Inuit are Canadian, technically. Alaska eskimos are Inupiat (norther/northwestern part of the state) or Yupik (western Alaska). Both are very well represented in the modern day AK ARNG and the 207th back in the day, as well as Aleuts, Tlingits, and Athabascans (plus whatever other groups I'm maybe forgetting).
Lot of stories from back in the day about guys out in the Bush communities taking stuff home from drill -- like M60 machineguns -- just in case the Russians showed up unexpected. (And probably because if you could take a light machinegun home and keep it in your closet, wouldn't you?).
Also some stories floating around about when they started reorganizing the AK ARNG after the end of the Cold War and shutting down some of the armories in smaller Bush villages (some stayed open even if not needed because they doubled as town hall, the local jail, community centers, or the local school's gym). I'm told they found a half dozen M14s in one that no one seemed to have paperwork on anymore, have heard similar stories about a BAR being found in the same sort of circumstances. No idea if that's real or mythology, but it is definitely a whole different world out in that part of Alaska, for the National Guard and everything else.
|