1SG Bryce M. Hendricks


4th EANGUS President

State Association:  Iowa
Term:  1978 – 1980

Organizational Achievements

It became clear that EANGUS had the ability to be a powerful force, and several of our Founders had great personal relationships with the elected representatives from their States. During this time, we were able to get EANGUS organized to the point that we could take advantage of these relationships. There was a feeling that EANGUS would not have a great working relationship with NGAUS and AGAUS, but that proved to be false time and again, and EANGUS, NGAUS, and AGAUS worked well together. As a division of effort, NGAUS migrated more to equipment and contracted issues, while EANGUS focused more on personnel and benefits issues. The first CNGB (Fran Greenleaf) was not initially a supporter of EANGUS, however, he had a great relationship with Bryce Hendricks. As time went on, the CNGB grew to support EANGUS, and things began to go in the right direction after that.

Organizational Challenges

The first four Presidents all knew that their term was understood to be 2 years and then step down. Bryce was the last President that served under that unwritten policy and most Presidents after that were able to run for another term. The Chief of the National Guard Bureau and NGAUS approached EANGUS and said that we needed to get someone working legislative issues on Capitol Hill. Money was the issue, and EANGUS did not have the funding needed to hire someone to work in Washington D.C. This got back to the discussion about dues not being enough to support the activities of EANGUS. Focus was to work with the Pentagon and Department of Defense, and lobbying Congress was not the primary focus for EANGUS early on. EANGUS did not have the funds to purchase even a desk or a typewriter, and while we eventually approved a dues increase, at the time, we were only able to secure a used typewriter (where 2 keys did not work), and a used desk. Processes for financial reporting had not matured yet, especially regarding conference expenses, and much effort was put into establishing procedures on what was reimbursable to board members and to host State Associations.

Legislative Accomplishments

Approve a test of full-time manning in Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) status, in addition to Military Technicians. Won additional administrative assemblies to compensate for a loss of administrative pay and defeated a proposal to eliminate military leave pay for federal employees. Supported the authorization for a presidential mobilization of up to 100,000 National Guard and Reserve servicemembers without declaring a national emergency.