Guard News - The National Guard

Senior Enlisted Leaders Conference: Army, Air Guard enlisted leaders seek common ground
April 22, 2008 — SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The stars of the National Guard's Army and Air Force enlisted force gathered near one of this country's pivotal battlegrounds to explore ways to work in closer harmony, more... MORE

New York Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Thomas McCauley, left, from the 109th Airlift Wing, presented Command Sgt. Maj. David Ray Hudson with a jet-assisted takeoff (JATO) bottle during the National Guard Bureau's first Senior Enlisted Leaders Conference in mid-April. Hudson, the Guard Bureau's senior enlisted leader, led the four-day conference for Army and Air Guard enlisted leaders in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The Air Guard uses JATO bottles to give aircraft such as C-130 transports extra thrust during difficult takeoff situations.

Engineers clear away neighborhood flood waters
April 22, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - Among the many problems created in the wake of a devastating earthquake, flooding is one of the most unpredictable. Homes, property, and roadways can all be severely affected if... MORE

Two Soldiers from Detachment 1 of the 1221st Engineer Battalion (Route Clearance), a South Carolina National Guard unit from Batesburg, clear debris from a creek that during a training scenario has overflowed the banks in a Beaufort County community during the Vigilant Guard 2008 exercise. Vigilant Guard 2008 gave these soldiers an opportunity to accomplish a real-world mission in a training environment that resulted in a direct improvement for the community.

Media invitation to the largest preparedness exercise in South Carolina hosted by the National Guard (Updated)
April 22, 2008 — The media is invited to attend a brief on 22 April at 5:30 p.m. (EDT) at the South Carolina National Guard Joint Information Center by the mayors of Beaufort and the surrounding locations as part of... MORE

877th Engineer Company practices high extraction techniques
April 22, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - Standing on top of an 18 foot tower, the soldiers of the 877th Engineer Company from Augusta, Ga. lower a woman to safety at the Vigilant Guard 2008 exercise in Beaufort, S.C., April... MORE

Members of the 877th Engineer Company from Augusta, Georgia receive high-angle extraction rescue techniques at the Burton Township Fire Department in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Andy Lancaster, a member of the Response International Group team from Oklahoma City, is the exercise coordinator. This scenario, in support of the Vigilant Guard 2008 exercise, is being conducted from 21-24 April 2008 in Beaufort County, S.C. Army and Air National Guard personnel from South Carolina and various other states are conducting an earthquake response exercise in coordination with local, state, and federal emergency agencies.

Church helps soldiers during the 2008 Vigilant Guard exercise
April 22, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - Col. Gordon Johnson of Columbia, S.C., has the large responsibility of caring for soldiers and airmen's needs at the North Carolina Forward Operating Base (FOB) during the Vigilant... MORE

Col. Gordon Johnson, of the S.C. Governor's Counter Drug Task Force, thanks Pasture Terry Wilder, of the Swansea First Baptist Church, Swansea, S.C., for the donation of a portable shower and laundry trailer for use by soldiers and airmen at the forward operating base facility during National Guard exercise Vigilant Guard, April 20, in Beaufort, S.C. Vigilant Guard is a three-day National Guard-hosted exercise in Beaufort County, beginning April 21. The exercise is designed to better prepare the National Guard for natural disasters in a cooperative effort with various national, state and local government agencies.

Partnership active for Vigilant Guard 2008
April 22, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - When the European nation of Moldova is the host of a six-nation disaster response exercise in May, it will be utilizing some of the lessons learned in the Lowcountry of South Carolina... MORE

Vigilant Guard 2008 training helps Beaufort Memorial Hospital sharpen skills
April 22, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - The emergency room at the Beaufort Memorial Hospital received extra training during Vigilant Guard 2008. Vigilant Guard 2008 was a three-day exercise designed to test the ability of... MORE

Guard Civil Support Team Supports Shelby County Fire Department During Vigilant Guard 08
April 22, 2008 — MILLINGTON, Tenn. - An earthquake followed by a fire and subsequent chemical leak had west Tennessee firefighters scrambling, so they called on the National Guard for help.That was the scenario in... MORE

JISCC Team
April 22, 2008 — MILLINGTON, Tenn. - A new mobile communications system debuted during an emergency exercise here that will allow individuals and agencies to keep talking even during the direst circumstances.The 230th... MORE

Pfc. Michael Becker, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) specialist of the 230th Signal Company Tennessee Army National Guard, mans the Joint Incident Site Communications Capabilities (JISCC) main desk. The 230th has set up the JISCC in support of the Vigilant Guard exercise at the Mid-South Support Center, Millington. Becker, a Clarksville, Tenn. resident, keeps a visitors log, and answers the phone while helping servicemembers use the internet, or telephones in the JISCC.

West Tennessee Rocks...and the Guard Rolls; NG exercises a mock earthquake scenario
April 22, 2008 — MILLINGTON, Tenn. - A fresh cloud of white dust slowly settles to reveal a mangled pile of rubble. Once a hospital and parking garage, wires and rebar protrude out of the broken concrete. The deep mud... MORE

Local father, daughter support Vigilant Guard
April 22, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - The Vigilant Guard exercise taking place this week in Beaufort County, S.C., reinforces that all incidents are local, and for one local father and his daughter, the exercise has given... MORE

James Colwell, the assistant fire chief for the city of Beaufort, S.C., and his daughter, Airman 1st Class Sarah Colwell of the 75th Security Forces Squadron, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, pose for a picture as two S.C. National Guard CH-47D Chinook helicopters drop off South Carolina Task Force One, urban search and rescue technicians, to support the National Guard's Vigilant Guard exercise taking place April 21 in Beaufort, S.C. The Vigilant Guard exercise here in S.C. involves 3,000 Guard members from across the country and hundreds of personnel throughout the host county of Beaufort, S.C., the S.C. Emergency Management Division and other military, government and non-government organizations.

NEADS ANG members return after deployment to Kyrgyzstan
April 21, 2008 — ROME, N.Y. - The Northeast Air Defense Sector doesn't deploy people, right? Wrong.In the unit's largest deployment ever, nearly 30 security force members deployed on a six-month tour to Manas Air... MORE

Staff Sgt. Stephen Manley, a Northeast Air Defense Sector Security Force member returning from deployment, smiles at his daughter Morgan at the Syracuse International Airport March 14. In the unit's largest deployment ever, nearly 30 security force members deployed on a six-month tour to Manas Air Base, located in Kyrgyzstan, in September 2007.

Bosnia and Herzegovina emulates the National Guard
April 21, 2008 — SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Military leaders in this formerly war-torn country look to the National Guard as a model for reform.A match with Maryland in the National Guard's State Partnership... MORE

LTG H Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, on April 10, 2008, pauses to reflect at the Sarajevo street corner where on June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, considered the event that precipitated World War I, resulting in about 20 million deaths. In the aftermath of the death of Marshall (Josip Broz) Tito and the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, the Balkans were again plunged into violence in the 1990s that was ended by NATO intervention. The National Guard has contributed to the Balkan peace enforcement mission for nearly a decade and in Sarajevo military leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina say they would like to use the National Guard as one of the models for their armed forces.

Air Guard EMEDS team breaks new ground in Vigilant Guard
April 21, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - An Air National Guard Expeditionary Medical Support team will pioneer new territory in military medical training and education as part of Vigilant Guard South Carolina, one of the... MORE

Tech. Sgt. David Betts, of the 187th Medical Group, assembles an electrical distribution panel in a field hospital in preparation for the Vigilant Guard 2008 exercise on April 19, in Beaufort, S.C. The hospital will be used by the expeditionary medical support team (EMEDS) which will practice responding to natural disasters during the 3-day National Guard exercise in Beaufort County, S.C.

Soldiers from Denmark observe Vigilant Guard 2008
April 21, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - After serving with South Carolina Guardsmen in Afghanistan, 40 soldiers from the Army of Denmark are spending two weeks in Beaufort County, S.C., observing a major National Guard... MORE

Pvt. Rene Andersen, a soldier in the Denmark Army, packs his gear during Vigilant Guard 2008, a disaster response training exercise based in Beaufort County, S.C. on April 18, 2008. Andersen and a contingent of 40 Danish soldiers are participating in the exercise as observers. Many of the Danes served alongside South Carolina National Guard Soldiers in 2007 in Afghanistan in support of the Global War on Terror.

Media invitation to the largest preparedness exercise in South Carolina hosted by the National Guard
April 21, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - The media is invited to participate in a disaster preparedness exercise called Vigilant Guard that will test the capabilities and interoperability of local regional and state level... MORE

Alabama Airman follows family tradition
April 21, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - For Staff Sgt. Devin Boggan, serving in the Alabama Air National Guard is simply a family tradition."I joined just as my father retired (from the Guard)," said Boggan, who works as a... MORE

Technical Sgt. Melissa DiQuinzio of the 143rd Medical Group, Rhode Island Air National Guard, and Staff Sgt. Devin Boggan, 187th Medical Group, Alabama Air National Guard, , unpack medical equipment to be used during Vigilant Guard 2008, a disaster response training exercise based in Beaufort County, S.C., April 20, 2008. Vigilant Guard is one of the largest disaster response training exercises in the history of the National Guard, involving more than 3,000 Soldiers and Airmen from more than a dozen states.

Kansas Airman ready to lend a hand
April 21, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - Staff Sgt. Doyse Manz knows something about responding to a disaster.The Kansas Air National Guard surgical technician was part of the National Guard team that responded to... MORE

Staff Sgt. Doyse Manz, a surgical technician with the 190th Medical Group of the Kansas Air National Guard, unpacks medical equipment to be used during Vigilant Guard 2008, a disaster response training exercise based in Beaufort County, S.C., April 20, 2008. Vigilant Guard is one of the largest disaster response training exercises in the history of the National Guard, involving more than 3,000 Soldiers and Airmen from more than a dozen states.

Staying in touch after disaster strikes
April 21, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - Maintaining reliable communications is a challenge in any disaster. Power may be out, phone lines may be down, even cell phones may not work. But when disaster strikes and the... MORE

Chief Warrant Officer Larry Fuller and Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth Drennon, both members of Joint Forces Headquarters-South Carolina, work to maintain the communications network during Vigilant Guard 2008, April 20, 2008. Vigilant Guard is one of the largest disaster response training exercises in the history of the National Guard, involving more than 3,000 Soldiers and Airmen from more than a dozen states.

Convoy regulations keep traffic moving
April 21, 2008 — BEAUFORT, S.C. - Making sure a 75 vehicle convoy stays on schedule is a big job, but not too big for the 1052nd Transportation Company from Kingstree, S.C.They are responsible for maintaining the... MORE

Maryland, Pennsylvania Guard Soldiers Emerge as Region II’s Best Warriors

National Guard Spouse Highlights Strength of Family Support During Maine Visit

Virginia National Guard Team Trains for Disaster Response

D.C. Air Guard Makes Improvements at Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy

Maine Guard Airmen Exercise Rapid-Response Communications Skills