Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen has said he would fight a DOD proposal to draw down the Guard’s end strength. Bredesen is joining a growing list of lawmakers, governors, and Guardsmen that do not believe the Pentagon is taking the right approach to solve its budget dilemma. He also is still fighting to save the Volunteer State’s Air National Guard unit at Nashville, the 118th Airlift Wing, which stands to lose its aircraft under BRAC 2005.
American forces deployed to or on standby for Europe are meant to reassure NATO allies in the face of a huge Russian military buildup around Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a Jan. 28 press conference. They are not meant to be fighting in Ukraine, but the…