-
I have occasionally lamented that the 1917 federalization of national guards made it impossible for somebody to volunteer to serve Virginia in the manner of the National Guard without any danger of being called to go to war in a foreign land. There are probably lots of people who would take up arms to defend *Virginia* from an invading force and, more realistically, serve the state in case of a disaster, but who are not willing to fight in one of our country's constant wars of questionable merit. Well, that's where the Virginia Defense Force comes in. Unfortunately, they only have eight units, and none are anywhere near me.
-
These stats are just fascinating. My own experience jibes perfectly with these findings—iPads are for reading in the evening, iPhones are for reading whenever you get a few minutes throughout the day.
Comments are closed.
The Virginia Defense Force used to be an armed auxiliary of our Virginia National Guard. Many years ago, a VDF group decided that it would be fun to set-up a roadblock and search cars for “contraband.”
The version of the story that I was told, involved friends of Senators getting delayed on the highway, followed closely by phone calls to the Governor.
After a review of what happened, the Virginia National Guard, took away the VDF’s right to bear arms. They are perhaps the only, defenseless, defense force in America.
Since that major screw-up on the highway, the VDF has been relegated to being no more than parking lot monitors who wear camouflaged clothes.
Several citizens, including me, have written to the Guard and the Governor, asking that the VDF be returned to having, at least the same right to bear arms, that regular citizens already have. I have also asked Governor Kaine (when he was in office) to have a provision of the Virginia code to become active, so that we could join the other seaboard states who have a Naval Guard/Militia, that could utilize inactive Reservists and retirees, to augment our Virginia Guard for local tasks.
The VDF could be a great asset to the Virginia Guard, and those volunteers deserve to be employed for more than parking guards at the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Perhaps Governor McDonnell might rectify this issue…
(*crickets*)
They’re unarmed? That’s so crazy! (And embarrassing for them and, really, Virginia.)
RE: “There are probably lots of people who would take up arms to defend *Virginia* from an invading force..”
I like your noble idea about this *type* of militia, Waldo, but I think the whole concept of militias is a can of worms. You are aware, I’m sure, there were lots of people who did take up arms to defend Virginia and 10 other states against an “invading force,” resulting in four years of blood soaked ground in America. Given the present highly charged political environment, and no shortage of nihilistic media zealots advocating “2nd Amendment solutions” (and the hard right-wingers have doubled down on this violent rhetoric since Tucson) instead of sane and civil discussion, I personally think we should keep a lid on talk of militias as best we can.
The VDF may not be armed (isn’t that unconstitutional? How can the National Guard revoke their 2nd Amendment rights?), but there are plenty of other rag-tag militias out there with not nearly so magnamimous intentions who ARE armed – and dangerous.
I’ve often felt the same thing and basically didn’t sign up for the Guard because of the 3 year rotation into the Iraqi or Afghan theatres. But an unarmed force is ludicrous.
I disagree with John in that we should not talk about “militias”. The term has been twisted into something that it was not. The US Code still defines the militia in Title 10 §311 and there are “organized” (national guard, naval militia) and unoranized militia. Unorganized is defined as
“all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.”
As opposed to anti-government forces, people need to understand that there is a valid means to public service through militia organizations, and not just playing air soft or talking about sedition and treason.