into joint operations, and number three, repairing units broken by the previous base closure and realignment process and recent programing changes. in conclusion, mr. chairman, thank you. i'm grateful to be here, and i look forward to answering any questions that you and the committee may have for me. thank you very much, sir. >> thank you very much, gentlemen. gentlemen ingram? >> chairman inouye, ranking member cochran, members of the subcommittee, it's an month nor to be with you today representing the 358,000 citizen soldiers of the air national guard. the patriotism and sacrifice of these soldiers, their families and their employers is a source of great pride for all americans. we're now the best manned, best led, best trained, best equipped, and most experienced force in our 357-year history. and it's congressional support for the army national guard that has contributed to our transformation and enhanced our readiness.

as a result, the army national guard is a ready and reliable force, fully accessible for contingencies both at home and abroad. we provide equipped, trained soldiers, giving the president and the governors maximum flexibility in times of crisis. we're an operational force and a full partner with the active army. since september 11th, 2001, the army national guard has completed over a half million soldier mobilizations in support of domestic operations in overseas missions. we currently have 29,000 army national guard soldiers mobilized. last year in fy-'11, 45,000 army national guardsmen were deployed in support of ongoing missions around the world. as an operational force, the army national guard provides a cost-effective solution to meet

the new strategic guidance. for 12.43% of the army's budget, the army national guard provides 39% of the army's operating forces. our soldiers represent nearly every zip code in the nation. they play a vital role as the department of defense first responder for natural disasters and terrorist attacks on our soil. today's army national guard soldiers continue the pride tradition of service to their states and to our nation. in 2011 alone, it was the citizen soldiers who provided 900,000 duty days of support across our nation. that's the second largest domestic response since 9/11. since hurricane katrina. we are attracting skilled soldiers and future leaders. with the nation at war as a backdrop, our year to date

enlistment rate for fy-'12 is in excess of 95%. but our retention rate exceeds 130%. so we are meeting our authorized in-strength of 358,000. the army national guard is equipping to meet 21st century challenges through your support of the necessary resourcing for modernization. our 28 brigade combat teams that includes one stryker brigade, our aviation brigades and our two special forces groups well equipped. we understand our readiness level, however, is dependent on the level of resourcing that we receive. the overall army national guard equipment on hand for our deployable units is currently at 88%. an increase over two years ago

when we were at 85%. our critical dual use equipment on hand is at 92%, an increase from 86% two years ago. and a significant increase from the 65% it was during hurricane katrina. from december 2011 through june 2013, the army national guard is programmed to receive over 120,000 pieces of equipment from army procurement funding. army national guard armories are actually the foundation of our readiness. we have facilities in 2899 communities across the 50 states, the territories and the district. providing quality facilities, however, is an ongoing challenge. more than 46% of our armories are over 50 years old. many are unable to meet the needs of the 21st century

operational force, while failing to meet modern building standards, and especially in terms of energy efficiency. the army national guard continues to make suicide prevention a top priority. our soldiers are our most precious resource. we are addressing high-risk behaviors and suicidal tendencies through preventative measures, comprehensive training, and a range of intervention programs. in addition, we're addressing sexual harassment and assault response and prevention through an aggressive training program executed at the state level. it's crucial that these behavioral health programs receive funding in our base budget. in closing, i acknowledge the continued support that you have demonstrated through the budget process in program planning for an operational national guard through 2015. i want to express the army national guard's sincere appreciation of the critical role your committee plays in

resourcing and sustaining the most capable national guard that our nation has ever had. i appreciate the privilege of being here and invite your questions. >> thank you very much, general ingram. general mckinley and general wyatt. as i indicated in my opening remarks, this past march, the air force announced structure changes and end strength reductions. and the greatest reductions were in the air guard. 5100 billets lost. my question is were you involved in reaching this final decision? were you consulted? what was your involvement? >> senator, i think i'll let bud talk to the tactical process by which the air force works its corporate process. and traditionally in the national guard, the two

directors have been totally involved with their services in how the budgets are built and how they're briefed. i will tell you that as chief, i was involved in the final deliberations discussions in the december time frame at which time i expressed certainly our corporate view on behalf of the adjtants general, on the outcome that the air force was pursuing. and then following the holidays, a number of meetings with both secretary panetta, chairman dempsey, general schwartz, and secretary donnelly to continue to work out the end game strategies. i think you've had general schwartz and secretary donnelly here to talk about their overall views of the size of the air force, that it's the smallest air force in history. recapitalization is a major issue for our air force. and as general wyatt will tell you, and i'm sure general stener will tell you, that our air

force and its strength cascades to its reserve component, both air national guard and the air force reserve. so i'll let general wyatt cover the corporate process that you're alluding to with your question, and then take any follow-up questions you may have about our involvement. >> general wyatt? >> mr. chairman, the air force decision-making process as we put together budgets is commonly referred to as the air force corporate process. and it has several different steps along the way, beginning at the action officer, going up through the one star, two star level, which is the board level. the council level is three star. and recommendations are presented to the chief and the secretary at the four star level. i was able to participate. my staff was able to participate all along the way. we were encouraged to make our inputs, and we did so. in fact, we exercised that encouragement rather

vociferously inside the process. we did present alternatives to the air force, alternatives to the 13 pb as it officially came out. i think general schwartz has accurately described the process when he said that there were very difficult decisions for the air force to make. he encouraged open debate. i engaged openly in that debate and made my inputs. but in the end, the final decision is left to the chief and the secretary. and many of the recommendations and alternatives that we proposed were not adopted. but we respect the difficult decisions that the chief and the secretary had to make. and once those decisions are made as title 10 officers, we need to recognize that fact and salute and proceed forward. >> but you were able to make an input? >> we made several inputs, sir. several alternatives, different ways of meeting the budget and

the operational demands of the air force, some of which were accepted. a lot of which were not. >> thank you very much. general ingram, during calendar year 2011, we would have been advised that 98 guardsmen took their own lives. can you tell us is happening? >> chairman, any soldier that -- or any person that takes their own life is a tragic experience. in the case of the army national guard, we're citizen soldiers, and i don't have the exact statistics of how many of the soldiers in the army national guard that committed suicide. had never deployed, but there

were quite a few. i'm not sure whether the citizen or the soldier committed suicide. in some cases, and we do a very thorough after action look at each case, and in those cases, we take steps to prevent that from happening again. we use that in our training. we use -- and we've increased the level of training in suicide prevention. but it's an american problem as well as an army problem as well as an army national guard problem. and we're going to great lengths to prevent our soldiers either having suicidal tendencies or actually committing the act. >> thank you very much. may i call upon senator kaufman.

>> mr. chairman, thank you. general mckinley, the air force's restructure plan suggests that reductions in air guard, in personnel, and in aircraft ought to be undertaken. you describe in your testimony the enhanced use of guard forces that would provide capability in overseas missions. looking at our recent experience in libya, there were air force personnel and aircraft involved in the no-fly zone strategy. tell us what your impressions were of those who were engaged in that operation, what changes, if any need to be made in terms of support for funding of different activities or equipment, acquisition in light of those experiences.

>> you rightfully point out, senator cochran, that the air force is uniquely positioned to utilize its reserve component effectively and efficiently. for the entire period of time that i've been in the national guard, there has always been a close personal relationship between our active force and its guard and its reserve. that led to the capability that general wyatt may want to discuss a little bit more intimately involved in the tanker mission and the mission that supported the no-fly zone in libya. to rapidly get volunteers in our communities who are associated with the requirement out of their civilian jobs to their units in a voluntary status so we didn't need to mobilize, and we got them overseas in record time, and they participated in the full unified protector mission, as you allude to. and that's been a tradition. it's been a core competency of our air force, its relationship with its guard and reserve for the last four decades. so i'm very proud of that.

i don't think our air force can survive without the close cooperation and collaboration of its reserve component. i've heard both secretary donnelly and general schwartz make those comments in public. i'll let general wyatt talk about the numbers, types of equipment that actually deployed, how quickly they deployed, and how effectively they were used by the nato command in the successful prosecution of the libyan operation. >> general wyatt? >> senator cochran, i mentioned a little bit about the time frame of the response early on. i will tell you especially in the refueling portion of odyssey dawn, it was a joint effort with the active component, the guard and the reserve. the guard and reserve actually had over 50% of the refueling capability in theater. the expeditionary wing was commanded by an air guardsman

out of pennsylvania. the integration of the three components in the air force i think is a model, primarily because we're trained to the same standards. we use the same equipment. that's the way we fight. that's the way we train and fight. as we go forward in the future, i think the key for the air force to maintain the capacity and capability and continue reliance upon the reserve component guard and reserve is a couple of things. number one is the guard and reserve have to be fielded to the new equipment at the same time with the current active component in representative numbers so that we can continue to be an operational force that can be called upon on a moment's notice. i would remind everyone that there was no mobilization authority available for odyssey dawn for the libya no-fly zone. 100% of the guardsmen and reservists that showed up for that engagement were volunteers. the key, besides new equipment,

fielded concurrently and in a balanced fashion, proportional fashion across the reserve components. the other key is in the baseline budget of the air force, there has to be sufficient mpa days to allow the operational use of the guard and the reserve. as an organized training equipped organization, i believe general stenner would back me up on this, the air force adequately funds us to be able to train and equip. but to be able to use us in operational missions around the world, they need sufficient mpa days so we can be available on a moment's call. >> does the dollar amount requested for this committee's approval meet those requirements? >> yes, sir, i think it does. in pb 13 for the title 10 fight. i'm a little bit concerned when i take a look at some of the

domestic requirements for the air national guard. there is, you know, some pressure. so obviously as the air force tries to do its part in reducing the deficit, i think the key is that as we go forward and we look at the number of required mpa days that would allow the air guard and the reserve to continue functioning, that we take a no kidding look at what are the requirements, what interest demands that the cocomms are telling us would be forward and what would be adequately budgeted for that rather than pick an arbitrary number and try to cut. >> general ingram, camp shelby, mississippi at hattiesburg has been a site for army guardsmen reservists, others to mobilize and be deployed to areas of need. what is your impression of the funding requests for that

facility if there is money in there for any activities and programs there? and what needs exist that should be brought to our attention if they're not requested? >> senator cochran, camp shelby has been a very viable force projection platform for most of the war fight. there has been some improvements that have been made there. the army funds those improvements out of the base budget. and as we continue down the road, i think the appropriate needs will be met by the army budget for camp shelby and several other predominantly army national guard camps and stations that are used as power projection platforms. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

>> thank you. senator alexander? >> thanks, mr. chairman. thank you for being here. i want to ask about the announcement in february about replacing the c-5as with c-17s, which was part of the comprehensive reorganization of air force resources. the house defense authorization bill includes a provision that would put that restructuring plan on hold for a year. so i understand. and i want to try to understand from you, general wyatt, if i can, what the consequences of that are. specifically, the idea as you went through these difficult budget decisions was to replace the c 5as which are expensive to maintain and which aren't mission ready much of the time

with c-17s. the idea would be that would save a lot of money and produce a more efficient operation. now what does -- what happens to the -- this one-year delay do? what does it do in terms of the cost of maintenance, for example? in terms of the c-580s that you know you're going to get rid of? what does it do for the schedule of retraining personnel? what does it do to the guard is' mission rates? >> sir, those are great questions that we're wreg ling with right now. the transition at memphis out of the c-5s and c-17s was an fy 12 action that is supposed to have began, but it continues into

fy-13. it requires training, dollars to be spend to make the conversion. the reason -- and i applaud that move because it brings the air national guard more into the relevant aircraft of the future. it's something we've been pushing for for a long time. >> we're going to get rid of them, right? >> yes, sir, we are. >> why delay it a year? >> i hope we don't. that particular movement is one of the things that i think is in the best interest of the country, and certainly the air force and air national guard that we continue with that part of it. if the prohibition is to spend fy-13 funds on fy-12 actions that need to be completed in fy-13, then the dilemma is as expressed. it would mean what is the cost

of maintaining them? is there appropriations in the 13 cr to do so, if that's where we're going? and it does cause us some uncertainty as we go forward. >> so when the dollars are short or tight, and many of your recommendations weren't able to be accepted, but you're saluting them, maybe we need a title ten salute in the united states senate. we might get things done a little more quickly than we did. so you're going to have to spend money maintaining planes that you know you're going to get rid of. when you could be spending it on retraining guard personnel. you could be spending it on other aspects of mission readiness. is that not correct? >> yes, sir. the situation at memphis is exactly as you have described it. that's one of the inputs in the air force corporate process that the air national guard made that was accepted by the united states air force? and i applauded that because it made a lot of sense.

still does make a lot of sense. but the dilemma that we're in now is how do you make that transition that we start this year in ny-12 with the prohibitions on spending moneys in '13 to complete the actions. >> i hope as we move through the process and we're trying to respect you're stewardship of scarce dollars that we see what that delay would do is really waste money, or take money for planes that we know we're going to get rid of to maintain them. and money that request be used in other places. in the same light, in national the guard is preparing for a new unmanned aerial vehicle mission, which i understand the air force needs for that facility to assume. now how will this one-year delay affect the capabilities in the time line from moving them into nashville? >> very similar situation. again, this was an fy-12 action

that is beginning. part of it involves the movement of c130s from puerto rico to the air national guard, which is losing c10e. so there's a ripple effect that we're facing. i have to applaud the general, general for tennessee. very forward looking volunteered early onto transition into the rpa mission, which we see as a sunrise mission in the air national guard. one that will be around and keep the tennessee air guard relevant well into the future. but we face the same challenges there. we need to continue down the path of transition. delays do make the transition a little bit smoother. a little bit more difficult. and costly. >> and costly. >> and costly. you know. the cost of maintaining those

air would move to puerto rico. if we're required on the e models, then we could have the expense that we would not normally have. >> i don't have much time left. if i could ask the general. towards the end of president bush's administration, national guardsmen were deployed to assist with immigration issues. you made a slight reference to that. i wonder if you can tell me how successful that was. whether that is still going on in terms of the border control activities. i think it was in support of the -- those whose job it is to secure the border. >> senator, you are correct. it's in spor of the customs and border patrol. that mission has changed slightly. this year that mission changed from 1200 people to 300 people.

and it moved from a grand mission to an aerial mission where we're using 300 soldiers flying 19 helicopters and one fixed wing aircraft along with analysts on the ground that help interpret the data for the border patrol from the information it's gained from the aircraft. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator kotz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. just want to follow up on senator alexander's question. relative to the a-10. really a similar situation here where a decision has been made to retire a certain model of aircraft, and replace it with others. i know there have been negotiations going on. between the guard and the air force. and then referencing the action that the house recently took to

delay all this for a year. if you could apply that now back down to the a-10 situation. what is the -- what is the status of those negotiations? is this a done deal? is it a financial decision has been made? is there more consideration to be undertaken? >> very similar situation to tennessee. significantly different input from the air national guard. our input in the corporate process was to suggest alternative ways to meet the emer emerging strategy with a 10s. as you know play a crucial role in close air support, iraq an afghanistan. we have air guard a 10s in theater right now as we speak. but some of those suggestions

were not accepted by the air force as we went forward. alternative missions were proposed for the unit at ft. wayne, indiana, and those are included in pb-13. the status of the negotiations between the council of governors and secretary panetta i think have concluded. although at any point in time the secretary has the prerogative with the counselor of governors at dialogue to reengage. my understanding is the counsel of governors have respectfully declined the offer of secretary panetta to reach a compromise. so we're waiting to see what happens. with pb-13. but in the meantime, as i

indicated, we need to start moving towards at least taking a look at implementing it as it has been proposed. unless we're told something different by congress. >> again to follow on senator alexander's question. but the house pass becomes law, what do you anticipate the status of current a-10 fleets being? are they going to be hanger queens and just sit there in the cost of maintenance? but no mission for them? just waiting out the year. what is your take? >> if that happens we hope there would be sufficient funds to continue operating. they're already trained. they've rendered great support to the operation in iraq and afghanistan. and our intention would be to continue with the training and keeping that operational for as long as possible. we may have to dial back or dial