'The critical issue . . . is the National Guard empowerment act.'
Few people get nearly half a decade to prepare for a leadership position, but that's what happened to Maj. Gen. Francis D. Vavala, Delaware adjutant general and new president of the Adjutants General Association of the United States (AGAUS).
Having served in AGAUS leadership for the past four years, Vavala has had a front row seat to some of the liveliest debates in which AGAUS has engaged. From the contentious Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process to the continuingfight for Guard empowerment legislation, not to mention his eight years as adjutant general, he has become somewhat battle tested.
As Vavala hit the ground running this summer, he gave National Guard a preview of what may come in his tenure as AGAUS president.
Q Before you became AGAUS president, you served two years as vice president to Maj. Gen. Roger Lempke and two years as secretary. How has that shaped your view of issues the AGAUS will undertake throughout your tenure?
A It was great preparation for this position. Working very closely with the leadership helped me to grasp those key issues that we were dealing with. I was privileged, of course, to be part of the strategic planning committee, which is comprised of the chairs of all our committees, along with the officers. We tend to be engaged on an ongoing basis and dialog very frequently.
Additionally, having over eight years as adjutant general, it's given me a degree of experience and certainly a grasp of issues that would come with a tenure of that nature.
Q With adjutants general addressing issues that impact their states on an individual basis, how do you recognize those needs [and] the AGAUS' nationwide responsibilities?
A Again, it comes from the collective input of the adjutants general themselves. An issue that may not affect me in a small state may significantly affect one of my colleagues.
I need to be sensitive to the needs of the holistic National Guard, not just the parochial state issues that I might have. We have to always remain very conscious of that, and I certainly try to capture-through dialog, through e-mails-what are the sensitive and critical issues facing our National Guard as a whole.
Q Can you explain your leadership style?
A I'm a people person, and I tend to be very collaborative as a leader, [with] expectations that there are many individuals in the organization-certainly in our Adjutants General Association and locally in Delaware-that are subject matter experts in a particular area.
I would want those individuals to assist in the formulation of strategies that will be used. I want to use the committee system that we set up within AGAUS, because there are TAGs that have wide breadth of experience ... and we certainly want to rely on them to provide the input necessary to form the collective position of the Adjutants General Association.
I try to follow the Golden Rule. Again, looking at treating others the way you want to be treated yourself.
Q You've already had quite a bit of experience on Capitol Hill, testifying before Congress and other bodies such as the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves. What do you think those in Washington need to understand better about the roles and responsibilities adjutants general have back in their states?
A Congress probably knows us much better than they know the active component. And as such, I know from my perspective, my delegation relies on me to provide military perspective on issues.
There's rarely a day that goes by that I'm not talking to Senator [Joe] Biden, Senator [Tom] Carper, Congressman [Michael] Castle's office relative to military issues and military legislation [in] Congress. So I think they understand the Guard much better than maybe we give them credit for. And I think they also understand that our frustrations have always been with our inability to procure the needed resourcing from our service component, be it the Army and the Air Force. They understand that they're really our power base. We have always gone to them, with them uniquely understanding our diversity, understanding our situation. And they've been the ones that have gotten us the necessary resourcing to sustain the National Guard.
I think I've found in my testimony before Congress that congressmen and senators get it.
Q The AGAUS has been at the tip of the spear in recent years, taking the lead on a variety of issues, such as the Base Realignment and Closure debate and National Guard empowerment. What do you see as the most crucial issues you will likely face in the coming months?
A The critical issue again, from a legislative standpoint, is the National Guard empowerment act. That is the most important piece of legislation that's been introduced in support of the modern-day National Guard.
This piece of legislation will help us to even further drive that kind of advancement, in that we've always been looking to improve our dialog with the service components-the Army and the Air Force. And that's real difficult when the only conduit of communication that we have is the chief of the National Guard Bureau. Not that [Lieutenant General] Steve Blum is not a knowledgeable, articulate guy; he is, and he can get the point across. But he will be much more effective as a four-star than he is as a three-star, because he's not at the table.
It's similar to the fight that the U.S. Marine Corps went through back in the early '60s, when they were a subset of the Navy, and they said, "Wait a minute, we're not getting resourced the way we need to." They made a distinct fight to become a separate organization and have a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They were successful.
This, in my mind, is the same kind of fight that we're undergoing right now, saying, "We represent five hundred thousand men and women of the U.S. military, a half a million strong. . . . And oh, by the way, we're only getting 4 percent of the Department of Defense's budget, but we're doing about 30 percent of the mission.
Q You've mentioned that it's not always easy to convey state-level issues and responsibilities to other service components. As you move forward, how do you plan to address those responsibilities, particularly with the emphasis adjutants geneml must maintain on homeland defense?
A It's got to be through communication, and it's got to be through involvement. And that's why it's critical-and we're seeing this every day-we've got some great adjutants general out there that are leading efforts.
And again, dialog and communication with the NORTHCOM commander, that's the only way that we're going to be able to get our point across [and] be able to again emphasize the uniqueness of our organization and certainly our needs. That's got to be forefront in the objectives that I see for our Adjutants General Association.
Q How much are responsibilities in the war on tenor overseas impacting the Guard's ability to perform missions at home? And you can speak in terms of how it affects Delaware.
A Right now, we're kind of in a lull period. We've got adequate forces back at home to support our state mission. Now, where the disconnect is: Do those forces have the equipment necessary to do those missions? And that will vary from state to state.
I think right now, from a personnel standpoint, we've got the adequate force structure to ... support our homeland security needs. I think, from an equipping standpoint, though, we've got some severe shortages. Because the resourcing is being directed toward the war effort - obviously what you would expect-there are some shortages here at home, and some required equipment that units would normally have are not available to them right now.
Q How can the adjutants general and AGAUS impact these equipment shortages, particularly with homeland security being such an important National Guard role?
A It's to continue to articulate the importance of the homeland security mission and ... be able to get the service components to concede that it is an important mission, and it's as important as the war fight in the way of equipment.
It's also to continue to dialog with Congress and say, "Hey, you know as well as we do how important emergency operations and homeland security is; we're not adequately prepared from an equipment standpoint.''
Q How do you plan on coordinating efforts with organizations such as the National Governors Association as state-level responsibilities quickly and easily become national concerns?
A Our effect in this increases exponentially by our connections with other organizations that have the same objectives as we do. Obviously the adjutants general and the National Guard Association of the United States need to be in sync. Another key component of that is the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, [EANGUS] . And then the fourth piece of that is just what you said, the National Governors Association.
We've made tremendous strides in our dialog and involvement with the National Governors Association. We have some adjutants general, like General Tim Lowenberg out of Washington, that work extremely closely with the National Governors Association in the homeland security arena. Tim's skill set gives credibility to our relationship as the Adjutants General Association with the National Governors Association.
When you put them together with AGAUS, NGAUS, EANGUS, you've got four entities with a powerful membership base that are advancing a clear, strong message.
Q Gen. McKinley recently said a primary concern for adjutants general is maintaining joint characteristics, particularly at individual state headquarters, where the Air Guard is typically undenepresented. How crucial is that issue for the AGAUS, and what would be a solution to increase the number of "blue suiters" as he called them, at state headquarters?
A We're very good at rhetoric around joint force operations. In practice we're not always so good. One of the big fixes, to be honest with you, is the resourcing piece of that, because bureaucrats will tell you "that's blue money" or "that's green money" and the two can't be intertwined. That's one of the things that I've faced in Delaware. I'm trying to build a true joint force headquarters and mesh Army and Air money together to do that.
In my state, I've driven it hard, and I've gone to the extent where I have gone to my state and utilized state moneys. Now, I've brought on, on the state payroll, an assistant adjutant general Air and an assistant adjutant general Army and put them right at my headquarters, so the office next to me is occupied by my Air assistant AG, and the office next to him by the Army. As I've told all of my people, some of our Army and Air folks have said, "This guy's carrying jointness too far."
My response to that is I haven't carried it far enough yet. But stand by and hold on because we're going to get there. To me, it's all about taking the best of the Army and the Air and working it together.
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Source: National Guard
