Mississippi Army National Guard - History

History

The Mississippi Army National Guard came into existence under Winthrop Sargent, the first Governor of the Mississippi Territory, with the issuance of an order on September 8, 1798 organizing the Militia of the Territory. On February 28, 1799, Governor Sargent was able to get his legislative body together and the first law was passed for the permanent establishment of the Militia in Mississippi. This-law constituted the beginning of the 155th Infantry Regiment in Mississippi.

The 155th Infantry Regiment (ARNG MS) is one of only nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812, and the only one from west of the Appalachians.

Through the years the laws governing the Militia changed in various ways. Establishment of units varied from year to year, and ways of obtaining strength for the units also varied. There were periods of lack and little Militia at all. At other times the Militia forces were well organized.

Although the Mississippi Militia participated in every war and fight of any consequence from the Sabine Expedition of 1806 through the Korean War in 1953, it was not until 1916 the Mississippi National Guard was called for active duty. In 1916 the War Department called three infantry battalions for service on the Mexican Border. These battalions formed the First Infantry Regiment which went on active duty on 24 June 1916. In September 1917 this unit was redesignated the 155th Infantry Regiment and served in the 39th Division in France. Also created during World War I, largely from Arkansas Army National Guard units, was the 154th Infantry Regiment (United States), which continued its service after the war with the Mississippi Army National Guard.

Again in 1940 all units of the Mississippi National Guard were inducted into Federal service. In the 1950 - 1951 period 77 of 81 units were called into service during the Korean War. A total of 6,515 Mississippi Guardsmen served during this period.

Among units formed within the MS ARNG since the Second World War are the 198th Armor Regiment (United States), the 114th Field Artillery Regiment (United States), the 185th Aviation Regiment (United States), and the 204th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (United States).

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).

At the time of this writing, the Mississippi Army National Guard had 151 units located throughout the State. Fifty-one (51) of these units were part of the 31st (Dixie) Division and the remainder are non-divisional units. The 1st Battalion, 198th Armor Regiment (HQ Senatobia) used to serve as part of the 155th Armoured Brigade, but was disbanded as part of the c.2010 modular ('Army Transformation') reorganization.