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| The Mission of the National Guard of the United States- Its History its Achievements- Its Obligations and its Opportunity---From a Maryland Point of View HE mission of the National Guard of the United States, as contemplated by existing laws and approved plans of the Federal Government, is to be a dependable and efficient field force, able to meet the requirements of peace and war. And mark that distinction is made between the usually so-called National Guard of the States and the National Guard of the United States, for judged in its purely State relations as a State police or constabulary force for the preservation of law and order within the State to which it belongs, it is quite a different organization from that which is a part of the Federal Military establishment and which might, therefore, more properly be styled the National Guard of the United States, which, after all, is only a synonym of the Federal designation, "Organized Militia of the United States." Call it, however, by whatever name you please, it is now the States' portion of the regular Army of the United States, maintained by the States under States' laws, aided and supplemented by those Federal laws which are designed to encourage, foster and increase its efficiency. Formerly it was only a reserve force of State organized volunteers, a part of the organized First Line of National Defense, calculated to avoid the necessity of a large regular army in peace time. Therefore, it is being studiously watched and aided by the Federal Government, to which the matter of its efficiency and perfected organization has become of vital concern. There are critics, of course, who declare that the National Guard is by no means what it should be in respect to personnel, numbers and efficiency, who say, indeed, that efficient though it be in some sections of the country, in other sections it is utterly incompetent and inadequate. It is deplorable that out of these criticisms, in some respect wholly unfounded, while in other respects they are too true for our national good, has sprung a sort of public lack of faith which at times shapes itself into undeserved ridicule that still clings to the senseless cry of "Tin Soldier" when the militiamen appear in sight and are compared with veterans of the regular establishment. Page Five |