'Painful' Road to Modernize National Guard

[unhappycamper]

'Painful' Road to Modernize National Guard
May 05, 2010
Military.com|by Christian Lowe

The top National Guard commander said his troops are being forced to make some tough choices as both the Army and Air Guard shift from a post-World War II defensive footing to one that can better support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That reality means fewer fighter wings where previous active-duty Air Force pilots might find a home and more trips to the war zone for Soldiers used to pitching in on flood relief or dousing forest fires in their states.

"We're transforming ourselves into a force that doesn't necessarily need manned aircraft to do what we did from World War II on," said Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, chief of the U.S. National Guard Bureau, at a May 4 breakfast with reporters in Washington.

~snip~

For the Army National Guard, it's not so much a switch in its core mission as an increase in overseas deployments, he added, which is as big an adjustment as seeing the plane you used to fly retired for a UAV. The Army Guard has maintained about 60,000 Soldiers deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan for the last four years, McKinley says.

And that's not going to change anytime soon.