Is American State Guard anything decent ?

[Zeno]

Maybe some actual Americans can help me out and clear things up for me, its bothering me since a while now and researching online makes me get a rather negative opinion.

A mate of mine is American and lives in the US (obviously). He is in this state guard of the state he lives in since numerous years now and has worked his way up the ranks (some sort of officer)

For him it seems to be the same as the U.S military as he calls it the military. He appears to always try to show off with it a little and he has numerous cool photos where he can be seen in some helicopter jumping on a parachute or some military uniform.

He says its a volunteer thing.

From my little knowledge, most state guards in the U.S, do not even have firearms and are not considered military. When I googled online, it says its for people who get rejected from the national guard and active military careers. I looked up photos online as well and most people serving there do not look well in shape, more like some sort of militia ?

What is your take on that ? He always acts as if he is some sort of navy seals or trained soldier, but in my personal opinion (having served mandatory military service in my own country here in Europe) I think that he does not behave like a soldier, seems to lack knowledge (even though he thinks he knows better) when we discuss tactica approaches in terrain and such and as said, is physically completely out of shape.

Over here he would probably not even pass the fitness test for the local nursery.

Please clear up for me what this state guard thing is about or most importantly, what the mentality in the U.S is in regards to the state guard, is this something taken seriously or what kind of personalities or people gather there ?

[permanent name]

national guard are who you call in when you want them to get into a grapple with a protestor and then shoot them. they're often deployed overseas for the same purposes, now that the us has ceased rule of law. each state maintains their own force, and pools them collectively according to certain rules.

state troopers are similar, but they're regular police instead of mp's. same general reputation.

the physical requirements are lower since being able to handle being deployed against civillians is the more-important attribute.

[wesnef]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Cyborg92:

What I wonder is, why can State Guard people get foreign military achievments ?
He literally got foreign medals he achieved, by some european military forces, such as paratroopers and such. Its a little surprising, because here you have to sweat pretty hard for this.

Hmm. That sounds like a "stolen valor"-type situation. People buying medals from traders/surplus/collectors, and just sticking them on their uniforms. And since these "state guards" seem like a half-assed kind of thing (not being really '♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥'), they might not crack down on that like they should.

But that's just a guess.

(people buying medals/insignia/etc from other countries and/or past eras, is reasonably wide spread. Heck, we used to get random catalogs that included stuff like "original Czech army gear!" "German army knives!" and so on.)

[xDDD]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Cyborg92:

Please clear up for me what this state guard thing is about or most importantly, what the mentality in the U.S is in regards to the state guard, is this something taken seriously or what kind of personalities or people gather there ?

Well the National Guard is respectable. No they aren't Navy Seals, or Army Rangers, or anywhere close to these elite corps BUT they are still military and they still do know how to operate weapons and are held to some standards. You could really consider them somewhat of an "organized militia" so of course the requirements won't the same as some other branches.

Guardsmen are sometimes armed when it is called for (see January 2021 Washington DC or Texas Border currently) but they usually aren't armed because their duties rarely call for it. Most of their action involves helping people during natural disasters or bringing order during severe civil unrest (unless the Governors don't let them like what happened in 2020).

[Belle Delphine Targaryen!]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Cyborg92:

Well, on all of his social media he uses himself in some military unform as an avatar and he keeps claiming he is making such and such progress in the MILITARY.

It's called Stolen Valor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXtEm8S-EgI

[xDDD]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Belle Delphine Targaryen!:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Cyborg92:

Well, on all of his social media he uses himself in some military unform as an avatar and he keeps claiming he is making such and such progress in the MILITARY.

It's called Stolen Valor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXtEm8S-EgI

I mean is it Stolen Valor? He IS still in the military.

If there was an Air Force soldier who did nothing but sit in desk chairs for his entire service would you consider that stolen valor too?

[wesnef]

Diposting pertama kali oleh :D:

If there was an Air Force soldier who did nothing but sit in desk chairs for his entire service would you consider that stolen valor too?

If he sticks medals he's not entitled to, onto his uniform, that counts.

"Yeah, I was in the military during the Iraq War!" (truth) "And I earned this medal in Fallujah!" (false, he was running a desk back in Ohio)

[zeke]

Diposting pertama kali oleh :D:

Well the National Guard is respectable. No they aren't Navy Seals, or Army Rangers, or anywhere close to these elite corps BUT they are still military and they still do know how to operate weapons and are held to some standards. You could really consider them somewhat of an "organized militia" so of course the requirements won't the same as some other branches.

Guardsmen are sometimes armed when it is called for (see January 2021 Washington DC or Texas Border currently) but they usually aren't armed because their duties rarely call for it. Most of their action involves helping people during natural disasters or bringing order during severe civil unrest (unless the Governors don't let them like what happened in 2020).

Just to be clear: What's being discussed here isn't the National Guard, it's a state guard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_defense_force

[xDDD]

Diposting pertama kali oleh zeke:

Just to be clear: What's being discussed here isn't the National Guard, it's a state guard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_defense_force

Ooooooohhh I see.
I've never even heard of those ahaha I guess my states' is inactive so maybe that's why.

Seems like they are VERY state-dependent on how competent they are.

[Zeno]

Diposting pertama kali oleh wesnef:

Diposting pertama kali oleh :D:

If there was an Air Force soldier who did nothing but sit in desk chairs for his entire service would you consider that stolen valor too?

If he sticks medals he's not entitled to, onto his uniform, that counts.

"Yeah, I was in the military during the Iraq War!" (truth) "And I earned this medal in Fallujah!" (false, he was running a desk back in Ohio)

But he earned them