Air National Guard adds C-130s to 144th Airlift Squadron

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Karima Turner
  • Army Alaska National Guard PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  As more than 20 Alaska National Guardsmen looked on, the first of four new iron birds coming to Alaska touched down on the blacktop here at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, March 24.

As part of the 2005 Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) the Alaska Air National Guard's 144th Airlift Squadron received the first of four C-130 Hercules aircraft from the Tennessee National Guard.

According to Lt. Col. Rich Adams, the 144th Airlift Squadron Commander his unit must receive four C-130s by September due to BRAC law.

"We are going from an eight aircraft squadron to a 12 aircraft squadron, but from the Air National Guard perspective, the squadron formation isn't changing," Adams said.
 
"We aren't changing our manning at all, what we are getting is an associate unit.

This means the active-duty Air Force is going to bring in about 12 crews of personnel, plus some command staff as part of the total force initiative."

Adams explained, while the Alaska Air National Guard will own the aircraft, part of the total force initiative is to allow the active-duty to access some of the "iron."

"The active-duty will work with the Pacific Air Forces air mobility division so they can task the tails, and we'll come up with an agreement on how many aircraft they can task at one time," Adams said.
 
"What they use them for, whether it's the long range radar sites here in Alaska or to fly in the desert in a deployed status or in the Pacific Command area of responsibility will be up to the active-duty."

Adams said that on a day-to-day basis, the 144th Airlift Squadron will be able to fly about 50 percent more missions, which will give his Airmen more opportunities.

"More hours flown will give our Airmen opportunities to get on different flights and provide a little more flexibility to our traditional Guardsmen.

We are about 80-percent traditional force; we have postmen, teachers, airline pilots, etc., so it gives them more opportunities to fly during the week and be involved in missions too."

Another total force opportunity, with the addition of these four C-130's, is deploying the 144th Airlift Squadron with the new active-duty associate unit, the 537th Airlift Squadron.

"The possibility of deploying together is still something we're working out," Adams said.
 
"They are going to be doing their assumption of command on the 29th of April, so the 537th Airlift Squadron will stand up and be at initial operational capability sometime this fall and full operational capability sometime within 18-months to two years from now.
 
We are deploying to Afghanistan this summer, so not this deployment, but potentially future deployments we'll all deploy together."

While the 144th Airlift Squadron will own the aircraft, the arrangement of having an associate active-duty unit will be beneficial to both sides.

"I think it's a really exciting opportunity for the Guard," Adams said.

"Flying together with the active-duty will provide the Guard the opportunity to fly on new missions and exercises and gives America a little more iron in the fight."