Alaska Air National Guard merges two recruiting offices into one flight

The Alaska Air National Guard has merged its two wing-level recruiting offices into one unit with additional recruiters, citing how thinly Alaskans are spread out. The Recruiting Flight was activated Sept. 25 at a ceremony in Anchorage, with Lt. Col. Glenna Lambert becoming its first commander.

The flight replaces separate offices for the 168th Wing and 176th Wing, adding a headquarters, more recruiters, and support noncommissioned officers for marketing, training and evaluation, and administration. Brig. Gen. Keolani Bailey, the Alaska Air National Guard commander, called it a cultural transformation within the Guard.

"Manpower is key," said Senior Master Sgt. Christopher Fronapfel, the flight's senior enlisted leader. "In Alaska, we don't have the population centers that other states have. Additionally, our population centers are spread out over a vastly larger area. This requires more manpower to dig through a lot more earth to find gold."

In a June 2023 National Guard Bureau briefing, Col. Pasquale of the Air National Guard called places like Alaska "significantly challenged" when the Air National Guard nationwide filled about 96.7% of its authorized strength.

Lambert said the flight recruits for critical billets, or positions, across the Guard's headquarters and both wings, and helps retain current Airmen. "Every school visit matters. Every community event matters," she said. The number of recruiters added was not specified. The account is the Guard's own.