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Headquarters, State Area Command California Army National Guard
Image:California ARNG SSI.png California STARC Shoulder Sleeve insignia
Active
Country	United States
Allegiance	California
Branch	Army National Guard
Type	ARNG Headquarters Command
Part of	California National Guard
Garrison/HQ	Sacramento, California
Commanders
Current commander	Major General Jeffrey L. Gidley

The California Army National Guard is a component of the California National Guard, the United States Army and the United States National Guard. The California Army National Guard is composed of about 20,000 soldiers. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization. National coordination of various state National Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau.

California Army National Guard units are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army. The same enlisted and officer ranks and insignia are used and National Guardsmen are eligible to receive all United States military awards. The California Guard also bestows a number of state awards for local services rendered in or to the state of California.

Contents 1 Units 2 Duties 2.1 Active Duty Callups 3 History 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

• 40th Infantry Division (Mech)
• 40th Combat Aviation Brigade
  • 126th Medical Company (Air Ambulance)
• 115th Area Support Group
• 118th Maintenance Company
• 145th Engineer Company
• 1-184th Infantry Battalion
• 185th Quartermaster Batallion
• 217th Ordnance Company (EOD)
• 223rd Infantry Regiment (Combat Arms)
• 223rd Military Intelligence Batallion
• 240th Signal Batallion
• 250th Military Intelligence Batallion
• 2632nd Transportation Company
• 315th Engineer Company
• 340th Forward Support Batallion
• 49th Personnel Service Batallion
• 40th Personnel Service Det
• 49th Military Police Brigade
• 79th Personnel Service Det
• 40th Finance Batallion
• Bravo Company, 1-184th Infantry Regiment
• JFHQ, HHD, CA ARNG

National Guard units can be mobilized at any time by presidential order to supplement regular armed forces, and upon declaration of a state of emergency by the governor of the state in which they serve. Unlike Army Reserve members, National Guard members cannot be mobilized individually (except through voluntary transfers and Temporary Duty Assignments (TDY), but only as part of their respective units. However, there has been a significant amount of individual activations to support military operations (2001-?); the legality of this policy is a major issue within the National Guard.

For much of the final decades of the twentieth century, National Guard personnel typically served "One weekend a month, two weeks a year", with a portion working for the Guard in a full-time capacity. The current forces formation plans of the US Army call for the typical National Guard unit (or National Guardsman) to serve one year of active duty for every three years of service. More specifically, current Department of Defense policy is that no Guardsman will be involuntarily activated for a total of more than 24 months (cumulative) in one six year enlistment period (this policy is due to change 1 August 2007, the new policy states that soldiers will be given 24 months between deployments of no more than 24 months, individual states have differing policies).

The California Army National Guard was originally formed in yyyy. The Militia Act of 1903 organized the various state militias into the present National Guard system.

Units and members of the California Army National Guard have served in: World War I, World War II, Korean War, the Vietnam conflict, Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Sinai Peninsula, Qatar, Germany, Spain, Panama, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, on the US/Mexico Border mission, during Hurricane Katrina humanitarian efforts, in airports and seaports around California, in various military bases across the US in support of Homeland Security, and more.

California also maintains its own military force, the California State Military Reserve. The CSMR is federally recognized, but is separate from the National Guard and reports to the Governor of California as its Commander-in-Chief. It services the state exclusively, especially when the National Guard is deployed and unavailable.

See History of the United States National Guard for a more complete history of the guard at a national level.

• State Defense Forces
• Militia
• Home Guard
• 25th Infantry Division (United States) - 1-184th Infantry Battalion reorg info
• Army National Guard Transformation -- links to source material on transformation of the CA ARNG.

• United States National Guard, accessed 4 Nov 2006
• [1] California Army National Guard
• [2] GlobalSecurity.org Army National Guard page

• The National Guard Bureau
• The National Guard Bureau Heritage Collection
• The Army National Guard Recruiting Site
• Information about joining the guard

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