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| - With the consent of state governors, members or units of the Air National Guard may be appointed, temporarily or indefinitely, to be federally recognizedmembers of the armed forces, in the active or inactive service of the United States. If federally recognized, the member or unit becomes part of theAir National Guard of the United States, which is one of two reserve component of the United States Air Force, and part of the National Guard of the United States. Because both state Air National Guard and the Air National Guard of the United States relatively go hand-in-hand, they are both usually referred to as just Air National Guard.
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| abstract
| - With the consent of state governors, members or units of the Air National Guard may be appointed, temporarily or indefinitely, to be federally recognizedmembers of the armed forces, in the active or inactive service of the United States. If federally recognized, the member or unit becomes part of theAir National Guard of the United States, which is one of two reserve component of the United States Air Force, and part of the National Guard of the United States. Because both state Air National Guard and the Air National Guard of the United States relatively go hand-in-hand, they are both usually referred to as just Air National Guard. Air National Guard of the United States units or members may be called up for federal active duty in times of Congressionally sanctioned war or national emergency. The President may also call up members and units of state Air National Guard using a process called "federalization", with the consent of state governors, to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, or execute federal laws if the United States or any of its states or territories are invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation, or if there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the federal government, or if the President is unable to execute the laws of the United States with the regular armed forces. The United States Air National Guard has about 110,000 men and women in service. Like the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), the ANG is often described as a "reserve" force of "part-time airmen," although the demands of maintaining modern aircraft mean that many AFRC and ANG members work full-time, either as full-time Air Reserve Technicians (ART) or Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) personnel. Even traditional part-time air guardsmen, especially pilots, navigators/combat systems officers, air battle managers and enlisted aircrew, often serve 100 or more man-days annually. As such, the concept of Air National Guard service as representing only "one weekend a month and two weeks a year" is not necessarily valid. Many ANG pilots work for commercial airlines, but in the ANG they may train to fly any of the aircraft in the USAF inventory, with the current exception of the B-1B Lancer bomber and the AC-130 Gunship. The Georgia Air National Guard and the Kansas Air National Guard previously flew the B-1B Lancer prior to converting to the E-8 Joint STARS and KC-135R Stratotanker, respectively. In addition, the 131st Fighter Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard recently transitioned from flying the F-15C/D Eagle at St. Louis International Airport/Lambert Field Air National Guard Station to the B-2 Spirit at Whiteman AFB as an "Associate" unit and re-designated as the 131st Bomb Wing. In 2012, General Norton A. Schwartz, the then-Chief of Staff of the Air Force, defended cutting nearly twice as many service members from the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve as from the active duty USAF, in order to maintain the service's surge and rotational capabilities in the active duty Regular Air Force.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)