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Michigan Air Guard member follows path to England
June 1, 2021
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Sydney Suwannarat, an all-source intelligence analyst with the 217th Air Operations Group, 110th Wing, Battle Creek Air National Guard Base, Michigan, stands outside RAF Molesworth, England, May 7, 2021. Suwannarat is serving a multiyear tour at RAF Molesworth’s Joint Intelligence Operations Center, Europe (JIOCEUR) Analytic Center.
Vermont seeks to expand partnership with North Macedonia
June 1, 2021
Maj. Gen. Greg Knight, Vermont's adjutant general, talks during a press conference May 27, 2021. Knight, along with Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, right, and Lindsay Kurrle, left, Vermont's secretary of commerce and community development, will spend several days in North Macedonia discussing building upon the State Partnership Program to explore economic development.
Iowa Army National Guard Soldier earns PhD while deployed
May 27, 2021
Capt. Thackery Faugstad of Lakeville, Minn., acting executive officer of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Iowa Army National Guard, in front of his battery’s land-based phalanx weapon system (LPWS) at an undisclosed location in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of operations on May 12, 2021. Faugstad earned a doctorate while deployed.
Soldier's journey from refugee to pilot goes full circle
May 26, 2021
2nd Lt. Valdeta Mehanja, a pilot with the 1-131st Aviation Regiment, posed for a photo in her flight helmet May 26, 2021, in Albania. Mehanja is an Albanian native born in Kosovo and a U.S. citizen; she never thought she would get to see Albania before participating in DEFENDER-Europe 21.
101st ESB Soldiers train for cooking competition
May 19, 2021
New York Army National Guard Spc. Fatima S. Edwards, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion, cooks chicken during training for the next Philip A. Connelly Competition at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., May 15, 2021. The competition provides recognition for excellence in the preparation and serving of food in Army troop dining facilities and field kitchens.
Guatemala, Arkansas National Guard grow SPP partnership
May 17, 2021
Left to right, Guatemalan Cols. Miguel Orozco, J2 intelligence director; Edgar Agustin, J3 operations director; and Romeo Nerio, training command director; examine an RQ-11 Raven unmanned aircraft operated by the Arkansas National Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Maj. Gen. Walfre Carranza, Guatemala’s chief of defense, led a six-person delegation that toured Arkansas National Guard facilities May 13-15, 2021, under the State Partnership Program.
MING Soldier helps at vaccination events with sign language
May 17, 2021
Michigan Army National Guard Sgt. Bill Fitrakis, 1460th Transportation Company, certified in American Sign Language, explains the COVID-19 vaccine process during a vaccination clinic at the Marine City Middle School in Marine City, Michigan, April 27, 2021. Due to most of sign language being a visual language, he cannot wear a mask as it would not impart the message.
WING lays foundation for partnership with Papua New Guinea
May 17, 2021
Capt. Christopher Meza, a Wisconsin Army National Guard officer, with senior leaders from the Papua New Guinea Defense Force. Meza spent nearly six months in Papua New Guinea where he represented the Wisconsin National Guard as part of its new State Partnership Program partnership with Papua New Guinea.
Missouri Airmen mother, daughter join in fight against COVID
May 14, 2021
Senior Airman Terra Waitl, right, who is assigned to the 139th Logistics Readiness Squadron’s material management office, Missouri Air National Guard, outside the Nutrition Center in St. Joseph, Missouri, Nov. 12, 2020. The Missouri National Guard has been assisting at food banks across the state as part of Missouri’s COVID-19 response.
Michigan Air National Guardsman pursues kickboxing gold
May 13, 2021
Michigan Air National Gjuard Master Sgt. Destiny Taylor, 110th Wing finance specialist, spars with a teen boy during a youth training class in Kalamazoo, Michigan, April 22, 2021.