By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON — A multi-agency roundtable has recommended using the National Guard State Partnership Program as a tool for citizen diplomacy.

“This incredibly powerful and successful network of state programs … has such tremendous potential,” said Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton. “We want to envision … a framework that … can grow from … the genius of the State Partnership Program and the impact it has had on emerging democracies.”

State and Defense Department leaders as well as academics and state representatives had high praise here Nov. 18 for the almost 20-year-old SPP that has paired 51 states and territories with 62 foreign countries.

“The National Guard’s SPP … we have seen at the [State] Department to be one of the best examples of sub-national engagement,” said Reta Jo Lewis, the department’s special representative for intergovernmental affairs, whose portfolio includes building relationships between state and local officials and foreign counterparts.

“The SPP has become an essential tool that’s been used by our ambassadors and our embassies … to achieve their goals,” she said.

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON – Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt joined the small but growing ranks of Defense Department leaders on Facebook today.

The director of the Air National Guard took a virtual seat alongside other senior defense leaders, such as Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Army Gen. Ray Odierno, commanding general of Joint Forces Command, with a Facebook page that went live today.

“With a half-billion active users worldwide, Facebook is an important forum to tell the Air National Guard story and connect with our customers,” Wyatt said.

On Facebook, Wyatt can be found listed as Air National Guard Director. Those who fan the page will receive news about Air National Guard activities in the 54 states and territories and the District of Columbia.

Army Maj. Gen. Peter Aylward, special assistant to the chief of the National Guard Bureau, talks about the National Guard's support to civil authorities on the nation's Southwest border in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2010. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON — Illegal border crossings are down and narcotics and weapons seizures have increased since National Guard troops joined a multiagency effort to boost Southwest border security, a National Guard leader said here Nov. 3.

“There’s some great work being done by the interagency partners, state and local as well, to get after, frankly, what is an unbelievable threat to our nation — that’s narco-terrorism and transnational threats writ large,” said Army Maj. Gen. Peter Aylward, special assistant to the chief of the National Guard Bureau.

Aylward’s responsibilities include overseeing the deployment of about 1,200 additional National Guard troops to assist Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents securing the about 2,000-mile border from Texas to California.

Those troops are in addition to the National Guard’s more than 30-year counterdrug initiative.

In the last year, with National Guard support, illegal immigration has declined 23 percent, narcotics seizures have increased 16 percent and weapons seizures have increased 30 percent, Aylward told the Defense Orientation Conference Association, which works with the Defense and State departments to increase citizens’ understanding of national security issues without special advocacy of any individual military service or concept.

Army Maj. Gen. Raymond Carpenter, acting director of the Army National Guard, tells attendees at the 2010 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 27, 2010, that emotional fitness is as important as physical fitness. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON – With the spike in servicemember suicides, the Army should put the same emphasis on emotional fitness as it does on physical fitness, the acting director of the Army National Guard said here last week.

“The Army National Guard, together with the Army, is seeing a crisis in the number of suicides,” Army Maj. Gen. Raymond Carpenter said here at the 2010 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition on Oct. 27. “For us in the Army Guard, we are doubling the number of suicides we had last year.”

The majority of Army National Guardmembers who commit suicide: have not deployed; 85 percent are traditional Guardmembers; 61 percent are in grades E-1 through E-4; 66 percent are between 17 and 29-years-old; 93 percent are male; 86 percent are Caucasian and most are single, Carpenter said.

While there is no overnight fix, “the best time to plant a tree is now,” Carpenter said, urging quick action, to include instilling resiliency in servicemembers from day one.

“We have raised a generation that doesn’t come with the coping skills that my generation had,” he said.

Senior Army and Air National Guard officers join officers from other components at a Joint Task Force Commander Training Course at U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs on Jan. 28, 2009. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON — Developing regional response capabilities, stepping up preparations for a no-notice catastrophe and maturing partnerships are among priorities at U.S. Northern Command, the new deputy commander said here Tuesday.

“We’re working very closely with the National Guard and [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] and the Joint Staff, taking our contingency plans for the homeland – especially in the CBRNE world – and working very closely with the Guard to develop a regional response capability,” said Army Lt. Gen. Frank Grass, Northcom’s deputy commander.

CBRNE is chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive.

“The success of that regional response in support of (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) will help drive how we respond … at the federal level,” said Grass, who also is vice commander of the U.S. element of Northcom’s sister command, North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Army Gen. William "Kip" Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, talks with retired Army Lt. Gen. John Conaway at the 2010 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 25, 2010. Ward praised the National Guard State Partnership Program's contribution to AFRICOM; Conaway is considered one of the fathers of the program, which was established during his tenure as chief of the National Guard Bureau from 1990 to 1993. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

WASHINGTON – The National Guard and Reserves are making a vital contribution in Africa, the commander of U.S. Africa Command said here today.

Any given day, 3,500 U.S. servicemembers serve on the continent, and 90 percent of those are Guard and Reserve members, Army Gen. William “Kip” Ward said.

Ward singled out the almost 20-year-old, 62-nation National Guard State Partnership Program that pairs Guard states with foreign countries.

And he challenged Guard and Reserve leaders attending the 2010 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition here to sustain the transformation of the Guard and Reserve accomplished since the Vietnam era and, especially, in the last decade.

“Ladies and gentlemen, that’s what you have to make sure we do not lose,” Ward said.

Army Brig. Gen. Rufus Smith, left, commander of the Ohio National Guard unit that provides command and control for the state's elements of the joint Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams that deploy to Afghanistan with the Hungarian Defense Force, participates in an after action review with Ohio colleagues and Hungarian counterparts in Hungary on Sept. 15, 2010. "It's a great example of what it is when you have countries who arre focused on a single mission," Smith said. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

BUDAPEST, Hungary – It is perhaps the highest compliment yet to the National Guard State Partnership Program.

When the Central European nation of Hungary – which, after 17 years partnered with the Ohio National Guard, has gone from being a former Soviet Bloc country to full North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union membership – chose to deploy on a NATO mission to Afghanistan, leaders had a request:

Deploy us with our Ohio National Guard partners.

For almost two years, Hungarian-led Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams have rotated through Afghanistan, and each unit has been 50 percent Hungarian, 50 percent Ohioan.

“That was … the most beautiful six months of my career,” said Hungarian 1st Sgt. Tamas Galgoczy, the acting sergeant major for OMLT 1.3.

Air Force Capt. Jeremy Ford, the Ohio National Guard's bilateral affairs officer in Hungary, talks with a Hungarian counterpart in Hungary, on Sept. 14, 2010. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ROSZKE, Hungary – A motorcade carrying Army Maj. Gen. Gregory Wayt from Belgrade, Serbia, stops at the border here.

The general climbs out and crosses the diagonal red border line painted across the M5 motorway to another motorcade driving him to Budapest.

Wayt, the adjutant general of the Ohio National Guard, is midway through a visit to the state’s partners in the almost 20-year-old, 62-nation National Guard State Partnership Program: the adjoining nations of Serbia and Hungary.

As Wayt poses for a photograph with a Serbian officer bidding him farewell and a Hungarian officer welcoming him, another handoff happens between two Ohio National Guard officers stationed here in Europe full-time.

The two are bilateral affairs officers. Selected by the state and confirmed by the National Guard Bureau and the combatant command, a BAO is the liaison between a host nation and its National Guard state, first point of contact for either partner.

Army Maj. Devin Braun is wrapping up an accompanied, two-year tour as the Ohio National Guard’s BAO in the Balkan nation of Serbia. Air Force Capt. Jeremy Ford has served as Ohio’s BAO in the Central European nation of Hungary on an unaccompanied tour since October 2009.

“We’re the eyes and ears of the [adjutant general],” Ford said.

“The adjutants general need someone they can trust and rely on who understands the country team, who can be part of the embassies … to facilitate the close working relationships between the state and the country, to plan those training events that are most worthwhile and to understand the budgetary limitations of the program,” Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said as he returned from Germany in August from meetings with U.S. Africa Command and National Guard leaders about the SPP.

President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas and Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, meet at Camp Johnson, headquarters of the Vermont National Guard, in Colchester, Vt., on Sept. 20, 2010, during the president's two-day visit for National Guard State Partnership Program activities. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

BURLINGTON, Vt. – The National Guard State Partnership Program is increasing understanding between African countries and the United States, the president of Senegal said here Sept. 19.

“Each country can learn something from another,” President Abdoulaye Wade said in an interview here at the end of a two-day visit to Vermont. “The National Guard … will know better Africa, because to know a country is to know the people. You should have contact with the people.

“We have invited the National Guard to Senegal. At any time, they would be welcome.”

The West African country is paired with Vermont in the almost 20-year-old, 62-nation National Guard State Partnership Program.

The SPP initially focused primarily on former Soviet Bloc countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It has expanded into Africa with the establishment of U.S. Africa Command and Defense Department emphasis on building partnership capacity.

Wade’s visit here en route to the United Nations in New York included cultural visits and meetings with Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas; Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, and other elected and appointed state and local leaders, business executives and private citizens.

It was Wade’s second visit to the United States and his first to his nation’s partner state.

“I did not know where was Vermont,” Wade said, speaking in English, a second language after his native French, the official language stemming from 19th century French colonization. Senegal gained independence in 1960.

“I am very, very happy to be here,” Wade said. “I regret only to have not been here before. … Now I think that beyond the [official partnership], we have an opportunity to establish relations between the Vermont private sector and Senegalese private sector.”

Army. Maj. Gen. Gregory Wayt, the adjutant general of the Ohio National Guard, awards the Ohio Commendation Medal to Hungarian Defense Forces soldiers who served in a joint unit with Ohio National Guard members in Afghanistan at Tata, Hungary, on Sept. 15, 2010. A delegation of Ohio National Guard leaders was in Hungary for National Guard State Partnership Program activities. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Back in 1993, Hungary was emerging from behind the Iron Curtain. The National Guard’s new State Partnership Program was announcing a third pairing of a state with a nation. And Army Lt. Col. Gregory Wayt was about to become the Ohio National Guard’s desk officer, nurturing a new international relationship.

Fast-forward 17 years. Hungary is now a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. Its troops stand side-by-side with Ohio National Guard Citizen-Soldiers, jointly deployed in Afghanistan. The National Guard’s 62-nation State Partnership Program will soon celebrate its 20th anniversary. And Army Maj. Gen. Gregory Wayt is now the adjutant general of the Ohio National Guard.

Sitting in a second-floor business center overlooking the lights of Budapest on Wednesday evening, he marveled at how much has been accomplished in less than two decades.

“Think back 17 years,” Wayt said. “Could anybody have ever imagined that we would be jointly deploying to Afghanistan to train the Afghan National Army in the middle of war?”