Why does the Air Force want to 
consolidate Air National Guard squadrons? One answer: to gain efficiency. USAF believes the most effective size for a C-130 squadron is 16 aircraft. Because of the ANG’s stability and experience, Guard C-130 squadrons can make do with 12. The problem is that, as the graph shows, a typical ANG unit today has eight C-130s, and, without intervention, the number will fall to 6.7 per squadron by 2011. That, Maj. Gen. Gary Heckman told BRAC commissioners, makes the enterprise very inefficient. USAF wants to fix the problem by cutting ANG squadrons and consolidating aircraft into fewer, bigger units. This, of course, has caused a political explosion in the states.
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…