The future is uncertain for more than 200 Illinois National Guard airmen at Peoria's Air National Guard Base, home of the 182nd Airlift Wing.
A nationwide cost-cutting Air Force reduction announced earlier this year would save around $400 million, but legislators are stepping in to introduce legislation that would lessen the impact at home.
Earlier this summer it was announced the planned reductions would decommission two units at the 182nd: the Tactical Air Control Party, or TACP Group and the 566th Air Force Band.
The TACP works with the Army on special warfare operations, providing close air support for operations in the sky.
Col. Rusty Ballard, commander of the 182nd Airlift Wing, said the band provides services across the country as one of just a small number of remaining Air Force bands.
“They’re also some of the most educated people we have on base,” Ballard said during a recent tour of the base. “Because the majority of those people came in here as professional musicians, and on the outside they’re educators and they have their own band and so on and so forth. So, it’s going to be sad to see the band go away.”
The changes affect 210 airmen in all. In June, officials told WCBU there would still be opportunities for the airmen to stay on, though in different capacities.
It's clearer now where some of those openings may be.
“We have vacancies where they can go to. They’re going to have to retrain to go to other jobs,” said Ballard. “If they want to stay in the profession they’re in, like a TACP, they may have to find another opportunity in another state. Because the entire community of TACP’s is reducing by 50% in FY 25.”
But Ballard said they'll also look to find a different role in the state if the members wish to stay.
The Air Force stands to save hundreds of millions of dollars through these nationwide reductions. They are still planning to maintain their standing number of 108,000 total airmen.
Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, the adjutant general of Illinois and commander of the Illinois National Guard, said the Air Force views reductions more as reassignments to the military's most pressing needs, or their "mission."
“The military is continually changing missions. We’re continually refining our missions, right?” he said. “Or, we’d still be riding horses in the cavalry. So, we’re continuing to modernize and as our missions, and our national defense strategy, changes we have to have new missions in place.”
For example, Neely said the reduction in TACP roles coincides with advancing technology lessening the need for human assistance in close air support.
“We’ve watched this technology. In the 1990’s, we were all amazed when a bomb goes down a chimney,” he said. “Think about that, 1990s. 1990. That’s 33 years ago. Technology has changed significantly and those advancements have changed the size of need for that capability.”
While the Air Force leadership is working to solidify and finalize these decisions, some legislators are stepping up in an attempt to prevent any further cuts.
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen is one of those legislators.
The Democrat from Moline thinks the airlift wing plays a vital role, providing both employment regionally and security nationally.
“I am proud to work across the party line with Congressman Darin LaHood to make sure what we’re doing here in Peoria, at this space, is going to be secured for the future,” Sorensen said during the tour. “How are we investing? How are we adding money and investment into this facility, such that it’s going to be here into the future. That’s got to be our priority.”
Sorensen partnered with LaHood to introduce an amendment to the next National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, that would halt further closures of TACP units until a new Contingency Response Group, or CRG, is awarded to the 182nd Airlift Wing.
Neely said a CRG moves ahead and builds and maintains infrastructure in undeveloped areas for incoming military. For example, the units built landing strips on islands in the Pacific Theater of World War 2, and more recently, assisted emergency response efforts in Haiti.
“We saw that a few years ago when we had an earthquake there,” Neely said. “CRGs went in, they set up runways to make sure we could get aircraft in to bring that response capability.”
The CRG would be the first to have a home at the Peoria base.
Ballard said whatever roles it needs to fill, the base is working to pivot and maintain its presence and impact in the Greater Peoria area.
“We’re needed,” he said. “The economic impact we have ranges between $70 to $150 million per year. So, for the jobs not to be here, for us not to be getting new mission sets and working with our congressional delegates, it’s detrimental. So, we have to constantly keep doing that so we can take care of Peoria and keep the 182nd Airlift Wing on the map.”
A second amendment introduced by LaHood and Sorensen would create a commission to study the cost of decommissioning TACP units throughout the country. The earliest decisions on their amendments could happen when the NDAA is finalized, likely in late September.
