Virginia National Guard

Training. Weight lifting. Ruck marching. How one Virginia National Guard soldier overcomes challenges, becomes runner-up in Best Warrior Competition
June 5, 2018 — Spc. Johnathan T. Koke used the experience he gained during the 2016 Virginia National Guard Best Warrior Competition to better prepare for the 2018 event. Koke is a member of the Gate City-based 1032nd Transportation Company, 1030th Transportation Battalion, 329th Regional Support Group and finished as the runner-up for this year’s Best Warrior Competition, a three-day event held in late February... MORE

Virginia Soldiers & Airmen compete in state rifle match
May 31, 2018 — cattered storms and heavy rain made way for a wet and muddy two-day marksmanship competition. Fifty-seven Soldiers and Airmen from the Virginia National Guard participated in the Adjutant General’s 2018 Rifle Match May 18-19, 2018, at Fort Pickett, Virginia.The annual event is open to all Army and Air National Guard members across the state of... MORE

Virginia NCO & Maryland Soldier named best warriors in the region
May 22, 2018 — The 2018 Region II Best Warrior Competition brought Soldiers and NCOs from Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. to Fort Pickett May 17-20, 2018. After days of physical and mental challenges that had the region’s best Soldiers leaping over obstacles, knocking down targets and testing their military knowledge, Virginia National Guardsman Sgt. Jake Moyer was named the region’s top noncommissioned officer, while Maryland’s Spc. Gerald Villamar was named the top Soldier. The winners from the regional competition will go on to compete at the national level this summer... MORE

116th IBCT staff conducts command post exercise to prepare for Warfighter
April 24, 2018 — More than 350 members of the Virginia National Guard’s Staunton-based 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team participated in a command post exercise April 12-15, 2018, at Fort Pickett, Virginia... MORE

National Guard infantrymen complete final challenge of ALC
March 25, 2018 — “Conducting a full raid on a village with a helicopter, that’s hard to beat,” said Sgt. Dexter Whitten, an Indiana National Guardsman enrolled in the 183rd Regiment, Regional Training Institute’s Infantry Advanced Leaders Course. Together with more than 30 of his classmates, Whitten watched as four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters approached March 19, 2018, and landed in the Fort Pickett field in front of them. The aircraft, flown by Soldiers assigned to the Sandston-based 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, were there in support of course’s culminating event, a raid on one of Fort Pickett’s villages... MORE

VDF trains on individual skills, professional development
March 21, 2018 — More than 130 members of the Virginia Defense Force conducted training to improve their individual skills and professional development March 16-18, 2018, at Fort Pickett, Virginia. VDF volunteers trained on high frequency radio and mobile communications platform operations, incident management assistance, traffic control and access control and also took part in professional development classes including junior officer and senior noncommissioned officer leader development, property accountability, procurement procedures, officer candidate school and recruiting and retention. Communications support, operations center augmentation and security assistance are some of the many different mission sets the VDF provides as the all-volunteer auxiliary to the Virginia National Guard authorized by the Code of Virginia... MORE

Virginia Soldiers truck UH-1 from Pickett to new headquarters site
March 15, 2018 — A multi-unit effort resulted in the addition of a UH-1 Huey helicopter to the historical artifacts on display at the site of the new Virginia National Guard headquarters building March 10, 2018, at Defense Supply Center Richmond in Chesterfield County, Virginia... MORE

Red Dragons conduct individual, squad-level training at Pickett during March drill
March 5, 2018 — Approximately 800 Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the Lynchburg-based 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team conducted training on individual skills and squad-level tactics March 2-4, 2018, at Fort Pickett, Virginia... MORE

Moyer, Bustillo named Virginia National Guard Best NCO, Soldier
March 1, 2018 — After four days of intense competition at the Virginia National Guard Best Warrior Competition, Sgt. Jake Moyer was named the Virginia National Guard’s Noncommissioned Officer of the Year, while Spc. Miguel Bustillo was named the Soldier of the Year Feb. 25, 2018, at Fort Pickett, Virginia. Moyer is assigned to 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, while Bustillo is assigned to the 134th Cyber Security Company, 91st Cyber Brigade... MORE

Fort Pickett welcomes new garrison commander
February 4, 2018 — Lt. Col. Paul Gravely took command of Maneuver Training Center Fort Pickett from Col. Preston Scott, Jr., Feb. 3, 2018, at Fort Pickett, Virginia. Brig. Gen. Walter Mercer, Virginia National Guard Assistant Adjutant General – Army, presided over the exchange of organizational colors that represented the change of garrison command from Scott to Gravely... MORE

Gravely named as new Fort Pickett garrison commander, Scott to serve as 29th ID chief of staff
December 13, 2017 — Lt. Col. Paul Gravely will succeed Col. Preston Scott, Jr., as the Maneuver Training Center Fort Pickett garrison commander, according to an announcement made Dec. 13, 2017, by Maj. Gen. Timothy Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia. Gravely currently serves as the Fort Pickett director of plans, training and security, and Jan. 7, 2018, is his effective date for command. Scott will succeed Col. Kerry Dull as the chief of staff of the 29th Infantry Division... MORE

Fort Pickett firefighters work to earn aircraft rescue certification
October 17, 2017 — Members of the Fort Pickett Fire & Rescue Department along with firefighters from neighboring localities conducted aircraft rescue training Oct. 13, 2017, at the Blackstone Army Airfield near Fort Pickett, Virginia. Adjunct instructors from the Virginia Department of Fire Programs using fire training simulators administered the Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Course that meets the job performance requirements of the National Fire Protection Association Standard for Airport Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications... MORE

New urban training facility open at Fort Pickett
October 15, 2017 — The first Virginia National Guard unit to utilize Fort Pickett’s new urban operations training site took advantage of the facility’s instrumentation to create more realistic training scenarios and provide leaders with the ability to watch multiple locations in real time and capture video for after action reviews. Soldiers assigned to the Bedford-based Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team conducted civil disturbance training Oct. 14, 2017, at the newly-opened Combined Arms Collective Training Facility, or CACTF... MORE

Active shooter exercise tests Fort Pickett, local first responders’ capabilities
October 4, 2017 — Fort Pickett staff members and first responders from the Town of Blackstone, Dinwiddie County and the Virginia State Police conducted an active shooter training exercise Sept. 29, 2017, at Fort Pickett, Virginia. The exercise was designed to assess Virginia National Guard, state and local first responders’ capabilities and identify any gaps or shortfalls in the current active shooter response plans... MORE

First group of Virginia National Guard Soldiers departs for U.S. Virgin Islands
September 25, 2017 — The first group of Virginia National Guard Soldiers assigned to the Staunton-based 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team departed for the U.S Virgin Islands Sept. 24, 2017, from Blackstone Army Airfield in Blackstone, Virginia, to join a multi-state, multi-agency response effort to recent hurricanes. The Soldiers will serve as a mission command headquarters and synchronize all National Guard operations assisting with recovery effort, and additional Soldiers from multiple units from across the commonwealth will continue to deploy in the coming days to provide additional assistance... MORE

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