HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The three-prong role of the National Guard - including defending the nation, serving the homeland in times of emergency and building partnerships around the world - was celebrated during an annual Guard birthday breakfast hosted by the Redstone/Huntsville Chapter of the Association of U.S. Army, Dec. 13.
National Guard service members, retirees, local officials and Redstone leadership joined the AUSA chapter at Huntsville's Jackson Center to cut the birthday cake for the Guard's 382nd birthday.
Guest speaker Maj. Gen. Allen Harrell, assistant deputy commanding general for National Guard Affairs, Army Materiel Command, told the audience that there is now a heavier reliance on the Army to be ready and deployable to address the threat. The National Guard plays a vital role in the security of the nation that should not be overlooked, he said.
"The strength of today's National Guard has been built on the need to provide a citizen-Soldier base that augments - and often it the only provider of - operational capabilities needed by our active forces. It is easy to trace the evolution to today's National Guard and to define it by four different eras of modern warfare since the Vietnam War," Harrell said.
The first era, said Harrell, began in the 1970s, when draft referrals in support of the war in Vietnam made up the majority of the Guard's 402,000 Soldiers, many of whom had experienced low morale and did not meet Army standards.
"We were a demoralized fighting force, a military looking for new leaders, new direction and a more defined sense of purpose. Our problems and issues mirrored those in the active duty forces. They were complicated and eventually were addressed by the introduction of the all-volunteer force concept," Harrell said.
The 1980s brought the Reagan-era military buildup, which continued through the next decade. That was when the Army standard was adopted for both the active duty and Reserve Component and the Army values were introduced, Harrell said.
With the terrorist attacks of 9/11 came the increase in the entire force's operations tempo.
"The National Guard, like the active-duty component, was challenged by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the Guard, that meant building an operational force that was prepared for larger, longer and more predictable deployments," Harrell said.
The Army Force Generation model, introduced in the early 2000s, meant units could focus on manning, equipping and training to build readiness for a known mission, and they had about 18 months' notice prior to movement, Harrell said.
Annually, the Army National Guard would send an average of two brigades each through training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, or to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana.
"We've not really trained to deploy that many or at that size, probably since World War II," Harrell said.
Present-day National Guard 4.0, an initiative spoken about often by Lt. Gen. Timothy Kadavy, director of the Army National Guard, is based on changing needs and allows the Guard to respond quicker and more effectively to a variety of missions worldwide.
"NG 4.0 is an evolutionary leap, because our nation needs all three components - active military, Reserve and Guard - to be ready to go to war together. All three must be staffed, equipped and trained at sustainable levels. We need these capabilities to build upon each other," Harrell said.
Though it is primarily focused on the Guard's Armored and Stryker brigades, the initiative shortens the time between mobilizations, establishes a 39-day annual training requirement and emphasizes the importance of individual readiness at all times.
No matter what threats or actions are to come, the National Guard will continue to expand on its role in fighting the nation's wars, serve the homeland in times of emergency and build partnerships - both at home and abroad, Harrell said.
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