The National Guard is considering a sizeable expansion in its operations in the Indo-Pacific to counter China, Defense One reported, quoting the service’s top general.
The National Guard has over 90 training programs with countries around the world, and more programs are set to be added. Under the programs, between five and 50 guardsmen deploy to the partner nation, and vice-versa.
Gen. Dan Hokanson, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, told Defense One that of the countries being considered for the next program, about half are in the Indo-Pacific. “As you know, it’s a very important theater right now,” Hokanson said.
The National Guard currently has training programs in 15 countries in the region, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Tonga.
The Biden administration recently released its Indo-Pacific Strategy, which called for an increase in the US military and diplomatic presence in the region as part of its strategy to counter China.
The Pentagon released its new National Defense Strategy this year, which identified China as the top “threat” facing the US military, second to Russia. The previous NDS, released in 2018, outlined the military’s shift away from counterterrorism toward so-called “great power competition” with Russia and China.
In 2020, Hokanson said the National Guard was reorganizing its brigades to reflect the 2018 NDS and prepare for future conflicts with Russia and China.
“Counter China”. What can the National Guard possibly do to counter China? Perhaps boo them when they go out for lunch????
They can defend the Pacific coast from Chinese communist colonies.
A little bit of over prepping is a bad thing, just like trying to anticipate who you are going to have your next wars with. The National Guard is starting to remind me an entity on par with Germany’s in olden times…
Trump was a pain in my backside but Bye-done is getting on my tits!
Doesn’t ANYONE believe in Diplomacy anymore??? Diplomatic agreements and treaties? Basic Discussions that countries can have to avoid ending the world?…
Deplomacy dosen`t sell weapons , and prevents predator nations like the US / UK from invading countries for their natural resources.
You need diplomats to do diplomacy. We have Blithering Idiot Blinken.
Diplomacy may stop a war and that would cut into profits for both the war industry and Wash. who receives funding from the MIC. Don’t ever think gov. will cut off the hands that feeds them. It’s all about MONEY!
Not enough that senile Joe Biden keeps poking the Bear, now he wants to poke the Panda also.
Biden had his tail kicked in Afghanistan and now he is getting his tail beaten upon in Ukraine.
Joe Biden will be in a home for those with dementia and won’t know his own name shortly leaving America with enemies ready to take revenge on it.
Let’s see if his bout with Covid (Omicron, perhaps) will leave his mushy brain a little more mushy and foggy. And, remember, Kamila is our VP. Great, eh?
All this shit started with Biden????
This crap is the best reason to bring back the concept of state troops and remove control of the Guard from the Dept. of the Army. They exist to serve the states they reside in, not those of foreign countries. The governors ought to have the last say in the matter, not D.A. They pulled the LaNG and sent them to Iraq prior to Katrina and when the hurricane hit weren’t to be had.
This is why Dan McKnight and BringOurTroopsHome.US should receive support in stopping this abuse. Let your state legislators know you don’t approve of these abuses.
The National Guard are little more than week end worriers , Rambo`s and Red Necks .
National Guard in International Arena,,,Lol…! Analogous to Coast Guard in Middle East and CIA spying on US citizens…!
Another Useless US government expenditure…!
No wonder this empire will fall. A large number of people were desperate enough to vote in a fraud like Trump because they thought the wasp or atleast white identity was at stake and the ruling elite instead of guarding the border using a civil defense force for power protection abroad. The empire can no longer carry out course corrections.
I might be wrong but pretty sure not one among the countries described voted to condemn Russia
This further proves the NG isn’t the ‘militia’ mentioned in the Constitution, it’s just another arm of the Fed. Gov. and can be nationalized at the stroke of a pen. And, remember the Coast Guard was sent to the Black Sea a few months ago, which last time I looked the Black Sea has no US coast, but, Wash. must believe the Black Sea belongs to them!
The National Guard will have to be renamed The International Guard. Cold War I ended long ago, Cold War II should end with the end to America’s endless wars and endless bases abroad. America should engage in diplomacy and end sanctions against Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia etc. and end its drone strikes.
Biden should take a trip down Memory Lane and find out what happened to Reagan will happen to him. America should elect younger, more alert peace mongers instead of senile warmongers like Biden.
Many National Guard personnel will quit. They have good jobs and the National Guard doesn’t pay very well. I knew someone from my high school years who became a National Guardsman. During the second Gulf War he went to Iraq and drove a petrol truck. He and his wife came close to bankruptcy because they could not pay the bills. He owned a home and he wasn’t about to lose it. Instead of reenlisting he gave up on the National Guard. Many like him did the same thing. “You’re in the Army now you can’t afford a cow you’ll never be rich you……” that is so true for all military branches unless you are a high ranking officer.
Why the National Guard and not one of the other branches?
What happened to the guard, used to be you would get together once a month shoot guns and drink beer, once a year a 2 week change of pace and if there ever was a local civil emergency like a flood or earthquake you helped out. No wonder they are having recruitment issues.
Ditto the reserve.
When I first joined the Marine Corps reserve, it was:
1) Boot camp
2) MOS school
3) one weekend drill a month
4) two weeks training each summer
5) “We’ll call you if the Russians invade western Europe.”
That was 1985-1990.
After the Gulf War, there were cuts (I eventually got out because I kept getting six-month extensions instead of a full contract offer), but there was also a LOT of “who wants some active duty?” for reservists because of the cuts.
I went to NBC Warfare Monitor Survey school at El Toro.
I went to Primary Marksmanship Instructor school at Quantico.
I went on multiple “infantry training, but in support of local law enforcement counter-narcotics efforts” missions (and got in the helicopter rappel portion of the army’s air assault school at Fort Campbell to facilitate that).
I volunteered for a tour as a guard at Gitmo (this was pre-9/11 — it was camps for Haitian refugees, not torture chambers for Arabs), but that got canceled at the last minute (after I got a crap ton of vaccinations because my shot record had been “lost” — still not sure who I pissed off in medical).
I got out in 1995, and the last four years I probably spent at least as much time in uniform as not.
Once 9/11 hit, that tempo multiplied. They might TELL you “one weekend a month, two weeks every summer, active duty if it’s an emergency,” but I knew reservists who spent one year out of every two or three in Iraq or Afghanistan, whether they liked it or not.