Washington – A shake-up of dozens of Air National Guard units has emerged as the most contentious part of the Pentagon’s proposal to close or restructure hundreds of military bases across the country.
States are suing over the issue. Lawmakers in both parties are griping. And the independent commission reviewing the sweeping proposal has serious concerns about the impact of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s Air Guard plan.
A major question about that plan also remains unresolved just weeks before the commission’s September deadline to send its recommendations to President Bush, himself a stateside Vietnam-era pilot in the Texas Air National Guard: Does the law even allow the Pentagon to move Air Guard units without the consent of state governors, who through their adjutants general share authority over the units with the president?
“The Air Guard issue has become the long pole in the tent,” said Christopher Hellman, a base-closing expert at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation.
In May, Rumsfeld proposed shutting or consolidating 62 major U.S. military bases and hundreds of smaller facilities, prompting lawmakers and communities to feverishly lobby the commission to spare their hometown facilities.
Only a fraction of the $49 billion Rumsfeld says his plan will save over 20 years would come from the reorganization.
But the impact on the Air Guard would be dramatic.
With roughly 106,000 members, the Air Guard currently has units stationed at about 95 Air Force bases and separate Air Guard installations and on leased land at about 78 civilian spots, including local airports. The closest to Denver is at the Air Guard base in Cheyenne, which provides 79 jobs to the Wyoming capital.
Rumsfeld’s proposal would shift people, equipment and aircraft at 54 sites where Air Guard units are stationed. Half would grow, with the rest slated for closure or downsizing.
The Pentagon says the Air Guard changes are part of an overall effort to reshape the Air Force “into more effective fighting units” by consolidating a force that is now “fragmented into small, inefficient units.”
Lawmakers, states and commissioners worry about the potential impact of the Pentagon proposal on recruitment, retention and training, and question whether the Air Guard will be able to fulfill its homeland security mission.
