by Jonathan Eberle | Apr 29, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
In a bipartisan show of gratitude, the Arizona House of Representatives honored Major General Kerry L. Muehlenbeck last week for her decades of service to the state and nation. The ceremony, held on the House floor, also marked a new effort to support Arizona National Guard members currently deployed overseas.
Republican Representative Walt Blackman (R-LD7), a U.S. Army combat veteran and Chairman of the House Government Committee, led the recognition. Lawmakers from both parties signed a tribute to Muehlenbeck, who recently retired after more than 30 years of service, including her tenure as Commanding General of the Arizona National Guard and Director of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.
“Major General Muehlenbeck embodies everything we strive for in public service—courage, integrity, and a relentless commitment to those she leads,” Blackman said during remarks. “We thank her for her service and the legacy she’s leaving behind—a Guard that’s more prepared and more capable than ever.”
Muehlenbeck made history as the first woman to command the Arizona National Guard. House members praised her leadership through key operations such as border security missions, wildfire suppression efforts, and pandemic response initiatives. They also highlighted her parallel career in legal services and education.
The tribute ceremony was accompanied by a large donation drive to benefit deployed service members. Representative Teresa Martinez (R-LD16) organized the collection of snacks, hygiene items, and personal care products, with contributions coming from House members, staff, and their families.
“We’re grateful to Representative Martinez for organizing this drive to support our men and women in uniform,” said Blackman. “The Guard follows leaders like General Muehlenbeck into some of the toughest assignments. This is one small way for us to send a piece of home to those currently serving abroad.”
Photos posted by the Arizona House GOP on X showed the House members presenting Muehlenbeck with the signed tribute while standing before a large display of care packages. The event drew praise online for its bipartisan spirit and for spotlighting the service and sacrifice of both senior military leaders and rank-and-file troops.
The tribute was signed by Representatives Walt Blackman, Teresa Martinez, Nick Kupper, Dave Marshall, John Gillette, Stacey Travers, Aaron Márquez, and Mae Peshlakai. A copy of the tribute, photos of the ceremony, and images of the donated supplies were made publicly available following the event.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Mar 20, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Major General Kerry Muehlenbeck, the Arizona Adjutant General, will step down from commanding the Arizona National Guard and Department of Emergency and Military Affairs in June, according to Governor Katie Hobbs’ office. General Muehlenbeck was appointed to office in 2021 by then-Governor Doug Ducey.
“It has been an honor to serve as Arizona’s Adjutant General,” Major General Muehlenbeck said in a statement. “To be able to work alongside dedicated men and women, both in and out of uniform, in service to Arizona and the nation is a privilege beyond measure. I appreciate the trust of Governor Hobbs, Governor Ducey, and both their teams. I will always value their commitment to protecting the citizens of Arizona.”
Speaking with the Arizona Capitol Times, she explained that the time has come for her to return to her previous vocation: teaching criminal justice studies at Mesa Community College. According to the outlet, federal law requires civilian employers to hold a member of the military’s job for up to five years while they serve. Major General Muehlenbeck’s five years are up this year.
Muehlenbeck described her working relationship with both Republican and Democrat governors, telling the Arizona Capitol Times, “In the military, you don’t take any of the decisions personally. You’re there to provide your best military advice.” Muehlenbeck continued, “And if I don’t agree inside the room where we’re having discussions, as soon as we walk out of the door, then that decision is the best one we could have made.”
Governor Katie Hobbs released a statement on Monday saying, “I am grateful to Major General Muehlenbeck for her service to the people of Arizona. She is a valued member of my cabinet who is dedicated to fostering public safety across the state. Under her leadership, the Arizona National Guard launched Task Force SAFE, a critical ongoing effort that is preventing dangerous drugs from entering our state. In addition, the Division of Emergency Management and Arizona National Guard embarked on one of its largest rescue missions to date, evacuating more than 100 people when devastating floods swept through Havasupai. I wish Major General Muehlenbeck the best in her future endeavors.”
Hobbs musts now nominate a replacement for General Muehlenbeck, but any nomination will face heavy scrutiny from the Republican-led Arizona Senate Committee on Director Nominations led by Arizona Senator Jake Hoffman. Chairman Hoffman was clear that the decision on any nominee would come down to capability.
“We’re in an age where we want our military men and women, whether that’s the Guard or whether that’s the Marines or the Army, we want them to be the most efficient, effective fighting force possible,” Hoffman said. “Woke ideology of the politicization of our men and women will be an automatic death knell for any Hobbs nominee for this important post.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 22, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
On Monday, the Arizona Senate passed legislation prohibiting the deployment of the Arizona National Guard absent a declaration of war from Congress.
The bill, “Defend the Guard Act” sponsored by State Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-LD07), passed along partisan lines. The legislation restricts the Arizona National Guard from being released into active duty combat unless Congress passes an official declaration of war or undertakes official action pursuant to Article I, Section 8, Clause 15 of the Constitution.
“Do not send our Arizona National Guard to a war zone, unless the United States Congress has declared war!” stated Rogers.
The legislation defined “armed duty combat” to not only include participation in an armed conflict, but performing a hazardous service relating to an armed conflict in a foreign state and performing a duty through an instrumentality of war.
Rogers previously carried the bill successfully through the Senate last year, but it didn’t receive a final vote in the House.
Rogers’ bill advances just weeks after the drone strike tragedy in the Middle East that injured 40 Arizona National Guardsmen and claimed the lives of three service members from Georgia.
However, the bill received opposition from Arizona National Guard leadership.
During the committee hearing of the bill last month, Brigadier General John Conley, Director of Administrative Services for the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, expressed concern that the bill would cause the federal government to effectively end the guard by cutting off federal funding; removing their forestructure, including all their aircraft, vehicles, and equipment; and, dissolving their forces of 8,000 guardsmen.
“If this bill passes, it will be sending a signal to the active duty, and to the Department of Defense, that the Arizona National Guard is unwilling and unable to go overseas and perform overseas missions,” said Conley. “Once we say we can’t perform the mission or won’t perform the mission, then the president has no recourse but to take that forestructure away from us.”
Due to the effective end to the state’s guard, Conley said that the state itself would be less safe: there would be no helicopter assistance for law enforcement along the border, and no disaster mitigation through fire and flood assistance. Conley said that it cost $400 a day, alone, to put one guardsman on the border.
Conley further stated that the law would be unenforceable, and that it wouldn’t have prevented the Middle East drone strike tragedy.
Sen. Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli (R-LD30) responded that Conley’s warning of the federal government’s imminent response to the legislation proved the need for the legislation. Borrelli said that it was the federal government’s poor decision-making that led to their total party support of the bill: all GOP colleagues cosponsored the legislation.
“The federal government chooses to disarm the state of Arizona, that should be very telling. And that kind of tyranny should not be stood for, because that’s exactly what’s going on right now,” said Borrelli. “We’re putting our troops in harm’s way with our federal government and leadership — lack of leadership for that matter — they’re leaving our troops vulnerable. I’m sorry, I just can’t comprehend the lack of leadership and concern for our troops the last few years.”
Conley agreed that federal overreach was an issue. However, he emphasized that the Arizona National Guard was both a state and federal entity. Conley said that means that the guardsmen have no choice but to be mobilized when called upon by the federal government.
Rather than accomplishing protections for state guardsmen, Conley said that the bill would leave thousands of guardsmen out of jobs, healthcare, and pensions, and would feed into a resource-hungry Department of Defense.
“If we do that we are walking into a trap, unknowingly, that the active component is waiting, they cannot wait for it to happen, they want that forestructure,” said Conley.
Rogers countered that this bill was the difficult decision necessary to take back Arizona’s state rights. She said that Conley’s concerns further proved her point that Arizona needed to have greater control over its guard, rather than its current state of complete control under the whims of the federal government.
“What’s the difference?” asked Rogers. “This is a state’s rights situation. And we, as Arizona, need to take the first step to recovering the rights to our own National Guard.”
Conley said that the federal government had full authority over the guard because it owns the “lion’s share” of the equipment and salaries. Rogers disagreed, saying that their most dedicated guardsmen would stick with the state for the right cause.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Terri Jo Neff | Aug 29, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Last week’s announcement by Gov. Doug Ducey that all state buildings are to lower their flags to half-staff through Aug. 30 in honor of U.S. service members recently killed in Afghanistan has drawn renewed attention to President Joe Biden’s connection to Afghanistan and the Arizona National Guard.
In February 2008, then-Senator Joe Biden, along with Senator John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, were touring Afghanistan when their helicopters made an emergency landing in a mountainous area during a blizzard.
A rescue team with soldiers from the Arizona National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 158th Infantry Regiment “Bushmasters” was sent out to make the treacherous trek from Bagram Airfield to the landing site, according to a news article later posted on the National Guard’s website.
The article noted that the rescue mission was conducted by Combined Joint Task Force-82 which consisted of a 1/158th platoon and other servicemembers. The soldiers were not initially aware of the identity of the VIPs on the helicopters, Maj. John Bozicevic wrote.
Despite the intense weather, limited visibility, and hazardous route, the rescue team found the helicopters and convoyed the senators back to base. Other soldiers remained with the helicopters and crews for more than 15 hours in stormy weather.
Public records show the Arizona National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 158th Infantry arrived in Afghanistan in April 2007 and returned to Arizona the month after the 2008 rescue of the senators. The unit suffered two casualty while deployed.
Ten years later, the 1/158th was deployed back to Afghanistan as part of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. The Bushmasters returned home in May 2019. Several other Arizona National Guard units have been deployed to Afghanistan over the last 20 years.
Kerry later became U.S. Secretary of State under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017, while Hagel served as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2013 to 2015. Biden became Obama’s vice president and was sworn in as President in January, after which he has become a frequent target of Ducey’s.
The governor’s order to lower flags to half-staff called out the Biden White House for how the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has been handled.
“As we mourn the dead, we must also recognize the context for this terrible attack,” Ducey noted. “American troops have fought, bled and died in Afghanistan for two decades to keep this country from once again becoming a safe haven for terrorists. We are now seeing in real time how the recent action to withdraw from Afghanistan has made America and the world less safe.”
Ducey also expressed his displeasure with the Biden Administration earlier this month when he announced the extension of the Arizona National Guard’s southern border security support mission through September 2022 with $25 million in state funding. He noted that law enforcement officials are overwhelmed, and the situation is out of control.
“It’s clear that this White House has neither the ability nor the desire to address the border disaster — a crisis of their own making,” Ducey said. “This situation is the direct result of reckless policies and failed communication by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.”
More than 150 Arizona National Guardsmen are serving along with local and state law enforcement agencies in border communities. Guardsmen are assisting those agencies with medical services in detention facilities, data analysis, camera maintenance and surveillance, and logistical and administrative support, according to Ducey.
“The brave men and women of the Arizona National Guard are standing in the gaps,” Ducey said. “Their mission directly contributes to the success of law enforcement officers working to maintain law and order on Arizona’s southern border. I’m grateful to all those who serve our state and are working day and night to keep Arizonans safe.”
In April, Ducey declared a state of emergency regarding Arizona’s shared southern border with Mexico and deployed the Arizona National Guard with $2.5 million in funding for the mission. Then in June, the governor signed state budget legislation which included $25 million in additional funding for the Arizona National Guard’s border mission.
The budget also provided $30 million to law enforcement agencies to assist with their border security operations along with funds for the state’s Border Strike Force.
Data released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shows there were more than 212,000 official encounters with illegal immigrants along the country’s southern border in July. That was up from 188,829 in June and represents a 21-year record high.
DHS records also show that illegal immigrant encounters have gone up every month since President Biden took office in January.
by AZ Free News | Mar 28, 2021 | News
The Arizona Department of Emergency In Military Affairs welcomed home more than 120 service members returning after completing their respective assignments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Spartan Shield.
The 3666 Support Maintenance Company welcome home ceremony was presided over by Major General Michael T. McGuire, Arizona’s Adjunct General on Friday evening at the Goldwater Air National Base in Phoenix.
Operation Spartan Shield (OSS) is a U.S. Department of Defense operation in the Middle East. Operation Spartan Shield is a combined forces contingency operation. Task Force Spartan is the U.S. Army component of OSS.
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