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Homeland Defense: Guard Members Safeguard U.S. Turf, Skies
Wednesday, December 5, 2001
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

Very quickly after Sept. 11, "We had to have 'eyes' where we could not see before, and so we put up the airborne warning AWACS aircraft," Mark Allen, National Guard Bureau spokesperson, said. This includes Air Force Airborne Warning and Control System planes, Navy E-2s and U.S. Customs' P-3 aircraft with radar domes. NATO AWACS aircraft tasked to NORAD in October have also been patrolling American skies.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
National Guard members have been performing a variety of homeland defense missions on the ground and in the air since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America.

Besides assisting in disaster relief and security missions after the attacks at the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon, guardsmen are patrolling the nation's airports and safeguarding America's skies, said Mark Allen, National Guard Bureau spokesperson.

Historically, America's National Guard has "been involved in all kinds of disaster relief support in this country when it was needed," Allen said. The Minutemen of the American Revolution could be considered predecessors to today's Guard members, he noted.

The Guard responded with alacrity to assist in relief efforts at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and at the Somerset County, Pa., plane crash site, Allen remarked.
(More: DefenseLink.com News Source)
2001 © American Forces Press Service.

Dan