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Grizzly Magazine
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The Grizzly is also available at www.Facebook.com/CaGuard along with additional stories and photos about the California National Guard. To download photos, visit www.Flickr.com/CaGuard.
We welcome submissions of articles, photos and story suggestions. Please see page 3 of a recent issue for guidelines and send submissions to GrizzlyMag.ngca@ng.army.mil. To provide feedback, contact brandon.honig@us.army.mil.
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Grizzly May 2013
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. ... |
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Grizzly April 2013
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. ... |
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Grizzly March 2013
The California National Guard during the past decade has experienced a continuous stream of overseas deployments that demanded combat-ready Soldiers and Airmen and produced troops with invaluable warfighting experience. Our ranks are full of proven, experienced, battle-hardened troops on a level that few generations of Guard members can claim. ... |
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Grizzly January/February 2013
After a decade of war, we have new national challenges and priorities that must be balanced with defense spending. Everyone recognizes that military budgets must be trimmed. ... |
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Grizzly December 2012
As I look back on the past year, I draw great pride from being a part of an organization that has done so much to help Californians, residents of other states and people in countries around the globe.
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Grizzly November 2012
Throughout my years of service in the National Guard, I have seen the State Active Duty (SAD) system misinterpreted, mismanaged and on occasion abused. When I was appointed adjutant general by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. in April 2011, I vowed to make the SAD force more professional, operationally capable and accountable.
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Grizzly October 2012
The Soldiers and Airmen of the California National Guard are skilled, talented, courageous warriors who have proven their abilities time and again while joining their active duty counterparts in combat operations overseas. But the defining characteristic of the National Guard is our domestic-response mission. | | |
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Grizzly September 2012
The U.S. military is the strongest in the world, and it has been for decades. But it is not a one-size-fits-all force. | |
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Grizzly July/August 2012
For more than a century, the California Cadet Corps has been a vital component of our state’s Military Department. It shapes young Californians into quality leaders, patriots and citizens, and it strengthens the National Guard’s connection with the communities it serves. |
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Grizzly June 2012
The National Guard has always been a citizen force, one rooted in the communities in which it serves. It should come as little surprise, then, that as our role in the wars abroad begins to wind down, our focus should increasingly turn to matters closer to home. |
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Grizzly May 2012
After a decade of combat operations in which National Guardsmen fought and died alongside their active duty counterparts, the experience and readiness of our Soldiers and Airmen is at an all-time high. More than 50 percent of the nation’s Guard forces are combat veterans, who stand confident, competent and equipped to meet the demands of commanders overseas and governors at home. |
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GrizzlyApril2012
The past decade has been among the busiest in the California National Guard’s history, with thousands of combat deployments in addition to our domestic emergency response operations. This has produced a generation of proven, experienced, battle-hardened troops that any officer would be proud to lead. |
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Grizzly Magazine, March 2012 Edition The men and women of the California National Guard are selfless patriots who put their lives on the line to protect this country and this state. They shouldn’t have to put their careers on the line as well, but sadly that happens all too often. | |
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Grizzly Magazine, January/February 2012 Edition On the battlefield and in emergency response operations, CNG troops are focused and determined. Quitting or accepting defeat is not in our culture. When a challenge presents itself, we find a way over, around or through that obstacle, and we get the job done. |
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Grizzly Magazine, December 2011 Edition Looking back at the past year, I want to say thank you for all of your hard work. Together we have made great strides in turning the California National Guard in the direction we need to be headed. |
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Today’s National Guard is the strongest it has ever been. We have transformed from a strategic reserve to an operational force, and after a decade of conflict, the majority of our troops are combat veterans. |
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The National Guard has been protecting Americans for nearly four centuries. Long before the citizens of this land established a nation, they organized militias to defend their communities. |
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September 11, 2001, was unlike any day in our history. The shocking, tragic attacks of that day forever changed the United States, its citizens and the California National Guard. |
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Grizzly Magazine, August 2011 Edition
My previous columns in this magazine have detailed some of the actions I took early in my tenure as adjutant general to re-emphasize a culture of selfless service and integrity in our organization. Those actions were taken with one goal in mind: to make this state’s National Guard the best in the country. |
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Grizzly Magazine, July 2011 Edition
Our No. 1 mission and responsibility is to rapidly respond to state emergencies with a robust, coordinated force that has drilled and prepared for the situation it faces. That vital mission is what makes our state militia and National Guard unique among all branches and components of the armed forces. |
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Grizzly Magazine, June 2011 Edition
Since being sworn in as the adjutant general, I have squarely focused on restoring the honor and integrity associated with being a member of the California National Guard. In the spirit of transparency, I want to share with you what we’ve done during my first 45 days to improve leadership, dialogue and accountability as we move forward. | |
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Grizzly Magazine, May 2011 Edition
Soldiers and Airmen, I am honored to serve with you as your adjutant general. When I enlisted as a medic in the California Army National Guard nearly 30 years ago, I didn’t expect to rise to be commander of this organization, nor did I want the job. |
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Grizzly Magazine, April 2011 Edition
On April 9, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced the new leader of the California National Guard by appointing Col. David S. Baldwin as the state’s 46th adjutant general. Brown said he chose Baldwin based on his exceptional experience, which includes two combat tours and 29 years of uniformed service. |
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Grizzly Magazine, March 2011 Edition
A decade and more ago, noncommissioned officers (NCO) were primarily consigned to running the day-to-day affairs of the Army. While their advice was sought, it was primarily relegated to questions about individual training, barracks and accountability. |
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Grizzly Magazine, February 2011 Edition
In civil support missions, speed saves lives. When faced with a natural or man-made disaster, our citizens count on the California National Guard to respond quickly and efficiently with all our capabilities. No matter what emergency arises — whether it be a wildfire or a weapon of mass destruction — our Soldiers and Airmen are always ready to assist. |
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Grizzly Magazine, January 2011 Edition
On Jan. 3 the state of California welcomed a new governor, and the California National Guard welcomed a new commander in chief. We enter this period in our history with great anticipation of the events to come, as we ready ourselves to fulfill the vision of our new leader, Gov. Jerry Brown. |
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Grizzly Magazine, December 2010 Edition
The California National Guard participated in more than 50 Veterans Day events and celebrations throughout the state from Nov. 3 through Nov. 17. The Guard provided numerous keynote speakers, flyovers, bands, color guards and static displays of aircraft and other equipment. |
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Grizzly Magazine, November 2010 Edition
The tension in the air was plentiful early on Sept. 12, a particularly cool and foggy morning on Camp San Luis Obispo, Calif. Arms and legs were flailing, muscles were warming, and facial expressions were revealing anxiety and excitement. That day’s Army Physical Fitness Test was no ordinary examination. This performance would set the pace for the remainder of the California Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition (BWC). |
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Grizzly Magazine, October 2010 Edition
The California National Guard’s newest officers were commissioned in a ceremony at the theater on Camp San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Aug. 14. This year’s graduating class of 22 lieutenants was split down the middle between candidates who completed the state’s traditional officer training program on Camp SLO and those who endured the accelerated Officer Candidate School (OCS) course on Fort Meade, S.D. |
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Grizzly Magazine, September 2010 Edition
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California National Guard leaders visited troops Aug. 18 in San Diego County along the border they will monitor in support of border patrol agents for the next year. Brig. Gen. Mary J. Kight, the adjutant general of the California National Guard, joined the governor at the Otay Mesa site to recognize the efforts of citizen-Soldiers and border patrol agents to ensure homeland security. |
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Grizzly Magazine, August 2010 Edition
California National Guard leadership has begun coordinating with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and scouting locations to make best use of 260 CNG members who will deploy to the U.S.-Mexico border this fall. President Barack Obama announced a plan in May to deploy 1,200 National Guard members to the Southwest border. In response, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered approximately 260 California National Guard service members to active duty July 16. |
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Grizzly Magazine, July 2010 Edition
Hovering 70 feet over a battle zone, about to be lowered to the ground on a cable dangling from his helicopter, medic Staff Sgt. Emmett Spraktes drummed up the necessary courage by picturing the parents of the injured Soldiers below. “We’re up there, and we know we can’t land and there’s a risk, but I imagine looking into the eyes of a [Soldier’s] parent and saying, ‘I can’t do this,’” Spraktes recalled. “How could I talk to the mother or father of one these boys and say, ‘I was just too afraid to go’?” |
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Grizzly Magazine, June 2010 Edition
The California National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing performed its weeklong annual training and certification with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) in South Carolina this year alongside nearly 400 pilots, loadmasters and ground and support crews from around the country. Firefighters conducted classroom training, discussed interagency coordination and performed about 75 water drops a day. |
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Grizzly Magazine, May 2010 Edition
Memorial Day takes us to days gone past but not forgotten. It is a day to salute all of the men and women from all branches of the military who have sacrificed their lives while defending this great country. These men and women stepped forward, raised their hand and pledged to sacrifice all they had to ensure we keep our freedom. |
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Grizzly Magazine, April 2010 Edition
The California National Guard provides an essential source of trained Soldiers and Airmen for America’s military. A necessary element of the entire force, the Guard is increasingly relied upon to balance its support of state and national commitments, and individually each of us manages our personal lives, which include our families. |
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Grizzly Magazine, March 2010 Edition
Last July, in the northern mountains of Afghanistan, the four-man flight crew of Dustoff 24 was flying to their home base after a grueling 48-hour medical support mission when they received an emergency call. The medical evacuation (medevac) request came from a U.S. Army infantry squadsized element that was ambushed by anti-American forces while on foot patrol in the hard-to-reach Pech River Valley. |
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Grizzly Magazine, February 2010 Edition
With this, my last column as the adjutant general, I thought I would revisit the accomplishments, milestones and benchmarks of the California National Guard — America’s premier community-based militia — during the past four years. |
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Grizzly Magazine, January 2010 Edition
When members of the California National Guard deploy, they know they may be asked to do something heroic. The men and women who serve together are ready to put their lives on the line to help a Soldier or Airman in need. |
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Grizzly Magazine, December 2009 Edition
Informal truces have been a military tradition nearly as long as there has been armed conflict. The Civil War, for instance, is replete with stories of Yanks and Rebs trading commodities — newspapers, magazines, food, tobacco and coffee — during lulls between pitched battles. |
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Grizzly Magazine, November 2009 Edition
Forty-four years ago, on Sunday, Nov. 15, 1965, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in a clearing of the Ia Drang Valley known as LZ X-Ray, the 450 sky Soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), took on a North Vietnamese force that was more than three times their size. |
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Grizzly Magazine, October 2009 Edition
October 1781 was a pivotal month in the history of America’s march to freedom more than two centuries ago. Patriots and loyalists of the fledging democracy known as America, supported by the French, had fought bloody and savage battles with the British and their German allies for more than five years. |
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Grizzly Magazine, September 2009 Edition
“December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy,” are words well known to those of the “greatest generation,” as well as to the baby boomers born following World War II. At that time, the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan produced the largest American loss of life for a single incident — 2,403 killed. However, little did anyone know that 60 years later that number would pale in comparison to the events of September 11, 2001. |
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Grizzly Magazine, August 2009 Edition
As a new emerging country and military force, the United States and its Continental Army had no military awards or decorations of its own — only English institutional knowledge and history to guide it in recognition of military personnel and patriots. |
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Grizzly Magazine, July 2009 Edition
Arguably, never before in the history of the United States has the care and support of service members and their families been more important than right now, in the seventh year of the global war on terrorism. With the growing number of injured and disabled warriors and dependent families, the task for their care falls to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which plays an ever-increasing role in their recovery, rehabilitation and survival. |
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Grizzly Magazine, June 2009 Edition
Since the discovery of America, numerous flags have flown over the land of the free and the home of the brave, including those of Spain, France, Holland, Sweden and England. However, it is only the stars and stripes that we honor on Flag Day — June 14th — and on every other day of the year that Old Glory is flown, displayed or paraded. |
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Grizzly Magazine, May 2009 Edition
The month of May is full of militarily historical significance from World War II. For example, on May 2, 1945, Axis forces in Italy surrendered; on May 6, 1942, Gen. Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV surrendered all American forces in the Philippines; on May 7, 1942, was the epic battle of Midway; on May 8, 1945, was V-E Day and the surrender of Germany; and on May 13, 1943, Axis forces surrendered in North Africa. |
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Grizzly Magazine, April 2009 Edition
Being a California National Guard member doesn’t just mean training one weekend a month and two weeks a year. And it doesn’t just mean fighting natural disasters and foreign enemies. More than ever, service members are being asked to develop relationships. |
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Grizzly Magazine, March 2009 Edition
Airmen and Soldiers of the California National Guard perform a wide array of duties and services to protect and improve the lives of Californians. They bravely carry out combat missions, prepared to sacrifice their lives for our national security, as exemplified by the 1-184th Infantry, which recently was notified it had received one of the military’s highest awards for its valorous service in Iraq (story on page 6). |
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Grizzly Magazine, February 2009 Edition
As the editor of the Grizzly, I would like to thank our readers for your interest in the publication as well as your feedback and contributions. My name is Brandon Honig, and I am taking over as editor while 2nd Lt. Will Martin is away for training and an overseas deployment. |
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Grizzly Magazine, January 2009 Edition
The National Guard celebrated a birthday in December, turning 372. The Cal Guard marked the milestone during a Dec. 12 ceremony at the state headquarters in Sacramento (story,page 17). The celebration was echoed across the nation - and the globe - as Guardsmen everywhere reflected on the beginnings of the Boston militias from which they were born. It was in 1636 that about 500 men from Massachusetts volunteered to defend their countrymen,becoming the nation’s first Citizen Soldiers. |
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Grizzly Magazine, December 2008 Edition
While a mass exercise provided critical disaster-response training, the outbreak of wildfires in Southern California reminded us all that Mother Nature needs no scenario to test our mettle. Vigilant Guard ’09 served as the California National Guard’s part in the Golden Guardian exercise. Involved were more than 100 disaster-response and government agencies from across the state. |
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Grizzly Magazine, November 2008 Edition
There is a maxim among public affairs professionals – if we don’t tell our story, someone else will be glad to tell it for us – that rings particularly true for military PAOs. As Guardsmen, it is not enough that we simply train to answer our state’s and nation’s call to arms, but we must also convey to the public the significance and humanity in what we do. |
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Grizzly Magazine, October 2008 Edition
Since its inception, the National Guard has been marked by a dual calling, one that requires us to regularly face both domestic and international challenges. Last month, we were repeatedly reminded of the California National Guard’s ability to respond effectively on both fronts. |
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Grizzly Magazine, September 2008 Edition
I would like to introduce myself to the Grizzly’s readers. My name is 2nd Lt. Will Martin, a newly commissioned
officer with the 49th Military Police Brigade and public affairs specialist at the Joint Force Headquarters. For the
next several months, I will be serving as the editor of the Grizzly while Maj. Mirtha Villarreal is on leave.
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Grizzly Magazine, August 2008 Edition
July was an extremely busy month for the California National Guard. CNG members assisted CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service firefighters with fires in Northern California. In addition to equipment, the CNG supported the wildfires with hundreds of personnel in both support roles and actively working on the fire line. At its peak, the CNG had more than 1,300 personnel participating in firefighting efforts.
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Grizzly Magazine, July 2008 Edition
Once again the California National Guard has been called to action in support of civil authorities. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called the CNG to duty on June 22, 2008 to assist Cal FIRE in fighting California wild fires. As of June 25, 2008 the CNG has provided 7 helicopters, including a firehawk for aerial fire suppression and two fixed wing aircraft for aerial reconnaissance and fire mapping.
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Grizzly Magazine, June 2008 Edition
The Grizzly magazine is mailed out monthly to more than 22,000 Soldiers, Airmen, and Family members. The mailing list is not maintained by the Public Affairs office but Administrative Services. The, mailing list is a derived from the DEERS and SIDPERS data base. If you have recently moved, you must ensure that you update your address at the unit level.
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Grizzly Magazine, May 2008 Edition
The at-a-glance section this month highlights the deployments of the Soldiers and Airmen of the California National Guard since 9-11-2001. While the Army National Guard deploys Soldiers as part of a unit (company, battalion, or brigade) the Air National Guard sends out Airmen as either individual backfills or in small groups. Air National Guard members have been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Japan, Qatar and many other countries. |
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Grizzly Magazine, April 2008 Edition
The following months will be very busy for the California National Guard as we welcome home more than 1,000 Soldiers from one year deployments to Iraq. Additionally, we will bid farewell to more than 2,000 Soldiers and Airmen before the end of the year. |
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Grizzly Magazine, March 2008 Edition
This month we bid farewell to Bravo Company, 126th General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) as they departed for a one year tour to Afghanistan. We will welcome home Charlie Company, 1-185th Infantry who returns from Iraq. 2008 will see many Soldiers and Airmen deploy in support of the Global War on Terrorism and peace keeping operations. The Public Affairs office will work diligently to place these stories in the Grizzly Magazine. |
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Grizzly Magazine, February 2008 Edition
With the holidays behind us, many have made resolutions to become physically fit. Physical fitness is a basic job requirement for military members and as such should be a priority. Making time to work out might seem like a bridge too far, but remember there are simple ways if not to improve your physical fitness, not detract from it. Making smart dietary choices is an easy way to help stay fit. |
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Grizzly Magazine, January 2008 Edition
2007 has been a tremendous year for the California National Guard. More than 3500 Soldiers and Airmen deployed this year in support of the Global War on Terrorism. Approximately the same number has been mobilized within California to support civil authorities and first responders in missions such as guarding our border and fighting fires. |
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