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Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense Thursday, the National Guard Bureau’s senior leader emphasized the Guard’s value to America.
Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus, the 30th Chief of the National Guard Bureau, joined reserve component senior leaders to provide an update during the review of the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for the National Guard and reserve forces.
“The National Guard is combat ready, cost-effective, experienced and serves a dual-role—both state and federal—like no other force,” Nordhaus said. “As the primary combat reserve of the Army and the Air Force, the National Guard delivers unparalleled operational capacity with strategic depth.”
The National Guard comprises 433,000 members in the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia. That represents 20% of the entire U.S. military at 4% of the defense budget. As a warfighting force, the National Guard provides 30% of the Army’s and 40% of the Air Force’s operational forces.
While most Guardsmen serve part-time, there are about 34,000 Guardsmen globally engaged today, serving in every geographic combatant command and supporting homeland defense and security missions.
“Our mission triad of warfight, homeland and partnerships aligns perfectly with the president’s vision of peace through strength and the secretary of defense’s priorities to restore the warrior ethos, rebuild the military and reestablish deterrence,” Nordhaus told subcommittee members.
“We are building elite units with combat power to deter our adversaries and when called upon, win our nation’s wars,” he said.
To remain interoperable, deployable and integrated with the Joint Force, Nordhaus said the National Guard must recapitalize concurrently with the Army and the Air Force to modernize equipment.
“We’re working arm-in-arm, shoulder-to-shoulder with the services to modernize our force for the future under a changing character of warfare,” he said.
Nordhaus outlined his top legislative priorities to the subcommittee: championing duty-status reform, modernizing the military technician program and improving medical access to build readiness.
In the homeland, the Air National Guard operates 15 of 16 aerospace alert sites and maintains four air defense sectors to defend the skies over America 24/7/365. Recently, the Air Force established the 179th Cyberspace Wing, an Ohio Guard unit based in Mansfield, Ohio, as the service’s first cyber-enabled air superiority wing.
Army Guard units in Alaska, California and Colorado operate the nation’s only system to defeat intercontinental ballistic missile attacks. The South Carolina Guard’s 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command defends the National Capital Region.
Also, last year, the National Guard responded to six hurricanes and thousands of wildfires. In the fall, when historic hurricanes and flooding devastated North Carolina, the National Guard activated more than 1,000 Guardsmen from across 12 states to perform rescue missions and deliver food, water and critical life-sustaining supplies.
“The National Guard is the most capable and experienced disaster response force in the nation,” Nordhaus said.
The Guard builds partnerships at every level, from local to global.
Globally, the Guard is partnered with 60% of the world’s nations through the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program.
In 2024, through the SPP, National Guardsmen conducted 1,000 engagements with partner nations worldwide at 1% of the theater security cooperation budget.
“The growth of the State Partnership Program is robust,” Nordhaus said. “This year we’re adding nine partner nations. As we look to the future, funding the State Partnership Program to match the slow and steady growth is critical. We’re seeing nations continue to want to partner, and states continue to apply for these partnerships.
Nordhaus told the Senate subcommittee that the Army National Guard is working closely to integrate into the Army’s newly announced transformation initiative.
─ By Master Sgt. Zach Sheehy, National Guard Bureau
