National Guard Maintenance as a Strategic Readiness Resource for the Legacy Force
Abstract
The National Guard currently has a huge maintenance infrastructure throughout the Nation that is not being fully exploited as a Readiness producing tool that could benefit the entire Army. The National Guard has shown its ability to operate rebuild sites at multiple locations throughout the Country. These have extended the useful life of multiple weapons systems and vehicles. The bottom line cost to complete the work was significantly less than depot level facilities and much lower than contractors. The National Guard currently operates 5 Regional Support Maintenance Sites multiple Mobilization and Training Equipment Sites, and several Combined Support Maintenance Shops. Most headquarters units have Organizational Maintenance Shops within the local regions. All of these facilities are manned with highly skilled maintenance technicians. Most of which have spent considerable careers on Legacy Force weapons systems and vehicles. In this environment of constrained budgets competing with required research and development, it is critical that the Army is able to mitigate the risk of transformation by having a robust and ready Legacy Force. This Legacy Force will rely heavily on current weapons systems and chassis, most of which are severely aging. The challenge is to extend the useful life of these weapons systems as cheaply as possible. There may be a match between the ready and relatively inexpensive work force that the National Guard has access to and the strategic needs of the Army. The ability of the National Guard to surge this work force in numbers is unclear, but worthy of consideration.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 09, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA404208
Entities
People
- Jessie R. Robinson
Organizations
- United States Army War College