This occurred to me because of Texas governor Rick Perry’s hints about secession, but this isn’t a debate, it’s a factual question.
Clearly, the soldiers in state National Guards are paid by states and under the direction of the governors (although the budgeting is really done by the Pentagon).
What about the equipment, though? Do Air National Guards really own the jets, or do the planes belong to the feds? What about other large equipment - artillery, armored personnel carriers, etc? Do the ships belong to the Navy National Guard, or are they ‘borrowed’ from the US Navy?
That’s only one part of the law, but I can’t interpret it any other way than that the Federal Government effectively controls each state’s National Guard. That almost certainly means the equipment associated with each National Guard unit is ultimately owned by the Federal Government.
All that stuff is bought and owned by the Federal government. As far as major equipment goes, the states basically don’t pay anything.
From time to time Uncle Sam will direct National Guard equipment to one place or another, such as after the invasion of Iraq, a lot of trucks used by the National Guard was left in Iraq for other deploying units to use. When the states then complained about being under-equipped for state missions, like disaster response, the Feds just bought more trucks, radios, and whathaveyou. If some governor had demanded “his” equipment back, he probably would have received a pat on the head.
As with most things, this doesn’t have a simple answer.
It is true that the feds own the National Guard equipment - but in many states there is a separate militia variously called a Home Guard, State Defense Force or State Militia. These units have surplus federal equipment or new stuff bought by the state, cannot be federalized, and are under the control of the governor.
At least two states include naval militias with active boats - like New York.
Some people here in NC tried to start up a militia but it did not last long. A funny aspect was it was 75% officers. Guess almost nobody wanted to be a private.
The militia that was here in NC was not run by the state, it was just a bunch of guys who started it on their own. The state asked them to disband and they did.
After Tim McVeigh the word “militia” now has a bad connotation for many people.
I live in Virginia, and I know that our State Defense Force is pretty active. It includes units that man the armories when the National Guard is deployed and are also used for disasters within the state.
Special units include communications battalions and an air wing.
Guess almost nobody wanted to be a private.