Gen. Nordhaus: Hey John, this is a pretty good-looking crowd.
SEA Raines: It is, it is!
Gen. Nordhaus: How’s everybody doing today? Everybody doing great?
This is a great day to celebrate our National Guard and some incredible warriors, warfighters, across the board as we think about our No. 1 priority: warfighters and families.
It’s an honor to stand before you today. As I think about one of the best things I get to do in this job, it is to recognize the incredible capability and things that our Soldiers and Airmen do.
I want to start out by giving a big round of applause to Chaplain Vladamir [Steliac], who gave an incredible, inspirational invocation.
I don’t know if you know this or not, but we also have got Vicki. Is Vicki still here? There you are, Vicki. Last night, she sang the national anthem at the Nationals baseball park, and then sang “God Bless America” and rocked the house.
And we got to see Staff Sgt. Andy Wolfe throw out the first pitch last night for the ballgame. So, big round of applause.
Now I have to recognize my boss in the room, Shannon [Mrs. Shannon Nordhaus]. Good to see you again. Almost 37 years, so we’re getting pretty close there.
Vice, good to see you. General Stubbs, General Terrell, Chief Aguon, Command Sgt. Maj. Kendrick, Chief Reich, good to see you. First Sgt. Comacho.
OK, well, hey, it’s great to be here and recognize the incredible top talent and the tireless devotion, effort and innovation by these National Guard leaders here that we’re going to recognize.
We know what makes our National Guard elite and lethal. It’s you all.
Every day, our 435,000 members of the National Guard get after it. Right? And 17 of you nominated here today represent some of the best in the National Guard.
I am humbled to be part of this incredible team.
Here are just a few things that were accomplished by some of our award winners today that we talk about.
You secured $165 million in MILCON funding for cyber units. You led a 21-member team in a 14-day exercise, and you built, led and improved working groups that kept the NGB and 54 in clear communications at all times.
You developed a $600,000 grant to build the Presidio Endeavor Homefront wargame, which was an incredible exercise and wargame that really has led to new things for us.
You created a data-driven dashboard and financial management tools. You also resolved 2,000 personnel record deficiencies, and you earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, security certifications and completed PME.
And that’s just the beginning of it.
Thank you for your dedication, your professionalism and your unwavering commitment to the homeland, the warfight and building partnerships.
We talk about that — local to global — that’s what we do.
Each of you plays a vital role in ensuring that our National Guard remains “Always Ready, Always There.”
As we look back on 2025, it’s been a testament to your strength — our strength — and the adaptability of our force.
We’ve seen our Guardsmen excel in complex missions — Operation Epic Fury, Operation Absolute Resolve — proving that the Guard is an indispensable, combat-ready part of the Joint Force, at home and abroad.
You’ve answered the call, every time, to every challenge, from natural disasters to securing our homeland, saving lives and making our communities safer.
Here are just a few of the things that the National Guard did as a whole in 2025.
With your help, 2.5 million hours of direct, on-the-ground aid; 3,800 service members to support law enforcement agencies across 19 agencies in even more states; in addition, an average of 1,300 personnel employed in domestic operations per month.
After Hurricane Milton hit, 21,000 National Guard members from 43 states responded.
Daily, an average of 3,500 National Guardsmen protect and defend our nation — whether it’s from ballistic missile defense or aerospace warning and control, or when we think about what we do for our nation’s sovereignty on protecting our borders.
And in 2025, we activated over 400 cyber professionals to respond to real-world network intrusions.
I used to say that the National Guard saves a life a day, but what I’ve learned in this job is we’ve probably saved five lives a day, and that’s on average.
So, way to go, Guard Nation!
All of this happens because of our people in this room.
The administrators, the planners, the IT experts, the communicators, the support staff — you are the fuel that propels the entire formation.
You are the ones who enable 435,000 warfighters to have the resources, training and support they need to be an elite and lethal warfighting and response force.
You have all shown the commitment to improve yourselves, too, beyond the minimums.
You are out there every day educating yourselves, dedicating your time to community service and taking on leadership roles.
Our awards program looks at the whole-person concept. You have not just succeeded at work, but in all aspects of your lives.
You responded within your communities through veterans groups, Honor Flight, military professional societies and church groups.
You planned holiday gatherings and formed mentorship groups. You shared your talents and took groups of individuals and shaped them into cohesive teams.
You represent the very best of the National Guard.
Your innovation, your dedication and your willingness to tackle hard problems head-on is what you give and what makes us have a decisive edge against any adversary on the planet.
As we look at our achievements in 2025 — exceeding our recruiting goals, dominating in national and international forums, supporting the Joint Force and strengthening our 116 global partnerships through the State Partnership Program — it’s clear that our success is from our people, our leaders out here.
And we can’t talk about our team without acknowledging the families who support us.
Let’s take a minute to recognize those family members in attendance today. Can you please stand?
Let’s give them a round of applause.
Your love and encouragement are the bedrock that allows us to serve our nation.
Thanks also to the supervisors who took the time to recognize the high performers in their teams and submit their people for this recognition.
Let’s give them a round of applause as well.
The greatest function of leadership is to make more leaders, and that’s what we do here.
And recognizing outstanding performance is what we will always do.
The individuals we honor today have set the standard.
There were many, many qualified applicants for these awards, and each of you earned your place on the stage today.
You remind us that our people are always the most critical asset we have — and that we have to take care of.
As we go through today, and always, we will make sure that happens.
We are proud of our National Guard legacy, proud of our mission and proud of the work we do together.
You are what makes the National Guard an elite organization.
Thank you for your relentless dedication and sharing your talents with your country, our nation, the 54.
We are stronger together and stronger tomorrow.
Thank you!
SEA Raines: All right, so, hey, I don’t want to stand between, you know, the main event and recognizing these outstanding service members.
So, I don’t have a binder sitting in front of me. Plus, I think the boss took everything. I think you talked about everything, boss.
Gen. Nordhaus: I left you a couple nuggets.
SEA Raines: Left me a couple of nuggets. It’s up to me to find them.
Gen. Nordhaus: Hey, 20%!
SEA Raines: There you go.
Hey, I’ll talk more about today.
A lot of people don’t like ceremonies. I love ceremonies because it reminds me of my core values. So I’ll go to those.
We said a prayer. We had chaplain up. Chaplain led us. So, God.
We’ve got family members here present. So, family.
And then we’re gonna honor our country. You know, we had the great national anthem. We got to hear you two days in a row, so how good is that?
And then we’re gonna get to talk about service.
We’re gonna get to talk about these service members and what they contributed to the Joint Force, to the fight.
Because that’s what we do in the National Guard.
So, how good are ceremonies? I wish we started every day that way.
It would get us focused and remind us of what’s important and get us all paddling in the same direction.
There are groups that already have it figured out. They don’t need to be reminded every day, and those are the ones that we’re gonna recognize today.
They got it figured out, or they wouldn’t be sitting here. And they wouldn’t be coming to receive these awards and these accolades for the job done.
Which enables not just this building, not just over in the Pentagon where me and the boss sit, not just over at Andrews where the Readiness Center sits, or McGhee Tyson or some of our outstations, but all 435,000 — 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia.
That is what we enable.
We enable the warfight.
You don’t have to look very far or very long back — just eight months — look at all we’ve done.
Look at where we were with Epic Fury right now, look at where we were with Midnight Hammer, Absolute Resolve.
The Guard were participants, and not just participants, but main participants in just about every one of those endeavors and operations we did.
That’s what our awardees enabled. They enabled all of that to be done across our Joint Force.
I wish this whole place was filled up. It should be filled up in recognition of that.
We’ll work on that.
What I’m assuming is that they’re all sitting at their desk working so they can be awarded next time.
So with that, I’m gonna stop so we can get to the main effort, which is recognizing these outstanding individuals that are here today.