Founded in 1636 as a citizen force, the US National Guard is a “ready” reserve group of 450,000 men and women who serve voluntarily in all 50 states and four US territories. Members of the Guard hold civilian jobs and undergo part-time military training. They are called to serve in times of civil unrest, natural disasters, industrial strikes, wars, health emergencies and riots.
Existing only as a state and federal force, in accordance with the U.S. Constitution, Guard units may be called upon to maintain public safety, order, and peace in their country in the event of an emergency and may also be deployed to serve as essential elements of US forces abroad. .
“The National Guard is separate and distinct from other Federal Reserve Forces of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines,” writes Michael Doubler in I am the guard: A History of the Army National Guard. “National Guard troops serve under the direction of state governors until the President of the United States orders them to do active federal service for domestic emergencies or overseas service.”
Guard Soldiers typically serve in their home countries, live at home, and typically hold private sector jobs, with drills scheduled for one weekend per month and an annual two-week training program.
Evolving over nearly 400 years from local colonial militias to fighting the first battles of the American Revolution, serving in two world wars, securing the U.S. capital from a riot in 2021, the National Guard serves at the community levels and national, responding to combat. and reconstruction missions, national emergencies and more and has participated in all major American conflicts.
The beginnings of the National Guard
A line of Minutemen pulled by British troops during the Battle of Lexington, Massachusetts.
VCG Wilson / Corbis / Getty Images
Prior to the U.S. Army, the Army National Guard, the nation’s first organized fighting force, arose on December 13, 1636, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when three militia regiments were formed to defend themselves. against members of the Pequot tribe and provide security and structure for the early settlements. Men between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to join them, and Massachusetts’ first three regiments continue to operate today.
“In the absence of military assistance from Britain, the militia system alone guaranteed the success of early English colonization,” writes Doubler. “As the Indian threat faded, the militiamen found themselves increasingly engaged against other colonial powers. Battles against the Spanish and French and service alongside British regulars often exposed the best and worst aspects of the militia. By the late 1700s, the militia was a bulwark against unwanted British intrusion into colonial affairs.
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During the American Revolution, the units earned the name Minutemen, a nod to their rapid response time, as they led the war’s first battles. The militias also formed volunteer armies during the Civil War and offered protection to settlers during the westward expansion, Doubler adds. The Militia Act of 1903, also known as the Dick Act, created the building blocks of the modern National Guard, allowing more federal support and control.
The Guard’s first aviation unit was established on November 1, 1915, and three decades later, on September 18, 1947, with the establishment of the Air Force, the Air National Guard was formed. Since then, Air Guard members have witnessed fighting in the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Persian Gulf crisis, the September 11 terrorist attacks, hurricane relief efforts, the war in Afghanistan and others. operations.
National Defense Act 1916
The men of the famous 369th Infantry Wave upon arrival in New York City, 1919. The 369th, formerly the 15th New York National Guard Regiment, was the first African-American regiment to serve with the United States Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
Paul Thompson / Provisional Archives / Getty Images
Following the sinking of the Lusitania On May 7, 1915, Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson enacted the National Defense Act of 1916, which made significant changes to the organization, including giving it the official name of the National Guard, increasing and standardizing training, adding funds, administering annual inspections and requiring the passing of aptitude and eligibility tests.
“The law codified the dual state and federal mission of the National Guard and required new guards to pledge allegiance to both the United States Constitution and their state of preservation,” notes the Guard. “The President of the United States could now federalize the National Guard in a time of declared federal emergency and provide for expeditionary service.”
After the United States entered World War I, Harry S. Truman, as captain of the Missouri National Guard, fought in Argonne, France, in 1918 with the First United States Army. During this conflict, the famous Harlem Hellfighters, a group of black guards who fought as the 369th Infantry Regiment, received the French military decoration of the Croix de Guerre for their heroism.
In September 1940, with America’s entry into World War II on the horizon, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called up the National Guard for a year of training. “The federalization of the Guard has doubled the size of the active American forces,” reports the USO. “This, combined with the institution of the first American peacetime project, provided the manpower for a possible American intervention in Europe.
READ MORE: The images that defined WWII
The national guard in modern times
Armed National Guard soldiers line up outside a post office in South Central, Los Angeles, where several days of riots have taken place over the acquittal of LAPD officers who beat Rodney King.
Ted Soqui / Corbis / Getty Images
Today only the United States Army has more members than the National Guard, and while 10 presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, were in the state militias, Harry S. Truman (National Guard Missouri) and George W. Bush (Texas Air National Guard) are the only two presidents who have served in the branch in modern times.
The National Guard has been activated on US soil at least 16 times federally, including the Civil War of 1861-65, the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas from 1957-58, the March from Selma to Montgomery , Alabama in 1965, the Cuban refugee crisis in 1980 and the Los Angeles riots in 1992.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the National Guard has mobilized more than 500,000 troops for federal missions, according to the Guard, and, in its role as state, has played an important role in disaster relief and defense of the territory. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, approximately 50,000 National Guard troops were deployed to the Gulf Coast for humanitarian, evacuation and relief operations.
Most recently, in 2020, nearly 100,000 members of the Guard were deployed to help with the coronavirus pandemic, California wildfires and anti-racism protests. On January 6, 2021, the day Congress met to officially count the Electoral College vote, members of the Guard were called in after a mob raped the U.S. Capitol.
