Happy Birthday to the National Guard
The National Guard is celebrating its 386th birthday this month. Their role has often been under the radar, but increasingly they have stepped up to serve in critical missions that have impacted even our day-to-day lives here in Nebraska. Over the years, they have played an expanded role not only in our national defense, but also in border security and local disaster and pandemic response.
While the National Guard is federally funded, it is a state-based force. Unlike other components of the U.S. Armed Forces, each state’s Governor is the Commander-in-chief. Here in Nebraska, Governor Pete Ricketts is the Nebraska National Guard’s Commander-in-chief, and in January, Governor-elect Jim Pillen takes over. Each state’s National Guard is made up of a combination of full-time staff and traditional Guardsmen, men and women with civilian careers who are ready to serve our state or nation when called upon.
At any given time, there are about 4,600 Guard members serving in the Nebraska National Guard. The Nebraska National Guard has a presence throughout the First District, including the Joint Force Headquarters in Lincoln, and across the state with readiness centers and recruiters in many communities. The Guard recently broke ground on a new readiness center in Bellevue, strategically placed near Offutt Air Force Base. Offutt is one of Nebraska’s largest employers, and home to STRATCOM, a key part of our nation’s nuclear triad. This new readiness center will further strengthen Offutt’s ties to Nebraska and serve as a training location for 400 Guard members.
In recent years, the Nebraska National Guard has taken on new and sometimes unexpected missions. During the 2019 flooding, the Nebraska National Guard stepped up to spearhead emergency rescue missions. Some of the most dramatic and heroic moments of the flooding happened right here in the First District. When the City of Fremont became an island, the National Guard stepped in to organize efforts to get critical supplies into the city. Additionally, National Guard members led efforts to rescue over 100 people from rising waters and rooftops during the flooding.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Guard members helped support Nebraska’s nation-leading response and helped keep Nebraska open for business. Our Guard members worked to get ahead of supply chain issues, distributing high volumes of PPE in the opening months of the pandemic. They assisted the Nebraska Department of Health and Human services with facilitating quarantine and isolation options for Nebraskans who needed a place to stay. And they supported Nebraska’s work to become a leader in COVID testing when other states were struggling. Throughout the pandemic, our Guard members helped keep Nebraskans healthy and our economy moving, while other states locked down and kept schools shuttered for extended periods of time.
In recent years, our National Guard members have supported efforts to protect and secure our border with Mexico. This summer, I had the opportunity to visit the border to see for myself the humanitarian crisis unfolding there. There is a direct correlation between the Biden Administration’s decision to stop border wall construction and a massive surge in illegal border crossings. Customs and Border Protection reports show that Southwest Land Border Encounters rose from 40,929 in July 2020 to 199,976 in July 2022 – a nearly fivefold increase. Thankfully, our National Guard members and others from across the nation are stepping up to stand in the gap.
These are just a few of the missions the National Guard has been carrying out in recent years. As the nation celebrates the Guard’s birthday, we salute their service and sacrifice. Looking to the future, the Nebraska delegation in Congress will continue do everything we can to support them in their work as the National Guard continues to adapt and step up to answer the call of our state and our country.