California State Guard - formerly the CSMR

[Multicam Stan]

Wait, there's a PFT now? There wasn't really one when I was in. Unless it was unit based?

Last I saw on the website, there's one for Intensive Duty and one for non-Intensive Duty, ie, work in the field vs work in the office. I think for Intensive Duty it was somewhere around an 11 minute mile, 45 pushups in a minute and 45 sit-ups in a minute. For some reason I cannot find the original website I found this information on; all I can find is the page on ca.gov for Task Force Rattlesnake. Is the CMD/Cal Guard going through some restructuring?

I believe sometime in the spring or summer right?

It'd be just my luck to get my orders cut before the change is in effect and have to buy TWO WHOLE name tapes. I can't recall if the folks in Sacramento had the state flag or the national flag. The State Guard patch on the left should was pretty cool though.

[E Pluribus Unum]

So I'm sure most of you on this forum we're in on the all hands meeting last week with the new incoming commander of the CSG...

Thoughts on the uniform change?

The uniform changes are self-inflicted. CSG had a morbidly obese "soldier" at the PX at Los Al when the head of the NGB was on base and they ran into him.

Governors of the respective states would be well-reminded that the NGB has absolutely no authority over State Defense Forces.

This country was founded under federalism. Each state is it's own sovereign state and only certain rights are "enumerated" to the federal government on specific issues (like interstate commerce). Originally, there was no standing federal army. The State Defense Forces were the bulk of "US Forces". Even today, national guard is deployed overseas more than big Army and requires the approval of the state governor to do so. These State Defense Forces were largely volunteer. Then in 1903 someone realized if you pay them more show up and the National Guard was born. The National Guard did not replace the SDFs. Until WW1, SDFs were critical in every conflict that happened on US soil. They will be again if it ever happens again.

In short: There is nothing more "American Military" than serving in an SDF. The NGB has no authority over SDFs. If they want the National Guard portion of a State's military to look different than the SDF, then the NGB can change the National Guard's uniform to be different.

Analyzing the history of SDFs, I could see SDFs being forced to wear their state flags rather than the US flag... but the uniform should be similar to what was done during the civil war when SDFs were pressed into federal service... they were issued Army uniforms with their State Militia insignia.

[CrazyCobraManTim]

Yes - State Guard has been in a state of Stand By to Stand By since Feb 2023 when scuttlebutt started to circulate about changes. CO told us - don't by any new uniforms (that was revealing - but it was chilly and wet in Feb so I bought some GORTEX). The StateGuard.CMD.CA.GOV (recruiting and FAQ) website has been down for maintenance for weeks (months? a year)?

Some units are still operational and embedded / actively supporting their Army / Air NG parent units. Maritime might get attached to Youth Programs, as I understand the California Maritime Academy might be moved under the Military Department Youth Programs. Biden was printing money and gave (will give) Gavin a shiny new ship. Faster than the CA Bullet Train!

https://www.csum.edu/facilities-planning-design-and-construction/capital-improvement-projects/boat-basin-and-pier-expansion.html

[E Pluribus Unum]

Yes - State Guard has been in a state of Stand By to Stand By since Feb 2023 when scuttlebutt started to circulate about changes. CO told us - don't by any new uniforms (that was revealing - but it was chilly and wet in Feb so I bought some GORTEX). The StateGuard.CMD.CA.GOV (recruiting and FAQ) website has been down for maintenance for weeks (months? a year)?

Some units are still operational and embedded / actively supporting their Army / Air NG parent units. Maritime might get attached to Youth Programs, as I understand the California Maritime Academy might be moved under the Military Department Youth Programs. Biden was printing money and gave (will give) Gavin a shiny new ship. Faster than the CA Bullet Train!

https://www.csum.edu/facilities-plan...expansion.html

The CSG has all of the components to be wonderful... but upper management has always been a problem. Politics are rampant and "mission first" seems to stop after the company level.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-18/head-of-scandal-plagued-calif-national-guard-resigns

Hopefully someday California will elect a better governor and these identity politics will die down.

Maritime being pigeon-holed into the youth programs is lame. They're being stuck into a hole to die.

[CrazyCobraManTim]

Dang - clearly I was out in the field while all this salacious S2 stuff was going on up north!

Wow....

[Nacho_Eater]

MG Beavers (the current TAG of the California National Guard) is also in hot water regarding allegations of bigotry against a Jewish officer. Where do they get these guys?

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-01-31/california-national-air-guard-general-lawsuit-antisemitism-retaliation%C2%A0-12857191.html

[Supersapper]

MG Beavers (the current TAG of the California National Guard) is also in hot water regarding allegations of bigotry against a Jewish officer. Where do they get these guys?

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-01-31/california-national-air-guard-general-lawsuit-antisemitism-retaliation%C2%A0-12857191.html

Known problem with the CAARNG. It's a General Officer mill and there was only one General Officer that, when he was selected for the TAG position, didn't have "issues".

CalGuard is a good old boys club, which is why so many of the same problems keep arising. It's a grooming process. One of the reasons I left the CAARNG.

[smle-man]

Yes - State Guard has been in a state of Stand By to Stand By since Feb 2023 when scuttlebutt started to circulate about changes. CO told us - don't by any new uniforms (that was revealing - but it was chilly and wet in Feb so I bought some GORTEX). The StateGuard.CMD.CA.GOV (recruiting and FAQ) website has been down for maintenance for weeks (months? a year)?

Some units are still operational and embedded / actively supporting their Army / Air NG parent units. Maritime might get attached to Youth Programs, as I understand the California Maritime Academy might be moved under the Military Department Youth Programs. Biden was printing money and gave (will give) Gavin a shiny new ship. Faster than the CA Bullet Train!

https://www.csum.edu/facilities-plan...expansion.html

The CAARNG loved the SMR when the CAARNG was going and coming from Iraq and when the SMR was supporting them for wildfire missions. I was activated twice for those. Now that all of that is gone, it seems that the CANG views the CSG as a competitor and not an asset. If it wasn't for membership in the CSG giving access for retired CANG personnel to full time CANG jobs, I imagine they'd deactivate it.

[E Pluribus Unum]

The CAARNG loved the SMR when the CAARNG was going and coming from Iraq and when the SMR was supporting them for wildfire missions. I was activated twice for those. Now that all of that is gone, it seems that the CANG views the CSG as a competitor and not an asset. If it wasn't for membership in the CSG giving access for retired CANG personnel to full time CANG jobs, I imagine they'd deactivate it.

I joined the SMR under the assumption that SMR was not as good as the NG. For the first couple years I tried very hard to live up to the "guard's standard" and considered my service "not really military" service.

When I started getting deployed on actual missions with the national guard my opinion took 180 degree flip.

On the SOWG mission, I ended up being the head guy's quartermaster. He preferred using SMR over the NG.

After 5 years of service and several missions with the guard under my belt, OM I'd much rather deal with CSG than NG. Most NG are there for the college money or because the real world wouldn't hire them. (Most) CSG is there to serve.

[Supersapper]

I joined the SMR under the assumption that SMR was not as good as the NG. For the first couple years I tried very hard to live up to the "guard's standard" and considered my service "not really military" service.

When I started getting deployed on actual missions with the national guard my opinion took 180 degree flip.

On the SOWG mission, I ended up being the head guy's quartermaster. He preferred using SMR over the NG.

After 5 years of service and several missions with the guard under my belt, OM I'd much rather deal with CSG than NG. Most NG are there for the college money or because the real world wouldn't hire them. (Most) CSG is there to serve.

Funny thing about the SMuRFs...they always had some of the best training when they came down. Far better than much of what I got when I was in the Guard. They had a really awesome knife fighting class, some of the best drivers, the did a really awesome CLS class with moulage and triage, as well as just being a wealth of knowledge. I for one actually enjoyed when they came down from Sacto to our unit to train us.

[E Pluribus Unum]

Funny thing about the SMuRFs...they always had some of the best training when they came down. Far better than much of what I got when I was in the Guard. They had a really awesome knife fighting class, some of the best drivers, the did a really awesome CLS class with moulage and triage, as well as just being a wealth of knowledge. I for one actually enjoyed when they came down from Sacto to our unit to train us.

I was with the SAR unit in the south for three years. We did all of the SMR-ran CLS (and T Triple C) courses out of Los Al. Some of my most fun in that unit was as an agitator for the last phase of the scenarios. (Lane training). We always got lots of good feedback. We actually had a guy come back through shortly after returning from deployment and said that our training kept him alive during deployment. That was very rewarding.

I also got to do live fire and OPFOR missions at camp Bob... "Smurf" service was awesome because we were not limited by MOS and we could participate as cadre in any other unit's missions if we had the civilian experience.

[Supersapper]

I was with the SAR unit in the south for three years. We did all of the SMR-ran CLS (and T Triple C) courses out of Los Al. Some of my most fun in that unit was as an agitator for the last phase of the scenarios. (Lane training). We always got lots of good feedback. We actually had a guy come back through shortly after returning from deployment and said that our training kept him alive during deployment. That was very rewarding.

I also got to do live fire and OPFOR missions at camp Bob... "Smurf" service was awesome because we were not limited by MOS and we could participate as cadre in any other unit's missions if we had the civilian experience.

I did the CLS course in 2015 and 2018 at Los Al. I had a lot of fun with it. I was a MAJ at the time, so I was the highest ranking in the class and got a lot of ribbing for it; hey what do you expect when the annual training was falling apart and the computers didn't work? I figured I'd get some good training, so I volunteered. When we did the final portion, they always told us that in the event of a conscious patient, we had to try and keep them calm and take their mind off the injury so they don't lose their crap and make treating them difficult. For our "final exam", we were thrown into a mascal event. My job was to get the tourniquet on one guy quick and he was making it hard by constantly screaming he was going to die and not to forget about his foot and this and that and not listening to me, so I figured I'd try a different tactic (he had a simulated blown off foot and arm was all sideways with a compound fracture).:

Looked him square in the eyes and said the following without missing a beat:
"STOP TALKING...so this is how you think you're getting out of work Monday? Right....just getting all "bent" outta shape and going to pieces on me ain't cutting it. You're gonna be there Monday morning. Ima gonna have to put my foot down...oh wait. You f******* already did that and now you're "beside" yourself with regret. Stop screaming about your foot. It's right here...12 inches from you. Yeah. A FOOT away. Oh, yeah, by the way. Remember all that BS you gave me in the CLS class? hahahaha MAJ must not have much to do and all that crap? Got major s*** to do now, don't I?" And the tourniquet was perfect.

I miss those days.

[E Pluribus Unum]

I did the CLS course in 2015 and 2018 at Los Al....

I miss those days.

Me too.

For both 2015 and 2018, I was present at every CLS course put on my the SMR at Los Al. In 5 years, I never missed a drill or a mission.

I was one of the guys yelling at you trying to stress you out and mess up.. and if you were a major... I was yelling a little louder sir.. :-P

Thank you for all that you did for our state.

[CrazyCobraManTim]

Another SOWG alumni? Dang - been around for a year or 9!

Never did the CLS - but I got some great videos of it on 2nd floor in Bldg 6. No lights - except strobes, smoke generators, a couple 100 watt sub woofer (I donated a surround sound system to the team).

They did great training with limited resources in my humble opinion!

[E Pluribus Unum]

Another SOWG alumni? Dang - been around for a year or 9!

Never did the CLS - but I got some great videos of it on 2nd floor in Bldg 6. No lights - except strobes, smoke generators, a couple 100 watt sub woofer (I donated a surround sound system to the team).

They did great training with limited resources in my humble opinion!

Yes sir... and the CO2 grenades.

That was one of the times we had to pause the training because a soldier experienced a PTSD event. That's when you know it's as close to reality as reasonably possible.