The National Guard

The National Guard has a long, proud history of serving our country and traces its record back to colonial militias.  Militias protected their fellow citizens from Indian attacks, foreign invaders and helped to win the Revolutionary, Mexican, Civil and Spanish-American Wars .  It was renamed the National Guard in 1903.

• In WW I, the Guard comprised 40% of combat divisions in France

• First to deploy and first to fight in WW II

• 23,000 Guardmembers called up &  8,700 served in 'Nam

• 75,000 called up for Desert Storm

• Following September 11, 50,000 were called up

• 50,000 deployed to the Gulf States for Katrina

• 80,000 currently serve in Iraq and Afghanistan

A hundred thousand children in the sand

The Guard is dual state-federal force, chartered as a part-time force with members living civilian lives while doing periodic military training and serving tours of a maximum of 6 months.  Many currently serve more than a year.

'To ask citizen soldiers to serve such extended tours is a travesty'

This Backdoor Draft was developed by the President so the public won't get upset about a real draft.

'My son needed money for school.
He was told that he would get help with his tuition and would only serve in a domestic disasters.  Instead they pulled him out of school and sent him to Iraq.' '

The lower and middle classes bear the cost of this war to say nothing of the lives of their children

A folded flag inside a mother's hand

Readiness Eroded

They're not going easily
No ones going quietly

The Guard comprises 40 percent of U.S. ground forces in Iraq. 

'Citizen Soldiers shoulder the weight of the war
They are not prepared'

Most Guard Units cannot account for more than 1/2 their equipment. 

'Their best equipment went with them to Iraq, much of it never returns''

Guard units remain under-equipped in the event of a domestic disaster. 

'Declining readiness weakens the National Guard's preparedness for domestic missions'

Response to Katrina

When Hurricane Katrina struck, the deployment of the Mississippi (155th Infantry) and Louisiana (256th Infantry) Guard Units in Iraq delayed response time and cost lives.

'Had they been at home, things would have been different''

The States

Governors have requested the return of troops and equipment for domestic duties. 

• Montana's Apache helicopters, needed to fight summer forest fires, are in Iraq. 

• 3,000 Pennsylvania Guardsmen are deployed in Iraq, highest per capita in the nation. Only California and Texas have suffered more casualties.

• 2,500 members of the Minnesota Guard are deployed overseas, the most since World War II. 

'For a major natural disaster, the Guard would be stretched beyond the breaking point'

Broken Lives, Broken Hearts, Broken Dreams