Governor Ed
Rendell wrote to Army Secretary Harvey and Army Chief of
Staff, General Schoomaker, on 14 Feb to object to plans to
replace six combat brigades. DoD issued its Quadrennial Defense Review
report on 6 Feb 06. The report indicates that the Army still
intends to reduce the number of combat brigades in the Army
National Guard from 34 to 28, a loss of six. The Army
intends to replace this combat capability with combat service
support units.
DoD has apparently begun to backtrack on its
original announced intention to reduce the force structure
allowance (FSA) of the Guard to 333,000.
On 2 February, Army Chief of Staff General Schoomaker and NGB
Vice Chief LTG Vaughn announced that the FSA would be kept at
348,000.On 18 Jan 06,
Army Secretary Francis Harvey announced that the Army was planning to
eliminate six combat brigades from the Army National Guard and cut authorized
troop strength (force structure allowance) by at least 17,000. Unspecified cuts are threatened on the Air Guard
side.
Governor Ed Rendell has written to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to object to
any cuts in the Army National Guard, and the Adjutant General has written to our
legislators and congressional delegation on this subject. Governor Rendell also
joined his fellow Governors in
writing to the President about this issue. U.S.
Senators Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum have joined nearly
three quarters of their colleagues in
writing to Secretary Rumsfeld.
NGAUS strongly opposes
restructuring the force structure of the Guard in any way that
would reduce its combat capabilities.
Every PNGAS member needs to take a stand to protect the force structure of the
Pennsylvania National Guard.
The reliance on the National Guard is at an all-time high.
Since 9/11, nearly all of the soldiers in the Pennsylvania Army
National Guard have supported the war on terror either at home
or abroad. Abroad, we have taken the fight to the terrorists in
Afghanistan and Iraq. At home, our soldiers have protected the
Commonwealth’s airports and nuclear power plants. Pennsylvania
is a safer place because of our citizen soldiers.
As a community-based force cuts would also impact the
economy. The Pennsylvania National Guard is the state’s six
largest employer. Each Guard member is worth $10,000 to his or
her community.
Some say the Army’s force cuts are driven by federal budget
shortfalls. Why then would the most cost effective force be
cut? For every active duty soldier you can have six members of
the National Guard at the ready. The Army can man and equip 9
National Guard combat brigades for the cost of a single active
Army brigade.
PNGAS urges all Pennsylvanians to oppose any cuts in the
National Guard. We are the Commonwealth’s and America's best
insurance policy.
A prime target for these cuts is reported to
be the heavy combat brigades of the Army National Guard.
Pennsylvania's 28th Keystone Division has two heavy combat
brigades, the 2nd Brigade headquartered in Washington, PA, with
units in the Western part of the Commonwealth and the 55th
Brigade, with headquarters in Scranton and units in Northeastern
Pennsylvania. Although the Army has not yet finally
identified the units to be cuts, there is a possibility that the 55th Brigade and other units of the
Pennsylvania National Guard may be cut. The possible
impacts of such cuts will touch many communities.
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