Why not enlist in your state's militia?

[stampsm]

the difference is the state defense forces are under sole control of the governor of their state. the reason you do not get paid, or any sort of money is unlike the regular reserves the state defense forces gets no federal funding for you. this also blocks the federal government from being able to seize control of you from the governor.
Nevada does not have one, or i would join it myself. If they do have a officially state sanctioned one it is so deeply hidden i have not been able to find info on it.
the nevada law actually allows one, but i have yet to hear of it being used.

NRS 412.026 Composition of militia.

1. The militia of the State is composed of the Nevada National Guard and, when called into active service by the Governor, the Nevada National Guard Reserve and any volunteer organizations licensed by the Governor.

2. The Nevada National Guard is an organized body of enlisted personnel between the ages of 17 and 64 years and commissioned officers between the ages of 18 and 64 years, divided into the Nevada Army National Guard and the Nevada Air National Guard.

3. The Nevada National Guard Reserve is an unorganized body comprising all able-bodied residents of the State between the ages of 17 and 64 years who:

(a) Are not serving in any force of the Nevada National Guard;

(b) Are or have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States; and

(c) Are not exempted from military duty under the laws of this state or the United States.

4. If a volunteer organization is formed and becomes licensed by the Governor, it shall consist of an organized body of able-bodied residents of the State between the ages of 17 and 64 years who are not serving in any force of the Nevada National Guard and who are or who have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States.

(Added to NRS by 1967, 1292; A 1975, 798; 1999, 6)

any volunteer organizations licensed by the Governor.

 

[janedoedad]

Correction to the Georgia information I posted above.

NICS is not precluded for military.

Mea Culpa.

 

[hso]

I'm amazed at the number of people that would rather jump to conclusions instead of doing a simple google search on what a "state militia" is.

It is a branch of your state government. It is not the National Guard. It is controlled by the state alone. It is composed of volunteers who may or may not get any payment when called out by their governor. Every state guard/militia authorizing document that I've seen limits them to being used within the state only. It is not the lunatic fringe.

http://www.sgaus.org/

In Tennessee's case the TN State Guard has served in disaster relief roles such as after tornadoes and floods.

The Tennessee State Guard is created and governed by the following
statutes of Tennessee law:



58-1-401. Governor authorized to enlist state guard. —
Whenever the president of the United States shall call any part of the national guard of this state into active federal service, the governor is authorized to enlist, organize, maintain, equip and discipline a volunteer defense force, other than the national guard, to be known as the Tennessee state guard.
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 45; T.C.A., § 7-401; Acts 1985, ch. 36, § 1; 1998, ch. 584, § 5.]

58-1-402. Membership of state guard — Distinct from national guard — Service outside state or relating to elections — Limitation on consecutive years of advisory service. —
The state guard shall be composed of such individuals between sixteen (16) and seventy-five (75) years of age as shall volunteer for service therein. The state guard shall be in addition to and distinct from the national guard organized under existing law. The organization shall not be required to serve outside the boundaries of this state and shall not be used to supervise, hold, guard or investigate any election or primary election held in this state. Provisionally, United States military and Tennessee state guard prior service applicants, Tennessee state guard active duty personnel and Tennessee state guard retirees shall not exceed five (5) consecutive years of advisory service.
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 46; T.C.A., § 7-402; Acts 1985, ch. 36, §§ 2, 3; 1998, ch. 584, § 6; 1999, ch. 17, § 1.]

58-1-403, 58-1-404. [Repealed.]

58-1-405. Powers of governor in supervision of guard. —
The governor is authorized to appoint and commission necessary officers for the state guard; to prescribe rules and regulations governing the enlistment, organization, administration, pay, equipment, discipline and discharge of the personnel of the state guard; to obtain by grant, requisition, or purchase such necessary arms and equipment as may be secured from the department of defense, or procure from other sources, the necessary arms and equipment to maintain and equip the state guard; to make available to the state guard the facilities of the state armories and their equipment and such other state premises or property as may be available for the purpose of drill, housing and instruction; to rent, if necessary, such additional property as may be required for drilling, housing and instruction.
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 49; T.C.A., § 7-405; Acts 1985, ch. 36, §§ 4, 5; 1998, ch. 584, § 7.]

58-1-406. Liability to federal military service not affected. —
No person shall solely by reason of enlistment or commission in any state forces be exempt from military service under the law of the United States.
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 50; T.C.A., § 7-406.]

58-1-407. Oath of members. —
Each and every member joining the state guard shall, in addition to the oath required by law to be taken by officers, take and subscribe to the following oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will well and faithfully perform my duties as a member of the Tennessee state guard to the best of my ability, and I do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the state of Tennessee and that I will serve the state of Tennessee honestly and faithfully against all enemies, whomsoever, and that I will obey the orders of the governor and the officers placed over me, according to law.”
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 51; T.C.A., § 7-407; Acts 1985, ch. 36, § 6; 1998, ch. 584, § 8.]

58-1-408. Organization, composition and strength. —
The governor may organize, activate, increase, change, divide, consolidate, disband, reactivate or reorganize any unit, headquarters, staff or cadre of the state guard, and may prescribe the composition and types of units, the type of organization and the system of drill or instruction to be used in training such units; and for such purposes the governor is authorized to fix, increase or decrease the strength of any unit, headquarters, staff or cadre of the state guard, including the number of commissioned officers, warrant officers, noncommissioned officers and other enlisted personnel of any grade in any such unit, headquarters, staff or cadre, and to alter the grades of officers, warrant officers and noncommissioned officers.
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 52; T.C.A., § 7-408; Acts 1985, ch. 36, § 7; 1998, ch. 584, § 9.]

58-1-409. Duties, privileges and immunities. —
All duties imposed by the military law or other statutes of the state or by regulations issued hereunder, upon units, commissioned officers, warrant officers, and enlisted personnel respectively of the national guard are hereby imposed upon the units, commissioned officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel respectively of the state guard, and all rights, privileges and immunities conferred by the military law or other statutes of the state or by regulations issued hereunder, upon the units, commissioned officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel respectively of the national guard are hereby conferred upon the units, commissioned officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel respectively of the state guard as otherwise prescribed in parts 1, 2 and 4-6 of this chapter.
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 53; T.C.A., § 7-409; Acts 1985, ch. 36, § 8; 1998, ch. 584, § 10.]

58-1-410. Reserve organization. —
During such time as the state guard is not activated, the adjutant general is authorized and empowered, on the approval of the governor, to set up and maintain a reserve organization of the state guard upon a voluntary basis under such system as to the adjutant general may seem most feasible in order to provide means for the creation of an armed force in case the national guard of the state be again called into federal service.
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 54; T.C.A., § 7-410; Acts 1985, ch. 36, § 9; 1998, ch. 584, § 11.]

58-1-411. Compensation. —
Members of the state guard when assigned to state military duty by the commander in chief, or when ordered to active state service pursuant to § 58-1-106, shall be paid from the funds appropriated, or otherwise legally made available to the military department, at the rate of pay and allowances as prescribed by the adjutant general.
[Acts 1985, ch. 36, § 11; 1998, ch. 584, § 12.]

 

[SquirrelNuts]

Georgia also has one.

I am in the Georgia State Defense Force myself. I have been in for three years, and love every minute of it.

 

[CoRoMo]

I'm a loner. I see no need in clinging to anyone else, other than my family.

I apologize. Maybe if I gave it a try, I'd like it.

Does CO even have one???????

 

[SquirrelNuts]

When was the last time a militia was activated by a state government?

All the time. I get active duty orders on a frequent basis.

 

[Bill_Rights]

OP's housekeeping and clean-up post (mid-thread)

hso's points (4 posts above) are good and should be well taken; a couple of others have said similar things.

Hugo said

Now if they let guard members (in ANY state) concealed carry anywhere, membership would be at all time highs just for that to many people. Probably owning personal machine guns too.

Although I chuckled at first, the concealed carry "benefit" might be quite reasonable and easy within each state. However, as has been pointed out, the state militias function mainly within their home state, and things get complicated when they venture out of state. For this reason, one state's militia personnel probably would not be recognized for CC in other states unless the feds got involved. That's why the Founders gave us a federal gov't in the first place, to insure cooperation between the states.

cyclopsshooter said

it is in fact unconstitutional for the USA to have a peacetime army

I or someone needs to check where this is said in the US constitution, but I agree that the sentiment is common there or in contemporary documents. It appears explicitly in the Virginia constitution's version of the US 2A. BE THAT AS IT MAY, one consideration is that this planet always has a half-dozen or so wars in progress - the USA is a very internationally-affected republic, so one could say that WE ARE NEVER IN PEACETIME. Further, it is reasonable to assume that the moment we did not have a standing army, some foreign power would attack us or our interests on the high seas, foreign lands, etc.

Kansan said

One thing to consider, though, is what the "well-regulated" part really means. To those people who might be attracted to militias because of excessive government "regulation" in their lives, there's nothing quite as overbearingly regulatory as a military or para-military organization. In combat, the leaders (assumedly even in a militia unit) can order you to do very non-glamorous tasks such as cleaning latrines. On the other end of the spectrum, they could order something (like charge an enemy position) that could make you quite dead... And you may have your own, opposing, viewpoint on the wisdom of said orders.

My point is that being well-regulated is neither fun nor glamorous most of the time, whether that regulation comes from big gummint, military commander or militia chain of command. It can, in fact, chafe an independently-minded person quite a bit.

I, as OP, am guilty as suggested. I was taking active militia duty a bit too casually. I am still glad I offered to enlist, however.

armoredman said

AZ does not have a State Guard, though we've tried a few times. Poll needs to have the option, "Don't have one."

I apologize. You are correct. I tried to modify the poll response choices, but I could not figure out how to edit/add this. SEE NEXT ITEM...

Rockwell1 said

Here is a list of official, state sanctioned, official State Guard Organizations: www.sgaus.org/

According to the linked-to list, if it is correct, only 24 states and the District of Columbia have (non-federal, non-National Guard) state militias. That is 25 out of 51 (counting DC), so a little less than half. So armoredman's point is proven. Again, I apologize. Please use the "I can't" answer, if you would investigate joining your state's militia if it had one.

 

[Rockwell1]

I'm amazed at the number of people that would rather jump to conclusions instead of doing a simple google search on what a "state militia" is.

Oh come on now you actually expect people to expend effort to verify their statements before making them?

Wouldn't it be easier to just shoot from the lip?

 

[jimsmith80]

Alaska has the "terrtioral Guard" they cannot be deployed out of alaska only report to the Gov. and after 4 year TG serrvice you are considered law enforcment with some LE Powers. The ATG is NOT the same as the Alaska National Guard. Which can infact be rolled into the US Army and go to Iraq. The ATG stays in Alaska, is unpaid and not a joke. These are some of the guys (or their kids) who tormented the Japs in the Islands. the also performed costal patrols. More recently they where activated in 9/11/2001 to secure vital oil infastructure and remote bridges. These guys are not out playing milita they are the people that get it done

 

[Rockwell1]

sarah palin's state guard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzRjHt_a5I

 

[DRZinn]

California is not a friend to its citizens.

Precisely why I won't be joining any official militia at least until I succeed in getting my ass out of this state.

When was the last time a militia was activated by a state government?

California's not long ago to help with fires.

 

[Pistol Toter]

I'm afraid that the days of being physical fit to belong to an origanized militia have long past; age too. In 1972 the military labeled me 4F, patted me on the back and showed me the way back to the front door of the induction center. At the time I had purposed in my mind and heart that I would seek a career in the Air Force.

 

[weisse52]

Artificial knee, bad ankle, bad shoulder, miss-spent youth. Fun then, paying the price now....

And not to sure I would, even if I could....

 

[freakshow10mm]

I am a member of the unorganized militia in the sense that if we are invaded upon by enemy combatants, I will kiss my family good bye, arm up, and fight for our freedom until is is secured and our enemy is defeated.

I don't believe in fraternal organizations, memberships, or other nonsense. If an enemy wants war and they have the balls to bring the fight to American soil, it's war they will get. I live my life the best way I can but will not hesitate to take up arms and defend American soil if the need should arise. No fancy uniform or other such nonsense. guerrilla combat all the way.

 

[Lange666]

I remember what happened the last time I signed up to play 'soldier', lol.

So no, I won't join.

 

[Autolycus]

No interest.

 

[tjj]

Not willing to join any such organization controlled by government, state or federal. Just don't trust them any longer. I put in five years in the regular army so I don't think I owe anymore time to public service.
On the other hand I believe we should all be prepared, individually, to defend our property, and rights under the constitution if threatened.
The real question that everyone needs to answer honestly to themselves is are you willing to act when your property (or money) and rights are being stolen. How would you react?


In reference to the frog in the pot of boiling water.......I think the water is getting quite warm.

 

[Bill_Rights]

OP Housekeeping, #2

Based upon the comments of Pistol Toter, Lang666, tjj and others, maybe I should have put yet another poll choice for something like:

I already served - No, I will not enlist because I am off doing something else these days

Thank you for your service! I understand that, for some of you, the experience of serving (at least in the federal military) was not something you'd like to repeat or try again, maybe to get a better result. Speaking unofficially on behalf of THR, all of you get the highest degree of respect, even if you say "no" to involvement in a miltia of any description.

 

[AlaskaErik]

Though being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan would not appeal to many. Especially since it's kind of a reserve reserve that's supposed to stay at home "just in case".

A state militia is only activated for duty in its own state. Our state militia was activated for a huge fire near our population center back in 1996. I served my country and state in the Marine Corps and the Air National Guard for almost 32 years so I'm not inclined to join the state militia at this time.

For those with no military background, the state militia is totally separate from the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. The latter two get almost all their funding from the federal government and are reserve components of their respective active duty services. The state militia is totally funded by the state. The Army and Air Guard can be federally activated by the President, the state militia can only be activated by the governor.

 

[AlaskaErik]

Alaska has the "terrtioral Guard" they cannot be deployed out of alaska only report to the Gov. and after 4 year TG serrvice you are considered law enforcment with some LE Powers.

The Alaska Territorial Guard was disbanded over half a century ago. There is an Alaska State Militia and also a Naval Militia, but they have no law enforcement powers other than to be able to seal off an area in an emergency. It doesn't make you a cop and you don't get a carry commission.

 

[308win]

On the cusp of too old to enlist in the Ohio Military Reserve. Inquired about enlisting about 5 years ago; was told I would be contacted and never heard from anyone. Figured if the OMR didn't have the discipline to followup on expressions of interest they didn't need members.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I already served 20 for the federal government. I will not place myself under state authority, ever.

 

[Rockwell1]

but they have no law enforcement powers other than to be able to seal off an area in an emergency. It doesn't make you a cop and you don't get a carry commission.

You might want to watch the video I posted, The Alaska state defense force is know as the 49th Military Police Brigade and every single one of them is a state constable.

The thing that concerns me is that even though they're state militia, Palin apparently has no problem loaning them out to the Army & the ATF .

From the ASDF official website

The ASDF serves as a police agency of the State of Alaska:

AS 26.05.070:
. . . Whenever any portion of the militia is ordered into active service by the governor, it becomes an additional police force, retaining its separate entity and operating at all times as a military organization under military command, with power to cooperate with but not to supersede the existing civilian law enforcement officers whenever possible, for the re-establishment of law and order and for the protection of life and property. The governor may also order members of the organized militia to active state service, with their consent, for the purpose of training or for full-time duty with the office of the adjutant general.

 

[dusty14u]

I would look into joining if I could get a cool looking badge and a tricked out name card.

 

[Rockwell1]

a tricked out name card.

You go Flo!