Did my governor just "federalize" our National Guard?

[undeterred]

Gov. Doyle: Signs bill modernizing Wisconsin code of military justice
3/28/2008

Friday, March 28, 2008
Contact: Carla Vigue, Office of the Governor, 608-261-2162

MADISON - Governor Jim Doyle today signed a bill modernizing the Wisconsin Code of Military Justice. Governor Doyle was joined at the bill signing by Brigadier General Donald Dunbar, and representatives of the Wisconsin National Guard and the Joint Legislative Council.

“The Wisconsin National Guard serves our state and this nation with honor, courage, and distinction,” Governor Doyle said. “This bill ensures that the Wisconsin National Guard will be governed by the most current justice code in the nation.”

Assembly Bill 400 reorganizes the Wisconsin chapter governing the Department of Military Affairs and rewrites the Wisconsin Code of Military Justice that applies to the conduct of state military defense forces performing state duties.

The changes are part of a national movement to update state military justice codes, to reflect the National Guard’s ability to deploy worldwide on a wide range of missions. Wisconsin is only the second state in the country to enact a state military justice code modeled after the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is used by the federal Armed Forces.

Governor Doyle thanked the Department of Military Affairs and the Joint Legislative Council for their work on the bill.
http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=122221

[SteveM]

1. That's why the Second Amendment cites "militias," not the "guards."

Bush has gone to considerable lengths to extend his authority over state guards, aided by Congress, of course.

[undeterred]

4. And states are fighting back, right?

[SteveM]

8. Nope. As right-wing gun-banner Chas. Krauthammer sez: "There is no opposition"

[DavidDvorkin]

6. They were all militias at the time of the Second Amendment

States started changing the name from state militia to National Guard years later.

[SteveM]

7. I agree that the Guards came later; yet, the unorganized militia is still recognized.

[Squatch]

12. The National Guard **IS** the militia

by statute:

USC Title 32, Chapter 1, § 101

"(4) “Army National Guard” means that part of the organized militia of the several States and Territories, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, active and inactive, that—
(A) is a land force;
(B) is trained, and has its officers appointed, under the sixteenth clause of section 8, article I, of the Constitution;
(C) is organized, armed, and equipped wholly or partly at Federal expense; and
(D) is federally recognized."

Ditto for the Air National Guard

[MrCoffee]

2. I think a Model State Code of Military Justice makes sense

Otherwise, you'd have units from all 50 states potentially involved in the same action but subject to 50 different state codes.

Whether it's sound to deploy state guard units overseas for a long time is another issue entirely.


Edited to add a link to the Model State Code of Military Justice http://www.ngb.army.mil/jointstaff/ps/ja/conference/2007/MODEL_STATE_CODE_OF_MILITARY_JUSTICE.doc

[undeterred]

3. I know there have been movements in many states

including ours, to de-federalize the National Guard. I expected to see a long fight over this in the legislature. This press release seemed to just slip through, like the Governor was doing it on a Friday when it wouldn't get much reporting because of the NCAA tournament. I guess its no big deal. But I really don't want the Guard to be overseas- or at least I want the people signing up to know exactly what they are getting into.

Thanks for the link.

[MrCoffee]

5. I absolutely agree that overseas deployments are not the province of the Guard

but it seems like it's fairer to the Guardsmen and women to have some unification of the laws governing their actions.

They have no control over their deployment. They shouldn't be expected to know the intricacies of their arcane state law when a uniform code would be easier for everyone involved.

That said, the extended overseas deployments have to stop. The Guard is getting screwed over big time, much worse than the regular Army.

[Breeze54]

9. Bush 'federalized' the National Guard with stop-loss back in 2003.

:grr:

Edited to add a capitol 'N' to national.

[undeterred]

10. Can't we undo Bush's mistakes?

This stop loss policy is what John Kerry called the "back door" draft.

[Breeze54]

11. It is a back door draft!

My son was caught up in it for 17 months deployed on OIF. (Operation Iraqi Freedom) :eyes:

We're trying to repeal it now, aren't we? By electing a Democratic Senate and White House.

Hopefully, we will succeed in that endeavor come November 11th, 2008!

I'm counting on it. :grr:

[undeterred]

14. Operation Defeat Senator Bomb Bomb

79 men and 5 women killed from WI ... no more

[Breeze54]

18. Many more National Guard died all across the country....

:cry:

:grr:

[undeterred]

20. Most of the women were..

Not that their lives are of any more value than the young men- but some of them were among the first to die in our state and I will never forget the father. One girl was a twin who was there with her twin sister. The father encouraged them to sign up as a way to help pay for their education, never dreaming that they would see combat. I do not believe that it was fair for so many of them to be sent into this dreadful occupation which did not have to take place at all, and then to be sent back again and again...

[Breeze54]

22. And many of the women GI's were raped.....

that's a fact. :grr:

[Squatch]

13. Stop loss is implemented by the MACOM Commander not by the POTUS

and is applied to "Double-A" (AA) Units, or Battalion/Brigade sized units.

The entire National Guard was not stop-lossed by the President; only select units that had been given alert orders.

[undeterred]

15. What is MACOM?

[Squatch]

16. Major Command

You've gout USAREUR (US Army Europe), ARNG (Army national Guard), USAR (US Army Reserve), FORSCOM (Forces Command), etc.

[Breeze54]

17. Wrong!! - "Federal authority to call up National Guard for Iraq has expired" - 01-29-08

States: Federal authority to call up National Guard for Iraq has expired

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/30548

Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2008-01-29 20:52.

* Nonviolent Resistance

Legislation introduced today in Vermont to recall the Guard

Legislation also planned for Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island; being explored for Maine, Maryland, and Wisconsin

(Washington, D.C.) —

A bill introduced today declares that the 2002 federal authorization to call up the State National Guard has expired, and would set in motion steps to recall members of the Vermont Guard. Similar legislation will be introduced by legislators in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, and is under active discussion in a half-dozen other states, notably Wisconsin, Maine, and Maryland.

Rep. Michael Fisher, lead sponsor of the Vermont bill, stated that, “it is clear that the mission that Congress authorized no longer exists. The President has no current or permanent legal authority to keep Guard members in Iraq. The Governor as Commander-in-Chief of the Vermont National Guard should take necessary steps to bring them home.”

The Vermont bill would limit future Vermont National Guard service to state duties unless properly called into federal service.

Ben Manski, executive director of the pro-democracy group, Liberty Tree, said that, “the debate over the Iraq War changed today in a simple, but profound way. This legislation is limited to recalling the Guard in the absence of congressional authorization. Yet as an attorney who has studied these questions, it strikes me that with this legislation, the states have begun to reassert their historic national defense responsibilities and to honor the Constitution's genius for distributing power over issues of war and peace.”

Said Karen Dolan, director of Cities for Peace, which has coordinated hundreds of local and state governmental anti-war resolutions, "This development comes in the context of millions of people speaking up at the local and state levels in opposition to the war. Over 300 communities and twelve states have voiced outrage over sending our troops to Iraq as a matter of morality and policy. This bill says it is unlawful to keep National Guard troops in Iraq.”

In addition to the Vermont legislation, announced at today’s press conference in Montpelier by Rep. Michael Fisher and Senate President Pro-Tempore Peter Shumlin, legislators in Minnesota (Rep. Frank Hornstein, 651-296-9281), New Hampshire (Rep. Charles Weed, 603-352-8309), Pennsylvania (Rep. Tony Payton, 215-744-7901), and Rhode Island (Rep. David Segal, 401-432-7049), will sponsor similar National Guard legislation.

Legislators in six other states, notably Maryland (Sen. Jamie Raskin, 301-858-3634), Maine (Rep. Ted Koffman, 207- 288-5015), and Wisconsin (Rep. Spencer Black, 608-266-7521), are working on the issue and considering following suit.

# # #

MORE INFORMATION:
Vermont’s Guard Defederalization Bill and other resources: http://www.libertytreefdr.org/guard.php.

[undeterred]

19. This is very interesting since I am in Wisconsin

Ben Manski is in my city- and Spencer Black is in my state legislature which is not in session. Thats why I was freaked out when I saw the governors press release- I thought he was pushing something in the other direction. I don't know if the governors can act without the state legislatures behind them or not or what kind of financial pressures are involved.

[Breeze54]

21. Call your Dem rep and ask!

That's your right! ;) Use your rights! You pay his paycheck, right? He works for you!

[undeterred]

23. YES !