Support Senate Bill 2295 and Keep the Apaches in the Guard!
Protect the Guard ? Protect the Nation & Save Billions Annually!
The Aviation Restructure Initiative (ARI) proposed by Active Duty (AD) plans to move ALL Guard Apaches to AD, and decimates the Total Force, "One Team, One Fight" concept. It changes the mission of the National Guard (NG) to almost exclusively Domestic Operations and select overseas missions; a fundamental shift from the first charter of the Guard. The Guard has 2 roles:
1. First & foremost is to provide an operational & ready reserve to defend the Nation; to supplement the AD in any mission or conflict, anywhere in the world; to defend against enemies ? both foreign and domestic.
2. To assist the State when requested by the Governor.
In a recent presentation by Deputy SECDEF Fox*, many allegations were made that are simply not true. The NG performs just as well, and often, better than AD. Please lend your support to Senate Bill 2295, which calls for a halt to the Guard Apache transfers to AD and a freeze on reducing the current force structure of the NG, allowing time for an independent study so that all facts can be considered and an informed decision made. But the ARI is only part of the problem... under proposed plans, EVERY State is at risk ? loss of NG soldiers, jobs, revenue, & assets that provide a ready and viable resource to your State.
There are 3 key factors that give the NG a definitive advantage over AD: continuity in personnel, diversity of experience, and year upon year of aviation experience well above the AD. So even if AD attempts to regularly train their personnel, their turnover rate is so much higher that this training is lost as aviators and mechanics either leave, retire or join the Guard. For quantifiable proof that the NG is better trained than AD, compare accident ratios. In the last 5 years, AD has crashed well over a dozen Apaches due to ?pilot error.? In the same time frame, the NG has had no Class A Apache accidents due to "pilot error." At $30 million an Apache, this is a staggering loss by AD ? close to half a billion dollars!
Is the nation willing to dismantle all NG Apache units and throw away over 1/3 of the Apache aviators & maintainers who are the most experienced across the Army? Especially considering the fact that these units are 42% the cost of AD and don?t rely on costly contract maintenance? The Army would actually INCREASE its vulnerability by doing so. It will take a generation to train a replacement force for this loss of this experience. It takes time to develop aviators, mechanics, & leaders? and this time is money already spent.
Act now! Learn the facts ? visit: http://www.savetheguard.weebly.com ? the site offers factual counterpoints to many of the half-truisms and myths being presented by AD. *A copy of the .ppt brief by Deputy SECDEF Fox, and the counterpoints to each allegation, can be found on the site.
1. First & foremost is to provide an operational & ready reserve to defend the Nation; to supplement the AD in any mission or conflict, anywhere in the world; to defend against enemies ? both foreign and domestic.
2. To assist the State when requested by the Governor.
In a recent presentation by Deputy SECDEF Fox*, many allegations were made that are simply not true. The NG performs just as well, and often, better than AD. Please lend your support to Senate Bill 2295, which calls for a halt to the Guard Apache transfers to AD and a freeze on reducing the current force structure of the NG, allowing time for an independent study so that all facts can be considered and an informed decision made. But the ARI is only part of the problem... under proposed plans, EVERY State is at risk ? loss of NG soldiers, jobs, revenue, & assets that provide a ready and viable resource to your State.
There are 3 key factors that give the NG a definitive advantage over AD: continuity in personnel, diversity of experience, and year upon year of aviation experience well above the AD. So even if AD attempts to regularly train their personnel, their turnover rate is so much higher that this training is lost as aviators and mechanics either leave, retire or join the Guard. For quantifiable proof that the NG is better trained than AD, compare accident ratios. In the last 5 years, AD has crashed well over a dozen Apaches due to ?pilot error.? In the same time frame, the NG has had no Class A Apache accidents due to "pilot error." At $30 million an Apache, this is a staggering loss by AD ? close to half a billion dollars!
Is the nation willing to dismantle all NG Apache units and throw away over 1/3 of the Apache aviators & maintainers who are the most experienced across the Army? Especially considering the fact that these units are 42% the cost of AD and don?t rely on costly contract maintenance? The Army would actually INCREASE its vulnerability by doing so. It will take a generation to train a replacement force for this loss of this experience. It takes time to develop aviators, mechanics, & leaders? and this time is money already spent.
Act now! Learn the facts ? visit: http://www.savetheguard.weebly.com ? the site offers factual counterpoints to many of the half-truisms and myths being presented by AD. *A copy of the .ppt brief by Deputy SECDEF Fox, and the counterpoints to each allegation, can be found on the site.
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