Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen has said he would fight a DOD proposal to draw down the Guard’s end strength. Bredesen is joining a growing list of lawmakers, governors, and Guardsmen that do not believe the Pentagon is taking the right approach to solve its budget dilemma. He also is still fighting to save the Volunteer State’s Air National Guard unit at Nashville, the 118th Airlift Wing, which stands to lose its aircraft under BRAC 2005.
An F-16 pilot was awarded a Silver Star for a harrowing mission in which he dodged multiple surface-to-air missiles during the opening weeks of the operation against the Houthis in Yemen earlier this year.
