Quote:
Originally Posted by rcaf_777
Your not thinking of the game terms, in the game the State Guard are used for home defense of a state, they are a military unit. While today we see the State Guard that has some duties, same as Red Cross, or Volunteer Fireman, that not how they were original organized. They are an organized military force at the service of the state in which they live. It should also me noted that many states would not even form state guard units until after their ANG Units are federalized.
While after the he fecal matter hits the oscillating blade, you find police, fireman and paramedics in the state guard. Before that they would doing their regular jobs. You can certainly generate these PC's or LEO's but they would doing their regular job up till the start of any adventure. So no state guard training until the last term of generation (the war term). I don't think it too much of stretch to for LEO or other special personnel to assigned to the state guard at the start of any adventure.
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The counter-argument is that State Guard isn't a full-time job except for the very highest echelons, so it shouldn't be a career path at all, but a secondary choice.
As far as them being just military units, I can't speak for other states, but that's laughable for Virginia. The VDF has been in essentially its current form since 1983, providing disaster support.
There are a fair number of State Guards that handily pre-date the T2K timeline. Virginia's current version has existed since 1983 (when the State Constitution was changed). California's had theirs since 1846. Georgia's had their current version since 1985 (in the 70s, it was essentially a volunteer auxiliary police force). Indiana's dates back to the Civil War. Maryland has had a Defense Force since 1983. Massachusetts had one until last year (when the new governor declined to extend their charter). Michigan had the Emergency Volunteers from 1988 to 1998. Mississippi reactivated theirs in 1986 due to the Total Force Concept. Washington has had theirs since 1960. Out of those, California, Georgia, and Indiana are the only ones that I know provide weapons training to their State Guard. Most State Guards that exist are not an "organized military force" in the sense of having any sort of combat capability.
Given the widely varying levels of training and duties of State Guards, I think it may be best to do two different versions of State Guard. The first would be to have it as part of the secondary options for characters, more as an explanation of how they learned a skill than as anything else. The second would be a draft option for characters who are too old to reasonably be expected to be sent overseas. Historically, the draft has tended to be limited to people 45 or younger, so having State Guard as a draft option for characters with 8+ terms seems possible. Anyone younger than that would likely be drafted before the State Guards become a full-time occupation.