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The National Guard's Top 10 in 2010
Posted 12/27/2010 Updated 12/27/2010
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by Air Force Tech. Sgt. John Orrell
National Guard Bureau
12/27/2010 - ARLINGTON, Va. (12/23/10) -- Tens of thousands of Citizen-Soldiers and
-Airmen are executing ongoing federal missions worldwide, and the National
Guard responded to planned and unplanned domestic events in 2010.
Every day, governors call out their National Guard to help citizens in need.
Although 2010 lacked a major hurricane, wildfire or other natural disaster
within the U.S., Guardmembers were as busy serving their governors in
domestic operations as they were serving their commander-in-chief overseas.
A look back at some of the National Guard's most memorable missions in 2010:
No. 10: Agribusiness Development Teams
Agribusiness Development Teams comprised of Army National Guard Soldiers
with agribusiness expertise are training and advising Afghan universities,
provincial ministries, and local farmers.
ADTs have ensured improvements are sustainable with local assets and within
the context of the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and
Livestock's abilities.
The ADT concept includes providing immediate agricultural expertise and
security forces to enable daily community engagement.
No. 9: Homeland Response Forces
The National Guard added a Homeland Response Force package to its Chemical,
Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high-yield Explosive response
capabilities, providing a more robust response to any homeland incident.
When activated, HRFs perform search and extraction from collapsed buildings,
victim decontamination, medical triage and transport to stabilization
facilities, where doctors treat victims before they are moved to a hospital
or other designated medical facility.
HRFs offer a bigger force providing command and control of multiple CBRNE
Enhanced Response Force Packages, weapons of mass-destruction civil support
teams and other Guard assets.
Ten HRFs - one for each Federal Emergency Management Agency region - are
scheduled to stand up by Oct. 1, 2012.
No. 8: 2010 Winter Olympics
National Guardmembers from multiple states competed in the Vancouver 2010
Winter Olympics.
Army Sgt. Mike Kohn and Army Sgt. Shauna Rohbock - both of the Utah Army
National Guard and the National Guard Outstanding Athlete Program - along
with Army Sgt. John Napier, of the Vermont Army National Guard and a
Soldier-athlete in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, competed in
multiple U.S. Olympic Bobsled team events throughout the Winter Games.
Army Sgt. William "Bill" Tavares - a 26-year veteran of the Army National
Guard and bobsled coach in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program
stationed at Lake Placid, N.Y. - was an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic
Bobsled team.
Army Sgt. Jeremy Teela, of the Utah Army National Guard and the U.S. Army
World Class Athlete Program, competed in the biathlon.
No. 7: State Partnership Program
The almost 20-year-old, 62-nation National Guard State Partnership Program
continued to flourish in 2010, recognized by combatant commanders in their
annual posture statements and Congressional testimony for its contributions
to expanding partnership capacity.
Guardmembers participated in military-to-military exchanges in their home
states or partner countries, senior leaders - including country leaders -
visited at home and overseas and National Guard bilateral affairs officers
served in U.S. embassies worldwide.
Citizen-Soldiers served side-by-side with colleagues from their partner
nations in Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams on deployments in
Afghanistan.
Back home, a multiagency roundtable recommended enhancing the SPP as a tool
for citizen diplomacy.
Originating in Europe after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the SPP has
expanded to numerous other regions of the world, most recently Africa.
No. 6: First F-22 assigned to the Air National Guard
On July 9, members of the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam community gathered
for a dedication service for the National Guard's first F-22 Raptor fighter
aircraft.
The 199th Fighter Squadron of the 154th Fighter Wing, Hawaii Air National
Guard, welcomed their first F-22, a fifth-generation fighter, replacing the
F-15 Eagle fighter the squadron has flown since 1987.
No. 5: Operation New Dawn
Sept. 1 marked the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the end of combat
operations by United States forces in Iraq and the beginning of Operation
New Dawn.
During the drawdown of forces, National Guardmembers conduct stability
operations, focusing on advising, assisting and training Iraqi Security
Forces.
Operation New Dawn represents a shift from a predominantly military U.S.
presence to one that is predominantly civilian, as the Departments of
Defense and State work together with governmental and non-governmental
agencies to help build Iraq's civil capacity.
The president plans to withdraw American forces from Iraq by the end of
2011.
No. 4: Pakistan flood relief
National Guardmembers collaborated with joint forces to provide relief to
those affected by the unusually heavy monsoon rains that triggered floods
through the Swat River Valley.
More than 40,000 Pakistanis were rescued during five months of operations,
and C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft delivered bulk goods
to distribution sites around the country, including almost 8,000 Halal
meals.
U.S. aircraft delivered more than 25 million pounds of relief supplies
during the operation.
No. 3: Haiti earthquake relief
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a magnitude 7.0 tremor, with an epicenter near
the town of Léogâne, approximately 16 miles west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's
capital.
Army and Air National Guardmembers supported relief efforts for the almost
three million people affected by this natural disaster.
No. 2: Supporting the Department of Homeland Security on the Southwest
border
National Guardmembers are assisting Customs and Border Protection and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the nation's Southwest border.
Up to 1,200 Guardmembers are serving as criminal investigative analysts and
Entry Identification Team members in the four border states of California,
Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
No. 1: Operation Deepwater Horizon
Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen supported Operation Deepwater Horizon, the
Coast Guard-led effort to corral the oil spill that followed the April 20
explosion and fire on the oil rig for which the operation was named.
More than 1,600 Guardmembers were assigned to the Gulf coast states.
Troops helped clean up and contain the almost five million barrels (200
million gallons) of crude oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.
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