|
December 24, 2025 |  |
Ready To Serve ★ Proud To Have Served |
|
| |
 | Brig. Gen. Yvonne L. Mays addresses Soldiers in Iraq. |
|
|
Happy Holidays |
As we close out the year and enter the holiday season, I want to thank the Soldiers, Airmen, Civilians, and partners of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs for your dedication and service.
Last week, State Command Sergeant Major Mark Leonard and I had the opportunity to visit New Jersey National Guard Soldiers of the 42nd Regional Support Group deployed in Iraq. Seeing their professionalism, resilience, and commitment was a powerful reminder that our people remain our greatest strength.
This year has been marked by significant accomplishments across DMAVA, all made possible by your hard work and steady focus on those we serve. From supporting operational missions at home and abroad to expanding and improving services for our Garden State Veterans, these achievements reflect months and years of deliberate effort and teamwork.
As we prepare to welcome the new year, let us also pause to remember those currently deployed, those preparing to deploy, and the families whose sacrifices make our mission possible. Your service, and the support behind it, matter deeply. On behalf of the DMAVA leadership team, I extend my sincere gratitude and best wishes to you and your families for a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season. |
|
|
As always, thank you for staying connected to DMAVA.
We invite you to share ideas, events and feedback. Please email our team at outreach@dmava.nj.gov.
Brigadier General Yvonne L. Mays
Adjutant General & Commissioner |
|
| |
DMAVA Calendar | DMAVA is sponsoring or will participate in the events below. A DMAVA Veterans Service Officer will be present at many of these events. Please check details to confirm. |
|
|
|
Community Calendar | We add new events to our calendar on a daily basis so please bookmark and check back often. |
| View Full Calendar |
|
|
|
| |
Governor-elect Sherrill Announces Cabinet Picks to Lead Departments of Veterans Affairs and Military Affairs Following Department Split in January Office of the Governor-elect | December 22, 2025
TRENTON - Today, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill named two public servants to lead the soon to be established Department of Military Affairs and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Legislation reorganizing the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMAVA) was signed into law in September and takes effect January 9, 2026.
Governor-elect Sherrill confirmed that U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Yvonne L. Mays will continue to serve as The Adjutant General of New Jersey and will be nominated to lead the Department of Military Affairs.
U.S. Army Veteran Vincent Solomeno III, who currently serves as a deputy commissioner and the state’s administrator of veterans affairs, will be nominated by Governor-elect Sherrill to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Read Full New Release |
|
|
|
 |
NJNG Leadership Visits NJ Guardsmen Deployed in the Middle East
Brig. Gen. Yvonne Mays, The Adjutant General, and Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Leonard, State Command Sergeant Major, pose for a group photo with Soldiers from Task Force Integrator, 42nd Regional Support Group, at Baghdad, Iraq on December 16, 2025.
Brig. Gen. Mays paid a visit to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to meet with New Jersey Guardsmen who are deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
View Images |
|
 | State Partnership Program
Soldiers with the New Jersey Army National Guard met with the Cypriot National Guard and the New Jersey Forest Fire Service to train together through the State Partnership Program at Coyle Field Airport in Chatsworth, NJ on November 19, 2025.
The training was to enhance major-incident response, wildfire mitigation, and global crisis-management capabilities.
The State Partnership Program is a Department of State and Department of Defense joint security cooperation program administered by the National Guard Bureau that links a state's National Guard with the armed forces of a partner country in order to build long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with U.S. partners around the world. View Images
|
|
|
Join Our Team | 100% Free College Tuition
Bonuses | GI Bill
Student Loan Repayment |
|
|
|
|
 |
Governor-elect Sherrill Visits Paramus
New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, Commissioner-Designate of Veterans Affairs Vincent Solomeno, and Brig. Gen. Yvonne L. Mays, The Adjutant General of New Jersey, visited the New Jersey Veterans Home at Paramus for a holiday celebration with residents and staff on December 22, 2025.
View Images |
|
 |
Bringing Veterans Home Project
On December 11, 2026, Commissioner-Designate of Veterans Affairs Vincent Solomeno and the NJ Department of Community Affairs welcomed Community Solutions into the Bringing Veterans Home Project during the New Jersey Built for Zero Backbone Launch meeting at Newark Alliance in Newark, NJ.
The meeting went over Community Solutions role in helping to sustain a statewide systems change infrastructure, as well as discussing the Backbone role, strategy, goals, and plans for how we will support the six BVH regions in reaching Functional Zero for Veterans.
View Images |
| |
 |
State Medal CeremonyThe New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs held a State Medal Ceremony at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3401 in Morris Plains, NJ on December 17, 2025.
View Images
|
|
|
 |
Get Connected to Resources & Services | The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has partnered with Unite Us to connect individuals and families to a wide variety of services and resources.
Unite Us is a coordinated care referral network of health and social service providers. Unite Us can connect our New Jersey military and veteran community to resources to obtain benefits, food assistance, housing, education, transportation, behavioral health services, peer support and more. |
| Learn More / Request Assistance |
|
 |
Veteran Homelessness |
The mission of Bringing Veterans Home (BVH) is to effectively end veteran homelessness in New Jersey by enhancing existing systems, creating rapid access to housing, and ensuring homelessness becomes rare, brief and non-recurring.
BVH creates a clear path to stable housing for veterans experiencing homelessness through a coordinated network of services and support. |
| Learn More / Refer a Veteran |
|
|
|
|
|  |
NJ Youth ChalleNGe Academy Class 60 GraduationThe NJ Youth ChalleNGe Academy graduation ceremony for Class 60 was held in Sea Girt, NJ on December 17, 2025.
The NJ Youth ChalleNGe Academy is an alternative education program designed to reclaim the lives of at-risk 16 to 18 year old youths and produce graduates with the values, skills, education, and self-discipline necessary to succeed as adults.
The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program was established by Congress in 1993. New Jersey’s first ChalleNGe class began in September 1994. View Images |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Civil War Flag Unveiling | New Jersey contributed over 80,000 men to the fight and the New Jersey State Museum has over 100 flags carried by New Jersey’s troops in the war in its collection.
Five of these historic flags will be unveiled in specially designed exhibit cases at the New Jersey State Museum, located at 205 West State Street in Trenton at 10 AM on December 30, 2025.
Learn More |
| |
| |
|
 |
Veteran & military year-round discountsVA News | December 16, 2025
Researching Veteran discounts often means dodging outdated information, misleading sites or even malware. We’ve created a reliable list: no fees, and fully vetted. We’ve got your six.
This list was created in 2021, but verified as of Dec. 12, 2025. Updates will follow as needed.
Learn More |
| | |
| | | |
|
 |
Wreaths for Remembrance Ceremony
On December 5, 2025, Gloucester County Director Frank J. DiMarco and Commissioner Tom Bianco, Liaison to Gloucester County Veterans Affairs, were joined by Monroe Township officials for the County’s annual Wreaths for Remembrance Ceremony at the Gloucester County Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Williamstown.
Families gathered early in the morning to place wreaths on the graves of their loved ones, honoring more than 3,900 veterans laid to rest at the cemetery - each representing a powerful story of courage, sacrifice, and service.
Image and caption courtesy Gloucester County Newsletter. |
|
 | Generous Donation
The Edison VFW 3117 Veterans Post made a substantial donation of $3,100 to the Menlo Park Veterans Home, generously contributed by participants of our annual 5K run. It is heartening to witness the donation amount increase annually.
Image and caption courtesy Edison VFW 3117. |
|
| |
 | Bridgewater Commons Hosts Second Annual New Jersey National Guard Army Band Holiday Concert
Donnella Tilery | Raritan Neighbors NJ | December 15, 2025
Bridgewater Commons proudly hosted its second annual New Jersey National Guard Army Band Holiday Concert last weekend.
The Army Band, composed of 26 soldiers representing a wide range of instrumentation, performed classic holiday favorites alongside the Santa Experience, delighting hundreds of shoppers throughout the center. Read Full Story |
|
|
|
|
 |
Senior Airman Samantha DeLeon The Best of the Best - the 108th Wing announced its annual award winners for FY 2025. Among the awardees was SrA Samantha DeLeon who was Airman of the Year.
Congratulations to all! |
| |
|
| |
 |
Colonel Howard Housel’s
1944 Christmas Story |
Editors Note: Below is an excerpt. Read COL Housel's full narrative at 1944 Christmas Story. Watch his oral history interview recorded in October 2012 for the Library of Congress. |
After things had quieted down again, and yes we did expend a dozen or so 'rounds' on Jerry’s behalf, Freddy retrieved a fiddle and began quietly playing a few selections.
First a couple of semi-classical tunes, anything is good. Then swinging into a few of the more noted numbers heard on the BBC and Armed Forces Network.
Getting into the late hours, someone reminded Freddy, that it was Christmas Eve. Freddy acknowledged by hitting on a few well-known carols. We got carried away, the season, the music, the thoughts obliterated the presence of our time and circumstances.
At first, a slight humming, then low singing, no one conscious of an increasing volume in sound output by some 14 or 15 voices.
Expectably, we came to that world-recognized carol, Silent Night. This was a Christmas song with its beginnings in Germany as "Stille Nacht". At the conclusion, Freddy put his bow down, ready to call it a night.
Suddenly, the stillness was broken. Not until now did we realize how quiet it had become - no noise, no voices, no firing.
Then, from across the road, down near the river, came a voice, that said something like "Sehr Gute - Sehr Gute, American, Grossa - Grossa", interlaced with "more - more - more".
In the stillness, in the darkness, Freddy’s fiddle had led our voices in the night. A night that heard no shot, no shell, within our area, as Freddy played well into the daylight hours.
Today, as we recall that Christmas Eve, that time honored, birth date, we still wonder at the spell worked by that time, that place, that music. A spell of Hope for all who believed in Hope.
|
| |
| | |
 |
New Jersey Fallen Heroes Memorial | In Honor of all those from New Jersey who gave their lives in the fight against terrorism during Operation Enduring Freedom & Iraqi Freedom.
In humble gratitude, we remember their sacrifice. | Memorial Inscription
"But on the battlefield their feet stood fast, and in an instant at the height of their fortune, they passed away from the scene, not of their fear, but of their glory." ~ Pericles |
| NJ Fallen Heroes Memorial |
|
|
|
|
Artifacts displayed at the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey. |
|
| December 24, 1814 |
The Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, was signed in Belgium. New Jersey militiamen continued to stand guard along the state’s coastline from Sandy Hook to Delaware Bay into the new year of 1815, however, since the United States Senate did not ratify the treaty until February.
| December 25, 1776 |
On Christmas night, General George Washington led 2,400 men across the Delaware River in rain, sleet and snow at McKonkey’s Ferry, north of Trenton. At 4:00 AM the following morning, the force began to march south in two columns towards Trenton. | December 26, 1776 |
At around 8:00 AM, General Washington’s force attacked Colonel Johann Rall’s 1,500 man Trenton garrison. The Americans inflicted almost 1,000 casualties, most of them prisoners, on Rall’s Hessians, and mortally wounded the colonel himself in a victory that saved the Revolution. Despite legend, folklore and British blame-shifting, the Hessians were not drunk as a result of a Christmas celebration, but were in a precarious tactical position and caught by surprise by Washington’s daring maneuvers and impeccable leadership. |
|
December 27, 1782 |
The last recorded land encounter of the American Revolution, a skirmish between Patriot militia and Loyalist raiders, took place at Cedar Bridge Tavern, in today’s Stafford Township. | December 30, 1776 |
General George Washington returned to Trenton from Pennsylvania and prepared to fight a British force advancing from Princeton. | January 1, 1781 |
The Pennsylvania Line regiments of the Continental Army, encamped for the winter at Jockey Hollow near Morristown, mutinied over a lack of supplies, length of service time and pay issues. | January 2, 1777 |
Following the Second Battle of Trenton along Assunpink Creek, which resulted in a stalemate, General George Washington disengaged his army from contact with the British and slipped away during the night, headed for Princeton. | January 3, 1777 |
General George Washington defeated the British force at Princeton and quickly moved on to Morristown, where he established a winter camp and rebuilt his army. |
|
| |
|
|
 |
We Are Hiring!
At the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs we take our work in support of Veterans, Servicemembers and their families very seriously. Whether supporting our Veterans with nursing care, transitional housing, or assisting them in navigating access to their Veteran benefits, the Department provides valuable services and can offer rewarding career opportunities to members of the public.
We also have opportunities in facilities management and program management. In addition, we have job openings for members of our military to serve in AGR and Federal Technician roles.
Subscribe to DMAVA Jobs Bulletin to stay updated on job openings.
|
| Vacancies |
|
|
| |
|
We hope you enjoy receiving our newsletter and find it both educational and engaging. If you have questions about our department, our programs or your benefits, please visit our website at nj.gov/military to get contact information. |
| Contact DMAVA |
|
Please email us at outreach@dmava.nj.gov with feedback and comments regarding the newsletter. If you would like to contribute with an item of interest to our subscribers, please email us your proposal.
Visit the DMAVA archives to view previous editions of our newsletter. |
| |
|  |
nj.gov/military NJ Department of Military & Veterans Affairs 101 Eggerts Crossing Road
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Privacy Notice
Disclaimer: The appearance of any non-DMAVA information or hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement of the products or services on the part of the New Jersey Department of Military & Veterans Affairs. |
|
| |
|
|
