[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 8896]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 48--RECOGNIZING 375 YEARS OF SERVICE OF 
THE NATIONAL GUARD AND AFFIRMING CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT FOR A PERMANENT 
         OPERATIONAL RESERVE AS A COMPONENT OF THE ARMED FORCES

  Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. Graham) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
Services:

                            S. Con. Res. 48

       Whereas the first volunteer militia unit in America was 
     formed in 1636 in Massachusetts Bay, followed by other units 
     in the colonies of Virginia and Connecticut;
       Whereas from the opening salvos at Lexington and Concord, 
     to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, 
     the volunteer patriots and minutemen of the American militia 
     helped create the United States of America;
       Whereas the American founding fathers wrote Article I, 
     Section 8, of the United States Constitution to keep the 
     militia model, authorizing only a small standing military 
     force that could organize, train, and equip militia 
     volunteers when needed;
       Whereas the American militia answered the call during the 
     second war with Britain in 1812;
       Whereas in the 19th Century, during the Mexican-American 
     War, the United States Civil War, and the Spanish-American 
     War, State militia volunteers mustered when called and more 
     than 300,000 gave their lives in service of the United States 
     of America;
       Whereas in World War I, nearly all National Guardsmen were 
     mobilized into Federal service, and while they represented 
     only 15 percent of the total United States Army, they 
     comprised 40 percent of the American divisions sent to France 
     and sustained 43 percent of the casualties in combat;
       Whereas in World War II, the National Guard comprised 19 
     Army divisions and 29 observation squadrons with aircraft 
     assigned to the United States Army Air Forces;
       Whereas the National Defense Act of 1947 formed the Air 
     National Guard, created a minimum of one flying unit in each 
     State, with the result of more than 44,000 Air Guard troops 
     serving in Korea and 4,000 Air Guard troops in Vietnam;
       Whereas the Air National Guard flew 30,000 sorties and 
     50,000 combat hours during Operation Desert Storm over 37 
     days and were some of the first units into the fight;
       Whereas on September 11, 2001, the first fighter jets over 
     New York City and Washington, DC, were Air National Guard F-
     15 and F-16 aircraft from Massachusetts and North Dakota, 
     with over 400 more Air National Guard fighter aircraft on 
     alert by that afternoon;
       Whereas 456,974 Air and Army National Guard soldiers and 
     airmen have deployed in the many campaigns since 9/11;
       Whereas Air and Army National Guard soldiers and airmen 
     have been involved in countless domestic response missions, 
     including missions in response to hurricanes, tornadoes, 
     floods, and forest fires;
       Whereas during the Cold War, the National Guard was 
     regarded as a Strategic Reserve to be held in case of a 
     Soviet invasion of Europe, yet, since 9/11, the National 
     Guard and the Federal Reserves have made the transition to an 
     Operational Reserve, in constant use and rotation for 
     missions at home and abroad;
       Whereas the Operational Reserve has time and again 
     demonstrated its readiness to meet operational requirements, 
     and its mission- and cost-effectiveness and volunteerism are 
     the heart of modern United States military service;
       Whereas the Operational Reserve must be sustained by a 
     fully-manned and fully-funded National Guard in the spirit 
     intended by the Framers and enshrined in Article I of the 
     Constitution; and
       Whereas the Air Force, in its fiscal year 2013 budget, has 
     advanced a proposal to convert the Air National Guard from 
     the Operational Reserve to the Strategic Reserve of 
     yesteryear: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) recognizes the critical importance of the Operational 
     Reserve as a component of the Armed Forces, particularly as a 
     means of preserving combat power during a time of budget 
     austerity;
       (2) supports making permanent the Operational Reserve as 
     the cornerstone of military manpower in the decades to come;
       (3) repudiates proposals to return the Reserve Components 
     to a diminished or purely strategic role in United States 
     national security;
       (4) affirms the growth of the Operational Reserve as 
     circumstances warrant; and
       (5) recognizes the dual-status, State-Federal National 
     Guard as the foundation of the Operational Reserve and of 
     military manpower now and in the future.

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