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Vermont National Guard describes expanded overseas deployments, domestic response work
Summary
Adjutant General Major General Knight told the Government Operations & Military Affairs committee the Vermont National Guard is heavily engaged overseas and at home, citing air deployments to the Indo-Pacific, a 1,000‑member infantry brigade exercise in Europe, and domestic emergency response work including flood rescues and COVID support.
Major General Knight, Adjutant General of the Vermont National Guard, told the House Government Operations & Military Affairs committee that the Guard is carrying out multiple overseas and domestic missions while sustaining readiness at home.
Knight said roughly 275 Air National Guard members and some aircraft are operating with U.S. allies in the Indo‑Pacific for about 90 days to practice "agile combat employment," a dispersed, logistically austere way of operating the Air Force in future conflicts. "The focus is interoperability," he said.
The Nut Graf
The presentation framed the Guard’s international exercises as both a training and retention tool: Knight said collective overseas training gives members experiences that are hard to replicate in the U.S. and helps keep them in the Guard. He also said the Guard’s domestic mission remains central, citing flood responses and other emergency work that included swift‑water rescues.
Body
Knight described upcoming and recent overseas activity. He said most of the roughly 1,000 members of the 86th Infantry Brigade will take part in immediate‑response exercises in Europe in May–June, with a majority in Greece and a portion training with North Macedonia at the Krivallac training area alongside seven NATO partners. He said the scale of that collective training "is challenging, but those opportunities... are remarkably beneficial for us."
He also summarized a multilateral medical readiness exercise in Senegal that involved about 30 Guard medical personnel and two Austrian army doctors; the teams saw 791 patients in 12 days across three local clinics, providing primary care, OBGYN and physical therapy. "I can't buy that kind of marketing," Knight said of the goodwill generated by such missions.
On domestic missions, Knight said the Guard has continued emergency responses through recent flooding events and cited pandemic support that included delivery of food and vaccine administration partnerships with the Vermont Food Bank and local agencies.
Ending
Knight closed by emphasizing the Guard’s dual role as a domestic responder and a federal combat reserve, and by encouraging legislators to tell the Guard story to constituents as a recruiting and retention tool. He reiterated the Guard’s stated mission and values: to "provide ready forces to defend our nation and serve our country."
