{"id":181043,"date":"2024-05-20T18:51:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T18:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=181043"},"modified":"2024-05-20T20:33:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T20:33:54","slug":"colorado-officials-fight-militarys-attempt-to-move-air-national-guard-members-to-us-space-force-the-denver-post-bc-colo-air-national-guarddp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=181043","title":{"rendered":"Colorado officials fight military\u2019s attempt to move Air National Guard members to US Space Force [The Denver Post :: BC-COLO-AIR-NATIONAL-GUARD:DP]"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 The U.S. military\u2019s proposal to unilaterally move<\/a> potentially hundreds of Colorado Air National Guard members involved in space operations to the Space Force is facing pushback from Gov. Jared Polis and most of the state\u2019s congressional delegation.<\/p>\n

The proposal, which would affect guard units in several states, is aimed at bolstering the newest military branch. In Colorado, that would mean moving members of the guard who fall under Polis\u2019 authority into the federal military service.<\/p>\n

But Polis, along with Democratic members of the state\u2019s delegation, warns that such a transfer would undermine local authority and emergency readiness, while undercutting the will of members of the guard who didn\u2019t sign up for that branch. Officials from many other states have protested, too.<\/p>\n

The Air Force is seeking approval from Congress to explicitly waive a requirement that it obtain governors\u2019 approval before transferring Air National Guard units to the Space Force.<\/p>\n

The move, dubbed Legislative Proposal 480<\/a>, was submitted by the Air Force to be included in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, the legislation that sets military policy. It is set to be considered by the House Armed Services Committee this week, though it still faces a monthslong journey \u2014 with looming debate and amendments in both chambers of Congress \u2014 before becoming law.<\/p>\n

None of Colorado\u2019s members of Congress who signed the letter sit on the House or Senate armed services committees. U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican who is retiring at the end of this term and did not sign the letter, does have a committee seat.<\/p>\n

If the transfer of guard personnel were to take effect as proposed, all 393 members of the Colorado Air National Guard\u2019s 233rd Space Group would need to either cross-train into a new specialty or be absorbed into the Space Force, according to Tech Sgt. Stephanie Zimmerman, a spokesperson for the guard. Their job duties include space operations; cyberspace; physician assistants; heating, ventilating and cooling specialists; emergency management; and more.<\/p>\n

Colorado officials hope to strip the provision from the bill before it picks up any momentum.<\/p>\n

A bipartisan letter<\/a> signed by all of the Democrats in Colorado\u2019s federal delegation and led by Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat and former Army Ranger, called it a \u201cdeeply flawed legislative proposal\u201d that would \u201cundermine our National Guard system.\u201d Republicans from other states were among the signatories.<\/p>\n

The letter goes on to note that guardsmen and women serve the dual roles of maintaining military readiness for national security while also being prepared to respond to domestic emergencies such as natural disasters, health emergencies and civil unrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be clear: when individuals sign up for the National Guard, they are serving their country and their community,\u201d the letter states<\/a>, emphasizing those last words. \u201cCongress shouldn\u2019t abandon this model.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis joined a National Governors Association letter<\/a> to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that was signed by most every other state and territorial governor in the country. He wrote a separate letter<\/a> to Austin to oppose the legislation \u201cin the strongest possible terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs (the Colorado Air National Guard\u2019s) Commander-in-Chief, I cannot stand idly by as the servicemembers I am charged with leading are faced with the decision to either leave military service, or serve in a manner that they did not originally agree to,\u201d Polis wrote. \u201cWe know that a significant majority of Air National Guard space operators will not transfer to the U.S. Space Force, putting both their military career and national security at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter responding to concerns from the governors association, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall wrote that all units transferred to the Space Force under the proposal would remain in their current location.<\/p>\n

He also said the intention was not to set a precedent for transferring other units out of the National Guard or to undermine the \u201ccritical role of governors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather, the move would help stand up the first new military service since the immediate aftermath of World War II. The Space Force already has taken over space missions previously performed by other branches of the military and now wants to integrate the space missions performed by the Air National Guard, according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Denver Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese missions \u2014 and the professionals who perform them \u2014 are essential to the unity of command and mission success of the U.S. Space Force,\u201d Kendall wrote to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who chairs the National Governors Association. Polis is the association\u2019s vice chair.<\/p>\n

Colorado has played a prominent role as the military has established the Space Force. The U.S. Space Command<\/a> is headquartered<\/a> in Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Air National Guard is based at Buckley Space Force Base<\/a> in Aurora, though it has personnel throughout the state.<\/p>\n

The 233rd Space Group, based at the Greeley Air National Guard Station, offers the Air Force\u2019s only mobile ground system for immediate detection of nuclear weapon launches, including from space. It\u2019s designed to survive and operate through all phases and immediate fallout of a nuclear attack, according to a National Guard fact sheet.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

\u00a92024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com<\/a>. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a> <\/p>\n

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DENVER \u2014 The U.S. military\u2019s proposal to unilaterally move potentially hundreds of Colorado Air National Guard members involved in space operations to the Space Force is facing pushback from Gov. Jared Polis and most of the state\u2019s congressional delegation. The proposal, which would affect guard units in several states, is aimed at bolstering the newest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181044,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181043\/revisions\/181044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}