Move to merge Air Force, Guard units derailed by base closures.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: NATIONAL GUARD

The politics of base closures threaten to unravel an elaborate plan to integrate Air Force and Air National Guard units.

Military officials have hailed the effort as a logical step toward creating a "total force" that benefits from the strengths of all its components.

The move also would allow the Air Force to trim its active-duty ranks by 10,000 and employ as many members of the Guard in non-traditional jobs, such as operating unmanned aircraft and satellites.

But the Defense Department's base-closure recommendations, which would strip the Guard of nearly one-third of its airbases, have so angered state governors and members of Congress that all parties likely will have to go back to the negotiating table, officials say.

During the past nine months, Air Force and Air Guard leaders have been thrashing out the details of a "Future Total Force" that would create up to 20 "associate" units made up of both active-duty and Guard members.

The initiative should be viewed in the context of broader changes underway in the U.S. military, says Air Force Brig. Gen. Allison Hickey, assistant deputy director of strategic planning.

An anticipated drawdown in the Air Force--particularly in fighter jet wings--will require adjustments both in the active-duty ranks and the Guard, she says in an interview.

The Air Force will lose about 650 aircraft--10 percent of its inventory--and 10,000 of its 359,000 active-duty airmen during the next decade. One consequence of fewer aircraft will be an oversupply of pilots, many of whom could continue to serve in other non-flying occupations, Hickey says. Because the Guard will not lose any of its 106,000 members, about 10,000 guardsmen could be retrained and take over jobs that currently are viewed as more relevant in fighting terrorism, such as intelligence analysts and information systems operators.

In anticipation of declining budgets, the Air Force also is looking to share more of its equipment with the Guard, both in overseas deployments and homeland defense missions. Further, the "associate" units would allow the Air Force to assign experienced Guard pilots to train novice active-duty aviators, Hickey says.

Supporters of the total-force concept recognize that legal restrictions would impede mergers of units, since the Guard operates under a different chain of command that reports to the state governors. Some degree of "legislative relief" would be needed, for example, to let experienced Guard pilots permanently take...