The national conference
Where the enlisted
force decides
what to ask for.
Resolutions adopted on that floor become the EANGUS legislative agenda for the coming year. Kentucky does not attend as a spectator.
The state seats delegates in proportion to paid membership, and those delegates vote.
Next conference
56th National
Conference.
1 to 5 August 2027
Palm Springs, California
Registration is handled by the national office. Kentucky does not process conference registration.
Where it started
Sioux Falls,
September 1972.
Thirty state delegations gathered at the Holiday Inn in downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in late September 1972. Twenty-three state enlisted associations had been chartered before the convention. Over five days the delegates wrote a constitution, elected the first national officers, and passed fifteen resolutions.
They founded EANGUS for two reasons. Federal law prohibits the Guard from lobbying on its own behalf, so an independent voice had to be independently funded and independently directed. And the officer association had considered admitting enlisted members and voted it down. The Adjutant General of South Dakota told the convention why: the enlisted association already existed and had real potential, and folding it into NGAUS before it could stand would have killed it.
Just don't lose your enthusiasm and your goal power.
MG Duane L. Corning, Adjutant General of South Dakota, closing the first EANGUS convention, September 1972.
Nine of those fifteen have since been enacted. Commissary and exchange access for retired reservists. Removal of the sixty-point cap on inactive duty retirement points. A burial flag for deceased Guardsmen. Full retirement credit for technician service. Survivor benefits. The right to wear state awards on federal active duty. The first resolution on the list, a GI Bill for reservists, took fourteen years.
Kentucky
We were there.
The roll call of states, taken on the morning of 26 September 1972, records Kentucky present. Each state was represented by five delegates.
Virgil S. Van Arsdale of Kentucky is named among the founders on the EANGUS founders scroll. He was also a director of this association at its incorporation on 8 November 1972, six weeks after the convention adjourned. The association's $500 scholarship carries his name.
Kentucky has held national office since. CSM Jim Garritson served as the fifth President of EANGUS from 1980 to 1984. Membership passed 40,000 for the first time in association history during his tenure, the Building Fund that eventually bought a headquarters was started under him, and in 1983 he established the Scholarship Committee and the scholarship fund that still runs today.
Kentucky has hosted twice, both times at the Galt House in Louisville. The 16th Annual Conference met there 21 to 23 September 1987, and the 33rd met there 22 to 25 August 2004.
Kentucky has not missed the room since.
Representation
How Kentucky
is represented.
Delegate strength follows paid membership. That formula was set at the founding convention and it has not changed.
Kentucky seats one delegate for every 200 paid enlisted members, plus the state President. Every renewal is counted before anyone reaches a microphone.
The Committee on Resolutions forwards Kentucky positions to the EANGUS Committee on Resolutions.
The Executive Council selects delegates and alternates no later than this date. If you want to go, say so before then.
First time
What to expect.
Business sessions
The floor. Roll call, resolutions, elections, committee reports. This is where the votes happen.
Area II caucus
The states in Area II meet as a bloc and decide how to move together before the floor.
Professional development
Sessions run alongside both, and there is an exhibit hall.
Evenings
Typically a welcome night, an event for junior enlisted members, and a closing all-states dinner.
Attendance is not restricted by rank, and first-time attendees are common. You do not need to be a delegate to attend. Delegates carry the vote. Any member in good standing can be in the room.
Membership
The vote is counted
before anyone speaks.
Kentucky's delegate strength is set by the paid roster.