Colorado Army National Guard

The Colorado 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 US 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.

Colorado 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 Colorado Guard also bestows a number of state awards for local services rendered in or to the state of Colorado.

The Colorado Army National Guard is composed of over 3500 soldiers, maintaining 30 armories in 24 communities (as of 1999).

Units
The following units are part of the Colorado Army National Guard:
 * 168th Regiment, Regional Training Institute (RTI)
 * Centennial Training Site (CTS)
 * 100th Missile Defense Brigade (Ground-based Midcourse Defense) - operators of the National Missile Defense system Ground-Based Midcourse Defense
 * 2d Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment -- deployed to Iraq August 2006 through August 2007.
 * 157th Field Artillery Regiment COA.png 157th Field Artillery Regiment
 * 1st Battalion (now inactivated and reorganized as 1st Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment)
 * 2nd Battalion (reflagged 3-157th FA Regiment)
 * 8th WMD Civil Support Team
 * 89th Troop Command
 * 169th Fires Brigade SSI.png 169th Fires Brigade
 * 2nd Battalion, 157th Field Artillery Regiment (reflagged 3-157th FA Regiment)
 * High Altitude Aviation Training Site (HAATS)
 * 3650th Maintenance Company
 * 928th Area Support Medical Company (Emergency Medicine) - stationed at Ft. Carson, CO.
 * 220th Military Police Company - Denver/Globeville Armoury, Denver, Colorado
 * 193rd Military Police Battalion (deployed to Afghanistan in March 2010 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom)
 * 140th Signal Company
 * 117th Space Support Battalion
 * HHD, 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne)
 * 101st Army Band
 * 1157th Engineer Team (Firefighting) - stationed at Ft. Carson, CO. Deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004–2005 and attached to the 420th Engineer Brigade. The 1157th is a headquarters team which operationally controls three to seven fire truck teams.
 * 199th Engineer Detachment (Firefighting)
 * 200th Engineer Detachment (Firefighting)
 * 947th Engineer Company (Combat Support Equipment) - Headquartered at Montrose, CO, and deployed to Iraq's Al-Anbar Province October 2005-2006. The 947th Engineer Company (CSE) was augmented with a platoon of the 160th Engineer Company (CSE) from Middletown, Delaware. The 947th was attached to the Germany Based 54th Engineer BN (Combat)(Mechanized, and the 130th Engineer Brigade. Initially deployed to Al Asad Airbase, Iraq, the 947th Engineer Company quickly assumed horizontal engineer missions throughout extreme Western Iraq and was instrumental in the construction of COP Rawah and COP North.  The 947th Engineer Company (CSE) was re-located to Ramadi, Iraq in January 2006 and remained there until their redeployment in October 2006.
 * 117th Space Battalion
 * MI Detachment, Company B, Special Troops Battalion, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain), VT ARNG

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 Colorado Volunteer Militia, predecessor of the Colorado Army National Guard, was originally formed in 1860. The Militia Act of 1903 organized the various state militias into the present National Guard system. In 1914 in Ludlow, Colorado a unit of the guard was deployed during a strike by coal miners, but the sympathies of the militia leaders allied with company management resulted in the deaths of 20 people. Originally Colorado was a part of the CONUS regional command, called the Southern Department. This was later redesignated, in 1920, as Eighth Corps area. with Headquarters at Fort Sam Houston Texas. In 1941 Colorado was transferred to the new Central Defense Command.

Approximately 300 Colorado ARNG soldiers deployed to Iraq with the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade in September 2006.

Historic units

 * 1st Colorado Infantry
 * 157th Infantry Regiment (United States)
 * 137th Field Artillery Battalion (United States)
 * 142nd Field Artillery Battalion (United States)
 * 144th Field Artillery Battalion (United States)
 * 168th Field Artillery Battalion (United States)
 * 169th Field Artillery Battalion (Colorado)
 * 183rd Field Artillery Battalion (Colorado)
 * 193rd Tank Battalion (United states)
 * 140th Signal Battalion (United States)
 * 188th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (United States)
 * 199th Engineer Battalion (United States)