AZ Enlisted Association Newsletter - Spring 2012

8/2/2019 AZ Enlisted Association Newsletter - Spring 2012

1/5

I personally want to thank all

enlisted Airmen and Soldiers who

have or currently serve in the Ari-

zona National Guard. Your contin-

ued sworn pledge to preserve,

protect, and defend the Arizona

Constitution and United States

Constitution at home and abroad is

appreciated by the Arizona

Enlisted Association. Just as you

preserve and protect our Nation

and community, the Enlisted As-

sociation is hard at work to create,

maintain, and defend legislation

that provides adequate staffing,

pay, benefits, entitlements, equip-

ment and installations for the Na-

tional Guard. In early February I

had the opportunity to attend the

dual Enl is ted Associat ion

(EANGUS) and Officer Associa-

tion (NGAUS) Legislative Work-

shop in Arlington, VA. The pur-

pose of the workshop was to edu-

cate EANGUS and NGAUS chap-

ters throughout the US about cur-

rent legislation that impacts the

National Guard, show them how to

convey our message to individual

Congressional members, and actu-

ally meet with Congressional

members on Capitol Hill. I had the

privilege to meet with seven Ari-

zona Senate and House Legislative

Liaisons and two members of the

Arizona House of Representatives.

I advocated for their membershipon the National Guard Caucus, I

asked them to vote to support the

bill concerning granting Veteran

status to National Guard person-

nel, as well as support for a bill

concerning the pay disparity for

Veterans disability payments. We

discussed the value and cost sav-

ings the National Guard offers

versus use of Active Duty person-

nel for contingencies that may

arise in the future, and I asked fortheir continued support of the

Arizona National Guard.

As you know, the Department of

Defense budget for next year has

not been released yet; however,

cuts are expected to include force

reduction in personnel, cuts in

benefits, possible reductions in

operational systems, and possi-

ble base closures. EANGUS and

your local association (EANGA)

will keep you informed of pro-

posed recommendations tha

impact the National Guard as we

remain diligent in our support to

you and your family on Capitol

Hill. But, Legislators must hear

from you individually; you

should know who represents

your District in the House and

Senate, and I encourage you to

contact their offices with your

opinion. As an EANGUS mem-

ber, you should receive emails

regarding current legislation that

needs your attention. I encour-age all Citizen-Soldiers past and

present to become active in tell-

ing the story of how the National

Guard has answered the call for

our Nation for the last 375 years.

Check out the new EANGUS

website at www.eangus.org to

learn more! (Presidents message

is continued on pg 2)

Presidents Message

Announcing the 2012 AZ Enlisted Association State ConferenceIts time for the Annual AZNG

Enlisted Professional Develop-

ment Program and EANGA State

Conference! President Gary Jack,

along with the State Command

Sergeant Major Max Butler and

State Command Chief Master

Sergeant Daniel Irving invite all

enlisted personnel to attend. The

one day event will be held at the

Phoenix Marriott Hotel on 44th

Street just north of Loop 202.

Saturday will be filled with valu-

able training and activities for

both Army & Air NG personnel.

The Association hospitality suite

will be open on both Friday and

Saturday nights to provide lots of

fun, food, and music. Everything

is FREE to include the luncheon

on Saturday with a Professional

Development Guest Speaker. A

limited number of attendees will

be paid for attending the PD ses-

sion. If you are interested in

attending, please see your unit

First Sergeant or full-time staff

and complete and submit the

attached registration form NLT

Apr 15th. Hope to see you there!

SAVE THE

DATE!

April 27-28, 2012

Phoenix Marriott

HotelAZNG Prof Dev

Program and State

Conference

The Desert Chronicle

E N L I S T E D A S S O C I A T I O N N A T I O N A L G U A R D O F A R I Z O N A

Volume 3, Issue 1

Spring 2012

Legislative NewsHistoric NDAA signed

2

Its Election Time! 2

Member Spotlight

SSG Craig Wester

3

EANGUS National Conf

Long Beach, CA

3

Enlisted Association

rewards members...

4

State Conference

Registration Form

5

Inside this issue:
http://www.eangus.org/http://www.eangus.org/http://www.eangus.org/


2/5

EANGA State Conference. If interested in

attending, contact your First Sergeant or unit

leadership to get on the attendee list. The

registration form MUST be completed by all

attendees and is attached to this newsletter.

I also encourage you to review the informa-

tion in this newsletter concerning the

EANGUS National Conference, which is being held in Long Beach, CA this year.

These are both great opportunities and I

hope you will consider attending!

Gary Jack, MSgt, AZ ANG

On 31 Dec 2011, the President signedthe Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense

Authorization Act (NDAA), a law thatincludes historic changes for theNational Guard. With its signing, theChief of the National Guard Bureau isnow a statutory member of the JointChiefs of Staff, one of the most signifi-cant changes to occur since the Militia

Act (otherwise known as the Dick Act)was signed in 1903 creating theNational Guard.

The law includes numerous provisionsthat demonstrate continued Congres-sional support for the National Guard'stransition to an operational force. The

law places the Chief of the NationalGuard Bureau on the Joint Chiefs ofStaff with the specific responsibility of

addressing matters related to the non-Federalized National Guard role in

homeland defense and civil supportmissions. The law also re-establishesthe Vice Chief of the National GuardBureau position at the three star level,authorizes certain activities of the StatePartnership Program, and requires acomprehensive report on intra-theatreairlift including both Title 10 and Title 32requirements. The law also includes animportant provision that modifies thecall-up authority of the Reserve Compo-nents to allow up to 60,000 membersordered to active duty other than duringtimes of war or national emergency.For further analysis of the NDAA go to:

http://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/NGB-LL%20Analysis%20-%20FY12%20NDAA.pdf

FYI EANGUS continues to watch theprogress of HR1025/S491, Veteran

Status for Title 32 Guardsmen, which isstill in committee and has been sinceOctober 2011. The bill would extendhonorary Veteran status to NG/RCmembers who qualify for retirementafter 20 years but were never activatedlong enough to meet the current statu-tory requirement to attain Veteranstatus. Please contact your Congress-men and Senators to stop the delay andmove forward approval of these bills.

No, its not the Presidential Primaries.

were talking about the elections that

will be held on April 28th at the EANGA

State Conference. The AZ Enlisted As-

sociation is seeking candidates to run

for the following offices:

Vice-President, Air

VP, Junior Enlisted Affairs (E1-E6)

Secretary

Army Director

Director-At-Large (Army or Air)

Three Delegates to the EANGUS Conf

There are minimal requirements that

must be met to run for office; if inter-

ested, please contact TSgt EJ Causbie

at ejcause@hotmailcom for a copy of the By-

Laws and more info. All nominations must

be submitted to TSgt Causbie and VP Ben

Acosta ([email protected])

NLT April 24th.

In addition to holding elections for EANGA,

our Auxiliary will also be holding elections

for their offices of President, Vice-President

and Secretary/Treasurer. They will hold

their meeting at 10am on April 28th, room

TBA. We encourage spouses of our EANGUS

members to get involved in the Auxiliary

and run for office. The Auxiliary stand side-

by-side with EANGUS and are involved in

grassroots legislative letter writing as well

as support to our communities; i.e., Ronald

McDonald House, Family Readiness, etc.

Presidents message (continued from pg 1)

Historic NDAA Becomes Law

ITS ELECTION TIME !

You can make a difference by contacting

your Legislators; however there is also

power in numbers. Thats why its impor-

tant to belong to professional military

associations like EANGUS. Congressmen

react quickly on legislation that has a large

representation of support from their district.

Your Arizona Enlisted Association hasincreased its membership, but currently,

only 9% of enlisted Airman and Soldiers

belongwe have a total of 566 members

out of a potential of 6,600. Our goal is to

increase membership to 1,000 by the end of

this year. EANGUS/EANGA offers Associ-

ate, Corporate, and Auxiliary memberships

so everyone you know can join. Increasing

our membership is critical to sending the

message to our elected officials that Ari-

zona is behind the preservation of the Na-

tional Guard as an operational force.

Although our main focus is legislative,

EANGUS/EANGA also promotes profes-

sional development for its Airmen and

Soldiers. Your Arizona association is pro-

viding an opportunity on April 28 th as we

host 300 Soldiers and Airmen who are

authorized to attend the AZNG Professional

Development Program on a paid status.

This program is being conducted at the

Phoenix Marriott in conjunction with the

View the testimony by Senator Lindsey

Graham (SC) regarding the National Guard

Empowerment Act and his support of giving

the Chief, NGB a seat on the Joint Chiefs of

Staff: Go to: http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=N2cy7q4CExk

Page 2 The Desert Chronicle
http://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/NGB-LL%20Analysis%20-%20FY12%20NDAA.pdfhttp://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/NGB-LL%20Analysis%20-%20FY12%20NDAA.pdfhttp://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/NGB-LL%20Analysis%20-%20FY12%20NDAA.pdfhttp://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/NGB-LL%20Analysis%20-%20FY12%20NDAA.pdfhttp://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/NGB-LL%20Analysis%20-%20FY12%20NDAA.pdfhttp://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/NGB-LL%20Analysis%20-%20FY12%20NDAA.pdfhttp://www.ng.mil/ll/analysisdocs/FY2012/NGB-LL%20Analysis%20-%20FY12%20NDAA.pdf


3/5

P.S. Conference lodging rates will be honoredthru the Labor Day weekend !

Information about the conference, registration,hotels and transportation is posted on theEANGUS website at www.eangus.org or atwww.visitlongbeach.com/EANGUS, or con-

tact us and well send you more information!

This month, EANGA is proud to highlight

one of the top Soldiers in the Arizona Army

National GuardSSG Craig Wester.

SSG Wester joined the Army as an 11B In-

fantryman in 1989 and served with the 82ndAirborne during Operation Desert Shield/

Desert Storm. Upon reenlisting, he reclassi-

fied and became a 68D Operating Room Spec

at Fort Lewis, WA, and in 1995, he volun-

teered for a tour as a Recruiter receiving

many awards to include the Top Active Army

Recruiter of the Year in 1997.

In 1999 he left the Army to pursue a civilian

career, but having always missed the Army,

he joined the Arizona Army National Guard

in July 2009. With a goal to lead, mentor and

develop Soldiers, he became a Recruiting and

Retention NCO for the AZARNG. Those

goals and his hard work, dedication, and dis-

ciplined work ethic led him to be selected as

the AZ RRNCO of the Year for FY11. He

recruited and shipped 38 individuals, exceed-

ing the recruiter standard of 24 recruits per

year. After also winning a Regional Competi-

tion, he was ultimately selected (out of a field

of over 3,000 NG Recruiters) as the 2011 Top

Recruiting and Retention NCO for the entire

Army National Guard. Congrats!

SSG Wester and his wife Chantal live in Gil-

bert, AZ where he supports his community,

often volunteering for Habitat for Humanity

and at the State Veterans Home.

SSG Wester is also a member of EANGUS,

and says he heard about the Association

during a unit AT. He likes the fact that

theres an organization thats run by current

and former enlisted personnel, and feels its

important for the Enlisted Corp to have

someone on our side that knows the ins and

outs of what we do and to fight for our

rights and benefits.

The EANGUS CSM Virgil Williams

Scholarship program offers at least

10, $2,000 scholarships.

The AZ Enlisted Association offers

3, $500 scholarships.

Application forms, eligibility criteria,

and instructions for each program may

be downloaded from the EANGA web

The Enlisted Association offers its

members and eligible dependents a

National and State Scholarship pro-

gram, as follows:

Grantham University: 1, $36,000

4yr full-ride scholarship. NLT

June 1st, apply on their website

at www.grantham.edu/

alliances/eangus-scholarship/

Long Beach, CAhere we come! EANGUS National Conference

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLEDeadline: 1 May

Another great opportunity to learn aboutEANGUS, attend military professionaldevelopment, hear from National Guardsenior leaders as well as Congressional rep-resentatives, network with other Soldiers andAirmen, (and a lot of fun).is the upcoming

EANGUS National Conference in Long

Beach CA, August 26-29, 2012.

The conference, to be attended by over 1800enlisted Army & Air NG personnel fromacross the US, will be held at the LongBeach Convention Center. Attendees fromAZ and Area VI have been allotted rooms atthe beautiful Renaissance Hotel; with a spe-

cial $123 a night conference lodging rate.

Roll with California is this years theme,

and with the conference location so close toArizona this is a perfect time to attend

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: SSG Craig Wester

Page 3

Your EANGUS POCs:

Area VI Chair:CSM-R Craig,[email protected]

Area VI Director:CMSgt-Ret Miller,[email protected]

site at www.eanga.org or contact State

Scholarship Chair, CSM Michael Sojourner

at [email protected]

Completed applications must be post-

marked or hand-carried to CSM Sojourner

NLT May 1, 2012.

Winners will be announced in early August

with checks made payable to the college

of your choice.


4/5

The Enlisted Association National Guard of the United States

(EANGUS) and the Enlisted Association National Guard of Arizona

(EANGA), exist to promote the status, welfare, and professional-

ism of the enlisted members of the National Guard and to

promote adequate National Security. The Association lobbies to

provide adequate full-time staffing, adequate pay and allowances,

adequate health, medical, family and death entitlements, incen-

tive benefits, first line equipment, resources, and weapons sys-

tems, and military construction.

Enlisted Association National Guard of Arizona5636 E. McDowell Road

Phoenix, Arizona 85008-3495

The real gifts afforded by EANGA go well

beyond home electronics and extend outside

its roster of current chapter members.Ac-cording to Master Sgt. Gary Jack, chapter

president and member of the 162nd, a larger

membership could translate to more bene-

fits for Arizona Guardsmen.

"The number of delegates we can send to

the national conference increases our voice

as a state," said Jack. "There may be issues

in the future that we as Arizona Guardsmen

want to push forward, and to have influence

we'll need that voting strength. It will mean

more to our elected state and federal leaders

if our association goes to them with propos-

als that have the backing of a large number

of Guardsmen."

Tech. Sgt. Pete Smith, from the 162nd

Fighter Wing's maintenance plans, schedul-

ing and documentation office, was surprised

Jan. 6 when members of the EANGA Ex-

ecutive Council presented him with a new

DVD player in his office at Tucson Interna-

tional Airport.

As a reward for participation in the associa-

tion, each month the Executive Council willrandomly draw a name from its pool of

chapter members to receive a prize.

"This is a new initiative at every unit in the

state to say 'thank you' to our current mem-

bership, and we hope it will draw attention

to the association among non-members and

perhaps encourage more people to join,"

said Staff Sgt. Christie Card, EANGA

Membership Chair.

"Essentially we are building a stronger Guard

for the younger people coming up behind us

who will one day take over, and to do it the

right way we're going to need their member-

ship," said Jack. "The association will never

fully know what's important to the junior

enlisted member unless those members join

and use their voices. What was important to

me as a junior enlisted member isn't the same

as what's important to our young troops today.

It's a whole new world."

"The Enlisted Association is your associa-

tion," said the chapter president. "What we do

and how we do it is based on the input we get

from our members. We're here so that when

the time comes, when members are called to

duty, there's a framework there to support

them and their families."

To read the entire story, go to: http://

www.162fw.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?

id=123285447

Enlisted association rewards members, securesbenefits for allExcerpt of story by Maj. Gabe Johnson, 162nd FW PAO

Were on the Web at:

www.eangus.org

President: MSgt Gary Jack

[email protected]

Vice-President Air: CMSgt-Ret Dean [email protected]

Vice-President Army: SFC Bernardo M. Acosta

[email protected]

Vice-President Junior Enlisted: VACANT

Secretary: MSgt Heidi Estes

[email protected]

Treasurer: SMSgt Timothy Garrity

[email protected]

Membership Chair:

MSgt Joseph Duyck/SSgt Christie Card

[email protected]

Past President: MSgt David Morgan

Director Air: TSgt Earl Causbie

Director Army: SFC Tonya Gonzales

Director At Large: MSG DonCarlos Pagan

Director Retiree: CSM-R David Austin

Auxiliary President: Mary Hensell

Legislative First,Membership Always.

Win two 4-day general

admission tickets to Country

Thunder, 12-15 April in Florence, AZ!!

Raffle tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10. Drawing will

be April 5thContact SMSgt Teresa Denogean at

[email protected] for info on how to get

your raffle tickets. Proceeds support EANGA activities.

MSgt Richard Moore, EANGA Resolu-

tions Chair, presents DVD player to

TSgt Pete Smith, winner of an EANGA

membership drawing.

The winner of our latest

EANGA raffle for the

AR-15 Rifle is:

PFC Greyson Morley,

819th Engineer Company,

253rd Engr Bn, AZARNG

The next EANGA Executive Board

Meeting is scheduled for 1730 hrs,

Thurs, Apr 5th, at the Phoenix Marriott

Hotel restaurant. All enlisted personnel

are invited to attend.
https://webmail.west.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.162fw.ang.af.mil%252Fnews%252Fstory.asp%253Fid%253D123285447https://webmail.west.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.162fw.ang.af.mil%252Fnews%252Fstory.asp%253Fid%253D123285447https://webmail.west.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.162fw.ang.af.mil%252Fnews%252Fstory.asp%253Fid%253D123285447https://webmail.west.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.162fw.ang.af.mil%252Fnews%252Fstory.asp%253Fid%253D123285447https://webmail.west.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.162fw.ang.af.mil%252Fnews%252Fstory.asp%253Fid%253D123285447https://webmail.west.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.162fw.ang.af.mil%252Fnews%252Fstory.asp%253Fid%253D123285447https://webmail.west.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.162fw.ang.af.mil%252Fnews%252Fstory.asp%253Fid%253D123285447


5/5

Documents

AZ Enlisted Association Newsletter - Spring 2012