The Sponsor a Company Grade Officer program is alive and well. Do it before the end of June, you also help increase our membership before the NGAUS rebate program closes! You can start a young officer or warrant off in their career as a member of our professional association. Visit NGANH.org and hit the JOIN button in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage. It will take you to the membership page and Joe Smith is our Membership Chair.
We’re busy building an annual budget. Mark Sears (our new Treasurer) has partnered with Doug Aiken to bring us into the computerized age and streamline our budgeting process. Mark formed an Ad Hoc committee with Darik Day, Nicole Bixler, Dave West, and Joe Smith. He had a series of meetings at his house, Missions End, and Joint Force HQ as we focus on long term financial health of the association.
I’m trying to gather the best and brightest to update our website. It needs to be more user friendly and provide updated information as to the current events this association is involved with. More to come.
Tom Spencer attended our April BOD meeting and recalled being at a NGAUS convention talking about coordinating a competitive shooting event. He is working to organize something similar to the annual competition between NY and MA called the Logan Duffy Competition. We are excited to see this come to fruition.
At the 2022 NGAUS Conference in Columbus, we will formally recognize Trijicon for their support to our association. They made the largest single donation in the history of our association, which helps fund scholarships and support unit events. They will also be involved in the competitive shooting event as the maker of scopes, sights, and electro optics.
In April, I was invited by Justin Troiano (Senator Hassan’s MLA) to attend a Senate Veterans Affairs field hearing at Saint Anselm College to discuss ways to strengthen support for service members and veterans as they transition out of military service. I always learn things at events like this.
The NGANH also helped host two guests from our State Partnership Program (SPP) from The Republic of Cabo Verde. I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Janine Lelis who is the Minister of National Defense, and Mrs. Carla Semedo Monteiro, who is the Director of the Minister’s Cabinet. The lunch was hosted by local businessman Jeffrey Hiatt at the 100 Club here in Portsmouth. MG Mikolaities was also accompanied by Colonel Allen Aldenberg at this gathering. Once again, I always learn things at events like this.
I also travelled to Washington DC to participate in a meeting to revise the method to which NGAUS assesses state dues. President Roy Robinson formed an Ad Hoc committee to study this and our recommendations will be forwarded to the NGAUS By-Laws Committee this July at the next NGAUS BOD meeting. I sit on the By-Laws committee as well and we expect to have a proposal to the membership by the convention in Columbus.
We’re working to submit a NGAUS resolution to align National Guard High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) battalions from 2x8 (2 batteries with 8 rocket launchers) to the 2022-2026 Total Army Analysis directed 3x9 (3 batteries with 9 launchers) for 4 of the 5 Active duty HIMARS units. Roy Hunter is working with Eric Fessenden (our new Army Vice President!) and NHNG Legislative Affairs to submit this before the June 30th deadline.
Don’t forget to sign up for the upcoming NGAUS annual conference in Columbus Ohio. Once again, we’ll be helping to host the NE States Hospitality Night event at Howl at the Moon and we’re staying at the Hilton just steps from the convention center. Thank you to Darik Day (Executive Director) and Nicole Bixler (Immediate Past Executive Director) who attended the National Guard Executive Directors Association (NGEDA) this winter and secured the swanky digs.
Our scholarship program is off to a slow start but expect more information to come out shortly as we reconstitute ourselves after Lyndsey Fleming spearheaded that effort for years.
In closing, the NGANH seems like it has been in a state of slumber for two years because COVID kept us on the sidelines. As you can see, we’ve still been grinding. We need to increase our membership and they best way to do that is to get out and meet more of our members to tell them the great progress we continue to make.
Comments