129th NGAUS Conf. Report for AREA II Warrants:
Nice to see so many Warrant Officers from Area II at the 129th NGAUS Conf. in San Juan, Puerto Rico. From the moment we arrived until the last day of our conference we were pampered by our host, the Puerto Rico National Guard and by the hospitable people of the beautiful city of San Juan.
The State and local police were there to escort our buses where ever we went. Wonderful food, Jubilant music, dancers and nice weather made our stay very memorable, indeed.
Our NGAUS delegations with over 4000 strong and many many exhibitors were the largest group to be housed and have a conference in the new San Juan Convention center.
We were welcomed by The Honorable Anibal Acevedo Vila, Governor of Puerto Rico, The Honorable Jorge A. Santit, Mayor of San Juan and Col David Carrion Barralt, the Adjutant General of Puerto Rico National Guard.
Some of the key speakers were Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne, Senator John McCain, Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, General George P. Casey, Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum, Chief of the National Guard Bureau and Lieutenant General Russel Honore, Commanding General, First U.S Army.
The NGAUS top individual award, The Harry S. Truman Award, recipient was US. Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia. for outstanding contribution and support of the National Guard and NGAUS. Mr. Davis was unable to attend but accepted the award via a video presentation.
CW5 Sal Green of Florida and the NGAUS Command Chief, gave an update about the warrant officers issues.
Please see the self explanatory slides of Mr. Green's presentation among other photos from the Warrant Officer Luncheon in San Juan.
Please check www.vnga.org in a few weeks. Most of the photos from our San Juan luncheon should be posted there with other photos from the conference. The Virginia State Association is kind enough to allow us to put our photos on their website and I am sure we appreciate that... You will have an option to download any photo.
This year the junior Minutemen attending NGAUS conference was one of our own Minutewoman WO1 Ellen Smith of Pennsylvania... Our congratulation to Ellen. Next year the NGAUS Conference will be right in our Area II door step. The 130th General Conference, will be held in Baltimore, Maryland, 20-22 Sept. 2008. I hope this year as in the past we all concentrate on warrant membership. Encouraging as many Warrants, as you know or you meet, to become members of their State Associations and NGAUS. Also encourage them to attend the Baltimore Conference. We have strength in numbers and we must show it.
CW3 (R) Amir M.Pishdad
Area II Warrant Rep.
National Guard Associations U.S
View Conference Pictures
