State Defense Force - Organization

Organization

Many states organize their state defense force parallel to their National Guard force (both Air and Army), having them report to the governor through the state's adjutant general. State defense forces are not funded by the federal government, and in most states members are unpaid. Volunteers have to purchase their own uniforms and most, if not all, of their own equipment.

Because many members of state defense forces are veterans who have retained ranks received from service in the armed forces, some state defense forces have an inflated grade structure. Advocates reply that the grades worn by state defense force members accurately reflect the many years of experience that veterans (often military or naval retirees) bring to the state forces. Some SDF soldiers use the two-letter state abbreviation in parenthesis after their rank to indicate the origin of their grade. For example, a major in the California State Military Reserve would give his or her rank as "MAJ (CA)." However, numerous states do not practice this notation because many senior commissioned and noncommissioned officers earned their rank while serving at the federal level. Moreover, Army regulations require the service branch title to appear after the rank and name (e.g., COL John S. Smith, CSMR).

While in the past many state defense forces were organized as military police brigades or infantry brigades, the experiences of recent events such as Hurricane Katrina has changed attitudes and plans. Civil affairs units and medical units now predominate in some states. Organization levels may be inflated: a battalion may have less than 100 members, and a state defense force brigade may have less than 300 soldiers.