President Chris Krueger opened the meeting asking Darl Andersen to offer the invocation and John Pennypacker to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. She thanked Jack Rosenberg for serving as official greeter welcoming members and guest to the meeting.Major General Michael T. McGuire is The Adjutant General, Arizona and concurrently serves as the Director of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. He is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of Arizona’s Army and Air National Guard, Joint Programs, and the Division of Emergency Management. He leads an 8,000-member department, of which 2,400 are full-time federal military and civilian personnel and 600 are full-time state employees.
General McGuire received his commission from the United States Air Force Academy in 1987. He attended undergraduate pilot training at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, followed by several operational, combat and training assignments in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. He joined the Arizona Air National Guard's 162nd Fighter Wing, Tucson International Airport in 2001 as an F-16 instructor pilot 2010, commanded the 214th Reconnaissance Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, where he flew the MQ-1B Predator and led the unit in combat operations in support of overseas contingencies. Prior to assuming his current duties, he served as Commander, 162nd Fighter Wing. General McGuire is a Fighter Weapons School Graduate and a command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours, and 250 combat and combat-support flying hours.
Under his command are 8,000 individuals, 2400 of which are full time active military and civilian employees. His first encounter with Rotary was when he attended his father's Rotary Club who was pleased to pay happy bucks and announce Mick had been accepted into the Air Force Academy.
Adjutant general is the second oldest military position in the United States, dating back to 1634. Every state has a governor and an adjutant general. The guard is the greatest reserve as it is connected to community. Arizona is a great community to serve - it is alive with economic development because it is a place where people are coming.
He has 750 deployed to the border doing title 32 work to repair/replace infrastructure needed to protect the border, allowing Border Patrol agents to do their job. Even though the guard is state controlled, only 5% of their funding comes from the state. The Federal Government supplies the balance of 95% of their funding. He believes a fence would save lives. He knows that cartels will find ways to tunnel under or catapult drugs over a barrier, but those involved in human trafficking are not likely to catapult a child over a fence. He reported a staggering number of human remains currently found each year in the desert near unprotected sections of the border.
He also has 750 actively deployed to Afghanistan. The US Army has no direct control over the National Guard unless mobilized. When asked about the South China Sea, he responded that their Federal Counterpart - National Defense and FEMA were involved there.
He said the high school ROTC programs are an excellent source of recruits. He also said that in the United States, an internal problem exists where recruiting for an all-volunteer Army is getting more challenging. He said it is increasingly difficult to recruit from the 18-24 year-old demographic.
Gen. McGuire said when he entered the Air Force Academy in 1983, it was the seventh class with women cadets. None of them were pilots. He graduated in 1987. As a fighter pilot, he knew a lot of great pilots - not differentiated as male or female - just great pilots.
To serve requires two things of those who serve under his command - tell the truth and deliver their best effort. He also said that not all swamp creatures look the same. He said this is as true in Washington, D.C. as it is in an actual swamp. While the state contributes 5% of the budget that supports his command, that is not a large percentage of the state's budget so does not get a lot of lobbying attention. In Washington, military spending is closer to 50% of the annual budget and this keeps the swamp creatures busy.