A Nation in Need: The Air Reserve Component and Wildland Firefighting

Abstract

Air Reserve Component (ARC) aircrews and modified C-130 Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) aircraft provide Wildland Fire Fighting (WFF) for national fire emergencies. As of today, ARC assets execute this mission in multiple statuses to include a mix of Title 10 USC, which are federalized activated forces, and Title 32 USC, which is a status normally reserved for duty under a governor s authority. In recent years the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has sought to require all MAFFS missions operate exclusively under Title 10 authority, a position that ARC forces have adamantly resisted as unfeasible for an allvolunteer force. While multiple reasons are cited, OSD s insistence on Title 10 is primarily based on lines of authority. ARC concerns include the implications of federalization under Title 10 as well as the response delays resulting from Title 10 activation. Ultimately, this paper sought to answer the question: Is the DoD best served by mandating Title 10 operations for all MAFFS missions? Because of the broad and complicated nature of this discussion, this paper deliberately scoped the Title 10 discussion down to just the MAFFS mission, but parallels could be derived for all operations where the ARC and USNORTHCOM work in conjunction under Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA). This paper ultimately argues that a better solution is to seek to resolve OSD s primary concerns about lines of authority while allowing continued Title 32 operations. This paper cannot propose to solve this issue, but offers prevailing themes found as a result of the research that, when implemented together, will help address the specific problems of lines of authority in MAFFS operations while allowing the ARC forces to continue to be effective and responsive under a mixed status to include Title 32.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 17, 2015
Accession Number
ADA619430

Entities

People

  • Jupe A. Etheridge

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • C4I
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accidents
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Command And Control
  • Department Of Defense
  • Emergencies
  • Fire Fighting
  • Fires
  • Governments
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Safety
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • United States Northern Command
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Fire Suppression Systems Design.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.