guard Bureau’s Air Directorate spend their civilian hours performing intelligence missions for many years. demonstrated the Air National Guard’s similar work. As part time citizen Not only were ANG ISR personnel recognition that its future lay in those airmen, they cost the government less involved in new missions, they sometimes areas. In 2005 Golonel Kathleen Pick, than active duty Air Force personnel. served in new total force configurations. that division’s first director, explained The 116th Air Gontrol Wing based at that if ANG wanted to conduct Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, was the Intelligence, Surveillance, operational missions and do more than only “blended wing” in the Air Force. play a supporting role, it had to embrace and Reconnaissance Gonsisting of active duty Air Force as well the new missions. Those missions took According to Lieutenant Golonel Greg as traditional and full time Guardsmen, advantage of the Air National Guard’s White, head of the Intelligence, Sur- the wing’s command and control and its characteristics. For example, when active veillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Divi- ISR people flew on an EG-8 with its Joint duty personnel engaged in intelligence, sion in the new directorate, “In today’s Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, information operations, or space-related warfare, we need more resources given to better known by its acronym JSTARS. work joined the Guard, they required locating the enemy and fewer to destroy The JSTARS radar, first deployed in less training time. Guardsmen also the opposite of previous warfare.” Operation Desert Storm in 1991, provided continuity. Having the same Training took approximately 18 tracked military activity on the ground people doing the same work year after months according to a member of the 1 28 th and in helicopters. year has always enhanced the Guard’s Air Gommand and Gontrol Squadron, The 170th Operations Support value, and with missions involving 1 16th Air Gontrol Wing, but within another Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base,
69 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY intelligence could be acquired anywhere
in the world, a DCGS might lie thousands of miles away from the collection point.
That made ground system work ideal for
Air Guardsmen, because according to one commentator they could “perform
. . . key missions without being mobilized and deployed.” The Air National Guard Distributed Ground Systems were located
among other places in Alabama, Arkansas,
Kansas, Nevada, and in associate units in
Galifornia and Virginia. In August 2006
the Air Guard established its largest DGGS
at McGonnell Air Force Base, Kansas.
That facility became the new home for
the 16 1st Intelligence Squadron.
Perhaps the most publicized of the Air
Guard’s intelligence capabilities related
to its use of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs)—also referred to as unmanned
aerial systems, since they are basically
plane-shaped computers and sensors.
They came in a wide variety of sizes from
tiny drones hardly bigger than a hobbyist’s
model airplane to full size aircraft capable
of carrying heavy weapons as well as a full
complement of surveillance equipment. For example weaponized Predators flown
from consoles in the United States and
abroad had been used for combat in the Three ConnecticutAir National Guard 103rd Fighter WingA-lOA Tlmnderbolt II attack aircraftfly in Middle East. According to Golonel Gail trailformation in preparation to refuelflo77i a KC-135R Stratota7iker ae7'ial 7'eflielmg ai7X7-afl as they fly to their 7ieiu home base ivith the 188th Fighter Wing, Ai-ka7isas Air Natio7ial Guard, at Fo7't S7nith, Wojtowicz, chief of the Air Force’s Future Arkansas, as part ofa Base Realig7ime7it a7id Clos7i7-e (BRAG) 7-eo7ga7iization, April 10, 2007. (Photo- Goncepts and Transformation Division: grapher: Senior MSgt Thomas Meneguin. Air Force Photo.)
“Unmanned aircraft are a critical
Nebraska, associated as a unit with the communications and electronic data. piece of ongoing Air Force transfor-
55 th Wing also based at Oflfutt. As with The 55th Wing was also associated mation. Their persistence couples the 1 16th in Georgia, 170th Air National with the Utah Air National Guard’s an unblinking eye with the ability
Guardsmen worked together with active I69th Intelligence Squadron that ran to rapidly strike targets of oppor- duty airmen; unlike the 116th, they had the Senior Scout signals intelligence tunity, such as fleeting terrorists a separate administrative structure. The missions in Afghanistan. or insurgents. They also operate
55th Wing was home to Rivet Joint Aerial intelligence collection systems in dangerous chemical or biological
surveillance aircraft. Like JSTARS, like JSTARS and Rivet Joint conducted environments . . . and are as effective
Rivet Joint also operated in Desert data in collaboration with intelligence in conducting mundane tasks in the
Storm. It used automated and manual systems on Earth, the Distributed 30th hour as they are in the first.” equipment for electronic and intelligence Gommon Ground Systems (DGGS), specialists to locate, record, and analyze another component of ISR. While the General McKinley considered that, “This
70 E8-CJSTARSflown by the ll6th Air Control Wing, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, a blended Air National Guard-Air Force organization, Decettiber 20, 2002. (Air Force Photo.)
new mission is extremely vital to the Because pilots and crews operated their Squadron technicians were assigned full nation’s defense.” UAVs remotely, “They can fly their time to nearby Hanscom Air Force Base
While individual Guardsmen had missions over Iraq or Afghanistan, even hit to learn to handle special message traffic. been operating UAVs for years alongside the bad guys with a Hellfire missile, and That represented the earliest known active duty airmen, in November 2006 then go home to coach their kids’ soccer involvement of an Air Guard unit in the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing, March game that night,” explained Air Guard a military space mission. Three years
Air Reserve Base, California, became Brigadier General Allison A. Hickey, later some enlisted Air National Guard the first ANG unit to fly them. Taking Director of Total Force Integration at technicians helped operate a satellite responsibility for unmanned aerial vehicles Headquarters, U.S. Air Force. tracking station for the Air Defense demonstrated another way in which the Space operations “provide a critical Command’s United States Air Force Space
Air Guard used its new missions: the communications link to communities Tracking Service. Other members of the
I63rd previously had been an air refueling throughout the nation in the form of unit helped staff the communications wing. But the 2005 Base Realignment and satellite support for everyday uses, center at the Space Tracking Research
Closure Commission removed its KC- television, computers, and wireless and Development Center at Hanscom.
135 Stratotankers. Now the I63rd would phones, but also serve as an important The Air Force inaugurated a formal fly its Predators to assist with firefighting military deterrence from external threats.” Space Command in 1982 and the United strategy among other operations. The However, space-related missions were not States Space Command was established in
163rd also took responsibility for training really new to the National Guard. In 1961 1985. In 1992 the Louisiana Air National others in flying and maintaining Predators. Massachusetts’ 267th Communications Guard began developing the first ANG
71 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY unit devoted to space. Florida followed fueling Wing, California, actually oper- (lO). According to Lieutenant Colonel two years later with space launch support. ated satellites. It commanded the $31 Felipe Morales, head of Information
Located at Canaveral Air Force Station, billion Milstar satellite constellation, “the Operations in the Space and Information
Florida, the ll4th Range Flight provided nation’s top priority communications Superiority Division: launch support to the Air Force’s 45th system.” The l48th executed all oper-
Space Wing. ations including the satellites, ground “Information operations . . . are
The 137th Space Warning Squadron, control stations, and more than 1,500 the integrated employment of the
Greeley, Colorado, became operational in worldwide user terminals. In addition, it capabilities of influence operations,
1995. The 137th provided critical, time- conducted maintenance, training, stan- electronic warfare operations, and sensitive missile warning, space launch, dardization/evaluation, and supply for a network warfare operations ... to and nuclear detonation data to the space operations center. influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp military and the president. In addition, While most space-related squadrons adversarial human and automated it operated the Air Force’s Survivable/ concerned the “final frontier,” the 1 1 1 th decision making while protecting Endurable Mobile Warning System, Space Operations Squadron was more our own.” special communications, and provided earthbound. It used balloons, one of threat data while deployed as well as on a the oldest aerial surveillance techniques. Colonel Donald R. Fick, head of the
24 hour-a-day basis while at home. Unlike their 19th century predecessors, ANG’s Plans, Programs, and Manpower
On May 21, 2004, the Alaska Air those balloons could operate in near organization, noted in 2001 that the ANG
National Guard’s 213th Space Warning space, 65-90,000 feet above their leadership was convinced that information
Squadron took over the operation of home planet. Their Combat SkySat warfare was key to the future of armed
Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, which had was launched by a two-to-three person conflict and that the Air Guard was in a been selected to become a completely team, and a two-person team, usually good position to recruit and retrain the
Air National Guard facility. The separated geographically, controlled the high technology personnel who were installation’s long range radar operated balloon. Unlike its tethered cousins. critical to success in that mission area.
According to a commentator in 2005,
“In warfare, information is power, now “In warfare, information is power, more than ever. Those who control it have a distinct advantage at the strategic, now more than ever. Those who operational, and tactical levels of war.” As with intelligence, information control it have a distinct advantage operations in all its forms was well-suited to the Guard. It could build upon critical at the strategic, operational, and skills possessed by active duty airmen
returning to civilian life. But several Air tactical levels of war,” Guard lO areas used skills not usually found in the Air Force. Therefore, those all day, every day to provide tactical the Combat SkySat moved with the units tended to locate near information warning and attack assessment in case wind, providing voice and data relays technology centers where they actively of a ballistic missile attack against to Special Tactics Teams. The payload recruited civilians to become traditional
North America. Permanently assigned parachuted to the ground at the end of Guardsmen. For example, the 262nd
Guardsmen ran the station for the Hrst its six-to-eight hour flight. Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron, time in four decades. Previously, active Intelligence, surveillance, recon- McChord Air Force Base, Washington duty Air Force personnel rotated through naissance, and space all involved warfare- State, was located near Microsoft head- the remote site on one-year tours. related technology. Other aspects of quarters where many of its traditional
Unlike other space-mission compo- information technology, along with Guardsmen worked. Similarly, Maryland’s nents of the ANG, the I48th Space psychological operations are subsumed 175th Information Operations Squadron
Operations Squadron in the I63rd Re- under the title of Information Operations supported the National Security Agency
72 and could draw upon the many high tech
companies found in the Washington,
DC, metropolitan area. Secretary of the Air Force Michael
W. Wynne in a Letter to Airmen of May
7, 2007, described how 21st century warfighting made these new missions so
essential:
“Our adversaries . . . attempt to
access American industrial servers
that contain sensitive data, exploit
electromagnetic energy to try and
jam or misdirect our precision
weapons, and use radio transmitters
to detonate improvised explosive
devices, killing Americans, Coalition
allies, and innocent civilians. In
response to these threats, Airmen
are actively 'flying and fighting’
in cyberspace.”
Whether monitoring motion on Senior Airman Kevin A. Doyle, a Ground Operations Specialistfrom the l67thAir Wing, West Virginia the ground in JSTARS, vacuuming Air National Guard, shakes hands with National Guard Bureau Chief, Lietitenant General H Steven up electronic data or radio signals in Blum, during the General’s visit to Naval Air Station, foint Reserve Base, hi Belle Chasse, Louisiana, in the aftermath ofHurricane Katrina, September 9, 2005- (Photographer: SFC Chuck Joseph, West Rivet Joints or Senior Scouts, airborne Virginia Air National Guard. Air Force Photo.) ANG crews used the new technologies
to counteract American adversaries. and other services. Finally, Air National disaster occur. In the 21st century, the Air Earthbound Air Guardsmen also used
Guard fighters continued to augment and Guard belied its “one weekend a month, Distributed Ground Distribution Sys- protect American and Goalition personnel two weeks a year” mantra as citizen airmen tems and unmanned aerial vehicles engaged in Operations Enduring Ereedom responded to increased natural disasters to collect intelligence and conduct and Iraqi Freedom. like hurricanes and forest fires while they surveillance. Moreover, their weaponized prepared for the possibility of post-9/11 UAVs participated directly in warfighting * * * terrorism at home and participated in missions. Meanwhile, the ANG supported Senior Air Force leaders understood combat operations abroad. As Chief of missions in space and cyberspace. long before the 21st century that their the National Guard Bureau, General Air National Guardsmen also con- H service could not go to war or undertake Steven Blum noted, “The role and the tinued with their longtime missions.
major contingency operations without responsibility of the National Guard is Pilots and planes protected the homeland calling on the Air Guard and Reserve at the not going to diminish in the future; it’s with 24 hour seven days a week runway outset. In return the Air National Guard going to increase. The use the National alerts; civil engineers established bases to of the Air Force Reserve consistently Guard has been mcreasing eveij day in the support combat overseas and following and met the service’s pressing requirements last six and a half years. ” He estimated natural disasters at home; medical per- for operational support that was not that 60,000 citizen soldiers and airmen sonnel deployed for emergencies and available in the active force. Governors as contributed to the wars in Afghanistan ongoing missions; and ANG refuelingand well understood the importance of having and Iraq every day. “I don’t see any end airlift wings provided essential support for the Air National Guard available should a in sight.” the airborne operations of the Air Force
73 AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT 60: A HISTORY operated and maintained by the l48th Space Operations Squadron,
California Air National Guard, the Milstar communications satellites link commanders with a variety of resources like ships, submarines, aircraft, land vehicles and manned-portable systems. It represents the Air National Guard’s increasing involvement in space and cyberspace and high technology weapon systems. (Image courtesy of Air Force Space Command Office of History.) Major E.G. “Buck” Shuler, a C-130 Hercules pilotfor the 169th Operations Support Flight, 1 69th Fighter Wing South Carolina Air National Guard, begins the descent into Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras as Lieutenant Colonel Scott Cain, the l69th Commander, concentrates on locating the runway. They are delivering much needed water pui-ification units, food und medical supplies to assist local civilians in the aftermath ofHurricane Mitch,
January 4, 1999- (Camera Operator: MSgt Edward Snyder. Air Force Photo.)
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