Virgin Islands National Guard asks Legislature to approve $3.24 million local match as TAD pay, hangar loss and pension problems loom

Major General Kojo Knox Limbacher told the Senate Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance on June 30 that the Office of the Adjutant General (OTAG) seeks a $3,243,939 territorial appropriation for FY2026 to sustain the Virgin Islands Army and Air National Guard.

The request covers the territory's share of the federal Master Cooperative Agreement (MCA) and local costs the Guard must cover to receive roughly $46,956,770 in projected federal support. Limbacher and other Guard leaders emphasized an operational environment in which readiness, federal deployments, and local emergency response intersect.

Why it mattered: OTAG officials said the local appropriation enables the territory to meet mandatory cost-shares for facility maintenance and operations that the federal government will reimburse only after the territory posts its matching share. The Adjutant General warned that without the local match the territory will forfeit federal reimbursements.

Limbacher described widespread Guard activity—deployments to Qatar, East Africa and support missions across the region—and outlined personnel levels: about 102 Army and 19 Air full‑time employees plus a federally funded civilian technician workforce. He told senators the Guard has had recent success increasing readiness but is constrained by local cash-flow and matching requirements.

"If we…