Articles

March 30, 2018

Meet Your Guard: Tech. Sgt. Lindsey Bond

This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Tech. Sgt. Lindsey Bond, a maintenance analyst, with the 158th Fighter Wing, who is also a native of Colchester, Vt., and now lives in Milton. Bond has served in the Vermont Air Guard for nine years.

March 30, 2018

Meet your Guard: Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Riley

This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Riley, a vehicles operations/ground transportation specialist, with the 158th Fighter Wing, Logistics Readiness Squadron, who is also a native of Colchester, Vt. Riley works as a full time supervisor for the Vehicle Operations Section of the Logistics Readiness Squadron.

March 20, 2018

Vermont National Guard medical personnel work in Senegal

Vermont National Guard members mobilized to Senegal Feb. 4-23 to work with Senegalese medical personnel to obtain experience providing services as part of a medical readiness training exercise.

Feb. 16, 2018

Meet your Guard: 1st Lt. John Helme

This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on 1st Lt. John C. Helme, a signal officer, with 1st Squadron, 172nd Cavalry Regiment, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain), who is also a native of Barre, Vt., and currently lives in Burlington, Vt. Helme teaches math at Colchester Middle School.

Feb. 16, 2018

Meet your Guard: Staff Sgt. Yulia Benson

This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Staff Sgt. Yulia Benson, a 42R band musician, with 40th Army Band, 86th Troop Command, Garrison Support Command, who is also a native of Kazan, Russia, and currently lives in Milton, Vt. Benson has served in the Vermont National Guard for 11 years and works full time in the guard.

Feb. 16, 2018

Meet your Guard: Sgt. Peter Shepardson

This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Sgt. Peter Shepardson, a 91B wheeled-vehicle mechanic, with Bravo Company, 186th Brigade Support Battalion, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain), who is also a native of Essex Junction, Vt., and currently lives in Westford, Vt. Shepardson has served in the Vermont National Guard for three years.

Jan. 27, 2018

National Guard Biathlon Regionals Held in Vermont

National Guardsmen from 24 states competed in their respective Regional Biathlon Competitions at Camp Ethan Allen Training Site in Jericho, Vermont. Biathlon consists of target shooting and ski racing. Competitors, ranging from novice to master, are divided into west, central, and east regions.

Oct. 26, 2017

National Guard purifies and distributes water

National Guardsmen are working together to supply the local area with drinking water using their reverse osmosis water purification units (ROWPU). The units supply anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 gallons of water a day. From the early morning and into the night residents with containers and tanks on their trucks make their way to receive clean water.

Oct. 25, 2017

Reserve unit climbs the extra mile

Winding their way up steep mountain roads, no more than 12 feet wide, the 268th Transportation Company, 393rd Combat Support Sustainment Battalion, 166th Regional Support Group, 1st Mission Support Command out of Ft. Buchanan, Puerto Rico delivers cases of water and food to the 5,000 residents of Jayuya. Many residents are surviving without electricity for more than six weeks following Hurricane Irma, so the mission of the 268th TC is as much community relations as it is commodity distribution.

July 18, 2017

86th IBCT (MTN) finishes warfighter exercise

The 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain), Vermont National Guard, conducted a warfighter exercise held from June 3-14. The exercise is a tactical operations drill designed to train brigade staff using a simulation with the Army’s Command Post of the Future, a software system that enables commanders to see the battlefield and communicate across the force. The brigade was at Fort Drum to facilitate the exercise.

The official logo of the Vermont National Guard.

TAG's State of the Guard 2026

Note: the above YouTube video link may not work on all government computers. 

National Guard News
North Carolina Guardsmen Spc. Michael Smith, driving; Spc. Brycen Anderson; and Staff Sgt. Sethone Kan, 252 Engineering Company,130th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Border, or JTF-SB, pose for a portrait before a night patrol in Rio Grande City, Texas, June 3, 2026. The Soldiers participated in a rescue mission the night before, working alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, to rescue an illegal alien who had been bitten by a snake. Northern Command is working side by side with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection within narrowly defined authorities, to provide unique military capabilities to protect the territorial integrity of the U.S. southern border. Courtesy photo.
North Carolina Guardsmen, Customs and Border Protection Conduct Rescue
By Capt. Shamari Pratt, | June 18, 2026
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas – North Carolina National Guardsmen and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents rescued a suspected illegal alien who was bitten by a snake while attempting to cross the southern border June 2 at...

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nathan Shea, left, officer-in-charge of the Unmanned Aircraft System Training and Innovation Facility, or UASTIF, at Fort Indiantown Gap, and Sgt. 1st Class Brent Wehr, course manager for the 15X MOS transition course at the UASTIF, trouble-shoot an issue with an unmanned aircraft system on June 10, 2026, at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. Photo by Brad Rhen.
Pennsylvania Modernizing Drone Training Facility
By Brad Rhen, | June 18, 2026
FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – The Unmanned Aircraft System, or UAS, Training and Innovation Facility soon will undergo modernization changes that will strengthen its readiness to train Soldiers, including creating an innovation...

Katherine and Matthew Zito raise their right hands during their enlistment swearing-in as Maj. Andrew Line swears them into the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, June 12, 2026. Photo by 2nd Lt. Jessica Barb.
Mother, Son Join Pennsylvania National Guard Together
By 2nd Lt. Jessica Barb, | June 18, 2026
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – For most of the past nine years, it was just the three of them – a mother and her two sons navigating life side by side.Through challenges, loss and perseverance, they built a bond through resilience. Years...