South Carolina Army National Guard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The South Carolina Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

and the United States National Guard

United States National Guard

The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...

. Nationwide, the Army National Guard
Army National Guard
Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, the Army National Guard is part of the National Guard and is divided up into subordinate units stationed in each of the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia operating under their respective governors...

comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization. National coordination of various state National Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau.

South Carolina Army National Guard units are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army. The same ran

United States Army enlisted rank insignia

The chart below represents the current enlisted rank insignia of the United States Army.This chart represents the U.S. Army enlisted rank insignia with seniority increasing left-to-right inside a given pay grade...

United States Army officer rank insignia

United States Army officer rank insignia in use today.-History:The structure of U.S. ranks has its roots in British military traditions. At the start of the American Revolutionary War, uniforms, let alone insignia, were barely affordable and recognition of ranks in the field was problematic...

and insignia are used and National Guardsmen are eligible to receive all United States military awards

Awards and decorations of the United States military

Awards and decorations of the United States Military are military decorations which recognize service and personal accomplishments while a member of the United States armed forces...

. The South Carolina Guard also bestows a number of state awards

Awards and decorations of the National Guard

Awards and decorations of the National Guard are presented to members of the United States National Guard and sometimes to members of the State Defense Forces in addition to regular United States military decorations...

for local services rendered in or to the state of South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

.

The South Carolina Army National Guard is composed of approximately 10,000 soldiers and airmen (as of February, 2009), and maintains 80 facilities across the state with over 2 million square feet (180,000 m²) of space.

Units and Formations

State Area Command (STARC)
59th Troop Command
59th Aviation Troop Command (aircraft of the SC ARNG include the CH-47D Chinook, UH-60 Black Hawk, UH-72 Lakota, OH-58 Kiowa
OH-58 Kiowa
The Bell OH-58 Kiowa is a family of single-engine, single-rotor, military helicopters used for observation, utility, and direct fire support. Bell Helicopter manufactured the OH-58 for the United States Army based on the 206A JetRanger helicopter. The OH-58 has been in continuous use by the U.S...

and the AH-64 Apache
AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...

)
218th Infantry Brigade (United States)
228th Signal Brigade
151st Field Artillery Brigade
218th Leadership Regiment
263rd Air and Missile Defense Command
122nd Engineer Battalion
122nd Engineer Company (Combat Support Engineers)
751st Maintenance Battalion
742nd Support Maintenance Co.
1052nd Transportation Company (Medium Truck)
251st Medical Company (Ground Ambulance)
51st RAOC
251st RAOC
131st Military Police Company
132d Military Police Company
133d Military Police Company

Duties

National Guard units can be mobilized at any time by presidential order

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

to supplement regular armed forces, and upon declaration of a state of emergency

State of emergency

A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...

by the governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

of the state in which they serve. Unlike Army Reserve

United States Army Reserve

The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....

members, National Guard members cannot be mobilized individually (except through voluntary transfers and Temporary DutY Assignments TDY), but only as part of their respective units. However, there has been a significant amount of individual activations to support military operations (2001-?); the legality of this policy is a major issue within the National Guard.

Active Duty Callups

For much of the final decades of the twentieth century, National Guard personnel typically served "One weekend a month, two weeks a year

One weekend a month, two weeks a year

"One weekend a month, two weeks a year" is a former recruiting slogan used by the U.S. Army National Guard. It indicated the amount of time an individual would need to spend actively in the Guard to be a Guardsman with benefits...

", with a portion working for the Guard in a full-time capacity. The current forces formation plans of the US Army call for the typical National Guard unit (or National Guardsman) to serve one year of active duty for every three years of service. More specifically, current Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

policy is that no Guardsman will be involuntarily activated for a total of more than 24 months (cumulative) in one six year enlistment period (this policy is due to change 1 August 2007, the new policy states that soldiers will be given 24 months between deployments of no more than 24 months, individual states have differing policies).

History

The South Carolina Army National Guard was originally formed in 1670. The Militia Act of 1903

Militia Act of 1903

The National Guard Bureau is the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the National Guard of the United States established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. It was created by the Militia Act of 1903...

organized the various state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

s into the present National Guard system.

South Carolina aviation troops and their AH-64 Apache

AH-64 Apache

The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...

attack helicopters were called to Kuwait as part of Operation Southern Watch

Operation Southern Watch

Operation Southern Watch was an operation conducted by Joint Task Force Southwest Asia with the mission of monitoring and controlling airspace south of the 32nd Parallel in Iraq, following the 1991 Gulf War until the 2003 invasion of Iraq.-Summary:Operation Southern Watch began on 27 August 1992...

between August 1999 and February 2000. As Task Force 151, commanded by LTC David Anderson, the Task Force was augmented by Mississippi

Mississippi Army National Guard

The Mississippi Army National Guard is the Army National Guard component of the Mississippi National Guard. It was originally formed in 1798. It is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard...

and Minnesota Army National Guard

Minnesota Army National Guard

The Minnesota Army National Guard, along with the Minnesota Air National Guard, is an element of the Minnesota National Guard. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. In fact, the National Guard is the only United States...

units, along with individual personnel from the National Guards of New Hampshire, Arizona, and Washington state.

South Carolina's C Co, 1/151 AVN were deployed to Kosovo under operational control of 1/104 AVN of the PARNG (as were National Guard aviation units from Alabama and Nebraska) during KFOR 5A operations from July 2003 to February 2004.
HHC, A, B, D, and L Companies of the 1/151 AVN were deployed as Task Force 1-151 Aviation during Operation Iraqi Freedom II & III from October 2004-October 2005, where they gained fame flying their AH-64A Apaches in an experimental two-tone grey scheme in support of the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light), and then supported operations of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) in Al-Anbar Province. Task Force 1-151 was augmented with National Guard personnel from Tennessee, Missouri, and Maryland and the Individual Ready Reserve of the Army. L Company 151 was augmented with National Guard personnel from Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wyoming, serving with distinction during OIF.

In the fall of 2008, B Co. 2-238 AVN CH-47D Detachment were activated in support of OEF, and deployed to Afghanistan. Paired with Illinois National Guard

Illinois National Guard

The Illinois National Guard comprises both Army National Guard and Air National Guard components. The National Guard is the only United States military force empowered to function in a state status. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and...

, B Co were split between three different forward operating bases, Bagram, Kandahar/Shank, and Salerno, with each acting independently of the others. The detachment's main missions included resupplies, troop movements, and deliberate assaults on high value targets. B Co. 2-238 returned home in fall of 2009 after serving with great distinction and perseverance during Operation Enduring Freedom.
II.

Historic units

202nd Cavalry Regiment (United States)
118th Infantry Regiment (United States)
218th Infantry Regiment (United States)
263rd Air Defense Arillery (United States)

The 263rd Air Defense Artillery is one of only nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812

Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812

Nineteen current units of the Army National Guard perpetuate the lineages of militia units mustered into federal service during the War of 1812. Militia units from nine states that were part of the Union by the end of the War of 1812 , plus the District of Columbia, are the predecessors...

178th Field Artillery Regiment (United States)
151st Aviation Regiment (United States)

External links

Bibliography of South Carolina Army National Guard History compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History
South Carolina Army National Guard, accessed 26 Nov 2006
GlobalSecurity.org South Carolina Army National Guard, accessed 26 Nov 2006