State Guards in USA?

[Legbreaker]

So in the US, Guards are essentially little more than wannabes with time on their hands or emergency volunteers who may carry weapons?

That's a completely foreign concept over here in Australia. We have organisations such as the SES (State Emergency Service) which respond to car accidents, floods, lost hikers and the like, volunteer fire fighters (Rural Fire Service being one such group) and various charity groups that are involved in community work (Lions, Rotary, Returned Services League, etc), but nothing that I can think of like the description of the US Guards.

Can somebody shed more light on what they're actually for and what they can and can't do?

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

So in the US, Guards are essentially little more than wannabes with time on their hands or emergency volunteers who may carry weapons?
Can somebody shed more light on what they're actually for and what they can and can't do?

That's about what I've heard about the Ohio State Guard, but I may be confusing them with the Unorganized Militia. I'm told the SG is authorized 4 MP battalions, but I've not heard much more about them. They are supposed to be the Governor's troops to call up if/when the Guard is called up. The Unorganized Militia is a constitutional holdover from the musket days, and every able-bodied male in the state is considered a member.

There is an Ohio Naval Militia, but all I've heard about them is that they keep ships and boaters away from Camp Perry during the shooting events. The shooting ranges apparently have their backstops against Lake Erie, thus the desire to keep beery fishermen from getting shot by strays.

If the governor is serious about working on-- and funding-- "his" guard between mobilization (presumably some time in 1996-97) and the TDM, they might turn out to be credible crowd-control forces. Otherwise, yuck.

[Webstral]

In a nutshell, State Guards (I’m going to call them SDF from this point forward to help distinguish them from the National Guard) are the military forces of the various states that comprise the United States. Before the National Guard acquired its federal role, each state’s National Guard units were the military forces of each state. Large-scale mobilizations, such as for WW2, led to the realization among the states that they had lost their sovereign military forces (state militia) when the National Guard was turned into a joint state-federal reserve with the feds holding the trump card. The SDF arose to fill the gap.

So what is the SDF? In a nutshell, the SDF is the National Guard sans a federal mission and federal funding. Technically, the Department of Defense oversees the SDF of the various states. In practice, the states operate their SDF pretty much as they see fit. When mobilized, the SDF possess all of the powers of the National Guard within their respective states. Theoretically, the SDF can respond to security crises, natural disasters, and the like in the same fashion as the National Guard.

Except in a handful of locations, the SDF are rather a joke. No one gets paid, unless they are mobilized by the state.[1] All funding comes from the state, which effectively means that there is no funding. SDF members supply their own uniforms and most of their own equipment. In theory, there are height and weight standards, physical fitness standards, and so forth. In practice, beggars can’t be choosers.

In the wake of the large-scale mobilizations of National Guard formations in the 2000’s, there is a renewed interest in the SDF. However, interest has not been renewed to the point at which SDF members will be paid to attend weekend drills and a two-week AT. Interest has not been renewed to the point at which SDF members will receive a clothing allowance or an issue of equipment intended for use in their state mission. Without funding, the SDF is simply dead in the water. It’s hard to see where the money is going to come from in this economic climate. Goodness knows that California is not in a position to organize a proper SDF, although by many accounts the CMR is in better shape than most SDF around the country.

Webstral

[1] This does happen occasionally. When my National Guard unit was mobilized 2004, many of the folks who did the admin work for us at Camp Roberts were members of the California Military Reserve, which is the SDF under a different name. They were paid at their given rank and basically treated like National Guardsmen under Title 32, which is the categorization of National Guardsmen mobilized under orders of the state governor. (Title 10 means a National Guardsman has been mobilized under federal orders, at which point they are no longer state forces.)

[Webstral]

I forgot to mention two other combat organizations based on State Defense Forces (SDF). The Vermont State Guard, which pre-existed the Twilight War in the real world, took over local security after the Pentagon federalized and deployed all remaining Vermont National Guard and Army Reserve personnel and equipment in the wake of the Mexican invasion (1998). The VSG still exists in early 2001. Its centerpiece is the Green Jacket Regiment--a play on words referring to the Green Mountains and the sharpshooting Green Jackets of British fame.

Also still in existence is the New Hampshire Military Reserve, which now operates as the Granite Brigade in Manchester. The Pentagon also emptied New Hampshire of its National Guard units in response to the Mexican invasion. The NHMR survived only because the acting governor abandoned the majority of the state and moved everything that could be moved to Manchester.

Massachusetts no longer has anything resembling an SDF or a state government. The same applies to Maine.

Webstral

[Legbreaker]

Yep, absolutely nothing like the SDF here in Australia...
ALL military forces are federal. Any other armed force (beyond the state and federal police) are considered private armies and therefore illegal.

[Adm.Lee]

Newsweek that just arrived today had a brief piece on the Iowa SDF. As 3000 Guardsmen are off to Afghanistan, the state is concerned about flooding.

The state is calling for retired Guardsmen to act as first responders, to guide and inform the remaining Guard if they are needed.

[kalos72]

SDF's are a great idea for the states who can afford them. Takes some of the control the Fed has over them away and gives them a great resource in emergencies.

I wonder if there are any solid SDF's out there today...

[HorseSoldier]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Yep, absolutely nothing like the SDF here in Australia...
ALL military forces are federal. Any other armed force (beyond the state and federal police) are considered private armies and therefore illegal.

In theory, here in the US, the National Guard portion of the reserves is under the control of their home state governor unless federalized, that being a central part of our sort of sloppy, loop-holey federal system here in the US. The idea that a state governor really owns his state's National Guard is really a polite fiction, though -- the federal government foots something like 95% of the bill for equipping and maintaining the Nat'l Guard and what a governor can or can't do with "his" forces is very limited outside of using them for humanitarian missions internal to the US.

So the reality maybe isn't that different from Australia, really.

The SDF's are an attempt to get around the strings that come with all that federal money, but no state if willing to fund them enough to make them even a modestly credible light infantry force (I'm certain that the police force of any moderately sized American city deploys more combat power than any SDF, for instance). Even in those states where SDFs are allowed arms, they're probably better considered a reserve/adjunct to the state police than a military force. (I think -- as noted above, my personal experience with these groups is limited.)