Gen. Frank J. Grass, the 27th Chief, National Guard Bureau and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be the guest speaker at the 2016 St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Breakfast.

The event will be held from 7 to 9 a.m., Friday, July 15, 2016, at the Fulkerson Center of Missouri Western State University. Grass will present “The Modern Day Minuteman…Your National Guard for the 21st Century.”

Gen. Grass serves as a military adviser to the President, Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and is the Department of Defense’s official channel of communication to the Governors and State Adjutants General on all matters pertaining to the National Guard. He is responsible for ensuring that nearly 453,000 Army and Air National Guard personnel are accessible, capable and ready to protect the homeland and to provide combat resources to the Army and Air Force.

Prior to his current assignment, Gen. Grass served as Deputy Commander, United States Northern Command and Vice Commander, United States Element, North American Aerospace Defense Command (USELEMNORAD) at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. As Deputy Commander, United States Northern Command, General Grass helped lead the command to anticipate, prepare and respond to threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories and interests within the assigned area of responsibility and as directed by the President or Secretary of Defense, provide Defense Support of Civil Authorities, including consequence management operations.

Gen. Grass enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard in October 1969. He attended the Missouri Army National Guard Military Academy Officer Candidate School and was commissioned in the Engineer Corps in 1981. He has served in a variety of command and
staff positions as a traditional National Guard Soldier, in the Active Guard and Reserve program, and on active duty. In his first general officer assignment, he served as Deputy Director of the Army National Guard in Arlington, Virginia.