Lt. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs, the new director of the Army National Guard, is committed to caring for people, delivering combat-ready formations and maintaining a focus on values.

A second-generation Guardsman whose father was a chaplain in the Arkansas National Guard, Stubbs had been adjutant general of Arkansas for 18 months when he was nominated on July 10 to be the 23rd director of the Army National Guard.

As he begins his tenure as director, Stubbs said, he will rely on a personal leadership philosophy he described as “all about people and relationships. I put listening and understanding first.”

“I’m fired up, and I’m here to make our organization better,” Stubbs replied in response to written questions from ARMY magazine. He added that he approaches every day with “a profound sense of gratitude and humility, coupled with an indomitable drive to provide our soldiers, civilian employees and families the best environment in which to serve.”

“I am here to carry our profession forward,” he said.

Sworn in on Aug. 5, Stubbs quickly was tapped for a temporary assignment as acting chief of the National Guard Bureau following the Aug. 2 retirement of Gen. Daniel Hokanson. Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven Nordhaus has been nominated to succeed Hokanson, but he was awaiting Senate confirmation as of Sept. 10.

Stubbs takes the helm at a critical time. The Total Army is in the middle of a sweeping transformation as it transitions from counterinsurgency operations to preparing for large-scale combat operations. The force faces growing demands and rapidly evolving threats across the globe and at home, with a rise in stronger, more severe storms and natural disasters.

Changes also are on the way to force structure and equipment as the Total Army seeks next-generation capabilities for the future battlefield.

In remarks Aug. 24 at the National Guard Association of the United States General Conference and Exhibition in Detroit, where he spoke as acting chief, Stubbs pointed out that even the best-laid plans can change. Instead of listening as an audience member to the new National Guard Bureau chief, he was onstage looking out at the audience.

‘Speak Your Truth’

“The fact that I’m up here, facing the wrong way, is a testament to the fact you can’t always count on things going as planned,” Stubbs said. “You have to be ready to take on any challenge, ready to look at the big picture and ready to speak your truth and show people who you are.”

From the podium, Stubbs reminded members of the National Guard that the world is a dangerous place in which the U.S. could easily be drawn into war in multiple theaters against near-peer adversaries. “We have inherited a world of tremendous uncertainty,” he said.

China continues to be the nation’s “pacing challenge,” Stubbs said. “Every day, they try to outcompete us,” he said. “When they aren’t spying on our networks and stealing our ideas, they’re sabotaging our plans, infiltrating our critical infrastructure, planting cyber time bombs along the way.”

China is “seeking every advantage, from weapons to economics,” Stubbs said. “They’re buying alliances at a sky-high interest rate.”

“They don’t care about our budget cycle or our procurement process,” he said. “They aren’t burdened by continuing resolutions. They aren’t hindered by political division—if anything, they’re happy to exploit the things that threaten our national unity.”

The U.S. also must contend with Russia, Stubbs said. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago “demonstrates their disdain for the West and our democracy,” he said. Stubbs also cited the dangers in the Middle East, describing it as “still an area of violent contention, as Iran and its surrogates continue to destabilize the region.”

Stubbs urged the audience to consider a warning from the recent report released by the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, which was tasked by Congress to examine the 2022 National Defense Strategy and make recommendations for its implementation. “The United States could, in short order, be drawn into a war across multiple theaters with peer and near-peer adversaries … and it could lose,” the commission said.

Homefront Threats

The U.S. and the National Guard also face challenges at home. “If you look at the trend lines of the future, … we’re talking stronger and more severe storms,” Stubbs said. “We’re talking ongoing threats to critical infrastructure. We’re talking about the economic impact of these changes and challenges.”

But Stubbs had a message for the force. “In all of this uncertainty, tension and transition, one thing is clear: This is our moment,” he said. “We’re the National Guard. This is what we’re built for.”

As the global security environment presents an increasing array of challenges, the Army National Guard must be ready—and stay ready—for combat “because our nation will call,” Stubbs said in his written responses.

The National Guard will be ready to meet the challenge of global threats, much as the force is ready for its domestic missions, Stubbs said. “We are at our best under pressure, amid chaos and when the stakes are high,” he said.

He pointed out that the week he was sworn in, National Guard soldiers were on duty and responding to Hurricane Debby, which caused heavy flooding and damage in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas as it churned off the coast of the Eastern Seaboard. “Army Guard soldiers left their jobs, their studies and their families to assemble, gear up and respond however their states and communities needed them to help,” Stubbs said.

At the same time, while many Army National Guard soldiers were engaged in training, many more were deployed around the world, including in the volatile U.S. Central Command area of operations.

“On any given day, our soldiers are responding to disasters, serving overseas and preparing to fight our nation’s wars,” he said. “That’s a tremendous amount of capability and readiness. That’s why I’m so proud of who we are and what we do.”

Force Multiplier

Stubbs said he agrees with observations made by his predecessor, Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, who in 2023 described the nearly 325,000-strong Army National Guard as an “integrated reserve,” a combat force multiplier for the Total Army.

“We are the Army’s integrated combat reserve—a people-focused enterprise delivering modernized, well-led, disciplined, trained, resourced, expeditionary and combat-ready formations,” Stubbs said. “We are fit to fight and ready to win across all domains globally to defend the United States’ interests and support our states and communities.” 

The Guard “must balance elements of our historical strategic and operational roles,” he said. “There’s no other alternative,” Stubbs said. “As the Army’s combat reserve, we provide depth in protracted conflict, but we also have a persistent rotational presence supporting combatant commanders around the world.”

As he sets out in his role as director of the Army National Guard, Stubbs said he is “thinking a lot about that integrated role and how vital both elements are for the Army and the nation.”

Stubbs vowed to prioritize people and “build on my predecessor’s good work” to deliver combat-ready formations and keep pace with the Army’s efforts to reorganize and optimize capabilities.

“I think it’s important that our … formations provide the same capabilities as their active component counterparts,” Stubbs said. “Combatant commanders expect that consistency, so I want to ensure as the Total Army evolves, the Army National Guard’s formations evolve at the scale and pace to meet those needs.”

Career Officer

A career Army National Guard officer, Stubbs enlisted in the Tennessee Army National Guard in 1993 as a private first class. Two years later, he commissioned as an infantry officer upon completing Officer Candidate School at the Tennessee Military Academy. He served with the Arkansas National Guard until he became director of the Army National Guard, holding every leadership position within the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from rifle platoon leader through brigade commander.

He deployed twice to Iraq and served as vice director of operations at the National Guard Bureau, chief of staff for the Arkansas Army National Guard and deputy director for operations, readiness and mobilization at Army headquarters in the Pentagon.

Throughout his decades-long career, he said, some of his most formative leadership experiences took place in Baghdad in 2004–05 when he was a rifle company commander in the Arkansas National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment.

“That experience taught me that how you approach training matters. The welfare of your soldiers and the success of the mission all comes down to how you train,” Stubbs said. “That’s why I ask all of our Guardsmen to approach drill and training with purpose and focus, because if we’re ready for combat, we’re ready for anything.”

Stubbs’ father, “the first soldier I ever knew,” was an early inspiration who helped instill in him the importance of values and personal integrity. Sadly, he died the day before Stubbs was promoted to brigadier general in 2021. “I still have his helmet in my office,” Stubbs said of his father, Jim Stubbs, who retired in 1985 at the rank of captain.

“The first pair of boots I put on were his, and some of my earliest memories are taking him to the armory and saying goodbye when he went to annual training,” Stubbs said.

As he works to ensure that Army National Guard soldiers are prepared for what may lie ahead, Stubbs said he will lead by adhering to the Army Values. He also emphasized his commitment to prioritizing the needs of soldiers, their families and the Guard’s civilian employees.

“They are our most precious resource,” he said. “Taking care of people will always be my No. 1 priority.”