AUGUST 21, 2026 — The National Guard Bureau announced the recipients of the 2025 State Partnership Program (SPP) Awards during a recent conference, recognizing individuals, teams and partnerships whose achievements strengthened security, increased readiness and forged enduring partnerships worldwide.
The Arkansas National Guard demonstrated leadership and operational synchronization through its 23-year partnership with Guatemala, earning three of the program’s top honors.
Arkansas and Guatemala received the Strategic Partnership of the Year award, the SPP’s highest partnership recognition. Arkansas conducted 58 engagements with a 93% budget execution rate in direct alignment with U.S. Southern Command priorities.
The partnership also hosted the Guatemalan War College in Arkansas for the first time, helping develop future senior leaders. The partners strengthened Guatemala’s cyber defenses, shared critical counter-narcotics K-9 tactics and institutionalized professional development training for Guatemalan Army noncommissioned officers.
Two Arkansas SPP staff members also received individual honors. Maj. David Nevarez was named Bilateral Affairs Officer of the Year for the Small Military Group and Maj. Debora Lopez was named SPP Director of the Year.
The Massachusetts National Guard also received several awards for engagements focused on innovation, cybersecurity and building partner capacity.
For the Innovation Engagement of the Year, the Massachusetts National Guard and Paraguay developed a “Whole of Commonwealth” framework that enabled civilian fire departments across Massachusetts to donate modern fire trucks and protective equipment to help Paraguay address its wildfire response needs.
Massachusetts also led “Cyber Front 2025,” the first trilateral cyber exercise involving the United States, Kenya and Israel. Cyber operators from all three nations worked as an integrated team to defend critical infrastructure while continuing initiatives to build partner capacity, address operational gaps and conduct strategic exercises, military-to-military exchanges and key leader engagements.
The National Guard Bureau also recognized additional states and personnel for outstanding SPP accomplishments.
Lt. Col. Michael Sterling of the North Carolina National Guard received the SPP Director of the Year, Large Military Group, award for managing partnerships spanning Moldova, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana. Sterling oversaw 57 security cooperation events and the largest funding allocation in SPP history to help build partner self-reliance across Europe and Africa.
The Washington National Guard received the Preparedness Program of the Year award for its work in the Indo-Pacific region supporting disaster response, joint operations and large-scale leadership coordination.
In Thailand, the Washington National Guard participated in a full-scale exercise simulating a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, bringing together 170 participants from military, civilian and intergovernmental organizations.
The Washington National Guard was also recognized through the achievements of Lt. Col. Jason Silves, who received the Bilateral Affairs Officer of the Year, Large Military Group, award for his work in Malaysia. Silves managed projects designed to bolster airspace sovereignty, led an $18.5 million cyber organization transformation, managed more than $1 million in grants and facilitated Malaysia’s first High Mobility Artillery Rocket System live-fire exercise.
The Professional Military Development Engagement of the Year award went to the Michigan National Guard and the Armed Forces of Liberia for developing and codifying Liberia’s first modern noncommissioned officer professional military education system. The effort developed Liberian instructors, graduated the first class of Liberian-trained NCOs and established Liberia’s Officer Candidate School.
The 2025 SPP Excellence Award recognized the Missouri National Guard’s overall management of its partnership with Panama. The partnership maintained compliance with assessment, monitoring and evaluation, demonstrated disciplined fiscal stewardship and sustained a high operational engagement tempo.
By National Guard Bureau