The longest government shutdown in U.S. history should soon be over, but the damage to the National Guard will likely continue for a while. That was the message retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president, delivered during a media roundtable Monday with three other military association leaders at the Air and Space Forces Association in Arlington, Virginia.

NGAUS and three other National Guard and Reserve advocacy groups have made another urgent appeal to congressional leaders to end the government shutdown or at least take action to pay troops on duty during the impasse.

NGAUS is leading the charge of National Guard and Reserve associations asking Congress to help pay service members on duty during the government shutdown, which is now in its second week.

The Air National Guard lost a fighter unit Sept. 23 when the Maryland National Guard formally ended the A-10C Thunderbolt II mission at Warfield Air National Guard Base outside of Baltimore.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 28, 2025) — The voice of current and former National Guard officers nationwide is applauding a Senate bill that would ensure that every member of the National Guard and Reserves has access to health care.

Introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., the Healthcare for Our Troops Act (S. 2575) would offer premium-free, zero-cost-share medical coverage to every member of the Guard and Reserve through TRICARE, the military’s health insurance program.

The Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved a defense appropriations measure providing $851.9 billion in discretionary spending, which is 2.5% above the president’s fiscal 2026 request.

The children of active-duty and retired service members could remain with their parents’ TRICARE medical coverage until age 26 with no added premium under a bill introduced in the House and Senate.

For the third consecutive year, counterdrug experts, National Guard leaders and congressional staff gathered on Capitol Hill to spotlight the unique value of the National Guard Counterdrug Program.

The presidents of the NGAUS and the AGAUS have asked President Donald Trump to reaffirm his campaign pledge to establish a Space National Guard.

Thanks to a NGAUS push, tens of thousands of Army National Guard Soldiers mobilized under authority 12304b will receive full credit toward early retirement retroactively to 2012.

Even fewer Air National Guard space professionals are willing to transfer to a single-component Space Force than last year, according to a recent survey.