North Dakota Air National Guard

Under the "Total Force" concept, North Dakota Air National Guard units are considered to be Air Reserve Components (ARC) of the United States Air Force (USAF). North Dakota ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are operationally gained by a major command of the USAF if federalized. In addition, the North Dakota Air National Guard forces are assigned to Air Expeditionary Forces and are subject to deployment tasking orders along with their active duty and Air Force Reserve counterparts in their assigned cycle deployment window. Along with their federal reserve obligations, as state militia units the elements of the North Dakota ANG are subject to being activated by order of the governor to provide protection of life and property, and preserve peace, order and public safety. State missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of vital public services, and support to civil defense. ==Components==

The North Dakota Air National Guard consists of the following major unit: • 119th Wing : Established 1 February 1947 (as: 178th Fighter Squadron) : Stationed at: Fargo Air National Guard Base : Gained by: Air Combat Command : The mission of the 119th Wing is reconnaissance. ::The 178th Reconnaissance Squadron includes operations of the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, a medium-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft. • 219th Security Forces Squadron, attached to 91st Missile Wing, Twentieth Air Force ==History==

On 24 May 1946, the United States Army Air Forces, in response to dramatic postwar military budget cuts imposed by President Harry S. Truman, allocated inactive unit designations to the National Guard Bureau for the formation of an Air Force National Guard. These unit designations were allotted and transferred to various State National Guard bureaus to provide them unit designations to re-establish them as Air National Guard units. The North Dakota Air National Guard received federal recognition on 1 February 1947 as the 1178th Fighter Squadron at Hector Field, Fargo. It was equipped with F-51D Mustangs and its mission was the air defense of the state. 18 September 1947, however, is considered the North Dakota Air National Guard's official birth concurrent with the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate branch of the United States military under the National Security Act. The first overseas deployment of the North Dakota Air Guard occurred in 1983, with six F-4D Phantom II fighters and 120 support personnel deploying to Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland. Eight Soviet Tupolev Tu-95 reconnaissance aircraft were intercepted by the "Happy Hooligan" pilots during the deployment. In 1986, the 119th Fighter Group became the first core unit to assume the USAF Zulu alert mission at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Referred to as "Creek Klaxon", the 119th and other air defense units stood continuous alert for one year providing air sovereignty in Europe for NATO. During Operation Desert Storm, 107 North Dakota ANG members were mobilized and deployed in support of operations at numerous locations in the United States. The Lockheed C-130 Hercules support aircraft assigned to the North Dakota Air National Guard and aircrew also provided stateside airlift of personnel and equipment to support Operation Desert Storm. Most recently, after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast of the United States, the 119th Fighter Wing answered the call for assistance, responding with less than forty-eight hours notice and deployed 64 personnel from the Civil Engineering Squadron, prepared 228.1 tonnes of equipment and supplies and loaded three C-5A Galaxy and one C-130H transport aircraft for deployment to Gulfport, Mississippi, to build and support the tent city required to house over 2,000 National Guard relief workers. The Services Flight also prepared over 210,000 meals over a 60-day period for the relief workers. In its 2005 Base Realignment and Closure recommendations, the United States Department of Defense recommended to realign the 119th Fighter Wing and retire the wing's 15 F-16s. Hector IAP ranked low in military value. The reduction in the F-16 force structure and the need to align common versions of the F-16 at the same bases argued for realigning Hector IAP to allow its aircraft to retire without a flying mission backfill. the NDANG flew the Learjet C-21A executive transport until the mission ended in 2013. The North Dakota ANG was also running a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator flight operations squadron in Fargo which flew daily in Iraq. ==See also==