Adjutant General reviews National Guard missions, veterans services, Youth Challenge and C‑130J conversion

Major General Peter Hroněk, adjutant general and director of the Department of Military Affairs, told the House State Administration Committee the department and Montana National Guard produced more than $338 million in statewide economic impact in 2024 and outlined disaster‑response, veterans, youth and modernization activities.

"The department and the National Guard continued to provide significant economic impact to the state of Montana," Hroněk said, adding that roughly 93% of the department’s activity is federally funded.

He detailed Disaster Emergency Services activity (DES), noting two state disasters and four presidential disaster declarations over the biennium and citing $4 million per year of state mitigation funding that leveraged federal dollars into nearly $20 million of resiliency work (flood prevention, fuels reduction, grid hardening). He said the Veterans Affairs Division helped veterans receive more than $434 million in federal benefits in 2024 and that the department is planning a fourth state veterans cemetery adjacent to the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls (pending National Cemetery Administration action).

Hroněk described the Montana Youth Challenge Academy as a 17‑month voluntary program for at‑risk youth (ages 16–18) that includes a residential phase and a year of mentorship; he said Class 51 recently graduated 119 cadets and the program has more than 4,194 total graduates with long‑term positive placement rates around 80%.

On National Guard modernization, Hroněk said the state’s Air National Guard wing has been selected to receive C‑130J aircraft (eight aircraft beginning next year), a modernization effort the adjutant general said will bring significant training, facility and asset investments. He also described under‑construction readiness facilities, including an Army aviation support facility in Billings, and a new mobile engineering prototype facility that the Guard will host.

Why it matters: National Guard missions touch disaster response, veterans services, youth training, counterdrug support, cyber assistance and international partnerships; modernization and facility investments carry both federal dollars and state planning implications.

Details: Hroněk summarized domestic response readiness (wildfire support, search and rescue), counterdrug reconnaissance support for law enforcement, a National Guard cyber team that assists state entities, and the State Partnership Program with Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He told the committee he will present several DMA bills to the committee (three bills on the docket for Friday) and invited members to visit Fort Harrison for briefings and aerial tours.

Next steps: The adjutant general will present the department’s bills to the committee this week and offered to coordinate site visits to illustrate capabilities and infrastructure needs.