after world war ii, the air national guard developed an unfortunate reputation as a glorified "flying club" for world war ii combat veterans. not only did the units and individuals lack specific wartime missions, their equipment, especially aircraft, was obsolete and their training was usually deplorable. once mobilized, those air national guardsmen proved to be almost totally unprepared for combat. regardless of their previous training and equipment, air national guard units were assigned almost at random to major air commands. it took months and months for ang units to become combat ready; some units never succeeded.