State National Guards to combine headquarters

  • Published
  • By Kathleen T. Rhem
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON --  Each state National Guard will combine its top three headquarters into one "joint force headquarters," said Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, the head of the National Guard Bureau.

There are 162 headquarters units in the 54 state and territory National Guard entities and by Oct. 1, 108 of these will no longer exist, said the general in a Pentagon briefing. He shared these plans with the state adjutants general at a meeting May 18.

Each state, the District of Columbia and other territories currently have a statewide National Guard headquarters in addition to separate Army and Air Guard headquarters.

"That is just too excessive, and it's not in keeping with the direction the Department of Defense needs to go to deal with emerging realities and the way we will fight in the future." Blum said. "We fight jointly, (so) we need to train and operate on a daily basis in a joint environment so we can make that transition (to active duty) very quickly."

The general plans to put resources saved in this consolidation toward shortages in operational units.

The general said the National Guard's symbol is the Revolutionary War minuteman.

"The minuteman is to symbolize the transition from a citizen to a soldier in minutes," he said.

Currently, 147,000 National Guardsmen are deployed in 44 different countries.

"The National Guard must transform for future threats and current realities," Blum said. "The world will not sit still, so the National Guard cannot sit still. We must adjust to those realities and those new and emerging threats."

Real transformation does not mean updating weapons and equipment.

"Most real transformation happens right here," he said, pointing to his forehead. "It's about how you think. And we need to change the way we think."

In other Guard news, the 32 existing Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams are assisting state governors and local first responders every day, Blum said. The Defense Department will soon announce plans for forming and training at least one such team in each state and territory, he said.

National Guard retention and recruiting rates appear to be highest in units that have deployed recently, he said. Blum attributed this to the feeling of satisfaction service members feel when they believe they are contributing to their nation's security.

"The people that are coming in want to serve," he said. "They want to serve their country in a meaningful manner, and by and large that's what they're doing."