COB BASRA – On Dec. 13, the National Guard celebrated its 373rd birthday. The National Guard traces its birth to 1636, due, in part, to a middle-aged Puritan merchant named John Oldham.
On July 20, 1636, Oldham was murdered aboard his ship near Block Island in New England. His death, allegedly at the hands of the Pequot Indians, enraged the citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and led to the ignominious Pequot War. At the end of the year, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony organized the colony's militia into North, South and East Regiments.
These three regiments still exist in the Massachusetts National Guard. Not only are they the oldest units in the National Guard, they are the oldest continuously-serving units in the United States Army, and among the oldest units in any army in the world. Since the National Guard’s beginnings 373 years ago, entire empires have risen and fallen, entire philosophies have waxed and waned, and yet throughout, the Guard has stood ready.
Since 1636, America has grown from a hardscrabble colony to a provincial giant to a world-spanning superpower, and its National Guard has fought in every one of its major wars along the way.
The National Guard has seen 126 of its members awarded the Medal of Honor, and countless others have served with distinction upon America’s battlefields. And since 9/11, the National Guard’s combat obligation has expanded, at times comprising over two-sevenths of total U.S. forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. Rick Nash, commander of the 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division, a Minnesota National Guard unit, said the more than 50,000 Soldiers and Airmen serving in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate America’s values honorably. “America can be proud of its National Guard completing each mission with honor and success, responding to the nation’s call again on its 373rd birthday as it’s deployed around the world,” Nash said.
In addition to their role as the nation’s reserve defense, members of the Guard serve as defenders of the homeland and protectors of the state, in case of disasters like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina.
By historical measures, the year 1636 was not a good year. The Thirty Years’ War was once again tearing apart the kingdoms of Europe, the King of Denmark was forcing beggars to work in the galleys, and Japan’s military dictator, the shogun, was hastening that country’s descent into isolation by forbidding his citizens from ever leaving the island.
But of all the legacies of 1636, the National Guard has endured while monarchies and fiefdoms have not.
