Defense officials announced last week that , Alaska ‘s , Air National Guard , may be continuously free from staffing changes that local officials said would have devastated the department’s key businesses.
” It’s a huge win for , Alaska”, said Sen.  , Dan Sullivan , in an interview Monday.
For months, all three members of , Alaska ‘s , congressional delegation have been aggressively lobbying the , National Guard Bureau , to postpone or scrap an initiative known as” Fulltime Leveling”, which would have reclassified the job categories for about 80 members of the state ‘s , Air National Guard , beginning on , Oct. 1.
” In numerous sessions, calls and letters, the , Alaska , congressional delegation strongly pressed Guard officials to exempt , Alaska , from the planned breaks, highlighting the many unique operations of the , Alaska , ( Air National Guard ) that are critically important to , U. S.  , homeland defense, including missile warning, aerial refueling, and combat rescue”, said a statement released by the committee.
The original order, announced at the start of the time, is intended to more evenly workers all 54 of the land ‘s , National Guard , products. The program fundamentally changes the way states are allocated two distinct categories of full-time staff. On one side are Effective Guard Reserve, or AGR, positions, which are similar to active work airmen or soldiers in the normal defense, and can be deployed for both state and federal missions, get it a natural disaster or a national security threat.  , Alaska , has a higher share of such AGR positions within its , National Guard , than most other state Guard units because of the unusual mission set guardsmen are attached to, including search and rescue operations, around-the-clock radar monitoring, and aircraft refueling.
Dual Status Technicians, federal civilian employees who are like full-time hourly employees and need more administrative procedures to switch between federal or state orders, are on the other side. According to local officials, the job category is not well matched with many of the staffing requirements for the Guard’s work in , Alaska, in part because so many operations demand that employees maintain a 24-hour alert status.
The Alaska National Guard, which had been warned the change would degrade the force to the point of mission failure in a matter of months, heard alarm bells about the proposed swap of 80 AGR positions for 88 technicians.
” They want a more equitable distribution between the states”, Sullivan said. ” Our whole point was: You do n’t have an equitable mission”.
In April, the , National Guard Bureau , announced a one-year pause on implementing the leveling program in , Alaska.
Now, that pause appears permanent.
” The , AK ANG , must be fully’ excepted’ from the ( Fulltime Leveling ) initiative”, wrote Maj.  , Gen. Duke A. Pirak, acting director for the , Air National Guard , in an , Aug. 20 , letter addressed to Sullivan.
The Alaska National Guard ‘s , manning document, which lays out positions allotted to the unit, will not change in the upcoming fiscal year, but replicate the same number of AGRs assigned to , Alaska , as is currently on the books.
Pirak wrote that the Guard reached its conclusions in part after a two-day May visit to , Alaska , that was part of an analysis of potential impacts.
According to Pirak,” The report concludes that the AK ANG performs four missions that are above requirements that are incompatible with Dual Status Technician ( DST ) resources.”
Many in the Guard claimed that the change would result in pay cuts so severe that they would not be able to stay at their jobs. Not only would this cause organizational encumbrance, but many in the Guard also claimed that it would result in pay cuts so severe that they would not be able to stay at their jobs. In a February meeting, several members told Sen.  , Lisa Murkowski , the proposed changes would devastate their family finances and force them to look for other work. Guard leaders warned that dozens of departures by highly skilled career airmen would have a number of negative effects, preventing everything from ballistic missile monitoring to civilian search and rescue operations.
In March, according to Sullivan’s office, Pirak was tapped to take over at the head of the , Air National Guard, a role that requires a promotion to the rank of lieutenant general. Both senators added funding and provisions to the National Defense Authorization Act and the Defense Appropriation Bill over the summer, which would increase the number of members of the Air National Guard, something Guard leaders have been requesting for years. According to Sullivan, he and Democratic Sen.  , Jeanne Shaheen , of , New Hampshire , were able to add a total of 649 additional AGR positions to the NDAA for the upcoming fiscal year.
An argument for the , Alaska Air Guard ‘s , close integration into the Armed Forces was also made for them in July, when , U. S.  , and Canadian jet fighters scrambled to intercept Chinese and Russian military bombers flying in the international airspace off of , Alaska ‘s , coast. According to Sullivan, the aircraft had to be refueled several times by tankers flown by the Alaska Air Guard in order to travel that far.
And then came the arm-twisting.
At the beginning of August, Sullivan moved to block Pirak’s promotion “until , Alaska , is granted an exemption from the ( Fulltime Leveling ) initiative”, according to a statement from Sullivan’s office.
” I use those very strategically”, Sullivan said of placing holds on promotions.
Alaska ‘s , indefinite exemption from the leveling initiative was greeted favorably by Maj.  , Gen. Torrence Saxe, who helms the force.
” The , National Guard Bureau ‘s , decision to exempt , Alaska , from their fulltime leveling initiative and reinstate 80 fulltime positions ensures the , Alaska Air National Guard ‘s , continued support of , Alaska ‘s , operational missions”, Saxe said in a brief statement.
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( c ) 2024 the Alaska Dispatch News
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