In the current plan, all eight Army National Guard divisional headquarters will convert to the new modular division design; all Army National Guard separate and divisional brigades will convert to 23 Infantry BCTs, 10 Heavy BCTs and one Stryker BCT (34 total); and a number of other formations will convert to various modular supporting units: six fires brigades, 10 combat support brigades (maneuver enhancement), 11 sustainment brigades, eight combat aviation brigades (from the former divisional aviation brigades), four aviation brigades, one aviation command and one aviation group.
I don't know what form the "infantry" BCTs will take. Motorized? Mechanized? Light?
It is interesting that the Guard divisions will remain even though the subordinate brigades are really stand-alone formations. I don't know why--other than because of the Guard's lobbying power--all of the division headquarters will remain. Given that the Guard will operate on a six-year cycle where perhaps six brigades will be available to deploy in any given year, why have more than two headquarters? Interestingly enough, it looks like the Guard divisions may be designed to control support units (note the remarks about commanding Reserve or active units) more often than they are intended to command combat brigades (which may be commanded by new divisions that may include five or more brigades depending on the threat level):
In addition to the BCTs, the Guard will reorganize its eight existing division headquarters into modular command and control elements that will retain their current designations, patches and unit histories. In wartime, these modular division headquarters will be capable of exercising command and control of a variable number of BCTs, support brigades and other support units, determined according to the mission, and will be capable of functioning as JFLCC or JTF headquarters. Significantly, the subordinate elements commanded by these Guard divisions upon deployment are as likely to be active and U.S. Army Reserve units as Army National Guard units. In peacetime, each division headquarters will have training and readiness oversight responsibilities for four or five Guard BCTs.
Whether with 28 or 34 brigade combat teams, the changes make the Guard more a partner of the active component for ongoing operations like we've seen since 9-11 than a final reserve to be mobilized completely for a general war as foreseen in the Cold War.
