Army goes to war with National Guard, seizes Apache attack helicopters

Truthfully I see it as a sign the US budget cannot sustain the levels it has kept in the past....
The Army has been at war ten years and more now....surely the armys helos are getting worn down.....This supplies the regular army with better attack choppers at virtually no cost to the procurement of them.....
Meanwhile id bet those blackhawks are high milers

Odierno: Army faces 'tough' choices in uncertain fiscal times
By Lisa Ferdinando, Army News Service, April 8, 2014

WASHINGTON -- The chief of staff of the Army told senators "tough" choices must be made in uncertain fiscal times, and up to 46 percent of active brigade combat teams might need to be cut if full sequestration hits in 2016.

Other witnesses were Gen. Frank Grass, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Talley, the chief of the Army Reserve and commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve Command.

"The Army will be the only service in which the Reserve Component outnumbers the Active Component," he said. "We believe under these fiscal constraints, it's appropriate."

reply to post by Speculation


an apache is a cutting edge armed to the teeth ATTACK helicopter.
a black hawk is a TAXI CAB for hauling men and supplies. yes, its a relatively nice one, and yes you can slap some guns on it, but it is in an entirely different class altogether. truly no comparison. they are basically disarming the NG with that switch.

reply to post by robobbob


I did not say I agreed with this, the idea makes some sense. They are not saving tax payers one dime and completely taking a doo doo on the NG. If it actually saved tax dollars for a worthy cause I would agree with the process. They will only find ways to completely waste the saved money on very stupid things we will all be posting about soon.

reply to post by freakjive


Oh yay more sensationalism. This happens all the time , Army loans out equipment to its reserves. One day they want it back , reserves get attatched to it and dont want to give it back. They dont have a choice. Happens when you loan your neighbor some tools and they assume it belongs to them over time. I realize the source created the title OP but still its silly and reaching.

reply to post by freakjive


This is not the army going to war with the national guard. Stop living in your doom fantasy world.

Feltrick
reply to post by freakjive

 

Understand and that's why I include "...like the LSM." I mean, your first paragraph of your post sensationalizes the article as well and is baseless speculation. Why would the Army take back the Apaches and give the National Guard Blackhawks? Hmmmmmm.....

Advocates of the Army’s decision say that the Black Hawks actually benefit the Guard because they are an incredible asset for disaster relief efforts.

It actually makes sense when you think about it...right? The National Guard swoops in, along with the Coast Guard, to help citizens during disasters. I bet a Blackhawk can do that job better than, oh, I don't know, an attack helicopter. Sure, if the disaster was being caused by Godzilla, the National Guard could use Apaches!

You, sir, are an anomaly on this site. You actually make sense.

So replacing an ATTACK helicopter with an aerial TAXI basically. I guess I could fathom the National Guard siding with civvies in the event of martial law being enacted, and if UN peacekeepers were deployed on U.S. soil to enforce it, it would be easier for them to do so without strong opposition.

Then again, I could be trying to connect dots that don't even exist.

Only time will tell...

Most of the people I talk to off-site agree that this is a serious problem for the government, and that it pretty much is a civil war and fairly soon its going to escalate to full-blown combat. Those that are privy to this sort of thing.

reply to post by Davian


"Full Blown Combat?" "Civil War?" ....And this will happen because why? What do you base this on? Are you stating that, because the US Army replaced the National Guard's Apaches with Blackhawks, the National Guard is going to rise up and attack the regular Army units? So you spoke to a couple of people and they stated that because of this situation there will be Full Blown Combat between the National Guard and Regular Army...

I would guess we should be seeing the National Guard units standing up shortly, right? Did they give you a time line? I mean, they have to move fast since they'll probably need those Apaches for their assault.

robobbob
reply to post by Speculation

 

an apache is a cutting edge armed to the teeth ATTACK helicopter.
a black hawk is a TAXI CAB for hauling men and supplies. yes, its a relatively nice one, and yes you can slap some guns on it, but it is in an entirely different class altogether. truly no comparison. they are basically disarming the NG with that switch.

And this is if they let the National Guard have the mini guns and mount equipment.

What we are not seeing is that the National Guard was NOT always under Federal Control and was not meant to be. The governor of each state had control of their individual Guard units, not the POTUS or the Army in most situations. The National Guard under the constitution is a state militia. In the early 1900's the Federal government made its first moves to 'regulate' these militias.

So, what we have here is the disarming of state militias and the ability for the Feds to use them as needed no questions asked. Creating consequence for disobeying orders i would say. IN 2008 the NG was put directly under the DOD with the NDAA in 08.

This is not about boys and toys but making sure the allocated resources are where they need to be when they will be used.

Just my 2 cents...

I could see the national guard having blackhawks, but why Apache's (The only real reason I can see, is training people who use them in places like A-stan when called to deploy) so since the US is leaving A-stan (ansd hopefully EVERYPLACE else that's not U.S. territory) there probably isn't going to be a whole lot of need for guard Apache pilots. Somebody at the Penta-goon was probably sitting around drinking coffee and munching donuts one morning and said "Heeyyyyyyy? What are they doing with these damn things in the first place?" ?