NCNGA Weekly Guardsman for March 29, 2018

March 29, 2018

 

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3rd NCNG Educational Foundation Cruise for Charity NCNGEF 

The North Carolina National Guard Education Foundation is holding it’s 3rd Cruise for Charity! Royal Carribean will set sail on their Adventure Of the Seas cruise on January 19, from Ft. Lauderdale. Cabins start at $709, with a $250/person deposit. Some of the proceeds from each cabin will go to the NCNG Education Foundation.

Click below to register, or email rbliley@cruiseplanners.com for questions.

Prices are per person, double occupancy, based on availability and subject to change without notice.

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Letter: Happy 355th, NC Guard Fayetteville Observer 

The North Carolina National Guard celebrates its 355th birthday today. Our founding documents, the 1663 Carolina Charter, authorized the levying and mustering of men to defend the people and property of the Carolinas. Today’s National Guard is grounded in our Constitution and tightly woven into our American heritage. Initially established to thwart tyranny and threats to the early colonies, it is now a vital component of the Total Joint Force comprising nearly half of our Army and Air Forces’ Operational Force.

While our uniforms have changed and our muskets have yielded to modern rifles, tanks, jets and attack helicopters, it is our uniquely dual-purpose mission of serving our state while simultaneously being the primary combat reserves of our Army and Air Force that endures.

The North Carolina National Guard has answered countless calls to duty in service to our state during civil unrest and in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters. Over 22,500 individual, worldwide deployments have occurred since September 11, 2001, and since Hurricane Katrina, over 6,700 N.C. Guardsmen have mobilized, by order of the governor, for domestic response.

With the global proliferation of violent extremism and the renewed threat of nation-states and rogue nations, there is no debate surrounding the necessity of the Guard and its mission. Currently 1,500 N.C. National Guardsmen are deployed overseas. The unsettled, global security environment no longer guarantees advanced notice prior to an overseas deployment — we must always remain ready.

Maj. Gen. Greg Lusk, 40th Adjutant General of the N.C. National Guard

Tarheel ChalleNGe graduates largest class SNAP Online 

The Tarheel ChalleNGe Academy in New London graduated its fifth and largest class Friday.

Typically not until June do graduates turn tassels and walk to Pomp and Circumstance, except when TCA graduates its latest cadets. One hundred cadets received their diplomas, pushing the total number of graduates for the program at 5,074.

Local dignitaries, family and friends filled the Stanly County Agri-Civic Center to observe TCA’s 49th graduation. Nationally, TCA is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, 24th in North Carolina.

Commencement speaker John Enamait, president of Stanly Community College, delivered an anecdotal message about overcoming obstacles, including family challenges, in pursuit of a better life.

His personal story showed how early influences often pose unintended challenges, especially when it comes to getting an education. Sometimes moving forward means “gettin’ above your raisin’,” Enamait said.

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VIDEO: Push for security upgrades in Carolina schools WCNC 

Inside Tuesday’s Rock Hill Schools Safety Summit, school officials and law enforcement discussed the game plan: how to keep students safe.

Superintendent Kelly Pew said the district has added tip lines, student resources officers and threat assessment teams to help identify a problem before any violence occurs

Students also participate in lockdowns and evacuations on a regular basis. Pew told parents she opposes the idea of arming teachers.

“Our educators, that is not what they’re trained to do,” she explained.

In Lancaster County, the sheriff’s office just got funding to hire several school resource officers (SRO).

The department announced on Facebook the county plans to have an SRO in every middle and high school next year.

In North Carolina Tuesday, Governor Roy Cooper answering school safety questions.

“I think we have to be realistic about what is possible and what we can do to keep our kids safe,” he said.

Cooper told reporters he plans to increase the age a person can purchase a firearm from 18 to 21. He wants to increase background checks and change the permitting process for assault weapons.

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Congressional hearing aims to improve VA care Warbirds News 

Minutes after taking part in a special congressional hearing in Fayetteville, Sarah Verardo said it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

Verardo, executive director of The Independence Fund and wife of an 82nd Airborne Division veteran who lost his leg in Afghanistan in 2010, praised the meeting, a special field hearing of the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee, but said words alone would not help the problems her family and others like them face on a daily basis.

She expects more.

“Today was more than symbolic,” Verardo said. “It should fuel action.”

Four House Republicans gathered as part of the hearing, which was hosted by Fayetteville Technical Community College. They included two members of the committee – chairman Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee and Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida – and two congressmen representing Fayetteville and the surrounding communities – Reps. Richard Hudson and Robert Pittenger.

The oversight hearing included a discussion of bureaucratic hurdles to care through the Department of Veterans Affairs and ways to improve that care through community programs and better relationships with outside health care networks.

The four congressmen heard from a panel of experts that included Verardo; David Catoe, the assistant vice president for patient financial services at Atrium Health; Chief Master Sgt. Daryl D. Cook of the North Carolina Air National Guard; retired U.S. Staff Sgt. Gary B. Goodwin; and DeAnne Seekins, the director of the VA’s Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network.

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March — Today in Guard History National Guard 

1790 Charles City County, Virginia – Future 10th President of the United States John Tyler is born on this day. He served as a Captain of the Charles City Rifle Company during the War of 1812. His unit, as part of the Second Elite Corps of the Virginia militia commanded by the state’s adjutant general, moved to Tidewater Virginia to repel a British invasion force in the Norfolk area in 1813. As this army approached the enemy sailed away. Tyler resigned his commission in 1815 to pursue a legal career. He was the vice presidential candidate on the winning ticket headed by war-hero (and former Indiana Guardsman) William Henry Harrison. When Harrison died just a month into his term, Tyler became the tenth president.

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The Weekly Guardsman


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