I was recently asked, “Why don’t active Air Force pilots provide our air defense instead of Air National Guardsmen who only meet a couple weekends a month?” I tried to explain that, due to cutbacks in active duty personnel and aircraft over the past 20 years, much of the flying that used to be exclusively by active duty personnel is now done by Air National Guardsmen, including fighter, bomber, airlift and tanker missions.

There are only three Air National Guard fighter units providing air defense for all of New England: Burlington, Vt., Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, and Hancock Field, Syracuse, N.Y. One or two aircraft and pilot is/are on alert at each of these bases on 24-hour, seven-day basis.

These units are routinely called upon to intercept aircraft, large and small, that penetrate sensitive or restricted areas without authorization. Those may include drug smugglers, illegal aliens, or just off-course civilian private planes.

With resources spread so thin, it is imperative that we allow them to get the best training practical with the goal of intercepting 100 percent of unidentified or hostile aircraft, including those at very low altitudes, where radar coverage is spotty, at best. To do otherwise puts the safety of perhaps thousands of our citizens at risk.

I urge others with similar opinions to help counteract the small but vocal anti-training crowd.

Richard Grover, Mason Twp.

Editor’s note: The author is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.