Wyoming National Guard commemorates First Muster with ceremonial roll call

Wyoming National Guard

June 1, 2026

By Sgt. Joseph Burns

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Wyoming National Guard Soldiers and Airmen gathered at Joint Force Headquarters on June 1, 2026, to commemorate the organization's First Muster and honor more than a century of military service through a ceremonial roll call. The First Muster Remembrance Ceremony recognized the units, conflicts and missions that shaped the Wyoming National Guard from its earliest formations to the force serving today.

Participants received First Muster cards listing historic units and operations from across Wyoming military history. As each unit or mission was called, attendees marked their cards and responded, "Here, Sergeant Major."

Command Sgt. Maj. Thad Ehde, senior enlisted leader for the Wyoming National Guard, conducted the roll call. Ehde called the names of units, formations and missions spanning generations of service, from the Laramie Grays, Cheyenne Guards and Wyoming's first artillery battery to modern organizations supporting overseas deployments, homeland response operations and wildland firefighting missions.

The roll call recognized service during the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Berlin Crisis, Operation Just Cause, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism. It also honored units that supported peacekeeping operations in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as the Army and Air National Guard formations serving today.

As the ceremony moved through each era of service, participants acknowledged the Soldiers and Airmen who served in those organizations and answered the call in times of war, crisis and emergency. The responses served as a collective remembrance of the people and units that built the Wyoming National Guard across generations.

The ceremony concluded with a reminder that the First Muster represents an ongoing tradition of service. From the Laramie Grays to today's Cowboy Guard, Wyoming service members continue to answer the call.