On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Russell Chapman wrote:
> Excuse my complete ignorance here - I genuinely don't know, but aren't
> National Guard units State Militia?
> We hear on the news about the Governor of StateX calling out the National
> Guard, and certainly the ANG units are state based... I had thought they were
> completely controlled by the state governments, utilising resources actually
> acquired by the individual states by whatever arrangement. So much so that if
> the Feds want to use an F16 from the Vermont ANG, (which is based at
> Burlington airport rather than a USAF base), it actually has to *ask* the
> Vermont government. Doesn't that imply the states have the right to raise a
> militia, or have I missed the point completely.
It's kind of confusing, and I won't claim to know all the procedures and
protocols that link the US military to the various state national guard
units. The Constitution originally provided for a standing militia with
each state administering its own portion, but all state militias would
answer to federal authority. Officers would be appointed by the states
and would serve in their own states. Having officers appointed in this
way, it was felt, would make it impossible for the federal goverment to
order the militia to act against the states' own citizens.
At the time of ratifying the Constitution some states weren't satisfied
with original provisions, and it's my theory that the 2nd amendment
represents a compromise which basically says that the federal government
can't rescind the existing relationship of the state governments to the
state militia, i.e., the feds can't prevent a state from arming and
fielding a militia by an act of Congress, though the fed still retains
regulatory authority.
IIRC, the national guard system emerged after the Civil War as a more
centralized way of keeping federally controlled reserves at the ready.
The guard is militia-like in some respects, but it is not the militia as
established by the Constitution.
My guess is that if the president needs an F-16 from a national guard
unit, he may be obliged to ask politely, but the governor probably doesn't
have the right to say no. (I could be wrong, though.)
Marvin Long
Austin, Texas
