WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Nine thousand Army National Guard members will be pressed into duty to protect 163 Air Force bases in the United States for the next two years, the Pentagon announced Monday.
The Air Force has been relying on its reserve military policemen to protect the bases since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, raised force protection needs to new highs. Many of those reservists are now entering their second year of service.
"Our intent is to reduce the burden on the Air Force security forces personnel, in particular those Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve members who are serving into a second year of mobilization. We believe this is a prudent and judicious use of our reserve component forces," said Thomas Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs.
More than 25,000 Army National Guard and Army Reservists remain mobilized since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve have mobilized 15,974, many of them pilots and therefore unsuitable for force protection duties. The Navy still has 4,931 reservists on active duty; the Marine Corps Reserve 3,825; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 727. The total number of reserve personnel now on active duty is 50,825, about 30,000 fewer than at the height of the war with Afghanistan.
