Alabama State Defense Force

The Alabama State Defense Force (ASDF) is the state provided

Alabama State Defense Force
guard of the State of Alabama allowed by the Constitution of
Alabama, The Code of Alabama and Executive Order. It has an
authorized strength of 1,000 members and is organized on the
United States Army structural pattern. The ASDF is under the
control of the Governor of Alabama, as the state's Commander in
Chief, and comes under the authority of The Adjutant General
(TAG) of Alabama. The ASDF is an adjunct, volunteer,
augmenting force to the Alabama National Guard, and it is not
federally recognized. Currently, the ASDF is inactive awaiting
reorganization by the Alabama National Guard.

Contents
History
Active 1821[1] - January 8th,
Mission
2014 [2]
Organization
Country United States
Awards and decorations
Allegiance Alabama
See also
Type State defense
References force
External links Size 1,000 legally
authorized

History Part of Alabama Military

Department
Prior to the modern National Guard, states would provide Garrison/HQ Fort Taylor Harden
volunteer militia units to augment the federal army in times of war. Armory, Montgomery,
In the Mexican–American War, Alabama provided the United Alabama
States with multiple units of Alabama militia, with most serving
Website http://sdf.alabama.gov
for less than a year.
(https://web.archive.or
During the American Civil War, both Union units and Confederate g/web/201310220255
units were raised in support of the war effort. 17/http://sdf.alabama.
gov/)
In the Spanish–American War, Alabama raised three volunteer
infantry units.[3] Commanders
Commander Gov. Kay Ivey
After the declaration of World War II, the majority of the National in Chief
Guard was mobilized, leaving governors without troops to guard
against invasion, provide disaster relief, and protect against civil Adjutant
MG Perry G. Smith
unrest. Therefore, many states, including Alabama, raised state General
defense forces to act as a replacement for the National Guard Commander BG(AL) Dale Webb
during the war. In 1940, Governor Frank M. Dixon created the
Alabama State Guard, recruiting primarily from World War I veterans, mainly from the American Legion.[4]
Alabama took a unique approach in creating its state defense force. While other states actively recruited
from veteran's organizations, Alabama went a step further and "gave the American Legion of Alabama the
responsibility for creating and running its State Guard," and in return, Alabama "was able to achieve a
functioning state guard sooner than most states."[5] By using an existing private organization as the
framework for their state defense force, Alabama was able to achieve full readiness far sooner than might be
expected. At the war's end, the Alabama State Guard was deactivated.[4]

On December 22, 1983, Governor George Wallace signed Executive Order Number 20, which authorized
the creation of the Alabama State Defense Force, the successor of the Alabama State Guard which was
disbanded in World War II.[6] In 2008, members delivered meals and water to Hurricane Gustav evacuees.[7]
On August 14, 2012, Governor Robert Bentley signed into law the Alabama State Defense Force bill
(SB278), which added clarification to the role of the ASDF in relation to the Alabama National Guard, so
that the two organizations can be better integrated in future stateside missions.[8][9] As recently as April
2013, the ASDF was still seeking applicants,[10] but as of November 2013, it was stood down.[11]

After the Alabama State Defense Force was disbanded, some of its former members formed the Alabama
Volunteers (http://202ndbattalion.wix.com/202ndbn) as a private organization organized under the Alabama
State Defense Force Association, in order to continue their volunteer service in disaster relief efforts until
the ALSDF is reactivated.[12] In Southern Alabama, the U.S. National Reserve Corps was started with
members from the ASDF, this national organization also consists of volunteers dedicated to service in
disaster relief efforts and participated with the Red Cross in 2014 in damage assessment in Baldwin
County.[13]

As of April 2020, over seven years since the temporary suspension began, the state of Alabama has not yet
finished its reorganization of the Alabama State Defense Force.

Mission
The mission of the Alabama State Defense Force is to on order of the Adjutant General of Alabama provide
trained and ready volunteer individuals and units to support the National Guard conducting Defense Support
to Civil Authorities missions to mitigate and/or alleviate the effects of a natural or man-made disaster.

Organization
The ASDF is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. The ASDF has three operational Brigades.

Awards and decorations

The Alabama State Defense Force issues several ribbons to guardsmen who have merited them, including
the following ribbons:[14]

ASDF Alabama War Ribbon

ASDF Distinguished Service Ribbon
ASDF Meritorious Service Ribbon
ASDF Commendation Ribbon
ASDF Achievement Ribbon (Officer)
ASDF Achievement Ribbon (Enlisted)
 ASDF Merit Ribbon
ASDF Desert Shield/Storm Support Ribbon
ASDF Disaster Readiness Ribbon
SGT Dixie Club-Gold Ribbon
SGT Dixie Club-Silver Ribbon
SGT Dixie Club-Bronze Ribbon
ASDF Service Ribbon
ASDF Distinguished Graduate Ribbon
ASDF Professional Development Ribbon
ASDF Officer Training Ribbon
ASDF Warrant Officer Training Ribbon
ASDF NCO Training Ribbon
ASDF C.E.R.T. Ribbon
ASDF Recruiting Ribbon
ASDF Super Recruiter Recruiting Ribbon
ASDF Association Member Ribbon
ASDF SGAUS Ribbon
ASDF Outstanding Unit Comm. Ribbon

SGAUS Superior Unit Citation

MEMS Academy Unit Citation

See also
Alabama Wing Civil Air Patrol

References
1. "History - 4th Brigade" (http://www.4thbrigade.freeservers.com/history.htm). 4th Brigade.
Retrieved 19 March 2017.
2. Blevins, Jeremy. "The state of the Alabama State Defense Force" (https://jeremyblevins.com/2
014/01/08/the-state-of-the-alabama-state-defense-force/). Jeremy Blevins. Retrieved 19 March
2017.
3. http://www.spanamwar.com/units.htm
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20131022022004/http://sdf.alabama.gov/about-asdf/history
5. Stentiford, Barry M. (2002). The American Home Guard: The State Militia in the Twentieth
Century. Texas A&M University Press. p. 99. ISBN 1-58544-181-3.
6. Exec. Order No. 20 (http://www.archives.alabama.gov/executiveorders/executiveorders/1983_
20.pdf) (December 22, 1983; in English) Governor of Alabama. Retrieved on September 28,
2013.
7. http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080905/news/809059978#gsc.tab=0
 8. "Alabama SB278" (https://web.archive.org/web/20131003045726/http://alisondb.legislature.sta
te.al.us/acas/searchableinstruments/2012RS/Printfiles/SB278-int.pdf) (PDF). Archived from the
original (http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/searchableinstruments/2012RS/Printfiles/S
B278-int.pdf) (PDF) on 2013-10-03.
9. Brandon Moseley (August 16, 2012). "Bentley Signs State Defense Force Bill" (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20131217135235/http://alreporter.com/archives/2012-june/2236-bentley-signs-st
ate-defense-force-bill.html). Alabama Political Reporter. Archived from the original (http://alrep
orter.com/archives/2012-june/2236-bentley-signs-state-defense-force-bill.html) on December
17, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
10. http://blog.al.com/press-releases/2013/04/alabama_state_defense_force_of.html
11. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20131217140135/http://statedefenseforce.com/d
atabase/2013/12/02/alabama-sdf-stands-down/). Archived from the original (http://statedefens
eforce.com/database/2013/12/02/alabama-sdf-stands-down/) on 2013-12-17. Retrieved
2013-12-17.
12. "Who We Are" (http://202ndbattalion.wix.com/202ndbn#!202nd-bn/c1k5m). Alabama
Volunteers Official Website. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
13. "United States National Reserve Corps | United to Serve" (https://web.archive.org/web/201601
31052616/http://usnationalreservecorps.us/). usnationalreservecorps.us. Archived from the
original (http://usnationalreservecorps.us/) on 2016-01-31. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
14. Bush, Eric. "Alabama State Defense Force Awards & Ribbons" (http://www.frontiernet.net/~eric
bush/US/NG/Alsdf.gif). Retrieved 6 October 2013.

External links
The Alabama State Defense Force website (https://web.archive.org/web/20131022025517/htt
p://sdf.alabama.gov/) archived at web.archive.org
The Alabama State Defense Force recruiting website (https://web.archive.org/web/201210190
64431/http://www.goasdf.com/) archived at web.archive.org

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This page was last edited on 7 April 2020, at 21:41 (UTC).

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