It’s appalling that since 2006 the ranks of the Petersburg Alaska Army National Guard (AANG) have dropped from 11 members to 2. Worse yet, as in Petersburg and Wrangell, the AANG facilities in many rural communities across the state sit empty. How did the leadership in the AANG allow this to happen?
Our report published last week, exposes some of the reasons, and possibly excuses, for this downturn. Budget cuts, higher recruiting standards and lack of recruiting effort all are a part of the reason. Why is Guard leadership allowing the 761st Military Police Battalion of the Guard in Southeast to decline from a deployed fighting force against the War on Terrorism in 2005-2006 to a deactivated unit in 2017?
The experience gained through the activation and deployment of this Battalion has now been squandered. Experienced leaders and fully trained troops are gone, equipment has been relocated and guard members are expected to travel elsewhere for drills and training and may have to pay for their own travel expenses.
There is near universal agreement from the Pentagon level down to in-state leadership that the National Guard is an extremely cost-effective and efficient investment of defense budget spending.
Air Force General Craig McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau said in a 2011 article, “The Guard makes up nearly half of the Army’s combat power and more than a third of that of the Air Force, for about 7 percent of the total defense budget.”
McKinley added, “With the proper disbursement of scarce defense dollars, the National Guard is an investment with a very high return.”
We fully believe the members of the small guard units across the state have paid the price, in part, when Alaska National Guard leadership became caught-up in the scandal that brought the resignations of the top officers in the Alaska National Guard. An investigation by The National Guard Bureau’s Office of Complex Investigations strongly criticized the Alaska National Guard leadership, saying the service mishandled sexual assault cases and widespread unethical behavior by officers.
Generals involved in unethical behavior weren’t telling Alaska’s Guard story and fighting for funds that could have slowed or stopped the precipitous decline in Guard presence in rural Alaska.
We hope it’s not too late. Brigadier General Laurie Hummel knows the frustration people are feeling across the state at the lack of Guard participation in rural areas. We hope she and the Governor can reverse the trend and bring the Guard back to its former place of prominence and prestige that includes adding service members in rural parts of the state.
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