On Tue, 3 Apr 2018 17:14:00 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 4/3/2018 4:19 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 3 Apr 2018 12:55:59 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

Keyser Soze
- show quoted text -
There's a difference between the U.S. military and the National
Guard..
,,,,

Really? My great uncle was in the Pennsylvania national guard and fought in Belgium during WW1. I had two cousins in the Illinois national guard called to Vietnam .

You amaze me, Harry.
Hahahahaha!

The most significant difference is the National Guard works for the
governor of that state not the POTUS, unless that unit gets called up.
It is a clever work around to Posse Comitatus.
As long as they work for the governor, they can be used for local law
enforcement. When Eisenhower nationalized the ANG and sent the 101st
Airborne to Little Rock to enforce the civil rights laws, it was
unconstitutional. Fortunately the cause was seen as noble enough that
nobody called him on it. These days somebody would be demanding that
he be impeached.



I think the lines are a bit fuzzy here. The National Guard is a reserve
unit although not exactly the same as the regular Army reserves. The
National Guard *can* be called up and activated by the President for
temporary duty domestically or internationally and that includes
situations where the normal enforcement of domestic laws are not
practical or feasible. Normally, the federal activation of the National
Guard by the President, Congress or Secretary of Defense takes place
upon the request of the Governor of the State in which the Guard is
located however it is not necessary. Unlike other regular reservists,
individual Guard members are not called up. Rather, they are activated
by unit.

And to make things more complex, the patrolling of the border comes
under the Department of Homeland Security. The USCG is a regular
military branch that also operates under the DHS and regularly conducts
patrols on on seas for both illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and
others attempting to evade being caught.


The NG is the last remnants of the militia. They are still under the
purview of the states tho, hence the state name in front of each
unit's name. You are right, that is not the same as the reserves which
are directly connected to each service.
The Coast Guard has always been a different breed of cat. It is and
has been a civilian service that can be called up by DoD. They still
follow all of the military customs, UCMJ etc but they have always
worked for some other civilian agency, not DoD. They make that pretty
clear to you when you are there. I was there for the Treasury days and
the Transportation days. DHS happened after 9-11.
They are really a strange hybrid with pretty much unequaled powers.
They have the power to enforce laws without bumping into Posse
Comitatus, they can enforce immigration law, they can board and search
vessels at sea without a warrant and that extends into just about
anywhere they have jurisdiction. You see that in action here when they
will put some junior enlisted coastie on the sheriff's boat during
those enhanced enforcement weekends so they do not have to deal with
niceties if they want to look over your boat. They just send the CG
guy on board to look around. The CG does have the power to
immediately seize your boat if there are drugs on board, in any
quantity. I often wonder if that has ever been tested in court if they
are inside the COLREGS line. I know offshore guides are pretty adamant
with a "no drugs on my boat" rule.