[Webstral]

Okay, so I couldn’t help myself when I read SSC’s very legitimate question about the National Guard.

The National Guard is a joint state-federal reserve for which each party contributes half of the funding. The states get control by default, but the federal government may take command of any or all National Guard units at will. Once the federal government has mobilized a National Guard, the Guard unit, that unit is available for deployment anywhere in the world for any mission at the discretion of the federal chain of command. See the US Army Vehicle Guide.

When the Constitution was ratified by the states in 1789, a militia possessed several key characteristics. The militia was a reserve formation of citizen soldiers (non-professional) organized along regular military lines. The states, formerly the colonies, had full control of their militias. The CINC was the governor, who delegated his authority to the officers, who delegated it to the NCOs, just as the Regular Army officers get their authority from the President. The state legislature authorized the regulations governing the militia, among which are what we would call today a Uniform Code of Military Justice. Among the regulations were details regarding maximum number of days of service per annum, geographical limits on deployment (often the state border but uniformly the national border), and the like. Individuals were supposed to provide their own small arms and sufficient ammunition, equipment, and supplies for 3-5 days of operation. Longer operations were supported at government expense. Governments, local or state, could and typically did provide additional small arms for those not able to afford their own, stores, and even small cannon, the latter two of which were kept at facilities called armories.

At the time, the militia was intended to defend the nation against foreign aggression and the rise of domestic despotism. This concept survives to today in the oath service members take to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. The militia was necessary for defense against foreign aggression because the new federal government was destitute. Even had the first leaders of the republic been inclined to raise and pay for a standing army of sufficient power to discourage aggression by the various European powers that might possess dark impulses, there simply was no money for anything of the sort. The states’ militia was the only viable solution to the security problem. Equally, though, the militia under the control of the states was seen as a counterbalance to the ambitions of a federal leader who might get control of the professional force. The key element is the chain of command. In 1789, and for the previous 150 years, the militia belonged exclusively to the states. Their authority to mobilize and embark on combat operations was derived from the electorate of the state through the executive and the legislature.

Things changed very quickly. Within 4 years, someone at the top realized that having the states’ militia operate solely under the command of the states violated the principals of unity of command and concentration of mass/combat power. New legislation gave the federal executive the authority to mobilize the states’ militia and deploy them as federal forces. At this point, the ability of the militia to defend against foreign aggression was enhanced at the expense of the ability of the militia to defend against domestic tyranny. The militia was set on its 110 year road to become the modern National Guard, a process which was completed with the Militia Act of 1903.

The distinction between being solely under the command of the states and being available for mobilization by the President may seem fine, but it’s everything. Soldiers obey orders from the authorized chain of command. The habits of discipline and obedience are the core of combat effectiveness for any army as long as there have been armies. The states’ militia were in a position to counterbalance the professional force in the event of federal despotism because the militia had no command relationship with the federal government. For the militia to take to the field against a Regular Army fighting for a domestic despot involved grave disobedience to the federal government but not mutiny—at least in 1789. Once the militia could come under the command of the federal government, the militia became in effect a federal reserve with a chain of command culminating not in the state executive but in the federal executive. The same risk that the Regular Army would simply follow the orders of a domestic tyrant out of habits of discipline and obedience applied to the states’ militia from 1793 onward, if in a somewhat reduced form. Orders by a state executive for the militia to secure federal facilities in the state as part of a fight against federal despotism could be countermanded by the federal authority. Again, the distinction may seem fine, but when citizen soldiers are making choices the authority of the chain of command makes all the difference in the world.

Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations has made a hash of common sense by defining the militia as two things as two things it cannot be. The active militia is defined as the National Guard, which is really a federal reserve. The inactive militia is defined as everybody else. This is absurd. Calling a mass of men of military age completely lacking in discipline, training, equipment, organization, or any of the other defining characteristics of a military formation a military formation is like calling a heap of building materials a house. This farce has gone on for 200 years because opposing interest groups can agree that Title 10 is in their best interest.

The various State Defense Forces are the only forces that could pass as militia as militia existed in 1789 and for the previous 150 years. Time and a Hamiltonian sensibility have altered the militia so that the volunteers for citizen soldiery are a federal reserve with a very diminished psychological and legal basis for taking up arms against domestic tyranny, while those who prefer not to volunteer have no responsibilities whatsoever and about as much military effectiveness in the event of a need for a patriot uprising.

My kids have used their tokens for TV watching, so it’s time for me to go parent.