By By Sharon White/The Meridian Star
March 4, 2001
Lt. Gen. Russell C. Davis, chief of the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va., was in town Saturday night to serve as guest speaker of the annual Key Field Minority Awareness Banquet.
The banquet was hosted by the 186th Air Refueling Wing Minority Awareness Council.
Pope said in addition to speaking at the banquet, Davis visited a number of National Guard units in this area, including the 186th, the 238th Air Support Operations Squadron and the 248th Air Traffic Control Squadron units of the Mississippi Air National Guard at Key Field.
The general was also to visit the Army Guard's Avenger Missile Battery at Newton and the Regional Counter-drug Training Academy at the Naval Air Station Meridian.
The mission's plan is to cover nearly all of the on-going U.S. commitments around the globe, he added.
As chief of the bureau, Davis serves as the senior uniformed National Guard officer responsible for formulating, developing and coordinating all policies, programs and plans affecting more than half-a-million Army and Air National Guard personnel.
Accompanying Davis on his visit to Meridian was Maj. Gen. James H. Lipscomb III, the adjutant general of the Mississippi, and Maj. Gen. Harold A. Cross, commander of the Mississippi Air National Guard.
Pope said the National Guard and Reserves are critical elements of overall national defense posture.
The 186th Air Refueling Wing, for example, is in the air-to-air refueling business. Currently reserve forces provide more than half of the nation's total air refueling capability, he said.
Sharon White is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at swhite@themeridianstar.com.