Their assignments are varied. For example, the 276th MP Company currently patrols Bolling Air Force Base. The 273rd MP Company secures the Pentagon. Soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, D.C. residents began hearing the jets of the 113th Wing overhead, patrolling the skies for planes flying in unauthorized air space.

"By virtue of the fact that we’re the D.C. National Guard, [the air guard] have been the busiest air unit in the country," said Capt. Sheldon Smith, a D.C. Guard spokesman.

In Desert Storm, approximately 3,000 D.C. guardsmen were used. After the Sept. 11 attacks, 300 D.C. Army Guard members and almost all of the D.C. Air Guard members were called up.

"In the past two decades, especially since Operation Desert Storm, the D.C. National Guard has been used more frequently," Smith said.

"It all started with Operation Desert Shield. In Desert Storm, this was the first time we saw reservist and National Guard used during a war," he said. "Also, the D.C. National Guard ended up doing peacekeeping in Bosnia. Units have definitely been doing more."

But whether D.C. National Guard members have been deployed oversees or federalized more than other state units is hard to determine. The D.C. National Guard’s numbers and percentages of forces have been comparatively higher than some other states in major conflicts during the past 15 years. Rhode Island only contributed 326 guardsmen during the Gulf War in comparison to D.C.’s 3,000 guardsmen. In Maryland, almost 3,000 guardsmen were deployed since Sept. 11 out of 8,000, bringing the total percentage of active Maryland guardsmen to roughly 37.5 percent. This is almost equal to the percentage of D.C. National Guard members who are now activated.

Maj. Ellen Krenke, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s National Guard Bureau, said it is hard to compare one state’s National Guard activity to another’s. She noted that soldiers are not always federalized or deployed overseas when activated. Many perform what she called "support missions," which can include crowd control, removal of abandoned vehicles and snow emergency help.

"For example, last year we had forest fires and forces out West were used," Krenke said.

D.C. Air Guard numbers have risen slightly, but the D.C. National Guard as a whole has failed to reach its target goals of readiness for the past three years, according to D.C. government records.

"If we haven’t reached [our goals], we’ve come very close," Smith said. "We’ve made tremendous strides in rebuilding our force."

The target for D.C. Army Guard readiness is 1,883 guardsmen. In 1999, the actual number was 1,558, 325 guardsmen below that goal. In 2001, the number of D.C. Army guardsmen dropped to 1,492. The number of D.C. Air guardsmen rose from 1,232 in 2000 to 1,263 a year later. But the target for D.C. Air Guard readiness has remained at 1,338.

Smith attributes increases in recruitment during the past year to a national resurgence of patriotism since the Sept. 11 attacks. Even if numbers are not drastically increasing for the D.C. Guard, Smith said he appreciates the changes in the guardsmen themselves.

"The kids coming in are a lot smarter, a lot more educated, than we used to be," Smith said. "We’ve been from the inside out trying to improve the quality of our organization."

Copyright 2003, The Common Denominator