with the consent of state governors or equivalents, members or units of the air national guard may be appointed, temporarily or indefinitely, to be federally recognized members of the armed forces, in the active or inactive (e.g., reserve) service of the united states. if federally recognized, the member or unit becomes part of the air national guard of the united states, which is one of two reserve components of the united states air force, and part of the national guard of the united states. because both state air national guard and the air national guard of the united states relatively go hand-in-hand, they are both usually referred to as just air national guard.