A State Defense Force (SDF) is a state militia under the command of the chief executive of that state only. Twenty-five states in America have some kind of SDF, and all states have laws allowing one. Whether they call it state guards, …
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"During World War I, Congress authorized states to create Home Guards as reserve forces aside from the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe. During WWII, the 1916 legislation was amended to allow state militaries to defend their own states. Now called State Guards, they were trained and equipped by the federal government but maintained their separation. It wasn't until 1956 that Congress allowed for the continual existence of these units outside of a wartime role. For a time, these SDFs existed only on paper. During the Reagan Administration, that changed. Reagans Department of Defense wanted SDFs in all states."
"The last part of the legislation says an SDF cannot be drafted into the Armed Forces of the United States, but that same legislation says that an individual member can. This is to ensure the independence of the SDF from the state National Guard. While typically organized as Army units, the SDFs vary, with some akin to the Navy and Air Force."
"In Texas, the SDF responds to local emergencies (like flash floods) that aren't declared disaster areas but need help anyway. They provide security augmentees for regular military forces and provide emergency medical training to National Guard units and other areas of the U.S. military."
en.wikipedia.org
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" Many states also maintain their own
state defense forces. Although not federal entities like the National Guard of the United States, these forces are components of the state militias like the individual state National Guards.
"These forces were created by Congress in 1917 as a result of the state National Guards' being deployed and were known as Home Guards. In 1940, with the onset of
World War II and as a result of its federalizing the National Guard, Congress amended the
National Defense Act of 1916, and authorized the states to maintain "military forces other than National Guard."
[23] This law authorized the
War Department to train and arm the new military forces that became known as State Guards. In 1950, with the outbreak of the
Korean War and at the urging of the National Guard, Congress reauthorized the separate state military forces for a time period of two years. These state military forces were authorized military training at federal expense, and "arms, ammunition, clothing, and equipment," as deemed necessary by the
Secretary of the Army.
[24] In
1956, Congress finally revised the law and authorized "State defense forces" permanently under Title 32, Section 109, of the United States Code.
[25]
