Posted 4 years ago
Militarist
(296 items)
State Guard
The State Guard in most states is primarily a paper organization. As such it exists on paper as a list of military units divided in to regiments and companies with mostly blank spaces for the names of the officers and men. In times of extended national emergencies like World Wars I and II, the State Guard is activated after the National Guard has been called up into Federal Service. The State Guard would then be manned by volunteers that were too young or too old for active military service. The State Guard volunteers were trained as quickly as possible so they would be able to aid local authorities any where in their home state as needed for natural disasters, riots, strikes etc. State Guards remained under the command of their respective governors and could not be sent out of their states. The Wisconsin State Guard used the same insignia and medals as the regular National Guard and military with a few exceptions like their collar brass which in the past had the letters SG added. Their hat badges and cloth patches unique to Wisconsin.
Interesting items.
I remember the State Guard when I worked in Oregon. Some of them hung out in the National Guard armories and annoyed the full time guard guys and active duty advisors with stories!
Believe they had an office or two in the armory. I never saw them used, but I guess it is always good to have a pool of folks to call in an emergency.
scott
Thanks Scott. I used to like listening to the old timers when they were telling their stories. I learned from them and was able to avoid some painful experiences as a result.