30-Day Annual Training Limitation

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Chuck Hutson
  • 174th Fighter Wing Comptroller
Hancock Field, Syracuse, NY --  Starting in fiscal year 2009, no member of the ANG will be permitted to perform more than 30 days of Annual Training per fiscal year.  Rarely does any unit member have the opportunity or capacity to perform more than 15 days of Annual Training as it is, but in some cases we seem to have a ready, willing, able, and available guardsman that matches up nicely with a base support need.  The Security Augmentee program is a prime example.  Understand that special training, military personnel appropriation days for contingency, etc., does not count towards this 30-day limitation.

The limitation is rooted in Department of Defense Directive 1215.13.  It seems during an Office of Secretary Defense (OSD) audit about 3 years ago the auditors discovered ANGI 36-2001, "Training Management in the Air National Guard" was inconsistent with the DoDD.  Subsequently in FY07 and FY08 the National Guard Bureau requested a waiver from OSD for members to exceed 30 days of annual training.

Recently we've been told that the National Guard Bureau does not intend to request the waiver for FY09.  The reason for not seeking the waiver is to protect the ANG military personnel appropriation from becoming decremented as a potential offset to accommodate new programs within DoD.

Our friends at the National Guard Bureau intend to correct this situation and provide for our training and operational needs by making some alternative forms of workdays available to units for isolated situations when we need a member to perform additional duty.  These may range from proficiency-training days and training-period-preparation-assemblies, to special-training or active-duty-for-operational-support days.

We likely will not receive any further guidance on such resources until four to six weeks after the President signs the Defense Appropriations bill.  Until that time, unit commanders, resource managers, and guardsmen should be aware of the limitation and carefully manage unit-level annual training programs and individual annual training performance.