National Guard Association of the United StatesJuly 21, 2007

Meeting Minutes

"The following is a re-cap of key discussion points and motions passed by the Board of Directors. Officially transcribed minutes are available for review by any member of the Association at One Massachusetts Ave, Washington DC."

Members Present:MG Martin UmbargerBG (Ret) Robert TaylorMaj Gen David PoythressBrig Gen (Ret) Kenneth RossCOL Al FaberBrig Gen (Ret) Robert DutkoMG Frank VavalaCOL Deborah AshenhurstBrig Gen Hugh BroomallCOL Steve JoyceLt Col Murray HansenLTC Darrell LoydCOL Robert FeldermanCol Gunther NeumannMG Edward WrightCOL Raymond JardineBrig Gen Daniel O’HollarenCOL (Ret) Don DeeringCapt Mike TaylorCol (Ret) Ray MagillCW5 (Ret) Larry MasseyMs. Cynthia WatsonCMSgt Roger Hagan (for CSM Frank Lever)Mr. Chris Mears

Members Absent:BG Norman ArflackLTC Cathy CorkeryMG Glenn RiethMaj Gen Tod BuntingCPT Rollin RobertsMG Gus HargettBrig Gen Joseph VellionMG Randal Thomas

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Others Present:Ms. Cynthia WatsonCMSgt Roger Hagan (for CSM Frank Lever)Mr. Chris MearsCOL (Ret) Tom KirkpatrickBrig Gen (Ret) Stephen KoperMs. Loretta FillsMs. Pam BucklerMr. Ron SuttonMG (Ret) Ron HarrisonMr. Lewis KingMr. John GoheenBrig Gen (Ret) Richard GreenMr. Chris DeBattMs. Hazell BookerMr. Jason HallCOL Francis McGinnCol (Ret) Pete DuffyLTC Tracy SettleLt Col Tony DejesusCPT Mayb SerlandLt Col (Ret) Pete Renaghan

Gen Umbarger called the July 2007 meeting of the NGAUS Board of Directors to order at 0800. The Invocation was led by Gen Ross and the Pledge Allegiance by Gen Poythress. COL Faber called the roll and reported a quorum was present.

Gen Umbarger welcomed CPT Serland, who was in attendance for CPT Rollin Roberts, CMSgt Roger Hagan, who is in attendance for CSM Frank Lever, the EANGUS President, and COL McGinn representing LTC Corkery.

Gen Umbarger asked if there were any corrections or additions for the March 2007 minutes, hearing none he entertained a motion to approve the minutes. COL Felderman so moved. Chief Massey seconded. Motion carried.

Chairman’s Report—MG Marty Umbarger

Gen Umbarger welcomed everyone to the meeting. He said the Air and Army Guard remains fully engaged both on state and federal missions. He said it has been six years since 9/11 and a little over five years since OEF began in March 02 and over four years in Iraqi Freedom. He said the stress on employees, soldier and airmen, and families is at an all time high, and yet on the Army side recruiting and retention remains high which have exceeded over 352,000 on its way to 358,000. He said the Air Guard is struggling with recruitment while the Army Guard has the G-RAP program that has helped tremendously with recruitment. He said that historically the Air Guard has always been the strongest strength of both organizations and he thinks it is attributable to the situation to the BRAC.

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Gen Umbarger said another concern of his is that Gen Moseley has wanted to reduce the strength of the Air Force and the Air Guard just like the Army has always tried to do. He said we should be concerned, because it gives him an opportunity to use this lower end-strength to take a shot at us.

Gen Umbarger said he had written an article in the NGAUS magazine about the four combat teams that are going to war that the Army has promised us brigade missions no longer take the eaches out of our organization but will take the flag brigade missions and it is not happening. He said they are doing twenty one separate companies and twenty one separate missions that battalion headquarters has a RARC mission which is a security mission that is not linked to the companies. He said they are fighting this hard and it will be a huge discussion when Gen Blum comes this afternoon. He said we can not let this happen.

Gen Umbarger reported the Army agreed to reduce the mobilization time from twelve months boots on the ground on the Army side. He said it is twelve months mobilization which is a lot of goodness in that. He said as a state that has a brigade going through this for the first time hidden in that is so many tasks and soldier readiness processing that needs to be done before Mobe. He said they are finding that there is just as much stress on the soldiers and families as if they were mobilized. He said while there is goodness in the twelve month mobilization, the soldiers are being stressed much more on the left side.

Gen Umbarger reported that the Puerto Rico Guard is fully engaged preparing for the NGAUS conference. He said there are over 3600 attendees so far. He said that many of the top hitters want to attend the conference but the problem is they all want the same day and same hour. He said Senator McCain will possibly attend also. He said that COL Carmelo Crespo is doing a wonderful job as well as the Adjutant General, COL Dave Carrion.

Gen Umbarger reported Empowerment is still moving and there is a lot of support on the Hill for the NGAUS initiatives, and he is sure we will receive some of them.

Gen Umbarger reported that the NGAUS staff and Officers attended 32 state conferences over the last few months. He said he visited three states and already has some commitments for the next year. He said he was able to talk to some of the company grade officers to give them a clearer picture of what NGAUS is all about.

Gen Umbarger thanked COL Faber for his work on the Strategic Plan.

Gen Umbarger congratulated Gen Vavala on his appointment as President of the AGAUS and looked forward to working with him. He said that unprecedented on the AGAUS is they elected both an Army and Air Vice President. Gen Wayt, Army, Gen Wyatt, Air, Gen Ed Wright, Treasurer and Gen Jessica Wright, Secretary.

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Gen Umbarger reported the JCA was announced. He said that is very important in filling some of the BRAC bases and also getting the light cargo aircraft that we need so badly. He said the Army seems to be on our side, but are fighting the Air Force. He said they will talk about the C12 that are used in the states to move small cargo. He said there is no plan to replace the C-12 in the out years, and it is essential for the Homeland Security missions. He said he thinks this organization needs to take a stand on that.

Gen Umbarger said next to the Finance Committee he is very pleased with the work the Membership Committee is doing, and that LTC Settle has worked very had and the committee has very energetic members. As of 30 June membership percentage is 3% above what it was last year this time.

Gen Umbarger reported that the former director for the NGEF, Jason Hall, visited the building yesterday. He said Gen Koper would give the Board an update on the Foundation later.

Gen Umbarger said there are four big issues that the Board could be thinking about to talk about when Gen Blum comes later. He said MG Ray Carpenter will represent Gen Vaughn, but Gen McKinley will be here. Those four areas are the C2 issue about the brigade combat teams and what we are going to do about it, the l POM 5 deployed I COLON sup 4 that they changed the policy to where you are only home four years, the C12 issue and what that potential is, and the new personnel system, DIAMERS.

Vice Chair Air—Maj Gen David Poythress

Gen Poythress reported that he had a long conversation with Gen McKinley about recruiting last week and the matrix. He said that it looks like the Air Force will be focusing on gross numbers of recruits that come in the door which he thinks is the wrong matrix. He said they do have the draw down that is affective April next year and it does not make sense to bring people in the door and say that next April you may have a job or they may have to change jobs. He said the Air Guard needs to be looking at our current fill rate and our projected fill rates in April when this draw down becomes effective. He said that Gen McKinley acknowledges that is probably the better matrix.

Gen Poythress reported that the Air Force will be arranging for some training in the G-RAP program. He said as the Air Force rolls into it there is no per say recruiting training. He said they just fill in the blanks as to who you are and you are a G-RAP representative, but there is no training. He said that the Army has seems to have gotten by with that superbly. He said the Air side has not gotten the traction that the Army has gotten yet.

Gen Poythress reported that on the progress of the JCA. He said that seemed to be going along swimmingly until the last week. He said the selection was made and there was a protest. He said the dangerous thing is a point of discussion in the Senate Arms Services Committee about amending the 08 Authorization Act to put all of the money in the Air Force budget. He said the Air Force is informally talking about re-studying requirements and capabilities. He said that they are deeply concerned if that happens the

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procurement of that aircraft will slip at least a year or two or maybe never. He said that replacing BRAC units with JCA type aircraft may fall apart.

Gen Spruance asked what it would slip from. Gen Poythress said procurement is supposed to happen in calendar year 2008. Gen Spruance commented that delivery year is 2012 and is that what is slipping. Gen Poythress said that is a danger, but he is not predicting it as a fact, he thinks there is a danger if it goes into the Air Force Budget it will wind up slipping.

Gen Poythress reported there coming an Air Force Association initiative, he sits on that Board as well, where they have stepped up to the basic question of top line funding for DoD in general and the Air Force in particular. He said that is driving the draw down that the Chairman spoke of. He said he has arranged for the Air Force Association to get in touch with Gen Vavala soon to talk about a synergistic effort by the AGAUS on this issue. He said he thinks it is a marvelous idea but it is not much beyond the concept stage right now.

Gen Poythress said there were two items that are generic. He said there is a move afoot to bring about a multi-year procurement on the CH 47 F models by Boeing. He said the Army is not real energetic about that and some of us might be called on to involved in that.

Gen Poythress reported the National Security Personnel System, which was going to be Guard wide, has now been put on hold. He said this is a big deal and a good news outcome for us.

Gen Poythress reported that Gen McKinley has reconstituted the ADFAC and he thinks we will see a more energetic participation from them in the future.

Facilities Update—LTC Wayne Hunt

COL Hunt reported on the status of the ongoing projects. His duties are to work with the building management company on projects to get multiple bids on those projects. He works along with Gen Koper to identify projects that need to be done in NGAUS space to ensure the upkeep of the building.

COL Hunt gave the members an update on the NGAUS specific projects for the two floors we occupy. He said the first phase of the HVAC project for the Montgomery Room has been completed. He said the HVAC project was deferred in the Hall of States because that was contingency money that was for some major changes that did not have to be done. He said the audio/visual in the Hall of States portion has been completed and the Montgomery Room portion is complete except for the staff training. He said there is a new teleconference setup in the Spruance Room. The internal elevator will be refurbished. He said the lighting controls project was an unexpected issue for the Montgomery Room and the Hall of States, which the controls have to be replaced. He said the downstairs kitchen and the mechanical rooms will be painted also.

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COL Hunt reported that the fire pump test line repair was not anticipated. There was a leak in the ground on the North Capitol side of the building and the sidewalk had to be taken up. He said the insurance company reimbursed NGAUS for that project after the deductible. He said there are general maintenance projects that are done on an annual basis.COL Hunt reported that the ongoing projects include, caulking the exterior walls in phases, infrared scan of the electrical panels, roof repairs, cleaning the duct work and indoor air quality control, overhead door inspection and preventive maintenance, and replacing the fire control panel.

Strategic Planning Update—COL Al Faber

COL Faber thanked Gen Dutko, who is at his last official committee meeting as well and his last Board meeting, for his leadership, his passion, input into the project and his instructional knowledge.

COL Faber said the members had received a copy of the Strategic Plan in its final draft form with the mission, vision, values, and goals. The action plan and matrix was the focus of the meeting the committee had on Friday. He said the only addition to the plan since the members received their copy was an addition to the Building Committee, which added a section to the plan at the very end. He said the members would get a copy of that shortly.

COL Faber said out of the meeting yesterday they determined that in the action plans and matrix that they would work with each of the fourteen committees and subcommittees to develop one key matrix per committee. He said that tied to those plans would be an action plan accompanying their matrix that gives their way ahead.

COL Faber reported that the plan is to post the plan to the NGAUS website and he and Gen Koper are working to get that done prior to the start of this year’s National Conference and the current project is on track.

COL Faber said that each of the fourteen committees and subcommittees will have a member of the Strategic Planning Committee who works with them to help them maintain a standardized format exactly what they are looking for. When they are briefed to the Board of Directors they will be incorporated into each of the committee briefings which is course of action one. He said they decided to update the Board of Directors regularly at each Board meeting to incorporate five of the fourteen with membership going twice into each meeting. Each committee would use their matrix as a framework to update the Board at those meetings.

COL Faber reported they are on track to post the plan to the website. He said a briefing would be provided for each state association and that briefing will include a PowerPoint presentation plus notes. He said that all someone has to do is put up the slides and read

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the notes verbatim. He said they will have a tri-fold brochure but it might not be ready for the upcoming conference, but they will work toward that objective.

COL Faber said pending the Board approval they will get all the documents and information published. He thanked the committee members who worked real hard on this project. He said it was a very worthwhile project and a great start.

Gen Umbarger asked if there were any comments concerning the Strategic Plan.Gen Umbarger entertained a motion to accept the Strategic Plan. Col Neumann so moved. COL Joyce seconded. Motion carried.

Gen Dutko commented that it was a pleasure working with COL Faber on this project that is a tremendous resource. He said that he made an insurmountable task easy for the members of the committee. The members applauded COL Faber for his work.

Audit Report—Ms. Leslie Pine

Ms. Pine reported that the Audit went smoothly this year. She thanked Pam, Gen Koper, NGAUS management and staff for their assistance and cooperation. Ms. Pine reported that the audit is an unqualified opinion which is a clean opinion.

Consolidated statement of financial position:Total assets increased from $47.7M to $50.7M which is an increase is 6% largely due to an increase in cash and investments and a decrease in accounts receivable. Total liabilities decreased form $28.5M to $27.5M, about 3.5%, largely due to the pay down of the mortgages and the lines of credit. Total unrestricted assets increased from $15M to $18.8M of that amount $1.6M is unrestricted but has been Board designated. Temporarily restricted assets increased from $4.2M to $4.3M.

Consolidate statement of activities:Revenue not including the building increased from $7.6M to $8.8M, an increase of 16%, largely due to an increase in the investment income generated by the investments. Total building revenue was consistent from 2005 to 2006, increasing form $5.7M to about $5.9M. Overall total revenue increased by 10% from 2005 to 2006.

Expenses:Total expenses increased from $5.4M to $5.8M, about 6%.

Building Expenses:Overall total building expenses increased by about 1.5% from $4.8M to $4.9M. Overall total expenses are up by 4%. The net assets increased by $3M to almost $4M, up 29% due to increase in investments.

Consolidated statement of cash flows:This statement shows the sources and uses of cash during the year. Net cash provided by operating activities is about $4.7M. Net cash used in investing activities is a net of $2M

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which primarily relates to the purchases and sells of the investments. Net cash used in financing activities all pay down of the mortgage and the lines of credit about $1.2M.

Note one contains a description of the organization and the significant account policies. No new disclosures in note one.

Note two shows the summary of the investments by type. Overall consolidated investments are about $19.5M which are at market value as of 12/31/06. Investment income was about $2.1M during the year, $583,000 from interest and dividends and $1.5M from net realized and unrealized gains and losses from sells and maturities from these investments.

Note three contains funds on deposit with the insurance companies, which is about $1.7M.

Note four is a disclosure regarding the note receivable from EANGUS. That balance is currently as of 12/31/06 is $230,000.

Note five is a summary of the property and equipment which is carried at cost. Total cost is $35M less accumulated depreciation and amortization. The book value of the building and all the other property and equipment is about $21M.

Note six is a disclosure regarding the mortgage. The balance due is $23.7M as of 12/31/06 including the amounts due each year.

Note seven discloses the lines of credit. NGAUS has two lines of credit, one for $750,000 which has zero outstanding and the other for $2.1M which has $457,000 outstanding as of 12/31/06.

Note eight discloses the temporarily restricted net assets comprised of three components which totals $4.3M. The three components are Minuteman Trust, NGEF Investment Fund and the funds held by the insurance company for the technicians from New York for the Insurance Trust.

Note nine is a disclosure of the retirement plan. NGAUS contributions to the 401k plan $98,000 for the year ending 12/31/06.

Note ten is a disclosure of any related party transactions that occur during the year. These are the transactions between NGAUS and EANGUS.

Note eleven is a description of the leasing arrangements, the signed leased commitments for all the tenants in the building. Page thirteen list a disclosure of the future minimum cash rentals due to NGAUS as of 12/31/06 under signed lease agreements which is $25.2M due to NGAUS through years 2007 through 2016.

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Note twelve concentration of credit risk is a standard disclosure noting that NGAUS is subject to credit risk concentrations from cash, investments, and accounts receivable.

Note thirteen functional classification is a breakout of expenses by classification. Program expenses are $5.5M, G and A is about $1M. The building is considered a management and general function and that is about $3.8M and fundraising.

Ms. Pine reported that the supplementary information beginning on page 15 was not a required part of the financial statement but it is presented for informational purposes. The schedules that begin on page sixteen and continue through twenty one is basically the same statement that she went through earlier but in more detail.

Page twenty two through twenty five list NGAUS investments only by common stocks by shares and fair value as of 12/31/06. Beginning on page twenty six is the US Government and agency obligations and corporate bonds. On page twenty seven is the total investments for NGAUS only is about $16.7M.

Audit Committee Report—COL Darrel Loyd

COL Loyd reported that the committee consists of himself, Gen O’Hollaren, and Col Neumann, met with Ms. Pine yesterday. He said Ms. Pine went over the financial statement and covered the required auditor communications. She indicated the audit went very well and encountered no problems. The audit firm Argey. Wiltse, and Robinson, felt the internal controls were adequate and working as properly designed.

COL Loyd said the Audit Committee recommends the acceptance of the annual report for the year ending 12/31/06.

Gen Umbarger said based upon the recommendation of the Audit Committee he would entertain a motion to accept the 2006 Audit report. Gen Dutko so moved. COL Jardine seconded. Motion carried.

COL Faber commented that in the March minutes there are numerous inaudible in the minutes and reminded the members to state their names and speak clearly into the mike if they wanted to have their comments attributed to them.

Treasurers Report—Brig Gen (Ret) Ken Ross

Gen Ross reported that there are two financial dangers in an organization, one is when you are facing challenges that you don’t know where you will get the money to take care of those challenges, and the other is when you are beginning to have money and the organization is pretty sound and secure and to maneuver your way through those dangerous times because there is often temptation to fall from the business plan. He said we have come through those bad dangerous times before. He said they made some sound decisions, adopted a business plan and the business is working. He said he would urge that we stick to the business plan, because we did not get here by accident, but by a good

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regiment of sticking to making decisions that we know work. He said the organization has nothing but good times ahead.

Gen Ross said in overview, there are three important parts from the standpoint of revenue and where we get the money to run the organization. They are from dues, building operations and from the insurance program, which are the major sources. He said that the membership report will show that things are improving. He said in January 08, we will get into the big 30% rebate program that we hope will attract those states who have not been major participators. He said a state could get back as much as $20,000 dollars in rebate money.

Gen Ross reported a great news story on the building. He said the building is appraised at north of $70M, and that is about twice what it shows on the financial statement, which is cost less depreciation. He said the building is our largest asset. He said this building is essential to the image that this organization wants to maintain in Washington. He said the building is fully rented. He said that part of the business plan is to have the building paid for in full, which would make us more immune to down turns in the military cycle. He said the building would be fully paid for in around twelve years and we are on target for that. He said there are three payments left on the second mortgage. He said that will be paid off in October and that money will be used to fund the 30% rebate program to the states. He said the insurance program revenue was not the best year we have had but a good solid one and it continues to be an important source of revenue and a great benefit to our members. He said the investment portfolio did great with a gain of over a million dollars last year. He said that the reserve earnings will be an important part of the future of the organization. He said the net assets are up considerable, but it is no time to fall from the business plan. He said the cash reserve is being used to pay off the building as scheduled and planned. He said the cash reserve is being set aside to pay the balloon payment due at the end of the fifteen year term. He said it is nice to see the assets building and it is projected that we will get to the point where we will be out of debt. He said we are the stewards of an organization that does not have a useful life. He said we have been here for hundreds of years and the good news is we expect to be here for hundreds more. He said we need to stick to the business plan to get the organization out of debt, get it funded to where no matter whether times are good or bad we can do our mission and be the premier organization in a premier location in the town where all the money happens. He said the business plan is about 65% completed, and if we stick to that plan, the people who come after us will be very proud of us.

Gen Umbarger entertained a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. COL Felder made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Col Neumann seconded. Motion carried.

Finance Report—Col Pete Renaghan

Revenue:COL Renaghan reported that some of the changes made to the mid-year budget were reflected in the increase in the membership dues of $17,000, corporate dues by $31,000.

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Insurance royalties were increased by $10,000. Magazine advertising was decreased $100,000 due to last year there were three major advertisers that were in competition for a government contract and that contract has been awarded. The general conference budget decreased with a swap on dividends and interest. The total revenues during the mid-year review were increased by $50,900.

Expenses:COL Renaghan reported salaries and related expenses was decreased $64,000 due to some unfilled positions on the NGAUS staff. Financial and legal expenses increased $22,000 that go up proportionately to the vested assets to pay the money managers percentages. General and administrative increased $1,500.Magazine revenue decreased by $10,000. Total expenses increased by $28,900. Total surplus deficit is zero. He said he would like to present to the Board a balanced budget.

COL Renaghan said the Finance Committee owes most of its success to the accounting department and the leadership of the organization. He commended Gen Koper and staff for the work they do to keep the organization on course.

Special Building Committee Report—COL Pete Renaghan for Gen Kirven

COL Renaghan said that when the Special Building Committee took on the responsibility for the Building Committee when we dissolved the partnership there was little direction as to where we were going. He said they would like to present to the Board a recommendation.

The greatest asset of NGAUS is its real estate asset - The Building. NGAUS has staked its financial future on the investment in and ownership of the National Guard Memorial Building.

The Building not only serves as a permanent memorial to all who serve and those who have served in the National Guard, but it also symbolizes NGAUS and serves as its permanent headquarters.

NGAUS occupies less than one-third of the building space. Over two-thirds of the building is leased to various tenants whose rent is increasingly the core of NGAUS' financial future. Careful management and nurturing of this real estate asset in accordance with NGAUS' strategic goals and long-term objectives, is vital to NGAUS' future.

The Special Building Committee would like the NGAUS Board of Directors to review the following proposed roles and responsibilities of the Special Building Committee and ratify that this is indeed the mission and structure that the Board would like the Special Committee to operate within:

1. The Building Committee, as with every committee, should make decisions and recommendations to the NGAUS Board of Directors as to oversight of all facets of the day-to-day running of the building as a commercial property.

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Those include hiring the building management company. Setting lease rates, insurance coverage, maintenance issues, approving tenants, working with the Finance Committee on the building budget and other money matters and working the governmental and regulatory issues relating to the building. Subject to NGAUS Board approval, the Building Committee will carry out these duties and responsibilities as describers above. Note: NGAUS, like all other tenants, would continue to make decisions regarding its own space.

2. NGAUS should continue to delegate sufficient staff support and staff time to facilitate building operations in the same way it supports other NGAUS operations that are overseen by volunteer members. While performing building duties, the staff will provide support to the Building Committee through its Chairman to ensure that the policies and procedures adopted by the Building Committee, under the overall guidance of the NGAUS Board of Directors, are being followed.

3. The Building Committee should report regularly to the NGAUS Board of Directors and have its activities approved by the Board to assure that it is “in Synch” with NGAUS. The Building Committee should also cooperate with other NGAUS Committees such as the Finance Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and others that may involve Building plans and operations.

4. The Building Committee will develop for NGAUS Board approval a Building Management Policy and will maintain and carry out the policies as approved.

5. The Building Committee consists of five members: a Chairman at Large appointed by the Chairman of NGAUS, the Chairman of NGAUS, the Treasurer of NGAUS, the Immediate Past Chairman of NGAUS, and the Chairman of the Finance Committee.

Gen Ross commented that the report from the Building Committee is not new, but is a codification of the way the Building Committee operates and what they think their charter is. He said the By-Laws called for certain standing committees and some special committees appointed by the Chairman, and he thinks it is a wise idea initiated by the prior Chairman that a special committee be appointed to oversee this asset. He said the Special Building Committee thought it should propose some roles and responsibilities to be adopted by the Board to make sure it was operating under a charter.

Gen Ross moved the adoption of the proposed rules and responsibilities of the Special Building Committee as read. COL Loyd seconded.

COL Joyce recommended that a Company Grade rep be added to that committee. COL Felderman seconded the amendment.

Gen Ross said the amendment might be something that could be taken separately. He said the amendment relates to the make up of the committee, but does would not change the rules and responsibilities. He said that was not part of the motion.

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Col Magill asked should the committee not be a Special Committee but a Standing Committee and therefore be incorporated into the By-Laws with all the duties and authorities like the rest of the Standing Committees of the association.

COL Renaghan said that was discussed, but found that it would make the operation of the committee more cumbersome. He said that when you need to change something there would not be the ease to make immediate changes as a standing committee would need By-Law approval at the General Conference.

Gen Ross said the proposal only states the duties of the committee so that the members of that committee understands what is expected of them.

Gen Umbarger agreed with Gen Ross that the purpose of the proposal was to document the roles of the committee and the NGAUS has the final ruling on all of its roles and responsibilities.

Col Magill said if it is voted on and becomes a part of the minutes, you would have to go to the minutes to find out what the Special Committee on the Building is. He said he would like that document to be readily available to the Board for easy reference.

COL Renaghan said the in each Investment Subcommittee meeting the policy is handed out. He said the policies are posted in the NGAUS Finance Department.

Gen Dutko said the committees will be incorporated in the strategic plan as an element and reported on with matrix.

Col Magill commented that a special committee is convened to do a specific task and when that is over the committee is dissolved

COL Joyce withdrew his amendment to the motion.

Gen Ross restated his motion to approve the suggested roles and responsibilities of the Building Committee. Motion carried.

COL Felderman asked if they needed to vote on who the committee will consist of.

Gen Ross said they did not vote on that. He said that it a special committee appointed by the Chairman. He said if the Board wants to suggest to the Chairman that he modify the composition of the make up the committee. Gen Ross said he saw no value in adding to a committee that has a special function. He said it has nothing to do with company grades, retirees, membership or any of the other entities. He suggested keeping the committee as streamlined as possible to manage an asset. He said this is an over-site committee that makes sure the management company is doing its job. Gen Ross urged that they avoid getting constituencies so that it will be a streamlined professionally managed building.

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COL Felderman said he meets that requirement of a real estate specialist that works in management, sales and appraisals. However, the majority of our membership of what this building is here for is company grade level officers. He said he would expect that we could probably find the expertise out there. He said he strongly suggest that we seek that professional. He said that the present Building Committee is senior leadership and does not represent the majority as much as getting a company grade expert on that committee and he strongly suggested that the Chairman would do that.

COL Jardine said he would like to hear COL Joyces’ reason for why he would like to have a company grade level officer on the committee.

COL Joyce said the company grade level officers represent the majority and he thinks there is expertise out there and he thinks it is the future of the organization. He said when he was a company grade officer there was comment from leadership that each committee would have a company grade level officer on it to build depth to prepare them for future positions. He thinks that it is the right thing to do.

Gen Ross said he does not suggest that there is not a company grade with expertise and if they meet the criteria, then they are not excluded. He said that is not his intent.

COL Loyd commented that he would challenge them to recommend a company grade with those qualifications. He said if someone knows of a company grade with those qualifications, then they can recommend them for consideration by the Chairman.

Gen Umbarger said he would take the suggestions under advisement at this time with no immediate actions on the issue. He said he would leave the committee as it is for now, but will look into it.

Gen Ross thanked the Finance Committee for the work they do. He said it is a pleasure to work with them. He said they do a great job of oversight and review of the budget.

Gen Ross made a motion to approve the amendments to the budget as proposed by the Finance Committee in the mid-year review. Col Neumann seconded. Motion carried.

Legislation Department—Brig Gen (Ret) Richard Green

Gen Green reported there are lots of things going on and the Legislative Department have prepared handouts for the members for their reference. He said they include a NGAUS 101 handout that is posted on the website, the newsletter, empowerment spreadsheet, and a legislative status summary.

Gen Green reported there are about 80 new amendments that popped up out of nowhere that apply to the Guard. He said they are monitoring those and will make recommendations to support or not support some of them.

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Gen Green reported said that after the bills go through the House and Senate, what comes out the other end, you never know. He said if what you need is in the original bill you are off to a good start.

He introduced his staff, Pete Duffy, Deputy Director, Emily Breitbach, Air Programs Chris DeBatt, Army Programs, Bernie Phelps, Senior Analyst, and Gareth Vaughan, Analyst.

He said the Task Forces is the way that the Legislative Department ensures they are working to present a unified message. He said the Task Forces have been a challenge as some are not functioning as they should, especially on the Air side. He said they are expanding by one the Task Forces on the Air side to make sure that all the functions in the Air Guard are covered. He said they are working with Industry and NGB to make sure the right people are involved. He said they are putting more information on the website about the Task Forces and who is on the different ones. He said there is also a listing of when the meeting will be held.

Gen Green reported that at the NGEDA conference they got the buy-in from the Executive Directors that they would add the member emails in the DataGuard system. He said LTC Settles is working that issue which will be a challenge.

Gen Green reported that the NGAUS staff has done a great job attending the state conferences and getting the word out and that is a plus for NGAUS.

Gen Green reported that CAP Wiz is the program that tracks the emails sent to Congress through our write to Congress system. He said we are at 22000 letters to date and will probably get over 40, 000.

Gen Green reported the Resolutions Study Group is working closely with Gen Broomall and the resolutions chairs to make sure the process are the best that it can be. He said the guidelines and procedures are being streamlined. He said the staff is working real hard preparing for the upcoming conference.

Gen Green reported that the Task Force Chairs on the Air side met and decided how they would like to be organized. The new structure will ensure that every function and discipline in the Air Guard is covered. He said during the resolution process it was discovered that some resolutions were not covered by a Task Force. Now each resolution has been assigned to a Task Force.

Gen Green reported that seven Legislative Alerts have been sent to date this year. He said retirement pay got the most interest with over 10,000 responses.

Gen Green reported that he believes that we pursue strategic issues during the course of the year. He said empowerment, force structure TRICARE, and retirement are all strategic issues. He said these issues are pursued by NGAUS, AGAUS, EANGUS, state delegations, NGB, and the members. He said that our members need to get the word to

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Congress as often and as much as possible because they are the ones who push these issues.

Gen Green reported that state coalitions and industry are important parts of the resolution process. He said there are a lot of the resolutions that are state specific and those states need to form coalitions for that particular item that they need and work closely together. He said NGAUS will push those issues but need the states to contact their Congressional members to help to influence the process as well as work closely with Industry.

Gen Green reported that the information on the bills is included in the handouts and his briefing is included. He encouraged the members to confer with him if they had questions about any of the handouts.

Gen Poythress asked if there is any way to know the extent to which those write to congress letters are tailored at all in the sense that they are unique. Gen Green said they get the letters, but do not specifically review them. Gen Poythress said that a letter with personal element to it is more persuasive than the electronic post card. Gen Green said that it is the staffers who read the letters and they sort them according to the issues.

Gen Dutko asked what the logic of forming the B2 Task Force is. Gen Green said that is what the Combat Air Forces Task Force decided.

COL Jardine commented that when he met with his Congressional members Congressman Abercrombie wants to meet with NGAUS leadership to hear our issues and concerns.

Chris DeBatt said he is in contact with Congressman Abercrombie’s staff to set up a meeting with him.

Gen Green thanked COL Faber for his work on the Strategic Planning Committee.

Communications Report—John Goheen

John reported that in his department there are two staff vacancies. He said his staff is usually five people, Chris Prawdzik, Senior Writer/Editor, and Rich Arnold, Public Affairs Specialist, Production Manager, vacant, and Staff Writer, vacant. He said his intent is to fill the positions but the vacancies have come at a difficult time because this is our busy time of the year. John said that is his thirty years in communications he has never seen a period where there are less applicants for jobs. He said that one of the problems for those positions not getting filled is the matter of the salary we offer.

John said we are continuing to work the conference agenda, coordinating with the speakers for the conference and the awards program.

Industry Report—Hazell Booker:

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Hazell reported that corporate membership is now at 206 members. She said we have gone international with six companies from Canada, one from the UK and one from Germany. She said there will be ten companies exhibiting at the conference from other countries.

Hazell reported the Industry Workshop at the conference will be held on August 24th. Elizabeth Westerberg, from the National Guard Bureau, will be the speaker. Chris Mears, the CAP Chairman, will also make a presentation as well as Rich Green will give a Legislative update.

Hazell reported the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with the senior NGB leadership, Chairman of the Board, the NGAUS President and the Adjutant General of Puerto Rico. Following that ceremony they go to all the Legion De Lafayette’s exhibitors and present them with there 2007 ribbon done by Gen Umbarger and Hazell.

Hazell reported that the NGAUS Booth theme this year will be “The Beach”. There will be two pop-ups on either end with the graphics, and some palm trees to attract attendees to come to the booth to learn about what we do at NGAUS. She said this year there will be a flip flop challenge as a contest. She said with the form included in the registration packets, you will have to go to fifteen exhibit booths to find the answer to the contest questions. She said the first place winner will be announced at the All States Dinner and the prize will be an all expenses paid round trip ticket to Baltimore, four nights’ accommodations and paid registration to the conference. Everyone who completes the form and return it to the NGAUS booth will get a pair of flip flops.

Hazell reported the NGEF Golf Tournament will be held on October 5th, at Fort Belvoir. She said tentatively Booz Allen has agreed to give a hole in one prize of a Mercedes Benz car. She said she is waiting confirmation.

Hazell reported Industry Day will be held December 5th and there are 40 registrations so far. On October 4th there will be a mini-workshop on how to do business with the Guard.

Membership Committee Update—LTC Tracy Settle:

LTC Settle reported that they have a robust committee and they are fully engaged. He said their purpose is to attract, develop and retain membership and they look at everything and anything that makes sense in doing so. He said that since he has been involved with the Membership Committee this group is by far the most energetic, engaging and interested in promoting membership.

LTC Settle reported that overall strength percentage as of 30 June stands at 65% up two percent over last year at this time. He referred to the Strength Report handout that was provided in two ways, one side percentage by percentage and the other side is in alphabetical order. He thanked Florida who is up 38% over last June at this time. He said they did an analysis on the numbers, 16 states improved, and 6 states over 20% of where they were last June. He said that is indicative of the 5% rebate that is sitting out

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there. Seventeen states declined only one declined over 20%. Nine states remain in the steady state over June of last year. There are sixteen total states at 100% and 12 which remain at 100% over last year.

LTC Settle said in answer to the question about the Membership Workshop coincides with the increases of declines. He said he did not see any correlation that made any sense with ups or downs and whether they attended or not. He said they will continue to target the low percentage states.

LTC Settle said their number one initiative is the Membership Workshop, the Train-the Trainer, they held in March for the first time. He thanked everyone for their participation in the pilot.

Gen Umbarger said he would like to see which states participate in the Membership Workshop and the bottom third of the association and those who did not attend of that bottom third.

COL Deering said that Florida attended that workshop and apparently it has done something for them to make that big increase.

LTC Settle reported that all committee members were present at the workshop and they delegated the tasks from planning to execution. He said the model was good, and they met their time objectives and stayed on schedule. He said they spent about $20,000 of the budgeted $30,000 and the Board of Directors budgeted $40,000, so they cut the cost in half. Thirty four states were represented. There were four breakouts consisting of, how to target company grades officer and how the Membership Committee and NGAUS can help the states, and what kind of incentives do they want. He said they have collected all that raw data. He said the plan is to distribute that data at the membership breakout during the conference. He said they have had very good attendance at that breakout session. He said the comments were very favorable for the workshop. Twenty three gave an excellent rating on the agenda, twenty three rated good on the presentation, twenty one rated excellent on accommodations, twenty three excellent ratings on food, and twenty three excellent ratings on allotted time for the workshop. He said some people showed a willingness to extend their time and they will look at that for the next workshop. Twenty three gave an excellent rating on objectives and expectations and many stated it surpassed their expectations in attending.

LTC Settle said the recommendations overwhelmingly moved toward holding the workshop earlier in the year. November was recommended in line with Board of Directors meeting which would give the necessary tools for the attendees to go back to their state and get geared up prior to 1 January to kick off their membership year. He said the second comment was to encourage new participants at these workshops; states should not continue to send the same people to the workshop if it is held again.

COL Loyd asked CMSgt Hagan if at EANGUS did they find that they have the same low participation states as NGAUS. CMSgt Hagan said that the states pretty much correlate

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between the Officers Association and the Enlisted Association, not without exception. He said that Texas, the NGAT, is a very large organization and Enlisted are members of NGAT, but they are now starting to become members of EANGUS as well paying the national dues. He said they are on a great growth plan with over six hundred members now. He said they see the same states struggling with Enlisted membership as well as with Officers association membership.

Gen Dutko said that traditionally there of the largest states, CA, NY, and TX have been low on membership and asked if anyone from those states attended the workshop. Of those three states, TX was the only state that did not have an attendee. Gen Dutko commented if we could challenge those three states to increase their membership by 10%, we would pick up $30,000 in revenue. He asked if we had ever found out why their membership went down.

LTC Settle said they had discussed it in their forum and they look at the level of support, the TAG support, the ED, how engaged are their company grades; there are a myriad of reasons. He said those states are targeted for them to go out and assist them. He said they had already visited CA along with Gen Koper who attended their conference. He said the Membership Committee is award if they get those states membership up 5 or 10% that would equate to a significant amount of revenue. LTC Settle said they will develop something to take a look at that.

Gen Umbarger commented that a panel that got good reviews was one with Ron Wagner, ED from Wisconsin, with historical 125% rating, and he told the panel what he does in his state to get membership. Gen Hargett talked from an Adjutants General’s viewpoint. Gen Umbarger said that panel talked about some of the individual things they have done in their state to raise their membership.

Gen Ross commented that he wanted to remind the members that the dues year coming up is the start of the rebate program. He said he does not think it will fix every problem, but it is a buzz among the Executive Directors in the states. He said CA and TX could gain up to $25,000 in rebate money and that should be challenge enough. He said he thinks we will see the impact in March of next year. He said when we start to pass out checks that will average $12,000 and up to $25,000 potential money that the states can get; he really believes most state associations will rise to that challenge.

COL McGinn commented that he attended the workshop and they did a phenomenal job.He said that he too recommend they start early next year. He said his state will send a different person from his state to attend the workshop.

COL Loyd said that Texas is interested in sponsoring a future conference and they want to use that conference as a means to get their officers involved in NGAUS and work on raising their membership. He said there might be a ray of light for Texas in the future.

Gen Ross said he is disappointed with Puerto Rico and he does not know what the relationship is. He said their membership is at 21%, and it makes him wonder how

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committed the state association is. He said they might be committed to putting on a conference because it must not be the same people who are committed to the goals of NGAUS. He said it is sad that we are going to a place that only 21% of the people think enough of us to send us dues. Gen Ross said there is something missing here.

COL Jardine commented that he does not think there is a correlation between membership and hosting a conference, because California hosted a conference and their membership went down also.

Gen Ross said it can be done, but it does not speak well for the organization if that is the respects level it has in the state where we have the conference. He said if it were up to him individually he would not go to a state that has less then 50% membership. He said he thinks those two things do relate.

COL Jardine commented that one of the things he is getting from the field is the difficulty with DataGuard. He said the program is not user friendly. He said that he thinks the program needs to be looked at to make it more user friendly.

LTC Settle said there is an upgrade pending. He said that Bonnie will travel to any state to give one- on- one training.

Gen Koper commented when DataGuard has been in place for a while in many states. He said there is an upgrade coming. He said it is important for the Board to know that not only does Bonnie and her crew trouble shoot on behalf of the state, but the contractor for DataGuard is on constant call and supported by NGAUS if there is a technical problem. He said we are down to about five states that do not use DataGuard and he is not aware that there is a broad based resistance to DataGuard. He said, as a matter of fact, the conversations he has participated in at NGEDA conferences is that by and large Executive Directors, who have been long time users of DataGuard, are talking to the remaining states over the last several years to get on the program and they say it works.

COL Deering commented that the original DataGuard that they started with is great and he has encouraged every state that he talks with to get on the program.

COL Jardine said that many states do not have Executive Directors who run their membership program and it is difficult for some states when the person who does work with the program changes every two or three years.

COL Deering said when Tennessee went on to DataGuard; Bonnie came down and stayed as long as she was needed. He said he would encourage everyone to look at it.

Gen Dutko said they have used DataGuard for several years and the Membership Chairman is key to that program. He said it is not user friendly, but if you are watching what is happening, you can call Bonnie or the technician and they will respond right away and get taken care of it. He said it is an excellent program and it provides the opportunity to use the by products of the program within their state association.

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LTC Settle said the Membership Committee would be sponsoring a training session at the conference as well.

LTC Settle reported they continue to enhance their membership tool kit. He said the NGAUS pens have been reordered, the Smart Card has been updated, and working on email addresses.

LTC Settle said members of his committee will help staff the NGAUS booth at the conference. He said it puts them up front to talk to and assist a lot of the members.

LTC Settle said they will have a Membership Breakout at the conference and present a mini-workshop.

LTC Settle reported that dues incentives are coming up and he believes that money talks and they are seeing and hearing a lot of enthusiasm. He said he asked Cindy Watson if they would like to have a mini-workshop at the NGEDA conference in January they are willing to do that.

LTC Settle they are providing assistance to WY, CA, FL, SC, GA, and TN at their request. He said they are available to go to the state as they have been doing.

Gen Umbarger said he thinks it makes sense for the Membership Workshop to be held in November. He said the money is still in the budget. He said he would make a commitment to the organization to call each Adjutant General of those states that do not send someone in the bottom third. He said he will ask if they could send someone from their state to the workshop. LTC Settle said it is a perfect opportunity to get a company grade out of the state interfacing with their comrades.

Resolutions Update—Brig Gen Hugh Broomall

Gen Broomall reported that COL Lewis, the Army resolutions Chairman, was in attendance at the meeting. Gen Broomall said that Col Mike Morgan, Air Resolutions Chairman, was not in attendance, but would come in when Emily return to work Air resolutions.

Gen Broomall thanked the Legislative staff for their hard work as the go through the resolutions process.

Gen Broomall said that last year, at the November meeting, the Chairman directed the Resolutions Study Group meet and they did that on 7 May, and 19-20 July. He said they identified several areas for improvement and adjusted processes accordingly. He said one area of concern they are working to improve is to ensure the Task Forces are functioning properly with a full complement of members, both from the National Guard as well as the Bureau and Industry representatives. He said he encourage the Board members to take a more active roll to ensure the resolutions are pertinent and

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consolidated. He said they want to work closely with the states and Task Force Chairs and the Legislative staff. He said the consensus of the Resolutions Study Group was to ensure the resolutions at the General Conference generate meaningful debate to produce the best product possible.

Gen Broomall reported the resolutions process at this point the team has put together the resolutions and met their deadlines. He said they are asking today for the Board comments. He said the tracking sheet is invaluable when you see how many resolutions there are to get their individual comments. He said those are the things they as Board members that they can rely on. He said the suspense is 27 July. He said that there has been pretty good feed back from the Bureau and their input to the tracking sheets is almost complete.

Gen Broomall reported that last year 65 resolutions were proposed, and 57 were adopted. Those 57 equated to 319 action items for the Legislative staff. He said the good news is that 43 states participated. He said last year there were 150 resolutions, an increase of over 200%. He said that creates an extra work load for the small Legislative staff.

Gen Broomall reported that of the 61 resolutions this is what the members in the states are asking the Board to consider. Personnel benefits is by far the leader of issues brought to them by the associations and members followed modernization, and health care. He said for the Army Guard it is equipment and training to use that equipment. He asked the states to make sure NGAUS get the names of their delegates as soon as possible, which is required 30 days before the conference. They would like to be able to communicate with those delegates in order to consolidate resolutions where appropriate.

Gen Broomall said since the number of resolutions has increased it is logical the more time would be spent at the conference on those. He said they will work that schedule as best they can in keeping with their desire to have meaningful debate. Time will be added to the resolution sessions to allow for that.

Gen Broomall said a sheet would be available for the members to provide their comments. He said they would like to have comments from the Board members about their views on TRICARE, technician force, and retirement. He said that resolution C-1 is the Air Guard resolution where 37 states have sponsored and co-sponsored and came to the conclusion that the Air National Guard and the United States Air Force are not working as well as they should together. He said he does not know if it is contentious, but would like the Board’s view on that.

Gen Dutko asked if all the Task Forces are 100% filled. Gen Broomall said no and that is one of their concerns. He said they are working to invigorate that particularly kudos to the Personnel Task Force who has been working the joint resolutions. He said the Task Forces are not as robust as they need to be and that complicates the resolution process.

Gen Dutko asked if the Task Force information was posted on the website. Gen Broomall said yes. Chris DeBatt commented that posted on the website are all the Task

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Forces and a map by area and who has signed up to serve on those and they are working to grow them.Gen Dutko said that information is helpful to him when he briefs the senior leadership in his state he focuses on the Task Forces and tell them this is the work for the resolution process. He said it would be helpful to know where the vacancies.

Col Magill said at the last meeting resolution A-3 was discussed, that is the resolution dealing with retirement. He said there was discussion that NGAUS has never taken position on what ones we support. He said there was talk that we would consult our fellow organizations to have a consolidated position on that. He said there are seven different bills dealing with retirement and he does not know what they are and what they encompass. He said the one that has been talked about is the Senator Chambliss bill where if you have been on active duty in Title 10/32 in the war on terrorism, for every 90 days deployed you could retire sooner. He said he thinks that is splitting the force and even though that puts a foot in the door he thinks that is the wrong way to go. He said he would like to see us support either a direct reduction from 60 to 55, or one that would reduce the age of retirement by anything over 20 years. He said the Senator Hagel bill states if you serve 22 years, you can retire at 59 he said to support some formula such as that.

Col Magill made a motion that we support either one of those two as the thing we want for our membership.

Gen Broomall said the resolution A-3 that was passed last year which is a general resolution that recognizes the sense of the membership to reduce the retirement age non-specific. He said this year there is an A-3 Alpha that addresses the specific proposal that appears to be more the Hagel proposal than the Chambliss proposal. Those are the ones that will be presented to the conferees, and he asks the Board for their comments.

Gen Koper commented that this has been talked about in many venues. He shared with the Board a philosophical approach that is very helpful for the Legislative staff and the way business gets done on the Hill. This is one of those difficult issues, not unlike TRICARE, which was a multi-year battle, but which was ultimately won because we took it in incremental steps. Many of those incremental steps were not the ultimate solution that we sought from the beginning, but we took advances where we could. He said we have been counseling when the subject comes up and it appears to be in our best interest to keep our goal, which is to reduce the age of receipt of retirement pay in a broad approach so that we don’t feel bound to disappoint some of our membership and not others nor to confuse the folks on the Hill. It gives us an opportunity to bend and flex on how things are flowing on the Hill. He said what the Hill knows about NGAUS is that we support reducing the age for receipt of retired pay. He said with that in mind any of these sponsors can feel somewhat comfortable to ask if we support their plan, we can answer them straight forward, we support reducing the age and we will work with them to see that happens. Whether that ends up being Senator Chambliss bill or Senator Hagel’s proposed amendment, the A-3 Alpha is not the Hagel amendment it is a bill offered by Saxton. He said that he counsels that there is a inherent danger to picking a

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position and being hard over on it. If you do that, what that means is we have to counsel the Hill, sorry we can’t support you. He said he did not think we would want to do that, because the DoD approach is this has to happen, and they do not support it happening, it has to done on the cheap. He said the guys on the Hill will be under heavy pressure and he does not want to build false hope in their minds that they have rock solid support for an approach. He said we need to have as much flexibility as we can. He said he hopes in the Resolutions Committee they will ask those questions and perhaps we can give them guidance. He said this is one of those rare issues where it is very difficult to have an A-Z approach. He said we have to have flexibility to make this happen and it is a tough one.

Col Magill said he had made a motion with no second called for or made and if there is no second to it then there is no need to have discussion. He said if the motion falls dead then we are not taking a position. COL Loyd seconded.

COL Loyd said he agrees with Col Magill, but what Gen Koper said is exactly right. COL Loyd said that he can go up and say yes we will support your bill for reducing retirement but this is what we really prefer. He said what we really prefer is 55 with one year reduction for every two years. He asked if Gen Koper could live with that.

Gen Koper said we don’t get that specific. He said what they do is counsel very hard the idea that is not our preferred thing because we have suggested, and they have agreed, that it creates categories of folks. He said they have been straight forward and said we think we have a chance at making this happen because it is cheaper.

COL Deering said that he had the retirement issue put on the NGAUS website, while not very many people responded; the overwhelming responses were to go to age 55. He said that came from our members.

Chris DeBatt commented that if they are looking to take a position on age reduction, the argument no longer is that we want retirement age reduced to 55. The argument now becomes we need to go to work to get the budget raised by the billions of dollars to pay for it. He said that is the actual stopping point. He said it gives us wiggle room to look at different proposals and at the same time work the budget process. He said if we take a hard position on reducing a straight line age number it changes what we need to do and take us to ground where we are not familiar with. He said the budget community now becomes the audience they need to cater to rather than defense committees where we do all of our work now. He said to keep in mind they are going into unchartered waters and it is a more difficult process.

Gen Dutko said he had spoken to Congressman Saxton on the retirement issue. He said when he asked him the probability of getting his bill passed and he said little to none, and that Congressman Saxton said what is needed is to get something affordable, get your foot in the door and you can always come back and amend it. The Congressman said if you are looking for 60 to 55 you can’t get enough support in Congress for that. Gen Dutko said we need to get crafty and come up with something that is acceptable and can pass.

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Gen Umbarger asked Col Magill to restate his motion. Col Magill said his motion is the Board of Directors support a retirement bill that would reduce the age of retirement from 60 to 55 or one that would reduce it by an age factor for service beyond 20 years. He said some combination of service and age.

Gen Ross called for point of order. He said this would be a position statement from the Board; the Board does not pass resolutions.

COL Faber reminded the Board that in November 06, the Legislative Director and the Personnel Task Force Chair took it upon themselves to analyze the retirement issue and present back to the Board of Directors a recommendation to what the association position should be. He said that tasker is still open. He said maybe it is more appropriate to appoint the Personnel Task Force at this point to work with the Legislative Director to develop a proposal for several courses of action for the Board to look at. He said he thinks the courses of action we choose need to be well thought and have dollars, like with TRICARE, attached to them so that we can make a decision that is not based on emotion, passion, by current position or anything else other what is realistic and what is achievable. He recommended keeping the tasker open and asking them to come back with that recommendation.

Gen Umbarger wanted the members to fully understand what a yea and nay vote would mean. COL Felderman said that a yea takes a position and a nay pushes it off to get information to make a decision.

Col Magill said a nay vote would drop it and it doesn’t have any alternative.

Gen Umbarger called for question on the motion. There were 5 yea votes, and 12 nay votes. The motion was declined.

Gen Broomall moved to accept the resolutions report. Col Neumann so moved. COL Joyce seconded. Motion carried.

COL Joyce made a recommendation to give Gen Green a couple minutes to brief the open tasker on retirement.

Gen Green commented that he had written and article in the magazine on the retirement issue and it is really an issue that resonates with the members of the association. He said that particular resolution is not specific. He said he has worked with this issue and there has been many variations and the one that we really prefer is the two for one. He said the way the resolution is written now it gives them the option to do what they have to. He said they do not support the Chambliss bill any more than any of the other bills. He said we also can not control what Congress does. He said they work with the Chambliss staffers as well as others who work on the retirement issue to tell them what they think is right for the Guard. He said the problem is cost. The retirement issue is a mandatory direct spending cost factor that gets rejected in Conference every time. He said

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Congressman Saxton puts in the same bill and the cost associated with that is $8B over five years, which is a non-starter from the Authorization Committee from the beginning. He said the Chambliss, not being retroactive to 9/11, was estimated at $35M per year, and they were told that would not pass. He said the budget process directs the spending number. He said that is called the pay go rule, which is what will you do without to get the new program and there is nothing to do without. He said we are not the only people who are trying to get the budget resolution expanded. He said the resolution allows flexibility and if he were writing the resolution he would add that it is inclusive to all Guard members. He said they are making progress but it is a tough sell on the Hill and without flexibility when it conference it will get kicked out. He said we have to have something that gets a foot in the door and build from that the same way they did with TRICARE. He said we need to have our members barrage their members of Congress with emails on this issue.

Awards Committee Report—COL Bob Felderman

COL Felderman thanked the members of the committee, Gen Broomall, Col Hansen, Joe Jacobson, and Brad Hollingsworth. He asked if the Board wanted to make it a policy or something in the By-Laws but he strongly recommend that we keep a company grade representation on the Awards Committee.

COL Felderman reported that the process started in February with the call to the states and the largest number of nominations came in ever and from the most states ever. He said the recommendations will be made today, July 21, the notices will go out on Monday, and the deadline is August 10th to get the names of those who will attend.

COL Felderman reported the nominations had almost doubled. He said the committee will hold true to what the awards stand for and of the 229 presented will only make recommendations for 110 of those.

Harry S. Truman AwardCOL Felderman reported that since the Truman Award and the Montgomery Award are individual awards he said those would discussed separately. He will make a recommendation for the rest of the nominations as a group.

COL Felderman reported they had to do some digging to clarify if the Truman Award was for an individual only but they found it was not necessarily. It is for an individual at the strategic level has such an impact that we need to recognize them.

Representative Tom Davis (VA) and Gene Taylor (Miss) are the nominees for the Truman Award. For all the work they have done at the strategic level the committee strongly feels that we should award both of them the Harry S. Truman Award.

COL Felderman made the motion to award the Harry S. Truman Award to those individuals. Col Neumann so moved. Col Hansen seconded. Motion carried.

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Montgomery MedalCOL Felderman reported this award is in the fourth year and is the second highest award. He said in the past it has been given to cooperation, an individual and this year there are two different nominations and one medal is awarded. The committee recommends the Montgomery Medal be awarded to Lt Gen (Ret) John B. Conaway for what he has done past, present and future.

COL Felderman made a motion that Lt Gen (Ret) John B. Conaway be awarded the Montgomery Medal for this year. Gen Dutko seconded.

Col Magill asked what the 49th Missile Defense Battalion is, the other nominee, and why were they submitted. They are based in Alaska and they do work for the missile defense and are pathfinders.

Gen Poythress asked if a nominee is declined do they automatically drop into a lesser category. Could this group be considered for some lesser medal? COL Felderman said they would not fit into any other category at this time. He said it sets a precedent for the future as to who they will look for that award. He said the committee felt that Gen Conaway was the appropriate person for the award.

Col Neumann commented that on the Air side they have nine individual awards and perhaps they could fit into a unit level award.

Gen Umbarger asked does the organization want to set a precedent that the medal is applied for a unit rather than an individual. He said it has been given to a civilian firm; otherwise it has always gone to an individual. Gen Dutko said it is a no-brainer and to look at Gen Conaway and what he has done for our organization.

COL Loyd said that NGB has a number of awards programs for outstanding units. He said we either need to have a unit award or leave it to the other organizations to do that. He thinks it should be an individual award. He said that Gen Conaway has done things for NGAUS and the National Guard overall. He said this unit is just doing the job they are hired to do.

Gen Umbarger called for the question on the motion. Motion carried. COL Don Deering voted nay.

Charles Dick Medal of Merit COL Felderman reported that Rep Tom Davis name was on the list for this award, and he recommends that his name drop off and his nomination for the Charles Dike Medal of Merit include all the names on the list except for Rep Davis.

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COL Felderman recommended the Patrick Henry Award, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Award, the Meritorious Service Certificate, the Valley Forge for Heroism, Valley Forge Certificate, the Garde Nationale Trophy and he Company Grade Leadership Award those be approved for awards this year at the 2007 National Conference. COL Loyd seconded. Motion carried.

COL Felderman reported they were tasked to develop purpose and criteria for the Chairman’s Award. He said the committee’s recommendation is that the Chairman of the Board Service or the Chairman of the Board Service Award to be known as the Chairman’s Award provide a mechanism to recognize an individual who has provided dedicated and loyal service to the National Guard and/or the National Guard Association of the United States, or significant superior achievement for the National Guard Association of the United States. The service or achievement must be in keeping with the finest tradition of National Guard and the National Guard Association of the United States. Eligibility includes any person that has met the service requirements or achievement as determined by the NGAUS Award Committee regardless of affiliation with the National Guard or the National Guard Association.

The Criteria: and individual must have provided service or achievement that is recognized as superior by their peers. The service must be for an extended period and above that would be considered normal duty while the achievement may be for a specific individual, event or action. Nominations to the Board may be made by any member of NGAUS Board of Directors, the NGAUS Awards Committee, any elected official of the state, officers association or and Adjutant General for an individual to receive that award. The individual may receive more than one Chairman’s Award for service or achievement, but only if there are breaks in service or for separate achievement efforts. The Chairman’s Award is unlike all other National Guard Association awards in that it can be presented to the Awards Committee using electronic medium as an email or phone teleconference to make the recommendation for consideration at any time through out the year and can be voted by the Board of Directors using that same method.

COL Felderman made a motion to accept this as the Chairman’s Award for the criteria. He said the only item left to be completed is to come up with a specific description of the award and what it would include. COL Jardine seconded.

Gen Umbarger said he would have liked to have seen the material in writing in front of everybody. COL Felderman said he would make copies and put it on hold to be voted on after lunch. Gen Umbarger said he would like to do that.

COL Felderman made a motion that the nomination be put on hold until after lunch until everyone has a hard copy that they can read.

Gen Umbarger said he had not had any input in the make up of the Chairman’s Award. He said they need to make sure they have the right criteria and not be redundant. He said one thing that stuck out was that a person could receive the award more than once.

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COL Felderman reported that for the Company Grade Leadership Award nomination there are ten nominees. The Awards Committee feels they need to fine tune the process. He said the total nominations were around thirty. They asked the Company Grade Committee to discuss it and Brad Hollingsworth, the Company Grade officer on the committee, and based on his discussions, he came back with a recommendation that we allow each state to nominate one person and then the Company Grade Committee would review and make a nomination of one per region based on the developed criteria to the Awards Committee. The Awards Committee would then accept, reject, or adjust based on one per region. He said that would offer significance to the award. The Awards Committee feels there should be another name for the award. One recommendation for that award is that it should be the Spruance Award. He said that should be a tasker for the Company Grade Committee to come back with a recommendation for a name for the award in November and present it to the Board.

COL Felderman made a motion that the Board allow one nomination of the Company Grade Award per state and the awarding of up to one per region. COL Joyce seconded. Motion carried.

Gen Umbarger presented the Patrick Henry Award to Col Magill that had been awarded in 2005. He thanked Col Magill for his continued service to NGAUS.

Conference Committee Report—COL Don Deering (for BG Norm Arflack)COL Deering reported they had a productive meeting on Friday with 15 people in attendance.

COL Deering reported LTC Hunt gave the members an updated copy on the Conference SOP. He said the SOP provides guidance to know what you have to do the put on a conference.

COL Deering reported there were taskers from the last meeting. One was Gen Dutko has asked why some states were not bidding to host our conference. They were to look at some ways that would provide assistance to the states as they host a conference. That tasker is not complete and they will report on that the next meeting. The second tasker was COL Joyce had recommended that they look at paying one night for a room for the Resolutions Committee at the Conference. Gen Arflack referred that to the Finance Committee and they recommended to not to offer that. He said the Conference Committee also declined to recommend that due to the cost. He said it was up to the Board to make the final decision.

COL Deering reported that LTC Hunt had given an update on the upcoming conference as well as upcoming sponsors for future conferences.

COL Deering reported that over the past few years NGAUS has taken on a huge financial responsibility in helping the states sponsor the conferences. The Conference Committee recommended that at the NGEDA Conference in January each year before the conference that the Executive Directors, Presidents and Secretaries, tell them what the state is

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expected to do and the financial responsibilities of NGAUS and the state that is looking at hosting the conference. He said another suggestion was that maybe at the AGAUS meeting the TAG’s could be briefed about hosting the conference. He said without the TAG support the conference will not happen. He said he thinks that maybe the get scared off when they look at the manpower it takes to host the conference and the financial side of it. He said the NGAUS staff and others who have expertise in past conferences may help to do that. He said hosting the conferences has helped the states progress financially.

COL Deering said the committee talked about how to do a conference, how to better support the states who sponsor the conferences, how to get support from the economical development in their home state using the Visitors and the Conventions Bureau, working with the Chamber of Commerce, and a lot of things to help get people who are willing to step up and host our conferences.

COL Deering reported COL Ray Lindner, Executive Director of the Texas Association, was present and presented a bid for the conference in 2010. The projected date is August 21-23 and it will be held in Austin, Texas. There are 14 hotels that they will use, all in the downtown needing some transportation. He said the good thing is the city of Austin will furnish the transportation for the airport, hotels, and all the routes around town. He said they met all the requirements of the SOP. He said all the hotels are in the general area of the convention center.

COL Deering reported Southwest and American are the airlines that access Austin and all fly in to Dallas/Fort Worth. The airport is close to downtown. The room rates range from $129 to $159 per night. He said the most expensive suite was around $500 to $550 per night.

COL Deering reported that there are some obstacles with the first choice of a site for the Governors Reception but the second option is Camp Mabry. Mr. King said Camp Mabry is about three miles from the convention site.

COL Deering said they discussed the Texas membership percentage and other states who are bidding to host the conferences. He said Texas wants to use the conference to jump start their membership.

COL Deering reported that Gen Koper, Pam, and LTC Hunt made a sight visit to Austin and they gave to high marks for meeting the requirements of the SOP.

COL Deering reported the Conference Committee recommends to the Board that we support Texas hosting the conference in 2010. COL Deering made a motion that the Board accepts Austin, Texas as the host state in 2010. Chief Massey seconded. Motion carried.

COL Deering asked the Board to consider the recommendation for the one night stay for the Resolution Committee. He said the Conference Committee misunderstood the

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proposal asked for by COL Joyce and after talking he was thinking he meant the entire Resolutions Committee consisting of two people for each state. COL Deering said the Resolutions Committee meant two people from every state that would be very costly. He said COL Joyce meant just the Resolutions Committee chairs. COL Joyce said they could look at it both ways and asked Gen Ross how much money NGAUS made on the conference. Pam said $150,000 to $200,000.

Gen Ross called for a point of order and asked if someone was making a motion. He said there is no motion on the floor and suggested that a motion and second is made before it is discussed to do something.

COL Deering said that was made as a recommendation at the last meeting for the Conference Committee to take that on as a tasker and report to the Board.

Gen Ross said that the committee reported and there was not a motion currently to do anything.

COL Deering said they talked about the dress for the Puerto Rico conference.

Gen Koper said that Hawaii had requested the dress be in the casual attire of their culture. Gen Koper said Puerto Rico is very militarily proud of the uniform of their services. He said that Puerto Rico specifically asked that the States Dinner be in formal dress. He said they acknowledged and accepted their request. He said if the Board decides they want to go a different direction we would need to very diplomatically try to convince Puerto Rico that they do not get to choose. He said it probably makes good sense to let the host state, in keeping with everything else we do, do things as they carry on life in their places.

Officer Professional Development Update—Lt Col Tony Dejesus (for Gen Bunting)

Col Dejesus reported on the three days. He said day one is Local Flavor, day two is NGB and day three is the Strategic Level.

Day One:There is a request of Congressman Lewis Fortuno, Puerto Rico Congressman, to speak, and Brigadier General McKeigh, NGB. LTG Vaughn has agreed to do Army National Guard 101. Major General Ickes has agreed to do Air Force National Guard 101.

Day Two:The NGB Joint staff is working that day entirely upon themselves. J3, J5, and J7 will have two 90 minute sessions, 1430 to 1730. It will be an interaction with 27 states of joint operations center. Lieutenant Colonel Pickel is working that.

Day Three:This day is always the strategic level with the War College participation. OPD will be from 1300 to 1600. Chief Master Sergeant (Ret) Bob Vasquez, Chief Smith, Sergeant Major Gipe, and CW5 Sal Green have all agreed to speak.

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Col Dejesus said they have alternate speakers lined up. He said they will have sign in sheets and they will take critiques from the attendees on what they can do to improve.

Gen Umbarger said it was quite an ordeal to get the OPD approval from Gen Blum. He asked the members to bring up the subject to Gen Blum when he come in the afternoon.

Col Dejesus thanked Gen Umbarger for his support in sending the letters asking senior leaders to speak.

Gen Umbarger said the soldiers and airmen from his state are very excited to go to the conference.

COL Deering asked if the AGAUS has weighed in on the OPD issue with Gen Blum. Gen Vavala said that Gen Bunting had brought it up with Gen Blum, but did not think there has been any recent discussion with Gen Blum on that.

Gen Poythress said they had not heard much about it. He said he was not aware that there had been trouble until the Chairman told him.

COL Deering said it would be great to get the Adjutants General involved because they carry more weight with Gen Blum than the Board does.

CMSgt Hagan said that EANGUS has experienced agony with the Enlisted Professional Development. He said they are a little bit ahead and they got their approval letter about three months ago. He said it is hard for the states to plan the work days and resources necessary to support it. They are limited to one per thousand authorized members in the state. He said they have a cap that includes if they are coming to receive awards, or just for the PD. He said they are going to try to work with Gen Blum to remove the cap and let the Adjutants General have the ability to send those they need to send.

Gen Taylor said we would be remiss if we do not bring it up every time we get the opportunity to have him in the room. He said Gen Blum he will give you the answer you want to hear, but it is his staffers, i.e Dan Donahue who puts it together for him. He said if we do not bring it up, we will lose this one.

COL Deering said when he asked Gen Blum if the Adjutants General would ever get to the point that they would decide who to send to the conference for OPD, he said yes.

Gen Umbarger said he showed him the minutes. Gen Koper said that Gen Scherling hand carried additional packets to Gen Blum and she got cut off by Gen Blum’s personal staff.

Gen Koper said that this Board and this organization have made it abundantly clear what our goal is. He said the Chairman had personally written to him. He said every Adjutant General had been copied every year on all these proposals going back three years ago.

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He agrees that if the AGAUS feels it important they might take it on and lend the weight of their association behind the individual TAGS.

Gen Umbarger called for an executive before lunch.

AGAUS Report—MG Frank Vavala

Gen Vavala reported that their Spring Conference was held in Anchorage, Alaska. He said they had elections with some administrative changes. He said it was a great conference and many great take aways which they are working.

Gen Vavala reported they have a video teleconference every other week and he thinks it is a force multiplier. He said the Chairman is involved and is a part of the video teleconference as well as the President. He said NGAUS is linked with the AGAUS and dealing with issues on an ongoing basis. He said they have established a pre-conference agenda which is sent out a day or so before the video teleconference so everyone knows what will be covered. He said they will follow up with meetings so they can start to track some of the issues and committee assignments. He said they are working the strength in the committee system, requiring the committees to track and engage on issues, using the subject matter experts on those committees to be able to enhance the ability to operate.

Gen Vavala said they have taken on the WIN-T issue that impacts the BCT’s ability to communicate. Letters have been sent to Congress on that. He said the Personnel Committee has engaged on NSPS, which he hopes contributed to the current pause that they have in that system.

Gen Vavala said they have a couple of visits coming up for their committees to look at Maxwell. He said there is an initiative that has been promulgated by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force to move our commissioning program from McGhee Tyson in Knoxville to Maxwell in Alabama because we need a shared experience. He said they are not convinced that is the case. He said a group of Adjutants General will be visiting Maxwell on 2-3 August. Gen Lempke will lead that delegation. He said he is looking for an Adjutant General from the Army side to join the group. He said a report will be issued and they will get back to Gen McKinley and Gen Mosley on that issue.

Gen Vavala reported the Homeland Security Committee will visit NORTHCOM on 30-31 July. He and Gen Lowenberg will dialog with the NORTHCOM commander in an executive session without the normal strap-hangers and hopes to get some good open dialogue.

Gen Spruance asked if the Air Staff would take a look at McGhee Tyson in a reciprocal visit as they are doing at Maxwell. Gen Vavala said they (the Air Force) do not see a purpose in that and they have made up their minds what is right for the Air Force. He said it is up to them to look at the proposal and to present their position paper on it.

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Gen Vavala reported they have a couple events coming up for a possibility for the TAGs to get together for some discussions. Tomorrow begins the National Guard Family Conference and Youth Symposium in Chicago. He said many of the TAGS would be present for that. He said there is no planned meeting but there might be some ad hoc discussions. He said they will attend the EANGUS Conference 12-15 August in Oklahoma City. He said there is an AGAUS meeting set up for Monday, 13 August and they will revisit all their strategic initiatives. He said that will have the opportunity to visit the display hall and have quality time with the vendors.

Gen Vavala reported during the NGAUS Conference, on 26 August, they will have a luncheon for the Adjutants General, TBD. He said he and Gen Umbarger have brokered a compromise that they will keep the meeting down to an acceptable time. He said Gen Umbarger had promised the vendors more face time with the TAGS and they will accommodate, because they mean so much to us in our ability to do what we need to do.

Gen Umbarger congratulated Gen Vavala on his election as the President of the AGAUS. He also thanked him for his support.

NGEDA Update—Ms. Cindy Watson

Ms. Watson reported that 27-29 July, the Executive Board of NGEDA will meet in Austin, Texas, to set the agenda for their January meeting. He said she would like to correct the dates published in the previous meeting minutes, 20-24 January, but the correct dates are 27-30 January, held at the Renaissance Hotel in Baltimore.

Chris Mears—CAP update

Mr. Mears thanked the Board for allowing the corporate sponsors to sit on the Board. He also thanked Hazell for work and support.

Mr. Mears reported that they had a meeting at the AGAUS Conference in Alaska. He said there were 45 people from different corporations who attended the meeting. He said they laid out a structure where they can help us, because they are an advisory board. He said they created five committees, Legislative, Membership, Education, Trade Show, and Financial. All those committees will meet in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the NGAUS Conference and reporting on what they are doing on their committees.

Gen Umbarger thanked Chris Mears and the CAP for their support. He said they would not have to close the booths early as in Albuquerque.

Mr. Mears said that was a concern they had. He said they hope to get as much visibility as possible due to the expense.

EANGUS update—CMSgt Roger Hagan (for CSM Frank Lever)

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CMSgt Hagan thanked the Board for allowing them to be here. He said the relation with NGAUS is key and there are many things they can act as one to lend to support to.

CMSgt Hagan reported their membership continues to grow. He said in October they approved a new membership services software internet database that the membership can access real-time from their home any time day or night to update their profiles and the states can access for their databases in an exportable fashion so they can manipulate and manage their databases. He said that will be demoed and previewed at the conference in Oklahoma City and they expect to be up and operation by the beginning of their new membership year in January 08. He said their membership has increased and is presently at about 80,000 members, which is the largest they have ever had in their history. He said they will have another Membership Workshop this fall to recap the goals the states individually set on themselves at the first workshop. He said their membership percentage is at about 12%.

CMSgt Hagan reported the Building Fund, thanks to NGAUS, the building where they are became a reality. He said they handed out a letter explaining the EANGUS Building Fund. He said they are trying to raise money to retire the debt to NGAUS.

CMSgt Hagan reported the “We Care for America Foundation” Soldiers and Airmen Relief Fund, continues to be a key piece. He said in 2006 they granted $87,762 to needy airmen and soldiers and in 2007 to date they have granted $57,599.

CMSgt Hagan reported their conference will be held in Oklahoma City, 11-15 August. He said they are expecting over 1200 people. He said the EANGUS Auxiliary meets at the same time. He said the Sergeant Major of the Army and the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force will be there and this is the first time they have had both of them in attendance. He said Sergeant Major Stults, from OSD/RA, the senior enlisted advisor to Sec Hall will also attend. Command Sergeant Hudson, from NGB, CSM Gipe and Command Chief Smith will also be there. He said LTG Blum will speak on Sunday after the opening ceremony. Gen Vavala will also speak on Sunday.

CMSgt Hagan said their exhibitor program continues to grow and they have over 100 booths this year. He said they will have an exclusive viewing period for the Adjutants General, the state Command Sergeant Majors and the state Command Chiefs reserved. He said he thinks that will help tremendously with their corporate sponsors and exhibitors to see that kind of influence and emphasis.

Company Grade update—Capt Mike Taylor

Capt Taylor reported CPT Serland was present who was sitting in for CPT Roberts who was deployed.

Capt Taylor gave an overview for the activities for the General Conference. He said the Company Grade Mixer will be held on Friday evening and the next morning prior to the

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First General Session at 1030 they will have the first OPD session. He said for the first 30 minutes of that session they will do a NGAUS 101 with a Company Grade flavor. He said that last year 80% of the Company Grades it was their first conference and they thought that is a good beginning to the overview. He said Gen Blum will speak to them during the next hour. He said it gives the Company Grades an opportunity to have one-on-one dialogue with the Chief. Capt Taylor thanked General Dynamics for their support for sponsoring the luncheon.

Capt Taylor reported on Sunday, 26 August, they will have their luncheon and their Caucus. He said that his position, the Air Representative to the Board of Directors, will up for election and also six of the area representative’s positions will be up for re-election. He asked the Board to pay close attention to the areas coming up for re-election to see if they know someone in their area who would be a good representative to step up and be part of this. The areas are Area I, Army, Area II Air, Area III, Army, Area IV, Air, Area V, Army, and Area VI, Air. He said the second half of that session Gen Vaughn and Gen McKinley would be there to do a town hall respectively.

Capt Taylor reported on the Company Grade issues they are looking at. He said the two largest issues are TRICARE and the age 55 retirement issue. He said that is a subject that all members are concerned about and asked that all keep that in mind as the legislative efforts work toward that end.

Capt Taylor said it would be his last meeting as a member of the Board of Directors in this capacity. He said he has been fortunate enough to be selected for advancement so he will be promoted.

Capt Taylor said he wanted to make a comment about the Company Grade officers attending the conference in status. He said the Reserve Officers Association has done this for years and he has the agenda that are published on their website. He said that others organizations are not like the Guard but he will submit ROA is extremely similar to our organization. He said their Reserve Component and basically in the same business we are in the context they support the Air Force but are separate and apart. He said they are doing it and he does not know why we can not do. He said it should be left up to the Adjutant General to decide how and when they can do this and they should be able to send as many as their resources will allow. He said in his unit they have the money to spend before 30 September and he can think of no better way to spend the money than to send Company Grade officers to the National Conference. He encouraged the Board to press on and keep the focus to try to convince Gen Blum and his staff that it is important. He said that if Gen Blum wants to develop young officers professionally, he can think of no better place to do it that at the NGAUS Conference.

Capt Taylor reported he thanked Col Felderman and COL Joyce for their comments about Company Grade representation on committees. He said he feels this is important for two reasons, the first being the Company Grade officers are a large part of this association. He said we keep talking about how to get them involved and he submitted that being active in the association, finding someone to be an area rep to be exposed to

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this is the best way to do that. He said the second point is to have a Company Grade officer on the committees to give them experience. He said not to underestimate the Company Grade officers in that many of them are over 20 years. He said that most of the Company Grades are combat veterans now. He said they have experience and they might can see some things that need to be fixed and by being exposed to those conversations it helps them understand NGAUS and they get active on their state and area boards, they might someday come back as an area rep or maybe an officer some day. He said this is the foundation it builds on. He asked the Board to keep that in mind and not just place a Company Grade as a token but help cultivate and mentor these young people to become part of this association.

He said that his time on the Board has been a great experience both personal and professionally. He said he has learned a lot from the Board members, Generals Blum, McKinley and Vaughn. He thanked Gen Hargett, who was the Chairman when he came on, who has always been a supporter for the Company Grade officer. He thanked Gen Taylor in that he has been a strong and sincere proponent and advocate for the Company Grade officers. He thanked Gen Umbarger and asked that he bear that in mind and cultivate the Company Grade officers. He also thanked Gen Koper and LTC Hunt for their support. He thanked in particular, Pam Buckler, who has always been a champion for the Company Grades. He thanked Hazell for coordinating the General Dynamics Brunch for their luncheon. He thanked Loretta Fills for the always answering his questions and for the work she does for the association and for the Company Grades in particular.

Retired/Separated—COL Don Deering and Col Ray Magill

COL Deering reported the Retired Luncheon will be held in Puerto Rico on Sunday, August 26, at 1200 in Room 208 A/B. He said it is an election year for the Air Retiree, and Col Ray Magill will seek another election to that office. He said they have had difficulty putting the luncheon together in Puerto Rico, it has finally come together.He asked the members to encourage the members in their states to attend. He said NGAUS funds the luncheon and they collect $5 from each retiree who attends and other guest they collect $25. He said Pete Duffy, Deputy Director, Legislative Department, has been asked to be the speaker to update them on retiree issues.

Col Magill had no comments.

Warrant Officer Report—Chief Larry Massey

Chief Massey reported that at the Caucus in San Juan they will be electing representatives from areas one, three, and five which are up for election.

Chief Massey said that a good news report is the one on the Warrant Officer Candidate school reserve component, where there were 116 graduates and three reserve graduates last year, which was the largest class ever. He said that this year they are having Phase III in two places, in Camp Attenbury and Fort McClellan. He said there is a grand total

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of 232 candidates are scheduled to graduate, which is doubled and will become the largest class ever. He said that is important because the third year will be the accreditation/certification year. He said they think it is a success story and one more opportunity to create Warrant Officers. He said that last year was the first in ten years they had a net gain of Warrant Officers larger then any of the previous ten years.

Chief Massey reported on the Warrant Officers issues. He said the critical skill bonus of $20,000 for a three year commitment may well be in the offing if not already a done deal.He said they are currently 67% Warrant Officer filled. He said they are authorized 9,883 and have 6,619 assigned. He said they are 70% retirement eligible. He said of those 6,619 assigned, 4,633 are eligible to retire and he said that is scary.

Chief Massey reported of there is only one resolution that needs to be removed and he has mentioned that to Gen Broomall. He said the resolution was A-41 that deals with the pay reform for Warrant Officers. He said he talked to the Bureau Thursday and he believes that issue has been resolved.

Chief Massey reported there are 73 Warrant Officers registered for the conference which is lower than usual. He said area 1 CW5 (Ret) Haider, Area three is CW5 (Ret) Joe Diaz, and Area 5 CW5 Julia Mosman.

Chief Massey reported he had talked to Gen Bunting about expanding Warrant Officer Professional Development portion of the Officer Professional Development and for the first time ever they will have CW5 Sal Green, the acting Command Chief Warrant Officer at the Bureau. He is the also the President of the Florida National Guard Association. He will talk to everyone, not just Warrant Officers.

Gen Ross said our By-Laws require that the Board of Directors give approval for contracts over $50,000. He said they try to watch that very closely and make sure the Board is aware of major events. He said there are three contracts that exceed $50,000. One is for the advance to Maryland, the host of the upcoming conference. Maryland has submitted their plan and it has been reviewed. The second is the contract with the Baltimore Convention Center for approximately $80,000 which we could gain some credits based on the cost of food service. The third thing is the one year extension on the Donahoe Management Company who does the management and the leasing of our building and provides the building manager with a full time office in the building on an upper floor. He said that contract is for more than $50,000 also.

Gen Ross made a motion to approve the three mentioned contracts, the advance to Maryland, the Convention Center contract in Maryland, and the one-year extension on the Donahoe Management Company contract. The motion comes to you with a recommendation of approval from the Finance Committee. COL Loyd seconded.

A question was asked as to the amount we pay Donahoe. Gen Ross said that it is a percentage of the leases. He said it is based on the same thing for the past five years.

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Col Magill commented it should say not to exceed a dollar amount. Gen Ross said how about if we said not to exceed the amount in your budget. Gen Ross said the number is in the budget document.Col Magill commented that any appropriation of funds should have a dollar limit. Gen Ross said he has no problem with limited to that amount.

Pam said the rental amount is $5M and the actual management leasing fees budgeted for this year is $167, 000. Gen Ross said there are two portions, one is a fee for the on site building manager and the other is a commission based on the percentage the get from leasing to the tenants.

Pam said the actual management is budgeted at 1$67,000, the two contracts that they leased and released this year is $219,000. She said they get a percentage of the life of the lease on the leasing piece. She said if the lease is for 5 years they get a percentage of the entire length of the lease. Gen Ross said that could vary each year as some years no space will come up for lease in which case nothing will be budgeted for commission for a real estate agent. He said that every year there is the fee for the building management every year, which is $167.000 this year. Pam said that is on $6M worth of revenue for leasing.

Gen Ross restated the motion to say up to the budget of $167,000 for the portion of the Donahoe contract that a concern building management and it’s a percentage of the tenant revenue that they bring us in new tenants. Motion carried.

Gen Ross said the other item is a recommendation from the Finance Committee as we are preparing for the next budget cycle, to recommend the 08 budget, they noticed that it has been two or three year since they have had a Salary Review Committee, which is a Special Committee appointed by the Chairman. He said he recommended that there be a new salary review is commissioned through a committee so that data will be available to help in budgeting and give assistance to the President and Directors for salary recommendations. He said the current data is getting old and the Finance Committee recommends that the Chairman appoint a Salary Review Committee for this fall.

Gen Umbarger asked when was the last review done. Pam said it was done in 2004 and Gen Dutko had chaired that committee.

Gen Umbarger said everyone had been handed a copy of the criteria for the Chairman’s Award.

COL Felderman said the Chairman’s Award focus is they wanted to have an award that when someone found a new job, like Jason, or is someone did something significant, like a one time donation, or if there was a need to give an award in a more timely manner instead of waiting for the Board to approve it. He said that is the goal and the way it was presented to the Awards Committee.

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COL Loyd asked who would select who gets the award. COL Felderman said the Awards Committee would take the recommendation, review it, consider it and then present it to the Board of Directors and that is why they added the portion about using electronic medium would be allowed, either by email or by phone teleconference.COL Loyd commented that he thinks that it should be submitted to the Chairman since it is a Chairman’s Award and let him make the decision, without it going to through the whole Board.

Col Magill said that is how it was originally when it was called a President’s Award. He said it was when John France was President at the time.

Gen Umbarger said he looks at it like the old Impact Award that can be given on the spot. He said he agrees that the Chairman should be able to give the award in a spontaneous moment that has some affect. COL Felderman said that if that were the case then only the last full sentence of the last paragraph would drop off and state it that way.

Col Magill said he does not think it has to go to the Awards Committee. COL Felderman said that part would drop off. Col Magill asked if the nomination and selection procedure would drop off. COL Felderman said the nominations to the Chairman would stay. Col Magill said it the Chairman’s decision.

Gen Ross commented that it comes up occasionally when there is a time when there is not enough time to go through any process or it is unhandy and there is a very worthwhile, perhaps very good for the benefit of the organization, occasion to be able to use an award. He said that is why they commissioned the Chairman’s Award. He said to put some kind of limit on it. He said as far as who does it is defined as when the Chairman determines that for the good of the National Guard, he awards the Chairman’s Award and it does not go through any other process. He said we should just trust him with that. COL Felderman said that sounded like a good idea and that makes more sense.

Gen Koper asked should the eligibility criteria be rewritten. COL Felderman said yes, that should read as determined by the Chairman.

Gen Wright asked if NGAUS has a coin or if the Board has something more substantive and he suggested we do a NGAUS coin and present that coin. COL Felderman said that would fit into the suggestion for a description of the award.

Gen Umbarger said that is a good recommendation and maybe a coin that bears the words of what the award is. He agreed that there should be a limit to the times a person can receive the award.

Gen Ross suggested deferring this to another time and working on the award criteria a little more. COL Felderman agreed that was a good idea.

COL Felderman suggested withdrawing the motion and the second to approve the award or defer it until November. Gen Umbarger said to defer it until November.

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COL Felderman said he would like to make one addition to the list of awards. He nominated Capt Mike Taylor, Air National Guard, for the Meritorious Service Award for his efforts in forwarding Company Grade issues to the national level to include the issues of education and participation at the National Conference. COL Deering seconded. Motion carried.

Gen Umbarger referred to the email handout by Gen Wright concerning an issue we are facing in the Guard.

Gen Wright said it is not a new subject and the C12 is used by every state in the United States and there is no plan for their eventual replacement. He said as he understands it some of the modifications to the C12 are so expensive that you could buy a new aircraft for the cost of the remods on the C12s. He said the notion of getting them in the quece in the budgeting cycles for eventual replacement has been a subject of debate for some time now. He said officially in February the TAGS wrote a letter and every TAG or their representative in the United States cosigned that letter and that letter went to Gen Blum ask and articulated is some detail the need for the C12. He said that letter asked Gen Blum to quece it up and get things necessary for a replacement schedule and the dollars associated with that to get in cycle. He said not very long after that Gen Vaughn responded to the letter and said it was an Air Force initiative and there was some action beyond his ability. He said they were waiting on some piece of information before they could go official, but that he supported the notion. He said to his knowledge nothing has happened since February. He said this is an initiative by AGAUS only at this point. He suggested resending that letter again and this time coming from NGAUS just as a reminder to the Director that the issue is still out there and maybe prompt some additional action on his part.

Gen Umbarger said that was one of the topics that was sent to NGB for discussion. He said there is nothing better than to put something down in writing. He asked if that is a recommendation from Gen Wright. Gen Wright said yes and added that one thing that prompted him to bring it up is that in Aslaka on one of the slides that NGB presented the C12 was listed on the slide as a bill player for the Joint Cargo Aircraft. He said with discussion Gen Blum agreed to take that bullet of the slide. He said it appeared to him that this issue was waiting on more than time and that we had some problems.

Gen Wright made a motion that NGAUS goes on record as supporting the C12.

Gen Vavala said he had a copy of the letter, signed by all the TAGS. He said it went to Gen Vaughn and it dated 28 February and he replied to them on April 3rd and he has a copy of that letter as well. He said there is a memorandum of agreement between the Army and the Air Force requires the office of SECDEF to complete several task, one being a Joint Cargo Fleet mix analysis and determination. After receiving those results the office will work the Army to address the Army’s overall fixed wing requirements. The Army campaign plan change 5 indicates that the Army senior leadership will also

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review and adjust the final transformation of the fixed wing fleet after the analysis is complete and after JCA is recognized as a program of record.

Gen Vavala said he would second that they need to revisit it. He said Gen Vaughn would not be here today, but certainly Gen Blum should be able to comment on it. Gen Umbarger asked for discussion and said that the letter would be looked at and sent out.

Col Magill made a motion that the Board gives concurrence for the Chairman to appoint a Special Committee on Salary Review. COL Joyce seconded. Motion carried.

COL Faber said there was still a motion from Gen Wright, seconded by Gen Vavala on the C12. Motion carried.

Gen Umbarger welcomed the Chief and the Directors from the National Guard Bureau to the Board meeting.

National Guard Bureau

LTG H Steven BlumGen Blum said he would need some help from the associations on Joint Cargo Aircraft. He said about three years ago the Army, under Gen Cody when he was the G-3, wanted to get a new cargo airplane to replace the C23 Sherpa because we are wearing out the Schnooks moving things and supplies from the wholesale level to the foxhole level. He said they were doing it with CH47s flying more hours than they were intended to do the job the Air Force is supposed to do for the United States Army. He said the planes are used to move things mainly for the United States Army. He said the Army was not satisfied that the Air Force was meeting the commitment, so what they should have done was have a conversation with the Joint Chiefs level and adjudicate that, but that is not how they choose to do it. He said they chose to deploy our C23s, the Sherpas, which is a plane we got in a non standard way a few years ago. He said it had nothing to do with a requirement but had to do with someone wanting to buy that plane and we ended up being the recipients of it. He said it is a good plane if you don’t need to fly where there are high mountains, high density altitude. It is not pressurized, it is slow, it is under powered. He said it is good to move boxes or auto parts. He said it is not good for Afghanistan because it can’t get over some of the mountains. He said it also no good in the desert when it is 130 degrees. He said the Army wanted to go to a future aircraft that look like a Cossa 295 or a C27 or some variant like that, that could be bought immediately which would not have to be developed and wait 20 years for it. He said the Air Force has no appetite for the little C130 or a C123.

Gen Blum said the Army had a program called a Future Cargo Aircraft and the Air Force had a program called the Light Cargo Aircraft and they got smart and called it the Joint Cargo Aircraft. He said when he became Chief he decided there would not be Air or Army planes operating separate or stationed separate. He said that is how they are used when they go to war as well as day to day. He said the Army and the Air Force competed

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and came up with the C27J. He said the award has been protested and will be reviewed over the next 90 days. He said he suspects the protest will fail because it is just a book test. He said it is a superior plane to the Cossa 295 for the purposes the specs were written for. He said the C27J you can put bigger cargo in it because of the height of it.

Gen Blum said his intent is to provide the National Guard intra-theater airlift stationed in the Army and the Air Guard. He said the planes that the Air Force buy will go to the Army Guard and the ones the Army buys will go to the Army Guard. He said he wants to make sure it is a joint integrated approach in stationing those airplanes. He said the intra-theater they are talking about in the United States and it territories. He said the Adjutants General who are the recipients of these planes need to station and operate them in a joint way. He said that he has never in forty years seen an Army Aviation support facility any where, the very best that exist is inferior to the worst Air Guard Base he has ever been on. He said why would take a baby C130 and try to stick it in a shed that has been used to house a SHERPA. He said when you talk about all the C130s that are being retired, because of BRAC, what’s left are hangers, runways, aprons, taxiways, firefighters, intelligence people, maintenance hangers, fuel cell hangers, and all kind of infrastructure worth billions of dollars that are sitting there. He said there is not an Air Guard Strip in the country isn’t better than the very best Army Aviation Support facility air strip. He said Army air strips are not the same as an Air Force air strip because they are not as thick, wide or will not take the load, nor do the offer the same safety factors. He said the Army air strips were built for light aircraft.

Gen Blum said he is not going to tell the TAGs where to put the air planes, because it is up to them. He said the Guard will maintain the airplanes. He said the Army wants to do it through contract maintenance, but he wants blue suit maintenance. He said you can’t call the contractors to state active duty, for a hurricane, or that the governor called them to come and get the plane ready. He said he does not want to deal with that. He wants Air Guard people running the maintenance. He said then he wants a flexible approach to stationing the airplanes. He said he wants to plan within the June 6th memorandum of agreement between the Air Force and the Army on how we train. He said he wants the Army and the Air Guard to have the same training that is run by the Guard. He said the Air Force plans to buy 40 planes that will go to the Air Guard and 10 for the school house. He said the Guard should pick a place to put the 10 planes and make their school part of the Air Force Total Force School.

Gen Blum said the airplanes will be stationed in the 10 FEMA regions, one in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. These planes will be used to back fill the air fields, enclaves that were affected by BRAC. He said that will allow them to retire the C23 SHERPA and replace it with this airplane. He said the Army thinks they are going to replace the C12 with this aircraft, he does not. He said the C12 is a separate issue and it has a different purpose. He said the C12 does not need to retire for another 20 years with proper maintenance. He said the airplanes will go to who needs them the most operationally. He said the first planes are going to war. The TAGs were the ones who took the C12 out and it was a good catch.

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Gen Blum said they will build the unit around 8PAA, which means how many airplanes that will be in a unit, usually 8. They could be in any combination and 8 that is not written in stone.

Gen Blum said the Army is going to buy 72 and 48 are scheduled to come to the Army Guard. They will probably want to run the training at Rucker, except there will joint training. He said the planes will be placed in areas that will leave no part of the country uncovered.

COL Deering asked if it is Gen Mosley’s plan to do all the JCA training in Little Rock. Gen Blum said if he were the only guy picking it he would like to do that. He said it would make sense to do it in Little Rock, but it would displace some other things that will impact Tennessee. He said if it ends up being Little Rock, it would not bother him. He said that is why he needs the help of NGAUS and AGAUS and they need to know what is going on right now.

Ted Michevicus said the House has held the funding and the Senate have directed the funding to the Air Force. Gen Blum said that recently they had a curb ball thrown at them. Ted said the House has put a hold on the spending of funds until they comply with some requirements. He said the Senate has allowed the funding to go forward but have moved the funding into the Air Force programmatic. Gen Blum said if they move all the money into the Air Force budget and they buy all the airplanes he said that is bad for the Army Guard, maybe not National Guard, but it could be bad for the Guard in that the Air Force wants to buy only 50 of the planes. He said right now the Guard is up to receive 98.He said 98 planes will allow him to do what he needs to do; otherwise he will have to cut the locations or the PAA to 4. He said it is to our advantage that both the Army and Air Force buy the planes.

Gen Koper asked if the plan that the Air National Guard owned assigned assets will be controlled through an Air Force PACC operation and the Army Guard assets will be controlled through a similar Army command and control facility for the entire fleet. Gen Blum said yes when they are under federal control. He said they should all be under TRANSCOM, but when they are not doing that work they belong to the Adjutants General.

Gen Ross asked what is the real time line lay over between the acquisition of the planes and the BRAC reduction timeline.

Gen Blum said close, but not exact or good enough for him. He said he sense that Congress will relax the BRAC and realize that they can’t take the planes away for a year or two. He said Gen McKinley has done a good job of making sure that when they took the F-16s out of North Dakota and they replaced them with corporate transport jets until they get the new planes. He said nobody knows exactly when they will get the JCA, maybe in 2010.

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Gen Umbarger asked how we focus on in the Senate to get the project back in the hands of the Air Force hands. Gen Blum said the pressure point people are Senator Levin. Ted said Senator’s Levins staff is concerned about the roles and missions argument. He said his staffers are the ones who are hung up on it right now. Gen Blum said he agrees with them questioning the roles and missions piece. Gen Blum said he thinks that Senator does not understand the piece that the Army has the money to buy the planes to replace the SHERPAS and the capability they provide.

Gen Koper said the JCA is a joint buy of 98 aircrafts. Gen Blum said it was supposed to be a joint buy, but now with the language the Hill is putting in here, it will be an Air Force buy period.

Gen Koper said he is suggesting that they can count of the fact that the whole plan goes as laid out, 98 aircraft will be exact duplicates of one another, comparable equipped throughout the fleet. Gen Blum said the agreement between the Army and Air Force is that there will be no difference in the models. He said the only difference might be in the color of the paint.

Gen Poythress commented that he thinks it is absolutely critical that the money stay in the Army Guard budget. He said if it doesn’t, there is a very substantial possibility that the Air Force will get itself wound around the axle again on the roles and missions thing. He said at the very least it will slip and two years the Air Force will say they do not want 90 JCAs, but what they really wanted are C130s all along.

Capt Taylor asked Gen Blum about the OPD attendance in status to the National Conference. He said he had attended the last six conferences and there is no other place in a Company Grade officer’s career where he or she can be exposed to such a high level of Professional Development at any one point in time. He said the speakers have been the President, Senators, multiple four stars, secretaries of the services, Chief of NGB and his Directors. He said the current policy seems very restrictive and does not give the Adjutants General much flexibility. He asked if there is a plan in the future to alleviate that and put the Adjutants General in a better position to select who they will send if they have the resources.

Gen Blum the letter states that the Adjutant General decides who they send to the conference. He said if someone thinks other wise there is some disconnect or miscommunication. He said the letter is very clear who is authorized to go to the conference. He said it is up to the Adjutants General who goes with one exception, in that they were too restrictive in his view of saying these people should have not attended before. He said he will fix that and take that piece out. He said Jane Matthias will meet with Dan Donahue on Monday to review the letter once more to make sure the letter we received is what he sent out. He said the intent is to give as much latitude to the Adjutant General to send who they think they need to send and the numbers they need to send within the constraints of the budget. He said what the letter authorized is pretty hefty.The letter authorized, two officers per state as liaisons to the Adjutant General, with no restrictions, two officers, 04 and below, two officers per every 500 officers assigned to

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that state, or three officers 04 and below, which ever number is greater, that did not attend NGAUS Conference in a federally funded status in 2006. Officers will be selected by the Adjutant General at his or her discretion. Eligibility will be weighted first for those who have won recognition as National Guard Officer of the year or have been selected to receive national level awards, or mobilized in support of Gy in the last five years, mobilized for hurricanes Katrina, Rita or Wilma, or operation Jump Start. He said the intent is to get those who have been doing what the Guard fundamentally does. He said he does not have a problem with that.

Capt Taylor said his question in particular in the number and is the any opportunity to allow more people if the Adjutant General has the resources.

Gen Blum said he will put something out telling the Adjutants General that can not live with that they can come in for an exception. He said the reason it is written as tightly as it is is because he wanted it to be bullet proof and water tight and not be able to be assailed by the Army or the Air Force or the DoD IG at all. He said he got the nose under the tent last year and this year it was doubled and he expects to increase it over the years. He said that his guy, nor NGAUS, did not get it all right, and it has to be done better than this. He said what we need to do is get a canned OPD that has commonality to it every year that passes the sniff test of OPD.

Gen Umbarger said he would like to get the straw man in front of him that does not have to have the exact topic. He said he thinks we were pretty close to that this year and he wants to be able earlier. Gen Blum said we were late this year, NGB and NGAUS, as far as the field is concerned. Gen Blum said we have to do better.

Gen Koper said from the NGAUS perspective the matrix approach is the right way to go and the matrix pattern can be tweaked and fine tuned. He said but the ability to identify specific factual finite names is not possible. Gen Blum said it is possible; he has to give him some license to help him. Gen Blum said we can build a federal OPD and he guarantees those subjects will be presented by subject matter experts. He said he can do it by position and if the senior person can’t make it the next person in line will go. He said that does not mean we don’t have any say in it at all, but he can take the burden off of NGAUS to put that together if we let him. He said it is wrong to have Gen Bunting build the OPD program on a part time basis and does not have the view that NGB has.He said this is not hard; we are making it hard the way we are doing it. He said he takes fifty percent of the blame.

Gen Umbarger said it was not just Gen Bunting, he had a good committee. He said we do want to have input from the association because it is our conference. He said it is better than what we had last year and we want to keep improving on it. Gen Blum said he wants to get it out sooner than this year and he wants to have more next year than this year.

COL Deering said he might be wrong, but he does not think we doubled the number of people going this year compared to last year. He said Tennessee, which is fifth or sixth

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state officer wise, has only seven people going this year. He said that is the same number they had last year, plus the two they have on the top, that have gone for years. He said the Air Guard can’t do that because they are not funded to send the two additional officers. He said we have not increased our number. He said we are looking for decentralization and that’s what they are looking for. He said they asked Gen Blum the last time he was here is to let the TAG make the decision. He said seven people in Tennessee does not even allow them to get a representative from each of their major headquarters with that number and it makes it tough.

Gen Blum said then we are not sending enough. Gen Blum said if that is the case, he will look at that.

Col Magill said they had four last year and have the same four this year. Gen Blum said his intent was to increase the number.

COL Deering said he does not think we have done that.

Chief Hagan said all he wants to say is me too.

Gen Blum said he can not talk about or advocate for the associations outside of this room. He said he is very careful how he does. He said that when he meets with soldiers and airmen around the country and there are things he can not fix on the Hill he tell them who to contact. He tell them why they need a strong association and strong voice to do that. He said for the Enlisted Association it is more important to him that we are careful what junior enlisted members we send because they will be the seed corn to run the units day to day, but will sit around these kinds of tables in the future. He said if we develop them properly in twenty years they will be much savvier, more capable and better informed.

Gen Blum said the letter does not hit the mark and they will look at it on Monday and tweak it and certainly open it wider for next year. He said apparently they did not do as good as he thought they did.

Gen Umbarger said they are all concerned about their command and control of their brigade combat teams and their units being piece mealed over to the theater. Gen Blum said that has to be a red line. He said we are not doing that and we have to stop them dead in their tracks. He said if he is unsuccessful in that he will take that to the Secretary of Defense. He said when he does he will call and when he does he wants everyone to roll in on because that is a red line issue. He said he talked to Gen Petraus on July 4th in Iraq and told him he has to stop this and he said he did not know it was going on. He said he spoke to Gen Cody and he said he said he did not know it was going on.

Gen Carpenter said at the VTC this morning they had an extensive discussion about this topic. He said the Vice wants to have a meeting with Gen Blum, Gen Vaughn and First Army commander some time this week. Gen Blum said he sent him an unambiguous email clearly expressing what he meant. Gen Carpenter said that message went to all the

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Army component commanders involved. Gen Blum said he thinks we will prevail, but may need help and when he does there can not be any wavering.

Gen Vavala said as a point of clarification, Gen Blum has it now but will tell NGAUS and AGAUS when to pull the trigger. Gen Vavala said they were looking at going to SECDEF and it looks like that is where it has to go. Gen Blum said he already has David Chu locked and cocked to jump on it because that goes against what the SECDEF said.

Gen Vavala said the Army is proposing a change in the deployment cycle from 1:5 to 1 and 4. He said the statement was made that it was agreed on by the National Guard Bureau. Gen Blum said no. He said the 1:5 is the goal, one deployment followed by five years of non-deployment. He said reality is 1:4, one year deployment followed by four years non-deployment. He said the programmatic is 1:5, which is outside the POM, which means we are always chasing the money and will never get it. He said he agreed and insisted that the programmatic reflex reality 1:4. He said he did not say change the goal he said change the funding. He said the POM has got to reflex sending the Guard 1:4 not 1:5, because that takes you to the 6th year of the POM and you are not in the POM. He said the Army programmed it that way and they never get the money. He said that he and Gen Vaughn went to the Chief of Staff of the Army and said they have to program reality because the Army is programmed against a fantasy that does not exist.

Gen Vavala asked if Gen Blum could provide them with some background, or if someone on his staff could articulate that. He said everyone seems to be embracing what the Secretary of Defense said, 1:5. Gen Blum said he is embracing that also, but until we get there we have be funded for what we are really doing, which is 1:4 and that is where the money has to be appropriated to match reality. He said it would not change in the next 3 to 4 years, he thinks.

Gen Carpenter said the Chief of Staff of the Army has seven initiatives that he has sponsored as part of his tour as Chief and initiative number four is operationalizing the Reserve. He gave that responsibility in terms of developing that to the FORSCOM commander. He said Gen Campbell is in the middle of doing that right now and figuring out what the budget issues are relative to operationalizing the Reserve, additional IDT, and thirty additional days. Gen Blum said moving money to the Guard which under the old model would not come until year four. He said they got Gen Campbell attention.

Gen Carpenter said one of the realities that came out the other day was that is the base budget what programmed isn’t anything about mobilization. He said the Chief of Staff said they have to put it in the budget and they are wrestling with that right now.

Gen Felderman said Gen Casey said they are funding 1:3 and doing 1:1. Gen Blum said he had to point that out to them, that was the fun part.

CPT Serland asked if there is a cookie cutter model out there for what is required to consider what needs to be done, for OPD, so it can’t be scrutinized by anyone. Gen Blum said there are criteria and he will be happy to share that with anyone who wants it. She

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said she agreed with Capt Taylor that the four conferences she has been there is no OPD that is comparative to what she gets out of the conference.

Gen Blum said he wants to open up the number of people that are attending the already approved OPD for this year as wide as the TAGS can afford to send. He said he would try to make that happen next week.

Gen Spruance said that it was announced that the first of the initial additive to the C130 fleet which was to be 70 has been reduced to 40. The JCA would be delivered to units in 2012. He said that most of the people will divert their energies and skills elsewhere in less than five years. Expensive Air Guard recruiting won’t help units with a shabby past and a fuzzy future sign up smart people who will join organizations which make tangible offers like specific training funded programs. These units which have gained from BRAC definitely will be next on the list. These actions clearly violate the Militia Clause of the Constitution which everyone has taken an oath to defend as General Blum has often subtlety indicated. Bad laws can be changed as we are working to change the Insurrection law. The 83% of the Air Force recommendations in BRAC which should have been in the QDR can be changed by legislative actions. Can you bring yourself to be less supportive of what you have often called a done deal and let this association help you out of your dilemma?

Gen Spruance said due to Gen Blums remarks and what he is doing with JCA, he said he understood him to say the Air Force will fund the complete buy. Gen Blum said the Air Force will buy 50 air planes, 40 get fielded to the Air National Guard and 10 are for technical evaluation and to be the schoolhouse air planes.

Gen Spruance said he thinks that BRAC action law is tremendously vulnerable. He said he thinks they have a clear cut case and can reverse that law. Gen Blum agreed and said he thinks the mood and dissatisfaction in the Congress is such that they would be agreeable to relaxing or allowing us to do different things. He said he would not want to throw the whole thing because there are some good things that will be lost. He said they can go after the problematic pieces and as soon as they pull the first thread and are successful the can continue but keep the pieces that they want to keep.

Gen Spruance said he would take the issue to Congressman Tom Davis. Gen Blum asked the he do that in concert with Gen McKinley so they have a coordinated attack on the Hill.

Gen Umbarger thanked Gen Blum for coming. Gen Blum thanked NGAUS for what they do and the next couple of years will be tough

Gen Blum said that one issue that did not come up is they need to make a big deal out of joint credit being awarded to Adjutants General in the Empowerment Act. He said if this Empowerment Act gets passed and they let that get take out in conference you will never get that. He said there will never be a stronger case for getting joint credit for the TAGS

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than right now than tying it on to the Empowerment Act. He said it needs to stay in there and not get killed in conference. He said the AGAUS and NGAUS has to lend their influence to Congress on this issue. He said every TAG is affected by this if they will ever go anywhere beyond being a TAG. He said there will not be waivers in the years to come. He said there is a no kidding reason that all the federally recognized. He said the big argument they are using in is the TAGS are state employees and they don’t care about them. He said most of the TAGS are federally recognized general officers of the Air Force and Army, senate confirmed and they have to have joint credit if they are able to be in the pool to be promoted to three and four stars in DoD in the future. He said otherwise we are wiping every TAG out and saying the no Adjutant General will ever be anything but Adjutant General, and then retire.

Gen Ross asked who was working that out in conference. COL Mickevicius said it was initially in both provisions, but the House kind of pushed back and Congressman Skelton has some P&E concerns, and he thinks that is where the resistance is. Gen Blum said Gen Sidwell, himself, AGAUS, and NGAUS needs to go see him.

Gen Ross said if there are others on the Hill that we need to work that issue with, Rich Green and the Legislative would like to get that information. Gen Blum said this is an issue that the TAGS should work immediately for the next few weeks.

Gen Koper said they were aware of it a couple days ago, however, at that time it was couched not specifically, even though it resides in the professional staff. He said it would be helpful to determine if it is a DoD position and asked Gen Blum if he is free to comment on the issue.

Gen Blum said he is free to comment and if he is not he will do it anyway. Gen Blum said how anyone can say that 54 federally recognized General Officers in the Army and Air Guard and none of them are should be developed to the point where they can be elevated to the next position or a higher level or another job. He said that is ridiculous.

Gen Koper said as Ted can tell you, all the negotiating cadre they have been operating in on Empowerment for the last two years have included NGAUS strong support in building up the pool of qualified officers in any way we can to make sure that the Empowerment piece works for the long haul. He said when they were told about this provision a couple days ago, it was couched in terms of the National Guard Bureau being willing to accept that as a throw away item. He asked if Gen Blum was telling them that is absolutely incorrect.

Gen Blum said he would take as a throw away item before he take that, he would take the Chief off the Joint Chiefs of Staff before he throws that away. He said that is more important to keep than the Chief of the Bureau being on the Joint Chiefs. He said to say that none of the Adjutants General are good enough to advance beyond the Adjutant General is an insult.

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Gen Koper said as we talk to the folks on the Hill in an effort to make sure this does not happen, is it fair to say that the National Guard Bureau would not suggest that as a bargaining chip for Empowerment. Gen Blum said the National Guard Bureau does not see anything to bargain away in the Empowerment Act. Gen Blum said he wanted to make it very clear, they got it right. He said the only way any thing will get done is through legislation. He said there will never be another time where we will be able to accomplish what is possible now. He said any thing that gets conferenced out will be lost.

Gen Koper said this is unfortunately one of those issues that is driven by those murky forces that exist on the Hill that screwed us up last year and he sense the same crew of people are working against us. Gen Blum told Ted to make sure he is tied hip to hip with NGAUS LL people. He said the fact that Gen Koper asked him that question lets him know they are not tied tight enough.

Gen Stump said that legislation was not in the original bill, but they, The National Guard and Reserve Commission, will discuss it. Gen Blum said if they are going to conference it away then he needs the instruction that he get to says that the Chief of the National Guard Bureau determines who gets joint credit. He said there has to be a plan B if they lose in conference.

Gen Umbarger said we also have a great relationship with the Governor’s Association and they can help out with this issue. Gen Blum said the National Governors Association has become a big ally on this issue.

Air National Guard update—Lt Gen Craig McKinley

Gen McKinley thanked the Board for inviting him and his staff and said he was present to answer question because that is more helpful.

Gen McKinley introduced the new Deputy Director of the Air National Guard, Brig Gen Sid Clark. He is from Alabama and ran the unit at Montgomery. He has been at state headquarters and spent two years on the air staff in the planning and programming world.

Gen Clark said he has been on the job for about two and a half months and he has hit the ground running. He said the biggest challenge they have is the states that are affected by BRAC gets worse because the ramp up of new missions is not happening as fast as you would like to see it happen. He said they are working that issue very hard. He said the biggest thing he wants to do is make sure that they push through on the Total Force Initiatives and TFI to happen the way they would like to see it happen, which is his personal challenge.

Gen McKinley introduced members of his staff. Col Joe Lengel, is the Commander of the Air National Guard Readiness Center. He does the day-to-day work with the state. He is a Texas Guardsman who flew F16s out of San Antonio unit. Mark Sosa is the

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Deputy Chief in the Civil Engineering branch, who works the MILCON issue. Lt Col Randy Johnson, who is now running Recruiting and Retention. Joey Bowie is transitioning into a new job with Jim Demeritt at the senior level in the LL Department.

Gen McKinley said the end strength for the Air National is at 107,000 people. He said the Army National Guard has turned their recruiting around with GRAP. He said they are working with the Adjutants General to try to determine what initiative they need to do to improve their recruiting numbers. He said there is a lot of turmoil in the Air Guard that they have never had before. He said many of the units are resetting themselves and they are in a transition period. He said they are about 1500 below end strength.

Gen McKinley said Gen Poythress asked him what is an affected matrix that says the Air Guard is or is not up to recruiting strength. He said that 98% of the 107,000 people are top notch, combat ready airmen. He said he is pleased with the quality of the people they have, but is worried that is a market that is competitive that is doing better and they will continue to look at initiatives that will help them do that.

Gen McKinley said he does not want to compare what the Army Guard spends on recruitment with the Air Guard because they do not spend that much. He said every dollar he takes from readiness and give to recruiting is a dollar he won’t have for the training of airmen. He said Col Johnson is doing work with the recruiters and they will get there.

Gen McKinley said Joe Lengel works day to day resetting the force. He said Lengel is tasked with to do if BRAC is lost what the Guard will look in 2011 when BRAC is finished.

Col Lengel said he and his staff spend most of their time trying to transition the Guard from where we were pre BRAC and TFI into the new mission sets. He said at the same time they are trying to right size everybody’s documents they have in the states. He said the total number stays the same, but there used to be a lot more positions. He said as they try to cut positions and fit them into new missions in the states is an incredible task. He said about 90,000 positions have been changed and they are sending 20,000 more to training. He said the do customer service visits to the states so they know what is going on.

Gen McKinley said it is the first time in sixty years the Air National Guard has gone through what the Army Guard has. He said he has visited all the BRAC units and they will make sure that those units that were disproportioned affected by BRAC get into new missions. He said they will try to fix it but if they can’t they have to have units and people well trained on the other side of this.

Mark Sosa talked about some of the MILCON challenges they are having with the TFI missions that came post BRAC. He said what is required and what programmed and funded are not the same size. He said their job is to try make them the same size. He said they work with the bases to try to reduce the requirements and get them more

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economical. He said they work within the structure and panel of the Air Force to get the funding and programs they need to have the facilities they need to do their jobs. He said they are pre-preparing for the 10 POM.

Gen McKinley said when he visit the states he can see units they need to build new facilities so they can transition into the new missions. He said they have to take of the young men and women who gave up flying missions and are moving into the information ops age.

COL Deering asked about the future of the 118th Air Wing in Nashville, Tennessee. He wanted know why the Air Force is dragging their feet in giving them the mission.

Gen McKinley said that unit was a C130 unit that was BRACed. He said they are working with the Air Force to make that a training site and Nashville makes sense. The Secretary of the Air Force International Affairs has done studies of Nashville and Mansfield, and both sites are capable. He said if that mission comes to the Guard, they are proposing one of those units will be the location for that. He said Congressman Synder wants to see as much remain at Little Rock as possible, the center of excellence for the C130, but the capacity study shows that Little Rock is pretty much maxed out.

Gen Koper said the slide indicated they are moving steadily along with manpower documents for the reset. He asked if the reset progress have sufficient manpower fidelity to satisfy some of what we hear are constant recruiting concerns. He said they are linked out in the field and recruiters will run into that because of turbulence. He asked if it is far enough along that some of those answers are available.

Gen McKinley said that for about four years they have missed end-strength. He said some regions are having a more difficult time recruiting than others. He said he is not a proponent in studying mission movement, but Gen Blum is. He said the Army and Air Guard move missions from states that don’t recruit to those that do. He said with a little more effort he thinks we will be fine.

Col Lengel said regarding fidelity in each individual unit, the answer is yes there is enough so they can move ahead in recruiting. He said they do not have perfect documents but there is enough information to not have a road block to recruiting.

Col Hansen asked if they would have any issues with training slots as they recruit and cross train those people that they are resetting during this time. He said they see a train wreck coming.

Gen McKinley said the Air Force has stood up to every training slot requirement they have had to date. He said when they get into the meat of BRAC; his only prediction is it will slow the rate of conversion down.

Col Hansen said they are having issues where new recruits are quitting because there are no slots to send them to school and it is a year and a half they leave for some place else.

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Gen McKinley said that is news they need to hear from units and to let them know because they don’t want anyone to walk out the door who are waiting to go to a school.

Gen Koper asked if the Air Force had given him any specific guidelines in the directed full time manning scrub for the 10 POM and what are they telling him to look for.

Gen McKinley said that he had Sid look at that when he was in A8 and he honestly thinks it is a good news study once the study is done. Sid said the lens that was used by the Air Force is they believe the ration of full time and part time Air National Guard is much higher than the other Reserve Components and why is that. He said he is sure this will come out very favorable.

Army National Guard update—MG Raymond Carpenter

Gen Carpenter thanked on behalf of Gen Vaughn, the National Guard Association and the Adjutants General Association and said it is absolutely critical to what they are doing in regard to operationalizing the Army National Guard among other initiatives.

Gen Carpenter talked about modernization of the fixed wing fleet in the Army National Guard. He said except for the Joint Cargo Aircraft, the only other modernization program is the Future Utility Aircraft, concept yet to be determined. It will be smaller that the JCA and about the size of the C12 or C26, and probably be a jet. He said they will wait until the JCA issue is settled before getting into that.

Gen Wright asked about the comment on the slide about retirement of the C12 in 2012. Gen Carpenter said that should be 2015, which is tentative.

Gen Umbarger said Gen Blum had mentioned he would like to take that to 20 years and that is what they would like to see. He said they all need to get on the same sheet of music on that.

Gen Carpenter said on the brigade headquarters it will suffice it to say is a hot topic across the Army. He said they will see where that goes.

Gen Carpenter said MILCON has been a disaster in the Army National Guard. He said as a result of what happened last year is because of two initiatives. One is to bring back the brigades that are overseas, primarily in Germany, and the other in the BRAC process they went through. He said there were some huge bills that were due. He said they rolled their budget in on top of their and re-prioritized everybody’s budget. He said the effect for the ARNG was that it took the projects that had been promised to the states a slid it to the right one or two years and those who were at the end of the line fell off. He said this is not a good deal and the Governors Association are engaging on that issue.

Gen Carpenter said they are in the process of putting together a General Officers Steering Committee in conjunction with the Installations Committee from AGAUS. He said in

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September they will have a meeting with the Army G3, the Vice, Director of the Army staff, and the Director of ARNG to talk about the way ahead and a method to increase the budget.

He said that are asking to accelerate the full time manning in the ARNG to a 100% of the requirement in 2010 as opposed to the ramp that is out to 2013 that is at 75% of the requirement. He said it will take money and effort. He said there is a disconnect between them and NGAUS because there is a resolution that says 75% of the manning by 2010. He said full time support is an enabler in that.

Gen Carpenter said the key to them being successful is the synergy that comes from the Adjutants General community and from the National Guard Association and how that plays out on the Hill.

COL Faber said in chairing the Chief of Staff Advisory Committee, their number one issue right now is to re-look the Joint Force Headquarters TDA. He said when it was built it was built for pre-mobilization training and state active duty. He said now they have all these new missions, to include Homeland Security and Homeland Defense, and call it what you will, it is post-mobilization training oversight and certification being done in pre-mobilization. He said that consistently the answer comes back to the states that there is only so much TDA in the Army and the Army National and it has to be divided to make sure it is use wisely, versus what he thinks is the real answer, they need more TDA structure. He said they need to go back to the Army to get more TDA structure. He said there is not a Joint Force Headquarters out there that’s big enough right now to handle all the mission load and some of them are really hurting. He said the solution set is going to go far beyond re-looking the TDA structure we have a simply reallocating it within the National Guard.

Gen Carpenter said he is right and COL Jennings has that as a tasker. He said the Gen Vaughn’s effort in regards to the Army National Guard is to grow the Army National Guard beyond the 350,000 out there and with that growth will come an opportunity for them to sign up for more force structure. He said right now they are constrained by the force structure they have now. He said the long term strategic plan for the ARNG means growth and Gen Vaughn understands the competing priorities for TDA. He said they are not trying to cut the Joint Force Headquarters out of the business, but they have RTI’s who are training soldiers with shortfalls and others who are competing requirements.

Gen Taylor said when he participated in a NGAUS Task Force meeting at the readiness center he overheard something that bothered him. He said that under the rapid fielding initiative, there is a lot of equipment that units aren’t getting until they are mobilized and deployed. He said there is a large requirement, laser range finders are one, and the units don’t see this equipment until they are mobilizes and deployed. He said they don’t get to see that equipment until they are in theater or at a mobe station. He said that everyone seems to be content with that, like the problems fixed, rather than getting the equipment purchased so the units will have it to train with.

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Gen Carpenter said they are not content with that. He said their intent is if a unit is in the queue to be alerted a year out, they should have that equipment even before the alert so they can be trained. He said that is a high priority for him.

Capt Serland asked if you are green in AFROGEN in 08 or 09 you should see that equipment flow in. She asked how far down the road is he looking at.

Gen Carpenter said the short answer to that is yes. He said the problem they are seeing a depression that is three or four years. He said they are trying to figure out the alert piece.He said the intent is to get the equipment to the units so they can have it for training post mobilization.

Gen Umbarger said there will be a reception immediately following the close of the meeting for the two Legion de Lafayette recipients, DRS Technologies and Ron Sutton.

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July 22, 2007Draft Meeting Minutes

Members Present:MG Martin UmbargerMaj Gen David PoythressBrig Gen (Ret) Kenneth RossCOL Al FaberBrig Gen (Ret) Robert DutkoCOL Deborah AshenhurstCOL Steve JoyceLt Col Murray HansenLTC Darrell LoydCOL Robert FeldermanCol Gunther NeumannMG Edward WrightCOL Raymond JardineBrig Gen Daniel O’HollarenCOL (Ret) Don DeeringCapt Mike TaylorCol (Ret) Ray MagillCW5 Larry Massey

Members Absent:BG (Ret) Robert TaylorBG Norman ArflackLTC Cathy CorkeryMG Glenn RiethMaj Gen Tod BuntingCPT Rollin RobertsMG Gus HargettMG (Ret) James HughesBrig Gen Joseph VellionMG Randal ThomasMG Frank VavalaBrig Gen Hugh Broomall

Others Present:Ms. Cynthia WatsonCMSgt Roger Hagan (for CSM Frank Lever)

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Mr. Chris MearsCOL (Ret) Tom KirkpatrickBrig Gen (Ret) Stephen KoperMs. Loretta FillsMs. Pam BucklerMr. Ron SuttonMG (Ret) Ron HarrisonMr. Lewis KingBrig Gen (Ret) Richard GreenMs. Hazell BookerCOL Francis McGinnLTC Tracy SettleLt Col Tony DejesusCPT Mayb SerlandBrig Gen (Ret) William Spruance

Gen Umbarger called the meeting to order at 8:00 am.

Conference Report—LTC Wayne Hunt

LTC Hunt reported that as of last Monday the states were required to have all their registration data in to us. He said 48 states responded on time which is the best it has ever been. He said the Golf Tournament has been closed which is at the max. There are still some booths left to sell. He said the booths that are sold and some of the companies that traditionally have very large booths, have cut back due to shipping cost.

LTC Hunt said he and Pam will be going to Puerto Rico today. Their primary focus on Monday and Tuesday is to go through all the hotel rooming list and consolidate them. On Tuesday they meet with the hotels to turn over those list as well as the deposits. Then a week from Wednesday the Executive Directors in the states can call the hotels to deal with them directly.

COL Joyce said if they are able to send more Guardsmen and Women, as indicated by the Chief yesterday, then LTC Hunt might talk to the hotels about holding open extra rooms for that purpose. LTC Hunt said that some states have sold all their rooms and asked for more but the added people may not be in the hotel with the state but another one.

Gen Poythress inquired about the MILAIR has to be to Puerto Rico by August 10. COL Hunt said they are required to get their paper work in to them on how many people will require MIL AIR.

Gen Ross inquired about the number of people for the States Dinner. COL Hunt said Puerto Rico traditionally hold their conference in August, but will invite their officers to the NGAUS Conference. They anticipate six to eight hundred. Gen Ross asked if they called themselves attendees. COL Hunt said they are just pushing the dinner part.

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LTC Hunt said Hazell, John Goheen and Gen Koper will attend Rock Drill in Puerto Rico to go over all the details to see that they are on the right track. Another such meeting will be held the Tuesday before the conference.

LTC Hunt said there will be bus transportation two days before the conference begins and the day after. The map and the three routes are on the website. He said the traffic is congested in the morning and evening. He said the busses will have police escort all day long.

LTC Hunt asked the area reps to let NGAUS know who among the staff is invited to their Caucus functions to make presentations.

LTC Hunt explained the layout of the convention center. He said the Business Sessions will be held on the third fold. He said the room will be divided for the Air and Army sessions. He said the States Dinner will be held in that room as well. The center will have one entrance and all others will be used for egress.

Gen Poythress asked how the numbers are compared to last year. COL Hunt said maybe two or three hundred more at a percentage of about 5%.

Gen Koper said last year a time management system was used for the parade of flags well in advance for states to plan. He said it worked well. He said they did not have a mechanism to keep track with a visible display count down clock. He said we have inquired and priced a display clock to assist the secretary. He said the clock would cost maybe $500 or less. He said with the Boards approval he would like to have that available as an enhancement. The Board approved.

Insurance Trust Update—Ron Sutton

Ron reported that last year this time they were not looking to good, but overcame the last six months with $1.6M for the year. He said for the first six months in 2007 they stand at $656,565 which is driven by claims. He said if things hold true with no bad claim experience they will end up higher than last year.

Ron reported the marketing activities have been strong this year but not as strong as he would like. He said they had budgeted to do a lot of things with HRO, but the restrictions from the Bureau on the travel for conferences have been cut out so they have not had any sponsored conferences. He said the conference is Salt Lake City was cancelled because of those limitations that they have to meet within 60 miles of the DC area.

Ron reported Open Enrollments are strong and they have picked up two new states this year. He said thanked Ray Magill for engineering the very successful enrollment in Massachusetts. They will do one in Kentucky in September and one in South Carolina in November.

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Ron reported the much of their work is done with the returning technicians to make sure they get re-enrolled in the insurance program so they do not lose any coverage or benefits.

Ron reported that ING helps to maintain the Internet site. He said all forms and brochures are included on the website to download. He said they also help them with the magazine advertising.

COL Joyce said the HRO conference will be held in Miami the middle of next month.

CMSgt Hagan asked why New York is split out separately. Ron said that is the New York law, with separate advertising, forms, claims, and everything is different in New York. He said there are five states that there are separate forms to accommodate the state law.

Ron reported on the TRICARE supplement insurance with USBA. He said USBA people will attend the EANGUS Conference and begin to advertise the 1 October start of the TRICARE supplement. They will also attend the conference in Puerto Rico. They are working on a draft flyer and a news release.

Ron said Gen Koper wants to make sure they are real cautious on what they say about the TRICARE supplement until they see what the final decision from Congress is.

Ron reported on the $1000 Accidental Death and Dismemberment policy that is given to all members. He said they have switched from Fidelity Security to ING who underwrites that. He said there have been no claims. He said it was discussed if they should re-insure or do self insurance. He said the average claims over a year have been five.

NGEF Update—Brig Gen (Ret) Stephen Koper

Gen Koper reported the Mid-year Budget and the Audit were approved for the year.

Gen Koper reported that senior leaders and staff visited 32 state conferences this year. He said they were supported by three full size booths and one tabletop display. He said he set a goal that they in their state conference visits they would visit the low membership states. He said they visited six of those low states in 2006 and the seventh they were unable to met an agreement on the approach. He said they will continue to tell the Guard story.

Gen Koper reported the two latest LDL’s were inducted yesterday and they continue to come in. He said Ron Sutton and DRS Technologies will receive their LDL medals at the States Dinner at the conference. He said the LDL wall is current as of Friday. He said he hopes the errors have been eliminated and hopes that everyone has been included. He said if anyone notices an error to bring it to the attention of Wayne Hunt and we will try to repair that. We are working with a new supplier who is very aggressive and eager to please.

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Gen Koper reported the Golf Tournament will be at Fort Belvoir, October 5, and he encouraged all members to support NGEF.

Gen Koper reported they have been bouncing quotes on the Monument for over a year and finally that process in done. The monument will be refurbished itself that sits atop the bunker that contains the gun. It has been determined that major repairs to the bunker are not required because there is no safety issue at this point , but some minor cosmetic spalling inside the bunker, but they will go ahead and refurbish the gun and the monument and come back to the minor concrete repairs to the interior of the bunker at a later time.

Gen Koper reported on the Guard Muster website tasker. He said they had done a complete review and have done a complete review and they know why the problem happened. He said they have repaired those items that they are aware of, but obviously if something is missing they don’t know it. He said they would have to deal with each one and it can be done quickly. He said the data is in electronic files, but they don’t know whether someone’s picture or data is missing. He said he does not think it is a widespread problem.

Gen Koper said they have had some problem with the touch screen kiosk for the OEF/OIF exhibits with some lose of new material going in. He said the data is not lost, it is on electronic files. He said it turns out they were not following the protocol. He said the designer has reiterated the protocol and they now have that under control.

Gen Koper said the director search is ongoing. He said they have received applications for qualified candidates and is looking to select the position very soon, assuming they can negotiate a proper package with the selected individual.

Gen Umbarger said a professional consultant, Skystone Ryan, had been hired to take a look at the NGEF. He said the NGEF has to be subsidized by NGUAS by about $125,000 each year. He said from that analysis the Educational Foundation conducted a separate two day meeting here at NGAUS with the NGEF Board. He said the results of that were to look at possibly redoing the organization and the structure of the NGEF Board of Directors, with the thought that most of the Board that were in that Board was from the NGAUS Board. He said the thought was that the NGEF Board needs more outside energy and thought.

Gen Umbarger said the new proposed structure of the Board would be: six positions, one from each area, two from EANGUS, three at large positions. The three at-large positions would be from through out the nation. He said the Board would remain the same and would be voted on at the November meeting.

Gen Umbarger said they would be looking within the organization to try to find an individual who has the ability to write a strategic plan. He said Skystone Ryan presented a proposal to write a plan for a minimum of $100,000 up to $600,000 in fees for four to

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five years to develop a plan with grants. He said they did not want to embark on a plan like that. He said the goal and objective would be to not have to draw money from the association to fund the Educational Foundation and that money could be used for furthering our issues on the Hill and use it for better benefits. He said that is where they would like the end-state of the strategic plan to go. He said there are many things that need to be looked at, the Muster program, the LDL program, for example.

Gen Umbarger said Gen Spruance offered $25,000 to be used by the Company Grade officers. He wanted to pass on the CPT Roberts that we still have an outstanding tasker for him to report to the Educational Foundation with a plan of how that money can be used to improve the Guard Muster. He said the Company Grades has said it is hard to promote that to a Lieutenant or Captain to join the Muster because they feel they are promoting themselves. He said they felt better promoting a member of their family. Gen Umbarger said there might be another way to encourage the young officers to put themselves into the Muster.

Gen Umbarger said a letter will go out from him to find someone within the organization someone who will be interested in heading up a Strategic Plan Committee.

Gen Spruance said it would set a good example if those present in the room were on the Guard Muster. He said the magazine is going to publish the people who are on the Muster.

Gen Umbarger said the Muster is a self serving thing and that is one of the things that we need to look at to make sure it is done for the right reason.

Gen Ross corrected the fee for joining the Muster. It is $25 to join the Muster and $40 if you put the picture on the page. He said that most people may not know that. He said it is an extra $15 for the picture.

Gen Ross commented on the vision of the Foundation. He said the Museum, the Library and all the resources is very important to the organization and it not going anywhere and will always be supported. He said it has in the past done a great job. He said the vision he is trying to get people to buy in on is what it can be, not what it is today. He said it has been said why we worry about that and we can make it work in the budget. He said that is true, but the most valuable asset is to the entire organization, more valuable than the building, is the 501 c 3 approval letter status of the Educational Foundation. He said neither NGAUS nor the Insurance Trust has that. He said the Foundation owns a letter that says that donors can give to it in a tax exempt status. He said he thinks we get myopic in thinking about our normal mission and role and family of Guard business. He said that letter can make this organization even stronger than it is, because there is a whole new world that we don’t deal in of people who are motivated to make charitable contributions. He said all the Fortune 500 companies have arms that make charitable contributions. He said it does not make a difference what product they produce, if you get their interest in making a charitable contribution, and they think you are a great organization, they write you a check which $10,000 is nothing to some of these

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companies. He said he thinks if we go out and nurture and mature that letter we will have even more resources then available to do the whole mission. He said that 501 c 3 money can’t be used for lobbying, but can be used for the other goals and purposes. He said the long term goal needs to be the finest organization of its type in Washington, DC. He said we don’t always need to concentrate on the contractors, but need to think outside the box. He said he keeps encouraging raising some money so the Foundation would have an annuity that would take care of itself. He said it is for the benefit of the entire organization out of an entirely different pool of money. He said that if we put together a team that would raise money from different sources will some day say that was the right thing to do.

Gen Dutko said a plan was developed a few years ago and started a fund raising effort. He said part of the plan was marketing the NGEF. He said when he was trying to raise money he had requested that each month a page in the magazine to do exactly what Gen Ross is talking about. He said that Gen Spruance had put together a piece of paper that said when a person dies they will leave their money to the museum, which is not advertised. He said we need to use the tools we have to get out to our membership to let them know the value of the Museum. He said we need to get someone to write articles or advertise for donors and we have not done a good job with that. He said if you put that in the magazine every month and it is continuously read, it sets a tone and people start to see. He said we should be listing donors in the magazine all the time, because when people see names it triggers others to do something like that. He said he still suggest that each month there is a full page in the magazine on the Museum to attract donors and let them know how they can make a tax deductible donation to this worthwhile organization. He said that is a simple tool and we do not use it.

COL Faber said he agrees but what is key is the restructuring the Board, its mission and focus, and a full time staffer which was one of the recommendations decided to act upon. The full time staffer would help coordinate, not ask for money, the comprehensive effort to raise money for the Educational Foundation. He said to date we have had people do it as an additional, ancillary or a volunteer duty and that is the results we have gotten. He said they have been great, but if we are serious about raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, then we need someone who focuses all their time and attention and has the expertise to do it. He said they voted to do this as part of the restructuring of the Board to add a staff member to do that as their primary duty and responsibility. He said when we evolve to that they program will begin to take off.

Gen Umbarger gave an update on where we are with the Educational Foundation. He said it is a work in progress and nothing like this happens immediately. He told the members if they know if any body in their areas who would like to be a part of this on a voluntary basis, he wanted to hear about it.

Gen Umbarger said that at the conference there are two areas with elections, areas one area four. He asked Col Debbie Ashenhurst to be the representative for area one for their elections. COL Joyce would be the representative for area four. COL Jardine would be the Company Grade representative. Gen O’hollaren would do the retiree caucus.

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Col Magill said traditionally if the election year for the Army side the Air would chair or vice versa for the Company Grades and the Retirees.

Gen Umbarger said that Deering would chair the Retirees and CPT Roberts would chair the Company Grade elections.

Gen Umbarger said that he had been given a tasker the set up a salary review committee. He said he had not given fair warning, but wanted to see if Don Deering, Gunther Neumann, Darrel Loyd, and Rollin Roberts would be willing to head that committee or they could see him afterwards. He said he thought that was a good group.

Gen Koper asked if that was the salary review committee. Gen Umbarger said yes.Gen Koper asked the Chair to entertain some comments from Gen Dutko who has significant experience on that committee and could kind of couch that. If nothing else it would be educational for the rest of the board members to get a feel for what transpires in that process.

Gen Dutko said that three reviews had been done so far, and he had done them all. He said he tries to do them as economically as possible by bringing in people from the local vicinity. He said he tries to get people from New Jersey, Delaware. He said the last time Ray Magill served and came at his own expense. He said it is a simple process when you have done it a couple of times. He said they come in and spend a day and half here. He said part of the review is to interview the employees to determine the climate of the organization is. He said they look at the benefits program, and take a look at the comparative salary review, which are products provided by Pam Buckler. He said he then put a report together and submit it to the President and the Chairman of the Board.

Gen Dutko said you do not have to be a member of the Board to serve on the committee and he is on the Finance Committee.

COL Deering said he would serve on the Committee if it is the Chairman’s desire, and recommended that Gen Dutko be made the Chairman of the committee and the rest of them serve under him with his direction. Gen Umbarger said he would talk to Gen Dutko off line and talk to the other folks.

Gen Dutko said he would be glad to do it and he would seek out members of the Board so that there would be continuity for the future. Gen Umbarger said thank you.

COL Felderman said there were two members, Joe Jacobson and Gen Broomall, of the Awards Committee who will be up in December and he will send a email to the Chairman.

COL Faber said a tasker is what he sends out 90 days before a Board meeting are those taskers that the Board agrees that have been assigned to someone and that person or that

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Committee will come back before the Board of Directors to brief or make a recommendation or determination on what the Board has tasked them to do.

COL Faber said the taskers from this meeting are: the Salary Review Committee: the Company Grade Committee naming their award by November 07; and the Award Committee will rewrite the Chairman’s Award and submit that for the Board of Directors to review in November.

COL Faber said in executive session yesterday, for the record, the President’s bonus was approved at a percentage number that will be discussed between the Chairman of the Board and the President privately.

COL Jardine suggested that the members of the Board of Directors wear their name plates or ribbons at the conference so the members will know who they are.

Gen Koper said we will get a ribbon to go with the name plate. He reminded the members that historically the conference begins with the members of the Board seated on the platform and sometimes we haven’t followed that in recent years. He said that is also a good visual opportunity. He suggested to the Chairman that when he calls the conference to order that the Board is seated behind him and that would be an opportunity for the Board to stand and be recognized.

CMSgt Hagan expressed the appreciation for EANGUS to participate with NGAUS and for the gracious hospitality for their association. He said he had done some research on the question asked by COL Loyd yesterday and it was instructive. He said the question was if the states in NGAUS and EANGUS line up the same with low membership. He said of the 25 states in NGAUS who fall below the 67%, 17 of those states fall in that EANGUS category of the bottom 25. He said he said EANGUS has a 10.05% rate across the Board through June 30. He said they have 33 states that fall below that 10.05%. He said he would send Gen Koper a copy of his spread sheet.

Gen Dutko complimented LTC Hunt of the report he gave on the status of our building and the projects and repairs that need to be done. He said that is the type of information that will keep this $70M building in good shape.

COL Kirkpatrick said that in the By-Laws when we did away with the retired annual member category, where ever that is mention needs to be deleted, it has to do with candidates for office. He said he will redo that and it is an administrative error which does no require any Board action. He said it is his goal to have the By-Laws as of today’s date, July 22, 2007. He said if they see that date and remember they did not vote on anything that would be an administrative clean up as apposed to a substantive change. He said he will do the same for the new Board for the Educational Foundation. He said it will be posted on line and he will answer any questions after everyone has a chance to read it.

COL Faber said he would make sure that comment is included in the minutes.

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COL Joyce commented that today is Gen Dutko’s last day as a Board member. He said Gen Dutko has been a great example, coach, teacher and mentor. He said he is a great example for anyone who sits as a Board member and he will be sorely missed. The members concurred with applause.Gen Dutko said it has been a great ride. He said he and Gen Ross probably shares the most gratification out of the whole process. He said they had sat here two times to consider selling the building and voted against it. He said it is gratifying to him that he and Gen Ross shared in getting this back on track. He said it has been a pleasure working with everyone.

Gen Umbarger commented that he was proud of the way the Board conducted themselves with Gen Blum. He said he is looking to a great conference.

Gen Umbarger entertained a motion to adjourn. COL Ashenhurst so moved. COL Felderman seconded. Motion Carried.

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