National Guard Highlights Top 10 Missions of 2010

By Air Force Tech. Sgt. John Orrell

National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 28, 2010 – This year has been a busy one for members of the National Guard. Here’s a look at some of the National Guard’s most memorable missions and events in 2010:

No. 10: Agribusiness Development Teams

Agribusiness Development Teams comprising Army National Guard soldiers with agribusiness expertise are performing training and advising missions at Afghan universities, provincial ministries and farms.

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 Guard members from multiple states competed in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Army Sgts. Mike Kohn and 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 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.

Guard members 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 had 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 Guard members 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 Defense and State departments work together with governmental and nongovernmental 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 Guard members 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, about 16 miles west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.

Army and Air National Guard members supported relief efforts for the almost 3 million people affected by this natural disaster.

No. 2: Supporting the Department of Homeland Security on the Southwest border

National Guard members are assisting Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the nation’s Southwest border.

Up to 1,200 Guard members 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 Guard members were assigned to the Gulf Coast states.

Troops helped clean up and contain the almost 5 million barrels, or 200 million gallons, of crude oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.