Nearly seventy-five percent of the 110 military personnel who work for the nation’s first standing joint force headquarters for homeland security based in Norfolk, Va., come from the Reserves or National Guard. And roughly half of those with U.S. Northern Command’s Standing Joint Force Headquarters-Homeland Security (SJFHQHLS) are members of the Alabama National Guard’s 167th Theater Support Command from Birmingham.

The 167th is one of only five major commands in the Alabama National Guard. Its role as a Theater Support Command means it can support an entire operating theater from ammunition and logistical planning to command and control.

“There are several states represented here, but by far the largest contingency of folks we have is from the 167th,” says SJFHQ-HLS Public Affairs NCO JO1 Anthony Falvo, USNR. “And from planning and logistical capabilities to operations and intel(ligence), you name it, they’re lending a hand.”

Members of the 167th, which became a Theater Support
Command in 2000, have the experience the new standing joint force needs to plan and integrate the full spectrum of homeland defense and civil support to lead federal agencies, says Falvo.

The Standing Joint Force started out as a directorate of U.S. Joint Forces Command to coordinate the land and maritime defense of the continental United States shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, and became a standing (permanent) force in February 2002. Last October, after the new Unified Command Plan went into effect, it came under the direction of the newly formed U.S. Northern Command. In addition to coordinating military assistance to civilian authorities, SJFHQ-HLS also includes prevention, crisis response and consequence management capabilities. The Joint Force includes personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.

SJFHQ-HLS also has operational control over a former Joint Task Force—Civil Support (JTF-CS) headquartered at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va. Its mission is to provide command and control for Department of Defense (DoD) forces deployed in support of the lead federal agency managing the consequences of a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive incident in the United States in order to save lives, prevent injury and provide temporary critical life support.

Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6), headquartered at Biggs Army Airfield, Fort Bliss, Tx., is the SJFHQ-HLS component that provides Department of Defense counter-drug support to federal, regional, state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the continental United States.

U.S. Northern Command plans, organizes and executes homeland defense and civil support missions, yet has few permanently assigned forces. But by being assigning pre-existing task forces, including the ones in Virginia, USNORTHCOM has gained the ability to execute important missions on a daily basis.

The 167th initially sent about 22 personnel to Norfolk in 2001 for a one-year deployment, say officials. Nearly half that number elected to stay for a second year, including Spec. Alethea Jackson, 21, who joined the National Guard only a year before she headed for Norfolk.

“I was the baby of the group,” she says. Jackson says she was used to coming in for drill once a month in Birmingham and doing administrative duties such as reconciling travel vouchers. Now she’s an administrative assistant for the Finance Comptroller Office at SJFHQ-HLS with a wide range of duties, including keeping up with government vehicles and distributing gas cards when needed.

“It was definitely different coming up here and doing the job on a full-time basis,” she says, “the everyday exposure has given me so much more experience, and I’ve learned so much.”

The Birmingham native who worked as a P.E. assistant at an elementary school while taking classes at a local community college says she’s grown up a lot since moving away from home almost two years ago.

“This was the first time I’d ever been on my own,” says Jackson, “having my own apartment, doing my own bills and grocery shopping — it was all new to me. I think it’s been a push in the right direction, though. I’m taking more classes at night — I’ve already earned 12 more credits since I’ve been here.”

The wide spectrum of people from different states and branches of service inherent in a joint force was something else to get used to at SJFHQ-HLS, she says.

“You get used to the Army Guard, and the way they do things, then you come up here and have people from five different services, and you have to learn whole other sets of terminology, and their ways of doing things. I really had to go in and read up on some things when I got here.”

Now, after joining the National Guard to earn extra money for school and to buy a car, Jackson is seriously considering making the Guard her career.

“Right now, administrative assistants can pretty much go anywhere in the Guard — everyone needs us,” she says. “I’ve been online, checking things out, and I’m definitely looking into the Title 10/Title 32 programs.”

Jackson would like to extend her assignment in Norfolk for another year, if possible. “We should find out pretty soon if we can,” she says. “I don’t have a husband or kids, and I haven’t really gotten established in a job back home yet, so right now it’s probably easier for me to stay than maybe someone else.”

Above: Maj. Gen. Russel L. Honoré (l) is presented a rendition of "The Fourth Alabama", part of The National Guard Heritage Series, by Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Lamon. The painting is generally bestowed as an award or as a special presentation of honor and thanks. (Photo by JO1 Anthony Falvo) Below: Col. Bill Atchison (l) and Col. Curtis Andrews, both of the Alabama National Guard's 167th Theater Support Command, help to place flags at Hampton National Cemetery. (Photo by JO1 Anthony Falvo).

Jackson says she’s heard of some employers who have not understood the obligations of the Guard and Reserve members, especially being called for duty within the continental U.S., rather than overseas. “They just have to be reminded is all,” she says.

But for the most part, employer support for members of the 167th has been good, says MG Ronald Stokes, Commanding General of the 167th. “Most of our people up there [in Norfolk] are senior-ranking NCOs or officers in high-level positions,” he says. Many have civilian jobs that are similar to their current duties for the task force, he says, which adds a layer of experience to the mission.

Members of the 167th were not mobilized for the mission as a group or by units, says Stokes, but individually by their rank and skill sets. “We were told which areas they needed people and then we matched up different people within the command to what was requested,” he says. “We have such a wide and varied range of skills here in the 167th that we had several good matches, and several people volunteered to go and then to stay past the first year.”

Some people opted to come home after the first year-long rotation, he says, mainly for family or job considerations, but were replaced by others, many volunteers. “We expect the same to happen this fall,” he says. “I’m very proud of my people. They always step up to the plate and do a great job.”

In addition to the selective mobilization of its members, this deployment of the 167th differs in another important way, say officials. Members were mobilized under Title 10, or federal mobilization orders, rather than Title 32, which would have bound them under the control of the state Governor or the Adjutant General (TAG).

Specialist Jackson sums up the SJFHQ-HLS mission best as she looks out from the Norfolk headquarters as the Naval ships return home from duty.

“You see the ships coming in with everyone out on deck, and see all the families gathering to welcome home their loved ones. It really makes you stop and think, ‘hey, this is why I’m here, to help protect those families while the soldiers [or seamen] are overseas.’”

Jennifer G. Williams is a freelance writer who lives in Northern Virginia.