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Top Guard officer joins Joint Chiefs of Staff

 

Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Jan 4, 2012 10:43:26 EST

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The National Guard Bureau’s top officer is now a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A provision in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law Dec. 31 by President Obama, adds the Guard leader to the nation’s highest military advisory group.

As of Tuesday, the biography of the current chief of the Guard, Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, was on the Joint Chiefs website, alongside bios for the other military service chiefs.

The addition of the top Guard officer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been hailed by Guard historians as the “most significant development” since the Militia Act of 1903 codified the modern day dual-status structure of the Guard, according to a statement from the Guard Bureau.

“We are grateful for the efforts the executive and legislative bodies have gone to in placing the chief of the National Guard Bureau on the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” McKinley said in a statement. “We look forward to working alongside the other Joint Chiefs to provide our nation’s senior leaders with a fuller picture of the non-federalized National Guard as it serves in support of homeland defense and civil support missions.”

The Joint Chiefs of Staff advises the president on national security matters.

Its members voiced firm opposition during a hearing on Capitol Hill in November as lawmakers pushed to create a seat for the Guard.

Before the authorization act was passed and signed into law, the Joint Chiefs was made up of the four service chiefs — the Army chief of staff, Air Force chief of staff, chief of naval operations and Marine Corps commandant — and a chairman and vice chairman appointed by the president.

During the Nov. 10 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the six four-star generals voiced opposition to the proposal, saying it would create needless confusion and reduce their authority.

“There is no compelling military need for this change,” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said at the time.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also opposed the measure, telling reporters in October that membership on the Joint Chiefs should “be reserved for those who have direct command and direct budgets that deal with the military.”

Traditionally, the Guard chief attended Joint Chiefs of Staff meetings but was not a voting member. However, “voting” is not a central role for the Joint Chiefs, which typically seeks to reach consensus and make unanimous recommendations.

Other provisions in the 2012 authorization act affecting the Guard include re-establishing the position of a three-star vice chief of the Guard Bureau, and rescinding the two-star position of director of the National Guard Bureau’s joint staff. The bill also requires that Guard generals be considered for command of Army North and Air Force North.

 

 

 
 

HEROS REMEMBERED

You're a 19 year old kid.  You're critically wounded and dying in  The jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam ..  It's November 11, 1967.  LZ (landing zone) X-ray.  Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the  MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.  You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.  Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again.  As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.  Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.  You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.  Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.  He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.  Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come.He's coming anyway.  And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.  Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.  And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!  Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.  He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.  Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho  May God Bless and Rest His Soul.


 

Public outraged over Air Force dumping of remains
By Joseph Neese 
 (RNN) - The Air Force acknowledged Thursday that the incinerated partial remains of 274 
American soldiers were secretly dumped in a Virginia landfill between 2003 and 2008.
"It is certainly not the way we would have done it looking back," Lt. Gen. Darrell Jones, 
deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, said to reporters at an
afternoon news conference.
Public outrage ran wild across social media websites after the Washington Post 
first broke the story Dec. 7.  
"Whether it is bodies or ashes is immaterial," Roy Pierce wrote on KCBD's Facebook page.
"They are human remains and deserve [a] decent burial. People, particularly soldiers that served their country, should never be thrown out with the trash."
Speaking from the Pentagon, Jones said the remains belonged to soldiers whose family 
members had already reached emotional closure after their loved one's death, and
had made the "tough decision" to sign forms saying they did not wish to know if additional body parts were discovered.
The families were promised an "appropriate disposition," according to Jones. Portions
of soldiers' bodies, most often pieces of soft tissue or bone fragments, were cremated at the Dover Mortuary. Those ashes were then incinerated.
Any residual materials were then turned over to a private contractor and disposed of
according to "common industry practice at the time," Jones said.
While the practice was common, according to the Pentagon, there was no contractual
stipulation that the remains be placed in the landfill.  
Jones said the Air Force ended the practice in 2008, thanks to an internal review made 
by the mortuary's leadership.
"The Air Force stepped in and said there is a better way to do this," Jones said.
Cremated remains are now placed in sea-salt urns, whose solemn retirement at sea 
are coordinated by the U.S. Navy. The first retirement of 14 urns took place on one
naval ship in 2011.
According to the Post, Air Force officials had no plans to notify the soldiers' families 
as to how their loved ones' remains were buried. Jones said that plan stands
because to notify the families now would go against their wishes.
"They have closure," he said. "To open up that wound would be cruel."
Although a 24-hour hotline has been set up for family members who may have 
concerns about Dover Mortuary, Jones said none of the 274 families has yet to
come forward.
"It causes us great pain to think we have brought suffering to a family," Jones said.
The Pentagon is willing to apologize to any family who comes forward, and will 
tell them "absolutely everything" they know, according to Jones.
The Post also revealed Thursday that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was aware
of the practice and "comfortable with the way the Air Force has handled this," 
according to its source, Navy Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.
The public, however, is outraged. 
"This is one of the worst things I have ever heard," Ashley Felde wrote on KOLD's 
Facebook page. "I'm beyond disgusted."
Several recommended that the responsible parties be forced to visit each 
soldier's family to explain their actions. Others called for legal repercussions.
"They should be prosecuted. This is a crime," Shari McMahon wrote on WLOX's 
Facebook page.
Another WLOX reader proposed his own solution to honor the bodies of the fallen. 
"I think the government should buy the landfill and turn it into a national 
memorial/monument honoring those buried (disposed of) there," Jeff Gatton said.
Copyright 2011 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. 
 

 
 

Congratulations to the Hawaii All State Marching Band 2011!!!

 

 


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     The objectives of the HNGEA is to promote and advance the status, welfare and professionalism of the enlisted members of the Hawaii Army and Air National Guard, to further the interests of the Hawaii National Guard, and to promote and maintain adequate national security.