Integrated of the National Guard into the Total Force.

Abstract

Abstract : This project addressed the evolution of the Total Force and compared the United States Air Force's and the United States Army's approach to the integration of the Air and Army National Guard. Defense strategy, budget and force structure were reviewed in consonance of cultural and structural barriers to integration. Research concluded that the cultural barriers that have emerged over time between the Army and the Army National Guard still hamper effective integration. Although similar barriers originally retarded the Air Force and Air National Guard integration, major barriers were mitigated by a combination of urgency, strong AF leadership, and political acumen. Structural barriers are a result of the cultural schism that permeated the Army and Army Guard's history. The dual status of the National Guard based on the Air Guard and Air Force experience is dismissed as a structural fatal flaw. Failure to assuage cultural and structural barriers could leave the nation with a military force that cannot execute a national defense strategy, and a military isolated from the people it serves.