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.
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==