State Guards in T2K (Includes User-made Unit)

[Raellus]

@Chico: Great piece. Thanks for linking to it from this thread. I look forward to reading your SG histories.

RN7 posted that link two messages ago, but thanks, unkated.

[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

[chico20854]

MINNESOTA REGIMENT - The Minnesota State Guard was reactivated in December 1996, following decades of existence on paper only. Organized as a two-battalion regiment, it was staffed by retirees of the Minnesota National Guard who were medically unfit for overseas service, retired law enforcement officers, carefully screened veterans and students and recent graduates of the National Guard’s program for troubled teens. A third battalion was also raised as a paper formation, composed of state law enforcement officers (state police, game wardens, prison guards and park rangers), so that they could be granted military status under the law. Each battalion was formed with seven small companies, each of which served one day a week; the unit’s admission standards led the regiment to be one of the most professional militia units in the nation, on par with many National Guard units. First Battalion protected various industrial sites in the Twin Cities area, while 2nd Battalion guarded the port facilities in Duluth as well as establishing evacuation sites in rural areas, using Minnesota’s state park system as well as hundreds of campgrounds and resorts. Units were equipped with M-1 Garand rifles and M-1911 pistols; no heavier weapons were issued. Like other state defense force units around the nation it was involved with the repeated false alarms throughout the summer and fall of 1997 as the nuclear exchange escalated worldwide. Both regular battalions were called into full-time service following the Thanksgiving Day Massacre, with 1st Battalion responsible for assisting in the evacuation of the Twin Cities and 2nd Battalion in their reception in smaller towns and cities. First Battalion was called away from evacuation duties to respond to the SLBM strikes on the Rosemount and St. Paul Park refineries on December 18. By the time relief duties had been completed (firefighting and support of survey and salvage efforts) order had broken down in large areas of the state and the state government had relocated to the military-controlled enclave at Camp Ripley. First Battalion relocated to the military base, while 2nd Battalion, dispersed across hundreds of sites, was officially disbanded and 3rd Battalion called into active service (absorbing additional recruits from the 70th ID on base to fill the battalion out). A detachment seized the M-16s and M-203s awaiting delivery from a small arms plant in Becker and ammunition from plants in the suburbs of Minneapolis, allowing 3rd Battalion to be fully equipped with automatic weapons. During this time the regiment took its first casualties from radiation, both from service near the refinery blasts and from fallout from the ground bursts on the ICBM fields and SAC bases in the Dakotas to the west. In the summer of 1998 the two-battalion regiment played a major role in maintaining order in the central part of the state, conducting joint patrols with Task Force Trailblazer of the 70th ID and protecting the state government as well as overseeing distribution of the limited amounts of food, fertilizer and fuel available to the state. The state government effectively avoided choosing allegiance to either Milgov or Civgov, officially recognizing the authority of both but taking its own decisions in the absence of support of any kind from either entity. Local opposition consisted of biker gangs, wandering groups of desperate, armed refugees and, on occasion, recalcitrant local farmers who balked at the quantity of crops seized by the unit to support the civilian population.

Subordination: Minnesota State Government
Current Location: Camp Ripley, MN
Manpower: 500

[chico20854]

5TH CALIFORNIA BRIGADE - A California State Guard unit, with headquarters in Fresno and battalions at Camp San Luis Obispo, Bakersfield, Porterville and Fresno. Assigned to the Northern Area Command this brigade began a rapid expansion in the summer of 1996 from a cadre to a fully staffed organization by absorbing hundreds of draftees that had been passed over for federal service, often for health reasons or because of minor criminal records. A smattering of retired California National Guard NCOs were assigned to supervise the unit and do most of the training of the new draftees; the retirees were greeted with general hostility from the peacetime membership, who resented the “intrusion” into what had been more of a social club. Nonetheless, it was the first State Guard unit to be called into service, in October 1996 to support the mobilization of the 40th Infantry Division and the 49th MP Brigade. Members of the unit assumed responsibility for providing security for National Guard armories as well as providing logistic and administrative support for the mobilizing National Guard troops. Most notably, personnel of the unit ran the rifle qualification range at Camp Roberts, allowing the mobilizing troops to all certify their marksmanship proficiency without having to provide range safety officers, ammunition handlers and emergency medical personnel. Following departure of the National Guard for overseas service the unit was armed with M-1 Garand rifles from federal stockpiles and began patrolling central California and protecting critical petroleum and power infrastructure in the region. As an investigation by the Army would later reveal, the unit also ran a clandestine “hit squad” that engaged in a series of nighttime raids against suspected “enemy sympathizers”, a category that quickly grew to include Mexicans, leftists, union officials, peace activists and outspoken college professors. Bodies of these innocents were dumped, tortured and mutilated, in various remote spots within the unit’s area of responsibility. The 221st MP Brigade, an Army Reserve unit, was brought back to California from Hawaii in December 1997 in part to investigate and hunt down the death squad and purge the state guard unit of dangerous elements. Upon arrival the state guard unit was brought under federal control and the brigade’s officers were replaced by Army Reservists from the 221st. Resistance to the change was fierce and the Army brought in local law enforcement to embed with the unit’s patrols; desertion soared and by the end of January 1998 the unit was incapable of concerted action. At that point the Army officially stood down and disbanded the unit, assigning certain individuals to local police forces and the militias that the area’s sheriffs were standing up and disarming the rest.


10TH CALIFORNIA CADET BRIGADE - This unit started the war as a nominal brigade in the California Cadet Corps, a paramilitary youth training program for children from elementary school to college ages, based in schools. The 10th Brigade was a state-level formation that conducted leadership training for units assigned to other brigades, with no student units directly assigned. In the summer of 1997, with the war spreading and increased preparedness for nuclear conflict the governor requested that the Cadet Corps stand up two disaster response units composed of 16-18-year old boys. The 10th Brigade used its existing command structure and recruited suitable boys from school units in the Los Angeles area. July was spent conducting first aid, traffic control and disaster relief training at the El Toro Marine Corps airbase in Orange County. When nuclear war broke out in Europe the unit remained on the base on high alert but with the start of the school year the unit was demobilized and its members sent back to school, liable for immediate recall if needed. That call came several times during the fall as nuclear war scares gripped the city. The final callout was in early December, when Soviet nuclear strikes on refineries in Wilmington, Carson and El Segundo ignited a firestorm and set off a panicked mass exodus out of the city. The following days were chaos, but eventually a group of 250 boys rallied at the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach. Many had armed themselves during the preceding days; the rest were armed by the mixed force of civilian security guards and recovering Marines and sailors guarding the facility. A Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sergeant, healing from wounds received in Bandar Abbas, Iran, assumed command and integrated the guard force into the unit in leadership positions. The formation remained in the enclave throughout the winter and spring, fortifying the perimeter and turning away all outsiders, considered lost by the Governor and the military chain of command, fed by a false report that the base had been overrun. The Mexican invasion ended this period of inactivity; a salvage expedition sent by XVI Corps discovered the force, which handed over the facility and accepted deployment to the front to the south. The Governor, upon hearing that the unit had been found intact, demanded that it be spared front-line duty due to the youth of many of its soldiers and its haphazard and light armament. That request was accepted and the brigade was assigned for responsibility for security in the Corps rear area, guarding convoys, warehouses and the Corps rear headquarters. The brigade saw a lot of action in this role, battling Mexican Army infiltrators and their allied street and biker gangs. It retreated through the ruins of LA and once out of the urban area was assigned to dig field fortifications in the Tejon Pass, which were later used by the 221st MP Brigade. Following the disbandment of the 5th Brigade the 10th was moved north to central California, establishing its headquarters in Bakersfield and being released from federal duty. Once there the severely depleted unit absorbed additional troops, both carefully screened former members of the 5th Brigade as well as a detachment of lower-quality recruits from the Army’s 91st Training Division that had remained in Bakersfield to protect the refinery complex and nearby oilfields.
Subordination: State of California
Current Location: Bakersfield, CA
Manpower: 600

[chico20854]

49TH ALASKA BRIGADE - This unit was originally a MP brigade composed of law enforcement officers and military veterans. With its headquarters in Wasilla and battalions in Fairbanks and Anchorage, the 500-odd members of this unit were called into state active duty with the Soviet invasion of Norway in November 1996. Following a brief period mobilizing, the unit was tasked to protect the Alaska Pipeline from Soviet Spetsnaz raids as well as guarding the Alaska Railroad, maintaining checkpoints on the Alaska and Dalton Highways, and guarding port facilities in Anchorage, Juneau and Valdez. Unlike most state defense forces, the 49th was armed with M-14 rifles, M-79 grenade launchers and M-60 machineguns from federal stocks, reflecting the greater conventional threat faced by the Alaska unit compared to most other states. By the summer of 1997 militiamen of the brigade were engaged in nearly weekly small-scale firefights with Soviet infiltrators that had slipped into the massive state past the defending Army units. When the Red Army crossed into the state in force the unit was brought under federal control and placed under command of X Corps, ordered to concentrate in the Mat-Su Valley if possible (otherwise, militiamen were to attach themselves to the nearest military unit). At that time the unit absorbed 150 additional recruits, students at a “boot-camp” style program for troubled teens, who were assigned to squads as privates. The brigade, lacking weapons heavier than M-60 machineguns, was assigned rear area security roles only. Its most significant achievement was in evacuating most of the population of Fairbanks in advance of the Soviets, passing the civilians through Fort Wainwright without serious incident and onward to the Canadian border, in addition to patrolling the cantonment areas of Fort Wainwright and Eilelson Air Force Base throughout the long winter of 1997-1998. When X Corps launched its counterattack in the spring of 1998, the brigade advanced behind X Corps’ screen and assumed responsibility for the city of Fairbanks as well as restoring services along the Mat-Su Valley. In these duties the unit was hampered by the depopulation of the areas as well as the general lack of resources in the year after the nuclear exchange. It remained in that area for the remainder of the war.
Subordination: X Corps
Current Location: Fairbanks, AK
Manpower: 200

[chico20854]

3RD TEXAS REGIMENT - This unit was a prewar standing military formation, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. While much of the regiment’s senior membership were inducted into federal military service at the outbreak of war, a large number remained as the Army struggled to absorb draftees from around the nation. At the conclusion of the 1996-97 school year, the Governor of Texas ordered the Corps onto active duty, splitting its membership into two regiments. This unit (unofficially known as “the 1st Aggies”) left its College Station home to augment the Border Patrol in guarding the Mexican border, operating out of a ranch on the outskirts of Eagle Pass and from Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio. The regiment’s cadets were armed with a hodgepodge of M-16s from Air Force and National Guard stocks, M-14s and M-1s from the State Guard, shotguns from the factory in Eagle Pass and civilian weapons owned by the unit’s members or donated by alumni. (The prize of the latter category was a pair of custom-made gold plated Barrett M-82 .50-caliber rifles donated by a Vietnam Veteran and oilman from the Class of 1963). The unit’s patrols soon began to intercept thousands upon thousands of Mexican refugees fleeing chaos back home, directing them to makeshift camps, transporting them back across the border or moving them further into Texas to avoid overwhelming the Rio Grande valley. In early 1998 as the transportation system broke down the first food riots broke out in the refugee camps. The regiment was sent in to restore order; its troops were met with gunfire from the heavily armed Mexican gangs which were attempting to assert control in the camps. Within a week the camps were full-fledged combat zones and the regiment, reinforced with armored cars from the nearby Air Force base and under orders from the Governor, was ordered to shut them down and deport all the surviving inhabitants. The Mexican government protested and the relocation convoys were blocked by Mexican Army units, forcing the regiment to drive the refugees en masse towards the border at gunpoint. Conditions continued to deteriorate until the unit found itself in combat against the Mexican Army. With few support weapons (even after absorbing the Air Force Security Police Squadron and other base personnel and the Border Patrol agents in the sector) and with its rear area under pressure from Mexican refugees, sympathizers and infiltrators the regiment was forced north, retreating over Interstate 10 before rallying in San Angelo. The Mexican drive ran out of steam, slowed by American nuclear strikes on Mexico, inadequate logistics and resistance from the local populace. The regiment wintered in the town, building impressive defenses and absorbing the cadre and student body from Goodfellow Air Force Base’s intelligence school. With a trickle of fuel from the nearby oil fields the formation was able to actively patrol, although cut off from other units in the vast spaces of Texas. It took part in the 1999 drive into Central Texas, linking up with units of XIII Corps before being repulsed by the Soviet Division Cuba. The regiment evacuated to the northwest, returning to its cantonment in San Angelo. It remained there throughout the remainder of the war.
Subordination: State of Texas
Current Location: San Angelo, TX
Manpower: 500

8TH TEXAS BRIGADE - This unit started the war as the 2nd Military Police Group, headquartered in Houston with subordinate units in Beaumont, Port Arthur and Bryan. The unit was called into state service at the outbreak of war and assigned several hundred untrained draftees and 50 retired NCOs from the Texas National Guard. Within a few weeks the unit, by now renamed a brigade (named “Terry’s Texas Rangers”) was issued obsolete small arms and began patrolling the refineries along the Houston Ship Canal as well as protecting the ports and refineries in Port Arthur and Beaumont. The unit took heavy losses in the Soviet nuclear strikes on those refineries and the subsequent civil unrest and chaos, unrest that the unit was nominally responsible for quelling. Composed mostly of part-time guardsmen, like the other Texas State Guard units, many individual guardsmen survived the strikes while the unit’s command structure was devastated. In that environment the unit disintegrated, with individual guardsmen often using their weapons and training in unofficial militias and bands of bandits (although at times the distinction was lost between the two).

9TH TEXAS BRIGADE - This Texas State Guard formation was the smallest of the Texas brigades, drawing recruits from the city of El Paso and surrounding areas. Unfortunately those areas were sparsely populated so the “brigade” never exceeded five companies in strength, despite the influx of retired NCOs and draftees. The unit was primarily assigned to provide area defense for Fort Bliss and patrol the Mexican border in the immediate area of the city. The brigade was called into full-time service following the November 1997 nuclear strikes; its remote location prevented a significant influx of refugees from elsewhere in Texas. By January 1998, however, the El Paso area was being overwhelmed by streams of refugees from Mexico and the unit’s harsh methods of dealing with the flow soon were causes of tension with the Mexican government. By June the brigade was engaged in full-blown riot control duties which the Mexican Army soon crossed the border to halt. The unit, stretched to the limit, put up brief resistance before being overwhelmed. The survivors were absorbed by the School Brigade.

[stilleto69]

@Chico: Wonderful works as always. Glad to see you back. Missed your work.

[rcaf_777]

Originally Posted by chico20854

Units were equipped with M-1 Garand rifles and M-1911 pistols

What about having weapons manufactured from places like the Springfield Armory which has been producing M1A since 1974

Springfield Armory M1A
Springfield Armory P9
Springfield Armory M6 Scout
Springfield Armory M1 Garand
Springfield Armory M1911

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Armory_M1A
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Armory,_Inc.

There are also a few factories still producing the M1 Carbine as well

http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbines.html