"In the broader sense of what's going on in the Pentagon, West Virginia fared fairly well," Hoyer said. "Both of our Air National Guard wings are still in place, and there are no cuts for now on the Army side."

The state was not untouched by Friday's announcement, though.

Under U.S. Air Force restructuring plans announced by Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, 286 aircraft would be retired and 9,900 positions -- 5,100 of them from the Air Guard -- would be chopped.

Under the plan, the Martinsburg-based 167th Airlift Wing will retire all 11 of its C-5A Galaxy cargo jets. By 2015, the unit would have eight C-17 Globemaster IIIs, the newest and most flexible cargo jet in the Air Force's airlift force.

Since the 167th will be operating with fewer aircraft, which require smaller crews, some positions probably will be cut at the Martinsburg unit, but no details were available Friday. The Air Force is expected to announce manpower changes caused by the proposed restructuring in the next few weeks.

Charleston's 130th Airlift Wing will see one of its nine C-130 Hercules turbo-prop cargo planes transferred to an Air Guard unit in Cheyenne, Wyo., and will lose its RC-26 surveillance aircraft, currently stationed in Clarksburg.

In the meantime, Hoyer predicts that personnel operating and maintaining the C-5As and C-130s at the two West Virginia Air Guard units "will be working hard over the next two years, as we address the issues of leaving Iraq and Afghanistan."

Before the restructuring plan takes effect, it must be approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama.

"Our Air Guard missions don't significantly change" under the restructuring plan, Hoyer said. That's something that can't be said for many of the 27 states affected by the proposed restructuring, he said.

Under the plan, Ohio stands to lose six KC-135 Stratotankers at Rickenbacker Air Force Base near Columbus, plus all four C-2J cargo aircraft stationed at Mansfield Air National Guard base and two C-130s based at Youngstown-Warren. In Pennsylvania, an Air Force Reserve air station at Pittsburgh would lose seven C-130s and close.

The Air Force restructuring plan calls for each state to retain at least one flying Air National Guard unit.

Under the plan, the Air Force will be "a smaller but superb force that maintains the agility, flexibility and readiness to engage a full range of contingencies and threats," Schwartz said in a statement announcing the proposed restructuring.

Col. Roger Nye, commander of the 167th Airlift Wing, said the Martinsburg Air Guard unit is "prepared to continue doing our nation's work in the aircraft we are currently assigned and will move forward into the C-17 with the same pride, dedication and outstanding service" now in effect.

The C-17 Globemasters the 167th will receive are capable of rapidly delivering troops and all types of cargo to forward bases in deployment areas. "It's predicted to be a key part of the Air Force's airlift effort for some time to come," Hoyer said.

In size, Globemasters are about midway between the C-130s and the massive C-5s.

Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper said the fight to retain and improve Charleston's Yeager Airport, rather than build a regional airport elsewhere, helped assure the viability of 130th Airlift Wing.

"Had the community not supported Yeager staying open, the Air National Guard base there would have closed during the BRAC [Base Realignment and Closure Commission] hearings in 2005, and the cuts being announced now," Carper said.

Carper said the Air Guard base, which directly pumps $81.8 million into the economy in wages and goods and services, "has the economic impact to this community of a Toyota plant or two."

As the Department of Defense addresses the Budget Control Act's directive to cut $487 billion in spending over the next 10 years, "we're going to have to do more with less while addressing our needs," Hoyer said.

The West Virginia National Guard "will focus on developing cost-effective timely missions" to train and maintain military personnel from across the nation, he said. "The Guard is the nation's best military value."

Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5169.