Air Guard Rescue Unit Practices Skills during Exercise

the 212th Rescue Squadron (212 RS) of the Alaska Air National Guard arrived on-scene, the apartment complex was a jumble of broken concrete and unstable support beams. An aftershock from an 8.5 magnitude earthquake the day earlier had collapsed the structure, large slabs had crushed cars, and some

Alaska Hosts VIGILANT GUARD Exercise this Week

Members of the Alaska National Guard have been joined by 50 other state and federal organizations to take part in VIGILANT GUARD, a disaster-based training scenario that tests the coordination of these disaster preparedness organizations."We are testing an unbelievable amount of effort and

Guard Kids are Different, but Programs Still Available to Them

Guard kids differ from active duty kids in only one way: access. Access to support programs and access to peers who understand what they are going through.Everything else is the same: missing their parents terribly when they deploy, counting the days until they come home, and trying to keep their

Guard Readies as Gulf Coast Braces for Oil Spill

At least three states along the Gulf of Mexico are preparing for a potential call for thousands of National Guard members as the nation ramps up its response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill today.Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal sent letters to federal officials asking them to approve funding to

McCarthy: Guard, Reserve Want to be Operational

Today's reserve component members do not want to go back to the old "one-weekend-a-month, two-weeks-during-the-year" paradigm, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs told the House Armed Services Committee today."Everyone in the reserve component today makes a conscious choice to

Medlite-10 a success

Members of the 153d Airlift Wing (153 AW) returned April 22 from a joint exercise known as Medlite-10 at Kharrouba Air Base, Tunisia.The 153d Medical Group was joined by other members of the 153 AW including civil engineers, security forces, emergency management, flight equipment and public affairs.

Air Guard civil engineers benefit from improvements

Frequent mobilizations are still challenging the Air National Guard's civil engineers, but the planning, training and support for them has improved dramatically, Guard officials said here today."One of the big things as far as getting more Airmen acceptable of deploying is the mobilization portion,"

Air Guard's security forces at the top of their game

Air National Guard security forces are at the top of their game, their top officer said here April 21. "We're better equipped, better trained, better [tasked] then we have ever been," said Col. John Wakefield at a conference of nearly 400 ANG security forces personnel.Thousands of them have deployed

New F-16s arrive at the 148th Fighter Wing

The first wave of F-16C Block 50 Fighting Falcon aircraft arrived at the 148th Fighter Wing (148 FW) today, Tuesday, April 27.The F-16s will be transferred from the 22d Fighter Squadron, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The conversion from the wing's current F-16 Block 25 to the new Block 50 aircraft

Block 50 F-16 Fighting Falcons arrive at 148th Fighter Wing