Guard officer no stranger to 'jointness'.

Byline: Terry Joyce

The notion of "jointness" has become popular in the military since Donald Rumsfeld became secretary of Defense nearly three years ago. Last week, Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum spoke about jointness in remarks to a luncheon for the Charleston chapter of the Military Officers Association of America.

Blum is chief of the National Guard Bureau, the agency that coordinates the Pentagon's missions with all of the states' National Guard outfits.

Since those outfits include both air and army units, Blum is a natural disciple of jointness, which he defines as "where two or more services work together to accomplish the same mission."

"Our services have to learn how to operate in a joint environment," he added. "Transformation into a joint force is what the National Guard is all about."

Blum wasn't bashful about his opinions of the news media, saying his remarks would include "what you don't read in the paper …