The Iowa National Guard’s leader says his top priority is recruiting soldiers and retaining those already in the guard’s ranks.

Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Timothy Orr delivered the annual “Condition of the Guard” speech to legislators.

Orr says the Guard currently faces among the most complex and demanding challenges he’s seen in his 40 year career. Orr used his annual address to lawmakers to single out a few soldiers for recognition, including a full-time I-T specialist who’s using the Guard’s educational benefits to get a college degree. About 12-hundred other Iowans currently are using that same benefit at Iowa colleges, universities and community colleges.