Why did I decide to serve in NGAUT?

By CPT Jason Raths, Company Grade Army Trustee

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stood before a crowd of roughly 15,000 people in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Union had just won the Battle of Gettysburg; however, that victory came at a cost of about 23,000 Union casualties. On that day, President Lincoln delivered the following address, later canonized as the “Gettysburg Address.”

“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. “But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

We, like those fallen at Gettysburg and in other conflicts, have committed to defending this great nation. We vote for people (house representatives and senators) whose job is to go to Washington D.C., debate, organize, codify, and write our nation’s laws and policies. Essentially, these people decide how our government will work and are collectively known as “Congress.” These people are writing and modifying the Federal Code that guides how we operate as a military and as National Guard members within that military. The National Guard Association of Utah is an organization that identifies issues that specifically affect members of the Utah Army and Air National Guard, then (through a process that incorporates the National Guard Associations of other states) brings those issues to Congress and advocates for changes to the law.

This is one of the most unique benefits of living in the United States of America. We, the people, can take an issue to our elected representatives and work to change it. We are one of, if not the only, country in the world that can do this. The freedom to live in a society where the individual people drive government is one of the many reasons I continue to serve in our great nation's military.

The reason why I decided to serve in and contribute to NGAUT arises from the sense of duty and “increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.”

What good is all the sacrifice to live in the free world, in a nation whose government demands the involvement of the people, only to not be involved? Someone is going to be involved. Someone will go to Capitol Hill to advocate for policy. If we do not have representation speaking with our elected officials, we will have to accept the consequences of that policy. If we are not at the table, we are on the table. If we do not get involved, if we do not advocate for policy or policy modifications on behalf of Guard Members, who will? I decided to start participating in NGAUT because I realized it is a cheap, easy way to get more involved in the government process. If you do not like something, you have a choice: accept it or get involved and change it. Through this organization, we have the opportunity to contribute to legislative solutions that address the challenges facing Guard members. I have always been one who is driven to “get in the arena.” I do not want to watch the fight; I want to be in the fight. If we do not fight to improve our organization, no one will.

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Originally published in the NGAUT 2026 Summer Newsletter.