[chico20854]

41ST OREGON REGIMENT - This unit, with headquarters in Tigard (a southwestern suburb of Portland), was called into state service in November 1996 and assumed responsibility for maintaining security for the port and shipyards in the city. It gradually absorbed new recruits flowing into the system, rejecting many due to histories of criminal or drug-related activity. This standard, unusual among state guard units, allowed the regiment to operate on a more professional basis than most of its peers across the nation. As the war spread across the world in 1997, the regiment, in cooperation with the other two Oregon regiments, began planning for evacuation of the civilian population of Portland. The 41st's role was to run the assembly/transportation sites and assist law enforcement in traffic control (as all major routes would be set up to run traffic outbound in all but one lane). The first panicked evacuation occurred in July following the first Soviet nuclear attack on NATO troops; several other false alarms occurred over the following months. During each of these, the regiment’s troops operated the sites (at local high schools) that loaded city transit and school busses with local residents that did not have cars and dispatched them to suburban and rural high schools that were considered safely out of danger from strikes on likely nuclear targets. Following the earlier evacuations the planning was modified to make greater use of the rail system (both commuter and freight) as well as barges on the Columbia River as well as providing for an armed militiaman as an escort for every vehicle (after a bus of elderly evacuees was stopped and robbed at gunpoint by bikers). After the nuclear strikes on Washington, DC and refineries around the nation the regiment once again evacuated the city; the evacuation was not flawless but was one of the most successful in the nation, moving nearly 1.7 million people over five days. The regiment’s troops dispersed during the evacuation, providing security at the evacuation sites. In spring 1998 the Governor of Oregon declared that the Portland area would be reoccupied and the regiment’s troops were tasked to encourage this movement. This was a considerably more difficult effort, as fuel stocks had dwindled and the unit’s elements had limited communications, having relied on the civilian telephone network or use of the state police’s radio network. Nonetheless the regiment was able to rally many of its troops back to Portland, where it, combined with the remnants of the 82nd Regiment, provided law enforcement for the city as well as protecting the state capitol and government alongside the 47th ID.

Current Location: Portland, OR
Manpower: 300