National Guard

The National Guard was part of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. They also served as a domestic defense and disaster relief force.

Background[]

The National Guard descended from colonial militias that later fought the British in the American Revolutionary War, such as the Massachusetts militia who fired the first shots of the war in the battles of Lexington and Concord. During the war, some of these militias were organized into the Continental Army by George Washington, which later became the United States Army. However, state militias continued out of distrust of a large standing centralized military, and the majority of soldiers participating in wars from the late 18th century to the middle of the 19th century came from state militias, including most of the forces that fought in the American Civil War. In 1903, the state militias were reorganized into the modern National Guard, and National Guard units fought in World War I and World War II.

Sino-American War[]

Main article: Sino-American War, United States of America, the collapse of America

With the considerable unrest in the United States due to the ongoing food and resource shortages, and with rioting and protesting were at their peaks, the National Guard was in more demand than ever before in its history.^{[Non-game 1]} They came to be widely used as strike breakers to suppress the widespread riots, with Guard units and regular troops deployed across the country in the worst trouble spots.^{[Non-canon 1]}

Appalachia[]

One such deployment was following the labor strike of Poseidon Energy Plant WV-06. After Poseidon Energy developed and installed the Poseidon Power Management System, it essentially rendered the facility automated. The employees, fearing being fired as so many others were, worked with the Associated Miner's Union to peacefully protest and try to renegotiate their work contract. While they were trying to guarantee their own job security, under the terms of the existing contract with Poseidon, they were fired the second they joined the picket line.

While the now jobless protesters continued to gather more pressure and support, the plant's chief of security, Brent Olson, decided that instead of negotiation they should call in the military. Since its reactivation Energy Plant WV-06 was using newly discovered ultracite to provide power to the region, making it easy for the company to convince the government that the strike had become a matter of national security.

Since sending in soldiers to clear out what was a peaceful protest wouldn't go over well in the media, a conspiracy to remove public support for the workers began. To tarnish their image, Olson needed the protesters to become violent. The plan was for the National Guard to launch HalluciGen gas at the protesters to incite them into attacking one another, then the Guardsmen could use whatever force necessary to quell the riot.

Poseidon's first step was to forcibly detain the union sympathizing manager Renee Hargraves, so she wouldn't interfere in the operation. When the National Guard were deployed, they released their gas, however, it worked too well. While the gas did forcibly incite most of the protestors to violence, instead of attacking each other, they charged the National Guard lines, quickly overwhelming them and storming the power plant. With the Great War occurring soon after the incident ended, those left alive had other matters to attend to.

Already deployed en masse to maintain order,^[2] on October 23, 2077, the organization had a twenty-nine minute early warning of the oncoming nuclear attack from the Department of Defense via the Defense Intelligence Agency.^[3] Although in the dark, the National Catastrophe Relief Auxiliary were also deployed en masse in accordance to their scores in preparatory drills.^[4]

After the nuclear detonations devastated the nation, all the surviving, and still active, personnel executed their respective contingency plans: surviving personnel established checkpoints, evacuated the populace, initiated cleanup operations and locked down contaminated areas as well as vital parts of integral infrastructure.^[5] One particular unit stationed near Mariposa Military Base and containing Leila Rahmani and Alan Connors learned of the formation of the Brotherhood of Steel and joined them.^[6][7][8]

Other survivors continued to operate during the coming days and weeks after the bombs fell, but factors such as radiation, lack of manpower and resources, as well as the waves of violence that followed post-War, led to many servicemen deserting, with those who stayed finding themselves soon overwhelmed by the collapse of society. In the weeks following the end of America, the National Guard had largely ceased to exist.

The remnants of their contingency plans still litter the landscape. Checkpoints, although ravaged by time, may still contain stockpiles of ammunition and equipment among the remains of the guardsmen; still guarded by their robotic materiel.^[5]

Organization[]

Created by the Militia Act of 1903, the National Guard Bureau was the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the National Guard established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and with the National Security Act of July 26, 1947, the Department of the Air Force. As part of the militia of the United States as defined by 10 U.S.C. § 311 National Guard units were under the dual control of the state and the federal government. They operated under their respective state or territorial governor, except in the instance of Washington, D.C., where the National Guard operated under the President of the United States. Furthermore, the National Guard was called up for active duty by the to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and emergency radiation cleanup.

Locations[]

Bases[]

• National Guard depot - Office building and armory located in the outskirts of Washington D.C.
• National Guard training yard - Training yard and armory for the 1st Battalion of the 101st Field Artillery Regiment, located north of Boston.

Checkpoints[]

Capital Wasteland[]

The Commonwealth[]

Technology[]

As a reserve military force, the National Guard typically used the same materiel as the United States Army and Air Force; however, due to their reserve nature and the needs of the ongoing Sino-American War, the National Guard was primarily outfitted with surplus equipment.

Known equipment[]

Armor

• Army fatigues
• Combat armor including riot gear
• Military fatigues
• Power armor, mostly older T-45 variants (though a few elite units and high level commands within the NG had access to extremely limited numbers of T-51 models)
• Radiation suits
• Recon armor
• Tesla armor^{[Non-game 2]}

Explosives

• A range of hand grenades, including fragmentation, pulse and plasma grenades
• HalluciGen gas grenades
• Various types of land mines
• Mini nukes
• Plastic explosives including Cordex

Weapons

• Combat knives
• Combat shotguns
• Experimental MIRV (At least one example was delivered to the National Guard Depot in D.C. shortly before the Great War.)
• Flamers
• Gatling lasers
• Gauss rifles, including the M72
• Different types of grenade launchers including the grenade machinegun
• Incinerators
• Wattz 2000 & AER9 laser rifles
• Wattz 1000 & AEP7 laser pistols
• Light support weapons^[9]
• M199 5.56mm assault rifle (mentioned only, not seen to date in series)
• Miniguns
• N99 10mm pistols
• R91 5.56mm assault rifles
• Police batons
• Military Rippers
• Sniper rifles, including the DKS-501 (.308 variant)
• Submachine guns, including the .45 Auto submachine gun and M3A1 "Grease Gun" SMG^[10]
• Various types of missile & rocket launchers
• Winchester P94 plasma rifles (also known as a plasma caster)

Other

• Various models of Stealth Boys, including the RobCo 3001 and the satchel model

Robots

• Assaultrons
• Cyberdogs, including the Cyberhound Mk III military model
• Eyebots
• Mister Gutsies
• Protectrons
• Robobrains
• Sentry bots
• Turrets

Vehicles

• Armored personnel carriers
• Military trucks
• Tanks
• Off-road vehicles

Notes[]

• During the Great War, a National Guard truck crashed somewhere along Utah State Route 77 outside Toquerville, Utah.^[11][12]

Appearances[]

The National Guard is mentioned in Fallout 2, Fallout 3, the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, its update Steel Dawn, Fallout Tactics, and the canceled Fallout 3 project Van Buren.

Gallery[]

An abandoned National Guard checkpoint in the wasteland

Another checkpoint

Another checkpoint near Northwest Seneca Station, set up to bar civilians from entering a radiation cleanup area after the war

National Guard recruitment office

National Guard logo

Behind the scenes[]

• Nate served in the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment,^[13] which is a real regiment in the New York Army National Guard.

References[]

Non-game

Non-canon