Before our present Constitution, before our Bill of Rights, before our Articles of Confederation, and even before the Mayflower Compact, the three major nations to settle this country (England, Dutch, and the Spanish) brought with them the tradition of Militia’s. The concept of a Militia being that of all able body males in a community, who are not part of the Regular (Active Military) forces, were responsible to keep arms, train with said arms, and during times of crisis come together for the defense of their local communities. Traditionally, these units were made up of all males in the community over the age of 16, but they were not actually considered members of their respective nations military. These militia’s were often trained and over seen by officers or previously military trained males from their respective nations military. Early examples of this would be John Smith of the James Town Colony and Miles Standish of the Plymouth Colony. As our nation grew so did its concept of Militia’s and throughout our history several acts known as the “Militia Acts” were passed. Over time, Local village Militias merged into regional Militias and then the Regional Militia’s became Colony Militia’s. As our nation broke away from England, colony Militia’s gave way to State or Commonwealth Militia’s (depending on what type of charter and system of Government your respective State/Commonwealth choose to write its Individual Constitution under). This system stayed in place and these units fought alongside of Regular/Federal Forces through every major conflict from the French and Indian War all the way up to the Spanish American War. Often without receiving pay, benefits, or even recognition by the Federal Government. During the Civil and Spanish American wars, it was not uncommon to see State/Commonwealth militias, local community militias (that being from one town or city), or even unaffiliated volunteer militias (Roosevelt’s Rough Riders) independently fighting alongside our Regular Military Forces (the US Army and Marines). The US Army and Congress learned several critical lessons from having dealt with all the above mentioned Militia’s. These lessons came to light after the Civil and Spanish American Wars and with war (WW1) looming in Europe the US Army and Congress took steps to correct them. These critical lessons were in the areas of logistic, force structure, and unified command and control structure. To prevent past mishaps and logistic nightmares from repeating themselves in future conflicts, Congress passed the Dick Act. of 1903. This act essentially gave birth to the concept of the modern National Guard as we know it today. Simply put, under the Dick Act the Federal government would provide standardized equipment, as well as provide limited funds, and training for Militia Units that transitioned over to the National Guard Structure. The equipment came in the form of uniforms, individual load bearing/field gear and standardized arms to match the same caliber that the Federal Forces were currently issued. The limited funds and training opportunities came in the form of annual Training (the two weeks a year of training that all Guardsman everywhere have come to love). This training was provided in order to bring militia units up to the at least a basic level of understanding on the tactics and operating procedures of the modern Military. All this was provided with the caveat that the transitioning militia units to National Guard units had to structure themselves as that of an equivalent Federal unit. An Example being, a militia unit that was based on an Infantry Structure, now had to set up its Companies and Regiments to mirror those of Federal/Regular Infantry Companies and Regiments. They had to give up their state/local designations and adopt a Federal Military designation. Thus, the 6th Massachusetts Volunteers became the 1st of the 181st Infantry (Light) and the Governor of said States/Commonwealth (that these units came from) had to agree to, in times of National Crisis, release these units to Federal service. That being said the Dick Act. did not mandate that the State/Commonwealth had to transition all their Militia Forces to that of the newly organized National Guard. If the States/Commonwealths choose to retain some of its Militia Forces under its own command in control structure, these units and only these units would receive no aide from the Federal Government and the responsibility for funding and equipping these units would fall solely on the State/Commonwealth. A little known fact to many people, is that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as several other States and Commonwealths choose to do just this. While most of its Massachusetts Militia forces made the transition to that of the National Guard, it retained several units solely as state Militia units. These units kept the designation of M.V.M or Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. To this day some of these units still exist. In fact, they share their Head Quarters with that on the Massachusetts National Guard HQ and have a Colonel and SGM appointed by the Governor. While today these units are mostly ceremonial in nature, they do still train monthly on a voluntary basis and have been called out in modern times. Most of the time to assist with the training of actual National Guard Units, but they have also been activated in times of crisis or need. For example when Boston hosted the Democrat National Convention, the state Militia Forces were activated to assist with crowd control and run aide stations. So for my first Sociology class discussion point, I choose this topic based on the fact that violence, more importantly gun violence, is an extremely hot topic in our society today. Inevitably, when discussing the issue of gun violence, the conversation will turn to Article II of the “Bill of Rights” a.k.a. the 2nd amendment and experts on both sides will begin arguing on exactly what the phrase “a well regulated Militia” means as well as the “right of the People to keep and bear arms” means. Some experts on the side wishing to ban or at least place more controls on private gun ownership state they believe the term “Militia” refers to that of our Regular Armed Forces. Based on all the above mentioned facts and circumstance as well as historical truths, I would argue that both the Federal government as well as local State/Commonwealth governments have a long history of distinctly separating “Militia” Forces (local volunteers) from that of the Regular (Active Military and National Guard)Forces. Further, I would argue the Dick Act. of 1903 took additional measures to ensuring to further separate “Militia Forces” from that of our Regular Forces by allowing states the option to transition units into the National Guard, or being solely responsible to fund its own units and allow them to operate on volunteer basis. In closing I would like to point out that whenever discussing Article II of the “Bill of Rights” someone somewhere will utter the phrases. “What do you think our fore fathers envisioned when they wrote the Bill of Rights?”, “Do you ever think they would envision fire arms evolving into what they are today?” and “Exactly what do you think they meant by the word Militia?”. I would say let’s look at the issue from the fore fathers perspective. The American Colonies just got done fight a long war against an oppressive government. Where most of the wars outcome was directly based on the use of local Militia Forces as a part of all campaigns as well as a separate Continental Army, that fell under a completely different Command and Control Structure. The U.S. Colonies were still suffering under oppressive conditions of the British Government; I.E. having American Sailors seized off our ships and pressed into the service of that of the British Navy. If these men refused they would be hung on the spot. So in conclusion, our fore fathers were extremely fearful of another war with England that loomed on the horizon (The War of 1812) as well as they were fearful of large standing armies that could seize control of the fledgling government and appoint a new Monarch as King of the America’s. Giving all this information I ask you., what do you think our fore fathers envisioned? Comments and counter points welcome. Keep in mind I do own a tomahawk and know where most of you live.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 00:06:24 +0000
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