Essential to Future Force Development

The Air National Guard (ANG) community has recently emphasized a renewed focus on officer development among its ranks, to ensure they continue to possess officers capable of military leadership at the state and national level. This paper focuses on the issue of in-residence PME and how it relates to the ANG, composed primarily of traditional guardsmen. More effort must be exerted at the national, state, and local level to increase ANG attendance of in-residence PME, thereby providing states with a larger number of well trained, knowledgeable senior leaders. Devoting time to this endeavor can become challenging, particularly for a traditional guardsman in the ANG. It is imperative that senior leaders stress the need for military education throughout an officer's career, allowing them to devote time to attend in-residence PME. States must also provide an equitable, systematic means of selecting their best officers to attend in-residence courses. Senior leaders at the state and wing level also need to acknowledge the commitment and sacrifice required to become a skilled, educated officer, and attempt to ease the burden schools place on their personnel in any way possible.