The Air National Guard (ANG) , often referred to as the Air Guard, is part of the United States National Guard and a reserve component of the United States Air Force (USAF). Like the Army National Guard, the ANG is administered by the National Guard Bureau and an ANG unit may be activated by either the President of the United States or the governor of the state in which it resides. The national guard is located in every state in the union, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington D.C. ------------------------------------ The oldest ANG unit is the 102nd Rescue Squadron, New York Air National Guard. The unit was federalized for service in 1916. It was a component of the Army National Guard at the time, and has the distinction of flying balloons as early as 1908. The 102nd was commanded by Capt Raynal C. Bolling, who was killed in France during World War I. The 102nd was also highlighted in the national best selling book, The Perfect Storm, written by Sebastian Junger, as well as the film by the same title which was based on the book. --------------------------------------------- Although the ANG was not established as a separate component of the USAF until 1947, throughout the twentieth century National Guard aviators have played significant roles in all wars involving the United States and in most of its major contingencies. ANG units served on active duty during the Korean War, and ANG F-100 squadrons from Colorado, New York, Iowa, and New Mexico served at Phan Rang AB, Vietnam, for eleven months of 1968-1969, flying over 24,000 combat sorties. In recent operations, entire units and individuals have also been activated. ----------------- The ANG is often described as a "reserve" force of "part-time airmen," although the demands of maintaining modern aircraft mean that many ANG members work full-time, either as Air Reserve Technicians (ART) or Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) personnel. Even traditional part-time air guardsmen, especially pilots, navigators/combat systems officers, air battle managers and enlisted aircrew, will serve 100 or more man-days annually. As such, the concept of Air National Guard service as representing only "one weekend a month and two weeks a year" is no longer valid. -------------------------- Many ANG pilots work for commercial airlines, but in the ANG they may train to fly any of the aircraft in the USAF inventory, with the current exception of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the B-1B Lancer bomber, the MH-53 Pave Low helicopter, the AC-130 Gunship, and F-117 Nighthawk. The Georgia Air National Guard and the Kansas Air National Guard previously flew the B-1B Lancer prior to converting to the E-8 J-STARS and KC-135R Stratotanker, respectively. In addition, a fighter wing of the Missouri Air National Guard, currently flying the F-15C/D Eagle is slated to transition to B-2 Spirit and will become an "Associate" bomb wing to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. ------------------- Since the 1991 Gulf War, ANG pilots have patrolled Iraq's no-fly zones. During the 9/11 terrorist attacks the first unit to provide air cover was the Happy Hooligans, a North Dakota ANG F-16 unit diverted from flight training while deployed to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Another ANG F-16 unit from Vermont, the Green Mountain Boys of the 158th Fighter Wing, later patrolled the skies over New York City. Right after the attacks, the 102nd Fighter Wing also patrolled the skies over New York City with F-15A Eagles, it being the first wing to respond to the attacks.------------According to news and Congressional sources, the first unit over New York after the attacks began was the 102nd Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, its F-15s being stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. On May 22, 2002 a Joint Resolution was passed by the Congress of the United States recognizing the members of the 102 FW for their actions on September 11, 2001. The resolution in part states: "Whereas on the morning of September 11, 2001, the 102d Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard became the Nation's first airborne responder to the terrorist attacks of that day when it scrambled two F-15 fighter aircraft just six minutes after being informed of the terrorist hijackings of commercial airliners". The United States Air National Guard has about 110,000 men and women in service.