Posted on 03/08/2012 4:27:33 AM PST by equaviator
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin has scheduled a March 20 hearing of his Senate Armed Services Committee to scrutinize Air Force plans to cut Air National Guard troops across the nation, including a one-third reduction of military personnel at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
An Air Force report concludes that eliminating Selfridge’s 24 A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft while adding four KC135 air refueling tankers would cost the Harrison Township base 720 jobs. But the Michigan National Guard said errors in the Air Force count puts the true number at 561, compared to an overall troop force at Selfridge of 1,586.
In a rare move, Maj. Gen. Gregory Vadnais, commander of the Michigan National Guard, blasted the Air Force’s decision when it was initially announced last month. In a speech at Selfridge, Vadnais said that the Air National Guard can accomplish the Defense Department’s air defense needs at a far cheaper price than the Air Force’s full-time airmen.
In combination with Pentagon cuts planned for the National Guard base in Battle Creek, the state would lose 652 military personnel.
"I have told the Air Force and the Air National Guard to provide me with the methodology and justification for these plans," said Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee.
The senator said his committee at the March 20 session will hear from Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz and that he will "question them on their proposals.”
U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, has emerged as the most outspoken opponent of
"I believe it is a step in the wrong direction," Miller said. "I believe the cuts disproportionately hit the Air National Guard, specifically the Michigan Air Guard, and these cuts fly in the face of the (Obama) administration's commitment to ‘shared sacrifice.’"
Schwartz told the Associated Press that the reorganization will help the Air Force maintain its mission while adhering to budget cuts mandated by Congress.
"We made a deliberate decision to avoid a 'hollow force' by prioritizing readiness over force structure," Schwartz said. "A smaller, ready force is preferable to a larger force that is ill-prepared because it lacks adequate resources."
Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the junior senator from Michigan, called the planned changes "deeply concerning."
"The proposal is most troubling for Michigan's military families, potentially putting hundreds of our men and women in uniform out of work," she said. "This plan must face strict examination and no part of it should be implemented before considering the families and communities that would be impacted."
President Barack Obama's proposed Defense Department budget would reduce the Air Force by 3,900 active duty, 5,100 Air National Guard and 900 Air Force Reserve personnel to a staffing level of 501,000.
Overall, the Pentagon must cut nearly $500 billion over 10 years due to a congressional budget-cutting agreement that followed the 2011 failure of a House-Senate “supercommittee” to make $1 trillion in reductions throughout the entire federal budget.
But the National Guard cuts have hit a buzzsaw of bipartisan opposition across the nation.
At the recent National Governors Association meeting in Washington, 49 of the 50 members signed a resolution opposing the cutbacks. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has pledged to fight the Air Force plan, as has Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and the two state House members who represent the area around Selfridge – Republican Reps. Anthony Forlini and Andrea LaFontaine.
In addition, 54 Adjutant Generals – state or territorial commanders of the National Guard -- sent a letter to the Pentagon objecting to the cutbacks.
Miller, whose husband, Don, is a former Selfridge base commander, called the Pentagon plan “incomprehensible” because it’s not a cost-effective means of reducing the Air Force budget.
“The Air Guard is much more cost effective than the regular Air Force and at no loss in capability. As a result the taxpayers get huge bang for the buck from the Air Guard. In particular, the Michigan Air Guard has performed brilliantly when called to action across the globe and regularly helps to defend our homeland,” the lawmaker said.
“… The symbol of the National Guard is the Minuteman because the Guard was born of the citizen militias that secured our freedom in our revolution. It is up to members of Congress, not only in Michigan but across the nation, to now hear the minuteman call and step up to defend the National Guard.”
Who needs any National Guard eanneewaay??
Barry has made our world SO MUCH SAFER, after all..........
Komrade Karl Levin, doing something for the constituents that elected him? Must be an election year...
The *Gutting of America’s Military* continues, unabated...
I wonder what his brother Mark thinks of this?
(I'm kidding, Great One, I'm kidding!)
They might have to stop their steak lunch which is excellent.
Well there you go...Let's enlist every unemployed person into the military...That'll solve the unemployment problem...
“They might have to stop their steak lunch which is excellent.”
Are they in the “Entertainment” coupon booklet?
Last time I was there was just after the 1992 Selfridge Airshow and Diamond Jubilee Celebration.
Without going into too much detail, it was an extremely eventful day in June of that year.
You would think Levin would try to get in a position where he is consulted PRIOR to announcements such as this. Oh, wait. Levin is chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Never mind, this is just for public consumption.
Appearances sake seems to be at the fore of their agenda.
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