ipser%vaxa.isi.edu@usc.edu (Ed Ipser) (01/11/90)
From: ipser%vaxa.isi.edu@usc.edu (Ed Ipser)
I am interested in information on the relationship between the National Guard,
the United States Army Reserve, and the United States Militia.
Is the National Guard just a particular branch of the US Army
or are there some legal distinctions of which i am not aware. For example,
State Governors have some authority to call out the National Guard but is
that just a privalege which the Federal Government grants to the states?
Who pays for the National Guard (do the states contribute to maintenance)?
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The following is what i already (think i) know of the subject:
The United States National Guard was expressly created under Congress'
authority to raise armies *not* it authority to organize the militia.
Therefore, the federal government can do pretty much what it pleases with
the National Guard.
If the National Guard were created under Congress' authority to organize
the militia the federal government would only have the authority:
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of
the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia,
and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the
service of the United States, reserving to the States
respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority
of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by
Congress;
-- Article I, Section 8. of the US Constitution
Thus the militia may not be sent outside of the United States but the
National Guard, which is actually the Army Reserve, can be.
The Army Reserve consists of 10 reserve infantry and armored divisions
which are the National Guard. It also consists of some non-combat units
which are not National Guard but the National Guard is the combat
branch of the Army Reserve.
Currently, the United States militia is defined in the United States Code,
in Title 10, Section 311 thus:
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males
at least 17 years of age and, [except for felons], under 45 years of
age who are [US citizens].
(b) The classes of the militia are: (1) The organized militia, which
consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) The
unorganized militia which consists of the members of the militia
who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
But, the assertion that the National Guard is the organized militia is a
legislative fiction. It is not the Constitutional militia since it was
created under Congress' authority to raise armies. For constitutional
and legal purposes, the National Guard is a branch of the Army intended
for warfare outside the United States as it was used in WWI and WWII.
The Constitutional militia cannot be sent outside the United States.