PRSG - 1

st
Air Base Group Airman Manual










Puerto Rico National Guard
State Guard Command
1
st
Air Base Group Headquarter
Muiz Air National Guard Base, Carolina, Puerto Rico

Airman Manual



Airman Manual
PR National Guard History
&
US Air Force History
As of January 2014



Airman Manual

PRSG - 1
st
Air Base Group Airman Manual


The Puerto Rico National Guard
History:
After the Spanish American War in 1898, Spain
ceded Puerto Rico to the United States. US military
authorities discussed Puerto Rico's military value. It
offered tremendous commercial value in expanding
commerce among the US, Central and South
America. Because of the political changes in the
beginning of the 20th century, the strategic military
importance of Puerto Rico grew. In 1906, a group of
Puerto Ricans met with the Governor Winthrop, and
the Commissioner of Interior, Lawrence H. Graham,
to organize a National Guard of Puerto Rico.
The public supported this effort and some
companies were organized, in different towns
around the island: Yauco under the command of
Captain Santiago Vivaldi; Juana Daz, commanded
by Captain Diaz-Brik; Peuelas by Captain Gabino
Balasquide; and two in Ponce by Pedro Juan
Armstrong, Mario Belaval, J. Oppenheimer, F. del
Valle and Doctor Laguna. In San Juan three
companies were organized under Federico Vall-
Spinosa, Justo Barros, J. del Barril, R. Swigett, J.
Doere, Lugo Vinas and F. Fano.
As the companies were being formed, all of the
officers and soldiers had to purchase their own
uniforms and supplies, since there was no
government funding for the enterprise. This
organization failed due to existing U. S. federal law,
which prohibited the formation of any armed force
within the United States and its territories without
authorization from Congress.
In 1906, a group of Puerto Ricans met with the
appointed Governor Winthrop, and suggested the
organization of a Puerto Rican National Guard. The
petition failed because the U.S. Constitution
prohibits the formation of any armed force within
the United States and its territories without the
authorization of Congress.
On June 19, 1915, Major General Luis R. Estevez of
the U.S. Army became the first Puerto Rican and the
first Hispanic to graduate from the United States
Military Academy at West Point, New York. While
he attended West Point, he tutored classmate Dwight
D. Eisenhower in Spanish; a second language was
required in order to graduate.
He was a Second Lieutenant in the 8th Infantry
Brigade of the army under the command of John J.
Pershing when he was sent to El Paso, Texas in the
Pancho Villa Expedition. From El Paso, he was sent
to the town of Polvo, where he was appointed mayor
and judge by its citizens. Estevez helped organize
the 23rd Battalion, which would be composed of
Puerto Ricans and be stationed in Panama during
World War I. He would also play a key role in the
formation of the Puerto Rico National Guard
During World War I, Puerto Ricans served in the
373d, 374th, and 375th Infantry Regiments of the
National Army and the Puerto Rican Regiment of
the Regular Army. Approximately 20,000 troops
were trained at Camp Las Casas.

The young Puerto Rican officer, Luis Ral Estevez,
thought a Puerto Rican National Guard was needed.
As the first Puerto Rican to graduate from the US
Military Academy at West Point, he had learned
about military units in other states. He discussed the
issue with the governor of Puerto Rico, Arthur
Yager, soon after the conclusion of World War I.
The governor, Legislature of Puerto Rico, and US

PRSG - 1
st
Air Base Group Airman Manual


Congress approved the plan, and the National Guard
was organized in 1919. In 1938, Luis R. Estevez
was promoted to Major General and appointed as
Adjutant General of the Puerto Rican National
Guard.
The first regiment of the Puerto Rico National
Guard, "First Infantry Regiment", was organized on
June 2, 1920 and
reorganized on December
26, 1922, as the 295th
Infantry Regiment. On
March 1, 1936, the 296th
Infantry Regiment was
organized. Before, the
296th existed as a battalion
of the 295th Infantry
Regiment.
On November 23, 1947, the Puerto Rico Air
National Guard came into existence as a result of the
efforts led by Colonel Mihiel Gilormini, Colonel
Alberto A. Nido and Lieutenant Colonel Jos
Antonio Muiz.
Gilormini was promoted to brigadier general and
served as commander until his retirement in 1975.
Colonel Nido was promoted to Brigadier General
and served at National Guard Headquarters as Chief
of Staff for Air.

The tactical aviation element of PRANG operates as
the 156th Airlift Wing, 198th Airlift Squadron,
flying C-130E aircraft. They operate out of Muiz
Air National Guard Base, which shares the runways
with Luiz Muoz Marn International Airport (SJU,
originally San Juan International Airport).
In the past, they have operated P-47 Thunderbolts,
C-47 Skytrains, F-86D, F-86E, and F-86H Sabre
Jets, F-104 Starfighters, A-7D Corsair II, F-16
Fighting Falcons, and, currently, C-130 Hercules
type aircraft. Phasing out the F-16s left Puerto Rico
with no air-to-air defense assets.
The Puerto Rico Air National Guard (PRANG) is
the air force militia of the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United
States of America. It is, along with the Puerto Rico
Army National Guard, an element of the Puerto
Rico National Guard.
As commonwealth militia units, the units in the
Puerto Rico Air National Guard are not in the
normal United States Air Force chain of command.
They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of
Puerto Rico though the office of the Puerto Rico
Adjutant General unless they are federalized by
order of the President of the United States. The
Puerto Rico Air National Guard is headquartered at
Muiz Air National Guard Base, Carolina, PR.

The Puerto Rico Adjutant General (Ayudante
General de Puerto Rico) is the Commander of the
Puerto Rico National Guard. As the Adjutant
General he is also the Senior Military Advisor to the
Governor of Puerto Rico and oversees both State
and Federal Missions of the PR National Guard.
He provides leadership and management in the
implementation of all programs and policies
affecting more than 10,500 citizen-soldiers and
airmen, and civilian employees of the three
components of the PR National Guard: Puerto Rico
Army National Guard, Puerto Rico Air National
Guard and Puerto Rico State Guard.


PRSG - 1
st
Air Base Group Airman Manual


The US Air Force History:
In 1903, the Wright brothers laid the ground work
for the future formation of the Air Force when they
flew their first airplane. It carried two men and flew
at about 40 miles per hour.
The War Department
created the first
antecedent of the Air
Force in 1907, which
through a succession
of changes of
organization, titles,
and missions
advanced toward
eventual separation 40 years later. In World War II,
almost 68,000 U.S airmen died helping to win the
war; only the infantry suffered more enlisted
casualties.
In practice, the USAAF was virtually independent of
the Army during World War II, but officials wanted
formal independence. The USAF became a separate
military service on 18 September 1947, with the
implementation of the National Security Act of
1947. The Act created the National Military
Establishment (renamed Department of Defense in
1949), which was composed of three subordinate
Military Departments, namely the Department of the
Army, the Department of the Navy, and a newly
created Department of the Air Force.
Prior to 1947, the responsibility for military aviation
was shared between the Army (for land-based
operations), the Navy (for sea-based operations from
aircraft carriers and amphibious aircraft), and the
Marine Corps (for close air support of infantry
operations).




The 1940s proved to be important in other ways as
well. In 1947, Captain Chuck Yeager broke the
sound barrier in his X-1 rocket powered aircraft,
beginning a new era of aeronautics in America.

The predecessor organizations in the Army of
today's Air Force are:
Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps 1
August 1907 18 July 1914
Aviation Section, Signal Corps 18 July 1914
20 May 1918
Division of Military Aeronautics (20 May
1918 to 24 May 1918)
U.S. Army Air Service (24 May 1918 to 2
July 1926)
U.S. Army Air Corps (2 July 1926 to 20
June 1941) and
U.S. Army Air Forces (20 June 1941 to 18
September 1947)
The Air Service, United States Army (also seen as
the U.S. Air Service or simply the Air Service) was a
forerunner of the United States Air Force during and
after World War I. It was established as an
independent but temporary wartime branch of the
War Department by two executive orders of
President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918,
replacing the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps as
the nation's air force; and March 19, 1919,
establishing a military Director of Air Service to
control all aviation activities. Its life was extended
for another year in July 1919, during which time
Congress passed the legislation necessary to make it
a permanent establishment.
The National Defense Act of 1920 assigned the Air
Service the status of "combatant arm of the line" of
the United States Army, with a major general in
command.
The Air Service was the first form of the air force to
have an independent organizational structure and
identity. Although officers concurrently held rank in
various branches, after May 1918 their branch

PRSG - 1
st
Air Base Group Airman Manual


designation in official correspondence while on
aviation assignment changed from "ASSC"
(Aviation Section, Signal Corps) to "AS, USA" (Air
Service, United States Army).
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was
the statutory forerunner of the United States Air
Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July
1926, it was part of the United
States Army and the
immediate predecessor of the
United States Army Air
Forces (USAAF), established
on June 20, 1941. Although
abolished as an administrative
echelon in 1942, the Air Corps
(AC) remained as one of the
combat arms of the Army until
1947.
The Air Corps was renamed by the United States
Congress largely as a compromise between
advocates of a separate air arm and those of the
Army high command who viewed the aviation arm
as an auxiliary branch to support the ground forces.
Although its members worked to promote the
concept of airpower and an autonomous air force
between 1926 and 1941, its primary purpose by
Army policy remained support of ground forces
rather than independent operations.
On 1 March 1935, still struggling with the issue of a
separate air arm, the Army activated the General
Headquarters Air Force for centralized control of
aviation combat units within the continental United
States, separate from but coordinate with the Air
Corps. The separation of the Air Corps from control
of its combat units caused problems of unity of
command that became more acute as the Air Corps
enlarged in preparation for World War II. This was
resolved by the creation of the Army Air Forces on
20 June 1941, when both organizations became
subordinate to the new higher echelon.
The Air Corps ceased to have an administrative
structure after 9 March 1942, but as "the permanent
statutory organization of the air arm, and the
principal component of the Army Air Forces," the
overwhelming majority of personnel assigned to the
AAF were members of the Air Corps.





The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or
AAF) was the military aviation service of the United
States of America during and immediately after
World War II, and the direct predecessor of the
United States Air Force. The AAF was a component
of the United States Army, which in 1942 was
divided functionally by executive order into three
autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the
Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the
Army Service Forces), and the AAF. Each of these
forces had a commanding general who reported
directly to the Chief of Staff of the United States
Army.
The AAF administered all parts of military aviation
formerly distributed among the Army Air Corps,
General Headquarters Air Force, and ground forces
corps area commanders, and thus became the first
air organization of the U.S. Army to control its own
installations and support personnel.
The Air Corps became the Army Air Forces in June
1941 to provide the air arm a greater autonomy in
which to expand more efficiently, and to provide a
structure for the additional command echelons
required by a vastly increased force. Although other
nations already had separate air forces independent
of the army or navy (such as the British Royal Air
Force and the German Luftwaffe), the AAF
remained a part of the United States Army until the
independent United States Air Force came into
being in September 1947.

PRSG - 1
st
Air Base Group Airman Manual






Today, the United States Air Force (USAF) is the
aerial warfare service branch of the United States
Armed Forces and one of the seven American
uniformed services. It is the most recent branch of
the U.S. military to be formed, and is the largest and
one of the world's most technologically advanced air
forces.
The USAF articulates its core functions as Nuclear
Deterrence Operations, Special Operations, Air
Superiority, Global Integrated ISR, Space
Superiority, Command and Control, Cyberspace
Superiority, Personnel Recovery, Global Precision
Attack, Building Partnerships, Rapid Global
Mobility and Agile Combat Support.
The U.S. Air Force is a military service within the
Department of the Air Force, one of the three
military departments of the Department of Defense.
The USAF is headed by the civilian Secretary of the
Air Force, who is appointed by the President with
the advice and consent of the Senate.
The highest-ranking military officer in the
Department of the Air Force is the Chief of Staff of
the Air Force who exercises supervision over Air
Force units, and serves as a member of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. Air Force combat forces are
assigned, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, to
the Combatant Commanders, and neither the
Secretary of the Air Force nor the Chief of Staff
have operational command authority over them.
The U.S. Air Force provides air support to ground
troops and aids in the recovery of troops in the field.
As of 2012, the service operates 5,484 aircraft, 450
ICBMs and 63 satellites. It has a $140 billion budget
with 332,854 active personnel, 185,522 civilian
personnel, 71,400 reserve personnel, and 106,700 air
guard personnel.
The USAF Core Values are:
Integrity first
Service before self
Excellence in all we do
The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly,
fight and win in air, space and cyberspace.

To achieve that mission, the Air Force has a vision
of Global Vigilance, Reach and Power. That vision
orbits around three core competencies: developing
Airmen, technology to war fighting and integrating
operations. These core competencies make our six
distinctive capabilities possible.
Air and Space Superiority
Global Attack
Rapid Global Mobility
Precision Engagement
Information Superiority
Agile Combat Support