Wyoming Guard Unit Targeted In Defense Spending Cuts

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A unit of the Wyoming Air National Guard is being targeted in national defense budget cuts.

Wyoming Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Luke Reiner says the U.S. Air Force is proposing to cut the Guard’s 187th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron as part of an overall plan to cut 5,500 personnel nationwide. The proposed cuts are subject to congressional approval.

The Wyoming Guard unit has 87 members consisting of flight nurses, aeromedical evacuation technicians, communications operators and various medical service personnel.

Its mission is to evacuate wounded, injured and ill people aboard any Department of Defense aircraft.

Reiner says the Wyoming Guard do what it can to reintegrate the unit’s members into other units.

The squadron was activated in 1962 and has been involved in every military operation since Vietnam.