ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The National Guard’s State Partnership Program remains critical to the force and “has paid huge dividends,” particularly in Ukraine, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said.  

“Building enduring, trusted relationships” with global partners is a key part of the component’s readiness, Gen. Daniel Hokanson said, citing as an example the partnership between the California National Guard and Ukraine, which dates to 1993. 

From expanding benefits to modernizing its combat forces, the National Guard continues to prioritize its people after a challenging year, the component’s top general said. 

“What does the future look like for our National Guard? What are our priorities going forward? They’re … people, readiness, modernization and reform,” said Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau.

Software developed by an Army sergeant could better equip the military as it seeks new ways to counter the rising and evolving threat of drones. 

During a recent deployment to Saudi Arabia, Massachusetts Army National Guard Sgt. Mickey Reeve used his free time to develop a counter-unmanned aerial systems software. His work won the inaugural Innovation Oasis competition hosted by U.S. Central Command.

As global threats continue to evolve, the National Guard is investing in its cyber capabilities to fight on the digital front and keep those threats at bay.

The National Guard is “at the nexus” of cyber efforts at the state and federal levels, and fills that nexus well, said Col. Joed Carbonell, chief of the National Guard Bureau’s cyber division. 

Members of the Hawaii National Guard have been activated to support local officials dealing with the eruption at the Mauna Loa volcano, where the lava is just a few miles away from a main highway.

Twenty Hawaii National Guard service members have been activated, according to a Dec. 5 tweet from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

Nearly a month after Hurricane Ian ripped through Florida, the National Guard continues to provide support to communities that are still recovering from the powerful storm.

The hurricane, tied for the fifth-strongest hurricane to make landfall in the U.S., forced evacuation orders for approximately 2.5 million Floridians and left about one-quarter of the state without power at peak outage. The storm, which made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28, killed at least 119 people in Florida alone and was the state’s deadliest storm since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. 

As it has done for more than 380 years, the Army National Guard will meet the mission, but the author of a new paper cautions that citizen-soldiers could be “overworked” if the component is made to mirror the Regular Army. 

Examining National Guard 4.0, a program launched in 2017, author Maj. Roye Locklear Jr. lays out the evolution of the Guard’s organizational framework since 1636 and the modern-day challenges faced by the Army’s second-largest component. 

Modernization of the National Guard and the Army Reserve is critical to balancing the Total Army as it transforms to meet the demands of future combat, said Gen. Andrew Poppas, commander of Army Forces Command.

Soldiers from the reserve components continue to deploy for missions around the world and respond to domestic missions, such as hurricane response in Florida, but “we’re also racing to meet another demand from the Total Army,” Poppas said Oct. 10 in remarks at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2022 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

In her second year as Army secretary, Christine Wormuth faces many challenges, but she is also upbeat.

“I think the Army is in a good place,” Wormuth said in an interview in the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2022–2023 Green Book.