People, partnerships, and readiness: Leveraging our lines of effort amid intense wildfire season

People, partnerships, and readiness: Leveraging our lines of effort amid intense wildfire season

By Brig. Gen. Alan R. Gronewold, Adjutant General, Oregon National Guard

As fall begins and smoke clears across Oregon, our Airmen completed their Grasshopper Fire assignment on August 20. Last week, our Army aircrews flew their final water-bucket missions, and our search and rescue team demobilized as well, marking the end of one of the most challenging wildfire seasons in recent memory. Before discussing the months ahead, I want to reflect on what this summer revealed about our organization.

Since July 20, our aircrews have responded with dedication. What began as a single Black Hawk on MEDEVAC standby expanded into a statewide operation from Army Aviation Support Facility No. 2 in Pendleton, including an HH-60M on search and rescue standby, two HH-60M Black Hawks, and two CH-47 Chinooks conducting water bucket missions on the Hagen Fire in Umatilla County. By the end of operations on the Hagen Fire, our aircrews had completed 1,405 water bucket drops and delivered more than 1.5 million gallons of water, often in challenging, smoke-filled canyons.

In August, 44 Airmen from the 142nd Wing and 173rd Fighter Wing formed two hand crews and deployed to the Mount Hood National Forest for the Grasshopper Fire. This marked the first time our Air Guard hand crews were activated before our Army hand crews. These teams began by wrapping homes, bridges, and signage in fire-resistant material, then shifted to cutting and mopping up containment lines with hand tools alongside experienced wildland crews. As these operations continued, members of the 173rd were activated under Immediate Response Authority to support local authorities with evacuation and wildfire prevention efforts in response to the Wrights Spring Fire.

Also in August, while traveling back to Camp Rilea from another assignment, our Oregon Military Department wildland firefighters responded directly to the Wolf Creek Fire under a mutual aid agreement to assist the incident commander, guiding air and ground support to contain the blaze.

This is true readiness—not just discussed in briefings but demonstrated when we are called on for support, Oregonians. It reflects strong partnerships, working closely with ODF, Cal Fire liaisons, and other agency crews, relying on mutual trust between all elements of our organization to protect lives and property.

And it is People and Culture, too. I stood with our Airmen in Salem as they went through JRSOI just before they boarded buses bound for a fire camp near Warm Springs, watching young men and women who had trained for one mission step forward without hesitation for another. Ten days later, I flew to their fire camp near Tygh Valley aboard one of our own Black Hawks, alongside Brig. Gen. Jenifer Pardy, Command Chief Warrant Officer 5 Lenora Landwehr, Chaplain (Col.) Jacob Scott, and Chief Master Sgt. Brent Cavanias, to thank those same Airmen in person for what they were doing out there. Seeing Guardsmen do exactly what we train for, protecting Oregonians and their property, is what this organization is built for. That willingness to adapt, to go where the state needs them without waiting to be told exactly how, is disciplined initiative in its purest form. It is exactly what I asked of our leaders at the Joint Senior Leader Workshop this past winter, and our formations delivered it this summer under real pressure.

I am proud of every Citizen-Soldier, Airman, and Civilian who spent this summer keeping up with assigned responsibilities while maintaining their training and preparedness to be ready when needed. This last month, we broke ground for a new multi-purpose machine gun range, which has taken more than 20 years to come to fruition. The ceremony in Boardman reflected our commitment to our community partners and to training our Oregon Guard members well into the future. This is just one more example of how each generation, working within the community, continues to ensure our future success. This is what it means to be Oregon’s Service of Choice: an organization Oregonians and people of the United States can rely on, regardless of the mission.

For now, our personnel have returned home to their families and regular units, but the work continues. Annual Training transitions into drill weekends, deployment preparations proceed for overseas missions, and our air crews and hand crews remain ready to respond if needed. I ask every leader to bring the same intensity to garrison operations that our teams demonstrated on the fire line. Know your task, uphold your standards, and take care of your people.

Thank you for everything you have given this state this year. Be Connected. Be Competent. Be Committed.

Always Ready, Always There!

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