By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va. (2/5/10) – A former medical researcher motivated to enlist by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is set to become the Ohio National Guard’s first Silver Star recipient since the Korean War in a Saturday statehouse ceremony.

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va., (2/4/10) — About 1,000 Puerto Rico National Guardmembers will assist the U.S. territory’s police for up to a year while new police recruits are trained, the governor said Monday.

Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, receives an update on the African nation of Senegal at 17th Air Force at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on June 17, 2009. Vermont is paired with Senegal in the National Guard's State Partnership Program. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

GERMANY — In June 2009, the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard sat in a wood-paneled brie!ng room at Ramstein Air Force Base for an update on the African nation of Senegal.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie was making office calls with staff at U.S. Air Forces in Europe and 17th Air Force.

For 14 years, the Vermont National Guard has been in the National Guard’s State Partnership Program with the Balkan nation of Macedonia, part of the former Yugoslavia, and now Vermont also is partnered with Senegal.

USAFE’s area of responsibility includes Macedonia, and 17th Air Force supports U.S. Africa Command, which includes Senegal.

Adjutant generals are increasingly looking to Africa as the National Guard’s 16-year-old, 62-nation State Partnership Program expands.

Seven nations in Africa Command’s purview have partnerships and two more are on the horizon. The seven include: California and Nigeria, New York and South Africa, North Carolina and Botswana, North Dakota and Ghana, Utah and Morocco, Vermont and Senegal and  Wyoming and Tunisia.

Partnerships with Liberia and Kenya are expected to be announced in the coming months, Guard officials said.

Adjutant generals view office calls like the one Dubie made as mandatory stops as they pursue SPP activities with their partner nations. The National Guard is one part of a larger team bent on improving partnership capacity.

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va., (2/1/10) – A National Guard that has been vital to national defense for the past eight years will remain an operational force, according to the Department of Defense’s 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review released today.

“Preventing and deterring conflict will likely necessitate the continued use of some elements of the Reserve Component … in an operational capacity well into the future,” the QDR states.

The QDR is a legislatively mandated review of DoD strategy and priorities that occurs every four years.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates delivered the 2010 QDR report to Congress today. It is the fourth QDR since the 1997 act that made it mandatory and the second conducted in wartime.

“Over the past eight years, the National Guard and Reserves have consistently demonstrated their readiness and ability to make sustained contributions to ongoing operations,” the QDR states.

“We don’t want to put our National Guard back on the shelf like we’ve done after every major war our nation’s been in,” said Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau. “We’re going to have a demand on our National Guard for the foreseeable future.”

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997, which established the QDR, also required that it be conducted in consultation with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“We could not have accomplished what we have these past eight years were it not for our Reserve and National Guard forces,” Navy Adm. Michael Mullen wrote in his formal assessment of the QDR.

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va., (1/26/10) – Joined by members of the Georgia, Kansas, South Dakota and Washington National Guard, Missouri’s “Houn Dawgs” are still sniffing out improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan and rendering them harmless.

Sustained by support from back home, members of the Missouri National Guard’s 203rd Engineer Battalion are prevailing in this dangerous mission.

“We’re all very proud to be here representing our state and our nation,” Army Lt. Col. Tony Adrian, the battalion commander, said today during a “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable.

Considered one of the most dangerous and important missions assigned to the U.S. military, route clearance ensures safety for those traveling Afghanistan’s roads – a mission felt across the region.

The 203rd’s area of responsibility is about the size of West Virginia, Adrian said.

“It’s a constant cat and mouse game with the enemy,” he said. “They change their tactics. We change ours. And the cycle goes on.”

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

 ARLINGTON, Va., (1/25/10) – The National Guard responded to severe weather in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Arizona on Monday.

Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, left, said Jan. 22, 2010, at the national States and Territories Hurricane Response Workshop in Tampa, Fla., that more agencies are communicating and collaborating better to prepare for domestic hurricane response. Also pictured are Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart, Jr., commander, Northern Command; Juliette Kayyem, assistant secretary, the Department of Homeland Security, and Rear Adm. Mary Landry, commander, 8th Coast Guard District. The National Guard Bureau and Northern Command co-sponsored the weeklong workshop hosted by the Florida National Guard. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt.Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

TAMPA, Fla. (1-22-10) – More agencies are communicating and collaborating better as a team preparing for the next hurricane response, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said here today.

Flanked by the commander of Northern Command and senior Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard and other leaders, Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley said hurricane preparation is steadily improving.

“The more players we get at this table, the better we all are going to be,” McKinley said.

McKinley and Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander, Northern Command are scheduled to brief President Obama on the workshop, and the week’s work here is expected to be reflected in hurricane plans.

Citizen-Soldiers with the Kentucky National Guard's 223rd Military Police Company conduct a briefing at Camp Liberty, Iraq, before an escort mission on Oct. 17, 2008. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va. (Oct. 26, 2009) — National Guard equipment will be returned from Iraq to the United States and Guard units can fill shortages with equipment currently in use in Iraq, Defense officials told Congress members Oct. 21.

“Reserve-component equipment will not be used as a source for Iraqi security forces requirements,” Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy told a House Armed Services Committee hearing on redeployment. “In fact, reserve units serving in Iraq are being offered the opportunity to take theater-provided equipment back to their home station to fill any authorized shortages.”

Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Nein, 39, with the Kentucky National Guard's 223rd Military Police Company, at Camp Taji, Iraq on Oct. 18, 2008. Nein was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions as a squad leader with the 617th Military Police Company during an ambush on March 20, 2005, during his second deployment. "I probably didn't have to be here this time, but I don't think that I would have missed it," Nein said. "We're helping transform the Iraqi police to be a more relevant force and a professional force." (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON (Oct. 6, 2009) — Leadership and the Army standards are key elements of success for individual Soldiers, a Distinguished Service Cross recipient said during a visit here last week.

“The standards that are given by the Army – whether it be our leadership values, our equipment we use or the training we employ – are so critical,” said Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Nein of the Kentucky Army National Guard during a visit to the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting here.

“These aren’t things that were just thought up [on the] spur of the moment; these are things that men have sweat blood for to develop so that we have better tactics, techniques and procedures than any other country,” he said adding, “and because of that we’re able to adapt on the battlefield more readily and quickly than any other force in the world.”

Staff Sgt. Michael Wilson of the New York National Guard patrols at Penn Station in Manhattan, N.Y., on Aug. 25, 2009. Wilson is serving with Joint Task Force Empire Shield, which has been continuously providing military support to civilian authorities since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (U.S. Army photo by SSG Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

NEW YORK CITY, Sept. 11, 2009 – Army Staff Sgt. Michael Wilson stands watch outside Penn Station, part of a New York National Guard task force that has continuously served since the terrorist attacks eight years ago today.

Wilson enlisted in the National Guard because of the attacks that he first learned about as he labored as a 19-year-old landscaper in Albany, N.Y. Just as the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, triggered the transformation of the National Guard from a strategic reserve to an operational force, so have they prompted Wilson to morph from teenager to Soldier.

Now 26, he’s been on duty more or less continuously ever since, including a stint in Iraq – a story shared by many of the 280 remaining members of Joint Task Force Empire Shield, which has swelled to as many as 2,500 during surges.

“We are a full-time, state active-duty force of 280, New York City-centric,” said Army Lt. Col. Greg Dreisbach, commander. “It was formed on 9/11 and has been here since. We have some guys that have been here since almost Day 1.”

Members of Empire Shield were among first responders to the attacks. Some lost friends. Some served in Empire Shield, then fell serving overseas.

“What we are doing is very important,” Army Spc. Armando Chadilliquen said during a recent visit to the World Trade Center site. “It is very important that we are prepared in case anything happens.”