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Category: Meet Your Guard

The Vermont National Guard and Senegalese Armed Forces engineers are renovating the firing range through their State Partnership Program relationship.

April 20, 2018

Meet Your Guard: Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Doner

MOUNT ROLLAND TRAINING SITE, Senegal — This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Doner, a 12H construction supervisor with Detachment 1, Garrison Support Command, who is also a native of Underhill, Vt., currently living in Starksboro. Doner and his unit worked with the Senegalese Army to build and repair a firing range in Senegal.

The Vermont National Guard and Senegalese Armed Forces engineers are renovating the firing range through their State Partnership Program relationship.

April 20, 2018

Meet Your Guard: Sgt. John Medenwald

MOUNT ROLLAND TRAINING SITE, Senegal — This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Sgt. John Medenwald, a 12N equipment operator with Detachment 1, Garrison Support Command, who is also a native of Amery, Wis., and currently lives in North Ferribugh, Vt. Medenwald and his unit worked with the Senegalese Army to build and repair a firing range in Senegal.

The Vermont National Guard and Senegalese Armed Forces engineers are renovating the firing range through their State Partnership Program relationship.

April 20, 2018

Meet Your Guard: Staff Sgt. Charles Mudgett

MOUNT ROLLAND TRAINING SITE, Senegal — This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Staff Sgt. Charles Mudgett, a 91L construction equipment repairer with Detachment 1, Garrison Support Command, who is also a native of Fletcher, Vt., currently living in Fairfield. Mudgett and his unit worked with the Senegalese Army to build and repair a firing range in Senegal.

The Vermont National Guard and Senegalese Armed Forces engineers are renovating the firing range through their State Partnership Program relationship.

April 17, 2018

Meet Your Guard: Staff Sgt. Ryan Maskell

MOUNT ROLLAND TRAINING SITE, Senegal — This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Staff Sgt. Ryan Maskell, a heavy equipment operator with Detachment 1, Garrison Support Command, who is also a native of Highgate, Vt. Maskell and his unit worked with the Senegalese Army to build and repair a firing range in Senegal

March 30, 2018

Meet Your Guard: Maj. Scott Brochu

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — This edition of Meet Your Guard focuses on Maj. Scott Brochu, a logistics readiness officer with the 158th Fighter Wing, who is a native of South Burlington, Vt., and currently lives in Essex, Vt. Brochu has served in the Vermont National Guard for 26 years.

Tech. Sgt. Lindsey Bond, maintenance analyst, 158th Fighter Wing poses for a photograph.

March 30, 2018

Meet Your Guard: Tech. Sgt. Lindsey Bond

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — 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.

Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Riley, vehicle operations and ground transportation, 158th Fighter Wing, poses for an official photograph.

March 30, 2018

Meet your Guard: Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Riley

CAMP JOHNSON, Vt. — 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.

1st. Lt. John C. Helme, 1st Squadron, 172nd Cavalry Regiment, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) poses for a photograph. (Courtesy Photo)

Feb. 16, 2018

Meet your Guard: 1st Lt. John Helme

CAMP JOHNSON, Vt. — 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.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Yulia Benson, bandsman, 40th Army Band, Vermont Army National Guard plays during a concert.

Feb. 16, 2018

Meet your Guard: Staff Sgt. Yulia Benson

BURLINGTON, Vt. — 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.

Sgt. Peter Shepardson, wheeled-vehicle mechanic, Bravo Company, 186th Brigade Support Battalion, Vermont Army National Guard, poses for a photo. (Courtesy Photo)

Feb. 16, 2018

Meet your Guard: Sgt. Peter Shepardson

CAMP JOHNSON, Vt. — 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.

The official logo of the Vermont National Guard.

TAG's State of the Guard 2026

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Green Mountain Guard Newsletter Archive

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...
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