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Vermont National Guard Logo Press Releases
Press Release | June 17, 2021

Vt. gov. to award Soldier's Medal to VTARNG Soldier

Vermont National Guard Public Affairs

JERICHO, Vermont  –  

Sgt. 1st Class Dustin Dearborn will receive a Soldier's Medal from Vermont Gov. Phil Scott in a ceremony at the Camp Ethan Allen Training Site June 18 at 2 p.m.

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, 2 July 1926, has awarded the Soldiers Medal to Sgt. 1st Class Dustin S. Dearborn, Army Mountain Warfare School, for heroism Feb. 29, 2020 to March 1, 2020 while assigned to the Army Mountain Warfare School. Dearborn risked his own life in conducting rescue and recovery operations for two lost and injured skiers in Stowe, Vermont. Dearborn responded to a request for aid from the Vermont State Police and risked his own safety conducting multiple ice climbs in freezing conditions in hours of darkness to reach and recover the lost skiers.

The Soldiers Medal is one of our nation’s highest honors, awarded only for acts of heroism not involving conflict with an armed enemy. 

National Guard News
Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the Staunton-based 116th Mobile Brigade Combat Team, Arkansas National Guard Soldiers and Guatemalan service members partnered with Arkansas through the Department of War National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program move into the field June 8, 2026, during a training rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center, or JRTC, at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Brig. Gen. Rusty McGuire, senior trainer for the Virginia Army National Guard’s JRTC rotation, and senior trainer noncommissioned officer Sgt. Maj. Ian Gilliam met with the Soldiers to discuss training operations and multinational interoperability. The 116th Mobile Brigade Combat Team is the first Army National Guard brigade to participate in a JRTC rotation as a mobile brigade combat team after transitioning from an infantry brigade combat team in 2025. JRTC provides U.S. military units and personnel with complex, realistic combat training, including joint and combined-arms operations, force-on-force scenarios and live-fire exercises. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Clements.
Arkansas National Guard, Guatemalan Partners Build Interoperability
By John Oldham, | July 16, 2026
CAMP JOSEPH T. ROBINSON, NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas National Guardsmen and Guatemalan Army special forces recently trained together at Fort Polk, Louisiana, during Joint Readiness Training Center, or JRTC, rotation...

Multinational participants pose for a group photo during the West African Religious Affairs Symposium, or WARAS, in Accra, Ghana, July 14, 2026. U.S. and African military chaplains from 10 partner nations gather for the three-day exchange to discuss methods to support and strengthen service members' spiritual resiliency. Photo by Airman 1st Class Alexandra Dale.
Guard Chaplains, Partners Boost Readiness
By U.S. Africa Command | July 16, 2026
ACCRA, Ghana – Military chaplains and religious affairs personnel from the National Guard and 10 African nations gathered July 14 for the launch of the West African Religious Affairs Symposium, or WARAS, a three-day event...

Several shipping containers altered to look like buildings were relocated recently to the grounds of the Pennsylvania National Guard's Fort Indiantown Gap's Unmanned Aircraft System Training and Innovation Facility. The mock village allows Unmanned Aircraft System operators to fly drones around and through simulated buildings in an urban environment. Photo by Brad Rhen.
Pennsylvania Guard Expands Drone Training
By Brad Rhen, | July 16, 2026
FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – As the battlefield continually shifts toward unmanned aircraft systems, the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Fort Indiantown Gap is expanding its unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, and counter-UAS...