Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the director of the National Guard Bureau, says there is no going back for the nation’s reserve forces, returning to a strategic reserve vice the operational reserve it has become. According to an Aug. 13 NGB report in a speech to the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States earlier this month, McKinley said: “We can’t be relegated to obsolete and incompatible equipment like we were during the Cold War. We have proven that that old way of doing business does not work in today’s environment.” Maintaining this new reserve force, he said, requires that it “modernize at a proportional rate to the active component.” And that goes for training, too. McKinley explained, “In an era of persistent conflict, we need a predictable rotational model, and we must maintain proficiency and interoperability with the rest of the force.” (NGB report by Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke)
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
