Alaska’s National Guard has now become almost a seamless part of the regular military in Alaska. That’s good for the regulars because it puts older, usually more experienced Guard members and reservists side-by-side with usually younger, less experienced regular soldiers and airmen, Lt. Gen. Stephen Hoog told a state legislative committee earlier this year.
National Guard personnel are blended with regular military at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) and the Clear ballistic missile radar station south of Fairbanks, Hoog said. The 213th Space Warning Squadron operates at Clear with about 100 Air Guard personnel. Among other jobs at Clear, Guard personnel monitor the radar, which is designed to detect hostile missile launches in space.
The meshing of Guard and regular Air Force at Clear is unprecedented in the military.
"At one point these people work for the governor, as Guardsmen, but when they walk across a line into their function at Clear they are working for the President," under the active military, Hoog said.
"No longer do we have Guard units operating side-by-side with regular military. Now they are blending, sharing the same aircraft and equipment. Our young officers are getting the benefit of their experience," he said. "We’ve been doing this for many years on military airlift missions, where the significant limiting factor is not the aircraft but the positioning of aircrews."
In 2011 about 40 percent of the C-17 flight missions from Alaska were flown with "blended" crews of regular Air Force and Air National Guard, he said.
The Total Force Integration concept is now moving to the fighter side, including with the F-22 Raptors based at JBER.
Some facilities are totally operated by the Guard, such as the missile interceptor launch facilities at Fort Greely, east of Fairbanks, which is operated by the 49th Missile Defense Battalion with 200 Alaska Army Guardsmen, and the 168th Wing at Eielson Air Force Base, the tanker refueling unit that is operated by the Alaska Air Guard.
The 168th operates nine KC-135 tankers out of Eielson.
Hoog said the concept of Total Force Integration, TFI, of Army and Air Guard and the reserve is all about building efficiency and effectiveness using all resources.
"We’ll be investing heavily in TFI over the next three to five years," the general said.
Alaska Adjutant Gen. Thomas Katkus appeared with Hoog at the legislative briefing and told lawmakers that the blending benefits the state in a number of important ways.
Access to advanced equipment for rescue and disaster relief are two big ones.
The 176th Wing is based at JBER, and was previously at Kulis Air National Guard Base. It provides emergency rescue service as well as tactical and strategic airlift capability.
For rescue, six HH-60 Pavehawk helicopters, which are capable of being refueled in the air, are available along with four HC-130s, which are tankers that do the aerial refueling of the Pavehawks, which are a version of the Army-operated Blackhawk helicopters that do not have aerial refueling capability.
For tactical airlift, the wing operates 12 C-130s and for strategic airlift, eight C-17s, which are managed by the regular Air Force but operated by aircrews that are mixed regular, reserve and Guard personnel.
For the helicopters in the state used in rescue, the primary mission is to support the regular military in the rescue of endangered airmen or soldiers from remote areas, but the same equipment is available and used often to rescue civilian Alaskans.
"For someone who is out there and who needs help, there’s no better sound than the prop-wash of an approaching Blackhawk," Katkus told the legislators.
The combination of the helicopters and the pararescue unit gives Alaska the world’s best remote rescue capability, Katkus said.
The helicopters and pararescue unit have been associated with saving 79 lives in Alaska in recent years, as well as 75 lives in Afghanistan under stressful conditions, usually enemy fire, Katkus said. "When it’s last-ditch, there’s no one better than our Alaska pararescue," group, he said.
The Army Guard still operates its Blackhawk helicopters. There are 20 Blackhawks "on the books" in Alaska, but 10 are being used overseas by active duty elements of the Army. There are still 10 Blackhawks in the state, however.
The newest development is the closer coordination of the U.S. Coast Guard and Alaska National Guard on rescues. One step to be taken soon step will be to have Coast Guard and National Guard personnel working together at one location.
"It’s the JBER model, and it works," Katkus said. This will come into sharper focus with the new emphasis on the Arctic.
Meanwhile, the Alaska Army National Guard still has its C-23 aircraft, the small Sherpas, which have supplied tactical air support, but the Army has decided to get out of the fixed-windg aircraft business, Katkus said.
The general wasn’t sure what service the Sherpas will provide.
"The way the Sherpas were used is very different than what the Air Force will be able to do with C-130s," he said.
The Army Guard has undergone a transition from its original Cold War-era "scout" mission, with infantry units scattered across the state, to a more developed "Battle Surveillance Brigade" function with units that are still lightly armed but are equipped with wheeled equipment and advanced communications.
"We are equipped to be highly effective in gathering intelligence," Katkus said.
The concept is for the Army Guard to be a "combat force multiplier" in support of regular units, he said.
The communications equipment now used by the Army Guard is a valuable asset for Alaska in disaster preparedness.
"We’re low on the horizon in much of the state with only limited access to satellite communications, but through the Guard the state has access to an incredible array of advanced communications," Katkus said.
Other support elements of the Guard include support units with mobile power generation and water purification and equipment.
"During a disaster having access to clean water is critical and our soldiers take great pride in being able to produce bottled water quickly, and in great quantities," the general said.
The aerial refueling tanker group based at Eielson Air Force Base east of Fairbanks plays an increasing important role in supporting the Air Force.
"The 168th has operated for 26 years and has never missed a mission. The unit is required to be ‘wheels up’ from the runway one hour after receiving a dispatch," Katkus said.
Tankers from Eielson regularly engage in refueling in many parts of the world, recently with C-17s ferrying U.S. Marines to Australia or units providing support in Libya.
"There’s no shortage of people asking for fuel. It’s a growth industry for us," Katkus said.
The KC-135s are aging but are kept in mint condition.
"They’re older than I am, but you’d never know it," the general said.
They will eventually be replaced. Boeing won the contract to build replacement tankers for the Air Force, but Katkus couldn’t say how replacements would be phased in.
The National Guard’s mission is continuing to change along with that of regular military forces in Alaska, but the Guard also makes a big economic contribution to the state.
The Air Guard had a total budget of $246.54 million in fiscal year 2011, which included $149.6 million for personnel. The Army Guard had a budget of $71.8 million, of which $23.5 million was for personnel.
