In 2025, the Washington Military Department achieved several significant accomplishments in service to the state and nation. Through the dedicated efforts of the Washington National Guard, Washington Emergency Management Division (EMD), Washington Youth Challenge Academy and Washington State Guard, the department continued its mission of safeguarding lives and enhancing the well-being of Washington residents.
Washington National Guard
As Governor Bob Ferguson was sworn in as the new governor for the state of Washington, Guardsmen from the 10th Civil Support Team supported Washington State Patrol to ensure that all participants and guests in attendance were safe.
As the winter turned to spring, the Washington National Guard’s State Partnership Program in Thailand began to ramp up, with numerous subject matter exchanges and exercises. By the end of 2025, more than 550 Guard members would conduct 100 exchanges in the Southeast Asian nation. The culminating event for fiscal year 2025 would be the third annual Enduring Partners, which included the Army National Guard for the first time, taking UH-60 Blackhawks from Washington to Thailand and flying across the country with their Thai counterparts.
Throughout 2025, the Washington National Guard began preparations for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup games, which will be held at Lumen Field in Seattle. The 10th CST, partnering with Seattle Police and Fire, supported the FIFA World Club Cup games in June, a dress rehearsal for the upcoming games. However, focus isn’t just on the ground safety, but also on threats from the air. In November, Maj. Gen. Gent Welsh, the adjutant general invited experts from across law enforcement, federal and state agencies and defense contractors for a Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems summit. The focus of the summit was to walk through scenarios and build deterrence measures for any potential threats that could occur during the global games.
2025 saw National Guard members deploy for multiple federal missions. More than 100 Guard members from 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment deployed in May for a deployment to the Horn of Africa, supporting on-going Operation Spartan Shield. Another 75 Guard members deployed to the Southwest Border to support U.S. Army Northern Command for on-going operations. The 56th Theater Information Operations Group continued to support small team deployments to the Middle East with Information Operations and Military Intelligence teams. 44 airmen from the 262nd Cyber Operations Squadron, 194th Wing, took part in a nine-month mobilization in support of a Cyber Protection Team, focused on fortifying critical infrastructure and systems in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
As 2025 began to wrap up, major flooding across western Washington resulted in more than 400 Guard members being activated to support flood response efforts in Skagit, Snohomish and King County. Guardsmen filled sandbags, supported aviation hoist missions and swift water rescue operations, manned traffic control points, and helped with fixing and strengthening levee breaches along the Green and White River in south King County.
Washington Emergency Management Division
During 2025, employees of the Washington Emergency Management Division came together during a long wildfire season, historic floods and uncertainty in the face of federal grants changes.
From July to mid-October, the state Emergency Operations Center was at a Level 2 to help support the wildfire threat the state was facing. The decision to keep staff in person in the Emergency Operations Center helped staff work on critical position task books and train as the fire season started off slowly, giving leaders the impression it could be a relatively light year, only to see nearly an entire fire season compressed into the last weeks of September and early October.
Some staff members also worked double duty – working the wildfire threat at the same time an 8.8 earthquake struck off Russia sparking tsunami advisories along the coast of Washington. Staff executed well-rehearsed plans with precision and calm and did an amazing job under challenging and fast-evolving circumstances. Some staff worked long into the night and early morning making sure local partners had the best information to make important decisions.
In December, historic floods hit portions of Western Washington and Central Washington. The state Emergency Operations Center activated to a Level 3. At the request of the governor, the president issued a federal emergency declaration and federal resources were brought in to help. As the emergency transitioned into recovery, a new state Individual Assistance program was activated to help residents with immediate cash needs. Besides activations, EMD employees continued their regular training, hosted dozens of classes for local partners, prepared for the 2026 World Cup and continued team building exercises.
Washington Youth Challenge Program
The Washington Youth ChalleNGe Academy started the year off with honors from Kitsap County. The county named the Academy its Partner of the Year for the thousands of hours that cadets put into helping restore the county’s parks and making improvements to them. Since 2022, our cadets have contributed over 50,000 hours of voluntary service, a value of more than $1.7 million, according to figures provided by the website Independent Sector. The volunteer work was one highlighted by Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler, who was the keynote speaker for the class of 25-2.
2025 brought the 4,000th graduate the Youth ChalleNGe Academy. It was also the first time in a few years that dozens of graduates came back to celebrate their successes and tell stories to current cadets.
The average number of credits earned by our most recent cadets who completed the program was 7.5 credits. Many students excelled at their work. Students at the academy who receive special education services displayed incredible growth during the 25-2 cycle, increasing their reading ability by three full grade levels, their ability to use language by one grade level, and their mathematics ability by 1.6 grade levels based on their pre and post iXL assessment scores. Students who speak English as a second language also saw tremendous growth during the 25-2 cycle, increasing their reading ability by two grade levels, their ability to use language by 1.5 grade levels, and their mathematics ability by one grade level based on their pre and post iXL assessment scores.
Staff also made gains with more students utilizing the new Mentor Pro software to improve student communication after they graduate.
Washington State Guard
2025 marked a year of significant milestones for the Washington State Guard, as they expanded their operational capabilities, strengthened partnerships, and increased its overall readiness to support Washington communities.
Teaming with the Washington National Guard, the Washington State Guard provided critical State Active Duty support during the statewide flood response, assisted with search operations in the Wenatchee area, and provided specialized communications support.