Air National Guard changes in Alaska could affect national security, civilian rescues, staffers say
ANKERAGE, Alaska — Kristin Paniptchuk’s water broke on Christmas Eve at her home in the western Inupiat village of Shaktoolik, Alaska, and she began bleeding profusely.
The local clinic in the small village of 200 people on the Bering Sea could not stop the bleeding or contractions caused by a baby who was not due for another two months. As high winds grounded an air ambulance from nearby Nome, medical personnel called on their only other option: the Alaska Air National Guard. Five days after a military helicopter and then a cargo plane took Paniptchuk to an Anchorage hospital, she gave birth to her daughter Kinley, premature but healthy.
For the past year and a half, Paniptchuk, whose daughter is now a toddler, has reflected on how lucky she was.
“I’m just really grateful that they were able to come and get me,” she said. “Who knows what would have happened if they hadn’t?”
The Alaska Air National Guard flew 159 such missions in largely roadless Alaska last year, many during heavy storms. In one case, a military helicopter flew nearly 662 miles (1,062 kilometers) to pick up a pregnant woman with abdominal pain from an Alaskan island three miles from Russian waters. Last month, two pilots armed with gallons of blood parachuted into another Western Alaska community to care for a woman suffering from internal bleeding, because it was the fastest way to get there.
Now those rescue efforts could be drastically curtailed as personnel changes take an outsized toll in a state more than twice the size of Texas, Guard leaders and members say. A nationwide move to split the number of top-paying positions within the Air National Guard among 54 state and territorial units means the Guard will soon convert many of Alaska’s highly paid Active Guard and Reserve members — who are essentially the equivalent are full-time members. active duty military personnel – to dual status technical positions, a classification with lower pay, less attractive benefits and other duties. Many say they will quit rather than accept the changes.
Leaders say the transition could reduce the number of Alaska Guard medical rescue missions to about 50 a year and also impact crucial national security work in the state, located across the Bering Strait from Russia . That work includes scanning for missile launches from Russia, North Korea and China; tracking spy balloons over US airspace; and piloting a refueling plane for U.S. fighter jets responding to Russian bombers near U.S. airspace — something that has already happened five times this year.
“If we’re just looking at the sky Monday through Friday and they launch a missile on Saturday, that’s a failure,” said Alaska Guard Brigadier General. General Brian Kile.
Alaska plans to convert 80 members, or about 4% of its 2,200 staff, to technical positions – the most in the US. The problem is that much of the Alaska Guard’s unique role – missions that require 24 hours a day, seven days a week – cannot be done by the technical positions, the Guard said.
“They’re trying to make all units look the same, and the problem with that is they didn’t take location and mission into account when they did this,” Kile said. “Doing that for Alaska has an incredible impact. ”
Local leaders have met with National Guard leaders in hopes of changing minds about Alaska’s budget cuts.
In a statement to The Associated Press, the Air National Guard said the personnel reset was “driven by the desire to achieve parity among all units funded by the same program.”
In previous statements, Guard officials have said they are trying to address workforce imbalances, with some National Air Guard units having more of the highly paid Active Guard and Reserve members than others. Alaska has added these staff for years to support its work.
Officials did not respond to emailed questions.
Rather than taking a pay cut, more than 80% of the 80 Alaska members whose jobs are being converted to technical positions have indicated they will leave the Guard, some for private sector jobs. Some of those who stay will lose more than 50% of their salaries, which in some cases translates to more than $50,000 per year plus benefits, making living in expensive Alaska a huge challenge.
“You live in fear of the future,” said Sgt. Sharon Queenie, a Yup’ik Eskimo and Guard member who watches the skies for errant planes or spy balloons. The single mother of three will see her $104,000 annual salary cut in half, which she says could force her to sell her home.
Major Mark Dellaquila lives in North Pole, a small community near Fairbanks, with his wife and five children. He said he would lose $60,000 a year if his job – which was already unfunded – is converted into an engineering position.
The Pennsylvania native said he and his wife decided early on that Alaska would be their forever home.
“We are in Alaska trying to grow roots and raise our children here and now this seemingly arbitrary decision has to rip all those roots out of the ground,” he said, choking back tears. “It is difficult.”