Immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington, D.C., thousands of Army and Air National Guard members scrambled to support relief efforts.
In New York alone, 4,600 Guard members have been placed on state active-duty status to provide security, said Army Brig. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, deputy director of military support for the Defense Department, at a Sept. 13 press briefing.
“Needless to say, the entire New York National Guard is on standby,” he said.
Vaughn’s office is the Pentagon’s office for all military support to civilian authorities.
Citing operational security, officials would not give specific numbers, but guard members in 24 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have been placed in mission status, Maj. Dan Stoneking, a spokesman for Department of Defense speaking for the National Guard said Sept. 12.
He added that thousands more have been placed on various stages of alert.
Guard members have been called up in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming
Here’s a partial list of the units and their duties as of Sept. 13:
The D.C. Air National Guard has F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from the 113th Wing providing combat air patrol over the Washington area in support of the Secret Service.
More than 200 soldiers from the D.C. Army Guard’s 372nd Military Police Battalion are providing MP support to D.C. Metro and Department of Defense police in response to the attack on the Pentagon.
The Army Guard also is providing an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter to D.C. police and its 74th Troop Command is supporting civil authorities and has one UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter providing transport support for the Pentagon.
Four UH-1 “Huey” helicopters have been providing medical evacuation support for victims at the Pentagon. Four Army Guard chaplains and one Air Guard chaplain are on standby to assist with counseling for victims’ family members.
A diesel tanker fuel truck from the 231st Combat Communications Squadron has been sent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the D.C. Air National Guard’s 231st Combat Communications Squadron and the 113th Security Forces Squadron are on standby at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
The Maryland Army National Guard has soldiers on federal active-duty status for force-protection duty.
The 290th and the 115th Military Police companies and a command and control cell have been tasked to provide security at the Pentagon.
In Georgia, three Guard military police units have been called to duty in case they are needed to support recovery efforts in Washington and New York.
North Carolina Gov. Michael F. Easley ordered the state’s Air and Army National Guard on alert a couple of hours after the Pentagon attack. Easley said the Air Guard’s C-130 cargo planes were on standby to provide transportation across the country, if needed.
New Jersey has 545 Army National Guard personnel and 10 Air National Guard personnel on state active duty providing emergency operations center/armory manning and force protection. Six of the 10 personnel are on duty in New York City to provide and operate high-intensity lighting systems.
In Pennsylvania, there are 312 Air Guardsmen and 98 Army Guardsmen on state active duty as a forward liaison to the local Emergency Management Agency in Somerset County, where the fourth hijacked plane crashed.
The South Carolina Army National Guard is providing four officers in support of 1st Air Force as an air defense planning cell at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. They also have 50 personnel from the 132nd Military Police Company to provide physical security and force protection at two sites in Columbia, S.C.
The Virginia Army National Guard has 250 engineer and medical personnel in state active duty and 20 soldiers from the 200th Military Police company, to provide security at the Army National Guard Readiness Center and one platoon to provide additional security at Fort Pickett, Va.
