Question for our military minded friends.

[stevebreeze]

The National guard is a function in some way of states. Does the President have to get permission from the governors of the state the guard unit is from? How does this work? Does anyone know?
The local peace group is trying to find out if we can petition our governor to refuse to send the IL national guard people.
Thanks in advance.
:kick:

[mmonk]

1. Good question

they are the homeland's line of defense.

[Catch22Dem]

2. It is my understanding...

The president can activate the Nat'l Guard any time. Please, someone correct me if I am wrong.

[DarkPhenyx]

3. I don't think so, but I don't know for sure.

The NG is a vital part of our reserve forces and necessary for teh support of our active forces. The reserve "combat forces" come primarily from the Guard. THe "combat support" and "combat service support" comes from the Reserves. Unless they have changed that yet again.

To be honest though, I don't know for sure if Bush has to ask permission.

[rinsd]

4. Some info....

The IL National Guard Association, you may want to talk to them

http://www.ngai.com/

This blurb states that it depends upon circumstance

"During peacetime each state National Guard answers to the leadership in the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia. During national emergencies, however, the President reserves the right to mobilize the National Guard, putting them in federal duty status. While federalized, the units answer to the Combatant Commander of the theatre in which they are operating and, ultimately, to the President."

http://www.arng.army.mil/about_us/protecting_our_world.asp

[Nailzberg]

5. No. G-Rod's hands are tied.

I found this on the Army National Guard website.
http://www.ngb.army.mil/downloads/fact_sheets/arng.asp

Administered by the National Guard Bureau (a joint bureau of the departments of the Army and Air Force), the ARNG has both a federal and state mission. The dual mission, a provision of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Code of laws, results in each soldier holding membership in the National Guard of his/her state and in the National Guard of the United States.

[RoyGBiv]

6. National Guard

The function of the National Guard is broadly defined by three things:

The National Defense Act - 1916
The National Guard Mobilzation Act - 1933
The Total Force Policy - 1973

The original act in essence created the national guard as a force to be called upon by the President in times of national crisis. This was amended after WWI in various ways. The Total Force Policy defined the Guard as the primary reserve force of the US armed forces and, in theory, reflects the Constitution's original intent of a relatively small standing army suplemented by a trained militia.

IOW, the President has the authority to call the NG into service without asking permission of the states. This sort of thing proved very necessary when states were resisting things like school integration and attempted to use the Guard to resist federal authority.

This is a "historical" perspective. Someone actually in the military could probably provide a better explanation of how this all works in the real world today.

[sangha]

7. It's the 2nd Amendment

The NG is a militia.

[DU9598]

8. Dukakis

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Dukakis litigate this fight to the Supreme Court when Reagan tried to activate the Massachusetts' National Guard in the late 1980's? I am pretty sure he did and he lost.