Word: militiaization
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There are, however, some hopeful signs. Volunteer Defense Corps units, a kind of local militia armed with bolt-action rifles, are taking up posts in remote villages that rarely saw a cop in the past. In a direct copy of efforts in Viet Nam, well-armed People's Assistance Teams (PAT) are giving selected villages a measure of protection and some civic-action aid. Other cadres sound out local needs, gathering intelligence in the process. Nor is the government ignoring propaganda: it has put up posters in the Northeast showing Mao Tse-tung and Ho Chi Minh hovering over...
THIS glowing view of the militia in wartime was hardly that of General Washington himself. While the Revolution was still raging, he angrily told the Continental Congress that if the colonies had "formed a permanent army in the beginning, which, by the continuance of the same men in service, had been capable of discipline, we never should have had to retreat with a handful of men across the Delaware in 1776, trembling for the fate of America." Throughout history, in victory or defeat, the citizen-soldier has suffered the curses of his generals. The criticism has not always been fair...
McNamara's reorganization would go a long way toward improving the Guard's readiness for foreign emergencies. It would not, of course, cut to the heart of the question: state control. In 1903, after disastrous results with the militia in the Spanish-American War, Secretary of War Elihu Root vainly sought to eliminate the states' role and create a reserve of militiamen controlled entirely by the Federal Government. In 1948, a Defense Department committee under Assistant Secretary (and later Secretary) of the Army Gordon Gray urged much the same. There is much to be said for this...
...general uprising followed. Police Superintendent John Kennedy tried in vain to calm the rioters. The mob, reported one witness, "beat him, dragged him through the streets by his head, pitched him into a horsepond, rolled him into mud gutters, dragged him through piles of filth indescribable." Soldiers, police, militia and naval forces were required to quell the draft riots. Meade's army was so weakened by disappointing recruitment and withdrawals for guard duty in New York and other Northern cities, it was unable to resume the initiative after the Battle of Gettysburg...
...spirit of Christian altruism, church-run relief services have not escaped criticism. Some American Catholic critics of the war were shocked to discover that CRS has for two years been helping distribute U.S. surplus food to families of South Viet Nam's 700,000-member local militia, at the request of General William Westmoreland. Defending the arrangement, CRS officials pointed out that the low-paid militiamen are often away on duty and unable to provide sufficiently for their families. Because of the well-established Roman Catholic structure in Viet Nam, CRS is able to ensure that the food reaches...