Hi Wirt & Wayne and Others :)

    A little about the Guard and it's missions...Warning... very off topic
and probably boring :)

   The National Guard is, in some states, the only legally recognised (sp)
militia.  Oregon is that way... The Oregon Army National Guard is the Oregon
Militia.  There is also the Oregon State Self-Defense Force which supports
and mans our installations when we are deployed on either peace time or
combat missions at either the State or Federal level.  Note also, that the
National Guard and Reserve components of the active branches make up about
52% of the United States Military forces!

   The National Guard and indeed the entire US Military is subject to
civilian authority... ie the government and each
soldier/airman/sailor/Marine is also bound by the UCMJ to only carry out
those orders that are both lawful and legal... (I can't remember the
difference between those two terms right now... but there is one in the
definitions as per the UCMJ)

   Note that the Guard is trained and armed... and that we are restricted by
Army Regulations (AR's) from allowing personnel who have not been properly
trained (ie been thru a Basic Training Course) to handle weapons at all!

  As for a standing Army?  hmmm.... Remember Congress mandates this... and
how many soldiers will be in the Army... Does the term "Drawdown" ring any
bells for anyone?   And actually the current administration and Congress are
quietly kicking around the idea of reactivating the draft if voluntary
enlistments don't increase soon...

  The National Guard is no longer training for if we get deployed
overseas... we train for *when* we deploy overseas...

Art "Taking off the BDU's now hehe" Bahrs

----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne Brown <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] e-commerce in hype-rdrive


> Wirt, I agree with everything you said except for one thing:  your
equating of
> the militia with the National Guard.  True, the Guard is part of the
organized
> militia.  But the unorganized militia is composed of every able-bodied
citizen
> of military age who is not part of the organized militia.  In that sense,
we're
> all "citizen soldiers."  The New York proposal you quoted includes the
phrase
> "the body of the People capable of bearing Arms" and the Virginia proposal
> refers to "the body of the people trained to arms."  It seems clear that
it was
> expected that all who were capable were to be trained in the use of arms
and
> ready to use them when called upon.  Not just a special group like the
National
> Guard, but every farmer, craftsman, and merchant was expected to know at
least
> the basics of handling personal arms.  If we as a nation were really
fulfilling
> our duty in this regard, every town would have firing ranges that would be
> packed on evenings and weekends with families practicing their shooting
skills.
> Indeed, the oft-maligned National Rifle Association was originally formed
(with
> government support!) to provide just this sort of training to ordinary
citizens,
> so that in time of war, newly-enlisted soldiers would already know how to
shoot.
>
> Wayne