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NEWS | May 8, 2009

Army officials outline Guard budget items

By Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill, U.S. Army National Guard National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va. - National Guard equipment allocations are more visible in the proposed 2010 defense budget and key military personnel spending that impacts the Guard has been moved from relying on supplemental funding to the base budget, senior Army officials announced today.

"One of the key decisions or actions in this budget is to move the funding for all of the military personnel into the base budget," said William Campbell, acting director of the Army's budget office, during a Pentagon briefing on President Obama's proposed fiscal year 2010 defense budget. "That's significant … because it gives us some stability, some predictability and some out-year funding."

The Army's element of the defense budget – which emphasizes sustaining the force, preparing Soldiers for the current fight, resetting the force and transforming the Army – breaks out specific Army Guard expenses.

"Although we will still continue to have the same budget lines, from an appropriations standpoint, in the procurement accounts, what we've done differently this year is emphasize the amount and tracking the amounts of equipment that are targeted for the Guard," said Campbell. "What we're doing now is actually putting … a lot more rigor … into that audit trail by tracking that."

The Army will track dollars and quantities for equipment for its three components through the appropriations process and into execution, Campbell said. Congress members expressed concern about accountability at a House Armed Services Committee subcommittee hearing earlier this week.

One item in the overall defense budget that may have a big impact on the National Guard is the proposed transfer of the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) from the Army to the Air Force. The anticipated number of aircraft would also be cut from 78 to 38.

 "What we're looking for … is to exploit some synergy between … the C-130s [Hercules] the Air Force has and the JCA," said Under Secretary Robert Hale, the DoD's comptroller and chief financial officer. "They have, in some cases, at least similar capability, and we think if the same service is operating them we'll get more commonality, and we'll get more capability for the same expenditure."

Exactly how to make the transfer happen isn't clear yet. "Senior leadership and all the concerned parties … are all working how to do this," said Lt. Gen. Edgar Stanton, military deputy for the assistant secretary of the Army's budget office.

The Army's budget calls for the Army National Guard to receive appropriations of about $7.6 billion for military personnel, $6.3 billion for operation and maintenance, $4.5 billion for procurement and $427 million for military construction.

The Army Guard's authorized end strength would increase from 352,600 in the current fiscal year to 358,200 in 2010.

The defense budget request the president submitted to Congress on Thursday would change the Pentagon, putting more emphasis on irregular and unconventional war and transforming how the DoD buys equipment and services.

"This is a reform budget," Hale said. "If approved … it will change the way we manage the Department of Defense."

Slower growth: The base budget increases 2 percent between 2009 and 2010 – down from the 4 percent increases typical since 2001. "The spigot of defense spending, which opened wide after 2001, is starting to close," Hale said, quoting the secretary of defense.

Short-term: The budget focuses on 2010. "We don't have a plan right now beyond 2010," Hale said. That's because results of the ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and the upcoming Program and Budget Review are not known yet.

"The way forward, beyond '10, will evolve and mature as we go through the QDR process and work in concert with the Joint Staff and [DoD] leadership," Stanton said.

Themes: The budget emphasizes taking care of the defense department's people, reshaping the military to increase irregular and unconventional capabilities, changing how the department buys and what gets bought, and supporting troops in the field.

Budget highlights include pay raises – 2.9 percent for military, 2 percent for civilians – boosting cyber capability, dedicating $7.5 billion to train and equip Afghan security forces, reducing money for recruiting and retention and cutting some programs. One cut: The Combat Search and Rescue helicopter, primarily because it's a single-service capability in a joint era.

Reduced recruiting and retention money reflects recent recruiting success and the improved recruiting environment created by the economy, officials said.

"We're already doing quite well with the National Guard strength," Stanton said. "In fact, the challenge right now will be to bring the strength down to the funded level. … We're a little bit above that right now."

With $47 billion in the budget for military health care, TRICARE co-pays and premiums remain static – but Hale said that might not continue indefinitely. "At some point we need to work with the Congress to end the freeze on co-pays and premiums that really goes back to the late 1990s," he said.

As has been the case for countries and corporations, health care expenses are challenging the DoD. "Military health care is eating our budgetary lunch," Hale said. "We've got to … work with the Congress to provide high-quality health care and slow down the rate of growth."

For the first time, the budget for Afghanistan – $65 billion – is higher than that for Iraq – $61 billion.

Overseas contingency operations are included in the base budget rather than relying on supplemental funding, as has happened in the past.

 

 

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