NCNGA Weekly Guardsman for May 19, 2022

Posted on: May 19, 2022 May 25, 2022
Author: ncngaweekly

May 19th, 2022

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IN THIS EDITION:

$5,000 Scholarship Opportunity Available NGAUS
NCNG Conducts JTF Operations During AEP22 DVIDS
NC Guard Officer Cristina Moore Promoted to Brigadier General DVIDS
Military Throwing Cash at Recruiting Crisis as Troops Head for the Exits Military.com
Read the latest edition of the Tarheel Guardsman NCNGA
EANGUS Roll Call: Drill Weekend Talking Points EANGUS
Highlighting EANGUS and NGAUS’s upcoming conferences NCNGA
Tickets-At-Work: Members get Discounts on Tickets NCNGA
This Week in NCNG History NCNG Museum
May 19th — Today in Guard History National Guard

$5,000 Scholarship Opportunity Available NGAUS

AFBA/NGAUS Scholarship

Now accepting applications

NGAUS Active/Digital Life Members and their dependents are eligible to apply for the AFBA (Armed Forces Benefit Association)/NGAUS scholarship. Two applicants will be selected to receive a $5,000 scholarship each.

Now accepting applications through June 1, 2022.

Apply Now

Not a NGAUS Active Life Member? Become one today.

Please feel free to contact membership@ngaus.org with any questions you may have about the NGAUS and AFBA Scholarship or NGAUS Life Membership.

NCNG Conducts JTF Operations During AEP22 DVIDS

U.S. Army Maj. Christopher Roberts, the sustainment officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 60th Troop Command (60th TC), North Carolina National Guard, listens to U.S. Army Master Sgt. Anthony Berge, the senior operations non-commissioned officer for HHC, 60th TC, explains a recently received notional scenario during Exercise Arctic Eagle-Patriot 2022 (AEP22) at the Alaska National Guard Joint Force Headquarters at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson March 5, 2022. Exercise AEP22 increases the National Guard’s capacity to operate in austere, extreme cold-weather environments across Alaska and the Arctic region. AEP22 enhances the ability of military and civilian interagency partners to respond to a variety of emergency and homeland security missions across Alaska and the Arctic. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Craig Norton)

The North Carolina National Guard (NCNG) welcomed its newest general officer during a promotion ceremony on Mother’s Day weekend in the Queen City.

U.S. Army Col. Cristina Moore was promoted to brigade general among family, friends and colleagues at the National Guard armory in Charlotte, North Carolina, May 7, 2022.

Moore has been serving as an engineering officer in the Active-Duty and National Guard Army for 26 years. She was born in Puerto Rico. She’s a 1995 graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point. She also has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Grantham University and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt, the 41st Adjutant General of the NCNG, was the presiding official of the ceremony.

“[Moore] is a leader. She’s always been proactive. She’s always had a lot of energy. She’s always thought outside of the box to improve our organization,” said Hunt. “I know she’s going to be great for our organization.”

Also, the governor of North Carolina provided his words of congratulations from Secretary Eddie Buffaloe, the NC Department of Public Safety Secretary.

“This is an outstanding honor, and one that is well deserved,” said Buffaloe per a letter from NC Governor Roy Cooper. “I sincerely appreciate your leadership, your dedication, and your service to our state and to our nation. Thank you for the difference you’re making.”

Hints that the armed services might soon face a problem keeping their ranks full began quietly, with officials spending the last decade warning that a dwindling slice of the American public could serve.

Only about one-quarter of young Americans are even eligible for service these days, a shrinking pool limited by an increasing number of potential recruits who are overweight or are screened out due to minor criminal infractions, including the use of recreational drugs such as marijuana.

But what had been a slow-moving trend is reaching crisis levels, as a highly competitive job market converges with a mass of troops leaving as the coronavirus pandemic subsides, alarming military planners.

“Not two years into a pandemic, and we have warning lights flashing,” Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas, the Air Force Recruiting Service commander, wrote in a memo — leaked in January — about the headwinds his team faces.

For now, the services are leaning on record-level enlistment and retention bonuses meant to attract and keep America’s military staffed and ready — bonuses that continue to climb.

In an interview with Military.com last month, Thomas didn’t mince words. He knows he is competing against the private sector to hire people, from technology giants to regional gas stations.

“If you want to work at Buc-ee’s along I-35 in Texas, you can do it for [a] $25-an-hour starting salary,” Thomas said. “You can start at Target for $29 an hour with educational benefits. So you start looking at the competition: Starbucks, Google, Amazon. The battle for talent amidst this current labor shortage is intense.”

Paired with those competitive offers for workers are a large number of service members retiring, some having delayed leaving the ranks during a pandemic that saw huge instability in the job market.

The latest edition of the Tarheel Guardsman is now available online at https://ncnga.org/tarheel-guardsman/

EANGUS Roll Call: Drill Weekend Talking Points EANGUS

According to a new Pentagon policy published in February, National Guard and Reserve Servicemembers will receive a Defense Department (DD) Form 214 following their completion of service. DoD Instruction memo dated Feb. 17, 2022, gives the Services three years to implement the change.

The Pentagon action follows language in the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the DoD to develop a form that documents a Reserve Component member’s entire time of service. This legislation was supported by EANGUS for over four years and has been closely monitored by the EANGUS legislative team.

Currently, National Guard and Reserve Servicemembers only receive a DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) if they serve more than 90 days on active-duty orders. The form NGB-22 documents cumulative National Guard service. The NGB-22 and the Reserve Component’s training documents have proven to be complicated for VA and other state agencies to evaluate when determining eligibility for National Guard and Reserve Servicemembers.

“EANGUS is excited that DoD has finally taken a positive step forward and created this policy to ensure that National Guard and Reserve Component Servicemembers receive a DD 214 upon completion of their service,” said retired Sergeant Major Matthew Krenz, the EANGUS Executive Director. “However, we believe that there should be additional times other than after service when National Guard and Reserve Component Servicemembers should receive a DD 214. The current legislation introduced in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate provides additional criteria for when the DD 214 should be issued, and EANGUS will continue to monitor this legislation moving forward.”

Retired Brig. Gen. J. Roy Robinson, the NGAUS president, testified to Congress last month that he often hears of benefits being denied “from the Department of Veterans Affairs or state agencies because they require a DD-214,” which many National Guard Servicemembers lack.

When implemented, the DoD instruction will ensure National Guard Servicemembers and Reservists will receive a DD-214-1 (Certificate of Uniformed Service, Reserve Component Addendum) upon separation or retirement; the DD-214-1 is a new form created by the instruction.

National Guard and Reserve Servicemembers will still receive a standard DD-214-1 if they serve for 90 days or more on federal active duty for training, full-time training duty, active duty for operational support, or more than 30 days of action on a contingency operation. This instruction does not apply to Guardsmen and Reservists who separate or retire before fully implementing the program. It is also policy and not law. Legislation in both the House and Senate would codify the requirement in law.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., and Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio are the original sponsors of the Record of Military Service for Members of the Armed Forces Act (H.R. 7041), which was introduced last month. The EANGUS Legislative Director, Kevin Hollinger, has worked with these Congressional Members’ staff to help push this legislation.

EANGUS Legislative Action Center

Join Today!

WHY JOIN.pdf

The application period closes on 31 May 2022, at 11:59 pm (MST)

Please note: SDI is unable to offer this scholarship to Guard Members who reside in Connecticut, New York, Washington, D.C., Rhode Island, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

Scholarship requirements and application

The annual conference brings 1,000+ attendees consisting of EANGUS members, National Guard Leadership, State Association Senior Enlisted Leaders, representation from Joint Services, and product end-users.

We are excited to have the National Guard Command Senior Enlisted Leaders (CSEL) present at the EANGUS Conference who jointly hold their annual conference at the same location. In addition, many of the Army National Guard Command Sergeants Major, as well as the Air National Guard Command Chief Master Sergeants from the State and Wing Levels, will be in attendance. Furthermore, each year, EANGUS has a hundred or more National Guard Servicemembers attend our annual conference for Professional Development purposes and our Senior Enlisted leaders provide invaluable insight and mentorship to those that attend. The Senior Enlisted Leaders of the National Guard support EANGUS and their participation greatly increases the value that our attendees receive.

Highlighting EANGUS and NGAUS’s upcoming conferences NCNGA

While our conference in Wilmington last week was a success, we want to highlight EANGUS and NGAUS’s upcoming conferences for their members! Be sure to sign up soon to reserve your spot.
For information on EANGUS: https://eangusconference.org/
For information on NGAUS: https://www.ngaus.org/…/144th-general-conference…

Tickets-At-Work: Members get Discounts on Tickets NCNGA

Tickets at Work: The benefits are endless when it comes to being a NCNGA member! Check out our Tickets-At-Work program, where members can get discounts on tickets from Busch Gardens all the way to Disney. For more information, visit https://www.ncnga.org/benefits.php#Discount

This Week in NCNG History NCNG Museum

If you know of anything significant to the NCNG that occurred on any of these dates, and would like it added to our records, please email 1LT Dearie at kory.k.dearie.mil@mail.mil

May 12th — Today in Guard History National Guard

1863

Vicksburg, MS – Union commander Major General Ulysses S. Grant fails in his first attempt to take the strategic Confederate city of Vicksburg, which sits on a bluff overlooking (and thereby controlling boat traffic on) the Mississippi River. After substantial causalities, he calls off the attack. Instead he develops a plan to encircle and besiege the city. Grant was a West Point trained engineer who had served in the Mexican War (1846-1848) butresigned from the Army in the 1850s. When the Civil War started, he was appointed by the governor of Illinois as the colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He soon proved his value as a battlefield commander and by 1864 would be placed in command of all Union armies. In 1868 he was elected as the 18th President of the United States.

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