The National Guard’s most unique attribute is that it is a community-based military force. The noncommissioned officer at your local armory may also be your accountant or your kid’s teacher in their civilian life.

A team of California Air National Guardsmen from the 129th Rescue Wing (RQW) aboard a HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopter and a MC-130P Combat Shadow refueling airplane, successfully completed a complex overwater rescue mission, extracting an injured cruise ship passenger more than 300 miles off the coast of San Diego this afternoon.

Following a request for support from Cal EMA and CAL FIRE, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. directed the Adjutant General of the California National Guard, Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, to provide two specialized firefighting C-130J aircraft and crews from the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing to assist with wildfires raging across California.

In the Armed Forces, it is essential that we live by our core values and treat each other with dignity and respect. Sexual assault is an affront to those values and violates everything we stand for as defenders of this country.