Commander’s Winter 2025 Update: 2025 was a year of quiet strength for the Virginia Defense Force

To the Virginia Defense Force:

Virginia had a busy year in 2025. Through it all, one all-volunteer force has stood in the gap, ready before they were needed and steady when they were called: the Virginia Defense Force. 

When governors’ emergency declarations came down, four times this year the VDF answered without hesitation. Those calls translated into 35 days of State Active Duty, working side-by-side with the Virginia National Guard, keeping warehouses running, roads open and Virginians safe. While hurricanes and winter storms grabbed the headlines, a quieter but no less dangerous fight was taking place in the digital shadows. VDF cyber teams deployed to three counties and two cities, conducting five full locality assessments that found and fixed vulnerabilities before adversaries could exploit them. Those same experts then brought everyone together for Cyber Fortress, a landmark exercise that linked every military service component and, for the first time, partners from Finland to practice defending critical infrastructure. 

On the training fields, the pace never slowed. The VDF planned and executed two full Multiple Unit Training Assemblies in March and October, each a masterpiece of full-spectrum operations. October’s MUTA incorporated Highland Guardian, a high-intensity field exercise that pushed units to their limits, while the force simultaneously graduated its newest soldiers from Initial Entry Training. Two Officer Candidate School classes commissioned four brand-new second lieutenants, young leaders who had already proven they could lead under pressure. At the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, VDF members showed up not because they were ordered, but because they believe some duties are too sacred to outsource. 

This year the VDF also looked inward. Following The Adjutant General’s lead on resiliency, the force rolled out its own comprehensive Wellness Program: physical, spiritual and financial, because the Commonwealth needs its defenders whole. The VDF legal team opened their doors wider than ever, drafting powers of attorney, wills and reviewing financial documents so that when National Guard members deploy, their families back home are protected. And at Fort Pickett, VDF chaplains held services open to every service member on post, offering the kind of spiritual care that can’t be measured on a readiness report but is felt in every family. 

None of this happened by accident. It happened because several hundreds of Virginians, most with full-time jobs and families, chose to wear their uniform and stand ready. They did it without fanfare, without pay for most of their hours, and often without the recognition they’ve earned ten times over. In a year when the Commonwealth faced fires, floods and invisible threats humming through fiber-optic cables, the Virginia Defense Force once again proved its motto true: “Virginians helping Virginians”.

The future of the VDF is bright. We will prepare ourselves to serve, train to the highest standards and be ready to answer any call the Adjutant General and Governor may make to the Virginia Defense Force.

Thank you for your unselfish service and support and wishing every member and their family a wonderful Holiday season and prosperous New Year.

I remain Semper Fidelis,

Brig. Gen. (Va) Rich Diddams
Commander, Virginia Defense Force