Ohio National Guard



The Ohio National Guard comprises the Ohio Army National Guard and the Ohio Air National Guard. The commander-in-chief of the Ohio Army National Guard is the governor of the state of Ohio. If the Ohio Army National Guard is called to federal service, then the commander-in-chief becomes the President of the United States. The military commander of all forces in the State of Ohio is the Adjutant General, Major General Deborah A. Ashenhurst (the first female to hold this position) is responsible for the command of 17,000 members, preparedness and readiness, installation management and budget of the Ohio National Guard. The current Assistant Adjutant General for Army, with responsibility for overseeing the Ohio Army National Guard training and operations, is Colonel(P) John C. Harris Jr. The current Assistant Adjutant General for Air is Brigadier General Mark E. Bartman, with responsibility for overseeing the Ohio Air National Guard.

The National Guard employs many government people, you must currently be in the National Guard to apply for a job. These jobs pay very well and have excellent benefits, usually when people get these jobs they end up retiring from the Guard. These jobs are consider government jobs, so you wear your military uniform to work every day you don’t have to follow the military rank, an E-1 Private could be the boss of an E-5 Sergeant.

The National Guard is a great way to pay for college, if you go to a state school they will pay 100% of your tuition, if you go to a private school they pay a certain percentage of it. On top of the Guard paying for school, there are several other VA benefits for school that you could actually end up being paid for going to school. Ohio Army and Air National Guard units can be mobilized at any time by the governor of the State of Ohio upon declaration of a state of emergency or by the presidential order to supplement regular armed federal forces. Unlike Army Reserve members, National Guard members cannot be mobilized individually (except through voluntary transfers and Temporary Duty Assignments or TDY), but only as part of their respective units. However, there has been a significant amount of individual activations to support military operations since 2001. The legality of this policy has been a source of contention in some quarters.