The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States Army. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations: the ARNG of each state, most territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the federal ARNG, as part of the National Guard as a whole. It is divided into subordinate units stationed in each state or insular area, responsible to their respective governors or other head-of-government.
National Guard Bureau organizational chart depicting command and reporting relationships
Army National Guard staff organizational chart
Chief of the National Guard Bureau Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson administers the oath of office to Lt. Gen. Jon A. Jensen as the 22nd director of the Army National Guard on Monday, 10 August 2020 at the Temple Army National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington, Virginia.
Image: Major General Raymond H. Fleming
The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It, along with the Army National Guard component of each state, district, commonwealth or territory, makes up the National Guard of each region as applicable.
A Galludet Tractor biplane which the New York National Guard aviators rented in 1915
Captain Charles A. Lindbergh, Missouri National Guard, and members of his National Guard unit, 110th Observation Squadron, after he flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean, 1927
Following a devastating blizzard in 1949, Colorado ANG C-47s dropped hay to stranded and starving livestock throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Altogether the Colorado Air Guardsmen flew 17 such missions dropping tons of hay that saved thousands of cattle and wildlife. Colorado ANG F-51s and A-26s also flew 10 reconnaissance missions during that emergency, 29 January 1949.
Captain John McMahn and Sergeant White, of the 182nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron, Texas Air National Guard, close out flight records at Taegu AB (K-2), South Korea, following their F-84E Thunderjet becoming the first such aircraft to complete 1,000 flying hours, 1952