DUers- Prior to 2001,how many National Guard were activated in any given year?

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.defense.gov/news/d20110315ngr.pdf
there are currently 89K Army/Navy/AF/Marines activated.That will more than likely increase.

[AnneD]

1. War ...

On the fly. It is outrageous and really against the true mission of the Guard. To be in the guard is to have all of the dangers of active duty and few if any benefits. I wonder what lies they are telling the kids.

[Lurks Often]

4. You are misinformed

The National Guard has been called up for all major conflicts since WWI

Per Wikipedia:

WWI: The National Guard made up 40% of the combat troops
WWII: The National Guard made up 19 divisions (figure between 250,000-350,000 men)
Korean War: The National Guard had 140,000 men activated
The National Guard was also activated for Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Vietnam was the only major conflict where the National Guard did not have a significant role, although one artillery unit was activated and sent to Vietnam.

After Vietnam was over the Army re-organized things so that any major deployment would require the use of the National Guard and thus involve the American public. (Much for the same reason that some wish to bring back the draft).

Additionally the shrinking of the active duty Army has resulted in the National Guard making up a larger percentage of the "specialty" units such as Military Police, Civil Affairs and other units not normally needed in large numbers during peacetime.

I was in the National Guard from 1992-1995 and the National Guard unit I was part of ran a prisoner of war camp during Desert Storm, was activated and sent to Panama along with other National Guard military police units from around the country in 1995 to handle garrison duty while the active duty military police ran the Cuban refugee camps and was activated for the Iraq War, where they patrolled Baghdad and assisted in the training of the Iraqi police.

It has ALWAYS been the role of the National Guard to support the active duty military and it is insulting to myself and others in the National Guard who busted their asses to go through the same Basic Training and Advanced Training as the regular Army, just so ignorant people could think our only role was disaster relief.

[AnneD]

6. I served in the Army Reserve...

and trained with the Guard. No disrespect intended and I am aware of their mission of support. I just meant that the Pentagon is conducting war on the cheap at the expense of the Guard and the Reserves. The stop loss measures result in a de facto back door draft. The Reserves and Guard are not given the full range of benefits that the Regular Army is and they are being taken advantage of.

Were do you draw the line between support and actual tool of war. The Guard and Reserve are no longer support but ARE our military. That is the point being made here.

[Lurks Often]

7. The National Guard & the Reserves

are being used the same way they ALWAYS have. Vietnam is the only major conflict since the National Guard was created where the National Guard & the Reserves did not play a major role

[littlewolf]

2. prior to 2001 ... it depended on the weather ......

have a bad storm .... activate the guard .....

[Bluerthanblue]

3. Bush Sr. activated quite a few for his Gulf war.

:hi:

[Lurks Often]

5. Probably varied year to year

depending on what was going on in the world and what requests, if any, were received from foreign countries asking for assistance. It will also vary from state to state depending on what kinds of National Guard units they have since not all states have the same types of National Guard units. I know CT has a National Guard unit that specializes in the drilling of wells and they have been activated a number of times for that role.

I was in the National Guard from 1992-1995 and the National Guard unit I was part of was activated and sent to Panama along with other National Guard military police units from around the country in 1995 to handle garrison duty while the active duty military police ran the Cuban refugee camps.

I know National Guard units have gone to Bosnia for peace keeping duties and some have gone to Central America to assist villages in building stuff or to Thailand to help train the Thai army.

Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units that have aircraft tend to have a higher usage rate and are far more often used then people realize since a large percentage of the tanker aircraft and cargo aircraft are in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

I don't doubt that there are hard numbers out there somewhere, I am just not willing to spend the hours and hours to find the answer.