Any reason for most of the State National Guards Adjuntant Generals to have same rank?

[itsrobert]

For example, the AG of California has the same pay-grade of Vermont?

http://www.ngaus.org/content.asp?bid=142

Maybe the military cost cutters can look at these positions to reduce in grade to save money instead of having the lower ranks shoulder the burden in personnel cuts and benefits?

No reason for most of the the AG's to draw the same pay.

[enlightenment]

1. Maybe because they're all the same rank and the military

pay is based on rank, not location?

It's not a business.

[itsrobert]

3. But isn't rank bases on scope of responsibility?

I find it hard to believe an AG in Rhode Island has much responsibility in terms of management of manpower, equipment, resources, etc as an AG from Texas? What am I missing?

[sarge43]

6. No, the other way around

In most cases, the rank gets the responsibility.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. You are looking at it as a civilian

that is what you are missing.

A brigade is a brigade is a brigade... the number of people and personnel are the same.

In this case, the CA NG will have more people and personnel, but the post is exactly the same as that of RING.

IF the force gets federalized and the AG is mobilized with the force this General will get the same sized forced, varying in a few things perhaps, as an active duty officer.

Also the hassles regarding paperwork are the same...

As others have pointed out, it is the army, and they serve at the pleasure of the Governor, and if federalized, technically at the pleasure of the President.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. The army works on pay grades not location

[itsrobert]

4. Yes, why would someone in charge of smaller forces get paid as

someone that is in charge of 100 times of the resources as the other?

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. They are paid by drill dates

not by every day as active duty. And the size of the force is not parallel to the size of headaches.

[MicaelS]

5. They serve at the pleasure of each state's Governor..

According to the NGAUS (I just called them), the rank is strictly up to that state's Governor. Some are actually Brigadier Generals (1 star) serving as Major Generals (2 stars). Since the National Guard can and is Federalized, I imagine they fall under the same pay criteria that full time active duty personnel fall under.

[itsrobert]

7. Okay

So some 1 stars wear 2 stars for state purposes (so states can be on equal footing), but when they are federalize they resort back to their 1 star rank?

thanks for calling to clear this up for me.

[MicaelS]

8. Another reason is they could be "frocked"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frocking

Didn't think to ask about this, I just thought of it.

Frocking is a United States military term for a commissioned or non-commissioned officer selected for promotion wearing the insignia of the higher grade before the official date of promotion (the "date of rank"). An officer or NCO who has been selected for promotion may be authorized to "frock" to the next grade. The need to frock is a result of the fact that the number of people who may serve in a particular rank is restricted by federal law. Thus, even though an individual may have been selected for promotion and (for officers) confirmed by the Senate, they must often wait for a vacancy (headroom) to occur in order to be officially promoted. It is important to note that each of the individual armed services have different customs and policies for frocking members, particularly enlisted members. In the United States Army a general officer may request authority to frock soldiers of his command. In the United States Air Force, only senior field grade and general officers are usually frocked. The United States Navy makes use of frocking much more frequently than do the Army and the Air Force. An example of this is when all new Chief Petty Officers of the United States Navy are frocked on September 16th of each year, although their official date of rank will be at different times over the next year.

The term "frocking" dates back to the age of sail, when communications between the Department of the Navy and ships at sea could take months. News of the promotion of an officer arrived, usually via letters brought by another ship, and often with orders for the newly promoted officer to report to a new ship or station. The ship that brought the news would often take that officer away to his new post. Since the departing officer created a vacancy on the first ship, the Captain would often forward a recommendation for promotion for one of the remaining officers, to be carried back to the Department of the Navy. Since one of the symbols of rank was a frock coat, the newly promoted officer would pass his old frock coat to the officer remaining behind and recommended for promotion to the old rank of the departing officer. Months could go by until the Captain's recommendation made it back to the Department of the Navy, was acted upon and made official, and news sent back. In the intervening time, the officer recommended for promotion would be accorded the privileges and authorities of his "new" rank, but would not receive the pay for it, since it was not yet official. And because it was not yet official, and because he was still wearing the old frock coat of the recently departed and (officially) promoted officer, the officer recommended for promotion was considered "frocked."

According to current Department of Defense policy, there is no limit to the number of two, three and four star generals (or admirals) who may be frocked at any one time. However, the number of frocked Brigadier Generals or Rear Admirals (Lower Half) is restricted. Three and four star generals are generally frocked if headroom is not available to promote them at the time of the assumption of their new assignment. This is due both to the close relationship between these ranks and the position held, and to the fact that these are considered "positions of importance and responsibility" in accordance with 10 USC section 601. For all other officers frocking is normally reserved for joint, international or other high visibility positions that require the higher rank for diplomatic, protocol, or command authority reasons.

[sarge43]

9. They do.

If a guard is on active duty for 30 days or more, s/he gets full pay and allowances according to rank.

A guard gets four days worth of active duty base pay for each weekend drill which is usually once a month. Also 1/30th of active pay for each day of annual training. They're not exactly emptying the bank account.

One other thought, right now I imagine Vermont's AG has more responsibility and longer hours than say California's. The size of the state doesn't always equal the size of headaches.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. +1000