National Guard

The National Guard was part of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, this reserve military force was composed of National Guard militia units of each state, territory, and the District of Columbia, for a total of 54 separate organizations. All members of the National Guard were also members of the militia of the United States as defined by 10 U.S.C. § 311. National Guard units were under the dual control of the state and the federal government. They served as a domestic defense and disaster relief force during peacetime while during wartime, they were also deployed abroad as front-line troops alongside other Army or Air Force units.

Colonial
The oldest component of the United States Armed Forces, the first militia companies were formed with the English settlement of the New World. At Jamestown Colony in 1607, and Plymouth Colony in 1620. By the mid-1600s every town had at least one militia company (usually commanded by an officer with the rank of captain) and the militia companies of a county formed a regiment (usually commanded by an officer with the rank of major in the 1600s or a colonel in the 1700s).

The first militia regiments however were organized by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on 13 December 1636. By order of the General Court the Colony's scattered militia companies were organized into North, South and East Regiments—with a goal of increasing the militias' accountability to the colonial government, efficacy, and responsiveness in conflicts with indigenous Pequot Indians.

American Revolution
Throughout the war, militia units were mobilized when British forces entered their geographic areas and participated in most of the battles fought during the war. The Massachusetts militia began the war at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and were mobilized either during or shortly after the battles and used to form, along with units from Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire, the Army of Observation during the Siege of Boston. On July 3rd, 1775 General George Washington, under the authority of the Second Continental Congress, assumed command of the Army of Observation and the new organization became the Continental Army from which the United States Army traces its origins.

19th and 20th centuries
Having a healthy distrust of a large standing army the United States kept the number of professional soldiers small. Throughout the next century the the majority of soldiers were provided by state militias. Such as the Mexican–American War, the American Civil War (albeit only in the early months), the Spanish–American War, in World War I, National Guard soldiers made up 40 percent of combat divisions, in World War II, they made up 19 divisions, and were mobilized during the Korean War.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the state National Guards were called for the suppression of labor strikes. With the Militia Act of 1903, the militias was more organized and the name "National Guard" recommended for adoption. The title "National Guard," was originally adopted by the 2nd Battalion, 11th New York Artillery in 1824–25 in honor of Lafayette's French National Guard. In 1933, with passage of the National Guard Mobilization Act, Congress finalized the split between the National Guard and the traditional state militias by mandating that all federally funded soldiers take a dual enlistment/commission and thus enter both the state National Guard and the National Guard of the United States. The National Defense Act of 1947 created the Air Force as a separate branch of the Armed Forces and concurrently created the Air National Guard of the United States as one of its reserve components, mirroring the Army's structure.

The Sino-American War and the collapse of America

 * Main article: Sino-American War, United States of America, the collapse of America

With the considerable unrest in the United States due to the ongoing food and resource shortages, protests and both the food and automation riots, the National Guard was in more demand than ever before in its history. One such deployment was following the labor strike of Poseidon Energy Plant WV-06. After Poseidon Energy developed and installed the Poseidon Power Management System it essentially rendered the facility automated. The employees, seeing that they were almost no-longer needed, feared being taken advantage of just fired as so many others were, gathered as their union to peacefully protest the renegotiation of their work contract, to guarantee security in their employment. There was one technical problem with this plan, due to company policy once they stepped foot onto the picket line were automatically fired.

While the now jobless protesters continued to gather more pressure, the management (specifically chief of security Brent Olson) decided that instead of negotiation they should call in the military. Since its reactivation Poseidon Energy Plant WV-06 was using ultracite to provide power to the region, making it was easy for the company to convince the government that the strike had become a matter of national security.

Since this wouldn't go over well in the media, they would devise a conspiracy to remove public support for another en masse layoff of workers due to automation. To cover their conspiracy they needed the protesters to become violent. Their plan was for the National Guard to launch HalluciGen gas at the protesters to incite them into attacking one another, then the National Guard could use whatever force necessary to quell the riot. Their first step was to forcibly detain the union sympathizing manager Renee Hargraves, so she wouldn't interfere in the operation. When the National Guard were deployed they released their gas, however it worked too well. Those forcibly incited to violence became raving lunatics and attacked even the National Guard, whom were quickly overwhelmed. With the Great War occurring soon after this is how the incident ended, as those left alive had other matters to attend to.

Already deployed en masse to endure order, on October 23, 2077 they had a twenty nine minute early warning of the oncoming nuclear attack from the Department of Defense via the Defense Intelligence Agency. Although in the dark the National Catastrophe Relief Auxiliary were also deployed en masse in accordance to their scores in preparatory drills.

After the nuclear detonations devastated the nation all the surviving, and still active, personnel executed their respective contingency plans: establishing checkpoints, evacuating the populace, initiating cleanup operations and locking down contaminated areas and vital parts of the infrastructure, they continued to operate for a few days after the bombs fell however between the looting and violence that followed in the days after most servicemen deserted and went out into the new wasteland, those who stayed were soon overwhelmed by the collapse of society, the National Guard ceased to exist.

The remnants of their contingency plans still litter the landscape. Checkpoints – although ravaged by time – may still contain large stockpiles of ammunition and equipment among the remains of the guardsman; still guarded by their robotic materiel.

Organization
Created by the Militia Act of 1903, the National Guard Bureau was the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the National Guard established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and with the National Security Act of July 26, 1947, the Department of the Air Force. As part of the militia of the United States as defined by 10 U.S.C. § 311 National Guard units were under the dual control of the state and the federal government. They operated under their respective state or territorial governor, except in the instance of Washington, D.C., where the National Guard operated under the President of the United States or his designee. Furthermore the National Guard was called up for active duty by the to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and emergency radiation cleanup.

National Catastrophe Relief Auxiliary
The National Catastrophe Relief Auxiliary (NCRAR) units were composed of civilian medical corps charged with initial evacuations and medical triage following a nuclear disaster. These units were typically unarmed and assigned military detachments to provide security.

Bases

 * National Guard depot - Headquarters of the Columbia Commonwealth National Guard.
 * National Guard training yard - Training yard and armory for the 1st battalion, 101st Field Artillery Regiment, located north of Boston.
 * Spanish Fork Armory - an National Guard armory within the town is the source of high powered weapons for the White Legs tribe, particularly their signature weapon the "Storm drum".

Columbia Commonwealth
Main article: Fallout 3 military checkpoints

New England Commonwealth
Main article: Fallout 4 military checkpoints

Technology
As a reserve military force the National Guard typically used the same materiel as the United States Army and Air Force, however due to their reserve nature - and the state of the Sino-American War - they typically received simpler and older designs.

Known equipment

 * Armor
 * Army fatigues
 * Combat armor including riot gear
 * Military fatigues
 * Power armor, mostly older T-45 variants (though a few elite units and high level commands within the NG had access to extremely limited numbers of T-51 models)
 * Recon armor
 * Tesla armor


 * Explosives
 * A range of hand grenades including fragmentation, pulse, and plasma grenades
 * Various types of land mines
 * Mini nukes
 * Plastic explosives including Cordex


 * Weapons
 * Combat knives
 * Combat shotguns
 * Experimental MIRV (At least one example was delivered to the National Guard Depot in D.C. shortly before the Great War, presumably for test & evaluation purposes.)
 * Flamers
 * Gatling lasers
 * Gauss rifles, including the M72
 * Different types of grenade launchers including the grenade machinegun
 * Incinerators
 * Wattz 2000 & AER9 laser rifles
 * Wattz 1000 & AEP7 laser pistols
 * Light support weapon
 * M199 5.56mm assault rifle (Mentioned only, not seen to date in series)
 * Miniguns
 * N99 10mm pistol
 * R91 5.56mm assault rifle
 * Military Ripper
 * Sniper rifles, including the DKS-501 (.308 variant)
 * Submachine guns, including the .45 Auto submachine gun and M3A1 "grease gun" SMG
 * Various types of Missile & rocket launchers
 * Winchester P94 plasma rifle (Also known as a plasma caster)


 * Other
 * Various models of Stealth Boy, including the RobCo 3001 and the satchel model
 * Radiation suits


 * Robots
 * Assaultron
 * Cyberdogs, including the Cyberhound Mk III military model
 * Eyebots
 * Mister Gutsies
 * Protectrons
 * Robobrains
 * Sentry bots
 * Turrets


 * Vehicles
 * Infantry fighting vehicle
 * Military truck
 * Tank

Appearances
The National Guard is mentioned in Fallout 2, Fallout 3, the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.