Past is Prologue

Regular readers have no doubt noticed Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum's expressions of gratitude for our association in recent editions of this magazine.

Another one from the National Guard Bureau chief appears on page 12 this month:

"Today's Guard is better organized, equipped and trained than at any time in its history, thanks to professional organizations such as NGAUS."

General Blum's words are excerpts from correspondence he mailed us last fall. His appreciation, however, is really directed at you-you and every other NGAUS member past and present.

The best "organized, equipped and trained" force in Guard history is the product of Congress responding to your communications. The NGAUS leadership and staff in Washington are merely a monitoring and delivery system. It's you who compels Congress to act.

This is the time when NGAUS tends to focus on needs not yet satisfied-the way ahead. A new Congress has convened and lawmakers are interested in learning our priority requirements. And make no mistake, our needs are significant, immediate and growing.

But we must not lose sight of our accomplishments-the distance traveled from where we started. We need to do this because past is prologue.

Over the years, I've run into officers who ask why they should join NGAUS. I'm sure you have, too. The answer is in NGAUS accomplishments in years past. They provide more than a glimpse of our future. They also offer a road map.

Today, many staples of our Guard careers are the result of past NGAUS members. We take several for granted.

Take the retirement system we all would like to modify. We wouldn't have a retirement provision to modify if the membership decades before us had not fought successfully for that legislation. The same goes for our full-time programs and even pay for our time spent training.

Even our current dual status is largely the result of this association. There were officials in Washington who wanted to relegate the Guard to a state-only role after World War II. It was NGAUS leaders-fueled by a strong membership-that defeated that effort.

Last year, Congress added more than $1 billion to the president's budget request for National Guard equipment and training. Lawmakers also expanded health care benefits to six months following deployments and raised the financial limits on Guard enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses.

None of this would have happened without the association membership communicating its needs.

The road map ahead is simple: You must keep communicating what you need to Congress through our association. We also need to sustain-if not grow-our membership. This isn't just about dollars. It's about maintaining the muscle behind our messages, the strength of which will always be measured by membership numbers.

I know this isn't easy in these difficult times. We are all very busy. Many of you are overseas and need to keep your focus on the task at hand. But your focus is also our focus. And in order to help you, we need to hear from you.

What resources do you and your soldiers and airmen need? How about your families and employers? What can be done to better prepare those who follow you? This is what we need to know to ensure that Congress gets precisely the right message.

We also need to hear from everyone else. Many of you have been overseas. Others have been busy within their states. The questions I posed earlier are the same and equally important for you.

I have another request: If you know Guard officers not yet association members, please pass along this column. There is information here they need to know.

The Guard that exists today is largely the product of generations of past NGAUS members. They provided us a better organization than they inherited. If we use their road map, we can not only provide a better Guard for the next generation but also help ourselves today.

Robert V. Taylor,

Chairman of the Board,

NGAUS

Copyright National Guard Association of the United States Feb 2005
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