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U.s. Army National Guard

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Given constrained funding and the requirements of short-term national military objectives and longer term operations, the Army should balance the Total Force as follows: first, decrease the Active Component deployments and increase the Reserve Component, specifically the National Guard. Second, assign National Guard units to specific regions and/or missions so that their training can be focused on these conflicts. And third, increase the use of National Guard units to reduce active component use particularly for low-intensity conflict and short term missions.

Background:

Throughout the course of the United States, the Army National Guard (and to some extent, the United States Army Reserve) has been a bedrock of support to both the President, Congress, and the Governors of the fifty-four states and territories. During times of national emergency, civil upheaval, natural disasters, and most recently, during times of war, the National Guard has been counted on to fill capability gaps that exist in the Active Components ranks. In addition, the National Guard had the additional mission of being at the call of the Governors should they choose to utilize that resource, a claim the Active Component cannot make (strictly by law). As such, the National Guard should continue to be utilized as both a resource for governors to use during times of crisis and, perhaps more importantly, should continue to be used, funded, and trained as an operational reserve as well. During this

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