January 25, 2018

 

  Home | About | Legislative | Benefits | Media | Contact

Search Past Issues

View Web Version

 TOP NEWS 

---

57th Annual NCNGA Convention and NCNG Combined Ball Registration is NOW OPEN NCNGA 

Our North Carolina National Guard Association and Convention Committee are proud to announce that this year’s 57th Annual Convention will be hosted at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Asheville, NC between March 17-18. Asheville is one of our States top destinations with wonderful scenery, amazing attractions and great food and shopping. It has been a number of years since we have been to Asheville and the mountains, so we are happy to bring it back by popular demand. With the great accommodations and amenities at the resort, we believe this year will surpass previous years’ attendance. This year we are also collaborating with the NCNG and hosting the Combined Event/Ball. We encourage you to book early to reserve your room. Again, this year we will host our Membership Session on a Saturday and Sunday timeframe to minimize conflicts with those on a typical Monday-Friday work schedule and maximize attendance. Our goal this year is to offer a Kid’s Night Out (includes dinner) coordinated by Family Services during our Saturday Evening Event. With so many young families and retirees with grandchildren, we thought this addition would be great for everyone. Our intent is to make it a very enjoyable time for the kids with games, fun and movies to keep them entertained. We are currently wrapping up items like our agenda, entertainment and Convention theme. Once we have these locked in, we will post it on our Facebook page, Weekly Guardsman online newsletter, and on our website. You can signup for these resources on our homepage. We appreciate your support and encourage you to take full advantage of our Early Bird prices. Register Now…

Fort Bragg furloughs expected to end after shutdown deal reached Fayetteville Observer

Fort Bragg’s civilian employees are expected back to work Tuesday, after Congress reached a deal to end a government shutdown. The agreement to resume normal government operations came midday, after thousands of local civilian employees were sent home as part of a furlough directed by the shutdown that began at midnight on Friday. Local museums closed, some training was curtailed and services across Fort Bragg were reduced during the short-lived shutdown. But leaders remain concerned that political deja vu could create a similar stalemate next month. After failing to agree on a funding extension last week, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate agreed to a short-term funding bill, known as a Continuing Resolution, that would keep the government open until at least Feb. 8, according to reports. here…

Shutdown cancels North Carolina National Guard training WRAL 

The federal government shutdown has scuttled plans for a National Guard training exercise at Fort Bragg and created uncertainty for the Army base’s civilian employees and local businesses. The Fayetteville Observer reports that scores of soldiers from the North Carolina National Guard arrived Friday for training on urban assaults at the massive Army base. But the training involving 2,600 troops was dismantled on Saturday because of the shutdown, according to Lt. Col. Matthew DeVivo, a spokesman for the North Carolina National Guard. “This exercise – the size and complexity of it – it’s an amazing undertaking,” DeVivo told the newspaper. “It’s a big deal. The bottom line is, this shutdown decreases the readiness across the Guard and Reserve.” Read More…

Forest Service, National Guard training over Stanly County Salisbury Post
The N.C. Forest Service, in cooperation with the N.C. National Guard and State Parks, is holding air operations training at Camp John J. Barnhardt in New London this week. People in the area can expect to see helicopters flying over the camp and Morrow Mountain State Park through Thursday. Students will learn the skills necessary to safely and effectively run an active helicopter base with multiple missions at the same time. Helicopters are used in operations such as prescribed fires and wildfires. As part of the training, students also will learn about proper methods of connecting Bambi Buckets used to drop water on a fire, long line used to bring supplies to firefighters on the fire line, and the use of aerial ignition devices. Read More…

National Guard expands footprint at Mid-Carolina Regional Airport Salisbury Post
The North Carolina National Guard on Tuesday achieved Step 1 in a plan to expand at Mid-Carolina Regional Airport. The Rowan County commissioners agreed to lease land to the north and west of the Guard’s current Army Aviation Support Facility at the airport. The request was brought to the commissioners by Maj. Darrell Scoggins. The facility needs a place to store the 11 Blackhawk UH60s that are stationed there as well as an additional Blackhawk being acquired on Feb. 1. The Army Aviation Support Facility currently has two hangars with a combined square footage of 6,500. Only one Blackhawk can be stored in each of those hangars, which were designed for smaller UH1 and OH58 helicopters. Read More…

NCNG renames readiness centers for fallen soldiers Fayetteville Observer
The North Carolina National Guard has renamed two readiness centers in honor of fallen soldiers. Centers in Lenoir and Morganton were rededicated on Wednesday, according to Guard officials. In Lenoir, the readiness center at 1535 Beecher Anderson Road was renamed in honor of Sgt. Joshua Schmit. In Morganton, the readiness center at 411 Kirksey Drive was renamed in honor of Sgt. Brandon Wallace. The assistant adjutant general of North Carolina, Maj. Gen. James Ernst, attended each of the ceremonies along with other dignitaries from across the state. Schmit and Wallace were members of the 1451st Transportation Company and were killed April 14, 2007, in Fallujah, Iraq, after their Humvee was struck by a roadside bomb.

January — Today in Guard History National Guard 

1787 Springfield, MA – Nearly 2,000 farmers and laborers under the leadership of Daniel Shays storm the federal arsenal looking for arms. In the years following the end of the Revolution Americans faced many problems; from an economy in poor condition, to nearly worthless currency still issued by each state but not honored in other states, to the imposition of a ‘poll tax’ to keep the poor from voting. Shays and other farmers from western Massachusetts, failing to find redress in the courts, started taking to violent action to prevent their friends from being sent to jail for unpaid debts. “Shays’ Rebellion”, which was one of several such revolts in the 1786-1787 period, started in August when his men seized the courthouse in Northampton. His attack on the arsenal was repulsed by 1,200 militiamen, with four of rebels killed and many, including Shays, captured. Quickly tried, he was sentenced to hang but was soon pardoned. Memories of this revolt were still fresh in the minds of the delegates meeting in Philadelphia later this year to establish a new form of government to replace the Articles of Confederation. Among the provisions adopted in our new Constitution was a clause establishing a strong militia to “execute the laws of the Union, (and) suppress insurrections” Read More…

Attention! College Scholarships Selection is coming up! NCNGA Educational Foundation

This is a reminder from the NCNGA Educational Foundation. If you or your spouse, children or grandchildren will be attending college in the fall, remember that NOW is the time the Foundation is accepting scholarship applications! Applications from high school graduates and current college students must be submitted and postmarked by February 1st. Current High school Seniors applications must be submitted and postmarked by March 1st. The Scholarship Selection Committee will meet in April to award scholarships. The application can be found on the NCNGA.org website under the Benefits section. If you need assistance or have any questions please call the Foundation office at 919-851-3990, ext. 5 and speak with Ken Tyndall, the Foundation administrator. Thank you!