[Senate Hearing 108-676]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 10:07 a.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Ted Stevens (chairman) presiding.
Present: Senators Stevens, Cochran, Domenici, Bond, Burns,
Inouye, Leahy, and Dorgan.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
National Guard Bureau
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL H. STEVEN BLUM, CHIEF
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR TED STEVENS
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much, Generals. I am sorry
to be a little late. We welcome you all so we can review the
National Guard and Reserve programs.
There are two panels scheduled this morning, I would say to
the members of the committee. First, we will hear from the
National Guard leadership, followed by the leadership of the
four Reserve forces. Our first panel, obviously, is General
Steven Blum, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau; Lieutenant
General Roger Schultz, Director of the Army National Guard;
Lieutenant General Daniel James, Director of the Air National
Guard. We thank you gentlemen for joining us this morning.
There is no question that the Guard and Reserve have been
asked to perform beyond the normal call of duty and you have
taken on your missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere
around the world in great fashion. Despite the burden and
stresses that each of the Guard and Reserve service members
have had to assume since 9/11, they continue to make
extraordinary contributions to our Nation's security and we
thank all of the citizen soldiers that are under your command.
We have had visits to Iraq, Kuwait, Pakistan, and
Afghanistan, and we have seen your people in action. We
congratulate you for what you have done and pledge to you our
support for what you are going to do in the future.
Does any member have an opening statement?
Senator Bond. Mr. Chairman?
Senator Stevens. Sir.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR CHRISTOPHER S. BOND
Senator Bond. Mr. Chairman, I join with you in welcoming
the generals and all of the men and women from the National
Guard. Senator Leahy and I are very proud to be able to work
with the members of the Guard Caucus and particularly this
committee in supporting the Guard, whether it is an allocation
in the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Appropriations
(NGREA) account or full-time support, additional rotor wing
aircraft, Army aviation, additional civil support teams, the
Youth Challenge program, just a few of the important things the
Guard is doing.
We understand there are over 170,000 Guard and Reserve
forces currently activated and almost 40 percent of the force
in Iraq is composed of Guard and Reserve. I think we have to
remain diligent to follow up to see that we support the Guard
and the Reserve as they support us.
That is why Senator Leahy and I investigated concerns about
medical holds and housing at Fort Stewart, Georgia. We got the
response we needed. Soldiers on medical hold are getting better
care and housing and the Army does not want a repeat of what
went on at Fort Stewart.
Right now I am working with a number of people to make sure
that we get the mail system modernized so that mail can get to
deployed troops overseas. Majority Leader Frist asked for a
General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation of the mail
system and that report is due out the end of April. We are
hearing that it is going to have some very, very deep concerns
about the ability to get mail to deployed troops which is very
important for morale.
Those of us in the political realm know that it is very
important that Guard and Reserve who are deployed be able to
vote. Twenty-nine States, including my State of Missouri and a
number of other States here, require voting by mail, and if we
cannot get the absentee ballots to our deployed troops and get
them back, then they are disenfranchised. In Missouri last
year, the Secretary of State checked on the 2002 election and
found that 40 percent--40 percent--of the Missouri military
deployed abroad who applied for absentee ballots did not get
their ballots counted. And with much larger numbers deployed
now, I think it is absolutely imperative. I have spoken to the
Secretary of Defense, and I hope that the bureaucracy will get
off its duff and make sure that we develop a mail system that
can get the mail that our deployed troops deserve to see on a
regular basis from home and also be able to participate in the
political process.
I thank all the members of the Guard. I want specifically
to recognize Sergeant 1st Class Stephanie Leonard. She is a
citizen soldier committed to supporting the community and the
Nation's military, an excellent example, the first Bronze Star
female winner in the Missouri National Guard. Sergeant, thank
you very much for being with us.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Stevens. While we are recognizing constituents,
Senator, let me point out that the students in the back of the
room are from the Colony High School Closeup group from Palmer,
Alaska. They have come 4,500 miles to be with you this morning.
That is where they grow all those big pumpkins and big
squash and things like that.
Does any other Senator wish to make an opening statement?
Senator Cochran. I would just ask, Mr. Chairman, to have my
statement printed in the record. I join you in welcoming our
witnesses and thank them for their service and their
leadership.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much, Senator.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Thad Cochran
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to join you in welcoming our
witnesses this morning.
This year has been a huge challenge for our National Guard
and Reserve forces and their response has been very impressive.
An unprecedented number of Guard and Reserve are on active
duty, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the Global War on
terrorism. Two Army reservists from my state of Mississippi
have paid the ultimate price in Iraq. Today, as the Guard and
Reserve serve in the air, on land and sea throughout the
spectrum of warfare they can be assured we are committed to
ensuring they have all the equipment and training necessary to
succeed, and to return home safely as soon as possible.
I would like to thank the witnesses, and the men and women
they represent, for their service and their leadership. I look
forward to hearing their testimony.
Senator Burns. Mr. Chairman, could I have my statement also
admitted to the record? We would like to hear from our
witnesses this morning. Also, congratulations on a great job
done by our citizen soldiers. Thank you very much.
Senator Stevens. Thank you.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Conrad Burns
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank all of you
for being here today to discuss the status of your respective
National Guard and Reserve Components.
Our men and women of the Guard and Reserve have performed
nobly since 9/11 and in their current operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan--the Global War on Terrorism and Operation Iraqi
Freedom. The Guard and Reserve have certainly seen an increased
operations tempo over the past few years and have been working
side-by-side with the Active Component regularly. I worry that
their equipment may be behind the current technologies or may
not be compatible. Older equipment is expensive to operate and
maintain, due to lack of availability of spares and increased
failure rates. We must make sure the outdated cold war policy
of fielding the newest equipment to our active forces first,
and cascading the older equipment to the Guard and Reserve
forces has changed.
The Guard and Reserve force represents one that is
extremely skilled and capable, responding to various missions
across this nation and across the world. They show flexibility
and rapid response as they continue to play very important
roles in the protection of our homeland and warfighting
operations overseas.
Ensuring that our Guard and Reserve Components have the
proper training, equipment and facilities necessary to carry
out their duties is essential. I pledge to do what I can to
make sure that our Guardsmen and Reservists have the support
they need to get the job done, then come home to their loved
ones safely.
Again, thank you for coming this morning. I look forward to
today's testimony today and the discussion that takes place.
Thank you.
Senator Stevens. Senator Leahy.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR PATRICK J. LEAHY
Senator Leahy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to welcome
the witnesses here too, General Schultz and General Blum and
General James. I have worked with all three of them. I know
what a superb job they do. I think we have a great leadership
team in place at the Guard Bureau.
But, Mr. Chairman, you and Senator Inouye have been a great
help. Senator Bond mentioned the fact that we lead the National
Guard Caucus. This has been a joy not only because of my
personal friendship and admiration of Senator Bond, but because
of the men and women we represent. I think all the members of
the caucus would agree in thanking you for the leadership you
have given. Your subcommittee, yours and Senator Inouye's
subcommittee, was the engine for launching two major
initiatives that will significantly strengthen the Guard,
including the TRICARE program and a significant increase in
equipment funding. It made the Guard a priority. You have
marshalled help through critical appropriations. Your own staff
is superb in these areas.
While we are mentioning folks from home, I would like to
mention Sergeant Cara Krauss, who is sitting behind the
Generals. The sergeant is a member of the Vermont National
Guard. She just returned from Afghanistan. And, Sergeant, we
are delighted to have you here.
I am very proud of her. I am very proud of all the members
of the Vermont Guard who served with great distinction in
Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, along with the Texas Guard and
along with the Missouri Guard and all the others.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Chairman, she was telling me this
morning that there are a couple big differences here. One, it
is a lot easier walking around without having to wear all the
body armor that is necessary in those places, and it is kind of
nice to walk into stores and be back in the United States of
America where things are a lot more familiar.
But we have three Guard members here, and of course, so
many others throughout the place. If it was not for our Guard
and Reserves, we could not be carrying out our missions around
the world and we would not have the United States well
represented. So thank you, and thank you and Senator Inouye
again for all the support you have given.
Senator Stevens. Thank you, Senator.
I have been out to Bethesda and to Walter Reed, and each
time I was out there visiting with some of the military who
have come back, I think you would be surprised to know each
time I was asked, will you help me go back. That is a spirit
that just grabs me. It just grabs me. It is really wonderful to
be with those people.
Our co-chairman has arrived. Senator Inouye.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE
Senator Inouye. If I may, I would like to join all of you
in welcoming our Reserves and their chiefs and to thank and
commend them and their men and women for their demonstration of
citizenship and courage. We admire them, sir. Thank you very
much.
May I ask that the rest of my statement be made part of the
record?
Senator Stevens. All of your statements will be printed in
the record in full.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Daniel K. Inouye
Mr. Chairman, I want to join you in welcoming our witnesses
today, General Blum, General Schultz, and General James of the
National Guard who will be followed by General Helmly, Admiral
Cotton, General McCarthy, and General Sherrard of the Reserves.
Since this will be General Sherrard's last appearance
before this Committee, I would like to take the opportunity to
thank him for his dedicated service to the Air Force.
General, as chief, you commanded the Air Force Reserve
during a time of unprecedented mobilizations, including Kosovo,
Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom, and
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During your tenure in the Reserves you have also had a
distinguished career as a command pilot with more than 5,000
flying hours, commander of an Air Force Reserve group, two
wings and two numbered air forces, and finally five years as
chief of the Air Force Reserve.
General, we thank you for your loyal service.
Gentlemen, when I think of our Reserves, I think about your
long history as citizen soldiers, the minutemen in the
Revolutionary War, the militia that put down riots when our
nation was in infancy, and our Guard that responds to natural
disasters and emergencies, and ensured minority children were
safely admitted into public schools. But things are different
now. Today our Guard and Reserves make up 38 percent of our
force in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Since September 11th, 282,896 of our Guard and Reserve
personnel have been called to active duty, and 25,151 have been
called upon more than once.
I would like to commend everyone that has played a role in
these operations. Time and time again, the extraordinary
ability of our men and women in uniform and all the people that
work to support them has been demonstrated.
But, these ongoing operations have strained our troops.
Numerous concerns such as recruiting and retention, benefits,
pay equity, and force structure requirements continue to be
raised by our military forces in the field. This committee also
remains concerned over the longstanding issues of procuring
sufficient weapons and equipment to support our Guard and
Reserve forces.
Gentlemen, the challenge you face is how to separate the
identities of our Active and Reserve components, but ensuring
equity in their treatment.
I hope you will be able to address some of these concerns
that are so important to our Guardsmen and Reservists and their
families today.
Mr. Chairman, I commend you for holding this hearing and
look forward to hearing the testimony of our witnesses.
Senator Stevens. All of your statements and the statements
of the next panel will be printed in the record in full. I
would appreciate it if you would summarize it. We would call on
you first, General Blum.
General Blum. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you,
other members of the committee, for the opportunity to appear
here this morning.
As was stated in some of your opening remarks, as we sit
here this morning, there are 144,000-plus citizen soldiers and
airmen deployed all around the world that are engaged in the
global war on terrorism and defending our homeland both here at
home and abroad.
Your National Guard has become critically essential to the
defense, security and safety of our States and of our Nation.
The National Guard has always been an operational reserve when
it has answered the calls of the Governors and the President
here at home. As a Federal reserve component of our Army and
Air Force, we are transitioning from a strategic reserve that
was once held in reserve for World War III to an operational
force that is needed each and every day as our Army and our Air
Force execute their missions around the world.
This is a resource, manpower, and organizationally
intensive undertaking that will have to happen on a very
compressed time line if we are going to make it happen to meet
the needs of our Nation. The National Guard and Reserve
equipment account has been and will remain extraordinarily
useful and vital in these initiatives.
I am proud to report to you that your National Guard has
answered every call, met every requirement, and accomplished
every mission it has been asked to do.
We are committed to transformation. We are transforming the
Guard into a more joint and effective organization from top to
bottom. We are improving readiness across the full spectrum of
requirements from the full scale warfight overseas to the
myriad homeland defense, support to homeland security
operations and State traditional missions.
We are providing better predictability to our soldiers, to
our airmen, to their families, and to our employers. We are
meeting the needs of our elected leaders and our uniformed and
State and Federal leaders, and we are meeting the mandate to
seamlessly operate in a State and Federal intergovernmental,
interagency, joint and multinational role. Your National Guard
is focusing on the right force mix with the right kinds of
units, with the right kinds of capabilities distributed to each
State and territory.
We are transforming, along with the Army and the Air Force,
and we are full partners in that transformation. It is now
recognized that there are 18 divisions in the United States
Army, 8 of which are assigned to the Army National Guard. There
will be 82 brigade combat teams in the United States Army; 34
of these will be assigned to the Army National Guard. The
National Guard will convert units overtaken by technology or
strategic and tactical needs to those capabilities that our
country needs for today and tomorrow. We will eliminate
nonessential and under-resourced force structure because it
does not provide us the capabilities we need today or that
which we will need in the future. We will move to a more
modular, plug-and-play capabilities-based force which is
manned, equipped, trained, and resourced like its active
component.
Partnering with our active components and the Reserves, we
will create a true total force. Nationwide, we are rebalancing
and leveraging the Army and Air National Guard formations.
Transformation and modularity are both very good for the
National Guard. It will enhance our readiness. It will increase
our flexibility, agility and our ability to respond to today's
reality and tomorrow's threats both here at home and abroad. We
are taking on these transformations with the assistance and the
full collaboration and inclusion of all stakeholders, the
Governors, their Adjutants General, the services, the
Department of Defense, and you, sir, and the United States
Congress. Your National Guard is committed to doing what is
right for America.
PREPARED STATEMENTS
I look forward to your questions. Thank you.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much, General.
[The statements follow:]
Prepared Statement of Lieutenant General H Steven Blum
national guard 2005 posture statement
protecting america at home and abroad
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IN MEMORIAM
A Dedication to the men and women of the Army and the Air National
Guard who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the United States
of America.
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overview
At no time in our history has America depended more on its Citizen-
Soldiers. The strength of our National Guard, as always, is derived
from the caliber of our Soldiers and Airmen. When we think about what
our nation asks these young Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen to do for their
communities, their states, and their nation, and how magnificently they
have performed here at home and abroad, our hearts are filled with
pride.
Our priorities and our vision focuses on leveraging the talents,
the abilities, the selfless commitment and the enthusiasm of these
Soldiers and Airmen. As Chief of the National Guard Bureau, my mission
is to ensure that they receive the latest training, complete and modern
equipment, and an organizational and command structure worthy of their
mission and their service.
The National Guard will remain, first and foremost, a provider of
ready, trained, and equipped warfighting units to combatant commanders
through the Army and the Air Force. Notably, the Guard has always been,
throughout its history, a force that spanned the continuum of what we
define today as ``Homeland Security,'' ``Homeland Defense,'' and
``Warfighting.'' September 11, 2001 has refocused us on our fundamental
responsibility to defend the homeland--the original mission of the
militia--and revealed the present day efficacy that the founders
understood so well--that a citizen-based militia is the best force to
protect the citizenry from which it is drawn.
The Guard is uniquely suited, like no other entity in the Defense
Department, or indeed in the entire nation, to carry out that mission.
No other organization has our combination of size, skills, training and
experience, dispersion across the nation, command and communications
infrastructure, and the legal flexibility to support civil authorities
at a moment's notice. In nearly 3,000 communities around the nation,
the Guard stands ready today--as it has since Jamestown was settled
nearly 400 years ago.
support the war fight
Anytime, Anywhere
We, the Guard, must provide the kind of forces that America needs,
when America needs them.
One of Secretary Rumsfeld's key mandates to the Services is to find
ways to make the National Guard more ready and accessible in its
federal warfighting role. Working in conjunction with the Army and
Joint Forces Command, our goal is to dramatically improve the current
mobilization and demobilization process. Under current guidelines, it
can take several weeks to months to prepare an Army National Guard unit
to mobilize and deploy--compared to the Air Guard model where units
deploy in a matter of hours or days.
We need to study and adapt the Air Guard model where possible.
We are working with the Army to change its go-to-war protocols. It
is no longer practical to follow cold war regimens of train, alert,
mobilize, train, certify, deploy. We must move to train, alert, deploy.
By updating home station facilities, taking advantage of new
technologies, and funding units at a higher level of readiness, we hope
to create a new 21st century minuteman. The Guard must and will
continue to operate across the full spectrum of national security
missions. But, new asymmetrical threats call for a different kind of
warfighter and different mission systems. We need to be smarter,
lighter, more agile, and more lethal.
The National Guard force structure does not stand alone unto
itself, but rather represents a 38 percent slice of the total Army and
approximately 34 percent of the total Air Force. As ongoing operations
abroad reveal the need to rebalance the types of units in the Army and
the Air Force, the Guard will be a leader in embracing this change.
Likewise, if studies indicate that Army divisions or Air Force wings
are no longer needed, it is our view that we, like the active component
and reserves, must change. We are working closely with the Army as we
move to a balanced, modular force. Similarly, through Vanguard, we are
working with the Air Force to meet the aerospace needs of the future.
homeland defense
Here and Abroad for over 365 Years
We are this country's longest lasting, longest serving military
organization; we predate our nation. Today, the National Guard is ready
to write a brand new page in its long and heroic history, and get the
mission accomplished.
When you call out the National Guard, you call out America's joint
home team.
The Guard was there when it was needed, demonstrating the flexible
accessibility inherent in the unique multi-status roles of the Guard.
Our Homeland Defense and Security roles mandate that we be capable of
seamlessly operating in federal and state intergovernmental and
interagency roles. September 11th and its aftermath are illustrative of
the Guard's new operating environment and its unique flexibility to
respond to our nation's needs.
Within 24 hours of the attack on the World Trade Center, 8,500 New
York Army and Air National Guardmembers were on the streets of New York
in State Active Duty status. Within 72 hours of President Bush's
request to the Governors, Guardmembers were assisting civil authorities
in protecting U.S. airports (USC Title 32 status). As security of our
skies became paramount after September 11th, the Air National Guard
logged more than 30,000 incident free, fully armed combat air patrol
missions (USC Title 10 status) over the United States.
Congress funded the formation of joint Weapons of Mass Destruction
Civil Support Teams within the National Guard beginning in 1999. These
units were designed to provide direct assistance to civilian emergency
responders in the event of a chemical, biological, nuclear or
radiological attack upon the homeland. Few in numbers and still in
their operational infancy in 2001, nevertheless it was one of these
units--New York's 2nd Civil Support Team--that became the first
organized unit of any military service or component to arrive on Ground
Zero on the morning of September 11th, sampling the air to ensure that
no biological or chemical contaminants were present.
Since September 11th, National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction
Civil Support Teams operate daily in communities throughout the nation.
They are in a unique position to provide emergency community response
with full communications capability to the local, state and federal
levels. Moreover, they are actively involved in planning and
integration of Guard assets in local and state emergency plans.
Currently, we have 32 fully certified Weapons of Mass Destruction
Civil Support Teams. Congress recognized the urgent need to expand that
number, and 23 teams are scheduled to stand up in the next four years,
beginning with 12 this year alone. The Guard has initiated several
dramatic new programs that will further increase and improve our
Homeland Defense capability, while at the same time enhancing our
ability as warfighters.
We are actively pursuing the following initiatives:
--Organizing 12 Enhanced Response Force Packages. These forces will
consist of a National Guard Civil Support Team, an enhanced
division medical company with a 150-person per hour
decontamination and treatment capability, an enhanced engineer
company with specialized search and recovery equipment, and a
task-trained combat unit capable of supporting law enforcement.
These force packages will meet a previously identified Northern
Command request for capabilities.
--Expanding National Guard involvement in Ground-based Mid-course
Missile Defense, Cyber and Information Operations, Space, and
Intelligence Operations for both the Army and Air Guard. One
model we hope to emulate is the Guard's highly successful
experience in manning Nike missile batteries in the 1960s and
1970s. At that time, traditional and full-time Guardsmen served
together in units under State control, with self-activating
orders that automatically brought them into a Federal status
when the enemy attacked.
--Creating National Guard Reaction Forces through dual missioning and
training of existing units. These units will be immediately
available to State and Federal governments and for Homeland
Security purposes. They are already forward deployed throughout
the United States. The units will retain full war fight and
homeland security capabilities. These forces will also meet a
previously identified Northern Command request for forces
requirement.
We are expanding our interagency and intergovernmental efforts and
look forward to increased cooperation between the National Guard, the
states and the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense. We are
participating in exercises and planning at state and local levels, and
we have shared our Automated Exercise and Assessment System with them.
We are working with the national emergency responder and management
associations as well.
The National Guard has a significant number of units capable of
``dual-use''--that is to say, the combat skill sets in these units are
directly applicable to peacetime domestic support operations. We have
developed a force management model that will help us to ensure that
sufficient appropriate forces, properly resourced are available to the
Governors for State, Homeland Defense and support to Homeland Security
missions.
We will leverage the units, training and resources in our existing
war fight capabilities to expand and enhance the roles we can perform
in homeland security. We will make smarter use of force structure and
make minor modifications to mission essential task lists to
geometrically increase capabilities. We will provide homeland defense
capabilities in force packages, built from standardized warfighting
units. By doing this in our role as a state military force, we will
raise the threshold at which commitment of federal military resources
to non-warfighting tasks becomes necessary.
transformation for the 21st century
Relevant, Reliable, Ready and Accessible
Transformation is a state of mind. It is about how we think,
organize and approach the future. We are transforming our headquarters
and our capabilities to shape our future. We reorganized the National
Guard Bureau from three separate organizations into a joint
organization effective July 1, 2003. We streamlined and flattened the
organization, making it more efficient, capable, and aligned its staff
functions and responsibilities with those of the Joint Staff and the
combatant commanders.
We have undertaken aggressive employer and family programs. The
three-legged stool of the Guard and Reserve--Service member, family,
and employer--is only as sturdy as the weakest leg. We are talking with
the nation's major employers and the states are aggressively doing the
same with employers in their area. Our family program was the model on
which the entire Department of Defense program was based, and we
continue to work to address the information, emotional and support
needs of our families. To that end, I have authorized a position in
each state to specifically deal with employer support.
The State Adjutants General consolidated 162 State headquarters
organizations into 54 doctrinally aligned Standing Joint Force
Headquarters--creating, effective in October 2003, a single joint force
headquarters in each state for all Army and Air Guard activities. This
will ensure a rapid and coordinated response to any emergency, making
the National Guard more versatile, relevant, and able to meet our
national security challenges.
Our joint team will become seamless with the other five services--
the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard--and their
reserve components as well. It will be capable of meeting active
component requirements and serving as an integrator for active
component and reserve component consequence management operations.
Together with our sister services, we will fight and win this war on
terrorism both here at home and abroad.
Readiness is a product of resources and training. We must focus our
training on the myriad missions we will be asked to perform, and we--
the National Guard Bureau--must obtain the resources necessary for the
Soldiers and Airmen to accomplish the mission.
Some of the changes contemplated will require the cooperation of
Congress in amending existing law.
Because of its increased relevance, the National Guard Bureau
should be organized so that the senior officer of the Army and the Air
National Guard of the United States on duty with the National Guard
Bureau should become the Acting Chief if the office is vacant or if the
Chief is absent or disabled. This change is necessary because of the
elevation of the Directors of the Army and Air National Guard to
Lieutenant General, without a concomitant promotion of the Vice Chief
of the National Guard Bureau. Similarly, the Vice Chief of the National
Guard Bureau should become the Director of the Joint Staff of the
National Guard Bureau. This designation reflects the roles and
functions of this individual within the National Guard Bureau's joint
organization.
conclusion
We are transforming the Guard in all domains--the way we fight, the
way we do business, and the way we work with others--to provide the
Guard America needs today and tomorrow.
Training must produce enhanced readiness, immediate accessibility,
and individual and unit capability to conduct operations at home and
abroad.
We have approached our transformation in an open, collegial manner,
talking with all affected stakeholders including the Governors and
working as a team--Adjutants General, National Guard Bureau, Army, Air
Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff and others--
to do what is right for America.
As we look forward to the new fiscal year, the National Guard is
enthusiastically engaged in planning, programming, and executing the
extraordinary changes that are ahead. We are evolving in ways that will
allow us to accomplish our state and federal missions more efficiently
than ever before, as we design mechanisms to seamlessly operate in the
Defense Department, interagency, and intergovernmental environments.
The National Guard will continue to defend our nation, both at home
and abroad, in both its state and federal capacities, as it has for 367
years. It will continue to serve as the reserve component without peer
in the world. This is our birthright--it is the legacy of the
Minuteman.
______
Prepared Statement of Lieutenant General Roger C. Schultz
overview
The Army National Guard stands with the Active Component as we wage
war against the purveyors of global terrorism. Today, Soldiers in the
Army National Guard have answered the call of the nation and are
serving across the nation and the world. The Army National Guard, as an
integral part of the U.S. Army, is transforming itself to better
prosecute the Global War on Terrorism while remaining a ready and
relevant force that is prepared to defend our homeland.
The Posture Statement provides the Army National Guard an
opportunity to share with Congress what we have done in the past year
and where we are heading in the future. The Army Directorate in the
National Guard Bureau is responsible for how the Army National Guard
supports the Soldiers, their families, and their employers in
communities throughout the United States. Our Soldiers come from every
state, territory, and segment of society, and we recognize that we
support and are supported by those around us. The Army National Guard
is a community-based military organization and, as such, we are
prepared to assist our cities and towns in times of natural or man-made
disaster. Army National Guard Soldiers are Citizen-Soldiers, and we
recognize that we must fulfill dual roles as ordinary citizens and as
members of the Armed Forces of the United States.
As the Army National Guard continues to protect our nation, the
Chief, National Guard Bureau, has identified three priorities for the
Army National Guard that will nurture this responsibility: Support the
War Fight, Homeland Defense, and Transformation for the 21st Century.
As our enemies seek ways to wage their war of terrorism in the United
States and around the world, we are and must remain ready. The Army
National Guard has proven itself capable of securing our borders while
simultaneously carrying out a variety of missions across the globe. Our
goals are to maximize our ability to support our Soldiers, protect our
nation, and support the warfighters by providing a trained and ready
force.
It cannot be stressed enough that the Army National Guard has an
increased and more vital role in the U.S. Army than ever before. The
U.S. Army is at the forefront of the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As Reserve Components of the Army continue to deploy at increasing
rates, the Army National Guard joins the Army in its objectives to
remain ready and relevant in the midst of a war where our enemy is
elusive. We are transforming ourselves into a more flexible,
responsive, and capabilities-based force that is able to seamlessly
integrate into the larger Army. As the Army transforms itself from the
Current Force to the Future Force, so will the Army National Guard.
The Army National Guard is ready for every challenge both here at
home and abroad. We are not and cannot be complacent. The support we
receive from our citizens, families, employers, and legislatures is
invaluable. Our Constitution charges us to defend America, and we will
do this with the same dedication and steadfast purpose as we have done
for nearly 400 years.
support the war fight
The Guard Overseas
Not since World War II have so many Soldiers been activated for
wars. The Army National Guard demonstrated its responsiveness by
providing ready units in support of numerous overseas missions
throughout 2003. These missions ranged from combat operations to Post-
Hostility and Stability Operations. At the close of the year, 75,000
National Guardsmen were on active duty serving overseas. The year began
with our Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and ended with Soldiers from
the Vermont and Oklahoma National Guard training the Afghanistan
National Army. There are just over 4,000 Soldiers in Afghanistan today.
The war in Iraq required the activation of 69,380 Soldiers and there
are just under 60,000 serving there today. The war in Iraq and in
Afghanistan exacted a toll on our most precious resource, the Soldier.
Understandably and regrettably there have been 60 Soldiers who have
lost their lives fighting these two campaigns. The war in Iraq saw the
activation of brigade size units, Attack Aviation Battalions, Combat
Engineers, and Military Police. The Army has plans to schedule several
more brigades and potentially a Division Headquarters for future
rotations. Most Soldiers that were activated for the war served an
average of 18 months, with 12 months of duty in Iraq. Related to the
two overseas wars has been a demand on our Military Police units to
guard the enemy Prisoners of War in Cuba. In addition to the direct
role in the overseas wars, the National Guard remains the Army's
primary force conducting operations in Kosovo, Bosnia, and the Sinai.
Just under 6,000 National Guardsmen are there today. What were once
active duty missions are now principally missions of the Guard.
There are two other noteworthy events for the Guard's overseas
duty. The Army National Guard was given the mission to protect ships in
transit to the Persian Gulf, and we also provided 9,000 Soldiers to the
Air Force to protect their bases abroad and at home. These unplanned
missions simply demonstrate the accessibility, reliability, and
capability of the National Guard. Our overseas presence today is
supporting missions on five continents, and the future demands a level
of commitment similar to previous years. Not since World War II has our
call to duty been so great. It is important to note that our total
commitment since 9/11 has been a call to federal duty for 175,734
Soldiers. That represents just over 50 percent of our force of 350,000.
Readiness of the Force
Well before the attacks of September 11th, Army National Guard
units were being mobilized more frequently. The Total Force Policy in
the Army worked. During the Cold War period of our Army, the
expectation of readiness for the Reserve Components was to be
``generally ready for war.'' There were plans with TPFDDs and windows
of time for expected deployment. The plan was to move to an active duty
installation and then provide units with additional equipment and extra
training. Since 9/11, that level of readiness and window of time have
changed. Today our units are required to deploy at the highest level of
readiness, and the time from notification to deployment is sometimes a
matter of hours. In 2003, our units did extensive exchanging of
Soldiers and equipment as they prepared for war in Iraq. We
demonstrated flexibility, but placed unnecessary hardships on our
Soldiers in the process. Soldiers went to war with equipment they had
not previously trained upon. Thousands went to war with units other
than their own. This method of exchanging resources after a unit
mobilizes is not conducive to long-term success. Units must be manned,
trained, and equipped before they get the call to go to war. Train--
Mobilize--Deploy! The Army National Guard's level of readiness in the
future should be C1, the highest level. The Army National Guard must
modernize when the Army modernizes. We must raise the Full-Time Manning
levels to 100 percent of Requirements. Our failure to resource Army
National Guard units for any mission will place undue hardship on
Soldiers as they go to war.
Medical and Dental Readiness
The Army and the Army National Guard have a vested interest in the
care of Soldiers. The Army requires physical fitness prior to deploying
to a war. Today's deployment timelines are shorter, and there have been
some delays in our ability to respond to war because of the medical
readiness of our Soldiers. Most, but not all, Soldiers have medical and
dental plans. There are limits on the Army's ability to fix medical
shortcomings after the Soldier is mobilized for war. We have
experienced medical backlogs at some of the Army's installations
responsible for providing medical treatment.
The future of medical readiness rests in providing complete medical
evaluations prior to being alerted for war. We envision that each of
our State's Joint Force Headquarters provide support in the initial
care for Soldiers and refer Soldiers for medical support beyond their
capacity.
The National Guard plans to provide periodic physicals to its
Soldiers. This will enable our units to transition faster from a state
of peace to war. We also envision leveraging the medical capabilities
of our communities to offset the shortages in military medical
providers. Medical readiness and health care for our Soldiers are key
variants to our ability to train, mobilize, and deploy in the fashion
of a Minuteman.
Training Soldiers and Growing Leaders
Supporting the Warfighter will be best accomplished by training the
force with an integrated training strategy for individuals, leaders,
and units through live, virtual, and constructive training.
Throughout 2003, the Army National Guard prepared units and
Soldiers for wars and responded to the nation's call for contingency
operations. Our units trained at the Army National Guard Training
Centers and the Army's Combat Training Centers. They participated in
joint exercises and conducted training deployments overseas.
The key to training Brigades is to have them participate in the
Brigade Command and Battle Staff training. Five brigades participated
in this training in 2003. Seven of the eight Army National Guard
divisions participated in the Battle Command Training Program at the
Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk in Louisiana in 2003.
The Army National Guard is committed to producing the best
Soldiers. An excellent training venue is the Army National Guard
training centers. These centers train Soldiers, simulate real-world
conditions, and provide training enablers for the commanders.
Another way the Army National Guard achieves training excellence is
through Distributed Learning. The Army National Guard's emphasis on
Distributed Learning reduces the time Soldiers are away from their home
stations, eliminates excess travel time and costs, and takes less time
than training in a formal school setting. The goal of this program is
to maximize training time by providing more local access to training
and education at any time and at any location.
The Army National Guard's limited training time, training dollars,
and sometimes access to training ranges has generated an increased
reliance on low-cost, small-footprint training technologies. We have
invested in a virtual training infrastructure to meet or exceed the
Army's training requirements. As more missions such as homeland defense
and weapons of mass destruction are required of the National Guard, the
ability of our forces to respond requires that we are ready at all
times. The following new virtual technologies are tools critical to
achieving these readiness objectives:
--Advanced Bradley Full Crew Interactive Skills Trainer.--The Bradley
Fighting Vehicle, an armored personnel carrier, is the primary
weapon system of the U.S. Army Mechanized Infantry, as well as
a critical system for the cavalry. The current force structure
plans have the Army National Guard providing more than half of
the U.S. military's Bradley Fighting Vehicle force. The Army
Infantry School approved the Advanced Bradley Full Crew
Interactive Skills Trainer as a precision gunnery trainer. This
is a low-cost, deployable training system that attaches
directly to the Bradley and therefore does not require a
simulated vehicle mockup, thereby better preparing the crew for
live fire gunnery.
--Abrams Full Crew Interactive Skills Trainer.--The Army National
Guard provides 54 percent of the armor force in the U.S.
military. This equates to nearly 2,500 Abrams tanks with the
vast majority being the M1A1 configuration. The Abrams Full
Crew Interactive Skills Trainer is approved by U.S. Army Armor
School as a precision gunnery trainer. This, too, is a low-
cost, deployable training system that attaches directly to the
Abrams tank and therefore does not require a simulated vehicle
mockup, thereby better preparing the crew for live fire
gunnery.
--Simulations Network Rehost.--In the mid-1980s, the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency developed a new concept in simulation
training called the Network. The goal of this trainer is to
expose mounted combat forces to mock battles in an effort to
develop tactical maneuver skills and improve situation
awareness of commanders. This program provides a highly cost-
effective means of providing basic tactical platoon-level
training capability to a highly dispersed force. The
Simulations Network units are platoon sets for the Abrams Main
Battle Tank and the Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The National
Guard's force structure accounts for approximately 50 percent
of these mounted combat forces.
--Table Top Trainers (M1A1 and M2).--The Table Top Trainer program is
the linchpin of the National Guard's virtual training strategy.
The ammunition and operational tempo cost to train this fleet
exceeds $1 billion annually. The virtual training systems have
been introduced to offset costs that were even higher in
previous years. A single low-fidelity Table Top Trainer can be
reconfigured to supply 60 to 70 percent of the associated
skills training for Abrams Tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles,
and Stryker Light Armor Vehicles. The remaining skills tasks
can be trained in the available 25 percent training time in the
high-fidelity trainers or through live fire events.
Combat Training Centers and National Training Center
In 2003, the Army National Guard sent over 28,000 Soldiers to
participate in training at the Army's two Combat Training Centers. This
training program cost $23 million but produced the most significant
increase to training readiness for those units and Soldiers.
North Carolina's 30th Brigade formed the core of a 34-unit, 15-
state task force comprising the 5,545 Army National Guard Soldiers who
deployed to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, in
May and June 2003. This training rotation was the culminating exercise
in an intensive four-year train-up. The North Carolina Joint Force
Headquarters formed Task Force Tar Heel that served as the division
headquarters throughout the train-up and at the National Training
Center. The 30th and North Carolina's Joint Force Headquarters executed
wartime mobilization tasks by deploying the entire task force's
equipment and personnel from facilities across the country to Fort
Irwin's desert environment.
During 2003, additional Engineer, Field Artillery, and Infantry
units representing 3,732 Soldiers deployed to the National Training
Center in support of Active Component rotations. These units served
both as friendly and opposing force units integrated side by side with
their active military counterparts. An additional 1,123 Soldiers
assigned to Direct Support and General Support Maintenance Companies
were sent to Fort Irwin to supplement maintenance and reconstitution
operations.
Joint Readiness Training Center
In 2003, the majority of Florida's 53rd Brigade was mobilized and
deployed to Iraq. In preparation for this mission, they underwent
training at the Joint Readiness Training Center. While there, they
supported the training of the 10th Mountain Division, 7th Special
Forces Group, and the 3rd Brigade (Stryker), 2nd Infantry Division.
Combined Arms Center
Through the Army National Guard's Battle Command Training Center,
the U.S. Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
supported the 29th Infantry Division and 49th Armored Division during
their Battle Command Training Program rotation in 2003. The training
center also conducted twelve Brigade Command and Battle Staff Training
Program seminars. Over 15,500 Army National Guard Soldiers participated
in these training events.
Force-on-Force Training
The Army National Guard Force-on-Force Training Program supports
the readiness of the National Guard's ground combat units. This program
simulates battles that are fought using laser-targeting systems to
replicate live ammunition. Some 2,080 Soldiers from Army National Guard
divisions participated in Force-on-Force events in 2003.
In 2003, Army National Guard brigades participated in Battle
Command Training Program staff exchanges, train-up exercises at the
Combat Training Centers, and gunnery and divisional artillery training.
A total of 30,034 Army National Guard Soldiers, 8 percent of the Army
National Guard's endstrength, conducted training at or in association
with the Army's training facilities at a cost of approximately $26
million. The payoff of this relationship is obvious. Three of these
brigades, the 30th, the 39th, and the 81st were directed to prepare for
war in Iraq. They will deploy there early in 2004.
Recruiting and Retention
The Army National Guard ended 2003 with 1,091 Soldiers above its
endstrength goal of 350,000, a result of surpassing retention goals and
retaining quality Soldiers. Despite the unprecedented challenges at
home and abroad, the Army National Guard validated the three-tenet
Strength Maintenance philosophy of recruiting, attrition management,
and retention. The ``Oath to Expiration of Term of Service'' philosophy
has helped to create a partnership with the units by building greater
trust and cooperation between the recruiting force, the full-time
support force, and unit leadership. The Army National Guard has
developed numerous tools to ensure continued success:
--Highly successful advertising campaigns and recruiting initiatives
that integrate the recruiting and retention force with
traditional unit members.
--Dynamic recruiting and retention programs to highlight the
relevance, features, and benefits of Army National Guard
service to current and potential Soldiers.
--Soldier and family member feedback programs that assess unit
environments and determine Soldier motivations for joining and
remaining in the Army National Guard.
--Post-mobilization surveys and retention initiatives to facilitate
the re-integration of the unit and its members following
deployment.
--Post-mobilization ``Freedom Salute'' campaign to recognize Soldier,
family member, and employer support of extensive overseas
deployments.
--Development of Recruit Sustainment Programs to better prepare new
Soldiers for initial active duty training and promote unit
strength readiness.
--Attrition management/retention programs to educate leaders on
caring for and mentoring Soldiers in the high operations tempo
environment of the Global War on Terror.
--Resource allocation that optimizes the effectiveness of the
Strength Maintenance Philosophy and the teaming of the
Recruiting and Retention Force and traditional Army National
Guard Soldiers.
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Selected Reserve Incentives Program
Up to $8,000 Enlistment Bonus for Non-Prior Service enlistees
--$3,000 for critical skill
--$3,000 for non-prior service bonus
--$2,000 for Off-Peak ship to training
$3,000 Civilian Acquired Skills Program for NPS enlistees
$2,500 for a first 3-Year Re-enlistment/Extension Bonus
$2,000 for a second 3-Year Re-enlistment/Extension Bonus
$2,500 for a first 3-year prior service Enlistment Bonus
$2,000 for a second 3-year prior service Enlistment Bonus
$50 per month for Affiliation Bonus (72-month maximum)
$10,000 Student Loan Repayment Program
$50,000 Health Professional Loan Repayment Program
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Army National Guard Incentive Programs are currently undergoing
review by program managers for potential adjustments to both the
monetary amounts and the payment schedules of the various incentives.
We believe these improvements are necessary to compensate our Soldiers,
who are contributing to our nation's defense and deploying overseas on
a continuous rotational basis. Our goal is to retain our Soldiers when
they return.
Army National Guard Full-Time Support
Dedicated men and women who provide Full-Time Support to Army
National Guard Soldiers are a critical part of the Army National Guard.
They enhance readiness by assisting Unit Commanders in managing day-to-
day requirements. In recent years, the Army National Guard has begun to
expand its Full-Time Support force in order to better serve its
Soldiers and the units to which they are assigned. To meet readiness
requirements, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, in concert with
the state Adjutants General, has placed increasing Full-Time Support
authorizations as one of the top priorities for the Army National
Guard.
The National Guard Bureau will place new Full-Time Support manpower
into our units or into positions that directly impact unit readiness.
An example is the Military Technicians that will be directly placed
into organizational maintenance shops. Junior enlisted grades will
increase through fiscal year 2012 and will be applied to the unit level
to accomplish many of the missions where it is not uncommon to find
single Active Guard Reserve Soldiers working today.
Army National Guard Well-Being
The Army National Guard Well-Being Team works in concert with the
Active Army and the Reserve as part of a holistic initiative to address
various issues affecting Soldiers, families, retirees, veterans, and
civilians. The initiative uses various methods to measure success,
weakness, or failure in programs that affect the total Army force.
Based on the outcomes of these measures, policies and programs are
modified or assets are re-allocated to impact the total Army force.
Diversity Initiatives and Equal Opportunity
The Army National Guard Diversity Initiatives Team addresses
demographic realities impacting the Army National Guard as a community-
based force. The role of women in American society continues to evolve.
More positions in the Army National Guard are open to women based on
changes in force structure. With the rapid advance in technology and
changes in society, diversity also hinges on generational, technical,
and cultural differences.
The Army National Guard Equal Opportunity Team proactively
addresses team development and cultural exchanges to foster more
productive units and Soldiers. Fundamental to the mission of the Army
National Guard, the Equal Opportunity Office addresses issues that
arise relating to race, color, gender, sexual harassment, national
origin, and religion. The Army National Guard is steadfast in
maintaining zero tolerance for all forms and types of discrimination.
The Army National Guard will guarantee that all are treated with
dignity and respect.
homeland defense
Domestic Operations
In 2003, the Army National Guard provided 419,463 mandays in 42
states, two territories, and the District of Columbia to state-level
emergency support missions. The year began with Tropical Storm Lilli
along the Gulf Coast that required 9,835 mandays for cleanup and
security. Super-typhoon Pongsona hit Guam and required 18,822 mandays
to provide traffic control, water, debris removal, and security.
The Army National Guard provided 318,131 mandays to Key Asset
Protection, the most significant category of Emergency Support
Missions. The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster demonstrated how quickly
the National Guard responds from a ``standing start.'' On the day of
the disaster, thousands of Army National Guard Soldiers from five
states were on duty, recovering and safeguarding debris. This mission
required 18,816 mandays of support.
The Army National Guard also provided support to special events,
including assistance to law enforcement for the Super Bowl and the
Kentucky Derby. Support to governors in response to Hurricane Isabel
ended a busy year.
The Army National Guard routinely performs training missions that
simultaneously support and assist our communities. The Innovative
Readiness Training Program required 205,000 mandays of support in 2003.
Programs included improving schools and parks, building and repairing
roads, administering immunizations, and providing medical care to
under-served areas.
The California Army National Guard is leading an effort to
construct access roads to the United States-Mexican border to assist
the Border Patrol in dealing with the growing tide of illegal
immigrants and narcotics. In Alaska, the Guard is leading a five-year
project that will result in a 15-mile road connecting two villages on
Annette Island, a trip that currently can only be made by boat. The
Army National Guard in Maine, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, North
Carolina, Texas, and Alaska conducted medical training exercises to
provide inoculations, physician contacts, dental care, and optometrist
services to under-served populations. Innovative Readiness Training
projects benefit both the Army National Guard and the communities.
Missile Defense
Defense against ballistic missile attack is a key component of the
National Security Strategy in providing for Homeland Security. The
National Guard will play a major role in this mission as the force
provider for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system in the initial
defensive operations/defensive operations phase per National Security
Presidential Directive 23, dated December 16, 2002.
The National Guard received an increase of 100 in Active Guard and
Reserve authorizations in the fiscal year 2004 President's Budget
request to support this mission. Ground-based Midcourse Missile Defense
is a critical element of the Administration's National Security
Strategy and defense of the homeland. This program is continually
evolving and undergoing refinement.
Continuity of Operations
The National Guard's Continuity of Operations Program was
conceptualized in 1988 and took on added importance after September 11,
2001. In support of homeland defense, the Guard is utilizing this
program as a means to ensure continuous command and control in case of
emergency.
Executive orders, Department of Defense directives, Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff directives, and Army Regulations require a
Continuity of Operations Program. This protects key leaders; allows for
the continuity of essential missions; provides for relocation sites;
protects vital records and operating files; and ensures survivability,
recoverability, and the ability to reconstitute. The National Guard has
taken a three-level approach to achieving this end:
--The first level is the Headquarters Department of the Army
Continuity of Operations Program that provides the active
component with the Army National Guard leadership to support
the War fight.
--The second level is the National Guard Continuity of Operations
Program that allows both the Army National Guard and the Air
National Guard to continue supporting the states and
territories in the event of a national disaster.
--Finally, the National Guard is also providing the platform for the
54 states, territories, and the District of Columbia to develop
their own Continuity of Operations Program initiatives to
support both homeland defense and the War fight at the state
and local level.
The National Guard plans to exercise the Continuity of Operations
Program at all three levels to ensure readiness and preparedness for
any situation. Ultimately, Continuity of Operations Programs will
ensure that no matter the situation, the National Guard will be ready
to continue its essential missions.
transformation for the 21st century
The Army National Guard is changing. Although our forces continue
to meet today's missions, tomorrow's force must be more versatile,
ready, and accessible than ever before. They must continue to be
capable of full-spectrum operations, but must be better equipped and
trained to defend the nation. Future Army National Guard forces must be
more interoperable with the Active Component and must be fully capable
of operating in a joint or interagency environment. Finally, Guard
forces must be postured to support long-term Stability and Support
Operations, Peacekeeping Operations, and the missions of the newest
Combatant Command, NORTHCOM.
In order to achieve these objectives, the Army National Guard must
attract and retain quality Soldiers. We must train and equip them to
accomplish the missions of tomorrow.
Force Balance and Restructure
The Department of the Army is revising priorities to better support
the National Military Strategy. Under the direction of the Secretary of
Defense, the Army is exchanging some formations from the Active
Component and the National Guard. These realignments will better align
the Army National Guard and the Army in supporting the warfighting and
Homeland Defense missions.
Another significant aspect of this force balance analysis is an
initiative by the Director of the Army National Guard to reduce the
Army National Guard's force structure with its congressionally
authorized personnel endstrength. This rebalancing effort will enable
the Army National Guard to deploy units within five to 30 days because
their readiness will be improved.
The results of force balance adjustments, coupled with the
alignment of force structure and personnel endstrength, will allow the
Army National Guard to provide divisions, brigade combat teams, and
supporting forces that are ready and capable of supporting the full
spectrum of military operations required by the National Military
Strategy.
High Demand Units
Since 1995, the Army has placed a high demand on the Military
Police in the National Guard. Beginning with missions to the Balkans,
the rate of work for these units has only increased. Today they are
used extensively in the Global War on Terrorism, principally in
guarding prisoners. To reduce the stress on Military Police units, we
have started to convert Field Artillery units into Military Police.
Eighteen additional Military Police units will be organized in the next
two years.
Modular Units
The Chief of Staff, Army, has directed a comprehensive reevaluation
of the Army's corps, divisions, and brigade structures with the intent
of making these units more expeditionary through modular design.
Modular units will allow for a ``plug and play'' capability, which will
enable the Army to provide the flexible mix of capabilities needed by
the warfighter. The Army National Guard will adapt existing force
structure to the new design envisioned by the leadership of the Army.
Over the next few years, we will reconfigure existing brigades,
including the 15 enhanced Separate Brigades, to the new Brigade Combat
Team design. We will have 34 Brigade Combat Teams and 8 Divisional
Headquarters that will be designed in an infantry and armored mix
identical to the Active Component's. This modular capability will
provide a new level of flexibility to our organizations as they support
the full spectrum of military operations. Distribution of new
capabilities will be equitable across the states.
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Fiscal Year 2005 Army National Guard Equipment Modernization Shortfall
List
High-Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV)
Single-Channel Ground and Airborne Radios (SINC-GARS)
Night Vision devices
Black Hawk utility helicopter
Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT)
Small Arms
Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV)
Javelin Anti-Armor Missiles
Thermal Crew-Served Weapon Sight
Movement Tracking System
Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS)
Warlock Electronic Jamming Device
Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle (TUAV)
M-22 Automatic Chemical Detector Alarm
Prophet Signal Intelligence System
Line Haul Tractor (M915A3)
22\1/2\-ton Trailer (M871A3)
Dump Truck (M917A1)
34-ton Trailer (M872A4)
Tactical Quiet Generators
Secure Mobile Anti-Jam Reliable Tactical Terminal (SMART-T)
Sentinel air defense radar system
Howitzer (LW 155)
Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (M2A2)
Hercules (M88A2 [heavy tank recovery vehicle])
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Force Modernization
The Army's highest priority remains maintaining warfighting
readiness. In support of this priority, the Army National Guard is
pursuing a modernization strategy that will provide the nation with
compatible, interoperable, and strategically relevant forces well into
the future.
In the near term, we will ensure our Soldiers are equipped with
essential force protection items such as the latest body armor with
Small Arms Protective Insert plates for the outer tactical vests, the
latest Night Vision Devices, and small arms. To enhance near-term
readiness, the Army National Guard will focus on Army procurement of
the Black Hawk utility helicopter, High-Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled
Vehicles, Single-Channel Ground and Airborne Radios, Family of Medium
Tactical Vehicles, and M-22 Automatic Chemical Detector Alarm.
In the midterm, the Army National Guard will ensure the Army
earmarks sufficient funding to refurbish or recapitalize its current
forces to ensure fleets viability over the next several decades and for
future readiness and relevance. The Army National Guard will focus on
Current Force systems to include our primary aircraft, the Black Hawk,
CH-47 Chinook, and the Apache; the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank; M2A2
Bradley Fighting Vehicle; M109A6 Paladin Howitzer; Heavy Expanded
Mobility Tactical Trucks; and the 5-ton truck fleet. The Army National
Guard will continue working with the Army to ensure program managers
bring systems cascaded to the Army National Guard's Divisional and
Corps troop units up to the required standard.
Army National Guard Aviation Modernization & Transformation
Throughout 2003, the focus of the Army National Guard aviation
modernization and transformation efforts was directed toward completion
of sweeping changes to unit organizational designs. Accompanying these
widespread conversions to the Army Aviation Transformation designs was
the continued turn-in of obsolete UH-1H/V ``Huey'' (Iroquois) and OH-
58A/C Kiowa series aircraft, and the fielding of the additional modern
UH-60A/L Black Hawk and AH-64A/D Apache series aircraft. Unfortunately,
while the Army National Guard net inventory of modernized aircraft
increased by 8 Black Hawk and 17 Apache aircraft during fiscal year
2003, the resulting Army National Guard levels for these aircraft did
not meet Army goals. In addition, most of the supporting or corrective
actions scheduled and funded for 2003, such as increased quantities of
special tools and spare parts, were effectively negated by the
increased requirements for contingency operations in Afghanistan and
Iraq. Based upon current projections, it is uncertain whether the
originally scheduled fiscal year 2002 figures for the Black Hawk and
Apache inventory in the Army National Guard will be reached by end of
fiscal year 2004. Army fixed-wing aviation modernization efforts are
underway to replace the Army National Guard's C-23 Sherpa cargo
aircraft with a more robust and capable airplane.
Information Operations
Army National Guard Information Operations Field Support Teams
assist the Brigade, Division, Corps, Joint Task Force, and Combatant
Commanders in integrating full-spectrum offensive and defensive
information operations, planning, execution, and assessment into their
operations. Additionally, Army National Guard full-spectrum Information
Operation Vulnerability Assessment Teams, Computer Emergency Response
Teams, and Joint Web Risk Assessment Cells contribute to national and
homeland security through the protection of information infrastructure.
The teams deploy domestically and globally to provide their specialized
service to the Combatant Commanders.
In fiscal year 2003, the Army National Guard's Information
Operations program continued to develop technically and tactically
focused units that supported the warfighting commanders and provided
protection of the nation's critical information infrastructure across
the operational continuum. During the same period, the Army National
Guard Information Operations section for the Pennsylvania Guard's 28th
Infantry Division and Minnesota's 34th Infantry Division deployed in
support of peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Kosovo. Seven
Information Operations Field Support Teams and one Computer Emergency
Response Team were mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The
Army National Guard Information Operations program also provided
operational support to all major commands and several Army divisions.
This program has trained over 2,400 Reserve and Active Component
Soldiers since fiscal year 2000. The program is scheduled to expand its
training capability, doubling its capacity in fiscal year 2004.
Logistics and Equipment
The Army National Guard is deployed all over the world in support
of the Global War on Terrorism and operations taking place in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Army National Guard personnel, in many cases,
train on and use older generation equipment to help support these
critical operations. This equipment is far behind the current
technologies, making much of what is used by the National Guard
incompatible with current Army equipment. And in many cases this older
equipment is more expensive to operate and maintain. An additional
challenge is that operational costs of older equipment are higher than
the new versions due to increased failure rates and decreased
availability of spare parts.
The Army National Guard has faced modernization challenges in
previous years for such systems as the High-Mobility Multi-Purpose
Wheeled Vehicles, Single-Channel Ground and Airborne Radios, chemical
and biological detection equipment, and Night Vision Devices. Many of
these challenges have had an adverse impact on units preparing for
overseas deployment.
The Army National Guard is making significant progress in
modernizing its heavy force and bridging its equipment to the digital
force. Emerging technologies will dramatically lower the logistics
impacts of these systems and substantially reduce repair times,
increase operational readiness rates, and eliminate obsolete and
unsustainable test equipment. This will allow the Army National Guard
to operate its heavy equipment at a higher operational rate while
reducing the overall costs for these systems.
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Equipment Modernization Challenges in the Army National Guard
High-Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles
Single-Channel Ground and Airborne Radios
Chemical and biological detection equipment
Night Vision Devices
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The Army National Guard currently has a significant portion of the
Army's maintenance infrastructure. This Cold War vestige is too
expensive and redundant. Under the Army's new maintenance strategy, the
Guard and other Army elements are transforming their maintenance
capabilities from a four-level system to a two-level system. This two-
level maintenance system will cut redundancy in the system and allow
Army maintenance personnel to more efficiently diagnose and maintain
equipment at the forward level.
Another focus area for the Army National Guard is the agility and
flexibility provided as a full partner in the Army Acquisition
Community. Whether it is grooming expert contingency contracting
personnel, facilitating Rapid Fielding activities, and/or participating
in major Army Program/Project Executive Offices, Army National Guard
Acquisition professionals are engaged in depth. The Army National Guard
is aggressively analyzing the task organization of Contingency Support
Contracting Teams. The members of these teams, task-organized from the
existing Modified Table of Organization and Equipment structure, are
identified and trained in advance to support specific deployment
requirements, giving deploying commanders the flexibility necessary to
accomplish their missions without relying on supporting unit
assistance.
Environmental Programs
Training the best force in the world requires the world's best
training areas. The Army National Guard's environmental programs
support the war-fighter and homeland defense by sustaining healthy
training lands. By reducing training restrictions, the Army National
Guard is able to be a good steward of the land it uses, while operating
top training facilities. The first Army Compatible Use Buffer under
Title 10, U.S. Code 2684A was recently implemented at Camp Blanding,
Florida. Within the designated buffer, and in collaboration with other
agencies, the National Guard has formed land-use agreements to ensure
land-use is compatible with military operations.
In addition, Integrated Natural Resource Management Plans will now
be used in lieu of critical habitat designation to ensure training
lands will continue to be used for training while simultaneously
protecting habitat. Also, the Army National Guard has instituted
restoration programs to clean and restore contaminated sites.
Initiatives at seven sites were recently completed and efforts at five
additional sites will be conducted through fiscal year 2005.
The Army National Guard is also improving its business practices as
they relate to the environment. Environmental program management will
be improved through the implementation of mission-focused Environmental
Management Systems. The Army National Guard will change its
environmental program from one of compliance to one that is proactive
and oriented toward the strategic goal of sustainable installations.
This will enhance the ability of warfighting units while minimizing
environmental impacts. Our organization is utilizing tools such as the
Environmental Performance Assessment System's Compliance Site
Inventory, a web-based module that allows environmental managers to
track, manage, and query a wide array of compliance data. Recent
program developments include a series of protocols to assess the
progress of the Environmental Management Systems.
A top priority for the Army National Guard is preparation for
fiscal year 2005 base realignment and closure actions and the effect
these will have on the environment. The Army National Guard expects to
have a complete inventory of training lands by 2006 through its
Geographic Information System program. These technologies are critical
to the battlefield intelligence component of transformation.
Part of the Joint Force
During the past year, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau
directed the most profound organizational change to the National Guard
since the end of World War II. The heart of this transformation effort
was to combine the separate Army and Air National Guard Headquarters
that existed in each state and territory into a Joint Force
Headquarters, State. The vision was to make the National Guard more
responsive to regional Combatant Commanders and better enable the Guard
to defend the nation as part of the Joint Team.
The Army National Guard is capable of fighting as part of the Joint
Team. Today, operations in both peace and war are conducted by Joint
Forces. Army National Guard leaders must be trained and capable of
operating in a joint environment.
To ensure that its leaders are capable of this, the Army National
Guard is developing the means to expose them to joint operations at
various stages in their careers, and facilitate the opportunity for
them to receive Joint Professional Military Education. These
opportunities and experiences with the realities of joint operations
will better assure prepared leadership in the Army National Guard.
Predictability for Our Soldiers
The National Guard has manned units from local communities since
the first muster in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636. The National
Guard is a community-based force where a Soldier may spend an entire
career in the same battalion, company, battery, or troop. This provides
for unit cohesion, stability, continuity, and the bonds of camaraderie
that come from shared hardships and experiences.
Although we remain a ``Minuteman'' force, predictability is an
important factor in retaining our Citizen-Soldier. Since 1996, our
force has been consistently called to federal active duty. Our Soldiers
have and will continue to muster for any mission in the fine tradition
of the National Guard. However, the Global War on Terrorism is
projected to last several years. Feedback from the Soldiers, their
families, and their employers is consistent: they simply wish to know
when they are needed and for how long. Soldiers are asking for
predictability. When possible, mobilizations and deployments should be
forecasted in advance, potentially years ahead of a unit's deployment.
The Army National Guard is working towards instituting a Predictable
Deployment Cycle that will provide units a forecast on overseas
deployments. This predictable cycle looks at using a unit only one time
in a six-year period. This is a benchmark. While the National Guard
stands ready for any mission at any time, this concept will help
alleviate the magnitude of the unknown.
Home Station Mobilization
Home Station Mobilization is a National Guard initiative that
empowers the Joint Force Headquarters, State, with greater
responsibilities for the mobilization of units deploying to war. The
Joint Force Headquarters, State, assume responsibility for all
mobilization processing activities that are currently done at active
duty installations. This expedites the mobilization of the National
Guard and their employment into theaters of operation. Improved
efficiencies in mobilization allow the Army to maximize the operational
capability of the force. Three units successfully conducted Home
Station Mobilization and demobilization in fiscal year 2003.
Strategic Readiness System
The Army National Guard implemented the Strategic Readiness System
in 2003 to more accurately capture unit readiness. This is an
integrated strategic management and measurement system that ensures
that all levels of the Army recognize and align their operations to the
vision, objectives, and initiatives of the Army Plan. It measures each
element's success in achieving these goals. The Strategic Readiness
System has assisted Army transformation by changing the way the Army
National Guard approaches and reports readiness data.
Personnel and Human Resources
Continuing Army National Guard participation in the Department of
Defense Personnel Transformation includes immediate movement towards
the implementation of the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources
System during 2005-2006. This human resource system aligns the Army
National Guard with a Defense vision and goal of a Joint Service
integrated personnel and pay system. It will provide support throughout
the life cycle of a service member's career. Development and
implementation are proceeding under the direction of the Under
Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in coordination with
all services and components. This human resource system will streamline
the Guardsman transition from a non-federal to federal active duty
status.
The Army National Guard's Permanent Electronic Records Management
System is a web-based system utilizing digital imagery to store and
retrieve personnel records. Its importance lies in its seamless records
management capability throughout the Army, enhancing both mobilization
and personnel readiness.
By consolidating the administrative operation of human resources in
one place, the Permanent Electronic Records Management System allows
personnel records to follow a Soldier regardless of component. Army
National Guard enlisted records, currently in hard copy, will be
converted to an electronic form in fiscal years 2004 and 2005. It will
also adopt an Automated Selection Board System to support and improve
the process under which information and votes regarding personnel
actions are processed by military personnel boards.
Moving from a paper system to a digital system is a time-consuming
process. However, once the Automated Selection Board System is adopted,
it will save the Army National Guard more than $150,000 per year in
microfiche production and postage costs. This system is essential to
achieve and fully support Personnel Transformation and programmed for
fielding in fiscal year 2005.
conclusion
The Army National Guard remains a unique capability with its State
and Federal mission. As a community-based force, we are entrusted with
the responsibility to protect our citizens' liberties and our nation's
freedoms. Army National Guardsmen have a warrior's ethos and a loyalty
to respond to any Governor or Presidential call to duty.
Our Soldiers have been called upon more than ever to provide
security to our nation. We are a ready and relevant force, but we will
continue to raise our readiness level to C1, the highest level. We are
committed to obtain the necessary resources in the areas of
modernization, training, and equipping. Our Soldiers will not reach
their fullest potential readiness with outdated equipment, limited
health care, and unpredictable deployment cycles. In all areas,
however, we remain dedicated to using our resources efficiently and
prudently.
The Army National Guard continues its transformation into a leaner,
more agile and ready force. As the Army National Guard continues to
operate in concert with the U.S. Army, it will fight wars and ensure
the safety and well-being of the American people.
______
Prepared Statement of Lieutenant General Daniel James, III
overview
What an incredible year this has been for the nation and the Air
National Guard. We've continued to make great strides in securing peace
for the nation in the Global War on Terrorism. We have validated
everything we've said about our capabilities: we train to fight and can
accomplish the mission professionally and, most importantly, bring the
will of the American people to the conflict.
Our contributions over the past two years and specifically in
Operation Iraqi Freedom have been tremendous. Since September 11th,
we've mobilized over 36,000 members and have flown over 111,000 sorties
for over 340,000 hours. One-third of the Air Force aircraft in
Operation Iraqi Freedom was from the Air Guard. We flew 100 percent of
the Operation Enduring Freedom A-10 missions and 66 percent of the
Iraqi Freedom A-10 taskings. We accomplished 45 percent of the F-16
taskings. The A-10s flew more combat missions in the Iraqi war than any
other weapon system. Thanks to our innovative culture, we modernized A-
10 and F-16 Block 52 aircraft with LITENING II targeting pods in just
three months, giving them precision guided munitions capability.
Because of this capability, we were 100 percent successful in stopping
SCUD missile launches in the Western Iraqi desert.
We flew 86 percent of the Operation Iraqi Freedom tanker sorties.
We accomplished this primarily through the Northeast Tanker Task Force
which was operating within 24 hours of initial call from Air Mobility
Command. In line with our militia spirit, that task force was initially
manned through volunteerism. A total of 18 units supported it; 15 were
from the Air Guard.
Iraqi Freedom was also the first employment of the integrated 116th
Air Control Wing flying with the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack
Radar System (JSTARS). Wing leadership and the Guard and Active crews
worked together superbly. While there is still work to do to fix some
administrative issues, we have validated the concept of blended or
integrated units.
Our Expeditionary Combat Support has been providing outstanding
service to the warfighter. Air National Guard maintenance quickly
rewired our A-10s and F-16s with LITENING II in minimum time. They've
kept our aircraft flying despite the challenging operating conditions.
Security Forces personnel were mobilized for two years and have
provided an incredible service. It was Air National Guard Security
Forces that were the first Security Forces on the ground in Iraq.
Intelligence personnel have been providing unique capabilities for
Central Command and organizational support for the U-2, Predator, and
Global Hawk. Medical personnel have been utilizing the new
Expeditionary Medical Service capability, providing critical care to
the warfighter. Civil Engineers built bare bases out of the desert and
trained Iraqi firefighters while Weather personnel worldwide provided
over 50 percent of the Army's weather support. Financial Management
personnel have been diligently working to keep benefits flowing to our
members despite complex systems. Air National Guard Command, Control,
Communications and Computer personnel have kept vital information
flowing on one end of the spectrum and provided Ground Theater Air
Control System Personnel on the other. Our chaplains, too, have been
providing outstanding spiritual aid out in the field. We have been able
to participate at these levels because we provide Expeditionary and
Homeland Defense capabilities that are relevant to the nation.
Today as we look toward our future relevancy, as indispensable and
equal Total Force partners, we have to be prepared to transform with
the Total Force. We are now in a position to make the decisions that
will influence our next evolution--transforming the Air National Guard.
We are fully committed to the transformation of the National Guard
Bureau and Joint State Headquarters.
Some of today's capabilities may not be required in the future. The
future Air Force will rely heavily on technological advances in space,
command and control, intelligence and reconnaissance systems,
information warfare, unmanned aerial vehicles, and the ability to
conduct high volume and highly accurate attacks with significantly
fewer platforms. For the Air Guard to remain Total Force partners, we
have carved out our own strategy in those areas and will explore new
organizational constructs. Among those constructs are various forms of
integrated units where we can combine individual units with other Air
Guard units or with another service component. We have to expand our
capabilities as joint warfighters and make the necessary changes to
integrate seamlessly into the joint warfighting force. To remain
relevant we must continue to listen to the messages that are being sent
today.
The ``VANGUARD'' Engagement Strategy is our vision for transforming
the Air National Guard to remain ``out in front'' as the Department of
Defense addresses current realities and plans for an uncertain future.
Our Air National Guard of tomorrow will be molded by our
transformational approach and actions of today. The Engagement Strategy
highlights several Transformation Focus Areas where we can concentrate
our continuing transformational efforts.
We must continue to lean on the strengths of our people, core
values, core competencies, community connections and unique culture
while participating in Air Force and Department of Defense
Transformation, Jointness and Capabilities-Based Relevance.
Now is the time for us to lead the way by considering, selecting
and implementing new concepts and missions that leverage our unique
strengths to improve Total Force capabilities in support of
Expeditionary roles and defense of the homeland. This can only be
accomplished by involving all Air National Guard stakeholders, working
toward a common goal--enhanced future relevance for the entire Air
National Guard. Vanguard seeks the optimum synergy resulting from
melding the right concepts and missions at the right times and places
for the right reasons without jeopardizing our core values and historic
traditional militia heritage and culture.
By together addressing the complex issues that face us, we will
keep the Air National Guard ``Ready, Reliable, Relevant--Needed Now and
in the Future.''
support the war fight
In the continuing tradition of the Citizen-Airmen, members of the
Air National Guard have been contributing to the Global War on
Terrorism across the full spectrum of operations. During the peak of
Operation Iraqi Freedom, we had over 22,000 members mobilized or on
volunteer status supporting the Global War on Terrorism worldwide. In
Operation Iraqi Freedom we flew 43 percent of the fighter sorties, 86
percent of the tanker sorties and 39 percent of the airlift sorties. At
the same time we were flying almost 25 percent of the Operation
Enduring Freedom fighter sorties and over 20 percent of the tanker
sorties. True to our heritage, Air National Guard members were hard at
work protecting our shores at home by flying over 70 percent of the
fighter sorties, over 50 percent of the tanker sorties and 35 percent
of the airlift sorties.
But our capabilities do not reside only in aircraft; 15 percent of
our expeditionary combat support were engaged during this same period.
This includes 60 percent of Security Forces, many of whom were
mobilized for the longest duration. Additionally, about 25 percent of
our Intelligence, Services and Weather personnel were mobilized.
Air National Guard men and women are proud to defend and protect
our nation at home and abroad. Often, however, support equipment
requirements overseas necessitate that equipment remain in place,
causing a shortage of equipment for training at home. We are working
with Air Force and Defense Department leaders to develop a solution.
Medical Service Transformation--Expeditionary Combat Support, Homeland
Defense, and Wing Support
In 2002, the Air National Guard's Surgeon General led the Air
National Guard Medical Service through its most revolutionary
transformation in history by reconfiguring its medical capabilities
into Expeditionary Medical Support systems. These systems provide
highly mobile, integrated and multifunctional medical response
capabilities. They are the lightest, leanest and most rapidly
deployable medical platforms available to the Air National Guard today.
This system is capable of simultaneously providing Expeditionary Combat
Support to the warfighter for Air and Space Expeditionary Force
missions, Homeland Defense emergency response capabilities to the
states and support to the Air National Guard Wings.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Air National Guard medical units
provided Expeditionary Combat Support to the warfighter. The
Expeditionary Medical Support capability allowed 10 percent of Air
National Guard medical unit personnel to deploy for Operation Iraqi
Freedom, compared to only 3 percent in the early 1990s for deployments
for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The United States
Central Command has validated that the Expeditionary Medical Support
system is a perfect fit for the Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force Global
Strike Task Force and Concept of Operations.
Homeland Defense capabilities are provided by the Expeditionary
Medical Support system through its Military Support to Civil
Authorities. The Air National Guard Medical Service plays a vital role
in the development and implementation of the National Guard's Chemical,
Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosive Enhanced
Response Force Package. This package will provide support to state and
local emergency responders and improve Weapons of Mass Destruction
response capabilities in support of the Civil Support Teams. The Air
National Guard will have 12 trained teams by late 2004 and will build
toward an anticipated 54 teams by 2007. The Air Combat Command Surgeon
General has committed to providing 39 mass decontamination equipment
sets to 39 Wings for installation-to-installation support, which will
ensure that the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-
Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force package's decontamination teams
remain trained. The National Guard's short-term objective is to obtain
10 Small Portable Expeditionary Aerospace Rapid Response equipment
sets, one for each Federal Emergency Management Agency Region.
The Air National Guard Medical Service's new Force Structure
provided by the Expeditionary Medical Support system provides
standardized and much improved Force Health Protection, Public Health,
Agent Detection, and Health Surveillance capabilities to better support
all Air National Guard Wings. This will enhance the protection of the
Wings' resources and improve the medical readiness of its personnel.
Thus the modular ``building block'' capability of Expeditionary
Medical Support provides an advanced technology and an essential,
tailored medical capability in a small forward footprint expandable to
meet situational needs.
The Air National Guard Surgeon General has pursued and will
continue to develop the Air National Guard Medical Service's technology
and modernization plans to support the warfighter's, state's, and
Wing's requirements.
Eyes and Ears in the Sky: Air National Guard Intelligence,
Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Systems and Support
The Air National Guard's Intelligence Surveillance and
Reconnaissance personnel and systems play an increasingly important
role in the defense of our nation. Air National Guard men and women are
essential to Air Force tasking, processing, exploitation, and
dissemination missions to support Global Hawk, Predator, and U-2
collection missions.
Due to a significant increase in Air Force mission requirements,
the Air National Guard continues to expand its intelligence collection
and production capability. The Air National Guard has also expanded its
imagery intelligence capability through the use of Eagle Vision, which
is a deployable commercial imagery downlink and exploitation system.
This system provides valuable support to aircrew mission planning and
targeting, as well as imagery support to natural disasters and
terrorism.
Other developing Air Force capabilities that are entrusted to the
Air National Guard include the F-16 Theater Airborne Reconnaissance
System and the C-130 SCATHE VIEW tactical imagery collection system.
The Theater Airborne Reconnaissance System will be improved to provide
near-real-time support to warfighter ``kill-chain'' operations in day-
night, all weather conditions. SCATHE VIEW provides a near-real-time
imaging capability to support humanitarian relief and non-combatant
evacuation operations. To support signal intelligence collection
requirements, the Air National Guard continues to aggressively upgrade
the SENIOR SCOUT platform. SENIOR SCOUT remains the primary collection
asset to support the nation's war on drugs and the Global War on
Terrorism in the Southern Hemisphere. Finally, the Air National Guard
established a new unit to support RC/OC/WC-135 flying operations at
Offutt AFB, Nebraska. This unique future Total Force organizational
construct is transformational and serves as a successful example for
future operationally integrated units. The Air National Guard is
transforming its force structure to meet escalating Intelligence
Surveillance and Reconnaissance mission requirements and an ever-
increasing demand for Air Guard capabilities.
Managing Force Finances
Financial Management experienced an unprecedented deployment tempo
during 2003. For the first time ever, an Air National Guard Comptroller
was assigned exclusive command and fiduciary responsibility for the
establishment and sustainment of financial operations in direct support
of combat missions. The challenge was to create a financial
infrastructure from scratch. This Comptroller and subordinate staff of
5 Air National Guard financial management professionals ``financed the
fight'' with distinction.
As locations overseas were vacated, our financial management
expertise was noticeably acknowledged. Our finance personnel were
specifically chosen and assigned the significant responsibility for
final reconciliation and settlement of accounts. The importance of
departing the local economy with balanced books and completely
liquidated fiscal obligations cannot be understated. The Air Guard
delivered remarkable stewardship in this demanding role.
The Operational Tempo at home generated another Financial
Management ``first''. One hundred seventy-six Air National Guard
finance personnel were mobilized as part of an innovative home station
support package. This was a transformational approach to the surge in
processing workload that tripled as hundreds of Airmen at each unit
were called to duty and follow-on overseas deployment.
The Air National Guard: Using the Stars to Serve the Community
For the Air Guard, Space Operations provide a critical
communications link to communities throughout the nation in the form of
satellite support for everyday uses, television, computers, and
wireless phones, but also serve as an important military deterrence
from external threats. Currently, the 137th Space Warning Squadron in
Colorado provides mobile survivable and endurable missile warning
capability to U.S. Strategic Command. Recently, two Air National Guard
units in Wyoming and California have come out of conversion to provide
operational command and control support to Northern Command and to
provide round-the-clock support to the Milstar satellite constellation.
Additionally, the Air Force has approved space missions for the
119th Command and Control Squadron in Tennessee to support the U.S.
Strategic Command, and the 114th Range Flight in Florida is partnered
with an active Air Force unit performing the Launch Range safety
mission. There are future plans by the Air Force to transition
additional space program missions and assets in Alaska and other states
to Air National Guard control.
Comprehensive and Realistic Combat Training--An Asymmetric Advantage
The National Guard Bureau has a fundamental responsibility to
ensure that the men and women of the Air Guard are properly trained to
meet the challenges they will face to protect and defend this country.
This can be done through the effective development and management of
special use airspace and ranges. To support this requirement of the
warfighter, the Air Guard is responsible for 14 air-to-ground bombing
ranges, four Combat Readiness Training Centers, and the Air Guard
Special Use Airspace infrastructure.
To ensure that our units remain ready and relevant, they must have
access to adequate training airspace and ranges that meet the demands
of evolving operational requirements. The National and Regional
Airspace and Range Councils, co-chaired by both the Air Guard and the
Air Force, continue to identify and work airspace and range issues that
affect combat capability and are engaged with the Federal Aviation
Administration in the redesign of the National Airspace System.
Transformation efforts to improve realistic training at our ranges
have been identified by several units as instrumental in preparation
for Operation Iraqi Freedom. For example, the recently deployed Joint
Modular Ground Targets, Urban Area Targets and Time Sensitive Targets
provide training that reflects today's combat realities. Ranges are
being equipped with modernized scoring and instrumentation and data-
link equipment necessary to support precision-guided weapons training.
Critical training is provided to ground Forward Air Controllers as well
as aircrews. Range residual cleanup and associated environmental issues
remain a major challenge.
The four Combat Readiness Training Centers provide an integrated,
year-round, realistic training environment (airspace, ranges, systems,
facilities, and equipment), which enables military units to enhance
their combat capability at a deployed, combat-oriented operating base
and provide training opportunities that cannot be effectively
accomplished at the home station. As such, these centers are ideal
assets for the Joint National Training Capability. The centers offer an
effective mix of live, virtual and constructive simulation training.
The Air National Guard continues to pursue National Training Capability
certification for these centers and ranges.
It is imperative to the warfighter that the Air Guard maintain its
training superiority. As the warfighting transformation and joint
operational requirements evolve, it is essential that the airspace and
range infrastructure be available to support that training.
homeland defense
Air Sovereignty Alert
Since September 11, 2001, thousands of National Guardsmen have been
mobilized to operate alert sites and alert support sites for Operation
Noble Eagle (ONE) in support of Homeland Defense. Our Air National
Guard has partnered with Active Duty and Reserve forces to provide
Combat Air Patrol, random patrols, and aircraft intercept protection
for large cities and high-valued assets in response to the increased
threat of terrorist groups. By the end of fiscal year 2003, Air
National Guard units had assumed 16 of 16 North American Air Defense
and Northern Command-directed ground alert sites in the Continental
United States and 1 of 2 alert site locations outside the United
States. While the Air National Guard has assumed the responsibility of
all ground alert sites and some irregular Combat Air Patrol periods,
Active Duty units have shouldered the burden of all regular ``steady-
state'' Combat Air Patrols. This partnering agreement maximizes our
nation's current basing locations and capitalizes on the high
experience levels within the Air National Guard and its professional
history in Air Defense operations.
To continue operations at this indefinite pace has posed some
unique funding and manning challenges for both the field and
headquarters staffs, especially with the looming two-year mobilization
limitation and Secretary of Defense's desire to normalize operations.
Beginning mid-November 2003, many Air National Guard personnel began to
reach their two years on active duty, causing much concern as to the
participation of Air National Guard personnel. With the release of the
fiscal year 2004 President's Budget, the Air National Guard received
temporary funds to begin transitioning from a mobilized to a ``steady
state'' force for fiscal years 2004 and 2005. This funding allowed for
supporting the ASA mission in a new Continuum of Service active duty or
technician status while at the same time it funded many of our
facilities, equipment, and MILCON requirements to support the mission
long-term. Our goal is to have all alert personnel transitioned from
contingency/mobilized to ``steady state'' Continuum of Service status
by March of 2004. As we move into the fiscal year 2006 Program
Objective Memoranda exercise, the active Air Force and Air National
Guard will continue to work towards a permanent solution for our alert
force and advocate with the Office of the Secretary of Defense to
incorporate these temporary Continuum of Service tours into steady
state programs.
transformation for the 21st century
Supporting a ``Capabilities Based'' Military Force
The Air National Guard is a solid partner with the Air Force, the
Air Force Reserve, and all collective units of the Department of
Defense designed to protect national security and maintain
international peace. The Defense Department's priority is
Transformation--and therefore it is the priority of the active services
and the reserve components. Transformation as ``relevancy'' is
dependent on the Air National Guard readiness, in both state and
federal missions, being able to support service-apportioned, Joint
Chiefs-validated, and Combatant Commander-required ``-capabilities.''
The Air Force is pursuing innovative organizational constructs and
personnel policies to meld the various components into a single,
unified force. Ongoing shifts in global conflict and U.S. strategy
suggest an increasing attention to activities such as homeland defense,
nation-building, and others that may require different mixes of
capability that are not necessarily resident at sufficient levels in
the Active Component alone. This ``Future Total Force'' integration
will create efficiencies, cut costs, ensure stability, retain
invaluable human capital, and, above all, increase our combat
capabilities. One example of this transformational initiative is the
proposed movement of Air National Guard manpower to Langley AFB, an
active duty base, from Richmond, an Air National Guard base, with the
intent of leveraging the high experience of Guard personnel to improve
the combat capability for the active force.
Another transformation effort is to ``integrate,'' where sensible,
units from two or more components into a single Wing with a single
commander. Active, Guard, and Reserve personnel share the same
facilities and equipment, and together, execute the same mission. This
is a level of integration unprecedented in any of the Services.
Potential future missions might include Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
and their training programs, combining the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
squadrons with their manned fighter counterparts; and integrated
fighter squadrons realizing the benefits of highly trained personnel
flying legacy systems during the transition period to newer fighter
aircraft such as the Joint Strike Fighter. The Air National Guard has
been steadily increasing its participation in space operations over the
years and already plays a vital role in missile warning, satellite
command and control, and launch operations. These contributions will be
significant during conflicts envisioned for the future.
These changes confirm and continue the trend in which air and space
forces carry a heavier share of the burden in the nation's wars. The
new strategy and force-sizing standard point to an increase, not a
decrease, in aerospace power.
Modernizing for the Future
The Air National Guard modernization program is a capabilities-
based effort to keep the forces in the field relevant, reliable and
ready for any missions tasked by the state or federal authorities. As a
framework for prioritization, the modernization program is segmented
into three time frames: short-term, the current and next year's Defense
budget; medium-term, out to fiscal year 2015; and long-term, out to
fiscal year 2025 and beyond.
As the force structure continues to evolve, the Air Guard can
anticipate a continuous process to ensure the forces provide an
equivalent capability for Joint and Coalition Forces. The Air National
Guard remains an equal partner with the Air and Space Expeditionary
Forces that are tasked to meet the future challenges and missions.
Because of budget constraints, it is incumbent upon the Air Guard to
maximize combat capability for every dollar spent. The Air National
Guard includes all aircraft, ground command and control systems, and
training and simulation systems in this modernization effort. The
requirements necessary to focus this effort must be grounded in clearly
defined combat capabilities and missions. The foundation of our future
efforts is relevance with reliability and readiness. It is increasingly
difficult to keep the Air National Guard legacy systems relevant given
the transformation of the Air Force to better, more effective
technologies. Systems funding will be a continuous and serious
challenge since funding levels continue to fall short of mission
requirements. Over the foreseeable future, the Air Force will be
stretched to simultaneously fund current operations, modernization, and
future research and development projects.
In the near-term, our Modernization Program focuses on the ongoing
Global War on Terrorism. Theaters of operations range from domestic
efforts, such as fire-fighting, to full partners in overseas efforts,
such as Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The
demands of the modern battlefield require the Air Guard weapons systems
and crews to have identical or equivalent capability as the joint and
coalition forces. The results of the modernization program were
graphically demonstrated in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation
Enduring Freedom as the Block 25/30/32 F-16s, with their laser
designator LITENING II targeting pods, the Enhanced Position Reporting
System and Situation Awareness data links became the weapons system of
choice for the combatant commanders in both theaters. Once air
supremacy was achieved, the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve
Command and active A-10 aircraft became the primary choice in both
theaters. We fully expect that future threats will continue to evolve
which will require continued modernization across all weapons systems.
Here is a summary of the Air National Guard's force posture by
weapons system:
The A-10 demonstrated its continued relevance in today's
battlefield as the Warthog was the dominant weapon when coalition
forces raced for Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Rapid
integration and installation of the LITENING II laser targeting pod in
only a few days and subsequent spectacular precision attacks served as
a model for the future of the A-10. Several other limitations were
identified to include the need to modernize the aircraft infrastructure
through the Precision Engagement program. One particular limitation was
the lack of a tactical data link. The leading candidate in the near-
term is the Joint Tactical Radio System, with installation scheduled to
begin in fiscal year 2005. During 2003, the A-10 modernization program
experienced, increased emphasis including an aircraft modification to
house the personal locator system, further research into an adequate
engine replacement, continued testing of the AN/ALR 69 Radar Warning
Receiver, continued COMET infrared countermeasures pod testing,
continued acquisition of targeting pods for precision guided munitions,
and further work for the Precision Engagement program to upgrade the
aircraft avionics continued development and integration.
During 2003, the Air Guard F-16s provided crucial combat
capabilities in Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Iraqi Freedom and
Operation Enduring Freedom by using advanced targeting pods funded by
the Air National Guard's Modernization Program for precision-guided
munitions. The Commercial Central Interface Unit, Color Multifunctional
Displays, the Heads Up Display Advanced Electrical Unit, the Radar
Modernized Programmable Signal Processor, the AN/ALR-69 Radar Warning
Receiver Antenna Optimization, Situational Awareness Data Link and the
Electronic Attack Upgrade were all part of our successful modernization
effort. Funding for the Advanced Identify Friend or Foe upgrade was
secured along with funding for the final engine upgrade kits. The
Theater Airborne Reconnaissance System continued its spiral development
to bolster the manned tactical reconnaissance limitation identified by
the combatant commanders in every after-action report.
The HC-130 is completing installation of the Forward Looking
Infrared system, an essential capability during combat rescue
operations. The HC-130 starts integration and installation of the Large
Aircraft Infrared Counter Measure system, increasing survivability in
face of the ever-increasing threat from hand-held missiles.
The HH-60 program started installation of the new M3M .50 caliber
door gun, replaced personal equipment for the pararescue jumpers with
state-of-the-art weapons and technologies. The initiation of the HH-60
replacement program will begin to slow any further modernization.
The Operational Support Aircraft Modernization Program leased two
737 Boeing Business Jets that are supporting current VIP Special Air
and Joint Operational Support Airlift operations to improve response
for civilian and military senior leaders. A third aircraft will receive
full modifications and begin service as the C-40C in September 2004.
The training and simulation systems ensure the personnel on the
front line are as ready and relevant as the equipment they use. Over
the past year, the Air National Guard has begun the transition to the
Distributed Mission Operations capability leveraging 21st century
technology with realistic simulation. Useful at every level of
training, crews acknowledged the edge they gained through mission
rehearsal on the ground prior to some of the more complex missions.
Starting with the A-10 and F-16 distributed mission training capable
flight simulators, the Air National Guard has begun to transform their
approach to combat training. The modernization of the F-15 includes the
continued installation of the BOL Infrared countermeasures improvements
system, continued delivery of upgraded engine kits and completion of
the installation of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System
Fighter Data Link. The next upgrades include the installation of the
new 8 mm recorders, retrofit of a permanent night vision cockpit
lighting system, continued integration and purchase of the Joint Helmet
Mounted Cueing System, and the delivery of the replacement Identify
Friend or Foe system. The conversion from the F-15A/B to F-15C/D begins
in fiscal year 2005, thereby extending the relevance of the air
superiority forces in the Air National Guard.
C-130 enhancements included the multi-command Avionics
Modernization Program which upgraded nearly 500 aircraft to a modern,
more sustainable cockpit. Additionally, the Air National Guard
continued acquisition of the AN/APN-241 Low Power Color Radar,
continued installation of the Night Vision Imaging System, and the Air
National Guard-driven development of Scathe View to include various
technological spin-offs having application in a myriad of civilian and
military efforts. Other Air Guard programs include the AN/AAQ-24 (V)
Directional Infrared Counter-measures System, propeller upgrades like
the Electronic Propeller Control System and NP2000 eight-bladed
propeller, and a second generation, upgraded Modular Airborne Fire
Fighting System. Additionally, the Air National Guard partnered with
the Air Force for the first multiyear buy of the new C-130J aircraft to
replace the aging C-130E fleet.
The KC-135 weapons system completed the installation of the cockpit
upgrade and continued the engine upgrades to the R-model. The KC-135
continued to be the air bridge for the multiple combat deployments
across the globe. Keeping the aging fleet modernized will continue to
challenge the Air National Guard as the refueling operations evolve to
meet the next mission. It is critical the aging tanker fleet be
modernized.
The Air National Guard Modernization Program is the key to
continuing to field a relevant combat capability, ensuring dominance of
American air power for the next 15 to 20 years. We must sustain an open
and honest dialogue from the warfighter through Congress, in order to
maximize the investment of precious tax dollars. The modernization
program is a process, not a goal. Recent combat successes validate that
process and serve as a model for future transformation of the United
States Air Force.
Land Fleet Supports Air Operations
The Air National Guard Vehicle Priority Buy program cannot keep
pace with mission requirements associated with Homeland Security, new
Alert sites, Security Force protection, medical evacuation teams and
new aircraft conversions.
At the present time, 35 percent of the Air National Guard vehicle
fleet is due for replacement, at a cost of approximately $262 million.
The Air National Guard vehicle fleet will continue to age and
become more costly to maintain. The less-than-adequate replacement rate
coupled with additional requirements to support newly emerging homeland
security tasking will severely impact our vehicle readiness.
Military Personnel Transformation--30 Years After ``Total Force''
The Air National Guard is partnered with the Air Force in multiple
transformation initiatives that will affect the Total Force. These
initiatives, tied with the Office of the Secretary of Defense's new
paradigm--Continuum of Service--will necessitate simplifying the
processes and rules that are now in place. Continuum of Service is a
transformation for personnel management that is needed to acknowledge
the changes that have occurred in the way Reserve Component members are
now employed in the full range of operational worldwide missions. This
transformation will require changes in legislation and the commitment
of the military services. Although there is an increased spirit of
volunteerism, and retention remains strong despite the increase in
calls for federal and state service, a more integrated approach to
military personnel management is imperative. The integration that is
required presents a challenge in military personnel life cycle
management. The Guard's Directorate of Diversity, Personnel, and
Training, the stewards of the force, will ensure Continuum of Service
policies have the flexibility to manage the force separately, so
Guardmembers have a reasonable opportunity to compete for promotion.
One of the business operations targeted by the Secretary of the Air
Force for transformation is the manner in which the Air Force delivers
human resource services to its customers. The transformation of these
business operations will achieve the Air Force Secretary's objectives
by shifting from the current labor-intensive, transaction-focused
customer service delivery system to a ``strategic partner'' role. The
ultimate goal is the creation of a customer-focused, mission-driven
Total Force service-based delivery system. The system will be leveraged
by technology that provides effective, efficient and timely services,
while freeing human resource professionals to advise commanders on the
development and management of their personnel. The Air Guard is
committed to the Secretary's vision and goals for Customer Service
Transformation while, at the same time, ensuring Air National Guard
members have access to the human resource services which are vital to
effective career management.
The Air National Guard supports the transformational vision of the
Chief of Staff of the Air Force for a more deliberate approach in
developing a force development construct. This entails a Total Force
concept that incorporates the way the Air Force trains, educates,
promotes, and assigns the Total Force--Active, Guard, Reserve, and
Civilians. The newly published Air Force Policy Directive 36-26
represents a radical departure from the current educational and
assignment culture. The newly published directive emphasizes a
flexible, capabilities-based, Total Force approach that fulfills the
professional and personal expectations of our Airmen, while still
meeting mission requirements.
One aspect of the Force Development construct is ensuring
implementation of the Air National Guard's national diversity strategy.
The purpose of the diversity strategy is to increase mission readiness
in the organization by focusing on workforce diversity and assuring
fair and equitable participation for all. Finally, the Air National
Guard has developed a Formal Mentoring Initiative that is ready for a
nation-wide rollout. This program will be a key component in the
professional development of Air National Guard members.
Information Networking for the Total Force
The Air National Guard Enterprise Network is critical to the
successful transmission of information within a unit, between units,
and among the various states. We are making progress towards
modernizing our nationwide information technology network that serves a
vital role in homeland security and national defense. A healthy and
robust network for reliable, available and secure information
technology is essential to federal and state authorities in their
ability to exercise command and control of information resources that
potentially could impact their various constituencies. The effective
functioning of the Air National Guard relies upon a strong interface
and interaction within the network to share information at all levels.
The Air National Guard continues to make significant progress in
procuring network hardware and personal computer and server software
that decreases complexity and increases network communication with Air
Force and Department of Defense partners.
The Air National Guard has completed a nationwide consolidation of
network servers by consolidating core network services to regional
operations centers, and we continue to provide high quality Information
Technology services. At the same time, we continue to reduce redundant
and obsolete systems and programs.
The current initiative to provide better communications to our
warfighters is our initial roll-out of Microsoft's Active Directory
Services. These services will provide enhanced security and broader
communications capabilities to our users, and more closely integrate
our network with Air Force and other Service networks, thereby
increasing both security and communications capability. We hope to fund
the remaining roll-out in fiscal year 2004 and begin follow-on programs
that will reduce the time required to maintain server and desktop
hardware, as well as help manage the software upgrades and security
patches so critical to our network's security.
Greater emphasis must be placed on maturing the Air National Guard
Enterprise Network. The rapidly changing hardware and software
requirements of our warfighting and combat support functions come with
a significant cost to upgrade and maintain a fully capable Information
Technology network. The Air Guard network has typically been supported
at the same level it was during the 1990s. Without a significant
infusion of new technology, all other Air National Guard mission areas
will be less than fully capable of executing their missions. This
modernization initiative will certainly enhance the Air National
Guard's interoperability with other federal and state agencies.
Preserving Facility Operations
Air National Guard Civil Engineering is proud of its management
record of constraining infrastructure and operating costs while
providing quality installations responsive to the nation's needs. This
focused business concept limits direct investment to core
responsibilities to better balance component, service, and department
resources with other risk areas.
Civil Engineering demonstrates the balance between cost-effective
and responsive infrastructure by operating a lean facility plant,
relying on contractors for most facility work, and leveraging with the
states and the traditional Guard member structure to reduce costs.
Facility space at the typical Air National Guard installation
averages only 350,000 square feet constrained to operational, training
and administrative space on 150 acres of leased property. Air National
Guard installations do not have the extensive support facilities
typically present on active component bases, such as dormitories, golf
courses, family housing, hospitals, child-care facilities, schools,
youth centers, commissaries or main exchanges. Instead, Guard members
leverage this quality of life support through the community. Additional
cost containment is realized by the joint-use of runways and taxiways
that are typically owned by the local civilian airport authority and by
property leases at nominal or no cost.
A small federal workforce of 7 to 10 predominantly civilian
employees executes the facility operations and maintenance program
through a contract and state employee workforce. This small full-time
workforce is built around the Base Civil Engineer, an assistant, a
facility manager and a production controller. About 15 state employees
provide maintenance service for day-to-day requirements while larger
non-routine maintenance, repair and construction, where most investment
is made, are accomplished through contracts as needed. Twenty-four
state employee firefighters provide crash, fire and rescue service when
not provided by the local civilian airport authority.
Base operational costs are further leveraged by state
contributions. Specifically, states are required to provide matching
funds for services such as utilities, custodial, trash, grounds
maintenance and snow removal. This contribution typically ranges
between 15 and 25 percent of the total cost of the requirement.
Additionally, Civil Engineer and Services ``outsource'' its military
capability, with personnel fulfilling traditional part-time roles, and
thus avoiding full-time costs except when needed for wartime or
deployment requirements. The Air National Guard Prime Base Engineer
Emergency Force or PrimeBEEF force has been covering 30 percent of the
total Air Force engineering wartime and deployment requirement, while
the Prime Readiness in Base Services or Prime RIBS team has been
covering 40 percent of these requirements.
Civil Engineer management controls costs to help keep the Air
National Guard and its military presence in the community. National
Guard facilities and personnel assigned to local units are the primary
connection most Americans have with the military since a large number
of active duty bases were closed during the 1990s. This community
presence provides cost-effective platforms for recruitment and
retention by being close to where Guard members work and live.
Correspondingly, the Air Guard's efficient infrastructure and
management structure helps the National Guard and the Department of
Defense to balance resources with other areas of risk as they continue
to transform military capabilities.
Redesigning Financial Management Systems
The Air National Guard Financial Management community is actively
participating in the coordination of the Office of the Secretary of
Defense Business Management Modernization Program and the Air Force
Financial Management Transformation efforts.
This will ensure our future systems and procedures comply with the
Defense Business Enterprise Architecture. The Air Guard's efforts
include: Adopting standard business practices and systems to enhance
the accountability and accuracy of financial management transactions;
and replacement of non-compliant financial management systems with web
applications that fully support the defense architecture and the Chief
Financial Officers Act of 1990.
This is particularly evidenced by our efforts to transform and
modernize the management of the Air National Guard Military Personnel
Appropriation through the future implementation of the Reserve Order
Writer System, a candidate to become a joint system that will bring the
latest advances in technology and military orders information to
Guards-members in the convenience of their homes around the clock.
conclusion
The Air National Guard will continue to defend the nation in the
War on Terrorism while transforming for the future. We will do this
across the full spectrum of operations in both the Expeditionary and
Homeland Defense missions. The Air National Guard will also continue to
leverage our militia culture and linkage to the community that is vital
to our nation. The men and women of the Air Guard are currently serving
proudly in the far corners of the globe--and here at home--and will do
so with distinction with the necessary tools to protect our freedoms.
______
Prepared Statement of Major General Paul J. Sullivan, Vice Chief,
National Guard Bureau
overview
The most exciting changes occurring in the National Guard today are
in the areas of Transformation, Jointness and Homeland Defense. The
initiatives begun in 2003 to bring the National Guard fully into the
Goldwater-Nichols era of jointness are already transforming the way we
do business in the highest echelons of the Department of Defense, out
in the states, and around the world where our Soldiers and Airmen are
protecting our nation from harm.
Transforming our headquarters to a joint structure provides greater
interoperability with combatant commands, especially with U.S. Northern
Command, U.S. Southern Command, and U.S. Pacific Command. It also
increases our ability to interface with the Department of Defense and
the Joint Staff on issues of Homeland Defense, Homeland Security, and
Military Assistance to Civil Authorities. In summary, this will allow
the Guard to operate on the same basis as the rest of the Defense
Department.
The year 2003 marked the beginning of our journey. There are many
more tasks to accomplish before we have fully implemented our
transformation campaign plan.
The National Guard Bureau completed the initial stage of its
transformation to a joint staff during the summer of 2003. In revising
the staff structure, we attempted to mirror as closely as possible the
structure of the Joint Staff in the Pentagon, thus facilitating closer
coordination between the two to the maximum degree possible.
The Bureau is extensively reorganizing its manpower to perform
staff functions that had never been addressed outside of the single-
service focus of the Army National Guard and Air National Guard
Directorates. The new joint Directorates of Logistics and Intelligence
are prime examples of the Bureau expanding its vision and capabilities
so that we can fully engage in interservice and intergovernmental
efforts to protect the nation at home and abroad.
The expansion of the National Guard Bureau's roles and missions in
the joint arena must still be validated by the Secretary of Defense and
the Joint Staff.
The transformation to a joint Headquarters at the National Guard
Bureau is being paralleled by a similar transformation in the states.
The new Standing Joint Force Headquarters, State, are being designed to
parallel the configurations of the National Guard Bureau, the Joint
Staff, and the Combatant Commands. The States have been given
flexibility to apply their human and financial resources to the joint
configuration to address their unique needs, while centralizing each
governor's ability to leverage both homeland security and state mission
capabilities in the event of a local emergency.
Every Joint Force Headquarters, State will provide a standing Joint
Force Command and Control capability that will allow a combatant
commander to accurately monitor an incident, provide supporting forces,
or command federal forces, including federalized National Guard forces,
in support of the civilian incident commander. This coordination
between state and federal authorities will be aided by the creation of
a robust command, control and communications backbone. We have proposed
a Joint CONUS Communications Support Enterprise initiative that will
provide a common, secure means through which they can coordinate their
response for any domestic emergency. Upon completion of these
transformational initiatives, the ability of both civil and military
authorities to secure and defend the homeland will have increased
exponentially.
In 2003, under the direction of Lieutenant General H Steven Blum,
the Bureau asserted that joint duty billets and joint educational
opportunities should be extended to the National Guard. The Defense
Department is currently considering plans that will allow members of
the reserve components, for the first time in history, to benefit from
the opportunities provided by Joint Professional Military Education.
The broad-based implementation of this training in years to come will
be critical to achieving our goal of fully integrating the National
Guard system with the Department and the combatant commands.
In organizing itself for the future, the National Guard Bureau,
together with the National Guard headquarters in every state and
territory, is transforming to become a member of the joint team. The
War on Terror demands this capability from us; indeed, we are already
serving in this capacity in our day-to-day interactions with the Office
of the Secretary of Defense, with the Joint Staff, and with the
combatant commanders. It is our responsibility to ensure that this
transformation to jointness reaches full operating capability by
October 2005.
support the war fight
State Partnership Program
The National Guard State Partnership Program links states and
countries for the purpose of improving bilateral relations with the
United States. The value of this program is its ability to focus the
attention of a small part of the Department of Defense--a state
National Guard--with a single country or region in support of our
government policies. The program's goals reflect an evolving
international affairs mission for the National Guard. In addition, the
National Guard promotes regional stability and civil-military
relationships in support of U.S. policy objectives. The State Partners
actively participate in a host of engagement activities including
bilateral familiarization and training events, exercises, fellowship-
style internships, and civic leader visits. All activities are
coordinated through the theater combatant commander and the U.S.
ambassadors' country teams, and other agencies, as appropriate, to
ensure that National Guard efforts are tailored to meet both U.S. and
country objectives. This program increases exposure of Guard personnel
to diverse cultures in regions where they may be deployed in the
future.
During 2003, nine new partnerships--Kansas-Armenia; Maryland-
Bosnia; Puerto Rico-Dominican Republic; New York-South Africa;
Wisconsin-Nicaragua; Utah-Morocco; Alaska-Mongolia; Florida-Guyana; and
Virginia-Tajikistan--were formed. The Colorado-Jordan partnership was
announced in March 2004. Currently thirty-nine U.S. states, two
territories, and the District of Columbia are partnered with forty-five
countries around the world, and last year alone more than 300 events
took place between the partners. In fiscal year 2004 and beyond, it is
our goal to expand the program to include increased interaction at the
action officer and troop level will enable the partners to develop more
hands-on events.
The State Partnership Program is also invaluable for our own
homeland security. As we interface with countries that, on a daily
basis, live with a terrorist threat in their own back yard, we learn
the tactics and techniques that they employ to thwart attacks on their
civilian population. Conversely, the countries learn some of the
capabilities and techniques employed by not only the Department of
Defense, but by our civilian organizations at both a federal and state
level that are in use to protect our homeland. It is through this
cooperative exchange of vital information that we ultimately protect
our homeland by pushing our borders outwards and creating an atmosphere
of mutual support and collaboration.
Full-Time Support
The Active Guard and Reserve and Military Technician programs are a
major asset for the National Guard and are essential to organizational
readiness. Governed by USC Title 32, these full-time personnel are
uniformed members who perform day-to-day responsibilities for a unit,
who train with traditional Guardmembers in that unit, and who are
available for mobilization or deployment when the unit is called to
active duty.
The heightened pace of operations, however, has put a strain on
normal procedures, particularly for the military technician force.
National Guard technician deployments in support of ongoing contingency
operations involved approximately 16 percent of the technician
workforce. This resulted in an increased demand for personnel actions
to support technician separation and leave of absence actions,
entitlements counseling, and backfill of positions in order to continue
accomplishing essential full-time functions like payroll processing and
equipment maintenance. In order to expedite the increased demand for
backfill, the previously authorized emergency hiring flexibilities were
expanded and extended for another year. These flexibilities provided
streamlined hiring processes for affected states.
The deployment of large numbers of military technicians with their
units, while beneficial to the overall mission, created funding
challenges for the program. Under current Uniformed Services Employment
and Reemployment Rights laws, absence of technicians from their
positions due to service in the armed forces does not result in absence
of costs for agencies employing those technicians. The National Guard
was still responsible for costs associated with stay-behind missions,
such as maintaining armories and equipment, and the congressional
legislation that employee and employer health benefit costs for
technicians be paid for up to 18 months during mobilization. Therefore,
residual costs incurred from health benefit costs, costs associated
from backfilling mobilized technicians, outsourcing expenses, and other
issues resulted in increased funding challenges during 2003.
National Guard Family Programs
As the role of the National Guard becomes focused on the dual
missions of Global War on Terrorism and Homeland Security, units will
continue to maintain a high level of readiness for overseas and
homeland operations.
Not since World War II have so many Guardmembers been deployed to
so many places for such extended periods of time. The role and support
of the family is critical to success with these missions. The National
Guard Family Program has developed an extensive infrastructure to
support and assist families during all phases of the deployment
process. There are more than 400 National Guard Family Assistance
Centers located throughout the fifty-four states, territories and the
District of Columbia. These centers provide information, referral, and
assistance with anything that families experience during a deployment.
Most importantly, these services are for any military family member
from any branch or component of the Armed Forces.
If family members are not prepared for deployments, a service
member's readiness, morale, and eventually retention are affected.
Family programs are currently in place to assist families during
deployment, pre-mobilization, mobilization, and reunion. The Family
Program office provides support to program coordinators through
information-sharing, training, volunteer management, workshops,
newsletters, family events, and youth development programs, among other
services.
The greatest challenge lies in awareness and communication. The
feedback we receive indicates that many family members are unaware of
the many resources available to them during a period of active duty or
deployment. Our primary goals are to increase the level of awareness
and participation with existing family resources, and to improve
overall mission readiness and retention by giving our warfighters the
peace-of-mind of knowing that their families are well cared for.
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve
The National Guard Bureau renewed its partnership with the National
Committee, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. The Chief,
National Guard Bureau, reinforced this commitment with his decision to
authorize 54 positions for the states, District of Columbia, and
territories to augment retention initiatives within all seven of the
reserve components. A new initiative in fiscal year 2004 is a national
level contract that provides the states with additional personnel and
puts the Employer Support program on a parallel track with the National
Guard's Family Program. These two programs are intended to dovetail,
and reflect our increased efforts to address the impact of
mobilizations on employers and families.
Youth ChalleNGe Program
The award-winning National Guard ChalleNGe program is a community-
based program in twenty-nine sites that leads, trains, and mentors at-
risk youth to become productive citizens. The second largest mentoring
program in the nation, the ChalleNGe program is coeducational and
consists of a five-month ``quasi-military'' residential phase and a
one-year post-residential phase. Corps members must be volunteers,
between 16 and 18 years of age, not in trouble with the law, drug-free,
unemployed, and high school dropouts.
A national model since 1993, the twenty-five states and territories
that offer the program have graduated more than 48,000 young men and
women who leave equipped with the values, skills, education and self-
discipline necessary to succeed as adults in our society.
Significantly, although many ChalleNGe candidates are from at-risk
populations, over 70 percent of them have attained either a General
Equivalency Diploma or a high school diploma. Furthermore,
approximately 30 percent of all graduates choose to enter military
service upon graduation. While the General Equivalency Diploma
attainment is over 66 percent, and the graduation rate is above 90
percent, the National Guard seeks to improve the results in both areas.
The National Guard is ``Hometown America'' with deep roots in every
community. The strong community ties make the National Guard a highly
visible and effective entity in many towns and communities across the
United States. National Guard units across the country have
traditionally been involved in youth programs designed to help young
people become positive and productive members of their community. The
ChalleNGe program pays for itself with the savings realized from
keeping young people out of jails and off welfare roles. In fact, these
same young people are more prone to become productive, tax-paying
members of their communities. The program saves $175 million in
juvenile corrections costs, while lowering the percentage of youth who
are on federal assistance from 24 percent to 10 percent. The results
are that a ChalleNGe program actually makes money for the tax dollars
spent.
Drug Interdiction and Counterdrug Activities
In 1989, the Congress authorized the National Guard to perform drug
interdiction and counterdrug activities under Section 112, Title 32 of
the United States Code.
This domestic counterdrug effort falls into two general areas:
supporting community-based drug demand reduction programs and providing
support to help law enforcement stop illegal drugs from being imported,
manufactured and distributed. Approximately 2,600 personnel in Title 32
status work with the programs, while at the same time maintaining their
wartime military skills and unit readiness.
The mission of the Drug Demand Reduction program organizes and
expands community efforts to form coordinated and complementary systems
to reduce substance abuse. The Guard's primary focus is on community
mobilization and assistance to neighborhood groups. We assist these
groups in setting goals and objectives and building neighborhood
strength and resiliency that provide alternatives to drugs and drug-
related crime. In fiscal year 2003, National Guard members were able to
reach an audience of over 4.7 million students and family members with
an anti-drug message.
Supply reduction activities stem the flow of illegal drugs into the
United States. The National Guard performs a variety of counterdrug
missions in direct support of local, state, and federal law
enforcement. The types of support provided are diverse, but focus
primarily on intelligence analysis and investigative case support.
Activities also include linguist support, surface and aerial
reconnaissance and observation, as well as communications and engineer
support. We provide unique military-oriented skills so the program acts
as a force-multiplier for law enforcement agencies.
As part of the supply interdiction mission, the National Guard
provides airborne support to the domestic effort through the
Counterdrug Reconnaissance and Aerial Interdiction Detachment program
and the C-26 Sherpa program. These programs employ Kiowa helicopters
and Sherpa aircraft to detect and track targets identified by law
enforcement agencies. These aircraft have been specially modified with
thermal imaging equipment, night vision devices, and high-tech
communications equipment. Currently, we operate 116 Kiowa helicopters
distributed among thirty-seven states; while eleven states each have a
single Sherpa aircraft for these efforts. Recently, several of the
Sherpa assets have been tasked to support overseas missions in support
of U.S. Southern Command.
In fiscal year 2003, National Guard support efforts led to 66,395
arrests and assisted law enforcement in seizing the following:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cocaine............................... 665,179 pounds
Crack Cocaine......................... 61,713 pounds
Marijuana eradicated.................. 2,232,693 plants
Marijuana (processed)................. 1,251,182 pounds
Methamphetamines...................... 26,077 pounds
Heroin................................ 6,475 pounds
Ecstasy............................... 387,616 pills
Other/Designer Drugs.................. 14,600,274 pills
Weapons............................... 10,260
Vehicles.............................. 76,349
Currency.............................. $192,607,004
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Due to the tremendous successes of the Guard's training programs,
and the growing need for more specialized training, the Guard operates
five congressionally authorized training academies that provide
counterdrug training for both law enforcement and community officials.
These programs are open to both civilian and military personnel, and
these no-cost courses provide training in both supply interdiction and
drug demand reduction.
Finally, to help ensure a drug-free workplace, the National Guard
administers and oversees a Substance Abuse Prevention Program. All
members of the National Guard are subject to random, unannounced
testing throughout the year. Additionally, members in certain
specialties or job categories are subject to mandatory testing each
year. In fiscal year 2003, we performed more than 225,000 drug tests.
This testing helps ensure that the National Guard force is fit and
mission-ready.
homeland defense
National Guard Reaction Force
The National Guard has nearly 368 years of experience in responding
to both the federal government's warfighting requirements, and the
needs of the states to protect critical infrastructure and to ensure
the safety of local communities. In an effort to improve the capability
of states to respond to threats against critical infrastructure within
their borders, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau has asked each
Adjutant General to develop a Quick Reaction Force capability. The goal
is to have a trained and ready National Guard force available to the
governor that can respond in support of local, state and, when
required, federal agencies. The Guard Bureau has been coordinating with
the states and territories to identify current response capabilities,
as well as working with Northern and Pacific commands to ensure that
these capabilities are understood and incorporated into their emergency
response plans. Work is underway to identify additional requirements
for force protection and interoperability with civil responders. This
reaction force is not a new capability or concept. What is new is the
standardized training and mission capabilities being shared by all
states, territories, and the District of Columbia.
Full Spectrum Vulnerability Assessment
The Full Spectrum Vulnerability Assessment program is a new
National Guard Homeland Defense initiative in which each state and
territory has a team of Soldiers or Airmen trained to conduct
vulnerability assessments of critical infrastructure in order to
prepare and plan emergency mission response in the event of a terrorist
attack or natural disaster. This program is designed to execute the
pre-planning needed for emergency response; to educate civilian
agencies on basic force protection; to develop relationships between
emergency responders, owners of critical infrastructure and National
Guard planners in the states; and deploy traditional National Guard
forces in a timely fashion to protect that infrastructure. In
developing this concept, the Guard Bureau has worked with the office of
the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense to establish
policies and standards. During 2004, we plan to have six of these teams
trained to conduct vulnerability assessments. Through this initiative,
the National Guard continues its time-honored tradition of being
prepared to respond at a moment's notice in defense of America.
Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams
The National Guard continues to strengthen its ability to respond
to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield
explosive events. Since September 11, 2001, the existing thirty-two
teams have been fully engaged in planning, training and operations in
support of state and local emergency responders. Civil Support Teams
are designed to provide specialized expertise and technical assistance
to an incident commander by identifying chemical, biological,
radiological, or nuclear substances; assessing the situation; advising
the commander on potential courses of action; and assisting with
cutting-edge technology and expertise. Operationally, these teams are
under the command and control of the governors through their respective
Adjutants General in a U.S.C. Title 32 status. The National Guard
Bureau provides logistical support, standardized operational
procedures, and operational coordination to facilitate the employment
of the teams and to ensure back-up capability to states currently
without a team.
During fiscal year 2003, teams responded to seventy-four requests
for support from civil authorities for actual or potential incidents.
Teams from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico also
provided valuable support in response to the Columbia space shuttle
disaster during February 2003.
In accordance with Congressional and Defense Department direction,
the National Guard will add twenty-three new teams, beginning with
twelve in 2004, so that each state, territory, and the District of
Columbia will have at least one team. Another four teams will be added
in 2005, with four more in 2006, and the remaining three in 2007.
In order to continue to be the best possible resource to the
emergency responders they assist, it is vital that these teams continue
to be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and trained to the
highest possible level. To accomplish this, the teams must remain a
high priority for resourcing at all levels of the Department of
Defense.
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosive
Enhanced Response Force Package
After the terrorist events of September 11th, the protection of
personnel and resources has greater urgency and the potential for
response to civil authority is greater than ever. Local, state and
federal agencies are applying tremendous resources to improve their
Weapons of Mass Destruction response capabilities. To enhance the
National Guard capability, the National Guard Bureau has developed an
initiative to equip and train units in twelve states to provide a
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosive
regional response. This force will augment the Civil Support Teams and
will provide emergency responders with a follow-on, task force-oriented
structure that will help secure the incident site, support mass
casualty decontamination operations in or near contaminated
environments, and provide for casualty search and extraction. Included
in this response force package is platoon-sized security, medical,
decontamination, and technical search and extraction teams. These
personnel are expected to respond to an incident on short notice in
either state active duty or U.S.C. Title 32 status. The new teams are
expected to be trained and ready to respond by October 2004.
Intelligence for Homeland Security
During the 2003 transformation to a joint staff structure, the
Guard Bureau broke new ground by organizing for the first time in its
history an Intelligence Directorate. The draft mission statement
designates the directorate as the primary advisor to the Chief,
National Guard Bureau, Deputy Chiefs, and the Adjutants General of the
fifty-four states and territories for all intelligence-related matters.
With the focus on improving threat awareness for the Guard's Homeland
Security mission, the immediate goal has been to efficiently maximize
information-sharing between the Guard and Defense Department, the
combatant commands, particularly U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Pacific
Command, the Department of Homeland Security, and national-level
intelligence agencies. Concurrently, this new directorate is taking the
lead in establishing a common operating system for intelligence that
will provide a standardized intelligence picture that gives each
participant the same level of situational awareness and allows sharing
of information and intelligence across a single system, thus aiding the
decision-making process.
transformation for the 21st century
Transformation to a Joint National Guard Bureau
In May 2003, the Chief, National Guard Bureau, announced his vision
to transform the Bureau into a Joint National Guard Bureau that
encompasses both its federal and state missions. In July 2003, the
Chief provisionally organized the Bureau's manpower resources into a
joint staff.
In late July 2003, the Office of the Secretary of Defense
recognized the changing roles of the National Guard, both in its
federal and state relationship, and indicated support of the Bureau as
the national strategic focal point for National Guard matters.
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld further suggested greater ties with his
office, the Joint Staff, and the Departments of the Army and Air Force
in support of combatant commanders. The Secretary encouraged the
development of proposals to forge a new relationship, one which would
improve his office's access to National Guard capabilities and improve
the ability of the National Guard to operate in the joint environment
and other military matters. The primary interest for the Chief,
National Guard Bureau is the Area of Responsibility of all combatant
commanders whose plans include or affect, or will likely include or
affect, federalized or non-federalized National Guard units or
personnel. As such, the Bureau supports U.S. Northern Command, U.S.
Pacific Command, U.S. Strategic Command, and the states and territories
in developing military strategy and contingency plans for homeland
defense and civil support operations. It further supports all of the
combatant commanders in developing joint operational requirements for
Theater Security Cooperation, and War and Contingency Plans.
The Bureau is recommending its recognition, in both law and policy,
as a joint activity of the Department of Defense, as well as a joint
bureau of the Departments of the Army and the Air Force, with both
joint and Service responsibilities. This joint initiative is projected
to achieve full operational capability and validation from the
Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff by fiscal year 2005.
Joint Force Headquarters, State
On October 1, 2003, the Chief approved provisional operation of the
Joint Force Headquarters in each of the fifty-four states, territories,
and the District of Columbia. Transformation of the previously separate
Air and Army National Guard Headquarters will continue through fiscal
year 2006.
The Joint Force Headquarters of each state, territory, Puerto Rico
and the District of Columbia exercises command and/or control over all
assigned, attached or operationally aligned forces. It acts as a
standing, deployed joint force headquarters, within the geographic
confines of the state/territory/commonwealth or district; it provides
situational awareness of developing or on-going emergencies and
activities to federal and state authority. As ordered, the Joint Force
Headquarters, State provides trained and equipped forces and
capabilities to the services and the Combatant Commanders for federal
missions. The Joint Force Headquarters, State supports civil authority
with capabilities and forces for homeland security and/or domestic
emergencies.
The Bureau is working to obtain Joint Staff approval for
integration of this headquarters organization into the joint manpower
process, specifically through submission of a Joint Table of
Distribution, along with supporting documentation, by September 30,
2004.
Joint Professional Military Education
Joint Professional Military Education is the key to integrating the
staffs of the fifty-four newly-created and the National Guard Joint
Staff with the rest of the Defense Department. Credit for performance
of joint duty is also a key factor in determining promotions in the
active component, and increasingly within the reserve components as
well. For this reason, in order to make the Bureau competitive with
other joint duty assignments, ceilings for Joint Specialty Officer
billets must be raised and billets must be allotted to the Guard. Guard
officers also need increased access to resident Phase 2 Joint
Professional Military Education. We are actively working with the Joint
Staff in the Pentagon to explore ways of using the Guard's extensive
Distance Learning facilities to expand Joint Professional Military
Education opportunities to members of the military, regardless of
service or component.
Reserve Joint Staff Duty at National Guard Bureau
One of the Chief's early initiatives while meeting with the other
reserve component chiefs was to obtain input and support for exchanging
officers to serve on each other's staffs. This added capability is
intended to assist in planning for the homeland security mission by
sharing at an early stage a better understanding of the roles and
specific security missions assigned to each component. For the first
time in its 100-year history, Navy and Marine Corps Reserve officers
are now serving as part of the Bureau staff, and Guard officers, in
turn, have been assigned to their staffs. Similar exchanges are planned
with the Coast Guard Reserve. These pioneers in the reserve joint staff
arena are field grade officers currently assigned to the Operations and
Plans and Policy equivalent directorates for a two-year period.
Joint Continental U.S. Communications Support Enterprise
Under Section 10501(b), U.S.C. Title 10, one of the purposes of the
National Guard Bureau is ``the channel of communications on all matters
pertaining to the National Guard, the Army National Guard of the United
States, and the Air National Guard of the United States, between the
Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force, and the
several states.'' Therefore, an obvious role for the National Guard is
to provide an interface for communications between federal and state
agencies with regard to incidents involving homeland security. There is
a requirement for U.S. Northern Command, as well as other federal
agencies, to have ``continuous situational awareness'' of incidents
occurring in the states related to homeland security and the associated
activities of the National Guard while acting under the states'
control.
To meet these requirements, the Bureau has established a
communications enterprise concept that meets the new homeland defense
challenges and leverages the advantages of the National Guard's
constitutional dual status under the state and federal governments. The
proposed communications enterprise is the state-federal network
connectivity concept named the Joint Continental United States
Communications Support Enterprise.
This enterprise will involve national level management and
integration by the Bureau of long haul, tactical, and other service
capabilities to provide U.S. Northern Command, Pacific Command and the
Joint Force Headquarters, State with connectivity to and through state
networks to an incident site. The enterprise includes the establishment
of a National Guard Bureau Joint Operations Center; a state joint
headquarters communications element; net-centric connectivity state-to-
state; vertical connectivity to incident sites, including a wireless
capability; and a National Guard Homeland Security Communications
Capability.
In 2003, the Bureau took the first step by establishing a Joint
Operations Center, and the Standing Joint Force Headquarters in each
state are in the process of establishing a dedicated communications
element. Planning and resourcing for the remaining program phases are
ongoing.
National Guard Enterprise Information Technology Initiatives
The National Guard continues to move aggressively in using
information technology to support our warfighters and our missions at
all levels, including Homeland Security and Homeland Defense. These
initiatives are being implemented with an approach that is geared
towards the National Guard Enterprise. Some examples of these
initiatives from the past year include using Guard telecommunications
resources, specifically distributed learning classrooms and video
teleconferencing assets, to link Civil Support Teams in thirteen
states. These resources have been used to provide critical pre-
deployment support for warfighters and their families. For example, at
Indiana's Camp Atterbury mobilization site, readiness training was
conducted for Soldiers during the day, and in the evenings, a ``Cyber
Cafe'' was established where Soldiers checked e-mail and military
accounts, took care of personal matters, and communicated with family
members. During March and April 2003, nearly 10,000 Soldiers logged
more than 327,000 minutes at this facility, providing substantial
training efficiencies, but just as importantly, it was a great boost to
Soldier and family morale. These same assets are currently being used
throughout the organization to facilitate command and control for
readiness of operating forces at levels never before available. Other
examples are spread across the country, where Guardsmen are using newly
provided capabilities to improve efficiency, effectiveness and morale.
Another initiative is the development of the Virtual Mission
Preparation capability. This is being used as a prototype to provide a
web-based, portal technology that delivers the capability to portray
real-time status of units and their overall mobilization readiness down
to the individual Soldier level. It was developed in Pennsylvania in
support of the 28th Division's rotation to Bosnia, and is now being
applied to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and to the 56th Stryker Brigade of
the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Virtual Mission Preparation
provides functionality that has application across the Army National
Guard to improve deployability, as well as the capability to meet Army,
Defense Department and emergency response mission requirements.
The Bureau, through initiatives managed by the Communications
directorate and the Chief Information Officer, is ensuring that the
vision of supporting the warfighter and transforming the Guard is
supported through an approach that casts off the old lock-step, stove-
pipe method to Information Technology and moves to a truly
interconnected, net-centric information sharing capability.
Transforming the Mobilization and Demobilization Process
Today's global environment does not allow for the luxury of time
that our current Cold War era-mobilization process requires. The
modern, smaller, all volunteer military needs access to the reserve
components within days or weeks--not months.
The U.S. Joint Forces Command was tasked by the Secretary of
Defense to coordinate the development of a more agile and responsive
process to mobilize units and individuals within the reserve
components. As a result of this tasking, the command established
``Tiger Teams'' that consisted of subject matter experts from the
reserve and active components, defense agencies, and the Joint Staff to
study the mobilization process and make recommendations.
The Bureau fully participated in the workshops, endorsed the
recommendations of these teams, and is working closely with the U.S.
Joint Forces Command to improve the readiness and accessibility of the
National Guard for its federal mission. In order for this to occur, the
reserve components must be funded at a higher level of readiness and
the mobilization process must be updated so that the efficiencies of
automation and training during the course of the year can be
capitalized upon.
The lead agency within the Bureau for this effort is the newly-
organized Directorate of Logistics. They are the point of contact for
all coordination and inquiries by the Office of the Secretary of
Defense and combatant commands regarding logistical and mobilization
matters as they relate to the National Guard. In the past, the Army and
the Air National Guard had no Bureau-level counterpart to interface
with the Office of the Secretary of Defense or with joint commands. The
joint Directorate of Logistics fills this void and is designed to
strengthen the interoperability of the Bureau with the other services
and components.
In addition to spearheading our efforts to reform the mobilization
and demobilization process, the directorate is an active member of a
newly formed multi-government agency committee of senior logisticians
that is chartered to develop a National Logistics Strategy to support
the National Response Plan. The group is working with U.S. Northern
Command to identify all logistics sources to support Homeland Defense
and Homeland Security needs.
Senator Stevens. General Schultz.
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL ROGER C. SCHULTZ,
DIRECTOR, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD
General Schultz. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I am honored to be
before this committee.
As you think about our soldiers--you already mentioned the
highlight--they make our units special. They make our units
what they are, and collectively they develop our units'
capabilities.
As we talk about the Army National Guard, today we have
94,000-plus soldiers currently deployed. We have already
demobilized over 54,000 soldiers.
So, Mr. Chairman, our bottom line is readiness, and you
have clearly helped us deliver what I am now talking about in
highlight terms. Our posture statement gets at the detail, but
I do want to reinforce a point that General Blum has already
made and it has to do with Guard and Reserve equipment
appropriation. That is a readiness-enhancing initiative for us,
and I reinforce the importance of that.
Mr. Chairman, I know this is a 2005 hearing, but I need
your help getting through 2004. I have enough total money.
There will be a request coming to this committee for
consideration of moving some money from personnel accounts to
operations accounts. I will give you just a brief update of
what is going on. With all the mobilization activity, we have,
no doubt, changed our training plans from 1 October of last
year. So I would ask favorable consideration to move some of
our personnel accounts in a reprogramming action into the
operations and maintenance accounts where I have clear need for
some of our mobilization-related kinds of activity.
Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Senator Stevens. We will look forward to that request and
act promptly on it. I understand what you are after and we will
work with you closely on that.
General James.
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL DANIEL JAMES, III,
DIRECTOR, AIR NATIONAL GUARD
General James. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee,
thank you on behalf of the more than 107,000 Air National Guard
men and women. Thank you for this opportunity.
Before I give my remarks, I would like to introduce to the
committee, if possible, Kentucky Air National Guardsman, Master
Sergeant David Strasinger. Master Sergeant Strasinger is here
with us today. He is a 20-year veteran. He has flown more than
1,000 sorties in his career. That is 2,500 hours of safe
flying. He is a combat veteran of 30 combat missions in
Operation Enduring Freedom. He has also participated in Iraqi
Freedom and Noble Eagle. From the 123rd Operations Group,
Master Sergeant David Strasinger.
Senator Stevens. Sergeant, it is nice to see that A-2
jacket. That brings back lots of memories.
General James. Well, Mr. Chairman, as you know, this has
been an incredible year for our Nation and it has also been an
incredible year for our Air National Guard. We have continued
to participate in the global war on terrorism with pride and
determination, and we have validated everything we have always
said about our capabilities. We have trained to Air Force
standards and accomplished the mission professionally as full
partners in the total Air Force.
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
Our contributions over the past 2 years since September
11th: we have mobilized over 36,000 members, flown over 100,000
flights for 340,000 hours. One-third of the Air Force aircraft
in Operation Iraqi Freedom were from the Air National Guard.
Today over 42,000 personnel, nearly 40 percent of the National
Guard's force, is currently performing full-time duty.
RECRUITING AND RETENTION
We constantly monitor our recruiting and retention numbers,
and I am very pleased to report that the trends so far are
positive. We will and do expect to make our end strength for
this year. Because we have retained more of our people, our
recruiting goals are higher than need be. We have not recruited
to those goals, but we will retain enough people to make our
end strength.
We are currently working on a plan to posture the National
Guard for the missions our Nation will need in the future. The
plan, or Vanguard as I call it, is an examination of our
current capabilities and those required for our future air and
space force. We are already well into developing initiatives
for establishing the units that are integrated with the active
and reserve component in the Guard for the F/A-22 Raptor and
the RQ-1 Predator remotely piloted vehicle. Both of these are
groundbreaking opportunities for the Air Guard and we are
excited about the prospect of being involved in these new
missions and weapons systems.
C-17 AIRCRAFT
In December of 2003, the first C-17 aircraft was delivered
to the 172nd Air lift Wing in Jackson, Mississippi, the first
operational wing of its kind ever in the Air National Guard.
The final aircraft will be delivered in May and will be named
the Spirit of Sonny Montgomery in honor of Congressman
Montgomery who has done so much for not only the National
Guard, but for the Nation, the military, and its veterans. We
look forward to that event and to the great things to come from
this distinguished unit.
KC-135
The KC-135 tanker continues to be the backbone of our air
bridge for combat operations across the world. Modernizing this
aging fleet is critical to the Air National Guard, the Air
Force, and combatant commanders. This committee has helped make
and keep us relevant and is directly responsible for our
ability to participate as full partners with the Air Force.
Your exceptional support in providing the miscellaneous NGREA
funds has been absolutely critical in enabling us to leverage
our limited resources in an effort to bring needed capabilities
to the warfighter. The procurement of such items as the
Litening II targeting pod, upgrading the F-15 engines, and the
situational awareness data link, or SADL, are some examples of
how this appropriations has assisted us. We cannot thank you
enough for your continued support of this very important
program. With your help, I am certain that we will continue to
be ready, reliable, and relevant and needed now and in the
future.
I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you.
Senator Stevens. Thank you, Generals.
TANKERS
General James, in November 2001, we suggested a leasing
program to replace the KC-135's. Members of Congress and others
outside of Congress have criticized our suggestion, but they
have taken over 2\1/2\ years to review it and they have not
come up with anything else. The first time any one of those KC-
135's goes down and one of your people loses a life, I am going
to take it to the floor and point it out. And each one of those
people who are delaying that proposal are going to be
responsible. Those tankers are now what? Forty-four years old
on the average, General?
General James. Yes, sir. I think the oldest is 47 years
old.
Senator Stevens. It is just impossible to believe that. As
you say, the most critical portion of our operations today is
the tanker. We are airborne for almost everything that is going
on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I cannot believe that this
should be delayed by just petty foolishness. It is time for
them to come up with a program and get it underway. It will
take 3 years before it is initiated, and take 5 years before
you get the replacement. Those tankers are going to be over 50
years old by the time they are replaced. That is criminal,
absolutely criminal.
Senator, do you have any comments, questions?
Senator Inouye. You have said everything I would have said,
sir.
Senator Stevens. I mean, it is your turn.
Senator Inouye. Mr. Chairman, I would have said the same
thing that you have said about the tanker. If we let this
fester any longer, it would be criminal, and I would hate to be
a witness to its first accident.
Is it okay to ask questions?
Senator Stevens. It is your turn. Yes, sir. I used my time
to blow off.
RECRUITING
Senator Inouye. General Blum, the major concern that this
committee has can be said in two words, retention and
recruiting. What is your situation, sir?
General Blum. Senator Inouye, speaking for the three of us
at this front table, our major concern right now is readiness
which translates directly to our ability to recruit and retain
trained and ready citizen soldiers and airmen. My intuition
would tell you that that would be very, very difficult in the
situation and environment we find ourselves. However, in some
cases, the successes that we are experiencing, is that our
soldiers and airmen are reenlisting at very solid rates. They
are staying with us. After they deploy to very unpleasant
places around the world and put themselves in harm's way, they
are staying with their formations, which brings a great sense
of pride and satisfaction to the three of us at this table
because our citizen soldiers and airmen are answering the call
to colors and are remaining with us. This means we will have a
veteran force of combat veterans which the Guard has not had
since World War II. So in about 2 years, 8 out of 10 citizen-
soldiers and citizen-airmen in our formations will have pulled
a tour somewhere around the world in harm's way and will be
veterans of either a combat operation overseas in the away game
or a homeland defense operation here at home. And that vast
operational experience will make us an even more capable and
ready force.
I hope those young men and women from the high school in
Alaska are listening because we are getting non-prior service,
first-term enlistments out of high schools and colleges at an
unprecedented rate. We are doing very well and the quality of
our young men and women coming in has never been better.
So the good news is we are making our end strength and we
are maintaining our end strength now that we are almost 3 years
into a shooting war that is very, very difficult and putting a
strain on the force. But the trends seem to be holding. We do
not take them for granted. We monitor it very closely. We are
watching for any signs that this may fail, but so far the young
men and women of our Nation are answering the call to colors.
Senator Inouye. How would you describe the attitude of
employers and families?
EMPLOYERS
General Blum. Senator Inouye, as you well know, the
National Guard is really very similar to a three-legged stool.
One leg of that stool is the citizen soldier or airman. One is
their family members, and the third leg, equally important, is
the employer. So far the American employers have been standing
with us.
What they have asked us for time and time again, either
through contacting their elected officials or contacting the
National Committee on Employer Support for the Guard and
Reserve, or calling us directly, as happens in some of our
outreach programs, they simply want predictability. When is my
employee going to be called to active duty? How long will they
be away? When will they return? And how frequently will they be
called back? How soon again will I have to lose that employee?
So what we are doing is trying to set up a predictability
model that will give employers, families, and the citizen
soldiers and airmen a much greater picture further out. Right
now we are out to about 18 months with predictability in the
Air Guard and almost 24 months out with predictability in most
of the larger formations in the Army National Guard. So this
gives the soldier, the family, and their employer the
predictability they have asked for.
And we are also, to aid this, our transformation,
modularity and rebalancing efforts are trying to put a greater
number of high-demand capabilities in our force so that we do
not have to rotate the same units so frequently. We are aiming
for about a 5- or 6-year recovery time from an extended
overseas deployment.
READINESS
Senator Inouye. In your response to the first question, you
mentioned three R's: retention, recruiting, and readiness. How
would you describe the readiness of the forces under your
command?
General Blum. Senator Inouye, the National Guard soldiers
that have deployed most recently to Afghanistan and Iraq are
among the best trained, best equipped, best prepared soldiers
this Nation has ever sent out of any of its components. As a
matter of fact, they are probably the best trained, best
equipped, and best prepared soldiers any nation has ever sent
to war. So that pre-deployment part of it is superb.
But there are large parts of our force that are not ready
because they were not resourced to be ready. Part of our
rebalancing and restructuring of the National Guard will take
us to a posture where we can apply increased resources to
achieve enhanced readiness.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Senator Stevens. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Cochran.
Senator Cochran. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
C-17
General James, I wanted to thank you for coming to Jackson,
Mississippi for the arrival of the first C-17 that is deployed
there for the Air National Guard to operate and maintain. I
hope you are as pleased as I am with the progress that is being
made to train the pilots and the crews. I understand the plan
is to ramp up to an increased level of flying once all of the
crews are qualified in the C-17.
I am curious to know if your budget request contains the
resources that are necessary in order to make this unit an
active participant and to fully utilize these new assets.
General James. Well, Senator, it was a great honor for me
to be there and see that airplane roll down the runway and come
in behind the grandstand with you and other colleagues, your
colleagues from Mississippi.
I am very proud of the fact that the leadership of the
172nd remains engaged with us and Air Mobility Command (AMC) to
make sure that the conversion goes smoothly. I just spoke with
the Adjutant General yesterday about some plans to try to keep
the airplanes flying and the training going on while still
taking some pressure off of the air mobility assets that AMC
has.
In terms of our budgeting, when you have a conversion like
that that starts into the fiscal year, we agreed with the
Adjutant General (TAG) and with the leadership of the 172nd to
budget at 80 percent rather than 100 percent of the flying
hours for this fiscal year that we are currently in. We are
using the model that we talked about earlier that came over
from the 141. Once we train the crews and get the crews up to
speed and get everybody checked out, we intend to look at all
the data that we get from this first year's experience and then
make an adjustment there so that we gradually ramp up to what
or hopefully near what the active component is flying in their
C-17 programs.
Senator Cochran. I appreciate your leadership and your
staying personally in touch with the needs of that unit.
General James. Well, thank you, Senator. I have to tell you
that the new TAG knows the airlift business, air mobility
business very well and he does not hesitate to call me if he
has got an issue.
Senator Cochran. General Schultz, we were talking before
the hearing began about the fact that Camp Shelby in
Mississippi has been designated as a mobilization center. I
would like for you to let us know whether this means that we
will need to appropriate any additional funds beyond what is
requested in the budget to ensure that that mission is carried
out successfully.
General Schultz. Currently, Senator, the 278 Cav Regimen
from Tennessee will be mobilizing at Camp Shelby. Requirements
for the installation of upgrades and various things will be
processed through the Army. So right now today, I do not have a
line item for you on what that requirement would be.
Senator Cochran. Up in Tupelo, Mississippi, we have a unit
that had helicopters. It is an Army National Guard unit. Some
of the pilots have been deployed to Iraq, as a matter of fact.
These are Kiowa helicopter pilots. Maybe General Blum is the
one to respond to this. The report from the soldiers up there
was that no replacement aircraft had been identified. Maybe
they have by the time this hearing is held, but I understand
the Army National Guard aviation distribution plan will be
announced soon.
Can you speak to this issue or give us any indication of
what the plans are?
General Schultz. Senator, I am working that plan
personally. We will have 10 Kiowa Warriors, which is the
aircraft that the unit had before we sent all the pilots off to
active duty, to war. When we are done, there will be 8 Apaches
in Tupelo plus the 10 Kiowa Warriors.
Now, we are going through, obviously, a transformation in
the aviation community as well, so some of the numbers I am
talking about will take a while to be rebuilt, redistributed,
but the end state would be a 16-helicopter flight facility
there.
I might also say, Senator, that I talked with the brigade
commander from the 101st Air Assault Division, and the pilots
we took from Tupelo were recognized as outstanding, skilled
aviators indeed.
Senator Cochran. We appreciate that compliment. We have had
a lot of National Guard and Reserve forces from our State
deployed. As a matter of fact, I think two Army Reservists have
been killed in Iraq, so we are fully aware of the dangers they
face and we want to be sure that the equipment they have and
the training that they receive will enable them to carry out
their mission successfully and to return home safely as soon as
possible. We appreciate your leadership in assuring that.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much, sir.
Senator Leahy.
HEALTH INSURANCE
Senator Leahy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Last year the subcommittee recognized that almost 20
percent of the National Guard and Reserve did not have health
insurance. We realized that this was damaging readiness. On the
Iraq supplemental, we enacted legislation that allows
unemployed members of the Guard to buy into the TRICARE program
on a cost share basis, and we put that in the defense
authorization bill. It was a bipartisan piece of legislation.
But it has not been implemented. I joined my colleagues,
Senators Graham and DeWine and Daschle, recently to write the
Secretary of Defense to find out how we can speed this up, stop
slowing down this critical legislation. I would ask consent
that my letter be part of the record, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Stevens. Without objection.
[The letter follows:]
United States Senate,
Washington, DC, March 25, 2004.
The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Defense, The Pentagon, Washington, DC
20301.
Dear Mr. Secretary: We are writing to express our mounting
frustration with the Defense Department's lethargic efforts to
implement a pilot program to provide our reservists access to TRICARE.
As you know, in both the Fiscal Year 2004 National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) and the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations
Act, Congress voted to expand reservists' access to TRICARE for one
year. This legislation contained seven TRICARE-related provisions,
ranging from medical and dental screening for reservists alerted for
mobilization, to an extension of TRICARE eligibility before and after
mobilization periods.
We were pleased last week to see that the Defense Department has
finally implemented the provisions to extend the post-mobilization
TRICARE benefit to 180 days. But the same announcement said that
implementation of a critical component of the TRICARE benefit--offering
coverage to those without employer-provided health care--``cannot be
completed for several months.'' We are very disturbed by the delay in
the department's implementation of this key provision.
We are also concerned that transitional benefits will not provide
access to TRICARE Prime Remote. Many reservists, and perhaps most, live
beyond a 50-mile radius of a military treatment facility and thus would
be forced into TRICARE Standard. This plan charges a substantial annual
deductible as well as copayments for every visit. This is not the
transitional benefit that Congress sought to create.
In recent days, the Administration has indicated that it supports
improving health care benefits for our reservists. We applaud that
decision and ask that you work with us, both to implement the existing
one-year program and enact our proposal to provide reservists and their
families permanent access to TRICARE.
Sincerely,
Mike DeWine,
Tom Daschle,
Lindsey O. Graham,
Patrick Leahy,
Members of the Senate.
Senator Leahy. General Blum, can you tell me why this has
not been put into place yet? I would think there would be some
urgency on this.
General Blum. Senator Leahy, there is definitely urgency on
our part. We place nothing at a higher priority than taking
care of our soldiers, our airmen, and their families. I do not
view this TRICARE initiative or this health care initiative as
an entitlement program. I really view it as a medical readiness
enhancement. I too am anxiously awaiting the implementing
instructions from the Department of Defense on how we are going
to move forward in this area.
Senator Leahy. Well, please pass the word back that an
awful lot of us up here from both parties--this is not a
partisan issue, and you certainly have not made it one--who are
very, very concerned. As we call up more and more of our Guard
and Reserves, we would like this TRICARE implemented. If they
keep delaying it at the Pentagon, I think it is going to hurt
your readiness. It is certainly going to hurt retention. I know
you and I have had a lot of discussions and I know how
concerned you are.
We added, in this subcommittee, about $200 million divided
almost equally between the Air and Army National Guard to
increase equipment procurement. We also gave the Air and Army
Guard a lot of discretion, an enormous amount of discretion in
managing the account. I have received an update on how you used
the funds. It appears you put them toward an urgent need like
up-armored high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV),
M-4 carbines, combat identification friend or foe systems. Do
you still have an equipment backlog and what are some of the
most urgent needs?
EQUIPMENT BACKLOG
General Blum. Yes, Senator, we always will have an
equipment backlog as technology changes and as the requirements
change on the battlefield. General James has an equipments
needs list as does General Schultz. These are not wants; these
are needs. Frankly, the Army and the Air Force are making every
effort to finally make an honest effort to equip us like our
active counterparts, but they too are going to fall short. We
will welcome any assistance that we could get in that regard
against our needs list, and those needs directly equate to
readiness. If you want some detail on that, General Schultz can
share that on the Army Guard side and General James can give
you the detail, sir, for the Air Guard.
Senator Leahy. General Schultz.
General Schultz. Senator, in the case of the Army Guard, we
bought trucks, machine guns, night vision devices, and radios.
The equipment I am talking about now is as a result of
Congress' action last year. It will be realized in the form of
units going to the third rotation of Operation Iraqi Freedom
(OIF)-3. In other words, we are buying new equipment and
furnishing this equipment to units that are about to go to war.
That is how critical this function is. We are still short the
very things that I have just talked about as we now alert and
mobilize follow-on units.
Senator Leahy. General James.
General James. Yes, Senator. In terms of fiscal year 2004,
we have utilized those resources I mentioned in my opening
remarks on targeting pods, engine upgrades, everything from
night vision goggles to helmet-mounted cuing systems and large
aircraft infrared countermeasures which is something we
continue to press for. We have a large fleet of large airplanes
and I really am concerned about their ability to protect
themselves against infrared man-launched shoulder-mounted
weapons in theater in particular.
LARGE AIRCRAFT INFRARED COUNTERMEASURES
As far as the unfunded areas, the top five for us for this
coming fiscal year would be again the targeting pods, depot
maintenance shortfalls, weapons of mass destruction equipment
and training, primarily training. Again, the LAIRCM, the large
aircraft infrared countermeasures, and the F-15, F-16 engines.
Senator Leahy. Thank you.
I will submit my other questions for the record, if I
might.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much, Senator. I will
remind members that we do have a second panel.
Senator Burns.
Senator Burns. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Each time I go home, I am just standing in marvel of what
we have accomplished in the last 3 years as far as upgrading
our Reserves and our National Guard in our home States.
A decision was made some 10 or 11 years ago that part of
our overall military force structure was going to be moved to
the ranks of the National Guard and Reserves. It became
apparent to me that when you look at the infrastructure in our
particular States, our infrastructure was not ready to really
train hard and to have the facilities, the infrastructure to
complete that mission.
So in my State, I went to work trying to fix that because
we were operating out of facilities that were built in World
War II. Our communications and our ability to teach
interactively and distance learning and everything that we had
to do was woefully way behind the state of the art. But now we
have done that.
TRAINING RANGES
I just want to mention to you, General James, about a
training tool that we use in Montana at the 120th wing there on
the Litening II advance targeting pods. I keep hearing my
people talk about them. They have probably been the most useful
thing. As you know, we ran out of ranges, places to train, air
space in which to train. By the way, if any of you all want
some air space, you know the sky is bigger in Montana. We have
got room for you and we are willing to host you. I just thought
that I would throw that out there.
Senator Stevens. The sky is only bigger in Montana if you
are lying on your back.
Senator Burns. I am not going to go there.
LITENING II TARGETING PODS
Could you bring us up to date on the Litening II targeting
pods, if you would please, your requirements? Give us some idea
of the cost of the program because it appears to me these will
become a very, very economical way to train our pilots. Can you
bring us up to date on that and tell us more about them?
Because I do not think a lot of people know a lot about them.
General James. Well, the Litening II targeting pod was, I
would say, the piece of equipment that got us involved in the
last few contingencies. The warfighters, the combatant
commanders, want precision-guided munitions capability that can
be delivered very accurately. My predecessor pursued this
strategy to acquire the Litening II and they used the NGREA
funds to do so. That capability allowed us to be involved in
the last two to three contingencies, especially Iraqi Freedom
and Enduring Freedom.
SNIPER POD
I have a list of different numbers here that I can pass on
to the staff, but what I would say to you is our philosophy is
that there is another pod that has come forward. It is called a
Sniper pod and it is produced by another corporation. It was a
little delayed getting into production but now they are
starting to produce this pod, and it is supposed to be the
Cadillac of all pods.
We still are procuring our Litening II pods and we have
developed a two-pod procurement philosophy. In other words, we
will continue to procure some Litening pods, but we will also
procure the Sniper pod as it becomes more and more available.
Senator Burns. Well, I congratulate on that.
General Schultz, we are trying to update our 155's in
Montana. Can you give us an update? Is that possible? We want
to go to the lighter weight Howitzers up there. Is that
possible? What plans do you have for us on those 155's?
General Schultz. Senator, I owe you a complete answer for
the record. We are going through those reviews right now. We
had some 155's in our long-range program. Some of those numbers
have changed, and I will give you a full lay down and a
detailed description of just how we are doing there. It is
possible to do what you are describing.
Senator Burns. Thank you very much.
[The information follows:]
Fielding of Lighter Weight Howitzers for Montana Army National Guard
No force structure decisions have been made with respect to
the unit level of detail for the fielding of LW 155 equipped
Army National Guard Field Artillery units. Montana is part of a
two-state coalition that is attempting to go after a
congressional add for the LW 155 Howitzer. Montana Army
National Guard is not currently on any fielding schedule for
the LW 155.
Senator Burns. I have some more questions. I will offer
them in writing, Mr. Chairman. Again, I want to congratulate
the leadership because I think you have been visionary because
we know we are not just a weekend Boy Scout camp anymore. We
are there to do business. You have caught the imagination of a
lot of young people. They are staying with you to somewhat of a
surprise because we hear a little rhetorical going on every now
and again, but for the most part, they are very, very
optimistic and they are doing a great job. I thank the
Chairman.
Senator Stevens. Thank you.
Senator Dorgan.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
First of all, let me thank all of you for your service and
for what the men and women under your command do for this
country.
General Schultz, this weekend a member of the 142nd
battalion that just returned from Iraq told us that they did
not have enough sets of body armor. The young man indicated
that when one soldier came back from patrol in Iraq, he took
off his body armor and gave it to the next soldier going on
patrol. Can you give me any information about what is the
supply of body armor? Is there sufficient body armor in Iraq at
this point?
General Schultz. Senator, the condition you described early
on in the first rotation of Operation Iraqi Freedom was no
doubt exactly as the soldier outlined it to you. The Army has
(OIF-1) been working hard on the distribution of the body
armor. In Afghanistan and Iraq, there are adequate quantities
of the inventory. We followed the 142nd battalion and they
performed a significant portion of their mission without every
soldier having the full-up body armor issued. That is correct.
That has since been adjusted in theater, though. So we have
taken the action that he outlined the concern for.
Senator Dorgan. I will ask him more about that later, but
the question is how much is in the country relative to the
number of soldiers in the country.
BASE REALIGNMENT AND CLOSURE (BRAC)
Let me ask you a question about BRAC. What will be the role
of the three of you with respect to making recommendations to
the Defense Secretary? My understanding is that only a handful
of Air Guard and Air Force Reserve facilities were evaluated,
General James, in the 1995 BRAC round. My understanding is that
this BRAC round intends to look at all facilities of the Guard
and Reserve. Is that correct, or am I wrong about that?
General Schultz. Senator, if I could. In terms of the Army
Guard, all our facilities fall below the threshold that BRAC
considers. What I have said, though--and I encourage Adjutants
General to do the same thing here--is we ought to volunteer to
be considered for the survey, for the review, for the analysis.
And then States would participate on a voluntary kind of basis
for a site by site and a reconfiguration and redesign, et
cetera. So there are aspects of the BRAC program I think we
ought to take a serious look at and see the value-added or the
advantage of what BRAC might bring us. So I have said do not
just discount the BRAC benefits by saying nothing qualifies in
the Army Guard.
What I am saying is we ought to take a serious look at
facilities that could be joint, facilities that may have
qualities where we can just simply share costs with other
services. Now, that will not apply to every kind of armory
across the country, but it might to some. So that is what I
have encouraged States to do.
Senator Dorgan. General James.
General James. We will be full participants in the BRAC. We
are already working with the committees from the Office of the
Secretary of Defense (OSD) all the way to the Air Force
committees. The Air National Guard will be full participants in
having an input into BRAC. To answer your questions, are all
installations being looked at for BRAC, my understanding is
yes, all installations will be looked at.
Senator Dorgan. And that is a change from 1995. Is that not
correct?
General James. Correct.
Senator Dorgan. If all of your units are full participants,
what role will you have in making recommendations to the
Secretary? I think I understand what role the other service
chiefs have, but what role will you have?
General James. We are involved with the Air Force. We
participate through the Air Force and then on to the Department
of Defense (DOD). My deputy, Brigadier General David Brubaker,
sits on the committee that represents the Air National Guard
and makes our inputs.
Senator Dorgan. So you will participate through the Air
Force Chief.
I mean, there is a difference between regular Air Force and
Air Guard because in the regular Air Force, you can close a
base and move your troops. That is not necessarily the case
with the Guard. Is that right?
General James. That is our challenge. We cannot cut
Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders and just move our
folks. We have to come up with a program whereby we can re-roll
or integrate these forces into possibly a facility that is
close by that is an active duty facility. Under the Vanguard
concept, we are looking at those types of formations and those
types of units whereby we have integrated Air National Guard
and active duty. That does not work in every case as you look
at the demographics and how we are spread out. In some places,
that lends itself very well, in the large airplane community,
for example, along the east and west coast where we have
facilities that have the air mobility assets. But when you look
at the heartland and your State and other States where you have
fighter units spread out throughout the United States, you have
to look very carefully. There is potential because you do have
a large tanker base north of you, but all of this has to be
taken into consideration.
One of the things we are doing is we are asking for inputs
from the States through the adjutants general for how they
would do it if they were forced to remission or move.
Senator Dorgan. Finally, General Schultz, in the Guard you
recruit not just a soldier but their family because it is a
citizen soldier and their family plays a significant role in
this. I listened closely to your answer about retention and
recruitment. I think it is critical to take a hard look and a
close look at that because often what we are getting from
families after long deployments is word that they are concerned
about that. So one would expect there to be some concern
showing up in recruitment and retention. I am really pleased to
hear your report that it is not, but I think that your
suggestion that you need to follow that very closely is an
important one at this point.
General Schultz. We watch it very closely, Senator.
Senator Dorgan. I hope that those men and women who serve
under you understand the gratitude of this committee and that
this country is grateful for their service.
Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Senator Stevens. Senator Domenici.
Senator Domenici. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had a series
of four questions. I will try to get them in. If I do not, I
will submit them.
IRAQ
Let me ask all of you. It would seem to this Senator that
you must have had to change the activity expected from some of
your units and some of the preparation in order to be used in
this war in Iraq. When you hear of Reserves and National Guard
units over there, you frequently hear that they are doing
things that the regular Air Force is not doing and the regular
Army is not doing. But could you tell me, when you say we are
sending the best equipped, best trained people, what are you
sending them over there to do? What are they principally
involved in doing in Iraq?
General Blum. Senator, I have been to Afghanistan and Iraq
three times. I will be going there again in the next 2 weeks. I
have been for each and every rotation, and I can assure you
that the first rotation was not a pretty picture. They did not
go over there as well-equipped as we currently are doing. They
were trained and they were ready, but they were not equipped,
and that has been brought up by several of the other Senators.
They are absolutely correct. Those issues have been corrected.
The United States Army, General Pete Schoomaker has moved lots
and lots of effort and money to making us the best equipped,
best trained, best prepared force that has ever been deployed,
and I mean that sincerely, bar none, in the history of this
Nation. The group that is over there now, the 30th, the 39th,
the 81st, and the 116th, the 278th, 256th, and the 42nd that
are getting ready to go will be the best equipped and trained
and superbly ready force we have ever sent.
What they do is what the combatant commander needs them to
do on a given day because this is not a training exercise. This
is a war where an enemy has a vote, and unfortunately, he votes
often and differently each time, and we have to make those
adjustments.
The performance of the citizen soldier and airmen that have
been sent overseas has been nothing short of outstanding,
superb. They have not failed in anything they have been asked
to do. They can perform at the same rate or better than their
active duty counterparts because of their civilian-acquired
skills and some of their maturity and education levels are a
little bit higher.
Senator Domenici. General, let me interrupt. I understand
your answer and I appreciate it.
It seems to me when you talk about the success rate at
keeping these people in that somebody like me wonders are they
staying in expecting to be overseas or are a lot of them
expecting to be part of a mission that does not take them
overseas?
General Blum. Sir, in the last 3 years no one has come into
the National Guard because they think they are coming in
strictly for a college education or military vocational
training. They know they are going to have to answer the call
to colors. They know they are going to be serving, defending
this Nation either here at home or abroad, and maybe both. In
fact, some of the people on the panel have done all three. They
are staying with us because they feel what they are doing is
vitally important to the survival of this Nation and our way of
life and our liberties. I thank God every night that we have
young citizens in this country that are willing to do that.
When you remember that we are now in our 30th year of no draft,
all volunteer, all recruited force and being tested for the
first time in the crucible of war, this young generation is
standing up to that test and getting high marks.
Senator Domenici. Thank you very much.
I want to just say I had three questions and I am just
going to outline them. One has to do with a lot of families in
rural areas. New Mexico is a very rural State. The families do
not know their benefits, do not know what they are supposed to
get, do not know what they are entitled to, and they are not in
Albuquerque. They are off in some little rural area. Could
there be some kind of centralized office that could provide
Guard and Reserve families with information regarding what they
are entitled to, or is that being done in your opinion?
General Blum. Sir, we have over 400 centers called Family
Assistance Centers where any member of the Army National Guard,
Air National Guard, or any of the other services, whether
reserve or active, can contact that unit armory and speak with
a trained representative who can tell them all of their
benefits and direct them almost as an ombudsman to solve their
problems. That is what they are there for. They are funded and
they are established and they are trained to take care of the
families of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who happen
to live in a ZIP code where there is no major military
installation to help them.
Senator Domenici. So if we are receiving complaints about
that, what we ought to do is have them check where their
closest center is, and if there are not any, we ought to
complain to you.
General Blum. Absolutely. In your case, sir, I would direct
them right to see General Montoya and have him direct them to
the local closest Army National Guard or readiness facility
that could support their efforts.
BLENDED UNITS
Senator Domenici. My last one has to do with blended units.
We understand that the National Guard unit in California and an
active duty Air Force squadron in Nevada recently formed what
they called a blended wing for the operation of Predator
unattended aerial vehicles (UAV). How is this concept working?
And do you see an increased role for the Guard in operating
UAV's for the border? And do you and the Air Force plan to
expand the number of blended wings? If so, for what purpose?
General Blum. I personally think it is the way of the
future. I think it makes sense for the American taxpayer to
leverage the Department of Defense's capabilities by getting
the synergy of the active, the Reserve, and the Guard
components. That unit that you talk about is an Air Force
Reserve unit, an active Air Force unit, and two Air National
Guard units that make up that unit. We call that an integrated
unit because it is fully integrated. All three components
comprise that unit and I think that makes great sense as we
move into the future and we use our Guard and Reserve as an
operational force, not a strategic Reserve.
Senator Domenici. Could I have one more, Mr. Chairman?
Senator Stevens. Yes, sir.
Senator Domenici. In New Mexico, it seems like a
restructuring is taking place. The National Guard leadership is
developing a plan and an organization to convert much of what
we have got there from air defense to infantry military police
and other units. Is this in line with what you want, and do
these kind of missions reflect a larger plan for building the
National Guard for the future, reflecting perhaps a change of
needs?
General Blum. Senator, I applaud those efforts being taken
by the joint force headquarters in New Mexico. It is exactly
the right thing to do. They are divesting themselves of units
that are no longer needed for current and future threats and
moving it to areas to develop capabilities that that State will
need and our Nation will need from its National Guard forces in
New Mexico. General Montoya is doing exactly, in my judgment,
the right thing at the right time.
Senator Domenici. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Stevens. Thank you, gentlemen. I have only one
question and that is this. When we were in Iraq, we pursued to
a great extent the question of the dumps of ammunition and
ordnance that exist all over that country. We were told there
are from 1,000 to 7,000 of those dumps in that country and that
the current deployment is not sufficient to guard them. They
represent a massive amount of weapons of destruction. We have
been looking for weapons of mass destruction. This is a massive
amount of weapons of destruction. It appears that some of them
were taken out, tied together, and blew up an Abrams tank and
others have been used as mines in the roads.
I do not want your response, but I would like you to go
back to your offices and take a look at that and see what would
it take to send over a force designed for one purpose and that
is to gather up that ordnance, either destroy it or drop it in
the ocean or do something with it because it is going to be
consistently used to harm our American personnel if we do not
do something about it. We are asking the Department to look at
it too, and I intend to go further on it before the year is
over. But I do think it is going to take a special force of
people that would be trained to know how to deal with that
ordnance and to move it somewhere, at least get it to where we
can guard it. Currently very few of those dumps are guarded. So
I appreciate your response if you would get it to me.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
I also have some questions I will submit for the record, as
did several members of this committee.
I want to thank you all again and tell you what a wonderful
job we know your people are doing. I have said before Senator
Inouye and I were supposed to be part of the greatest
generation. We spawned a greater generation. These young people
are just fantastic people. I have never met anybody like those
people who are over there, and that includes the ones that are
in the hospital. They are just fantastic. Thank you all very
much, gentlemen.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the Department for response subsequent to the
hearing:]
Questions Submitted to Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum
Question Submitted by Senator Daniel K. Inouye
Question. One of my constituents, Atlantis Cyberspace, Inc. has
developed what seems to be an extremely flexible Immersive Group
Simulation system capable of providing superb training opportunities
for Reserve component forces. Their basic solution provides four
virtual reality pods, a live virtual camera system, a mission control
instructor-operator station, training scenarios based on situations and
graphics developed for ``America's Army'', a full runtime license, and
set-up and installation. That basic system can be easily expanded from
four to up to 32 pods and has additional options including expanded
After Action Review stations, wireless or customized weapons, and force
feedback vests that record opposing force hits. This existing
flexibility allows realistic training for a range of needs: from small
special operations teams up to platoon-sized conventional units. The
scenarios can be modified to train specific tactics, techniques and
procedures or to conduct mission rehearsals, in fact I understand that
Atlantis Cyberspace has recently been asked to submit a proposal for a
modification of their basic system to allow tactical convoy training in
a virtual environment. The pods can be linked from different locations
to allow individuals to train together while physically separated and
the system is sufficiently compact to allow its deployment in austere
locations or small training spaces.
Atlantis Cyberspace has had some initial contact with the National
Guard, but I am interested in your assessment of the training
opportunities offered by their Immersive Group Simulation. Could you
please have the appropriate members of the Bureau look at the system
and provide me your thoughts on the utility of the system?
Answer. We are aware of the system and have had contact with
Cyberspace but have not as yet completed a full assessment of its
applicability to Army National Guard Training. Once a complete
assessment is completed, we will forward a copy of the review to you.
______
Question Submitted by Senator Patrick J. Leahy
homeland security
Question. General Blum, The past has shown that there are times
when it is necessary to have access to military equipment and personnel
to perform certain functions in a state and local setting. We have made
provisions in previous years to allow National Guard members to perform
certain missions such as counter-drug and weapons of mass destruction
civil support in a separate status that would not violate posse
comitatus. Do you feel that domestic operational use of National
Guardsmen in a title 32 status would aid in providing the necessary
flexibility for our states to respond to domestic emergencies such as
unprovoked terrorist attacks?
Answer. Providing clear authority for the National Guard to perform
operations--in addition to training--under Title 32 would significantly
strengthen the flexibility for addressing domestic missions. As you
state, the counter-drug activities and weapons of mass destruction/
civil support team operations have been quite successful. I would also
add that the airport security mission and the recent mission in support
of the G8 conference and similar major events have also demonstrated
the wisdom of having National Guardsmen perform operational type
missions while remaining under the command and control of states. One
of the major benefits, as you point out, is the resulting ability of
National Guardsmen to assist in both federal and state law enforcement
free from the restrictions of posse comitatus.
Also, important, is the great speed and agility inherent in Title
32 operations. Because National Guard troops are already under the
command of their state Adjutants General they can very rapidly be
called to duty and, likewise, can easily be released from duty. No
cumbersome federal mobilization and deployment process is needed.
For this reason, I would urge that any amendment of Title 32 to
provide operational authority do so in such a manner as to minimize the
number and types of administrative prerequisites which might slow down
the process and thereby destroy the speed and flexibility which are
among the most important characteristics of Title 32 operations in the
first place.
______
Questions Submitted to Lieutenant General Roger C. Schultz
Questions Submitted by Senator Conrad Burns
homeland security
Question. What is your plan for the procurement of more M777,
Lightweight 155-millimeter howitzers (LW155) for the Army National
Guard?
Answer. Money previously programmed to field all six battalions in
the Army National Guard has been reprogrammed to fund the Army's
Stryker brigades and leaving the Army National Guard with an unfunded
requirement of four battalions--two-thirds--of the Army National
Guard's total requirement for LW155 corps battalions. A battalion set
of LW155 costs $35 million, which includes howitzers equipped with the
digitization package, initial spares, new equipment training and LW155
unique associated items of equipment and test sets.
Question. I am interested in your plans for the expansion of the
force structure of unmanned aircraft into the Army National Guard; can
you provide me with a plan showing which systems will be brought into
Army National Guard units and a timeline for that implementation?
Answer. It is my intention to build modernized force structure
which mirrors the modular design of the Active Army. These designs will
be implemented between now and fiscal year 2010 and follow, as nearly
as can be projected, the return of units from Peace Keeping or GWOT
missions. When the plan is completely implemented the Army National
Guard (ARNG) will have 34 fully equipped and trained Shadow 200
Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) Platoons. In order to meet this
timeline the activities of a number of organizations to include the
state National Guards; the operations, personnel, acquisition, force
structure and training staff elements of both HQDA and NGB as well as
manufacturers must be coordinated. At present, two TUAV platoons (from
the Pennsylvania and Maryland Guards) comprised of 22 soldiers are
training at Fort Huachuca as part of a Mobilize-Train-Deploy scenario.
These units will leave equipment fielded to them in the theater of
operations as they will be followed by platoons from the Minnesota
ARNG. The 116th Brigade which is headquartered in Idaho shares force
structure with the Oregon and Montana Army Guards and will convert to
the modular design in fiscal year 2006.
Question. What is your plan to decrease the stress on certain
specialties such as Military Police and Civil Affairs due to high
mobilization rates within the Guard?
Answer. Current operations and future operations continue to
require increasing numbers of military police units. This requirement
is not likely to decrease in the near future. In order to meet on-going
requirements, the Army National Guard committed to build 144 new
military policy units, in addition to the 118 military police units the
Guard presently has, between now and September 2009. The Army National
Guard provisionally organized 16 military police units to fill the
immediate need for additional military police for law and order mission
inside the Continental United States, Hawaii, and military
installations in Germany, but some of these provisional units will
return to their original structure when missions complete. In addition,
the Army National Guard accelerated the activation of two military
police combat support companies. The Active component and the Army
Reserve own all Civil Affairs functions.
______
Questions Submitted to Lieutenant General Daniel James, III
Questions Submitted by Senator Conrad Burns
litening ii pods
Question. What are your requirements for the Litening II Pods for
the Air National Guard?
Answer. The LITENING family of targeting pods has evolved from the
original LITENING II to ER (Extended Range) and now to AT (Advanced
Technology). The LITENING AT pod is equipped with a 512k FLIR, Laser
Spot Track (LST), and the capability to target J-Series Weapons. The
Northrop Grumman LITENING AT targeting pod (TGP) is comparable to
Lockheed Martin's Sniper XR.
The total targeting pod requirement for the Air National Guard is
266 pods that includes 203 for Block 25/30/32/42 F-16s and 54 for the
A-10. This breaks down to 8 TGPs per squadron plus spares. The ANG has
87 LITENING TGPs in the inventory, with 25 LITENING ATs on order, 12
Sniper XRs on order, and 70 Sniper XRs to be received from the active
duty Air Force. The remaining requirement is 63 TGPs at a unit cost of
$1.3 million per pod for a total price of $81.9 million.
f-16 fleet
Question. Is the Air Force adequately funded to provide these pods
to the F-16?
Answer. No. The United States Air Force currently has 470 LANTIRN
Targeting Pods (TGP) in its inventory, which has a single mode Forward
Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) and does not have a TV mode, Laser Spot Search
and Track (LSS/LST), Laser Marker (LM), or the ability to generate J-
series weapons. The total documented requirement for the Combat Air
Forces (CAF) is 679 3rd Generation TGPs. The United States Air Force
has budgeted for 200 Sniper XR targeting pods, with 56 on contract. The
United States Air Force, Air National Guard, and AFRC have a total of
134 LITENING pods in their inventories. This leaves the CAF 345 TGPs
short of our documented requirements.
The United States Air Force and Air National Guard combined forces
in February 2000 to develop and procure the Advanced Targeting Pod
(ATP). Lockheed Martin's Sniper XR pod won an open competition for the
ATP contract, and the Air National Guard is supposed to receive 70 of
the first 176 Snipers that are procured. Sniper is over a year and a
half late, and the Air National Guard is still waiting to receive the
first TGP from the United States Air Force. LITENING has helped satisfy
ANG requirements in the interim.
litening targeting pods
Question. What will be the impact if these Litening targeting pods
are not adequately funded?
Answer. The Air National Guard has been sharing LITENING Targeting
Pods (TGP) between units since 1998. At the present time, we only have
enough pods for units to get a minimum of 3 months worth of training
before they deploy to theater. When a unit returns home, they typically
go 3-6 months without any TGP training capability. Funding the
remaining 63 LITENING pods and receiving 70 Sniper pods from the United
States Air Force will allow the Air National Guard to permanently base
8 pods plus spares at each unit. This will keep the Air National Guard
from constantly moving TGPs, provide better training continuity, and
establish unit ``ownership'' of pods that will improve their overall
maintainability.
unmanned aircrafts
Question. I am interested in your plans for the expansion of the
force structure of unmanned aircraft into the Air National Guard; can
you provide me with a plan showing which systems will be brought into
Air Guard units and a timeline for that implementation?
Answer. We are currently working with Air Combat Command, the lead
command for unmanned aircraft, to develop a plan to support and
integrate Air National Guard units into unmanned aircraft operations
and maintenance. To date, the ANG has been processing, exploiting, and
disseminating intelligence from Predator, Global Hawk, and U-2 missions
over Iraq and Afghanistan. In particular, the 152 Intel Squadron (NV
ANG) was the sole exploiter of Global Hawk imagery during OPERATION
IRAQI FREEDOM and OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. We are currently
expanding our exploitation capability by robusting our current
intelligence units [117 Intel Sq (AL ANG), 123 Intel Sq (AR ANG), and
152 Intel Sq (NV ANG)] and standing up additional units in California,
Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
tactical and strategic airlift
Question. Are you finding that your tactical and strategic airlift
capabilities adequate?
Answer. ANG internal tactical (theater) and strategic capabilities
are more than adequate to meet Air National Guard training, non-
deployed mobility and exercise support needs. The issue is that ANG
resources are part of a larger, Air Force/National Defense set of
requirements determined by the Air Force and the Joint Staff. Whether
overall capacity is sufficient to meet national strategy and
warfighting needs is currently under study. The issue is beyond the
capacity of the ANG to answer.
Question. Is tactical and strategic airlift funded adequately in
the fiscal year 2005 budget?
Answer. There are shortfalls in funding both tactical and strategic
airlift in the fiscal year 2005 budget. On the tactical side,
additional unbudgeted C-130J aircraft are required to meet the
previously agreed total force acquisition profile and funding is
lacking for combatant commander and AMC mandated (but not funded) night
vision goggle capability and aircraft defensive systems. The strategic
airlift mission area is under funded in fiscal year 2005 in the amount
of $1.7 million for the cost of C-5 simulator installation at Memphis,
TN as part of the ongoing 164th Airlift Wing conversion from C-141 to
C-5 aircraft. There is a critical shortfall of $63 million in fiscal
year 2005 to cover the cost of required support equipment required for
the incoming C-5s at Memphis and at the subsequently converting 167th
Airlift Wing at Martinsburg, WV. This equipment is not being flowed
from AMC with the aircraft and is acquisition lead-time away.
Reserves
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL JAMES R. HELMLY, CHIEF,
ARMY RESERVE
Senator Stevens. Our next panel will be the Reserve chiefs,
Lieutenant General James Helmly, Vice Admiral John Cotton,
Lieutenant General Dennis McCarthy, and Lieutenant General
James Sherrard. If you would please join us, gentlemen.
General McCarthy, can you tell us who those people are? One
of them is your son I understand. Captain, it is nice to have
you join your father. We appreciate it very much.
General McCarthy. The young captain back there is Captain
Michael McCarthy who is on active duty with the Marine Chemical
Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) unit here in
Washington who wanted to come and see a hearing today. Thank
you for asking me that, sir.
Senator Stevens. It is not very educational today, but that
is fine.
General Helmly, are those people behind you here for
introduction?
General Helmly. Yes, sir. This is Staff Sergeant James
Gwiazda and Sergeant Paul Hutton, both members of the 299th
Engineer Bridge Company of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, which fought
the road to Baghdad and bridged the Euphrates River for the 3rd
Infantry Division in its decisive attack on Baghdad.
Senator Stevens. Well, we are proud to have you with us,
gentlemen. Thank you very much.
All of your statements will be printed in the record as if
read. We appreciate your summarizing whatever you wish to say
before us today. There is a debate going on on the floor now
unfortunately, but General Helmly, let us start with you
please, sir.
General Helmly. Mr. Chairman and members of this
distinguished subcommittee, thank you so much for the
opportunity and indeed the privilege to testify on behalf of
the 211,000 soldiers, 12,000 civilian employees, and indeed the
families, as we noted here today, of the Army Reserve, an
integral component of the world's greatest army, an army at war
for a Nation at war.
I am Ron Helmly and I am an American soldier in your Army
and very, very proud of it, Mr. Chairman. I am joined this
morning, as we noted, by Staff Sergeant James Gwiazda and
Sergeant Paul Hutton, both of the 299th Engineer Bridge
Company.
Today, as we speak, nearly 60,000 Army Reserve soldiers are
on active duty in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, here in the
continental United States, and elsewhere around the world as
part of our Nation's global war on terrorism, serving
courageously and proudly. They are joined by another 151,000
Army Reserve soldiers currently training and preparing for
mobilization or, indeed, resting and refitting after being
demobilized and redeployed.
Since September 11, 2001, more than 100,000 Army Reserve
soldiers have served on active duty as a part of this war.
Tragically, 31 Army Reserve soldiers have made the ultimate
sacrifice, 4 in just the last week, in service to our Nation to
keep their fellow citizens and their families and neighbors
safe and free. We are forever and deeply in their debt and
honor their memories by our actions here today.
Your invitation to testify comes at a time of profound and
unprecedented change and challenge in the dynamics of our
Nation's security environment. A critical issue that should be
recognized is that this is the first extended duration war our
Nation has fought with an all-volunteer force. January marked
the 30th anniversary of the all-volunteer force. This immense
policy change in our Nation has brought the Army Reserve and
the armed forces an unheard of and unprecedented quality of
those who populate our ranks. Yet, the all-volunteer force also
brings expectations and sensitivities that we must confront
with regard to how we support our people and how we train them
and how and when we employ those people.
To meet the demands of our Nation and the needs of our Army
and joint force team, we must change the way we man the Army
Reserve. We must change the way we organize, train, and prepare
the force. This is a period of deep change from the old to the
new, but we must forge this change while simultaneously
continuing the fight in the current war. We are not afforded
the luxury of hanging a sign outside our Army Reserve command
headquarters in Atlanta that says ``closed for remodeling.''
The culture must change from one that expects 1 weekend a
month, 2 weeks in the summer, to one that understands I am
first of all an American soldier. Though not on daily active
duty, before and after a call to active duty, I am expected to
live to demonstrate Army values. I must prepare for
mobilization as if I knew the hour and, indeed, the day that it
would come.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to your questions.
Senator Stevens. Thank you, General.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Lieutenant General James R. Helmly
introduction
Mr. Chairman and members of this distinguished subcommittee, thank
you for the opportunity and the privilege to testify on behalf of the
211,000 Soldiers, 12,000 civilian employees, and the families of the
United States Army Reserve, an integral component of the world's
greatest Army; an Army at war for a nation at war. I'm Ron Helmly, and
I'm an American Soldier in your Army, and proud of it.
Today as we speak, nearly 60,000 Army Reserve Soldiers are on
active duty in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, in the continental United
States, and elsewhere around the world as part of America's global war
on terrorism, serving courageously and proudly. They are joined by
another 151,000 Army Reserve Soldiers training and preparing for
mobilization or resting and refitting after being demobilized. These
modern-day patriots are your neighbors who live in your communities,
work in your factories, teach your children, deliver your babies, your
mail, and share your everyday lives. They have willingly answered the
call to duty to perform missions they have trained for, and to honor
their commitment as part of a responsive and relevant force, an
essential element and indispensable component of the world's finest
land force, the United States Army.
The strength and added value we bring to that partnership is drawn
from the people who serve in our formations. With nearly 25 percent of
its Soldiers female, and more than 40 percent minority, the Army
Reserve is the most ethnically and gender-diverse force of all the
armed services. Overall, 92 percent of our force holds high school
diplomas. Our force consists of individuals who are community and
industry leaders, highly trained and educated professionals, experts in
their chosen fields who give of their time and expertise to serve our
nation.
Since September 11, 2001, more than 100,000 Army Reserve Soldiers
have served on active duty as part of the global war on terrorism.
Tragically, 21 Army Reserve Soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice
in service to our nation to keep their fellow citizens and their
families and neighbors safe and free. We are deeply in their debt and
honor their memories by our actions here today.
the challenge
Your invitation to testify comes at a time of profound and
unprecedented change and challenge in the dynamics of our nation's
security environment. Since September 11, 2001, we have been embroiled
in a war with wily, determined enemies, who are intent on destroying
our very way of life. In this global war on terrorism, we are
confronting regional powers; facing the potential use of weapons of
terror and mass destruction at home and abroad; and struggling with the
challenges of how to secure our homeland while preserving our precious
rights and freedoms. From the start, we have understood that this will
be no brief campaign or a short war. It will be an enduring global war,
a protracted war, a long struggle that lacks clear, well-defined
borders. Have no doubt, it is a war. It challenges our national will
and our perseverance. It tries our patience and our moral fiber. It is
a war different, just as all previous wars have been different. Unlike
previous wars the Army fought here on our own soil, where we in the
armed services must be continually ready to carry out our mission when
and where the nation calls.
As we engage these enemies we recognize that carrying out current
missions is not by itself sufficient. The very forces that cause this
war to be different have propelled the world into a period of
unprecedented change and volatility. We live in a much-changed world
and we must change to confront it. We must simultaneously confront
today's challenges while preparing for tomorrow's. The Army will
maintain its non-negotiable contract to fight and win the nation's wars
as we change to become more strategically responsive and dominant at
every point across the spectrum of military operations. The confluence
of these dual challenges, transforming while fighting and winning, and
preparing for future wars, is the crux of our challenge--transforming
while at war.
Last year was my first opportunity to address this subcommittee as
the Chief, Army Reserve. I told you then that I was humbled and sobered
by that responsibility. That feeling remains and indeed has grown more
profound. The Army Reserve is an organization that daily demonstrates
its ability to be a full and equal partner, along with the Active
component of the Army and the Army National Guard, in being the most
responsive dominant land force the world has seen. Together with the
Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, the Army Reserve of
your Army fights as part of the joint team: the sum of the parts is
much greater--and that's the power we bring to the battlefield today.
all-volunteer force
A critical issue that should be recognized is that this is the
first extended duration war our nation has fought with an all-volunteer
force. January marked the 30th anniversary of the all-volunteer force.
This tremendous policy change in our Nation has brought the Army
Reserve, and the Armed Forces, an unheard of quality of people. Yet the
all-volunteer force also brings expectations and sensitivities that we
must confront with regard to how we support our people, and how we
train them, and how and when we employ those people.
Title 10 of the United States Code directs the Army Reserve to
provide units and Soldiers to the Army, whenever and wherever required.
Since 1973, the Active and Reserve components have met this challenge
with a force of volunteers, men and women who have freely chosen to
serve their nation. Perhaps more than any other policy decision, this
momentous move from a conscript force to a force, Active and Reserve,
manned solely by volunteers has been responsible for shaping today's
armed forces, the most professional and capable military the world has
seen. Working through this sea change in how we lead our force has
highlighted differing challenges that we simply must recognize and
address if we are to maintain this immensely capable force.
During a recent conference celebrating 30 years of the All-
Volunteer Force (AVF) policy, former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird
discussed its genesis. He explained that while from the start, it was
understood that the policy would apply to the Total Force, in reality,
after the AVF was established, the focus tended to be almost
exclusively on manning the Active component--understandable since it
was the tip of the spear. But as a result, manning the Reserve
components became, in effect, an accidental by-product of manning the
Active component. This lack of a deliberate focus has hindered the
development of force-manning policies that recognize the unique nature
of Reserve service. As a result, the ``one weekend a month and two
weeks in the summer'' paradigm was created. For almost three decades,
that paradigm has remained largely intact. The world has witnessed
major change since we started relying on an all-volunteer force. And
yet we, in the Army Reserve, allowed the continuance of expectations
for our most critical element--our people--our volunteers--for a world
that no longer existed.
To meet the demands of our nation and the needs of our Army and
joint force team, we must change the way we man the Army Reserve, we
must change the way we organize, train, and prepare the force, and to
accomplish this change, the culture must change. This is a period of
change from the old to the new. Forging a new paradigm is akin to the
depth of change the Department of Defense endured when transitioning
from a conscript force to an all-volunteer force. But we must forge
this change while simultaneously continuing the fight in the current
war. We are not afforded the luxury of hanging a sign outside the U.S.
Army Reserve Command headquarters that says, ``Closed for Remodeling.''
The culture must change from one that expects ``one weekend a month,
two weeks in the summer'' to one that understands ``I am, first of all,
a Soldier, though not on daily active duty, before and after a call to
active duty I am expected to live Army values; I am expected to prepare
for mobilization as if I knew the day and the hour that it would come.
I use my civilian skills and all that I am to perform my military
duties. I understand that I must prepare to be called to active duty
for various periods of time during my military career while
simultaneously advancing my civilian career.''
The Army Reserve is part of a public institution founded in law.
Our mission and our responsibility come from this law. I would like to
note that the law does not say for big wars, little wars, short wars or
medium wars, it says whenever our Army and our armed services and our
nation require us, we are to provide trained units and qualified
individuals. We must change to continue fulfilling the mandate of that
law while simultaneously perfecting and strengthening the quality force
we have today.
accomplishments
The past year has been a full one for your Army Reserve, marked by
great efforts and remarkable achievements. Among the most significant
have been:
At War--Army Reserve Soldiers Called to Active Duty in 2003
In 2003, the Army Reserve called to active duty and deployed nearly
70,000 Soldiers, more than 30 percent of the Army Reserve's 205,000
Selected Reserve end strength, to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, and
theaters around the world in support of Operations Enduring Freedom,
Iraqi Freedom, Noble Eagle, and other contingency operations.
377th Theater Support Command Operates Logistics on the Battlefield
The seamless integration of the Army's Active and Reserve
components was epitomized by the Army Reserve's 377th Theater Support
Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The 377th was redeployed
to OIF after performing as the senior logistics headquarters during
Operation Enduring Freedom. Once redeployed, the 377th TSC
(headquartered in New Orleans) supported OIF, and reported directly to
the Combined Forces Land Component Command.
The joint and coalition flavor that the 377th brought to the fight
is a historic first. From the early hours onward, the 377th supported
combat operations from Kuwait throughout the entire battle space into
Iraq. The headquarters commanded over 43,500 Soldiers during the
buildup of forces and subsequent combat phase of OIF, and consisted of
8 general officer commands and 8 area support groups. The 377th TSC
helped shape the theater logistical footprint and was responsible for
supporting the reception, staging, onward movement, and integration of
all coalition forces, in addition to many other logistical support
operations.
Of particular note were the 377th's accomplishments in seaport of
debarkation operations in Kuwait. This included the largest wartime
combined/joint logistics over the shore operation in over 50 years, at
the Kuwait Naval Base. These operations involved over 150 ships, 31,000
personnel, 4,900 wheeled/tracked vehicles, over 6,000 ammunition and
general containers, over 29,000 ammunition and general pallets, and
over 2,500 other pieces of cargo. The base was operated by units of
377th and the Army Reserve's 143rd Transportation Command
(headquartered in Orlando).
Three Consolidated and Streamlined Support Commands Established
Army Reserve Personnel Command (AR-PERSCOM) Merged with
Human Resources Command (HRC)
Effective October 2, 2003, the St. Louis, Missouri-based Army
Reserve Personnel Command inactivated and merged with the Total Army
Personnel Command to form the U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC).
The HRC envisions becoming the nation's premier human resources
provider. The HRC mission is to execute the full spectrum of human
resources programs, services, and systems to support the readiness and
well-being of Army personnel worldwide.
The HRC executes Army personnel policies and procedures under the
direction of the Department of the Army G-1. It integrates, manages,
monitors, and coordinates military personnel systems to develop and
optimize utilization of the Army's human resources in peace and war.
HRC is the activity within the Department of the Army responsible for
managing the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) and Standby Reserve. The
HRC will also plan for and integrate civilian personnel management and
processes to attain a fully integrated HR focus.
Army Reserve Engineers Integrated with DA ACSIM
Effective October 1, 2003, the Army Reserve Engineers, formerly
known as the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve (OCAR) Engineer Staff
and the U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC) Engineer Staff, transferred
to the Army's Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management
(ACSIM) and Headquarters, Installation Management Agency (IMA).
The former OCAR Engineer Staff (Arlington, VA) was integrated as a
separate division within the Department of the Army, ACSIM, as the
ACSIM-Army Reserve Division (ACSIM-ARD). The former USARC Engineer
Staff (Atlanta, GA) was integrated as a separate division within the
HQ, IMA, as the IMA-Army Reserve Division (IMA-ARD). The IMA-ARD is
split-stationed between Arlington, VA and Atlanta, GA.
The ACSIM-ARD and IMA-ARD program, plan, and execute base
operations support (e.g., environmental, maintenance and repair, and
sustainment) and military construction functions on behalf of the Army
Reserve and its more than 900 Army Reserve centers worldwide and two
power projection platform installations (Fort Dix, NJ and Fort McCoy,
WI).
Army Reserve Chief Information Office (CIO) Merged with DA
CIO/G-6
At a June 25, 2003 signing ceremony, the Department of the Army
CIO/G-6 and I formalized a memorandum of agreement that integrates the
Army Reserve, CIO into the Department of the Army CIO/G-6.
The Army Reserve counts communication and signal technology as one
of its core capabilities--an enduring skill-rich capability across the
spectrum of operations. With this integration, the Army Reserve
demonstrates a commitment to both the transformation of the Army and to
a common/single Army enterprise. With this integration, the Army
Reserve Enterprise Integration Office will continue to be responsible
for C\4\/IT planning, programming, budgeting, and execution support for
all related Army Reserve appropriations. The Department of the Army
CIO/G-6 will provide resource guidance and policy oversight, ensuring
that Army Reserve C\4\/IT requirements are integrated and validated as
part of broader Army requirements.
FEDS-HEAL Program Expanded and Improved
The Army Reserve Surgeon's office worked with the Veteran's
Administration to expand and improve the Federal Strategic Health
Alliance (FEDS-HEAL) program. This initiative includes the addition of
consolidated medical and dental records review, centralized appointment
scheduling, dental treatment, vision examinations and eyeglass and lens
insert procurement, and support to Soldier readiness processing
activities.
The year began with a concerted effort to enhance Soldier readiness
in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This resulted in 85,000 records
being reviewed by the FEDS-HEAL Program Office, which subsequently
initiated and completed 48,000 physical examinations, 31,000 dental
examinations, 3,200 dental treatment services, 71,000 immunizations
(not including Anthrax), 22,500 Anthrax immunizations, and 1,000 vision
examinations. The effort has been sustained via routine SRP support
across the nation. The effect has been to increase readiness and
minimize processing time and the frequency of non-deployable Soldiers
being called to active duty.
In addition, the effectiveness of FEDS-HEAL was enhanced by the
program's extension to the Army National Guard, Air Force Reserve, six
Active component dental treatment facilities, and the occupational
health programs of the Army National Guard and Reserve.
growing contributions
Prior to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Army Reserve
Soldiers provided minimal support to military missions. That all
changed with the first Gulf War, when almost 95,000 Army Reserve
members were called to active duty--and they not only responded but
performed that duty well, contributing over 14 million duty days of
support. Since that war, the Army Reserve provided between 1 million
and 4 million duty days annually to total force missions until the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Once again the Army Reserve
has responded quickly and continuously with over 95,000 members serving
on active duty and providing nearly 16 million duty days of support to
the Active forces in fiscal year 2003.
The increased personnel tempo became steady-state even before
September 11th as our Reserve Soldiers took their places among the
rotational forces that are still keeping the peace in Eastern Europe.
Our military police, medical, civil affairs, and public affairs
Soldiers continue to provide their skills and capabilities in
Operations Joint Endeavor and Joint Guardian in Bosnia and Kosovo.
In the wake of the events of September 11th, came the global war on
terrorism, Operation Noble Eagle in the United States, and the
subsequent campaign, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and
Kuwait. Civil affairs units made up of Army Reserve Soldiers who
possess civilian-acquired and sustained skills in the fields of
engineering, city planning, and education were deployed to the region
to lead in reestablishing a free, functioning society. Numerous new
schools were built and medical aid provided to the people of
Afghanistan. These Soldiers represent the goodwill and interests of the
American people with every classroom they build and every skill they
teach, every functioning social capability they help create, and every
contact they make with the native population. And your Army Reserve
Soldiers are doing an incredible job.
In Operation Iraqi Freedom our troops have liberated Iraq and
brought down Saddam Hussein. Today they remain, boots on the ground,
helping restore the fabric of Iraqi society and its infrastructure and
return self-determination to the people of Iraq who are free for the
first time in more than 30 years.
No one expects this mission to be completed soon or the war on
terrorism to be won quickly. Both will try our patience and test our
resolve as a nation and as an Army. Both will require new
organizational and institutional paradigms and expectations if we are
to prevail in our present endeavors and prosper in future ones. The
world will remain a dangerous and unstable place for the foreseeable
future. We must so organize ourselves and our efforts that we have the
institutional endurance and robustness to accomplish our missions
effectively, efficiently, and definitively.
the imperative for change
Despite the clear relevance and strength demonstrated by these
examples, we, the Army as an institution, are not without our
challenges. First and foremost, we, the Army Reserve, must evolve as an
institution to accommodate the changes in our environment. The
division-oriented, set-piece battles of the past now share the stage
with conflicts in which smaller interchangeable units will be combined
in formations tailored to meet specific threats and situations and to
offer the combatant commander the capabilities he needs to contain and
defeat the enemy, and prevail upon the shifting, asymmetrical
battlefields of the twenty-first century.
army reserve response
The Army Reserve is moving to meet that challenge, preparing
changes to training, readiness and policies, practices, and procedures.
We are restructuring how we train and prepare the force by establishing
a Trainee, Transient, Holdee, and Student Account, much like the Active
Army, to manage our force more effectively. We are preparing plans to
support the continuum of service concept recently proposed by the
Office of the Secretary of Defense, which would allow ease of movement
between Army components as dictated not only by the needs of the Army,
but also by what is best for the Soldier developmentally and
educationally. We are excited by the potential of such transition
proposals.
Federal Reserve Restructuring Initiative (FRRI)
Our initiatives concerning the management of individuals and units
in the Army Reserve are the catalyst of the evolving Army Reserve--The
Federal Reserve Restructuring Initiative. Six imperatives are necessary
in order for the Army Reserve to change to a 21st century force. These
imperatives are: re-engineer the call to active duty process; transform
Army Reserve command and control; ensure ready units; implement human
resources life cycle management; build a rotational base in our force;
and re-engineer individual Soldier capabilities.
Call to Active Duty Reform
Changing our industrial-age, Cold-War era call-to-active-duty and
mobilization process remains a critical component to realizing the
capabilities and potential of our highly skilled, loyal and sacrificing
Soldiers. The nation's existing process is designed to support a
traditional, linear, gradual build-up of large numbers of forces and
equipment and expansion of the industrial base over time. It follows a
construct of war plans for various threat-based scenarios. It was
designed for a world that no longer exists. Today, multiple,
operational requirements, unclear, uncertain, and dynamic alliances,
and the need for agile, swift, and decisive combat power, forward
presence in more responsive ways, and smaller-scale contingency
operations, demand a fundamentally different approach to the design,
use, and rotation of the Army Reserve forces. Rather than a ``force in
reserve,'' the Army Reserve has become and serves more as a
complementary force of discrete specialized, skill-rich capabilities
and a building block for teams and integrated units of capabilities,
all essential to generating and sustaining forces. The process of
accessing and employing these forces must be overhauled completely to
become more efficient, flexible, and responsive to the nation's needs,
yet sensitive to, and supportive of the Soldier, the family and the
civilian employer. To do this we require a more decentralized, agile,
and responsive process that accommodates the mission requirement while
simultaneously providing greater predictability for soldier, family,
and employer.
Changing the way we employ Soldiers starts with changing the way we
prepare for calls to active duty. The current process is to alert a
unit for calls to active duty, conduct administrative readiness
preparations at home station, and then send the unit to the
mobilization station for further administrative and logistical
preparedness processing and to train for deployment. This alert-train-
deploy process, while successful in Desert Shield/Desert Storm, today
inhibits responsiveness. By changing to a train-mob-deploy model, and
dealing with administrative and logistical requirements prior to active
duty, we will reduce the time needed to bring units to a campaign
quality level needed for operations. This will require us to resource
more training events at home station through the use of devices,
simulators and simulations. As you would expect, this shift in
paradigms will increase pre-call-to-active-duty OPTEMPO beyond the
current statutory level and will require greater effort and resources
to achieve. We are confident that the increased costs will pay
significant dividends in terms of readiness and deployability.
Realigning Force Command and Control
Our evolutionary force structure journey actually began 10 years
ago and is accelerating rapidly today. In 1993 we reorganized to
produce a smaller, more efficient, and more effective structure. Our
overall strength was reduced by 114,000 Soldiers, or 36 percent,
leaving us with a 205,000 Soldier statutory end strength today. We
continue our journey from a Cold-War Army Reserve force to our current,
fully engaged Army Reserve, to a changed, even more responsive and
capable future Army Reserve force that will include a rotational
capability. In the 1990s, we cut the number of our Army Reserve
commands by more than half and re-invested those resources into
capabilities such as medical and garrison support units as well as
Joint Reserve units. We reduced the number of our training formations
by 41 percent and streamlined our training divisions to better meet the
needs of the Army and its Soldiers. Our journey continues today as we
mature plans for further realignments and force structure initiatives.
Between fiscal year 2005 and fiscal year 2008, we will reduce our force
structure by 35,000 spaces, reinvesting those into remaining units in
order to man them at 100 percent. Simultaneously, we will redesign the
remaining force into more capable modular organizations and reduce the
number of general officer functional commands and the number of general
officer command and control headquarters subordinate to the Army
Reserve Command.
The Army Reserve is the nation's repository of experience,
expertise, and vision regarding Soldier and unit calls to active duty.
We do have forces capable of mobilizing in 24 hours and moving to their
active duty stations within 48 hours, as we demonstrated in response to
September 11th. This norm of quick and precise calls to active duty
ability will become institutionalized in the processes and systems of
the future and give our forces the ability to marshal Army Reserve
Soldiers rapidly and smoothly.
Trainees, Transients, Holdees, and Students (TTHS) Account
The most immediately effective methods for improving Army Reserve
unit readiness is to harvest the personnel authorizations (spaces)
associated with those units whose historical missions have been largely
overtaken by events and whose consequent relevance to war plans and
missions has been significantly reduced or eliminated all together.
These spaces can then be used as a holding account that increases unit
readiness by removing unready Soldiers from troop program unit spaces.
Currently, unready Soldiers are carried on the rolls for a variety of
reasons and reported as unavailable to fill force authorized positions.
With the creation of the TTHS account, these unready Soldiers will be
assigned to the TTHS account where they will be trained and managed
until they can be assigned to a unit in a duty-qualified status.
This procedure can be accomplished within existing manpower and
funding levels. This initiative will improve the quality of service for
individual Soldiers and relieve unit commanders of a major
administrative challenge thus enabling them to better focus on calls to
active duty and readiness activities.
The TTHS account will be used to manage vacancies and the
assignment of qualified Soldiers to authorized positions, thus
increasing retention with a positive Soldier-oriented life-cycle
management program.
Individual Augmentee Program and Continuum of Service
In today's operational milieu, there is a growing need to establish
a capability-based pool of individual Soldiers with a range of
specialties who are readily available, organized, and trained for calls
to active duty and deployment as individual augmentees. In spite of
numerous force structure initiatives designed to man early deploying
Active Army and Reserve component units at the highest possible levels,
a requirement remains for individual specialists for unforeseen,
unplanned-for-contingencies, operations, and exercises. Therefore, I
have directed the establishment of an Individual Augmentee Program
within the Selected Reserve to meet these needs.
The Individual Augmentee Program is intended to meet real-world
combatant commander requirements as validated in the Worldwide
Individual Augmentation System (WIAS). Additionally, this program will
preclude the deployment of individual capabilities from Active or
Reserve component units, adversely affecting their readiness, cohesion,
and future employment effectiveness. This program will allow Soldiers
to participate at several levels of commitment, and supports the Office
of the Secretary of Defense proposal for a continuum of service that
enables service members to move more easily between their services'
components during their careers.
Rotating the Force
While changing industrial-age mobilization, personnel, training,
and development policies is necessary, restructuring our force so that
we can implement predictable and sustainable rotations based upon depth
in capability is also necessary. We are committed to achieving a
capability ratio that will manage Army Reserve deployments to once
every four or five years. Predictable and sustainable utilization is a
key factor in maintaining Soldier, family, and civilian employer
support. One of the goals of transforming our force is to change
policies that are harmful to Soldiers and families. Predictable
rotation schedules will allow the Army Reserve to continue to be a long
term source of skill-rich capabilities for small scale contingency
conflicts and follow-on operations. Properly executed, predictable
rotations will provide our units with operational experience; provide a
sense of fulfillment for our Soldiers; impart a sense of order for our
Soldiers, and even out the work load across the force. The recent
changes to the Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom
rotational schedules are an important step in establishing those
rotational capabilities.
Rebalancing the Force
There has been considerable concern raised about what is viewed as
excessive reliance on the nation's Reserve components both for small-
scale operations such as the Balkans rotations and for long-term
contingency operations such as Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi
Freedom. While only 33 percent of Army Reserve troop strength is
currently called to active duty, and while that level of usage does not
seem extreme, raw numbers alone do not tell the whole story. Some
units, notably, military police and truck transportation units are in
fact over-extended, and it is true that some types of units that have
been used more in the war on terrorism than others. Military police,
civil affairs, military intelligence, transportation and biological
detection and surveillance capabilities are the highest in utilization.
We are committed to eliminating these pockets of specialty over-stress
by increasing the number of some units in both the Active component and
the Army Reserve and Army National Guard.
The Department of Defense is currently deeply involved in
determining how to rebalance the Active-Reserve component force mix to
mitigate the effects of over-use of particular specialties. Currently,
313 Standard Requirement Codes (types of units) are found exclusively
in the Army Reserve. The Army Reserve has been able to meet the
challenges with this structure thus far, but clearly the structure
requires change and perhaps augmentation to meet the continuing demand
for these skill-rich capabilities that are more practically sustained
in a Reserve component force.
Recruiting and Retention
Recruiting and retention is an area of the highest importance to
the Army Reserve and a volunteer force. Our responsibilities require
the best Soldiers America can provide. In this regard, we are most
appreciative of the help your subcommittee has provided us. We would be
remiss if we did not thank you for the attention you have paid to our
recruiting needs in recent legislation. With your help we have met our
recruiting mission for four straight years from 2000 to 2003. In fiscal
year 2004, however, we are 182 accessions short of expected year-to-
date mission out of a projected 10,156 accessions. While this is cause
for some concern, I am not alarmed over this because we are currently
at 103 percent strength.
Although generally successful in overall mission numbers, we
continue to experience difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified
individuals in certain critical wartime specialties. Your continued
support on behalf of recruiting and retention incentives, allowing for
innovative readiness training and the funding of continuing health and
educational opportunities will help us with this difficult task.
The Army Reserve, in partnership with the United States Army
Accessions Command, has conducted a thorough review of Army Reserve
recruiting. This review has helped us forge a stronger relationship
with the Accessions Command and has streamlined our processes to
support the symbiotic relationship between recruiting and retention. To
that end, we will seek to ensure that all Army Reserve Soldiers are
involved in recruiting and retention activities--we all are a part of
the Army's accessions efforts. We are removing mission distracters
allowing the Accessions Command to focus on their core competency of
recruiting non-prior service applicants; we are focusing on life cycle
personnel management for all categories of Army Reserve Soldiers and
our retention program seeks to reduce attrition, thereby improving
readiness and reducing recruiting missions.
During 2003, the responsibility for the entire prior service
mission transferred from the Accessions Command to the Army Reserve.
Tenets of this transfer included: establishment of career crosswalk
opportunities between recruiters and retention transition NCOs;
localized recruiting, retention and transition support at Army Reserve
units, and increased commander awareness and involvement in recruiting
and retention efforts.
To support recruiting and retention, the Army Reserve relies on
non-prior service and prior service enlistment bonuses, the Montgomery
GI Bill Kicker, and the Student Loan Repayment Program in combinations
that attract Soldiers to fill critical MOS and priority unit shortages.
The Army Reserve must be able to provide a variety of enlistment and
retention incentives, for both officer and enlisted personnel, in order
to attract and retain quality Soldiers. Fully funded incentive programs
must be available to ensure success in attaining recruiting goals and
maintaining critical shortages and skills.
As for the retention of this all-volunteer force, during the mid-
eighties, at the height of the Cold War, the Army Reserve averaged a
36-38 percent officer and enlisted attrition at a time when we were
never used. Today, after 8 continuous years of calls to active duty and
use since 1997, we are averaging 24-26 percent attrition.
Interestingly, the retention rates appear to be higher in those units
that get called to active duty than in those that are not called. Our
Soldiers feel the pressure, they understand the sacrifice, and they
recognize their contributions to the common good and their fellow
citizens. They are proud and they are determined. I am profoundly
impressed by their performance, their commitment, and their dedication
every day.
Historically, our retention program has been a success. Faced with
an enlisted attrition rate of 37.5 percent at the end of fiscal year
1997, we adopted a corporate approach to retaining quality. Retention
management was an internal staff responsibility before fiscal year
1998. In a mostly mechanical approach to personnel management, strength
managers simply calculated gains and losses and maintained volumes of
statistical data. Unfortunately, this approach did nothing to focus
commanders on their responsibility of retaining their most precious
resource--our Soldiers.
In response, the Army Reserve developed the Commanders Retention
Program to correct this shortcoming. A crucial tenet of this program
places responsibility and accountability for retention with commanders
at every level of the organization. Commanders now have a direct
mission to retain their Soldiers and must develop annual retention
plans. Additionally, first line leaders must ensure all Soldiers are
sponsored, receive delivery on promises made to them, and are provided
quality training. In this way, the Commanders Retention Program ensures
accountability because it establishes methods and standards and
provides a means to measure and evaluate every commander's performance.
Since the introduction of the Commanders Retention Program, the
Army Reserve has reduced enlisted troop program unit attrition by
nearly 12 percentage points. The enlisted attrition rate in fiscal year
2003 was 25.5 percent.
The attrition rate for fiscal year 2004 is projected to increase to
30.4 percent, due to an increase in the Expiration of Term of Service
(ETS) population, expected retirements as well as recalls to active
duty. The exact impact of demobilization of troops rotating out of
theater having served in OIF1 and OEF3 remains to be seen. The next
several months will tell the tale as stop-loss provisions are lifted 90
days after our troops are released from active duty.
Overall, the Army Reserve successfully accomplished its fiscal year
2003 recruiting mission while achieving the Department of the Army and
Department of Defense quality marks. Beginning fiscal year 2004, the
Army Reserve transitioned the U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC)
from a contract recruiting mission to a ship mission as well as began a
three-year phased implementation of the Delayed Entry Program (DEP)
similar to the Active Army. To support these efforts the Army Reserve
recruiting mission will increase over the next three years and will
stabilize by fiscal year 2007. The purpose of these two initiatives is
to better utilize our training seat resources and to reduce overall
unit attrition. The accomplishment of the recruiting mission will
demand a large investment in time on the part of our commanders, our
retention NCOs, and our recruiters as they are personally involved in
attracting the young people in their communities to their units.
However, the same environmental pressures that make non-prior
service recruiting and retention difficult also affect prior service
accessions. With the defense drawdown we have seen a corresponding
decrease in the available prior service market in the Individual Ready
Reserve. This affects Army training costs, due to the increased
reliance on the non-prior service market, and an overall loss of
knowledge and experience when Soldiers are not transitioned to the Army
Reserve. Consequently, the Army Reserve's future ability to recruit and
retain quality Soldiers will continue to be critically dependent on
maintaining competitive compensation and benefits.
The Army Reserve is currently experiencing a shortfall of 4,200
company grade officers. Retention goals focus commanders and first line
leaders on junior officers. The establishment of a sound leader
development program is a cornerstone of Army Reserve transformation.
Providing young leaders the opportunity for school training and
practiced leadership will retain these officers. A transformed
assignment policy will enhance promotion and leader development.
Increased Army Reserve involvement in transitioning officers from
active duty directly into Army Reserve units will keep young officers
interested in continuing their Army career. Allowing managed
flexibility during their transition to civilian life will be a win for
the Army and the officer.
Special attention needs to be placed on the recruiting budget, for
advertising, to meet our requirements in the next several years. Young
people of today need to be made aware of the unique opportunities
available in the different military components. The best way to get
this message out is to advertise through the mass media. Funding our
critical advertising needs is imperative if we are to be honestly
expected to meet our recruiting goals. Your continued support of our
efforts to recruit and retain quality Soldiers is essential if we are
to be successful.
Family Programs
A functional family readiness program is important in peace and
critical in war. Family programs provide invaluable family assistance
during peacetime and calls to active duty, to include training for
family program directors and volunteers in support of family readiness
activities. These volunteers and contract employees provide information
referral and outreach to family members and deployed Soldiers. Within
this system are 25 contractors serving in family program director
positions whose duties include aiding in promoting families' awareness
of benefits and entitlements, orienting family members to Army Reserve
systems, programs, and way of life.
In preparation for calls to active duty deployment, these
volunteers and staff provide an extensive briefing for both families as
well as Soldiers. These family services include briefings by members of
the Chaplains Corps who explain what happens to spouses or families
upon separation. We also provide briefings when the service member
returns and coach the family members to expect changes upon the
Soldier's return to home.
The average Army Reserve soldier is older and more likely to be
married than the average active component soldier. While all families
face hardships when their soldier is called to the colors, Army Reserve
families have additional challenges as they generally do not live near
an installation that can provide services. While historically we have
relied extensively on volunteers, experience has shown we must increase
the amount of full time staff available for families. We will soon have
25 additional family readiness group assistants positioned in locations
where they can assist geographically isolated families of mobilized
soldiers. We also have begun the process of accreditation to ensure the
program delivers a consistent level of service to families. We continue
to work on obtaining more resources for the program.
During Desert Shield/Desert Storm Army Reserve family readiness
programs were sparse. Today, these programs are extensive, and they are
providing a support network for our families. We have been able to meet
the needs of our deployed Army Reserve Soldiers and will continue to do
so. We are anticipating challenges in the future.
Information Technology
Network Service/Data Center
The Army Reserve is redesigning its information technology
infrastructure to support the global war on terrorism and greatly
increase the survivability of our information technology infrastructure
in the event of a cyber or physical attack. This redesigned
infrastructure will establish a network service/data center that
supports the continental United States. With this redesign, the Army
Reserve would have the technological capability to sustain existing
Army systems or field new Army systems to meet readiness requirements.
The redesign will also enhance the timely dissemination of information
supporting command and control of areas of mobilization, training, and
overall data exchange.
Force Protection
The Force Protection program within the Army Reserve is designed to
provide security and preparedness to meet the full spectrum of threats
facing Army Reserve facilities and stand-alone facilities worldwide.
The program is an integrated set of five security activities: physical
security, anti-terrorism, law enforcement, information operations, and
installation preparedness.
The timely and accurate flow of threat information is the
foundation of the overall Force Protection program within the Army
Reserve. Vulnerability and risk assessments coupled with current threat
information provides a solid crisis management planning platform for
the Army Reserve stand alone facilities and installations.
The Army Reserve Force Protection program enables commanders to
prioritize facilities and focus resources using a proven decision
making methodology. The Army Reserve Force Protection program is being
used to dramatically repair and upgrade facilities, train leaders and
integrate security programs to ensure fully capable units are available
to support combatant commanders in the Global War on Terrorism.
Installation Preparedness concentrates on detailed planning,
integrated training and for the coordinated response of first
responders such as fire, police and emergency services to incidents
involving weapons of mass destruction or industrial accidents and
disasters on or near Army Reserve facilities and installations.
The Army Reserve is challenged with its existing military and
civilian manpower structure. To sustain the current Force Protection
program and meet the demands of emerging requirements, we must expand
contract requirements for physical security, anti-terrorism
vulnerability and risk assessments, force program leader training and
exercise planning for the entire Army Reserve.
Currently, the Army Reserve meets installation access control
requirements, but sustainment of access control combined with the
additional stand alone facility level security requirements associated
with the global war on terrorism has become a challenge.
Funding to support these critical security programs will allow the
Army Reserve to continue to repair facilities, train leaders, and
integrate security programs to ensure fully capable units are available
to support combatant commanders in the global war on terrorism.
Equipment Procurement and Modernization
Increasing demands placed on the Army Reserve highlight the
importance of equipment that is mission-essential. In addition, the
increased use of Reserve forces in operational missions and the global
war on terrorism has highlighted the importance of having compatible
and modern equipment. In order for our Soldiers to be able to
seamlessly integrate on the battlefield, our equipment must be
operationally and technically compatible. Without complete
interoperability, the ability of the Army Reserve to accomplish its
combat support and combat service support missions would be diminished.
The need to quickly and efficiently deploy Army Reserve units
invalidates the old Cold War planning that Army Reserve units will have
sufficient mobilization time to replace non-interoperable equipment or
fill shortfalls deliberately accepted as ``necessary risk.'' Retaining
older, less effective equipment or filling the Army Reserve's
authorized levels of equipment only partially, leads to delays as a
limited pool of Army Reserve equipment is transferred between
deploying, redeploying and non-deploying units and Army Reserve
Soldiers are trained or retrained to operate more modern equipment,
they did not have access to during drills and annual training. The
National Guard and Reserve Equipment Appropriation (NGREA) has been a
significant and essential tool to improve the Army Reserve through
force modernization.
Meeting these challenges requires not only that the Army Reserve be
issued modern, interoperable equipment, but that the resources to
maintain the readiness of this equipment also be provided. Sufficient
funding needs to be provided to allow the Army Reserve to reach higher
standards of readiness than currently maintained as an element of risk
accepted by the Army under constrained budgets. Until the Army Reserve
can be fully equipped with modern items, sustaining the combat and
deployment readiness of the equipment currently on hand is essential.
This requires full funding of operations and maintenance requirements
and continuing support of the Army's depot maintenance program, which
is vital to maintaining the readiness of Army Reserve equipment, while
extending service life, reducing life cycle costs and improving safety
for Army Reserve Soldiers.
Combat support and combat service support transformation is a vital
link to the Army Transformation Plan. The Army Reserve is the main
provider of this capability for the Army and the Army must continue to
modernize the Reserve components along a timeline that ensures the
Reserve components remain interoperable and compatible with the Active
component. The Army Reserve is continuing to support the Army's
Transformation through the assignment of equipment from Army Reserve
units to Army prepositioned stocks (APS) and stay-behind equipment
(SBE) in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Equipment modernization of the Army Reserve is indispensable in
meeting the goals of the Army's Transformation Campaign Plan. Full
integration into the Army's modernization plan to implement force
interoperability enables our units to deliver required combat service
and combat service support ensuring our Army's operational success.
Facility Revitalization
The Army Reserve installation community proudly sustains two of the
Army's major installations and 12 regional support commands. These
regional commands function as ``virtual installations'' with facilities
in 1,160 communities across all 50 states, United States territories,
and in Europe.
Our primary facilities, Army Reserve centers, are prominent symbols
of The Army on Main Street America. They often create the very first
impressions of the entire Army and present a permanent billboard for
all Americans to see. Unfortunately, most Army Reserve facilities
consist of 1950's era structures that remain virtually the same as when
they were constructed. They are sorely in need of modernization or, as
in most cases, replacement.
Army Reserve Soldiers train in widely dispersed training centers
and support facilities worldwide, whose 40 million square feet of space
equates to more square footage than Forts Hood, Sill and Belvoir
combined. Our facilities experience the same type of challenges active
Army posts do. The impacts of poor facility conditions are even more
acute for our Soldiers. Overcrowded, inadequate and poorly maintained
facilities seriously degrade our ability to train and sustain units as
well as sapping Soldier morale and esprit de corps.
summary
In today's national security environment, the Army Reserve has many
challenges--we accept these without hesitation. These challenges find
expression in our reliance on Reserve component forces in contingency
operations. Historically our nation has placed great reliance on
Reserve components of Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen to expand
the armed forces for operations during time of war. As BG David
Fastabend notes in his unpublished white paper, Serving a Nation at
War; a Campaign-Quality Army with a Joint and Expeditionary Mindset,
``Although the fundamental nature of war is constant, its methods and
techniques change chameleon-like to match the strategic context and
capabilities at hand.'' We must also change to accommodate the twenty-
first century strategic context and operational reality. This global
war on terrorism, as our President has described, is a long-term
campaign of inestimable duration, fought in many different places
around the world. The issues we have brought to you today--changing how
we man, train, prepare, maintain, and resource our force recognizes the
commander-in-chief's intent to prepare for future wars of unknown
duration in places we have yet to fight and against enemies who
threaten our freedoms and security.
We are grateful to the Congress and the Nation for supporting the
Army Reserve and our most precious resource, our Soldiers--the sons and
daughters of America.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF VICE ADMIRAL JOHN G. COTTON, CHIEF, NAVAL
RESERVE
Senator Stevens. Admiral, I think this is your first
appearance before our committee. We welcome you and would be
happy to have your statement, sir.
Admiral Cotton. Thank you, sir. I appreciate the
opportunity to testify before the committee.
There are many heros in the room today and many heros
overseas. I would like to call to everyone's attention the
brave actions here in the United States just a few weeks ago at
the Baltimore Reserve Center where on a Saturday afternoon in a
big storm 26 reservists went out in a mike boat and in a matter
of minutes rescued 21 civilians, some of them near death, all
of them would certainly have perished if these reservists had
not rescued them. I am proud to say that in 10 days we will
have a ceremony at the Reserve Center and appropriately
recognize all of them with awards. I think what that
demonstrates is not only are we fighting overseas, but we have
capability amongst our Reserve centers, our Guard armories here
in this country which will provide the backbone for homeland
security both now and in the future.
The Naval Reserve is very busy. We have about 2,700 folks
recalled overseas, over 500 cargo handlers and 500 Seabees are
in action today in theater. We also have another 20,000 naval
reservists on orders just this week providing operational
support, as well as undergoing training to support the fleet.
We have fully integrated with the Navy. The Chief of Naval
Operations and I work together to make sure that everything we
do is in synergy to increase warfighting wholeness. In
particular, the very much appreciated NGREA account is taken by
Navy, and we look where we can apply it to Reserve equipment so
that we can increase that warfighting wholeness both for
current readiness and future readiness.
One other word I would like to mention is alignment. In the
last 6 months in particular, we have aligned our headquarters
and key individuals to create a synchronization or an increased
synergy between the Navy and its Naval Reserve, which is very
important in this global war on terrorism. There is currently a
zero-based review going on of every Naval Reserve unit and
billet, and then once we lay this down over the next 2 years,
we will properly resource and program this force along with
Navy in the pillars of SeaPower 21.
I thank you for your attention, your time. I look forward
to your questions, sir.
Senator Stevens. Thank you. We did notice that heroic
action of your people and I think they do deserve recognition.
Let us know if we can help in any way on that.
Admiral Cotton. Yes, sir.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Vice Admiral John G. Cotton
opening
Mr. Chairman and members of this subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to speak with you today about some of the important changes
that are happening in the Navy and its Reserve, and to give you a
report on our accomplishments and current state of readiness.
As we look back, we see clearly that the tragic attack on our
country on September 11, 2001, and the operations that followed,
prompted significant changes for the Armed Forces, including the Guard
and Reserve. Members of the National Guard and the Reserve have been
called upon more in this global war on terrorism than at any other time
since World War II. The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) has said,
``Change to make us better is completely necessary . . . to make our
Navy even better and to build the 21st century Navy, and the Reserve is
a key part of our growth and our future.''
We are meeting the CNO's challenge head on, changing our culture
and the shape of the force, moving away from an obsolete Cold War
construct to one that provides tailorable, flexible capability in
support of 21st century warfighting. Active-Reserve Integration is
about more than gaining business efficiencies--it is about capitalizing
on the skills, dedication and patriotism of the citizen-Sailors that
make up our force. The Navy's Reserve will be structured, equipped and
trained to complement the capabilities inherent in SeaPower 21, and
will leverage technology to take advantage of skills and abilities
carried by our Sailors on the coasts and in the heartland of America.
Integration is a journey, and we are sharing this voyage with our
active component shipmates. The CNO and senior fleet leadership have
taken ownership of their Reserve, from recruiting and training, to
equipment and readiness. The fleet is identifying the capabilities it
will require the Navy's Reserve to provide, an input that the active
and reserve components together will use to design and shape the force.
This new sense of ownership will build closer day-to-day operational
relationships and allow for the seamless connection of total force
capabilities in the right place, and at the right time.
To enable recapitalization of the Navy, CNO has directed that
efficiencies be realized in all areas of operations, and in both Active
and Reserve components. The Navy is fully integrating its Reserve into
the new Fleet Response Plan (FRP) through both unit level and
individual augmentation during day-to-day operational support, while
maintaining the ability to mobilize reservists and equipment to support
expanded surge operations around the globe. The fundamental construct
of FRP is a surge-ready fleet, able to sail to any troubled spot in the
world, swiftly defeat the enemy, and then reconstitute in minimum time.
Therefore, the Navy and its Reserve will continually be in a surge
status requiring minimum time to reset. Experienced and trained Reserve
personnel are ideally suited for this surge capability. The basic 24
drill days per year and 14 days of annual training are provided at 20
percent of the cost of full time personnel, and they leverage prior
Navy investment in training and maintain a continuum of service. Most
reservists have both fleet experience and critical civilian skills to
contribute to this concept of efficient utilization, and will fit
perfectly into the unique surge mission requirements of the Navy's
Reserve as envisioned in SeaPower 21.
The Navy's Reserve has always been and will continue to be an
important element of the Navy's Total Force. In the Chief of Naval
Operations' own words, ``. . . with the Navy's Reserve playing such a
vital role in our day to day operations, it is imperative that we
continue to properly assess and fund reserve personnel and readiness
requirements now and in the future.'' The Navy's Reserve contributes
daily to support fleet operations and provides critical surge and
sustainment capabilities to meet real world contingencies. However, to
remain relevant, reservists must be even more accessible, flexible and
adaptable to better support fleet operations both at home and abroad.
Every structural change being considered for the future is intended to
ensure that the Navy's Reserve remains an important element of the Navy
Team. Providing a more tightly integrated force creates the opportunity
for Reservists to train, deploy and operate alongside their active
counterparts using current doctrine, concepts and tactics, as well as
the most modern equipment in the Navy's inventory.
The Navy is evolving, and its Reserve is in step with the changes.
For instance, Navy is aligning missions by capabilities and has created
Fleet Forces Command to meld the fleets into a single, integrated
force. The first change we made to support this alignment was to assign
both the Commander, Naval Reserve Force (CNRF) in Washington, DC, and
Commander, Naval Reserve Forces Command (CNRFC) in New Orleans, LA,
``additional duty'' to Commander, Fleet Forces Command (CFFC) in
Norfolk, VA. For the first time ever, one fleet commander acting for
all other Navy commanders, is conducting a Zero Based Review (ZBR),
where every Reserve unit and billet is being reviewed for capability
relevance and alignment with fleet requirements, and then forwarded to
CNO for inclusion in future budget deliberations and requests. The
Navy's Reserve will continue to provide mission capable units and
individuals to the Navy-Marine Corps team throughout the full range of
operations, from peace to war, and will do so in a much more efficient
and integrated manner. The Navy has taken charge of its Reserve Force
to further enable it to provide predictable and effective support to
the fleet, ready and fully integrated, in the most efficient manner
possible.
navy reserve priorities for 2004
The Reserve's priorities have been aligned with those established
by CNO for the entire Navy.
Priority #1: Manpower
Manpower is, and will remain, the Navy's number one priority. The
Navy competes for the best people, and we are engaged on two fronts:
recruiting the right people and improving retention. The focus is on
capabilities and our recruiting objectives will be driven by fleet
requirements. We need to attract and retain smart and savvy sailors to
employ the advanced technologies that we will rely on in the network
centric future.
Navy leadership understands the consequences of sustained and
repeated recalls on our reserve personnel, their families and
employers. Our judicious use of individual and unit mobilizations has
demonstrated the Navy's efficient, tailored and volunteer-based method
of mobilization. Retention remains at an all-time high and post-
mobilization surveys of recalled personnel indicate strong job
satisfaction. Our proud, patriotic citizen-Sailors have, and will
continue, to answer the call in defense of freedom and liberty. CFFC's
integration initiative will build on this success by increasing mission
relevance, and ensuring that every reservist is delivering the
capability and expertise required by the fleet and the Joint Force
Commander.
We are pleased to report that recruiting remained strong in 2003.
Last year we achieved 106 percent of our enlisted recruiting goal.
Largely due to record high retention rates in the active duty Navy, 40
percent of these enlisted accessions were Non-Prior Service (NPS)
personnel. While very qualified, many with advanced degrees, these NPS
personnel require additional training before being assigned
mobilizations billets. Officer recruiting, also challenged by high
retention in active duty warfare designated communities, finished at 91
percent of the fiscal year goal. Our recruiters met goal last year for
both officer and enlisted Full-Time Support personnel. The Navy's
Reserve had an attrition rate of 17.8 percent in fiscal year 2003, and
ended the year manned at 100.2 percent of authorized end strength.
Although we are pleased with our results in these important manpower
categories for last year, fiscal year 2004 brings similar challenges.
We believe we can meet our recruiting goals in part because Reserve
Recruiting became one of the first commands to fully align with their
active duty counterpart. Commander, Naval Reserve Recruiting Command
(CNRRC) in New Orleans, LA, became Commander, Naval Reserve Recruiting
Region (CNRRR) and is now aligned with the Navy Recruiting Command
(CNRC), in Millington, TN. We are very optimistic that prototype
recruiting stations combining both active duty and full-time reserve
recruiters opening this year will result in improved recruiting
efficiencies. Furthermore, active duty commands are being directed to
increase their efforts to keep trained and talented personnel leaving
the active force on the Navy team by recruiting them directly into the
Navy's Reserve. Keeping Navy veterans serving, especially those with
critical skills and qualifications, is very important and has the
support of the entire chain of command, both active and reserve.
Navy Reserve end strength requested in the fiscal year 2005
President's Budget is 83,400, a decrease of 2,500 from fiscal year
2004. This decrease is due primarily to the rebalancing of Naval
Coastal Warfare units into the active component, the decommissioning of
a Fleet Hospital, and Medical program billet reductions due to force
restructuring. We expect that the requested end strength in this budget
is sufficient for the Navy's Reserve to meet fleet requirements.
However, ongoing initiatives and total force capability analysis may
result in modifications to this target in the future.
Priority #2: Current Readiness
During Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, the Navy had eight carrier strike
groups, six expeditionary strike groups, and nearly 100,000 Sailors and
Marines deployed around the world in support of the Global War on
Terrorism. The near term goal for the Navy's Reserve is to provide a
force shaped by fleet requirements and driven by SeaPower 21. To
achieve this goal, we will continue to align with the Navy, measure
risk, present options and rapidly move ahead with assignment of units
and personnel to match requirements with capabilities. These
assessments will be driven by the question: What resources can we apply
that will enhance effectiveness and efficiency, and will contribute to
warfighting wholeness? If the analysis indicates that the number of
reservists should be adjusted to meet current requirements and future
capabilities, we will make that happen. If that means that some
equipment must be retired or realigned to support the active force,
then we will ensure that the Navy's Reserve is integrated with the
fleet and trains on and operates the Navy's newest, most capable
platforms and systems.
Following the attack on U.S.S. Cole, the Navy recognized the
immediate need for increased force protection and added 6,619 new
active component and 1,379 reserve component anti-terrorism and force
protection billets. Current readiness was also enhanced in the fiscal
year 2004 budget with funding to operate an additional frigate (FFG) in
the Navy's Reserve Force, execute flying hours at 100 percent of
requirement, and support ship maintenance to meet CNO's goal. Aviation
depot maintenance funding was increased to ensure that 100 percent of
CNO engine and airframe maintenance goals are achieved. In fiscal year
2004, base support funding has been consolidated Navy-wide under
Commander, Naval Installations to eliminate redundancies, generate
economies of scale, and provide enhanced readiness support to shore
activities, both Active and Reserve. It is expected that further
efficiencies will be realized by combining base support for active and
reserve personnel where overlaps and excess capabilities exist.
The very much appreciated National Guard and Reserve Equipment
appropriation for fiscal year 2004 provided readiness support
modifications, upgrades and procurement of items for expeditionary
warfare units, trainers and simulators to improve the availability of
readiness training, as well to acquire eight Swiss F-5 aircraft to
replace aging Reserve adversary training assets. The appropriation also
included funds to complete the last two upgrades to Reserve F/A-18As to
``A-Plus,'' providing precision strike capability and placing them on
par with fleet F/A-18Cs. Funds were first applied to improve current
readiness and then to enhance future readiness, and were coordinated
with Navy warfare and resource sponsors.
Priority #3: Future Readiness
Improved accessibility and integration are the cornerstones of the
Navy Reserve's contribution to future readiness. For example, full
integration will ensure that Navy Reservists in aviation Fleet Response
Units (FRU) will be able to quickly activate and support global
operations under the CNO's Fleet Response Plan (FRP). Our vision is a
reserve force that is better prepared and more capable for both unit
and individual mobilization requirements. Co-locating our reserve
personnel and hardware with their supported fleet units streamlines the
activation process enabling individuals to train alongside, and be more
familiar, with the units they will augment. Co-location enables FRU
aircrews to train and operate state-of-the-art equipment, as well as
leverage active force tactics and doctrine. Reserve experience and
availability can also be used to provide onsite fleet support.
Concurrently, retaining and strengthening the Squadron Augment Unit
(SAU) concept continues the vital contribution that our experienced
reserve instructor and maintenance cadre provides to the Fleet
Replacement Squadrons (FRS). As an aside, every pilot flying combat
missions in OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM/OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM was
trained by dedicated and professional Navy Reserve aviators providing
airwing adversary, Fleet exercise and training command support.
Under the guidance of Commander, Fleet Forces Command, the Navy has
begun an initiative that will lead to a more integrated total force in
which Navy Reserve capabilities are tied directly to active units in
support of SeaPower 21 mission capabilities. The active component is
currently engaged to clearly articulate requirements for the Navy's
Reserve. CFFC's reserve integration cell will recommend the future
Reserve force structure necessary to meet these fleet capability
requirements. Coordination has already begun with a complete zero-based
review of Navy Reserve capabilities. Active duty commands have been
tasked to identify their Reserve support requirements and to describe
potential new capabilities they need from their Reservists to more
readily meet their mission requirements.
To fully realize SeaPower 21, the Navy and its Reserve will align,
organize, integrate and transform around the four warfighting pillars
of Sea Strike, Sea Shield, Sea Base and FORCEnet. SeaPower 21 embodies
a number of maritime capabilities that are in the domain of expertise
the Navy brings to the Joint Force. To provide sufficient operational
range and depth to many of these capabilities, and to efficiently and
effectively meet its requirements as part of the Joint Force, Navy must
leverage its investment in the extraordinary capabilities, critical
skills, innovative nature, and entrepreneurial spirit of its reserve
personnel.
We support the Secretary of Defense's goal of rebalancing the
active-reserve component force mix to eliminate the need for
involuntary mobilization, especially during the first 15 days of an
operation. Our fiscal year 2005 budget submission reflects the
additional active-reserve rebalancing changes needed for the Navy to
meet this goal.
At present, no Homeland Defense/Homeland Security (HLD/HLS) mission
has been assigned to the Navy's Reserve, but the Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Reserve Affairs and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Homeland Defense are conducting a study to determine the appropriate
role of reserve components in these critical areas. Upon completion of
the study, new and existing naval capabilities present in the Navy's
Reserve could be assigned HLD/HLS missions. These might include Harbor
Defense, Port Security, Maritime Surveillance and Tracking, AT/FP
roles, Joint Fires Network Units and maintenance of shipping channels.
As we move forward, evolving missions will continue to influence our
force shaping and integration initiatives, with the endstate being a
more combat-capable Total Force.
Priority #4: Quality of Service
Quality of Service is the combination of quality of life and
quality of work. It is about achieving balance, personal and
professional. The Navy will continue to strive to make available the
best facilities and equipment to train, deploy and fight, and our
Reservists will benefit from ongoing integration and alignment efforts.
Ensuring that our Navy's Reservists can rely on predictability,
periodicity, pay and benefits, will greatly assist each Sailor to
achieve that balance.
--Predictability.--Every Sailor in the Navy's Reserve wants to make a
difference and needs to know with reasonable advance notice,
when and where they will train or perform operational support,
whether mobilized, on active duty orders or on routine drills.
As part of a fully integrated force, Reservists will train or
perform meaningful work that provides or enhances capabilities
required by the fleet. Additionally, individual reservists will
be able to anticipate drills and periods of active duty through
processes that will track and match necessary skills to
appropriate billets or orders.
--Periodicity.--Individual reservists' availability varies during the
year and with each employer. These periods of availability can
be leveraged to enable each Sailor to provide meaningful fleet
support. ``Flexible drilling'' is encouraged to allow
reservists to combine traditional drill weekends to work for a
week once a quarter, two weeks every six months, or even for
several weeks once a year to satisfy participation
requirements. If a unit or individual is called to mobilize,
reservists should receive as much notice as is possible, with a
target of 30 days, to help minimize potential employer or
family conflicts.
--Pay and Benefits.--Reservists should be assured that their benefits
will appropriately address their individual and family needs,
whether serving at home or abroad. Development of a single pay
and benefits system continues to be a priority to standardize
the administration of both active and reserve personnel in all
services.
Continuous professional improvement is important to every Sailor,
active and reserve. Accordingly, the Navy's Reserve is a full partner
with the Navy in the Sea Warrior initiative, enabling an individual to
easily access and monitor their career progression and future options.
Navy Reservists have full access to both the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet
(NMCI) as well as the Navy Knowledge Online (NKO) web portal, which
connects every Sailor, active, reserve or retired, and families, to
information that will significantly aid in their overall education,
growth and development.
Priority #5: Alignment
The Navy will continue to take an active role in optimizing the
balance of active and reserve forces to support our National Military
Strategy (NMS) and win the Global War on Terror (GWOT). We recognize
that this balance is dynamic and we continuously review our force
structure and capability in order to improve integration and alignment.
Integration provides the Navy's Reserve a path to current equipment,
concepts and tactics, thereby increasing combat readiness and
warfighting wholeness. Through integration, the Navy's Reserve will
become a more capable and agile force with increased warfighting
capability and a much-improved ability to meet fleet requirements.
In support of alignment and efficiency, we recently consolidated
three Navy Reserve staffs in New Orleans into a single Echelon III
staff to function as the provider of reserve capabilities to Fleet
Forces Command. Commander, Naval Air Forces Reserve (CNAFR) has been
assigned as Vice Commander Naval Reserve Forces Command, further
aligning reserve capabilities under a single structure to work with the
active component to fully align and integrate the Navy's Reserve. CNAFR
has also been assigned additional duty to Commander, Naval Air Forces
(CNAF) in San Diego, CA, to align active and reserve aviation
capabilities.
We are embedding key Full-Time Support staff in headquarters, fleet
and type commands. We have developed strategic linkages between Reserve
Forces Command and Fleet Forces Command with tangible results, and
continue to build new bridges throughout the Navy. This was done to
more closely align reserve and active forces and to improve combat
effectiveness and efficiency. These actions will strengthen ties
between the Navy's active and reserve forces and are the first steps in
an overall initiative that seeks to define, and subsequently forge a
cohesive ``total force'' team that can more effectively satisfy the
Navy's operational requirements. We will continue to identify and
propose practical ways to better integrate reservists and equipment
with the fleet, and have taken steps to accelerate and solidify our
integration efforts. We are also participating in a new officer
exchange program with other Guard and Reserve components, starting with
the Army National Guard. This initiative will lead to full integration
at National Guard State Headquarters Command Units to support Northern
Command's Homeland Security initiatives.
accomplishments
Today's strategic environment requires naval forces that can
rapidly deliver decisive combat power through a rotational, surge
capable force. Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM
demonstrated not only the tactical value of this operational concept,
but also the potent warfighting capabilities of a flexible, responsive
maritime force, operating either independently or as part of a broader
Joint Force. The Navy's Reserve played a significant role in the surge
to war.
On September 17th, 2001, the first mobilization orders were sent to
the force. Since that day, 4,537 officers and 18,436 enlisted personnel
have been mobilized, providing operational support to either their
supported commands or to Combatant Commanders around the world. With
respect to OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, 12,046 Navy Reservists served their
country in Navy and joint commands. While some units and equipment were
mobilized in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, we have been able to
maximize individual mobilizations to support requirements submitted by
Combatant Commanders, validated by the CNO's staff, and ordered to
active duty by the Chief of Naval Personnel. For example, 362 drilling
reservists were mobilized to augment the staff of Commander, U.S. Fifth
Fleet, the Naval Component Commander for Commander, U.S. Central
Command and other subordinate commands. These Navy Reservists supported
this active duty staff in the development of the OPERATION IRAQI
FREEDOM air plan. Since January 2003, 478 Navy Reservists attached to
Navy Cargo Handling Battalions across the United States were mobilized
to facilitate the movement of cargo from bases in the United States and
overseas to the Central Command area of operation theater in support of
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
A group of Navy Reservists from Fort Worth, TX, made history on the
decks of U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). For the first time since
the Korean War, an entire Navy Reserve tactical aviation squadron
deployed aboard an aircraft carrier when the ``Hunters'' of Strike
Fighter Squadron 201 were ordered to active duty. Completing a short
notice workup, the squadron fully integrated with the active airwing,
completed 224 combat sorties, delivered 125 tons of ordnance in combat,
and impressed everyone with their experience, dedication and
capabilities.
When 800 active duty medical personnel from the National Naval
Medical Center (NNMC), Bethesda, MD embarked in USNS COMFORT in March
2003 and another 498 NNMC medical personnel deployed as part of
Casualty Receiving and Trauma Ship's team members, 548 Navy Reservists
were recalled to support the National Naval Medical Center. Civilian
trauma and orthopedic surgeons were mobilized to treat the wounds of
those Sailors and Marines who required more specialized care.
843 Naval Reservists have been activated to support Marine Forces
during the war, including 592 enlisted corpsmen assigned to provide
critical battlefield medical support to front-line Marine units. 134
Navy Reserve corpsmen have recently been recalled to support the
Marines' rotation in conjunction with Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II. Of
these, 24 Reservists are volunteers for their second year of
activation, while the remainder have just begun their first activation
under the current partial mobilization authority.
Another success story was the mobilization of the ``Firehawks'' of
Helicopter Combat Support Special Squadron Five (HCS-5) based at Naval
Air Station North Island, CA, and their subsequent deployment to Iraq,
where they continue to support CENTCOM operations. In March 2003,
seventy percent of this squadron's Selected Reservists were recalled to
active duty in preparation for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. This squadron
is composed solely of drilling Reservists and Full-Time Support
personnel, and is one of two squadrons in the Navy dedicated to Naval
Special Warfare support and combat search and rescue. The Firehawks fly
the latest model of the HH-60H Seahawk helicopter and their average
pilot has more than 12 years of experience flying, and most have over
2,500 military flight hours. Although the majority of their flights in
the Iraqi theater have supported special operations ground force
missions, the squadron has other warfighting capabilities. The
Firehawks have participated in operations in urban areas and have
assisted with medical and casualty operations. As of the 5th of March,
2004, the squadron had flown 916 sorties and logged 1,738 flight hours.
Navy Reservists from the Redwolves of HCS-4 based at Norfolk Naval
Base will soon deploy to relieve the combat veterans of HCS-5. This
critical capability embedded in the Navy's Reserve has proved to be
invaluable in the support of special operations and the development of
new tactics in the hostile urban warfare environment. It is a
predictable and periodic capability that was ready when called upon;
just what the vision of future reserve contributions will be. They have
trained with the special warfare units and now deploy with them to
combat.
Recently, over five hundred members of the Navy Reserve
Expeditionary Logistics Support Force have been mobilized in support of
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM II, and it is anticipated that over five
hundred Seabees will be mobilized as well. Their combat service support
capabilities are in demand to help relieve the U.S. Army and coalition
forces in Iraq.
summary
Before I close, I would like to thank this committee for the
support you have provided the Navy's Reserve and all of the Guard and
Reserve components. Last year's budget included several positive
benefits that will help us recruit and retain our talented personnel to
better support the Navy and joint commands. As you can see, this is a
very exciting period for the Navy and its Reserve. The CNO has
challenged every Sailor to review current ways of doing business and
find solutions to improve effectiveness and find efficiencies. The
Navy's Reserve has accepted the challenge and promises the members of
this committee that we will continue to do just that--examine all
facets of our operation to support the fleet and accelerate our Navy's
advantage.
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL DENNIS M. McCARTHY,
COMMANDER, MARINE FORCES RESERVE
Senator Stevens. General McCarthy.
General McCarthy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Inouye.
It is a great honor to represent the men and women of the
Marine Corps Reserve and the sailors who serve with us today.
I am proud to report to you that the past investments that
this committee and indeed the entire Congress has made in the
Marine Corps Reserve have paid real dividends in the global war
on terrorism. Since my testimony last year, the Marine Forces
Reserve has been engaged in both combat and the stability
operations and in just about every other activity that the
United States Marine Corps has been engaged in. We have also
prepared for future operations, and today we have Marine Forces
Reserve units in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in the Horn of
Africa and elsewhere around the world.
I am also pleased to report to you that while all this has
been going on, we have continued to meet our recruiting goals.
We have, in fact, slightly exceeded our retention goals and the
trends, in terms of sustaining this force, are very positive.
Like everyone, that is something that we watch very, very
closely because it is not something that we can fix after we
get behind on it. But I believe that the current trends are, as
I say, very positive and I believe that we will be able to
sustain this capability over the long haul.
I look forward to responding to your specific questions.
Thank you, sir.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Lieutenant General Dennis M. McCarthy
introduction
Chairman Stevens, Senator Inouye and distinguished Members of the
Committee, it is my privilege to report on the status and the future
direction of your Marine Corps Reserve as a contributor to the Total
Force. On behalf of Marines and their families, I want to thank the
Committee for its continued support. Your efforts reveal not only a
commitment for ensuring the common defense, but also a genuine concern
for the welfare of our Marines and their families.
your marine corps reserve today
As the last few years have demonstrated, the Marine Corps Reserve
is a full partner in our Total Force. Marine Corps Reserve units
participated in all aspects Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, providing air,
ground, and combat service support as well as a large number of
individual augmentees to Marine and joint staffs. Reserve units
continue to fill critical roles in our nation's defense during the
Global War on Terrorism--whether deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, the
Georgian Republic, Djibouti, Kuwait, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or on
standby at U.S. bases to quickly respond to Homeland Security crises.
The Marine Corps has completed 27,389 Reserve activations, in
response to both internal and joint operational requirements. Of the
27,389 Marines mobilized since 9/11, 1,426 (or 5.2 percent) have been
mobilized more than once. For Operations ENDURING FREEDOM V and IRAQI
FREEDOM II Phase II, of the approximately 6,300 eligible for
activation, 3,422 Reserve Marines have already been mobilized at least
once since 9/11. Marine Forces Reserve has maximized the use of
Individual Ready Reserve volunteers, 4,570 have been activated to meet
these requirements, primarily in the areas of staff augmentation, such
as linguists, intelligence specialists, and for force protection
requirements.
During the peak of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and Operation IRAQI
FREEDOM, the Marine Corps had 21,316 Reserve Marines on Active duty.
Marine Forces Reserve proved once again that it was ready, willing and
able to accomplish its primary mission of augmenting and reinforcing
the active component by seamlessly integrating into the I Marine
Expeditionary Force. As an example of the level of support Reserve
Marines provided, 6th Engineer Support Battalion, the second largest
battalion in the Marine Corps mobilized 1,972 of its 2,172 Marines from
11 separate sites. The unit is comprised of 10 companies spread among
12 Reserve centers across the United States. During the war, the
battalion distributed 8 million gallons of fuel, produced and
distributed over 3.1 million gallons of water and provided material
handling support for numerous convoys. In addition, the unit built the
longest Hose Reel Fuel line system (80 miles), the largest tactical
fuel farm and the longest Improved Ribbon Bridge in Marine Corps'
history.
The Fourth Marine Division was equally engaged. Two infantry
battalions, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines and 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines
were directly engaged in ground combat, as was 4th Light Armored
Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, and other
combat support and combat service support outfits. Reserve officers and
staff noncommissioned officers effectively trained their units for
combat and led them successfully in battle.
Marine Reserve KC-130Ts proved their worth. Using the most modern
night vision equipment, they participated in 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing's
assault support effort, landing on highways and dirt strips to resupply
Forward Arming and Refueling Points that supported the I Marine
Expeditionary Force's 500-kilometer drive from Basra to Baghdad and on
to Tikrit.
The seamless integration of reserve units is a credit to the Marine
Corps commitment to Total Force. A strong Inspector-Instructor system,
providing a top notch staff of Active duty and Active Reserve personnel
at each site, and a demanding Mobilization and Operational Readiness
Deployment Test program ensure Marine Corps Reserve units achieve the
highest level of pre-mobilization readiness. Marine Corps Reserve units
train to a high readiness standard, eliminating the need for post-
mobilization certification. For Operation IRAQI FREEDOM the Marine
Corps Reserve executed a rapid and efficient mobilization. While some
of our Reserve units deployed in as little as six days from
notification, on the whole our units averaged 23 days from notification
to deployment. None of our units missed their deployment window. In
fact, many of our units were notified, activated, and ready to deploy
faster than strategic lift was available.
The ability of the Marine Reserve to rapidly mobilize and integrate
into the active component in response to the Marine Corps' operational
requirements is a tribute to the dedication, professionalism and
warrior spirit of every member of the Marine team--both Active and
Reserve.
recruiting and retention
The Marine Corps Reserve has achieved historically high retention
rates in fiscal year 2003 and, the retention rate for the Marine Corps
Reserve remains favorable with a 7 to 10 percent increase over
retention rates in the near-term past. Marine Forces Reserve will not
be complacent about these positive trends. I will carefully and
continuously monitor the data on both recruiting and retention, and
will make every effort to stay ahead of any problems. These are areas
in which we cannot wait until we are in trouble to initiate corrective
measures. Every Marine Corps leader knows the role of leadership,
training and family readiness programs in the recruiting and retention
of our Marines.
With the accession of 6,174 non-prior service Marines and 2,663
prior service Marines, the Marine Corps Reserve met and exceeded,
respectively, current recruiting goals. Current Military Occupational
Specialty match rates are exceeding the goal of 75 percent with an
enlisted Military Occupational Specialty match rate of 87.4 percent and
officer match rate of 75.8 percent.
As of February 29, 2004, our end-strength was 40,235, which is 635
above our authorized end-strength but within the allowable 2 percent
variation. Officer recruiting and retention remains our most
challenging concern. This is due to the low attrition rate for company
grade officers from the active force. The Marine Corps recruits Reserve
officers almost exclusively from the ranks of those who have first
served an active duty tour as a Marine officer. We are exploring
methods to increase the participation of company grade officers in the
Selected Marine Corps Reserve through increased recruiting, increased
command emphasis on Reserve opportunities and participation, and
Reserve officer accession programs for qualified enlisted Marines.
Further, the Marine Corps supports the legislative proposal to allow
bonuses for officers in the Selected Marine Corps Reserve who fill a
critical skill or shortage. We currently have a shortage of Reserve
company grade officers; this bonus could complement other efforts we
are making to increase their participation.
marines and their families
Our future success will rely firmly on the Marine Corps' most
valuable asset--our Marines and their families.
Operational Tempo Relief
In addition to supporting Operations NOBLE EAGLE, ENDURING FREEDOM
and IRAQI FREEDOM, Reserve Marines provided operational tempo relief to
the active component. Notably, 96 Reserve Marines volunteered to
participate in the West African Training Cruise-04, a biannual 6th
Fleet sponsored exercise in West Africa (a first for the Marine Corps
Reserve). During the months of October and November 2003, the Marines
deployed to West Africa from various Reserve Training Centers
throughout the United States via Air Force strategic lift. There they
boarded the High Speed Vessel Swift and sailed Africa's West Coast
conducting training exercises with military forces from South Africa,
Cameroon, Ghana, Gambia, and Senegal.
Marine Forces Reserve also provided the majority of Marine Corps'
support to the nation's counter-drug effort, participating in numerous
missions in support of Joint Task Force 6, Joint Interagency Task
Force-East and Joint Interagency Task Force-West. Individual Marines
and Marine units supported law enforcement agencies conducting missions
along the U.S. Southwest border and in several domestic ``hot spots''
that have been designated as high intensity drug trafficking areas.
Similarly, 335 Reserve Marines volunteered to deploy to South
America to participate in UNITAS 45-04. Sponsored by Commander, Naval
Forces Southern Command, UNITAS is an annual naval and amphibious
exercise that takes place throughout South America. This will be the
second UNITAS sourced primarily from the Selected Marine Corps Reserve.
This year the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Marines of Marine Forces
UNITAS will conduct a 13-week training program at Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina and subsequently embark on the U.S.S. Tortuga. From the
Tortuga the Marines will disembark to conduct bilateral training with
our allies in the Caribbean and the Pacific. In Peru, Marine Forces
UNITAS 45-04 conduct a multi-national amphibious exercise that includes
forces from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru
and Uruguay.
Mobilization Support
Mobilization readiness is our number one priority and the men and
women in the Marine Corps Reserve have responded enthusiastically to
the call to duty. Approximately 98 percent of Marines reported when
mobilized. One of the keys to this success is the support given to the
Marines and their family members prior to, during and after activation.
Programs such as Marine Corps Community Service One Source provide
Marines and their families with around-the-clock information and
referral service for subjects such as parenting, childcare, education,
finances, legal issues, elder care, health, wellness, deployment,
crisis support and relocation via toll-free telephone and Internet
access. Marine Corps Community Service One Source familiarizes our
activated Reserve Marines and their families not located near major
military installations to the requirements and procedures associated
with military programs such as TRICARE.
TRICARE
Marine Forces Reserve recognizes family readiness as an essential
part of mobilization preparedness. Upon activation, Reserve families
must make significant adjustments in lifestyle. Civilian jobs and/or
educational commitments must be correctly managed: proper notifications
provided to employers to ensure legal protections, continued good
Marine-employer relations and an eventual smooth return. The TRICARE
Prime-Remote provisions have made health care issues less challenging,
with families no longer required to shift providers in order to use
TRICARE benefits.
Since 9/11, Congress has gone to great lengths to improve TRICARE
benefits available to the Guard and Reserve. Reserve members are now
eligible for dental care under the TRICARE Dental Program for a minimal
monthly fee. Mobilized Reserves are granted additional transitional
benefits once their activation is complete. In an effort to increase
awareness of the new benefits, Reserve members are now receiving more
information regarding the changes through an aggressive education and
marketing plan. And finally, the newest, temporary changes include
provisional benefits to Marines and their family members 90 days prior
to their activation date and up to 180 after deactivation and extending
TRICARE coverage to members and their families who are either
unemployed or employed but not eligible for employer-provided health
coverage. The new reserve health program, being temporary, offers us
the ability to assess the impact of these benefits after the trial
period. We will review the effects of these programs on reservists and
their families as they transition to and from active duty and look at
the overall effect on retention and readiness.
Family Support
At each of our Reserve Training Centers, the Key Volunteer Network
Program serves as the link between the deployed command and the
families, providing unit spouses with official communication,
information and referrals. This creates a sense of community within the
unit. Additionally, the Lifestyle Insights, Networking, Knowledge and
Skills Program is a spouse-to-spouse orientation service offered to new
Marine spouses to acquaint them with the military lifestyle and the
Marine Corps, including the challenges brought about by deployments.
Online and CD-ROM versions of the Lifestyle Insights, Networking,
Knowledge and Skills Program make this valuable tool more readily
accessible to working spouses of Reserve Marines not located near
Marine Corps installations. The Peacetime/Wartime Support Team and the
support structure within the Inspector and Instructor staff provide
families of deployed Marines with assistance in developing proactive,
prevention-oriented steps such as family care plans, powers of
attorney, family financial planning, and enrollment in the Dependent
Eligibility and Enrollment Reporting System. Our deployed commanding
officers have confirmed the importance of this family readiness support
while they were away and as part of their homecoming.
The Department of Defense has proposed an impressive package of
legislative initiatives that will help us to effectively employ the
Marine Corps Reserve. Of particular note are provisions which support a
``continuum of service,'' a concept that makes it easier for an
individual service-member to move on and off of active duty depending
on his or her availability and willingness to serve.
preparation for oif ii/oef v
I am most pleased to report that every Reserve Marine deployed
during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and those
currently deployed into harm's way are fully equipped with the most
modern Individual Combat Equipment available. Reserve Marines deployed
in Iraq and Afghanistan are wearing the latest in individual ballistic
body armor protection, the Improved First Aid Kit, and the new digital
pattern Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform. Additional individual
equipment programs nearing production and distribution to our units
include the new Lightweight Helmet, the Improved Load Bearing Equipment
pack system, and the All Purpose Environmental Clothing System third-
generation Gore-Tex.
Operationally, since I last testified, over 40,000 pieces of
Reserve combat unit equipment including individual and crew-served
weapons, night vision devices, radios, computers, vehicles, and
engineer equipment have been deployed, engaged in theater, redeployed
back through our Marine Corps installations, processed through the
maintenance cycle, and returned to Reserve Training Centers. This
equipment is poised to resource and future contingencies.
national guard and reserve equipment appropriation
The $44.6 million provided by fiscal year 2004 National Guard and
Reserve Equipment Appropriation will provide the Reserve Force with the
systems needed to improve mission capability and readiness now and into
the future. Important communications systems such as the Secure Mobile
Anti-Jam Reliable Tactical Terminal, the Enhanced Position Location
Reporting System and Iridium Satellite phones will greatly enhance our
ability to communicate on the battlefield and, most importantly, to
integrate with the active component. National Guard and Reserve
Equipment Appropriation funding has allowed the Marine Corps Reserve to
procure mission-critical night vision devices such as the AN/PVS-17B/C
Mini Night Vision Sight (used with individual weapon systems) and the
AN/PAS-13 Thermal Weapon Sight (used with crew-served weapons). These
sights increase our capability to fight at night and during reduced-
visibility conditions. This year's National Guard and Reserve Equipment
Appropriation also funded the Electronic Warfare Suite (AFC-230) for 47
percent of our AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters. We require 20
additional Electronic Warfare Suites to protect the remainder of our
AH-1W fleet. However, I want to assure you that every aircraft, both
rotary- and fixed-wing, deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan will have the
latest in Aircraft Survivability Equipment installed either prior to
departure, enroute while embarked aboard amphibious shipping, or
shortly after arrival in-theater. A contractor ``tiger team'' is
scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan tomorrow, April 8, from Iraq to
upgrade our UH-1N utility and AH-1W attack helicopters.
ground element equipment priorities
The increasing age of our equipment is also a challenge within the
Reserve ground component. I am pleased to report that we are meeting
these challenges in several areas. Of our 3,448 aging High Mobility
Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, Basic and A1 variants, Marine Forces
Reserve has so far replaced 1,162 with the High Mobility Multipurpose
Wheeled Vehicle A2 variant. Of our 1,233 Five-Ton truck fleet, 604 have
been replaced with the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement truck. Both
new vehicle systems embrace the latest sustainability and
maintainability technological improvements available to the Marine
Corps.
We continue to receive over 300 new High Mobility Multipurpose
Wheeled Vehicle A2s each year and project complete replacement of our
fleet by fiscal year 2009. We are scheduled to receive an additional
301 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement trucks between now and November
2004 with the remaining balance scheduled to be delivered by the end of
fiscal year 2005.
Efforts to improve our communications capabilities have focused on
increased fielding of several tactical single-channel radio programs
including the PRC-117 satellite radios, PRC-150 high frequency radios
and PRC-148 squad radios. Previous National Guard and Reserve Equipment
Appropriation funding allowed Marine Forces Reserve to buy state-of-
the-art battery chargers, power adapters for single-channel radios, and
power inverters, providing a range of alternative power options
comparable to active component units.
As I mentioned earlier, mobilization readiness is my number one
priority. In order to continue seamless integration into the active
component, my ground component priorities are the sustained improvement
of individual Marine protective equipment and overall equipment
readiness. With your continued support, Marine Forces Reserve will
deploy Marines with the best available individual and unit equipment
needed to accomplish their mission and return home safely.
aviation element equipment priorities
Maintaining current readiness levels will require continued support
as our equipment continues to age at a pace exceeding replacement.
Within Reserve aviation, the average age of our youngest platform is
the UC-35 at 6 years, followed by the AH-1W Cobra at 11 years, the CH-
53E at 16 years, the KC-130T at 18 years, the F/A-18A at 20 years, and
the F-5 at 31 years. Our oldest platforms--platforms that have exceeded
programmed service life--include the UH-1N at 31 years (20-year service
life) and the CH-46E at 37 years (20-year service life with ``safety,
reliability, and maintainability'' extension to 30 years). Maintaining
these aging legacy platforms requires increased financial and manpower
investment with each passing year due to obsolescent parts and higher
rates of equipment failure. For example, for every hour the CH-46E is
airborne, an average of 25.2 maintenance man-hours are required.
Continued support for airframe and avionics upgrades--pending the
arrival of the next generation of aircraft--reduces maintenance man-
hours and increases the availability and capabilities of our aircraft.
We are thankful for and remain confident in the readiness of the
Marine Corps Reserve, and we seek your continued support in the fiscal
year 2005 President's Budget. Your continued support is critical in our
ability to maintain readiness and mission capability to support
operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism.
infrastructure
Marine Forces Reserve is and will continue to be a community-based
force. This is a fundamental strength of Marine Forces Reserve. Our
long-range strategy is to maintain that fundamental strength by
maintaining our connection with communities in the most cost effective
way. We do not want to be located exclusively in just several large
metropolitan areas or consolidated into a few isolated enclaves.
We seek every opportunity to divest Marine Corps-owned
infrastructure and to locate our units in Joint Reserve Centers. Marine
Forces Reserve units are located at 187 sites in 48 states, the
District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico; 33 sites are owned or leased by
the Marine Corps Reserve, 154 are either tenant or joint sites. Fifty-
three percent of the Reserve centers we occupy are more than 30 years
old, and of these, 37 are over 50 years old.
Investment in infrastructure has been a bill-payer for pressing
requirements and near-term readiness for most of the last decade. The
transition to Facilities Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization
funding has enabled us to more accurately capture our requirements and
budget accordingly. Similar to the active component, we do not expect
to be able to bring our facilities to acceptable levels of readiness
before fiscal year 2013. In fiscal year 2003 we funded seven Whole
Center Repairs in a step forward to meeting the fiscal year 2013 goal.
This will reduce the facilities currently rated below acceptable levels
to 58 percent. While the fiscal year 2005 Presidential Budget provides
a nearly 39 percent increase in our sustainment budget, we still face a
backlog in restoration and modernization across the Future Years
Defense Program of over $30 million. The majority of this backlog
requires Military Construction funding due to the deterioration of our
facilities, but it also includes Operations and Maintenance-funded
whole center repair projects and site improvements at Reserve Training
Centers in Texas, New York, Florida, and Washington. Maintaining
facilities adequately is critical to providing quality-training centers
that support the readiness of our Marines. Replacing inadequate
facilities is also part of our overall infrastructure program. The
yearly Presidential Budget average for new military construction of
$8.67 million for the previous six fiscal years has allowed us to
address our most pressing requirements.
Past vulnerability assessments identified $33.6 million in projects
to resolve anti-terrorism/force protection deficiencies at the 41 sites
that we own or at which we have responsibility for site maintenance. We
have expended $8.3 million the last two years to reduce these
vulnerabilities. The age of our infrastructure means that much of it
was built well before anti-terrorism/force protection was a major
consideration in design and construction. These facilities will require
anti-terrorism/force protection resolution through structural
improvements, relocation, replacement or the acquisition of additional
stand-off distance. All these expensive solutions will be prioritized
and achieved over the long-term to provide the necessary level of force
protection for all our sites. We continue to improve the anti-
terrorism/force protection posture at our Reserve Training Centers and
are acting proactively to resolve the issues and deficiencies.
modernization and transformation
Command, Control, Communications, and Computers
With your help, we have made great strides in Command, Control,
Communications, and Computers equipment readiness during the past year.
Marine Forces Reserve's Command, Control, Communications, and Computers
readiness increased noticeably, due to the fiscal year 2003 National
Guard and Reserve Equipment Appropriation. As I speak to you today, a
detachment of our 4th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company is in Iraq,
outfitted with high frequency and satellite radio equipment almost
completely procured with the fiscal year 2003 National Guard and
Reserve Equipment Appropriation funds. This marks the first time in the
past year and a half a Reserve Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company unit
performed its mission without provisioning radio equipment from its
gaining force commander.
There are a few areas that I would like to bring to your attention
in which you may again assist us. Because of the increased reliance on
Marine Forces Reserve's military police and civil affairs capabilities,
we have validated an additional requirements for 200 handheld radios.
Critical new requirements have emerged for our civil affairs groups'
coordination and command-and-control capabilities such as the
additional validated need for 100 AN/PRC-148 handheld radios and 50
single channel/satellite AN/PRC-117 radios to meet the unexpected
growth in civil affairs capabilities.
Digital Data Servers
Progress has been made in fielding new equipment to bridge the gap
between active component units and their Reserve counterparts. However,
there are areas of improvement in which you can help speed the closure
of the gap.
Prior to completion of Marine Forces Reserve fielding, 24 Digital
Data Server suites were reallocated to support training requirements
for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
Enhanced Data Relay
Today, battalion-level units in the Total Force are unable to
receive robust data communications beyond line-of-sight. Regimental-
level units rely on satellite and multi-channel radios to maintain
reliable secure data communications to senior and parallel headquarters
across the battlefield. The data link down to battalion-level units is
the Enhanced Position and Location Reporting System, but it has a range
limited by line-of-sight. The range limitation does not allow the
secure data communications to be extended from the Regimental level to
distant or fast moving battalion-level and below units. The Marine
Corps Command-and-control on-the-move Network Digital Over-the-Horizon
Relay initiative is an attempt to extend data networks beyond line-of-
site. This initiative uses satellite and ground radio relays mounted on
High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles in three variants. It also
allows units to use standard radios to connect to tactical data
networks. Though in the early stages of development, the Marine Corps
Reserve's tactical Command, Control, Communications, and Computers
effectiveness as well as that of the active component could be
significantly enhanced with funding and fielding of the Command-and-
control on-the-move Network Digital Over-the-Horizon Relay initiative.
Navy-Marine Corps Intranet
With the delay of Marine Forces Reserve's transition to the Navy-
Marine Corps Intranet, many Marine Reserve units have not received up-
to-date hardware to replace their aging computers. At least 12 percent
of our computers are incapable of running the Marine Corps-approved
operating systems, creating compatibility and reliability issues.
Marine Forces Reserve is advance-fielding Navy-Marine Corps Intranet
deployable computers to units deploying for operations to mitigate this
problem. While this is a quick fix, it does not solve the primary issue
of aging computers in the Force. Presently, Marine Forces Reserve is
only funded for approximately 8,000 Navy-Marine Corps Intranet
computers. Unfortunately this leaves 6,000 required Navy-Marine Corps
Intranet computers, in the form of user seats. Without the funding to
replace our aging computers, Marine Forces Reserve will have to contend
with critical long-term computer compatibility and reliability issues.
AN/PRC-150
The fiscal year 2004 National Guard and Reserve Equipment
Appropriation significantly mitigated our high frequency radio
readiness issues with the purchase of man-packed AN/PRC-150 radios to
replace the obsolescent AN/PRC-104s. However, the acquisition objective
for AN/PRC-150 radios will grow as more of the 20-year-old AN/PRC-104s
become unserviceable. We appreciate your continued support for the
funding of the AN/PRC-150s which will keep potential high frequency
radio readiness issues at bay.
As the transformation of our Force continues, there will be a
greater need for newer tactical Command, Control, Communications, and
Computers equipment to fill voids in satellite communications and data
communications areas. Requirements for the Lightweight Multi-band
Satellite Terminal will increase to provide the same wideband satellite
communications capability resident in the active component's major
communications units. Tactical data network requirements will continue
to grow and so will the need for a continued refreshing of computer
technology in the Force. During the next year, requirements for
additional Lightweight Multi-band Satellite Terminals and tactical data
network equipment will be identified for funding.
In the past few minutes, I pointed out several challenges in
Command, Control, Communications, and Computers readiness for Marine
Forces Reserve. However, I want to emphasize that while challenges
remain, your support in providing a path for us to replace and sustain
our Command, Control, Communications, and Computers equipment has
placed your Marine Reserve in a much better Command, Control,
Communications, and Computers posture than a year ago.
conclusion
The Marine Corps Reserve is ready, willing and able to answer our
Nation's call to duty in the Global War on Terrorism, as has been so
well demonstrated by the mobilization and integration of Reserves into
the active component. Our greatest asset is our outstanding young men
and women in uniform. The Marine Corps appreciates your continued
support and collaboration in making the Marine Corps and its Reserve
the Department of Defense model for Total Force integration and
expeditionary capability.
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL JAMES E. SHERRARD, III,
CHIEF, AIR FORCE RESERVE
Senator Stevens. General Sherrard, I believe this is your
last visit with us. We thank you for your dedication to the Air
Force Reserve and for being with us in the past years. We wish
you well. We would be pleased to have your statement.
General Sherrard. Thank you, Senator. Thank you very much.
On behalf of the almost 79,000 military and civilian members of
the Air Force Reserve, it is indeed my honor and privilege to
be here to speak on their behalf before this distinguished
committee.
I would tell you, sir, that we have had more than 28,000
Air Force Reservists mobilized since September 11th and
currently have over 5,600 serving today. They have served with
distinction and we are awfully proud of that. We believe that
their capabilities which they provide to our Air Force are
essential and they are truly a result of our priorities that we
have established over the years and continue to carry our top
three priorities, the first being people, the second being
readiness, and the third being modernization.
RECRUITING AND RETENTION
Under the people priority, recruiting and retention are
essential for us. On the recruiting side, as I have testified
before this committee previously, we continue to be challenged
by the smaller number of members that are separating from the
active force. So, therefore, we must place our focus more on
the non-prior service members. We are finding that we can
recruit those members. It certainly takes a longer time for our
recruiting force, but the major challenge is the longer period
it takes for them to gain the experience level that is
necessary for them to do the things that we ask of them. Our
history has always shown us that the high technological needs
of our service demands an experienced force, and we certainly
need to do that.
RETENTION
On the retention side, again as I have testified
previously, I continue to stress the need for us to be able to
retain our members, particularly those who have reached the
point of 20 satisfactory years of service and realizing that
the experience level is exactly the one we want to make sure
that we do not let leave our fold, and if we can retain the
members to their maximum military service separation date or
high year tenure date for our enlisted members, then we have a
much better and more capable force.
FAIR REPRESENTATION AND COMPENSATION
The third piece of the people side of the house is equal
and equitable or fair representation and compensation and
making certain that when our members are activated, they in
fact are receiving the benefits that do not put them at a
disadvantage to those that they are serving with.
READINESS
On the readiness side, we take great pride in the Air Force
that there is one tier of readiness. The active Air Force
creates the standard. We in the Air Force Reserve Command train
to that standard and the active force evaluates it, and that
has been the key to our success that when our members show up
in theater, they are ready to go as a full combat-ready force
ready to meet the challenges that come their way.
MODERNIZATION
And under modernization, I must tell you and echo what my
colleagues have said. We thank you so much for the NGREA
dollars that have been provided to us. They have allowed us to
modernize and maintain our fleet in a form that makes them
relevant and most assuredly capable. We need to continue to
pursue that, making certain that we give our members the very
best equipment possible to do the job, making certain that it
is relevant and interoperable with not only the active force
but with our coalition partners.
We need to continue to watch very carefully the
modernization side and work very diligently, as was mentioned
by the first panel, to look at integrating our units better
operationally. We in the Air Force Reserve Command have been
using the associate concept since 1968. It has served us well
and there are certainly different ways of utilizing that
particular endeavor and we are seeking and doing those today,
whether it be in the Airborne Warning Air Control System (E-3A)
(AWACS) mission in the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training
(SUPT) program and we continue looking in the fighter associate
and other arenas.
I look forward to your questions, sir.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Lieutenant General James E. Sherrard, III
Mr. Chairman, and distinguished members of the Committee, I would
like to offer my sincere thanks for this opportunity, my last, to
testify before you. As of September 30, 2003, United States Air Force
Reserve (USAFR) has a total of 8,135 people mobilized under Partial
Mobilization Authority. These individuals are continuing to perform
missions involving: Security, Intelligence, Flight Operations for
Combat Air Patrols (CAPs), Communications, Air Refueling Operations,
Strategic and Tactical Airlift Operations, Aero Medical, Maintenance,
Civil Engineering and Logistics. The Partial Mobilization for the
Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) is the longest sustained, large-scale
mobilization in the history of the Air Force. AFR mobilizations peaked
at 15,332 on April 16, 2003 during OIF with a cumulative 28,239
mobilizations sourced in every contingency supporting GWOT since
September 11, 2001. Early GWOT operations driven by rapid onset events
and continued duration posed new mobilization and re-mobilization
challenges, which impacted OIF even though only a portion of the
Reserve capability was tapped.
In direct support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF), Operation
IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF), and the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), Air Force
Reservists have flown a multitude of combat missions into Afghanistan
and Iraq. The 93rd Bomb Squadron is an example of one of the many units
to successfully integrate with active duty forces during combat
missions in OEF and OIF. Reserve crews, which comprise eight percent of
the conventional crews, flew on 42 percent of all B-52 combat missions
during four combat deployments in support of these operations. The 93rd
Bomb Squadron performed many operations that were a first for B-52
operations as well as demonstrating maximum flexibility as a war-
fighting unit. One of their B-52's was the first to employ Precision
Strike Laser Guided Bomb self-designate capability using the LITENING
II targeting pod. Reserve aircrews have also flown C-17 airland/airdrop
missions into Afghanistan and Iraq delivering humanitarian aid and
supplies for the warfighting effort. They also provided air refueling
tanker crews and support personnel from the 434th Air Refueling Wing at
Grissom ARB, Indiana (KC-135) and 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis
AFB, California (KC-10). Additionally, Air Force Reserve F-16 units
have been involved in support of Operation NOBLE EAGLE (ONE) by flying
combat air patrols over key American cities (301st Fighter Wing, JRB
NAS Fort Worth, Texas, 482d Fighter Wing, Homestead ARB, Florida, and
419th Fighter Wing, Hill AFB, Utah). These units were also deployed at
various times in support of OEF and OIF operations.
recruiting
The Air Force Reserve continued to address new challenges in 2003.
Partial mobilization persists, though it's reducing day-by-day, but
volunteerism continues to be a significant means of contribution.
Dedicated members of the Air Force Reserve continue to meet validated
operational requirements. Recruiting and retention of quality service
members is taking top priority for the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC)
and competition for these members among other services, as well as
within the civilian community has reached an all-time high.
AFRC end strength for fiscal year 2003 was 98.8 percent of
authorized end strength.
Recruiting continues to pose other significant challenges as well.
The pool of active duty separatees continue to shrink from its peak
prior to force reduction over a decade ago, and a perceived likelihood
of activation and deployment are being cited as significant reasons why
separating members are declining to choose continuing military service
in the Reserve. These issues further contribute to the civilian
sector's ability to attract these members away from military service.
The Air Force Reserve is developing a strategy to take advantage of
an active duty Force Shaping initiative. Within this fiscal year, Air
Force will offer active duty members the opportunity to use the Palace
Chase program to change components. While the details are not fully
approved, the Air Force Reserve may have an unprecedented opportunity
to access prior service members in critical career skills.
We are hopeful that we will be able to preserve the training and
experience of some 16,000 personnel who may take advantage of the
opportunity to serve under Palace Chase, but we must ensure the right
force mix and the right faces to match our vacancies--it's not just a
``numbers drill''.
One consequence of the reduced success in attracting separating
members from Active Duty is the need to make up this difference through
attracting non-prior service members. While having enough Basic
Military Training and Technical Training School quotas has long been an
issue, the increased dependence on non-prior service accessions strains
these requirements even further.
retention
Though retention was enhanced through ``Stop-Loss'' in the previous
two years, the eventual effects of this program may be felt in this
fiscal year. Even though ``Stop-Loss'' was terminated in June 2003, the
six-month manning policy provides an additional period of relief.
Coupled with the policy to establish a separation date six months from
the end of re-deployment, if there will be a subsequent impact on
retention, it will be felt in this fiscal year.
We continue to look for viable avenues to enhance retention of our
reservists. The reserve enlisted bonus program is a major contributor
to attract and retain both unit and individual mobilization augmentee
members in those critical (Unit Type Code tasked) career fields. We
successfully increased the prior service enlistment bonus amount to
$8,000 this past year for a maximum six-year enlistment in accordance
with related legislative authority granted in 2003. We continue to
explore the feasibility of expanding the bonus program across AFRC as
determined necessary; however, no decision has yet been made to
implement. The Aviation Continuation Pay (ACP) continues to be offered
as an incentive for active duty (AGRs).
One of the most positive quality of life enhancements occurred when
the Department of Defense reduced the required threshold for dependent
eligibility for TRICARE Prime from 179 days of consecutive active duty
to 31 days of duty. This threshold reduction allows for greater
dependent health care for the vast majority of Reserve members serving
on periods of active duty, and will greatly increase volunteerism
across the force for a wide variety of requirements. Additionally, the
2004 NDAA provides for three temporary improvements to the overall
TRICARE system for Air Force Reserve members: access to heath care for
inactive members and their dependents, provided they are eligible for
unemployment compensation or not otherwise eligible for employer-
provided health care; earlier TRICARE eligibility for Air Force Reserve
members with delayed effective-date activation orders; and finally, the
period of time granted for transition health care coverage was expanded
from 60 and 120 days up to 180 days for certain members separating from
active duty. These vast improvements in the TRICARE program, though
temporary, will continue to pay dividends in the quality of life
characterization for our Air Force Reserve members, and ultimately
serve as a critical readiness tool.
Space Operations
Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) provides over 1,100 trained space
officer, enlisted, civilian, and contractor personnel at more than 15
locations to acquire, plan, launch, task, operate, assess, and protect
more than 28 weapon systems at 155 units worldwide for Air Force Space
Command, United States Strategic Command, Headquarters Air Force,
National Reconnaissance Office, and others. An annual budget of over
$22 million funds AFRC space operations and requirements providing
command, control, computers, communication, intelligence, surveillance,
reconnaissance (C\4\ISR), navigation, weather, missile warning, network
security and force protection support to warfighters around the globe.
--Nine associate units at four locations operate Global Positioning
System (GPS), Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), Defense
Support Program (DSP), and Defense Meteorological Satellite
Program (DMSP) satellites; fully integrate with the Network
Operations and Security Center (NOSC) and Space AOC; conduct
test and space aggressor activities; and provide security
forces for land-based facilities.
--Nearly 700 individual mobilization augmentees (IMAs) at more than
15 locations provide support in all areas of the ``cradle-to-
grave'' life cycle of national space assets.
--AFRC space personnel have been fully involved in planning and
executing military activities supporting Operations NOBLE
EAGLE, ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQI FREEDOM, and NORTHERN and
SOUTHERN WATCH.
--Reserve Associate Programs have been highly successful and are
projected for additional growth in the future. Associate unit
concepts being studied include space control, launch
operations, ICBM communications, and Space Operations School.
Associate Program
The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) Associate Program meshes
reserve units with active-duty units at bases throughout the United
States. AFRC units use host aircraft and equipment for their training
and work directly with their active duty counterparts. Associate
mobility units fly C-141 Starlifter, C-5 Galaxy, and C-17 Globemaster
III transports along with KC-10 Extender and KC-135 Stratotanker tanker
aircraft. In the spring of 1996, AFRC began filling aircrew and
maintenance support personnel positions in the 513th Air Control Group,
an E-3 Sentry Airborne Air Control System unit.
AFRC is continuing to expand the scope of the associate program
into new mission areas. New units supporting Air Education and Training
Command's undergraduate pilot training program are being managed by the
340th Flying Training Group located at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas,
and the 301st Fighter Squadron, F-16 associate instructor pilot program
at Luke Air Force Base, AZ. AFRC has an associate fighter unit at Shaw
Air Force Base, SC, associate pilots flying F-16s with the
``Aggressor'' squadron at Nellis AFB, NV, and an associate flight test
unit integrated with the Federal Aviation Administration.
The flexibility of the Associate program allows for the effective
and efficient use of highly trained AFRC aircrew members. Associate
units also provide aircraft maintenance personnel to maintain the
active duty aircraft ensuring the utilization of our air frames to the
maximum extent.
The 919th Special Operations Wing, Duke Field, FL, trains in one of
the U.S. military's most unique missions--special operations. Wing
aircraft include MC130E Combat Talon I aircraft equipped for use in
night/adverse weather, low-level, deep-penetration tactical missions.
These aircraft have also been modified to conduct air-to-air refueling
with special operations helicopters. In February 2000, the 8th Special
Operations Squadron (active duty) joined the 711th SOS at Duke Field as
a reverse associate unit--meaning active duty personnel fly reserve-
owned aircraft. The 919th SOW manages all Talon I aircraft in the Air
Force inventory. This is a first for Air Force Special Operations
Command and the second time in Air Force history since the EC-121
mission.
The wing also flies the MC-130P Combat Shadow aircraft (5th SOS),
which has been modified with new secure communications, self-contained
inertial navigation, countermeasures systems and night vision goggle-
compatible lighting. The aircraft's primary mission is to conduct
single-ship or formation in-flight refueling of special operations
helicopters in a low to selected medium-threat environment. On October
1, 1999, the 5th SOS moved to Eglin AFB to join the 9th SOS (active
duty) as an associate Reserve unit. This marked another first in the
special operations mission area. Finally, as mentioned above, the
Associate program in the space operations arena is rapidly expanding.
Associate units provide several benefits and enhancements to
include the following: Force multiplier which increases surge
capability for war time or contingencies; continuity as AFRC forces
provide stability and a service option for departing active duty
personnel; experience as Reservists tend to have more years of service
and bring invaluable civilian experience and knowledge to the military;
and efficiencies due to Reserve cost savings and sharing of weapon
systems and equipment.
modernization
Effective modernization of Air Force Reserve assets is a key issue
to remaining a relevant and combat ready force. It has been and
continues to be apparent that the Reserve Component is crucial to the
defense of our great nation. The events of September 11th cemented the
Total Force initiatives already in place and Air Force Reserve Command
(AFRC) is working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Active Duty and Air
National Guard components in the long battle to defeat terrorism. Even
before 9/11, USAFR was an active participant in day-to-day AF
operations. USAFR is no longer a force held in reserve solely for
possible war or contingency actions--we are an Operational Reserve, at
the tip of the spear. It is therefore imperative that we remain a
relevant and combat ready force for the future.
Our modernization strategy is sound but is dependent upon lead
command funding. Lead command funding of AFRC modernization priorities
continues to be one of our challenges. We continue to work with the
Department of Defense and the Department of the Air Force to address
our requirements. We greatly appreciate your support for the increase
to the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Authorization (NGREA)
funding in the fiscal year 2004 NDAA, as we strive to utilize the best
technological advances available to us, to keep our people safe in
current theaters of operations. Success in meeting our modernization
goals depends on our cohesive and focused approach to accepting new
mission areas, while ensuring the continued success of current mission
areas and robust interaction with the lead commands, as well as,
keeping Congress informed of USAFR initiatives.
fleet modernization
F-16 Fighting Falcon
Air Combat Command and AFRC are upgrading the F-16 Block 25/30/32
in all core combat areas by installing Global Positioning System (GPS)
navigation system, Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS) and NVIS
compatible aircraft lighting, Situational Awareness Data Link (SADL),
Targeting Pod integration, GPS steered ``smart weapons'', an integrated
Electronics Suite, Pylon Integrated Dispense System (PIDS), Digital
Terrain System (DTS), and the ALE-50 (towed decoy system). The
acquisition of the LITENING II targeting pod marked the greatest jump
in combat capability for AFRC F-16s in years. At the conclusion of the
Persian Gulf War, it became apparent that the ability to employ
precision-guided munitions, specifically laser-guided bombs, would be a
requirement for involvement in future conflicts. LITENING II Advanced
Technology (AT), an upgrade to LITENING II, affords the capability to
employ precisely targeted Laser Guided Bombs (LGBs) effectively in both
day and night operations, any time at any place. This capability allows
AFRC F-16s to fulfill any mission tasking requiring a self-designating,
targeting-pod platform, providing needed relief for heavily tasked
active-duty units. AFRC will complete the purchase of AT upgrade kits
and finish pod purchases for the F-16 this fiscal year. These
improvements have put AFRC F-16s at the leading edge of combat
capability. The combination of these upgrades are unavailable in any
other combat aircraft and make the Block 25/30/32 F-16 the most
versatile combat asset available to a theater commander.
Tremendous work has been done keeping the Block 25/30/32 F-16
employable in today's complex and demanding combat environment. This
success has been the result of far-sighted planning that has
capitalized on emerging commercial and military technology to provide
specific capabilities that were projected to be critical. That planning
and vision must continue if the F-16 is to remain useable as the
largest single community of aircraft in America's fighter force. Older
model Block 25/30/32 F-16 aircraft require structural improvements to
guarantee that they will last as long as they are needed. They also
require data processor and wiring system upgrades in order to support
employment of more sophisticated precision attack weapons. They must
have improved pilot displays to integrate and present the large volumes
of data now provided to the cockpit. Additional capabilities are needed
to eliminate fratricide and allow weapons employment at increased
range, day or night and in all weather conditions. They must also be
equipped with significantly improved threat detection, threat
identification, and threat engagement systems in order to meet the
challenges of combat survival and employment for the next 20 years.
A/OA-10 Thunderbolt
There are five major programs over the next five years to ensure
the A/OA-10 remains a viable part of the total Air Force. The first is
increasing its precision engagement capabilities. The A-10 was designed
for the Cold War and is the most effective Close Air Support (CAS)
anti-armor platform in the USAF, as demonstrated during Desert Storm,
OEF and OIF. Unfortunately, its systems have not kept pace with modern
tactics as was proven during Operation ALLIED FORCE. The AGM-65
(Maverick) is the only precision-guided weapon carried on the A-10.
Newer weapons are being added into the Air Force inventory regularly,
but the current avionics and computer structure limits the deployment
of these weapons on the A-10. An interim solution using Avionics
Interface Modules to integrate LITENING II targeting pods was developed
by the Air Reserve Component to bring added combat capability quickly
to the battlefield. This capability must be integrated permanently to
bring full precision strike abilities to the fight. The Precision
Engagement and Suite 3 programs will further expand this combat
capability and help correct limitations of aged systems. Two other
programs, Embedded GPS and Integrated Flight and Fire Control Computer
(IFFCC) will increase the navigation accuracy and the overall
capability of the fire control computer, both increasing the weapon
system's overall effectiveness.
One of the A-10 challenges is resources for upgrade in the area of
high threat survivability. The Avionics to EW Buss modification will
enhance survivability by providing some automated flare dispensing.
Previous efforts have focused on an accurate missile warning system and
effective, modern flares; however a new preemptive covert flare system
may increase survivability. The A-10 can leverage the work done on the
F-16 Radar Warning Receiver and C-130 towed decoy development programs
to achieve a cost-effective capability. In an effort to increase loiter
time, we are installing fire suppressant foam in our Sergeant Fletcher
external fuel tanks, allowing removal of current flight restrictions
regarding use of the external tanks in combat scenarios. Next, critical
systems on the engines are causing lost sorties and increased
maintenance activity. Several design changes to the accessory gearbox
will extend its useful life and reduce the existing maintenance expense
associated with the high removal rate. However, the A/OA-10 has a
thrust deficiency in its operational environment. As taskings evolved,
commanders have had to reduce fuel loads, limit take-off times to early
morning hours and refuse taskings that increase gross weights to
unsupportable limits. AFRC A/OA-10s need upgraded structures and
engines.
B-52 Stratofortress
In the next five years, several major programs will be introduced
to increase the capabilities of the B-52 aircraft. Included here are
programs such as a Crash Survivable Flight Data Recorder and a Standard
Flight Data Recorder, upgrades to the current Electro-Optical Viewing
System, Chaff and Flare Improvements, and improvements to cockpit
lighting and crew escape systems to allow use of Night Vision Goggles.
Enhancements to the AFRC B-52 fleet currently under consideration
are: Visual clearance of the target area in support of other
conventional munitions employment; target coordinate updates to JDAM
and WCMD, improving accuracy; and Bomb Damage Assessment of targets.
In order to continue the viability of the B-52 well into the next
decade, several improvements and modifications are necessary. Although
the aircraft has been extensively modified since its entry into the
fleet, the advent of precision guided munitions and the increased use
of the B-52 in conventional and OOTW operation requires additional
avionics modernization and changes to the weapons capabilities such as
the Avionics Midlife Improvement (AMI), Conventional Enhancement
Modification (CEM), and the Integrated Conventional Stores Management
System (ICSMS). Effective precision strike capability was proven during
OEF/OIF using LITENING II Targeting Pods. Permanent targeting pod
integration is needed to retain this capability in the future. Changes
in the threat environment are also driving modifications to the
defensive suite including Electronic Counter Measures Improvement
(ECMI). Modifications to enhance stand off jamming capability are also
underway to bring the B-52 into the AEA arena. The B-52 in the AEA
configuration will provide the United States Air Force with the
capability to deny, deceive, and destroy the enemy.
The B-52 was originally designed to strike targets across the globe
from launch in the United States. This capability is being repeatedly
demonstrated, but the need for real time targeting information and
immediate reaction to strike location changes is needed. Multiple
modifications are addressing these needs. Advanced weapons integration
programs are needed for Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM),
Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOF), and Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD)
capability to be fully realized. These integrated advanced
communications systems will enhance the B-52 capability to launch and
modify target locations while airborne. Other communications
improvements are Link 16 capability for intra-theater data link, the
Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) Phase 1, an improved ARC-210, the
KY-100 Secure Voice, and a GPS-TACAN Replacement System (TRS).
As can be expected with an airframe of the age of the B-52, much
must be done to enhance its reliability and replace older, less
reliable or failing hardware. These include a Fuel Enrichment Valve
Modification, Engine Oil System Package, and an Engine Accessories
Upgrade, all to increase the longevity of the airframe.
MC-130H Talon
In 2006, AFRC and Air Force Special Operations Command will face a
significant decision point on whether on not to retire the Talon I.
This largely depends on the determination of the upcoming SOF Tanker
Requirement Study. Additionally, the MC-130H Talon II aircraft will be
modified to air refuel helicopters. The Air Force CV-22 is being
developed to replace the entire MH-53J Pave Low fleet, and the MC-130E
Combat Talon I. Ultimately, supply/demand will impact willingness and
ability to pay for costly upgrades along with unforeseeable expenses
required to sustain an aging weapons system.
HC-130P/N Hercules
Over the next five years, there will be primarily sustainability
modifications to the weapons systems to allow it to maintain
compatibility with the remainder of the C-130 fleet. In order to
maintain currency with the active duty fleet, AFRC has accelerated the
installation of the APN-241 radar as a replacement for the APN-59. All
AFRC assets will be upgraded to provide Night Vision Imaging System
(NVIS) mission capability for C-130 combat rescue aircraft. Necessary
upgrades include defensive capability for the increasing infrared
missile threat such as the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures
(LAIRCM) system.
HH-60G Pave Hawk
Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) Mission Area modernization strategy
currently focuses on resolving critical weapon system capability
shortfalls and deficiencies that pertain to the Combat Air Force's
Combat Identification, Data Links, Night/All-Weather Capability, Threat
Countermeasures, Sustainability, Expeditionary Operations, and Para
rescue modernization focus. Since the CAF's CSAR forces have several
critical capability shortfalls that impact their ability to effectively
accomplish their primary mission tasks today, most CSAR modernization
programs/initiatives are concentrated in the near-term. These are
programs that:
--Improve capability to pinpoint location and authenticate identity
of downed aircrew members/isolated personnel;
--Provide line-of-sight and over-the-horizon high speed LPI/D data
link capabilities for improving battle space/situational
awareness;
--Improve Command and Control capability to rapidly respond to
``isolating'' incidents and efficiently/effectively task
limited assets;
--Improve capability to conduct rescue/recovery operations at night,
in other low illumination conditions, and in all but the most
severe weather conditions;
--Provide warning and countermeasure capabilities against RF/IR/EO/DE
threats; and
--Enhance availability, reliability, maintainability, and
sustainability of aircraft weapon systems.
Work continues on the Personnel Recovery Vehicle (PRV), a
replacement for the ageing HH-60G helicopter sometime in the 2011
timeframe.
C-130 Hercules
AFRC has 127 C-130s including the E, H, J and N/P models. The
Mobility Air Forces (MAF) currently operates the world's best theater
airlift aircraft, the C-130, and it will continue in service through
2020. In order to continue to meet the Air Force's combat delivery
requirements through the next 17 years, aircraft not being replaced by
the C-130J will become part of the C-130X Program. Phase 1, Avionics
Modernization Program (AMP) program includes a comprehensive cockpit
modernization by replacing aging, unreliable equipment and adding
additional equipment necessary to meet Nav/Safety and GATM
requirements. Together, C-130J and C-130X modernization initiatives
reduce the number of aircraft variants from twenty to two core
variants, which will significantly reduce the support footprint and
increase the capability of the C-130 fleet. The modernization of our C-
130 forces strengthens our ability to ensure the success of our war
fighting commanders and lays the foundation for tomorrow's readiness.
Ongoing and future modernization efforts by AFRC include APN 241 Radar
and Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) for our C-130H2/H3
aircraft. Fiscal year 2004 funds provided for APN 241 radar. LAIRCM is
required to protect the aircraft from current and future IR threats.
The AN/AAQ-24 LAIRCM system uses a laser beam to defeat the missile and
does not rely on hazardous and politically sensitive expendables that
highlight the aircraft to additional threat.
WC/C-130J Hercules
The current fleet is being replaced with new WC-130J models. This
replacement allows for longer range and ensures weather reconnaissance
capability well into the next decade. Once conversion is complete, the
53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron will consist of 10 WC-130J's.
Presently, there are six WC-130J models at Keesler AFB, MS undergoing
Qualification Test and Evaluation (QT&E). The remaining four aircraft
currently loaned to Lockheed Marietta, will be delivered to Keesler AFB
in January 2005. Deliveries are based on the resolution of deficiencies
identified during tests. This will impact the start of operational
testing and the achievement of interim operational capability (IOC).
Major deficiencies include: propellers (durability/supportability) and
radar tilt and start up attenuation errors. AFRC continues to work with
the manufacturer to resolve the QT&E documented deficiencies. The 815th
ALS has 5 C-130Js at Keesler AFB. Conversion to eight PAA C-130J
stretch aircraft is to be completed by fiscal year 2007.
C-5 Galaxy
Over the next five years, there will be important decisions made
that will change the complexion of the AFRC C-5 Fleet. Currently, there
are primarily sustainability modifications to the weapons systems to
allow it to continue as the backbone of the airlift community. Two
major modifications will be performed on the engines to increase
reliability and maintainability. Additionally, the C-5B fleet will
receive the avionics modernization that replaces cockpit displays while
upgrading critical navigational and communications equipment. AFRC C-
5As are not currently programmed to receive these modifications. The C-
5A fleet has no Defensive Avionics Systems, and this lack of capability
has significantly hampered the ability of the C-5A to participate
actively in the GWOT. If these aircraft are not upgraded, then they
must be retired starting in fiscal year 2008.
C-141 Starlifter
For the past 30 years, the C-141 has been the backbone of mobility
for the United States military in peacetime and in conflict. In the
very near future, the C-141 will be retired from the active-duty Air
Force. However, Air Force Reserve Command continues the proud heritage
of this mobility workhorse and will continue to fly the C-141 through
fiscal year 2006. It is crucial that AFRC remains focused on flying
this mission safely and proficiently until transition to new mission
aircraft is completed.
KC-135E/R Stratotanker
One of Air Force Reserve Command's most challenging modernization
issues concerns our unit-equipped KC-135s. Seven of the nine air
refueling squadrons are equipped with the KC-135R, while the remaining
two squadrons are equipped with KC-135E's. The KC-135E, commonly
referred to as the E-model, has engines that were recovered from
retiring airliners. The remaining KC-135Es are being retired, and are
being replaced by KC-135Rs. The last AFRC FC-135E will be retired in 4Q
fiscal year 2005.
The ability of the MAF to conduct the air refueling mission has
been stressed in recent years. Although total force contributions have
enabled success in previous air campaigns, shortfalls exist to meet the
requirements of our National Military Strategy. AMC's Tanker
Requirements Study-2005 (TRS-05) identifies a shortfall in the number
of tanker aircraft and aircrews needed to meet global refueling
requirements in the year 2005. There is currently a shortage of KC-135
crews and maintenance personnel. Additionally, the number of KC-135
aircraft available to perform the mission has decreased in recent years
due to an increase in depot-possessed aircraft with a decrease in
mission capable (MC) rates.
conclusion
I would like to thank this committee and the Senate for your
continuing support. I am proud to tell you that our Air Force Reserve
Command continues to be a force of choice whenever an immediate and
effective response is required to meet the challenges of today's world.
For more than 30 years the Air Force has relied upon the Reserve
components to meet worldwide commitments. The events of September 11,
2001 and the Global War on Terrorism continue to highlight that
reliance and have changed the way we think about and employ our forces.
About one in three Air Force reservists has been mobilized at some
point since that time. Transformation has proven to be an important
aspect of the Air Force Reserve as we become more and more relevant in
today's world.
We are ready in peace or war, available for quick response, and
able to stay the course when called upon. Although we are involved more
now in the daily mission of the Air Force, the focus of the Air Force
Reserve Command continues to be readiness--we train during periods of
peace so that we are ready to perform our wartime missions wherever we
are needed, whenever we are called.
Like our active duty partners, the men and women of the Air Force
Reserve are very busy. Trying to balance the demands of military
service, family, and a civilian profession can be a demanding task, but
ours is made easier by the support we receive from the American
taxpayers, Congress, the Department of Defense and the Air Force.
The Air Force Reserve Command made major Air and Space
Expeditionary Force (AEF) contributions in fiscal year 2003. AFRC met
virtually 100 percent of both aviation and support commitments,
deployed over 23,350 (14,130 aviation and 9,220 support) mobilized and
volunteer personnel to meet these commitments. The challenge for fiscal
year 2004 will be to meet the continued AEF demands of the Global War
On Terrorism primarily with volunteers if the number of mobilized
personnel decreases.
I would like to close by offering my sincere thanks to each member
of this Committee for your continued support and interest in the well-
being and quality of life of each Air Force Reservist. The recent pay
increases and added benefits of the last few years have helped us
through a significant and unprecedented time of higher operations
tempo, calling for each member of the Air Force Reserve to give 200
percent to the mission while still keeping families and employers
happy. This will be my final opportunity to represent these fine young
men and women as the Chief of Air Force Reserve, and I leave, knowing
that we are on the right path: a stronger, more focused, force. A force
no longer in Reserve, but integrated into the very fiber of the Air
Force; the tip of the spear.
Each of you can be proud of what we've accomplished together on
behalf of our great nation. Again, I offer my thanks to you and my
sincerest best wishes for the future.
PERSONNEL
Senator Stevens. Let me ask all of you this question if you
would respond, and I think that would take my time in the first
round anyway. The Washington Post recently had an article that
stated that three-quarters of Army spouses believed the Army is
likely to encounter personnel problems as soldiers and their
families tire of the pace and leave for civilian lives. They
quoted one expert that said 2005 is a make or break year as
some soldiers who have already served in Iraq for a year are
sent back for a second year.
Is this going to be a problem in 2005 and should we do
anything about so far as this budget is concerned? General
Helmly.
General Helmly. The article, if you remember, addressed the
Active component, but I would tell you that your concerns are
certainly applicable to the Reserve components, perhaps in some
cases to a greater degree.
We are vitally concerned. In our case I believe that the
tale will be told during the period of about May through
August. That cohort for us is about 78,000 soldiers in the Army
Reserve who were mobilized for the initial attack in Iraqi
Freedom. That group is the group that had the shortages that
the previous panel addressed in body armor, shortages of
equipment, in many cases had less than 10 days' notice that
they were being mobilized. That same cohort had about 8,000
Army Reserve soldiers who were demobilized only to have to be
remobilized about a month and a half to 2 months later. So that
is the group for us that has taken the greatest strain.
As the previous panel noted, the current mobilization--we
had to clean up, fix a lot of the equipment shortage problems.
We are giving much more notice to our troops now, and the flow
is much smoother and in a more predictable, practiced way.
Still I am very concerned.
As far as what this committee could do, we have sought help
in terms of extending the targeted selected reenlistment bonus
to Reserve component members. That is a $5,000 to $10,000 bonus
that is widely accepted by the soldiers in theater because, of
course, if they reenlist while they are in theater, then those
$5,000 to $10,000 come virtually tax free. We seek your help in
that.
We have forwarded a list of other policy changes to the
Department of Defense recently, seeking in many cases not
additional funding, but policy changes to put us on, as General
Sherrard noted, a more level footing with regard to Active
component members on recruiting and retention. So that is my
answer. I think that fiscal year 2005 will, indeed, be a year
which will tell us how well we are able to sustain an
operational force with an all-volunteer force while at war.
Senator Stevens. Thank you. Admiral Cotton?
NAVAL RESERVISTS
Admiral Cotton. Sir, since 9/11, we have had about 22,000
naval reservists recalled to active duty, including--I see a
gentleman right behind you--Bob Henke who honorably served in
the gulf. That is about one-fourth of our force.
I will also say that we have integrated many of our
reservists into blended or associate type augment units where
they can be utilized each month or surge for a few weeks to
handle whatever OPTEMPO we need. So we have been able to hold
down the total numbers.
Our Chief of Naval Operations usually asks the question
first, let us go to the active component to mobilize someone
rather than always stress the Reserve component.
I have to add that today all Admirals in the Navy, Active
and Reserve, select Senior Executive Service, and our E-9, our
master chief force and fleet leadership, are in Annapolis at
the Naval Academy concluding a 3-day conference, the theme of
which is human resources policy for the future.
I also have to say that not only are we acting together as
one Navy, we are also recruiting together as one Navy, using
Reserve recruiters to recruit active, active to recruit
reservists, and the real recruitment for the future I think is
going to be at the active duty commanding officer when a young
woman or a young man is leaving the service for whatever
reason. We have to retain them in the Reserve component and
develop a continuum of service where these individuals can come
back in and re-serve their country. So the dynamic we are
looking for is how do we keep them serving, coming back, and
there will probably be some initiatives that we will come up
with to ensure that.
But overall, it is working well. Last month we recruited
116 percent of our goal. So we are maintaining our end strength
and doing well in the Navy, sir.
Senator Stevens. General McCarthy.
MARINE CORPS RESERVE
General McCarthy. Mr. Chairman, our situation is obviously
different, dictated by our force structure. Seventy percent of
the enlisted Marines in the Marine Corps Reserve are single, so
we do not have quite the same level perhaps of spouse
involvement that some of the other services do. But I think
that the concern about family support and continued family
support for service is one that is definitely going to be a
factor as we go forward.
I will tell you that the thing that I am probably most
concerned with is our ability to continue to recruit people who
complete their active service and in the past have affiliated
with the Marine Corps Reserve. I think that family pressures
that may induce them to conclude their active service may also
influence their decision as to whether to affiliate and
participate with the Marine Corps Reserve. So the next couple
of years are going to be telling.
In terms of what can be done, I think that a number of the
initiatives that the Department has put forward this year
regarding TRICARE are very positive. I think that anything the
committee can do to strengthen the Montgomery GI bill would be
a very strong plus. Forty percent of the young men and women in
the Marine Corps Reserve are college students, so there is a
very high interest in the Montgomery GI bill.
I would second General Helmly and everybody on the panel's
position with regard to equitable and the perception of
equitable treatment. But we all have to be watching this the
next year or 2 very carefully.
Senator Stevens. Thank you very much.
General Sherrard.
MANPOWER
General Sherrard. Yes, sir. I echo the comments of my
colleagues, and I would tell you that we are watching our
manning, in particular, with great interest because of the fact
of ``stop-loss'' in 2002 and then it being on for a portion of
2003. The numbers in fact are slightly low in our world today,
but I am confident that we will end with our end strength on
target, as well as meeting our recruiting goals. The real
challenge is going to be retaining those members that we have
and, again, I am very proud to say that to date, those members
that have been activated are being retained at a higher rate
than the remainder of our force. But again, that is a small
piece compared to the larger picture that we have. We have got
to continue to pursue fair and equitable compensation. I really
believe that is the key to success as well as our ability to
retain the members after they have satisfactorily completed
their 20 years of service which qualify them for retirement,
but they still have in most cases 10 to 13 years remaining that
they can serve in our force.
The other caution that I would say is that while we all
seek those same things, each of us has different requirements
and we have to be very careful that we do not do something that
impacts on another service adversely. But I do believe that
fair and equitable compensation, as well as understanding and
looking at issues such as General McCarthy talked about,
equalizing the Montgomery GI bill benefits and things of that
type, will all enhance our ability to draw the very best to
serve in our forces.
RETENTION
Senator Stevens. Well, last year we provided the National
Guard and Reserve Equipment Account. I am thinking this year we
ought to think about some kind of a National Guard and Reserve
reenlistment account that you decide how to use it best to
increase your retention, aimed at retention rather than
recruiting. But think about that and let us know what you would
like us to do. I think each one of you has different needs and
clearly General McCarthy's are not the same as yours, but they
still have to have some kind of retention capability. I think
we ought to look to putting some of the money we have, either
this year or in the supplemental at the first of the year, to
work to assure that you have got that capability. Let us know,
please. We would like to work with you.
Senator Inouye.
Senator Inouye. First of all, I agree with your plan.
Senator Stevens. You probably thought of it and I said it.
ACTIVE AND RESERVE INTEGRATION
Senator Inouye. BRAC is upon us again. General Sherrard, I
have been advised that the Active and Reserve air forces are
now working out an integration plan. Can you describe that to
us?
General Sherrard. Yes, sir. The integration plans that we
are working are operational integration in terms of how we can
best utilize the assets that we in the Air Force will have. As
was mentioned by the first panel, one of the key ones that has
truly integrated all three components serving at the same time
within an organization is the Predator mission that we have at
Nellis. But as I mentioned, we have been doing associate
business in the large aircraft, the C-5, 141, the C-17, KC-10
business for a long time. We also have associate units in the
fighter business, as well as AWACS special operations and then
as I mentioned also in our undergraduate pilot training
program. I would tell you operationally we integrate and serve
our force very well based on the fact that, as I said earlier,
there is one standard to which we all train to.
We still will have the administrative control circumstances
that we have to take care of based on the law that mandates
what a commander is responsible for and that has been given to
each of us, as well as ensuring that we have promotion
opportunities and a structure which will allow progression up
through the ranks so that we, in fact, do not stymie someone
simply because there is no place for them to go.
But we will continue to look at operational integration and
the best utilization of the limited assets we will have
utilizing the highly experienced members that we bring to the
force.
Senator Inouye. Is that plan applicable to the other
Reserve components, General?
General Helmly. Senator, it is. First of all, regarding
BRAC, there is a single office in the Army that is overseeing
Army planning. We have representatives there. We are a part of
that. The chief of that office, a Senior Executive Service
employee, briefs me regularly regarding our integrated efforts
there.
I am in favor of additional joint basing and cooperation
with the various State National Guards, because to the extent
that we partner in that effort, we reduce the cost and
investments in facilities and we are allowed to reinvest those
dollars in operations training and such initiatives as the
chairman spoke to for recruiting and retention.
Regarding operational integration, we have similar
formations as the Air Force Reserve. We call them multi-
component organizations. Those organizations are serving us
very well in the logistic support and medical support areas of
the Army.
JOINT RESERVE CENTERS
Admiral Cotton. Yes, sir. I would like to add that the
Naval Reserve is a full participant in the Navy BRAC process
and all cross-functional teams, and so we will work through our
Chief of Naval Operations for the BRAC process.
I would also like to add that as I mentioned before, in
Desert Storm we got it. We started integrating more. Today
every naval aviator that goes into combat has been trained by a
naval reservist. It starts in the beginning, continues in
intermediate and in advanced training. Every carrier group that
gets trained in a joint task force exercise, the folks doing
the training are naval reservists. These predictable and
periodic missions that are easy to schedule are perfect for the
skill sets that our senior and experienced reservists bring. So
we have integrated and we are going to continue to do that and
combine where it makes sense.
I would like to echo what we have all said here. For the
future, when we build Reserve centers, they should be joint
centers. They should be joint operational support centers. They
should mirror what we have already done with the intel
community, with the very successful JRIC's, the joint Reserve
intel centers. There are 27 of them around the country. But if
we are going to build a facility, we need to have a SCIF. We
need to have a secure area, a T-1 line so that we can
communicate from wherever the center is via Secret Internet
Protocol Network (SIPRNET), via secured link to the supported
commands. And we find if you have these kind of links, you do
not need to move someone into theater. You can do the work from
Continental United States (CONUS) and support the warfighter
and not have to have a footprint in theater.
Senator Inouye. General McCarthy.
General McCarthy. Senator Inouye, I repeat everything
everybody else has said, especially with regard to joint
centers. The one point I would make is that I know it is true
for the Marine Corps Reserve, and I think it is true for most
everyone else. We are a locally based force and while I am 100
percent in favor of consolidating into joint centers, I think
we need to keep our local footprint. We need to keep those
joint centers in the communities where we exist today. That is
where we draw people from. That is where we represent a Marine
Corps presence. So I am opposed to the idea of clustering the
Reserve components in just a few large installations as
sometimes gets suggested.
Senator Inouye. The chairman and I served in the ancient
war. There were many differences. For example, in the regimen I
served, 4 percent of the officers and enlisted had dependents.
Ninety percent of us were 18, 19, 20 and unattached. I think
that was about what it was in all the United States Army. I
think 10 percent with dependents and 90 percent without. Today
I believe the Army has something close to 75 percent with
dependents. In addition, the fact that you have embedded
journalists in just about every unit brings live action into
every home which was not available in my time.
Although the number of those with uniforms number just
about 1 percent of the total population, it has become a
national concern, a national interest. Therefore, recruiting
and retention becomes a major concern to us. It may not be with
us today, but with all of this happening now, we should listen
to the chairman very carefully to come up with some program
that will further encourage our young men and women to consider
the military as a career because otherwise Congress and the
administration will be called upon to use that D word. I can
just see the concern in the populace when the D word comes up.
So whatever you can do to enhance the recruiting and retention
of our forces I think would be well received by this Nation of
ours.
Thank you very much.
Senator Stevens. Thank you, Senator.
Once again, you are thinking along the same lines I was
thinking about in terms of the draft. Senator Goldwater and I
conspired to do away with the draft. I do not know if you know
that. We certainly do not want to see it come back. I think the
concept of the volunteer Army has proved itself not only in the
gulf war but in this engagement for sure.
You were in the room when I asked the National Guard
Generals about looking at the problem of those ammunition dumps
in Iraq. I would welcome your review of that and attention. We
took occasion to be briefed by the intelligence community just
recently and I think it is something that is going to come to a
head here fairly soon as far as Congress is concerned.
Last year Senator Feinstein asked for some specific money
for that purpose and we included that purpose in with the
HUMVEE upgrading and other things that really absorbed the
money before that subject could be totally reviewed. And I have
apologized to her for that because I think that some of us did
not understand the scope of it. I certainly did not. But when
you are dealing with 1,000 to 7,000 dumps of ordnance that is
still usable, as far as we are informed, that is a massive
problem for the world, not just for us.
So I would welcome your review and your suggestions on what
we might be capable of doing in the near future. I think it may
well be a problem for the United Nations and for the world to
tackle, but clearly it is one of the largest problems I have
ever looked at.
Thank you very much for your testimony.
SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS
We will reconvene on Wednesday, April 21 to hear testimony
concerning missile defense.
Thank you very much and good luck to all of the people
under your command.
[Whereupon, at 11:40 a.m., Wednesday, April 7, the
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Wednesday,
April 21.]