Whereas the first volunteer militia unit in America was
formed in 1636 in Massachusetts Bay, followed by other units in the colonies of
Virginia and Connecticut;
Whereas from the opening salvos at Lexington and Concord,
to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, the volunteer
patriots and minutemen of the American militia helped create the United States
of America;
Whereas the American founding fathers wrote article I,
section 8, of the United States Constitution to keep the militia model,
authorizing only a small standing military force that could organize, train,
and equip militia volunteers when needed;
Whereas the American militia answered the call during the
second war with Britain in 1812;
Whereas in the 19th Century, during the Mexican-American
War, the United States Civil War, and the Spanish-American War, State militia
volunteers mustered when called and more than 300,000 gave their lives in
service of the United States of America;
Whereas in World War I, nearly all National Guardsmen were
mobilized into Federal service, and while they represented only 15 percent of
the total United States Army, they comprised 40 percent of the American
divisions sent to France and sustained 43 percent of the casualties in
combat;
Whereas in World War II, the National Guard comprised 19
Army divisions and 29 observation squadrons with aircraft assigned to the
United States Army Air Forces;
Whereas the National Defense Act of 1947 formed the Air
National Guard, created a minimum of one flying unit in each State, with the
result of more than 44,000 Air Guard troops serving in Korea and 4,000 Air
Guard troops in Vietnam;
Whereas the Air National Guard flew 30,000 sorties and
50,000 combat hours during Operation Desert Storm over 37 days and were some of
the first units into the fight;
Whereas, on September 11, 2001, the first fighter jets
over New York City and Washington, DC, were Air National Guard F–15 and F–16
aircraft from Massachusetts and North Dakota, with over 400 more Air National
Guard fighter aircraft on alert by that afternoon;
Whereas 456,974 Air and Army National Guard soldiers and
airmen have deployed in the many campaigns since 9/11;
Whereas Air and Army National Guard soldiers and airmen
have been involved in countless domestic response missions, including missions
in response to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and forest fires;
Whereas during the Cold War, the National Guard was
regarded as a Strategic Reserve to be held in case of a Soviet invasion of
Europe, yet, since 9/11, the National Guard and the Federal Reserves have made
the transition to an Operational Reserve, in constant use and rotation for
missions at home and abroad;
Whereas the Operational Reserve has time and again
demonstrated its readiness to meet operational requirements, and its mission-
and cost-effectiveness and volunteerism are the heart of modern United States
military service;
Whereas the Operational Reserve must be sustained by a
fully manned and fully funded National Guard in the spirit intended by the
Framers and enshrined in article I of the Constitution; and
Whereas the Air Force, in its fiscal year 2013 budget, has
advanced a proposal to convert the Air National Guard from the Operational
Reserve to the Strategic Reserve of yesteryear: Now, therefore, be it
That Congress—
(1)recognizes the critical importance of the
Operational Reserve as a component of the Armed Forces, particularly as a means
of preserving combat power during a time of budget austerity;
(2)supports making
permanent the Operational Reserve as the cornerstone of military manpower in
the decades to come;
(3)repudiates
proposals to return the Reserve Components to a diminished or purely strategic
role in United States national security;
(4)affirms the growth
of the Operational Reserve as circumstances warrant; and
(5)recognizes the
dual-status, State-Federal National Guard as the foundation of the Operational
Reserve and of military manpower now and in the future.