1. Georgia Army National Guard
The Georgia Army National Guard (GARNG) consists of more than 11,100 Citizen-Soldiers
training in more than 79 hometown armories and regional facilities across the state. Georgia’s
Army Guard is the eighth largest in the nation and includes combat, combat support and combat
service support units.
The Georgia Army National Guard is organized into five major subordinate commands: the
th
48 Infantry Brigade Combat Team of Macon; the 78th Homeland Response Force at Clay
National Guard Center in Marietta; the 78th Aviation Troop Command also at Clay; the 560th
Battlefield Surveillance Brigade at Fort Gillem; and the 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade
in Columbus at Fort Benning.
The organization’s mission is to provide ready forces to the Governor and combatant
commanders in order to support homeland defense and overseas contingency operations. In
2011, the GARNG surpassed all federal and state requirements to include the deployment or
redeployment of more than 779 Soldiers, representing all five major subordinate commands,
while simultaneously conducting multiple state and regional homeland contingency exercises.
The GARNG’s four priorities ensure continued preparedness to meet all missions: quality
strength; logistics excellence; preeminent facilities; individual and organization learning,
innovation and growth. Relative to quality strength, the GARNG’s success in the Recruiting and
Retention Force continued in 2011, as the battalion enlisted more than 1,411 quality recruits and
officer candidates. These new accessions, key programs coupled with command influence, from
the company level through the Commanding General, yielded outstanding ratings in various
measured programs of the 54 States and Territories (fourth in endstrength, remaining first in
Medical Readiness, first in Dental Readiness, and first to reach NGB’s goal of 90% in influenza
vaccination). The quality strength focus provided greater impetus towards improving our duty
qualification rate to 90.9%, one of the best in the National Guard.
The GARNG’s logistics excellence efforts focused on equipping the 648th Maneuver
Enhancement Brigade and the 560th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade for deployments while
fielding the 78th Homeland Response Force’s required equipment.
The GARNG received a tremendous influx of high-tech and dual-use equipment. The major
fielding installed all GARNG military vehicles with Single Chanel Ground and Air Radio
Systems. The GARNG also significantly increased its cargo movement capability with the
addition of 60 M915 Line-haul Tractors. These dual-use platforms better posture the GARNG for
use internally to support homeland defense or externally to support overseas contingency
operations.
In support of the GARNG’s third priority of preeminent facilities, the organization renovated
and improved multiple facilities, completed construction on two new readiness centers at Fort
Gillem and at Fort Benning, and began construction on two new facilities.
Individual and organization learning, innovation, and growth are hallmarks of the continuous
improvement we expect of our personnel and organization. The GARNG leadership adopted the
Baldridge Business Model Process to improve organizational performance practices, capabilities
and results. In addition, the business model serves as a working tool for understanding and
managing performance for guiding organization planning and opportunities for learning in order
to improve value for our customers and stakeholders. This year, the GARNG was recognized as

2. a Gold Winner in the Army Community of Excellence program for our business practices. These
processes help the leadership establish priorities, focus the organization around them, and unify
effort towards accomplishing them.
Ultimately, our business models give our seasoned leaders a model to repeat success year
after year on a strategic level, thereby giving flexibility to our frontline leaders. These
accomplishments continue to set the conditions for the GARNG to be in a position of strength for
increased federal funding, future force structure, and full-time manning.
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