Current:Home > ScamsNational Guard delays Alaska staffing changes that threatened national security, civilian rescues-DB Wealth Institute B2 Reviews & Ratings
National Guard delays Alaska staffing changes that threatened national security, civilian rescues
lotradecoin ongoing promotions and bonuses View Date:2024-12-26 05:32:25
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Air National Guard has delayed its plan to downgrade the status of about 80 members of its Alaska unit, a move that would have threatened national security and civilian rescues in the nation’s most remote state.
The Alaska Air National Guard confirmed the delay in an email to The Associated Press on Friday.
Efforts by the state’s politicians and Alaskans “have been instrumental in getting this delay which will allow everyone involved the time to conduct more thorough research and analysis,” wrote Alan Brown, an Alaska guard spokesperson.
The Air National Guard headquarters in Virginia did not respond to emails from the AP seeking comment.
The changes to balance top-earning positions among the other 53 state and territorial units will still be completed by Oct. 1.
Alaska was slated to convert 80 of the highly paid Active Guard and Reserve members — who are essentially the equivalent of full-time active-duty military — to dual status tech positions, a classification with lower wages, less appealing benefits and different duties.
Many say they will quit rather than accept the changes, which could include seeing their pay cut by more than 50%.
Local guard leaders argued Alaska needed the personnel in the higher classification to fulfill its requirements to conduct national security missions that other units don’t have, such as monitoring for ballistic missile launches from nations such as Russia, North Korea and China.
The Alaska guard also said its ability to fly refueling tankers to accompany U.S. and Canadian fighter jets when they intercept Russian bombers that come close to Alaska or Canada would be greatly curtailed.
The guard also plays a vital role in conducting civilian search-and-rescue missions in Alaska, sending military helicopters and cargo planes through violent storms to rescue people from small Alaska Native villages when weather prevents air ambulances from flying.
Last year, the guard conducted 159 such missions, including flying to an Alaska island just 2 miles from a Russian island to pick up a pregnant woman with abdominal pains. In one recent rescue, two paramedics parachuted into an Alaska Native village because that was the fastest way to reach a critically ill woman with internal bleeding. Another involved flying to a western Alaska village to pick up a pregnant woman who began bleeding when her water broke and delivering her to a hospital in Anchorage, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) away.
If the staff conversions went through, the guard estimated the number of rescues would drop to about 50 a year.
The downgrades in Alaska have been delayed until Sept. 30, 2025, giving the service more time to study how the changes would affect its Alaska operations and if the changes should be made at all, according to a joint statement from the state’s congressional delegation.
“The strain this uncertainty put on Alaska Air National Guard members –- who Alaskans depend on in the most dire of emergencies –- for them to worry about their jobs, their benefits, their ability to provide for their families, is unacceptable,” U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said in the statement.
“Delaying the implementation of the misguided directives is a win -– but it should never have come to this,” she said.
veryGood! (9495)
Related
- Usher concert postponed hours before tour opener in Atlanta
- A missile strike targets Kyiv as Russian train carriages derail due to ‘unauthorized interference’
- Is the Beatles' 'Now and Then' about Paul McCartney? Is it really the last song?
- Anchorage adds to record homeless death total as major winter storm drops more than 2 feet of snow
- Alabama lawyer accused of sexually assaulting handcuffed inmate, lawsuit says
- Jezebel's parent company shuts down feminist news website after 16 years
- Hollywood actors union board votes to approve the deal with studios that ended the strike
- IRS announces new tax brackets for 2024. What does that mean for you?
- What Conservation Coalitions Have Learned from an Aspen Tree
- The alleged theft at the heart of ChatGPT
Ranking
- Las Vegas police could boycott working NFL games over new facial ID policy
- 'Special talent': Kyler Murray's Cardinals teammates excited to have him back vs. Falcons
- The Best Fleece-Lined Leggings of 2023 to Wear This Winter, According to Reviewers
- 1.2 million chickens will be slaughtered at an Iowa farm where bird flu was found
- Wally Amos, 88, of cookie fame, died at home in Hawaii. He lost Famous Amos but found other success
- The man accused of attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband was caught up in conspiracies, defense says
- Actors back. Pandas gone. WeBankrupt.
- Big Ten bans No. 2 Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh from final 3 games over alleged sign-stealing scheme
Recommendation
-
How 'Millionaire' host Jimmy Kimmel helped Team Barinholtz win stunning top prize
-
Louisiana lawmakers have until Jan. 15 to enact new congressional map, court says
-
Teachers in a Massachusetts town are striking over pay. Classes are cancelled for 5,500 students
-
Polish nationalists hold Independence Day march in Warsaw after voters reject their worldview
-
Proposal to allow local police to make arrests near Arizona border with Mexico will appear on ballot
-
Matt Ulrich, former Super Bowl champ, dead at age 41
-
U.S. veterans use art to help female Afghan soldiers who fled their country process their pain
-
Puerto Rico dentist fatally shot a patient who alleged attacked him at the office, police say