According to Brig. Gen. Joel DeGroot from the South Dakota National Guard who serves as the Northwest Region 6 chairman, the conference provides the opportunity to have face to face conversations about what is good and what is lacking in our world of diversity and how we can help each other help ourselves. “We have great leadership teams from our state levels all the way to National Guard Bureau, Gen. Joseph Lengyel and TAGs who are very supportive of this program and they know it is crucial for our future,” DeGroot said. “We need practitioners all the way down to our lowest ranks and levels to be the daily advocates of diversity and deliver our diversity message – we are stronger as we are more diverse.” He said it’s really not happening every day like it should because we are so busy doing our jobs and think of it only as an additional duty or a way to get style points. DeGroot says we need to incorporate it into our daily activities. He noted the great talk given by Stella Lavadie, a great woman who enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps in 1944 along with 35,000 other women who were a vital part of the war effort because we needed them. DeGroot says that is the same message today, “we need to spread our diversity because we need them, their talent and their diversity of thought to do our mission.” Lavadie said she first met Uncle Sam in Albuquerque where she saw a recruiting poster that read, “We need you in the Women’s Army Corps.” She was a teacher in La Joya, N.M, and when the school year ended, she enlisted to serve in World War II. Her husband also served in World War II and her two sons also went on to serve in the U.S. Military, the oldest in Vietnam. Shirley Copeland, Chief Diversity Officer for National Guard Bureau, explained that after states and regions have their quarterly meetings, the conference is their way of communicating and connecting across the force and ensuring they are moving in the right direction, providing guidance and making sure they align their efforts with the National Guard objectives and institutionalize diversity to ensure the National Guard utilizes its talent to the fullest. “We can no longer afford to lose any talent, so the only reason a person should not serve in the National Guard is if they don’t qualify,” Copeland said. “It is not a requirement to be of a certain group to join, but we still have those issues because we are human beings, so we are trying to unpack all those biases and stay focused on the objective of creating an environment that is inclusive regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, culture and that is what we are here to do – staying focused on being a cohesive team.” Copeland says states leverage strengths and share best practices to move the diversity program forward across the 54. “It is a reciprocal, two-way street and NGB wants you to know we are here for you at the state level with our main focus being to support the state,” Copeland said. “It is important for us to get that feedback so I can go back and build a stronger program and advise senior leadership on how diversity is improving the readiness of the National Guard.” Copeland said an annual diversity workshop where all 54 come together will take place in October and it is purposely aligned with Guard Leadership Executive Council meetings to ensure they get leadership involvement and provide training opportunities for everyone across the Guard. “We have professional people that are passionate about what we do, but we need to further advance our ability to communicate diversity across the 54, so it is important we collaborate and synch our efforts,” Copeland added. “This forum provides the platform for everyone to share their diverse thoughts and backgrounds without judgment or criticism and helps unpack and extrapolate what we can use to move forward in our programs.” Brig. Gen. Zachary Doser, land component commander, Nevada National Guard, said there are success stories in the regions and in the states as far as meeting goals outlined by the Chief of NGB on diversity within a total force, but also added that the conference identified some shortcomings as well in areas that need improvement – primarily such as integrating women enlisted and officers in combat branches, reaching under-represented populations in our recruiting pool, and sustaining what we have achieved already in the program. Brig. Gen. Andrew Salas, the special assistant to the Chief of NGB for Diversity and Inclusion, said the bottom line in achieving mission effectiveness requires us to value diversity and inclusion and ensure the opportunity for all to maximize potential; then operationalize it to attract, recruit, develop and retain a quality workforce. He added that all the different characteristics and attributes in individuals, cultures, and organizations are integral to the overall readiness and mission accomplishments that must be reflective of the Nation we serve. He also described the importance of inclusion – valuing and leveraging individual difference for organizational success. Salas presented the objectives to further enhance diversity and inclusion across the 54 to include the need to develop a workforce that reflects the communities we serve; create an inclusive environment; enhance recruiting and branding, establish quantitative and qualitative baselines for analysis; broaden the pool of applicants; measure results and refine; use climate surveys and identity and address barriers. Lt. Col. Nate Carper, the outgoing NMNG recruiting and retention battalion commander, and Lt. Col. Brian White, the incoming commander, presented how New Mexico works the VIRRS marketing program to help address shortfalls and challenges when recruiting our Native American population. He shared lessons learned through some of our print and marketing products we have distributed at Native American communities across the state and provided attendees copies of successful flyers, posters, banner ads, and newspaper ads. He spoke of the challenges of reaching certain demographic groups and how the NMNG has hired Native American recruiters to help and asked Native American Soldiers in our ranks to champion recruiting efforts by coming out and supporting them in networking events. Copeland and conference attendees from the 10 different states continuously echoed their appreciation and the great hospitality that New Mexico extended to them – from enjoying the beautiful city to the great cultures and meals. “It is a privilege to be here and see all the hard work put into this by Liz Byrant, Col. Clark (Reggie) and their team,” Copeland said. Bryant was grateful for the opportunity to host the joint conference and said she wanted to bring everyone to New Mexico since last year’s conference in Nevada. Bryant and Clark thanked their team for helping put on a great conference where everyone was able to experience diversity at a high level.
