Photo By John Hughel | Brig. Gen. Alan R. Gronewold, Adjutant General of the Oregon National Guard (right),...... read more read more
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With calendar year 2026 off to a fast start, the Oregon National Guard held a series of leadership workshops from February 26-28, focusing on organizational goals for Soldiers, Airmen, and the joint civilian staff. The workshops were held at the Armed Forces Readiness Center at Camp Withycombe in Happy Valley, Oregon, and included lectures and breakout sessions over three days of the conference.
“Everyone joined this organization, even if it was just for the money to attend college; they still joined knowing they were going to serve the state and nation,” said Brig. Gen. Alan R. Gronewold, Adjunct General for the Oregon National Guard, during his opening remarks at the Joint Senior Leadership Workshop on Feb. 27. “When you look through that lens at your Soldiers, your Airmen, your subordinates, your people, you see they all had good intentions for joining the Oregon National Guard – because everyone is here for the right reasons.”
As the first of many presenters for the day, Gronewold expanded on what it means to be a member of the Oregon National Guard and the Oregon Military Department, posing the rhetorical question, “Who are we?”
“We’re the service of choice. This is our vision for today, tomorrow, and every day from now until 2030, 2040, and beyond,” he said, emphasizing the Oregon National Guard’s continuous assurance. “We have to be the service of choice for Oregonians – integrity, leadership, and a commitment to our communities – we do this every day.”
The workshop allowed many of the ORNG senior leaders, as well as several civilian-led partners, to address key areas, including recruiting, retention, and workplace mental health and well-being.
Dr. Leslie B. Hammer spoke after Brig. Gen. Gronewold and shared research her team at Oregon Health Sciences University is conducting with the Oregon National Guard. She serves as Associate Director of Applied Research and a Professor at the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences. Dr. Hammer also collaborates with the Oregon National Guard on the Military Employee Sleep (MESH) and Health program. Their study examined sleep-related health issues, which are increasingly a focus of military research.
“The effort I am discussing today has received DoD (Department of Defense) funding for the past 15 years. In designing this program, we ensured alignment with TAG’s current initiatives focused on people and culture,” Hammer said, referencing the earlier MESH project and its influence on current efforts to train future military leaders. “Our work builds upon these prior initiatives, examining leadership culture and training. More recently, we implemented the program with active duty service members at JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington), focusing on readiness and leadership support training, and have since extended and tailored this work for the National Guard.”
The leaders identified in the study are being trained to recognize critical risk factors that impact the mental health, well-being, and readiness of military personnel. Analysis of data from nearly 70,000 service members at JBLM revealed a significant reduction in risk factors during the initial nine-month period.
“When we train leaders on these issues related to connection, related to culture, related to belonging in your unit, we really see amazing outcomes because we see that we have a stronger, more ready force,” she said. “So what we are doing with our leadership training is teaching leaders on how to prevent some of the harmful behaviors we see day to day, and it’s vital for leaders to be the key, to be the conduit, to such culture change.”
The workshop’s next two speakers explained how the Oregon National Guard is using this leadership training model to improve the force. Brig. Gen. Jenifer Pardy, Joint Domestic Operations Commander, and Col. Russell Gibson, Government and Legislative Affairs Director and 82nd Command Brigade Commander, outlined key aspects of the research methodology to the attendees.
“You’ll see the synchronization plan. We’ve developed a charter that truly puts action behind the words of this plan,” Pardy said, as she presented a list of slides detailing the work completed so far. “We really want a single unifying voice that identifies us as an organization, whether you wear the uniform or are one of our civilian leaders – state or federal. We’re all part of the same agency.”
To demonstrate the data analysis process, Gibson showed a clip from the 2011 film “Moneyball” to illustrate how value can be ‘found inside the numbers.’ This approach can help identify how key talking points, leads, target audience profiles, engagements, and other Request Packet Selections can shape the future of the Oregon National Guard.
“We are delegating a certain amount of decision authority to that business development group. For example, if a unit is organizing a community operations event and handles resources entirely internally, we’ll need an AAR (After Action Report) to evaluate whether it effectively supported the event,” Russell said as he presented a flow chart of the process. “At the Business Development Group [level], we can analyze, process, recommend, and decide whether to decline or accept as we go along in the sequence.”
This strategic communication plan strengthens community involvement by bringing Army and Air assets together and builds a positive culture across all units. Especially as some units are going through a transformation in mission, military occupations, and staff sizes.
While presenting some of those changes that impact the Army, Brig. Gen. Philip R. DeMontigny, Assistant Adjutant General – Army for the Oregon National Guard, described ‘The Why’ behind some of the changes that will take place over the next year.
“This change represents a different approach to force structure and is a significant adjustment as we adapt to the times,” DeMontigny said. “So what does this mean for the ‘Big Army’? It means that we can move much faster and engage in areas where we need to maneuver.”
These developments reflect a national strategy that prioritizes lethality over mass mobility. In contemporary warfare, mass has become a vulnerability that can be mitigated through speed and dispersion. Oregon is ready for these new vital missions.
“When you look at Ukraine, they are changing their systems now every 30 to 60 days and changing the software that goes with them,” he said. “Part of that change for us is bringing an end to the 3-116 Calvary (Regiment) as we reactivate the 2-186th Infantry Regiment, dating back to the Second World War.”
The Oregon Army National Guard will also inactivate the 1-82 Cavalry Squadron, which will officially case its colors on September 1, 2026. Members from this unit will move into new roles in the 2-186th Infantry Regiment and other positions within the 41st Brigade.
The Oregon Air National Guard is also undergoing changes. Air Component Commander Brig. Gen. David N. Unruh outlined some of the updates already underway.
“So what are we going to do with these changes? First of all, we're going to evaluate the way we do business,” Unruh said, drawing on the theme of the day. We're going to integrate our people wherever we can to get the best return on investment.”
These changes include the deactivation of the 116th Air Control Squadron, the transition to a Cyber Operations Squadron focused on threat-driven intelligence, and the 142nd Wing's ongoing conversion to the F-15 Eagle II airframe. The 173rd Fighter Wing at Klamath Falls divested its final F-15 Eagle in December 2025 and will focus on base infrastructure upgrades while awaiting the arrival of the first F-35 Lightning II aircraft in August 2027.
“So everything in the Oregon Air National Guard is in a state of transition,” he said. “This is an opportunity to break out of some of these artificial bowls and look at new initiatives on how to do our mission better while protecting Oregonians and defending the United States of America.”
| Date Taken: | 02.28.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2026 20:52 |
| Story ID: | 559503 |
| Location: | HAPPY VALLEY, OREGON, US |
| Web Views: | 141 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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