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WASHINGTON (Aug. 28, 2020) — Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, will address a couple thousand current and former National Guard officers from around the country this weekend.
His speech from Delaware, is set for 1:45 p.m. Eastern tomorrow (Saturday). It is part of the agenda for the National Guard Association of the United States’ 142nd General Conference, which will be livestreamed from the nation’s capital Friday and Saturday.
The conference has been a regular stop on the campaign trail in recent decades. At least one of the two major-party candidates has spoken to the event in every presidential election year since 1992. Then-candidate Donald Trump spoke to the gathering in 2016.
“National Guard officers both defend and participate in our democracy,” said retired Brig. Gen. J. Roy Robinson, the NGAUS president. “They are thought leaders in more than 3,000 communities nationwide. They are a coveted audience.”
This will be Biden’s second speech to a NGAUS conference. He addressed the event in 2008 as then-Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate.
“We’re honored to have him again,” Robinson said. “We want to hear from him what role he sees the Guard playing in the nation’s defense going forward.”
Biden is part of the Guard’s extended family. His late son, Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III, was a lieutenant colonel in the Delaware Army National Guard when he died of cancer in 2015.
A complete agenda is available at www.ngaus.org/events/142nd-general-conference.
The conference will be broadcast from the National Guard Memorial, the association’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The association has set up a studio in the building. An audio-visual company will produce and transmit a broadcast-quality telecast to an online event platform, which is now open to registered attendees.
In addition to the conference telecast, the platform will enable attendees to interact and visit a virtual trade show. Nearly 100 companies have registered to exhibit.
Conference events get underway Friday morning with work on legislative resolutions. Two delegates from each of the 54 states and territories will develop a package to serve as the basis of the association’s Capitol Hill agenda.
Conference registration is $18.78 and is available at www.ngaus.org/events/142nd-general-conference. The fee helps cover the cost of the event. Registrants will be provided a link to the online platform, which is already open.
Reporters, Editors & Producers: There is no cost to cover the conference. Contact Rich Arnold at (202) 454-5301 or [email protected] to register and get a link to the online platform.
About NGAUS: The association includes nearly 45,000 current or former Guard officers. It was created in 1878 to provide unified National Guard representation in Washington. In their first productive meeting after Reconstruction, militia officers from the North and South formed the association with the goal of obtaining better equipment and training by educating Congress on Guard requirements. Today, 142 years later, NGAUS has the same mission.
