North Carolina Army National Guardsmen Spc. Isai Arroyo, assigned to the 883rd Engineer Company, carries produce to a vehicle during a drive-up food bank hosted by the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina in a warehouse in Winston-Salem, N.C., June 17, 2020. The NCNG is working with North Carolina Emergency Management, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and local food banks to help support COVID-19 relief efforts.
North Carolina Army National Guard Spc. Brandon Daniels, assigned to the 875th Engineer Company, records inventory information while collecting food for future distribution at the Mountain Area Nutritional Needs Alliance Foodbank in Asheville, N.C., June 25, 2020. The NCNG is working with North Carolina Emergency Management, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and local food banks to help support COVID-19 relief efforts.
WASHINGTON -- Some 120,000 members of the National Guard have responded this year to natural disasters — floods in Michigan, wildfires in Kansas and tornadoes in Tennessee, just to name a few; — and have participated in global military operations and responded to civil disturbances and to COVID-19, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said.
"It has been a crazy year, and it's just early July," Air Force Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel said Thursday during a Brookings Institution webcast today titled "The Force America Needs: Lessons of 2020 and the Future of the National Guard."
North Carolina Army National Guard Pvt. 1st Class Bennie Kinley (right), assigned to the 875th Engineer Company, helps carry breakfast meals, prepared at the Johnston Elementary School, to the children's houses of Buncombe County in Asheville, N.C., June 26, 2020. The NCNG is working with North Carolina Emergency Management, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and local food banks to help support COVID-19 relief efforts.
Army National Guard Spc. Jessenia Cano, an automated logistical specialist with the 449th Aviation Support Battalion, assigned to Joint Task Force 176, loads personal protective equipment into the vehicle of a medical provider in Austin, Texas, July 1, 2020. General Support Unit 18 is a team of Texas Military Department personnel assigned to Joint Task Force 176 who activated to help distribute medical supplies to health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With COVID-19 cases on the rise in some states and no reduction to worldwide operational commitments, Lengyel said, he sees no reduction in operations tempo.
About 45,000 members of the guard have been assisting with COVID-19 mitigation efforts in every state and territory since the pandemic started, the general said. Another 45,000 supported the law enforcement response to civil disturbances in 33 states.
"All across the country, the National Guard was aiding the American people, delivering personal protective equipment, and in some cases, they were manufacturing personal protective equipment, staffing food banks and test centers, protecting peaceful protesters' First Amendment rights, and sharing best practices as we learn how to do some of these things," Lengyel said.
Spc. Paige Curtiss, 253rd Engineer Battalion, food service specialist, puts on personal protection equipment before entering a COVID-19 hot zone at an alternate care facility on the Navajo Nation in Chinle, Ariz., June 2, 2020. Arizona National Guard service members are assisting the Public Heath Service while they care for COVID-19 patients by providing security and other non-medical tasks as needed (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael Matkin).
Infantry officers were running food banks and COVID-19 test sites, he noted, adding that the National Guard "can do any task that our nation needs them to do."
While serving Americans on the homefront, none of the National Guard's operational commitments to combatant commanders around the world were reduced, he added.
Lengyel said the National Guard has been involved in space operations for at least 25 years and that he hopes it will play a major role in the Space Force, the newest military service.
U.S. Soldiers of the California National Guard's 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment, assist Los Angeles law enforcement by providing security during ongoing demonstrations, June 2, 2020. Cal Guard's role is to assist police officers with protecting lives and property as a result of demonstrations and civil disobedience.
The National Guard has some unique advantages in the Defense Department, the general said. A big advantage, he pointed out, is that it is less costly to fund the guard compared to the active forces. In time of war or national emergency, the National Guard can be quickly mobilized and used at the federal level or under the direction of the state governors, he added.
Lengyel said that when he joined the Air Force more than four decades ago, the National Guard was used as a strategic reserve. Today, he said, its is an important component of the operational force, trained and equipped with modern weapons and ready to support combatant commanders globally.
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