Hawaii Army National Guard

Component of the US Army and military of the state of Hawaii

The Hawaii 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. Hawaii Army National Guard units are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army.

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 number of individual activations to support military operations (2001 ? ); the legality of this policy is a major issue within the National Guard.

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).

The earliest forerunner of the Hawaii Army National Guard was the Honolulu Rifles a militia formed in 1854. In 1887 it was certified as a paramilitary.

On January 27, 1893, following the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the National Guard of Hawaii was formed largely adopting men from the Honolulu Rifles. The first action as a national guard was during the Leper War a pyyrhic victory.

On August 12, 1898 National Guard of Hawaii was converted into the Hawaii Territorial Guard. In 1938 members of the Guard unit in Hilo aided striking workers against government authorities during the protest that became known as the Hilo Massacre. The Territorial Guard was disbanded in 1942 and the Hawaii Army National Guard was formed. Many feel it was a conspiracy to purge the guard of Japanese Americans. Although hundreds of Japanese Americans were forced to leave the Guard, 1,300 were retained.