Alaska Air National Guard Exempt From Staffing Directive

Alaska's Air National Guard will be exempt from staffing changes announced earlier this year by the federal agency responsible for the administration of the country's state-based military force.

The National Guard Bureau's initial directive adjusts how states are allotted two different categories of full-time employees in National Guard units.

Alaska Public Media reported the directive was intended to standardize pay and benefits across the country. Members of the Alaska Air National Guard, though, said they likely would be forced to quit because it would result in cuts to their paychecks.

Alaska's U.S. congressional delegation had been aggressively lobbying the National Guard Bureau to postpone or scrap an initiative known as "Fulltime Leveling," which would have reclassified the job categories for about 80 members of the state's Air National Guard beginning on Oct. 1, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

"In numerous meetings, calls and letters, the Alaska congressional delegation strongly pressed Guard leaders to exempt Alaska from the planned cuts, highlighting the many unique missions of the Alaska (Air National Guard) that are critically important to U.S. homeland defense, including missile warning, aerial refueling, and combat rescue," said a statement released Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Rep. Mary Sattler Peltola, D-Alaska.

National Guard employees are divided into two groups: Active Guard Reserve (AGR) and Dual Status Technicians (DST).

AGRs, equivalent to active duty airmen or soldiers in the regular military, can be deployed for both state and federal missions, including natural disasters and national security threats.

DSTs are federal civilian employees who require more administrative procedures to switch between federal or state orders.

Alaska has a higher share of AGR positions than most other state National Guard units because of the unusual mission set guardsmen are attached to, including search and rescue operations, around-the-clock radar monitoring, and aircraft refueling, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

In Alaska, 80 AGR positions were to be swapped for 88 technicians.

The National Guard Bureau in April announced a one-year pause on implementing the leveling program in Alaska, and now that pause appears permanent.

"The AK ANG [Alaska Air National Guard] must be fully 'excepted' from the (Fulltime Leveling) initiative," wrote Maj. Gen. Duke A. Pirak, acting director for the Air National Guard in an Aug. 20 letter addressed to Sen. Dan Sullivan.