Integrated Joint Cargo Aircraft Squadrons Mission Excellence and Organizational Efficiency

Declining defense budgets, cuts in the number of active duty personnel, homeland defense, the Global War on Terror, major theater wars, and small-scale contingencies will combine to increase our reliance on the Air National Guard. We have to work together to get the job done and it requires the support of everyone involved to dissolve the legal, political, cultural, and parochial barriers that can prevent implementing the most comprehensive and beneficial solutions for increasing the total personnel and assets available to accomplish the mission. The Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) offers the opportunity for a benchmark Active and Air National Guard (ANG) integrated unit initiative starting from the ground up, balancing fiscal, political, and operational issues while capitalizing on the lessons learned from similar programs already in progress.