South Carolina Army National Guard

The South Carolina Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the U.S. Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization. National coordination of various state National Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau.

South Carolina Army National Guard units are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army. The same ranks and insignia are used and National Guardsmen are eligible to receive all United States military awards. The South Carolina Guard also bestows a number of state awards for local services rendered in or to the state of South Carolina.

The South Carolina Army National Guard is composed of approximately 10,000 soldiers and airmen (as of February, 2009), and maintains 80 facilities across the state with over 2 million square feet (180,000 m²) of space.

Units and Formations

 * State Area Command (STARC)
 * 59th Troop Command
 * 59th Aviation Troop Command (aircraft of the SC ARNG include the CH-47D Chinook, UH-60 Black Hawk, UH-72 Lakota, OH-58 Kiowa and the AH-64 Apache)
 * 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade
 * 228th Signal Brigade
 * 151st Field Artillery Brigade - (inactivated 2008)
 * 218th Leadership Regiment
 * 263rd Air and Missile Defense Command
 * 122nd Engineer Battalion
 * 122nd Engineer Company (Combat Support)
 * 751st Maintenance Battalion
 * 742nd Support Maintenance Company
 * 1052nd Transportation Company (Medium Truck)
 * Medical Command
 * 251st Medical Company (Ground Ambulance)
 * 51st RAOC
 * 251st RAOC
 * 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment
 * 51st Military Police Battalion
 * Headquarters & Headquarters Company
 * 131st Military Police Company
 * 132d Military Police Company
 * 133d Military Police Company

Duties
National Guard units can be mobilized at any time by presidential order to supplement regular armed forces, and upon declaration of a state of emergency by the governor of the state in which they serve. Unlike Army Reserve members, National Guard members cannot be mobilized individually (except through voluntary transfers and Temporary DutY Assignments TDY), but only as part of their respective units. However, there has been a significant amount of individual activations to support military operations (2001-?); the legality of this policy is a major issue within the National Guard.

Active Duty Callups
For much of the final decades of the twentieth century, National Guard personnel typically served "One weekend a month, two weeks a year", with a portion working for the Guard in a full-time capacity. The current forces formation plans of the US Army call for the typical National Guard unit (or National Guardsman) to serve one year of active duty for every three years of service. More specifically, current Department of Defense policy is that no Guardsman will be involuntarily activated for a total of more than 24 months (cumulative) in one six-year enlistment period (this policy is due to change 1 August 2007, the new policy states that soldiers will be given 24 months between deployments of no more than 24 months, individual states have differing policies).

History
The South Carolina Army National Guard was originally formed in 1670. The Militia Act of 1903 organized the various state militias into the present National Guard system. South Carolina aviation troops and their AH-64 Apache attack helicopters were called to Kuwait as part of Operation Southern Watch between August 1999 and February 2000. As Task Force 151, commanded by LTC David Anderson, the Task Force was augmented by Mississippi and Minnesota Army National Guard units, along with individual personnel from the National Guards of New Hampshire, Arizona, and Washington state.

South Carolina's C Co, 1-151 AVN was deployed to Kosovo under operational control of 1-104 AVN of the Pennsylvania ARNG (as were National Guard aviation units from Alabama and Nebraska) during KFOR 5A operations from July 2003 to February 2004. HHC, A, B, D, and L Companies of the 1-151 AVN were deployed as Task Force 1-151 Aviation during Operation Iraqi Freedom II & III from October 2004-October 2005, where they gained fame flying their AH-64A Apaches in an experimental two-tone grey scheme in support of the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light), and then supported operations of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) in Al-Anbar Province. Task Force 1-151 was augmented with National Guard personnel from Tennessee, Missouri, and Maryland and the Individual Ready Reserve of the Army. L Company, 1-151 was augmented with National Guard personnel from Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wyoming, serving with distinction during OIF.

In the fall of 2008, a CH-47D Detachment, B Co, 2-238 AVN was activated in support of OEF, and deployed to Afghanistan. Paired with Illinois National Guard, B Co was split between three different forward operating bases, Bagram, Kandahar/Shank, and Salerno, with each acting independently of the others. The detachment's main missions included resupply, troop movement, and air assaults on high value targets. B Co, 2-238 returned home in fall of 2009 after serving with great distinction and perseverance during Operation Enduring Freedom. II.

Historic units
The 263rd Air Defense Artillery is one of only nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812.
 * 202CavRegtCOA.jpg 202nd Cavalry Regiment (United States)
 * 118InfRegtCOA.gif 118th Infantry Regiment (United States)
 * 218InfRegtCOA.jpg 218th Infantry Regiment (United States)
 * 263rd Air Defense Arillery (United States)
 * 178FARegtCOA.jpg 178th Field Artillery Regiment (United States)
 * 151AvnRgtCOA.jpg 151st Aviation Regiment (United States)