File:‘Big four’ hold talk on state of the Georgia Guard (8125516074).jpg

ATLANTA, Oct. 22, 2012 – Georgia National Guard senior leaders met with Gov. Nathan Deal today at the capitol to brief him on what is happening around the Georgia Department of Defense within the Georgia Army Guard, Air Guard and State Defense Force.

Pictured here, from the left, Maj. Gen. Tom Moore, Assistant Adjutant General-Georgia Air National Guard; Maj. Gen. Jim Butterworth, Georgia’s Adjutant General; and Brig. Gen. Joe Jarrard (right), Assistant Adjutant General-Georgia Army National Guard, begin the first of what are to be regularly scheduled meetings with Governor Deal. Russell Carlson, Butterworth’s deputy adjutant general, also participated in the meeting.

The premise behind the meeting, Butterworth says, is to advise the governor regularly on the status of the organization, “where our Army and Air Guardsmen are deployed and what they are doing, and what resources are available – personnel and material-wise – to him at any given time for any given request for support.”

“Our team is doing an incredible job at identifying and tracking those resources, and by delivering this information to the Governor – personally – we’re able to receive his questions and answer them face-to-face,” Butterworth added. “We also want to know what his expectations of us and the organization are, and discuss how we can best meet those expectations as the Guard and State Defense Force moves forward, not only during the fiscal year, but far down the road.”

Butterworth, Carlson, Jarrard and Moore also want to come away from these meetings, Butterworth says, with the governor’s perspective on how best to carry – deliver – Georgia’s message to National Guard Bureau in Washington or Georgia’s congressional delegation, as any one of these Ga. DoD leaders – or all of them – meet with those bodies.

“Governor Deal’s extensive experience in Washington is something we can greatly benefit from,” Butterworth explained, “so that when we meet with Guard Bureau or the delegation, they have a clear understanding what it is we’re saying – what the governor is asking for, or saying.”