Resourcing the Army National Guard for its Domestic and Federal Missions

<p>The National Guard is an integral part of the military's operational force deployed around the world and a first responder in case of a catastrophic disaster in the United States. The use of the Army National Guard has been evolving over the last decade but for many of those years it has lacked modern equipment to conduct its federal and domestic missions. The September 11 2001 attacks initiated the transformation of the Army National Guard for the 21st century. This paper explores the complexity of defining the National Guard's domestic and federal missions. Furthermore it provides the background of equipment shortages found throughout the National Guard. The research reveals how the Army Force Generation model provides predictability for guardsmen about their potential deployment schedule; however the model does not take into account the Army National Guard's domestic mission. The way forward for the Army National Guard to improve its execution of federal and domestic mission is the integration of dual-use equipment. This addition of dual-use equipment sets would increase the readiness posture of the Army National Guard. Finally this paper provides recommendations on the future readiness of the Army National Guard to execute its dual missions. The National Guard's dual missions need to be refined clearly to articulate roles and responsibilities because there are several interpretations as what an Operational Force should be and how it should be resourced. In addition the difficulty for the Army National Guard to delineate between Homeland Defense Homeland Security and support to Civil Authorities missions is complicated. Therefore resourcing the Army National Guard to execute these missions will strengthen our nation's defenses at home and abroad.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>