Posted on 04/29/2014 6:17:17 AM PDT by SandRat
They train to the same standards as their active duty counterparts and cost 60 percent less to maintain. Yet after years of defending freedom in Afghanistan, Arizona’s Citizen-Soldiers are being told they are unworthy of operating the Army’s premier attack helicopter.
Army leaders recently revealed a plan to take away all 192 National Guard AH-64D Apache attack helicopters — 24 of which are assigned to Arizona — asserting that Guardsmen aren’t as ready to perform attack aviation missions as the active duty. That claim is inaccurate and statistically unproven.
Adding insult, proponents of the Army’s plan say the Guard can’t be trusted with the demands of an Apache mission and that Guard units were tasked with “less complex missions” upon arrival to the combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fact: the 403 Arizona Guardsmen assigned to the 1-285th Attack/Reconnaissance Battalion at Silverbell Army Heliport in Marana flew the full-spectrum of combat operations and fought valiantly in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008. They also supported two company-sized deployments to Afghanistan in 2012 and 2013. Our Guardsmen flew the same missions as active duty units. On one rotation they provided the sole Apache capability for an entire region of the country. They did this with a flawless safety record.
The surprise so-called “cost-cutting” move actually imposes a great fiscal and moral expense. In a fair discussion about cost savings, the National Guard — the most cost-effective component of the Army — should see an increased role in national defense. Instead, amid historic budget challenges and without discussion or compelling reason, the Army intends to gut the National Guard by removing these Apaches and reducing the Arizona Army National Guard by about 800 soldiers.
This is no small cut. It means one of every five Arizona Army National Guardsmen will be told their services are no longer needed. It’s not just about jobs. These are your neighbors, friends and co-workers — men and women who have sworn to defend the constitutions of the United States and Arizona and are willing to protect their communities, respond to state emergencies, help secure the border and place themselves in harm’s way when called.
As a nation, now is not the time to walk away from the investment made in the Guard as an operational force since Sept. 11, 2001. If Apaches are completely divested from the Guard, we forever lose the invaluable training and experience that our Soldiers have earned. We also lose the best option for retaining valuable skills. When Apache crews and maintainers leave active duty in the future, there will be nowhere in the Guard for them to continue their service and remain available when the nation needs them.
That is why I’m proud to join Gov. Jan Brewer, the Council of Governors, and the adjutants general of 54 states and territories to request an independent commission to study the Total Army’s force structure before drastic and potentially harmful cuts are made.
It’s up to Congress now. Arizonans should contact their elected representatives in Washington and encourage them to support H.R. 3930, the bill that would address this aircraft grab and create a commission to study solutions that retain capability in a fiscally responsible way.
The framers of the U.S. Constitution, wary of large standing armies, gave Congress the power to raise and support armies as they were needed. They were referring to the colonial militia; the predecessor to today’s National Guard. What they believed holds true today, that a well regulated and armed militia is necessary to the security of a free state.
For this reason when I’m asked why the Arizona National Guard needs Apaches, my answer is, “For the same reasons the U.S. Army does.”
MAJ. GEN. MICHAEL T. McGUIRE is the Adjutant General for Arizona and concurrently serves as the Director of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. He is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of Arizona’s Army and Air National Guard, Joint Programs, and the Division of Emergency Management. He leads an 8,000-member department, of which 2,400 are full-time Federal military and civilian personnel, and 600 are full-time State employees.
NOT “shortsighted”.
NOT IN THE LEAST.
They fear the choppers will be used against the BLM thuggocracy is all.
Andyk, I think you may correct, but in the wrong order. ISTM that Zero and 0bamunists want, first and foremost, to neutralize any potential response mechanisms from the ‘people’ to their nefarious plans to secure the socialist agenda.
The fact that they can cloak it with ‘saving taxpayer money’ is just an added benefit, even if it’s wrong.
Obama and his cretins fear the National Guard.
End game maneuver.
ALL of the first five posts are correct, therefore “all of the above.”
Yep....they don’t want state-controlled NGs using advanced weapons systems against their federal goons.
MG McGuire is putting on his political partisan hat on to write this article. It simply is misleading and untrue. Everything that he says about the performance of Guard Apache battalions is correct, but his slams on the Army are not and illustrates why it is so important to keep politics out of the military.
The budget cuts are real. Obama and Hagan are cutting to the bone and the Army is taking the brunt of it. Army aviation is a expensive element of the force and the cuts mean that the Army cannot support the numbers and types of aircraft that they currently have. They’ve made a tough decision to eliminate the OH-58D fleet since they don’t have the money to maintain this aging aircraft and can’t afford a replacement. The solution is not a good one, but the only one realistically available - replace the scout helicopters in the active force with Apaches from the Guard.
MG McGuire is a political animal, all State Adjutants General are as they are political appointees. What is he doing in political circles to fight Obama’s defense policy?
It’s not just Arizona. They’re taking Tennessee’s, too.
MG McGuire is putting on his political partisan hat on to write this article. It simply is misleading and untrue. Everything that he says about the performance of Guard Apache battalions is correct, but his slams on the Army are not and illustrates why it is so important to keep politics out of the military.
The budget cuts are real. Obama and Hagan are cutting to the bone and the Army is taking the brunt of it. Army aviation is a expensive element of the force and the cuts mean that the Army cannot support the numbers and types of aircraft that they currently have. They’ve made a tough decision to eliminate the OH-58D fleet since they don’t have the money to maintain this aging aircraft and can’t afford a replacement. The solution is not a good one, but the only one realistically available - replace the scout helicopters in the active force with Apaches from the Guard.
MG McGuire is a political animal, all State Adjutants General are as they are political appointees. What is he doing in political circles to fight Obama’s defense policy?
Part of the plan to make sure that States will have a National Guard that will not be able to avoid King Obama’s army to overthrow into dictatorship. It is coming, you can bet on that. Wonder how it feel when some of the billions rounds of hollow point feel when patriot arms get torn off.
What the gubmint is doing is removing the lethal equipment from the hands of "Arizona’s Citizen-Soldiers". Two reason; Arizonans are unlikely to use that equipment against other Arizonans, and they can't then be used defensively against Regular Army or other military or paramilitary units who might come a-callin'.
There is going to be a referendum on the 10th Amendment. It will be violent. It will not be televised.
As such, why would you leave a bunch of attack helicopters with trained pilots when you know you are going to be locking the place down pretty soon.
When the IRS buys millions of rounds of ammunition, and it isn’t wadcutters, then you know its going to be bad.
Time for states to buy their own.
I thought the army was retiring the small attack OH-58 or was on the cutting block under bam bam. Hence the army needs the guard Apache’s to fly. I do wonder when a state will start its own militia with full equipment an loyal structure to the state.
Think about how cool that would be. I would pay extra state tax for that!
This is not about money but about fear.
The Federal Government does not want States having this power.
they don’t want states’ forces tochave attack helis if cwii/rwii starts.
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