West Virginia National Guard Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Hundreds Of W.Va. Corrections Hires Called ‘Milestone’

Still in a state of emergency since August 2022, a shortage of more than 1,000 front line jail and prison guards just a year ago, is now down to about 500.

The West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR) calls hiring more than 300 new employees over the past 100 days a milestone. Still in a state of emergency since August 2022, a shortage of more than 1,000 front line jail and prison guards just a year ago, is now down to about 500.

When Gov. Jim Justice declared that emergency status, he called for National Guard personnel to alleviate shortages at adult and juvenile correctional and detention facilities. The National Guard support has been cut by more than half, from 413 to 181 members.

“Reducing the need of the National Guard to fill public safety roles in our West Virginia facilities is a big deal,” Justice said in a press release. “It shows that we’re making strides in ensuring that our communities are safe and well-protected without having to rely on temporary measures.”

Justice and Corrections Commissioner William Marshall have a target of completely removing National Guard presence from all facilities by late summer 2024

The department credits revamped recruiting efforts and increased pay scales for the staffing bolster.

Chairman of the House Jails and Prisons Committee, Del. David Kelly, R-Tyler, was reluctant to talk about ongoing corrections investigations into allegations of inhumane treatment, sub-par facilities and inmate fatalities. He does credit an improved corrections culture to new techniques in employee training and education.

“Commissioner Marshall is doing a great job with training and education in those areas,” Kelly said. “It’s kind of a new approach to the training that they’re receiving now.”

Kelly said he will continue to fight for the non-uniformed personnel pay raise legislation that passed the House but stalled in the Senate during the regular session.

“They stepped up during the state of emergency, which is still in effect, to do some hard work and some heavy lifting during the most critical times of our shortage,” Kelly said. ”We we need to continue to remember that they stepped up.”

The WVDCR oversees West Virginia’s 11 prisons, 10 regional jails, 10 juvenile centers, 13 parole services offices, 22 youth reporting centers and three work-release sites.

W.Va. National Guard Deployed To Fight Wildfires In Hardy County

West Virginia National Guard personnel were deployed to Hardy County Friday. They have joined an effort to put out wildfires sweeping across eastern West Virginia and neighboring states.

The West Virginia National Guard has joined efforts to put out wildfires spreading across eastern West Virginia and neighboring states.

Two helicopters and several National Guard personnel were deployed to Hardy County on Friday.

They aim to assist the West Virginia Division of Forestry and other emergency response personnel in quenching the blazes.

The deployment of National Guard personnel follows Gov. Jim Justice’s state of emergency declaration Thursday afternoon.

The National Guard said more than 4,000 acres of land has burned as of Friday.

Helicopters in use by the National Guard can hold 630 gallons of water each, which personnel then disperse over wildfires from above. This helps target areas of the wildfires that are unsafe for emergency responders to approach on the ground.

“Our aircrews have extensive experience in helping to combat wildland fires,” said Bill Crane, adjutant general of the West Virginia National Guard in a press release Thursday.

“We will do all we can to help bring these fires under control to protect lives and property in the impacted communities,” he said.

Dropping water onto wildfires from above allows firefighters to extinguish fires that are unsafe for ground personnel to approach.
*Photo Credit: West Virginia National Guard*

W.Va. National Guard Projects Sizeable Economic Impact From State Operations

West Virginia is currently aligned with Peru and Qatar. The state’s partnership with Peru was one of the earliest SPP programs in the country. This year 50 airmen participated in C-17 training, marking the first time since 2014 that an aircraft was deployed to that country in support of the program.

The West Virginia National Guard said the state is seeing a large return on investment in its West Virginia operations which is a part of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

Lt. Scott Applegate, deputy staff judge advocate with the West Virginia National Guard updated the Select Committee on Veterans Affairs Tuesday on how the guard’s role in helping to sustain the local economy.

The guard’s state budget stands at nearly $21 million. Applegate said for every state dollar invested, there’s a return of $16 to $20 in federal funds.

That equals a direct economic impact of $370 million with an indirect impact of $500 million. Applegate said that includes everything from construction to pay costs.

“Since about 1995, we’ve completed about $463 million worth of construction upgrades and facilities to our armories for about 1.7 million square feet in what we’ve improved, and we continue to modernize these facilities,” he said.

Applegate said improvements include maintaining the guard’s aircraft fleet, which he said is key to their ability to respond to emergencies.

“As we stay on the cutting edge, we move from a C-130 older model to a C-130J model and that is a conversion operation that is really important for us,” he said. “So that keeps our aircraft modernized, it keeps our C-130s flying, and it keeps these forces in the maintenance structure needed to support these air frames in West Virginia.”

Applegate pointed out to the committee that the state’s 20-1 investment is very small for such a large economic impact. The National Guard’s most recent annual report will be released in late December or early January in time for the 2024 legislative session.

Applegate said their next major mission is to further develop participation in the State Partnership Program. The initiative includes 88 partnerships with 100 nations around the globe and is considered a key U.S. security cooperation tool. The resulting partnerships facilitate cooperation across all aspects of international civil-military affairs and friendships that strengthen state and national security goals.

West Virginia is currently aligned with Peru and Qatar. The state’s partnership with Peru was one of the earliest SPP programs in the country. Applegate said this year, 50 airmen participated in C-17 training, marking the first time since 2014 that an aircraft was deployed in Peru in support of the program.

“The federal resources and federal units will use us to help build a better relationship with them because we do have those enduring relationships with those partner nations,” Applegate said. “Through our SPP, we will conduct military to military engagements in support of defense security goals and we’ll train and work with these partners to build their capacity and strengthen national security with our partnerships.”

As the National Guard adapts to change, Applegate said remaining viable for the federal government as a tool to be used during war time, or for other federal missions, is of paramount importance. He said 20 years of deployments, training and modernization has equipped the guard to respond quickly to state or federal emergencies.

“Over the last few years, the guard has supported the state in its COVID-19 response, it’s supported the state through a department of corrections mission, it’s supported the state with a gas outage that occurred in Charleston, West Virginia,” Applegate said. “And it supported the state both federally and through a state active duty mission to the border.”

Applegate said he believes the state’s National Guard is among the best in the country.

“I am biased, but I tell you, I believe West Virginia is, if not the best National Guard, it’s right there on the cutting edge,” Applegate said. “And that’s because our service members get in there, they learn the mission, they volunteer for the mission and they bring those skills back to West Virginia.”

One Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy Getting Multi-Million Dollar, Taxpayer Funded Facelift

Senate Bill 1038 provides just over $3 million for the West Virginia National Guard to use for its southern academy’s security system and physical plant upgrades.

The quasi-military educational program, housed in buildings on the former West Virginia Tech campus in Montgomery, trains and mentors at-risk and academically challenged teenagers. The school uses a 22-week residential and one year post-residential follow-up program, to become contributing members of society. High School diplomas are available to those who qualify.

The academy website notes that:

“Quasi-military” is a term used to describe the program because it resembles military training. Our structured environment includes many aspects related to military training such as paying attention to detail, respect, self-discipline and a chain of command.”

Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill at the academy and noted he has been on some projects with the cadets and was impressed with their progress.

“These are kids that maybe were a little astray,” Justice said. “We’re trying to reset their life and get them on a good path.”

Justice said the state’s two Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academies, the North Academy being in Richwood, have graduated more than 5,000 cadets.

National Guard Troops Head For Southern Border

A group of West Virginia soldiers and airmen leaving for the Texas border with Mexico had a sendoff Monday at the West Virginia National Guard headquarters in Charleston, surrounded by dignitaries.

In May, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent letters to a number of other governors asking for help for Operation Lone Star — to support efforts by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Fifty volunteers from the West Virginia National Guard are heading out for a month-long deployment. According to Gov. Jim Justice, the troops will help “secure the border, reduce the flood of fentanyl, and combat the human trafficking crisis.”

“And it just may very well be that you, by what you’re doing, you could absolutely do something that could change the course of the whole world,” Justice said.

The number of illegal border crossings has dropped off significantly since May with the end of Title 42 and the national COVID-19 emergency.

The West Virginia governor’s office has said there will be a cost to the state for this effort but has not provided details on what that will be.

There are also about 400 national guard members working corrections jobs under an emergency executive order in the state’s prisons. That costs taxpayers $20 million a year.

Governor Declares State Of Emergency For State Jails

Gov. Jim Justice has declared a State of Emergency in the state’s jails to address a staffing shortage.

West Virginia National Guard members are being sent to alleviate staffing shortages at adult and juvenile correctional and detention facilities across the state.

During Thursday’s COVID-19 press briefing, Justice said part of the problem was caused by legislative inaction on correctional officer pay.

“During the last legislative period we had a bipartisan group that we tried to get through to do a regional pay differential to folks in certain areas, like the Eastern Panhandle where the shortages are off the chart – 60 percent,” Justice said. “We just haven’t been able to compete and attract folks and everything into these positions.”

Vacancies, particularly in the Eastern Panhandle, have required the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation to use non-uniformed staff and officers from other regions to staff facilities.

Later in the press conference, Justice said he didn’t have an exact figure of how many National Guard members would be needed to fill the staffing gaps. He also acknowledged the impact of COVID-19 on the correctional system, but redoubled the focus on officer compensation.

“The bottom line is we got to be able to compete, and we got to be able to attract people to us,” Justice said. “We’ve got to be able to attract and reward these people in a way that we absolutely keep the proper staffing because that’s another one of our big obligations.”