Federalizing the National Guard: Preparedness, Reserve Forces, and the National Defense Act
via @rattletrap1776, TG - by National Guard Bureau Historial Services National Guard Bureau
Highly recommend Patriots read this, especially Veterans.
Make sure you know the history.
A few “Vets” out there trying to pull people over on MOS experience, not history and laws and orders.
Huge difference. 🎯🔥🐂🇺🇸
Excerpts From The National Guard Website
ARLINGTON, Va. - June 3 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Defense Act of 1916, a defining moment in the history of the National Guard. To commemorate this anniversary, the National Guard Bureau presents a brief history of the origins and impact of this legislation.
Isolated Nation
Concerns over preparedness rose to a fever pitch after the sinking of the Lusitania [WWI].
The U.S. House of Representatives sought to address this deficit in military training and manpower that summer.
However, the Chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs, Rep. James Hay (D-VA), only grudgingly admitted a willingness to confer with the Wilson administration with regard to preparedness.
Legislative Action
A legacy of the colonial era, the United States traditionally disdained a large standing army, and Hay envisioned the National Guard as a means to bolster military power in a time of war while adhering to the idea of a small standing army during times of peace.
He was resistant to calls from the Department of War to eliminate the National Guard and bolster active-duty army forces.
The matter gained greater urgency in early March 1916 when Francisco "Pancho" Villa and his rebel army charged into U.S. territory at the town of Columbus, New Mexico, stunning the nation and thrusting it into an offensive posture.
Congress quickly passed the National Defense Act of 1916, which was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on June 3, 1916.
The National Guard remained the United States’ first-line reserve force, yet maintained a means to positively impact the nation’s defense well beyond this milestone.
The Law’s Impact
The law increased and standardized training and personal standards.
Congress required Guardsmen to fulfill 48 days of drill and 15 days of annual training at federal expense; this doubled the number of drill days and tripled the annual training requirement.
In addition, the Department of War now administered annual inspections, and the Army required Guardsmen to meet uniform physical fitness and eligibility tests.
Standardization of the National Guard brought visible changes.
All state militias were renamed as National Guards,
and Guardsmen would wear the U.S. Army uniform.
This visual identity proved important by demonstrating the unity of active-duty and reserve forces and signifying Guardsmen as military professionals.
The National Defense Act of 1916 was critical to the establishment of the modern National Guard in that it closely integrated the Guard with the active-duty component, established the Guard’s dual mission, and provided federal funding to support the National Guard.
As a consequence of the law, the National Guard was a major force provider for both World Wars and recent contingency operations.
The provisions of the act allowed the Guard to later be mobilized in over a year before the United States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor.
The forward posture of the Guard allowed planners such as Army Chief of Staff George Marshall to ensure that mistakes would be more likely to be made in training rather than combat situations.
One hundred years after its passage, historians consider the National Defense Act of 1916 a far-reaching, forward-thinking law whose comprehensive nature established the modern National Guard.
Recommended reading:
George C. Herring, Jr., "James Hay and the Preparedness Controversy, 1915-1916," The Journal of Southern History 30:4, November 1964.
John Garry Clifford, The Citizen-Soldiers: The Plattsburg Training Camp Movement, 1913-1920, Lexington KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1972.
Jerry Cooper, The Rise of the National Guard: The Evolution of the American Militia, 1865-1920, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.