Air National Guard changes in Alaska could affect national security, civilian rescues, staff say

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Kristin Paniptchuk’s water broke on Christmas Eve at her home in the Inupiat village of Shaktoolik in western Alaska, then she began bleeding profusely.

The local clinic in the small village of 200 people on the edge of the Bering Sea was unable to stop the bleeding or contractions caused by a baby who was not due for another two months. With high winds grounding an air ambulance from nearby Nome, medical personnel called in their only other option: the Alaska Air National Guard. Five days after a military helicopter and then a cargo plane transported Paniptchuk to an Anchorage hospital, she gave birth to her daughter Kinley, premature but healthy.

Over the past year and a half, Paniptchuk, whose daughter is now a little girl, has reflected on how lucky she has been.

“I’m just really grateful that they were able to pick me up,” she said. “Who knows what would have happened if they hadn’t?”

The Alaska Air National Guard conducted 159 such missions last year in largely roadless Alaska, most during severe storms. In one particular case, a military helicopter flew nearly 660 miles (1,062 kilometers) to pick up a pregnant woman suffering from stomach pains on an Alaskan island 2 miles (3 kilometers) from Russian waters. Last month, two airmen armed with gallons of blood parachuted into another western Alaska community to treat a woman suffering from internal bleeding because it was the quickest way to get there .

Now those rescues could be dramatically reduced as personnel changes lead to dire consequences in a state more than twice the size of Texas, Guard leaders and members say. A national initiative to balance the number of top-paid Air National Guard positions across 54 state and territorial units means the Guard will soon convert many of Alaska’s highly paid Active Guard and Reserve members – which are essentially the equivalent of a full-time job. active duty military personnel – in dual-status technology positions, classification with lower salaries, less attractive benefits and different tasks. Many say they would rather give up 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 affect critical national security work in the state, located just across the Bering Strait, opposite Russia. This work includes researching missile launches from Russia, North Korea and China; tracking spy balloons over American airspace; and flying a refueling plane for U.S. warplanes responding to Russian bombers near U.S. airspace — something that has already happened five times this year.

“If we’re just monitoring the skies Monday through Friday and they launch a missile on Saturday, well, that’s a failure,” said Alaska Guard Commander Brig. General Brian Kile.

Alaska is expected to convert 80 members, or about 4 percent of its 2,200 workforce, to technical positions – the most in the United States. The problem is that much of the Alaska Guard’s unique role – missions that require being on alert 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 equal, and the problem is they didn’t take location and mission into account when they did that,” Kile said. “Doing this for Alaska has an incredible impact.”

Local leaders have met with National Guard leaders, hoping to change their minds about budget cuts in Alaska.

In a statement to The Associated Press, the Air National Guard said the troop reset was “driven by the desire to achieve equity among all units funded by the same program.”

In past statements, Guard officials have said they are trying to address personnel imbalances, with some Air National Guard units having more highly paid Active Guard and Reserve members than others . Alaska has spent years recruiting this staff to support its work.

Officials did not respond to emailed questions.

Rather than take a pay cut, more than 80 percent of the 80 Alaska members whose jobs are being converted to technology positions indicated they would leave the Guard, some for jobs in the private sector. Some of those who remain will lose more than 50 percent of their salaries, which in some cases translates to more than $50,000 a year plus benefits, making life in expensive Alaska a huge challenge.

“You live in fear for the future,” said Sgt. Sharon Queenie, a Yup’ik Eskimo and member of the Guard who monitors 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 fears could force her to sell her home.

Maj. 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 — already unfunded — was converted to a technology position.

The Pennsylvania native said he and his wife decided early on that Alaska would be their forever home.

“We’re in Alaska, trying to grow roots and raise our children here and now we have this seemingly arbitrary decision to just rip all these roots out of the ground,” he said, holding back tears. “It’s difficult.”