MODERNIZATION NATION

The Newsletter for National Guard Reform

Mr. Keith Buchholz –

Supporting Reform and

Modernization Across the NG

The National Guard is a leader and proponent

of modernizing our nation’s security and

domestic response

capabilities. The Guard

has always

accomplished more with

less through creative

solutions, resource

sharing and problemsolving strategies

implemented at the unit

and State level. I am

honored to serve as the

National Guard Bureau

(NGB) J8 aligning these

efforts across the National Guard enterprise.

Creative solutions to every day and

challenging problems start at the unit level. It

is our Soldiers and Airmen that first encounter

the issues needing a new approach. As a

result, NGB modernization is very much a

“bottom-up” effort with strong “top-down”

support.

General Daniel Hokanson, the Chief of NGB

(CNGB), built modernization and reform into

his strategic plan for the National Guard. My

focus is to assist NGB leaders and State Joint

Force Headquarters to implement and

enhance CNGB’s vision. By empowering

leaders with knowledge and the ability to

access capabilities, leaders can implement

service members’ ideas that drive positive

change. Then NGB will capture and share

these new enhancements across the force.

Communication with leaders and service

members is vital to the success of our efforts.

I am conducting a monthly senior leader forum

called the Innovation Leaders Group. Leaders

across several states utilize the forum to take

on Strategic challenges facing the NG as well

as share best practices and coordinate with

their neighbor states and NGB. My goal is to

continue to engage and connect NG Service

Members across the 54 to ensure great ideas

spread quickly and transformational changes

reach the Enterprise.

It is my privilege to support the NG, managing

reform and change in this organization. Let

me know how I can assist you.

Anyone wishing to join in the conversations

should contact Mr. Clay McGuyer or Mr.

Chuck Crosby of my support staff. Their

contact information is listed at the bottom of

this newsletter.

Colorado Hoist Rescue Team

(CHRT), Colorado National

Guard partner to save lives in

high country By Colorado National

Guard Public Affairs | CONG, TAG, 2-135,

HAATS CONTACT: Colorado National Guard

Public

Affairs, ng.co.coarng.list.militarysupport@mail

.mil, 720-250-1053

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – The Colorado Hoist

Rescue Team and Colorado National Guard

partnered to change the way that the military

performs hoist rescues.

This innovation shortens the time required for

a helicopter to hover above a scene,

increasing victims’ chances for survival.

The team sourced a bag-based litter system

with an anti-rotational brake that is packaged

into a cube with a rescuer and lowered to the

victim. Once delivered, the rescuer can unfold

the bag and rapidly prepare the patient for

extraction. 

“This innovation saves lives,” State Army

Aviation Officer U.S. Army Col. William Gentle

said. “The large-scale Army integration of

dynamic litter hoist operations, through a

combination of equipment fielding and aircrew

training, will improve the safety margin of all

aircrews conducting hoist operations, and act

Mr. Keith E. Buchholz, NGB

J8 Programs and Resources/

Comptroller
March 2021

2

as a dramatic force multiplier on the

battlefield.”

The CONG has been using this technique and

equipment since

2018. The CONG

made it to the

Semi-Final Round

of the National

Guard Innovation

Competition 2020

with this hoist

innovation.

“The

improvement of

safety in dynamic

litter hoist

operations will

benefit units

throughout all

services and

components, both

in combat and

domestic support

operations,”

CHRT Program

Manager, U.S.

Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Clayton Horney

said. "The Colorado National Guard, through

the CHRT, is responsible for all hoist

extraction rescues in Colorado, flying an

average of 27 missions a year and saving 21

lives during 2019 alone.”

Colorado Army National Guard Aviation

support to Search and Rescue (SAR)

operations has existed since the CONG

acquired its aviation capability due to the

limited availability of civilian or state hoistcapable aircraft. Hoist operations are required

when a slope is so steep that no part of a

helicopter can land to retrieve victims at high

altitude.

Local jurisdictions initiate SAR requests for

CONG aviation assets. Requests are typically

routed through the Colorado Search and

Rescue Association to the Air Force Rescue

Coordination Center, Tyndall Air Force Base,

Florida, to the CONG Joint Operations Center

in Centennial, Colorado. The Joint Task

Force – Centennial Commander then directs

the COARNG to support civil authorities to

save lives and reduce suffering by providing

SAR services.

The COARNG and the CHRT work with elite

civilian rescue organizations, both

domestically and internationally, and

incorporate the latest SAR equipment and

techniques, to include dynamic litter

operations, to safely complete search and

hoist operations in the high-altitude and highangle terrain found in Colorado.

For more than 160 years, the men and women

of the Colorado National Guard have served

our nation in wartime and as the first military

responders in support of civil authorities

during state emergencies. The CONG’s 5,500

Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen are Always

Ready, Always There.

Tennessee Air National Guard

Leads the Way with New

Training Technology 

MOTAR (Member, Operations, Training,

Analysis, Reporting)

The world is changing. New technologies

arise, be it XR (eXtended Reality), streaming

video, Artificial Intelligence, or cloud analytics;

all of these

technologies

are changing

the way we

work and train.

The Air Force

did not have

the capability to

implement

these

technologies on a large scale. We needed a

new way to distribute, track, and analyze our

training and operational data. MOTAR grew

from that need.

MOTAR is a platform designed to combine

learning management, operational software,

and XR experiences for use in the Air Force

enterprise.
MODERNIZATION NATION

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MOTAR is a secure data infrastructure for

frictionless user experience across

applications, XR tools, and legacy training

systems. The system takes a studentcentered learning approach, reducing

instructor burden while improving analytics.

As we move into new training environments

and modernize the way we deal with legacy

training systems, MOTAR will allow the USAF

to seamlessly deliver training and operational

content on the same platform and standardize

the user experience for the airmen.

MOTAR was chosen as the ANG Spark Tank

winner for 2018 and was chosen by Secretary

Wilson as her choice on the main stage at

AFA. Through the AFWERX mixed reality

challenge, and the Small Business Innovative

Research (SBIR) process, the platform was

built out and put to the test with Maintenance

Next (MXN) at Shepherd AFB. MOTAR was

also chosen as the winner for the AFWERX

Recruiting Re-imagined winner and the

Combat-Ready Aviators challenge.

MOTAR has also been chosen by AFLCMC

(Air Force Life Cycle Management Center) to

be the backbone of the new Lightweight Sims

Ecosystem (LSE) to deliver simulation content

to the new generation of VR (Virtual Reality)

and MR (Mixed Reality) simulator systems

throughout the USAF. AFLCMC will be rolling

out that capability over the next year,

improving the connectedness, and efficacy of

lightweight simulators in the ecosystem.

Barnestormers presented with

Massachusetts 2020 Innovator

of the Year Award, Air Force

Achievement Medal

Photo by 2nd Lt. Amelia Leonard

104th Fighter Wing/Public Affairs

WESTFIELD, Mass. - Col. Tom Bladen,

104th Fighter Wing commander, and Brig.

Gen. John Driscoll, commander of the

Massachusetts Army National Guard, stand

alongside Master Sgt. Bob Oleksak, 104th

Maintenance Group fabrication element

supervisor, and Leo Burbee, 104MXG

structural maintenance supervisor, and their

families following a small ceremony where

they were presented with the 2020

Massachusetts Air National Guard CoInnovator of the Year Awards and Air Force

Achievement Medals Nov. 14, 2020, at

Barnes Air National Guard Base,

Massachusetts.

MSgt Oleksak and MSgt Burbee finished in

the final four of the National Guard Innovation

Competition 2020, with their technique to

replace F15 maintenance panels quicker and

cheaper. The CNGB elected to fund their idea,

and now the appropriate equipment is on

order for every F15 wing in the National

Guard.
March 2021

4

The AFVentures SBIR Open

Topic

Does your

command have a

problem that could

be solved with an

innovative idea? Is

this problem an Air

Force problem, or

does it have a

potential Air Force

tie? If so, your unit

may be able to

partner with a

startup or a small

business on a Small

Business Innovation

Research (SBIR)

grant, to enable the

commercial partner

to experiment or develop a solution to your

command’s problem.

AFWERX is a great Air Force organization,

dedicated to helping to rapidly solve Air Force

problems. One of their major efforts is the Air

Force Ventures Program. This program links

commercial solutions to military problems. A

unique way they go about business is the AF

Ventures Open Topic, which is held three

times a year. With the Open Topic, AF

Ventures leverages a portion of the SBIR

budget to enable the Air Force to develop and

adopt commercially viable innovations while

providing a competitive edge to the U.S.

entrepreneur and technology ecosystem. You

bring the problem; AFVentures helps to find a

solution.

A surprising number of problems can be

applied across the joint force. So, even if you

are an ARNG Soldier, if your problem can be

applied to Air National Guard units as well,

you might be able to move forward with

AFWERX. We encourage you to contact one

of you Air National Guard units in state to gain

their partnership. For more on this

organization, please go here:

https://www.afwerx.af.mil/sbir-for-airmen.html

NGB POCs and Links:

Mr Keith E Buchholz

Keith.E.Buchholz.civ@mail.mil

Mr. Clay McGuyer 

james.c.mcguyer.civ@mail.mil

Mr. Chuck Crosby 

charles.t.crosby.ctr@mail.mil

Information:

Modernization Nation Homepage:

https://gko.portal.ng.mil/joint/J8/SitePages/Ref

orm.aspx

National Guard Innovation Portal: 

https://innovatedefense.net/ngb

Partners and Associates:

ARNG Innovation: 

https://innovatedefense.net/arng

National Guard Professional Education Center

Innovation Workshop: coming soon

AFWERX: https://www.afwerx.af.mil/

Defense Innovation Unit: https://www.diu.mil/

National Security Innovation Network: 

https://www.nsin.us/