The Star-Ledger January 8, 2003
N.J. Army Guardsmen to protect air bases
BY WAYNE WOOLLEY Star-Ledger Staff
Nearly 150 New Jersey Army National Guardsmen will be mobilized this month for a one-year mission to provide security at Air Force installations across the United States, the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs announced yesterday.
Members of the Fifth Squadron of the 117th Cavalry are part of a contingent of 9,000 Guardsmen from around the country ordered to relieve Air National Guard and Reserve members who have been guarding 163 installations since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The New Jersey soldiers are based at armories in Dover, West Orange, Vineland and Woodstown. The troops will report Saturday for a week of pre-mobilization training and screening, said Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
The call to duty stems from a landmark agreement between the Army and Air Force to share the burden of protecting the installations, which in the past had been the domain of the Air Force alone.
"It's a significant change from the way we've done things in the past," Army Lt. Col. Dennis Devery of the state National Guard said in an interview before New Jersey officials learned which units will be mobilized.
In announcing the agreement last month, Pentagon officials noted that many of the Air Force security forces patrolling the bases are now in their second year of active duty -- and beginning a second year away from their families and civilian jobs.
The Pentagon wants to allocate its resources among its active and reserve components more efficiently and minimize the drain placed on the Guard and Reserve -- especially with the prospect of widespread mobilizations for war with Iraq looming as a possibility.
"This is an indication that they are serious about this," Devery said. "You had a situation where some guys are now activated for a second straight year and other units have not been activated at all."
In addition to guarding domestic air bases, members of the Air Force security forces -- including members of the Air Guard and Reserve -- have been deployed overseas.
"It's not so much a matter of them being stretched thin, but a lot of them are getting tired," said Patrick Garrett, an associate with GlobalSecurity.org, a nonprofit military intelligence and space research organization in Alexandria, Va.
Garrett said the Army National Guard has a surplus of combat units capable of missions such as securing air bases.
For more than a year, an undisclosed number of New Jersey Army National Guard troops have been guarding the Salem and Oyster Creek nuclear power plants. The mobilization orders for that mission came from Gov. James E. McGreevey.
The latest call-up for security at the Air Force installations will be under federal orders, Niedt said.
All 450 members of the 117th Cavalry will report to their home armories Saturday and spend the next five days undergoing training and medical screening at Fort Dix before returning to their armories.
After they return, the unit's commander will select 150 members for deployment to Air Force bases.
Niedt said it is not yet known how quickly members of the unit will be deployed.
It's also unclear whether the troops will be dispatched to New Jersey's two main air bases -- McGuire in Burlington County and Pomona in Atlantic County -- or if they will be sent to another state.
Air National Guard and Reserve officials in New Jersey say they have gotten word that they will get relief from the Army troops, but they too say it's unclear whether they will come from New Jersey or another state.
But they say they welcome the help.
Maj. Denise Waggoner, a public affairs officer for the 108th Air National Guard Refueling Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, expects a seamless transition when the Army troops come to the base.
"The Army Guard is uniquely trained for this kind of operation," she said. "Why not use their capability?"
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