Guard chief emphasizes communication, collaboration, coordination

  • Published
  • By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
  • National Guard Bureau
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  Communication, collaboration and coordination are the keys to navigating challenging times when it is hard to discern true north, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said May 27 here.

"The National Guard has evolved over the last eight years into a force ... that has been through the crucible of combat," Gen. Craig R. McKinley told students at the National Defense University in a lecture at Fort Lesley J. McNair.

General McKinley, who himself graduated from NDU in 1995, raised rhetorical questions for an audience of American and foreign military leaders who have been receiving joint military education and many of whom will go on to rise to top positions in their nation's armed forces.

"From the beginning of time in this nation as a republic, we've had to call on Citizen-Soldiers to augment our (regular) components," said General McKinley, who represents the 460,000 members of the Army and Air National Guard.

Pre-dating independence, the National Guard traces its roots to the First Muster of 1636. The Guard has played a role in all the nation's wars, including both World Wars, Korea and Vietnam, and current conflicts. At least two-thirds of current members of the Army National Guard have been deployed once or twice, the general said.

"We rely on citizens who have other jobs, do other things ... have other careers," he said.

The percentage of Guard members who have prior military service is declining, General McKinley said. "There's less prior service because when you transition to a National Guard ... unit, you will have the same tempo you had if you were on active duty. Maybe even worse, because you will try to establish your civilian career (too)."

Guard members sacrifice, he said. "You can sustain a (civilian) career, but in many cases you can't advance ... like you did during the Cold War.

"I throw out the premise that maybe this Reserve component that we've had for centuries, that we count on to sustain an active component; we may have to come up with a new model," General McKinley said. "Those of us in the (Pentagon) are struggling to find a solution for that."

In a time of spending constraints and changing defense paradigms, the general said he seeks to communicate, collaborate and coordinate with the leaders of the seven Reserve components: the Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force and Coast Guard Reserve and the Army and Air National Guard.

"All of us are going through the very same identity crisis, because we have changed the very nature of what a reservist or guardsman is," he said. "We have asked these people to be with us so much over the last eight years that, quite frankly, most people have left their ... civilian careers and are on extended active duty with the National Guard. That's not the nature of who we were."

During a recent visit to Afghanistan, the general said he saw in troops' eyes that, "People are tired. People are hurt, and they've been doing this now for longer than any contingency that we've been exposed to in our recent history."

Sometimes, Guard members make the ultimate sacrifice. General McKinley met with 17 family members of deceased Guard members in Indianapolis over the Memorial Day weekend.

He said the family members told him, "He or she died doing exactly what they wanted to do. I have no ill will to our government and bear no animosity toward you as a leader." The comments brought flowing tears from one of the senior leaders who was with the general during his visit.

Now is a time of questions for the National Guard, General McKinley said. Those include:
-- What is the National Guard's role? "How do we take a 17th century construct and make it work in the 21st century," he wondered. "Can a militia -- trained, properly equipped, well-led, well-educated -- survive in the 21st century? Can you have a military that relies on its mobilized Reserve for sustainment of a national strategy? I think that we are in that transition period ... of saying maybe we have passed through an era where
you trust on confronting an enemy up front with regular forces and then building and mobilizing the rest of the force."
-- What level of resources will the Guard have? There is "no more gold-plated defense in this country," General McKinley noted. "The era of unconstrained spending will come to an end." Nevertheless, the National Guard must be "well-equipped -- not necessarily top-line equipped -- but at least equipped well-enough to fight and integrate into a force."

The National Guard is in a unique position because of its dual role fulfilling domestic missions for the states and federal government and prosecuting the warfight overseas.

In addition to these questions, there is the issue of the very nature of service. 

"We look again at this all-volunteer, magnificent force that our nation relies on, and we say how long is it sustainable?" he said. "How long do the 460,000 people who I have influence over and can shape say, 'We stay with you. We continue to support and serve?' It gets get back to our basic (question) of whether our nation is a spectator nation watching those of us (in uniform) ... participate on the field of play ... or are we
all in this together?"

Less than 1 percent of Americans serve in uniform, General McKinley noted.