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Home : Features : 2009 : 373rd Birthday

## National Guard celebrates 373rd birthday

### Among world’s oldest military organizations

By Renee HyltonNational Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va. (12/8/09) - The United States is a  relatively young country, but four of the oldest military organizations in the  world are in our country’s National Guard.

The National Guard is celebrating its 373rd birthday this  year. On Dec. 13, 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony divided its  citizen-soldiers, or militia, into the North, South and East Regiments.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was seven years old in 1636.  About 5,000 men, women, and children had made the two-month voyage to the New  World, leaving the relative comfort and safety of England behind. 

In Massachusetts, they confronted a wilderness of dense  forests, wild animals and suspicious Indians. 

The colonists needed a military force for protection, but  they had no money to hire a mercenary army, which was common practice in Europe  at the time.

So, they turned to the English tradition of the militia –  citizen-soldiers who gathered for military training and who could fight when  needed. 

In Massachusetts, all able-bodied men between the ages of  16 and 60, except ministers and judges, were required to join the militia. 

By 1636, the militia of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was  large enough to be divided into three separate regiments.

Today, the military lineage of these 1636 regiments is  carried by the 101st Engineer Battalion, the 101st Field Artillery, the 181st  Infantry, and the 182nd Cavalry, which are all still part of the Massachusetts  Army National Guard. 

These four units, in one form or another, have been in  continuous service since 1636, and are the oldest units in the U.S. Army.

Not many military organizations can claim 373 years of  unbroken history.

The Swiss Guards, who protect the Vatican, are older  (1512), and so is London's Honorable Artillery Company (1537), a unit of citizen-soldiers  that is the oldest in the British Army.   Amazingly, considering how much older Britain is than the United States,  only one other regiment of the British Army, the Royal Scots (1633), predates  our National Guard’s oldest units.

Much has changed in this country since 1636, but one  thing has not: citizen-soldiers still gather to train and deploy as they have  for 373 years.

Related Links

                            -  National Guard birthday message from CJCS   
                            -  National Guard Birthday Message from CNGB   
                            -  ARNG 373rd Birthday message    
                            -  House Resolution on NG birthday   

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