The Center for a New American Security released a 44-page report Thursday outlining the challenges that the National Guard and reserve component face after nearly a decade of fighting in two wars. An Indispensable Force: Investing in America’s National Guard and Reserves urges the Defense Department to move Guard and reserve funding from war supplementals to the baseline budget. The authors say that move would recognize the fact that these part-time airmen, marines, sailors, and soldiers are no longer just a strategic reserve. Gen. Craig McKinley, National Guard Bureau chief, said during the report’s rollout event in Washington, D.C., he’s encouraged by this document as well as the 12 ongoing studies on future capabilities of the reserve components. “It’s almost as if the moons and the planets are aligning so we might be able to get some things done,” he said, adding, “I’m more optimistic now than I have been in the last five or six years.”
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.