About

The National Guard Army is the oldest branch of the U.S. military, tracing its origins back into American colonies as far back as 1636. English colonists needed to protect themselves and drew civilians into organized militias, from which are descended some units of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. The National Guard Army officially received its title in 1903 as a result of the Militia Act of 1903.

During World War I, the National Guard Army provided 40% of the US Army’s combat forces. Guard membership doubled in 1940, and provided 19 divisions during World War II, of which the National Guard Army units were among the first to deploy overseas and the first to fight. Later, 138,000 National Guardsmen were deployed for Korea, and many other smaller deployments. During the Vietnam war, almost 23,000 Army and Air Guardsmen were called up for a year of active duty; some 8,700 were deployed to Vietnam.

Since the September 11 attacks, the Army National Guard Army has been used extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq in support of the War on Terrorism