The National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Frank Grass said the question of how to best balance active and reserve components in a budget-constrained force of the future needs to be a “serious topic” of discussion in the Quadrennial Defense Review, as it was only briefly discussed in the recent Strategic Choices and Management Review that outlined options for implementing budget cuts.
Speaking at a Sept. 12 breakfast hosted by the Association of the United States Army, Grass said that the National Guard must remain “indispensable, resourced and an operational force.”
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| National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Frank Grass. Photo courtesy Defense Department |
Even before the across-the-board sequestration cuts, the military faced some hard choices about how to balance the active and reserve components, Grass said, with the Budget Control Act (BCA) passed in 2011 cutting down Army and Air Force force structure. He said he was working closely with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh to finalize a plan for a new, smaller force.
“I think we’re really close with the Air Force right now coming up with a BCA [program objective memorandum] structure for the future,” he said. “Gen. Welsh has been incredibly supportive, anywhere he’s had to take structure out of the Guard, we may lose some numbers, but he’s mitigated it with another platform.”
National Guard Bureau spokeswoman Rose Richeson said Sept. 13 that the Air Force’s Total Force Task Force has briefed Air Force and Air National Guard leadership on its recommendations, which involve continuing to rely on the reserve component as an operational reserve rather than a strategic reserve.
“The team is in the process of transitioning to do more analysis, consider suggestions of stakeholders and executing on some of the agreed upon recommendations to optimize the structure of the future force,” Richeson said.
Working out a plan for the Army National Guard has been tougher, Grass said.
“Gen. Odierno is under a tough fight. [Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation ]says you only need 40-some, 40-plus brigades, and that includes our brigades,” Grass said, which U.S. Northern Command leadership has estimated could be 10 to 12 brigades for a major event. “He believes we need 52 brigades. I believe he’s right, that’s how I feel.”
National Guard Bureau spokeswoman Air Force Maj. Shannon Thomas said Sept. 13 that National Guard leadership is in constant contact with Army leadership and state governors and adjutants general as they work out the details of the drawdown.
“We’re really working hard to try to find a number that the Army Guard and the Army can come together and go together to the Secretary and say, here’s how we’re paying the bills, here’s how we think the structure of the Army ought to look like,” Grass said.
Given that salary and benefits are taking up an increasingly large portion of the Defense Department, Grass proposed that the reserve component be considered in QDR talks as a cheaper way to house certain capabilities.