Nordhaus Underscores National Guard's Indispensable Role

In the span of a single year, the men and women of the National Guard conducted precision airstrikes to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, rescued dozens of children from rising Texas floodwaters, repelled cyber intrusions targeting critical infrastructure and sent thousands of troops to restore order and safety in American cities.

Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee alongside reserve component chiefs today in Washington, the chief of the National Guard Bureau underscored the guard's indispensable dual role as a warfighting and response force.

"Our dual mission as the primary combat reserve of the Army and the Air Force, while also serving as the military first responders in domestic crises, is a challenge we accept," Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus said. "2025 was a remarkable year for the National Guard, defined by the scale and simultaneity of our operations."

When President Donald J. Trump called for action against Iran's nuclear program last June, National Guard aircrews contributed to the War Department's Operation Midnight Hammer, the largest operational B-2 Spirit strike in U.S. history. This mission began not at a forward operating base, but in Missouri, where the Air National Guard's 131st Bomb Wing has spent years working side by side with the Air Force's 509th Bomb Wing.

This year, National Guardsmen have participated in Operation Epic Fury, flying strike missions against Iranian targets alongside joint force partners. U.S. forces, including guardsmen, remain postured as U.S. combat power continues to build, while Iranian combat power declines.

In January's Operation Absolute Resolve, guard forces were employed to counter narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.

Meanwhile, back home, guardsmen logged more than 2.4 million hours of direct support to American citizens in response to domestic crises from natural disasters to civil emergencies.

Rep. Ken Calvert, the subcommittee chairman, praised the guard's counterdrug efforts in the homeland, which Nordhaus said was responsible for removing $15 billion in illicit narcotics from American communities in 2025.

"Every dollar you give the National Guard, you're getting huge bang for your buck," Nordhaus said. "Because our guardsmen are professional, they're experienced, and they use their civilian skill sets to come into those programs and make us stronger."

Today, about 42,000 guardsmen are currently engaged in the homeland and worldwide, supporting every combatant commander across the globe. Nordhaus said sustaining this operational tempo requires continued investment in facilities, equipment, medical readiness and people.

The general emphasized that the guard would remain a credible warfighting partner if it modernizes alongside the active component.

"To sustain strategic dominance, we must modernize concurrently with our services to aggressively outpace and overmatch tomorrow's threats," he said, calling for robust investments in flying hours, weapons systems sustainment, facilities maintenance, base operations support and the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account.

Nordhaus also asked Congress to address a funding gap created when guard forces are called into active-duty status to respond to domestic emergencies. Under current policy, reimbursement funds for those activations are returned to the Treasury Department rather than restored to the units that spent them on training and equipment.

"We ask for your support in restoring that readiness directly back to our formations," he said.

One of the most persistent challenges facing the guard is a personnel system that has not kept pace with the demands placed on the force.

Guard leaders have called on Congress to advance duty status reform, a long-sought effort to simplify the patchwork of legal authorities under which guardsmen are ordered to active duty, and to ensure that equal work is compensated with equal pay and benefits regardless of duty status.

Last month, during a roundtable review of crime reduction in Memphis, Tennessee, Trump announced that some National Guardsmen currently activated around the U.S. will soon receive deployment pay and benefits equal to those of their active-duty counterparts.

Perhaps the most cost-effective security cooperation tool in the War Department's portfolio is the National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, which pairs individual National Guard elements from every state, territory and the District of Columbia, with partner nations for training, exercises and military-to-military engagement.

The program now connects the department with nearly 60% of the world's countries at just 1% of the theater security cooperation budget. Nordhaus told lawmakers, "Your help with flexible, multiyear budget authority will allow us to sustain the pace of these highly effective engagements."

The general closed by thanking the committee for its support and calling on Congress to continue investing in the guard's warfighters and capabilities.

"We are powered by our core advantage: the citizen-soldier and airman," Nordhaus said. "They combine the warrior ethos with civilian-acquired skills, creating an organization that is as innovative as it is lethal, a force that is community-based and globally engaged.

"We will always keep our promise to the nation and to our citizens: always ready, always there."