national Guard Essay

Would you be willing to drop everything right now and join the military? Thousands of men were troubled with this question in the twentieth century. The United States draft, also called conscription, was first used during the Civil War but later used in WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Napoleon was the first general to use the modern draft. In 1940 FDR signed the Training Service Act of 1940 starting the first formal draft in the United States, but in 1973 congress decided to have an all-volunteer military. President Carter decided to resume the draft in 1980 due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Today the draft is not used but the US still requires its 18-year-old

The National Guard has changed tremendously from how the Framers intended this branch of the military to work in it 's beginnings. the National Guard was originally made up of citizens serving on a part-time bases and being deployed to natural disaster areas. In the past twenty years the National Guard is frequently being deployed to combat zones like Iraqi and Afghanistan. the American military is divided into two categories the“active duty”, which serves full time in the military and the National Guard, which consists of the Air force and Army this branch does not serve on a continuous basis and is governed by the state. The reserves consist of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. These military officials serve part-time and are governed solely by the Department of Defense.

The 369th Infantry Regiment otherwise known as the Harlem Hellfighters was the first all-black US combat unit that was shipped during WW I and was crucial in the WWII battles in Hawaii and Okinawa. These members who were skilled and very proud were shipped to Hawaii and protected the Hawaiian islands with antiaircraft from Japanese attack. William De Fossett was one of the main leaders of the 369th regiment, who joined it due to the regiments fame from the waning days of World War I. The original Harlem Hellfighters fought with the French Army and were awarded for their excellent service. De Fossett made the highly selective and demanding requirements of the 369th regiment. He grew up in the highly cultured

The changes in the technology of warfare produced new types of units to replace the old ones. As a result, soldiers were often tasked with serving in a regiment with little or no history. Such was the case with the 69th New York Infantry, the “Fighting Irish”, a regiment that traces its roots to 1775. In 1917 preceding deployment in the First World War, the 69th New York Infantry Regiment was

The 369th Infantry Regiment served 191 days under enemy fire in Europe. They returned home one of the most decorated American units of World War I. The syncopated stylings of their regimental band, led by James Reese Europe, introduced French listeners to American jazz. As soldiers, the Harlem Hellfighters left their mark in the trenches of France. "We did not give ourselves our name [the 'Harlem Hellfighters']," says Col. Reginald Sanders, a former commander of the 369th Sustainment Brigade, which descended from the original World War I unit. "Our enemies gave us our name, [which] is an honor."

The 442nd became one of the most highly decorated regiments in American military history and suffered huge casualties, seeing combat in Italy and France. In 2011, the unit was collectively honored, along with the 100th Infantry Battalion and Japanese-Americans serving in the Military Intelligence Service, with the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian award.

When the Harlem Hellfighters were turned over to the French Army, they helped to fight off and repel the German offensive and to launch a counteroffensive. Alongside the French unit primarily comprised of French Moroccans, the Harlem Hellfighters fought at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood, spending about 191 days in combat, which was the longest duration of time any American unit had spent in the field. . All told they spent 191 days in combat, longer than any other American unit in the war. The Harlem Hellfighters were also the first American and the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine. Colonel Hayward said the following about his Harlem Hellfighters: "My men never retire, they go forward or they die." In a letter to Emmett Scott, Colonel Hayward also wrote the following about the Harlem Hellfighters:

This made the 369th the only unit to serve in those lines longer than any other American unit, and as previously stated they were less trained as other regiments. Black soldiers were regarded as some of the strongest fighters during the Great War, so much so that the Germans had various names for them. The 369th Infantry were called the Harlem Hellfighters by German forces. The 369th was named this because of their relentless fighting style and where they come from, Harlem. Other regiments were referred as Blutlustige Schwarzmänner meaning bloodthirsty black men. The Germans were scared of these men, so much so, that they airdropped leaflets over the 369th’

During America’s history many battalions, brigades, and infantries have been created to aid in any war or battle. The 107th Infantry regiment was formerly known as 7th New York Infantry. The 7th Infantry fought in numerous civil war battles and skirmishes (Civil War Archive). It was later changed to “The New York National Guard Regiment that saw action in a number of conflicts, including the, the Mexican Border Dispute of 1916, World War I, and World War II (107th Infantry Regiment).” The most significant fighting of the infantry was in World WAR 1. Many war stories and occurrences are recounted in the famous book History of the 107th Infantry U.S.A, authored and compiled by Gerald F. Jacobson. A famous anecdote form the book was about Jacobson being called to from the Mexican border on a horse to fly overseas to be a machine gunner. The book says “"It was a radical and, at first, not altogether a pleasant change from the equipment and animals of cavalry to the theoretical equipment of machine

The history of the United States Army’s 1st Infantry Division is one of many “firsts.” The most complete history of the division, James Scott Wheeler’s The Big Red One: America’s Legendary 1st Infantry Division from World War I to Desert Storm, describes many of these firsts in detail. The 1st Division was the first U.S. division to be organized in the Army during World War I, the first division to deploy overseas, and the first unit to engage the enemy in Europe as part of the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.). This paper is the story of these World War I firsts. Using primary documents to include the massive volumes of the World War Records of the First Division, A.E.F., Regular available at the Fairchild Library, and the reminiscences of Major General Robert Lee Bullard, who initially served as a Brigade Commander and then commanded the Division for the first American battles in France. This paper chronicles the deployment, training in France, and major battles of the 1st Division in the Great War.

After a day of hard fighting, the Germans broke through the American front, surrounding most ofan infantry division, grabbing and taking control of key crossroads, and advancing their starts and leads toward the Meuse River, creating the projection that gave the fight its name.

Although US troops assumed mainly a support role in this action, the battle came to be known as the beginning of the end for Germany. 85,000 US troops participated, with 12,000 casualties, gaining the praise of not only their own officers, but the French and British commanders as well. "During this time a single regiment of the 3rd Division rewrote one of the most luminous pages in our military history, it prevented the crossing at certain points on its front, while on either flank the Germans who had gained a footing pressed

Landing in France, two weeks after D-Day, they fought across northern Europe and in the Battle of the Bulge. In January 1945 the battalion joined the veterans of the First Special Service Force, Darby's Rangers and the 552nd Anti-Tank

As stated earlier, the Harlem Hellfighters came back from WWI as one of the most-decorated American units, but their journey to that point was not an easy one. Originally the 15th New York National Guard Infantry Regiment, the Harlem Hellfighters were an all-black infantry unit during WWI. Their name was changed to the 369th Infantry during the war. The infantry, although properly trained for battle, began the war with labor jobs rather than seeing the battlefield. They mostly spent their time unloading ships. While in America, they never got a chance to see battle because white soldiers in other regiments refused to fight with African Americans. In an NPR article titled, “The Harlem Hellfighters: Fighting Racism in

When they were separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage, him and two other soldiers took cover in a shell hole well within the enemy lines. When they heard a call of help from a disabled American tank thirty yards away, they left their cover to go help. While under heavy machine gun and mortars, O'shea got a major wound and later died.