Caught with the Guard down

[struggle4progress]

Article published Saturday, May 12, 2007

~snip~ After the F-5 twister destroyed 95 percent of tiny Greensburg on May 4, killing at least 10 of its 1,600 residents, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius quickly discovered that Guard units called to respond didn't have enough equipment to do the job. Private contractors had to be called in.

The reason: Much of the equipment Guard members normally would use in emergency work isn't available because it has been sent to Iraq to support deployed forces.

"Fifty percent of our trucks are gone. Our front loaders are gone. We are missing Humvees that move people," Governor Sebelius said. "We can't borrow them from other states because their equipment is gone. It's a huge issue for states across the country to respond to disasters like this." ~snip~

"Most of the units in the Army and Air National Guard are under-equipped for the jobs and the missions that they have to perform," Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the federal National Guard Bureau, told a congressional committee last month. "Can we do the job? Yes, we can. But the lack of equipment longer to do that job, and lost time translates into lost lives, and those lost lives are American lives." ~snip~

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070512/OPINION02/705120312

[jody]

1. Why doesn't the Kansas Governor use the Kansas reserve militia?

Chapter 48.--MILITIA, DEFENSE AND PUBLIC SAFETY

Article 2.--KANSAS ARMY AND AIR NATIONAL GUARD

48-241. Ordering militia into active service. The commander in chief shall have power to order into the active service of the state any or all of the units of the national guard, any active or retired member of the national guard or other militia or military organizations of the state that the commander in chief deems necessary in case of: (1) A request by civil authorities to support federal or state law enforcement agencies in counter-drug and drug interdiction operations when such request is approved by the commander in chief; (2) a need for personnel to support the adjutant general's department during a local, state or federal disaster or other mission; or (3) breaches of the peace, tumult, riot, resistance to process in this state, public disaster or imminent danger thereof. All members of the national guard or other militia or military organization who are ordered out by proper authority for such duty shall not be liable to civil prosecution for any act or acts done by them except for willful misconduct beyond the scope of their official duties.

[struggle4progress]

2. Why don't we just stop misusing the National Guard and its equipment in Iraq?

[jody]

3. I agree but still the governor of most or every state has the "unorganized militia" to use when

Guard units are called to active duty.

Congress approved dual enlistments in state organized militias and the National Guard of the United States effectively destroying any semblance of a state militia as envisioned by Article I, Section 8, Clauses 15 and 16.

Congress is obligated under our Constitution "To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia" which includes the "unorganized militia" as defined in 10 U.S.C. 311.

Related information from Findlaw, Clauses 15 and 16. The Militia

Under the National Defense Act of 1916, 1587 the militia, which hitherto had been an almost purely state institution, was brought under the control of the National Government. The term ''militia of the United States'' was defined to comprehend ''all able-bodied male citizens of the United States and all other able-bodied males who have . . . declared their intention to become citizens of the United States,'' between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. The act reorganized the National Guard, determined its size in proportion to the population of the several States, required that all enlistments be for ''three years in service and three years in reserve,'' limited the appointment of officers to those who ''shall have successfully passed such tests as to . . . physical, moral and professional fitness as the President shall prescribe,'' and authorized the President in certain emergencies to ''draft into the military service of the United States to serve therein for the period of the war unless sooner discharged, and all members of the National Guard and National Guard Reserve,'' who thereupon should ''stand discharged from the militia.'' 1588

The militia clauses do not constrain Congress in raising and supporting a national army. The Court has approved the system of ''dual enlistment,'' under which persons enlisted in state militia (National Guard) units simultaneously enlist in the National Guard of the United States, and, when called to active duty in the federal service, are relieved of their status in the state militia. Consequently, the restrictions in the first militia clause have no application to the federalized National Guard; there is no constitutional requirement that state governors hold a veto power over federal duty training conducted outside the United States or that a national emergency be declared before such training may take place.

[struggle4progress]

4. The important issues lie in recent changes to the Insurrection Act made by the Banana Republican,

which essentially endorse a White House power grab. Pissing around with legal issues associated with the "unorganized militia" is a waste of time and we'll lose in courts packed with wingnut judges

Friday, January 12, 2007
Governors lose in power struggle over National Guard
By Kavan Peterson, Staff Writer
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=170453

[jody]

5. Suggest you read DU thread "Militias, martial law, and the Second Amendment"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=139903&mesg_id=139903

[struggle4progress]

6. I'll think side with the National Governors Association on this one.

I heard this unorganized militia stuff from the wingnuts a decade or so back, and it seems entirely clear to me that going the route you advocate will merely lead to a gaggle of private armies like Blackwater strutting around fully armed.

[jody]

7. I assume you know most states have part of their "unorganized militia" under 10 USC 311 loosely

organized.

Suggest you browse SGAUS (State Guard Association of the United States, Inc).

That's the type of militia to which I am referring.

[struggle4progress]

8. A private group, whose website contains a Moonie Times article cheering the Minutemen

Wadda soup-rise! :crazy:

[jody]

9. Do you read anything I cited? Every member of SGAUS is a state organization, part of the unorganized

militia under 10 U.S.C., commanded by the governor of that state.

[struggle4progress]

10. You bet I read it -- and concluded your description is inaccurate. Typical members

of SGAUS are not state organizations but people who support "the revival and development of a viable state militia system."

A couple of the so-called state defense force websites:

3rd Brigade Alabama State Defense Force
http://www.alsdf.us/
Note: Website seems to be owned by a flower shop

newmexicosdf.org
http://www.newmexicosdf.org/nmsdf_001.htm
Note: Website seems to be for sale

[jody]

11. I say again, members of SGAUS are part of a state's militia under the command of the governor.

Nothing you say can change that simple fact.

I don't know what your purpose is in posting various articles to DU's National Security forum on National Guard problems but IMO you need to stick to facts and not distort the issue of inadequate National Guard support for state use with unsupported opinions.

Please note the 3rd Brigade Alabama State Defense Force is part of the Alabama State Defense Force, Alabama's State Guard under the command of the Governor of Alabama.

Please get your facts correct to avoid spreading false information.

ON EDIT ADD:

As regards the New Mexico State Defense Force, an intelligent person would know a broken Internet Link does not prove or disapprove anything, see New Mexico's Statues, ARTICLE 5 State Defense Force:

20-5-1. New Mexico state defense force established; not in federal service; definitions.

A. The New Mexico state defense force is established as an element of the militia in the department of military affairs. The members and organizations of the former New Mexico state guard are transferred to the New Mexico state defense force on the effective date of this act.

B. Nothing in Chapter 20 NMSA 1978 shall be construed as authorizing the New Mexico state defense force or any part thereof to be called, ordered or in any manner drafted by federal authorities into the military service of the United States, but no person by reason of his enlistment or appointment in the state defense force shall be exempted from military service under any law of the United States.

C. The following definitions apply to the duty statuses under which members of the state defense force serve:

(1) "militia duty" means the performance of actual military service for the state in time of need when called by the governor or adjutant general following mobilization of the national guard. It may be performed by the standing cadre of the state defense force at any time so ordered following mobilization of the national guard. It may be performed by the unorganized militia following its call by the governor pursuant to Subsection B of Section 20-2-6 NMSA 1978 of this chapter, in which case it shall include the post-call training of the New Mexico state defense force pursuant thereto; and

(2) "cadre duty" means the normal service and training performed by the standing cadre of the state defense force in anticipation and support of militia duty including organization, administration and other pre-call matters.

[struggle4progress]

12. First, SGAUS: the website says "membership or affiliation with a defense force is not required

for SGAUS membership." If you click on their chapters link, you get a page saying "There is one key element that is necessary to accomplish our mission of bringing a Home Guard system into existence: People. How do we get enough people involved?" and clicking for more information can access a pdf file ("chapters.pdf") that explicitly mentions one state (South Carolina).

I have already noted above that materials on the SGAUS website indicates sympathies with the rightwing Minuteman movement. And the "Home Guard" language quoted above is quite informative, because groups like "Ohio Defense Force - Home Guard" are extremist militia groups; see http://www.adl.org/learn/Events_2001/events_archive_by_year.asp?XStateArc=OH&Year=2005

SGAUS is a private organization and its existence is distinct from any state statute issues.

[jody]

13. Why do you persist in posting false information. The Minuteman citation was from a report

by the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus.

Regardless of whether you like members of the caucus or not, the report is a legitimate congressional report and you are 100% wrong in using only the words "Minuteman movement" out of context.

[struggle4progress]

18. Here's the article: a report for a rightwing Congress, lauding a rightwing ...

... organization, summarized in a rightwing "newspaper" and then reproduced on what I consider a rightwing website:

http://www.sgaus.org/ReportTroopsBorder.htm

[jody]

20. The issue we started out with was states using their unorganized militia. They do and that's a fact

you refuse to admit.

Perhaps I confused you by using SGAUS because it has links to various state militias.

Nonetheless, states do use their unorganized militias to assist state Guard units.

The problem is congress has not done its job of "organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia" and that includes the unorganized militia defined in 10 U.S.C. 311.

[struggle4progress]

14. Second, you want to discuss the so-called "unorganized militia."

This language in USC 10 is old, dating back nearly a century, except for a clarification about sixty years ago making clear that the National Guard is not to be considered unorganized militia.

The term "unorganized militia" has never had any effective meaning, as far as I can discern, because since the language was written the "unorganized militia" has never been mustered anywhere. Instead, in recent years, wingnuts and NRA fellow travelers have seized upon the phrase as a codeword for organizing extremist paramilitary groups.

[jody]

15. Why do you persist in posting false information. Many states use their unorganized militia, e.g.

during Katrina.

Why don't you study how states currently use their unorganized militia rather than getting an education from me piecemeal over the internet?

[struggle4progress]

19. Yawn. Okay. You've worn me out with your bullshit. Bye!

[jody]

21. Bye is just another way of admitting you lose. n/t

[struggle4progress]

16. Third, although some states do indeed have so-called state defense forces ...

... on the statute books, and sometimes offer special license plates, these groups are typically small and unequipped, when they even actually exist; supporting appropriations are minimal or nonexistent, and in a number of cases statutes indicate that the individuals are not to be paid. In a number of other cases, groups call themselves "state defense forces" and claim to serve under an appropriate official, when there is no statutory provision.

The idea, that these groups can replace well-equipped and trained National Guard units, is a rightwing gambit, designed to smash the existing Federal emergency response system and to transfer major emergency preparedness responsibility from the Federal government to individual states: it is closely related to view expounded by Republicans repeatedly after Katrina, that the problems were state problems.

[jody]

22. You continue to miss my point. Congress has made the National Guard part of the active military.

The only people a governor has to command in an emergency and that cannot be called to active duty is the "unorganized militia".

There is about zero probability of reversing the dual enlistment of the National Guard in the near future. That leaves the unorganized militia.

The only question is whether governors will use their unorganized militias.

[struggle4progress]

17. Finally, my reasons for posting about the National Guard in the National Security forum are simple:

I am concerned by the Republican program of using an unnecessary and costly war to grab power and destroy important Federal apparatus (such as our national emergency preparedness system).