News Features - The National Guard

Airman uses deployment training to resuscitate drowning child
September 13, 2021 — HAMPTON, Va. – Situations can change in an instant. We’ve all heard that. But for Master Sgt. Keona... MORE

Master Sgt. Keona Newsom, 192nd Operations Group commander’s support staff noncommissioned officer in charge, at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, Aug. 24, 2021, as she recounts saving a child’s life. Newsom performed CPR on a drowning 4-year-old girl, saving her life.

91st Cyber Brigade Soldiers earn Ranger tab
September 10, 2021 — BOWLING GREEN, Va. – Two Virginia National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 91st Cyber Brigade... MORE

Maj. Andre Slonopas, right, commander of the Virginia National Guard's 134th Cyber Security Company, 124th Cyber Protection Battalion, 91st Cyber Brigade, proudly shows off his Ranger tab following the completion of the U.S. Army Ranger School in July 2021 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Slonopas, who began his career as an engineer officer with the Fredericksburg-based 116th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, switched to the Fairfax-based Data Processing Unit in 2014 and became one of the staff officers instrumental in standing up the 91st Cyber Brigade.

Aunt, nephew reunite during Middle East deployment
September 10, 2021 — JORDAN - Being deployed is often full of firsts. For many, it is their first time in a new country,... MORE

West Virginia Army National Guard Cpt. Brittany Watson, a medical operations officer in the 111th Engineer Brigade, and Sgt. Andres Rivera, a carpentry and masonry specialist in the 766th Engineer Company of the 111th, recently reunited during a deployment to the Middle East. They had not seen each other in over 12 years.

RED HORSE Ready! 111th squadron always set to ‘saddle up’
September 8, 2021 — HORSHAM, Pa. – With the shift in mission at the 111th Attack Wing from A-10 Thunderbolt II to the... MORE

Members of the 201st Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, or REDHORSE, Detachment 1, pose for a picture at Biddle Air National Guard Base in Horsham, Pennsylvania, May 15, 2021. This is the first official group photo of the 201st REDHORSE Det. 1 in the Operational Camouflage Pattern, or OCP, utility uniform on base since they returned from their recent deployment overseas.

Refugee is now a Vermont National Guard officer
September 3, 2021 — CAMP JOHNSON, Vt. – The road to becoming an officer in the Vermont National Guard began in 2016 for... MORE

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Abdimaik Hashi, a newly commissioned transportation officer in the Vermont National Guard, is assigned to assist the Vermont National Guard state resilience coordinator at Camp Johnson, Joint Force Headquarters, Colchester, Vermont. Hashi, shown on Aug. 13, 2021, spent the first eight years of his life in a refugee camp in Kenya.

Coming to America: A Moldovan story
September 2, 2021 — RANDALLSTOWN, Md. - The path to U.S. citizenship can be lengthy for many foreign nationals. For one... MORE

U.S. Army Capt. Fiodor Strikovski, military intelligence officer, 29th Combat Aviation Brigade, Maryland National Guard, in front of his home in Fallston, Maryland, Aug. 6, 2021. Before Strikovski moved to America and joined the MDNG, he served in the Moldovan Army.

Alaska National Guard Soldier reflects on her 9/11 experience
August 30, 2021 — JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – September 11 marks not only the 20th anniversary of the... MORE

Master Sgt. Melissa Branch, the Alaska Army National Guard state religious affairs noncommissioned officer, at the Alaska National Guard Armory on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Aug. 26, 2021. Branch was in the Marine Corps stationed at the Navy Annex building next to the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

From Afghan interpreter to service in the National Guard
August 25, 2021 — SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – When Fahim Masoud was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1988, the country was at... MORE

2nd Lt. Fahim Masoud, center, briefs Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, left, the adjutant general of Illinois and commander of the Illinois National Guard, and Command Sgt. Maj. Dena Ballowe, senior enlisted leader of the Illinois National Guard, during a visit to a COVID-19 mass vaccination site in Chicago Feb. 1, 2021.

Focus on the Force Week 2021 celebrates ANG’s outstanding Airmen of the year
August 20, 2021 — ARLINGTON, Va. –The Air National Guard's Outstanding Airmen of the Year honorees were recognized... MORE

From left: Senior Master Sgt. Mark Schneider II, of the 179th Airlift Wing, Ohio National Guard; Senior Airman Ruth-Ann Bell, of the 193rd Special Operations Wing, Pennsylvania National Guard; Master Sgt. John Stegen of the 153rd Airlift Wing, Wyoming National Guard; and Ms. Jennifer Weir, wife of Master Sgt. Tyler Weir, 120th Airlift Wing, Montana National Guard, participates in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, August 16, 2021.

Father, son reflect on shared service
August 20, 2021 — SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – Tech. Sgt. David LaPierre has been serving in the U.S. Armed Forces for more... MORE

New York Air Guard’s Journey to Becoming a Phoenix Raven

Honoring Military Children: The Resilience of Military Families

Kentucky National Guard Soldier Commended for Heroic Rescue

N.Y. National Guard Commander to Attend Dachau Liberation 80th Anniversary

Meet the New York Air National Guard’s Record-Setting Recruiter