Most, no. After fifteen years on active duty and the last few with the NG it's like going from a pro sports team to Jerry's kids. After my first drill I was told I need to lower my expectations and not be so ‘hard core’. Well, every drill becomes a new low. No one wants to learn from prior active duty and they keep them at a distance because they feel threatend because someone knows more than they do. No professionalism, discipline, or pride in the No-Gos.

Matt:

That was in exceedingly poor taste. It was also incorrect, in the majority of cases. As the father of a guardsman, I've been insulted. Go visit the blog below, and read what the author has to say about the Tennessee guard, for example.

You owe the guard an apology. Especially for the "No-Go" statement. My son leaves for an 18-month deployment in three weeks. The only "No-Go" was Viet Nam; every other war (real or imaginary) has been suported by the guard. You knew that, of course.

http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/2005/08/ ... -fire.html

Michael Yon's references to the TN guard aren't in the linked article; try those at the lower right. The oldest are at the bottom.

JB

From my experience no I don't.

Can you say "elitist"?

It's too bad you suffered such an experience. Don't judge the entire NG based upon your obvious superiority to one unit.

You need to put away the broad brush you have, maybe. Or, simply give up painting...

JB - a proud NG dad.

Check PM

[MODERATOR HAT]

Tell ya what, guys. This has been taken to PM. Let's leave it there and confine this thread to New Orleans, mmmmmkay?

[/MODERATOR HAT]

I beg to differ. While the personal offense one poster had was likely genuine, it wasn't intended by the original poster.

Furthermore, that the NG may be involved in confiscating weapons from law-abiding American citizens in a time of crisis certainly makes the training, discipline, professionalism and allegience of the NG a legitimate topic generally and in this forum specifically.

While it may be unfair to paint the entire NG with the broad brush of unprofessionalism, it's equally unfair and (at least IMHO) dangerous to make the blind assumption that every NG member is some super-hero deserving of some special consideration just because they're in the NG.

We're not living in Sparta, we don't have a military class granted special rights.

Hmmm...

If Mr. mobocracy is referring to me, I can't find the word "super-hero" in anything I wrote. Kindly don't embellish my words, if you please.

I took offense at Matt's painting of all the NG ("No-Go" in his words) members as incompetent losers - though not his exact words.

Comparing a Professional sports team (I prefer paid athletes, as few display much professionalism) to "Jerry's kids" is, at best, offensive, when comparing active Army to NG. It's also an insult to the real "Jerry's Kids" who didn't volunteer to get sick with a debilitating desease.

It's true that you can't expect the same level of performance from guys who do the job every day and guys who had training three (or 6 or 10) years ago and only work at it once a month and once each summer for a couple weeks. And yes, they (the NG) need 2-6 months of work to get them up to speed before deployment. So? Is that a big surprise to *anyone*? Would you rather they go immediately as cannon fodder? My son is a project manager for a construction company, not a full-time soldier. Let's put things into the proper perspective, shall we?

I'm a private pilot. Can I fly a light plane? Yes. Could I fly a heavy passenger jet? Nope. Give me 6 months of intensive training and I can (so could you , probably). Airline pilots do it every day, so they're ready to go in as little time as it takes to pack a bag. Will I be pissed if you compare me to one of "Jerry's Kids" because I can't fly a DC-10? You bet!

I was involved with a pistol league a few years back. Can I shoot with the 'Big Dogs'? No way. Give me some time to brush up (and a few thousand rounds of ammo) and I can limp along with those dogs. I won't beat them but I can at least not be too embarrassed.

In the military, the Delta guys look down at the lowly Rangers (who are some kick-ass dudes) and maybe even the Special Forces. The Green Beanies and Rangers look down upon mere grunts. The grunts look down upon the lowly, part-time Weekend Warriors. When the shtf, though, even the NG guys - After some intensive training - will hold up their end. The proof is over in Iraq. Believe those that are there, not Matt or me. Go read Michael Yon's 'blog. Gulf War 1 was about 50% Guard & Reserves; they seemed to do OK.

Please be aware that I in no way condone the confiscation of firearms by *any* government body. I will be very disappointed if my son ever participates in anything like that. He will have earned my wrath.

JB

Sorry if I mischaracterized your position, but I do tire of the overly patriotic who believe that current/past military service in some way elevates their status as civilians above those who haven't.

I commend the service of those that have, but I also think is dangerous to democracy and freedom to elevate *any* class of citizens over others.

As for NG vs. full-time, I have no clue. It'd be a reasonable guess to assume that on whole the FT soliders were more focused on being FT soldiers, while NG members may be more focused on their day-day civilian life, particularly during run-of-the-mill periodic call-ups. But I could see this varying quite a bit from NG unit to NG unit, depending on job, type of deployment, duration of deployment and unit makeup.

I'd also gamble that some Southern NG units would be comparable if not exceed FT units, simply because of the higher rate of military service in the South generally.

I'm pleased that this thread was separated from the other. I was going to start a new one today.

I've had a couple days to ruminate on this particular exchange. Matt160 and I will not likely come to an agreement but we may be able to agree to disagree. I've resorted to name-calling, which is uncalled for. I'm sorry.

One thing I have also neglected to do is this:

Matt - Thank you for your years of service!

Jon