Air Guard director sees evolution of organization

National Guard, Nov 2002

At first glance, the Air National Guard of today bears little resemblance to the early militiamen renowned for their ability to pick up a musket at a moment's notice and defend the homeland.

But if you look deep inside the men and women who bear that burden at the onset of the 21st century, you'll find the same volunteer spirit and pride made famous at Concord and Lexington.

"Many of the folks who showed up in the first few hours after 9/11 were volunteers who were ready to contribute at a moment's notice," said Lt. Gen. Daniel James III, who became director of the Air National Guard in June.

At one point during the war on terrorism, the Air Guard had nearly 26,000 men and women on active duty-7,000 of them volunteers-- James said.

Especially busy over the last year have been the security forces, not only in the Air Guard but across the Total Air Force.

"We are looking at the situation," he said. "We are looking for long-term solutions, and we're asking those in leadership positions in security forces at both the major command and local levels to put their heads together and come up with some viable ways that we can relieve some of the stress."

A new Air Guard survey, said James, is one way to indicate stress levels caused by the current operations tempo.

"That will give us the data we need to make some really good, sound decisions about the ANG's involvement and how well we take care of our families and our employers," he said.