The United States National Guard Facts

Did you know the following facts about the United States National Guard which is the part-time military component and accounts to more than half the overall strength of the entire United States Armed Forces?

• The National Guard is the oldest military organization in the United States. It is 139 years older than the U.S. Army.
• The term ‘National Guard’ was first adopted by a New York militia unit in 1825 to honor the Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution and former commander of the Guarde Nationale de Paris during the French Revolution.
• The National Guard supports U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM ) with the homeland defense mission. USNORTHCOM ’s job is to conduct necessary operations to prevent threats and acts of aggression against the United States.
• Twenty U.S. presidents have served in the militia or the National Guard.
• The Guard is securing nation’s airports, providing border security-including the presidentially directed Operation Jump Start on the Southwest border-and providing deterrent and counter-terrorism forces. Armed Guard members have been on duty in New York every day throughout the state since 9/11.
• Since the 11 September 2001 attacks, the National Guard has added 45 weapons of mass destruction-civil support teams; 17 chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive enhanced response force packages; 54 computer emergency response teams; six critical infrastructure protection-mission assurance assessment detachments; 54 rapid reaction forces; 54 24-hour-a-day joint operations centers; and numerous other capabilities.
• The National Guard is integrated into the homeland defense plans of every state. The Guard exercise in communities with the civilian emergency planners and emergency responders.
• Since 1898, 121 recipients of the Medal of Honor have had National Guard service at some point in their career.
• 62,411 Army and 10,456 Air National Guard members were mobilized in 1990-1991 for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
• At the peak of the recovery effort following Hurricane Katrina, more than 51,000 Army and Air Guard members were involved.
• The National Guard helps to meet community needs with its Counter Drug Support Program and the Drug Reduction Demand Programs.
• Sergeant Leigh Anne Hester, a Guardswoman with the 617th Military Police Company, Kentucky National Guard, became the first woman in the U.S. military since World War II to earn a Silver Star Medal.
• 50 percent of the Army’s ground combat units in Iraq in 2005 were from the National Guard.
• Astronaut Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad, Jr., the commander of Apollo XII , was the third man to walk on the moon. He started his military career as a private in the Pennsylvania National Guard.
• The National Guard State Partnership Program (SPP) links U.S. states with a partner country to improve bilateral relationships with the U.S. These partnerships are designed to improve military relations, to assist with the development of democratic institutions, foster open market economies to help develop stability, and project and represent U.S. humanitarian values.
• The National Guard Family Program operates family assistance centers throughout the United States and its territories to provide aid and support for all military family members regardless of military affiliation, whether Guard, Reserve, or active duty.

Source:  Paula Sumrall, Our Sons Our Daughters: The National Guard Parent’s Guidebook to Deployment, National Guard Bureau, 2007

Photograph Source: Google

(Published by the team of TERRITORIALS)