Guard News - The National Guard

Vermont National Guard biathletes eye 2022 Beijing Olympics
June 10, 2021 — COLCHESTER, Vt. – Three Vermont National Guard biathletes are training hard in anticipation of attending the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. If selected, VTARNG members will make up 37 percent... MORE

U.S. Army Spc. Vasek Cervenka, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Garrison Support Command, Vermont National Guard, competing in the 12.5 KM Pursuit Race at the 2021 Junior World Championships in Obertilliach, Austria, March 3, 2021. Cervenka hopes to compete in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, China.

NGB chief recognizes scholarship awardees, touts STEM careers
June 9, 2021 — ARLINGTON, Va. – Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, recently recognized awardees of the Army National Guard ROTC Minuteman Scholarship during a virtual presentation... MORE

Maj. Eric Juarez, a helicopter pilot with the 449th Combat Aviation Brigade, North Carolina Army National Guard, speaks with ROTC cadets from East Carolina University during an ROTC training event in Greenville, North Carolina. Army National Guard members interested in commissioning through ROTC may also qualify for the Army National Guard ROTC Minuteman Scholarship, a program administered through the U.S. Army Cadet Command that pays full tuition and other education expenses for Army Guard members enrolled in an Army ROTC program.

Annual posture statement touts ‘Year of the Guard’
June 9, 2021 — ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Guard released its annual posture statement June 9, detailing the Guard’s current operations and providing an overview of missions during a historic, unprecedentedly busy... MORE

The 2022 National Guard Bureau posture statement was released June 9, 2021, and outlines National Guard operations and the unprecedented 'Year of the Guard.'

103rd Airlift Wing trains multicapable maintainers
June 9, 2021 — EAST GRANBY, Conn. – Airmen from the 103rd Security Forces Squadron partnered with the 103rd Maintenance Group June 5 to conduct flight line security training. The course is part of an Air Force... MORE

Tech. Sgt. Leo Otero, left, and Staff Sgt. Daniel Vanwormer, 103rd Security Forces Squadron, demonstrate detaining procedures during a training course on flight line security for the 103rd Maintenance Group at Bradley Air National Guard Base, East Granby, Connecticut, June 5, 2021. The course taught maintainers techniques for bolstering security, responding to potential threats before Security Forces personnel arrive.

Michigan National Guard drives Operation Patriot Press
June 8, 2021 — AUGUSTA, Mich. – Michigan National Guard Soldiers drove a half-million miles through more than 15 states, transporting almost 6 million pounds of ammunition as part of Operation Patriot Press.The... MORE

The Michigan Army National Guard’s 1463rd Transportation Company is coming to its home base Fort Custer Training Center in Augusta, Michigan, May 18, 2021. They, along with their sister unit, the 1461st Transportation Company, both part of the 246th Transportation Battalion based in Jackson, Michigan, spent a week transporting ammunition as part of Operation Patriot Press.

167th Airlift Wing BASH program vital to airfield safety
June 7, 2021 — MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – At the 167th Airlift Wing, airfield management ensures a safe, efficient and effective airfield and responds to safety hazards affecting the airfield environment.Safety threats... MORE

U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jose Marrero, noncommissioned officer in charge of airfield management with the 167th Operations Support Group, displays a pyrotechnical device with cartridges used as part of the Bird/wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazards (BASH) program, at the 167th Airlift Wing, Martinsburg, West Virginia, May 12, 2021. The airfield management team uses many noise-making devices to encourage animals to move away from the airfield.

Kansas Guard partnership helps Soldiers earn degrees
June 7, 2021 — SALINA, Kan. – Active-Duy, Reserve and National Guard Soldiers who take military occupational specialty conversion courses at the Kansas Army National Guard Regional Training Site for Maintenance now... MORE

Eric Vannoy, lead welding instructor at Salina Area Technical College, left, inspects the work of Soldiers enrolled in the Advanced Leaders Course for the 91E Allied Trade Specialist military occupational specialty qualification course at the Kansas Army National Guard’s Regional Training Site for Maintenance in Salina, Kansas, May 20, 2021. The KSARNG-SATC partnership gives Soldiers completing the Army course the opportunity to enroll in and receive credit for college courses.

152nd Airlift Wing, Navy conduct water survival training
June 7, 2021 — RENO, Nev. – The 152nd Airlift Wing conducted water survival training with the Naval Air Station Fallon Search and Rescue (SAR) Team at Lahontan Reservoir June 5.More than 85 Airmen from the 152nd... MORE

Petty Officer 2nd Class Asher Ferguson, Naval Air Station Fallon Search and Rescue team crew chief, hoists an Airman from the 152nd Airlift Wing in Reno, Nev., out of the water at Lahontan Reservoir June 5, 2021. The 152nd Airlift Wing conducted joint water survival training with the NAS Fallon SAR team.

Virginia National Guard tests hurricane response tools
June 4, 2021 — RICHMOND, Va. – Aviators from the Virginia National Guard participated in an exercise managed by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to test the state’s hurricane response air operations... MORE

Virginia National Guard aviators participate in an air operations exercise managed by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management May 10, 2021, at the Army Aviation Support Facility in Sandston, Virginia. The exercise aimed to test a new smart phone-enabled mission-management platform for use during a large-scale emergency response, such as a hurricane.

Cal Guard helps vaccinate nearly 1.5 million Californians
June 3, 2021 — SACRAMENTO, Calif — “One shot, one arm at a time,” boasted U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Donald McKinney Jr., a California National Guard combat medic, while inoculating a Tehama County resident with the... MORE

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Leroy L. Cisneros of the California Army National Guard, commander of the Community Vaccination Center in Oakland, California, oversees operations of both Army and Air Guardsmen who worked with civilian health care workers to vaccinate more than 500,000 San Francisco Bay Area residents after the temporary facility opened February 2021. In three months, Cisneros’ hard-working crew reached the half-million mark before closing in late May.

Alaska National Guard rescues stranded mountaineers
June 2, 2021 — JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – Alaska Air and Army National Guardsmen rescued 12 stranded mountaineers on Klutlan Glacier southeast of Mt. Bona in Wrangell-St Elias National Park June 1.The... MORE

Pararescue personnel with the Alaska Air National Guard’s 210th Rescue Squadron used an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter like this one in the search for 12 mountaineers stranded in poor weather on Klutlan Glacier southeast of Mt. Bona in Wrangell-St Elias National Park. The mountaineers were rescued June 1 after the 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, dispatched an Alaska Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook with a paramedic from the 2nd Battalion, 211 Aviation Regiment.

466th Medical Company returns from Middle East deployment
June 2, 2021 — QUEENSBURY, N.Y. – Forty-seven New York Army National Guard Soldiers from the 466th Medical Company-Area Support returned from a nine-month deployment to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq.The... MORE

Spc. Olivia Mannetti, a combat medic with the 466th Medical Company, Area Support, New York National Guard, prepares to make an incision on a simulated throat as she practices conducting a cricothyrotomy at the Role 2 compound at Ain al-Asad base, Iraq, Oct. 30, 2020. The company recently completed a nine-month deployment to the Middle East and returned to New York.

142nd Civil Engineers get valuable training in Hawaii
June 2, 2021 — OAHU, Hawaii – The 142nd Civil Engineer Squadron's firefighters and Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians completed two weeks of annual training on the island of Oahu in May.Many of the Oregon... MORE

Firefighters from the Oregon Air National Guard's 142nd Wing conduct a live-fire exercise with Marine Corps firefighters at Marine Corps Base, Hawaii, May 14, 2021. This burn is part of a larger scale joint exercise that includes aircraft familiarization, egress training, and co-training and mentoring less experienced firefighters.

Alaska Air National Guard rescues two men after plane crash
June 2, 2021 — JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – Alaska Air National Guardsmen of the 176th Wing rescued a pilot and passenger May 31, two days after they were in an aircraft crash on Mount Hawkins in... MORE

Pararescue personnel with the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing rescued a pilot and passenger May 31, 2021, two days after their airplane crashed near Mount Hawkins in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The rescue was a collaboration by the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, the 176th Wing and the National Park Service.

WING helps administer almost 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines
June 1, 2021 — MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin National Guard Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen have helped local health departments administer nearly 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines since establishing the first mobile vaccination... MORE

Wisconsin National Guard members assist with mobile vaccination team operations March 10, 2021, in Greendale, Wis. Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen have helped local health departments administer nearly 100,000 vaccines across Wisconsin since establishing the first mobile vaccination teams in late January.

NY Guard Airmen plant 'Survivor Tree' to commemorate 9/11
June 1, 2021 — ROME N.Y. – Airmen of the Eastern Air Defense Sector marked the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center by planting a seedling from a tree that survived the attack outside... MORE

Left to right, Col. Paul M. Bishop, EADS commander; Rome Mayor Jackie Izzo; Col. Joseph F. Roos, 224th Air Defense Group commander, and Lt. Col. Josh Klemen, EADS Canadian Detachment commander, planted the 9/11 Survivor Tree seedling at EADS during a short ceremony May 26, 2021. The seedling was taken from a tree found in the World Trade Center rubble in October 2001 and nursed back to health.

National Guard chief begins Memorial Day weekend by renewing ties with survivor group
May 28, 2021 — ARLINGTON, Virginia – The National Guard’s senior general officer reaffirmed today the component’s relationship with a group providing comfort, care and resources to those grieving the death of a... MORE

Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, addresses attendees at the TAPS 27th Annual National Military Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp, Arlington, Virginia, May 28, 2021.

Secretary of state, Greenland premier tour NYNG LC-130
May 28, 2021 — KANGERLUSSUAQ, Greenland – The New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing gave Greenland Premier Múte Bourup Egede and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken a close-up look at one of the wing’s... MORE

New York Air National Guard Maj. Shay Price, an LC-130 navigator, briefs Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Greenland Premier Múte Bourup Egede, and other officials, about the LC-130s used by the wing to support climate science research on Greenland's Ice Cap at the Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, airport May 20, 2021. The 109th Airlift Wing operates from the airport when supporting National Science Foundation research in Greenland.

NYNG remembers sacrifice in Memorial Day ceremony
May 28, 2021 — LATHAM, New York – The New York National Guard’s headquarters remembered 10 Soldiers and Airmen who died in the past year – on duty and off – during a short Memorial Day ceremony May 27.Those... MORE

Air Force Maj. Gen. Timothy LaBarge, assistant adjutant general for New York, and Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Denny Richardson, state command chief for New York, render honors while taps is played during a Memorial Day service in Latham, N.Y., May 27, 2021. Each year the facility holds a service to recognize New York Guardsman who died the previous year.

Alaska Air National Guard helps rescue injured hiker
May 28, 2021 — JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – Alaska Air National Guardsmen of the 176th Wing partnered with multiple civil search and rescue partners to rescue a hiker injured in a fall May 26 near... MORE

Pararescue personnel with the Alaska Air National Guard’s 212th Rescue Squadron transfer an injured hiker from a 210th Rescue Squadron HH-60 Pave Hawk to a Guardian Flight, AirMedCare air ambulance after a multiagency rescue from an avalanche near Donoho Peak in Wrangle-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve May 26, 2021.

Oregon Army Guard Helps Design Future Medevac Technology

Alaska Air National Guard Rescues Five Distressed Boaters

W.Va. Guard Deploys Troops in Aftermath of Deadly Flooding

Colorado Army Guard’s Drone Warfare Cell Reshapes Warfighting

Alaska National Guard Leads Exercise ORCA 2025