Detroit, Michigan will be ground zero for NGAUS’ 146th National Conference, and we encourage everyone who is a member of the South Dakota association to consider attending! This year the conference will be held August 23rd-26th, 2024, and, according to the outgoing NGAUS president, BG(R) J. Roy Robinson, “The NGAUS conference is the Guard’s premier gathering for networking and officer professional development”.
Not only do the host states roll out the red carpet for attendees with great social events, premiere activities, and lots of opportunities to explore the city in which they host the conference, they also coordinate to have speakers from some of the highest military positions in the United States Armed Forces. For instance, last year they featured the Honorable Frank Kendall (Secretary of the Air Force), GEN Daniel R. Hokanson (Chief, National Guard Bureau), GEN Randy A. George (now Army Chief of Staff), LTG Jon A. Jensen (Director, Army National Guard), and a variety of other presenters meant to broaden the perspectives and education of every attendee there.
Most importantly, though, is the time you get to spend with fellow South Dakota Guard members. We travel from all across the state for a common purpose; to enjoy fellowship and broadening opportunities afforded to us by membership and attendance of the national convention. Whether you are Air or Army, a pilot or ground crew, field artillery or engineer, there is something for you at the NGAUS conference, but the only way you’ll find out is by attending!
Registrations generally open up around the April timeframe, so look for more information from the executive director as our state conference (April 18th-20th, 2024 in Brookings, SD, by the way!) approaches.
We are excited to see some new faces amongst some of those familiar faces that come to the national conference regularly – please consider attending, and we look forward to getting you more information soon!