Alaska Territorial Guard and Alaska National Guard
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:50 pm
I posted a falsehood about the ANG in the NZ thread: that it "spent the war in California on training duty." A member of the Alaska State Defense Force (the successor to the Alaska Territorial Guard which still wears the original ATG patch on its uniforms), this is what I had been taught at the ANG/ASDF HQ.
Instead, the ANG spent the entire war on various duties in Alaska, and was considered the point unit by commander Brig Gen Simon Bolivar Buckner (mainly because it knew the territory and because it could operate things). I created an ANG battalion at Fort Richardson (Anchorage) to start and also a special ANG tug and barge unit at Juneau called ANG Harborcraft.
The ATG formed later - and backwards - 3rd Battalion first at the end of 1942 - 1st Battalion last in 1943. These units are strange. Concieved as guerilla formations, they are mobile and almost self sufficient (they only need 25/55ths of their nominal WITP supply requirements). Formed into 65 units, only the three battalions are shown (for the next release). They mainly served in LOC security duties, but were organized to resist invasion, as spotters of enemy activities of all kinds, and small elements served as recon parties. These latter - termed Eskimo Scouts - were the model for the Alimo Scouts of Gen MacArthur (PTO recon units) - and were reformed post war. When the ANG was forced to lose its combat units - the Scouts were excepted - and still exist.
The ATG was unpaid. It numbered thousands of official members and probably 20,000 total if women and children were counted: these performed "quartermaster" services. The ATG was the first US military unit with women combat members - one unit was entirely composed of women - and the women in the line (vice the support) were impressive shots WITHOUT sneiper rifles (one woman could hit 19 out of 20 times consistently at ranges most men never scored at all). These women were not officially recognized until a ceremony at Fort Richardson in 1968. Most of the ATG was natives, who were not considered to be US citizens, and who were formally discriminated against in Alaska by law. The ATG became a vehicle which caused them to be regarded very differently than had previously been the case and the commander - Maj Muckluck Marston - a USAAF officer - was an activist who ran afoul of Army brass and was never promoted. But in the dark years it was considered something of a miracle that virtually the entire civil population of coastal Alaska - plus Fairbanks - determined to resist invasion. Most communities mustered far more than their male population - because of course many women and older children also mustered out. At the time it was illegal for women to be in the line, but natives were expendable, and these contradictory attitudes more or less cancelled out.
Instead, the ANG spent the entire war on various duties in Alaska, and was considered the point unit by commander Brig Gen Simon Bolivar Buckner (mainly because it knew the territory and because it could operate things). I created an ANG battalion at Fort Richardson (Anchorage) to start and also a special ANG tug and barge unit at Juneau called ANG Harborcraft.
The ATG formed later - and backwards - 3rd Battalion first at the end of 1942 - 1st Battalion last in 1943. These units are strange. Concieved as guerilla formations, they are mobile and almost self sufficient (they only need 25/55ths of their nominal WITP supply requirements). Formed into 65 units, only the three battalions are shown (for the next release). They mainly served in LOC security duties, but were organized to resist invasion, as spotters of enemy activities of all kinds, and small elements served as recon parties. These latter - termed Eskimo Scouts - were the model for the Alimo Scouts of Gen MacArthur (PTO recon units) - and were reformed post war. When the ANG was forced to lose its combat units - the Scouts were excepted - and still exist.
The ATG was unpaid. It numbered thousands of official members and probably 20,000 total if women and children were counted: these performed "quartermaster" services. The ATG was the first US military unit with women combat members - one unit was entirely composed of women - and the women in the line (vice the support) were impressive shots WITHOUT sneiper rifles (one woman could hit 19 out of 20 times consistently at ranges most men never scored at all). These women were not officially recognized until a ceremony at Fort Richardson in 1968. Most of the ATG was natives, who were not considered to be US citizens, and who were formally discriminated against in Alaska by law. The ATG became a vehicle which caused them to be regarded very differently than had previously been the case and the commander - Maj Muckluck Marston - a USAAF officer - was an activist who ran afoul of Army brass and was never promoted. But in the dark years it was considered something of a miracle that virtually the entire civil population of coastal Alaska - plus Fairbanks - determined to resist invasion. Most communities mustered far more than their male population - because of course many women and older children also mustered out. At the time it was illegal for women to be in the line, but natives were expendable, and these contradictory attitudes more or less cancelled out.