National Guard

The National Guard was part of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces berfore the war.

Background
During the food and resource shortages in the United States in the 2070s where rioting and protesting were at their peaks, 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, feared being fired as so many others were, worked with the Associated Miner's Union to peacefully protest and try to renegotiate their work contract. While they're trying to guarantee their own job security, under the terms of the existing contract with Poseidon they were fired the second they joined the picket line.

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

Since sending in soldiers to clear out what was a peaceful protest wouldn't go over well in the media, a conspiracy to remove public support for the workers began. To tarnish their image, Olson needed the protesters to become violent. The plan was for the National Guard to launch HalluciGen gas at the protesters to incite them into attacking one another, then the Guardsmen could use whatever force necessary to quell the riot.

Poseidon's 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. While the gas did forcibly incite most of the protestors to violence, instead of attacking each other they charged the National Guard lines, quickly overwhelming them and storming the power plant. With the Great War occurring soon after the incident ended, those left alive had other matters to attend to.

Already deployed en masse to maintain order, on October 23, 2077 the organization 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: surviving personnel established checkpoints, evacuated the populace, initiated cleanup operations, and locked down contaminated areas as well as vital parts of integral infrastructure. One particular unit stationed near Mariposa Military Base and containing Leila Rahmani and Alan Connors learned of the formation of the Brotherhood of Steel and joined them. Other survivors continued to operate during the coming days and weeks after the bombs fell, but factors such as radiation, lack of manpower and resources as well as the waves of violence that followed post-War led to many servicemen deserting, with those who stayed finding themselves soon overwhelmed by the collapse of society. In the weeks following the end of America, the National Guard had largely 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 guardsmen; 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 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 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 of the 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 used by the White Legs tribe, particularly their signature "storm drums", the .45 Auto submachine gun.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Army fatigues
 * Combat armor including riot gear
 * Military fatigues
 * Power armor, T-45 variants
 * Recon armor
 * Tesla armor
 * Radiation suits


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


 * Weapons
 * Combat knives
 * Combat shotguns
 * Experimental MIRV
 * 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
 * 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)


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


 * Vehicles
 * Armored personnel carrier
 * Military truck
 * Tank
 * Off-road vehicle

Appearances
The National Guard is mentioned in Fallout 2, Fallout 3, the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, its update Steel Dawn, Fallout Tactics, and the canceled Fallout 3 project Van Buren.

Behind the scenes
Nate served in the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment, which is a real regiment in the New York Army National Guard.