{"id":56505,"date":"2023-12-03T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=56505"},"modified":"2023-12-05T09:22:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T09:22:41","slug":"hokanson-at-reagan-national-defense-forum-national-guard-part-of-the-fabric-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=56505","title":{"rendered":"Hokanson at Reagan National Defense Forum: National Guard Part of the Fabric of America"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, participates in a panel discussion at the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Simi Valley, California, Dec. 2, 2023. Hokanson joined U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Under Secretary of the Army Gabriel O. Camarillo, and Karl Rove to discuss how to boost military recruitment and readiness.
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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, participates in a panel discussion at the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Simi Valley, California, Dec. 2, 2023. Hokanson joined U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Under Secretary of the Army Gabriel O. Camarillo, and Karl Rove to discuss how to boost military recruitment and readiness.
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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, participates in a panel discussion at the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Simi Valley, California, Dec. 2, 2023. Hokanson joined U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Under Secretary of the Army Gabriel O. Camarillo, and Karl Rove to discuss how to boost military recruitment and readiness. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Zach Sheely)
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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, participates in a panel discussion at the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Simi Valley, California, Dec. 2, 2023. Hokanson joined U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Under Secretary of the Army Gabriel O. Camarillo, and Karl Rove to discuss how to boost military recruitment and readiness.
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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, participates in a panel discussion at the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Simi Valley, California, Dec. 2, 2023. Hokanson joined U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Under Secretary of the Army Gabriel O. Camarillo, and Karl Rove to discuss how to boost military recruitment and readiness. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Zach Sheely)
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SIMI VALLEY, Calif. \u2013 When he returned from a tour in Iraq as the commander of the Oregon National Guard\u2019s 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team in 2009, then-Army Col. Daniel Hokanson saw how the unit\u2019s 3,500 personnel returned to their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe brought the fabric of America to the war because there are no active-duty bases in Oregon, they came from every corner of the state,\u201d said Hokanson, the Guard Bureau chief. \u201cThey were teachers, police officers, firemen\u2026and they deployed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen they came back to their community, and they showed, look, you can do this. You can serve and you can go back and reintegrate into your communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum\u2014an annual gathering of national security and defense leaders\u2014Hokanson spoke about recruiting and readiness and listened to remarks from key leaders.<\/p>\n

During his keynote address, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III painted the backdrop of the current global environment as \u201cchallenging,\u201d citing \u201cthe major conflicts facing our fellow democracies, Israel and Ukraine; bullying and coercion from an increasingly assertive China; and a worldwide battle between democracy and autocracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd let me be blunt about our mission,\u201d Austin said. \u201cThe U.S. military is here to win our country\u2019s wars\u2014and to win them decisively. We will always try to deter conflict. But if we have to defend our country, we will fight\u2014and we will win.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the recruiting front, the DoD is in competition with corporate America for the same talent pool, especially in high-tech areas like cyber defense and space. This issue was heightened in the wake of the pandemic. Employers have been offering incentives once unique to the military, including education benefits and healthcare packages.<\/p>\n

In the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum survey\u2014a public opinion poll\u2014about half of the respondents would encourage a friend or family member to join the military for reasons of patriotism, service and honor. More than 20% responded that a key point to discourage service is that it\u2019s too dangerous and not worth the risks.<\/p>\n

Hokanson joined U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Under Secretary of the Army Gabriel O. Camarillo, and Karl Rove to discuss these issues on the \u201cCelebrating and Encouraging Service: How to Boost Recruitment and Ensure Readiness\u201d panel.<\/p>\n

Camarillo acknowledged recruiting as a long-term challenge for the Army. The service announced a major overhaul of its recruiting operations in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the biggest transformation since the all-volunteer force was established in 1975,\u201d Camarillo said of Army recruiting, citing increased prospecting and marketing and a revamped recruiting workforce to closer resemble Fortune 500 companies.<\/p>\n

Hokanson sees recruiting as a tactical matter with strategic implications.<\/p>\n

The Guard is 20% of the Joint Force funded at 4% of the defense budget. With about 430,000 members, it is the second largest military organization after the Army. There are eight full Army divisions and 90 Air wings within the Guard.<\/p>\n

Hokanson emphasized that the National Guard exists to fight and win America\u2019s wars as the Army and Air Force combat reserve. He noted that many Guardsmen either joined or renewed their commitment to serve after 9\/11, with an expectation to deploy or mobilize overseas.<\/p>\n

He said Guardsmen bring \u201ca treasure trove\u201d of experience and expertise.<\/p>\n

The Air National Guard won big in September\u2019s Air Force William Tell fighter competition. The Vermont Guard\u2019s 158th Wing earned the title of top F-35 Wing, along with other individual awards.<\/p>\n

Four Army National Guard sniper teams emerged as the best contenders in the 2023 International Sniper Competition, and all finished in the top 10, with the Guard taking first place.<\/p>\n

The Guard is also at the forefront of future warfighting domains. The Army Guard has more than 1,095 Soldiers working in cyber units. There are more than 11,500 Airmen assigned to Air Force cyber specialty codes in the Air Guard.<\/p>\n

In September, Hokanson presented a joint Guard cyber team with the 2022 SANS NetWars Department of Defense Services Cup, marking the third consecutive year the Guard team has won the cybersecurity competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese Soldiers and Airmen embody the best of the Guard: experts in their civilian jobs who use their skills to serve their states and nation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This warfighting posture enables the Guard to perform the most visible of its missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019re manned, trained and equipped to do arguably the most difficult task there is,\u201d Hokanson said, \u201cyou can ask us to do almost anything within the local communities, and we will be there immediately to respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide Guardsmen the opportunity to respond to their communities in times of need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other panelists echoed the appeal of serving in the Guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the [Guard] mission is right in front of you,\u201d Cramer said, \u201cyou\u2019re helping your neighbors during a flood or rescuing people in a snowstorm. And I think that does resonate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CNGB spoke of the value and flexibility the Guard offers its members to serve as part-time Citizen-Soldiers or -Airmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our Guardsmen are college students because they can go to school and serve at the same time,\u201d Hokanson said. \u201cAnother great advantage is if you\u2019re from Des Moines, Iowa, or Medford, Oregon, and your family\u2019s there and you want to live there, we offer you the opportunity to do all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Hokanson said the Guard is focused on connecting with the groups that have little or no association with the military.<\/p>\n

He encourages Guardsmen to tell the story of the Guard, which includes almost 7.5 million personnel days supporting combatant commands at home and around the world. Last year, more than 8,500 people were rescued from disasters, and four countries were added to the 100-nation Department of Defense National Guard State Partnership Program.<\/p>\n

A Pentagon data point says that 78% of those who entered military service had an immediate family member, friend, or relative in the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difficult thing is, if you\u2019ve not had contact with somebody in the military, and if you get your perception of the military from what you see on the news or the stuff that grabs headlines, you could have potentially a negative view of it,\u201d Hokanson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut those that actually know servicemembers realize there are great advantages and incredible opportunities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Guard has seen steady improvement in recruiting new members since the disruption of the pandemic, while retention is at historically high levels. Hokanson summarized some of his key initiatives to continue these trends.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo-cost healthcare for our Guardsmen, the same incentive-pay as active-component Soldiers and Airmen and duty-status reform,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd our whole goal is for every Guardsman to have two retirements: their National Guard and civilian retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to show the value of serving our country and the long-term payback for you and your family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, participates in a panel discussion at the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Simi Valley, California, Dec. 2, 2023. Hokanson joined U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Under Secretary of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56507,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56505"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56513,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56505\/revisions\/56513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}