Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, addresses the 132nd general conference of the National Guard Association of the United States in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 21, 2010. "Maybe for the first time in our 364 years, we're more operational than we've ever been for a sustained period," he said. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

AUSTIN, Texas — Civilian and military leaders said here on Saturday that the National Guard is America’s solution in a time of constrained budgets, increased missions and the necessity of developing greater partnership capacity.

“The National Guard has repeatedly proven itself to be ready and a very accessible force,” Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, told about 5,400 people attending the 132nd general conference of the National Guard Association of the United States here this week.

“We validated the Total Force concept by showing that the men and women in our formations are ready to answer the call to be mobilized, to deploy overseas, to return home and then to become prepared to do it all over again,” he said.

“We … are facing a potentially momentous year,” Dennis McCarthy, the assistant secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs said. “There are going to be some decisions made this year that will have significant impact on the way the young men and women, who are wearing the uniform right now and those who will follow them are going to serve over the next couple of decades.”

Leaders sketched a picture of an environment in which budgets will be tight, the operational tempo will remain high and the Defense Department is looking for ways to boost partnership capacity worldwide.

“We’ve got challenging times ahead,” McKinley said.

All agreed on three key points: The National Guard has reached a peak of excellence since a transformation that began, arguably, with Desert Storm/Desert Shield and certainly since the 9/11 attacks.

Although senior level discussions and a dozen studies are underway about the future of the Guard and Reserve, no one wants to see it return to the Cold War-era strategic reserve.

And the National Guard is a key part of America’s solution to changing times. “We are one of the most efficient, effective organizations in our nation today,” McKinley said.

Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Army Gen. William "Kip" Ward, commander, U.S. Africa Command, meet with National Guard adutant generals and Defense Department leaders at the 2010 National Guard State Partnership Program Conference at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, on Aug. 11, 2010. The 62-nation SPP is a superb tool for Africa Command, the combatant commander has said. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

STUTTGART, Germany — National Guard adjutants general and Defense Department leaders here this week are hearing how the Guard’s 17-year-old State Partnership Program is boosting the partnership capacity of one of the nation’s newest combatant commands.

“The benefits … are many and impressive,” Army Gen. William “Kip” Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said in his 2010 posture statement.

Adjutants general whose states are partnered with countries within AFRICOM’s 53-nation area of responsibility and leaders including Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Dennis McCarthy, assistant secretary of defense for Reserve Affairs, are here for the 2010 State Partnership Program Conference hosted by AFRICOM. Ward is scheduled to speak to the group today.

The SPP started with European Command partners in 1993 following the collapse of the Iron Curtain. EUCOM spawned AFRICOM in 2007, and there are now eight National Guard states partnered with African nations.

State partnerships foster military-to-military, military-to-civilian and civilian-to-civilian cooperation.

“The [SPP] delivers programs and activities that build broad capabilities with our African partners,” Ward said. “The habitual relationships this builds adds tremendous value to our efforts. This program is very valuable to [AFRICOM], and we look forward to expanding it as our African partners request greater participation.”

A delegation of Jordanian military religious leaders tours the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 2010. The tour was part of an exchange involving chaplains and imams to improve mutual understanding of religious diversity between Jordan and its National Guard State Partnership Program partner, Colorado. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON – When Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley was in Jordan last October furthering the National Guard’s State Partnership Program, he was offered an intriguing proposal.

An exchange was proposed that would involve chaplains and imams between Jordan and its National Guard SPP partner since 2004, Colorado. The purpose was to improve their mutual understanding of religious diversity.

The idea bore fruit earlier this month when Colorado and National Guard Bureau chaplains hosted Jordanian military religious leaders here in Washington and in Colorado.

Among them was Brig. Gen. (Chaplain) Talal Mohammad Ali Rabab’h, head of the Islamic law department at Prince Hassan College for Islamic Disciplines on the military campus of Mu’tah University in Karak, Jordan.

“My role is to teach Islamic values and application to our military personnel to ensure they are being good Muslims and good Soldiers,” Ali Rabab’h said, speaking through a Guard Bureau translator. “The role of the Muslim chaplains within the military is to perform daily and routine religious rituals inside the unit and when the need arises, to participate in burial ceremonies, to strengthen Soldiers’ ethics, to strengthen military discipline … and tot each them to protect the civilians.”

An Israeli officer briefs Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, from an observation post overlooking the Gaza strip near the Israeli city of Sderot on May 25, 2010. A National Guard delegation is visiting the country to strengthen a relationship with the Israeli Defense Force's Home Front Command and to observe National Level Exercise Turning Point 4. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

SDEROT, Israel — A four-year relationship between the National Guard and the Israeli Defense Force’s Home Front Command is yielding valuable lessons for both sides.

The National Guard is on an endless quest to improve homeland defense in the United States. Circumstances have forced the IDF to be a world leader in homeland defense, as National Guard leaders saw firsthand during a visit to this town overlooking the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the IDF seeks insights on issues such as border operations – something the National Guard has more than two decades of experience with, supporting civilian authorities on the nation’s Southwest border, most notably during Operation Jump Start from 2006-2008.

“Our relationship with Israel is a critical one that is stronger than ever,” Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said Tuesday as he toured Sderot’s civil defense measures. “We greatly value this cooperation. Our exchange of ideas and information with the Home Front Command is of substantial benefit to the National Guard in exercising its responsibilities for homeland defense.”

Although there are significant structural and legal differences, the IDF is broadly analogous to the Army and the HFC is analogous to the National Guard.

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON – The National Guard must remain community-based, maintain proficiency, modernize proportionally with the active component and communicate, collaborate and coordinate with other military and government agencies.

Those are some of Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley’s bottom-line messages in the 2011 National Guard Posture Statement released last week.

“The Guard must remain a community-based organization with a clear understanding of its dual role: to serve abroad in support of our national defense; and to serve the governors and people of the states, territories and the District of Columbia to which they belong,” the chief of the National Guard Bureau writes in the statement.

“The National Guard must remain an operational force, indeed a strategic force, and must be resourced as such, so we can assist the Army and Air Force as much as possible,” McKinley writes.

Late winter and early spring is a season of posture statements for the armed forces here in the nation’s capital, where the leaders of military institutions provide congressionally required written testimony outlining the state of their commands and their needs for Congress to consider as it reviews the president’s budget.

"We all come from this legacy," Gen. William E. Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, told attendees at the USEUCOM Adjutants General State Partnership Program Conference in Germany in 2007. Ward said that the only way he can tell the difference between a National Guard Citizen-Soldier and an active Army Soldier in combat zones is by the state patch Guardmembers wear on their left shoulder. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Guard’s State Partnership Program is a superb tool for Africa Command, the combatant commander told a congressional committee on Tuesday.

“The benefits … are many and impressive,” Army Gen. William E. Ward said in his 2010 posture statement presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The SPP started in 1993 following the collapse of the Iron Curtain with European Command partners. EUCOM spawned AFRICOM in 2007, and there are now eight National Guard states partnered with African nations.

State partnerships foster military-to-military, military-to-civilian and civilian-to-civilian cooperation.

“The [SPP] delivers programs and activities that build broad capabilities with our African partners,” Ward told the committee. “The habitual relationships this builds adds tremendous value to our efforts. This program is very valuable to [AFRICOM], and we look forward to expanding it as our African partners request greater participation.”

Ward’s area of responsibility is 3.5 times the size of the continental United States. Africa includes 53 countries that are home to a billion people who speak 1,000 languages, and its population growth rate is the world’s highest.

Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, receives an update on the African nation of Senegal at 17th Air Force at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on June 17, 2009. Vermont is paired with Senegal in the National Guard's State Partnership Program. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

GERMANY — In June 2009, the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard sat in a wood-paneled brie!ng room at Ramstein Air Force Base for an update on the African nation of Senegal.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie was making office calls with staff at U.S. Air Forces in Europe and 17th Air Force.

For 14 years, the Vermont National Guard has been in the National Guard’s State Partnership Program with the Balkan nation of Macedonia, part of the former Yugoslavia, and now Vermont also is partnered with Senegal.

USAFE’s area of responsibility includes Macedonia, and 17th Air Force supports U.S. Africa Command, which includes Senegal.

Adjutant generals are increasingly looking to Africa as the National Guard’s 16-year-old, 62-nation State Partnership Program expands.

Seven nations in Africa Command’s purview have partnerships and two more are on the horizon. The seven include: California and Nigeria, New York and South Africa, North Carolina and Botswana, North Dakota and Ghana, Utah and Morocco, Vermont and Senegal and  Wyoming and Tunisia.

Partnerships with Liberia and Kenya are expected to be announced in the coming months, Guard officials said.

Adjutant generals view office calls like the one Dubie made as mandatory stops as they pursue SPP activities with their partner nations. The National Guard is one part of a larger team bent on improving partnership capacity.

Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, right, chief of the National Guard Bureau, confers with Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig McKinley, director of the Air National Guard, during the National Guard Association of the United States’ General Conference in Albuquerque, N.M. Blum told the group that the Guard’s domestic resources need to be significantly improved. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The National Guard’s domestic equipment levels must be significantly improved, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said here Sept. 16.

“We are superbly equipped overseas,” Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum told the 128th National Guard Association of the United States General Conference. “The soldiers want for nothing as far as equipment in the combat zone, and that’s the way it should be.”

But the domestic picture is less rosy. “We are now in a dangerously low resourcing level for missions back here at home, and that must be seriously addressed,” Blum said.

Talking to about 2,500 National Guard officers and others attending the conference, the general used the analogy of a small-town fire department that needs people, training and equipment to fight fires. Americans would not tolerate inadequately equipped fire departments, he said.

“Nobody would accept that from their fire department in any hometown in America, and we should not allow that to be accepted in any (National Guard) armory or readiness center,” he said. “The American people are not going to be happy with a response from the National Guard that has not been fully equipped for the mission it has been assigned.”

The comments were the one note of warning during Blum’s hour-long “State of the Guard” address that highlighted five years of extraordinary change.