Tension between National Guard and Active Duty Army?

When I was in the army we called them week end warriors.

The Guard are the point of the spear that the left has filed down. They leave their families to care for others and their families. Remember Ohio State? While that hippie agitator put a flower in their gun barrel the comments when looking at the name tag, "Hey (your name here) we know where you live, who's protecting your wife and kids?" They are the ones the Militia look to for guidance when the sheriff calls the rest of them/us up. Then when the regular forces on deployment get back filled with The Guard, who's looking our for our families while they leave their's? Typical military, tradition unhampered by progress and common sense. Do more with way less than DC. The lights will never go out in the District of Columbia, nor will they go hungry. On active I had the opportunity to serve with them deployed and drilling. Now in my ripe old age I'm expendable if need be because if that happens they have the best medical at their beck and call. You can do a lot worse than be a reservist. Maybe a lawyer that gets their loans paid off. Sorry that was a low bar.

There are many Guard Soldiers who try to out hooah the next guy, but it doesn't mean National Guard troops are less than the Active Duty Soldiers. At the end of the day, the uniform still says US ARMY.

Greetings, Meet the standard. Past your pt test, and pass your height and weight just like every one else. Ensure your uniform(s) look presentable and they fit. Nothing worse than seeing overweight police officer or an overweight/out of standards no more officer in any branch. You see a substandard issue, you tactfully and respectfully address and ensure it’s squared away. You lead by example. You yourself should be squared away if you even think about approaching me about an issue. Ensure that your tone in voice supports that tactfully and respectful approach. If need be, kindly pull me aside if I am around anyone else so I can unf?!$ myself and never be in a soup sandwich of a situation ever again.

Cheers

After 10 years in the Corps, I served a year in a NG unit. The only complaint I had was with their lying recruiter, but I understand that the Battalion Commander handed his ass to him when they found out that I'd inserted his promises into my enlistment contract and initialled them while he was out of the room.
There's always that spot in the contract that says "No promises or inducements have been offered me except herein indicated." Great place to insert a line or two.

I did 13 years regular Army & 13 years in the PA Guard. It wasn't until I went into the Guard that I understood how important they are. They are not always pretty or going by the book. Who has time to read the book in the first place? My Guard unit was often given new TTP & equipment to test out for a weekend field exercise or during our summer camp. It was much easier to have the Guard do it that the active component. Not all Guard units are equal either. Some states have excellent units, some Guard units are seriously ate up. In Iraq my Guard unit was assigned to the Marines during the first battle of Fallujah. General Mattis said we were the best Army people he ever had under him. We then went on to work alongside the Navy SEALs doing a Tier One mission. I had to ask. Who's bright idea was that? JSOC. The Guard is like a blank slate. We have the military know how, we can easily deal with civilians, do jobs without much training & no manuals, we are older, more educated, & we aren't into the mission in order to get medals & promotions. The mission required us to sometimes be disrespectful to superiors & to break the rules in order to ensure the success of the mission. The active duty is too wound around the axle with regs & pleasantries. The Guard is better focused for special missions. By the way, in our first 2 months in Iraq, most of us dropped enough weight to meet the regs. We did have one active duty unit on our FOB that constantly harassed us. Their assigned mission was being civil engineers. Water, trash, & sewage. We rubbed their noses in it everytime they bothered us.

My duty station was in the State of Oklahoma Army Reserves as an AGR. Who housed the facility was National Guard. Reason, the State and DoD support the facilities throughout the State. However, as a Senior Non-commissioned Officer I hear the stories, like “ National Guard today is the new Special Forces”. Yeah, we all laughed about it but during the day. Both Army Reserves, National Guard, US Navy we work together as Armed Forces to help each other to sufficient. Not only as leaders, but the Armed Forces stronger and better. I hope that still happening as today.

Throughout my time in the British Reserve, the unit to whom I was attached as their Regimental Medical Officer's Assistant, was always welcomed by our regular components, why, because of our hours of commitment, to which we signed on for. We had to personally maintain a level of fitness, comparable to our regulars, in order to be able to mobilize in two weeks. If that were not commitment enough, our training schedule was as follows:

Two evenings a week, Tues, and Thurs, each of two and half hours.
Every other weekend, Friday pm to Sunday pm.
Two-week Annual Camp.
For myself, this meant two Annual Camps, one with the Infantry Regiment to whom I was attached, and being cap-badged, Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), I was obliged to complete a second RAMC camp in order to maintain my Medical Field Crafts, Administration, etc.

The other benefit of the reservist is that within any one Unit, at your elbow, you had bricklayers, plasterers, painters, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, in company with all the medical professions, from doctors to transport. In my days as a regular SNCO, there were times I would have appreciated having these skills available to both utilise and to teach.

The bottom line is that we all wear the same uniforms', Army, Navy, and Air Force, and the two greatest elements of military life are camaraderie, and esprit-de-corps. Not division, and derision.

Tension? The Post 9-11 influence by Reservists and National Guard has compromised the national security of this country. In the past twenty years there has been an attack on the core of our national defense. Two key challenges caused by reservist and legislators; both due to lack
or comprehension or federal regulations and the laws which govern DOD and Military roles across the branches. Civilians have threatened the core of issues with advocacy that omitted Oath of Service/Office of Enlisted and Commissioned by legislators like congresswoman Jackie Speiers who dominated in her fight for Military Sexual Assault victims. MST because a legislative agenda that heightened d attention on military culture and the huge budgets to support the community. Layers of unauthorized activity by civilians and reservists making demands on our DOD with no valid authority. These legislators must be held accountability. Reservists demanding benefits and privledgrs they don’t qualify as gold Star Moms and Blue Star Families who are clueless with their aggressive agenda dominating military affairs. They have assumed authority at the table and dictating policy for veterans and service members and have no idea about regulations or other Congressional mandates. Great conversation and I hope that the Active Duty can get representation because the Reservist Post 9-11 have created pandemonium amongst the ranks!

I had one experience with the National Guard while on active duty. I commanded a BCT company at Ft Knox. In 1976, the National Guard unit that would take the place of the regular Army personnel in my company (in case the balloon went up) came to work with us for two weeks. To be honest, I was in total disbelief. Their CO was a lawyer in Detroit. They only showed up with 13 people. Three of the group were in civilian clothes and they had three Drill Sergeants. We were going to let one of the drill sergeants teach a class. Even with three days notice, he did not feel he had enough time to prepare(he was an E-6).